The Artist and the Jedi - Sabezra Oneshots

This Crazy Love (Part Four)

Set during season two.

Summary – A week after realising her true feelings, Sabine still finds herself struggling to admit her love for Ezra. Ironically, the entire crew now seems to notice her blatantly obvious feelings except for the totally oblivious padawan. Now the Mandalorian attempts to win him over without somehow killing one or both of them in the process...

"Cover that corner!" Hera barked in command, sliding behind a nearby supply crate as laser bolts flew over her head. Ezra nodded his head in response, performing a swift combat roll and activating his lightsaber. The padawan skilfully deflected the incoming fire, acting as a distraction for the rest of the crew. Kanan quickly joined him, smiling a little at how far his apprentice had come. Between them, Kanan and Ezra didn't let a single shot fly past them, deflecting every single blaster bolt back at the attacking stormtroopers.
"Hey! While we're being awesome over here, you think you guys can hurry up and load the ship?!" Ezra questioned frantically as more and more imperials began to join the fight. With supplies being at an all-time low for Phoenix Squadron, the spectres had been tasked with stealing weapon and ammunition crates from an imperial facility on Anzat. Of course, as always the mission had taken a turn for the worst, and now the crew were being forced to flee off world with less than half of what they needed.
"I'd like to see you come over here and lift three crates at once!" Zeb shouted in annoyance as he continued loading what supplies they had managed to steal onto the Ghost.
"Uh...the force, remember?" Ezra replied sarcastically.
"Focus, you two! Let's get these supplies and get out of here! Chopper, you better be ready at the helm!" Hera ordered, receiving a confirmation from Chop that he was ready to take-off when they were ready.

For a moment, everything seemed to be going well, but that was only for a moment. With a scream of pain, Zeb took a blaster bolt to his shoulder, causing him to drop the several crates that he had been carrying. Hera rushed to try and help him, but was swiftly forced back behind cover by the volley of incoming shots.
"He needs help. Ezra, stay here. Keep blocking those shots as best you can. Sabine, you better start firing back!" Kanan ordered, before rushing over to help his friend. The Jedi helped Zeb to stand, and together the pair continued hurriedly loading up the supply crates. Sabine, meanwhile, leapt out of cover and stood beside Ezra, wildly firing her westar blaster pistols in just about every direction possible.
"Kriff, Sabine...you wanna be careful with those?" Ezra commented jokingly, knowing full well that the Mandalorian had complete control over the situation.
"Aww, you worried I might shoot ya?" Sabine mocked, shooting him a mischievous grin.
"I'd be impressed...it's harder to hit a moving target" Ezra replied, performing several elegant flips as he continued to deflect the shots.
"Then you'd better keep moving" Sabine quipped in response, swiftly retrieving a thermal detonator from her belt and tossing it forwards. The detonator flew right into the centre of the stormtroopers, killing half a dozen of them in a fiery explosion. Sabine nodded her head in satisfaction at the luminous blue and green flames that rose from her custom detonator, and Ezra couldn't help but smile slightly at the look on her face. After a second, he realised he was staring and snapped back to reality, continuing the fight.
"We've finished loading! You two, get up here now!" Hera shouted from the docking ramp. Ezra nodded his head, and gestured for Sabine to move as he covered her. The Mandalorian slowly backed up, firing a plethora of laser shots to make sure she didn't miss the opportunity to fry a bucket head.
"Ladies first" Ezra said in a mocking tone, causing Sabine to roll her eyes.
"You'd better get moving then" she replied with a grin. The moments passed, and Sabine felt the ramp beneath her feet, jogging up to the top of it to await Ezra.
"I've got to get to the cockpit, tell me when he's in" Hera ordered, quickly climbing up a ladder out of sight. Sabine nodded her head, but when she turned back to the battle, she couldn't see Ezra anywhere. She glanced from side to side in panic, and a second later spotted him on the ground, luckily behind a nearby pillar. A burning hole seemed to have pierced his leg, and he had a pained look on his face. Oh kriff no, no you don't go dying on me, the Mandalorian thought to herself. She immediately rushed forwards, barely taking a second to think of her own safety. Sliding along the ground, she soon reached Ezra, and stared at his leg with concern.
"Heh...it's nothing...just need a bit of...bacta" the padawan commented, but he seemed to be quickly losing consciousness.
"Hey, come on. Don't you give up on me now you stupid Lothalian!" Sabine shouted in response, taking one of his arms and slinging it over her shoulder. She glanced upwards, and could see the rest of the crew in the cockpit, operating the ventral cannons of the Ghost to supress the stormtroopers. Now or never, Sabine thought to herself. The Mandalorian then rushed forwards, carrying Ezra over her shoulder, and didn't bother turning around as she ran up the docking ramp. Several blasts came close to hitting her, but by some miracle the pair made it up alive, and Sabine swiftly slammed her hand on a nearby panel, causing the ramp to close upwards.
"Hera! We're on, get us the kriff out of here!" Sabine shouted with slight panic. Normally, she would have gotten an earful for swearing, but Hera didn't really have time to be a mother on the battlefield. With a burst of the engines, the Ghost took off into the air, and within seconds they were fleeing Anzat's atmosphere. Safe, or at least some of them were...

The Ghost's medical bay was a crude facility, converted from a secondary galley and filled with some cheap equipment or whatever the spectres could lay their hands on. The single bacta tank made a constant whirring sound which gave the impression that it was always days away from breaking down. And the stretchers were ancient, creaking beneath the slightest weight. Nonetheless, it had saved the crew from a number of near-death incidents, and now it would serve once again. By the time she had carried him up to the medical bay, Ezra had fallen fully unconscious, while Zeb had almost recovered from his own injury. As a result, Ezra was placed in the tank while Zeb received a small bacta-pack for his shoulder.

A mere hour had passed since the mission, and the crew had not yet managed to reach the rest of the fleet. For the entire hour, Sabine had sat down on a stool beside the tank, placing her fingers against the glass in a melancholy fashion. It was only a minor flesh wound, she had been told, and he would no doubt be awake within a day. But what if he isn't? She thought to herself sadly.
"You really do love him, don't ya?" Zeb asked, still sat on a stretcher nearby. Sabine turned to him with an exhausted look.
"Is it that obvious?" she questioned quietly, and the Lasat smiled a little.
"To everybody but Ezra, I guess. Between the cheap flirting and your emotional moments like this, I can smell your love a mile off. Didn't expect it though...you couldn't stand his flirting when he first joined us. I remember you told me to shock him with my bo-staff if he ever mentioned you when you weren't there" he chuckled. Sabine did not join the laughter.
"Things change. I learned that he's not just the cocky loth-rat he pretends to be...he's a thousand times more, and he cares deeply for us all. And now, because I was too busy trying to flirt on the battlefield, he's ended up injured. I am horrendous at this...it has to stop" she replied in a quiet voice, causing Zeb to give a grim smile.
"I'd tell you not to blame yourself, but you're not gonna listen anyway. What do you mean it has to stop? What are you planning on doing?" the Lasat asked curiously, a slight nervousness clear in his voice.
"Tell him the truth. As soon as he wakes up, I'll admit everything. No more mucking around. If he still feels the same way, then we'll see where that leads us. If he doesn't...well then I'm not sure what I'll do. This is all new to me Zeb! Of course I care for you guys, but I've never cared for anyone as much as I do Ezra, not even my blood family back when they still accepted me..." Sabine explained, breaking down a little at the last few sentences. A tear rolled down her cheek, and at this point she couldn't even tell if it was a tear of happiness or sadness. In one way she was ecstatic, stoked up on love and all of the feelings that came with it. But she also felt sad for Ezra, and ashamed at herself for letting it happen.
"Sabine...Karrabast...never seen you act like this" Zeb said, slowly moving towards her and wrapping her in a brotherly embrace. His shoulder stung intensely with this movement but it hardly mattered, his friend needed this.
"I know...I don't know what's happening to me. I'm going all emotional at the slightest thing...for kriff's sake, I couldn't paint right now if I wanted to because I've got no inspiration" the Mandalorian replied in despair.
"I've only been in love once...but believe me, it has its highs and it has its lows. A high always comes after a low, and it's fully worth it. Stick with this, admit your feelings to him when he wakes up and I promise you it'll all be worth it" Zeb stated, slowly separating from Sabine and giving her a reassuring smile.
"Y-you were in love?" the Mandalorian questioned, she'd never heard anything about this before.
"Yeah...it's not exactly something I advertise. But...I loved another Lasat, another member of the honour guard like me. She was fierce, like you...heh, she always used to beat me in training even though I outranked her. She never held back...enjoyed every second of it" the Lasat described nostalgically.
"What happened to her?" Sabine asked, but when the smile dissipated from Zeb's face, she suddenly dreaded the answer.
"Ah...can't sit here telling stories all day, Hera will want some help with something I'm sure. Don't sit here and despair, he'll wake up...you just need to be ready for when he does" Zeb replied, dodging the question as he left the room in a hurry. Sabine could tell she'd struck a nerve, albeit accidentally, and a pang of guilt filled her heart. She watched the Lasat walk out of sight, and then turned back to Ezra with a sigh. A melancholy look filled her face as she softly placed her full hand against the glass of the bacta tank. Even now, she doubted she'd be ready for his awakening. She'd made these promises of admitting the truth, but what was to stop her from stuttering awkwardly and breaking down again? A Mandalorian and a Jedi...what was she thinking? Sabine began to contemplate maybe leaving this to rest, maybe this whole disaster was a sign. Ezra was far from a traditional Jedi but still...Sabine started to feel doubt in her mind over whether it could ever work between them. But as these awful thoughts refused to leave her mind, Ezra's hand suddenly moved and placed itself over hers from within the tank. The padawan was awake...