Disclaimer and Thanks: George Lucas owns Han and Leia and the universe they inhabit – I'm just borrowing them, for fun and not profit.
A very special thanks to ShouldIGetOutandPush, for beta reading and encouragement.
A Taste of Paradise
"Well, Your Highness," Han said with a smug grin, "what do you think? Ten whole days on the resort world of Caldemar, with nothing to do but to sit on the beach, drink fine Veronian wine, and of course…spend time with the man of your dreams."
"The man of my dreams?" Leia raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that we were alone."
Han only laughed and pulled her closer – at least, as close as he could when they were seated in the pilot's and co-pilot's seats of the Millennium Falcon, respectively. "We are," he promised. "No generals. No politicians. Just you and me…and all the time in the world."
"Han," Leia reminded him gently. "You are a general. And I am a politician."
"Not this week."
She couldn't really argue with that. It did seem perfect. "I take it you've been here before?"
"Would it upset you if I said yes?"
"Not as long as whoever you were with is –"
"Long gone," he promised, and kissed her to prove his point. "But this place is...a little piece of heaven."
"Mmmm…" Leia kissed him back, and made this one longer. "Heaven," she said, her mouth only centimeters from his. "I like the sound of that."
"Now, if I can just get in touch with the landing authorities…." Han reached for the com, but stopped suddenly and looked out the front viewscreen like something had caught his eye.
Leia leaned forward. "What is it?"
"I don't know. There's something on the scanners. Ship of some sort, but…"
"It looks like a fighter."
"Yeah. Older one, too, if I saw what I think I saw. Imperial." He gave her a look, and Leia's heart began to pound with something that fell between fear and excitement. The war had been over for a couple of years now, but they kept running into soldiers, squadrons, sometimes entire fleets that just hadn't got the message or hadn't believed it, and had kept on fighting their border skirmishes as though Endor had never happened.
"Come on, Han," she said, trying to keep the curiosity out of her voice. "We're on vacation, remember?"
"I'm not gonna fight 'em or anything. I just want to check it out. Come on." As if she had a choice. "Did you see that?"
"What?"
"Another one." Han pointed to a silvery shape in the sky. "Look. Some kind of transport. Fighter ripped out of there like a bat out of hell."
"Do you think they know we're here?"
"Wouldn't be surprised."
"Are they running away from us, or…?"
"I don't know." Han shrugged. "But I think we're about to find out. Strap yourself in, sweetheart."
And this is how we've lasted so long without a vacation. Leia gave the beautiful blue and white planet one last, mournful look as the Falcon rocketed back out into the stars. They cleared Caldemar's moon and sped past its nearest neighbor. The transport grew bigger and clearer, and she found herself leaning forward, squinting in hopes of being able to see it better. It was an Imperial model, but not one that she'd ever seen outside of storage facilities and educational holos. At least Han had found something interesting to ruin her vacation over.
"I think we should call for reinforcements," she whispered.
"I can handle it," Han argued. "Look, they're moving."
"Taking a defensive position?"
"No, I think they're..."
"Gone." The shuttle vanished – gone to lightspeed – and the fighters no longer appeared on any of the scopes.
"But would you look at that?" Han pointed out the window. A swirl of stars spread across the sky like a brilliant, shining flower against the night. "The Erchenine Nebula. Almost makes it worth the trip, don't you think?"
"It's beautiful," Leia said.
"Beautiful." Han looked her in the eye and took both of her hands into his. "You took the words right out of my mouth." He kissed her again against that backdrop, and if it didn't quite wipe her aggravation away, it at least softened it a little. She hated the fact that he did stupid things like this…but she loved that he was the kind of man who could make anything into a romantic adventure. She smiled a little, remembering the first kiss they'd shared in the Falcon's maintenance bay, and decided that she wouldn't have it any other way.
"And our little slice of heaven?"
"Heaven can wait," he said, and kissed her again. "It's pretty nice out here, don't you think?"
"Just like old times," she said, not really sure if she had intended it to be a nostalgic remark or a sarcastic one. "But I was really looking forward to the beach."
"All right. Coming up," he said, but when he tried to turn the ship around an alarm buzzed, and a series of red lights set the control panel aflame.
"What now?"
"It's not my fault!"
"The hyperdrive again?"
"No, worse." Han looked at her with apology written all over his face. "We've lost the sublight engines."
"We've what?" Leia's voice took on a slightly hysterical edge. "Are you telling me that we can't go anywhere? They didn't even fire on us!"
"I know. Look, I had the maintenance guys check her out before we left –"
"You didn't do it yourself?"
"Hey, they're your maintenance guys, Princess."
Leia took a deep breath. This was true. She would find out who had been in charge, and give them a serious talking to when they got back, but in the meantime… "What are we going to do?"
"I guess we could call Lando, get him to come and pick us up, or –"
"Han! This was supposed to be our vacation!"
"Or," he continued. "We could make the most of the time we have."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You. Me. All revved up with no place to go…" He leaned in to kiss her again, but she pulled away. "Who says we have to go anywhere?"
"Han Solo." Leia stood up and put her hands on her hips. She knew that she was being at least a little unreasonable; it can't have been his fault. But Leia Organa did not do well with changes in plans – especially not when she had been looking forward to those plans for the better part of a year. "If you are suggesting that we spend our vacation floating through space in this hunk of junk…." She tried to think of some appropriate threat, but words failed her. She couldn't get out of this situation any more than he could, and at some level she already knew that she'd be better off just making the most of it. "The beach, and the wine, and the man of my dreams!" She fell into the co-pilots seat and closed her eyes, trying to will herself to be anywhere but here.
"Well," Han said, "I've got the wine."
Leia opened her eyes. Somehow, out of nowhere, Han had procured a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.
"And last I checked, you've still got the man of your dreams."
Leia was struggling not to smile.
"Can't do much about the beach, but…" He popped the cork – when had he had time to open it? – and poured a healthy serving of wine into each glass, then offered one to Leia. "Two out of three ain't bad?"
"Two out of three, huh?" She smiled and took the glass, clinking it against his before taking a sip. Maybe this wasn't so bad, after all.
"Come on," Han said, "this ship's not such a terrible place to spend a week or two."
"I have no intention of spending any more time here than I have to."
"Wasn't so bad the last time. Except of course that we never got to do anything fun."
He leaned in and kissed her again. He tasted like wine. Like wine and like Han, and she wondered if there might not be some fun to be had aboard the Falcon after all. "You owe me a little slice of heaven," she challenged.
"Heaven?" he whispered back. "Who needs heaven? This is paradise." He gestured out at the stars.
Leia wasn't too sure what the difference was supposed to be, or that Han's paradise was necessarily an improvement, but she gave him a sardonic smile and said, "Paradise, huh? Paradise by the dashboard light?"
"Sure." Han shrugged and kissed her again. "Why not? You never got lucky in the back of a speeder?"
"Han, I was a princess. I had a driver. And no, I never…got lucky…anywhere, until you."
"Well, then, you're not a big girl yet, are you?"
"Excuse me?"
"Don't get all flustered. Call it a rite of passage, among us un-princely types. You've gotta try it at least once." He looked around at the cockpit and shrugged. "Not exactly a speeder. But then again, I'm not exactly a teenager. And you're not exactly the kind of girl who –"
She hit him good-naturedly in the arm, and that seemed to shut him up. He drew her closer, and she had to stand, placing a hand on his firm, broad back as he hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. If it weren't for their clothes…. And then he was leading her back to his bunk, and she knew that they wouldn't be an obstacle for much longer.
He lay her down gently on the bunk she had used during that long, frustrating trip to Bespin and began to undress her. These things went much faster when she helped, but she didn't. She liked to watch him undress her as much as he seemed to enjoy the act itself, and until she felt the sheets against her bare back, she was almost willing to go along with him and call this paradise – or close enough.
Then he straddled her, still fully clothed but obviously eager for her to remedy that, and she clutched at the sheets with one hand as she reached up to undo his belt with the other. But she never got that far. She grabbed the sheets again, running her fingers over the fine weave. Silk, she thought. He's got silk sheets in his crew quarters?
She sat up, shaking her head in disbelief. "You planned this, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Han shook his head and gave her his best innocent-looking grin, but she knew him too well by now. He couldn't lie to her any more than she could lie to him.
"You wanted to spend our vacation on your ship?"
His face fell, and he shrugged. "Just for a day. Tomorrow I was gonna fix the engines, and we'd be on our way to the beach. Just like you wanted."
"But – but what about those ships?"
"Remodeled one of the old Alliance transports, hired a couple of Wedge's Rogues to fly 'em. The way you pay those guys, they'll do just about anything to pick up a little extra on the side."
"But, Han…why?"
"I dunno. It just seems like…everything's changed. I don't miss the war or the Empire or…or not knowing if I'm even gonna live long enough to know if I've got a shot with a princess like you, but…I do miss this. And we didn't get to do anything fun last time. Besides," he said. "It is a rite of passage."
"Why didn't you just tell me that you wanted to do this? I would have –"
"No, you wouldn't have."
"Yes, I…. Okay, maybe you're right. But…for crying out loud, Han!"
"Crying out loud?" He lowered her back onto the bed and unfastened his own belt. "I definitely like the sound of that."
He traced a finger down her body, and Leia arched her back and moaned. "Oh, Han…" she sighed. He was everything she ever needed, everything she ever wanted. He kissed her again, long and deep, and there was no reason that this couldn't be paradise, as long as he was here and as long as she was with him.
A/N: Confession time…this was a challenge of sorts, although I don't know if you can call it that when you come up with it yourself. My challenge for myself was to write a story using all of the song titles from my favorite album (and the second best thing to come out of 1977), Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. (Bat Out of Hell, You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth, Heaven Can Wait, All Revved Up With No Place to Go, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, and For Crying Out Loud) Those all belong to Jim Steinman, who always influences my writing too, if not usually in such a direct way. Everything else is mine…please review and let me know what you think!