"So, you say this is part of the grieving process?" Leia panted, her fingers interlaced with Han's as he leaned over her.

"Oh yeah!" He confirmed, rolling his hips against hers. "Once for the loves of days gone past, once for present day lovers and once for those they will never know."

After being discharged from hospital, the couple had returned to the lodge in the hills to collect their belongings before returning to the Falcon, where Han had proceeded to make love with Leia.

"So, when you die..." She started, arching her back to meet his thrusts.

"Don't even think about it!" He hissed, burying himself as deep in her depths as he could.

"It seems...coarse, somehow." She gasped.

"Coarse would have been over the dejarik table. I figured the bunk would be more suitable for a man of my years and a woman of your upbringing." He insisted.

"Han..." She panted. "I'm very close..."

"Thank the stars! 'Cos I am about to blow!" He gulped. Moments later, they climaxed, Han collapsing to Leia's side where he planted a tender kiss to her shoulder. "Rest in Peace, Freya." He mumbled, closing his eyes and feeling the deep pull of slumber.

Leia rolled onto her side to press herself to him, his arm lazily circling her shoulders to hold her there. "So, that wasn't just gratuitous sex?" She queried.

"Aw, honey, I'm Corellian. At my age, gratuitous would have been once; really great, true, but just the once. Three times at my age ain't gratuitous, it's dangerous!" He muttered, his breathing slowly returning to normal.

Leia snuggled into his embrace. "When you die I'm not going to have sex with anyone." She announced.

"Glad to hear it. That way I won't have to come haunt you." He said. A perimeter alert sounded briefly, then stopped. "Prob'ly a bird." He surmised. Another alert then, at a different part of the ship. "Nesting." He suggested, eyes firmly shut. A third, had his eyes open and his ears attuned.

"Maybe they have offspring." Leia offered with a smile.

When the alarm sounded again, Han was on his feet pulling on his pants and holster. "You stay put." He told her, padding barefoot to the boarding ramp and lowering it. Cautious steps took him to the base of the ramp, blaster drawn. A moment later, Leia joined him. "What part of 'stay put' didn't you understand?" He asked.

"Thought you might need backup." She explained, snapping her jumpsuit collar shut.

A sound to his left, attracted Han's attention. His prosthetic eye focusing on the heat signature of a figure he recognised. "Okay, kid, come on outta the shadows!" Han told Moishe. The boy stepped forward, nervously. "It's okay, go back on inside, I'll deal with this." Han said to Leia.

Leia stepped past Han to glare at Moishe. "You here to hurt my husband some more?" Leia snarled.

"What part of 'I'll deal with this' didn't you understand?" Han queried, his brow furrowed.

"I...we...are here to apologise." Moishe answered.

"We?" Han asked, stepping in front of Leia, blaster still aimed at Moishe. Three more of their nephews stepped into the light, none appeared armed. "Where's the rest of 'em?" Han growled.

"Work commitments." Moishe apologised.

Han quickly scanned the area visually and audibly before lowering his blaster. "Okay. Let's hear it, this apology you got." He demanded.

"We figured you had something over Mom and that was why she left everything to you." Moishe explained. "When you came to the house earlier, I was upstairs gathering some of the stuff I didn't want you to get your hands on. I heard what you and Aunt Leia were talking about and it all seemed to make sense. She'd always got a kid in her belly or hanging off of her teat...if you'll pardon the expression. She never got the chance of a career that wasn't Mom-centred, so she had to be getting money from some place and Dad sure as heck never had any!"

"I'm still waiting for that apology." Han growled.

"We got it wrong." Moishe said. "The only thing you had on Mom, was her best interests at heart. You're a good man Uncle Han. A real good man. And I'm proud to call myself a Solo because of you."

Moishe extended his hand toward Han who looked at it suspiciously a moment longer than really necessary, then reached out to take and shake the hand. "For the record, you tell anybody I'm a 'good man' and I'll beat you senseless." Han threatened.

"Understood." Moishe smiled. "We..ah..brought you something."

Han glanced at Leia urging her to step back. She stood her ground. "If it's a tooth, they screwed one back in so it aint mine." He hissed.

Moishe offered Han an oblong box big enough to hold a pair of boots. "It's Mom's ashes." He said, forcing the box into Han's arms. "I heard you say something about lapel pins and hairbobs. Just so you know, if you did that to 'em, we'd insist on paying."

"Just so you know, I'd insist on accepting it from you." Han shot back.

"He doesn't mean that." Leia said, moving to lay her hand over Han's arm.

"Yes. He does." Han confirmed. Leia smiled affectionately, shaking her head.

"You...you're welcome to come back any time." Moishe indicated.

"Damn straight! I got property here for starters." Han barked.

"Han!" Leia cautioned.

Han sighed and rolled his eyes. "The house is yours Moishe. I'll get back as soon as I can to get the paperwork sorted, but you live there and I don't see any reason why that need change."

"And you'll honour Mom the way a Corellian should honour a loved one?" Moishe asked.

"Already did." Han grinned. "Three times, just like the rule book says."

Leia blushed and dipped her head to examine her feet. A couple of the brothers chuckled.

"They got a problem?" Han growled.

"Just...just glad you're fulfilling your destiny." Moishe said. "Mom always said you were meant for better things than many gave you credit for. Marrying and keeping yourself a Princess seems like the best way to prove her right."

"Well...most of that decision lies with Leia." Han pointed out looking at his blushing wife.

"She's not going anywhere." Leia promised, clutching Han's arm.

"You heard it here first." Han declared with a wide smile.

Bidding their farewells, Han and Leia returned to the Falcon while Moishe and his brothers went back to their lives.

"I'll plot our course and file our flight plan." Han said, stowing Freya's ashes. "We can get under way first thing in the morning then."

"I meant what I said." Leia offered. "If you die before me I won't be honouring you the Corellian way."

"Oh, yes you will." He stated. "You'll have sex three times; once for the loves that went before, once for lover you have now and once for the loves you might have known."

"Han..." She started to argue.

"Three times." He insisted, showing her three of his fingers. Leia's jaw set firm, one eyebrow arching at him. "It'll be gloriously insignificant, unbearably dull and will act to remind you of exactly who and what you've lost." He told her, sliding his arms around her waist and linking his hands behind her back.

"That being?" She queried.

Han studied her face a moment. "A man." He replied. "A flawed, imperfect and unworthy man who may have made mistakes but has loved you with every beat of his heart for more years than he can count."

Leia's face softened as she drew him down to a kiss. She wanted to argue with him. To say that he might be flawed, was without doubt imperfect, but never unworthy, though the words wouldn't come.
Maybe he was those things, unworthy included, but he was so very much more as well. And those were the words she couldn't find.

Breaking the kiss, Han grinned down at Leia. "Three times. Then that's it."

"Excuse me?" She queried.

"Insignificant. Dull. And the last sex you'll have. With anybody. Ever. Those are the rules." He told her.

Leia grinned back and slipped from his grasp. "In your dreams, Solo."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Jorj Bailey Solo couldn't have been more thrilled to see his parents if they had been hauling ice cream in the Falcon.

He stood cuddling his mother for much longer than Leia thought reasonable and caused her to cast a worried expression toward Jacen and Tilly.

"I missed you Mommy!" Jorj sniffed.

"He was fine until this morning." Tilly apologised.

"I missed you too, sweetheart." Leia soothed.

"I bet I missed you more!" Jorj sulked.

"It aint a competition, son." Han chided, gently.

"Kennedy's been calling." Jacen said.

"Did you tell her we were at a funeral?" Han snapped.

"Yes. She didn't seem to care." Jacen answered.

"Jorj, sweetheart, do you think you could let go of Mommy long enough for her to make a call?" Leia asked. Jorj's head shook against her shoulder. Leia's eyes appealed up at Han who exhaled and rolled his eyes.

"Jorj, did you miss your Daddy even at all? Because I missed you. So much it..." He sucked in a deep breath. "So much it hurt."

"Heartfelt." Jacen muttered under his breath while Han scowled at him.

"You think..." Han cleared his throat. "You think, maybe, you got one o' those special hugs o' yours for me. Huh?"

Jorj seemed to think, slowly released his grip on his mother and fell into a tight embrace from his father. Leia mouthed 'thank you' and hurried into the kitchen to place her call to Kennedy.

When the woman answered, her expression was less than cheery. "Leia. I've been calling and calling." Kennedy said. "Your son said you were at a funeral. Rather sarcastically too, I might add."

"I'm sorry about that. He has a lot on his mind at the moment." Leia apologised.

"Well, the reason I called is because Lukash had hoped to gain your input into the theatrical trailer. However, as we were unable to contact you, he's had to run with his own ideas." Kennedy said.

"I'm sure Lukash knows better than I how to run a marketing campaign." Leia offered.

"I'm glad you think so. I've sent you the finished teaser. It'll be shown in holo-theatres across the sector this evening." Kennedy smiled, the one that didn't touch her eyelids. "Good to have you back."

The screen went blank except for a spinning disc in the lower right hand corner. Leia let her finger hover over the icon, licked her lips and lightly tapped the image. The screen remained black, then speckled with starlight.

Leia sat and quietly watched as actors portraying her, Han and her brother, Luke, along with assorted aliens and androids appeared in brief cameos outlining what audiences would see if they were prepared to pay their hard-earned credits to watch.

When it finished, her mouth felt dry. She sat looking at the blank screen not sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. The sound of a finger tapping against the kitchen doorframe dragged her back to reality.

"It's a trailer. Going out tonight across the sector." She said, pointing at the screen.

"So, this thing's really happening." Han noted, swinging into a chair. "Can I see?"

Leia considered, then hit the icon again. Han watched, absorbed the scenes as they unfolded, then sat in silence when it finished. He inhaled and cocked his smile at Leia. "A boy, a girl and a Universe!" He offered. "You write that stuff?"

"No. That was all Lukash." Leia replied. "Same as the name. I called it 'Last Hope' in honour of my call to General Kenobi, he's called it 'Star Wars'."

"Figures!" He drawled.

"I wrote memoirs. He made it into an action 'movie." She stated.

"That such a bad thing?" He asked. "We have seen some action over the years."

"I wanted to tell my story." Leia said, her head shaking slightly. "I don't know...That doesn't look like the story I told."

Han threw his arm around her shoulders and placed a soft kiss to her temple. "It took the promise of three scoops of ice cream and the biggest had got to be chocolate." Han explained. "Once we've calmed him down and he's gone to bed we'll watch it again. See if we can't find the positive."

"Oh Han! There is no positive!" She announced, pushing to her feet. "It's going to be a disaster! And I'm going to be a laughing stock!"