THE ARGUMENT
Leia awoke, her eyes swollen, her voice clotted by the tears she'd shed the night before. And there'd been a lot of them.
It started out simply enough. Leia had planned to be home for dinner but an emergency meeting of the commerce delegates from the Core Worlds had been called. She'd let Han and the kids know that she'd be delayed and would leave the first chance she got.
Han had been very cool to her when she announced this. Normally, he understood, but tonight, he was anything but sympathetic. She'd hoped when she did arrive home he'd have returned to his normal self, but instead of greeting her with a kiss, which was his normal MO, he glared at her from the sofa where he was drinking an ale and watching one of the sporting events he enjoyed.
"Is something wrong?" Leia had asked him.
He didn't respond to her, but kept his eyes on the holovision.
Leia finally went over and snapped off the holovision.
"What's going on?" she demanded. It was odd getting the silent treatment from Han; he was a loquacious man.
Once he opened his mouth, she wished he'd remained silent.
"What's wrong? Han's tone was bitter. "You tell me."
"Is this about tonight's meeting? I had no choice, Han!"
"Apparently you had no choice the last five nights in a row!"
"Han, I don't have a regular job with regular hours - "
"You think I'm not aware of that? I don't have that kind of work, either. But at least I do everything I can to put our family first! Our kids miss you, you know!" The twins were five, and Anakin three and a half. "And no, they don't understand!"
"I've talked to them about it! And what about you? Your job takes you away as much as two weeks at a time!"
"I do my best to get the under, and you know it! And I refuse a lot of jobs, and I limit my training hours!"
"I'm sorry, but as Minister of State I'm obliged to meet with a lot of sentients I don't necessarily enjoy being around - "
"Yeah, and lately, it's days, nights and weekends! The last two weekends we had plans and they all went to hells because Mon Mothma dictated that you drop everything!"
"Keep her out of this!"
"I'm not keeping her out of this! I know what she thinks of me, and that we have a family, and I'm sorry she lost hers but I'm not responsible for that!"
"Sometimes the job - "
"Screw the job! Your kids need you! I need you! Just because you don't need us - "
"That has nothing to do with this!"
"It has everything to do with this!"
"I'm not spending all night arguing with you!"
"Fine! I'm sleeping on the sofa!"
"Have at it!"
Leia lay in bed most of the night, her anger burning hot at first, but morphing into sorrow as the night dragged on. The bed felt very empty without Han, but she was damned if she was going to ask him to come to it.
She had a horrible flash in her mind of lying in bed, no children in the next room, no husband to love her and share his life with her.
Is that how I'm going to end up, she asked herself.
The tears came and refused to stop till she fell into a restless, anguished sleep.
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It hadn't been a great night for Han, either.
He felt awful for going after Leia the way he did. I signed on for this, he reminded himself. You knew she had an important and demanding job.
He'd begun to feel as if he and Leia had been growing apart. It was weighing on him.
This is what we wanted. The marriage, the kids, the jobs. What had become of it? He and Leia barely saw each other and when they did, they argued. The kids were unhappy because they missed Mom and Dad. The whole household was miserable.
Dozing off fitfully, he had horrible visions of him. Alone. Solo.
Someone he desperately hoped he'd left behind.
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Leia was exhausted at work. She could barely focus on the endless meetings and conferences. She was determined to complete her work at a time where she could leave and spend time with her family.
Han was right. She wasn't being fair to them. Her whole life seemed to be about her job.
Leia was packing her carry case when Mon Mothma appeared in her doorway.
"Yes?" Leia said, trying to keep her tone neutral.
"The Drellian finance minister just arrived." Her absence had been noted; she'd been delayed and had missed the round of endless meetings. "I'd like you to take her to dinner to debrief her."
Leia looked at Mon Mothma.
"No," she said at last."
"No what?" Mon Mothma's tone was sharp.
"I'm not doing it. Find one of the undersecretaries to do it."
"Leia, you're the minister of state - "
"And a wife and mother. Now, if you'll excuse me."
Mon Mothma made a remark, but Leia had tuned her out completely. Screw her, Leia thought as she rapidly exited via the loading dock.
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Han was, as always, working on the Falcon, a task that like housework never ended. He was were having trouble with the condensers, and no matter what he did, it wasn't working.
He had to fly out in three days, and the ship needed a lot of work before then.
He'd been feeling horrible since last night, and in disgust, he finally threw down his tools.
It could wait. But family matters couldn't.
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Leia walked into the apartment and found it silent. Chewie probably had taken the kids downstairs after fetching them from school. She thought about comm'g him, but she knew there was something she had to do first.
She had to make it right with Han.
She felt the tears rising in her eyes when the entry door slid open. She was surprised to see Han there. He looked as tousled and miserable as she felt.
The two stood facing each other.
"I'm sorry," both said in unison. They embraced tightly, holding each other as if their lived depended on it.
"I was out of line last night," Han said to her gently.
"I was as well," Leia said, her face buried in Han's chest, his head on top of hers. "I couldn't think about anything else all day."
"Neither could I."
Han and Leia walked to the sofa, sitting down close to each other. Leia's head lay against Han's heart, and for a few moments, she just listened to it beat, as if it was powering her own life as well as his. His arms were strong.
It occurred to both of them that they drew strength from each other, something they'd forgotten as of late. There were always work issues to be dealt with, children that required guidance and attention nonstop, and interferences that pushed the couple's relationship to the end of the line.
"It seems like we've misplaced our priorities," Han said gently.
"It's as if we have time for everyone but each other," Leia spoke in a soft voice. "But that has to change."
"I think there's just so much to do that we get lost sometimes," Han agreed. "I think if anything came out of last night that wasn't crap, it was that the reason we have this life is because we fell in love with each other."
"We haven't even had time to make love the last couple of weeks," Leia said sadly.
"Well, I think we can remedy that easily enough," Han said, giving her that lopsided boyish grin she loved so much. "I think we have to make the time."
Leia tilted her head upwards. They leaned towards each other and planted soft kisses on each other's lips.
"I love you," Leia whispered in his ear, her tone deep and breathy.
"I know."
"Let's take this into the bedroom, shall we?" Leia said, her eyes sparkling again.
"I'm all yours."
"And you mine."