She was staring at the multitude of rings on the grimy table in the grimy bar, thousands of kilometers underneath where he should be, marching along the permacrete importantly. But, she realized that a lot had changed when he walked into the bar, out of place in his finery. He sat down, grimacing as he did so: he had certainly changed. Every head, including her own, snapped up when he walked into the musty room. When she first saw him, she couldn't recognize him except for the visual of his manner of walking seemed to rise from a dark part of her mind. He turned his head after receiving his drink, worn with something, when he found her, sitting alone in a corner booth with the largest size of ale available.
"Bria?" he asked, standing awkwardly at the table. His voice was caressing her soul as she realized who he was suddenly.
"Han?" she asked, standing up with alarm. She sat there, not knowing what to say. Words finally stopped failing her. "How did you get such clothes?"
"Long story," he tipped the drink like he usually does when he's about to enter a story. "Short version is that I saved the galaxy from the Empire with the Alliance, married a princess, and had three children. But my wife is a little busy with trying to get all of the state matters done and take care of twins who have nothing but trouble up their light-swords. See, my wife is the Chief of State."
"You married Leia Organa?" Bria asked, the words tumbling out of their own accord. The shock was too much.
"Happily, too. But, how I met her is a long story."
Bria paused, and to fill the gap, she took a large gulp of ale. Another question arose to her mind, expressed in an inquisitory statement. "I have nothing but time."
"It all started when something went bad on a smuggler run I was doing. I had to search for jobs to feed myself and Chewie. Chewie met this old man and this kid who seemed totally out of place on Tatooine, and they wanted quick transportation to Alderaan. I gave it to them, and we helped rescue the Princess; Leia. After that, everything went according to how the world shaped. Leia and I got married, and I love my children. I wouldn't take anything back."
"I would take the betrayal back," she whispered. Han had decided to sit down, so he sat down next to her.
"That probably wouldn't have changed anything, Bria." She had forgotten about how the way that he said her name sent shivers down her spine. "I wouldn't have tried to reconcile anything with you. You left me because you wanted to, not because you had to. I had no choice. The only way that I could make my way in the world at that point was to join the Navy. But then I saw a different approach, especially after I saw the way the slaves were treated. I'm not one of them anymore, and now I'm on top of the world."
"What are you doing sitting here in the slums of Coruscant, then?" she tested, noticing that he was stiff while she kept inching closer.
"I've been doing nothing but political stuff, and I needed a break. I desperately needed to go back to my urchin days and feel the taste of Alderaanian Ale go down my throat. Up, the quality of it goes down, oddly."
"So, you left your wife to go to the slums, where there might be prostitutes?" she whispered in his ear. "Or temptations."
Han could feel her breath on his neck, reminding him how much he would regret the next few minutes. He turned his head to face her, a wrong move. She stared at him for a second before reaching up slowly to kiss him. At first, he didn't respond, but then he remembered how it felt. She began to move her tongue into his mouth as soon as he began to remember. She moved so that she was on her knees on the bench while he would have his face turned upward to meet hers. She placed her hands on his shoulders while his hands automatically went to her hips. But his memories began to change. He saw Wicket, but then his head turned in the memory to a brunette. It faded to a medical ward, and he saw the small figure, "Jacen," he said in the memory. But they slipped away, bringing him back to the present. Red, he turned to the table. Bria sat back on her knees.
"Bria, it's not right." He made the mistake of turning towards her. Firmly, she held his head and gently kissed him.
"No one here is stopping you but yourself." She kissed him again, gently. "But, because I left you, I owe you," she kissed him more passionately this time, "so I'll leave you alone. You'll never see me again this close." She kissed him one more time before letting him go.
He walked out of the bar, having known all along that it was a mistake. He should have known that doing that was going to have repercussions, and he should have followed his instincts: They were usually right. He stepped into the lift, and began to feel like he had betrayed Leia in more ways that just kissing Bria. But as he kept stepping into new ones, a thought occurred to him: It wasn't completely worthless. He had never felt this regretful in his life, so he would never let it happen again. And by then, the tables had switched: He was living the good life while Bria was fighting to stay alive. It oddly suited him just fine. As he walked into the building, he heard his shoes clack against the marble, a constant reminder of what he had to do. He walked into the apartment to find Leia peacefully sleeping. He undressed and quickly stepped into the refresher. He was assured that every scent from many kilometers below his feet were gone, and he stepped out of it. He redressed in his nightclothes and padded to the bed. He climbed in to find Leia's face directly in front of him, lost to her dreams of a carefree world. He kissed her and hugged her close, knowing that he would never leave her side again.