KISSES FOR MY BEST FRIEND

Leia and Han were in bed, Leia on her datapad, Han watching his smashball team lose yet again.

"Why don't you put that thing down?" Han suggested.

"I can't. I have to have these figures and tables ready first thing in the morning."

"Sounds like you've got too much work. Again."

"I always have too much work. I'm exhausted. And it was an awful day." Leia was in her fourth month of pregnancy, and while the nausea wasn't as prevalent, the weariness dogged her.

"I hear that. Stupid trainee nearly got us all killed," Han grumbled.

"Is this the one that you say is all enthusiasm and no intelligence?"

"That'd be Russell, yes." Han usually enjoyed his students, but Russell was a piece of work. Han was patient, but he expected his trainees to pay attention, and that was where Russell came up short. "Mon Mothma all over your case today?"

"When isn't she? No, today it was the Minister of Intergalactic Commerce who must have something other than grey matter holding his brain together, assuming he has one. I get tired of being shouted at all the time, and he's a screamer. There's not one thing I can do that satisfies the bastard. And then Mon Mothma goes after me because he's in a permanent state of pissed off."

Han snuggled up a little closer to her and rubbed his hand softly against her cheek. It was a touch she found to be calming. Her breathing slowed a bit. "I once heard a saying that hell is other sentients," he said softly, removing his hand and kissing her gently on the cheek.

"You are so not kidding. Here, you're good with math. I could use the help."

"Sure," Han agreed readily. It had been his favorite subject at the Imperial Academy, and he'd continued studying it long after that, because it was useful for piloting and because he enjoyed it. Leia kissed him on the cheek. "Are you looking to show absolute values or percentages?"

"I tried it as percentages but I get over 100%."

"That's because you're a, letting the outliers skew it and b, you've got confounding variables that make it in excess of 100%. What you need to do is normalize your values."

"How?"

"Take your lowest and highest values and create a regression analysis."

"What's a regression analysis?"

"You estimate the relationships among all of your variables. They will regress to the mean. To get the mean, go to this function here." He pointed to a cube on the datapad's spreadsheet function. "See? It does something called displaying the central tendency. But you let the datapad do it. Visuals are good in this, meaning plots. Here, let's do a scatter plot. Go to where it says 'display' here on the menu bar. Import your data into it, just like you did. Now let it rip. See? You've got a nice distribution, and now, if you look at your data, they equal 100%. And, under this button, you can do tables and graphs. Graphs are great. Use 'em."

"I really have to get acquainted with this new datapad. I'm so used to the old clunky ones where you have to do everything yourself." She followed Han's instructions.

"We'll go over it this weekend. There's no reason to labor over this junk, not when you have electronic brains to do the work for you."

"Thank you. You just saved me a late night and a major headache. It won't make the Minister happy, but at least it's something I can take to the table." Leia powered down the datapad and set it on her night table.

"Here's a question for you. What do you do with someone who's always derailing a meeting?"

Leia laughed. "We have our share of those, to be sure. What I do, if I'm running the meeting, I designate that I'm going to speak for x amount of time, there will be x amount of time for discussion, and x amount of time to vote on it. It's in the discussion stages where things go insane, but it's important not to let it get out from under you."

"Thing that drives me crazy about this kid is that he's the son of the Minister of Mining on Yavin. So I can't flunk him out, according to the grand poobahs. The problem is that the rest of the trainees grasp a concept before this kid can even give it a name, and then he slows down the entire group."

"Have you spoken to him outside of class?"

"Several times. I've told him that he's got to study harder. He messes up small things that no pilot should have to think about twice. And, this is his second time through. He did so badly the first time around that he has to do it again. Usually we give trainees only one shot, but if, say, their technical ability doesn't match what we see on their exams, we try to feel out what the issue is. This kid comes in, says he wants help, but interrupts me every third word. I've told him not to interrupt while I'm speaking but he gets very irritated."

"Does he have any learning problems?"

"If you have learning disabilities, you're automatically disqualified. That's how we roll. Not kind, not even fair probably, but you're talking about being responsible for a large piece of machinery that sends you into potential danger every time you operate it."

"I'm thinking that this boy might have learning problems, but with the influence his father has, they were left off. How did he pass the written exams?"

"I was told that if he got 60 percent or better, I should pass him. We don't normally pass anyone with less than an 85."

"Hmm. Let's take this approach. What are his strengths?"

"He likes constant activity; in fact, he can't slow down even for a minute."

"Reminds me of someone I know."

"I knew that was coming. I'm thinking that he's unsuited for military operations, but maybe...he might be able to deal with rescue and recovery planetside. He'd get to fly only speeders, of course, but he doesn't have to cram as much knowledge into his head a in short period of time. He's not a bad kid. But as a deep space pilot, that's not gonna happen."

"Does he seem as if he's interested in helping people?"

"I think he wants to. Which is why R&R works so well for someone like him. His father might not be entirely happy, but I think I can make his son happy and productive now." He leaned over and kissed Leia's cheek. "Thanks for the help with this. I was thinking I'd be awake over it all night."

"I don't know about you, flyboy, but I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to call it a night," Leia said as she turned out her light on her side of the bed.

"I'm right there with you, sweetheart."

The two were soon shrouded in darkness, the pale glow of two moons their only light. Han cupped Leia's chin and drew himself closer to her lips. The two kissed, very softly.

"Have I ever told you how much I love kissing you?" Leia said, smiling.

"I don't know that you've said it, but I sort of thought that might be the case," Han said, low and soft. She gently put her hands to each side of his face, closing in to his lips. He wrapped his arms around her, desiring nothing this night but the taste of her lips and her warm body close to his. Neither had the energy to take it further, but they were never too tired to kiss.

"This is nice," Leia said, kissing Han again, and again. "The first time we kissed, I was surprised at how soft your lips were."

"I wasn't surprised about yours." Han proved it by kissing her again.

Leia appreciated his scent, his touch, his warmth as he kissed her over and over again. They tasted each other's tongues, Leia biting slightly on Han's lower lip.

"You know what I love most?" Han asked her.

"What?"

"That I get to kiss you good morning every day and good night each night. And on the good days, lots of times in between. And it just so happens that the woman I kiss happens to be, in addition to my wife, lover, and mother of my children, my very best friend."

"I get to do the same thing." Leia smiled, placing her lips on his.

Exhaustion soon overcame them, and sleepy kisses were exchanged till both were sound asleep.