We've finally reached the chapter that goes along with the movie! This was so fun to write the scenes that you "didn't see" while watching the film. If you haven't seen the movie, don't worry, I try to fill in the gaps so you at least know what's going on. But I'm not going to recap it because that's boring, and also, I don't want it to be like you're reading the script. So there will be a few lines here and there for place markers, but mostly my own work. Also I don't own most of them. Just Amelia and Simone. Enjoy! ~Alice
CHAPTER 15
It had been a few days. Amelia was back to her weekly rotation of duties, and Quinn seemed more alive to everyone than he had been since Rosanna died. He and Amelia were gelling in ways they couldn't have imagined. Physically, they couldn't get enough of each other. Every evening after their lovemaking sessions, they would talk late into the night. Spilling secret desires, telling each other things the other didn't know.
Saturday morning both she and Quinn were back in the tunnels. She gathered the debris from his pickaxe in a large bucket and brought it out of the stuffy space.
She and Quinn tried not to show too much affection in public just to keep some semblance of his authority intact; but Lord, how hard that was. She positively loved this job. Quinn was shirtless again, banging away with his pickaxe. She tried not to stare by busying herself loading rocks into her bucket and started hauling them through the tunnel with a wink at Quinn. He smirked back briefly and returned to clearing more boulders.
She walked past Jerry tightening the bolts on his sprinkler system.
"Looks good Jer!" she said smiling.
He nodded proudly. "'Course it does," he said winking at her. "I'm about to show your fella."
She laughed and continued through the shelter. She saw Stuart, Sarah and Marcus sitting in an alcove, pickaxes on the ground. She gave them a wary glance but felt it would undermine Quinn if she said anything to them. She also didn't want to seem like Quinn's toady, people thinking she was lording over them, just because she was with him now. She continued out the door to the back entrance of the castle and dumped her rocks. When she came back in, she saw people scrambling back to work, an edge in the air.
She heard Jared yell, "No slacking!"
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Eddie's up to something," he said quickly. "Obrien just came in and told Quinn he'd gone psycho."
"Oh God," said Amelia, her heart in her stomach. "Where's Quinn?"
"He ran out and told me to keep them working."
Amelia wanted to immediately run after him but thought better of it. If he needed them to keep working, she would. But maybe it would be a good idea to let Creedy know for backup. He wasn't far away, working in the back part of the tunnels, and she grabbed his arm.
"Creedy, Quinn just ran out, Eddie went crazy. Sounds like they went outside."
He dropped his shovel. "On it!" he yelled, running for the stairs.
Amelia looked after him till he was out of sight and began to shovel more debris into her bucket. She grunted as she lifted it. This job definitely wasn't as fun if Quinn was not there.
….
At supper, she finally got to sit down with Quinn, Creedy and Simone, and the two men told them what had happened. Eddie, his son Devon, Rachel, Matt, and Michael had all been about to harvest from the fields early, and Quinn had snatched the jeep keys away before they could drive to the fields.
"I can't believe it," said Amelia. "We all decided in the council meeting."
"Quelle folie," said Simone, shaking her head. Her hand was on Creedy's back, stroking it up and down.
"Well at least we know what they were talking about the other night when you saw them," said Amelia. "It wasn't about you; it was gathering food."
Quinn nodded gravely and sipped his water. He had been quiet all night so far; his face tight, eyes focused and mouth pursed. Amelia leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, and he seemed to relax a bit.
Simone turned and put a finger under Creedy's chin. "I loved the part when you said, 'you jeopardize this community, you can stay out there.' You're my hero of old my love," she said, and he leaned in closer.
"Well, I have a gorgeous French woman to protect, don't I?" he answered.
Simone swooned and grabbed his face, and they moved their lips over each other's making the most grotesque noises. Quinn snapped out of his funk, only to pull a face and he rolled his eyes at Amelia amused. She laughed uncomfortably. Quinn put his arm around her and slid her toward him on the bench.
"Aren't you glad we're not like this lot?" he asked.
"Oh, definitely," she said, and Quinn pulled her in for a searing kiss.
When they separated, she glanced around the room embarrassed. No one was looking at them thank God. She wasn't ready to make out in front of the whole community like Creedy and Simone were always wont to do. Quinn took no notice though, and kissed her temple, his arm still around her and took another drink.
Simone was now whispering in French to Creedy and he seemed mesmerized by her mouth.
"Ahem," Quinn cleared his throat.
They looked at him, their eyes un-fogging.
"Let's not dwell on Eddie and company anymore," said Quinn, resigning to set today aside. "Should we keep going with Star Wars?"
Creedy got suddenly animated. "Yeah, the kids'll love it!" he said excitedly.
"You with your Sci-fi," said Simone. "You are positively… silly…" She emphasized each word by touching her nose to his.
"And you love it you minx, admit it," he put his arms around her again, and the kissing resumed.
"Oi!" said Quinn. "Will you two please know your audience. Besides, it's getting late."
Creedy finally released Simone with a sigh, and they discussed what should happen.
They made Amelia a part of it again, even when she'd already told them she was retired from acting. The two men wouldn't hear of it though and made her play the part of Princess Leia. Simone grabbed her hand and led her to her bunk to wind Amelia's hair into two huge buns on either side of her head at Creedy's insistence.
"Why aren't you doing this?" asked Amelia begrudgingly, as Simone worked her hair dressing magic.
Simone laughed and shook her hair to emphasize that her bob wasn't long enough. "Besides, Creedy knows better not to ask me. I did it once, but when I get excited, I start speaking in French, and the children booed me."
"Those little creeps!" laughed Amelia.
"There! You are perfect for a space adventure," said Simone, admiring her work. She handed Amelia a mirror.
Amelia wobbled her head back and forth. "I look ridiculous," she said gazing at her reflection.
She heard thumping feet coming down the stairs and looked over as Quinn and Creedy came around the corner to drag Amelia up to the mess hall, but when they spied her they stopped dead.
"Well done, darlin'," said Creedy, poking at Amelia's hair.
Quinn just stared.
"What do you think Quinn?" asked Simone slyly.
"I…" he trailed off.
"Come on numb-nuts," said Creedy, punching Quinn in the shoulder. "Let's go Lia." He grabbed Quinn's arm and pulled him along.
Simone and Amelia burst into giggles when they disappeared around the corner. "He hates it!" Amelia laughed, touching her hair.
"That's not what I saw!" said Simone, giving her a knowing look. "Come on, we're late."
…..
When they got upstairs, and the stage lights came on, they threw themselves into it. They weren't telling the story in order from what Amelia remembered. But the beauty was they could do anything they wanted. The kids wouldn't know any better and didn't understand the nostalgia dump they were receiving from the players anyway.
When Amelia came out on stage there were genuine gasps. Liam yelled, "Miss Amelia! Why you got rolls on your face?" She shot him a look and turned to Quinn in annoyance. He smiled, trying and failing to suppress a laugh.
The kids loved the retelling. They gasped and reacted to every twist. Finally, at the end, they applauded uproariously when Quinn revealed he was the White Knight's father.
"Did you make that up, Mr. Quinn?" asked Liam.
"'Course I did," said Quinn, bopping him lightly on the head with his wooden play sword.
They said their prayers and the kids were led off to bed, complaining. Quinn and Amelia stayed behind to blow out the candles and let Creedy and Simone slip off to an unoccupied wing of the castle for some alone time that they seemed to be craving.
The minute they were alone, Quinn grabbed Amelia by the hand and pulled her to him, winding his arms around her. "Do you even know how sexy you look right now?" he asked squeezing one of her Leia buns.
"Erm, no, I look ridiculous," she said, her fingers going to her hair to pull it out.
"No, don't," he said taking her hand and kissing her palm. He looked at her slyly. "I've always wanted to go to bed with Princess Leia."
"That's a little disturbing considering you just played my father." She pointed to his homemade Darth Vader helmet.
He laughed. "Not now. Now I'm Han Solo, and I'm taking you to bed." He finished blowing out the candles quickly and bent down to pick her up. He threw her over his shoulder as she shrieked and giggled.
He got halfway up the stairs before tiring out and putting her down. "Give me a minute to catch my breath. Then I'll take you upstairs and rock your world," he said between breaths, his hands on his knees.
She laughed. "We've shagged every night for almost two weeks. It's ok if we take a break."
He looked up at her from his panting position and shook his head. "We can't waste the buns," he gasped, looking utterly exhausted. "You… be the rogue princess… And I'll… be the scoundrel…"
"You already are a scoundrel!" she said. "The buns will be back, if you truly like them that much."
He nodded his head emphatically and stood up straight. "Ok, ok. Break tonight. But tomorrow I'm going to show you the power of the Force," he said.
Amelia doubled over with laughter, echoing down the metal stairs.
"Alright 'Han'. Let's go to bed you sexy Nerf Herder," she said still chuckling, pulling on his hand.
"It's 'scruffy'," he corrected. "But I'll take it."
They climbed the rest of the way up and collapsed into bed, clothes on, which was a fortunate thing considering what awaited them in the morning.