Pew Pew: A Collection of Star Wars Shorts

"Sharing a Drink" + Leia Organa

The door slid open and to her surprise nothing had changed about the room inside.

The ship had been stolen, ages ago, why had the thieves left their quarters intact?

Not that she minded, what with the day she had.

She sighed, sinking onto the bed she once shared with her husband. The bed where Ben had in all likelihood been conceived, all those many years ago.

Ben.

What was she going to do about Ben?

She eyed the pillows on the bed, considering how they would function as sound dampeners if she broke down and sobbed. It wouldn't do for those who followed her to hear when she finally let herself feel the loss of her husband.

The loss of her brother.

The loss of her best friend.

The loss of all her hope for her son.

Far too much loss.

She plucked a pillow off of Han's side of the bed, and as she drew it close she could almost imagine the smell of his shampoo still lingered on the damn thing. She threw it onto the floor.

There was a knock on the door.

"General? General are you in there? It's me, uh, Poe. I was wondering if-"

She stood, hitting the panel next to the door, and it slid open, revealing the young pilot on the other side. He was as dashing as ever, more even - the dim lighting of the Falcon really brought out the best in his rumpled and unshaven look.

"General!" Poe grinned at her as if her presence still meant something.

As if she was more than just a relic of era long past.

The arm behind his back swung out, and there grasped in his hand... Corellian brandy. Han's favorite. She thought she might have bought that exact bottle for a birthday or an anniversary or something like that.

"General, I believe you were the one who once told me that no funeral is complete without getting well and truly smashed."

She snorted, shaking her head. "Dameron, you know I said no such thing."

"Funny. I seem to remember you marching on up to my X-Wing, placing a bottle of alcohol in my hands, and telling me to go drink it with my unit not long after L'ulo died."

She raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was going.

Poe grinned that unbearably handsome smile of his. The one that had turned him into the Resistance's poster boy (of course Leia officially had no idea that Poe's image had been distributed over the Holonet for those purposes).

"Way I see it General, we're all members of your unit, and right now we really would love to have you with us. Come'on Leia, it's time to sit with your troops, drink, and think of all you still have to fight for."

For a moment she just stood there.

Discarded pillow on the ground near her feet, the edge of the bed where she and her husband had shared some of their wildest nights pressed against the back of her knees.

It would be so easy to just lie on that bed, and finally let her grief in.

She could make out some of the marks on the bottle Poe held, and thought she could remember the night they had originated from.

Luke had been on the Falcon with them, and the three of them had been sharing the bottle and -

She stepped out of the room, snatching the bottle from Poe's hands as she did.

"Excellent! I am so glad you are joining us, Leia!"

It was just a few more short steps to enter the main cabin. Leia took in her people perched on every available surface, each with a glass of something or another in their hands.

They all turned to her as she entered, some even starting to rise from their seats to salute.

Well enough of that for now.

She took a long swig of the brandy right out of the bottle, then handed it, still open, back to Poe.

"To the Resistance!" She cheered, more a joke than anything else, as she swallowed the burning liquid down.

Those gathered seemed to like her toast, rallying and cheering and raising their cups up high.

Next to her Poe took a pull and as it left his lips, the bottle was returned to her hands.

Leia folded herself onto a seat, and smirked.

Tonight she would not be the General.

She would not be the founder and leader of this ragtag bunch of dreamers, carrying all the remaining hope for the Galaxy on her shoulders.

No, tonight she would let herself just be Leia.

Leia getting drunk on the Falcon with her family.

Just as she had countless times before.