What's up guys! So this is another big one. I wrote this ages ago but I've finally added more detail to it - so here it is!
Ezra told her he loved her every day. Just not the way she expected - or realised, even, until Chopper lends a hand...
Wanna know more? You'd better read on and find out! Prepare for a feels overload, because it is going to get fluffy in here. Here we gooooo...

Ezra had found out from a very young age (9, to be exact) that if you showed you were scared, it meant that you weren't going to survive, especially on the streets. Food might have been low, very low, and he had started to steal, but he couldn't show how frightened, alone and hurt he really felt. So he begun to wisecrack, josh around, snark off when he really wanted to curl up into a ball and sob. It worked. People might not take him seriously, but at least they weren't kicking him into dust if they'd seen how he really felt.

And so an innocent, terrified little kid grew up into a sarcastic teenage con artist. The sarcastic part carried on even when he joined the Ghost crew. By now, Ezra was used to hiding dangerous feelings and making them funny, and when he met Sabine, well, that was more or less the same. Except for one thing.

Ezra couldn't decide when and where he'd fallen in love with Sabine. Maybe it was when she'd given him his birthday gift, the only one of the crew to do so, and every year since. Maybe it was every time she caught him and said, "I gotcha!" when he fell, like when they'd met Rex, Gregor and Wolffe. Hell, maybe it was even the first time he saw her face as a skinny reckless fourteen year old who didn't know what love was like at the time, because he'd been deprived of it for so long. And he'd been saying 'I Love You' every time he spoke to her, and she would never even know.

Little things. Sometimes it was flirting and joking around.
"Caf for the light of my life?" He'd ask, and she'd give him an exasperated smile in return and something equally snarky back. When they had a night mission aboard the Phantom, and he'd tease her, "c'mon, it's not like you need the beauty sleep," and then quip about how he, Ezra, needed it even less.
"No, you need a beauty coma," shed retort, and they'd laugh it off. Well, he would.

Other times, it was simply him, subconsciously, putting a hand on the back of her seat as she flew the Phantom or sat in the Ghost and had a meeting.

But, aside from all of that, he couldn't put it into words, what he really felt and meant. He didn't know why, exactly. It could be that he was afraid of rejection, mostly - afraid that she'd never love a guy like him, although it looked less like that every day that passed. It could also be that he wished she saw how much she meant to him, and that when he looked at her it was like she was all of the planets, suns and galaxies above, and he was just there stargazing. He didn't know what to do,

Sabine was in Ezra's room, poring over his helmets. He had gone with Kanan for 'Jedi Stuff' and they would be gone for a few weeks. A few weeks! She missed him. More than she liked.

Sure, he'd gone before, but never for this long. She remembered the last real conversation they had before he left, and it hurt her to think about it. He'd decided to eat with her in her room for once, and she didn't push him away.
They were talking, as usual, and he'd flirted, again.
"Although if you said the word, I'd beg Kanan to stay."
She'd joked along, but for once something prompted her to say, only half jokingly, "Do you ever say what you mean?"

Ezra had stretched, looking only slightly less amused.
"Of course I do. What, you don't think I'm being sincere?"
She had shuffled. "Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it's all a game to you."

He scoffed, though for some reason his eyes welled up with something sadder - and that wasn't right for him.

"If it is, I think I'm winning. And if it's not, well, at least believe me when I sat that I'll be back before you know it. I'm not gonna let some inquisitor take me away from you!"

She shook her head. As always he'd turned something serious into a ball of amusement, annoying or not. She often reacted the same way when he wasn't around, but this was different.
"Okay, Bridger. I'll take your word for it this time."

There was tension in the air that night as Ezra said goodbye. Sabine felt she had to say something. She hated it when they left now. She never knew after Malachor that something even more precious would be lost than eyesight. She didn't want to lose him altogether.

"So... It's time, huh? You know, a year ago I wouldn't have believed id be saying this but... Don't be gone too long. It's not the same without you."

His eyes widened, the surprise evident in his face. He looked like he wanted to say a lot more, but seemed to struggle and choke on his words.
"Like I said before. I'll be back, 'Bine. I do mean that. So try not to miss me too much."
His lips twisted into a wry yet dad sort of smile, shouldered his pack and waved goodbye. Her heart had ached with a different kind of burn ad she realised that she would miss him.
She had a million regrets that day. Why hadn't they just told each other what they really felt?

Sabine took a deep breath and prepared to exit Ezra's room. She had other things to worry about - shipments to assist, walls to paint, imperials to knock over.
Chopper wheeled in then, caught sight of Sabine's forlorn expression and let out a low blarp.
Sabine turned and replied, "Hey Chop. No, I do. Not miss him that much - just a little. But I've gotta go help Sato!"

Chopper made a bunch of dry beeps, and Sabine tensed up. "No - I - ust not like that! No I do not like him back!" Chopper shook his head, unconvinced.
Her eyebrows knitted and she groaned. "Okay, so what if I did? I'm eighteen, and it's not like he'd take it seriously - we're in a war for kriff's sake! Besides, it's not like - it's not like I could. I'm not good at this stuff."

Chopper warbled sadly as he headed for the door. Then he stopped dead in his tracks, as if he'd been shocked with one of his own electric prodders.
The astromech beeped urgently, and banged his head with his arm. Sabine felt a little concerned.
"What is it now, Chop?"
She reached down to stop him and said, "Slow down there, cranky. What do you mean?"
Chopper buzzed again, and she was confused. "You want to show me - wait, what?"

The droid's camera widened, and the holo projector lot the dark room pale blue and white. She saw herself through Chopper's eyes, painting him electrocuting Ezra and laughing to herself.
"You like it?" Holi-Sabine asked him, and Chopper tittered, turning towards a familiar floppy haired padawan leaning against the door. Chopper focused on Ezra, who had a strange look on his face as he observed her paint. Sabine's mouth cell open a little as she watched.

He was smiling slightly, what one might call a usual lazy grin - but his eyes have him away. They were filled with something as he gazed at her, something she couldn't quite describe. Something like affection, or longing maybe, and it made her insides flutter. Whatever that something was, it startled her; it wasn't often that she caught him looking at her in such vivid detail like - well, like that.
And she couldn't believe Chopper of all people had got it! Normally, she wild have just brushed it off, but this was electrifying. All the nervous, mischievous energy. He had was focused on one point: looking at her. The look was deep, molten and spilling over with that something.

She saw Holo-Sabine turn and ask, "So what do you think, clumsy?" And he snapped out of it, rubbing the back of his neck and recovering with a reply,
"Of course! I looked cooler in the actually situation, obviously. But it seems you like it too."

Chopper's camera paused, giving her time to wonder what he was showing her. Then it fast forwarded, and her confusion slowly cleared up as he showed recordings of Ezra looking at her like that whenever she wasn't watching, as if he were staring into her soul.
Her eyes widened, and slump formed in her throat. Oh. She knew what that 'something' was now. She knew why he did the things he did. Why he helped and flirted and teased bet - and how he hadn't had just a teenage crush on her for all of this time. She always knew, but she never believed it. Until now.

The last clip was Ezra watching her prep the Phantom from afar. This time he spotted Chopper recording him. Ezra started up, frozen in place, and Sabine could see him think uh-oh: caught!!!
Chopper clacked, and Ezra coughed.
"I wasn't - you didn't see anyth - um - Chopper delete that!"
Chopper whirred and chirped teasingly, and Ezra scowled. "What do you mean 'can't hide it forever' - I wasn't hiding anything! I mean - I wasn't even doing anything in the first place."

Chopper sang a high note, as  if to say 'denial!'
Ezra groaned and slumped to the floor. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You can't tell anyone. I mean it, Chop, or you're going in the trash. Only Zeb knows a little bit. Even Kanan's sensed it, somewhat. He told me it was a good thing, but just not to let it control me. Hell, even Sato's gonna figure it out if these keeps up!"

Chopper patted him on the shoulder, letting out a low whistle. Sabine's eyes welled up again as he said,
"This is the best and worst feeling in the world. I mean, I'm no Lando, Chop. She doesn't even think I'm serious, or that I mean it. But I do! I just... I can't show her in the right way. I wish she could see that I feel like - like this. Chopper, I think I... I think I love her. And I don't know what to do."

Sabine gulped as it hit her, finally, after all this time. He loved her. Fooling around, joking and flirting because he loved her. Trying to protect Eve even when he didn't need to and having her back because he loved her. Diving to stop a blazer bolt because he loved her. Oh. OH!
The recording shut off, and Chopper beeped solemnly, like he was saying, 'now you know.'
She didn't know what to do, either. All she could do was wait, and tell him how she really felt.

Hooooow was THAT!!??! I know, you totally were not expecting that one. I literally flung it on you like one of those detonators Leia showed Jabba the Hutt in ROTJ. So stay tuned for the next one, because it is biiiig! That's all for now!