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I’m in love with a fool, Lana thought to herself as she tended to the stab wound in Theron’s upper arm. The imbecile had decided to fight three well-armed gangsters that had accosted them in the alleyway. Without his blaster.
Lana shook her head in frustration, wondering how it had slipped his mind that she could easily dispatch the lot with her lightsaber. It was what she’d ended up doing anyway. Leaving the fight to her would have meant less fretting over his wound. Granted it wasn’t a serious wound, but the grime and filth of the lower city levels meant infection developed obscenely quick. And they’d be stuck here until their transport arrived in three days' time. She finished wrapping the bandage with far more force than necessary earning a “Hey, what the hell Lana!” from Theron. The Sith leveled an icy glare at her partner.
“Don’t whine. That can’t possibly have hurt any more than getting stabbed.”
“Well, it didn’t help.” Theron snarked.
In response, Lana simply stood abruptly and offered her hand to help Theron up off the ground. He took her proffered hand and moved to lean against the wall as Lana stuffed the medkit back into their pack. We’ll have to leave soon in case any more gangsters decide to show up and Theron does something even more foolish.
“Come on, we should leave before someone notices what’s happened. Another fight isn’t something we need, Theron.”
He gave her an incredulous look bordering on Are you crazy? territory.
“What do I look like I’m eager to fight every lunk-headed gangster we come across? I just wasn’t going to let those idiots shoot us without doing something about it.”
“Theron, you’re ‘doing something about it’ was pointless. All you did was break that man’s nose. I dispatched those men far quicker with my lightsaber than you would have with your fists!” Lana said, tossing her head contemptuously and eyeing him bitterly.
Theron opened his mouth to argue but stopped abruptly and frowned. A few moments of silence passed while Theron stared quizzically at Lana. Finally, she ground out “Would you stop staring at me and get moving!”
Theron sighed, looked away for a moment, and then asked, “Something else is bothering you. There must be. You’re getting too worked up over this, Lana. We’ve faced down far more dangerous threats every day. And you’ve never been so angry before.”
“Because you weren't being quite as reckless then! One well placed shot and...and” She floundered for a moment searching for an explanation.
“I don’t want you to get hurt, Theron.” Lana briefly closed her eyes as she ran over the unpredictable outcomes in her mind. None of them are likely she tells herself, but there’s still a chance. “ Not over something as ridiculous as a few gangsters. You should have let me handle them, not try to fistfight a man with a knife. You made a rash decision.”
“Well, rash decisions are my specialty” Theron joked, obviously hoping to ease the tension in Lana’s expression. When that didn’t work he carefully swept Lana up in a tight hug, pressing the side of his face into her windswept hair. Even though she was still upset, Lana returned his embrace and leaned her head on his chest. A hug won’t change the fact you’re stupidly reckless...but I suppose it does make me feel better.
“Don’t worry so much, Lana,” he mumbled into her hair, “I’m not dead yet.”
“Is that supposed to be comforting? You’re failing miserably. Try again” she said smiling, a playful lilt to her voice. She felt Theron smile in return as he turned to kiss her on the temple, his hands drifting to her waist as he leaned back to look her in the eyes.
“I’ll try to be less of an idiot, ok? I...wouldn’t want to lose you either. So I’ll try.” Maybe he isn’t a fool...
He leaned back in to hug her again and whispered in her ear, “I love you, you know?… Even if you yell at me.” Lana disentangled herself from Theron’s grasp to lightly swat him on his uninjured arm earning an indignant glare. Lana only kissed him softly on the cheek and corrected him. ”I certainly was not yelling. I was being emphatic.”
“Sure, Lana, sure. What ever happened to saying I love you too Theron?” he asked trying to mimic her Imperial accent with terrible, ear-grating results. But Lana smiled anyway because even such an atrocious accent didn’t seem so bad coming from the man she loved.
“I love you too, Theron… For some unfathomable reason” she teased.
“Hey!” he exclaimed sounding a little hurt. Lana laughed, turned and pulled Theron along with her out of the alleyway.
“I’ll tell you all the reasons I love you once we’re well out of gang territory and we don’t need to worry about getting shot.”
“Yeah, that seems fair.”