Dinner
By TooOldForThis
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the basic story. It was created by George and is now owned by Disney. But thanks for letting me play here for fun.
Author's Note: This is a short story explaining what the wink that Han gives Leia at the award ceremony on Yavin was all about and why Leia smiled.
Han Solo was on top of the Millenium Falcon, welding a piece of the ship back together. Luke climbed up the ladder and looked over the top. "Did you hear? There's going to be a ceremony celebrating the destruction of the Death Star.", he shouted to Han.
"What?", Han asked as he stopped what he was doing, lifted his welding goggles and looked at Luke.
"There's going to be a ceremony celebrating the destruction of the Death Star.", Luke repeated. "They want to give us medals!"
"I ain't taking part in a ceremony, kid."
Luke's face fell. "Ah, come on. It won't be bad. There will probably be a party afterward.', he said, trying to entice Han into taking part.
"You go. Have fun. Tell me about it when it's over."
"But you have to come, if it wasn't for you, I'd have been destroyed by those tie-fighters."
"That's probably true. But I still don't want to take part in any ceremony."
"Will you at least think about it?", Luke pleaded.
"Sure, I'll think about it.", he replied, and went back to working on the Falcon. Han felt bad, disappointing the kid like that. But there was no way he was going to be paraded around like some poster boy. Let Luke be the poster boy.
Han still wasn't quite sure what had made him turn around. For some reason, he'd started feeling like he had to watch out for Luke and that was the total opposite to everything he'd been doing for most of his life. If he was going to watch out for Luke, he'd rather do it without everyone else watching him. The key to surviving as a smuggler was to keep a low profile and not draw attention to yourself.
After Han had brushed him off, Luke climbed back down the ladder and walked over to where the X-wings were docked. Along the way, he saw Leia.
"Hey.", he called to her. "Hi", she responded as she walked over to him.
"I told Han about the ceremony. He wants no part of it."
"What do you mean he wants no part of it."
"Just what I said. He said to tell him about it when it's over."
Leia let out a sigh. Why did he have to be difficult? "Does he know that we want to honor you AND him?"
"I told him, he still wants nothing to do with it.", Luke replied.
"Did he say why?"
"No. I can't understand him sometimes. It was a great victory. I can't understand why he wouldn't want to take part."
"Me either.", Leia replied. "I'll go talk to him. Where is he?", she asked.
"Where else? Fixing his ship.", Luke smirked.
Leia laughed at the comment. "Wish me luck.", she said as she walked toward the Falcon.
Han was just coming down the ladder as she approached. "Han.", she called.
"Yes, your Highnessness", replied as he jumped off the last rung and turned to face her.
"Luke told me that you don't want to take part in the ceremony."
"That's right", he replied as he turned to put his tools away. She followed him. "Why not?"
"I'm not much of the ceremony type."
"That's not a reason. Why not?"
"I just don't want to."
"We'd really like to honor you and Luke. You'll be receiving medals."
"Well, then I'm definitely not going."
Leia sighed. She needed to get Han to participate. This was a great victory and they needed to keep this wave of high morale going as long as possible. "Alright. What will it take to get you attend?", she pleaded.
He looked at her, a smile slowly forming at one corner of his mouth. "What are you offering?"
"What do you want?", she asked again. "Don't tell me you want more money?. We don't exactly have tons of credits just sitting around and that reward of yours was a strain already."
"Don't worry, I don't want your money. And, by the way, I gave most of that reward back, if you must know." Suddenly he felt like he needed to make her think better of him.
"You gave it back? Really?"
"Guess there is more to me than money, Princess."
"So what will it take to get you to come to the ceremony, if it's not money?", she asked again.
He looked at those brown eyes and recalled their exchange on the Falcon, after he escaped the Death Star…. ~ "If money is all you care about, then money is what you'll get. ….. you're friend is quite the mercenary.. " ~ Hmm, a princess and a guy like him…?
"How about you have dinner with me?", he replied.
Leia just stared at him. That was just about the last thing she thought he would say. "You want to have dinner with me?"
"Yeah. Just you and me. I'm a pretty good cook."
"And if I have dinner with you, you'll come to the ceremony and let us give you a medal?", she asked slowly, not really believing what she'd just heard.
Han smiled at her. "Yeah. You have dinner with me tomorrow and I'll come to your ceremony and let you put a medal around my neck." He was enjoying the way he had surprised her.
"Okay, you've got yourself a deal, flyboy." Leia felt strangely excited. Dinner with Han might be interesting. She turned to leave, then paused and turned back around. "Oh, and Han, make sure you comb your hair and put on a clean shirt." Then she turned around, allowing herself to smile as she left.
Han watched her walk away. Dinner alone with the Princess. That may have just been one of the best deals he ever made.