Shel's Note:

This story was written by my teen niece as a sequel to her first story, Again. Please be constructive in any criticism.

Recovery

By Erin

June 7, 2020

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to my story, "Again" (The 0ne where Kanan gets captured… again), which should be read first in order for this to make sense. It is an au-inspired spin on what if Kanan had been captured in season 2's "The Future of the Force."

Thanks for editing this with me, Auntie Shelley!

Cold.

Why was it so cold?

Kanan Jarrus curled deeper under the blanket, doing his best to soak up whatever warmth he could find.

Or, at least, he tried to: Feeling like lead, his limbs refused to cooperate.

He moaned softly and cautiously opened his eyes.

Someone, who looked like she might be Hera, was watching him. If the room would just stop its infernal spinning he'd know for sure.

He groaned again.

Where was he, anyway?

"Kanan," he heard Hera say, "how do you feel?"

So it was Hera. Kanan glanced up but even that slight bit of motion was enough to make the dizziness fifty times worse.

Hera must have seen the look in his eyes because she grabbed a bin and held it up moments before he rolled over and retched into it.

"Take it easy, luv," she said.

Kanan gasped as a sharp pain went lancing through his chest, causing him to heave again. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to breathe.

"Are you done?" Hera gently asked, rubbing his shoulder.

He managed a weak nod.

She set the bucket down next to the bed, just in case. "Think you can handle some water?" Without waiting for an answer, she was already filling a cup.

No, he thought, but Hera pressed the cup to his lips and tipped a small amount of liquid down his throat.

"Just relax," a new voice said. "You've been through some pretty rough stuff."

Kanan looked in the speaker's direction. It was a medic; one he'd seen a few times but didn't actually know. She looked young.

"I'm Meddi Cahl," she said with a smile, "and don't worry: you're in good hands."

"Rest, luv," Hera told him, caressing his cheek. "You're safe now."

Kanan leaned into her touch and closed his eyes.

"Where are the rebels hiding?" the Inquisitor demanded.

"'M'not… gonna tell y'... 'nything…" Kanan weakly retorted, shaking his head.

"Well maybe you need the proper motivation," she smirked. "Then we'll see if you're feeling more cooperative."

Seventh Sister reached out and suddenly Kanan was no longer in the detention cell.

He was on the Ghost, being shoved down the ramp by Hera. "I don't believe you," she grumbled. "Kanan Jarrus, I never want to see you on my ship again."

"But - wait - Hera -"

"Get off and get out of here," the Twi'lek ordered.

Kanan had no idea what he'd done, but Hera's glare was rather terrifying to behold.

Before he could charge back up the ramp, the Force threw him against the nearby rocks.

Ezra now stalked down the ramp with a menacing look on his face. He stretched out a hand and kept Kanan in place.

"Ezra? What's going on?" Kanan strained against Ezra's hold. "Ezra! Let me go!"

Instead, Ezra gestured with his other hand and a large form slammed into the ground before him.

Hera.

Still silent, Ezra revealed that the hilt of the lightsaber he held was disk-shaped, exactly the same kind the Inquisitors used.

"What are you doing?!" Kanan cried as Ezra ignited the blades and approached Hera.

Hera struggled in place. "Ezra!" she pleaded.

"Kid, stop!" Kanan shouted. But, when Ezra smirked and raised his saber, Kanan shut his eyes, unable to look. "No!" He couldn't block out her brief scream, nor the silence that followed. "No…" he moaned.

This couldn't be real. Ezra - Hera - would never act this way.

This wasn't real. This was the Inquisitor trying to break him.

"Get outta my head!" he growled.

With a flash of bright light, he was back in the cell. The Inquisitor scowled at him and he glared right back. She gestured with one finger and the chair's electrodes activated.

No, no, no, no, no! Kanan thought. Wake up wake up wake up WAKE UP!

Gasping, Kanan managed to will himself out of the memory.

"Kanan! Kanan, are you alright?" Hera worried as she reached for him.

Still trying to catch his breath, he took a moment before nodding.

Right. Medbay. The Inquisitors weren't here. He was fine. He was safe.

With every wheezy breath, his pulse slowed and his panic eased. Although the nausea remained.

"It's okay, luv," Hera told him, gently rubbing his arm up and down. "You're not back there anymore."

Kanan sighed, then tensed. His entire body ached with a fierce, painful throb. And he was doing his best not to throw up again.

Taking his hand, Hera gave it a light squeeze. "Close your eyes. Try to rest. I'm here."

When Kanan next woke up, Ezra had replaced Hera's presence.

"Hey, Kanan," the boy said with a grin, "Meddi managed to convince Hera to take a break so you've got me instead."

But Kanan's head was spinning and consciousnessdidn't seem likely to last. "...hurts…" he muttered.

"What does?" Ezra wondered in concern rather than in the lighter tone he'd just used.

"...'vryth'n'..."

"I'll get Meddi or the doctor," Ezra stated. "I'll be right back," he promised. "Okay?"

Kanan groaned, turned over, and dry heaved into the bucket that was still on the floor next to the bed. When he was done and collapsed back into the pillows, he felt annoyed at how often he seemed to need that bin.

Ezra's eyes widened a little and he backed away, "Okay, getting Meddi. Just hang on, Kanan." He then spun on his heel and ran off to find the medic.

Kanan clenched his eyes shut and tried to dispel the fogginess in his mind.

Apparently he'd tried for longer than he realized, because in seemingly no time at all Ezra returned with both Meddi and Hera in tow.

"What's wrong, luv?" Hera asked as she quickly rushed to his side and took hold of his hand.

Kanan didn't have the energy to reply. So Ezra answered instead, "He said everything hurts."

"Oh, Kanan," Hera murmured.

Kanan simply tried not to vomit again. "Dizzy… blurry…"

"When was the last time he had water?" Meddi inquired, tapping a note on her datapad. "Dehydration could be a factor."

"He sipped some water when I was here before," Hera admitted.

"That was three hours ago!" Ezra exclaimed. "And he'd barely been conscious before that to drink anything."

Meddi handed Hera a cup filled with water. Then she made some more notes on her datapad. "I've ordered an IV. His system isn't completely clear of what the Imperials used but he needs some stimulants to get him through this."

"Kanan, come on," Hera said when he tried to push her hand away. "You need to drink something."

Don't want… He just wanted to sleep - and possibly never wake up, if that was the easier option.

"Please," Hera implored, "just a little."

"...no' th'rsty..." he moaned. "Tired."

"You can rest as soon as you drink something, Kanan."

"...nnn..."

Hera tried to give him the water anyway, but Kanan stubbornly turned his head away and some water spilled on him. "Kanan, stay with me," she tried when she realized she was losing him.

But it was no use; Kanan drifted off, unable to remain awake any longer.

Floating.

He was floating in... something. Something goopy; bacta, perhaps?

Blinking carefully, Kanan realized that he was, in fact, in a bacta tank.

That wasn't good.

Bacta was expensive and the Rebellion didn't have much to spare.

On the other hand, though, he was a little less achy than before; plus, he wasn't as dizzy.

Kanan twisted around, ignoring his protesting ribs, and tried to see what was going on. Squinting past the bubbles, he noticed Meddi watching him.

She turned around and said something to one of the other technicians. Kanan couldn't hear but suddenly a wave of drowsiness plowed into him.

No, no, no...

He'd just woken up; he didn't want to be sent back to the darkness so quickly. They'll come for him. And he'll know being here was just a dream.

"Kanan," Hera's voice came, muffled, through the glass. "It's alright, luv." She put her hand up on the side of the tank. "It's me and you're safe now."

Kanan pressed his own palm up against the glass, matching his with Hera's. He trusted Hera. So he closed his eyes and tried to relax by concentrating on his connection with the Force.

Wherever he was, it was soft.

So incredibly soft.

With a sigh of contentment Kanan relaxed further. Despite the occasional twinges in his chest and shoulder, this was actually pretty nice.

Okay, I'm either dead or still unconscious, he thought. But if either of those possibilities were true, he wouldn't still feel those twinges and aches, would he?

So he opened his eyes and found himself in a bed. At least it wasn't the bacta tank. He tested his fingers and arms, pleased when they moved relatively pain free. Although he frowned at the IV in his left arm.

"You're awake! How do you feel?" Hera asked as she jumped to his side.

Kanan tried to respond, I'm fine; what happened?

His voice, however, didn't seem to be working. All that came out was a rather undignified squeak.

"Right," Hera smiled at his reaction and explained, "the medics said your throat would be extremely raw. That's probably why you can't talk."

Perfect, Kanan inwardly muttered.

"It was from the interrogation, wasn't it, luv?" she softly asked.

That made sense. He had screamed a lot in agony while the Inquisitors toyed with him.

Kanan gestured toward his chest. What had happened there, anyway?

"You had three cracked ribs," Hera gently told him. "The bacta healed them but it's still sore, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"You also had a dislocated shoulder," Meddi added as she entered the room.

Kanan mouthed the words, Why bacta?

Hera answered, "You were dehydrated and just getting worse, so we figured bacta was your best bet. They'll remove the IV if you can keep down some food and water."

Just then, Kanan yawned and gave them a sheepish shrug.

"Don't worry about it," Meddi smiled, "the sedatives from the bacta tank probably haven't worn off completely yet so you'll still be doing a lot of sleeping."

Oh.

"It would probably be easier if you didn't fight your body's reactions and just relaxed," the girl noted.

He'd just been asleep! Since when had it become so hard to stay conscious for more than three minutes at a time?

Hera recognized his disgruntled expression, "It may not be what you want to do, but it'll be easier than fighting it."

That was true.

Still…

"I'll still be here when you wake up, luv," she promised, stroking his forehead.

I know…

Kanan sighed. Fine. Seeing as his eyelids weren't even open anymore, sleep probably was for the best.

And he was asleep before he could vent any more frustration.

"He's still asleep?"

"Sh! You're gonna wake 'im up!"

"I was just asking!"

As awareness came back, the first thing Kanan heard was two very familiar voices arguing.

...Zeb? Ezra?

He slowly opened his eyes and found the entire Ghost crew standing in his room. Hera was closest to him, so he looked to her and softly asked, "I'm not in the medbay?" His throat seemed to be working better but his voice was still rough. It had been a long three days.

"No," she told him. "Given our circumstances, we thought you'd prefer recovering here on the Ghost."

"Meddi wasn't so keen on releasing you," Ezra informed him.

"She'd rather have waited another few days," Sabine explained, "but medically, you were well enough that they could release you."

"I don't remember that conversation," Kanan admitted.

"It's okay," Hera smiled.

"How're y' feelin'?" Zeb wondered.

"Been worse," Kanan murmured, absorbing the fact that he was actually home.

"You were in pretty bad shape," Ezra commented. "How - how much do you remember?"

"Not now, Ezra," Hera glared at him.

"Not much," Kanan rasped when the others fell silent. "You were there… once?"

"Twice," Ezra corrected, rubbing the back of his head where Zeb had flicked him, "but you were unconscious the second time."

Kanan nodded and closed his eyes. "Gotta admit, it's a lot nicer waking up to the lot of you than those Inquisitors and an interrogation droid."

"Oh, luv, we would never have left you there," Hera said, squeezing his hand. "We would have tracked you down anywhere in the galaxy."

"For as long as it took," Ezra solemnly added.

"You thought we would just leave you behind?" Sabine questioned.

Kanan gazed blearily up at her. "You all could've died."

"You could have too!" Ezra insisted. "You might not remember, Kanan, but you could barely walk!"

"The Empire doesn't play around, kid," Kanan tiredly reminded him.

"That doesn't make it alright," Ezra muttered.

"Never said it did," Kanan quietly told him. They'd need to have a talk later, when he felt stronger.

"'Least we got you without those two Inquisitors catching us," Zeb commented.

Kanan grunted as his chest gave a particularly unpleasant flare of pain. "Where's Ahsoka?" he asked as he unconsciously rubbed an area a little below his sternum.

"She left when we knew you'd pull through," Sabine told him.

Kanan tried to shift into a more comfortable position. "You got lucky. If they'd been… there… when you found me…"

"Things would've gotten grim," Hera finished his thought. Wordlessly, she gave Kanan's hand another gentle squeeze.

"At least we got to you before they jumped to Mustafar," Ezra noted. "I don't think anyone could last very long against Vader." He shuddered.

"At least we got you back, period," Hera declared as she hugged Kanan, mindful of his healing ribs.

Kanan closed his eyes and relaxed into her hold. And he decided to ignore the fact that, even though the others had said nothing, he could feel their grins.

"You should never have gone through this again," she whispered.

It wasn't something he'd ever have wanted to repeat either. But he'd rather it be him a thousand times than any of the others even once. And if that was what it took to protect them, he would.

"I'm sorry," Hera told him.

"Wasn't your fault," Kanan replied. "You weren't even there."

"Well, you shouldn't have sent us away," Ezra complained. "We lost a lot of time trying to track you down."

Hera simply looked into his eyes and Kanan knew she understood his desire to keep them safe. "It was the right thing to do," he stated.

"Doesn't make it easier," she acknowledged with a caress of his cheek.

Sabine cleared her throat and grinned, "Um, we'll go."

Hera abruptly sat back, flushing slightly, and Kanan was sure his expression was similar. "Sure, um, see you later."

Sabine was smirking and Ezra was making exaggerated gagging motions behind her back as they left the room. And Zeb swatted Ezra again.

Hera rolled her eyes, "Guess we're back to normal." But she suddenly turned serious, "I know it will take time. But we're here and we're not going anywhere."

"Family," he commented with a yawn.

"It's good to have you home," she agreed.

Kanan just smiled, pulled Hera into his arms, and closed his eyes as fatigue caught up with him. He knew it might be a long road to full recovery. But this was his family. And it was great to be home.

The End