There were only so many close calls or narrow escapes someone could have before their number was up. And right then, to Kanan, it seemed like his number was up. His and Hera's.

They'd been in sticky situations before, but this one definitely took the cake.

Right now they were pinned down in an abandoned azurite mine, where they were supposed to be picking up some intel on a holodisk, that one of Fulcrum's (whoever Fulcrum was) contacts had left hidden for them there. And unfortunately, they now realized that the Empire had the mine under surveillance.

At least two dozen stormtroopers were waiting in ambush for them when they tried to make their way back from the mine's depths. And after the hike they'd taken through the crumbling subterranean tunnels, and the hour they'd spent overturning rocks, crawling around in the dark, looking for the damn holodisk, Kanan and Hera were already exhausted. The firefight had been short, with Kanan and Hera taking down a couple bucketheads each before retreating back into the dark below.

Half the remaining troopers chased after them. Kanan and Hera had killed their flashlights then picked off a couple more before the stormtroopers got smart and shut off their own lights. Then everyone was shooting in the dark, and no one had the advantage. Well, no one except Force sensitive Kanan.

And that was when it became apparent to Kanan that he was dreadfully out of practice.

There had been a time when he could have navigated an obstacle course, wearing a blind helmet, with practice droids firing at him constantly, with pinpoint precision. Now he struggled just to stay alive. All the Jedi who'd ever had a hand in training him would have been shaking their heads. If they weren't dead, at least. Kanan had blocked off his connection to the Force as much as he could over the years to stay alive. It had shone through now and then in crucial moments to save his life, but he could no longer control his connection to it like he once could.

Trying to grasp it now was exhausting, mentally. But Kanan gave it all he had. He was able to pick off several stormtroopers by using the Force to sense where they were. But after each shot he had to move and move quickly, to avoid the barrage of blaster bolts fired at the position he'd fired from.

Hera was smart and a great shot, so she was able to take some of the bucketheads out when they fired at Kanan's position. She'd fire off two quick shots then bolt so they couldn't pin down her position. All in all, she and Kanan were doing a great job of evening the odds. That is until disaster struck.

The mine was ancient and unstable. It wasn't safe anymore for mining or anything else, let alone deadly games of laser tag, like the one Kanan and Hera were playing with the stormtroopers. So it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone when disaster struck.

A loud cracking was the first warning they had, followed by the sound of dust and small rocks raining down.

"Oh no," Hera breathed, breaking the silence that she and Kanan had been mutually keeping by unspoken agreement, so as not to give away their positions. "Cave in!"

At that moment, Kanan knew that their number was up. The ceiling was coming down on them. The entire tunnel was probably going to collapse. Chances of survival were almost nonexistent.

Regret thrummed through him. There was so much he'd left undone. After all this, he'd barely made a difference at all. The Empire was no weaker for all his work against it. He'd barely been more than an annoyance to them. Now his son would be born into a universe still run by corruption and -

No. His son would never be born at all now. The thought hurt like physical pain. But it was quickly replaced by defiance.

"Screw this! I've got a reason to live!"

Kanan's instincts went into overdrive and he surged forward, grabbing Hera and then pulling her along behind him. He heard her give a startled cry, just as the stormtroopers started to cry out and scream as well as they realized what was happening. Kanan ignored it all and just moved. He couldn't say where he was going or what was around him and Hera. For just a few moments he let the Force guide him fully, trusting it with both his and Hera's lives, feeling more strongly in sync with it than he had since the day Order 66 went down, taking the Jedi Order and his whole world with it.

And as he moved, blocking out the dark world around him, and trusting in the Force, Kanan saw things. Mainly he saw him.

His son, on the Ghost. Chasing after Chopper, angrily waving a wrench and shouting out threats. Like father, like son, Kanan would think later, when he remembered that image. But at the time he saw it, he wasn't thinking of anything. His mind was blank, which was why he was able to see it. The Force surged through him, showing him that image and others.

Like his son, holding a light saber. It was an oddly constructed one, like it had been made out of a bunch of random parts.

And his son practicing lifting objects with the Force. A jogan, a cup, a can of spray paint. He raised them all at once so they hung suspended in the air, right in front of his face. Then he broke his concentration to turn and grin with great satisfaction at Kanan, looking very proud. Right until he realized that by doing that, he'd lost control of the items he'd been levitating and they all dropped to the ground.

"The stone, the temple, it wants to admit me. No, wait. Not me . . . us. Master and Padawan, together!" His son's face lit up as he looked toward Kanan.

And Kanan heard himself speak in the vision. "Then together it shall be."

For the record, it was not a lapse in concentration that caused Kanan to take a dive toward the floor. It was what the Force guided him to do. The only way to stay alive in the midst of all the falling rubble. He rolled so that Hero was underneath him and yowled in pain when a chunk of debris crashed into his shoulder. Something landed right above them, but didn't crash down on him. Only dust and pebble sized pieces of rubble struck him after that, though all around them, and even above them, they could hear bigger, more dangerous things still crashing.

Beneath him, Hera was breathing heavily. She was scared. Who wouldn't be in that situation? Being buried alive, with the knowledge that at any moment the ceiling would crash down on them, ending everything? Kanan could only be calm because he knew. This was where they needed to be to survive. The one small pocket of air where they wouldn't be crushed. They were buried, yes. He could feel a heavy slab of stone right above his back. It had landed on an angle, over some other rubble, so that it formed a small shelter, and kept them alive. None of the stormtroopers were so lucky.

They waited there, holding their breath. A minute later it was over, and they were the only ones left alive in the mines. For a few minutes more, they waited in silence, waiting to make sure that the rubble was settled and there wouldn't be any aftershocks. Finally, Hera spoke.

"Kanan? Are you alright?" She spoke in only a whisper.

"Yes," Kanan croaked back softly. His voice was hoarse from all the dust he'd breathed in. "We're both alright."

"Are we trapped?"

Normal people would be. Kanan could see in his mind how the rubble was piled over them. Normal people would have to wait until someone with heavy digging equipment came to dig them out. But Kanan wasn't a normal person.

"No. I can get us out of here. Just . . . we need to wait a few minutes. It's not safe yet. I think there might be . . . an aftershock."

"You mean a secondary cave in," said Hera.

"What?"

"This wasn't caused by an earthquake. Aftershocks are from earthquakes."

"Does it matter?" Kanan asked.

"No, I suppose not. But it never hurts to use the terms correctly." Hera's voice was a little hoarse too, and she was deliberately speaking softly. Underneath him, Kanan felt her shift nervously.

That was when he realized just how close the two of them were.

He'd fallen so that his body covered hers completely. That had been to try to protect her. He'd known that their lives wouldn't be in danger, but in mayhem like this, he couldn't expect the Force to warn him about every sharp rock that might fall down on top of them and leave bruises and cuts.

Now it was awkward. He'd never been this close to a woman who he wasn't intimate with, and Hera had made it very clear from very early on that she wasn't that type of girl. Kanan had respected her for that. For awhile he'd hoped that she'd eventually come around, but then he'd found out he was going to be a father, and had started keeping an eye out for blue haired girls. He gave up on whatever sparks had been between him and Hera.

But that didn't stop Hera from being extremely attractive, or stop Kanan from noticing.

"Sorry about this," Kanan said ruefully. "I know I'm probably pretty heavy. I guess I should lay off the . . . uh . . . ration bars."

It was a weak attempt at self depreciation. Neither Kanan nor Hera were at weights that could be considered healthy for their species. These days the only people who had that privilege were Imperials and their sycophants. Kanan and Hera did well enough with their work that they weren't skin and bones, but neither could be considered overweight by any means.

"Yeah. You better," Hera teased, knowing full well what Kanan was doing. Any distraction was better than laying there, dwelling on how close their bodies were. "If you don't, I'm going to assign Chopper as your personal trainer."

"That would be hell."

"Exactly."

"Yeah." Kanan tried hard to think of some way to continue the conversation. But none came to mind. So he quickly switched the topic to the first one that came into his mind. "Hera, I saw my son again."

"What?"

"Yeah. While we were running through the cave in. I . . . let the Force guide me. I found the only safe place where we could survive this. But while I let it flow through me, it showed me things. My son. Hera, he's going to be Force sensitive."

"What? You mean . . . he'll be like you?"

"Yes," Kanan told her. "I saw what he could do. There's no mistaking it. The Force is going to be strong with him."

He could hear the smile in Hera's whisper. "You must be proud."

"Yes. Very. He's going to be my Padawa-"

A loud crashing cut Kanan off. That would be the secondary cave in, they'd been worried about. They both fell silent again until the sound of rocks falling gave in to the sound of dust and pebbles showering down. And when that too faded, then, Kanan spoke again.

"I think we're safe now. Hold on. I need to . . . move my hands. This is going to be a little awkward," Kanan said, glad that Hera couldn't see the expression or color of his face.

"It's alright, Kanan," Hera said. "Do what you have to do. I know you wouldn't . . . take advantage of our situation."

"Yeah. Have to set an example for my son."

"So he'll be a Jedi and a gentleman."

"Exactly."

As they'd spoke, Kanan had shifted as far upright as he could. He couldn't really get into a sitting position, which would have been better for what he was trying to do, but he did the best he could. Calling on the Force, he lifted the ceiling off them and slid it to the side, little by little. A minute later, Kanan was able to sit up. But not stand. Rubble filled the passageway creating a maze that they had to crawl through to get back to the exit. It was very slow going, even after they turned on their one surviving flashlight. It didn't make much difference.

Several times they reached what would have been dead ends to a normal person but Kanan was able to use the Force to lift the debris and clear the way for them. Then, finally, they were free.

Their speeders were still hidden where they'd stashed them, so Kanan and Hera made it back to where they'd left the Ghost without incident. Chopper greeted them with a few beeps that sounded like snickers, and a comment about how filthy they looked. Kanan, too tired to bicker, just responded with a hand gesture that was recognized as very rude on twelve systems. Then he quickly stopped before Hera could turn and see when Chopper squawked his indignation.

All the same, Hera gave Kanan a knowing look after translating Chopper's beeps. Kanan tried to look innocent, but knew he was failing, so instead he decided to make a fast retreat.

Later that night, once the Ghost was safely out in space and Kanan and Hera had both cleaned up, she found him in the cockpit, staring at the stars.

"Hey. You alright?" Hera asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," said Kanan. "Just thinking."

"About your son?"

Kanan looked at her, surprised. "How did you know?"

"You've got that look on your face. The one you always wear when you're talking about him," Hera said. She handed Kanan a mug of caf then sat down in her own chair. "So. Force sensitive, you say?"

My headcannon for this fic is that Kanan likes talking about his future son. Hera's kind of the only one he can talk about him to though (Chopper's not an option), and she actually enjoys it because Kanan is so obviously happy. Even though it breaks her heart a little each time, as she realizes, more and more, that Kanan was that guy she'd been looking for to settle down and start a family with when her battle with the Empire has finally been won.

But soon that's all going to change.