One of These Days
She was going to kill him.
She glared at him, quite pointedly, even as she came in to land.
He always thought her at her best when she was multi-tasking that way. He was starting to get used to being her personage of blame. To some degree, he even enjoyed the convoluted reasons he could get to be to blame for the most abstract of things.
He glanced up at her as the landing struts made contact with the platform. Oh, but she really was glaring. He tried to suppress a smile. She was always so brilliant when she was fierce.
She was so very exhausted.
And to be honest, she had no real idea why she was here. It had just seemed needful. The message from Solo, that was. Somewhat urgent, even. Yet the man clearly waiting for her did not seem to be in any imminent distress. In fact, he looked to be there, whole, and in good humour.
She thought it was that last part that was the final straw, actually.
So even though she hadn't slept at all for almost three days, her boots hit the landing platform before the ship's ramp had.
She marched over to him, all fire, glare and angry shoulders.
"What, farmboy?"
He shrugged. "I tried to tell you, but you didn't listen. I got out. I'm OK." He noted her gaze shifting over him swiftly, as if to discern any serious injuries. He had to make a real effort to make sure she didn't find anything too significant. He was, after all, quite exhausted too. "Didn't you hear me?"
"No, Skywalker, I did not," she bit out. "For some reason, I'm feeling tired."
He couldn't think of anything meaningful to say. They looked at each other in that now familiarly friendly, yet weirdly antagonistic way for a beat.
He shrugged again, looking generally uncertain, yet his eyes shone with the sincerity that she may have, in the past, found annoying. Once or twice. Also now. "I'm sorry, Mara. I honestly thought you'd hear me."
She looked at him blankly. Completely on purpose. "You didn't think to comm me?"
He tipped his head over slightly, in that overly annoying Jedi fashion. "I didn't think I'd need to." He didn't mention that there was no way he could have done, of course.
She shook her head angrily.
She was so very frustrated.
"One of these days..."
She realised that she could no longer bring herself to say 'it' out loud, but was simply too bone tired to analyse that fact right then.
She turned away and her eyes were suddenly, firmly shut.
A vague hiss of a sigh and some slightly flimsy, possibly despairing, arm waving escaped from her before she managed to get a grip on herself and just stopped.
She stood still.
For a moment.
Then she swung a sharp gaze around to meet his.
Then, "It's just that, Skywalker, one of these days..."
He tried to suppress a second smile as her speech hit another wall; she vaguely waved her arms again, and then turned sharply and stalked away from him.
He did nothing but watch her as she swept across the platform and out through its entrance.
He shook his head slowly to himself as the door slid closed.
She was amazing.
And now he began to realise that she might just care.