TITLE: "My Sassy Princess"
AUTHOR: Maiden of Endor
DISCLAIMER: You know the drill. Chapter title is a song by Tamia, and a line from the song "Do You Think I'm Sexy" is by Rod Stewart. I don't own these.
SUMMARY: Han will be leaving for Tatooine to settle his smuggling debts and will be out of Cloud City for five days. Now that Han is out of the house, will Leia be happy? Or will she realize that she was slowly developing feelings for him?
CHAPTER IX-Officially Missing You
Luke and Lando watched as Leia passed by them without even saying hello. Both could feel that she was not in a good mood that afternoon.
"What's up with Ice Princess?" Lando asked Luke. "Haven't you noticed that beret she's wearing?" He pointed at Leia from afar, who was wearing a green beret with a thick brim. "It's not her to wear hats, you know."
Luke just shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno."
Just then, Han happened to walk by the place where Luke and Lando were hanging out. "Hey!" Lando called him. Han approached them and as he did, Luke asked him immediately, "Did you and Leia fought again? She seems to be in a foul mood."
Han remembered about Leia accidentally cutting off the middle part of her right eyebrow because his sleazy strip dance that he performed distracted her in the middle of her eyebrow shaving. He let out a loud laugh and said, "Oh, you guys must be wondering why she was wearing that hat you know?" And he related the story behind the issue.
After hearing the story, all three burst into thundering peals of laughter. "Wooo!" Lando hooted in between laughs. "You did a strip dance in front of her? That was priceless!"
"She must have been aroused!" Luke exclaimed.
"I'm sure she is! Maybe she finally realized how sexy you are!" Lando added.
"Of course I am!" Han replied humorously, and even gyrated his body for another round of strip dancing.
"Stop it man!" Lando exclaimed, laughing. "You're arousing me, Captain Solo!" he joked, while trying to do an imitation of Leia's voice.
"I should have brought my video cam with me! Then we'll be giving this to Leia! I'm sure she'll love this!" Luke said, clutching his stomach in between laughs.
"The moral lesson is, don't dance in front of Her Highness while shaving her eyebrows," said Lando.
"She's not that numb, after all," Han replied. Then he sang again, "If you want my body, and you think I'm sexy..." and even danced some more, while Luke and Lando laughed hysterically.
"What are you laughing at?"
Han stopped dancing, while Luke and Lando grew quiet upon hearing the sound of the familiar voice that belongs to the only woman general in the Alliance. All three of them stopped short and posed to bow their head out of respect for Leia.
"Good afternoon, your worship," Luke mumbled.
Leia smiled at him and gave Lando and Han a dirty look. "Seems like you're having a little fun there, aren't you?"
"Actually..." Lando trailed off.
"Just doing the dance I proudly performed for you this morning, remember?" Han asked as he reminded her of the strip dance debacle.
Leia cringed upon hearing what Han said. Because of you, all people look at me as if they've never seen a woman wearing a beret. Everywhere she went that afternoon, the other rebels would look at her quizzically and ask why she was wearing a beret. And she would just give them a mean stare that says "none of your business!" This was enough to keep them silent but still, she could hear them laugh even if she was already out of earshot. She even heard the following conversation between two rebels:
"Noticed that band-aid sticking out underneath her hat? It's so obvious!"
"Yeah. I think she had a cut on her eyebrow or something. Did you think Captain Solo
hit her?"
"Probably so. Maybe they had another one of their love quarrels."
"Hah! What a bitch she is!"
"I actually feel sorry for the poor guy. Anyway, what is their relationship with each other? Do
you think they're an item?"
"Oh yes! I'm sure they're on, what with the way they're acting. Everyone knows about it."
"Nah, I don't think so."
"What makes you say that?"
"They're not that sweet with each other as couples often do."
"Who knows? But we'll never know..."
Thinking about this made Leia felt disgusted with her self. Even the people here think Han and I are a couple; that Han and I had a lovers' quarrel and hit me and so I got this band-aid stuck on my right eyebrow. You're so great at being a marathon eavesdropper, Leia, she berated her self angrily.
She felt Han pulled down the brim of her beret, which made her feeling more messed-up than ever. "Hey princess, take this thing off, won't you?"
"Stop covering my eyes!" she exclaimed, agitated.
Han lifted the beret off her head. "Don't be so embarrassed with how you look today. It's just a silly wound. It'll heal off soon."
"Bring that back to me, will you?" Leia told him as she tried to reach for it. But he hid it instead inside his jacket. Han smiled at her mockingly and said, "Relax there and stop being self-conscious."
"How would I relax when people would talk about me?" Leia cried out in despair.
Luke wrapped his arm around her shoulder and assured her, in a whisper, "Don't be so paranoid. Everybody gets his skin cut at one time or another. It's natural for people to get curious." Luke knew that Leia would listen to him more with his advice than with Han's.
"Oh... alright," she replied.
Lando decided to change the topic of their conversation. "Hey guys, want to eat snack outside?" he suggested.
"Oh yes, I'm getting really hungry," Han said.
Lando looked at Leia. "Want to go with us, your highness?"
Leia hesitated at first, but Luke convinced her, "It'll be okay. Don't worry about Han. So that you'll learn how to mingle with him when you're outside. Loosen up sometimes."
As if being with him 24/7 is not yet enough to learn a lot about him and his ways. "Sure." she agreed. "I'll go with you."
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All throughout the time they were eating at the snack bar, Han couldn't help himself but to feel jealous with Luke. Leia sat beside him when they ate, and it seems like they were having a great time with each other, what with the way they enjoyed their conversation. I'm not supposed to feel jealous of Luke. But how come whenever I see Leia with him, I can't help myself but feel this way? I don't have a right to, but why? Han thought about this all the time until finally, he went home with Leia.
He sat down at the sofa by himself and watched wistfully as Leia retreated to her room. He could even hear her hum to herself. She must have felt so happy being with Luke today, he thought. Just then, he heard a beep on his com link, which made him snap out of his thoughts. Han clicked it open, and when he did, a holographic image of a man appeared. He recognized it as one of his smuggler companions.
"Hey, Solo, Master Jabba wants to see you. You gotta talk to him to settle your debts."
Han's brows furrowed, and totally forgot about setting his debts with that disgusting creature, Jabba the Hutt, who was a well-known slave master in the galaxy. "Okay," he replied. "I'll be going there tomorrow. How much does he want?"
"The Hutt wants all of the money you have now."
"But I don't have any!" Han exclaimed. "Can't I talk it out with him instead? Maybe I can find a way and..."
"Just go there tomorrow immediately," the man replied. Then the holographic image disappeared, and Han clicked off his com link. He buried his head on his hands, worried about the amount of money Jabba the Hutt wants him to pay. Where would I get such a huge amount? He thought about selling the Falcon, his beloved ship, but then, he found out that he didn't have the heart to do so. I've invested on the Falcon for years and I'll only sell it off just to settle my debts? Why would I?
Leia passed by the living room and gazed at Han, who was looking very worried. Even if she was still annoyed with him, she felt concerned with what he was thinking of. "Is there a problem?" she asked.
Han lifted up his head and stared at Leia for a long time. He looked in her eyes and sensed that she was actually concerned about him. The conspicuous-looking band-aid plastered above her right eyebrow did nothing to ease away his worry, instead of making him laugh like he did this morning.
"I have to go to Tatooine," Han related, "And talk to Jabba the Hutt because I have to settle my debts with him. But I have nothing to pay him off. I thought of selling the Falcon and..."
"You don't have to do that!" Leia exclaimed. "I know how much the Millenium Falcon means to you. And you'll sell it off just like that?"
"Yes, I know. But still, I'm not sure of what to do..."
Leia suddenly thought of an idea. Her face brightened up. "Wait a minute!" she exclaimed. She hurriedly went to her room and before long, she came back, holding a fat white paper bag in her hand. She handed it to Han and said, "Here, take this. It's all yours. Use this to pay your debts."
Han opened the paper bag. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the bag contained a huge amount of money. He looked at Leia in amazement and said, "Your highness, I... I couldn't take this. This is your money."
Leia smiled at him. "No, take it. Besides, I still have a large fortune of those left in the bank of Bespin." Before Bail Organa died, he left Leia a huge sum of money enough to make her wealthy, just in case she'll be needing financial support with the Alliance and with her personal life.
Han felt grateful that Leia was kind enough to help him out. He smiled at her and a sheepish "thank you" was all he could mutter.
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That night, Han packed his bags to leave for Tatooine. Before he departed, he reminded Leia to take care of herself.
"I don't know how long I'll be out, but in about five days' time, I'll try to be back. Take care of yourself, will you?"
Leia nodded her head at him in agreement. This time, she didn't felt the need to say much. "Where's the Falcon?" she asked.
"It's parked outside the city limits. It'll be safe there."
"Is that so? Well..." she trailed off, at a lost for words to say. She didn't know whether she would feel elated or lonely, now that Han will be out for an indefinite period of time. "Happy trip."
She accompanied Han outside the door and decided to go with him to bring him outside, but Han told her not to bother. "Just bring me outside the door."
Before they parted, Leia looked at him for one last time and tried to memorize his face; those twinkling hazel eyes of his will be missed. "Safe trip," she said.
Han winked at her and said, "Grow out your eyebrow soon, will you?"
Leia touched the band-aid and laughed. "See you soon." She watched as Han waved goodbye at her before he went off without ever looking back. Leia watched him until he boarded the elevator, and he was nowhere in sight.
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That night, Leia found it hard to fall asleep by herself. Even if she was all alone in her room, knowing that Han was not around made her feel queasy. Han was never that talkative, but the silence that filled the entire pad was deafening.
She tossed and turn on her bed, thinking, Now that the scruffy looking nerf herder is not here anymore, I know I should be glad. No one will tease me for days, and at last, I can have some real peace. But why... why am I feeling this way towards him? she asked herself. She never expected that she would miss him this badly.
I don't have the right to say this, nor to feel this way, because I know I'm nothing to you. And you are nothing to me. But I just can't imagine my life without you, Han. Why did he became the most important person to me all of a sudden?
I guess this is it, Leia confirmed. I'm officially missing you.
A/N: As we all know, the money Leia gave to Han was not enough to pay off his debts, and Leia was the one who was sold off to Jabba in payment for Han's debts (as seen in ROTJ).
Watch out for Chapter 10! It'll be a song-fic chapter describing about Han and Leia's growing feelings for each other. Mushy, mushy, mushy:) Again, please review! Thanks!