Luke entered the crowded coffee house with a glum look on his face. If it'd been his choice he wouldn't be here. He'd be back home in his pajama pants lying on the couch and watching reruns of FRIENDS. But his sister Leia, who loved to take on the role of the mother they never knew, had insisted. Since he'd lost his job a month ago, Luke had lost all motivation but his sister wasn't just going to allow him to waste his life away. Though he knew she was right and had his best interests at heart it certainly didn't feel like it.

With a sigh he scanned the room for his friends. He heard Han before he saw him and laughed half-heartedly to himself as he took in the scene. Leia and Han sat on opposite ends of the couch with Wedge, Mara and Lando in between them. The latter three sat in amused silence as the pair snapped at one another. Luke wondered what it was about this time. The two were always at each other's necks, but Luke knew it was only a matter of time before they gave in and admitted their feelings for one another. It was pretty obvious in the way Leia looked at Han when he wasn't looking, her pupils dilated and a fond smile on her face. She would often find little ways to touch him, even if it was a shove in the ribs, a mock punch. Han was a little more obvious with his affections and it was blatant to everyone the depth of his feelings towards her. Well blatant to everyone but Leia it seemed.

As Luke approached the group he caught the end of Leia's sentence.

"Why you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy looking Nerfherder!" She exclaimed, her nostrils flaring, a sure sign to anyone that knew Leia, to drop the subject. Han was not just anyone.

"Who's scruffy looking?" He asked indignantly before noticing Luke.

"Hey kid, you missed the show. Your sister was just telling us all how she's madly in love with me." He said teasingly and Luke rolled his eyes. Leia's eyes almost burst out of their sockets and if she were a cartoon, steam would have been coming out of her ears.

"In your dreams lazarbrain." This was possibly the worst thing Leia could have said and she knew it the moment the words tumbled out her mouth.

"No princess. My dreams are a lot dirtier." He leaned towards her with a wink. She really did walk into that one.

"Oh I'll give you-"

"So!" Luke cut in quickly, before they started another full-blown argument. No one else would be able to get a word in for at least another 20 minutes if so. Settling in the armchair opposite the group he asked, "How's everyone doing?"

"Well, before Tom and Jerry here got carried away, we were discussing how expensive this month is gonna be." Mara explained with a smile.

"How so?"

"Well we all have July birthdays!" Lando replied. "You and Leia on the 12th, Han on the 18th, Mara on the 23rd and Wedge and I on the 30th. I don't know how I'm gonna afford gifts for you all!"

"Yeah," Han chipped in. "Plus Chewie has his birthday tomorrow."

The group all laughed at that, Chewie was Han's huge but adorable Husky. He followed Han pretty much everywhere and his owner doted on him. Han folded his arms at his friends' reactions.

"Hey, you only get your first birthday once guys." This caused another round of laughter at his expense. Han treated Chewie as if he was his baby and his friends never let him live it down. His act of being a badass, dangerous, ruffian was getting less and less believable. In more ways than one.

"Seriously though," Wedge said when the group settled down. "I can barely pay my rent anyway. I'm gonna struggle even more this month. I may have to cut out drinking."

Han chuckled, and patted his friend on the back. "You need to do that anyway buddy, that beer belly isn't appealing to anyone." This earned him a scowl and a bellowing laugh from Lando.

Leia's face suddenly lit up with excitement. "Guys! I just had an idea."

"Surprise, surprise." Han muttered and Leia glared at him meaningfully before continuing.

"We should all celebrate our birthdays together to save money and instead of buying for everyone we should all get one person something."

"How will we decide who gets who?" Wedge enquired.

"Pick names out a hat?" Leia suggested and Mara hummed excitedly.

"Oh like secret Santa?"

"Exactly."

"There aren't enough of us for secret Santa!" Luke pointed out and everyone groaned, but Han shrugged and made a suggestion.

"One of us could buy for Chewie and I could buy something on his behalf for one of you."

Wedge, being more of a cat person, scrunched up his nose in disgust.

"One of us has to buy for a dog?"

"Have any other suggestions?" Han growled and that was that.

"Ok so we'll include Chewie." Leia said trying to hide her smile aimed at Han.

"I feel sorry for whoever Leia gets, she'll probably give them a copy of 'An Inconvenient Truth' or something." Han teased half-heartedly, but this time everyone ignored him including Leia, engrossed in her idea.

"I think it's a great plan!" Luke said after some consideration.

"Me too!" Lando agreed.

"So we're all agreed?" Leia asked, looking pointedly at Han. He met her eyes and smiled genuinely at her, causing a blush to cross her face that didn't go unnoticed by anyone. Luke and Lando exchanged a knowing look. Just a matter of time.

"Sure Princess."

….

Han hated shopping. He hated the stuffiness of shopping malls, he hated waiting in queues, and he hated the experience of trying clothes on. He hated shopping, but there was something that made this particular trip to the mall unpleasant. He was shopping for Leia. Of course he of all people would get her worshipfulness, the girl who had everything.

Why had he agreed to this? He paused to consider and then sighed. He knew exactly why. He didn't know how he'd gotten into this 'feelings' thing, but it was hard to handle. He'd tried to ignore his initial attraction to Leia, she was beautiful but he hadn't wanted to risk his friendship with Luke just so he could fuck his sister. But then he'd slowly began to realize that it wasn't just her looks that drew her to him. She was smart, the smartest person he'd ever met in fact, she astounded him with her knowledge about the world and even though he pretended that it bored him that she was such a brainiac, he loved it about her. She was brave; she never hesitated to stand up for what was right. She didn't just talk about the injustices of the world, she fought them, and she fought valiantly. She was also the least selfish person he had ever met. And Leia had plenty of reasons to be selfish. Her adopted parents had been murdered when Leia was just 18 and her birth parents had died the day she and Luke were born. But instead of letting this get to her, she fought on. She was a much stronger person than Han. He knew this for a fact. He also knew that she was too good for him.

Yet, he couldn't help it. He loved her.

Loved her.

He'd had to admit it to himself on one of the occasions they'd been on good terms. They'd sat on Luke's couch and talked all night, laughing and joking. She'd let him put his arm around her and Leia had fallen asleep on his shoulder. She looked younger in her sleep, the most vulnerable he'd ever seen her. And he felt the most overwhelming need to protect her, not that she needed to be protected particularly, but that didn't matter. He needed to protect her. That'd been the moment he realized this wasn't lust. It wasn't a crush. He had fallen head over heels in love with her and he just couldn't stop. What scared him the most was that he didn't want to.

And now here he was, frantically searching for the perfect birthday gift for the perfect girl, who would never in a million years be interested in him. Yet he felt a pathetic need inside of him to impress her.

He'd have to dig deep if he was going to make this special for her. And he absolutely intended to do so.

This was going to take some work but that didn't matter.

Leia was worth it.

….

"Settle down you horrible lot!" Luke shouted above the laughter and chatter of his friends. They'd debated on whether to go to a club for their joint birthday party or for a fancy dinner. Dinner had won, yet the group was just as rowdy as usual. When everyone ignored him and carried on with their conversation, Leia cleared her throat irritably and they swiftly grew silent. She smiled in satisfaction before turning to her brother.

She could feel Han, beside her, watching her and she tried to ignore the fluttering inside her chest. He always managed to do that to her. He did a lot to her that she wouldn't care to admit. His voice, his smile, the scar on his chin…his biceps…

"I think it's about time we open each others secret Santa gifts!" Luke announced, receiving a cheer from the assemblage. "Now since Chewie is literally an animal and we weren't allowed to bring him here, Han will represent him."

Han gave a comical bow and Leia had to bite her lip to stop herself smiling. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Since it is actually my birthday today, I will go first." Luke smiled cheekily. "Then the person who has me will give me their gift and then the person who has them will give theirs and so on." He explained.

The gift sharing took quite some time and lead to a great deal of hilarity. Luke gave Lando a grow-your-own-woman joke gift, Wedge gave Luke a tie ("For your next interview."), 'Chewie' gave Wedge a beanie baby cat which resulted in several curse words aimed at Han. ("Hey I'm just the messenger!") Mara presented Han with Chewie's gift, which was a matching galaxy print leash and collar set. Leia had splashed out on a new laptop for Mara, knowing she needed one desperately for college. And Lando, generous that he was, gave Han a long overdue $50 note that he owed him from a poker game.

There was only one person left to give his gift and Leia realized it would be for her. She felt suddenly nervous, wondering what possible gift Han would have gotten her. She hoped it wouldn't be a crown or something, mocking her wealthy upbringing. Or something suggestive or crude that would make her feel more flustered than she usually did around him. As he handed her the pink wrapped, rectangular box, Leia prepared herself for the worst. But then she met Han's eye and he smiled at her almost shyly.

"Happy Birthday, Leia."

Leia. Not 'your highness' or 'princess' or 'worshipfulness'

…Leia.

Everyone watched silently as Leia carefully unwrapped the paper. Inside was a simple wooden box. Leia looked at Han, raising her eyebrow questioningly at him.

"Open it." He said simply and she did.

She gasped when she saw what was inside. It was a jewelry box with a mirror on the inside of the lid, but what really took her breath away was the tiny ballerina figurine on a spring. It was a music box.

She could hardly believe Han had remembered the significance of a music box to her. She'd had a very special antique jewelry box when she was younger that played the lullaby her mother used to sing to her at night. When her parents had died many of her childhood possessions were lost, including the music box. She once confided to Han that her insomnia was always cured by that lullaby and if she couldn't have Breha sing it to her, the music box would be the next best thing.

"Han…" She breathed, speechless.

He leaned closer and turned something in the back of the box and a familiar tune chimed out, causing Leia to suppress a sob. Her mother's lullaby…

"I know it's not the exact same box, but it was the only one I found that played this song." Han admitted after a long pause.

Leia met his eyes, sure hers were full of tears. An actual blush crossed Han's face and she would've laughed at him, had she not been frozen to the spot. The feelings inside of her were overwhelming and before she knew what she was doing she threw her arms around him, pressing her face firmly into his neck. Han laughed breathlessly as he wound his arms around her waist, breathing her in. They stayed like that a good minute, while their friends exchanged looks.

"I take it you like it?" Han teased, but for once Leia had no retort. She pulled back slightly, still in awe. Her nose brushed his and she was close enough to see his pupils expand. That was all the confirmation she needed. She closed the space between them and kissed him. Han was taken aback, but wasted no time at all, gripping the back of her head with one hand as he kissed her back with enthusiasm. For a moment nothing else existed but the two of them, moving their lips together passionately. Leia opened her mouth to deepen the kiss and Han put up no protest, holding her closer still.

They'd almost forgotten where they were, when Lando cleared his throat. Embarrassed, Leia pulled away to find Han's eyes still closed. He opened them slowly and the smile he gave her was so joyful she could have cried.

Lando broke their spell again, as he snorted with laughter. "Wait, what just happened?"

Leia turned away from Han and faced her friends. Luke and Mara both stared with matching wide eyes and gaping mouths. Wedge was pretending not to look and Lando was grinning gleefully.

Leia felt Han take her hand from under the table and she squeezed it. In spite of her humiliation, nothing could stop the tingles and butterflies not only in her stomach but through her entire body. She'd kissed Han Solo!

"I don't know about any of you guys but my gift seems kinda lame now…" Lando joked after an awkward few minutes of silence. That was enough to break Luke out of his trance.

"Hey! I put a lot of thought into that." He whined and the usual group chatter ensued. The emotional display, forgotten.

Han and Leia looked at each other while their friends were distracted. Han stroked Leia's cheek tenderly and she leaned into it, her eyes closing.

"Wanna get out of here?" He whispered suggestively and Leia opened her eyes, which twinkled with mischief.

"I thought you'd never ask."