A/N: Just a cute little one-shot I felt inspired to write. Enjoy!
It had been a long day filled with menial paperwork and a constant flow of questions that apparently people thought only Leia could answer. She disagreed, but being in the position she was, could not express this belief and kept a fake smile plastered on her face the entire day.
When she stepped outside of the office building, she couldn't help but let out a long, frustrated sigh upon realizing it was raining. The down pour not being enough, on top of it all, she remembered exactly where she had left her umbrella, on the stand by the door that she had walked by and away from just that morning.
Groaning, she bowed her head and looked to see if there were any hovercabs around. She cursed herself for having turned down the personal car service that had been offered to her after she started the job. It was no comfort at the moment thinking how she didn't want the preferential treatment because she was really no different than everyone else.
It took a service droid almost as annoying as Threepio a half hour to finally chase down a cab for her, so when Leia got home and walked into her apartment, she braced herself for the chaos that was surely awaiting her.
She loved her family more than anything. Her charming, handsome husband and very energetic twin toddlers meant the world to her, but they were all very loud and combined with a long day at work could be the perfect concoction for a crippling headache.
So when she stepped inside and wasn't immediately met with screaming, her first thought was that no one was home. But when she walked into the living room, she found her son staring open-mouthed at the TV and her daughter working with equal concentration on a drawing of some sort.
Neither moved nor showed any hint of knowing that she had come home, so with her son the first in her line of sight, she strode over to the couch and kissed him on top of his head.
Jacen looked up surprised but smiled a toothy grin at seeing who interrupted his cartoons. Leia went to hug him, but he jumped quickly away from her scrunching up his face in disgust.
Leia matched his frown. "What's wrong, Jace? I don't get a hug?"
He laughed at her then. "Momma you all wet!"
Leia sighed, but in an amused sort of way.
Even though she had been able to stand inside while the service droid hailed her the hovercab, the few seconds it took her to get in and then get back out when getting to her apartment had left her thoroughly soaked.
"You're right, I should probably change my clothes, huh?"
He nodded at her in a very "Han Solo" manner and turned back to the TV. Leia smirked and turned towards her daughter.
"How about you, Janey? Will you give me a hug?"
Jaina looked up from her work only slightly and held up a little, pudgy hand to keep her mother from getting any closer. Leia stopped short, put her hands on her hips, and gave her daughter a joking look of frustration.
"What's wrong with you?"
Her daughter matched the look her mother gave her and then broke into a giggle.
"I draw you something momma. Don't look!"
To add emphasis to her point, Jaina attempted to cover her picture with her tiny hands.
Leia laughed, made a show of covering her eyes with her hands, and placed a kiss on top of her daughter's head.
"Alright, hunny, I'm going to take a fresher but when I get out, I want to see that picture!"
Jaina nodded furiously and returned to her work. Leia smiled, only having been home a few minutes and already feeling a lot better.
She went to search the apartment in order to find her husband but didn't have to look too hard. When she turned around, she found her husband standing in the doorway that lead to the kitchen, leaning against the door frame and giving her one of his famous, or infamous depending on the moment, lopsided grins.
"Hiya, sweetheart."
She stepped into his arms and threw her arms around his neck. He didn't seem fazed by her drenched clothes and reached down to kiss her. He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss, but she pulled away from him, a slight blush having crept across her face. She gave him a look saying, "not in front of the children," but he only smirked in return.
He asked her, "Did you have a good day at work? Looks like you couldn't quite get out before the rain started."
She swatted his shoulder playfully and pouted. "Work was alright. It went a little too slow today, but so long as I can complain about actually being bored at work, I'm happy. How about you, fly boy? Did you get caught in the rain too?"
He gave her a quick peck on the lips before answering.
"Nah, I was lucky. Only had to work half a day today and got home long before the storm started. Pretty impressive though."
"Were the kids good for Chewie? They seem very mellow today."
Han laughed. "I think it's the rain, it seems to put everyone in a tame mood. Even our own little ferocious monsters."
Leia swatted him again for that, but he continued speaking.
"Chewie says they behaved, but he's a big pushover and they have him wrapped around their little fingers. I doubt he'd tell us if they did anything bad anyways."
"Good point. Did you give Threepio our dinner order?"
Han nodded.
"Good. Do you mind watching the 'monsters' while I take a quick fresher? I'm freezing!"
Han looked disappointed at having to be left out of the fresher plan, but nodded, kissed her again, and joined his son on the couch.
Leia took a moment to take in the unusually peaceful scene in front of her, sighed in contentment, then made her way to the bedroom.
Dinner was the chaotic mess it usually was and Leia couldn't ask for anything more.
It was always a process trying to get the twins to sit down at the table in the first place, and once the food was put down in front of them, it couldn't be predicted how much food would end up smeared all over them rather than actually making it into their bellies.
Conversation consisted of the twins going on and on about all of the games they played with their Uncle Chewie and them wondering when their Uncle Luke would finally come back to visit them again.
Another two hours later and it was finally bed time. While Leia loved after dinner Solo-time, it came as a relief to put the kids down to bed so that her and Han could enjoy some time alone. After a long day, Leia wasn't sure there could be anything better than curling up with her scruffy husband in bed listening to the rain outside.
They had tucked the kids into bed and gave them each numerous goodnight kisses and were almost outside the door when Jaina gave a little "oh" and scrambled out of bed.
"What is it, Janey? Did you forget one of your stuffed animals?" Leia asked her daughter.
Jaina just shook her head and pushed past her parents and out of her bedroom. Jacen sat up in bed looking curious while Han and Leia gave one another questioning looks.
She was just about to go see what her daughter was up to when Jaina came running back, a little out of breath, holding out a piece of paper to her.
"Picture momma! I forgot!"
Jacen laid back down, disinterested now knowing it had nothing to do with extending their bedtime.
Leia bent down to her daughter's height and took the picture from her.
"Oh, Janey, it's beautiful!" She smiled at her appreciatively.
"It's a princess, momma! Like you!"
Leia laughed seeing how proud of herself Jaina was and gave her a hug. She looked down at the picture again and upon further explication thought that if she squinted hard enough and turned the paper in a certain way, it did look a bit like her.
"Thank you, hunny. I'm going to hang this right up in my office tomorrow."
Satisfied, Jaina went to go back to her bed, but was promptly scooped up by her father.
She squealed in delight. "Da, put me down!"
Han laughed while flying her around in the air. "Nuh uh, not till you show me my picture!"
He placed her down on her bed and began tickling her. Jacen popped right up and jumped onto his father's back, not wanting to be left out. Leia looked on at them with mild amusement. Torn between not wanting her children riled up so close to bedtime but rather enjoying watching her husband playing so happily with their children.
With a promise from Jaina that she would make him a picture tomorrow, and finally wrestling Jacen back to bed in fits of laughter, Han and Leia once again kissed their children goodnight and made their way to their bedroom.
"Oh, Han, I'm so tired, I could just lie down now and pass out. Who cares about pajamas?"
She threw herself down onto the bed, but lifted her head to see her husband standing in front of her with a slight frown on his face.
"What?" She asked him.
"Well, it's just that, while I completely agree about not needing any pajamas, I can't say I'm too pleased about the passing out part."
Leia laughed at her pouting husband. "Is that so? What did you have in mind instead?"
Han gave her his most seductive look and leaned down to capture her in a kiss when a ringing broke out. He groaned in frustration, but Leia gave him an indignant look.
"Actually, that's not mine this time, hotshot, but nice try."
Han frowned. "Whoever's comming me right now better have a really good excuse."
He begrudgingly walked away from his wife and picked up his comm.
"What?" Leia laughed a little at his frustrated tone and the look on his face.
"Woah, woah, woah, Chewie. Slow down! What's wrong with the Falcon?"
He made a guttural sound in the back of his throat that, had Leia not been fretting over what was coming next, she would have found very sexy and very seductive.
"What do you mean it's leaking? Can it wait till tomorrow?" He paused. "It's everywhere? Oh, kest, alright Chewie cool your jets, I'll be right over. Yeah, yeah, see ya soon."
Throwing his comm down on the bed, he gave Leia an apologetic and very disappointed look.
"The Falcon's sprung a leak and the great oaf can't handle it himself. I'm gonna have to run over there."
Leia sighed, but understood that it wouldn't be fair to leave Chewie with all the work. While she was greatly disappointed in the abrupt end to her plans for the evening, she was also worried about Han going out into the storm, especially this late.
"Will you take a hovercab?"
Han walked over to the closet and grabbed his rain jacket.
He shrugged. "Nah, I'll just take my bike." At Leia's look of indignation, he continued. "It'll be faster that way, sweetheart. And the sooner I get there and fix that piece of junk, the sooner I'll be back. You don't have to wait up for me, but you better believe that I'll be waking you up when I get in."
He waggled his eyebrows at her, but Leia was not convinced.
"While I appreciate the sentiment, Han, I just don't think it's all that safe to take the bike out in the storm. I don't even like it when it's daylight and not raining."
Han bent down and kissed her again.
"You worry too much, sweetheart. Take a nap, you're gonna need all the rest for later."
With a wink, he left Leia sitting on the bed, still frowning at the situation. She looked out the window and sighed again. If anything, it was raining even harder than it was before. If she didn't think Han would have killed her if he ever found out, she wanted to curse the Falcon and its ever need for repairs. She loved that ship, but she also loved her husband in one piece, and with him going out in the storm on just his bike, that was compromised.
Every clap of thunder and flash of lightning caused Leia's heart to race. Storms didn't usually bother her, but with Han out in it, suddenly they seemed like the most threatening forces in the world. And she had dealt with a lot of threatening forces.
There was no way she could take his suggestion and take a nap, she was far too concerned, and he must have knew it because three hours later he called her.
"Han? How's the Falcon? Are you coming home soon?"
"Yeah, uh, we were able to get a fix on it, at least temporarily, so I'm heading home now. Just wanted to let you know since I knew you wouldn't be sleeping. Also, I left my comm at the apartment so I'm using Chewie's right now. Don't want you freaking out if I show up five seconds later than you think I should then panicking when I don't pick it up."
She sighed. "Alright, please be careful out there. When I look out the window, I can barely see through the sheets of rain."
Han laughed good naturedly. "Sweetheart, I'm the best pilot in the galaxy. I can handle a little rain."
Leia wanted to point out the fact that he also claimed the Falcon was the best ship in the galaxy and yet that couldn't handle a little rain, but refrained. No sense in offending him.
Instead, she answered, "Fine, fine. Just get home. I love you."
"Love you too, princess."
She threw the comm down beside her and picked up Han's pillow to hug it close. It was a good thirty minutes from the tarmac to their apartment, and Leia found herself regretting not listening to Han's complaints about how far it was when they first purchased their home. Not that she'd ever admit that to him.
Trying to focus on taking deep, calming breaths rather than on the thunder and lightning that continued to taunt her outside, Leia counted down the minutes.
Han could not believe how hard it was currently raining. While he never doubted his skills as a pilot, his bike was a lot different than his ship, most obviously being that it was not covered.
The rain jacket he had chosen for himself was very light and at some point, did not do much to keep the rain out or the cold from seeping in to offend his skin. He was going to need a very hot shower and a very hot princess to warm him up when he finally got home. That was all that kept him from turning back to the Falcon because it was much closer.
He had already driven about fifteen minutes when his bike decided to give out on him. Han wasn't sure what it was about his vehicles that they kept needing repairs, maybe they felt he wasn't giving them enough attention, but he was very close to destroying it all in anger.
Fortunately, the bike gave a loud shrill before actually breaking down and Han was able to keep from crashing completely. It skidded across the road and Han threw himself off it landing on the grass with a thud.
He grimaced in pain, clutching his side, and stood up. Thankfully, it didn't hurt to walk and he suspected that he was going to walk away with only a scratch. However, still a good fifteen minutes away from home and the Falcon, he didn't fancy standing out in the rain for any extended time trying to figure out the bike.
Giving a few tries to see if it would start up, Han resigned himself to his fate, stashed the bike behind a group of trees and started his run home.
He was soaked, miserable, in a lot of pain, and sure that Leia was going to kill him.
He waited when she was right.
When thirty minutes passed, Leia didn't allow herself to panic just yet. She told herself that maybe her husband took this time to actually listen to her and take his time carefully. At forty five minutes, she was praying to all the gods that the Falcon had re-sprung its leak and he hadn't had time to call him. While she still would have killed him in that case, at least it would have been her doing and not that stupid bike's.
After an hour, Leia was in full blown panic mode and was pacing around the bedroom. Her thoughts were far too frazzled and negative to have any successful chance of reaching out to Han in the force. He may not have been able to respond, but she would have been able to sense his presence and the state he was in.
Gods was she ever going to kill him. She had had a bad feeling about this from the beginning and now that her usually early husband was so late, she could barely breathe.
Leia decided that she now hated thunderstorms.
Ten minutes later, Leia was shook from her turmoil when she heard the distinct click of a door being unlocked. She rushed out of the bedroom into the living room to see Han standing in the doorway looking very cold and sheepish.
Upon seeing her, he opened his mouth to speak when Leia flung herself across the room and into his arms.
She squeezed him tightly, reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss every inch of his face, when he had to pry her off of him because of the pain.
"Sweetheart, sweetheart hold on a minute."
Leia was about to berate him when she noticed the grimace of pain on his face. She threw her arms on her hips and glared at him.
"Han Solo, what did you do?"
He looked away from her, afraid to make eye contact at the moment.
"Uh, ha, funny story actually, sweetheart. Why don't we step into the bedroom to discuss that."
Leia eyed him suspiciously but followed him into their room.
"Well? What happened that caused the 'best pilot in the galaxy' who isn't affected by a 'little bit of rain' to be so damned late? And why are you looking like you are in so much pain?"
Han sat down on the bed, ignoring Leia's indignant look that he shouldn't do so because he was so wet.
"It wasn't my fault." He hoped that his comment would spark a memory in his wife's mind that would ease her, but it failed.
"It really wasn't. I-uh, well, I left on time. Right like I told you and all, and I was making pretty good time, gosh that thing has good spee-but taking it real careful like, just like you told me."
Glimpsing the glare in her eyes darken, Han had a new sense of appreciation for Jaina and Jacen and their continued success for still finding trouble despite what must be a lot of fear regarding that face.
"So uh, I was bein' careful and everything but then that gods-damned bike made a really loud screeching noise, and I knew that wasn't good, so I tried to bring it over to the side, but the rain made it skid, but just a little, and I, um, kinda jumped off it so that it didn't land on top of me."
Leia opened her mouth for what looked like was an upcoming ramble, so Han cut her off quickly.
"And I was real good about it and landed on the grass, and I'm fine and all 'cept I cut up my side a bit. But once I decided to ditch the bike and make a run for it, it didn't hurt so bad when compared to the freezing rain and the stitch growing in my other side from running home. To you," he added for good measure.
Leia looked him up and down and asked him, "So what did you learn from all of this?"
He looked at her sheepishly. "That I should probably run more?"
She glared at him again.
"Fine. That you're right and I'm wrong. Like always," he muttered.
Leia continued to glare at him for a moment longer, but couldn't contain herself. Her eyes softened and she sat down next to him. Pulling his shirt up on the side that he was clutching, she groaned at the splotchy red cut marks.
"Han Solo, I don't know what I'm going to do with you." She sighed. "It's a good thing this apartment is protected from the thunder and lightning because you need a good, long shower to clean this up and get warm."
She grabbed his hand and pulled him into fresher. Despite the pain in his side, Han was suddenly seeing the positive in all of this and was feeling much more hopeful.
While she fussed over getting the stream of water to the right temperature, Han tried to flick the light on in the fresher, but to no avail. Leia looked over her shoulder at him when she heard him clicking the switch up and down.
"No use, power went out a few hours ago."
Han grinned. "That's a shame, I guess you're gonna have to look real close to see my wound when you're cleaning it."
Leia kept on her best sabbac face.
"You think I'm going to help you in there? I'm just taking the temperature, fly boy. I'm sure the best captain is more than capable of taking care of himself."
When Han's lower lip drooped into a pout and his eyes looked immensely disappointed, Leia felt her resolve soften. She could never give him the proper amount of punishment.
"It's really late, Han. We both have work in the morning."
She knew it was futile though because he had started walking towards her and she didn't even want to resist him. Despite being insanely frustrated, she was also very relieved and wanted to be close to him.
Leia allowed him to kiss her before she peeled off his clothes. Han made sure that hers quickly followed so that he could continue the kiss. He deepened it, edging his tongue into her mouth before picking her up and stepping them both into the fresher.
Having been so cold from the rain, the water felt icy harsh against his skin, but when he went to turn the temperature up, Leia swatted his hand away.
Breaking the kiss, she explained, "It's plenty hot enough. You don't need burns on top of that cut. Speaking of…"
She grabbed the bar of soap and carefully began cleaning the cut on Han's side. He hissed in pain and threw his head back, trying to distract himself by feeling the water cascade down onto his face. After several moments, Leia felt satisfied enough and had him rinse it off.
Han quickly returned them to where they had been before and kissed her passionately. He held her against the stall door, lifting her off her toes. He found himself warming up fast as the warmth from the water and Leia's body heat consumed him.
As he ran his fingers through her hair, Leia moaned. He couldn't wait much longer, so he held her to him and slipped inside her. She arched her back in passionate fervor and Han found that he was no longer even thinking about the pain in his side. He increased his rhythm as he led her closer to her breaking point.
She came writhing against him and it wasn't much longer when he joined her in bliss.
They enjoyed further cleaning one another, sneaking kisses here and there, when finally they made their way back to the bed.
Curled up and very warm in the covers after making sure Han was really alright, she reached up to kiss him once more before sinking into the pillow. A combination of Han's heart beating and the rain pouring outside caused her to fall asleep quite quickly.
Leia decided that she now loved thunderstorms.