Han had checked on Leia one last time to make sure she didn't need anything else before he disappeared for a few hours. She seemed even more annoyed by his presence and he was glad to be getting out for a few hours. He left her with a box of tissues, a big glass of water and a little bit more medication in case what she had already taken wore off. The medicine made her even drowsier, and she was likely to just sleep the entire time he was gone, anyway. Still, he told her not to hesitate to comm him if she needed anything.

He made his way to the restaurant and just the smell of it made him hungry. Leia was never much for spicy food, so it wasn't often that he had the opportunity to eat at this dive unless he was just with Chewie. Even Luke was a reluctant patron.

Rena was waiting for him and approached him the moment he walked in the door, her arm outstretched in greeting. "Captain Solo, it is so good to finally meet you. Thank you for agreeing to do this article."

He reached out and took her hand, and she brought her other hand up to clasp his, lingering a little longer than he felt comfortable with. "Sure. I figured we had to save everyone from hearing what Lando thinks of himself."

She laughed a little too hard at the comment, and placed her thin fingers on his arm, giving his muscle a gentle squeeze. "Oh, he would've been a vastly inferior choice, but luckily we didn't have to move down the list. You are definitely who we wanted to focus on this year. Come on, let's get to our table."

She signaled for the hostess who came over and she led them to a small table in the corner of the dimly lit restaurant. Han took a moment to take in Rena's appearance. She looked like she was maybe a couple of years older than Leia. She had fair skin, and her long, blond hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, and she wore a pair of dark-rimmed, almost rectangular glasses. That was about the only feature that made her look like a magazine editor. She was dressed in a navy skirt that ended just above her knees, exposing long legs and spiked heels that made her only a couple of inches shorter than Han was. Her matching blazer was open enough to reveal an almost inappropriately low-cut white blouse underneath – not that he'd noticed.

When they reached the table, Han pulled her chair out for her out of force of habit. "Why, thank you, Captain Solo. It's not often you find such gentlemen around anymore. I knew there was a reason we picked you."

"Just common courtesy," he said, taking his seat across from her. "And please, just call me Han."

"All right then, Han. So, is there anything you want to know from me before we get started?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah. Why me?"

"Oh, you are modest, aren't you? It's pretty obvious, if you ask me. The man who risked his life to help save the galaxy on countless occasions, hotshot pilot, hero of the Rebel Alliance, instrumental in the beginning of the New Republic, loving and supportive husband to an actual princess."

Han was relieved that she was actually aware of that fact.

"And, if you don't mind my saying so, tall and incredibly attractive with a great body."

Han felt his face flush as she gave him a shy smile, and it took him a moment to respond. "Okay, well, what about my brother-in-law? He's most of what you just said, only he has the added bonus of being both a Jedi Knight and an eligible bachelor."

"Luke Skywalker? Well, yes, he is certainly a great catch. But I – we – are far more interested in you."

Han was relieved when they were interrupted by a server droid who came over to take their order. Rena had told Han to order for both of them since she trusted whatever he chose, and then they were left alone again.

"So, are you ready to get this interview started, then?" She said, suddenly seeming far more business-like when she pulled out a small audio recording device.

"Sure, I guess so."

She proceeded to ask him some questions about his heroics in defeating the empire, and he gave her short, simple responses, not caring much to go into detail because he didn't think anyone would really be interested.

She also asked him about the Millennium Falcon and the rumors she had heard about how fast it was due to his own ingenious engineering. This he was more eager to discuss, but her eyes looked to be glazing over and he realized that perhaps she wasn't that interested in hyperspace modifications talk. So he simply finished with, "She's the fastest freighter in the galaxy, I can assure you."

"I hope you don't like to do everything as fast as possible," she responded, giving him a flirtatious smile.

"Huh?"

She didn't get a chance to respond as a few plates of steaming food were placed on their table by the server droid, who left them alone again far too quickly for Han's comfort.

"Mmmm… it smells delicious. I can't wait to try it."

Happy to have an easy distraction, Han focused his attention on his plate. "Yeah, they make some pretty good stuff here. Be careful though, it's pretty spicy if you're not used to it. Leia hates spicy food, which is why she never comes here with me."

"That's a shame. I happen to love spicy," she said as she brought a bite-sized piece of spiced beef up to her lips, blowing on it before placing it in her mouth and chewing slowly. He kept an eye on her, waiting to see a sign that the food was too spicy for her, but saw none. "Mmmmm… delicious. I just love Corellian meat."

Han started choking at the half-chewed hunk of food in his mouth and gulped down some water. "Sorry, I guess I should chew my food a little better, huh?"

"That's all right. Let me ask you a few more questions. Let's talk about your wife."

For a few minutes there he had been wondering if she'd remembered he actually had a wife. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"What kind of a relationship do you have?"

"Well, we've been married for a little over a year, and we've known each other for I guess about eight years now. But it's no secret that it took her a while to warm up to me."

"I can't imagine why," Rena responded.

Han looked back down at his plate of food. "Yeah, well, we were too good at arguing with each other to bother with much else. We had some pretty legendary fights. We still have some pretty good arguments, we just happen to be much better at making up afterward."

"I bet you are."

He instantly regretted adding that last sentence. "Anyway, she's an incredible woman. We love each other and enjoy our life together." He suddenly found himself slightly embarrassed. He wasn't sure why he was opening up quite so much. Maybe he just wanted to make sure that Rena fully understood how committed he was to his wife.

"Enough with the mushy stuff, do you have anything else you want to know?"

"How about your past? What were you like growing up?"

"Nah, let's not go there. I don't really like to talk about it."

She looked slightly disappointed. "Well, how about some of our more simple questions. What is your favorite food?"

This he could handle. "A nice, tender nerf steak, rare."

"What kind of workout routine do you adhere to so that you keep that incredible body?"

Workout routine? Who had time for a workout routine? He was pretty sure that most of his aerobic exertion was taken care of between intense repairs on the Falcon and sweaty nights spent in bed with Leia – more than a few of which had actually made him sore the next day - but he certainly wasn't going to mention that to this woman. "I don't really have time for that. I guess it's just the physical labor from working on my ship that keeps me in shape. It's a pretty intense job, at times."

"Fair enough, although I'll tell you right now that a lot of our readers are going to be jealous that you maintain your physique without intense physical exercise."

Oh, it's pretty intense, he thought to himself. But it's so much fun I hardly notice.

"Next question: boxers or briefs?"

"Your readers are really interested in what kind of underwear I have?"

"You'd be surprised at the kind of thing they're interested in. I'm actually going easy on you, but only because I can already tell you wouldn't even answer most of the good stuff."

"Well, you're gonna have to use your imagination." He wasn't sure Leia would appreciate him talking about his underwear in a widely released publication. He knew for sure he wouldn't appreciate her talking about her own if their roles were reversed.

"Oh, trust me, I already do."

What was with this lady? Was he imagining things? Han started eating faster, hoping to either speed the meal along or maybe give himself heartburn intense enough that he'd be forced to excuse himself from the table.

"And what do you like to do for fun?"

That relaxed him a bit. "I guess I don't really have a whole lot of spare time. Really mostly just quiet nights at home with my wife or maybe dinner with a few close friends."

"Sounds nice. All right, I think that's enough for now. I'm sure I'll come up with a few more questions to ask before our photo shoot. I've talked to my photographer, and if you're free tomorrow morning, we can do it then."

Han had forgotten about the photo shoot, but he decided not matter how uncomfortable it made him, there would be at least one other person there, and he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

"Yeah, tomorrow will be fine. Where do you want me to meet you?"

"Actually, we like to get our subjects in their own element. So if you wouldn't mind us coming over to your place first, and then maybe we could get some shots of you on your ship. I'd like to talk to your wife, too, if that's okay."

Han was starting to wonder what Leia might think of this Rena, and if Rena might ease up a bit on the obvious flirting when Leia was around. If not, Rena might get a taste of what Leia could be like when she got angry. "Sure, I just hope she's better by then. She woke up feeling a little ill this morning."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I assure you, we'll try to be as unobtrusive as possible."

"Good. Speaking of which, I should really get back home to check on her, would you mind?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't expect otherwise. Like I said, we'll take care of this. Thank you again for agreeing to this Capt – I mean, Han."

He stood and she held out her hand to shake his again. "You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow.

"I'm looking forward to it."

He was thoroughly relieved to be leaving the restaurant, and he started considering how Leia might react to this woman. Hopefully Rena would have enough tact to tone it down a little when his wife was present. He was starting to believe that Rena was the sole vote on the sexiest man alive selection committee.

Han had returned home and quietly entered the bedroom where he had left Leia to rest. He was glad to see that she was awake, slightly reclined with several pillows behind her head, blankets pulled up tight around her and several used tissues balled up and spread out on the table next to her. At least she appeared to have finally drunk the juice he had left her.

"Hey, feeling any better?"

"Maybe a little," came the still-raspy voice. She actually sounded even more congested. "I can at least lift my head up a little. I'm still achy all over though, and I've got the chills."

"Well, let me see if I can fix at least one of those," he said as he approached the bed and laid down next to her, pulling her body close to his. He held her for only a few seconds before her body was wracked with a violent sneeze, breaking his embrace.

"Bless you."

"Thanks," she said as she brought a tissue to her nose and forced out a significant amount of phlegm. Her skin was even paler than normal, and her nose was already red and dry. This was certainly not the most attractive he'd seen her.

"Are you hungry? Do you want me to get you something?"

Another sniffle. "No, I don't think so. I just want to lie here and watch trashy holodramas and fall asleep."

It was then that he noticed the flickering screen on the wall at the foot of the bed. "Anything good on?"

"Of course not, that's what makes it so perfect right now. Wait, how did your meeting go?"

"It was… good, I guess." He wasn't sure how much he should elaborate.

"That doesn't sound very convincing."

"Honestly, it was a little weird. The woman just seemed like she was flirting with me the whole time."

"Of course she did. She's writing an article that is proclaiming you as the sexiest man alive. Do you think she can seem like she's not flirting when she's asking you questions like what do you like to wear to bed at night?"

"Thankfully she didn't ask me that one. I don't think I'd want it in print that I'd rather not wear anything. She did ask me what kind of underwear I wear though. That wasn't awkward at all."

"I told you it might not be the best idea. They don't exactly go for substance over there. Did you answer the question?"

"No way. I don't want anyone but you picturing me in my underwear." He gave her a little wink.

She looked like she was about to smile, but instead she started coughing.

"Well, let me at least give you some more decongestant, at least that might help a little."

"I'm not sure it did the first time, but it couldn't hurt, right? And maybe it will just put me out so I can just fall asleep and not wake up until I'm better."

He returned with two more tiny pills and some water, and she took her second dose before he sat down on the bed next to her. "I forgot to tell you," Han said. "She and the photographer want to come here tomorrow to take a few pictures of me, and they wanted to talk to you, too."

"Really?" The response sounded almost like a whine. "Han, I'm not sure I'm going to be better by tomorrow."

"Well, I'm sure it won't take too long. And I think I'd feel more comfortable if you were here."

"Why? Afraid you otherwise would be unable to resist the charms of the big, bad editor, Solo?" She asked sarcastically.

"Actually I'm counting on you to protect me from her. Maybe she'll be less likely to ask anymore underwear questions with my wife in the room."

"Han, I really think this sexiest man alive thing is already going to your head. Not every woman you see is going to try and flirt with you. She's just doing her job. Even if it is a pretty mindless job."

"Okay, fine. You can decide for yourself tomorrow, then. Now, do you need anything? You've got the sexiest man alive to attend to your every need, princess."

"Stop flattering yourself, flyboy. You're still just a scruffy-looking smart ass and you know it. Really though, I just want to try and get some rest, if you don't mind."

He reached up and ran his fingers through her tangled hair. "Sure, just give me a shout if you need me and my obviously vastly superior immune system."

"Don't you start with that kind of talk. I'll give you a big, wet kiss just to make sure that in a few days you wake up feeling just as badly as I do right now."

"Promise?"

She gave him a playful slap on his shoulder. "Get out of here."

"Okay, okay. Hope you feel better soon."

"Me, too."