AN: Hello, lovely people! We're back in the land of the Politician and the Truck Driver today for a special installment in the thrilling lives of Han and Leia. This is set in September of 1966.
He had the perfect evening planned out. For dinner, spaghetti—her favorite—garlic bread, and Caesar salad. They'd walk to the park and sit by the pond till sunset, and then he'd stop by the gazebo and ask her there. The ring was perfect: silver scrollwork set with a single diamond. Simple, but elegant, just like Leia.
Leia came through the back door nearly 30 minutes late.
"I'm sorry. The session ran over, and Carl needed to speak with me, so I couldn't get away," she apologized, kissing him gently.
"It's alright," he replied nervously, turning on the stove. "Busy day otherwise?"
"Awful. The primaries are coming up in Alabama, so Carl's getting ready to go back and campaign for a week. I have to be ready to handle everything in his absence, and there's a big bill coming up that he's on the committee for. It's just a mess right now," she replied in a tense voice that he knew meant she was stressed. He sighed inwardly. It was hard to get her out of her head when she was in this mood.
Han had the spaghetti on the table a few minutes later and they sat down to eat. Leia took a bite of spaghetti and cringed.
"What's wrong?" he asked, taking a bite. He answered his own question as he crunched his spaghetti. He hadn't let it cook nearly long enough.
"It's fine, Han. I appreciate that you were willing to cook," she soothed.
"Damn it, this was supposed to be…never mind." Han kicked himself for the rest of the meal as Leia continued to unload the troubles of her day.
His only consolation was that she seemed to have decompressed some, and she flirted with him in that dry way she had while they did the dishes.
"Han, are you alright?" she asked after a few minutes.
"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"Because I've been trying to get you to kiss me for five minutes and you haven't been paying attention at all," she informed him. He pecked her on the cheek and turned back to the last of the dishes. "Are you mad at me? Is this because I was late?" she asked.
"No! No. I'm just…lost in thought," he excused, drying his hands and wrapping his arm around her. His hand fit so well in the small of her back, and he hoped the physical intimacy of that contact would placate her as he placed a few more distracted kisses across her mouth. "Let's go for a walk," he suggested.
The sky was clouding over as they walked down to the park, and Han began to wonder if they should turn back. But the delicate box against his thigh told him to press onward. They settled on the bench by the pond, and Chewbacca chased after a squirrel until it ran up a tree. He circled the trunk a few times and sat at the base.
Han shot another nervous glance toward the rapidly-darkening sky. Leia leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. Any other time, Han would have relaxed with her and played with her hair or rubbed her arm. He was too nervous, though, to enjoy having her so close. Han pulled the tiny box out of his pocket, holding it in his hand for a moment, working up the courage to ask her the question.
"Leia, I-" he began, but was interrupted by a loud clap of thunder. They both jumped, and Chewbacca ran immediately to Han's side, whimpering. The sky opened up, and they were caught in a downpour of epic proportions. They began walking back to Han's house, not bothering to hurry because they were already soaked. They waited at a crosswalk for traffic to clear. A driver sped through the intersection and drove through a massive mudpuddle, covering all three of them with muddy water. Chewbacca whined and shook off, splashing Han and Leia yet again.
Han's mouth was set in a grim line as they finished the walk.
"You stink, pal," Han said to Chewie the moment they closed the door. "Out to the porch so we can hose you down. Grab the shampoo there, will you?" he asked Leia, pointing to the garage. He dragged Chewie by the collar to the back porch and put him on his chain while he hooked up the hose. They both took a dripping handful of shampoo and began rubbing it into Chewbacca's thick brown hair. He panted happily, soaking up the extra attention. The rain continued, and Han watched angrily as the soap ran off the porch and started mixing into foamy, brown puddles with the rain water.
Han could see that Leia's foul mood had returned, and he cursed the dinner and the park and the rain and everything else he could think of. Han held the hose while Leia scrubbed the soap out of Chewbacca's coat. The dog shook off again, fluffing his hair and spattering Han and Leia with soapy water. Han grabbed an old towel and sopped more water from Chewie's fur.
He tossed Leia an extra towel, and she dried off, slipping on one of his sweatshirts against the chill of the breeze on her damp skin. He looked at her with thinly-veiled annoyance, and she returned with a saucy raise of her eyebrows.
"What?" he asked angrily when she raised her eyebrows.
"This was a pretty awful date," she began.
"Yeah, well what do you want me to do about it? I'm sorry I made a mess of dinner, I'm sorry we got soaked, and I'm sorry we had to give my dog a bath, okay?" he stated angrily. She put a hand on his chest.
"Will you calm down and let me finish?" Leia had an amused smile playing across her lips. "This was an awful date, but I'd rather have 100 awful dates with you than 1 perfect one with anyone else in the world," she finished. He grabbed her, pulling her into a tight hug. It didn't matter to him anymore that they were damp or smelled like wet dog or were covered in mud. He let go of her and dropped to his knee in the puddle of mud and dog shampoo.
"I love you, Leia, and I know I promised you a nice ring and a nice proposal, and I know this is not the ideal situation, but-"
She interrupted.
"Yes."
"I didn't even get the words out, yet, woman!" he protested.
"Well, get on with it, then," she demanded. Han pulled the ring out of his pocket.
"Leia Amidala Organa, will you marry me?"
"Yes. Now get up here and kiss me," she commanded.
"Yes, your highnessness." He slipped the delicate silver band over her finger and wrapped his arms around her, meeting her with a passionate kiss.
"I love you," she stated.
"I know," he replied, kissing her again. "Now, what do you say we go in and get cleaned up?"
AN: I have a picture of Leia's engagement ring on my tumblr! If you liked this story, please leave me a review! I will be going on posting hiatus for a few weeks so I can handle all the lovely things that come with finals, and work on finishing Organas! I will still be completely available on tumblr and I will try to post the last few installments of GFFA University, if those end up getting written. But the next time we meet here on a Sunday morning will probably be for Organas! I hope you stick around for that, it promises to be great fun! Love, ON