Just so you know my fics don't necessarily follow each other, not these early ones at least, so no need to check out my other writings unless you want to of course.
I write in what was EU (so you'll find a few characters from that era, Prince Isolder, for example) but obviously it isn't the path Disney follows. This, however, is my world; one for which no money exchanges hands and one I like just the way it is. Hope you do too...
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Leia Organa Solo rolled her head, hearing the knots in her neck crack as she did so.
One more hour, then she was done.
It was a promise she had made to herself last night and failed to deliver. And the night before that too. In fact, if she bothered to analyse her sleep to wake ratio over the past couple of weeks, she'd almost certainly discover that her waking hours outnumbered those spent in slumber threefold.
Though not in a good way.
A pair of strong, working-man's hands fell to her shoulders and started their manipulations.
"Coming to bed?" Han whispered against her ear.
Leia nuzzled her cheek to the hand on her shoulder and sighed. "I just need to finish this and I'll be there."
"Ahuh. You said that last night. And the night before. And the night before that too." He rumbled in her ear as he softly scooped her earlobe to his lips.
"And as soon as I was done, I joined you in bed. Didn't I?" She asked, trying to focus on the trade report she was trying to complete.
"I'm going to say yes, but I'm also going to point out that I was already asleep and you..." he planted a warm, tantalisingly sensual kiss on the spot beneath her ear guaranteed to get him exactly what he wanted. "You were too exhausted to care."
"As I will be again, if you don't let me finish up here." She retorted.
"Okay, okay." Han sighed, giving in and removing his hands from her shoulders. "But if you ask me, Mon Mothma only gives you these assignments to keep us apart. I think she wants me all to herself."
"That's right flyboy, you keep telling yourself that!" Leia scoffed, shaking her head.
"Han and Mon sitting in a tree. Kay Eye Ess Ess Eye En Gee." He called from the bedroom.
"One hour. I promise." She called back, smiling to herself.
The hour passed quickly. As did the next three.
When Leia finally closed her datapad her eyes burned, her temples ached and the knots in her neck had deepened.
Maybe she was just over analysing the report she told herself and headed for the bedroom.
In the doorway she powered down the lights. And froze.
Something there.
She thought she'd felt something earlier but had put it down to the late hour and her approaching exhaustion, but now she was certain. There was the merest flicker in the Force and from the periphery of her vision a skittering across her eyeline.
You're imagining things! She chided herself. The Goblins would have detected if somehow something had managed to bypass security!
Had she activated the Goblins?
She couldn't remember.
But it was so much a part of her routine could she have forgotten?
Controlling her breathing and clearing her mind, Leia whirled around and gasped at the sight of her intruder.
There staring back at her was her own self reflected in the wide windows overlooking Coruscant's constantly active landscape.
Leia exhaled. And shook her head at her own imaginings. Smiling away her foolishness, she left her cares behind and entered their bedroom.
Han was, as she had expected, asleep.
He didn't snore. Not deeply at least.
Occasionally, usually when he was worried, his breathing could be laboured but mostly, to Leia's ears at least, he seemed to purr.
Han was her perfect bed-mate in so many ways. It was perhaps a cliché to call him a considerate lover but in truth that's exactly what he was. From their very first sexual awakening, through slow and tender lovemaking to fast and heated exchanges Han, without exception, ensured that they were both fully satisfied.
And, as now, he never encroached on her empty side of the bed. Some men would take advantage of a vacant space to sprawl out. Not Han. He remained curled on his side, one arm dangling over the edge.
Quietly retrieving her nightwear from beneath her pillow, Leia made her way into the couple's refresher. She removed the remaining traces of her make-up, cleansed and moisturised her face, neck and hands and undressed, placing both her own laundry and her husband's discarded clothing into the recycling unit.
It was a struggle to keep her eyes from involuntarily closing, but somehow Leia managed to stay awake long enough to crawl into her side of the bed and snuggle into the softest of pillows. They had been a gift from Han. Something he'd picked up on one of his runs, filled with the downy feathers of some beast the name of which Leia could barely pronounce. Either way, the creature earned her debt of gratitude as she felt herself sliding into peaceful oblivion.
There it was again!
Leia lay perfectly still, reaching out with the Force to search the room.
No one was there.
No one and nothing.
Except for the slumber induced movements of her husband beside her, they were quite definitely alone.
Get a grip! She thought to herself and sighed into her pillow.
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Han was already up when Leia's chronometer signalled it was time for her to rise and shine. Disappointed that her sleep had been so cruelly disturbed, she grudgingly made her way to the shower and after waking herself with a burst of cold, fresh water, raised the temperature to what she considered optimum for cleansing both her body and her soul.
She was mostly done when she heard Han call to her from the living quarters.
"What was that hon?" Leia called back, shutting off the water jet.
When no reply came Leia finished towelling herself, slipped on a light robe and scooped her damp hair into a towelling hood.
"Han?" She called again, padding through to their all too quiet living room.
"Han?" Leia queried quietly, puzzled.
A waft of air behind her forced her to stop in her tracks.
It wasn't her imagination, not this time, she knew it wasn't. Someone...or something...was in their apartment.
And whatever it was, it had her in it's sights.
"Gotcha!" Han grabbed his wife around her waist and ravaged her neck with his kisses.
Wriggling free, Leia spun on her husband, both hands slapping him repeated across the chest.
"Bantha bait! You scared the living poodoo out of me!" She berated him.
Han fended off her attack admirably, trying not to laugh at her scolding him.
"Sorry sweetheart. Couldn't resist." He apologised and slipped his arms inside her robe and around her waist, pulling her to him.
"Why didn't you answer when I called?" She asked.
"Well..." Han considered his reply. "I figured that since you were in the shower you would either a, come looking for me wearing nothing but a flimsy robe or b, come looking for me wearing nothing." He grinned at her. "And I was right. About a, at least." His hands slid lower to lightly squeeze her buttocks as he continued, "I must say Leia, I find this new, fuller, you very alluring."
He gave her cheeks another squeeze to confirm his approval.
"You called me out here to tell me I'm fat?" She asked through narrowed eyes.
"I'm..suggesting.." He started, cautiously, "that the combination of your Senatorial duties, together with the contented nature of our marriage has given rise to a small, you could say in fact tiny really, enhancement...in some of your already stunningly curvaceous attributes."
"You called me out here to tell me I was fat!" Leia stated and shrugged off his embrace.
"Plus, I didn't call you out here at all. You called me, remember?" Han asked, hoping to diffuse an impending argument.
"No. You called to me when I was in the shower. I came out here when you didn't answer." She retorted, pulling her robe tightly about her.
"I didn't call to you." He told her.
"Yes you did. I heard you call my name!" She argued.
"Sorry to disappoint you Sweetheart, but I was in the kitchen making eggs." Han's eyes flew open wide. "Ohh, the eggs!"
He dashed into the kitchen and with a couple of Corellian swearwords ringing in her ears, Leia returned to the bedroom to dress.
Maybe she was just tired, she thought to herself. She had been working some pretty long hours over the past couple of months, a fact Han liked to remind her of at every conceivable opportunity! Leia pulled the requisite camisole and matching shorts from a drawer, tossed her robe on the end of the bed and slipped into her underwear, then crossed to the dresser to dry her hair.
But I could have sworn I heard Han's voice call my name.
So few people called her by her first name. Han did, of course. And Luke. But mostly she was Princess, or Senator, or...
Luke!
Leia's eyes shot to her reflection.
What if it was Luke. What if he was in trouble. What if he needed her.
At that moment Han poked his head into the bedroom.
"Eggs are spoiled, if you hadn't already guessed." He told her. "Oh, and Luke called. Something about tremor in the Force, blah, blah. Said you were getting dressed and you'd call if you needed him. Said he was going into Jedi meditation or seclusion or some such, blah, blah. Asked if you were okay, I told him you were fine. Just fat."
With a wink, Han's head bobbed back out of the room.
Leia had swung around to face Han at the sound of Luke's name. Turning back now, she caught sight of herself in the full length mirror that she and Han so often fought over when dressing for official functions.
Standing before it, Leia couldn't help notice that Han was right. She had filled out some, here and there. Twisting sideways and glancing over her shoulder, it was more noticeable still. Her curves were definitely curvier, reminding her of her awkward teenage years.
Her father had told her all little girls carried a little extra weight. It's called puppy fat little one, he had told her, and it's there to protect your outside body while your inside body blossoms in it's own time.
Her mind was made up.
She'd skip breakfast and walk over to the Council chamber instead of taking the shuttle.
"You know." Han said, leaning on the door frame. "Size really doesn't matter. Unless you're a Hutt, of course, then it's the bigger the better."
"And you know, that size does matter. As I'm sure your friends from Rogue Squadron will confirm next time they come round for a game of Sabaac." Leia responded, selecting and climbing into a suitable garment from her wardrobe.
"They're all talk." He countered, gathering her robe and tossing it in the recycling unit. "Remember, I've shared changing rooms with those guys. Trust me, they have nothing to boast about."
"I'll take your word for it." She said, sitting at her dresser and fixing her usual amount of make-up before setting about braiding her hair.
"You going to be okay?" He asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Shen enquired, looking at him through the dresser mirror.
"You seemed a little jittery earlier."
"Back before you called me fat, you mean?" She said, her eyebrows arched.
"You called yourself fat, I just observed that your rump was the tiniest bit plumper than in the past and that I liked it. Besides, you'll always be the most beautiful woman in the Galaxy to me. In any Galaxy."
"Then I guess I'll be fine." She smiled, finishing her hair and rising. "Will I do?"
"You'll be a sensation, as always." Han kissed her forehead, lovingly. "And I'll see you in a couple of days. Three at the most."
"Why? Where are you off to flyboy?" Leia asked, gathering her datapad from the living room table.
"I have a run." He reminded.
"Since when?"
"I told you night before last. I knew you weren't listening." He commented.
"I was so listening. I just thought that was next week is all." She said.
"Do me a favour sweetheart...No, on second thoughts do us both a favour will you, and get some sleep while I'm away. I don't want to be the one to break Luke's seclusion to tell him his sister's got nervous exhaustion." Han begged her.
"Go on, get out of here hotshot!" She said, playfully slapping him.
"Two days." Han repeated, bending and planting a fiery kiss on his wife's lips. "Three at most." He kissed her again, his hand casually caressing her rear end. "Four absolute tops." Seeking her lips one last time, he added. "Five and you'll know I'm in trouble."
With that, he was out of the door without giving Leia a chance to ask what he meant by 'in trouble'.