2.
Han and Leia
"Han?" Leia Organa Solo stepped into the apartment that she was currently sharing with her husband, her daughter, Jaina, and her "new" daughter Amelia. Knowing that Han and Jaina were both supposed to be working on the Millennium Falcon until late, she had gone to dinner with Mirax Terrik-Horn and Iella Antilles. She had lost track of time and now found herself coming home a little past midnight.
She kicked off her shoes and was taking her hair out of its complicated arrangement, searching for hairpins with her delicate fingers when she stopped short, finding the target of her search directly, unexpectedly, in front of her.
Han Solo sat, in the dark, in the living room section of the apartment. He was staring into a glass of Corellian whiskey, and Leia wondered if she needed to start monitoring his alcohol intake again.
"Hey Princess." He was sober. Good. Leia exhaled a sigh of relief. She moved toward him, turning on the room's light as she walked. The sudden change in atmosphere caused Han to cringe.
"Sorry. What in the worlds are you doing sitting here in the dark?" She sat beside him on the sofa, and his arm came up automatically to drape across her shoulders.
"She's moving out." Han sighed heavily and looked at Leia seemingly defeated. It was all Leia could do not to laugh.
"Jaina? Really? When did this happen? I thought you two were working on the Falcon tonight." Leia leaned into his embrace and laid her head on his shoulder.
"We were." Han practically growled. "That's when I found out that she was packin' up and movin' out." He took another sip from his glass before offering it, gently, in Leia's direction. She took it from him and took a healthy sip herself, only shivering slightly at the strength of the liquid, but otherwise unbothered. Han often thought to himself that few people would believe the amount of very strong alcohol that his wife could, in fact, consume and tolerate.
"Well, what do you think brought that on?"
"I'll tell you what brought that on. Chiss-boy brought that on." Leia sat upright and, this time, couldn't manage to suppress her laugh.
"Jagged? She's moving in with Jag?"
"It seems like it. Apparently the kid inherited Admiral Pellaeon's quarters. She said we had to be tired of her hanging around here at her age, so she packed a bag and said she'd be back tomorrow to get the rest of it."
"As if I could ever be tired of one of my own children hanging around." Leia shook her head in disbelief. "So I guess that means she's made a decision, huh?"
Han snorted.
"More like Zekk made her choice for her."
"Han!" Leia smacked him on the arm. "Don't you dare let Jaina hear you talk like that. You know that she's terribly upset that he's still missing." Leia rested back against his shoulder again. "But honestly, I think we always knew that as long as Jag was in the picture, that he was the one her heart really belonged to."
"It's not her heart that has me drinking here in the dark, Your Highness. It's the fact that he gets to rest of her too that suddenly makes me want to be very, very drunk." Han emptied the rest of his glass and stood, his obvious intent being to refill. Leia reached up and tugged him back down the couch. He landed beside her with no premise of grace and the air left his body with an undignified grunt.
"Siddown, flyboy. You don't need a drink. Look, your daughter has been in love with Jagged Fel for years and you've known that for longer than she has. You always complain about how much you hate Zekk. Now, she's decided that Zekk is not the man to whom her future belongs, and you want to throw a childish fit about that." She repositioned herself on the couch and began rubbing Han's shoulders in a slow, conciliatory manner. She had learned long ago that if she had to give Han news that he didn't want to hear, her best bet was to partner the news with some sort of physical comfort. He sighed in relief under her ministrations, and she could feel him relax slightly.
"I'm not being childish." He made a feeble attempt to continue to defend his side of the argument. "I just don't want that little lizard-monkey pawing at my daughter is all." He leaned back into his wife's massage-turned-embrace. She hugged him tightly and then pushed him upright so that she could resume her position tucked along his side.
"Han, sweetheart. No one is 'pawing' at Jaina. She's 31 years old, Han. She is totally in control of herself and her life. You have to step back and just let her live."
In response, Han slumped a little more into the forgiving cushions of the couch. When he turned to look at her again, he looked practically overcome. She was seeing that look more and more on Han's face and it troubled her every time.
"She's the only one we've got left, Leia. I never thought—" He trailed off and fought hard to keep himself from becoming totally immersed in sadness and self-pity. Leia knew exactly what it was that he never thought. Neither of them had imagined that they'd ever be talking about their only child. It never entered her mind with all that war seemed to bring to the galaxy, that it would also bring the loss of any of her children. She had always, somewhere in the back of her mind, thought her family invincible. Chewie's death changed it a little, but these last 10 years or so had been particularly hard to take.
"I know, Han. Believe me, I know." She placed a hand on his arm. "But, you can't allow what…what happened to them to dictate the way that we treat Jaina. She's a grown woman and we need to treat her like the individual she is."
"I know that, Leia. I hate myself for it, but sometimes I think that what happened and, suddenly, I really can't seem to let her go."
"Han. We can't let ourselves think like that. You know that it's a self-defeating path. Besides," Leia stroked the hand currently holding hers, "we have Amelia to think about now."
"That's true. Little brat's adorable, damn her."
"Where is she now?" Leia picked her head up off of his shoulder and scanned the apartment looking around for signs that Amelia was still around.
"Oh, she's in bed. I told her the story of the Emperor's Foot and she dropped right off." Han finished his drink and set the empty glass on the table.
"Han!" Leia smacked his arm. "You didn't tell her that story!"
"Well sure I did, Princess. Kids love that story."
"That story is awful, Han."
"It is not. It's a perfectly wonderful little bedtime story."
"Han, It was awful the first time you invented it for the twins on the way back to Coruscant and it's still awful now."
In response to the charges being levelled at him, Han made the necessary effort to pull himself off of the couch. Turning, he held his hand out to his wife and she took it suspiciously.
"C'mon, Princess. We're going to bed. I'm too old and too tired to fight with you anymore about this. Besides, I think that the fact that Amelia is asleep right now attests to my being completely correct." He kissed the top of her head and started to walk down the corridor towards their bedroom. She scowled slightly at his retreating form, and he turned to her, his eyes softening and his smile shrinking slightly. "Look, Princess, we've got each other, and we've got Jaina and Amelia and we're going to be all right, right?"
"Right." Leia smiled and realized that he was, in fact, correct. No matter what the galaxy had to throw at them yet would pose no threat as long as they had each other. Jaina had been very astute in that observation. However, there was still another observation yet to make, Leia suddenly understood while watching his retreating back. She crept down the corridor after him and whispered, just loud enough that he could hear it.
"Han?"
"Yeah?" He turned around, clearly expecting to be reprimanded for leaving his glass out or something. Instead, his wife smirks and winks.
"I still like the way your pants fit." Leia uses this moment of surprise to walk by Han and into the bedroom. It took Han a few moments to shake himself before he followed her, smirking himself and thinking that maybe having the house almost to themselves again might not be the worst thing in the galaxy.