There she was. Again. Okay, if this didn't stop soon, surely the princess's guards would be after an alleged stalker. And the last thing Han needed right now was a second bounty over his head. He sighed, quickly turning away with Chewie in toll. Down the street they went.

"Say, Chewie. I was checking out the turret guns' displays and I think I found the cause of that glitch. We might have to reboot the logs, though . . ."

[How are the two even connected that we'd have to do that?] Chewie growled, nearly swiping Han aside as he threw out an arm.

"I don't know, but it will keep us occupied for a few days."

[Look, Cub. If this is about Bria-]

"Chewie, please don't even start. Really, I'm fine. It doesn't matter."

[Anything you say, Cub. How about we get started on those repairs? I'm sure we'll find plenty to fix,] he said, slinging his arm around Han's shoulders.

Why did it all have to be so kriffing romantic? The red table cloth, the candles, the red wine? The restaurant itself. Sure, it was no big bill for an Alderaanian noble, but did he have to try so hard? "Thank you again for joining me tonight," Raal smiled gently, taking Leia's coat for her before she sat and pulled out her chair.

"Well, Raal," Leia gave him her greatest animated smile as she sat down and spread her napkin over her lap. "You can thank my aunts because, quite honestly, I didn't want to come tonight."

"As I am well aware." His shoulders relaxed and he leaned closer to the lit candle in the middle of the round table. He snatched Leia's hand from beneath the table and held onto it firmly. "Look, Leia. I know you're under a lot of pressure and I get that. Just because I proposed while everyone else is trying to win your hand isn't because I'm trying to win you for my own house. You have to believe me, Leia. I'm scared of losing you, Leia. That thought . . ." he shook his head. "It terrifies me. I can't lose you. I love you, Leia. I always have. You wouldn't turn that down just to join the House Cortess, would you?"

Leia's eyes went a little wide and jerked her hand back, asking Raal, "Where would you get the idea that I would even consider accepting Gram's proposal? I thought I had made it clear to everyone that I'm not marrying this year. I'm not marrying you nor Gram nor anyone else."

"Then, at least give me your promise, Leia. The media will be pleased, Alderaan assured, and we can court as long as you'd like. We don't have to marry until you're ready."

"Are you even listening?" Leia gave a short, cutoff laugh. "I don't want to make any sort of commitment right now-"

"Commitment? You're scared of commitment?"

"I never said that! Raal, right now, I just feel like . . . it's not the time. I'm not ready to get married right now."

"But, you're taking the throne!"

"And what if I don't? Raal, would you even have proposed to me if you knew I wasn't going to take the throne. What if Bornan took the throne instead? As soon as he and Aryn are married, they take the throne, would you even have proposed to me?"

"Of course, Leia. Our families have been anticipating this since we were youngsters. I'll give you all the time in the galaxy. Please, Princess, just give me your word."

Leia could only shake her head for a long moment. Even as the waitress came up with their menus, Leia couldn't ignore the continuous feeling of isolation and confusion. The harder she tried to make people understand, the smaller she felt amidst everyone who was trying to tell her what exactly she was doing wrong and how she needed to fix it. Even she didn't fully understand why she was doing it. She could only describe it as a 'gut feeling'.

Before she could even think of something to say, she saw a figure a ways behind Raal. Leaving the restaurant with a wookiee, he looked exactly as Winter had described her "looker". And Leia knew it was him because of the Corellian Blood stripe down his pants and the typical Corellian way he carried himself, cocky, overly confident and flamboyant. Leia scoffed at the sight and motioned one of Raal's bodyguards closer.

"Welcome to the Bakkumari," the waitress greeted again as she came to collect their menus. "Are you two ready to order?"

"Um, yes. I . . ." Raal handed her his menu. "Will have the nerf steak with Alderan sauce with garden greens and the lady will have the cheese gorba melt, Alderan sauce on the side, please, and no revex beans, please." He flashed Leia a smile. As soon as the waitress was out of earshot, Leia told him, "Stop trying to impress me."

"Why? Are you struggling with refusing my proposal?"

"No. It just makes you look pathetic."

Raal stopped, looked at Leia, tried shaking it off and continued like the words hadn't been said. "Um, well. Leia, I have been meaning to ask if you'd like to go out again tomorrow night. There's going to be a music festival in Crevasse City and they'r supposed to be playing some classics, the kind of music I always hear you listening to. What do you think? A night of dancing in Crevasse-"

"Maybe you should ask my aunts."

"Well, I asked your father."

Leia shook her head, happy that she at least had a legitimate excuse as she told him, "I always go with my father. I'm sorry, Raal, but-"

"He said he would love for me to take you."

Now it was Leia's turn to freeze again, staring back at Raal with a look like she was at a loss. Raal smiled nervously, setting a small open box before her, a box she'd seen before and, in all honesty, had hoped to never see again. The ring. "And tomorrow night we can celebrate."

"Raal," she shook her head. Grabbing her jacket, she got up, still shaking her head. "No, Raal. Why can't you just listen to me?" She stood so quickly, her chair nearly fell. Raal rose just as quickly to counter her, handing her her jacket, but holding her by the arm in a gentle but firm grip. "I am listening," he insisted as she shook her head, curls of hair bobbing with the motion. "I understand, Leia. I really do. I'm trying to make this easier for you. You're the one that's not listening."

"Well, you're not."

"Not what?"

"You're not making this easier. In fact, you're making this harder. If you want to know what will make this easier for me, here's a clue: leave me alone. Stop asking. And maybe, you should learn to listen while you're t it." She took her jacket and briskly left, left Raal there, leaving for the street to hail a speeder. She did her best to ignore the wind, pretend that it wasn't that cold because she knew that if she displayed the faintest hint that was uncomfortable outside, Raal would rush to fix it. Ohh, I hope he didn't follow, me! Leia silently wished, waving her arm for a speeder. But, just as a ride home approached, Leia's attention was caught by a low, grumbling voice as it muttered, "Forgot the bill." Then, he bumped into her and, not really in the mood to tolerate anything, she was about to blow. But, then she saw his face . . . "You!"Never mind. She was going to blow either way.

"Excuse me?" the man asked, the same tilt coming to his mouth as Winter had described.

"You!" Leia instantly brought up a knee to hit his manly-hood and he went down in silent despair and agony. "You're the one that's stalking me!"

"Oh great," he grumbled. "She noticed." And sure enough it was him, clearly a Corellian with the black pants and Blood Stripe, the white shirt and black vest over, the dark boots . . . and the utility belt. Right then and there, Leia swore he had a bounty on his head.

Leia pulled him up, drove him against a sign post and demanded, "Who are you? Who hired you? Are you a spy of Vader's?"

"Vader? Are you kidding?" He started to gently push her back and told her in a stern voice, "Look, Your Worshipfulness, I don't want to hurt you-"

"Hah!"

"What?"

"You think you can hurt me." Leia beamed at his foolishness, taking a glance over her shoulder for bystanders. And another speeder.

"Okay," he tried pushing her back again, but her grasp only tightened and she applied more pressure to where her arm held his neck back. Uncomfortable, to say the least, under her abusive touch, he shoved back now and, in response, she brought her leg back around to kick him over and wrestled him to the ground. "I'll have my guards here in a minute," she told him, grabbing something from her coat pocket. "And my father will not take very kindly to someone who has meant harm to his daughter. You might as well tell me everything now. Who are you and who hired you?"

When she brought her other hand back up, Han saw that she was brandishing an injector pen. He flinched, trying to push her off of him. "No one! Look, my name is Han Solo, alright? I'm not stalking you, I'm not going to kill you. Honestly, I'm scared you're going to kill me! Would you please get that thing away from me! Go tell Daddy he doesn't need to worry. After this little incident, I'll be leaving Alderaan within the night. Promise!"

"I asked you a question!" she demanded once again, bringing the injector pen closer to Han's face. "Why are you following me?"

"Honestly, Ice Princess! I'm not! Now, please let me go!" Having had enough with the small, young woman's attack, he took hold of her shoulders and forced her body off of his, rolling over her so she was the one on the ground. "Stop!" she screamed. "My staff, they'll have you in prison for this!"

The man stopped to look at her and flash a lopsided grin Leia wouldn't have been able to forget. He held out his arms, shrugged and told her, "Don't worry. I'll end up in one soon enough. Preferably just not while I'm still here." Then, he turned around and ran off.

[What happened, Cub?] Chewie asked as soon as Han entered the cockpit.

"Well, you know that Princess we're stalking," Han began and Chewie couldn't help but chuckle.

[Yes,] Chewie answered.

"Well, she just attacked me! Yeah. I know. I was just . . . walking back to the table to grab our bill and she just . . . she just jumped on me! Yeah! I don't want to hurt her or have to fight her. So, I'm standing here, trying to gently push her off and she just keeps pushing me against this post . . . harder. So, then, I figure, well, this is a princess. So, I ask her nicely to get off. But she doesn't. Instead! Ohh, you're going to like her, Chewie. She pulls an injector pen on me! Now what am I supposed to do? The innocent man is defenseless, yet the princess gets to start pulling out weapons!? How is that fair? So, I pushed her off."

Chewbacca started laughing hysterically, much to Han's disbelief, until he told Han with a smile, [You're going to get arrested! On Alderaan!]

"Yeah," Han growled, going over to the controls' board to flip some switches. "As if Jabba's bounty isn't enough, now I have a king out to kill me for pushing his daughter."

[Han! Don't stalk little princesses!]

[This has to be your stupidest idea yet.]

"Wow. Well, thanks, Chewie, for the support and vote of confidence. Look, I'm already dead. I might as well go down after trying to make things better."

[No, Cub. In no way is this going to make things better. Look, really, Han. If this is about Bria-]

"It's not about Bria!" Han insisted, more harshly than he had intended. Mad at only himself now, he quickly drew back from Chewie and told him, "I'll be back in a little while."

It was almost stupid of her, but it made Leia feel better. It made her feel like a kid again and that was what she needed. Just to not feel so much stress and pressure for one day! Leia sighed, falling back against her pillows, her crayons rolling off the edge of the bed. She tossed her coloring book aside and quickly stuffed the crayons under her mattress when she thought she heard one of her aunts coming up the stairs. The sound continued, turning from a thump to a lighter tap. No, it wasn't the stairs, she realized. It was her window. Frowning, she got up and walked over to her bedroom window, slowly, cautiously. Injector pen in hand, she crept closer towards the window, slowly reaching out a hand to jerk the curtain aside and reveal . . .

"GET OUT!" The man sitting outside her window sighed, waving around a card, still tapping at the window. "You idiot! Why are you here?!" Sighing heavily in annoyance, she opened the window just enough to grab his hand and twist it back.

"Agh!" he let out a strangled cry, attempting to twist the rest of his body with the motion. "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry. Would you please let go now?"

She waited a second more before obeying, then opened the window a little wider. She spun back to grab a blaster from under her pillow and pointed it at him. "Why are you following me?"

"Last night was . . . well, that was a rough first meeting. I guess I'm just here to apologize."

Astonished to say the least, Leia dropped her blaster hand and asked him, "You're not really Corellian are you? You're Alderaanian! Or a prince! Well, if you think that some stupid, fake, rogue charm of yours is going to help, trust me, it's really no-"

"Sweetheart," he smiled with a shake of his head, flashing that lopsided grin and Leia wanted to slap it off his stupid face. "I can promise you, the rogue, Corellian act ain't fake."

"Then, why are you here? You're not a very smooth stalker. My aide noticed you a few nights ago. How long have you been here? On Alderaan?"

"Barely a week," he answered. "You know, for how often we run into each other, I feel like we should be on a first name basis."

"Could you please get out of my bedroom!"

"But, I'm not in your room."

"Well, you're close enough."

"Am I not allowed to apologize?"

"You already did," Leia said sharply, pushing his hands out the window. "Twice now."

"Fine, smart mouth."

"Would you please stop that?"

"Stop what?"

"The nicknames. Ice Princess, Your Worhsipfulness, sweetheart. Please. Stop."

"Sorry, sweetheart. Look, all I want to do is properly apologize."

"You did. Here. I, Princess Leia Organa, formally accept your apology on stalking me. Okay, now you can go." She started shooing him back from the window, swatting her hands at him, but he just shooed her back. "Well, that wasn't very formal. Really, if there's any way I can pay you back. 'Cause, not having a bounty on my head would be . . ." Han smirked at her. "Great!"

"I have asked plenty of times to leave me alone. Leave my room! Now!"

The man turned a crooked grin on her as he leaned through the window. His hazel eyes watched her pace the length of the window until she stopped to glare at the rather stupid man. "I don't think your acceptance of my sincere apology was genuinely sincere."

"Oh!" Leia planted her fist on her hips, beaming at him. She neared the window, politely smiling back at him, taking his hand in hers. "My apology really wasn't sincere, now was it?"

"Honestly, it actually wasn't."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She squeezed his hand, but her smile quickly vanished as she twisted his arm again, leaving him slapping the window in pain, kicking his leg against the roof. "Okay! Kriff, lady! What's your deal? Let. Go!" He yanked his arm back, eyeing her fiercely as though she was a beast to fear. "Quite a grip you got there. Is that how you charm all the suitors?"

"My personal life is not your concern, flyboy. Now, I suggest you leave here before I take matters into my own hands. I'll have security down here in an instant, have you banished back to the scummy, gambling world you came from."

"What a stereotype! And, it's called Corellia."

"I know what it's called. Now leave. My father won't take kindly to a Corellian man who is stalking his daughter."

"Is he the one who feeds you all the stereotypes? Does he tell you we drink ourselves to sleep?"

"Something like that."

"We have a different girl on our arms every night?"

Pulling her knees up to her chest, she nodded, her cheery and anxious mood quickly fading.

"We're selfish. We're rude, incorrigible, cocky, rogue."

"Yes," Leia admitted, neatly pulling the window curtains behind their pin. "Among other things. But, I expect you to leave or else you'll have him to deal with."

"Fine. Wouldn't want that, Princess. And, because I know you care so much, the name's Solo. Han Solo." And he turned away from the window, leaving the palace.