Leia turned into the alley, gripped her blaster and waited.
It was the very naivete of the woman that made Leia decide she wasn't out for blood. The woman walked straight into the alley, child lagging behind her, with no weapon and no leverage. Leia locked eyes with her and watched as the woman wrenched backwards with a small cry. Before Leia could lower her blaster, the woman had reached back to push the child behind her.
"Please! Don't shoot!"
"Why are you following me?" Leia asked, her blaster now at her side.
The woman cowered lower. Leia could see a small pair of eyes peering from behind the woman's back. "I don't … I'm not … please, Your Highness, please don't hurt him."
"I don't intend to hurt him," Leia said. "But I need to know why you were following me."
The woman looked up at Leia. Her eyes were wonderfully clear, innocent, so scared that Leia immediately turned her lips up in a reassuring smile.
"I recognized you," the woman said carefully. "I - my family wouldn't let me go fight in the Rebellion, but I wanted to. I used to watch the holofeed every night. I used to dream about stealing a ship, flying away to find the Alliance. I just … I saw you and I couldn't help it. I'm so sorry."
Leia looked at the woman a little closer. Her eyes were surrounded by unwrinkled skin, her lips were full, the hands splayed in the air in front of her were unlined. Leia estimated her to be in her late twenties, similar in age to Leia herself. She reminded Leia of Luke when she first met him, all idealism and hope. "How did you know who I was?"
The woman looked confused. "Doesn't everyone?"
Leia shook her head slowly. "You'd be surprised," she said.
The woman just stared at her until Leia realized she hadn't reholstered her blaster yet. The fear in her eyes immediately lessened once the blaster was safely out of sight. "I really am sorry, Your Highness. I didn't mean any disrespect."
"It's alright," Leia said. "What is your name?"
"Galle," she said, a hint of a smile on her lips. "This is my son, Jarel."
Leia eyed the small curly-haired child peeking from behind his mother's coat. "It's nice to meet you both. I'm sorry for the dramatics."
"Oh, well, I suppose it makes sense," Galle said. "It's probably dangerous here for you."
"For me?"
"Because of your husband?" She made it into question. "He's … controversial, isn't he?"
Leia couldn't help but laugh. "That is one way of putting it."
Galle smiled. "There are a lot of people around here who respect the hell out of General Solo for what he did in the war. Even if we aren't supposed to."
"Really."
"Of course," Galle said. Her tone said it was obvious. "He's a hero. Got himself off the streets and flew out of here. Saved the galaxy, even!"
Leia tilted her head, now totally aware that the hero-worship was not actually for her, but for Han. "He certainly did," she agreed.
"May I ask … did he really make the Kessel run in twelve parsecs?"
Leia grinned. "He did. I've seen the logs."
Once, long ago, when Chewie and she had both had far too much to drink. It was one of her favorite memories. What she could remember of it, anyway.
"And he killed Jabba the Hutt?"
Leia blinked, but thought it best to let the woman's delusion stand. "Something like that," she said. "It's hard to remember, sometimes."
"I can't even imagine," Galle said.
Leia was just so amused. Here Han spoke about his homeworld as if it had a personal vendetta against him, when in fact this woman was about to cry, she was so awestruck. Leia had seen many women react to Han but this reverence was something entirely new.
"I don't suppose … he's not nearby, is he?"
Her tone sounded so hopeful. Leia had to fight to keep her laugh at bay. "Nearby, yes. But unavailable at the moment, I'm afraid."
To her credit, Galle didn't seem too devastated. "It was worth a shot. I would have liked to - "
A throat cleared behind them. Leia's hand reached for her blaster but knew before she turned that the shadow sauntering into the alley was her husband. When he came close enough for her to see the contours of his face, she saw worry stamped across it. Over it, of course, was his typical cocky smirk, but that belied the look in his eyes. Wordlessly he held out his closed fist to her, opened it and pursed his lips.
Her comlink.
"You left without this," he said.
She opened her mouth in retort when she heard a muffled gasp to her left. Han and she both looked to the woman beside them. Her eyes were enormous, her mouth frozen in an "oh!" of shock. Han glanced at Leia, then back to the woman. "You okay?" he asked, wary.
Thank the gods he didn't hear any of our conversation, Leia thought. His ego would blow this completely out of proportion.
Galle, for her part, was struck dumb, her mouth still hanging open. Her hands moved restlessly in front of her. She seemed utterly incapable of speech, so Leia stepped in. "This is Galle and Jarel."
"Okay," Han said, cocking an eyebrow at Leia.
"She recognized me," Leia said quietly. "I was in perfect control of the situation."
" - Without your comm," he added.
"Perfect control," she repeated.
"Where's your ship?"
Leia looked down. Without them noticing, Jarel had stepped away from his mother and was eyeing Han with a sort of comical seriousness. His young face was pinched in doubt as he looked up at the older man. Han was at least three times his size.
Han glanced at Leia. "What ship?" he asked blithely.
"The Millennium Falcon," Jarel promptly answered. "I have a model of it in my room."
"Uh," Han said. He seemed lost for words. "Why?"
"Because it's the fastest ship in the whole galaxy!" Jarel said, abandoning all doubt and throwing his arms wide.
"That so?" Han asked, turning to look at Leia, his eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline. "The whole galaxy?"
"Yeah!" the boy exclaimed. Leia was a little charmed despite herself.
His mother didn't seem to share the sentiment. "Jarel!" she hissed.
"He's fine," Han said, crouching down to be at eye level with the child. "You like ships?"
Jarel nodded. He glanced at his mother then back to Han. Leia couldn't take her eyes off them.
"I want to fly," the boy said, a little breathless. "I want to fly around the whole galaxy. Like you."
Leia watched Han closely. They'd been together for years and she couldn't recall ever seeing Han interact with a child. The circumstances of war and life on Coruscant hadn't provided many such opportunities. The way he looked at the boy in front of him was unguarded, open. Her chest tightened; she pushed the feeling away.
"Like me?" Han said. "You might want to set your sights higher than that, kid."
"Can I see your ship?" Jarel asked, apparently finished with this conversation.
Leia smiled as Galle rushed over to hold her son's shoulders and softly rebuked him for his rudeness. "Jarel, I'm sure the princess and General Solo have much to do today."
"Actually," Leia said, eyeing the look on Han's face, "I think we have some time before we leave. Right, General?"
He glared at her, his old rank a relic from his time before marriage, long before the circumstances of their jaunt to Corellia. But below that, deep below, she saw something else. It triggered that same tightness in her chest. She rode out the wave, expecting that harsh aftertaste of anxiety, but this left just a warmth. And if the glint in his eyes was anything to go by, Han might be feeling something like she was. "Yeah, sure," he said with a grin. "C'mon. Let's go take a look."
Note: Yeah, I'm pretty much living in the "Mighty Things" AU, so in my mind, this happened during a mission for the NRI. But it's vague, so you can do whatever you want with it.