a/n: so, just a funny little thing that occurred to me. a bit about Leia tapping into her force sensitivity without really meaning to. it's set after ROTJ, clearly, but i kind of used my own timeline, in that in this, Leia didn't get pregnant basically ON Endor, and I referenced the Truce at Bakura novel. also, there's just a lot of Luke being a doofus.
Life
Luke Skywalker had been trying to have a private conversation with his sister for a week. Unfortunately – and as usual – she seemed to always be surrounded by other people. If not members of the alliance high command, then members of planetary delegations – and so on, and so forth. Even when he'd tried to corner her in the evening or the early morning, there were others around – others being Han, or Chewbacca.
In fact, Luke noticed Chewbacca seemed to have attached himself to Leia's side with more permanence and ferocity than usual. The Wookiee had always been protective of the Princess, and had grown more so when Han had staked his claim on her, but recently it had gotten remarkably pronounced. Chewbacca was choosing to remain at Leia's side even when Han was nowhere near her.
Luke finally gave up on subtlety and made his way to her quarters in the early morning, before she'd be gone for the day, involved in missions and meetings – the primary command ship had been orbiting Chandrila for a few months now, and recent days were the first time they had all been together again for an extended period of time.
He pressed his palm to the scanner outside the door to identify himself and ring the bell, and it swung open mere seconds later to reveal Han standing there. He looked surprised.
"Hey, kid," he greeted.
"Good morning," Luke answered cautiously. "Is Leia here?"
Han nodded, stepping aside to let him in.
"She's not really up yet," he warned.
Luke's brow furrowed.
"It's kind of late for her to be asleep," he remarked – they both knew Leia to be an early riser.
"She's not asleep," Han said. "She's just not dressed or anything. She's been off lately," he added grudgingly.
"Off?" Luke repeated.
"Yeah, I think she caught somethin' when we were on Bakura."
Luke raised his eyebrow slightly, but said nothing. Bakura had just over a month ago; prior to the current rendezvous, it was the last time they had all seen each other. At least, the last time Luke had been with the two of them – Leia, Chewbacca, and Han had been handling a mission on Utapau until a couple of weeks ago.
Han gestured him further in.
"I'm runnin' down to supply to get kaffe," he said. "You stayin' for breakfast?"
Luke shrugged vaguely. He wasn't sure Leia would want him around.
"Where's Chewie?" he asked, instead of answering.
"Medical," Han grunted. He rolled his eyes. "Damn buffoon pulled his stiches out doing something for Leia yesterday – I don't know what's gotten into that Wookiee…" Han trailed off, shaking his head, and stepped out, leaving Luke alone in Leia's generous quarters.
Luke folded his arms tensely and looked around before strolling into the rooms fully. He glanced around the outer parlor, and cleared his throat.
"Han?" he heard Leia call. "Who's at the door?"
Me.
Luke answered her without speaking, waiting for her to emerge. She did, a few moments later, tying the sash of a robe as she stepped out of the bedroom. He immediately realized what Han had been talking about – she wasn't dressed, her hair could be called braided only by the loosest definitions, and she wore no makeup. Luke noticed she had the barest hint of dark circles under her eyes and a tired, slightly pale glow to her cheeks.
She leaned against the doorframe and cleared her throat softly.
"Hi, Luke," she said. She folded her arms. "Where did Han go?"
"Kaffe," Luke answered.
She compressed her lips and nodded. She seemed to consider him warily, and he tilted his head at her intently – and again, he was struck by that odd sensation that hit him when he first saw her again a week ago. It was a feeling that implicitly told him they were not alone, just as it made her seem more present in the force than usual.
"Convenient," Luke spoke up. "I wanted to talk to you alone."
Leia sighed quietly, lowering her lashes for a moment. She pushed away from the door and came forward, indicating to an armchair for him. She sat near the armrest of a small sofa, leaning against it, and expressed no surprise.
"Yes?" she asked.
Luke sat down on the edge of the chair, suddenly feeling extremely sheepish. Although – well, she needed to know, didn't she? She blinked at him with a guarded expression, and he wondered if she thought he was about to drop another familial bombshell on her – if that's why she'd been avoiding him. He cleared his throat, and frowned.
"Are you feeling alright?" he asked lamely.
"No," she answered, immediately, and more matter-of-factly than he expected – she was prone to denying any sort of physical or mental failing, whether it be injury or illness.
His face filled with concern.
"Han thinks you're coming down with something."
Leia considered her brother intently for a moment, and then simply shook her head.
"I'm not sick," she said simply – and truthfully.
Luke nodded.
"Okay," he began, putting his hands together in front of him. "I need to talk to you," he said carefully, "and I don't want you to – panic."
She looked at him calmly, her expression very still, very guarded. She said nothing; she simply waited – her connection to him was closed, and she actively kept it that way more often than not, but still, she knew what he was about to say; it was precisely why she had kept him at arm's length.
Luke's brow furrowed, as if he were considering how to explain something to a small child. He glanced at the door, as if he were expecting Han to barge through it and interrupted, and then he looked back at her and leaned forward.
"Leia," he began carefully, keeping his voice very calm. "I think you're pregnant."
He wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting – he had no frame of reference as to how any woman, much less a woman with as much public pressure and as much to deal with on a daily basis as her, would react – but somehow, Leia's reaction was still completely not what he hadn't been sure to expect.
Her expression didn't change at all.
She simple cleared her throat, and asked:
"What makes you think that?"
Luke faltered for a moment. He hesitated, and then sat back, setting his shoulders.
"Well," he began, and then he cleared his throat firmly. "Well, I don't just think it," he said grudgingly, as if being forced to admit something. "I can sense it. You're more – your presence in the Force is stronger, as if there's more to you, and," he hesitated again, wary of frightening her, "and I can sense the additional spark of," he paused, "life."
Leia continued to look at him with that careful, guarded expression, and then after a very long, quiet moment, her lips tightened and she narrowed her eyes balefully. She seemed to set her teeth, and lifted her eyes to the ceiling, leaning back against the sofa.
"I know, Luke," she said finally, a bluntness to her tone. She compressed her lips a moment, and then murmured sharply: "at this rate, the whole galaxy will know before Han does."
Startled, Luke stared at her, his mouth open.
"You knew?" he asked.
She turned to her to him and nodded silently.
"Then why – and what do you mean, the whole galaxy will know before – who else knows?" Luke demanded.
Resigned, Leia pushed some of her messy hair back, closing her eyes briefly.
"Chewbacca," she revealed reluctantly.
Luke raised his eyebrows curiously – well, that certainly explained the Wookiee's sudden focus on Leia over Han, but how…? His question must have been written all over his face, because Leia, interlocking her fingers and looking down at them, answered.
"He can smell it," she said quietly. "He told me it only takes days for human women's scent to change."
She wrinkled her nose slightly, and Luke made a face.
"That's kind of disturbing," he said dryly.
Leia nodded – she had been oddly comforted by Chewie's attention to her lately, but it also reminded her that was something she had yet to share with Han, and now with Luke confronting her –
She put a hand to her forehead lightly, staring at the hand left in her lap.
"Chewie also felt the need to corner me and break the news," she quipped, somewhat derisively.
"Oh," Luke said, feeling sheepish again. He hesitated. "So that's how you found out?"
Leia lowered her hand and looked at him pointedly.
"No."
"Then how?"
"Well, Luke, being a human female and not a complete idiot, there are certain signs that tipped me off," she retorted sarcastically.
Luke blushed for a moment, but his discomfort faded quickly, and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"I was with you before Bakura, Leia," he retorted abruptly. "You weren't pregnant then, and it's barely been a month since Bakura," he pointed out. "It hasn't been long enough for any real signs."
Leia blinked defiantly.
"Ah, so you're an expert on this sort of thing?"
Luke looked uncomfortable.
"No," he said grudgingly, "but if Chewie sensed it after a few days, I don't know how you could know before him."
Leia looked away from him. She compressed her lips, lifting her shoulders. She wasn't sure either – she just had. Or rather, she'd had a significant feeling that she was; she just had been terrified by the idea, and unable to confront it until she had more – concrete physiological proof.
"Leia?" Luke prompted warily. "How long have you known?"
She sat forward, looking down at her lap. She closed her eyes a moment, thinking back to Bakura, and she shivered slightly; encounters with the Force were still new to her, and this had shaken her up more than anything else.
She licked her lips and took a deep breath, holding it a moment.
"I've known…I knew," she corrected, "when it happened," she answered finally.
Luke heard her, and blinked, uncomprehending for a moment. He was about to ask her to explain, when she put her hand over her face again, and things sort of clicked into place. He sat back, completely taken aback.
"You mean – " he began slowly.
"The instant it happened," Leia said quietly, her gaze averted.
Luke felt himself blush, but more than anything, he was fascinated – he'd expected that if Leia would be more open-minded about the Force and let him teach her to use it, she'd be able to feel some sort of connection to any child she carried, but it hadn't occurred to him that it would manifest on its own. But then again – every day he was humbled by how little he really knew of the Force.
"And…you haven't told Han?" Luke ventured carefully.
She lifted her head, parting her lips in exasperation.
"I'd have scared him half to death if I'd told him then," she said hoarsely – she hadn't even been sure what she was feeling that night; it had only become clear to her the next morning, and even then – the Force made Han about as skittish as it did her.
"Luke," she started, shaking her head. "I've been waiting to confirm it in a more – a more conventional way," she explained desperately.
She'd been waiting to see if she was going to bleed this month, but then Chewie had confronted her as they were leaving Bakura – and now Luke was sitting here, in her parlor, confronting her - she closed her eyes tightly, holding them shut until the burning threat of tears subsided.
"This isn't fair to Han," she said quietly, her stomach tightening with guilty. "He should have been the first to know."
"Why wait?" Luke pressed. "You sensed it through the Force; that's more natural than medical tests or – "
"In the world you live in, perhaps, but not in mine – not right now," Leia said, her voice strained. "Luke, I'm not sure I've ever felt that terrified, and I've experienced a lot of terror."
Luke looked at her apprehensively.
"Did it…hurt?" he asked, clueless.
To his surprise, she smiled fondly.
"No," she answered firmly. She paused carefully. "It was just very overwhelming," she confessed in a small voice. "I – was not – planning this, and I didn't have the experience of suspecting it, and then waiting to find out – not even the preparation of that – I just knew, and," she broke off.
He waited for her to keep talking, but she stayed silent, and after a moment, he leaned forward on his knees, and smiled at her.
"It will be okay, Leia," he said earnestly. His grin started to grow, and then he paused, an expression of worry falling on his face. "You aren't – afraid Han will run off, are you?"
She shook her head, running her fingers across her lips – no, she wasn't afraid of that at all.
"If you're afraid of what people will think," Luke began.
"I'm not afraid of that either," she interrupted immediately. There was a flicker of defiance on her face, but it wavered into uncertainty – not about her reputation, about other things, things she didn't want to talk about with Luke.
She closed her eyes lightly.
"I just don't think I'm ready to do this," she said, the words spilling out whether she wanted to say them or not. "This galaxy doesn't even have a real government yet."
Luke nodded soberly.
"Well, you can have something done," he advised, in a tone that he hoped was devoid of judgment.
Her eyes turned on him fiercely.
"No, I can't, don't you understand?" she hissed. "Even if I wanted to; I don't have that choice – I'm too attuned to the presence," her hand hovered carefully over her abdomen. "I can feel the life. I can sense the whispers of consciousness, of personality. Destroying it would be unbearable."
Luke looked back at her, in awe, rather wonderstruck – he needed to consult with Ben Kenobi, or Yoda – he needed wisdom he didn't have. He wasn't sure even they would know – the Jedi Order had been a priesthood of sorts; children were brought into the fold, not created from within.
She was quiet for a moment, and then she sighed heavily.
"Chewie is getting agitated," she admitted under her breath. "I haven't been deliberately keeping it from Han, I've just been trying to figure out to explain to him – "
"What's to explain?" Luke interrupted. "Leia, I'm sure Han understands how women get pregnant."
Leia rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Luke, I'm sure he does," she patronized. "It's more that – well in, in conventional circumstances, I'd tell him that I suspect I'm pregnant, we'd both likely panic for a few days, get a test done, and then confront it – but I have to tell him point-blank that I'm certain. And then I have to explain I haven't been hiding it and dealing with it alone for months, because it's barely been a month, and yet I know – and you know, and Chewie knows, and this is the woman he's chosen to be with," she said, her voice breaking. "Don't you think confronting, really facing that I have this power– will be nerve-wracking for him?"
Leia held his gaze intently, waiting to hear his response, and Luke thought about it carefully – Han seemed unfazed by quite a lot of weird things; after all, Leia herself was the one who had told him that Han's reaction to her parentage had been a weird mixture of shrugging and asking how that was physiologically possible.
"Luke?" Leia prompted desperately.
"Well," Luke said slowly. "I think…Honestly? I think he's going to be most concerned about the, you know," Luke gestured, "the baby part." Luke tilted his head. "Because I don't think Han has ever actually held a baby."
Leia blinked at him in surprise, taken aback by his answer – and then, to his relief, she smiled a little, her shoulders relaxing some.
"He's held Wookiee babies," she said softly.
Luke tried to keep a straight face at the sudden mental image of Han tending to a host of small, fluffy Wookiee cubs.
"So," Luke said, still attempting not to laugh, "you are going to tell Han?"
Leia blinked at him in disbelief.
"I think he might notice eventually."
Luke shrugged.
"Han can be pretty unobservant," he said seriously.
"He would notice this."
Luke grinned, agreeing with a nod. He felt relieved that Leia had already known when he took it upon himself to confront her – and he felt considerably silly for thinking her naïve enough not to notice.
"When are you going to tell him?" Luke asked.
Leia sighed thoughtfully.
"I suppose," she drawled, "before someone else finds out in an absurd way," she went on dryly. "I expect any day now Mon Mothma's impropriety senses will sound the alarm," she joked.
Luke snorted. He could only imagine the kind of uproar such a thing was going to create; he'd already heard some of the high command making disapproving remarks about the lack of discretion with which Han Solo came and went from Princess Leia's quarters.
"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Luke asked curiously – he wondered just how attuned her sensitivity was to this sort of thing.
Leia considered him intently, and then smiled hesitantly.
"Yes," she said, "but that is one thing I can make sure Han knows first."
Luke nodded – he doubted he'd be able to find out simply by probing if she didn't want him to. Since the first time he'd reached out on Bespin, he'd found that he had no ability to read Leia through the force unless she specifically let him, and the reason she'd let him then was because she hadn't even known she had the power.
The sound of the door unlocking drew both of their attentions, and Han strolled back in, carrying a box of kaffe he'd retrieved from the mess supply. He set it down on a table and made his way over, glancing between Luke and Leia. She tilted her head up and smiled at him tiredly.
He reached down and ran his hand through her hair, pulling it from her face.
"You decide if you're stayin' for breakfast, kid?" he asked Luke – without taking his eyes off Leia.
Luke raised his eyebrows at them and then rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
"No, I think I'll go," he decided pointedly.
Han grunted something unintelligible, but as Luke stood up, Leia sat forward and caught his eye, nodding to him warmly.
"I'll see you later, Luke," she said quietly.
He nodded back, and turned to go, showing himself out. Luke looked over his shoulder to see Han take the seat he'd vacated and lean forward, and as he approached the door, he heard Leia say –
"Han, I need to talk to you."
- and he smirked, almost wishing he could be there to see Han's face.
posted first on A03 - someone suggested I do a follow up with Leia/Han, and I might...
-alexandra
story# 301