Unexpected

chapter twenty-eight: blood

The gunship of the 104th lands back in the GAR hangar on Coruscant and the troops file off as serious as ever—except for Wolffe, who has an arm slung over Elara's shoulders as the two laugh. Wolffe laughing is a rare sight to be seen, even for Plo Koon.

Elara looks up to find two of her favorite boys waiting in the back of the hangar and her smile widens as she runs over to them. Rex is the first to embrace her, not caring about the dirt staining her clothes and skin.

"Stars El, I thought this was a relief mission. What happened to you?" Echo asks he embraces her next, a wave of relief washing over him to see that she's in perfectly good health.

"That girl is quite the trooper, Rex." Wolffe nods in the Captain's direction.

Rex chuckles. "Hopefully she didn't cause too much trouble."

Wolffe smiles slightly as he watches the girl and the ARC Trooper pull out of their intimate embrace. "Hey, princess." He calls, causing Elara to look in his direction. "Whenever you're up for a little action, the Wolfpack could always use a man like you."

Elara smiles brightly at the Commander. A slight nod is enough to show her appreciation before the wolf and his pack head to their wing of the barracks. She turns back to Rex and Echo to find a raised eyebrow and a pair of furrowed eyebrows, respectively.

*

"So let me get this straight." Jesse begins. "You fell down an incredibly steep hole, which turned out to be a tunnel, met talking trees and a magic frog lady, then solved a riddle and restored peace on the planet?"

The rest of the squad looks at Elara with wide, confused eyes.

"Exactly!" Elara smiles.

"I'm not buying it." Dogma huffs.

"She probably tripped on a rock and hit her head." Tup suggests. "Hallucinated the whole thing."

"I did not trip on a rock." Elara rolls her eyes. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true."

Kix glances up at Rex. "You sure you don't want me to run a few tests?"

Rex chuckles. "She's fine. In fact, she's never seemed better." He smiles at Elara, who returns the heartwarming look.

"She's seemed cleaner." Hardcase admits.

Elara stifles a laugh as she looks at the trooper.

"So I assume you got along with the Wolfpack?" Rex asks, swiftly changing the subject.

"Oh stars no. They're terrible." Elara laughs.

Echo furrows his eyebrows. "Really?" He asks, Elara nods. "Because I thought I heard Commander Wolffe call you 'Princess'." He states. "Doesn't seem like a name you'd call someone you can't stand."

Elara's face reddens as all eyes turn back to her, this time accompanied by dropped jaws.

"Princess?" Fives finally joins the conversation as he looks up at the ceiling above his bunk. "I didn't pin Wolffe as the affectionate type."

"It's not like that." Elara says. "The entire Wolfpack was picking on me because I'm a handmaiden. It didn't help when the Aleena thought I was some sort of goddess." She explains. "They all started calling me princess or your highness and I guess it just stuck."

The men exchange skeptical looks until Elara speaks up.

"I should get back to my quarters to wash up." She states, feeling the awkward tension in the room.

"I'll walk you." Echo jumps up, suddenly feeling bad for bringing up Wolffe's comment.

"No." Elara stops him. "I'm fine."