Chapter 1 - Flirting with Corellians

Mornings were the worst.

For the last few months, Leia had been having vivid dreams about Han. Sometimes the one with them on the platform at Bespin, but more often lately, various versions of their nights together on the Falcon. The night they got buzzed on whiskey and ended up half naked in the lounge before moving to the cabin. The night they reenacted the kissing session in the circuitry bay, this time without droid interruptions. That time in the cockpit. That other time in the shower. And not always sex, either. Some of the dreams were just about kissing. Lots and lots of kissing.

Each morning, Leia woke up in her bunk, practically panting with desire. And alone.

Well, not completely alone. In her belly, her daughter swam around, doing backflips and whatever else it was babies did in there. And, of course, kicking her in the bladder until she got up.

Leia hoisted herself out of the bunk and used the 'fresher for the first of what promised to be many times today. She looked at herself in the small mirror above the sink. Nothing like having sex dreams when you're alone and look like a worn out bulwhark.

It wasn't just the dreams, though. Mornings were when the loneliness was the worst, when she woke up longing for Han's arms around her, for the feel of his stubble grazing her neck, "Mornin', sweetheart" in his slow drawl. Amazing, how in fewer than six weeks, she'd become used to a whole new routine. And how, eight months later, she still wasn't used to her mornings without him.

She wasn't anyone's sweetheart here. She had to be The Princess again. So she got dressed, braided her hair, and headed to the mess for breakfast.

Wedge Antilles sidled up next to her in line. "Missed you at sabacc last night, Commander." He wore a teasing expression. "Ditched us for a hot date?"

She laughed. "Right. A hot date with some datapads." She'd fallen asleep at the desk in her quarters, researching some new intelligence information, and had dragged herself to her bunk after waking up in the middle of the night amid a pile of datapads.

He took her tray and guided her over to where the other Rogues were eating. "Still doing research?"

"Yeah." She set herself down next to Wedge and across from Hobbie and Janson.

Hobbie grinned at her. "Mornin', Your Highness. Antilles owes you a drink."

Leia smiled, but she was confused. "A drink?"

"We were playing Drunk Sabacc last night. We decided that whoever was out first had to buy you a drink, since you weren't there," Janson explained.

That explanation hadn't really cleared anything up, and Leia couldn't resist a little good-natured ribbing. "Drunk Sabacc? Isn't that what you play every night?"

"More official drinking," Hobbie explained. "Every time you draw a card, you take a drink. First one to trip up on a hand is out."

Leia took a drink of her kaffe and turned to Wedge. "So, are you buying me blue milk, kaffe, or tea? My options are a bit limited right now."

"Mmm, maybe I'll surprise you." Wedge was looking at her with a gleam in his eye, and Leia found herself nearly blushing. "You know us Corellians," he said.

"Some better than others," cracked Hobbie.

After breakfast, Wedge had offered to swing by Leia's quarters to pick her up before the Rogues' sabacc game that evening. "In case you get trapped in a loveless marriage with some datapads," he'd said. She'd chuckled and accepted. The intelligence research was wearing on her, she could tell, and everyone was already trying to get her to slow down and reduce her workload anyway, now that the baby was mere weeks away. Luke, her usual anchor, was off on a mission. Maybe a little downtime with the Rogues would help.

Sure enough, Leia was deep into another round of research when Wedge knocked on her door that evening.

"Hey, Commander," he greeted, as she opened the door. Funny how he can make my military title sound flirtatious, Leia thought.

"Commander," she returned, smiling. "You're early."

"Not interrupting, am I?"

"Not really." She let him in and waved toward the pile of datapads on the desk. "My eyes were starting to glaze over anyway. I think I just read the same sentence six times."

Wedge had been hiding a bottle of something behind his back. He pulled it out and presented it to Leia. "Thought I could make good on that drink I owe you," he said.

Leia looked at the bottle and gasped. "Sparkling callaberry juice?" She sat down, overwhelmed. She hadn't seen a bottle of this in years.

Wedge grinned. "Told you I'd surprise you."

Leia was examining the bottle, still blown away. Callaberries had been common on Alderaan, but were rare in other parts of the galaxy. "Where'd you find this?" she asked.

Wedge was cagey. "Oh, I have my sources." She raised an eyebrow at him, and he immediately caved. "Okay, I got it from Dansra."

Leia chuckled at the look on his face: That wasn't all I got from Dansra, it said. Good for her, Leia thought, smiling a little wickedly.

Wedge saw her expression and suddenly looked a bit sheepish. "I didn't say that out loud, did I?"

Leia chuckled again. "You didn't have to." She turned back to the bottle. "Shall we open this up? I have glasses in the locker over there."

"Sure." Wedge grabbed two glasses and put them on the table near Leia's chair, then took the bottle from her to open it. "Commander. Allow me," he said.

The cork gave a satisfying pop, and the callaberry juice immediately exploded out of the top of the bottle and began to rush over the sides. "Oh, no!" Wedge exclaimed, as Leia giggled, trying to catch as much of the juice in her glass as she could before it foamed onto the floor. Wedge quickly realized that pouring the juice would help, and was trying to balance the bottle and his glass while pouring juice into Leia's glass as well. Leia grabbed the bottle from him and, without thinking, tried to catch the remaining juice in her mouth as it ran over the side of the bottle.

The foaming settled down, and Leia put the bottle down on the floor. They looked at each other and both burst out laughing.

"We're a mess," Wedge said. Between the sparkling juice foaming over and the explosion when he'd popped the cork, Wedge seemed to have caught an impressive amount of the juice on himself. Leia reached up and wiped a bit of excess juice off his forehead. "Did you get it in your hair?" she asked.

"I think so," he laughed. "You did, too," he said, touching one of her braids gently.

Leia shook her head, still laughing. "Sorry, I forgot that it does that sometimes," she said. "We used to open it with a towel over it, to keep that from happening." She made a motion like she was preparing to get up. "I've got towels we can use in the 'fresher."

Wedge stopped her. "No, I got it. You stay there. Lick the rest off the bottle if you like," he said, winking at her as he headed toward the 'fresher. Leia blushed. She was hoping he hadn't noticed her doing that.

He returned with a few towels and a wet washcloth. "These okay to use?"

"Yeah, those are fine."

Wedge put one towel on the floor to mop up the juice, then handed one of the towels to Leia as he dried himself with the other. After drying herself off, she used the washcloth to wipe the juice off her face, then brought the washcloth to Wedge's face to wipe a few drops from his brow. Her hand lingered, for just a moment, at his cheek, and he smiled at her.

He picked up his glass and sat in the chair next to Leia. "To sweet, sparkling messes," he said. She laughed and clinked his glass with hers before taking a drink.

"We're going to be the talk of the sabacc table," Leia chuckled, "covered in juice like we're trying to win a wet skivvies contest."

Wedge took another drink. "We should lay bets on what jokes they'll make. 'You were supposed to buy her a drink, not douse her in it.'"

"How about, 'That's one way to get a girl wet!'"

"Yes! And Janson will try a joke that doesn't quite work, like a nickname or something. 'Your Royal Foaminess.'"

"'The Last Juice of Alderaan.' We need a terrible nickname for you, though."

"Premature Ejuicination."

Leia laughed again. "Perfect."

They sat back and sipped their drinks for a few minutes.

"Y'know, we don't have to go play sabacc tonight. We could just stay here and pretend to get drunk on this," Wedge suggested.

Leia wasn't sure whether he was serious or not, but she played along. "Continue to make terrible sexual innuendos involving juice metaphors."

"I feel like we'd branch out eventually. Y'know, to terrible sexual innuendos not involving juice metaphors." Wedge took another drink. "Mmm. I'm not a juice person, but this is really good."

Leia looked over at him. "It is. Thanks for bringing it to me. I can't remember the last time I had it." She looked a bit wistful.

Wedge smiled. "My pleasure. It's the least I could do for a beautiful woman like you." He threw her a flirtatious glance.

Leia laughed. "I'll bet you say that to all the giant pregnant ladies."

His eyes were twinkling. "No, Commander. Just you." He took her hand and brought it to his lips.

She looked at him, both amused and intrigued. "Wedge Antilles, are you trying to seduce me?" she teased.

He gave her a look that was teasing and rather smoldering at the same time. "Is it working?"

They looked at each other for a long moment. Leia wasn't quite sure what was going to happen.

Wedge gently brushed a strand of hair back from her face. "You know that Solo is ridiculously in love with you, right?"

"I know." Leia was deeply grateful that Wedge had used the present tense.

"Good." He kissed her forehead. "You'll get him back, Leia. You know what they say about us Corellians."

"Rocket fuel for blood?"

"The odds don't apply."