The Syndullas

Disclaimer: Nothing that you recognize is mine.

A.n. This is a modern day AU in which everyone is human. It also includes the whole space family! (But not in space…. Earth family? O_o)

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When Kanan and Hera discover they can't have children they talk about their options. Hera suggests surrogacy and Kanan vetoes that instantly.

"It's practically cheating," He states and Hera rolls her eyes at him.

"It's not cheating," Hera replies. Kanan glowers in response.

"My boys do not belong anywhere near another woman," Kanan announces with finality before continuing, "Besides there's plenty of kids out there who need a family."

"Alright fine," Hera agrees after she thinks about it for a few minutes, "But I want a baby first."

And so the next thing they know Hera and Kanan are handed a squirming three month old Eugene Syndullla. He's got a tuft of ginger hair on the top of his head and looks a bit like a little old man.

"Why my last name?" Hera asks, even though they agreed ages ago. Kanan shrugs, leaning over Hera's shoulder to look at Eugene.

"It's cooler than mine," He replies and Hera feels her heart melt the instant Eugene opens his dark eyes and waves his arms around in a karate chop motion.

"Hey Chopper," Kanan whispers around the happy tears forming in his throat.

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Its two years after that that they decide the house is still a little too empty and they should adopt again.

"Chopper would you like to have a brother or sister?" Hera asks as she and Kanan lounge on the couch watching Chopper play. Chopper sits on his heels and thinks about it.

"Beep beep boop." Chopper answers and waves his arms around before going back to his toys. Hera and Kanan have learned to interpret his robotic noises because some days he doesn't like English. They aren't sure if it's just because he's into robots right now or something more.

"Well that settles that. Not another baby though," Kanan says and runs a hand over his face. Hera laughs in response.

"What the sleepless nights weren't worth it?" She teases and Kanan chuckles, eyes softening as he glances at Chopper.

"Totally worth it. But I think we should give an older kid a chance." Hera smiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

"Great minds think alike." She whispers softly.

So nine year old Zebadiah Orrelios joins them. The social worker, Ashoka Tano, warns them that he is grumpy and moody, but Hera and Kanan simply tell him that he can be as grumpy as he wants, so long as he isn't rude to them or mean to Chopper.

"Call you Zeb," Chopper announces as soon as they climb in the car. Kanan opens his mouth to tell Chopper that Zebadiah might not like that before Zeb answers.

"Okay," Zeb states, makes eye contact with the adults in the rear view mirror and gives them a small smile, "That'd be great."

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"Can I ask you two favours?" Zeb asks Hera and Kanan out of the blue at supper a year and a bit later. They share a glance before looking back at him.

"Anything within reason," Kanan replies.

"Can I take your last name too?" Zeb asks. Hera and Kanan both pause.

"Of course you can. But why now?" Hera answers. They'd let Zeb keep his name, because it didn't make sense to force a new name on him.

"Zeb brother. Zeb brother different name." Chopper announces and the adults clue in.

"I'd like it if when people looked at my name they'd know that I'm part of this family too." Zeb explains and Hera's eye get a little glassy and Kanan has to very abruptly look up at the ceiling for a few moments.

"Okay. What's the second favour?" Kanan requests in a shaky voice.

"Chopper and I were thinking that maybe we could have another sibling." Zeb says and Chopper nods.

"Older than Chopper, younger than Zeb." Chopper adds. Hera and Kanan smile at each other.

"We'll talk about it. Now you two can clear the table." Hera announces before she drags Kanan out into the hallway.

"What do you think?" Hera asks first because she knows that she's been thinking of bringing this up for a while now. Kanan rubs the back of his head.

"We do have that extra bedroom." Kanan states and Hera smiles, which pretty much settles it.

Seven year old Sabine Wren is a mop of black hair and a very skeptic glance when they meet her. She takes Syndulla as her new last name without a word and makes Kanan laugh because seventy five percent of her belongings are crayons. Sabine clicks with Chopper the instant they meet, warms up to Zeb within five minutes, but seems as if she'd going to hold onto her hesitancy concerning Hera and Kanan for a while longer. They don't particularly mind because they can already tell that she's going to be a perfect fit.

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It's a year after that when Ashoka asks Kanan and Hera if they would mind fostering Ezra Bridger for a little while. Ezra's parents have gone missing and while the police are still looking, he doesn't have anywhere else to go.

"I don't see why he has to share my room," Zeb grumbles that night when everyone is going to bed. Ezra mumbles something into his pillow while Hera smooths down Zeb's hair.

"You have a bunk bed that's why. Don't worry it's only for a little while. Just think of it as an extended sleepover," Hera soothes gently as Chopper walks in, dragging his pillow behind him.

"Sleepover me too, beep boop?" He requests and Zeb pushes himself up on his elbow.

"Have you gone to the bathroom yet, bud?" Zeb asks.

"Boop beep," Chopper replies with an arm wave and heads out the door. Sabine leans against the door frame, toothbrush in hand.

"He's weird," Ezra announces and Hera looks up at him.

"What of it?" Sabine and Zeb demand harshly before Hera can say anything.

"I like weird," Ezra finishes his train of thought and blushes when Zeb punches the bottom of the bed.

"You've come to the right place then," Zeb states while Kanan wanders with Chopper.

"Quit punching the furniture," Kanan orders and Zeb grins while helping Chopper onto the bed.

"Aw Dad you're no fun," Zeb fake groans. Hera smiles but shakes her head.

"Alright it's time for bed," She says, pointing to Sabine, who sighs and heads for the bathroom. Hera moves to stand next to Kanan in the doorway. He wraps his arm around her waist as she looks back at the boys, "I mean it."

The days that Ezra's parents are missing continue to climb until they drag into weeks and with every day that passes Ezra gets more and more like Zeb was when he first came. Hera feels constantly like she wants to cry, both because she doesn't know what to do to help him and because she knows he won't. Ezra's predicament is reminding Zeb and Sabine of whatever they went through so, Kanan starts taking the kids out for hours to teach them to play baseball so that they can all blow off some steam.

"Ezra," Hera starts hesitantly that night. He curls himself up on the couch and presses his eyes into his knees.

"The police have stopped looking," He states and even though he can't see her, Hera nods. She scoots next to him and wraps her arms around him as he starts crying.

"Do they want to take me away?" He asks. Hera swallows, desperately trying to speak around the lump in her throat.

"You can stay here if you'd like," Kanan says as he sits on Ezra's other side and hugs both of them. Ezra's head rises a bit.

"Can I?" He clarifies and they both nod.

So seven year old Ezra Bridger rounds out their little ragtag family and fills in a hole that no one had even realized that they had.

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Well there it is!

Firstly, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE READ/REVIEW/FOLLOW/FAVOURITE IF YOU DID ANY OF THE ABOVE OPTIONS! I really and truly do appreciate it more than I can say.

Secondly, I'd like to inform everyone that I know that Zeb's name is actually Garazeb, but for the sake of him having a human sounding name I changed it to Zebadiah. Please try not to hate me too much for that. ;)