Outline: This is a collection of "missing moments" based on the development of the relationship between Han and Leia. Every chapter can be considered a separate issue, so you just have to choose your favorite moment.
This episode is about the first "romantic" dinner of Han and Leia (even if it won't be so romantic) and takes place sometime after the battle of Yavin.
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me, but are George Lucas' property: this story hasn't been written for profit.
One way or another, Leia was compelled to keep her word: she had promised a dinner to whomever would have been able to appropriate at least one TIE bomber – or else a ultimate generation radial fighter – and now, to her great disappointment, she was in debt with Han Solo.
And this had seemed like such a great idea this morning!
To motivate the soldiers of the rebellion in order to get a hold of some secret Imperial technology could reveal itself to be a winning move, too bad she hadn't been good to foresee the possible consequences as well…
After seeing the face of the Corellian light up in front of her proposal she had had a
strange presentiment: she knew very well that he was up to the task, but she didn't expect his involvement had there not been a substantial reward, and this had left her both pleased and astonished.
«It's for me, sister! Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money!»
The recollection of that conversation was still very clear in her memory and she had genuinely hated him for that!
Nevertheless, Han had revealed himself to be a better person than he appeared: it was funny to catch him doing some good deed, which he immediately regretted, and she kept on asking herself what disappointments there were behind such a behavior.
She kept an eye on him, she couldn't deny it, but she was sure that he was doing the same, even if his final purpose wasn't clear to her yet. It was a reciprocal studying, in which she had to use all her resources as expert diplomat. Everytime she reached a conclusion, it was contradicted by a following action. She had to be careful not to let her guard down too much because Captain Solo could be very dangerous!
It comforted her to think that for him the task was just as hard. It amused her to fluster him and to ease his arrogance and conceit but she had to admit that, sometimes, due to the fits of rage he often provoked in her, she came far too close to completely losing control.
xxx
«Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Han will eventually stop bragging», she had promised to Luke before revealing her plan to him.
«Well, since it's like this, I think I'm lucky not to have taken part in that mission» the boy had answered her, smiling, after having come to know the plan for the dinner.
Leia had disliked the boldness with which the smuggler had addressed to her at all, just after having put himself out of danger with the loot: «Prepare your knife and fork, Your Worship. My mouth is already watering» he had said to her.
And, of course, he choosed to announce it over the channel for telecommunication
opened to the entire base of rebels. Needless to say, everyone had turned towards her to enjoy her scandalized expression.
Blushing with shame and anger, she had hurried to answer: «Think about landing that old wreck first. I doubt we will be able to get anything useful from it since there's nothing undamaged inside!»
With this, she had switched off the maxi screen with her fist, wiping off Han's sneering expression.
How can he be such an idiot even after having just risked his life? She had asked herself, still in turmoil over the quick succession of feelings that had passed through her in that last half an hour.
Once they had noticed the theft, the Imperials had tried to shoot down Captain Solo by all possible and, for a moment, when that crazy fool had pretended to have crashed to the ground to sidetrack his pursuers, she had really feared to have lost him.
She had been caught by an unexpected desperation and the guilt of having been the cause of such a stupid action was clenching in her chest like a steel vice. Having to helplessly witness that scene from aboard her cruiser, without being able to do anything to help him, only accentuated the enormous sense of emptiness which was suddenly suffocating her.
«Han! Han where are you?» She couldn't tell how many times she screamed his name, staring at the dotted screen and listening to the blood-curling distortions, coming from the radio.
That's it, another victim for the sake of the Alliance, another victim for my sake! It can't be true…
«Han where are you?»
Her head was completely lowered over the coordinates projector and she was seriously thinking about banging her forehead on it when, all of a sudden, the radio had answered: «I'm under you, sweetheart!»
Incredulous, she had raised her head, finding herself facing the pleased smirk of the
Corellian on the screen, and, immediately after, his ship had popped out, God knows how, off the bottom of the rebel's cruiser.
Dam than bastard!
She had been seriously tempted to revoke the reward but, later, seeing him limping out of the recently stolen vehicle and, moved by an innate sense of integrity, had ended up conforming to the initial conditions: «All right, I'll keep our agreement. But I'll be the one deciding where, how and when.»
«I'm at your complete disposal, Your Highness», he had answered, winking at her while she went away shaking her head.
xxx
It wasn't written anywhere that the dinner should have been something strictly reserved for the two of them, so why not take Captain Solo to a diplomatic meeting between the principal members of the Alliance?
Leia was already imagining Han's disappointed expression in finding himself in front of at least fifty unknown people and being forced to listen to all those political speeches, that would bore him to death. He'd probably excuse himself from the dinner and she would have fulfilled her side of the bargain.
Besides, she wanted to make him feel a little bit guilty for not having joined the rebel volunteers' army yet and, although she was planning to rectify that, she had to be very careful not to arouse his suspicion.
Thoughtfully ambling around the Millennium Falcon, Leia pretended to be surprised at finding herself in front of its captain , ready to greet her with the usual welcoming sentence:
«So princess, have you chosen the date? I'm more and more hungry!»
«Well, you see… I was actually thinking about this…» She had foreseen that approach, after all he constantly been asking the same thing all of last month. Now she only had to direct the discussion exactly where she wanted, and she knew that she would draw his attention by acting slightly hesitant.
«You mean that you were seriously thinking about our dinner?» The smuggler' perplexed face was so funny that Leia nearly gave herself away by bursting out laughing.
«Yes… well you see… my offer was addressed to all the rebel soldiers, but you…» she started, trying to keep herself as serious as possible.
«Hey, hold on a second! You're not trying to back out, are you? Look, I've risked my very valuable life to bring you that stupid imperial crate and I won't allow an insignificant bureaucratic cavil to deprive me of my reward!» With this he whirled his index in front of her nose in a meaningful way.
«But you're not a rebel soldier.» Once again the princess was forced to use all her firmness.
«How does that change anything?! I have every right to wear the uniform of the Rebellion, if I wanted to! And even if I'm not officially one of you, I feel worthy to stay near you. What upsets you so much? I know that the idea of going out with me troubles you, it's normal, it happens to all the women I hang around with», now his gaze had become mischievous. «But you don't have to worry, you'll see that I won't disappoint you.»
Leia opened her eyes wide, taken aback by his confidence. Like it often happened to her while talking with him, a sudden attack of spontaneity risked to divert her from her principal aim but, appealing to all her self-control, she continued the farce: «Yes, but you know how important the appearances are.… especially for a Senate member like me. To be accompanied by a high ranking officer would be acceptable, while being seen hanging around with a civilian, of dubious origin, among other things…»
«Me? Of dubious origin?» Irritated, he didn't give her time to finish the sentence, but soon his anger gave way to reason. «Uhm, I admit you may have a point. We can compromise: if it's just the appearance that worries you, I could accept to wear the uniform of the Alliance for a day, what do you think?»
«It would be fantastic! I'll get you a made to measure uniform as soon as possible.» Having finally reached her purpose, Leia smiled happily at him and quickly walked away, leaving the incredulous Captain Solo behind her.
«In three days come pick me up at seven o'clock, and please, be on time», she added radiant, before reaching the exit of the hangar.
xxx
Han had spent the last three days in seventh heaven. He couldn't believe that, in the end, he was really going on a date with one of the most beautiful and important women of the Galaxy and he was troubled not knowing what to expect from that evening.
She had behaved in an unusually reasonable and lenient way ever since, but his instinct questioned that sudden change of behavior. He was sure that the princess was hiding something from him but, being used to live from day to day, he decided not to delude himself too much and to surprise her in his turn with an unprecedented gentleness.
He showed on time at the appointment and delivered the milla flower he had bought as a gift to a damsel, before being invited to take a seat in the waiting room next to the princess' private rooms. The uniform fit him perfectly and he was satisfied with his appearance. He couldn't remember the last time he spent so long getting ready for a date, but he was proud to see in the mirror that the result was far better than he expected.
«Princess, Captain Solo has arrived. He sends you this, where would you like me to put it?» Leia observed the milla flower that the maid was handing to her and was surprised that the smuggler had correctly guessed her tastes.
«You can put it in the vase on my night-table, now I can get ready. Ah, I nearly forgot, Dunya? Have you raised the temperature in the entrance? It was freezing before and I wouldn't want my escort to become ill…»
The woman nodded in a knowing way and raised the temperature control to the maximum, then helped her mistress to get ready.
After two hours waiting, Captain Solo was no longer so satisfied of his look: that infernal hotness had made two visible halos under his armpits, his hair was messed up and, even if after repeatedly wiping his face with his handkerchief, he kept on dripping with sweat.
I knew that something had to go wrong! This heat is killing me and I wonder she's enjoying watching me squirm! Ah, but I won't give up, at the cost of starving to death right here!
He had planned how he was going to throw his hours of sufferance in the princess's face, but when she finally came out of her room he instantly forgot all his bad thoughts and, dazed by the beautiful creature standing before him, he was barely able to mutter something like: «Ah well. You're ready… Nice dress. While I was waiting I suffered the pains of hell but… well, with you by my side, surely no one will notice my disheveled appearance.»
He would've liked to touch her, just to make sure that that vision wasn't a figment of his imagination, but he was afraid to do that because, for the first time since they had met, he felt unworthy of her. But where had his famous pride disappeared to?
He laughed at the thought then, as he turned his attention from her, he realized that he had been holding his breath till that moment. Nodding slightly, more to encourage himself than anything else, he stared straight into her eyes and, almost whispering, told her: «You're really beautiful.»
Astonished at seeing him so uncertain and at hearing for the first time a real compliment from him, Leia almost didn't noticed she was answering: «Thanks, you look good as well.»
o patito lei fatto patirentro!" l'e, ma so ( rabbrividito al pensiero
Then she quickly lowered her gaze, embarrassed. He had never looked at her so intensely and maybe he didn't realize how seducing his voice was when he used his deepest tones. For a moment she wondered how the dinner would've ended if it had really been just between the two of them…
xxx
During the trip to the restaurant Han tried to feign some confidence he didn't have and he talked princess's enthusiastically of the best dishes he had tasted during his countless travels and, sometimes, tried to guess their destination by suggesting names of restaurants he'd been to.
«Oh come on, give me some clues! There are a lot of interesting places on this planet, what are the typical dishes?» By then, they had landed on Handooine so he offered her his arm and let himself being guided.
«No hints, we're almost there by anyway. I don't think you've ever been here.» There were still a few steps to reach the Jelwick Central Palace and he still had no idea of what was awaiting him.
«Actually I don't know anything around here, this is a vip zone» he admitted, vaguely alarmed.
«Well, in a sense I'm a vip , aren't I?» Leia joked, and she almost felt sorry to have to put an end to the pretense, after all it was pleasing to have a civil talk with him.
«Here, we've arrived.»
«The Jelwick Central Palace. Uhm, I've heard of it, but I thought that here they hosted only meetings and state manifestations…»
Just then the niggling doubt that had accompanied him during those last three days became a concrete reality in front of his eyes: this was what the princess had been plotting! Everything fit awfully together and his beautiful dream of spending a nice evening alone with Leia dematerialized in an instant.
«Exactly, this is a state dinner. Are you still convinced that you want your reward, Captain?» She smiled to him while he absorbed those last words like they've been a death sentence.
«Sure, I wonder when I'll get another chance to attend a state banquet!» he coldly answered.
He still couldn't understand how such a beautiful and delicate creature could be so cold and ruthless… and why she picked so much on him: what had he done wrong this time?
xxx
The dinner at Jelwick Central Palace, however, didn't go exactly as planned and it remained engraved in Leia's memory for a long time...
After having taken a seat next to Han, she was convinced she had dealt a deadly blow to his unbearable ego. His face was pale, his eyes flashing menacingly in every direction, but especially towards her when, with false kindness, she kept on asking him: «So, how's it going? Is everything alright?»
Were those eyes really the ones which had looked at her so intensely it upset her? Their ability to change colour with Han's mood was astonishing. Right now, for example, they were dark grey and bode nothing good, but the intoxicating taste of victory led her to underestimate those warnings, and this revealed itself to be a mistake.Initially looked down on by the officials and vips at the dinner, the Corellian soon earned their admiration when they came to know that, thanks to him, the rebel engineers now had a TIE bomber at their disposal and the admiration increased when some of them recalled his important contribution during the battle of Yavin.
This didn't surprise Leia much, but the some of the revelations that he decided to divulge shocked her…
She had always known him to be a very good pilot, but she certainly hadn't expect that his mastery came from training at the Imperial Academy! So the young Han Solo had become a lieutenant of the Empire but he had later been dismissed because he had saved a group of Wookiee prisoners from certain death.
Since then he had taken to smuggling, the career he had tried to abandon by becoming a soldier, but which he had been forced to return to earn his living and, most of all, to stay alive.
He openly declared that he wasn't interested in the war between the most powerful forces of the Galaxy and that he was only wearing the Alliance uniform because the princess had requested it, not to show his support for the cause. After the battle of Yavin, though, he had made a lot of friends in the rebels' base and he declared himself ready to fight with them, while remaining independent.
This time Leia was the one left speechless, her plan to humiliate the smuggler had completely failed, and now she could do nothing other than stay quiet as he monopolized the scene. Not happy with the success he had gained, Han prolonged his moment of glory by explaining with an incredible technical detail the main features of all the imperial spaceships, gave advice about the safest routes to follow in case of an enemy attack and, finally, he dared to express his opinion over the dishes served during the dinner.
Han Solo, who are you really? She found herself wondering, astounded.
He had stayed kind to her throughout the meal, but Leia didn't know what on the return trip. It was pointless to hope that the Corellian had forgiven her, as his eyes betrayed his anger, and she knew that soon she would have to face the music.
xxx
«So, how's it going, Your Highness? Is everything all right?» As soon as they got on the spaceship to return to Yavin 4 Captain Solo's attitude changed abruptly.
«Yes, everything's alright, I'm just a bit tired because it's very late», she answered shyly.
«Of course, you're right, it's late indeed!» His sarcastic tone hinted that he wasn't referring to the time at all.
«It surprised me to discover your past in that way, you've never talked about it before…» Leia tried to change the subject, but the way he stared at her made it difficult for her to meet his gaze, since she knew very well that she was in the wrong.
«Right, if we had been alone it would have been less embarrassing to learn about it, wouldn't it?» Now it was his turn to enjoy her embarrassment.
Silence.
Han accompanied the princess to her rooms without saying a word; both were fighting against a knot of conflicting sensations. Once they arrived at the doorway, and before leaving, she confessed: «Forgive me for tonight, I realize I have exaggerated, but…»
«Apology not accepted», he cut her off mid-sentence, «I'm sorry, but this regretful tone won't get you my forgiveness. Neither will a goodnight kiss!» He was very annoyed, which hinted that deep down he had really cared about that dinner.
«What kiss?! What do you want me to do besides apologize?» Inevitably she was already losing her countenance and the tropical hotness of the hall – Dunya probably hadn't switched off the heating – certainly didn't help to keep them calm.
«Why are you so angry at me? Tell me why you put so much effort into humiliating me?» He had approached her menacingly.
«I didn't want to humiliate you… » she lied, as she tried to find the best way to express herself. When she heard a fist crashing down on the door behind her, a few centimeters from her head, though, she immediately found her inspiration again: «Yes, I wanted to humiliate you because I can't stand your arrogance and your conceitedness, I hate it when you think you're always better than everyone and when you deliberately disrespect me in front of everyone!»
«And you needed to organize this show to tell this to me?»
«I didn't force you to steal the TIE bomber!» Now she wasn't afraid to look at him anymore and she felt reinvigorated by that dangerous closeness.
«No, it's not that. I meant forcing me to dress like that, to make me feel like a clown…» Han threw a second fist to the other side of the door too, cutting off all the escape routes of the princess.
«You know I want you to join the Alliance.»
He knew it. This time the princess was sincere, but he didn't want to be bound to anyone, or rather, he didn't want to be too bound to her…
Noticing just then their proximity, he abruptly moved away to escape from that mysterious magnetic force which fogged up his mind and made his senses burn.
«And you think that wearing a uniform can be enough to make me feel like one of you?» he reminded her, shaking his head to recover complete control of himself. «I will never be like you. Here, take this, you can keep it!»
As he was saying that started pulling off the jacket and unbuttoning the shirt.
«What the hell are you doing?» She looked at him astounded.
«I'm hot, the thermostat of this room must be broken!»
«Have you lost your mind? Han, put on your clothes…» Once he had removed the shirt he had started to undo his pants.
«I wouldn't even dream of it, I'll leave like this.» Once he was finished he gave her the uniform back well folded and added: «You can put the laundry on my count.»
«But you can't leave like that! Han…» In all her life she couldn't remember meeting a person this mad. «Han! Stop! If you go out like that I swear I'll kill you, before Jabba the Hutt has a chance to!»
«Ah right, I forgot: keeping up appearances.» As he looked at himself in the mirror and a self-pleased grin escaped from him. «All the newspapers in the Galaxy will have something to write about tomorrow…»
«Han don't go outside! Don't do it!» By then the situation had definitely slipped out of her control.
«I'm sorry honey, but I have an appointment with the press. But, since you insist, I promise that next time I'll devote myself to you exclusively. Good night, sweetheart.»
With those words he closed the door behind him leaving Leia, completely appalled, gazing disbelievingly at the empty space in front of her.
xxx
The princess spent a tormented and sleepless night but, luckily, the following morning she was relieved to learn that no journalist had immortalized the "the flight in boxers of Captain Solo" – that was how she had imagined the opening title of the main trashy magazines. Probably, moved by a glimmer of common sense or, more probably, by self-respect, Han had decided to cover himself before leaving of the building, or had called someone he could trust to pick him up, possibly Chewbacca.
Now that she had calmed down, she could allow herself to laugh about it: that date had been embarrassing, but funny at the same time and, besides, she had to admit that many girls would have liked to take her place…
Maybe that was the first time she found herself fantasizing about Han. If he had kept on looking at her that way, like when she had come out of her room and he had complimented her, would she have been able to resist him? And, most of all, how would she have reacted if he, instead of going out, had headed towards her room?
She formulated various alternative scenarios in her mind of what could've happened that evening and they were all very appealing, even if she wasn't ready to admit how much just yet.