Chapter 16
"Han?" Padme asked after the big speech. He stopped and waited for her to continue. "We should talk."
Han turned around. Chewie stopped and patted his friend on the shoulder. Padme was amused that even Chewie knew this was not what they wanted, but it was what they needed.
"Right. The usual place, then?" Han asked his niece. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. "Alright, some other place then."
"How about my old room?"
"You mean the scrap room? That was never your room, kid," Han said, causing Padme to smile a bit, remembering a simpler time. "That was your hiding spot when you were angry with your dad."
"Wait it's a scrap room now?" She asked him, still in the room they were in before. "It was my favorite room!"
"Padme it was garbage! That thing hasn't been cleaned in years!" He told her. Padme crossed her arms in dismay.
"Ok, cockpit? We could just watch the stars pass," She offered.
Han liked the idea. "Yeah, sure."
The two walked through the short corridor to the cockpit and sat down in the pilot's seats. They sat in silence for a minute or two, watching the white lines and contemplating what they were going to say next.
"I'm sorry -"
"I wish I -" They said at the same time. When they stopped, they chuckled a bit. It was the first time they had truly laughed with each other in a while. "You go first," Han said.
"Okay," Padme stuttered on her words. "I'm sorry I got so upset, I just," She tried to keep a stable voice, but she could feel the anxiety blooming in her throat. "You left us when we needed you the most, and Leia -"
"I know."
"We were worried. It was just us. You weren't even letting us know if you were alive or not," Padme scolded lightly.
"I should have come back sooner," Han told her.
"You didn't come back Han, you found your ship that I happened to be on," Padme started. "Wait," Her heart dropped. "You weren't planning on coming back, were you?" Han sat silent, trying to figure out how to answer. "Of course," Padme scoffed. "Look, Leia needs you. And as much as I hate to say it, especially right now," Han looked at his brave niece. "I need you too."
"You've grown kid," Han told the young girl. He almost didn't even recognise her anymore.
"Yeah that tends to happen when -" Padme stopped. No, he wouldn't. She wouldn't. Would they?
"What is it?" Han asked.
"What?"
"You've got Leia's thinking face," Han tried to joke, but Padme wasn't having it. Not right now. Her heart was broken, but she couldn't ask. Not right now. She couldn't know if they had known. She couldn't bear to hear whether or not her own family had known about Ben.
"Nothing," Padme settled for an excuse. "It's just," She planned a subtle questioning in her head. "I had a run-in with Kylo Ren on Jakku," She stated. She looked at Han, but his face hadn't changed much, only to anger.
"Did he hurt you?" Han asked, grabbing for her hand.
"No, I'm fine," She told him. "But my friend wasn't so lucky," She explained. "We crashed in the dunes," She felt her heart rip further, even though she thought that wasn't possible. "He drowned in the sand."
"I'm so sorry, Padme," He said.
"It's okay, I didn't know him very well," She assured. "But BB-8 was his droid for years, he hasn't taken it too well."
"So I've heard. That droid has been sulking around this entire time," Han said. "And I didn't even know droids could sulik," Han acted surprised as to hopefully heighten her spirits. It worked, a bit at least.
"I've always hated sand, I guess this just seals the deal," She stared out the window at the passing stars.
"Oh I know," Han smiled. "When you were a kid, your father and I took you to Tatooine to see his old home," Han reminisced. "You hated every moment we were outside."
"I remember that," Padme smiled with him. "The town was nice, if you didn't look too far into it," She offered. "The sand got everywhere," She laughed, remembering how she found the coarse and dry dust in her pockets a few years later. "But it wasn't all bad."
"I remember you saying otherwise," The two chuckled and took a moment to sit in silence, listen to space pass them by.
They nearly jumped through the glass when an alarm rang through the controls. Han flipped some swtiches and Chewie found himself groaning for Padme to move.
"No, I will handle this, you go rest," She ordered, but he didn't move. "Chewbacca! Rest!" She stood up and guided him back to the medical bay.
Finn and Rey ran right past them.
When they made it to the med bay, she sat the wookie down in the bench.
"Stay here," She told him, but he didn't seem like he was going to fight her on it.
Padme ran back to the cockpit just when they pulled out of lightspeed.
As soon as they did, Padme recognised the planet almost immediately. She had been there a few times in her life, but she never got to stay for long.
The four looked out at the green landscape and Padme was relieved to find a planet with life other than scum - and Rey.
Padme saw Rey in the co-pilot seat, and she wasn't about to fight her on it. She had been on that ship many times, and Rey seemed to have everything under control, more control even than Han. Padme watched as Han noticed Rey looking out the windshield.
"I didn't know there was this much green in the whole galaxy," She mumbled. Padme looked back to make sure Chewie hadn't come back, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Han watching Rey. She sensed a kind of adoration she hadn't felt him feel in a long time - the feeling of parental love.
Padme smiled at the old man and turned to her friend. "Welcome to Takodana, Rey," They cleared the trees, revealing a big stone castle over a lake.
Rey and Han landed the ship in a field full of older ships, rusting and rotting on the platform.
"I'll grab the droids, I'm sure they're somewhere," Padme left the cockpit before the rest of them, but Finn decided to run after her.
"Hey," He shouted after her. She turned, her hair flipping into her face. He hadn't noticed it did that until then.
"Hey," Padme smiled at him, but was hesitant in her response. "Is something wrong?" She asked him, but he just smiled at her.
"No," He walked towards her and then beside her. "I was just wondering if there's a nice place to hang out here," he played off casually.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure we'll have much time to go there," Padme was confused, but she thought she knew where this conversation was going. "Why?" She inquired.
"No reason," He shrugged it off.
Padme decided to dive in. "Clearly formality won't do anything," She turned the corner and started to look for the droids. Finn walked beside her.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Between a Stormtrooper and a Jedi, this whole expressing feelings thing isn't going to work if we get weird about it."
Finn's face went red as Mustafar. "Who," He stuttered. "Who said I was expressing feelings?"
Padme laughed. "You seem to forget I'm a jedi, I can sense these things. Plus," She looked at him, amused. "You aren't very subtle about it," Finn was embarrassed beyond belief. "But, if we have time, I will definitely find a place for us to," She tried to remember the words he had used. "Hang out."
BB-8 and BB-7 rolled around the corner just as Finn and Padme did.
"There you are, we're here," She told the droids. BB-7 beeped at her.
"Where's here you ask?" Padme looked at Finn and smiled a bit. She waited for him to answer.
"What? I don't know," Finn pressed his hand against his chest quickly in innocence. Padme laughed.
"Here, Sev," She looked back at the droid. "Here is Takodana."