Deceptive Black Eyes

Disclaimer: I'm a big fan, but that's all I am.

Author's note: KnightedRogue's fantastic Han/Leia espionage stories (starting with "Solo's Girl") inspired me to write one of my own. If you like this, you'll love hers. I might be persuaded to write more; I think there's a lot of opportunity to have some fun with these characters and the setting.

It was a long-term assignment, undercover, and after three weeks of constantly remembering to turn when she was called by an unfamiliar name, Leia Organa Solo had finally relaxed.

"Thala! Come over here and order something so this poor waiter can get back to his job!"

The call came from a table filled with three women, all around Leia's age, give or take ten years. Over the last couple of weeks she'd been assimilated into a tight-knit group of women who shared three characteristics: they were wealthy, mostly bored wives of hard-working corporate husbands, and none of them had children. Leia had actually found herself enjoying their company—once she found out they were not the empty-headed trophy wives she'd expected.

Mostly, she mused, they just don't have a good outlet for their intelligence. For that matter, I'm not supposed to, either.

She smiled as she approached the table of women, although once she got nearer, all the faces looking toward her expressed dismay, worry, and suspicion. She ignored the looks pointedly for a moment while she ordered a light lunch and some benign drink she'd never have the time to enjoy if it weren't for assignments like this. The waiter pretended politely that nothing was amiss and left promising to bring their food as quickly as possible.

"That'll be a while in a place as busy as this," remarked one of the women, a short blond who wore many gold but tasteful earrings.

The middle woman, a slightly older blond, frowned. "Okay, so he's gone. What happened?" The whole table was now scrutinizing her rather impressive black eye, and Leia knew they were analyzing every inch of it as if it would tell them what happened.

Leia shook her head and, with a little effort, blushed. "It's not what it looks like. I…ran into something last night."

Yeah, if the butt of a blaster counts as something.

"Now, honey," began the older woman, but the third woman, who was by far the youngest except for Leia, interrupted.

"It's none of our business unless she tells us. Besides, I can't see Thala standing for that sort of thing, even from that brute she calls a husband." Her tone at the last part was teasing and exaggerated.

"I heard that, Eriya" a masculine voice retorted from behind Leia.

Leia turned in her seat to find Han standing behind her.

Damn it. He must've been worried after all. Or he has news about last night.

"Jedo! What are you doing here?"

Han approximated casualness. "I was just going back to our place and saw you four through the window. I thought I'd stop by." His cover as a slightly itinerate merchant gave him a lot of freedom of movement. He gave her a quick kiss. "I didn't think I'd find you in here telling stories about me."

Leia said, "I just told them about running into the door."

Han smirked. "Thala, people don't buy that story when it's the truth."

One of the women giggled.

Leia lowered her voice. "Well, do you want me to tell them the real story? Involving dessert, the bath, and your elbow?"

All three women were now trying to stifle laughs.

Han flicked his eyes deliberately over their direction, then back again. "Hey, it wasn't my fault someone was a little slippery." He leaned in again for another kiss, this one a little bit deeper and a lot more sensual.

Eriya coughed.

As Han pulled away, Leia colored more—not all of it deliberate. Han grinned again, and Leia rolled her eyes internally. If there was one thing she could count on, it was Han's pleasure in embarrassing her.

He straightened. "I'd better be getting off, then. Eriya, Sira, Yske." He nodded to each of the women and turned back to Leia. "I'll see you at home later."

With another quick kiss, he was gone. Leia reluctantly faced her dining companions. They were all grinning at her. Leia was forestalled from having to making any remark by their food arriving.

Once the waiter had again departed, Leia stabbed at her plate with her fork. "No comment."

"Oh, of course not, Thala. We'll leave your love life well alone." This came from Sira, the middle one. "We don't need anything as mundane as details."

Eriya said, "I told you Thala wouldn't stand for that sort of thing."

Leia was grateful for the deflection from Eriya. She often seemed to be the most discrete of the three friends.

I wish, though, that there hadn't been anything to be discrete about today. That meeting didn't go well last night, and I just hope no one saw me exiting that place afterward. Otherwise my cover's blown, and someone else will have to start all over. Although Han didn't drag me away from the table, so maybe he was just being reassuring.

Sira sighed. "I wish Liwen would be that demonstrative in public. He always comes across as so cold."

Leia and the others smiled sympathetically. Even though she'd only been here for three weeks, Leia had already heard plenty about what was wrong with everyone's husband. She said, "Well, sometimes Jedo's a little…too…affectionate."

Yske snorted into her glass. Her husband allegedly ignored her except when they were in public, but no one actually said anything about the mistress they were sure he had. Eriya's story was that her husband had just quit his job and was "looking for work," which seemed to consist of getting up late and generally disrupting her quiet, orderly life.

The conversation continued along comfortable, easy lines until the waiter came with the check.

"My turn," Sira announced.

Leia frowned. "No, I think it's supposed to be mine." In the old days, before the New Republic took over with what seemed like nigh-inexhaustible coffers, she might have let it slide, but she was pretty sure Sira had paid last time, too.

Sira shook her head. "No, let me get it. Kej told me yesterday I wasn't spending enough."

Eriya and Yske made the same mocking look of resignation, although Leia looked confused.

Sira said, "My husband insists that I live appropriately for my station. That means lots of pretty clothes, shoes, and lunches out. When he thinks I'm not spending enough, he gets testy and starts to wonder why he's killing himself at work."

"Then she tells him he could quit," added Yske,

"But since he loves what he does," continued Sira,

"He refuses outright," Eriya finished.

Sira said, "It's easier just to tell him that I've been meaning to take everyone out to lunch or buy something and…thank him profusely for being such a loving, devoted husband."

Leia grinned. "'Thank him,' huh? I have the feeling that works on just about any man."

They laughed. "More or less," Sira admitted. "It's sneaky and underhanded, but it works. We avoid days of arguing this way."

Yske said, "Hmmm. So are you all coming to our party this weekend?"

They all nodded.

Yeah, I'm coming. And while I'm there I'm just going to break into your husband's study and steal his latest designs so we can have them before the Empire does. Leia thought almost guiltily. Yske's husband was the vice-president for a very groundbreaking military design group. As much as she liked Yske, the designs were a large part of why she and Han were ordered into Imperial space yet again, despite the very real danger of being recognized. And if, by some miracle she and Han didn't get caught stealing the designs, they were supposed to keep undercover as long as possible to continue mining the group when the opportunity presented itself.

Leia smiled at Yske. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

So tell me what you think! Should I write more?