"That's fine by me Your Highness, but I was wondering if you wanted to come out and give me a hand with fixing a few things. You told me once it calmed you down to be helping me."
The door slid open. "You remember that?"
"Yeah, you told me the third time you showed up to help me and Chewie out back on the last base."
-Han and Leia: "40 Days"
Han Solo had been working a large portion of the morning and well into the afternoon, attempting to fix yet another portion of the shield system. Of course, he had stopped a few times, twice to eat and once to argue with the Princess, and that's why he never expected to hear her soft voice on his ship.
"Do you need any help?"
He turned around to face the girl, although she wasn't much of a girl anymore. When they had first met, she seemed like a girl, mostly because of the age difference between them, but after a while Han realized she had been through things in her life that he had never even imagined. Her eyes were darker than they should have been, and her face was lined with small creases that shouldn't be there at her young age of 20.
"I'm surprised to see you here, Your Highnessness" he replied, avoiding her question.
"You just can't accept help can you?" she shot back.
"Well what if I don't need any help?"
"Then the polite response would be 'no thank you.'"
"Polite?" he asked. "You think that just because a person says 'no thank you' they're polite?"
"No, there are obviously exceptions, but…"
"What if I'm one of those exceptions?" he asked, taking a small step closer.
Leia shook her head, "Nevermind. Since you obviously don't need help I'll just be leaving." She turned on her heel and headed out of the ship the way she had come.
But Han ran after her. She generally didn't show up on the Falcon asking if he needed help, and through previous experience he knew it meant she was upset or angry, but why she would want to help him he had no idea, especially when it seemed a large portion of her day to day frustration was centered on him.
She had shown up twice before specifically asking if he needed any help, and both times he had accepted her offer. The first was right after the battle of Yavin, when he was, of course, fixing shields. Then though, Chewie and Luke had been there helping. She fell easily into helping the Kid from Tatooine, but stayed away from Han, only talking to him when she had questions. But the second time had been different. It had been late, very late, at night when she appeared at the bottom of his ramp. The hyperdrive had been acting up and since there was a mission the next morning that the Falcon was flying, he had to stay up until it was fixed. All she had done was hand him tools as he asked for them. They stayed there, working, until late in the night, hardly saying anything to one another other than the Han's requests for tools.
Other times he had found her, generally in her quarters, trying to drink herself to death. He knew she had terrible nightmares, since he had been there for several of them after he had coaxed away the alcohol and gotten her to sleep. They never mentioned their late night interaction, and to a point, Han was thankful. He was as uncertain about his relationship with Leia as he was with the girl herself. She constantly surprised him, and her showing up on his ship yet again was just another example.
"Leia, wait" he called after her.
"What?" she snapped, turning around.
"I wouldn't mind you helping, if you really want to."
Her expression softened, "Are you sure about that?"
"Yeah. There's always some work to do around here" he laughed.
Leia appeared to think over his offer before nodding her head, "I suppose. What do you need help with?"
"Well, the shields are broken again, but this time it's the sensors for them. I've got to go down into the maintenance bay to fix them, so you can hand me the tools like last time if you want."
"Alright" she said, following him back inside to the main hold. He dropped down into the cavern in the floor and she sat on the side, her legs hanging over the edge.
They worked quietly, Leia handing him the tools as he asked. But having had little conversation all day, Han decided he would try to get her to talk.
"So, Your Worship, why do you keep coming here to help me?"
"What?" she asked.
"Why do you randomly show up here and ask if I need help? I mean, this is the third time, after all."
"I suppose it's because it calms me down. Helping with repairs always did that."
"I've got the feeling there's a story to go along with this."
Leia laughed lightly, "I guess there would be."
"So why don't you tell me?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Well, maybe because I find you in your quarters all the time, drunk and ready to die. You appear on my ship all the time, and plus, you can't deny you like me."
"I do not!" she returned quickly.
"You keep telling yourself that Sweetheart" he laughed. "But seriously, I've known you for what, a year and a half now, and I hardly know anything about you."
"Well I don't know much about you either Hotshot."
"Yeah, but you probably know more about me than I know about you. I'm sure you've been through my records. Isn't that what the Alliance does before it trusts someone?"
"Well yes, but that doesn't mean I've seen your records."
"You're a terrible liar Princess."
"Fine, I saw your file" she admitted, "but that doesn't mean I know everything about you."
"No, but it's still more than I know about you."
Leia paused a minute before continuing. "It all started when I was pretty young. Living on Alderaan was amazing, but being a Princess meant that I wasn't able to see my parents as often as I would like. So I spent a lot of time with friends of the family. Rieekan would take me places, from somewhere on Alderaan to all over the galaxy, and Captain Antilles would always let me sit in the hangar at the palace. Sometimes he let me help with the repairs, and I honestly found that I liked it."
"That's it?"
"No. As I grew older, whenever I was upset about something I'd go to the hangar and just tell him everything. I guess that started around the time my mother died. He had me talk about my memories of her, and all the good times we had. Later it was when I was upset with something from the senate or with a friend or something."
"So you just sat there and talked with him and that calmed you down?"
"Yeah, that's really it."
"Then why don't you talk to me when you come here?"
Leia laughed, "I don't know. I've never thought about it."
"Well, it's never too late to start" he pointed out. "What's bothering you right now that you decided to come here?"
She sighed, "Alderaan."
He looked at her, "Again?"
"Well it's never really stopped" she said quietly.
"That's what you have nightmares about, isn't it?"
"Every night" she responded.
Han reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. "Hey" he continued, "I'm just trying to help." Slowly she placed her hand in his and he rubbed it softly. "Tell me about your dad, like you told Antilles about your mom."
Leia smiled, "My father, he was amazing. He always made sure I had the best life possible, even though I wasn't actually his daughter."
"You were adopted?"
"Yeah. My birth-mother died during childbirth. After that my parents adopted me and I've lived on Alderaan ever since."
"Do you know who she was, your birth-mother, or your father?" he asked.
"No, I have no idea, and I'm sure I never will. I know, it sounds so terrible for a Princess" she laughed.
"Not at all. I was an orphan you know. I have no idea who my parents were."
She smiled again, "Well then I guess we do have something in common."
"Who would have thought?" he asked. "What was your father like?"
"He was kind, always making sure everyone was fed and well paid. He ran our government brilliantly, bringing equality and peace to everyone."
"Funny that he was a leader in the Rebel Alliance then."
"Yeah, I suppose so."
Han was now holding both her hands, but she moved away before he could get too close, standing and looking at her wrist-chrono. "Well, I'd better be going, it's getting late."
"Yeah, I guess" he answered, pulling himself up and following her towards the ramp. But as she moved closer to it he stopped her, "You know Leia. You're welcome here anytime, even if you just want to talk."
"Thanks Han" she responded. And then it looked like she was going to leave, but instead she turned and slowly moved towards him before wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. He wrapped his own arms around her and placed a light kiss on her forehead.
Soon she pulled away, "I'll see you later?"
"Yeah, something like that" he responded with a smile as he watched her go, wondering when he would actually see her again, either in her quarters, or on the Falcon, or just in general. But one thing was for certain, he hoped that he would see her sooner than later, and he had no idea why.
Yes, I know, really short, but I haven't had a ton of time to be writing, and I honestly rewrote this three times. I'm working on the other versions for another short story though, so that's exciting! Plus, there will be more short stories in the future (once I get them written!) Maybe even another one this month!
Don't forget, "Promises" premieres ONE MONTH from TODAY! I know you're excited! =)