Mike and El spent a blissful weekend in bed before he had to go back to Indiana, but unlike the previous time they'd had to part, they were happy and focused on the future. Mike only had a few weeks before he was to start his new job so El immediately began the search for a place for them both to live. They had decided that since she still had some vacation time she would fly out to Indiana and make the trip back to Maine with Mike in his car with his belongings.
She found a nice two bedroom apartment in downtown Bangor that she thought would work for them, at least for the time being. She was already letting herself think about getting a house with him. Stop it, El. You're moving too fast.
Max helped her start to box up her collectibles. At first El was hesitant to tell Max that she would be moving out but was relieved to find that it was something Max had already thought about and after seeing her with Mike knew that it wouldn't be long before she no longer lived with El, whether Mike moved or not. She could tell that the two would do whatever was needed to be together. Wanting to help, Max found a moving company to move El's bed and a few larger pieces while they were on their way back. At least they wouldn't have to sleep on the floor their first night in their new place.
Two weeks later Mike was waiting at the airport again for El, a confident smile on his face as he saw her walking down the concourse toward him. She ran to him once she had spotted him. Her excitement was palpable. The plan was to go the next day back to Mike's hometown and meet his parents, something Mike wasn't really wanting to do but El had insisted that she meet them before he left them to move to be with her. She didn't want them to think she had stolen their son.
Meeting Mike's parents went very well. His mother turned out to be kind and while his father didn't seem particularly interested in anything he was nice enough to El. She could tell Mike didn't really want to be there though so they ate lunch with them and then were on their way back rather quickly to Mike's place to finish packing. Mike was satisfied that they'd met El but he was more satisfied that meeting them had made El feel more at ease.
As they packed Mike's things into his car, Mike felt like he was going to college for the first time. He realized that he really didn't have that much stuff. He had rented a small U-haul but it was nowhere near full. El laughed when she saw him standing in the trailer, bent down so he would fit.
"Don't worry, I'll share with you." She stepped into the trailer with him, wrapping her arms around him awkwardly since he was bent over.
"I really thought I had more things. I have my Star Wars stuff, clothes, books, computer, and television. How sad is that?"
El kissed his nose. "Not sad. Efficient."
They started their journey back to Maine the next morning. El was in the front passenger seat with her sunglasses on and her phone out. She wanted to document the trip back. Mike started the car and looked at her. She was filming.
"Ready?"
"Let's go home." El said, smiling brightly at him. She was using the front camera so she could get both of them in the frame.
"As long as I'm with you I am home, El."
It was a long trip back but they loved every minute since they were doing it together. El drove when she thought Mike looked tired and Mike handled the traffic in the bigger places like New York and through Massachusetts. When they finally crossed into Maine Mike told El about a surprise he had for her.
"It's not as awesome as the surprise you had for me at the convention," he looked at her lovingly, "but I think you'll like it. It's for our new place."
Our new place. El loved how the phrase sounded.
Max met them at their new apartment since El had left the keys with her for the furniture to be moved there. Max said she couldn't stay but El knew her well enough to know that she was just letting Mike and El enjoy the moment alone. El's bed and dresser were in the bedroom, the other bedroom was empty, and there was a couch, coffee table, and chair in the living room. It was sparse but they were excited to buy things together to make it theirs.
After they looked around the place they started to bring Mike's stuff in from the trailer.
"There's a box with a blue dot on the side. Don't open it. I want to show you that myself." Mike lifted two boxes at once and started back up the stairs.
El saw the box but as tempted as she was, she refused to give in. She brought the box inside so that it wouldn't be screaming at her to open it anymore. It didn't take them long to move everything inside.
She thought they'd start unpacking and putting their things away but Mike caught her wrist and pulled her into him, kissing her while they stood in the middle of their new living room.
"Welcome home." He said, his voice low.
El didn't know if it was being tired from the trip, or the excitement of having Mike there with her, or the knowledge that she would get to sleep with him every night but she started to cry as she felt his lips moving gently on hers and his fingers playing with her hair.
"What's wrong?" Mike asked, only pulling away enough to look at her face. His arms stayed around her.
"I'm just happy. I love you." She smiled. Mike didn't like to see her cry but there was definitely something about the way the tears made her eyes look even bigger and brighter that made him feel like melting. He smiled and kissed her once more.
"I think you deserve to see your surprise now." He found the box with the blue dot and opened it. El watched as he removed some picture frames. He kept them turned away from her so she couldn't see what the pictures were. "I thought we could hang these up."
He turned the first picture around so she could see it. It was the still from the carbonite chamber, before Mike was pulled back onto the platform. He had sized it as large as he could without losing quality and it looked exactly like a movie still. Mike and El were looking at each other in the picture, looking so much like Han and Leia.
Mike turned the next picture around and she saw an 8x10 of her and Mike. They were laughing and he was looking at her with adoration. They were just in regular clothes and El tried to remember what they had been doing when it was taken but she couldn't.
"That was right after we stumbled onto the Jabba the Hutt prop and I got that guy to take our picture in front of it. I think I had said something to you about slave Leia. I know now why you laughed so much." Mike snickered. "I still think about that every day, you know."
El laughed. "So do I." When he looked at her, his mouth hanging open, she just shrugged and smiled.
The third and fourth pictures were of them with Mark Hamill.
"I thought we could hang the funny one out here in the living room and the one where we're all smiling in our room."
In our room.
They were both thinking the same thing. They could unpack later.
"Mike, let's go to our room." Saying it made El smile. After she pulled him up from the floor she led him down the hall, walking backwards so she could look at him. They left the bedroom door open, no need for privacy in their own home.
Mike still had a few days before he started his new job but El had to go back to work. Mike explored central Maine while she was out, buying a few shelves to hang in their apartment. When El returned home her Star Wars helmets had been carefully put on display on the shelves Mike had hung.
"I hope you aren't mad that I did it without you. I just thought we should get them out of the boxes."
"Of course I'm not mad, Mike. They look great. You are awesome. Now we just need to get a bookcase and a rug for in here. Maybe we can do that this weekend."
"Anything you want."
They did finish furnishing their apartment and Mike started his new job. They settled easily into a routine. El loved having Mike come home to her every day. On Sundays when he could her father drove up to have dinner with them and El thought the two men in her life got along quite well. Mike always seemed nervous before her dad arrived but El could tell that her father actually did like Mike and was just having fun making him think otherwise.
As December started to approach El had an idea. She wanted Mike's friends to visit them, having never met them but knowing how much they meant to Mike.
"Do you think your friends would want to come visit us sometime around Christmas? Do you think they'd be free?" She asked. They were lying in bed on a Saturday morning.
"That would be awesome. I miss them. And they would love you. I'll ask them. Would you want them to stay here with us?"
"If they want to. I mean, it would be like a sleepover I guess. Maybe Max could come too. We could act like we're 15 again." She laughed but the idea was pretty fun to think about.
The more Mike thought about it, the more excited he was to ask his friends to visit. There was already snow on the ground but that didn't matter. He called each of them and was happy that they all said they would get in sync so that they could come up the same weekend after Christmas.
Christmas for Mike and El was probably the best one either of them could remember. They just enjoyed lying on their rug under the Christmas lights, a fire in the fireplace, wrapped up in a blanket together. As cheesy as it sounded, as Max had pointed out when El told her about it, it was exactly the sort of romantic Christmas El had always wanted. Mike gave her a Pandora style charm bracelet with as many Star Wars sliding charms as he could find. El loved it.
El had thought for a long time about Mike's gift. She wanted it to be something he could use. She finally landed on buying him a screen accurate leather jacket like the one Han Solo wore in The Force Awakens. It cost more than she originally wanted to spend but it was for Mike, so it was an easy choice to make.
The Friday after Christmas El and Mike waited at the airport for Mike's friends. Max was going to meet them at the restaurant they had chosen and after they ate they would all go back to Mike and El's place to hang out and spend the night.
Mike saw Dustin first, with Lucas and Will not far behind.
"There they are." He was beaming.
El watched as Mike and his friends all hugged in the middle of the airport. She was standing just to the outside of the circle when the curly haired boy looked up from the hug and smiled at her.
"You must be El. Get in here." He pulled her into the group embrace and she felt immediately like these were her boys.
She couldn't stop laughing at their outrageous banter. They were closer to 30 than 20 but to hear them all talk it seemed like they never got past the age of 13. It warmed her heart. They piled into Mike's car and he headed to the restaurant. It was a local place that served anything and everything all day and had brownies and Rice Krispies treats the size of a brick.
Max was waiting inside the restaurant, having already told the hostess how many would be in their party. The boys and El all arrived inside, shaking off the cold. El hugged Max and introduced her to everyone. Mike and El shared a look when they both noticed how Max and Lucas seemed to hold their gazes on each other longer than what they probably intended.
After dinner they all went back to Mike and El's place. The guys looked around at everything, marveling at El's collection. It was true that she had tried to make the place look as good as possible before the boys showed up. They had framed a couple of vintage posters and her helmets were all dusted and displayed, her lamp with her figures in it was serving as the main lamp in their living room, with Christmas lights still strung up. The whole area looked inviting.
Dustin was looking at the framed pictures on the wall.
"Did anyone ever tell you that you kind of look like Princess Leia?" El and Mike laughed.
"What did I say?" Dustin asked. Mike looked at El and she shook her head. Do not tell him.
"I've been told that on occasion. I made the, um, Leia costume I wore for the convention." She looked slyly at Mike.
"Yeah, El makes the best costumes." He grinned back at her.
Lucas was looking at them now, confusion on his face. He turned to Max.
"What is up with these two?"
Max shrugged and shook her head. "It's how they are. I know, it's sickening." Everyone laughed.
Will was admiring the helmets. "Hey, El? Do you think we could all wear one and take a picture of the whole group?"
El didn't know why she hadn't thought of that already. There were six of them and she had more than enough helmets.
"Sure! Who wants to be whom?"
There was a bit of arguing as they tried to decide who would wear which mask but in the end they decided they could take several pictures and change helmets for each one. Mike wore Darth Vader and El wore Mike's Luke Skywalker Rebel Pilot helmet. Mike had bought it after the convention when he knew how much El wanted one. Even then he knew they'd be sharing their lives. Dustin chose the TIE fighter pilot, Lucas the stormtrooper, Will was Kylo Ren, and Max wore a First Order stormtrooper helmet that had been modified to have the bloody handprint on it, like Finn's in the movie. They set up the timer on the camera and took a few shots inside before Dustin had the idea to go out into the snow and take a few. They resisted the urge to throw snowballs at one another in the expensive masks. The outside pictures turned out to be really good and as El watched the boys she finally told them that if they were careful and aimed away from the masks, she would video them throwing snowballs in the helmets. The boys were so excited. Max surprised them all with her wicked aim.
They talked into the night, telling stories about Mike and trying to embarrass him in front of El. El loved hearing every story, each causing her to feel more in love with him. She also liked to watch his face turn different shades of red. It made her giggle. She reached over and laced her fingers into his.
"We have air mattresses set up in the extra room and someone can sleep on the couch. You guys can figure it out." Mike said. It was almost 2:30 in the morning and he had noticed how El's head kept bobbing as she tried to stay awake. "She might as well be out. I'm taking her to bed."
"Okay, who is this guy?" Lucas asked jokingly as Mike picked El up and started to carry her like it was something he'd been doing every day for years.
"Yeah, Mike. When did you get so strong?" Dustin chimed in.
"Love is a hell of a drug." Will laughed.
Mike rolled his eyes at them but smiled. "You guys just make yourselves at home. Max, you're in charge."
Once he had closed the door to the bedroom, Mike set El down on the bed. He was taking her shoes off when she woke back up.
"I like your friends." She still sounded sleepy.
"I think it's safe to say they're our friends now. They really like you, El."
"That makes me happy. You make me happy." She was almost asleep again already. "I'm glad they're here and will be here for another day. I want you to have everything you want."
"I think I do, El." He had been thinking of going back out to continue visiting with everyone but when he looked down at her, bundled under the covers, smiling up at him, her eyelids heavy, he decided he really just wanted to get into bed with her and feel her against him. He could talk to his friends tomorrow. They were staying all weekend.
The six of them formed a quick bond. Max fit right in with the boys, matching them tit for tat with their insults, but they laughed a lot too and felt like they were old friends. El showed them all around the UMaine campus and they all went to take a picture of themselves in front of Stephen King's front gates, his house in the background. El knew that was another picture that would get framed and hung in their apartment. They all agreed that they should come back in the summer and go to the coast. Max tagged along to see the boys off when they had to leave at the end of the weekend. They all hugged again. El felt complete.
El had never been a fan of Valentine's Day and even though she had Mike now, her feelings toward the holiday hadn't changed. She thought she could celebrate their love every day if she wanted to and didn't need to be told when to do it. Not that it mattered because Mike was on a long shift and had to work every day starting the Thursday of that week, which was actually Valentine's Day, all through the weekend. He would be off for President's Day and the Tuesday and Wednesday following that.
"You should take off next Tuesday and Wednesday and stay here with me." Mike said.
"Why is that?" El asked.
"You're already off on Monday and I thought we could do something fun maybe." He smiled, taking a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and opening it.
"What did you have in mind? It sounds like you have an idea."
"I do actually. I wanted it to be a surprise but I guess I can tell you a little. I want to rent a cabin on a lake and eat lobster and just be with you. Like a mini vacation."
El knew immediately where he had gotten the idea. It was all the stereotypes he associated with Maine except for the clowns in sewers. She gave him her best Maine accent, only using it on special occasions.
"Ayuh, that would be wicked awesome."
Mike laughed.
On the Monday after Valentine's Day they drove to the cabin Mike had found. It was quintessential Maine, rustic, with views of the lake just outside. There was a covered back deck that had rocking chairs and framed the waterfront like a picture. They spent Monday lounging around after their arrival.
Mike had big plans for Tuesday. As evening approached he and El got dressed and went out to eat lobster at a little café that overlooked the lake. The lobster was fresh and he was told it had been caught just that morning. El preferred to have a lobster roll, being from Maine she was more well versed in the dish and didn't want to get her hands dirty cracking open the claws and the shell. She did take a picture of Mike in his lobster bib though, thinking he looked cute as he fumbled with the giant claws.
By the time they got back to their cabin it was snowing again. Mike took El's hand in his and they went out onto the back deck to watch the falling snow.
"It's like nighttime on Hoth." El said, her fingers squeezing Mike's as she gazed up at him.
"It's perfect that you just said that. You are perfect. For me anyway." Mike turned to face her, snow falling behind him, everything quiet except the sound of his voice. "I think I knew back in June that you were all I would ever want. I was so sure that I did something crazy but now I know I wasn't being crazy. It was like my heart knew before my head did."
"I don't know what you're talking about. What did you do?" El looked at him, puzzled.
"I'm getting to that. When we were together at the convention I knew I had done the right thing. I don't think that before that week I had ever felt true happiness. I mean, I'd been happy, but being with you was a different level. And now I get to be with you all the time but somehow it's still not enough."
El mistook his words and became worried. Mike noticed the change in her expression.
"No, that's not what I mean. I mean I want more. I want forever. And I wanted to take you somewhere awesome, like the Star Wars part of Disney World or to Celebration but I don't have the vacation time and I don't want to wait that long."
"I like just being with you here." El smiled at him.
Mike kissed her hand. "Do you want to go stand out in the snow? It's not falling hard."
El nodded and they walked out into the little yard behind the cabin. The lake was starting to turn white from the snow building up on it, the top layer frozen. They stood together, facing each other, as snow fell down around them.
El was looking up and watching the snowflakes tumble toward the ground and didn't notice Mike take a small box from his pocket.
"I bought this for you back in June."
El snapped back to reality. She looked at Mike, who was holding the box out to her. He was standing so she thought it was just a gift. He slowly opened the box.
"Do you think a princess and a guy like me...?" Mike's swagger was amusing.
El looked down at the ring in the box. Mike was starting to take it out and she noticed that his fingers were shaking. She reached out to steady him. She had tears in her eyes.
"You bought this in June?"
"I said I did something crazy. I love you. I've always known. What do you think? Would you want to marry me?" Mike looked at her expectantly.
She couldn't find words but she found she could move so she threw her arms around him and pulled herself up so that she could kiss him, almost causing him to drop the ring in the snow. He held on to it though and they both laughed. Tears were streaming down El's cheeks and she nodded at Mike, still unable to speak but also unable to stop smiling.
"Oh yeah. I had it inscribed. Let's go back inside and you can see it better in the light." Mike started to pull her along back into the cabin but then stopped. "Wait, let's take a picture. I'll post it on Rebelscum." He held her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger. She admired it reverently. Mike held his phone out, pulling her as close to him as he could. She held her hand up so the ring could be seen and he snapped the picture.
Once they got back inside and removed their coats and boots El took the ring off so Mike could show her what he'd had inscribed in the band. Mike rambled on about why he chose that particular ring and how he'd guessed at what kind of stones she might want to surround the diamond but El just stared at the inside of the band. It was just two words but they meant everything to her.
I know.
"Mike, would you put it back on my finger? I like it when you slip it on." El was being suggestive and she knew it. Mike did as she asked, slowly sliding the ring back on her finger. She looked into his eyes, his hand still on hers. "I love this. And I love you."
He kissed her but before they got too carried away he stopped and quickly posted the picture of them he'd taken to their Star Wars forum. It was a simple post, just the picture with a caption that read, Elderaan and Nerfherder are getting married!
Mike turned his attention back to El. She was looking at him with more desire than possibly he'd ever seen from her, and that was saying a lot because she was always so into him. They opted to stay on the couch, the fire in the fireplace making the room warm even when they were undressed. El loved it when she would put her hand on his chest and her ring would sparkle, reminding her that she was his and he was hers. They loved each other into the night, both having found exactly what they had always wanted.
A/N: Sorry this got a little sappy. It just kind of happened. I hope to bring it back around, reprise the theme song and roll the credits with the epilogue. Thank you for reading and I hope it was somewhat enjoyable. I'll try to finish it up in the next few days. Goodbyes are so hard...