Too Damn Hot!
By Elektra
(elektrasfic (at) yahoo.co.uk)
Author’s note: Another OZ
challenge and the catalyst for my return to fandom. Can you spot the following?
-A really hot day
-A Plastic bag
-A zipper or similar closure
-A device that keeps breaking
-A pet
-Medication
-Smelly shoes
-Cosmetics
-A water source
-A bookmark
"I thought we were running a rebellion not a pool party."
Han squinted up at her from his position sprawled on the warm rock.
"What's with the we? If I recall, YOU are staying
inside attempting to convince people to cook for your cause. We on the other
hand..." He made an expansive gesture at his surroundings, letting the
array
of scantily clad bodies speak for itself.
"Besides, it's not really a party," a similarly reclined Luke interjected.
"More of a… gathering around the only water source for 50 klicks."
Leia rolled her eyes, then
threw down her towel in mock defeat. Scanning the rocky canyon she saw the
inviting shallow spring surrounding by densely packed bodies. By the looks of
it almost every
non-essential member of the base staff was here. 'Actually,' she thought,
spotting some of this shift's command centre crew, 'make that pretty much
everybody.'
As she settled herself on the towel and fished out her datapad
from a plastic bag, she conceded that this was a much better plan than staying
in the base. The cooling unit had decided that it was persistently too hot for
it to continue working and so now alternated between doing nothing at all and
blowing hot air into every room in the base. To her knowledge it had been
`fixed' at least four times, but the only success had been in making pretty
much the entire structure uninhabitable by anything prone to heatstroke.
Persistent squeals drew her gaze to the pool, and she smiled as she saw a
member of Rogue Squadron pick up a woman, who up until now shehad
thought was a perfectly sensible air traffic controller, and
throw her into the pool. Nearby somebody's pet furry …thing
was gambolling at the water's edge, then running out and shaking itself over
unsuspecting sunbathers. To her left a heated debate was in
progress about whose shoes reeked the most. They all
looked so young, so vibrantly unaware of the war they were fighting. Leia couldn'tremember ever
feeling as carefree as some people she knew were twice her age were acting. 'Downside of growing up royalty,' she mentally sighed.
She rummaged in her bag for sun-block, pushing aside cosmetics and the combined
headache medication/mild stimulant that kept her going through the nights,
before pulling out the bottle that would stop her
going a truly unattractive shade of pink.
"Need a hand?" A voice rumbled behind her. She turned to see a now shirtless
Han propped up on his elbows and grinning wolfishly at her. His eyes were
hidden behind a sun visor but she thought she could almost see the teasing
sparkle in them. Her eyes involuntarily moved to his chest, then followed the
light trail of hair downwards. 'Goddess!' Pulling her
gaze away from the oddly mesmerising undone top button of his pants, she
dragged her eyes back to his face. A cocked eyebrow told her that he knew
exactly where she had been looking, and she felt her cheeks flame in response.
"I- I'm fine, thanks." She managed to be both more incoherent and abrupt
than she had intended, but was only greeted with another eyebrow raise and a
smug smile playing over his lips.
"Suit yourself," he shrugged and lay down,
distracting her again with the movement of the muscles in his abdomen.
'Get a grip Organa,' she thought fiercely. 'No, not on that.' She felt her cheeks redden again at the
thought of exploring just what would happen if say, the next button on his
pants just happened to
fall open. And the entire
The realisation that Luke was staring at her brought her back to reality and
she smiled guiltily. She sincerely hoped he thought she'd just zoned out for a
moment. She applied the cream, then wrenched her mind
firmly away from Solo's pants and onto the datapad in
front of her. Searching the report for the bookmark she'd put in, she felt her eyes
drifting away from potential suppliers of X-wing parts to the reflection of
Solo's bare chest in the screen. Technically that counted as working, she
figured, suppressing an appreciative smirk and settling in for the afternoon.