A few days had passed since Leia and Han had gone into town for dinner, and besides the short time it took for a picture to be taken of the two of them walking in the palace garden, they had not really had much to do together.

After the conversation with Rieekan, which had mostly consisted of Leia talking and a short introduction between Han and the general, they had gone to bed and not said a word about dinner.

Han was going crazy locked up in the castle. He knew almost all of the staff, who were more than nice to him but were kept busy and didn't have much time to spend talking to him. Though it would be the easiest money he ever had to make, a good sum of it too, he wasn't someone who could be kept inside for very long without getting into trouble. He missed his ship more than he ever had in his life and longed for the weekend, so he could ship Leia off to the Rebellion. It was a dangerous mission, and for that, he was grateful.

Chewie had pretty much abandoned him, preferring to stay on the ship to watch over it and make repairs, than spend much time at the palace. Han was more jealous than angry and knew if the situation was switched, he would do the same thing.

Han was surprised to learn that despite everyone's busy schedules, everyone except for him, the king made it a priority to have dinner together every night. Conversation was light, more to appease Grandmother Organa than any other reason, as she took up most of the conversation. In-between bites of food and her countless stories, she would look at Han and Leia, trying to gage them. Leia seemed stressed out, though Han didn't ask because she looked like she might kill someone if they looked at her the wrong way. He tried to ignore her because anytime he opened his mouth, she scowled at him.

After most of the dinner, Grandmother Organa couldn't contain herself anymore.

"Have the two of you had a fight?" Her voice sounded breathless, like she was excited.

Leia's eyes widened and Han tried not to laugh. She turned to her father for an explanation, but he just shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his plate. Han thought he saw the king smirk.

"I-of course not, Grandmother. What would give you that idea?"

"The two of you barely spend any time together at all and when you do, it's at dinner. Tonight, you keep glaring at each other. And yesterday, I saw Captain Solo talking very flirtatiously with one of the maids."

Her eyebrows were wagging in agitation. She seemed far too invested in this. It was Han's turn to look shocked. He choked on the bread he had just taken a bite of.

Leia was glaring at him again.

"I wasn't flirting."

Leia sighed and spoke to her grandmother. "I'm sure it wasn't what it looked like, Grandmother. I assure you everything is perfectly fine between me and Han."

"I'm not so sure about that, dear. Neither of you have been sneaking back-and-forth between your rooms. Not one night!"

"Grandmother!"

Han dropped his fork onto the plate. The king snorted and tried to contain his laughter with a cough.

"I'm just suggesting, dear, that if you want to keep Captain Solo's interest, you need to spend more time with him. The poor fellow spends all his time walled up in this palace with nothing to do, while his lady locks herself up in her office all day."

"There is much work to be done, Grandmother. I have many responsibilities to my people."

"Of course, I understand that. Nothing wrong with work, but there is such a thing as too much work."

"Hardly not in these times."

"Leia dear, I just don't want you missing out on anything."

"We take walks."

"Outside in the gardens! Where everyone can see you. What about privacy?"

"I-"

"Mother," the king's voice was stern, but there was a touch of humor in it.

"Yes, son?"

"I think we should leave Leia and Han alone-"

"Exactly my point!"

He lifted an eyebrow. "I mean in terms of their relationship. They are in control of themselves and I am sure they are very happy."

Grandmother Organa did not respond, but she remained displeased looking.

"Besides, the two of them are going away tomorrow.

Her eyes lit up. "I forgot about that!"

They stayed in relative silence the rest of dinner. For her part, Leia kept her glaring down to a minimum. Right when the last plate was removed, she excused herself and went back into her office. Han spent a few minutes talking with Chewie about the ship, making sure everything was in working order.

He spoke with a sense of reminiscence, longing in his voice. Chewie assured him that all was well with both him and the ship and left before Han could get in another word. Grandmother Organa and Bail were still at the table, sipping on kaffe and engaging in conversation about wedding plans.

Bail was telling her it was a little too soon as the engagement wasn't even official yet. Han left before he could be dragged in on the conversation. He headed back for his room as he had nowhere else to go.

Undressing, he laid down on his bed and sighed. It wasn't nearly time for bed, but he didn't know what else to do. He thought back to the dinner conversation and laughed out loud. He had been flirting with the maid, but it was really harmless. He wondered if Grandmother Organa had been following him all week. He almost wished she would as she was interesting to be around, but she too had responsibilities that kept her busy most of the day. More likely, she probably had gossip informants all over the palace.

He must have fallen asleep because he imagined he was in the cockpit of the Falcon, finally taking her up for flight, when he heard a distant knocking. Quiet at first, it grew louder as he gained consciousness. He sat up and looked out his window. The sky had darkened.

"Come in," his voice was groggy.

The door slid open and Leia shut it quietly behind her as she stepped into the room.

"Awfully early to be in bed already, don't you think?"

Han glared at her. "Nothing else for me to do around here."

She almost looked sympathetic. "Sorry about that. Tomorrow you'll be able to stretch your legs a bit."

"Can't wait to see my ship."

Leia rolled her eyes.

"I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow. We are scheduled to leave early. The less people that see us take off, the less suspicion it will bring us. Of course, once the ship is in hyper space, rumors of our romantic getaway will fly into high gear. But no one must know where we are really headed."

"Whatever you say."

"You'll be on time?"

"Of course."

"Good," she nodded and went to turn away.

"Is that it?"

She turned back. "What do you mean?"

He sighed. "Nothing about what we'll actually be doing there?"

"Not tonight. I'll explain everything to you on the flight. Now if you'll excuse me, we have an early morning tomorrow and I haven't been sleeping well."

Attempting once more to extend her stay, Han asked, "Yeah? What's been bothering you."

She sighed and looked back at him. "It's nothing you have to worry about, Captain. Goodnight."

When she left and shut the door, Han laid back down and willed sleep to take over. He couldn't wait for the morning.

The princess was not a morning person. She never had been. Though always high functioning, it was her mood that was most affected. Those closest to her knew not to even approach her unless she had had a cup of kaffe.

Leia was excited to finally be going back to the Rebellion. The last time she had been directly involved, there had been a close call, but fortunately she had escaped unscathed. She knew the risks, but she felt the situation was worth it. Having to rely on Han Solo to get her to and from was not something she was overly comfortable with. If he was half as good as he said he was, they would have no problem getting there. It was more of an issue for Leia to not have as much time there as she would have liked and also to have to spend so much time alone with the captain locked up in his ship.

If she was being honest, she had been avoiding him. Ever since their night out a few days ago, she had felt unnerved. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was she was feeling or what had caused it. She just knew that when she was around him, she felt something not quite uncomfortable, and Leia was better at ignoring it when he wasn't there to interrupt her thoughts.

Waking up even earlier than she had to, she snuck down to the kitchen and made herself some kaffe. She had told the wait staff not to bother getting up early for them because they wouldn't need a big breakfast. The less people she had to deal with in the morning, the better.

Sipping on her kaffe, she grabbed a bit of fruit and some toast. It was early so she wasn't particularly hungry yet, but she doubted Han would have anything more savory on his ship.

Before heading back up to her room to collect her things and make sure Han was awake, she turned back and made a plate for him. He was being helpful, so it was the least she could do. It took her all of five minutes to have everything ready to go. She traveled light on these trips because she wasn't there as a princess or diplomat and had no use for extravagant things. Being in the barracks, in the midst of the Rebellion and war was a far cry from the aristocratic life she was accustomed, and she loved it.

So as not to disturb any neighboring rooms, especially that of her Grandmother who was probably already lingering, waiting to see if anything good happened, she decided to just walk into Han's room.

Cautious so as not to walk in on anything she didn't, or shouldn't, want to see, Leia opened the door. It was still dark in the main bedroom and she sighed, afraid he was still sleeping.

She whispered, "Han? Are you awake?"

No one responded, but she noticed that the fresher door was closed and the light was on inside. Feeling much more at ease, she turned the light on and sat down on the very edge of his bed to wait. They still had plenty of time so she didn't need to rush him, yet.

After only a few minutes of waiting, the fresher door opened and Leia looked up from her datapad.

Han looked a little surprised to see her sitting there at first, but was quick to recover. "Morning, Your Worship."

He stepped into the room and rummaged around, getting ready. He was already dressed in his usual Corellian blood stripe pants, high black boots, and button up white shirt. Leia watched as he threw on his vest, rumpled his hair, and attached his blaster to the holster. Han grabbed a bag sitting near his bed, threw it on his shoulder, and looked towards her.

"Ready?"

"Yes, I brought you something." She pointed to the chair beside his dresser. "Hungry?"

For the first time that morning, he smiled at her. "Starved. Thanks."

He quickly ate the fruit, but took the toast and kaffe to go.

They sat in comfortable silence in the ride over to the fleet. Leia was busy fiddling around on her datapad and Han fell into a light sleep. Every so often, Leia would look up at him, feeling it was safe to do so as he slept.

She wanted to know more about him, but didn't know what to ask and how to begin. The few times she had prompted him, he kept his answers brief and didn't divulge any more than was necessary. Leia was curious more than anything and frustrated by his lack of interest in making conversation. If they were going to pretend to be in love, she at least wanted to know who she was in love with. It was also difficult to get a good look at him when he was conscious because any time she looked at him, he made a lewd remark or leered at her. It was unnerving.

A good half hour into the trip, they were almost at the fleet. Leia packed up her datapad and sat back in the seat. She was watching Han again, but didn't realize she was staring until he spoke to her.

His eyes still closed, he said, "See anything you like, Your Highness?"

The stammering she made in response made a wide smirk break across his face and he opened his eyes.

"You were staring."

Leia looked affronted and got defensive. "I was not."

"Yes. You were. I could feel your eyes on me practically this whole trip. I'm intuitive like that."

Leia rolled her eyes and turned to look out the window. The sky was lightening as the sun came up. "You happen to be sitting across from me and I was looking up in thought. Do not take it personally, Captain, because I assure you I was not looking at you."

"Not what it looked like to me."

"Your eyes were closed so you cannot really judge that anyways. And I was looking through you, not at you."

"Not a lot of difference there, princess."

"Don't flatter yourself."

Han just grinned in response, which made her even angrier. Leia sat with her legs and arms crossed tightly, a pose she struck up when she was agitated or defensive. This was a bit of both. Han just kept laughing to himself as he looked out the window.

A few minutes later, they were on the Falcon preparing for take-off. Leia dropped her bag off in the main cabin, knowing she would meet some resistance later.

Chewie was there to see them off. He didn't say much, but patted Han affectionately on the shoulder and smiled at Leia, though had she not known it was a friendly gesture she may have felt intimidated otherwise. Chewie hopped into the hoverlimo they had just came from and headed back towards the palace.

Sitting in the cockpit, Leia watched as Han performed his pre-flight rituals. He seemed so much more at ease being on his ship, but his face was so serious as he worked. After typing in the coordinates and pressing a bunch of buttons Leia wasn't exactly sure what they meant, he nodded for her to put on her crash webbing.

"Ready for the real Millennium Falcon experience?"

"As I'll ever be, I suppose."

Han grinned and turned back to the controls. "Glad to see you knew not to sit in the co-pilot's chair. She might not take-off with you sitting next to me because you offended her so rudely."

Leia rolled her eyes again. "I am sitting here only for the initial take-off. Once we are in hyperspace I will leave you alone with your ship."

"I think after this first flight you'll see her in a completely different light."

"I certainly hope she exceeds my painfully low expectations."

Han didn't answer, as he took the Falcon up and into the air. A few minutes later, they were flying comfortably in hyperspace.

"Alright, Your Royalness. We've got just over a full day ahead of us until we rendezvous with the Rebellion. Food's fully stocked in the kitchen unless Chewie's been eating it all during his midnight snacks. You know where the main fresher is and I had Chewie set up a cot for you in the hold."

He couldn't contain a smirk as she tried to hide her expression of horror.

"Ah, I'm just teasing sweetheart. You can have the main cabin. Chewie even put fresh sheets on the bed for you, the big lug. I'll take the cot because I don't need as much privacy."

Leia looked taken aback. "That's very generous of you, Captain, are you sure?"

Han shrugged.

She sat still for a moment, touched, before continuing. "Alright then. Shall we debrief?"

"Nah, we have plenty of time for that. I'm gonna go back to sleep."

"I-"

He interrupted her. "Trust me, we'll have plenty of time later. I promise I'll be at full attention for you in a few hours."

He stood up from his chair and stretched. "You should probably get some rest too. You look real tired."

Leia tried not to look offended. "I didn't think I needed to dress up for you and your ship, Captain. Especially as we won't be going anywhere for the next 24 hours or so."

"Relax, sweetheart. I didn't mean anything like that. You've got dark rims around your eyes and I know for a fact you don't get much sleep while at home. You told me so yourself last night. Now you've got nothing else to do, might as well try and catch up on sleep."

He had surprised her again. Leia stood up from her chair. "Oh. Right. Well then, Cap- Han, I suppose I will take your advice. Now you're sure you don't mind me using your cabin?"

She watched him shrug as he walked away from the cockpit into the hold. Leia followed, but headed towards the cabin, his cabin. It was a little odd for her to be sleeping in his bed, but since Chewie had changed the sheets, it didn't feel that intrusive.

Laying down, she noted that the bed was rather comfortable. She looked around her once more before pulling the covers up over her and closing her eyes. Drifting off to sleep, Leia was determined to get to know more about Han Solo when she woke up. Whether that meant prying it directly from the source himself or trying to pick together pieces about him from his belongings, she wasn't particularly picky.