Baby Jedi

15 years after Endor

Ezra runs into his one year old daughter's nursery. He picks up a crying Mara. His lightsaber in the other as he scanned the room.

"Mira, sweaty, What's wrong?" He ask. He sensed something scaring her, but couldn't find the threat. He moves the dream catcher like thing in the nursery window. The raven haired baby girl with hazel eyes continues to cry.

"Baby girl, your going to wake Mama up if you keep this up. See everything is fine." Ezra says to comfort his daughter.

Just then he hears a door open. He picks up Mira and carries her in one arm into the next room unhooking his lightsaber with the other. Mira instantly stops crying.

"Who's there?" Ezra calls out as Mira clings tightly on to him.

He sees the signature twin brown French braids running down the head tails of the young intruder with green and pale skin before he hears her familiar voice.

"Sorry master Bridger, I didn't want to startle you." The half twi'lek girl says.

"Isn't it a little late for you to be out Padawan Jarrus." Ezra says now that he sees Asha. He puts his lightsaber back knowing it's safe. "Your mother is going to kill you for being out this late Asha. Also what where you thinking sneaking in here at 0300?"

"Please don't call them uncle Ezra. Mom doesn't know I left the house. I had a vision and wanted to talk to you. Caz is the only one that knows I'm here. Dad was tending to Cole when I left. We all felt something in the force. I called the others and we all felt it. Looks like Mira did too. I wonder if Ben did as well?" Asha explains.

"Daddy protect me." Mira says.

"Yeah Daddy will protect you Mira." Asha says to the scared little girl. "So will aunt Asha and all your aunts and uncles. We'll all protect you Mira."

"Really daddy?" The toddler asked.

"Always sweetheart. We'll always protect you, your little brother, your little sister, and all your little friends." Ezra says to his daughter. "We all look out for each other like a family."

"We are all family aren't we uncle Ezra." Asha says. He nods.

"Now tell me about your vision, before Sabine wakes up with another craving." Ezra says quietly.

"Maybe we should put Mira back to bed before we do." Asha says.

"Or I can take her while you two talk." Sabine says surprising them both.

"Love your up? I wasn't expecting you to get out of bed." Ezra says.

"You didn't sense me?" Sabine asked.

"Apparently I'm a little off this morning. I didn't sense Asha come in either." He says handing Mira over to her mother. "Then again it's hard to detect you with three force signatures right now anyways."

"Your just looking for excuses today huh Ez. Why can't you sense your own Padawan then?" Sabine snaps back not believing his excuse.

"In his defense I'm kinda shielding myself so dad can't sense me right now, and the force is a little off right now." Asha says. "I didn't even sense you were up."

"Thanks for the save." Ezra whispers to the young girl.

"Just tell him about your vision Ash. You can stay in the guest bedroom tonight." Sabine says.

"You mean your not telling mom and dad?" Asha asked.

"Not until sunrise. Then your going to have to explain why you're not at home to them yourself." Sabine replied.

"Thanks Aunt Sabine and Uncle Ezra." Asha says.

"Don't thank us yet, your still in trouble. Just not with us." Ezra says.

"I understand, now I think I'm ready to tell you about my vision." She replies as Sabine and Mira leave the room.

Asha tells Ezra everything about her vision. There was a darkness lurking around the temple that all the children were scared of. How a strange man kept telling the younger ones things about the empire and what it's weaknesses were. About how cold the vision felt.

"That sounds like the mans a dark side user." Ezra said to her. His thoughts instantly jumping to his worst fear first.

It is not Maul, Ezra. He's dead and you know it. You saw and sensed it yourself. Ezra had to keep reminding himself as he listened to Asha's vision.

"Should we be worried?" Asha asked.

"We should be fine. He wouldn't be the first any of us masters encountered. Just stay on the temple grounds and you all should be safe." Ezra tells her.

"Thank you master." Asha says then heads to bed. She was gone before Ezra got up again.

As soon as he got up he comms Kanan and Luke.

"I'm calling an early meeting let the others know. There's something we need to talk about." Ezra says.

He walks into the new council's meeting room.

"What is so important Master Bridget?" Luke ask.

"Did all of the children in the temple wake up around 0300 this morning?" Ezra asked everyone in the room.

The room answered with a mummer of yes from several of the adults as they thought back.

"All except Asha. I didn't sense her awake until 0600" Kanan said.

"She came out of her room for breakfast and that was it." Hera confirmed.

"Amazing she actually pulled it off then. Actually she did. She came over to talk to me at that time." Ezra said.

"She what?!" Hera and Kanan both say shocked.

"When she gets home today she is so scrubbing the Ghost from top to bottom inside and out until there's not even a spot on it." Hera says under her breath.

"She had a vision and wanted to talk to me about it. Apparently she used the vents to get to our apartment and you all know how my air shafts are." Ezra explained. "Anyways I was up with Mira and she snuck in through the front door without me sensing her."

"Scratch that she's grounded for two months as well." Hera says.

"So what was it about?" Kanan asked ignoring his wife.

"A dark side intruder after an appearance lurking around the temple. She called around and several of the others children sensed it too." Ezra explained.

"Do you know if any others had the vision?" Luke asked.

"That was only her. I don't know what exactly the others felt yet. She just said they felt that the force felt different to them." Ezra replied.

"Why didn't any of us adults feel it?" Leia asked.

"Maybe we did but didn't realize it. Who got up to tend to the kids?" Ezra answered her. "I know Kanan and I did. What about the rest of you?"

The room went quiet for a moment.

"I got up sensing something was up with Ben." Leia replied.

"Same for me with Ava and Emilia." Dahra says.

"Both of us got up with our two." Luke says gesturing looking at Ketsu. She nods in agreement.

"Jai did." Said Jai's wife says.

"Able was on the phone with Pyppy and Alora when I got up." Jai says.

The other two's parents didn't have to say anything.

"See it was only the force sensitive parents that got up. Well except for Sabine." Ezra says.

"Probably because she's eight months pregnant with force sensitive twins." Luke says.

"Hey, it could be mother's intuition." Sabine defense herself.

"No, Caleb and Kara sensed it too and woke you up." Ezra said.

"How do you know that?" She asked her husband.

"I can sense them and they both feel cold and scared right now like they are on alert." He replies.

"They did seem to wake me up for no reason." Sabine confessed.

"Than what do you suggest we do Master Bridger?" Luke ask.

"We up the security around the temple and pay close attention to all the younglings and Padawans. If Asha's vision is to be taken seriously then this dark sider will be looking for the strongest youngling with the greatest potential for the dark side." Kanan answered for him.

"You've seen this before Master Jarrus?" Luke ask.

"That's what happened when Maul and I when we were sixteen and seventeen." Ezra explained with a sigh of regret.

"It's what I did after Maul tried to kill me and steal Ezra from me. That's how I was blinded." Kanan says.

"That was when I lost my first lightsaber to Vader and he killed Ahsoka. I almost fell to the dark side myself because of that sith holocron afterwards." Ezra mumbles.

"My dad's mistakes aside. What type of changes do you two have in mind?" Luke ask.

"I ordered the younglings to stay on temple grounds and to leave it to us masters to take care of. Asha is spreading the word to the others. I suggest we talk to them in class about what they sensed." Ezra says.

"Heighten perimeter searches. Identify who he's primarily target is and keep them under close watch. Actually until he singles in on one we should probably keep a close eye on all of them." Kanan suggested.

"We could also take shifts between the three of us leading the perimeter search." Luke suggested.

"With all due respect Master Skywalker, the rest of us are fully capable of protecting the temple with or without the use of the force." Hera says.

"There's plenty of us who are force sensitive with some training that a Jedi on each shift isn't necessary." Leia says.

"Plus most of us are veterans of the rebellion and highly trained in combat." Sabine says.

"That's true. We could call other veterans to help us out. I'm sure Zeb and Rex would be glad to help us out. You're not taking a shift though Bine." Ezra says.

"And why not? I'm fully trained and capable to handle anything. I've survived both Maul and a war remember." She snaps at him.

"The twins remember." He replies. "I'm not putting my expecting wife in harms way two months before our kids are born."

"He's right your out for now Sabine just for the safety of your twins." Kanan says.

She crossed her arms and gave the two an angry look.

"I'll make some calls." Leia and Han both say.

"So will I." Hera says.

"Should I call Lando as well?" Han ask.

"No!" Everyone that's encountered the gambler said in union.

"Ok I won't call him." Han says.

"Meeting adjured." Luke says.

They leave the room.

"So how are you feeling Ezra?" Kanan ask.

"Is this how you felt when Maul was around?" Ezra asked in reply.

"To be honest no. This is different. I knew more about Maul then and was still adjusting to everything." Kanan replied.

"I feel completely helpless, like we could lose one of our students , but I don't even know who or to whom." Ezra replied.

"Plus you just got used to being a parent and teaching. I know the feeling."

"Plus Sabine is seven months pregnant with twins, so I have to get use to having three younglings under the age of three. Isn't that enough." Ezra says with a slight smile but worried eyes.

"It will get worse before it gets better. It always does." Kanan says.

"About back then…"

"Ezra don't. Yes I was scared I was going to lose you, but not just to the dark side. I almost lost you to the war several times. I didn't want to go through that again. Still don't. None of it was your fault."

"Yoda didn't want to send us. He actually told me we shouldn't fight, that the threat of me falling was to risky if we did. I instead that we had to at least get rid of the inquisitors. He was still reluctant to send us there. It was more of an if we insist on doing that."

"He knew we would probably fail. At the time it seemed like the best option. Maybe there was another option, but no one knew for sure what was going to happen. We did what we thought was right and paid for it. That was just the price of that war. There was nothing you could have done differently that would have lead to a better outcome."

"I'm not letting history repeat itself again."

"You can't always protect them. Especially not from themselves."

"That never stopped you." Ezra says looking at Kanan.

"It took me a while to learn that myself. Maul was a wake up call for me." Kanan says with his head turned towards his first Padawan.

Ezra didn't say anything.

"I had to give you more freedom and saw how protective you were of everyone."

Ezra just froze there looking at Kanan. Kanan removed his mask now that they were the only two in the room. His clouded eyes met Ezra's eyes dead on.

"You haven't stopped worrying about everyone since then. You have to let them go eventually Ezra." He says placing his hand on Ezra's should.

"Let's just get back to class." Ezra says.

"Your stronger than you think you are."

"One person can only lose so much before they break."

"I know, and you already broke once before. You put yourself back together even stronger afterwards."

"At what cost Kanan?"

"I've survived two wars now and I'm still asking that question. Was it worth all the lives it cost?"

"One life is too high of a price to pay."

"It is, but their sacrifice is not forgotten. That's why there are always survivors like us." Kanan says. "To tell their stories and pass on what we learned."

"You think you could survive another war if it comes to that?" Ezra asked.

"Do you?" Kanan ask in return.

•Ok so ages

•Asha is 16, Caz is 10, Ercole is 2, Mira just turned 1, and Ben is about three. Most of the other younglings are around Caz's age. I haven't named all of them yet. Celina is actually winning my naming poll right now. I didn't use her because I have another story that I'm working on with her in it. She may be mentioned or even make an appearance in this story first though.

•May the Force be with you always

•Cass