I'm Still Here(#Wattys2016)

Chapter 3: And I Wanna Tell You Who I Am

Disclaimer: I don't own either Star Wars or Treasure Planet. They both belong to Disney. This is a purely fan-made story, It was written just for fun, NOT profit. No copyright infringement is intended.

Leia woke up in an instant. She must have fallen asleep while waiting for Han to return. He had been acting rather strangely before he'd left. Leia wondered what he could have dreamed of to make him so nervous. She longed for Han to return, so she could ask him. She was suddenly alerted to the sound of the apartment's door being opened.

"Who's there?" she asked, now fully on alert.

"It's me!" Han called from the entryway.

"I'm on the couch!" Leia called back. Her face lit up when she saw Han enter the living room. She jumped up off the couch, and ran to hug Han. "Welcome home!" said Leia. "I was so worried!" Han planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Sweetheart," Han whispered apologetically. "I really am."

"Apology accepted, Fly-Boy," said Leia. "Now, where have you been?"

"At a bar," said Han. "But I didn't do much drinking, though. Didn't feeling like it, for some reason."

"Well, well, well," Leia said slyly. "I never thought I'd see the day where you, Han Solo, went out to a bar, and came back still completely sober."

"I may not have gotten drunk," said Han. "But I did run into an old friend down at the bar."

"Who, Lando?" asked Leia. She was referring to Lando Calrissian.

"No, not Lando," said Han. "It's someone you've never met before. In fact, I've never even told you about him. And before tonight, I hadn't seen him since I was fifteen. And that was over twenty years ago. The guy's name was Long John Silver. He's a cyborg, by the way."

Leia visibly tensed when Han said the word "cyborg."

"Oh, don't worry," Han quickly reassured. "Silver was nothing like Vader. Quite the opposite, actually. Silver's more man than machine."

"Uh, alright," said Leia. "She sounded very unconvinced. Whenever Leia heard the word "cyborg", she automatically thought of Darth Vader. Leia's twin brother, Luke Skywalker, had informed her that Darth Vader was actually in fact their father, Anakin Skywalker. Luke had told Leia how their father had found his way back to the light in his final moments, saving his son from the Emperor. Part of Leia wanted to believe this, but another part of her remained skeptical. As such, Leia had an intense mistrust cyborgs.

"So," she said eventually. "How do you know this Silver fellow?"

"I met him when I was fifteen-years-old," Han told her. "Silver became a sort of surrogate father to me. The bond that developed between he and I is one that can never be broken, and one that changed each of us forever. Knowing Silver is what helped me cope after I'd been abandoned by my biological father, who walked out on my mother and me when I was eight-years-old. That's what the nightmare was about. I dreamed about the last time I ever saw my father. And the dream came to me, because I'm afraid that I will abandon you and our child."