Han Solo

A Classic Trilogy and Legends/EU Only Han Solo.

[whatamansolo]

astraldestiny​:

   His father’s attempt to spend time with him, to be there for him was admirable but MISPLACED. Jaina would need him more than his son right now. He knows how to handle Jaina better anyway. But he wasn’t really being FAIR to his father was he? He couldn’t fault him for being a pilot at heart, nor could he fault Jaina for being the one to inherit their father’s passion. I’m not angry at dad or Jaina, I’m angry at myself, he realised. 

    The obvious intention behind Han’s ‘ oh come look at this ’ comment was clear but who was he to ignore it? If his father tried to make them spend time together again like a real FAMILY … maybe he should take the chance. Who knew how much more often he’d get it. So he turned around to take a look at the datapad, shaking his head as he agreed with his father. “ That’s pretty laughable yeah. Then again its hard to compete with the Falcon in the first place. I don’t think you’d gonna find anything better any time soon. ”

“Damn right, it’s hard,” Han snorted derisively, “It’s impossible, actually. But, that’s note entirely their fault.” 

He shrugged, tossing the flimsy catalogue onto the table. “For example, a lot of the things that I’ve thought to add to the Falcon aren’t things they’d ever really think of unless they were actually in the industry, y’know?” 

Not that Jacen would have any more of an idea of what a smuggler would need, but he was aware of most of the modifications that the Falcon had. So, Han figured that he’d be able to put enough of it together. 

“How are you doing, Jacen?” he asked, uncharacteristically somber for a moment. Making uneasy conversation was one thing, but Han didn’t need the Force to know that it wasn’t being very effective at all. “You can talk to me, you know?” 

[whatamansolo]

empiresbane​:

Honest Alderaanians

“Winter’s advice certainly doesn’t often have much in common with yours,” Leia drawled with arch diplomacy, “that’s true.” A kernel indeed, she thought, the scoffing tone of her mental voice loud in her own ears. Wait until Winter hears this one…

Leia wriggled her toes in their overlarge boots, then swung her feet up onto the shuttle’s console – careful to perch them in an open space where there were no controls to bump – to brace her heels while she rolled her ankles, working out the kinks from so much time spent in a disguise three sizes too big. She had to agree with Han about Chewbacca’s advisory gifts, but then again of course she did: she’d been the one to bring it up, after all. “Ohhh, I don’t think anyone could argue with your resourcefulness,” she agreed with dry affection. “Certain other things, perhaps, but never that. In fact, I daresay that sometimes the rest of us wish you’d be a little bit less resourceful.”

Only sometimes, though. As infuriating as Han’s brand of resourcefulness could be, Leia couldn’t deny that it had gotten them all out tight spots more than once. Sure, she’d spent most of those times yelling at him, but that was only because she’d been convinced he was going to get them all killed.

And he was a decent shot. A more than decent shot, really. She was just better, was all. Not faster – there weren’t many, if any, people in the Rebellion who could claim they had a faster draw than Han Solo – but better. There was no point saying that no, thought. This shuttle was too small and too well-packed with the supplies they’d just swindled out of the Empire to be a suitable place to hold a shooting contest, and Leia had little doubt where that conversation would end if she let it get started.

Instead she let the comment pass, although she did groan when he boasted about his high-quality reflexiplast. “Please, don’t,” Leia said, fluttering a hand by her face as though to fend off a particularly bloodthirsty insect when really it was his words she was trying to dodge. She couldn’t help smiling even as she shook her head in exasperation; somehow, Han was adept at combining those two otherwise contradictory responses. “I’m afraid you would tell me, and I’m even more afraid the story would involve one or more of those ‘respectable contacts’ of yours I’ve met, and I would have to throw myself off a balcony the next time they turned up to sell the Alliance something rather than bring myself to meet their eyes.”

She snorted at his comment about his proportionate ego. “I’m sure you do,” she retorted. “That might have been my point, in fact, captain.”

“No, we usually give very different advice,” he agreed. “That’s why she’s only known for dispensing a slight amount of wisdom while I, on the other hand, and renowned the world over for my insight.” 

He enjoyed the sight of her getting comfortable in the co-pilot chair a little too much, truth be told. She was not much of a pilot as best he could tell, but it was nice having her around. When she wasn’t yelling at him, that is. 

“Glad to know that my gifts are universally acknowledged. Resourceful and gifted with a blaster. It’s all that I’ve ever wanted people to think of me,” he snorted. “Well, mostly.” 

“Eh, someday you’ll want to hear the story and when you do, you know where to find me.” These days, she knew where to find him more than any of his other contacts did. “It’s quite a tale.” 

It wasn’t. He had bought the reflexiplast when he’d been doing some upgrading. That was all. Nothing exciting about it, really. Still, it was fun to let her think that there was. 

He grinned. “Glad to see you agree. I have earned all of my ego.” 

He looked over the instrument array and leaned back in his seat. “So, that was some party on the base the other night. Why aren’t you ever at those things? Not your scene?”

[astraldestiny]

✗ @whatamansolo​​ → closed starter !

   “ I’m fine, dad, really. ” He wasn’t sure how many times he had tried to make his family believe that even after everything he had gone through, he was doing OKAY. None of them believed him. They had even forced him to take a vacation, sit around and ‘ heal ’ but there wasn’t anything he needed to heal from. He was already gaining weight again now that food wasn’t a limited resource anymore and the wounds on his body had disappeared very quickly after a day or two in the bacta tank ( although the scars on the inside of his palms were still there, as much as he tried to ignore them, a constant reminder of his failure on Coruscant ). “ You can go help mum with whatever she’s doing I can handle myself just FINE. ”

[whatamansolo]

“Sure you are,” Han nodded, although his tone indicated that he figured Jacen was anything but. Still, Han was fluent in ‘leave me alone i’m fine’ and he knew when it was true and when it was a load of poodoo. And this wasn’t the former. 

“You’re so fine that I’m just going to hang out here with you for just a few more minutes in case you need anything. Or want to talk. Or whatever.” He leaned back in his chair, the new manufacturing catalogue from CEC brought up on his datapad. 

“Stang,” he remarked after a moment or two of silence, “these new stock lights really look terrible. Even if I wanted to replace The Falcon, I’d have no idea where to even start. Look at this joke.” He turned the datapad around, showing Jacen a demonstration of the Corellian Engineering Corporation’s newest offerings for the would-be smuggler on the go.

[whatamansolo]

empiresbane​:

Honest Alderaanians

Leia nodded thoughtfully. “Mm,” she said. “So, if I’ve got this right…it sounds like you’re saying that I should listen to Winter and stop paying attention to this fellow we were talking about? Since it’s a galactic truth that she gives excellent advice, I mean.” She tilted her head against the itchy collar of her stolen uniform, as though considering the matter seriously. “Is that what you’re saying?”

She knew it wasn’t, of course. But over a lifetime of political machinations, royal compassion, battlefield commands, and biting repartee, Leia had found in Han someone she could tease without qualm or hesitation. And that was undeniably refreshing.

After all, he teased back. And so few people possessed both the sense of humor and the courage to do that to her. (She knew several people who had the latter, of course, but Winte’rs sense of humor was as dry as Luke’s homeworld and as for Mon Mothma or General Dodonna…well, humor wasn’t the first word that sprang to mind there, was it?) So when he mock-scoffed at her mock-suggestion, Leia smirked and said, “Oh please, Han, don’t be so dramatic. You give people good advice sometimes and we all know it. After all, sometimes you quote Chewbacca.”

Her smile was toothy, almost predatory in a very relaxed way, but it froze at his next question. Leia wasn’t entirely sure why, but it suddenly felt as though a hole had opened up in the deckplates beneath her seat and hyperspace was swallowing her whole. “Uh,” she said, uncharacteristically slow on the riposte. “Well,” she answered, her voice gone tart and her eyes snapping back to the safety of the swirling void outside, speaking quickly to cover her momentary hesitation, “I tell them you’re a decent shot, of course. And an acceptable pilot with astonishingly good taste – and luck – in your friends. But I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that. You have perfectly functional reflexiplast in your ship’s ‘freshers, I’ve seen it. And you certainly spend enough time preening in front of it that you should be able to see all those things yourself – not to mention the ego the size of Yavin.”

Leia’s cheeks felt warm. She resisted the urge to pat them. Firstly because that might have drawn attention, and secondly because there was no need for such a gesture anyway because she absolutely was not blushing.

He shrugged. “Winter has been known to dispense an occasional kernel of wisdom, sure, but I don’t know that I would advise following her blindly. I mean, has she ever given you advice as good as mine? Probably not.” 

He knew better than to attempt to detract from Winter in any way. He wouldn’t have wanted to anyway, the woman was impressive and smart as hell. Plus, he couldn’t underestimate the fear she could strike fear into the heart of better men than Han. Not that there were any. Not on this ice rock anyway. 

“Hey,” he said, his customary mock-offense evident in his voice. “Chewie gives great advice. It’s not my fault that I’m smart enough to pass it on. I’m nothing if not  resourceful, your highness,” he winked. 

Listening to her stumble over articulating what she ‘saw’ in him was hilarious. “A decent shot? I’m wounded. I’m a damn good shot and you know it.” He snorted as her litany continued. “It is pretty good reflexiplast, if I do say so myself. I won’t tell you what I had to do to who to get it.” 

She was right about his friends, of course. He had excellent luck when it came to those. He’d had his fair share of bad luck there, too, of course, but he didn’t feel like he needed to get into that right now. Especially when his luck seemed to be turned for the better, these days. 

“My ego is just fine, thank you. I think it’s perfectly proportionate to how amazing I am, to be honest.” 

[sadlystillnotsparky]

I am stuck in meetings all night, but they are muted zoom meetings, so please feel free to let me know if you wanna plot/write/whatever. I have starter memes up, too if you wanna take a look! 

[whatamansolo]

empiresbane​:

Honest Alderaanians

Leia answered his snort with one of her own. Hardly a ladylike response but then, she’d never been the one who effortlessly fell into the habits of ladylike behavior. She could, of course – she had had a lifetime cultivating them, and could those expectations like fine jewelry – but while dignity and elegance had become an ingrained habit, being ladylike was still something that required conscious choice on her part. And as much as Han regularly put her hackles up, he was also someone around whom she had learned she could just be herself. (Sometimes her very angry self, yes, but still her.)

She’d actually expected more than the one snort. Leia had let herself express a lot of genuine emotion in a straightforward way, and not of the happier sort. She had known even while she was speaking that it was possible Han would respond with deflective sarcasm, but instead he seemed to be thinking about her words rather than just firing-off a knee-jerk response to avoid their weight. He seemed to be thinking about them even more than she’d have expected at most, in fact, as though she had touched some sort of nerve.

Leia slanted her eyes sideways to observe him without the offering the confrontation of turning directly. Yes, he was definitely thinking, not bored or distracted. Interesting.

Then he spoke, and her lips couldn’t help but twitch into a smile. Of course he had given her words due consideration; she had been talking about him after all.

“Is that so?” Leia smirked. “That’s not what most people say. In fact, I think most of the time, people say ‘princess I wish you wouldn’t spend so much listening to that man’ and ‘your highness I really don’t know what you see in him’ and ‘I can tell who you’ve been spending time with lately, Leia,’ in an extremely disappointed tone.” She shook her head, as though baffled by the incomprehensible actions of the galaxy at large, then tapped her cheek as though thinking it over. “Do you think your advice ought to outweigh that of all my other counselors?”

“Well, your highness,” he said, the reverence that would typically be found in that honorific nowhere to be found. As usual, “I have found that ‘most people’ are usually not worth listening to. However, if you find someone that gives you good advice, I say you should probably make a habit of taking their opinions on board.”  The smile was definitely bigger by now. “Me?” he teased, raising an eyebrow, “Why, whatever do you mean? It can’t be that you’re suggesting that I gave you good advice. I should probably tell Chewie to start packing up. The end is probably near.”  He shrugged easily, leaning against the wall. “And what do you tell them, pray tell? When they ask you what you see in me?” 

[whatamansolo]

empiresbane​:

Honest Alderaanians

“About Alderaan?” Leia said gently, taking pity on Han’s discomfort and finishing the sentence for him. “What else am I supposed to do?” She shrugged. “Cry? I’ve cried so much I could swim in it. And I’ll cry again a hundred times over. If we gathered all the tears of Alderaan’s survivors, we could turn Tatooine into a Mon Cal colony and still have a few thousand gallons leftover. But that doesn’t change anything. Alderaan is still gone, and the hole its absence carved in my heart will never seal. But…”

Leia’s eyes wandered across the gently coiling colors of hyperspace on the other side of the viewport as though searching for something, but what she thought she might find in that otherworldly morass even she would have struggled to articulate. Perhaps she wasn’t looking for anything specific at all; perhaps it was just a feeling.

“But I met someone a few years ago who taught me that laughter can be both a shield and a weapon, and that as long as you’re laughing you can’t cry. So i thought I’d give it a try. See if it made the weight a little easier to carry if I stopped trying to avoid the unavoidable. There’s no day that goes by without something reminding me of Alderaan, even if just my own memories. My own urge to share a thought without someone who’s gone.”

She drew her eyes from the emptiness of hyperspace and fixed them on Han again, a smile – thin, rueful, and sad, but a smile nonetheless – settling on her lips. “So I thought instead of trying to dodge my own mind, I would take ownership of those memories. Those reminders. Make them myself, before they can sneak up on me. Laugh the pain away. Like…someone else I know does. Maybe you’ve met him?”

“No. About Mon Calamari,” Han snorted. “Of course, Alderaan.”  He considered her point and, as usual, it was a good one. The problem here, really, was that he was no good with this type of stuff. In fact, as Leia had just specifically pointed out, he was more the ‘make a sardonic observation and walk away’ type.  Thankfully, it didn’t seem like she wanted a shoulder to cry on. Which was good. He’d have given her his if she needed it, of course, but stang if that didn’t make him uncomfortable as anything in the galaxy could. Especially with Leia. She was too damn strong to fold like that. Which, of course, he should have known. Still, if anyone ever blew up Corellia, he figured it’d be easily a month until he climbed out of a bottle long enough to look around. 

She had him down, though. It would have been annoying if he wasn’t someone amused by the fact that she had taken the time to figure him out to that degree. Not that he was a particularly difficult man to interpret, he was sure Chewie would be happy to remind him. Still, it brought a small, almost conspiratorial smile to his face.

“I see,” he said, offering a slow nod, “That’s a really good point. I think that whoever that person is is pretty smart. You should probably listen to them more often.”

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Han Solo: Care to come with us?

Talon Karrde: And spoil my carefully calculated air of selfishness and unconcern? Not until the last second, thank you very much.

[oh-no-eu-didnt]

Selonia was a ocean world located in the Core Worlds. Part of the Corellian system, Selonia was an industrial world with large underground cities connecting between the islands on the surface. The depths of the planet’s oceans were rumored to conceal huge sea creatures, and the planet was home to the furry Selonian species.

Source: Sons of Fortune (Art: David Ardila; 2014)

First Appearance: Ambush at Corellia (1995)

[empiresbane]

Honest Alderaanians

@whatamansolo​ | continued from this.

Leia pulled her eyes away from the viewport in front of her – now showing the swirling colors of hyperspace, rather than the starfield and Imperial Star Destroyer that had been there moments ago – and turned to eye the cocksure Corellian sitting beside her. “Was it?” she asked blandly, her voice light and dry. “I don’t know…you don’t seem to be laughing, so I guess not.”

Despite Han’s baffled reaction to her joke – or perhaps at least in part because of it – Leia was in a good mood. Their mission had been successful, and not the sort of “success” that involved an exchange of blaster fire and a desperate last minute save, and the cargo bay of their stolen Imperial shuttle was stuffed full of supplies for the Rebellion. Yes, the Imperial uniform that Leia was currently wearing pinched and scratched and not just because it wasn’t quite cut to fit her petite proportions, but the discomfort of passing herself off as a member of the Imperial Navy was offset by the pleasure that came from hoodwinking them with their own regulations in the process.

She leaned back as far as the stiff navigator’s seat would go, propped her booted feet on the console in front of her – careful not to bump any of the controls – and folded her hands behind her gray-capped head. The braids coiled around her scalp were too tight, her shoes were too big even with the double layer of socks, her side still ached from the blaster crease she’d taken in a firefight last week, and she was about to endure several hours of travel in a cramped and over-stuffed shuttle with one of the most annoying members of the Rebellion…and she was happy.

Besides, did it really count as lying when you were doing it to the Empire?

[whatamansolo]

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” he responded with a shrug, reaching out to fiddle with a loose label on one of the fuel compartment levers. He knew what it was, so he never really bothered to fix it. He was starting to think that maybe he should, though. Especially if he was going to be hauling royalty around more often.

Although, if he had it his way, he wouldn’t be doing that, either, so maybe it was best to just figure out why the right anterior coolant valve kept making that intermittent chirruping noise rather than fix labels. “I’m not always the one for belly laughs or obvious punchlines” he pointed out. “So, the truth is, sometimes the funniest stuff barely gets a smile out of me, to be honest. By that measure, you just told one of the funniest jokes I’ve ever heard.”  He snorted and hook his head. “But, really, I just was surprised, I suppose to hear your humor go so dark. Didn’t think that was like you. I mean, sarcastic, sure, but I didn’t expect you to go around making jokes about...” he gestured vaguely. She knew what he meant. He had a feeling that this was one of those topics that was okay for her to joke about, but he wasn’t going to take it lightly around her. 

[whatamansolo]

"How dare you, captain? I am as honest as an Alderaanian day is long." (empiresbane)

Of all the jokes that Han might have expected from the princess, that was the absolute last one. In fact, had he traveled less of the galaxy in his life, he might be tempted to believe that she had said it accidentally. However, his few visits to Alderaan had taught him that their day was not particularly long at all.  “Please forgive me, your highness, but was that... Was that an actual joke?"

[empiresbane]

A Skywalker’s Luck With Love

[whatamansolo]

empiresbane‌:

“As long as I get to know first,” Leia said primly. Her tone was lighter than her heart, but she appreciated Han’s efforts to cheer her up – and maybe she was overreacting. But it was so hard to watch Luke fumble so painfully through the personal parts of his life, even as he poured more and more of himself into the flourishing Jedi Order. Yes, Luke’s dreams seemed to be succeeding…but at what cost to him?

Maybe it was growing-up with Winter that was the problem; Leia was used to the closest thing she’d had to a sibling being a woman of pure competence who always made her feel like she was bumbling in her wake. Having the roles reversed left her floundering.

She laughed – bitterly, but still a laugh – and leaned in against Han’s shoulder. “I will never stop knocking your plans,” she declared. “Even you can’t come up with a mad enough plan to stop me doing that.” They both knew that – and relied on it, too; were the day to ever come when she and Han couldn’t snipe companionably at one another, the galaxy would be in dire straights indeed…as would their marriage. “I will agree that you often struggle to use what you have, though,” she added with a snicker.” Leia would just as soon take the terrible plans, impossible luck, and constant snark, thanks. That was her happily-ever-forever, or close enough as to make no difference.

Han obviously didn’t want to talk about the Emperor, or about the worst possibilities that might still be lurking over Luke and Mara both – and Leia couldn’t blame him, even if it wasn’t a concern she could dismiss as easily. But then, Han had never come face-to-face with Palpatine, had he? Not the real Palpatine, the original version. Even if Leia had wanted to (which she didn’t) she’d never be able to describe how his presence felt…

She let him draw her in, snuggling, and did her best to banish the cold shadows of memory and future possibilities that clawed at her. “You’ve never been safe with me a day in your life, flyboy,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Why would you want to start now?”

“Of course you get to know first,” he assured her. “Hell, you’ll probably know before I do.” He was mostly kidding but his wife did seem know him even better than he knew himself, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising if she did.    “And my plans are things of beauty. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that I amaze myself more often than not.” He figured that he could come up with a plan mad enough to do anything if given half a chance but, fortunately for them both, he didn’t have any desire to stop her from knocking his plans. He had no desire to stop her from doing anything, really. But, of course, she knew that.  “I wouldn’t want to be safe, Princess. I’ve been safe before. I prefer danger where you’re concerned,” he snickered, pressing a kiss to her head.  “But, honestly, I think that this is probably the best idea he’s had yet in this department. Not a tall order, to be sure, but I think that it’s true.” He just hoped that he was correct about this. She’d never let him live it down otherwise. 

[whatamansolo]

Luke: I've never been so humiliated in my life.

Han: Me neither. And that's a really high bar.

[whatamansolo]

[whatamansolo]

Mon Mothma: As senator, your role will be primarily advisory.

Leia Organa: I’m gonna need some weapons.

[empiresbane]

A Skywalker’s Luck With Love

[whatamansolo]

empiresbane‌:

Leia let Han draw her into the embrace and leaned in, resting her head against his chest. She sighed. “Can’t you be an oracle for a little?” she asked plaintively. “It would make life so much easier if you could.” Luke had talked about how his teacher, Yoda, had been able to look into the future; even occasionally had his own visions, such as the one that had drawn him to Cloud City to rescue her, Han, and Chewie all those years ago. But the visions never seemed to come on demand, certainly never when Leia needed them – and never to her. Most of the time, she was glad of that. But now…

“Your plans only work when the galaxy feels like being contrary and flouting logic just to outrage the rest of us,” she retorted. It was nicer to banter with Han than to fret about the future. “That’s more luck than planning…although to be honest, I’d be happy enough to take some of that luck for Luke these days. You know any tricks for passing that on to somebody else, just for a little?” Not forever, not even for long; Han wouldn’t last a time part out in the galaxy without his usual insulation of unfathomable luck and Leia didn’t want to see him suffer either – but it would be nice for Luke to be that lucky for once, just for a little bit.

“Me?” Leia asked. She blinked, unprepared for the question – or perhaps just unprepared for the answer. “I don’t…” Her voice trailed away, uncertain and tremulous. She sighed, shook her head; when she spoke again the tremor was gone, but the uncertainty – paired this time with tired annoyance – remained. “I don’t know, Han. She seems all right – she really does. But…the Emperor left a compulsion in her head when he died. I know Luke says that it’s gone, that killing his…his clone was enough to purge it, but…I’ve met the Emperor.” Her words dropped to a whisper, an uncommon fear stealing across her features like a chill. “He was…are we really sure Luke’s safe with her?”

“Sweetheart, if I could be an oracle for a little, you would be the first to know,” he assured her. “I’d look Luke’s whole life story for you if I could. Of course, I would then sort of be obligated to tell him, too. You know... just for fairness sake, but I’d tell you first.”  He never thought that, in this family of Jedi, that he would be the one called upon to attempt to see the future. Yet here they were. It was crazy. Especially where something so unpredictable as love was concerned.  “Hey,” he said, affecting a dramatically wounded expression. “My plans are great. Don’t be knocking my plans, princess. You’re still standing here because of more than one of them, and don’t you forget it. But, when it comes to passing my incredible planning skills on to someone else? Nah. I don’t have any idea how I’d do that. I don’t even really know how to use what I’ve got myself,” he snorted, taking a swig from his drink.  Her statement about the Emperor sent a chill down his spine. He shook his head. “If Luke and Mara both say it’s gone, then I believe them. At some point, we’re just going to have to choose to put some trust in the pair of them. Besides, any fool can see that she’s just as crazy about him as he is about her.”  His arm wrapped around her a little bit tighter as if trying to soothe away her uncharacteristic fear. “I think the real question is, am I safe with you? After all, I’ve had more than a few drinks this evening. You might try to take advantage...”

[empiresbane]

A Skywalker’s Luck With Love

[whatamansolo]

empiresbane‌:

“I’m not sure that Jedi have romantic track-records worth emulating,” Leia muttered, more to herself than to Han. “At least not by the stories Tionne has unearthed so far – Sunrider, Qel-Droma, Shan…” She shook her head, pulling her attention out of the distant past and back to the present concern of her brother’s love life…lives. Whatever, as long it wasn’t deaths.

She sighed, half-exasperated and half-hopeful, and echoed, “A ‘feeling’ about them? Han…” Her tone was angling toward curt and dismissive, but twisted into a plea halfway: “What kind of feeling? The ‘don’t worry, this plan will definitely work’ kind? Because I’m not sure Luke can survive another romance that goes down that path, especially not with Mara Jade as the other party…”

Leia sighed again, wrinkling her nose, and said plaintively, “Winter likes her too. Doesn’t trust her as far as I could throw Chewbacca, mind you, but she likes her. And – aside from one memorable occasion,” Leia interjected teasingly, tapping a finger on Han’s chest to make clear exactly to whom she was referring, “her character judgement is impeccable. I’m not sure how her and you agreeing about somebody for once plays-out in terms of favorable chances for Luke, however…”

Han sighed. “Look, sweetheart, I’m a pilot not an oracle. I can’t tell you what’s gonna happen. I can only tell you what I think is gonna happen. And I think that, just maybe, this might be all right.”  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. “And, for the record, my plans work more often than they don’t, so maybe you should feel better about that. Plus, you know I’m not trying to see the kid hurt again. I wouldn’t say that I thought it was good if I didn’t.” He leaned down to press a kiss to the side of her head. “Well, see? Winter knows what’s going on. If she wasn’t worth trusting, then Winter would know. Or you would know. What do you actually think of her? You haven’t really said. Beyond her character judgement, that is.”