Leia remains silent as she watches her company interact with one another. Winter and Tycho interacted with each other almost exclusively, adding a few comments here and there to the group. Wes left shortly after Leia arrived at the café, with Wedge eventually joining the group to replace him. Luke and Wedge would go on to tease Kes over his girlfriend overseas.
"What about Luke? Seriously Han, you should have seen it. All these British girls were practically throwing themselves on him." Kes laughs. Han chuckles while taking a sip of his beer.
"What about you Han? Any girls during your service?" Wedge asks.
"Nah, My troop was in Melbourne for a few days but not enough to elicit an affair. It was mostly rain and jungle rot, not a lot in the pacific."
"Really? No Aussie girls to keep you warm at night?" Wedge responds.
"Nope." Han shakes his head.
"Of all people I would have thought that you would have slept with an Aussie girl." Wedge says, continuing to press the matter.
"Yeah well we didn't have a lot of freedom." Han responds. "What about you princess, you score some guy in the army?"
"No, when you soldiers were off gallivanting, I was working to get you boys into Germany." Leia states, making the three men laugh.
"That you were." Luke says, placing an arm over Leia's shoulder. Han looks at the two and proceeds to finish his beer.
"Lelia, look who's coming over." Winter says, coming out of the bubble she had immersed herself in.
"I'm not sure if I want to." Leia says, hesitantly turning to see whom Winter was talking about. A group of men had walked in, all wearing uniforms; one of who was walking towards the table.
"Leia, I had called on you tonight. Moira said you were not at home." He says, purposefully ignoring her company.
"You have missed me. I've been in and out of the house all day." Leia responds, not making eye contact with the man.
"Well no matter, we ended up meeting anyhow. Fancy a drink?"
"No thank you Isolder. I have a drink."
"Come on Leia, I'm sure you need a break from these losers. No offence boys." He says, nodding to the men at the table.
"No I really am fine." Leia repeats.
"Come on Leia, you are breaking my heart." Isolder fakes a pout while holding his chest. Han sighs and stands up, blocking the blonde's view of Leia.
"She doesn't want a drink." Han states, tired of the stranger's unreciprocated banter.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Han Solo. Who the hell are you?" Han repeats.
"Lieutenant Isolder Hapes." The man responds, towering slightly over Han.
"An officer huh? Where did you serve?"
"I graduated from Westpoint."
"I didn't ask where you graduated from, I asked where you served." Han restates. Isolder stares at Han, his teeth grinding against each other as he was obviously getting annoyed at the private.
"Where did you serve?" Isolder asks in a rather childish manner.
"I served in the pacific theater with the Marine Corps." Han smirks, still waiting on Isolder's answer.
"I don't have to deal with this. Leia, I'll be with my buddies. Come join us." Isolder walks away from the table, finally giving up on her.
"Jesus, what's up his ass?" Han asks as he sits back down.
"Congratulations Han, you got the spoiled brat to shut up." Wedge raises his glass to Han.
"Yeah, for the past months Isolder has been talking about his commission and won't say where he served. " Kes says.
"He probably didn't fight overseas." Luke states. "Many of those guys didn't. Either they enrolled shortly after we landed and graduated when the fighting was over or parents had a roll to play."
"Yea it figures." Han says.
"That doesn't matter, Isolder is apart of the army just as you guys are." Leia states, not wanting to defend the man but also not wanting to dismiss his military status.
"Please Princess, he's no better than those kids who came as replacements who are trigger happy to kill people." Han rolls his eyes.
"So you're saying that those replacements who lost their lives had no right to say they were in service?"
"Of course not. Those kids saw actual actions, they know how it felt to kill and saw people they were close to die. Kids like Isolder have no clue how any of that felt and never will 'cause in three years time when the uniform and title are no longer attractive to girls, he'll dump them in a second to make money at his families estate." Han responds. Leia stares down the man, not wanting to relent. She eventually stands and begins to walk away from the table.
"Where are you going?" Luke asks after her, his words slurring slightly.
"I'm going to powder my nose." She says walking the opposite way of the ladies room.
"Why is Leia leaving?" Wedge asks. Han rolls his eyes and stands up, going after the young woman.
"Leia." Han calls as he notices her grabbing her bicycle.
"What now? Are you going to lecture me on how women didn't have any role to play during the war?"
"Of course not. That's not what this is about. It's about men who have the gall to step up and use the military as a way to pick up women or get special treatment when in reality they know nothing of war." Han sighs. "I assumed you would understand but I guess not."
"Yeah, I guess so." Leia mounts her bike, getting ready to take off.
"Let me give you a ride home." Han says, his hands stuffed into his coat pockets.
"No thanks. I don't need your help."
"Christ, can you for once just allow me to do something nice for you? I gotta take Luke home anyway." Han swears.
"Fine." Leia responds, getting off her bicycle. "But only because you insisted, not because I'm relying on you."
"Yea sure, whatever. I'll get Luke." Han shakes his head, going back into the building to retrieve their friend.
…
"Hey Leia, why are you so mean to him?" Luke slurs as he rests his arm on Han's shoulder to hold him up.
"Mean to who Luke?" Leia asks, walking a few inches away from the men.
"To Han, you're at least somewhat pleasant to me and the guys. But not to Han, why?" Luke draws on.
"Yeah princess why?" Han reiterates, a smirk forming on his face.
"Cause you and the boys are somewhat pleasant to be around. Mr Solo here is nothing but a pain in the rear." Leia comments, walking ahead.
"She's kinda right you know." Luke whispers to his friend. Han rolls his eyes as the smirk disappears from his face.
"I don't know kid, maybe in a few months the princess and me will be together."
"No." Luke responds right away, almost cutting the brunette off.
"Oh your highness, my car is here." Han calls after Leia, who had walked past Han's truck. Leia turns back to the car taking a good look, it was a ford made in the mid-1930s, beginning to slightly rust and obviously hadn't been well taken car of in it's life.
"You drive around in that thing?" Leia asks, physically pointing at the truck.
"Yeah." Han replies, grabbing the keys from his pocket.
"You're braver than I thought." Leia mocks. Han rolls his eyes as he unlocks the door. He sets Luke down on the seat and moves to Leia's bike. "I don't know can this bucket of bolts carry all three of us and the bike? I'd feel bad if we wrecked your baby."
"Very funny. Get in the car." Han says, lifting the bike into the bed of the truck. Leia smirks as she slides into the middle through the driver's side; Han slides in next to her and slams the door.
…..
Luke had fallen asleep on the ride to Leia's house, which had made the car fairly silent beside the low rumble on the engine.
"I don't know how I'm gonna get him home with him asleep like that." Han comments, finally breaking the silence.
"I'll give you directions from my place." Leia responds quickly, already missing the silence. Han nods his head, not carrying on the conversation. As he drives he notices the horizon lit up, he squints unsure whether the sun had come up or had yet to go down still.
"Do you see that?" He asks, bringing Leia out of her daze she glances off to the side.
"Yeah I do." She sits up, puzzled by the mysterious light. It becomes brighter as they drive closer, a change in heat becoming more noticeable as they reach it.
"What is that? A grass fire?" Han asks.
"No….it's not a grass fire." Leia responds, her chest dropping to her stomach as they draw closer.
"What the hell is it?"
"Stop the car." Leia says. Han looks over at the woman, puzzled by her sudden request. "I said stop." Han pushed on the brake, fulfilling her demand. Leia reaches over Luke, unlatching the door and proceeds to crawl over the blonde to get out.
"Leia!" Han calls as she exits the car. He places the vehicle in park and goes after her. When he exits the car he sprints after her, having difficulty catching up to her as she dashes towards the light.
Leia's heart pounds as she sprints down the gravel road, her shoes digging painfully into her feet. She rounds the corner to her driveway that led to her house, stopping as she watches her life crumble around her.
Author's Note:
Apologizing for the awful editing it's almost midnight and I wanted to get the story up, I might go back through and fix errors if I have time this week. Tell me what you think as always, I feel I might've been too OC with this chapter and I will try to correct that as much as possible. Thanks for reading and the encouragement with this story I really appreciate it.
XOXO Tamorasky.