Summary: "That was quite the rescue, hotshot," she fired off, no hellos, no how are yous, and certainly no congratulations. Her team would have been unsurprised, but Leia's brows furrowed slightly. It almost made Jyn falter. But only almost. She'd always been better at breezing ahead, all the more so if she was digging her own grave. She sure hoped she wasn't digging her own grave here.
Notes: Not Prime Time 2017 treat for polkadot
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Medal
by Artemis1000
It's a beautiful ceremony.
The Alliance soldiers looked more polished and proper than Jyn had ever seen them before, and she had to stifle her laughter when she pictured disheveled Cassian all primped up to salute in dress uniform. Too bad he's still stuck in medbay with the rest of them. Just like she was, technically, but it's hard to keep an escape artist from escaping, and the med droids had nothing on Imperial prison guards.
So Jyn leaned on her crutches while the smuggler and the Jedi received their medals, and vowed that a herd of raging banthas couldn't get her up on that dais once it's Rogue One's turn. No. Way. Chewbacca was the only sensible one amongst them, if you asked her.
Then Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, smiled at them, and her resolve grew cracks.
Leia had smiled at her like this, when she learned that Jyn had been with the team that got the plans. That Jyn had found her way to the Rebel Alliance after all the twists and turns her life had taken.
Jyn, for her part, hadn't even been surprised to learn that the plans she'd nearly died for happened to be received by Leia's ship. Of course it would be Leia's ship. Over the years their paths had crossed time and again, it felt only right that their fates would be ultimately interwoven in one more way.
Now here she was and there was Leia, up on the dais…
The ceremony over, giving way to the relaxed mingling of a celebration, Jyn hobbled deeper into the grand hall. People made way for her, not to avoid her, but simply out of respect for her and her injuries, which was a lot uncannier than people avoiding her, but she did her best to push aside her discomfort in the pursuit of her goal.
The group fell silent when Jyn joined them, and she tried not to let her eyes linger too obviously on Leia. She glared at Solo instead, then turned that glare on Skywalker, and back to Solo, for his cocky grin made the far better target. And she'd stood at the right angle to see him winking at Leia.
"That was quite the rescue, hotshot," she fired off, no hellos, no how are yous, and certainly no congratulations. Her team would have been unsurprised, but Leia's brows furrowed slightly. It almost made Jyn falter. But only almost. She'd always been better at breezing ahead, all the more so if she was digging her own grave. She sure hoped she wasn't digging her own grave here.
Solo looked taken aback for a split second before he caught himself. "Now look here…"
Jyn bared her teeth. "You nearly got Leia killed. In a garbage compressor."
"It was actually Leia who told us to…" the vaguely alarmed-looking Jedi began.
Jyn had no intention to let him finish. She's busy being furious here, thank you very much. She straightened her shoulders as much as hanging between crutches would allow, and glowered. "You nearly got her killed! That's the most frakked up rescue I've ever seen, and I thought it couldn't get worse than mine!"
Behind her, a mechanical voice protested, "But I told you you were being rescued!"
So much for her valiant escape attempt going unnoticed.
"And I can speak for myself!" Leia burst out. Her body language was placid, showing the perfect picture of a group of rebel heroes chatting together, but her dark eyes spat blaster bolts at Jyn.
Great. She'd shoveled her own grave.
"Let's leave them alone," Solo murmured to Skywalker, and then to K-2, "you, too, target practice."
If it weren't for his everything, Jyn might have liked him a little better for that.
As it was, she just felt herself flush under Leia's fury.
"What was that, Jyn?!" Leia demanded, stepping in close and somehow managing to give the air of looming over Jyn even though she was a little shorter. "I don't need you storming in here – on crutches, you should be in bed! – and playing at defending my honor!"
"I wasn't playing at anything," Jyn protested weakly, though she had to admit to herself that Leia had a point. "I could have handled that better."
"I'd think!"
"A bantha would have handled that better."
All of a sudden, she found Leia's shoes very interesting.
In the background, she heard K-2 protest, "I can't leave, Chirrut said I need evidence for the betting pool."
"You…!" Leia had her hands balled into fists at her sides. When Jyn dared look up again, she saw Leia look torn, like she couldn't decide if she wanted to kiss her or yell at her – or, knowing Leia, she wanted both, but couldn't decide in which order.
Jyn's heart rate sped up like it always did when Leia looked at her like this. She knew Leia wouldn't, not here, not in front of everyone, and Jyn wouldn't have wanted her to. They were both far too private women. But whenever she looked at her, like this, with such heat…
"If you," forefinger stabbed at Jyn's chest, "think you can do better, then you," another stab, "come along the next time!"
Jyn opened her mouth to snap that she'd been a little bit busy almost-dying, but fortunately her brain caught up to her tongue just in time, and made everything in her grind to a halt.
Had Leia just invited her…?
Alright. If neither of them admitting to anything was how they would play it, that was a game Jyn excelled at. She met Leia's challenging glare with one of her own, though more than a small part of her was giddy at the thought of going on adventures together – properly together together, not their paths crossing not-quite-so-accidentally, and one of them pretending to grudgingly go along with the other's plans.
"Fine. I'm coming. Force knows you need someone other than these flyboys to have your back. You keep getting into the best trouble without me."
Leia's eyes dropped to the crutches, the most outward but not only sign of Jyn's injuries. "So do you." Her voice had softened. She reached for her, her fingertips brushing over Jyn's.
Jyn licked her lips. She could do the snapping and glaring part that their audience expected, that was easy, that was how she handled everyone who came too close to showing they cared. It was once she lowered these pretenses that it got hard, and her heart raced with anxiety as much as with anticipation.
But Leia… She was Leia. No defenses could hope to withstand that force of nature, and most damning of all, Jyn didn't even try all that hard with her.
The distinct noises of a distraught med droid waving his many arms around reached Jyn's ears, followed a moment later by an alarmed cry of, "Sergeant Erso! Sergeant Erso, you are on bedrest!"
Jyn looked over her shoulder. "Oh kriff." Her eyes flickered to Leia. "Gotta…" she glanced at her crutches, frowning unhappily, "run."
Leia's lips twitched. "Run. I'll stall him."
If she hadn't needed both hands to hobble away, Jyn would have mockingly saluted her. Something told her Leia knew anyway.
Maybe the next time she escaped Leia and her would find a more private place to continue their chat.