Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the mistakes as this is un-beta'd.

Note: This is very much a first for me writing a modern day AU. But let's be honest these two and their crazy chemistry work in any galaxy, near or far far away.

Any recognisable dialogue I snatched from ESB (and I used the dialogue from the extended kiss scene in the Falcon).

Different Galaxy, Same Old Story

Chapter One

"Hey Luke!" Han called as he spotted his friend propping up the bar in what was quickly becoming their favourite post-shift watering hole.

Luke turned, smiling instantly in recognition, and beckoning him over.

"Han, my friend, how are you?" Luke inquired, pulling him in for a quick embrace.

"Can't complain kid, can't complain. You remember my old card buddy Lando right?"

"Sure!" Luke smiled in greeting to the man standing behind Han and they shook hands. "I remember you swindled me out of a lot of money at the card table last time we met."

"Really? I remember I won a lot of money that night, fair and square." Lando countered.

"Unlikely." Han said, scoffing lightly. "So is it just us tonight?"

"No a few of the squadron boys are coming; Wedge and couple of his friends. You know how they can be, we'll be in for a long night. And I think my sister is going to pop down too."

"What, Leia?" Han asked sounding instantly annoyed.

"Yes. Unless you know of any other long lost sisters of mine."

"With your family kid you never know, anything is possible." Luke laughed at his good-natured teasing and gestured to the barman to order some more drinks. "Well I guess that's put a downer on my night."

"Han…" Luke warned.

"What's the deal with you and his sister? Have you been a naughty boy Han?" Lando asked in the most suggestive voice he could manage. Han noticed Luke shifting uncomfortably on his seat.

"Oh no Luke's sister would not stoop so low, as she never fails to remind me." This produced more uncomfortable shifting from Luke but Han ploughed on regardless. "I know she's your sister but even you have to admit she can be a real uptight snob when she wants to be."

"She's not that bad!" Luke defended immediately. "And she'd be a lot better if you didn't deliberately rile her up every time you saw her!"

Han had to admit that was true. But for some inexplicable reason he found it the most enjoyable thing to provoke her into a full on screaming match. And she was so very easy to provoke. That was about the only thing that was easy about her. Han thought bitterly.

You wouldn't think you would see your friend's sister that often, they certainly ran in different circles. But they seemed to bump into each other all the time; work parties, birthday parties, parties at Luke's flat, dinners, cinema trips, incredibly awkward Skywalker/Organa family gatherings. You name it he'd seen her there. And he'd argued with her there too.

"Where would be the fun in that?! Besides your sister's kind of hot when she's mad, kid."

Lando made a low whistling noise and glanced excitedly between the two, hoping for some light fighting to liven up his night. Luke just grinned sarcastically, shaking his head, refusing to take the bait.

"She's having a shit time at work at the moment. Can you just be nice for once please? And if you can't manage that just don't talk to her at all."

"I'll be on my best behaviour." Han promised, though his smirk made it rather unconvincing.

At that moment Wedge and three others came tumbling down the stairs to the basement bar, calling and hollering, clearly already a few drinks ahead. Han turned back to Luke and smiled. Oh this was going to be a good night, he could tell.

/

Leia arrived about forty minutes later with a friend that Han had met a few times. What was her name? Ah yes, Winter. He'd always found her surprisingly amicable. The two were accompanied by a man Han had never seen before but judging by the way his hand never left Winter's arse he was guessing this guy was her new boyfriend.

The squadron boys were a few more drinks down by this time and Han, Luke and Lando had also made a valiant effort to catch up with them. Leia had sat at the bar and had a drink with her friends and Luke; chatting and laughing away whilst Han brooded in a corner booth.

Why did she always have to look so goddamn gorgeous? He found it infuriating. It was as if she looked that way just to remind to him of exactly what he was missing. He'd told her this theory once, only half joking, in the middle of some heated, pointless disagreement they were having. 'Funnily enough I don't think about you when I'm getting ready in the morning Solo. Actually I don't think about you, ever.' Or something along those lines had been her response.

Leia was on her second drink now, still sitting at the bar. Luke had been dragged back to the dancefloor by Wedge and Winter and her man had disappeared somewhere else entirely. Han took his opportunity and approached her cautiously.

"Princess."

"Captain." She didn't turn to face him, almost as if she had been expecting him to come over. He took the seat next to her. "How's Chewie?"

Now this was safe territory. Han's beloved brown Newfoundland dog that Leia also found adorable despite the fact it probably weighed twice as much as she did.

"He's good, crazy as ever."

"He's a lovely dog."

The sat in silence for a moment. Han was struggling to have a conversation with her that wasn't targeted at winding her up. When the silence became uncomfortable he said:

"You look nice."

She turned her head to give him a pointed look but was surprised to find complete sincerity painted across his face.

"Erm… thank you." She answered, clearly taken aback.

"Hello, what do we have here?" Lando pushed his way between them and took Leia's hand in greeting. "I'm Lando Calrissian, Han's friend."

"How unfortunate for you." Leia answered automatically.

And so it begins, Han thought. He knew she was as capable of being nice to him as he was to her. That is – completely incapable of it.

"Who might you be?"

"Leia."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Leia." Lando leaned forward and kissed the back of her hand theatrically. She gave Han the pointed look she'd been intending earlier. But Lando's charm offensive wasn't over yet. "You look absolutely beautiful. You truly belong in the clouds."

"Thanks." She replied sarcastically.

"Can I buy you drink?"

To his disbelief, and dismay, Leia took one more look in Han's direction before nodding her agreement and letting herself be led by Lando further down the bar to where the waiter was serving.

"Son of a bitch." Han murmured to himself.

/

He met up with her again an indiscernible amount of time later. The fact that it was indiscernible was a sign that he should slow up on the drinks front. But then again if he was going to have to spend the evening watching Lando successfully flirt with Leia he was going to need every bit of alcohol he could lay his hands on.

As she wandered over to where he was propping himself up against the wall, Han recognised the slight daze in her expression and realised that one drink with Lando had probably turned into three or four.

Now drunk Leia, he knew from limited experience, was definitely a lot more fun and less intimidating to be around.

"Your friend Lando is quite the charmer. I've only just managed to get away."

"You're the one that agreed to have a drink with him."

"Well I thought it would annoy you."

His head snapped up in shock at the honesty of that statement. She was grinning at him in a devilishly playful manner. Okay if tonight was going to be one of the rare occasions where their banter boarded on the flirtatious instead of aggressive annoyance, then perhaps he was going to have more fun than he first supposed.

"Well you were right about that." He saw something flit across her cool expression but it was too fleeting to know what exactly. "Where's Winter and that guy?" He offered as a very obvious attempt to chance the subject.

"Off somewhere together. It's probably best we don't ask."

"Princess, I'm suddenly much more impressed with the company you keep." She rolled her eyes at him but remained smiling.

"Why aren't I surprised?" Han shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I'm just glad things are going so well. With Winter and Tycho I mean. I introduced them."

"What about you? Is anything 'going well' for you at the moment?" He asked cryptically.

It may have been the drink but his gaze was certainly a lot softer that it usually was when he was regarding her. It was very nearly making her blush.

"Not currently. You? How many things are 'going well' for you at the moment? Approximately."

"What do you mean?"

"You know; more than dozen, less than a dozen?"

"I'm not sure I like what you are implying about my character!" Han exclaimed, mock outrage clear in his voice. That earnt him a dazzling smile. God she had the most incredible smile; the kind that lights up her whole face, the whole room even. He had got to stop drinking already.

Leia opened her mouth to come back with some wise-crack of her own but she didn't get the chance. At that moment a bunch of drunk and boisterous guys pushed past them, inadvertently knocking Leia hard into Han. His hands immediately found her upper arms; gripping them tightly to stop her falling over and dropping his current drink in the process. Leia looked down and watched the glass smash at their feet.

"Are you alright?!" He asked in genuine concern.

Leia looked back up at him and nodded. The men were long gone, without so much as a backwards glance, but she didn't make a move to distance herself from him. At once Han became aware of just how close they were; they were practically touching top to toe and she had somehow ended up standing between his legs. He swallowed loudly. He really couldn't afford to be this close to her for too long.

"Let go." She said quietly still angling her face up to look at him.

He didn't. He didn't do anything. He was too busy thinking how easy it would be to dip his head slightly and catch her lips in his own. "Let go, please." She was definitely more insistent this time and accompanied her words with a hard, and unsuccessful, show away from him. The movement bolted him out of his reverie. He needed to recover from the effect of having her so close and he knew just how.

"Don't get excited!" He intentionally provoked.

"Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited."

He turned her around suddenly in his arms until she had her back to the wall. He leaned in even closer to her, his tall frame now towering above her. He heard her gasp in shock and, dare he hope, excitement. Han's hands found her neck and he held them there softly, bending down to whisper:

"Sorry sweetheart, this isn't the right place for anything else."

With that he was gone, leaving an uncharacteristically speechless Leia.

/

Leia had managed to successfully avoid Han for the next hour or so. She had met up with Winter again and even danced with Luke and Wedge. All the while Han had been with Lando and two random girls that now seemed to be permanently attached to them, continually giggling like they were the funniest people on the planet.

Whatever the hell this thing was with her brother's friend was starting to get out of hand. He'd always seemed to have this uncanny ability to get under skin and make her see red just by being in the same room. She'd always suspected he liked their antagonistic exchanges, he certainly initiated them enough to suggest that, and to tell the truth she had always somewhat enjoyed them too. You can't beat a good argument.

Recently, however, it had somehow become more than that. She could no longer claim to never think about him. In fact she thought about him all the time and had indeed picked this very outfit tonight to try and get to him. That it had worked both terrified and thrilled her in equal measure.

Han Solo was absolutely not the sort of person she should be getting involved with right now.

She was on her way back from the bathroom when she had another accidental run in with the same group of rowdy men. It really wasn't her night. This time they barged into her, knocking her bag off of her shoulder and scattering its contents all over the grimy bar floor. Leia cursed and bent down trying to gather up her dispersed belongings. Why hadn't security just kicked them out already?

She became aware of another presence kneeling on the floor in front of her and looked up to see Han. Perfect. Just what I need right now, she thought. He picked up the day planner that had slide out of her reach and passed it to her wordlessly. She snatched it from him.

"Hey, your worship, I'm only trying to help."

"Would you please stop calling me that." She'd never actually asked why he gave her all these nicknames – princess, your worship, your highness, the committee. But she could take a fair guess; he like many others, saw her privileged upbringing and assumed she was a spoilt, haughty brat.

"Sure, Leia."

"You make it so difficult sometimes." He nodded his sarcastic agreement.

"I do, I really do. You could be a little nicer though. Admit it, sometimes you think I'm alright."

Together they had collected all of her items by now and returned them to her bag. Only her shattered compact mirror remained on the floor. Leia went to grab it, cutting her finger on one of the shards of glass and hissing in pain. She stood and held the bleeding finger to her mouth. He followed her movements, standing also and looking at her hand in concern.

God, she wished he would stop looking at her like that. It was making it a lot more difficult to hate him.

"Occasionally," she conceded reluctantly, "maybe. When you aren't acting like a scoundrel."

Han took her injured hand in both of his and examined it carefully.

"Scoundrel?" He started rubbing his fingers softly over the cut. Too softly. And he was giving her one of those smiles again. "Scoundrel… I like the sound of that."

"Stop that!"

"Stop what?" She made a half-assed attempt to pull her hand away.

"Stop that. Your hands are probably dirty."

"Your hands are probably dirty too. What are you afraid of?" He had a point, she had just been rummaging around on a bar floor.

"Afraid?.." Was it her imagination or was he leaning in closer to her? "I'm afraid of getting the cut dirty."

"That's why you're trembling?"

Damn. So he could feel it.

"I'm not trembling." She uttered, her voice completely betraying her and trembling even more so than her limbs.

"You like me because I'm a scoundrel, there aren't enough scoundrels in your life." He was definitely leaning in closer now, she could feel his breathe dancing across her lips.

"I happen to like nice men."

"I'm nice man."

He sounded like a caveman. But somehow that didn't bother her, actually it was doing something rather pleasant to her insides. He was so close now, his nose brushing against hers however she didn't feel the slightest inclination to back away. What's the worst that could happen?

"No you're not, you're a…"

He cut her off by finally bringing his lips against hers; soft yet insistent at the same time. Leia felt herself respond instantly, naturally, without thought. She parted her lips to allow him better access and marvelled at how good and right it felt. After a few moments Han pulled back ever so slightly, his eyes opening and searching out her own. He was waiting for her shove him off, shout at him, demand of him what the hell he thought he was doing. No such question came.

Instead, without changing expression at all, she said:

"Okay hotshot."

All softness was gone in the next kiss as his desire took over. Han smiled into her mouth and, for the second time that evening, pressed her against the wall. She didn't seem to mind, her hand had wound its way into his hair and was keeping his face against hers. The moment was over far too quickly as an excited voice called out over the music.

"Han! Han, there you are!" Wedge yelled, pushing his way through the crowd.

Leia separated herself from his embrace instantly and walked past Wedge, disappearing back into mass of people without looking at either of them. Han watched her go. He was feeling more confused than ever about the in god's name was going on between them. Wedge, for his part, at least had the decency to look sheepish.

"Sorry bud."

"Don't worry about it." Han sounded like he was definitely worrying about it. "Let's find the others. And Wedge, don't mention this to Luke alright?"