Chapter Nine: Hesitations

"So, I guess we're leaving," stated Luke with a hint of inquiry, glancing briefly at Janice's sisters and then turning fully to her.

"No! I mean, why? Why should you guys be leaving so... soon?" she stammered, becoming red-faced trying to curb her frustration over letting this opportunity slip through her grasp.

Opportunity for what? She wasn't sure. She just knew that their departure was taking something away from her.

Luke noted the CoCaptain's unusual awkwardness. Just as he drew breath to intervene, Amarav's next comment halted him. "Nono, we'll be leaving soon," she ejected. "Now that Sean has graciously provided us with his bostanite—" she said this with a sarcastic smirk "—we can return home to our old planet of Delta Centauri."

Even Luke looked a little disappointed at Janice.

"I don't think a few days would hurt," managed Janice, trying to think of something to prevent their allies from leaving.

"Yeah!" Rosie chimed. "They can stay!"

Amarav half-grinned. "All right, but let me see what Blake has to say."

The teenage captain paraded with authoritativeness back down the hall.

Janice turned from Amarav to Luke and then realized how much she didn't want to be here.

"Uhh... excuse me a minute," she said quickly, walking to her room before any objections could be made.

Janice let the door shut behind her and threw herself back upon her queen bed, hands folded behind her head. She sighed deeply and shut her eyelids a moment, mentally pleading for a clear head. "This isn't right," she thought to herself, "this clearly isn't right."

In all her efforts to prevent the cloud of romantic thoughts from overtaking her, she was finally left with a state of overheated frustration, during which her face turned a bright pink and she tossed and turned quite a bit.

"Urrrghh..." she growled, then she'd let out a soft groan.

Nothing seemed to help, so she finally pulled the plug on whatever was triggering the whim.

She soon found herself in a peaceable state of mind, save the urge to squeeze something to death.

Then she immediately got up, unable to resist the murderous impulse any longer, and left the room.

"Blake said they shouldn't stay too long, since it would hinder us from a return trip to DC," reported the Junior CoCaptain to her sister the CoCaptain, who seemed hopelessly blanked out on the Jedi pacing nearby.

"Helloooo... Janice... Earth to Janice..."

"Hunh?!" Janice blurted, feeling awkward at the realization of what she'd been doing.

Rosie's eyes narrowed with some annoyance. "I said, Blake said that our friends can't stay very long, because it would prevent us from reaching Delta Centauri with any speed," she repeated, eyes suspiciously shifting to Luke in mid-sentence.

"Oh," said her sister, a small jab for her to continue.

Rosie blinked. "He says they can stay until tomorrow, then they should go."

"Kay," replied Janice, making a slow beeline for Luke.

Rosie threw her arms up and stalked out of the break room.

Luke noticed her approaching him and faced her, only to be greeted by a tight squeeze. Janice smiled and held him close, then released him.

Luke's jaw dropped, and he blinked at her, then recovered.

"Sorry," Janice said shyly, looking down at a shuffling foot.

Luke blinked again, the thought of what had just happened still registering. "No, it's okay,"''" he comforted, nudging her chin up like he'd done before.

Janice allowed herself to yield to the irresistible temptation of leaning forward the three inches and giving him a peck on the lips.

Han walked into the end of the break room closest to them, immediately noticing the two staring at each other with dazed expressions, leaning close.

Then they noticed him and parted, both suddenly staring at him.

"Hey, I didn't mean to interrupt anything," he said, innocently raising his hands back.

"It's fine, Han," shot Janice quickly, afraid he might leave. She glanced briefly at Luke, then trod toward where Han was getting himself a mug of coffee. She stood by him and helped herself to a nice Farlovellian roast, then went and sat down where she had prior.

Han sat down across from her, but Luke was staring at his feet, which seemed to be frozen where he'd stood when Janice hugged him.

"So," said Han, striking a conversation, "I hear we're leaving tomorrow."

Luke perked up.

"Yes, unfortunately," said Janice, unable to suppress a wistful glance at Luke as she took a sip of her coffee.

Han looked with big eyes at Luke, then back to Janice. "Why unfortunately? I'll be glad to get back to tweakin' the Falcon and hangin' out with Leia."

Janice moved her glance quickly back to Han. "Well, um..." she cleared her throat "...it's just that I..."''" she cleared her throat again "...it's just that we really like you guys. It's hard to leave sometimes, I guess."

Luke blinked at Janice, then came and sat down catty-corner to Han.

Han continued to face Janice. "You know, you could come and stay with us. If you want to, I mean, I'm not tryin' 'a—"

"Nono, it's okay," she interrupted, feeling awkward at the way he was stumbling over his words. "We have to get back to Delta Centauri."

Han set down his mug. "What's with 'Delta Centauri,' anyway?" he asked.

"It's our home planet!" Janice snapped.

Han's eyebrows raised. "Okay, but somethin' tells me you don't wanna go there,"''" he responded, with a knowing twinkle in his eye.

"It doesn't matter," she snapped again. "It doesn't matter what I want. We go back tomorrow, and that is that."