Chapter 19

"It all started as we were being slowly digested in the belly of a space slug and I had shut down everything 'cept for the emergency power systems. There was quite the romantic lighting, if you know what I mean," he said with a wink.

Leia spoke up from his side. "Wouldn't our relationship have started earlier than that? What about the Death Star, and Yavin, and Hoth…"

"No, I'm telling the story about how we got together, not how we met," he said. "Why don't you just sit down and have me tell it? I'll make it interesting…"

Leia threw up her hands in defeat and sat down on the bench. "It'd better be good, that's all I have to say."

"Oh, it will. Okay, getting back to the story. I had done some amazing maneuvers through the asteroid field, and I had the brilliant idea to fly into the cave of one of the asteroids to hide. Well, actually it wasn't so brilliant since it turned out I flew into a giant space slug, but that's beside the point. So, there we were in the cave, er...space slug. That doesn't sound real romantic, though," Han said as he scratched his head. "Oh well. Leia and I were in the Falcon's cockpit when the ship suddenly lurched and threw me back into a chair and Leia fell into my arms. She was real comfortable there until she realized that she was supposed to be indignant at the very idea of being held by me. She tried to protest, but I knew that she didn't really want me to let go, so I just kept on holding her. She was starting to get real jumpy, so I told her 'don't get excited,' which really set her off. You should have seen her eyes! So then she said something like me holding her wasn't enough to get her excited, and I let her up and told her 'we haven't got time for anything else' and left the cockpit.

"After that I just knew she wanted me. I knew she was confused, and I decided to end her confusion in a way that was not only good for her, but for me too. I was working on fixing the hyperdrive and some other stuff on the Falcon with Chewie and Threepio, and I looked over and saw that she was welding some valves and was trying to reengage the system but couldn't, so I gallantly went over and tried to help her. When I reached around her to try and fix it for her she just hit me. The thanks I get! So I said that I was only trying to help, and she got all mad that I called her "Your Worship" for some reason. Jeez, it was only a nickname! Though it did get her nice and riled up…"

"I am sitting right here, Han," Leia said, crossing her arms.

"I know, and it's all thanks to the suave moves I made in the Falcon," Han said, grinning. "Well, that's the second interruption my wife has made so far, any bets on the final? Ten? Twenty? Probably more, actually. Well, getting back, again, we were talking and I was trying to get her to admit that she liked me. She always tried to act like she hated me, but I knew she secretly dreamt of me at night."

Leia snorted.

"That's three," said Han. "Okay, so she was starting to get more comfortable, and she said that she actually thought that I was all right when I wasn't acting like a scoundrel. I thought that was hilarious, so I repeated 'scoundrel' a few times and said that I liked the sound of it. Then I figured things were going well, so I took her hand and started massaging it. She got so confused when I did that! So she tried to talk her way out of the inevitable and made up the excuse that her hands were dirty. I thought she could have come up with a better excuse than that! Once she said that I knew she was caving into my charms and I took her other hand and started drawing her toward me. She was trembling, so I told her so. She tried to deny it, but her voice was shaky with anticipation. She knew what was coming – she didn't fight it. So I drew her even closer and said 'you like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life.' That's when she got really excited, but she still managed to say 'I happen to like nice men.' Sure, like the fact that she was trembling in my arms showed that she liked nice men. Right. So I just told her that I was a nice man, and while she was trying to deny it I kissed her. I kissed her real slow, and wrapped my arms around her. She actually surprised me and started running her fingers through my hair. She really seemed to enjoy the kiss, and I know that I enjoyed it. It was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced.

"So while we were kissing, Threepio barged in all excited and told us that he had isolated the reverse power flux coupling. Like I really would have cared! So while I was glaring at the stupid droid Leia made an escape. She was still confused for a while after that, but it didn't take her long to realize that she loved me. I guess she just didn't want to admit her feelings because she knew I had to leave to pay off Jabba. She finally admitted that she loved me in the Carbon-freezing chamber, but that's a different story.

"So now you know how Leia and me got together. After that first big step our relationship was real natural – it was hard to imagine what we were like before. And now we're married, so you all know how it worked out. Any comments? Anyone? What's wrong with you guys?"