Chapter Two: The Rogue
The previous night had been one of the longest and hardest ones Leia had endured for a long time. Every night, and day for that matter, was particularly strained when you were hiding on a desolate ice planet trying to hide a whole army from the Empire, but this one was different. Last night had emotionally disturbed Leia to a point that she was not used to experiencing. A very slight amount of things could distress Lea and she had been distressed.
Recalling her thoughts about Luke out in the merciless ice, made Leia close her eyes and let out a long breath as she washed her hair. She gingerly leaned her head against the wall of the shower as the soap crawled down her neck. She had believed in some part of her heart that Luke was never going to make it back last night and Han as well. The only people she was, remotely, attached to were so close to dying and her stress level had been unbearable. She sat up all night in the command center listening for anything to come through the comm. After Luke and Han had returned, the latter and General Rieekan had insisted that she get some rest, it would be a few hours before Luke would wake up anyway.
Leia stepped out of the shower, the mirror was barely even touched by the steam, considering she had to shut the water off as soon as she turned it on and it was freezing everywhere in Echo Base, she wasn't surprised. However, as she looked at herself in the reflection she was surprised that she ever got to sleep a few hours earlier. Then as she began to braid her hair she remembered the details of her dream and how her rest probably made her feel worse than better. What she really needed was to see Luke and talk to him; she needed to know that he was going to be fine.
As she pulled her vest over her white outfit her chamber door opened and C 3PO stepped inside, there was only one reason he would be bothering her, and it must be because Luke was going to be released from the bacta tank. At this conclusion she didn't even let him speak before she pushed by him and rushed down the corridor to the medical facility. She turned sharply into the doors and stopped abruptly as she saw Han already standing there, leaning against the wall, watching Luke in the bacta tank with unease. The door opened behind her and C 3PO and R2 D2 came in to stand by the tank to watch the progress of their Master. She walked slowly up to Han and placed a gentle hand on his arm before moving to stop in front of the tank.
She felt Han move and leave the room as Luke jolted to the top of the tank to be released. She made to go to his medical room but didn't go very far, when she suddenly felt fatigued. She sat down in a chair wearily, her heart still slightly pounding from her rush over. She leaned back and closed her eyes; she could hear the mechanical moving of C 3PO as he walked by chattering to R2 D2. She found the strength to get up when she realized the first people Luke might see upon awaking might not even be people at all.
She got to the room before the droids and she hoped, before Han. She slid the door up and knocked on the wall gently before poking her head over the threshold and around the corner. He instantly smiled when he saw her and she returned the gesture relieved to see him moving. He sat up in the bed and Leia practically crushed him beneath her embrace. She held tightly onto his body her hand grasping the back of his head,
"I thought I was going to lose you." She whispered into his, his gripped tightened as he buried his head into neck. All her emotions had rushed to the surface upon seeing him and now all she wanted to do was cry. However, she swallowed the lump in her throat, realizing their meeting had already gone too far. She moved away from him to look into his eyes but kept a firm grip on his hand, "What happened?" she asked.
"A wompa, he attacked me." he said hesitantly. "I don't remember anything except waking up in his cave, I escaped and wandered around in the ice, for…" he laughed ironically, "…who knows how long. I felt like I was going to die out there, Leia." He looked away feeling a bit overwhelmed remembering everything. He wanted to tell her about seeing Ben, but he felt the time wasn't right, instead he look back up at her, "Have you ever experienced a feeling where you thought you were going to die, with no thought of hope?"
She looked down at his question, "What do you think?" she asked, he laughed lightly.
"Of course you have, I forgot." He replied, but her face got serious as she looked at him.
"No, I haven't. I knew I wasn't going to die at the hand of Tarkin, I always knew. In the back of my mind, I never accepted death." She said quietly, she released his hand as she heard the door open and moved away from his bed. She knew he was keeping something from her and she turned around at the other side of the room to smile at him, "But you do look devilishly handsome with those scars, gives you a roguish look." She entertained,
"Like Han?" he asked.
"Yeah, but don't let it get to your head. Remember you're the noble one." She added, he smiled and looked down, his smiled faded after a moment and she thought he was going to tell what he was hiding. However, C-3PO saw a gap in the conversation and took his first chance to speak,
"Master Luke sir, it's so good to see you fully functional again!" the protocol droid said, quite loudly, compared to their own soft tones.
"Thanks threepio." Luke replied in a low voice over R2's beeps and whirls.
"R2 expresses his relief also." C-3PO finished as Han came through the door, almost cutting the droid off in mid sentence.
"How ya feeling kid? You don't look so bad to me. You look strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark." He said as he and Chewie went to hover over Luke's bed.
"Thanks to you."
"That's two you owe me junior." Han replied, holding two fingers of his right hand up for a clear message. Luke chuckled in reply as Han turned around to face the other side of the room where Leia stood. "Well, Your Worship, looks like you managed to keep me around for a little while longer." He accused as she looked over at him slowly,
"I had nothing to do with it," she said in her defense, "General Rieekan thinks it's dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy field." She finished, now slightly provoked.
"That's a good story," he began, "But I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight." He finished with a nice pouty lip, she struggled to hold back her disgust.
"I don't know where you get your delusions laser brain." She retaliated quite calmly for her growing displeasure. She felt a sense of pride when Chewie chuckled at her comeback.
"Laugh it up fuzzball," Han said to him, obviously not appreciating his amusement as much as she. "But you didn't see us in the South Passage," he said walking over to her, she watched him irritably as he put his arm around her shoulder, "She expressed her true feeling for me."
"My-"she paused as she fought the urge to regurgitate in her mouth, she regained her composure and began to yell up at him. "Why you stuck up…half-witted…scruffy looking…nerf herder!" she barked as he walked back to Luke. He stopped halfway and looked back at her,
"Whose scruffy looking?" he asked, offended only by the insult towards his physical appearance. Her chest heaved slowly as she stared at him with contempt as he leaned down, "I must've hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh kid?" Her jawe tightened and her lips formed a thin line in her white face. Luke nor anyone else, showed no signs of amusement or recognition other than looking at her. She began nodding in her agitation while walking towards them. She wanted to slap Han in the face; however, she didn't truly think she would be able to reach, so she chose a different route. One she had been thinking about taking for a long time,
"Well I guess you don't know everything about women yet." She said crisply as she looked up at Han, he crossed his arms, practically at her eye level. Then without warning she reached down and grabbed Luke by the side of the face and kissed him. Luke made little movement as did everyone else in the room, except C-3PO who bustled over to get a better look at the unfolding drama. She heard Chewie's noises of surprise and felt Han's disproving stare as she disengaged her lips from Luke's. She looked triumphantly up at the rogue, and held eye contact with him as she smirked and turned to leave.
"Headquarters personnel report to the Command Center." a voice repeated three times over the loud speaker. She sighed a breathe of relief, happy to shed her personal endeavors for the day.
INSERT: I realize now that Leia had her own room at Hoth and so ignore the last chapter "the other beds in the room were unoccupied, she was grateful, for the fact that no one had witnessed her night terror", because obviously, she got her own rooms. That was a mistake on my part and I apologize. Also, right now you may think that I am just going to repeat the movie, but my original story does start to unfold in the next chapter or two. You won't have to wait long.