Three Weeks Earlier-
"Han?" Leia's voice echoed through the Falcon. "Han Solo, are you in here?"
She stormed through the ship, looking for the captain. She finally found him in the back, toying with one of the parts that had malfunctioned, again.
"Han Solo."
She stared at him, with a stony expression and her arms crossed at her chest. Han continued to work on the ship, not hearing her above the sound of one of his tools. Leia tried waiting as patiently as she could, but her annoyance was growing and she could no longer take it.
"Han!"
He looked up from his work and turned off the tool.
Smiling, he answered her. "Hiya, sweetheart. What's with the tone?"
He flashed her a brilliant smile and her lips quivered upwards. She immediately turned it into a frown because she wasn't letting him get away with this that easily.
"Han, do you know what time it is?"
He tried to muster the most innocent look he could.
"Nope. Why? Did I miss something?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Funny that you should ask. Yes, you did miss something. Remember that meeting you were supposed to attend? The one where you were going to make a very important presentation?"
Leia stared at him, her foot tapping with impatience. Han looked down in guilt.
"I-uh. I thought that wasn't until tomorrow."
She stared at him incredulously. "You did not think that was tomorrow! I have been reminding you about this meeting, and pressing you about this presentation for the past few weeks. I even told you this morning before I left! You told me 'I got this' and then waved me away from bed."
He looked at her sheepishly. "I was sleepy. You can't hold me responsible with information so early in the morning. You know that."
Han tried moving closer to her to kiss her, but she swatted him away.
"Oh, I'm going to kill you! I've been telling you for weeks! Another pilot ended up having to make the presentation. Do you know how humiliating that is for me?"
Han frowned.
"Humiliating for you? I'm sorry, princess, but I told you from the start that I didn't want to do this. I'll do anything for this Alliance, but I don't want to have to speak about it! You should have listened to me in the first place and then maybe you wouldn't have felt so humiliated."
Leia's cheeks turned rosy.
"Do not turn this around on me, Han! You may not have been happy about it, but you did agree to it, therefore you should have done it!"
"Well, excuse me, but maybe I had more important things to deal with that took up my time. It wasn't that I didn't do it on purpose. I forgot!"
She rolled her eyes.
"Your ship can wait to be fixed, Han. This presentation wouldn't have taken an hour and then you could be back to playing with this heap of junk."
His eyes widened in horror, and Leia immediately regretted what she had said.
She spoke, "I didn't mean-"
"This heap of junk, that has done so much for you by the way, does not appreciate you calling it a heap of junk. Now, please kindly get off my ship."
"Now really, Han, I didn't mean that. You're just being so infuriating and I can't-Han! Listen to me!"
Han had already turned away from her and put his tool back on. He ignored her. Leia stood for a moment in shock, before turning on her heel and exiting the ship. She yelled to him before leaving.
"Fine! Don't bother coming back home tonight then!"
Leia couldn't believe his nerve. After missing the presentation, he couldn't even handle his mistakes like a mature adult. She should have expected this behavior, since the man could not handle criticism, but she never thought he would kick her off his ship. To be fair, she had insulted it, but it was in a moment of anger, and she really shouldn't have been punished so severely for it.
She was standing in the middle of their living room, pacing back and forth, shaking with anger. Leia tore her wedding ring off her finger and flung it across the room, but then thought better of it and ran to retrieve it. She placed the ring back on her finger, twirling it around while she thought over the situation.
She and Han were no strangers to fighting, and often times, she rather enjoyed it because a fight always meant that they could make up later, but this time she was left feeling particularly unstable. While it had been irresponsible of him to miss the meeting, she knew she shouldn't have pressed him too hard into doing it in the first place, and the pilot who stood in for him had done a rather feasible job. It was more of the fact that he had ignored her that made her so mad.
Leia sat down on the couch and tried to ease her nerves. She placed a hand on her stomach, and even though she was barely two months pregnant and hadn't begun to show yet, found comfort in the small gesture. At least she wasn't completely alone at the moment.
She found herself wishing that Han would have ignored her last statement, or hadn't heard it in the first place, and would come home so that they could make up. All she would have to do was call him on the comm, or go back there and apologize for insulting his ship, but she was much too stubborn. They were both too stubborn.
In the past few weeks, Leia felt her emotions getting the best of her, and the person she usually targeted was Han. She attributed the mood changes to her pregnancy, and felt vindicated for being sometimes harsh to Han because he was the one who placed her in this predicament in the first place. When she acted in such a way, he would usually just laugh and brush it off, kiss the top of her head and suggest that she lay down for awhile. But now that he had argued with her in response, she was able to see how bad she had really been.
She sighed, annoyed that it was this situation, when she felt she was right about the argument, that was the one that would make her have to apologize. It just didn't seem right. Leia pulled the comm from her pocket and went to call him, when the front door opened and Han stepped through.
He was looking down, but when he looked up and saw her, he stopped immediately.
They stared at each other, until he was the first to speak.
"Oh, uh. Hi." He scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out what to say. "I, uh. I just needed to grab a few things. I thought you might have gone back to work."
He said this last line as a sort of apology for coming back, and a fresh wave of guilt washed over Leia. She stood up and walked towards him. He stared at her, his expression one of confusion, and when she threw herself at him, he flinched slightly, not knowing her intentions.
"Oh, Han, I'm sorry!" She hugged him around the waist, and her voice was muffled as she laid her head on his chest.
He patted her head soothingly, but still looked confused. "Uh, what? I didn't really hear that."
Leia lifted her head to look at him.
"I said I'm sorry. I overreacted, and even though you should have come to the meeting, I shouldn't have assaulted you like that. And you should never apologize for coming home."
He sighed. "That's alright, sweetheart. I should have been there, but I did really forget the time and the day just sort of passed quickly. But when you came in there with that scary look in your eye, I guess I overreacted too."
He smiled at her, but she frowned.
"That's my fault. I've been giving you a hard time lately. And I know it might be from the hormones, but I shouldn't let it get a hold of me like that. I'm sorry."
Rather than respond, he leaned down and kissed her.
"You know," he grinned at her suggestively. "I think I may know a way you can make it up to me."
Leia smiled now.
"Oh really? How so?"
He pulled her by the hand and led her into their bedroom.
The next day, Leia sat in her office, her stomach growling, and wondering if Han might bring her something to eat.
She spoke to him through the comm. "Han?"
It took him a moment, but he responded. "Your highness?"
"What are you doing?
He seemed a little surprised by her question. "Uh, nothing really. Why did I miss something again?"
She laughed. "No, no. I was just curious. I'm kind of hungry and-"
"Say no more, sweetheart. I'll be over shortly."
He was gone before she could answer. She put away the comm and smiled in contentment. There was a knock on the door and she looked up in surprise.
"He couldn't possibly-" But then she realized that Han really couldn't be at the door because he would never knock. "Who is it?"
"Princess? It's Riekken. May I come in for a few minutes?"
Leia stood and let him in.
"Please sit, General. How are you?"
He returned her smile, but his expression was grave. He took a moment for them to both sit before answering.
"I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news, princess."
Leia couldn't bother to look surprised.
"Oh?"
"I know it's been awhile since we've had to do undercover work, but I'm afraid there's a situation that has come up that requires it. I thought I'd come to you first to ask who you thought would be good for the job."
"What is it?"
"I'm afraid I cannot divulge too much information at the moment, but we would need a man and a woman to go undercover as husband and wife. It-"
She cut him off. "I'll do it. Me and Han will, I mean."
He smiled. "That's very kind, princess, but I didn't come here intending for you to take the job. I think that all you have both done for us in the past is quite enough. I merely wanted your opinion."
Leia smiled at him. "I know that, General. But who better to go undercover as husband and wife than an actual married couple? I think we'd play the parts fairly well, don't you?"
Riekken laughed. "I agree, but the two of you are quite famous and I'm not sure it would be in our best interest, or yours, to take such a risk."
"There are ways to work around that. Undercover means altering our appearances. I'm sure it would be no trouble. Besides, if there is something going on, I'd rather actively be a part of the quashing of it."
"If anything goes wrong, it can become very dangerous. The situation, which would be explained to you in more detail before the trip, it's not an easy one."
Leia laughed. "When has anything me or Han have done been easy?"
He frowned. "That's why I'd prefer it if you didn't take the mission."
"I just- It's just that, I think that there's going to come a time very soon when I won't be available to take missions like this, or be as involved in the Alliance as I am now, and so right now, I think Han and I could give it one last hurrah. Besides, he might not do things exactly kosher, but when has Han ever failed?"
"Or you for that matter. Alright, if you feel like you're truly up for this, then I guess there's no way of arguing against it. Come to my office tomorrow and we can brief you and Han."
Leia looked surprised. "Tomorrow? When does the mission begin?"
"I'm afraid that if we want to put a stopper to what's been going on, it's going to have to be soon. We were thinking the next few weeks."
Leia sighed and placed her hand over her stomach. "Alright, that's fine. We'll see you tomorrow."
"No."
"Han! Be reasonable!"
He gave her a look. "I am being reasonable, sweetheart, you're the one with this ridiculous idea!"
"Since when is helping the Alliance so unreasonable?"
"Since you put us on this apparently dangerous mission while you're pregnant!"
Leia rolled her eyes. "I thought you said just yesterday that you would do anything for the Alliance so long as you didn't have to talk about it. Hm?"
"I said I would do anything, not you. I'll go but you can't. That's it."
"Oh really, Han? So who's going to be your wife? You better not say that blonde pilot!"
"For the love of-First of all, I told you that I didn't find her attractive, even if the rest of the guys do, and secondly, if you have such a problem with just me going, then how about neither of us go!"
Han and Leia had been arguing for the past few minutes after she told him about the mission. She was surprised by his adamant refusal.
"Han, I get that it's going to be dangerous, but we're going to be together. And besides, this is sort of the last time we can really afford to do something like this. I just feel as though, if we're planning on leaving after I have the baby, then I should do just one last thing."
He frowned at her. "Does it have to be this?"
"Yes. We're running out of time. And who knows, it might be fun. Like a little vacation."
"Yeah with people possibly shooting at us."
"If you don't agree to this, Han, then I'll just have to get someone else to pose as my husband. How do you think Wedge would fare on this trip? He's always been handsome."
"Alright, alright. Cut that out. You know I know that you don't think Wedge is all that handsome. At least not by your obviously high standards." He pointed to himself and Leia rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Fine. We'll do this, but this is it. Nothing more after. I would like to live a quiet life at some point, thanks very much."
She smiled wider and kissed him. "Thank you."
Realizing again how hungry she was, Leia tore open the bag of food Han had brought with him, and started eating. Han sat noisily down across from her, sighing in apparent frustration.
She spoke to him with a mouth full of food. "What's the issue now?"
"Well, it's just that, if Riekken knew you were pregnant, he'd never allow you to do this. Maybe it's time we told him…"
Her eyes narrowed into a glare. "Han Solo, don't you dare! You agreed to this."
"Just cus I agreed to do this, doesn't mean I'm gonna like it. Just think. I actually saw myself sitting in the cockpit of the Falcon with a grandkid in each of our laps. With nothing to do but stare out into the sky, floating across the galaxy."
Leia smirked. "Oh shut up. Stop being so dramatic."
