Taken Aback, She's Unprepared. She Wasn't Prepared For Any Of This, Meeting One Of The Many In The First

Taken aback, she's unprepared. She wasn't prepared for any of this, meeting one of the many in the First Order, offering her help to him, and now this; a thank you from a storm trooper. Today is turning out to be...unexpected. A lot of firsts for one thing.

“It’s no problem,” She calmly offered, scratching the back of her head. She’s kept a good feet of space between the two of them. It was somewhat close enough to keep an eye and monitor him, helping him in case he needed any. 

“How’s your head?” 

She inquired, concerned. She didn’t know how to deal with a red storm trooper like this. She wasn’t used to helping one either. She did what she could, having read from the old medical texts she had found on her trips. She found them interesting and useful. Though it didn’t cover any steps of fixing a cloak after ripping it apart to make bandages. She hopes she’ll find one that does though.

A part of her did feel guilt for him, and unknown to him, they’ve met many times in the past. No matter how small the encounter, she always erased his memories of her. Not to protect her ‘past’ self when he meets her, but out of the memories they had before together that overwhelmed her to do so. She couldn’t handle it, and she didn’t want to face those memories then. Even now as she slowly moves towards reconnecting, she’s not sure if she wants to tell him, or to restore them. But she’s glad he’s here, alive. With her. Now all she needed was everyone else and it would be good again.

Confused, only to shrug she sits down, wanting to rip the band-aid off and traverse through whatever bad news he has. Her eyebrows furrowed in concern as he reveals this news. It did make sense as to why the letters stopped coming in, only to be returned marked in red. She found that weird and this clarified it. It also confirmed that something was wrong, something never mentioned in the letters.

“So I guess now it’s up to us to help them now, isn’t it?” She leaned back sighing, staying calm. “Damn. My step-dad’s got his house in Seattle he might let them stay if we find any. But shit man, can’t believe those fuckers are still around--”

Although she stopped and looked back at him raising an eyebrow, “When you say ‘Slim’ you’re not talking about who I think it is right?” She asked, the black veins in her left arm starting to show as she curled it into a fist.

When Friends Know No Better

She took those words into deep thought. If his Dana came back despite everything, then it was possible for her too. There was a sense of relief deep down overloading with the emotions. He was right, they were her first family she found, and they will always be dear to her, a reason why she’s done and given up so much. 

When she lets this bad blood drown, she’ll come back. It’ll be a little whole in her life, even if she’s not there all the time. For now, it’s a matter of slowly pushing herself, away from this fear and back into love. But that fear’s gonna need a lot more time and a lot of talking. The professional therapeutic kind and it was about fucking time too. Maybe that's a good step towards the slow path of readiness and eventually back to her family. Maybe then she can be a little whole again.

But him saying that she would be ok, that really hit her, only to lift the weight in her heart and that set in stone a determined resolve to let the bad blood drown. To allow her to emerge from the emotional sea she had struggling to stay above for so long. For the first time in a long time, she felt real hope again.

"Yeah...when I'm ready," She repeated. "I'll be there, without my fear. Thanks for that"

She sniffles, trying to hold back tears as it started to culminate into a long deserved cry. To let everything out. Everything that she had been holding in all these years. Those years of pain and the guilt coupled into this relief that she needed to hear all this time.

She nodded agreeing he’s not the perfect guy to explain all of this. Taking the invitation a little warmer, she takes off her eye-patch and leaves it in her coat pocket sighing as she sits next to him. Here, in her home, she had nothing to hide. There wasn’t a need to hide for the time she’s in here. In this garden in her home, her heart starts to calm down as she takes in the flowers’ scent and the trembling starts to stop little by little.

“Oh, yeah. First rule of time travel right?” She asked smiling a little. Whether it was in Back to Future or one of Richards’ lectures on a TED Talk, that seemed to be a recurring rule. But whenever she tried doing that in the early years of her immortality, she was quiet about her life. Whenever she did to her friends, they either laughed calling her crazy and move on, or they died from age and unfortunate circumstances that were the Mob and Mafia.

But the Dana he knew in his timeline…Sounded perfect and here she wasn’t, afraid that everyone around would see her for what she did and how she had the nerve coming back here after everything. 

“That doesn’t sound like me at all. Your Dana sounds like she’s well put together better than me,” She admitted, chuckling a little hoping he was kidding.

They? Her friends, the people she grew up with, the ones she cherished. Even after all this time? Or the people that came after? Would they see her here? What would they think of her? All of this ran through her mind. But seeing an old friend only lent her one word.

“Hi,” She said, even if he wasn’t hers. Even if he wasn’t the Logan of this life, she still said hi.  Even knowing the Logan of her life was gone, she still wanted to hug him tight either way.

With that simple invite, the tremble in her right fleshed hand trembled. But now she didn’t have to walk through those gates, alone. Taking a deep breath, she took a step and then another and so forth. She was near his side now, taking a couple glances at the students and the sight of the school.

 Home. She was home again. She realizes these very stone bricks of the house were still the same ones. It’s takes everything not to break down and cry, even though her emotions are tearing apart at the seams.

“What...Happened while I was gone? There’s so many people here now. How are you here, even if you’re not my Logan?”

Looking back at the house and back at him, so many questions arise with the emotions.