Journeys and Destinations

Chapter Two: Sands of Time

The Millennium Falcon set down in a grassy field on the peaceful planet of Naboo. As Han flipped some switches and shut the ship down, Leia looked out of the viewport to the tranquil lake in the distance.

"Recognize this place, Princess?" She heard Han ask as she became lost in memories.

She had sent word to her brother that she and Han would meet him on Naboo and then Han had talked her into leaving a day early under the pretense that he had a huge surprise for her.

Without looking at him she smiled and answered softly, "Yes, I do."

Han, Leia and Chewie had landed in this exact same spot in what seemed like a lifetime ago. The lake, with its towering mountains looming in the distance, had reminded Leia of Alderaan. Left alone on the Falcon, she had stripped down to her Rebel-issued undies and swum out to the floating platform on the lake only to be discovered by Han several hours later.

"C'mon." Han stood up and held his hand out to her. "I've got some unfulfilled fantasies to address out on that lake."

She had come close to surrendering to her desire for Han out there on that beach all those years ago. She had convinced herself that she could allow herself to feel something for Han while repressing all of her guilt and anger and other haunting emotions surrounding everything else in her life. She hadn't remained convinced of that very long. Probably, looking back, just long enough to tease Han Solo to distraction.

Finally turning to look up at him, Leia smiled, took his hand and stood up next to him. "Han Solo, this is your surprise for me?"

Leia watched as her husband's eyes darted towards the lake in front of them and then back at his wife as he confessed, "Well, yeah…but…"

"Relax, flyboy," she said as she placed her hands on his chest. "I love it."

Han's signature crooked grin spread across his face and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. "Promise?"

"Promise," she whispered back as she stretched up to kiss him and then added, "In fact, I might have a few things I've dreamed of doing to you out on that beach."

He let out a low groan at her words and smiled devilishly. Taking his hand and stroking her cheek he replied, "That's what I'm here for, baby. To make all of your dreams come true."

She stretched up to kiss him and he met her more than willingly, halfway. Her arms around his neck, his hands at the small of her back, they clung to each other in a long and lingering kiss. After their separation following Endor and especially since they had been married, Leia recognized a desperation in both of them to reclaim as much time as possible that had been lost between them. Anything that sparked a memory of their times apart, especially those that were self-imposed, seemed to call out to them, almost as if begging to be erased.

Breaking their kiss, she held on to him. "C'mon," he said with a smile as he stepped away from her, grabbed her hand and led her out of the cockpit.

After changing into swimsuits, the couple headed through the field towards the tiny beach. Han had a large carryall slung over his shoulder as they walked hand-in-hand through the tall, flowing grass. Leia wore a white, gauzy dress over her two-piece, bathing suit and the wind coming off of the lake pressed the material against her body. It was early morning and the rising sun had not yet taken care of the tiny drops of dew on the grass. The air was cool, but even the low-hanging sun was enough to warm Leia's face and shoulders as they walked towards the lake.

As she turned to look at Han she found him looking at her, obviously pleased with the way her dress was clinging to her. Han was bare-chested, wearing nothing but his swim trunks, which sat low on his waist and hit him right above the knees. The sight of him looking at her, his eyes smoldering, his chest hair dancing in the breeze and his strong hand holding hers, caused a tingling sensation that started in her chest and worked its way up to her scalp.

When they reached the beach, Han set the carryall down and pulled Leia into his arms as he growled, "Do you remember what you did to me out on this lake?"

Leia looked up at him, a mixture of lust, amusement and fear shot through her as she remembered several things about their encounter that day. "You'll have to be more specific, Captain," she replied, lowering her eyes and giving him her own devilish smile.

"Specifically," Han began as his hands ran down her body, over her hips and to her thighs, until he reached the end of her gauzy dress. Gathering up the light material into his large hands, he whispered against her neck as he lifted the material over her head, "You paraded around half-naked in your skivvies."

As he threw the dress over towards the carryall, Leia felt her body shiver as the cool, lake air wrapped itself around her now naked belly. Her breath caught as Han pulled her to him and the heat from his body clashed with the chill that had settled over her. He moved his head to look at her and as his lips hovered over hers he added with an evil grin, "You dunked me in that lake."

"Oh, no." Leia exclaimed as she put her hands on his chest and tried to wriggle out of his embrace, "I recall that you jumped in the water with me."

"Is that what you recall?" Han asked and as he scooped her up into his arms, he continued, "Well, was it a little something like this?" and he began to walk towards the shoreline of the lake.

"Han. It's freezing. Don't you dare throw me in that lake!" Leia yelled as she kicked her feet, squirmed and laughed while Han nibbled at her earlobes and her neck. She heard Han splashing into the lake and as her toes brushed against the cool water, she tightened her grasp around his neck.

"Oh, don't worry, Your Highness." His arms squeezed tightly around her, his head snuggled up in the crook of her neck. Whispering in her ear, he said, "I've got plenty of ways to warm you up, now." Leia felt him spin around so that his back faced the lake. She shook her head at him and wrapped her fingers together behind his neck. "Hold your breath, Princess." They fell back into the lake water wrapped in each other's arms.

The initial shock of the chilly water took Leia's breath away as she wriggled out of Han's embrace and swam to the surface. Wiping her face she looked around, searching for where Han had gone. She caught sight of him swimming towards the floating platform in the distance.

"C'mon, slow poke," Han called to her as he quit swimming for a moment to turn around and smile at her.

By the time she reached the platform, Han was already stretched out lazily and basking in the warm, summer sun that was crawling slowly across the Naboo sky. Lifting herself up on the platform, Leia landed next to her husband and looked down at him. Tiny beads of water were still peppered over his body as they glistened in the orange sunlight. When she reached his face she found his eyes were closed but a big smile was stretched across his lips, his white teeth glistening in the sunlight.

Leaning her body towards his, she tilted her head over his abdomen and shook the water out of her hair. She watched his stomach twitch as the cool droplets hit his warming skin.

"Don't start things you can't finish, sweetheart," Han drawled out without even opening his eyes.

She looked at him with a wicked grin, but the gesture was lost on the cocky Corellian as he lay there confidently with his eyes still closed. Sighing heavily, she decided to leave it at that, so she relaxed down on the platform next to him and enjoyed the feeling of the warm sun against her skin and the sensation of the tiny beads of lake water evaporating on her body.

Her thoughts immediately took her to the person she was all those years ago, lying here in this exact same spot. She could hardly remember or identify with that hardened Rebel that she was back then, clinging to the cool façade that she desperately tried to hide behind.

The platform began to rock on the lake water, causing little waves to lap up against the sides and make light, slapping sounds. Leia felt the immediate relief from the hot summer sun as Han blocked its warmth from her with his shadow.

"I remember how you looked at me that day on the beach," she heard Han say as she opened her eyes to find him sitting up and looking at her.

"I remember how you looked at me lying on this platform," she replied as she held her hand up to her forehead and shielded her eyes from the sun.

"I was already in love with you." The words spilled out of his mouth, as if he was turning back the clock and confessing his deep, dark secret to the Rebel Princess from that day.

An ache spun tightly in her chest and she propped herself up on one elbow and trailed her hand down his warm shoulder and into the crook of his arm as she replied, "You should've told me."

Han laughed. "Yeah, right. That would have gone over like a rock in that lake."

"Maybe," Leia agreed with a smile. "But I don't know…I seem to recall that you looked pretty sexy that day."

"If it was just a matter of me looking sexy, honey, I could've had my way with you back in that garbage chute." He took her hand and brought it up to his mouth for a kiss.

"This is true," she sighed as she lay back down and closed her eyes, a huge grin spreading across her face. "Oh, how I ever controlled myself all those years, I'll just never know."

"Just think of the fun we could've had if you hadn't."

Opening her eyes, she looked up at him and gave him a knowing smile. "I would have volunteered for a lot more missions."

"And I would have completed a lot more missions," Han replied with a crooked grin and a waggle of his eyebrows.

Shutting her eyes again, she sighed and added, "I wouldn't've needed so many blankets on Hoth."

"And I wouldn't've needed so many cold showers."

They both laughed and then settled into a long silence. Leia lying there with her eyes closed, completely aware that Han was still sitting up and studying her. Just what he was thinking wasn't hard for Leia to imagine; she could feel his want radiating from him like rays from the morning sun.

A gentle breeze washed over her, chasing the warmth from her body and she jumped when she felt Han's finger land on her waist. Keeping her eyes closed, he continued to blaze a slow, meandering path around her belly button and then up towards her chest. She could feel her skin breaking out in bumps at the sensation of his light touch. Her lips parted as she inhaled a long breath, filling her lungs with the cool lake air.

"I couldn't touch you like this back then," he growled as his finger trailed along the inside of her bathing suit strap. The sound of his guttural voice was enough to cause a warmth to puddle inside of her. He leaned his head against hers and his hot breath sent chills down her spine as he whispered in her ear, "Oh, but I wanted to." The statement clearly laced with years of desire.

She felt him moving towards her and then her eyes flew open at the warm sensation of his mouth on her breast through the thin fabric of her bathing suit. Concentrating on the sky above, Leia felt his wandering finger as it tugged at the top of her suit and slowly moved the material out of the way, exposing her breast. His tongue glided over her naked nipple and he took it in his mouth as if it were the very air he needed to breathe.

She took both of her hands and fisted them into his still damp hair as Han made quick work of her bathing suit top and she watched it fly across the sky above her, landing softly on the other side of the platform. Her eyes closed as his warm hand massaged her breast and his tongue blazed a path up to her neck.

"Do you remember what I told you?" Han whispered in her ear, his hot breath begging for her to answer him as his hand slid lower, down her belly and into her bathing suit.

The knowledge of exactly what words he wanted to hear crackled through her brain like lightning hitting the lake. Words she couldn't let herself believe back then. Words he clearly hadn't meant to admit to her. Words she could still hear rattling around inside of her soul.

His head pulled away from hers and she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "That I was the whole package?" she asked, her voice low and trembling.

She waited for him to respond as her chest began to rise and fall from her shallow breaths. His pupils flared with oranges and yellows, a reflection of the smoldering heat within him. She watched a cloud move slowly across the sky behind him and she pressed her hips against his hand.

"That you were the whole package." Han repeated in a whisper as his eyes fell down to her lips.

His hand moved lower into her bathing suit, teasing the urges coiled up in her until they started to slowly unfurl like ribbon off of a spool. Her mouth fell open as she released a heavy breath and Han took the opportunity to lower his lips down to hers and kiss her.

Easing himself towards her, her breasts pressed up against his warm, broad chest as his hand began to push her bathing suit down to her thighs. Leia wriggled and bent her knees to help him free her of the garment and she pressed herself against him in a desperate need to feel him. Han quickly rolled onto his back, stripping his suit off and throwing it across the platform as it landed with a wet thud.

He rolled back over and nestled himself on top of her and in between her legs. His hands rested on either side of her shoulders and his face hovered over hers. "You wanted me that day…like this." His face was serious and his voice was low and raspy. She felt her mouth fall open slightly, as time seemed to stand still between them.

She looked at him and nodded her head ever so slightly in affirmation. Yes, she had wanted him like this back then and even more so now. Han lowered himself to her in response, starting with a long, deep, lingering kiss as he brushed up against her, pushing her patience to its limit. Reaching her hands down to his hips, she pulled him to her until finally, he guided himself inside of her and a throaty, high-pitched moan escaped up her throat in response.

As Han broke their kiss, Leia let out a tiny gasp as he pushed himself deeper inside of her, their eyes locked on one another. Had she ever wanted him more than she did at this very moment? How did he manage to increase this intense want she felt for him every single time? As her eyes rolled back in her head, she left the questions rolling around in her mind unanswered. They were like hyperdrive theorems and …cooking, she didn't need to know how they got done, only that she enjoyed the benefits of them when they did.

The sound of the platform rocking against the water put music to Han's steady rhythm. Dragging her fingernails up his back, she nibbled on his earlobe as she moved her hips with his.

"Gods, Leia. Do you have any idea what you do to me?"

She smiled, having a very good idea but she could only respond with a low, throaty moan as Han straightened his arms, pushed himself up and away from her and slowly moved within her, expertly guiding her to the edge of her climax as only he knew how. In that instant, the years shot through her in a flash, their memories and fantasies coalescing into this moment until the regrets of that day disappeared like the clouds over the horizon and only this was left between them.

Her hips stilled as Han continued to move against her and everything around her slowly came into focus in tiny bits and pieces; the sweat and the breeze and the sound of the water slapping against the platform, the tightness spinning inside of her to the point of breaking, the steady rhythm of Han's body with hers and their words still floating in the air around them. She pulled him down to her as a tingling warmth burst inside of her and spread through her body from her fingertips to her scalp and down to her toes.

She whispered she loved him as she clung to him, her body trembling in the aftermath. He moved his head to kiss her and she started to move her hips again, encouraging him to increase his tempo and join her, the music of the platform on the water reaching a crescendo as their pace increased.

The pull began to build inside of her again and Han broke their kiss and buried his face in the crook of her neck. She recognized his signs and she knew that he was close. Running her fingers through his hair, she bit her lip as he called out her name. She closed her eyes in concentration, feeling another release just at the edge of her fingertips and as their hips moved together, she let her climax crash over her once more. A final thrust and Han's body collapsed on top of hers as he joined her, heavy and sweaty, their chests rising and falling together in harmony.

With a quick kiss on the cheek, he whispered he loved her before rolling off of her and lying on his back beside her. They lay next to each other in silence, their heavy breathing the only sound around them mixing in with her heart beat as it thundered in her ears. She felt like a feather on the wind as her body slowly floated down from its euphoric high and as she caught her breath, she noticed the quiet melody of the waves against the platform, the gentle breeze now the only thing causing its wake.

Han reached out and grabbed her hand as he gave it a tender squeeze, grounding her back into this moment. After a long silence, she heard Han chuckle and then say breathlessly, "I think we may be on to something here."

Turning her head to look at him, she found him staring straight up into the sky and she studied his profile for a moment before she asked, "What's that?"

He turned to look at her, giving her hand another squeeze, before he said, "First Yavin…now Naboo. We could do an entire tour of every place we should've made love, but didn't."

She laughed and rolled onto her side toward him. Placing her hand on his chest, she said, "I'd like to see you explain that itinerary to Mon Mothma…or Luke, or Carlist, for that matter."

"I think everybody knows we have sex now, sweetheart." Han leaned over and kissed her on the forehead and then he got up and walked over to the other side of the platform, tossing the pieces of her bathing suit to her as he walked back with his swim trunks in his hands.

Standing in front of her, he slipped on his bathing suit. She sat up and began to put her top back on. "True," she replied. "But that doesn't mean we have to advertise the fact so overtly." Running her fingers over the angry red skin on his knees, she added, "Which means…no shorts for you this trip."

Looking down at his brush-burned knees, Han grinned at her and replied, "That'll be a small price to pay."


Several hours later, Leia walked along the shoreline of the lake, the sun setting over the mountains behind her as she stopped every now and then, when a certain shell or rock caught her eye. Bending down to scoop up another treasure, Leia looked over towards Han, smiled as she stood back up and winked at him.

He sat on a blanket underneath a small tarp he had set up on the sandy beach, sipping on an iced beverage. Returning her wink, she watched him as he relaxed back on the blanket and closed his eyes. Leia looked back out over the lake and inhaled the fresh air, enjoying the light, cool breeze as it whipped around her, rustling the tall grass in the field off in the distance and causing her dress to flutter around her knees.

Walking over to the blanket where Han lay, Leia watched a smile creep across his face, as she snuggled up alongside his warm body and pulled the light blanket over them. He kept his eyes closed as she rested her head on his chest. After several deep breaths, she sighed deeply and said, "I could stay here forever."

"Ummmm," Han rumbled as he wrapped his arm around his wife and pulled her towards him. Taking his other hand and placing it behind his head, he opened his eyes to look at her as he replied, "Let's do it. We could live on the Falcon, make love on this beach every day…have a coupla little Leias running around collecting rocks and shells along the shoreline."

"A couple of little Leias?" she asked inquisitively.

Han looked at her pointedly for a moment. They never talked about having children. Han knew how she felt about it and he usually treaded very lightly on the subject. Taking a deep breath he replied, "Hey, this is my fantasy, I can have a coupla little Leias running around if I want to."

She eyed him for a moment and then her expression relaxed, realizing that arguing over a fantasy was not only silly, but would also ruin this perfect day. And if she was totally honest with herself, she couldn't deny that her fantasies might also include children if everything wasn't the way it was.

Trying not to let such sobering thoughts destroy the moment, she smiled at him and said, "Curious that you don't have at least one little Han in there somewhere."

"No," he answered with a chuckle, "even in my wildest fantasies, I'm the only man in your life."

Wrapping her arm around his chest, she squeezed him and said, "Hmmmm, I wish I could say the same."

"Naughty, naughty, Princess!" He growled as he pulled her on top of him and kissed her deeply.


Later, resting contently in each other's arms and wrapped in a light blanket, Han and Leia watched the shimmering reflection of Naboo's moons reflecting off of the still, lake water.

She thought about what faced her tomorrow and of all the things that she might find. When Luke had first told her who their mother was, if it had done anything, it had dispelled any doubt that her father, Bail Organa, had indeed known her real mother. But just what implications she could draw from that were just as cloudy and mixed as they had been before.

The more truth that was discovered about her past, it seemed, the more distance it put between the memory of her adoptive parents and the life she had known and cherished. This was especially so when it came to the memory of her adoptive father, a fact that had weighed heavily on Leia since the discovery of her true heritage.

Leia lifted her head from where it had rested in the crook of Han's arm and as her eyes followed the edge of the lake over to the field beside them, she stopped and stared at an invisible point in the distance, the tall, swaying grass a blur in her peripheral vision. Sighing, she finally said, "This place reminded me of Alderaan, when we landed here back that day."

Han grabbed a piece of her hair and twirled it in between his fingers as he watched her. He didn't reply.

"We had a small beach like this at the Palace on Aldera," she went on and in her mind the castle stood before her in the distance.

Han continued to play with her hair, trailing his fingers along her jaw line and down her naked arm. She knew that he loved when she talked about Alderaan and her childhood and as time went on it became easier and easier for her to indulge him with this simple pleasure.

"My father could see the beach from his office window and my mother would sit out on the veranda and watch me and Winter play in the sand. We would spend hours out there until finally Bail would come down and join us. He always said that he couldn't resist the feeling of sand between his toes at sunset."

A tender smile spread across her lips as she let the memory play inside of her mind for a few quiet moments and then she looked at Han, his eyes staring back at her, open and warm. After everything they had been through, there was no doubt now that Han had always tried to do his best to love her and protect her and no matter what had happened back then with her real mother, she could only believe that her adoptive father had tried to do the same.

Han placed one of his hands over hers and squeezed it as he gave her a wink and a smile. She looked away from him and back towards the field as she said, "He really was a great father," as she said the words her father's memory wrapped around her like a warm embrace and her eyes grew moist. She could almost see his silhouette standing in the window and smiling down at her from the imaginary castle in the distance. Looking back at Han, she added, "I guess I'd lost sight of that for a while."

Han pulled her to him and they kissed briefly. Pulling away from him she stared into his eyes. This trip had seemed so daunting, so…intimidating, just days ago. Han had certainly been her rock throughout this entire ordeal and she often wondered where she would be without him. He always seemed to know the right things to say and do, even if it meant not saying or doing anything sometimes. Just like this small trip he had planned, even if he had not set out to do it, it seemed that it had been just what she needed to transition into this new reality that was being thrust upon her.

Tomorrow she would meet strangers that were her grandparents, aunt, and cousin. But today, on a small beach by a tranquil lake in the arms of the man she loved, she had taken a tentative step towards peace with her past. She smiled at her husband and kissed him again, this time a long and lingering kiss that made the ache inside of her chest burn.

They spent the night on the Falcon and she and Han walked along the beach one last time the next morning before heading to Theed to meet Luke and her family. Han stopped at one point and bent down to pick something up as they headed up the beach one last time. As he held it up for Leia to see, she stopped in her tracks and looked at what he had found. It was a multi-colored shell that was smooth along the bottom with several small, spiral protrusions that looked like turrets jutting out from the other side.

She smiled at him and kissed him as she took the shell into her hand. Turning it over and studying it, she whispered, "It's a castle."

Han didn't say a word as he wrapped his arm around her and held her tightly in his embrace. They walked in silence to the Falcon as Leia let the tears fall freely down her cheeks. The tiny castle nestled in the palm of her hand as memories of her father and her childhood and a castle by the lake, swirled warmly inside of her soul.