If asked, Han Solo would easily say that his temporary blindness after being freed from the carbonite was one of the worst experiences of his life.

He didn't think losing his sight bothered him the most, but all the memories that came with it. Escaping the carbonite only to be caught by Jabba all the same; reuniting with Luke only to be sentenced to death by one thousand years of painful digestion in the belly of the all-powerful Sarlacc; feeling the warmth of Leia's kiss and embrace only to have them take her away and force her into sex slavery in front of the most perverted minds in the galaxy.

He despised everything that had taken place in Jabba's palace, he hated all the memories that came with it. In its aftermath, he found himself unable to sleep in the complete darkness, for an irrational part of him was too scared to let Leia out of his sight, even when her body was warm and real next to his. She was the same, although for reasons different than his, so when he would ask her every night if he could leave the lamps on at night, he was doing it both for himself and to spare her pride of asking it on her behalf.

So, when Leia requested him to put on some blindfolds as she wanted to take him somewhere, he met her unusual enthusiasm with wariness. He obliged, as there was hardly anything that would make him say no to her, and she appeared to be in such high spirits that he wouldn't be the one to bring her mood down. Still, the blindfold brought him some uneasiness, even though he didn't tell her about it.

He suspected she knew all the same, or, at least, suspected, for she kept asking the entire journey to whatever destination she had in mind if he was alright. His answer was always yes, but whenever she conceded to it and fell into even the briefest of silences, he would start pestering her and joking around just to hear the sound of her voice and the resonance of her laugh. It was comforting, it eased his mind to hear her and know she was still there, so he talked enough to make up for the time he was in the carbonite in one small trip only.

When they arrived, Han waited for Leia to escort him out of the speeder. She took him by the hand, and Han wrapped his arm around her waist for double assurance.

Leia huffed as she guided the way. "Don't you trust me, Han?"

"Sweetheart, if our positions were swapped, you wouldn't trust me, either," he objected.

"Of course I would," she protested, offended.

"You wouldn't," he said, "You would trust the Force, and lie to me saying you were trusting me instead."

"Watch your step—would it kill to do me the courtesy of lying as well?"

"Leia, I trust you with my life."

"That was not convincing at all," she rolled her eyes. "Why the hell are you crouching?"

"Did you forget how smaller you are in comparison to me?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well — what if you miscalculate and have me hit my head against a door frame that you judged high enough for us to pass?" he elaborated. "Leia! Did you just hit my arm against the wall on purpose?"

"Yes," she smugly said. "Come on, we're almost there."

"Care to tell me where you're taking me yet?"

"And have all this little pre-show be for nothing?" Leia debunked.

"What can I say, I miss seeing your pretty face."

Leia would roll her eyes at that too, if only she hadn't detected some hint of truth behind the teasing tone of his voice. Although frowning, she accepted it and placed her wet lips over his upper arm. "Just a few more steps. Okay, stop, wait here."

Han obliged, placing one of his hands on his hip as she heard her walking from side to side and fumbling with a few things. Then, there was a sudden silence as everything became very still, and his heart sped up a little as his mind immediately took him to the worst places.

"L—Leia?"

He was taken by surprise when her lips came crashing into his in a heartfelt kiss. He relaxed under her presence, pulling her even closer and enhancing their kiss.

"I love you," Leia whispered, tugging her hands at his shirt. "I don't ever want to live without you. You've changed my life."

Han leaned his head sideways; he wished he could see her face, could see the sparkles in her eyes to know where her mind was at.

"Leia," he said her name, "What is this about?"

He felt her shrugging.

"I just — You're the love of my life, Han," she said. "You've been so patient with me, you've been so kind and supportive, and you just… You loved me throughout my darkest times, and I know I wasn't an easy person to love for a long time. So… Thank you. Thank you for not giving up on me. I love you, Han."

He placed his hand at the back of her neck. "Loving you was never a burden, Leia."

She laughed. "See? Every single time. You do just the right thing and I fall even more in love with you."

"Leia," he breathed out a little impatiently. "Let me see you."

"Yeah. Okay."

She reached out behind his head and untied the blindfold, allowing it to carelessly fall to the floor. He blinked a couple of times to adjust to the light, and, once he found his focus, his eyes rested solely on her, completely dismissing their whereabouts.

"Hi."

"Hey," he smiled with one corner of his lips, rubbing his thumbs on her cheeks. She looked beautiful, but that didn't catch his attention the most because she looked beautiful every day; no, it was the happiness bestowing her facial traits.

"Hi," she repeated. "I love you. I want the whole world to know how much I love you."

"Sweetheart," he lowered his chin at her, "Are you proposing?"

She made a face, her interest suddenly peaked. "Do you want me to? Do you want me to propose?"

"Do you?"

"I asked first."

He chuckled, shaking his head from side to side.

"I don't know how this is supposed to go."

"Me either."

"I've never proposed to a princess before."

"I've never proposed to anyone before," she pointed out, "Nor been proposed to."

"Well," he scratched his head, "How did traditions go on Alderaan? Royalty speaking."

"Well," she reiterated, "There was a ring."

"A ring?"

"A ring," she said, "You know, a tiny round object with a hole in it."

He shot his brows up. "A round object with a hole? I think I can work around that."

"Yeah?" she eyed him suspiciously, "You walk around prepared, hotshot?!"

He raised his index in the air, asking for a halt, then delved deep into the pockets of his pants. Leia crossed her arms, amused, until he pulled something out of there.

"A can lid?!"

"It's tiny. It's round. It's got a hole in it," he stated, "It checks out, sweetheart."

"Why did you even have that with you?"

"Luke said I wouldn't be able to break the pull tab off with my hands alone."

"And you needed to prove him wrong."

"I threw the bottle at him afterward. Kept the tab to myself."

"Like a lucky charm?"

"It's proving to be quite lucky right now."

She started laughing. "This isn't happening. Is it?"

"It feels like it is," he replied, "Well… Do you want it to happen?"

"Do you?"

"I asked first," he winked at her.

She was smiling so broadly that her cheeks had disappeared. "Yes. I do."

He smiled too, and, to her surprise — although it shouldn't have surprised her at all — he dropped to his knee, holding the can lid high.

"Leia—"

Definitely to his surprise — for that wasn't how tradition went — Leia kneeled down, too.

"I don't think you're supposed to do that," he said.

"You're proposing with a can lid and you want to tell me how proposals are supposed to go?"

He brought the lid closer to her. "I guess this is how it's supposed to go. There has never been anything orthodox about us."

"A princess and a scoundrel," she grinned, "It was never supposed to be conventional."

"Do you think a scoundrel like me would have the royal seal of approval?"

"It would have the Leia seal of approval," she certified, "That would have been enough, and… That is enough."

"You see, Your Worship, I think I've already crafted all my love for you and suddenly — bang," he said, repeating her words from before, "You do something like this and I fall in love with you all over again."

She huffed. "We make quite a pair."

Agreeing, he opened his hand to her, waiting until she reached out to hold it.

"Leia, earlier today, when you asked to blindfold me so you'd take me somewhere special, I have to admit it made me rather anguished," he breathed out, "Truth is, the one moment I physically couldn't see you was the moment you were hurting the most, and… I don't ever want to relive that."

Her face suddenly fell. "What…? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were happy," he explained, "All I want in life is for you to be happy."

"My happiness should never come at the cost of your—"

"Sweetheart, I'm trying to say something here," he gave her a look until she eventually conceded. "The thing is, I want to see you every day for the rest of my life."

And it was so inarticulate and so simple and so Han that she started smiling all over again.

"Being without you is like living in the dark, and recently I've come to learn I'm quite afraid of the darkness," he continued. "You've heard it before that you're the beacon of the rebellion and the New Republic and all that jazz, but… Turns out you're also the flare that ignites my soul and guides me home."

Her eyes started to sparkle.

"Leia, loving you is the greatest privilege I've ever had," he said, "For you, I'll take my heart clean apart if it helps yours beat."

"My heart doesn't know how to beat without yours anymore," she whispered. "And yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I will marry you."

"I haven't asked yet, you know."

"I don't care."

He found himself shaking his head again; she was impossible, and she had just said yes to spending the rest of her life with him, and everything suddenly felt right.

Raising her hand graciously, Han took the lid to her pinky finger and put it on. The lid wouldn't go past her first phalange, and she started laughing and crying and falling in love with him even more than she thought she was capable of.

"Wait," she said, looking down on her dress and pulling a ribbon out of the embroidery of the skirt, little carrying that it would be ruined. She attached the lid to the ribbon and tied it behind her neck. "Do you think it looks fashionable?"

He smirked, pleased and amused. "You'll start a new trend."

She held the new pendant dearly between her fingers, smiling contently as she played with it. "It's perfect."

"I'll get you a ring," he said, "I promise. The most extravagant ring, whatever you want."

Delighted, her head swung sideways. "No. I mean it, Han. It's perfect. I don't want anything else."

He chuckled. "You know your brother will never let me breathe if he learns I've proposed to you with a pull tab."

"He'll get over it," she said, shrugging. "Han, I… I love you. You know that, right?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "I do."

She cupped his jaw, leaning forward to kiss him for the first as fiance and fiancée. It wasn't lewd or lascivious; it was pure and full of love. It was the same as all the times they had kissed before, yet, somehow, she felt different. Renewed.

Like her life was coming together at last, piece by piece, and it felt good.

He pressed his forehead against hers, breathing in the same air as her, when something came to him.

"Leia?"

"Yeah?"

"Where the hell are we?"

She snorted, having forgotten all about it as well.

She gave him one last peck in the lips before inviting him to stand up with her.

"Home."

He shot up one of his brows at her. "Yeah?"

"If you're okay with it," she said. "It's Alderaan's official home on Coruscant."

He tilted his head; he had not been expecting that. "How long has this been here?"

"Forever," she shuddered. "This is… This was my father's private estate when he was on Coruscant. Whenever anybody of the Royal Family had to come to the capital city, they'd stay here."

He frowned. "How long have you known this has been here?"

She chuckled soundlessly. "All my life. I stayed here when I became Senator."

He nodded slowly, trying to understand. "Why did you never mention it before?"

"I wasn't ready to," she admitted. "I had everything related to Alderaan buried deep inside of me, in little chests that I didn't allow myself to visit. I never thought I'd bring myself to step in here again."

"Yeah? What changed your mind?"

"I learned a healthy way to cope with my grief," she said. "Or, I'm trying to learn."

"And you want us to live here?"

"If you're okay with it," she repeated. "Han, I… I wish I could have shown you Alderaan. I can't, but this… This is as close as it gets. There are lots of trinkets here. Things that belonged to me, to my parents, to the monarchs that came before us. Things that were brought from Alderaan themselves."

"And you're okay with it?" he asked. "Leia, don't take me wrong, but… You tend to stop functioning whenever you see something remotely related to your people. I don't want to live here if it's going to be like that all the time."

"It won't," she promised. "That was… Unhealthy of me. I'm trying to be better, to grieve healthily. And… When I came here a couple of days ago, to see it with my own eyes, it was different. I didn't freeze or stopped functioning. Instead, I relished it."

He delved deep into her eyes as she spoke, and he knew her to be telling the truth.

"Would it make you happy?" he inquired. "To live here?"

"It would," she said firmly. "We'd redecorate. Change the entire place up. I don't want to be stuck in the past, no, but this place holds a lot of good memories for me, so I don't want to let go of it either. I don't want us to display every single piece of memorabilia, but keep them somewhere — like a keepsake chest. So I can revisit them when I want, when I need it, but not all the time. Does this make sense? I don't think I'm making sense."

"It makes sense," he assured, taking his eyes off her for the first time to look around himself. "It's rather modest, isn't it? Small even, at least in comparison to the standards I had in mind for royal houses."

"It's simple. Like us," she prompted. "Do you… Do you like it?"

He seemed to take his time to think. "Technically, if this place already belonged to you, and you're inviting me to move in with you… I don't have to feel guilty and sell off the Falcon to chip in."

She giggled loudly. "No. The Falcon stays."

He shot his shoulders up and down. "That's good enough for me."

She rolled her eyes.

"Will you show me around?"

Smiling widely, Leia took him by the hand and led the way. She showed him every room in the penthouse and her plans to redecorate them to her liking; she showed him paintings on the walls and told him the stories behind the artists and the pictures; she showed him pictures of her family and talked about how each of them was like; she showed him trinkets that had belonged to her and how they had shaped her story.

She talked, and she talked, and she talked, and Han was content to just listen. Participate in a life that he would never get the chance to be part of. He listened to her until she was out of breath, and he couldn't remember the last time he had seen her so happy and carefree. He wanted to cherish that moment forever, and he never wanted it to end, and he wished that the rest of their lives would be like that.

He knew that her grief would always follow her, and that there would be days that it would inevitably bring her down, no matter how long it had been. He was ready for them, of course, but seeing Leia there at that moment — he believed that she had truly found her way to be happy again, and she wanted him to be happy with her.

He was.

When he no longer could restrain himself, he took her by surprise by pulling her close and kissing her. Passionately, pressing his hands to her waist and feeling her warm body against his.

"Hm. What was that for?"

"For the rest of our lives," he said, and he kissed her again.

As far as housewarming parties went, Luke Skywalker was completely oblivious to the matter.

Throwing housewarming parties, nonetheless? He had no idea what he was doing.

Still, he was happy; excited to have his friends over to his home for the first time. He had recently found the perfect place for himself, a simple apartment in the upper levels of Coruscant, located at the perfect distance from Padmé's apartment and Leia and Han's new home, so he'd have his privacy while still being able to go pester their own privacies whenever he felt too lonely.

Padmé had helped him find the place and helped even more to decorate the apartment. As it happened, as a farmboy who had grown up in simplicity, Luke didn't really care about interior design, so long as he had a place to sleep and store freshwater.

He liked how the place had turned out to look, thanks to his mother's assistance. He still didn't see the need for all those excessive furniture and wall decorations, but he recognized it was pleasant to be around and even more convenient when people came over.

People — or, Ameera, as she had been the only person to have arrived at his housewarming party by then; Padmé didn't really count, as she had not only decorated his home from scratch but also given him the guidelines on what he needed to get for the social gathering. Well, Chewbacca had arrived already as well, but Wookies apparently shared Luke's view on a simple life, so all he had done was howl some words and ruffle the Jedi's hair in approval.

Ameera, on the other hand, had thrown remarks at every little thing that caught her attention — whether she admired it or not. As well as commenting on his terrible host skills.

"Luke," she called for him as she stood in front of the pastry trail. "Where the hell is the booze?"

"Oh right, forgive me," he apologized for the zillionth time. "Padmé told me you hate wine, so I've got the thing just for you."

She waited, and she couldn't help but scowl when a transparent glass with some sort of blue liquid magically appeared in front of it.

"Luke," she said his name yet again, refusing to take her eyes off that thing, afraid it would come out and get her. "What the hell is this?"

"Blue milk," he spoke matter-of-factly. "You don't like wine. Turns out I don't like wine either, and this is my go-to drink."

She was about to snap at him when she caught sight of Padmé trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably, so she decided to snap at her instead, "There's no way you didn't put him up to his."

Padmé feigned ignorance. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You should try it, 'Meera," Luke suggested. "It's so good."

"Luke," she turned to him with the most polite expression she had to offer. "Catch me dead before you catch me drinking something that has the same color as my skin."

His eyes widened, and he lowered his voice to ask her in a whisper, "Is that — is that offensive?"

All things considered, she felt like slapping the back of his head.

"Just be a good boy and get me something dignified, okay?" she asked, "Isn't Han coming? Han Solo is definitely not the type of person to drink wine out of his own volition."

Luke obliged, offering her a glass of single malt scotch.

"Go ahead, friend. Laugh," Ameera gestured at Padmé. "Just don't go forgetting that we live together and revenge is a dish best served cold."

At that, Chewbacca proceeded to tell them a story about a time he had pranked Han after Han did something idiotic to him, and Luke laughed loudly at the story. Padmé chuckled, believing herself to finally be getting the gist of Shyriiwook, but Ameera simply stared at him blankly because she had no idea what he was saying.

Chewbacca's laughter only intensified at Ameera's confusion.

"Fine. I'll just sulk here until Leia comes and saves me from you all."

"What makes you so sure Leia will take your side?" Luke teased.

"Well, the premise that she won't take yours," Ameera stated, straightforwardly.

Luke opened his mouth to protest, but what could he say in his defense — Leia would definitely not take his side, especially when Ameera was there to spice up the teasing.

Like they had summoned her, the doorbell rang. All forgotten about the pestering, Luke walked all excitedly towards the entrance, opened the door, and welcomed his sister and Han with the brightest smile he had.

"Hey!" Leia exclaimed happily, leaning on her tiptoes to greet him with a kiss on the cheek. Even Han, with his usual grumpy façade, appeared to be more elated than normal.

Luke frowned at them, keeping his cheerful expression on. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," Leia shot her shoulders up and down carelessly, although Luke suspected there was more to it. "We're just happy to see that you're finally a settled man."

Luke smiled smugly, being patted by Han on the upper arm as he walked past him inside.

"So? What do you think?"

Leia entered the apartment as well, taking her time to analyze her surroundings.

"I think — the decoration here looks awfully like Padmé's apartment."

Luke rolled his eyes, although he wasn't annoyed. "Would you like to know what the apartment would look like if I had been in charge of decoration?"

She shuddered. "Humor me."

"For starters, I would stock a whole lot more of blue milk," he said innocently, having Ameera grunt loudly at that. Leia laughed, walking to the Twi'lek with an expression similar to hers, then greeted her like she had greeted Luke. "Can't ever go low on blue milk, it's a bad charm."

"Did you also paint the floor on your porch blue?" Leia asked, making herself at home and pouring herself a glass of wine, matching Padmé's drink. "I hear that in a few places across the galaxy you need to do that to keep the ghosts away, so they'll think it's water, which apparently ghosts can't cross."

"Well, no," he said, "In case you've forgotten, I talk to ghosts in my free time."

"That explains it," Han grunted, having Ameera choke on her laugh next to him.

Luke crossed his arms. "Did you all come here for the sole purpose of bullying me?"

"Yes."

"I did."

"Duh."

Amusingly shaking her head from side to side, Padmé stepped in, "Well, I think I did a marvelous job with the decoration here. If I had left it up to Luke, he would have gotten a couch and called it a day."

"I like it," Leia conceded at last, her and Han sitting on the sofa. "It looks nothing like Luke, but he'll get used to it."

"I have," he declared; the remaining standing people took their seats as well. "It feels very cozy. After years of living in the worst conditions with the rebellion, I'll take cozy."

"Don't forget the swamp," Han remembered, "I'll take the rebellion's terrible housing any time over a swamp."

"You've never even been to Dagobah!"

"Yeah. Nor do I intend to."

"Come on," Leia laughed, leaning closer towards Han and resting her chin on his shoulder; Luke's frown at her jubilant behavior only intensified. "We've all slept under some very dubious circumstances with the rebellion."

"Remember that cave on Basteel?" Luke reminisced with a face, turning to Padmé and Ameera to let them in on the story. "There was a giant sandstorm happening outside and we were forced to take shelter. Inside the most humid and hottest cave that we could have found."

"You're from a desert," Ameera pointed out, "You're supposed to sustain warm temperatures."

"I'll take the heat anytime, but heat and humidity?" he shook his head, "I have my boundaries."

"Good for you that the rebellion doesn't," Leia said, chuckling as she remembered how annoyed Luke had been while inside that cave.

"What are you laughing at? You were going insane inside there, too," Luke accused.

"Yeah. Because of him," Leia derogatorily pointed towards Han. "He had taken his shirt off to escape the heat, it was disturbing."

"Only because you overly enjoyed what you saw, Princess," Han remarked smugly, his trademark smirk stamped across his lips.

"Yes," she agreed, "You were compromising my performance."

"We were trapped inside a cave, with no way out," he said, "What performance?"

"A princess must always be on top of her game," she replied dully.

"You weren't so 'on top of your game' when you used my legs as a pillow to try and get some sleep because the rocks were giving you a headache."

"Okay, enough," Luke threw both his hands in the air; he couldn't stand it anymore. "What the hell is going on with you two?!"

Leia flushed instantaneously, while Han leaned back indifferently.

"You are giddier than usual," Padmé agreed, eyeing Leia suspiciously.

"Well…" Leia finally started talking, although she kept staring at the floor. "We are happy."

"Why…?" Luke squinted his eyes at her.

"Well…" she reiterated, reaching out to grab Han's hand. "I suppose — something wonderful happened."

"You suppose?!" Han quipped, feigning offense.

"Okay—something wonderful did happen," Leia ceded, letting out a nervous laugh. She turned her head at him and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to do this?"

"Nope," he shrugged off the responsibility, "You've got this."

"You're aware that this goes both ways, right?!"

Padmé cleared her throat loudly, attracting their attention again. "Hi. Remember us? We're still here. Patiently waiting."

"Speak for yourself," Ameera groaned, "My patience ran off about three minutes ago."

"Well…" she kept saying that word. "Luke — I hope you don't think I'm trying to steal your thunder."

"I did bring it up," he said with a quick hand gesture. "Come on, Leia. Spill."

"Okay," Leia breathed out, and that same gigantic smile from a couple of days before took over her face. "As it turns out — Han and I are getting married."

There was silence at first, until the announcement crept in, and silence became a loud celebration.

"What?!" Padmé was the first one to utter, her lips frozen in half a smile. "You're getting married?!"

Leia nodded, bringing Han's knuckles to her lips and kissing it dearly.

"Leia!" Luke exclaimed excitedly, "This — This is amazing!"

Chewbacca started howling several words of happiness and delight, being the first one to get up. He forced Han out of his seat into an exaggerated and paternal Wookie hug, one that Han couldn't escape.

"Chewie!" he yelled, nearly out of breath, then rolled his eyes when Chewbacca commented how Leia was finally making him a more respectable man. "All right, fuzzball. Best not to kill me before the ceremony."

Chewbacca tightened his grip one last time before letting him go. When he approached Leia, his embrace was sweet and comforting, like his relationship with the Princess had always been.

"Thank you, Chewie," Leia looked up at him, her expression gentle. "And I promise. I'll take good care of him."

Chewbacca placed a light paw over her head, roaring something about how Han would have to deal with him if he even remotely messed up regarding her.

Leia laughed. "Oh, I know. But, between us? I think you won't have to worry."

He nodded assuringly as Leia slipped from his hug to briefly look at Han and wink at him before more people came to congratulate them.

Luke, laughing, shook Han's hand. "Never thought I'd ever see the day you got tamed."

"What are you talking about," Han grunted, "I've been tamed ever since the day I realized I was head over heels with your sister."

He snorted. "Did the realization come before or after the yelling matches you too would have on Hoth? Because nothing about that is tamed."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand foreplay."

"Gross," Luke made a face, "That's my sister you're talking about."

Han maliciously laughed with his shoulders.

"Look at you," Padmé took both of Leia's hands into hers. "You look luminous, Leia."

Leia intertwined their fingers graciously. "I am happy. Honestly? I don't remember being this happy in a long time."

Padmé agreed. "You've come a long way since I met you. Seeing you today, so bright and full of life, so resolved, and to think you're the same person as that lost girl from months ago who struggled to find herself and to accept help from others… You've grown so much, Leia, and I'm mesmerized by your development. I know you hate when I say it, but I'm going to say it nonetheless — I am immensely proud of you."

Leia beamed. "Can I give you something to be even more proud of me?"

Padmé hummed, waiting.

Leia hastily looked to her sides to certify that nobody was eavesdropping on their conversation before leaning closer towards her mother and saying in a small voice, "I had sex with Han."

Padmé's jaw fell in cheerful surprise. "Leia, that's — that's wonderful…!"

"It is," she nodded, "And it was."

"How are you feeling?"

"I feel — great, to be honest. I feel accomplished that I could take his burden off my chest. Because it was a burden, it was… Proof that I hadn't healed. But now I've overcome my crudest fears and it feels good to have found peace within my own body again. And if I may be a little selfish — I am proud of myself."

"It's not selfish," Padmé said. "Ah, maybe it is — who cares? You deserve it, you've earned it."

She blissfully concurred. "I don't think I would have gotten there if it hadn't been for you, so… Thank you, Padmé, mother, for everything you've done for me. For not giving up on me even long after I had given up on myself."

"Oh, come here," Padmé opened her arms for her, welcoming Leia in a motherly embrace. "I am so happy for you, Leia."

She didn't specify whether she was happy that Leia had overcome her trauma or that Leia was getting married; Leia knew she was referring to both, so she hugged her tighter.

"I wish my parents could be here to see all the milestones I've conquered for myself," she whispered. "I am so honored that I can share them with you."

Padmé kissed the crown of her head before letting her go, but she didn't have the chance to say anything else as Luke swooped in and inelegantly took Leia off her feet and spun her a couple of times in the air amidst his happiness.

"You're getting married…!" he nearly shouted, putting her down after her several shrieks of surprise and protest. He was so excited it would seem that he was the one to have just gotten engaged.

Leia laughed with him. "I am."

"Leia! This is great news!" he said, at last kissing her on the cheek to congratulate her. "I'm happy for you. I want to know everything."

She snorted. "I never took you for a gossip man, Luke."

"Well, you were wrong, Tell me everything," he demanded, lowering his gaze towards her left hand and bringing it up. He frowned, "You don't wear engagement rings on Alderaan?!"

"We do."

His confusion intensified. "You don't wear engagement rings on Corellia?!"

"They do, but," she said hesitantly, for she knew Luke was going to lose it. "We decided to — improvise."

Luke looked at her expectantly as she reached out under her blouse and pulled a silver chain with a pendant. Luke squinted his eyes, trying to make the shape of it.

Leia counted to three. One, two—

"HAAAAAAAN?!" he angrily shouted Han's name, loudly enough to have everybody abruptly look at him. Han visibly swallowed on his spot. "You proposed to my sister with a can lid?!"

Now, everybody's glare fell on Han as he raised both his hands in the air in self-defense.

"You what?" Padmé groaned, and all the inspirational words she had just been giving him disappeared into thin air. "Han, for the love of—"

As to prove a point, Luke grabbed Leia until he was shoving the can lid onto Padmé's face.

Padmé looked at it then looked at Han in disbelief. "Han, I swear—"

"Hey, Ma, I thought we understood each other," Han lowered his chin at her.

"That was—That was before you—Before you—Ah, I can't even say it!"

"Speak for yourself, little sister, I love it," Ameera devilishly smiled. "It's plain proof that Han isn't the perfect man Leia always tried to convince me he was."

"I would never try to do that," Leia protested, "His ego is already insufferable without me praising him."

"Yeah, we'll see how his ego deflates once I tell everybody that he proposed to a princess with a pull tab," Luke threatened.

Leia shrugged, holding the pendant affectionately inside her hand. "I thought it was rather romantic."

"If you think that's romantic, I dread to think how terribly you were courtshipped while at the royal court," Ameera denounced.

"It was very impromptu, neither of us had planned it," Leia protested, trying to save some of Han's honor. "It just — happened."

"The lid was the only tiny round object with a hole on it that I could find," Han argued, slipping his hands around Leia's waist from behind her. "It suited the occasion all right."

"Fine — when did the proposal happen?" Luke asked.

Leia looked up, counting the days. "A week ago or so."

"A week — a whole week ago," Luke repeated, "And you still haven't gone out to fetch her the perfect ring?"

"Leia told me she didn't want a ring!"

Everybody grunted at him.

"Well, I don't."

Then, everybody grunted at her.

"Am I gonna need to get you a ring just to shut them up?"

"Apparently."

"If you think we're ever gonna let this go," Padmé prompted, "You're mistaken."

"Don't mind them, Han," Leia swirled around inside his embrace, pulling him down by the shirt to kiss him. "I love my lid."

Han grimaced midway through her kiss, and he looked at Luke and Padmé. "You're right. It does sound weird when she says it like that."

Rolling her eyes, Leia punched him in the chest without force.

"Thank you," Luke said.

"I'll get you a ring, Leia."

"Fine. Be warned, though, that I'll keep wearing my lid."

"Urgh, I take it back," Ameera complained, repulsed. "They still disgust me."

Leia grinned proudly at that.

A/N: a whole chapter filled with only happiness and fluff? who knew I had it in me !