Well, our favorite couple certainly took a big step in the last chapter! Thanks so much for your kind comments!
It was still dark when she began to stir. Her lids were still closed, but there was no light seeping in. That could mean one of two things. It was either still in the middle of the night or she was still in the belly of the Falcon, sealed off from the outside world. She began to believe it was the latter and she felt a gentle nudging against her back. She lazily shuffled her legs. There seems to be blankets wrapped around her ankles, because they weren't free to move. From her position on her stomach, she blinked open. Her eyes were greeted with the inside bunk of a space ship, and she knew exactly what spaceship this was.
The attention to her back intensified, digits pressing further into her bared skin as if he knew she was waking up. She let him continue for a moment, reveling in the feeling of his tense, deft ministrations. Eventually, he was ready to up his game.
His hand came further around her waist as the entire right side of his body rested on top of hers, his right leg sliding between hers as their shoulders connected. Now she felt more delectable attention, this time centered around the back of her neck. Her hair never came down last night, but that gave him more freedom to press his lips against every hidden nook. And he found them all.
She felt a deep sigh vocalize, emanating from her core. Her head turned, diving into the pillow and then turning to the other side. Her face was immediately covered by his palms and his mouth. What a way to greet the day.
"That was nice," she whispered completely lightheaded when she was first able to speak.
Through her hazy eyes she watched his eyebrows cross. "Nice?"
"Very nice," she sighed contently as she let her head drop heavily back onto her pillow, her legs stretching like a cat as best they could with tangled blankets and his leg in the way.
Her eyes shut for merely a moment, popping back open when she felt a shift and loss of warmth beside her. "Where are you going?"
"'Fresher," he informed as he looked over his shoulder from his position sitting on the edge of the bed. "Am I allowed?"
"No," she insisted as she rose to her knees and pushed his upper body back onto the bed. He didn't seem to mind being handled like a rag-doll as he helped to bring his legs back into their recumbent position. She laid back down beside him, this time her head pillowed in his shoulder and her leg crossed between his.
This was much better, she thought. He was her own personal heater. If she would've known he emitted this much warmth, she might have suggested bringing him to her bed on Hoth much sooner.
Her face turned to terror for a moment, her body tensing as she lifted from him. "Rayah!"
"She's fine," he informed her calmly, his hand resuming its ministrations on her back as he brought her down onto him again. "I commed Chewie this morning and let him know we'd be home soon. She's still asleep."
She breathed again, letting her muscles release their momentary panic. He had everything under control. Everything about him felt so new and yet so familiar. This moment felt so removed from what she expected her life to be. The war was over, she survived, she survived and thrived, and now she was free to let herself love and to be loved in return.
"I haven't slept with anyone since the Death Star." It was a quiet admission that she felt he needed to know. "I didn't know if I could… be that vulnerable with someone after that."
She felt his lips against her for head. It felt like a balm to her wounds and grateful encouragement that she spoke up. "Will you show me the scars?"
She didn't hesitate to show him and trust him. "The worst one is here."
Her left hand took his right and guided it to the pebbled skin patch on the back of her left hip. He kept his head where it was against the back of the bunk, but his eyes were just able to make out the bruise that was still there.
"And there are a few here." She released his hand as she pointed towards her left shoulder and upper arm. "They're fainter than they were on Hoth, but still there."
His hand stayed on her hip as his mouth dipped to her shoulder. "Badges of courage, sweetheart," he whispered with that endearing husky voice she was finding to be more and more captivating. "And strength. Beautiful."
She let herself sink deeper into his body, a sigh slipping from her lips as she nosed in his neck.
"You're happy." She could feel the smile in his voice as he vocalized his statement.
"You are too."
"Yeah." He couldn't deny it. His arms rocked her gently as he shuffled his body to get more comfortable. "I mean, I wish I could remember everything from the past four year… Because I bet there were lots more moments like that…"
He was certainly right about that. If what she currently felt for him was anything like her past self, she was VERY sorry to have all those moments wiped from her memory.
"But this is good too," he insisted.
He was right about that as well. And she wasn't going to waste any more time.
"I have a question for you." She let a single digit trace down the center of his chest ending just below his navel.
"Hum," he uttered, half an answer to her question and the other half an inevitable vocal response to her actions.
"Would you like…" she began. "To move back into your bedroom?"
She didn't know if he expected her to ask that, but he paused before formulating his answer.
"I wanna go anywhere you are."
"Good," she said, satisfied with his answer. "Because I want you with me."
She could feel the smirk that must be on his face from the smug tone coming from his mouth. "I guess that move I did early this morning worked. Can't get enough of me."
She thought about the particular move he was referring to and it almost derailed her planned response. Gods, he was good.
"I'm trying to be serious," she reprimanded with a slap against his side. She continued, telling him what she wanted him to hear. "You've seen me, Han. You know me and my insecurities, and you still want me."
"Of course I do." He said it so casually it was as if to think otherwise would be absolutely insane. "And you know me and my insecurities and you still want me, right?"
She nodded. "We're not perfect people…"
He scoffed at that. "None of this is a perfect situation."
"No… It's our lives now." There was more than a hit of regret in her voice. Everything was so confusing still. Here she was, falling in love with her husband when she didn't remember half of their lives together. But somehow the future seemed like everything would be okay.
She tilted her chin, propping her head on his chest so she could meet his eyes. "Do you think that other Han and Leia fought a lot, kind of like us during those Hoth years?"
He nodded emphatically. "I'm sure they found something to get them worked up." He brought a hand up to smooth the frizzy hairs that were coming out of her braids and twists. "Nothin' serious, you know. That's just how we are."
A Cheshire grin emerged on her face. "I enjoyed some of those arguments."
"I enjoyed ALL those arguments," he insisted fervently. "Your face gets red…" he brushed a knuckle over her cheek. "And your eyebrows cross. It's kinda scary and cute."
"Scary and cute… Okay, I need to up my game."
"It's like how Rayah looks when she doesn't want to eat those green things."
She brought her chin up in faked indignation. "Oh so I look like a child…"
His tongue clicked as his eyes scraped down her currently very naked and womanly figure. "Anything but."
She smirked at him and he smirked back. It was nice to just relax with him, to feel a comfort in sharing thoughts and feelings. It also helped that he was incredibly sexy sans shirt and even more so sans pants.
"Tell me something," she requested, her elbows bending to stack her chin on top of her palms and on top of his chest.
"Tell you what?"
She shrugged. "Anything."
"Like a secret?" His voice rolled as if he was about to indulge Rayah in some of her antics.
"Um hum," she nodded, insisting he indulge her.
His head rocked back into the pillow. "I, uh…" he began when he finally thought of something to share. "I might have cheated that one time we played sabacc with Luke and Chewie."
Her nose scrunched. "That's not a secret."
His eyes open wide as he looked at her aghast. "Maybe you figured me out, but Luke didn't… Poor kid."
She remembered that night. The four of them had all seemed to gravitate towards the Falcon after a long day of flight training or meetings. Han pulled out some cards with the innocent promise of a 'fun night.' She caught his bluff right from the start. He was naturally good at the game, but when he beat her hand with an impossible hand of his own, she was furious. Win or lose, Luke was in awe of the older man and Leia didn't have the heart to call the cheater out on his bantha shit.
"We haven't heard from him in awhile." She hadn't thought much about Luke or his life altering news. Present events had taken precedence. "My brother." It still felt odd on her lips and she didn't entirely believe it yet.
"Yeah, another truth…" Han began, his head tilting to met her eyes, his expression both playful and like he had just eaten something sour. "The kid had a major crush on you. And now that cute crush is gettin' tainted in my mind."
She had to chuckle at his face.
"There was only ever one man for me," she assured with a pat on his chest. "And it wasn't my brother."
"Thank gods." He switched the conversation onto her. "Alright, spill Princess."
She already knew the part of her she wanted to share. "I love thunder storms."
"Figures," he scoffed. "You would like somethin' that terrifies other people."
She felt his hands begin to lightly dance across her skin with even more dexterity than his feet had exhibited the previous night.
"I remember spending late nights opening my bedroom window and sitting on the ledge… just listening and feeling the storm around me."
It was almost like the storm around her right now, his hands becoming more insistent, his lips taking part in worshiping her shoulder as well. His kisses traveled across her shoulder and up her neck, on course for their final destination. Before they reached her lips, he pulled back, a satisfied grin overcoming him as he saw how much she was reacting to him.
She covered his smirk with her lips and they immediately devoured. He moved his arms to wrap around the back of her head, holding it flush against his. Her feet kicked out to straddle him.
She was panting by the time they broke apart, her body sitting up on top of him. "Again, Mr. Solo?"
His hands made their way expertly from her thighs all the way across her chest, paying careful attention to every inch of skin along the way. "Why not? We're married. Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"
She felt his hands travel back down her thighs and press her hips deeper into his. "Have sex and make babies?" Her eyes suddenly flashed open, a wide shocked look on her face. "Gods! Han!"
He froze immediately, his hands stilling. "What?"
She stared at him. Why hadn't she thought of this before? "We might not be up to date on our shots."
"Oh…" Realization slowly came to him. "In my defense, I was up to date… four years ago…"
"A lot of good that will do us now."
Although things were seeming more normal, this wasn't the body she knew and took care of to avoid an unplanned pregnancy. The other Han and Leia wouldn't be that irresponsible, would they? Or… she physically gasped at this thought. Maybe they wanted to have another child. Maybe they purposely stopped getting their routine shots.
"Alright," she said wiping that thought from her mind. "Now we know what we're doing today."
And she also knew what they were NOT doing today. She rolled off him and laid on the other side of the bed on her back, her blood already cooled, the fear of that slight possibility like a bucket of ice water splashing down on her.
He followed her movement and sat up on his elbow as his upper body leaned over hers. "Give me as many shots as you want, your Highness," he smirked. "Just promise me you'll do that thing with your leg again."