Chapter 9
Leia lay alone in the bunk, sleeping. "No…No don't…I'm not going to tell you anything!" She sighed, tossing and turning. "Leave me alone…no don't! Please don't…Dooon't!" She woke up startled, sitting up abruptly. Looking around herself, she realized Han wasn't there. Glad, he wasn't around for her to wake him or freak him out, she sighed.
Pulling the blanket around herself, she just kept sitting for a moment, slowly waking up, trying to forget her dream. Suddenly the urge to find Han and see him alive and well came to mind. Jumping out of the bunk, she let the blanket fall to her feet, pulling on the shirt Han had left on the floor the previous night. Looking down herself, she realized she needed a pair of pants to walk out. Even though Chewie saw her naked already, she didn't want to overstress the poor Wookiee. Looking around, she found Han's bloodstripes laying at the foot of the bed. Shrugging, she took them and put them on. They were way too big for her, but she didn't care, they would do for now. She heard them bickering once she stepped out of the cabin, their voices coming from the main hold. "No Chewie, don't do that! It will only short circuit it." Chewie rumbled something in response and a tool fell to the metal floor. "Calm down fuzzball, I'm helping now, aren't I?! And no, I'm not giving up the Falcon, I just…well you know…got distracted." Hearing another grunt from Chewie, she wasn't sure she should interfere. "Stop it! I've told you it won't work! Now help me out here, will ya?!"
They stopped talking and Leia took that as the perfect moment to join them.
When she found them, she had to suppress a laugh. Chewie was kneeling over some tubes, while Han's feet were hanging out of them. When Chewie saw her approaching, he greeted her. "Hey Chewie, I'm sorry for keeping Han from helping you lately. I'm making sure he will help you more often from now." She apologized, stepping closer.
"Hey princess, don't listen to the big oaf, he is just jealous!" Han's voice came out of the tubes. Leia sat down to Chewie on the floor. "No, he is right Han. This is your ship you should work on it. He shouldn't do all the work by himself." Chewie huffed through his nose, agreeing with her.
"Shut up fuzzball! Get over it!" Han drawled. As a response, Chewie just took a hydro spanner and let it drop on Han. "Ahh! Stop throwing tools at me, Chewie!" Han cursed.
The Wookiee just chuckled, turning to Leia with a big toothy grin.
"That wasn't nice Chewie." Leia hissed, suppressing a laugh.
"You hear that pal? The princess tells you to be nice to me!" Han called out of the tubes.
Chewie just dropped another tool on him, instead of answering.
"Ouch! That's it, I will kick your furry ass!" Han cursed and came climbing back up the tubes, but when he reached the top, Chewie just bared his teeth to Han, with a big roar, which made Han fall backward on his backside, hitting his head on one of the smaller tubes.
"Stop it you two! You're acting like baby's!" Leia demanded.
"Tell that to fuzzy-buzzy over here!" Han whined, rubbing the back of his head.
Chewie rumbled something in response. "Yes, you do!" Han responded.
"That's it! I have enough of you two crying babies, I will make myself some breakfast and I'm not sharing!" Leia yelled, getting up and storming off the galley.
Both friends went quiet in an instant, watching the princess leave. Turning back to each other, they both looked confused. "What is she wearing?" Chewie chuckled.
"Yes she kinda does look like a small version of me, doesn't she?" Han agreed with his friend, a big grin on his face. "Listen, pal, I'm sorry." Han apologized, climbing out of the hole. Sitting down next to his friend, he let his feet tangle down the hole.
"You know how much the Falcon means to me, but…well…Leia is big, pal! I love her…and…" Chewie interrupted his friend, pulling him close to his side, his furry arm around his shoulder.
"You got that right, buddy! She sure is something." Han chuckled, nudging Chewie with his elbow.
He found her sitting on top of the counter in the galley, eating something out of a bowl.
"What you've got there?" He asked, stepping in to join her. "I've had to reheat the rest of yesterday's dinner. It turned out I'm completely useless with food." She shrugged, taking another bite. "You can't be perfect at everything sweetheart." Han smiled, stepping closer to her. "Well, I've tried…" She mumbled into her breakfast. "I think you'll be happy to know that Chewie and I stopped bickering." He smiled, leaning on the counter next to her.
"Did you kiss and make up?" She asked, a small smile gracing her face. "Sure the whole thing. Chewie is a great kisser, you should give it a try." He teased right back.
"I rather kiss a scoundrel." She admitted as Han turned to her for a kiss. "Change of mind..." He grinned, softly kissing her. "You're alright?" He asked, pulling back concerned.
Leia shrugged, looking down to her breakfast. Han considered her a moment. "Nightmare?"
He guessed. "I don't want to bother you…" She quietly admitted. "Leia…" He started, but then changed his mind. "…can you take a look at the back of my head. I think Chewie took a good aim with that hydro spanner." He drawled, stepping in front of her and holding the back of his head close to her for inspection. Knowing he was only trying to distract her, she decided to play along.
"Does it hurt?" Putting down her breakfast, she ran her hands gently through his hair.
"Badly…I think you have to kiss it better!" Han said, laying down his head on her lap, his face pressed into her thighs. Leaning down, she buried her face into his hair, kissing the back of his head and neck. "I love you nerfherder." She sighed. "But you have to help Chewie…I don't want you to neglect the ship." Giving him one last kiss on the head, she sat back up.
Han stood up and looked at her. "Right now I'm hungry…" Taking the rest of her breakfast, he smiled at her, before taking a bite. "Han I'm serious."
"Yeah me too, but us starving is not going to help Chewie. So, let's eat and then I work on the ship." He smirked, taking a bite and kissing her on the lips.
"You wanna help me, sweetheart?" Pulling back, he took another bite, looking up from the bowl. "You want me to work on your precious ship?" Smiling she took away his spoon and took a bite as well. "I don't know about you sweetheart, but I have very fond memories of the last the time you worked on my ship." He flirted, smirking at her. "First real kiss, real passionate…you all over me." He smirked. "I was not!" She laughed, pinching his side.
"Well, I remember it differently." Shrugging, he sat up next to her on the counter, his feet almost touching the floor, where hers only tangled.
They stayed quiet for a while. Leia eating the rest of breakfast and Han watching her.
"Leia you can tell me when you don't feel good. I want you to tell me. Don't be ashamed or embarrassed. You're not bothering me. You only worry me if you don't tell me and act all sad." He gave her a gentle kiss on the temple and pulled back to look down his boots, letting them hang against the counter. "You helped today." Leia admitted after a moment.
"With what?" He asked, considering her.
"You and Chewie…you're bickering cheered me up…"
"It did?" He looked surprised.
"When I woke up and you were gone, I needed…well, I needed to be close to you, see you at least…" Sighing, she put the bowl down, leaning into his side, her arms went around his waist. "And then I find you buried in the tubes bickering with Chewie and it made me forget. My dream, it made me forget the dream." Kissing his biceps, she smiled against his arm.
"Even back on base, even Yavin you made me forget…all the fighting, bickering…"
"Flirting!" He interrupted her, kissing the top of her head. "All flirting…massive flirting!"
"Call it whatever you want, but it helped." She laughed, tightening her hold on him.
"You always make me forget all the bad that happened to me…you make me feel better. Always, even if I wanted to feel miserable, you wouldn't let me." She smiled, kissing his cheek gently. "Thank you for being you, hotshot." Whispering against his ear, she kissed his neck. "Now let me help you with your ship." Jumping down the counter, she beckoned him, but he took hold of her hands and pulled her in between his legs.
"So what about that outfit, princess? You look like a small version of me." He smirked, while his hands went around her waist. "You don't like it?" She smiled up at him.
"Love it…from this angle I can look down your navel." Tilting his head, he tried to see down her body under the shirt. "Scoundrel…" She laughed getting on her tiptoes, taking hold of the back of his head, pulling him closer for a passionate kiss, but when he tried to go further, she pulled back, laughing against his lips. "Forget it hotshot, we got work to do." She laughed stepping out of his reach. "Well I have some work in the cabin, that needs to be done."
He tried, reaching for her again, but she dodged him and stepped out of the galley.
Laughing, she walked away from him, adding an extra swagger to her hips.
„Let me see." Taking her hand in his he frowned. "Ouch, that hurts you nerf!" Hitting his shoulder with her other hand, she pulled her insured hand out of his hold.
"Hey, I'm only trying to help, your worship!" He whined, while she looked at her hand.
"Stop calling me that!" Hitting him once again with her other hand, she frowned.
"Well, you started the name-calling, sweetheart." Rubbing the spot on his shoulder where she hit him, he tried to get a glimpse at her insured hand. "That looks bad." He tried, while both of them leaned over her hand like two little children, admiring a scraped knee.
"It's not so bad." She defended, pulling her hand away from him, knowing what he was going to say eventually. "That's what will be on your gravestone one day." He snorted. "Don't make fun of me, Han!" She protested. "We have to clean it, Leia." He said, using her real name this time, trying to ease some tension. Getting up from where they were both sitting on the floor, he offered her his hand to help her up on her feet. "Let's take you to the med-bunk."
Knowing, he was right, she nodded getting up herself, refusing to take his hand. She knew she was unfair to him, but she was just pissed at herself for hurting her hand. He told her to be careful with that screw-booster, but she wouldn't listen. Sitting down on the med-bunk, she waited for him to prepare the bacta. "Could be infected, I think you need a shot, sweetheart."
He said, after a while of irritating silence, already preparing the shot, knowing he needed to be ready. "No!" She almost shrieked, already tensing up.
"It will be alright. Just clean it up and bacta will do the rest." Once again, she knew he was right, but a panic attack over a needle was the last thing she needed.
"Leia…" He sighed, but sensing she was about to close up, he didn't say anything else for a moment, considering her for a moment. "Sweetheart, you know it needs the shot." He tried, hoping her common sense would help her relax. "No! You can't make me!" Scooting away from him, she tensed up. "And your 'say-something-nice-to-me-trick' won't work this time, so don't even try it!" She burst out, knowing what he was going to say when she saw the smirk appear on his face. Letting his head fall, he sighed and then another idea came to mind and so the smirk reappeared. Looking up at her again, he just shrugged and started to unbutton his shirt and untucked it out of his bloodstripes. She looked at him in surprise.
"What are you doing?" She hissed, not sure if she should be irritated or turned on when he pulled his shirt over his head. "I let you admire my gorgeous body." He grinned, already unbuckling his holster to continue with his pants.
"Nice try, but it won't work!" She said, folding her arms in front of her like a stubborn child and turned away from him so she wouldn't have to look at him anymore.
And with that, she felt a little pinch in her upper arm and before she could turn around in shock she had Han's face pressed into her neck, stopping her head from moving.
"I will always find a way to ease your pain, sweetheart." He whispered into her ear, giving her temple a gentle kiss. Pulling away he got rid of the needle before she could see it.
When she finally turned around, he was already starting to get dressed again.
Looking down to the spot, where he put the needle, she was lost for words for a moment until she saw him pull back on his shirt. "What are you doing?" She asked, this time playfully.
Turning around he smirked at her, happy she was obviously not mad at him anymore or worst still in panic-mode. "Getting dressed!?" He said, putting his holster back on.
"Who told you to do that?" She asked affronted.
"Leia your hand needs to be cleaned and if Chewie finds me in here without clothes on, he will rib my arms off. Bitching about hygiene and stuff." Seeing the disappointed look on her face he grinned. "Don't worry sweetheart, we will have plenty of time and other places on this ship to fool around." Leaning down in front of her he gave her a quick kiss on the lips, before continuing with his shirt. "Han?" She called his name, so he would pay attention to her.
Looking up at her, she beckoned him to come closer. Stopping what he was doing, he stepped in between her legs. She pulled him even closer, leaning into his upper body and gave his chest a gentle, soft kiss. "Thank you nerfherder." She sighed into his skin, kissing him one more time, before finishing buttoning up his shirt for him. "Stop that!" He said to her surprise.
"Stop what?" She smirked, playing along. "Stop that, your hands are dirty." He said giving her hands a pointing look. Looking down as well, she pulled away immediately, when she realized she got his white shirt all dirty and bloody. "Sorry!" She apologized, embarrassed.
"Well, I guess I deserved that." He shrugged, kissing her forehead.
"But I think we really need to clean your hand now." Turning around he grabbed the cleaning paper and took her hand in his, starting to gently and carefully clean the wound.
"What would I do without you?" She sighed, watching him.
"Living an unsatisfied life, of course!" He answered finishing up her hand and putting some bacta on it.
"Of course!" She laughed, leaning her forehead against his chest.
Late evening, Han and Leia were getting ready for bed. When Han stepped out of the fresher he couldn't suppress a smile. "Need help princess?" He asked, stepping up behind her, where she currently tried to comb her hair and fix it up in a loose braid, having trouble with her insured hand.
Touching her hair, he took hold of her hair brush and started to comb it.
"You know, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but on Alderaan, it was a privilege to see me with my hair down. It was only reserved for close family members and my future husband."
Leaning forward he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"It should be…your hair is beautiful." He whispered, kissing her shoulder, before continuing with the combing. "I never told you this but when I first let my hair down for you, it felt special. Like serious…" She admitted, remembering the look on his face when she stood in front of him, deliberated unbraiding her hair for him to see.
"You looked stunning that night, sweetheart." He didn't want to tell her this and he decided he never would shedder her illusion, but he did see her with her hair down once before that night. It was on Hoth when he put food in front of her door. He hid behind the next corner that day, secretly admiring her, when she quietly sneaked out of her cabin, to get the food he had provided for her. Even back then, seeing her with her hair down was a sight he would never forget, but that was nothing compared to the feelings she provoked in him that night a few days back, when she took it down for him to see.
"Why did you put it down for me Leia? We are not married yet. I didn't even propose to you?!" He asked, gently running his fingers through her hair.
Shrugging, she turned around to face him. "I wanted it. It felt right." She admitted, putting her arms around his waist. Letting go of a desperate groan, he put his forehead against hers.
"You have any idea what you do to me Leia?" He asked, closing his eyes for a moment.
"I'm being mean to you when you only try to help, I cry a lot, I doubt myself a lot and right now I'm just talking about my hair." She sighed, taking hold of the back of his hair.
"No Leia, no! It's your trust that…Kriff…I know it sounds mushy and I never thought I would feel this way or if I did I would have never thought about saying it out loud, but your trust means everything to me. You hear that? Everything!" He sighed, kissing her forehead, before pulling her close to his chest, like his life depended on it.
"You're right. That was mushy…" She whispered, kissing his chest with a smile on her face.
"Yeah don't tell the guys." He mumbled into the top of her head kissing her hair.
Laughing she ran her hands down his neck, down his spine, way back down to his butt, taking a good hold of it. "I might need some convincing." She teased, squeezing.
"Oh, is that right?" He laughed, picking her up and putting her down on the bunk, hovering over her. "You owe me big!" She smirked. "Oh I, will show you." He grinned and their lips collided.
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