(Prompt request: 52. "I think I'm in love with you and that scares me half to death."
As is almost always the case with me and prompts, this is a horrible, horrible cheat. The first time they say "I love you" to each other, the prompt doesn't fit- so this moment takes place a few days beforehand.
Theron POV.)
mistakes
This was a mistake.
He should have stayed down in the conference room, kept planning the raid on the Gemini frequency. They move tomorrow, if Nine agrees to Havoc's involvement (a whole separate question. He thinks she will, since Jorgan's team's gone rogue just like the rest of them and stars know they could use a second strike team desperately to back up Kaliyo, but he's still actually got to get her okay. He might have just gone ahead with it, once- better ask forgiveness than permission and all that, but now-
Right now he's not that much of a hypocrite.)
He should have kept working. R&R's one thing when there's time to spare; right now, though, he's got a primary plan still in third draft and a backup plan that's still half in his head and to be honest he's never liked this holofilm, anyway-too sappy by half, and it reminded him way too much of his parents to be comfortable viewing. But it'd won the poll they'd put up in the mess hall, and when it came time for the screening Lana'd practically dragged him out of the War Room by the collar.
Theron, she'd said, please. What kind of example are we setting if we can't put things aside for a few hours?
So instead of getting anything else done he's sitting on a folding chair in the cleared-out hangar, the film halfway over, and he's about ready to crawl out of his skin.
Nine's sitting five rows ahead, Lana beside her, chin upturned toward the projection. Even at this distance, even looking at the back of her head, he can tell by her posture she's exhausted. She hadn't been sleeping well for a month, maybe a little longer, and since Alderaan he's not sure she's been sleeping much at all; there are mornings where he can tell the only thing keeping her awake are stims.
He's been there. The tremor's a dead giveaway.
(He should have said something, then.
He should have said something before, too. But they're just stuck, static, both wrong and both right and they know it but they're both too fucking stubborn to be the first to give way- oh, this is so stupid, Nine, why didn't you just- )
The whole room goes silent. Everyone knows this scene, after all, the most famous one in the entire movie: the Jedi Knight and the commando locked in an embrace, forehead against forehead, before the Jedi pulls away and whispers (and the smuggler sitting in the chair beside him whispers, too, her rapt attention on the screen)-
"I think I'm in love with you," the Jedi says, as the commando- bad casting, he thinks, given the woman probably couldn't even lift a rifle- reaches toward him again, "and that scares me half to death."
When they kiss the crowd erupts in cheers and applause and in the noise of it he almost misses Nine, up and on her feet, turned in profile, her back rigid, her face a mask of anger. Lana's holding onto her wrist, trying to keep her seated, but she yanks her hand free; in another few seconds, even as the cheers continue, she's moving down the aisle toward the door.
Even compared to this morning, the circles beneath her eyes are darker, her skin paler. He recognizes her expression, too, now that he knows what to look for.
Valkorion.
Her lips move silently, unreadable in the near-dark as she keeps walking- Force, what's that monster tormenting her with now? He should stop her. She shouldn't be wandering, not alone, not like this.
He gets up. When he reaches out his hand as she goes past it brushes against her clenched fist; she misses a step and just for a moment she snaps into clarity and looks at him and he can read the words on her mouth, then-
"I'm not scared, liar," she whispers, flinching, and he knows she doesn't mean him but he doesn't know what she does mean, either- not scared of what, Nine?- "I'm not. I just-"
And then Lana's there, too, hand on her arm, guiding her toward the door. "I'll take her, Theron. It'll only-" she sighs. "Go find Doctor Lokin and meet us in her quarters."
Before he can respond they're gone into the hall as the film keeps playing behind them.
"What's there to be scared of?" the commando finally says in reply as he turns to stare at the screen. "I know. I've always known. I was just waiting for you to say it."
Oh-