-A Few Months Later-

"How was school today?" Mira asked her only son, her only child. She already guessed the answer, but she still wanted to talk to him and hear about his day. He was the only person she had.

"Fine," Ezra mumbled. He threw his backpack on the table and pulled his homework out onto the table. He sighed and started on his math homework first.

Mira handed him some food and sat across from him. "Just 'fine'?"

"Yes."

Mira frowned. "You didn't make any friends?" She always pestered her son with this question, but she hated seeing him lonely. It looked as if he would be good friends with Sabine, but after what happened at the Syndulla home, they hadn't heard from them since.

Ezra hid his face behind his homework to avoid eye contact. "Mom, it's the same students as last year. Just in different classes. Of course I didn't make friends."

Mira Bridger sighed. All she wanted was for her son to be happy. That reminded her-"I have good news."

"And what's that?" Ezra asked sadly. He didn't expect it to be anything amazing.

Mira sat up straighter and smiled. "I got promoted at work!"

Ezra looked up from his homework. "Really?!"

Mira nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! All my hard work and passion has finally off. They've moved me from front desk to behind the scenes of the news crew! It has a higher pay, and they said if I show enough passion again I could become a newscaster myself!"

"Mom, that's wonderful!" Ezra hugged his mother. "I'm proud of you."

"Thank you," Mira replied. "If there's anything you need I'll finally be able to get it with my next paycheck."

Ezra nodded and went back to his homework. He hated  algebra. Mira stood up and started getting things ready for dinner. As she washed a bowl she looked out the window and spotted their neighbor, Caleb Dume. "Huh, that's the first time I've seen him out in a while," Mira mumbled.

"Who?" Ezra asked looking up.

"Oh, it's just our neighbor, Caleb. He's finally decided to come outside," Mira replied.

Ezra got up and looked out the window. "I've seen him outside a few times here and there. Meditating, I think, but you're right, he has been awfully quiet."

Ezra often felt like he had known Caleb Dume for years, but in reality he didn't. It was such an odd feeling. It was  like there were memories that weren't even real. Ezra shuddered at his thoughts and sat back down.

What was even weirder, he felt like even Caleb felt the same way. Caleb spoke to Ezra as if he was speaking to an old friend he hadn't seen in forever. Maybe he was just over thinking things. He shook his head and went back to his homework.

-

Caleb got into his old run-down car and drove down the rainy streets of the city. He was finally getting to his errands he had put off for so long. It was one of the many things he delayed doing. The top on that list was talking to Ezra and finding a way out of this mess. But he shut down and hid away instead.

The horn went off from the car behind him and Caleb shook his head and his thoughts away and returned to the dreary world around him.

He parked his car in the grocery store parking lot. He didn't bother to use an umbrella. He didn't own one anyways. He took one of the many shopping carts and went into the crowded store.

Caleb felt uncomfortable. He didn't belong here at all. These weren't his people, he didn't understand any of the customs or the things around him. He even used the name he hadn't used in forever. He hadn't been Caleb in a long time. He had become Kanan.

Kanan glanced around the store and almost completely forgot why he came here as he saw Halloween decorations and candies being put away and a variety of Christmas items being put up instead.

He pushed the cart into the produce section and grabbed a few items, and then went down a few more isles taking very little. He was only getting things for himself after all.

He was about to finish up his shopping trip but something told him not to. He stood awkwardly in the middle of the aisle in everyone's way. Kanan then turned and saw an employee stocking the shelves with Christmas candy and decor. No. Not just an employee. It was Hera.

Kanan took a deep breath and went over to the seasonal area. He pushed the cart awkwardly through the stacks of unpacked boxes and stopped next to her. "Hera?"

Hera almost screamed and dropped a bag of candy canes. She turned and faced Kanan and sighed in relief. "You scared me."

Kanan frowned. "I'm sorry - I didn't mean to." He picked up the bag of candy canes and put them on the shelf for her.

"It's okay, it just startled me having my name said out loud next to me. That's all," Hera said. She opened another box and went back to stocking the shelves.  "W-what are you doing here?"

Kanan looked down at his cart and then back up at Hera. "Grocery shopping."

"I meant why did you come up to me?" Hera asked.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened the last time we met," Kanan said.

"That was months ago, but it's alright. I'm sorry for the way I reacted."

Kanan said nothing and looked down. It wasn't Hera's fault that she couldn't remember, but Kanan felt it was partially his fault that they were still here. He hadn't made any effort to change things, and that needed to change.

He looked up from the ground and at Hera. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here," she replied bitterly.

"Why?"

Hera glared at him. "Why? Because I lost everything. That's why."

"I'm sorry that had to happen. Did you end up finding a place for the children to relocate to?" Kanan asked. He moved his shopping cart out of the way once he realized how many people had walked by frustrated that he was blocking them from getting by.

Hera furrowed her eyebrows. "Yes, I did. Although, the two oldest, two old for the foster system, I'm not really sure where they ended up."

"Sabine?" Kanan asked. His tone of voice was filled with worry.

Hera looked at Kanan oddly wondering why he was being so nosy. "Sabine and Rey. You've only met Sabine. The last I heard from Rey was that she found a roommate and lives with them. As for Sabine, I haven't heard a word from her."

"I'm sorry," he said again. He tapped his fingers on the cart. "What about you? If you lost the home where are you living?"

Hera threw a bag of chocolates on the shelf. "Why do you care about me so much? We've only met once!"

Kanan sighed. They actually had met multiple times, but in whatever strange world this was, they had only met once.

Hera sighed and folded her arms. "Look, Caleb, I'm sorry. I just don't understand, you talk to me and ask me questions as if you've known me for years."

"I'm sorry if I seem pushy- I just feel sorry for you," Kanan said. He began to walk away with his groceries but was stopped by Hera.

"I'm sorry. Things just haven't been the greatest for me," she said sadly. "At least Palpatine didn't win the election, so that's good."

Kanan nodded slowly thinking about that statement. "That is good news. . ."

"Hey, you live next to Sabine's friend, right? I think his name was Ezra."

Kanan nodded again. "Yeah."

"Can you please let me know if you see her around? I'm worried about her," Hera said. She pulled out a small notebook from her pocket and wrote down her phone number.  She ripped the paper off and handed it to Kanan.

"I will do that," he replied. He said goodbye and went to buy his groceries. In that moment he decided he was done pretending that this life around him wasn't strange or odd. What was happening was real and defiantly not normal, and he needed to do something about it.