Small Talk: A Han Solo & Leia Organa Fanfiction
There were three times Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa talked small talk.
The first time small talk was experienced was on the icy planet of Hoth. Han strutted through the freshly carved ice halls of the rebel base in search of the Princess, not that she wanted to be found. She was probably hiding anyway, considering their most recent fight had left her crying. He felt bad, he really did, and that's why Han was looking for her. He knew that when she got that upset she normally turned to alcohol and weeping in a corner by her lonely self.
It wasn't as if the smuggler had been watching her the first time he noticed this hobby of hers, in fact, he had hardly talked with her. It had been at the party after the medal ceremony back on Yavin, and he couldn't care less about the snotty princess that wouldn't stop insulting him. Sure, she had some wit to her, and he had to admit she was beautiful, but like he had said straight off, he was just in it for the money. That was the truth, until he found her missing from the party and made the decision to find her.
Considering the fact that her entire home planet had just been blown away by the Empire along with all of her friends and family, she couldn't be doing very well. The kid was still at the party when he left, drinking some ale with a few of his newly found friends, and Chewie was off working on the Falcon, so Han knew he wouldn't be missed.
It took a few minutes to find her, but it wasn't too hard, considering not many people sat in dark rooms that smelled of strong wine and sounded of weeping. He figured the door would be locked, but he tried anyway, surprised to find that it was open. Inside he found the princess, still in her white dress from the Ceremony and with her hair creeping out of its delicate braid. She looked up at the light and quickly tried to wipe away her tears, hoping to look more presentable, not that it worked.
"What do you want?" she had asked quickly, hoping to rid herself of the smuggler's presence.
"Well your Worshipfulness, I just happened to be walking by when I heard some crying coming from the door, not to mention the strong smell of alcohol you left in the hallway" he said while quietly sitting down next to her and putting a comforting arm around her shoulder.
Leia, never one for physical contact of any sort, pushed him away within a moment. "Don't touch me."
"Hey, I was only trying to help" he said in a hurt voice. "Plus, you look like you could use some help right about now."
"No, I think I can manage just fine on my own." Leia tried to stand, but fell back to her knees, landing squarely over Han's body. Her head settled upon his chest, and she made no effort to move anymore. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair to comfort her.
"Princess, might I ask what you were doing in here drinking all by yourself?" he asked some while later.
"I was trying to make myself feel better" came the small answer.
"With alcohol? Listen Princess, if that's what you were trying to do, I'll tell you right now, that doesn't work."
"Well it seems to be working for me."
It was at that moment that Han had first realized she had problems with grief. From that point on he was no longer in this thing for the money. No, he was in it for her now too. Too deeply involved to leave.
After that he had tried to think of ways to help her. It started mostly as just watching her carefully, and whenever she strayed away and began her weeping, he would come a while later to comfort her. But overtime it evolved into more. When he left on supply runs he would bring back fresh food, small gifts and any sort of memorabilia he could find of Alderaan. Sometimes he would invite her for dinner, always making sure Chewie or Luke would come too. He thought about suggesting therapy, but he knew that wouldn't do any good…she would hate that kind of thing.
And now here he was, even after three years of comforting her, he had insulted her, and now she wasn't running away from her nightmares of Alderaan. No, she was running away from him.
Leia reached up onto the shelf in her quarters on the Rebel Base, which were as cold as ever. Stretching to reach the small box she grabbed it and quickly jumped off the chair she had used to reach so high up.
She couldn't believe the nerve of that man…that nerfherder. Just when everything had been going well he had to go off and insult her. What it was that had upset her she still wasn't sure. Maybe it was just that moving to a new base had stressed her out, and she hadn't felt like fighting anymore.
So instead of keeping up with his insults like she normally did, Leia had run off to her current location. As she opened the box she said with a smirk "Well at least he won't have to worry about me getting drunk." She knew that after Yavin he had watched her, kept track of her, and everytime she had begun to cry for her home planet, he would stride in, take her in his arms and comfort her. She wasn't going to deny that it felt good, it felt right.
When he held her on those nights she felt as if nothing in the universe mattered anymore other than the feeling of his strong arms around her and the warmth of his body against hers. It was nice to know that even in her darkest hour someone would be there by her side…even if that someone was the nerfherder named Han Solo.
Now, as she looked into the box she realized that most of its contents had been from Han. This was her entire world, the box holding the few possessions she had left.
There was a picture Luke had given her, of Han, Leia and himself sometime after Yavin. They were actually smiling for once, not fighting, not worried about an upcoming battle. Next there was a wine bottle, one Han had saved for her. He had found it in his personal stores, a bottle of Alderannian wine, and a very fine one at that. They had indulged in the bottle over dinner about a year and a half ago with Luke and Chewie. After dinner Han had walked her back to her quarters, and he gave her the empty bottle to keep, as a memory of both that night and her home planet.
She set the bottle down on the table and moved for the next item. It was a small stuffed animal Han had given her for her birthday a few months ago. A while back she had told him during one of their 'comfort sessions' about a similar stuffed animal she had when she was young, and he had found one almost identical to it for her. How he remembered she would never know.
As she cleaned out the box she came across other pictures and items, and eventually reached the bottom. Just as she was about to start putting things back in she heard a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" she called out from her place on the chair.
"Leia, it's me" came the response. She knew instantly who it was. It was Han, but the strange thing was that he had never called her by her name before. It had always been 'sweetheart' or 'Princess' or some less flattering nickname he gave her.
"What do you want?" she yelled back, but she got up from the chair and headed towards the door.
A response came back from Han, "Look, Leia. I'm sorry, for whatever it was I said. I didn't mean to hurt you." There it was again, her actual name…and an apology. She had reached the door, but stood still in front of it, quietly. A few moments later another "Leia" came from the other side of the door.
She opened it quickly and looked into his eyes. "Han."
"Leia, are you alright?" he asked simply, as if she were hurt or sick.
"No, I'm not 'alright' Han." She turned from the door and headed back toward the chair on the other side of the room. Han followed her in and closed the door before sitting in the chair opposite her.
He picked up the picture Luke had given her from after Yavin. "Hey, I remember this day. That was a great day if I do say so myself," he said, trying to cheer the Princess up.
"Yeah, I guess it was" she said quietly.
He sighed. "Leia, what did I say? I didn't mean to hurt you. You know that right?"
"I don't know what you said. I can't even figure out what I'm upset about" Leia responded angrily. She pounded her fist on the table before getting up and moving to her bed a few feet away. "But I know you didn't try to hurt me. How could you have, if I don't even know what I'm angry about."
Han got up and moved next to her, their knees just barely touching. Leia had started to cry by this point. "Hey, calm down." He moved his hand to her face, brushing a tear from her cheek. "It's going to be ok."
"It's never going to be ok Han. It's war. I've lost everything." The tears came more quickly now.
"Everything? I don't think so. Look at this stuff," he pointed to the items still scattered on the table. "If you've lost everything than what is sitting here. What about me and Luke and Chewie. We may not be much, but it's better than nothing, right?"
Leia laughed a bit, her crying starting to stop. "I suppose you're right. But what about everything I have lost? Those things matter too Han."
"Well of course they do Leia, they are always going to matter." He sat back down, a bit closer to her this time. Leia instantly turned her body so it was facing him more directly and she wrapped her arms around him, and he followed suit. They sat there on Leia's bed, her quietly crying against his shirt, his cheek resting against the top of her head.
After a while, Leia was ready to let go, and he let go instantly, but took her small hand within his own larger one. "Leia, look at me." She followed his orders and looked into his eyes. "I want you to remember something. No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you. It doesn't matter if I'm halfway across the galaxy or right here next to you, I'll be here for you." And with that, he slid a small bracelet into her hands, kissed her forehead and walked to the door.
"Han."
"Yeah Princess?"
"Sleep well."
"You too, Leia. You too." And with that he opened the door and was gone.
Leia looked back at her hand, and the bracelet on it. It was a simple bracelet, just a circular metal bracelet with words carved on the inside. 'You're nothing short of my everything.'
Just a note for the entire story: I don't own Star Wars, as much as I wish I owned Han Solo. =)