Warning: What follows is the Trip to Bespin story no one asked for, in which no sex takes place. If that's not your cup of tea, that's perfectly fine, but I wanted to prepare readers at the outset to avoid disappointment.

A few more warnings going in:

(1) In this story, Leia is a virgin. This is not a judgement on anyone else's 'Leia as not a virgin' take on things. My headcanon of this is due to her life circumstances and her personal priorities, something Leia herself will explain. Just know that Leia as a virgin is not for any moral or misogynistic reasons, or out of a desire to make any kind of statement.

(2) What happened between Han and Leia on the trip to Bespin, even how long the trip actually took, is something I go back and forth on. The general consensus nowadays seems to be that after "floating away with the garbage" Leia and Han relatively quickly fell into bed together and spent the rest of the journey very physically involved, if not yet expressing their feelings. This story isn't meant to say there's anything wrong with that interpretation, but because there are so few stories showing the potential flipside of things, I wanted to approach the trip a bit differently –– as an emotional catharsis rather than a physical one. I certainly think the Han/Leia dynamic changed drastically from Hoth to when they arrive at Bespin, and that change signals a major breakthrough in their relationship. What I'm presenting in this story is that the change was through involvement as a couple, yes, but that after everything Leia has been through she continues to hold something back because Han is still leaving her.

The Han and Leia we see in Bespin during the "you're as good as gone" exchange, as well as the fact that she hasn't yet told him she loves him, reveals a pair who are together but still in clear conflict over their future. That whole exchange, from the way it was said to their expressions, suggests to me this has been a repeated issue between them on the trip; this is certainly not the first time this disagreement is coming up. That will be the key theme of this story, as I don't believe it was something they did or could just entirely sweep under the rung. It will be explored throughout, including Leia struggling with the ramifications of her decision to hold back post-carbonite chamber.

(3) All of that is not to say they won't explore physicality. This story is rated M for that reason: sexual discussions that will occur, activities of a sexual nature they will be engaging in over time, adult language (of an English and GFFA variety), and because of their eventual consummation in post-Return of the Jedi epilogues.

(4) For a story set largely on the Millennium Falcon, here is my disclaimer: I frankly don't care what any of the "official" charts and diagrams for the unseen in the OT portions of the Falcon are. In my headcanon, somewhere on that ship there is a galley; as is his preference, Chewie sleeps in a hammock hung across one of the holds, alongside his own Wookiee-sized and properly modified fresher (the Falcon once was Lando's, and what are the odds that such an entertainer would only have one bathroom aboard his ship anyway?); there is a small two bunk crew quarters that leads into the captain's quarters, with a door in between (Lando would absolutely value his privacy, especially when bringing a romantic partner on board), and an attached private captain's fresher complete with real water shower, not merely sonic (again, because Lando would have believed in luxuries).

On with the story!