Getting into the medical facility took an obscene amount of money. Given the amount of strings Leia had to pull, palms she had to grease and favors she was forced to call in, it was easy to see how this facility had gained a reputation for discretion. She could only hope her efforts would be worth it.
The orderly who was temporarily in her employ took her up to the prosthetic wing and pointed silently to a door at the end of the hall. There were no other staff around and there was a still a good hour before the facility was technically open. As she approached the door she could hear a mechanical whir, punctuated by a few short beeps.
She opened the door, and the man who's prosthetic leg was currently undergoing maintenance by a med droid looked up sharply.
It was really quite an achievement. For the second time in her life, she had successfully tracked down Boba Fett.
"You can put that down," she said, referencing the blaster that was now aimed at her head.
"Give me one good reason to."
Leia didn't blame him for being annoyed. This was, at the very least, a gross invasion of his privacy. "I'm only here to talk," she told him. His dark eyes were sharp with suspicion, but he lowered the blaster. The med droid continued to work on his leg, undisturbed by the confrontation.
"You look pretty good for a man who was partially digested." They were both a good fifteen years older since their skirmish at the pit of Carkoon, but Fett was wearing nothing but a pair of tight black shorts, giving her a clear view of the extensive scarring the sarlacc's stomach acids left behind, not to mention the loss of his right leg from the knee down.
"You can drop the half-assed flattery," he growled in return. "What do you want from me?"
"I want to hire you."
"Not interested."
She tilted her head. "You're not even curious about the job?"
"No."
"Why?"
"You really have to ask?" His tone was biting. "I don't want anything to do with you, or your brother, or your husband. I'd rather cut my dick off and toss it back in the sarlacc pit."
Leia thought about correcting him in regards to Han. Technically, according to the laws of marital cohabitation, they were legally separated. Again. But that probably wouldn't matter to Fett.
"We were enemies once," she acknowledged carefully. "But I would expect a mercenary to understand that circumstances can alter relationships."
"A mercenary chooses who they work for," he returned coldly. "That's the entire fekking point."
Leia exhaled in frustration. All this time and trouble and money. For this. "You don't have to like me to work for me. I need your particular expertise and I can pay you verywell for it." His only reply was stony silence. "Damn it, Fett, is there anything I can do to change your mind?"
He flinched suddenly, and a harsh, unguarded gasp of pain escaped him. "Fierfek!"
"There will be some discomfort," the med droid reported. "I must remind you that the use of pain injectors is recommended for this procedure."
"No," he responded through his teeth, his hands gripping the exam table edges hard enough to turn his knuckles white.
Leia looked away, wishing now that she'd found another way to do this. "I'm sorry about your leg," she said quietly, her eyes still averted. "As I said before, if there's anything I can do-"
"You can't kiss it and make it better," he snarled, followed by a rough kind of half-laugh. "Or maybe you can. That's it. That's what you can do."
Leia looked swiftly back at his face. He was smirking at her now, but his hands were still grasping table edges with visible effort. "You…want me to kiss your leg?" She asked, her eyebrows raised.
"No. A real kiss." He held her eyes. "And I'll listen to your job offer."
Oh, she'd really pissed him off. That was clear. "Why that?"
"Because you won't do it." His shoulders jerked as the droid's instruments hit a non-prosthetic spot. "Sithspawn," he hissed, a rough edge in his voice. "And then maybe you'll leave me alone."
"I think you've severely underestimated what I will and won't do." Before she could change her mind, she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips firmly to his.
At first his mouth was slack with shock, but he recovered quickly. His hand was suddenly and unexpectedly at the nape of her neck, an advance that she parried by biting down almost savagely on his lower lip. They parted, and Fett winced a little as he touched the tender spot she left
Leia gave her own lips a swipe with her fingers, careful not to smudge her lipstick. "I should tell you right now that this job is not an official part of any intelligence operation and the Republic is in no way aware of, or responsible for this mission." She paused to take a breath after that. "How much do you know about the First Order?"
