(no subject)

[aimedforthemoon]

from here:

Esfir's room is still mostly as painfully neat as ever, but there are changes. If the models of air-and-starcraft are gone from her desk, the books are still there in neat piles and there is a pin-up board on one wall, complete with photographs from her old life.

There are also bookcase-building materials on a sheet on the floor.

Comments

[almosthonorable]

"Makes sense."

A pause.

"Uh."

Hopefully, "Inches and feet?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"Imperial. Great. Just...follow the tape-measure, oke?"

[almosthonorable]

"Yes, ma'am."

And he does, to the letter millimeter.

[aimedforthemoon]

A little while later, Esfir sits back and looks at her bookcase.

"What do you think?"

[almosthonorable]

"Think you've done a fine job of directin' this project."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Good. I'll need to make more."

Beat.

"Later."

[almosthonorable]

"You tell me if you want some help with 'em. Later."

A grin.

"'Cause for now, I think you've earned yourself a lie-down."

[aimedforthemoon]

She braces her hands against the floor and leans back on them, watching him with slightly veiled green eyes.

"And what about you, Ben Wade?"

[almosthonorable]

He looks from the photographs tacked on the corkboard across the room, and the intensity in her eyes almost causes his breath to catch.

"Still at your service, assumin' you want me."

[aimedforthemoon]

They are pictures of her parents (sometimes together, sometimes the young woman with light hair is holding a baby, then a baby and a little boy, sometimes it is the young man. Once, that young man is wearing a uniform and leaning against a plane), her grandparents, the aunt and uncle who raised her, her friends, and herself, younger, leaning against a jet with a helmet under her arm and grinning. There are also three shots of a little girl that could only be her with a slightly older boy with her smile, who never appears again to age with her.

She knows them well and, besides, her attention is on him.

"Oh, I do."

[almosthonorable]

The photographs are forgotten for now as he nods toward the bed.

"Then you'd best get yourself over there, Lieutenant, 'cause it's soundin' like I've still got some work to do."

[aimedforthemoon]

Tucking her legs underneath herself, Esfir gets to her feet in one smooth movement.

"Over here?" she asks, stepping over a stack of shelves, turning and taking a step backwards with all the deliberate grace of a ballerina.

"Or...do I need to move back more?"

[almosthonorable]

He follows her with his eyes first, then his feet.

"Back a little more. Right about -- "

He smiles when the backs of her knees hit the edge of the mattress.

"There."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Oke," she says, smiling softly. Then she pauses, tilts her head a little.

"And Ben, I have something...something to show you," and with that, she smoothly takes off her jacket. Mostly, she's the same underneath - thin, wiry, pale scars, a plain black bra sports bra and her dog-tags hanging on their chain.

Mostly, but not entirely.

[almosthonorable]

He doesn't think he'll ever get tired of seeing this particular sight, but the mark draws his eyes right away.

"What's it mean?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"A few things. Mostly, it's my initials in Viking runes, over each other and in steel. It..." She flicks the bindrune with a finger.

"Doesn't come out."

[almosthonorable]

"Vikin' runes."

He steps close, voice low and soft.

"Can I ... ?"

His hand hovers over the symbol, but he waits for permission to touch it.

[aimedforthemoon]

Esfir nods.

[almosthonorable]

The pads of his calloused fingers brush the warm steel, then outline the surrounding skin.

"How long you had this?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"Since he brought me back to life. I don't-" The feel of his fingers is distracting, rough and gentle and her lips part slightly.

"Time's odd in Solo's world, I don't know how long it is here."

[almosthonorable]

"It hurt when you got it?"

He's tracing the steel again, memorizing the lines by touch.

[aimedforthemoon]

"I don't know." Beat. "And don't ask, Ben Wade."

[almosthonorable]

"All right, Lieutenant."

He bends to kiss her instead, palm sliding to cup one breast.

[aimedforthemoon]

And that is just fine by her.

[almosthonorable]

He's smiling when he pulls back.

"Best get you in bed so I forget what I'm not supposed to be askin'."

[aimedforthemoon]

She smiles back, wide and genuine.

"You'll be working too hard," she says, sitting down and shifting back on the bed as she slides her right boot up past his knee.

[almosthonorable]

His mouth goes dry.

"Thought you knew by now that I don't mind earnin' my keep."

He also doesn't mind reminding her, over the course of the next few hours.