The pitten stared up at them from it's pen, managing to look both pitiful and happy. It's disproportionately large liquid eyes prompted Leia to make exactly the kind of paternal cooing noises that alarm all men, and in particular the man standing next to her.

"No."

"Han -"

"No."

"Come on, Han." She held the little ball of fur up to her cheek and did what Han could only describe as snuggle. "Look how adorable she is."

Han wrinkled his nose. There were few things that caused Leia to dissolve into the type of woman who squealed, but pittens were one of them. "We're not getting it," he said flatly.

A pause. "But she's adorable," Leia repeated, confused - puzzled perhaps that Han couldn't understand the inherent logic of her argument.

Han rolled his eyes. "I've already got one furball to clean up after. I don't need another one."

"But it'd be so nice to have something around for companionship, don't you think?" Leia asked. Ignoring Han's bewildered 'what about me?', she went back to cooing at the little ball, tickling under it's chin.

"I thought we agreed not to have kids right away."

Leia wrinkled her forehead. "It's not a child."

Han pointed at it sourly. "It can't talk, it's not toilet trained, it's going to be up all night screaming and it won't like us unless we're feeding it. It's a child. We're not getting it."

"But look!" She held the pitten at arms length in front of his face and jiggled it slightly. In spite of himself, Han felt a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He swallowed it stubbornly. "I knew we shouldn't have stopped here. We should have walked right past. I'll never trust you again."

He finally reached up and took the pitten from Leia, balancing it in two hands gingerly. He'd never been good with animals. "Besides, these things hate me. It'll probably scratch my eyes out."

"Oh, don't be silly," Leia said. "It's too small to hurt you even if it wanted to."

The pitten licked Han's thumb. "Ouch," Han said pointedly.

Leia rolled her eyes. "What collar do you think we should get?" she asked, turning her attention to the rows of accessories lining the walls.

The pitten squirmed in his hands and he juggled it uncomfortably. "Collar? Leia - "

"And a name tag, too. What do you think we should call it?"

"How about, 'get that thing away from me'?" Han suggested resentfully, suddenly remembering he was arguing with Leia, who was possibly the hardest person in the world to win an argument against. And in this case, he was really, really losing.

But them, she turned to him, with that beaming smile that seemed to make the world drop away from around him. He felt his final shreds of resistance crumble. "How about Scruffy?" she suggested.

Han sighed. "I'm not toilet training it," he declared. After all, a husbands gotta have his standards. You can't let your wife just walk all over you.

Reaching up, Leia smoothed her hand over his cheek, pulled him down for a kiss. "Thank you."

As she pulled back, Han's eyes flashed with an idea, and he brightened considerably. "Think we could hide it in Chewie's bunk tonight?"

Leia laughed.

end