AN: And we're back with another exciting chapter! I am so thankful for all the support, and thanks especially to the guest reviewers and those of you that I didn't get around to thanking personally (this website has been so persnickity, so I apologize!)

Traffic Outta Hell

October, 1965

Han paced nervously in Kes's living room, tugging at the sharp pleat in his pants.

"Shara says she's great, man. She's different from all the other chicks I've tried to set you up with. See, that right there means it's going to be better: I let my girl help," Kes begged Han. Kes worked with Han at the moving company and had been trying, almost since they met, to find Han a nice girl. Problem was, Han and Kes had very different ideas about what made a girl 'nice.'

Kes wanted somebody sweet that would laugh at his jokes and would make a good little housewife and mother for their 17 kids, and now he was engaged to just such a girl.

Han wasn't really looking to settle down and knew it would take quite a girl to make him reconsider that stance. But, on the lonely nights when he imagined what it would be like to come home to someone… he couldn't really care less if she could cook or wanted kids. He wanted someone to talk to, someone to laugh with—and argue with. And she had to be a good kisser.

"Whatever you say. But if she doesn't show, I'm out. I'm done with this blind date crap," Han said adamantly.

"Fine. But she'll show. She's Shara's roommate; she has to come," Kes explained. "And even if it doesn't work out between you two, it'll still be good to meet her. Shara asked her to be in the wedding, too." Great, Han thought. No matter how this date goes, I gotta spend the next six months doing wedding crap with this kid. Absolutely nothing can go wrong with this situation…

Han cracked opened a beer and took a drink, settling anxiously on Kes's low, coral-colored couch. He probably wouldn't make it to the park tonight. It wasn't like he waited for her or anything; Chewie needed his exercise. But, Han's cruel sense of irony told him that the first night he didn't show would be the night she reappeared.

He'd made up all sorts of stories in his head to explain why he'd never seen her again, ranging from relatively normal (she was in town on business, had decided to get some exercise, and then left the next morning, never to return to the city) to the absurd (she was captured by the mob and was being held hostage, waiting for the valiant man she'd argued with in the park two months ago to come charging into the mob boss's house with his bear-dog to save her).

The door opened and Han stood quickly. Shara walked in alone.

"Sorry, Han. She was held over at work and isn't going to make it," Shara explained sadly. Han shrugged and knocked back his drink. Kes followed his fiancée into the kitchen and they talked quietly for a few minutes before Shara announced that dinner was on. Han ate in silence, answering their increasingly desperate questions with single-word answers. He left after dinner, turning down Shara's offer of dessert. If he hurried, he could still get to the park before it got to be dark out.

00

Leia dumped her briefcase by the door and changed from her wool dress and patent leather heels to a simple flowered shift and sneakers. She plucked the pins from her bun and ran her fingers through her shoulder-length hair. Shrugging on her father's old peacoat, she started toward the park.

Leia wondered if she should feel bad about standing up Kes's friend on their blind date that evening. Shara had practically begged her to go, but Leia wasn't comfortable with the idea of blind dates.

At least, that was the excuse she had made.

The real reason was that it had been exactly one year and six months since that rainy day in Alabama when she'd lost her father, her greatest supporter, her dearest friend.

There was a crispness to the air that told her autumn was on its way. The cool air hadn't discouraged everyone from being at the park, but it was noticeably emptier than it had been when she'd walked down here nearly two months ago and met Chewbacca and his master. A small family was at the play area and a few couples were scattered around, but she had the sidewalk to herself.

Finding an empty bench by the lake, she sat down and took out her novel, hoping to read a chapter or two before it got too dark. After the first few pages, Leia found herself incapable of focusing, instead looking around the park expectantly. She was just about to give up and go home when Chewbacca, the big brown bear-dog, walked up and dropped his head right in her lap. Leia looked around for his owner, but saw no one. She pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper from her purse.

00

"Damn dog. Can't listen for five seconds," Han cursed under his breath, looking quickly around the park, hoping that Chewie hadn't run into the road or something. He went down to the lake, swearing up and down that if Chewie had decided to go for a swim…

It was her. She was sitting on the bench under the tree, wearing an enormous coat, a book beside her. His dog had found her again. Good boy, Han thought, reminding himself to give Chewie a bone when they got back to the house.

"There you are," he said, looking at the woman.

"He just came up and sat down," she replied, and it took Han a moment to realize that she thought he'd been talking about his dog.

"Right. Yeah. He's pretty friendly. Too friendly, sometimes." But definitely not right now.

"He really is a nice dog," she admitted, smiling at him. Han thought he might die of happiness.

"Sorry 'bout the last time we met…I don't…" he began. She laughed nervously.

"You can't take all the blame; if I recall, it was mostly my fault."

"I'm Han."

"Leia." Leia. It was perfect for her. Leia. Han stepped forward to shake her hand. Chewbacca picked just that moment to stand up and Han tripped over him, landing in Leia's lap. She shoved him to the ground and he fell half onto Chewie and half onto the sidewalk.

"I'm sor…" he began, but Leia cut across him.

"How dare you! You know, I could have you arrested!" she yelled.

"It was an accident, lady. I tripped over my bear," Han mumbled.

"I don't think I have ever met someone so infuriating…"

"I'm infuriating? I am?"

"Yes, you! You and your…smile and your…using your dog to hit on women…" He stopped.

"First of all, I don't use my dog to hit on women. He is just a pile of fur that I dragged out of a gutter one rainy day."

"See? Telling me that you saved a…poor baby animal…" Leia stumbled, looking down at Chewbacca's puppy dog eyes.

"And second of all, what do you mean, my smile?"

"I just…ugh!" She stormed off. Han almost chased her, but instead, he stood and watched her go, somehow bolstered by the fact that he got the last word.

It wasn't until she was just too far to run after that he realized that he was a complete idiot and had let her get away again.

He cursed his pride, ordered Chewie to heel, and began the angry walk home that he now knew far too well. He slammed the door and banged around in the kitchen for a few minutes, cursing the whole damn mess of a night.

First Shara's roommate bails, and then I find her…Leia…and I blow it… Han began to wonder if his problem didn't lie with the female population of DC, but with him. He poured himself a drink. Chewbacca ambled in, his paws clicking on the orange laminate scratched at his collar for the umpteenth time and Han finally called him over to see what was bothering him, figuring he'd gotten a leaf caught in his hair.

"What the…" Wrapped around Chewie's collar was a folded piece of white paper. Han dislodged it carefully and unfolded it. In neat, curvy writing, was written a telephone number under the name Leia Organa. Han broke into a wide grin and put the paper into his pocket.

00

"Hi, I'm calling for Leia Organa."

"Just a minute, I'll get her." Han thought he recognized the voice, but couldn't place it. He waited nervously for her to come to the telephone.

"This is Leia."

"Hi. It's Han, from the park? With the dog?"

"Go to hell," she spat before slamming the phone down. Han winced and looked down at Chewbacca.

"That could have gone better."

00

"He's not a bad guy, Leia. A little rough around the edges, but the best ones always are."

"He's the best man in your wedding, Shara, not my future husband," Leia replied. "It doesn't matter if I like him or not. All we have to do is make sure you and Kes have a nice wedding." Shara smiled.

"I appreciate it, Leia." Shara put her arm around Leia as the back door opened. "Hello, Han, we're in the kitchen. Come in and meet the maid of honor," Shara called.

"Wait—Han?" Leia hissed as the man's footsteps echoed on the floor. He appeared in the kitchen doorway. Han from the park, the man with the big dog, the man she'd slipped her phone number to before arguing with him and deciding that she hated him again, the man she'd told to go to hell and then hung up on. Whoops.

"Hey, Shara," he greeted, his eyes never leaving Leia. "Sorry I'm late. There was a lot of traffic on the way out of hell today," he emphasized the word and Leia knew that everything was neither forgiven nor forgotten.

"Busy day at the moving company, huh?" Shara asked, obviously not understanding his hidden meaning. "This is my roommate, best friend, and maid-of-honor, Leia Organa."

"Han Solo, your worshipfulness." Leia cringed. This was going to be a trip.

AN: Once again, please review! I love hearing your thoughts, theories, and questions! Feel free to hit me up on tumblr at organanation, also. Next week's chapter: A Wedding. Y'all come back now, ya hear?