Disclaimer: You know the drill. It's definitely not mine.
Diamond in the Rough
Ever-shifting bands of light striped with shadow from Coruscant's constant night traffic moved rhythmically across the room, alternately illuminating the small form of the boy curled into a ball on the sleep-couch with unflattering fidelity and then casting him into shadow so he looked like little more than an extra pile of pillows on the cushions. The alternating light and darkness didn't even cause him to stir, as if he had long since become accustomed to sleeping in all sorts of situations.
Leia Organa Solo had gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the 'fresher, and now, on the way back, something had drawn her to the central living area of the Solo family's Coruscant penthouse, where Jaina and Jacen's new friend slept on the family's extra sleep-couch. Leia wasn't quite certain what she thought of the little unwashed vent crawler. On the one hand—was his name Zak? Zelk? No, Zekk, that was it—had shown a sort of moral toughness unusual in the denizens of Coruscant's lower levels when, after realizing that the obviously wealthy lost children he'd run into on the lower levels were in reality the twin offspring of the Chief of State of the New Republic, he led them home safely instead of the myriad of other things he could have done. Leia was deeply grateful to him for that, and for acting like a protective older brother might have for Jacen and Jaina on their unplanned excursion to the Coruscant undercity.
On the other hand, she didn't really want the twins mingling with a boy like him. Granted, Zekk had proven himself a step above the usual slum slime with his actions that day, but he was also an uneducated street rat without a discernable future who apparently spent much of his time crawling around in crumbling abandoned buildings and sewer vents and who desperately needed a bath. To be honest with herself, Leia was afraid of the trouble Jacen and Jaina could get into if they got friendly with a boy like him, the dangers they might very well be exposed to. Jacen and Jaina were already far too taken with his way of life, wide-eyed over Zekk's tough, self-reliant attitude. Especially Jaina. Leia knew all too well that Zekk's hard and dangerous life was not something she wanted her children to experience.
Zekk himself hardly looked fit for such a life, in Leia's opinion. Skinny and small, with big two-tone green eyes that seemed to take up more than half his face and unruly hair a shade lighter than black beneath the dirt, the hardness of his young face and the boniness of his wrists and ankles had tugged at Leia's heart.
The boy shifted, shivering, on the sleep-couch, and Leia realized that he didn't have a blanket as one of those bars of light slid over him. Shaking her head at the oversight—their climate-controlled apartment tended toward cool rather than warm and a boy that skinny would get easily chilled—Leia picked up a warm, fleecy throw more than large enough to cover the small boy from the other couch and moved to drape it over the sleeping child's trembling form. He did smell rather unpleasant, but Leia knew it wasn't his fault, really, and she could always have the blanket laundered. The thinness of Zekk's shoulders as she tucked the blanket over him made something in Leia's chest ache. He wasn't painfully thin, not really, and he seemed to be healthy enough, but he definitely wasn't as robust and well-nourished as Jacen or Jaina.
He was mumbling something in his sleep, and he sounded heartbroken and unhappy. Leia knelt by the side of the sleep-couch and studied the boy's features in the zigzagging patterns of light from the traffic around the high-rise. Beneath the smudges of dirt and grease, Zekk had a sort of waif-like strength to his slender features that touched her heart—a straight, defined nose, a soft, generous mouth a little big for those narrow features, pinched and hollowed with hunger and hardship as they were, but a mouth that he would probably grow into in a few years, high cheekbones, a noble forehead, a slim, stubborn chin. Once he was cleaned up and filled out a bit, he might well have been an attractive child.
"Mum," Zekk whispered in a soft, painfully lost voice. "D-Da. Why'd you g-go . . . ? I—I miss you . . . miss you, Mum."
Leia was unprepared for the rush of empathy that slammed into her like a punch to the gut at those quiet overheard words. The poor child had obviously been orphaned, and suddenly she had a vivid picture of Jacen and Jaina about this little scamp's age, alone on the streets, as dirty and unkempt as Zekk was, or more so. The image was ludicrous, of course—though the possibility that Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin could lose one or both of their parents at all too young an age was one that woke her up almost every night in a cold sweat, she knew they would never end up on the streets, even if Luke and Mara didn't take them in. It was simply an impossibility for the children of the Princess of Alderaan and the Chief of State of the New Republic and a former New Republic General.
But should she condemn this boy for his path when he probably hadn't had much choice in the matter of where he ended up?
The thought was a sobering one, and Leia's mind returned to earlier that evening, when this Zekk had first appeared at their apartment with Jacen and Jaina in tow.
Leia looked down at the
scruffy, dirty child she had just keyed open the door on with
incredulity and reflected that this was obviously going to be one of
those days. Jaina and Jacen hung back behind the older boy,
obviously wary of their mother's reaction to their long absence and
subsequent reappearance near the end of the day. Jacen had his head
down and was staring at the ground. Jaina was looking at Leia, at
least, but she shifted uneasily from foot to foot. Leia was
surprised and displeased that this juvenile delinquent who had
brought them back didn't seem at all cowed by the icy stare she was
bestowing on all three of the children. He simply raised unnervingly
deep emerald eyes with a corona of darkness around the pupils to hers
and said in a rough, lower Coruscanti accent, "Are you Chief of
State Organa Solo, m'lady?" Leia noticed that a few of his vowels
were more slanted and softer than normal and immediately filed away
the information that he was probably not from Coruscant originally.
"I am," she replied with rising annoyance, "and The boy grinned a little.
"Don't be too hard on 'em, m'lady," he said, though he
looked shyly down at his feet while he said it. "The undercity's
an easy place to get lost in." He sent Jaina what was, in Leia's
opinion, a rather conspiratorial glance. "Right, Jay?" Jaina
nodded. "It was an accident, Mom, promise," she said, glancing at
Jacen for support. Her twin nodded emphatically. "We didn't "And it was mostly my fault,"
the boy called Zekk added in a quieter tone, now staring fixedly and
ashamedly at the toes of his much-patched boots, though his thin
shoulders were straight and proud nonetheless. "I provoked them."
Jaina shook her head. "That's not true!" she said in an
outraged tone, apparently overcoming her fear of her mother's wrath
in indignation with the injustice. "It was my fault—I bumped into
Zekk, and I was mean to him, and—" "An' it isn't
his fault, really!" Jacen finished. "Zekk really helped us out,
Mom!" Zekk sent them a grateful but slightly chiding look,
and Leia thought she could make out a blush beneath the dirt smearing
his thin cheeks. "Thanks, you guys," he said softly, and Jaina
grinned confidently back. "All right, you little
troublemakers," Leia said in her sternest voice though oddly
enough, her anger and sharp worry had faded and dulled into something
closer to amusement. "Inside now, and we'll wait for your father
to get back to decide what to do with you." Jaina and Jacen
both nodded eagerly at that, two sets of small shoulders slumping in
relief—the whole family knew that Han wasn't half the
disciplinarian Leia could be when she got angry. Jacen sent Zekk the
Solo lopsided smile and bounded into the apartment, while Jaina
followed more slowly. She reached out to give Zekk's hand a quick,
hard squeeze before blushing and hurrying into the house. Zekk
touched his hand and stared after Jaina with a wistful, awestruck
look in his unnervingly deep eyes, and Leia felt a frisson of unhappy
unease go down her spine at how relaxed her daughter seemed to be
with this scruffy little street urchin, how . . . attached they
already seemed to one another. As for Zekk, he didn't seem
to dare to look at her any longer as he turned to go, and that
annoyed Leia, too. "How much do you want?" she demanded. "Huh?"
Zekk blurted, spinning back around. He looked up at Leia with wide
eyes. "How much f-for what, m'lady?" "Don't play
innocent," Leia snapped, rummaging in her pocket for her credit
chip. "For bringing the twins back instead of leading them to a
group of slavers or some such thing. How much?" Zekk shook
his head. "N-no, m'lady," he stammered. "It's all right;
I—I didn't bring them back to get your money. Really." He drew
himself up proudly, but his words still stumbled all over themselves.
"I—I just—they needed to come back. They don't belong down
there, in my world. So I brought them home. That's all." Leia
gave him an appraising look, seriously doubting the veracity of his
words, but she could see nothing but a sincerity that she couldn't
help but find rather sweet in its open, obvious honesty. So
maybe she had misjudged the boy, after all. "Fine, then,"
she said, making up her mind all at once. "Come inside." Zekk
stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "Wh-at, m'lady?" he
breathed. Leia shrugged. "Come inside. It's the least I
can do to thank you."
Leia came back to the present and looked down at the unfortunate child before her, thinking that perhaps this boy looked very much like Han might have, long ago, when he was a child on the streets of Coronet. Who was she to judge? She certainly didn't judge Han for his long ago past. She reached forward and tucked the blanket more securely around the slender shoulders of this particular boy.
Zekk awoke with a shuddering start and surged upright, knocking both her hand and the blanket away entirely—then his eyes fell on her and he seemed to register her presence.
A band of darkness chose that moment to overtake them, but Leia was fairly certain the boy had flushed a deep red. "I—um, sorry, Chief of State Organa Solo," he said in a small, embarrassed voice that was still thick with sleep and nightmares. "You—startled me."
"It isn't a problem," Leia said, and she meant it. She reached back for the blanket and draped it over Zekk's shoulders again, then patted his knee to reassure him. "I understand why you might be a light sleeper."
"Um," Zekk said. He sounded extremely uncomfortable.
Leia sighed. "Would you like a snack or a glass of something?" she asked. "I'll fix something for you, and then you can tell me about your adventures with my children."
Zekk's eyes widened, and he stared at her in readily apparent disbelief. "Okay?" he said hesitantly, and Leia nodded and moved into the small kitchenette to fix a plate of Alderaanian avabush cookies and to fix two mugs of the hot chocolate Luke always asked for whenever he came to visit them. She could feel Zekk's eyes following her in disbelief, and realized that seeing the Chief of State making hot chocolate probably wasn't something the average person saw everyday. She smiled to herself at the thought as she finished with the drinks and carried them back over to the couch, where she set the plate of cookies down on the crystal-glass table in front of it and handed one mug of hot chocolate to Zekk. He accepted it with a quietly murmured thank you and looked quickly away again.
Leia settled into a seat beside him on the couch. "You don't have to be afraid of me," she said gently.
Zekk had been taking a sip of hot chocolate—he swallowed it far too quickly and nearly choked. "I don't?" he gasped after a moment of spluttering. "Sorry, m'lady, but—you're a little intimidating."
Leia smiled at his honesty. "I suppose I am," she said. "But I'm only a person, you know, behind the rumors and the scandals in the sludgenews."
"That stuff's just trash," Zekk said dismissively. "No, it's not that." He sent her an awestruck glance. "But they say you were a leader of the Rebellion? And you're Luke Skywalker's sister? And you're strong in the Force—and married to Han Solo. And you're the Chief of State of the New Republic—it's like talking to a—to a—I've never talked to anyone like you before." She could tell he was getting flustered, and he looked away again. "Y-your Highness," he stammered.
"None of that now," Leia said with a chuckle, taking a sip of her own drink. It wasn't bad, really—comforting and sweetly warm. It tasted like Luke to her. "I haven't really been royalty for a long time now, you know, and I'm not going to require such formality from the rescuer of my children."
Zekk's shoulders relaxed slightly. "That's good," he said in a quiet voice. "Because I'd just make myself look like an idiot if I tried it."
Leia couldn't help it this time, she laughed out loud. She could see why her son and daughter liked this little scamp. His straightforward honesty was disarming, and behind the grimy exterior there was a solid foundation of character.
She could see a tiny smile quirk Zekk's lips as another bar of light passed over them. "Here," she said. "Try one of the cookies."
Zekk obeyed, taking a bite, chewing it carefully, then swallowed and enthusiastically devoured the rest of the cookie. "You didn't make this," he accused after finishing it.
"How do you know?" Leia asked teasingly.
He looked at her from under his lashes, and Leia realized there was mischief in his gaze. "It tastes good," he said bluntly. "I don't know if they teach princesses how to bake."
Leia burst out laughing. Zekk eyed her warily, but he didn't seem quite as nervous as before. Well, Leia thought, that was something. "You're right," she said when she got herself under control again. "They don't, and I didn't make them. I made the hot chocolate, though, and that's edible, isn't it?"
He sipped it again and gave her that slow, tiny smile. "Yeah," he said softly. "It's good."
And Leia felt strangely as if she had passed some sort of test, and come out the better for it. She smiled, and reached out to ruffle her hand gently through Zekk's dirty hair. "You're all right, Zekk," she said. "You should visit us again after you go home tomorrow. I'm sure Jacen and Jaina would be happy to see you."
Zekk's face seemed to light up, and this time the slow smile was wide and so sweet it nearly stopped her heart.
"Thanks," he said. "I will."
"Where've you been?" Han muttered grumpily as she climbed back into bed. He rolled over and extended his arms in a sleepy invitation, and Leia slipped into his embrace, cuddling up against his warm chest. Even after all these years, being in Han's arms still felt like coming home to her.
"Talking to the twins' new friend," she whispered against his neck.
"The little trash collector?" Han mumbled, and she nodded. "Hmph," he said, but it sounded like a noise of approval to Leia. "He's okay, I guess. Kid's got guts; sorta reminds me of myself when I was his age. But I didn't like the way he looked at Jaina."
"Han," Leia said chidingly. "Jaina is only eight. I'm sure Zekk didn't look at her like that." She grinned, feeling her lips curve up against the warm flesh of his neck. "There's no need to get jealous yet, nerf herder. We still have plenty of time for you to have your little princess all to yourself."
"You didn't see the way that kid was looking at her," Han said drowsily. "Like she's the moons and stars to him. Might not be anything but kid stuff now, but I remember what I thought when I first saw you, and that's what the kid's got in his eyes."
"Even the 'no reward is worth this' part?" Leia asked in a playful tone, cuddling closer.
"Yep," Han said, and pressed a warm kiss to the top of her head. "And you're my princess, your Highnessness. And I'll have you to myself for as long as I live. Zekk can have Jaina."
"Han!" Leia said, slapping her hand against his stomach under the covers. "Don't say things like that about your daughter!"
"He can have her in about twenty years," Han amended. "Now get to sleep, princess. You have a long day tomorrow. Like you do every day," he added under his breath.
Leia obeyed and fell silent, feeling her body start to relax cradled in the comforting warmth of Han's arms. Her mind, though, kept running about in circles, playing through images of her daughter in the arms of a tall man with long black hair and two-tone emerald eyes, climbing down from an X-Wing, with Jacen and Anakin and other Jedi trainees in front of the Great Temple on Yavin 4. She wasn't sure why the handsome young man with the long dark hair tied back from his face and the dark green eyes was in every picture her mind came up with, but she was tired, and it was probably just her imagination playing tricks on her.
"Han?" she said finally, and he gave an answering grunt that sounded more like a Gamorrean than her husband. "Do you think it's right to let Jacen and Jaina see Zekk whenever they want to? I don't want them to grow apart from us."
"You think too much, princess," Han said into his pillow. "Zekk's a good kid. Jaina's your daughter and Jacen's your son; and we'll always be their parents, no matter what. That's all we need to know. Now come here and sleep beside me, and stop fidgeting. I'm tired."
Leia sighed, and settled down, and turned to kiss her husband on the lips. He was tired, and clumsy, but he returned the kiss drowsily before settling his chin on her hair and drifting off again.
This time Leia followed him into sleep, and her dreams were pleasant ones.