About an hour later, Han was pacing back and forth in the living room, anxiously awaiting the arrival of his guests. Not so much because he actually wanted them there, but simply because he wanted to get it over and done with. He also knew that with Leia not feeling so well he'd be better off getting them in and out of there as soon as possible.

Han had dressed in his fairly standard attire, brown pants with the gold stripe down the side, white shirt and black vest. He had briefly contemplated dressing up a bit more, but Rena had said that they wanted to get him 'in his element' so he figured he might as well wear what he was most comfortable in.

Earlier, he had finally managed to get Leia to drink a glass of juice but he was still irritated that she hadn't eaten anything. She had remained in the bedroom after getting dressed, resting a bit more before she would have to try and be personable and not act like the cranky, sick princess she currently was.

Finally, Han heard the signal that their guests had arrived. "Come on, Leia. They're here," he called back to the bedroom.

Han keyed the door open to reveal Rena, dressed slightly more conservatively than she had been the day before. Behind her was a sloppy-looking man dressed in tan, baggy cargo pants and a dingy white t-shirt, carrying a camera.

"Hello, Han. It's so good to see you again." Rena held out her hand and Han gripped it loosely in greeting, hoping to discourage her from lingering. "This is my photographer, Korst. He doesn't speak basic, I'm afraid."

Han gave the man a nod, and the man gave a half-hearted smile back.

"Han, aren't you going to introduce me to your guests?" Han heard Leia's voice from behind him and turned to see her walking towards them in the entryway.

"Sure. Rena, this is my wife, Leia. Leia, this is Rena Star and Korst."

Leia smiled and enthusiastically shook Rena's hand. "It is so good to meet you, Miss Star."

"Oh, it is an honor for me to meet you, Minister of State."

"Please, just call me Leia. This isn't a formal meeting."

"All right then, Leia. Thank you for having me and thank you for being so willing to share your husband with us."

"Oh, it's my pleasure," Leia said, a little too pleasantly. Throughout the exchange Leia had a huge grin on her face, and Han couldn't tell if she was just trying to make Rena feel comfortable or if she was trying to hide something. Her voice was still raspy, but the makeup she had applied made her look a little less sickly than she had earlier.

"Well, come on in," Han said, leading them into the living room. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Just some water, thank you," Rena replied.

"No problem, I'll be right back," Han said before going into the kitchen.

"Please, have a seat," Leia said, leading them over to the couch.

"You have a lovely home," Rena said before taking a seat next to Leia while Korst wandered around the living room and taking random pictures.

"Thank you, we like it," Leia said just as Han returned and handed Rena her drink before sitting down next to his wife and putting his arm around her. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a hint of irritation in Rena's eyes at the gesture.

"Well," Rena said. "I suppose we should get a few shots of you here at home. I see you have a lovely balcony, how about a couple of shots out there?"

"Sure, if you think that would be good." At least so far it all sounded painless enough.

"Korst?" Rena said, before pointing out towards the balcony. He nodded at her, seemingly understanding what their plan was.

After only about ten minutes of posing on the balcony, Han was reminded of one of the many reasons he hadn't ever considered a career in modeling. He felt absolutely ridiculous, and it only seemed to have just occurred to him how embarrassing this was going to be later on when his friends saw it. It was precisely why he had opted not to ask Chewie to join them when they went to take a few more pictures of him on the Falcon.

Leia sat quietly in the living room, watching but not participating. The only good thing so far was that Rena seemed to have been acting far more professional than she had the day before. She was simply helping suggest backgrounds for the pictures and giving Han simple stage directions, such as, "Lean your elbow up against that railing."

After countless shots and wondering just how many ways there were for a person to pose on a balcony, Rena finally said, "Okay, I think that's enough out here. How about I ask your wife a few questions now?"

"Sure," Han said. He looked in to Leia, who had her chin propped up in her hand, arm resting on her knee. In her other hand was a half-empty glass of water, her eyes fixed on it as she swirled it around in a daze. The look on her face seemed a little odd, but he figured it was probably just the fact that she wasn't feeling well.

They walked back into the living room and startled Leia out of her trance. "Oh, all done out there?" Leia asked.

"Yes," Rena replied. "It is such a lovely view. And I'm sure it will make an appealing backdrop behind your husband. Although I'm not sure anyone will bother to notice with him in the picture."

"Oh, well, if you really want some good shots of him maybe later on you should take a few of him with his shirt off. Now that would sell magazines."

Han blinked slowly, wondering if maybe he had heard wrong. That didn't sound very much a response he would've expected.

Rena seemed eager to jump at this opportunity. "Oh, I agree." She then turned to Han with a big, hopeful smile, "What do you say, Han?"

"Uh, I don't think that's really necessary." He glared at Leia, and she returned with a wide-eyed look of over-dramatic mock-innocence.

"Suddenly he's all shy and modest," Leia said. "Don't let him fool you."

"Well, perhaps we can try and convince him later," Rena continued before sitting down next to Leia on the couch. "Maybe I'll just ask you a few questions about your husband now, Leia, if you don't mind."

"Absolutely. Go ahead."

Leia's eyes looked a little glassy, and there was just something about her tone that was starting to make Han nervous.

Rena began with the questions. "All right, so what did you think of him when you first met him?"

"Hah," Leia laughed. "Well, first of all, I thought he was an arrogant loud-mouth who quite obviously never thought things through. In fact, I didn't think he'd live long enough to get me off the Death Star considering some of the idiotic things he did while trying to rescue me. That would've been too bad, considering I had also noticed very quickly how attractive he was. But I pretended not to notice."

"Well," Rena replied, "We've all heard about how long your relationship took to develop. But what about now? Is he romantic?"

Han's felt his face flush. He was leaning against the wall behind Rena, and it seemed odd to be watching this conversation take place in front of him as though he wasn't even in the room.

"Han? Romantic? I guess he can be when he wants to be. Or when he wants something from me. Or if he's feeling guilty about something. It usually doesn't take much, though. He's quite good at charming the pants off a woman, if you know what I mean." Leia leaned in toward Rena and started giggling like a child and Rena seemed quite satisfied with the answer.

Han wondered if Leia's responses were some form of punishment to him, because he would never expect her to be so open and candid with a complete stranger, and especially one who was going to write down everything she said and make it available to the public.

"Oh, I think I know what you mean," Rena replied before eyeing Han and giving him a little smile. He felt sweat beginning to bead on his forehead and tugged at his collar to get some air.

"And I know you're wondering, so I'll just go ahead and tell you that he is amazing in bed."

Han started clearing his throat loudly, eying Leia and trying to stop her from speaking anymore. Rena looked like a woman who had just won a million credits, and Leia simply looked at Han with a smile and continued. "He can go for hours." Her brown eyes widened, and Han felt his heart rate increase. Instinctively, he started moving around the couch behind Leia "Oh, and he's got a hu-"

Han lunged, clamping his right hand down over Leia's mouth to muffle the end of her sentence, and then he brought his left arm underneath hers before hoisting her up off the couch and dragging her towards the bedroom.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Would you please excuse us for just a minute?" Still seemingly intent on getting her point across, Leia held her hands up in front of her, palms facing, a little less than shoulder width apart.

Once inside the bedroom, he shut the door, released Leia from his grasp and spun her to face him. "What in the hell was that all about?"

"What do you mean?" she replied. "I was just answering the nice lady's questions."

"Sweetheart, what's gotten into you? I've never heard you talking like that with anyone, let alone a complete stranger."

"Oh, pffft," Leia sputtered, pressing her lips together and spraying the slightest bit of spit on Han's chin. Completely baffled by her behavior, he was pretty sure he'd never seen her using such a childish gesture.

"I thought this article was supposed to make sure everyone knew you were the sexiest man alive," she replied before moving closer and resting her hands on his chest. Her voice was still raspy, which only made her sound more ridiculous.

She looked up at him conspiratorially, and her voice softened a bit. "You think we can get away with a quickie before we go back out there?"

"What? Well, yeah…" He shook his head, "I mean, no. I mean, what is the matter with you this morning? Are you on spice?" He was holding her by her shoulders, searching her eyes for some sort of explanation.

"What do you mean, darling? I just thought maybe we could…" The rest of her sentence was cut off as she started coughing uncontrollably. Once the coughing subsided, she looked back up to him. "I'm sorry, now where were we?"

She reached down for his belt buckle, and Han grasped her hands and pulled away from her, suddenly coming to a realization. "Wait a minute, did you take any more of that medication this morning after I left you?"

She thought for a moment. "Yes. Two doses, actually. I didn't want to have my nose running the entire time when we had company. Your whiskey obviously didn't work."

Han slapped himself on the forehead, running his hand down over his eyes. "Sweetheart, you're not supposed to mix those things with alcohol. And you've hardly eaten much of anything in the past couple of days. No wonder you're such a mess."

"What mess? I feel fantastic! Now take me to the bed, Captain, and have your way with me. That's an order!"

"Shhh!" He clamped his hand over her mouth again before backing her up onto the bed and lowering her to the mattress. He was fairly certain that the combination of medication and alcohol hadn't put her in any serious danger, it was likely to just make her completely loopy for a while. But considering some of the things she had been saying, he knew he couldn't let her talk to anyone right now.

"You stay here," he said as he sat up next to her. "I'll be right back."

"You better be," Leia said, wiggling her eyebrows at him before being interrupted with a sneeze.

Han left Leia alone in the bedroom and returned to their guests, careful to secure the door completely. He turned toward Rena, suddenly embarrassed to look her in the eye. "I'm sorry about that. My wife hasn't been feeling very well over the past couple of days, and she's on some medication that is making her a bit, um, off. I think it would be best if we let her get some rest."

"Oh, that's quite all right," Rena said. "I think we've got everything we need from her."

I bet you do, Han thought.

Rena continued. "I'll tell you what, why don't I give you some time to make sure she's all right and then we can meet at your ship later on to get the last few things we need from you? We'll be all done after that."

Han would much rather that this not go any further, but he was feeling too flustered to argue or come up with any excuses. "Sure, fine. Give me about four hours, okay?"

"Sounds good. Thanks again."

"Sure." She stood up and her eyes wandered down his body, somehow managing to actually make him even more uncomfortable. "Uh, I'll show you out," Han said as he turned her towards the door.

"Come on, Korst," Rena said. The photographer had been sitting in a chair at the nearby dining room table through this whole exchange, oblivious to everyone and fiddling with his camera.

Once they were gone, Han returned to the bedroom to find Leia lying on her back. The blouse she had been wearing was almost completely removed with the exception of one sleeve. It appeared as though she was attempting to give him quite an eyeful upon his return, but the combination of chemicals in her body had finally put her to sleep before she could even finish undressing. He was actually relieved this time to hear her snoring, because that meant that there likely wasn't anything seriously wrong with her. She just needed to sleep it off.

Feeling at least a little bit safer now that she couldn't do any more damage, Han collapsed on his back on the bed next to her and covered his eyes with his arm, hoping that maybe if he shut his eyes tight enough he might wake up from this nightmare.