A/N: Thanks again for the reviews. I hope you continue to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

If There Was Nothing There

Leia roughly shoved his hand away from her back and moved just beyond his reach.

"Wait for what?"

"Well, I –"

"Don't start with me, Han."

"Look, Your Worship," his voice took on an angry edge, "I just wanted to talk to you."

"Your chance to talk to me has long since passed. I have to go."

"Why?"

Leia moved around the table, "I have meetings beginning at 0630 tomorrow morning."

"Uh-uh," he stood to face her, the table a physical barrier between them, like all of the pain and all of the years, "why won't you give me a chance to talk?"

"I don't know, Han, maybe because the last thing you said before you left me was, 'I'm done talkin' to you'?"

"That was a long time ago."

"All those years you threatened to leave, I didn't think you'd ever be brave enough to go through with it."

He advanced on her around the booth and she fought against feeling cornered. Even in her high heels, she felt tiny next to him. He was too close.

"You were the only reason I stayed. Did you forget that part?"

Her wounds were too old to tolerate the rupture of a fight with him, "I'm too tired to beat this dead womprat with you."

He moved back just slightly, and Leia felt like she could breath again. Every second that ticked by with him increased her anxiety and exhaustion. She tried to clear her mind as Luke had taught her, tried to seek out the comfort of the Force, but it was elusive. Unable to find solace in her own consciousness, she turned toward the windows and the expansive cityscape of Coruscant.

"Fine," Leia heard Han exhale behind her, "Well, look, today … we didn't know we'd be meeting with both you and the Commerce Minister."

"Really."

"Yeah, really. I didn't know the Ministry of State would be involved. I was just as surprised as you were."

Her eyes fixed on the intricate traffic patterns in the skyways, thousands of vehicles in constant motion even so late into the night.

"Then why wasn't your name on the delegation manifest we received?"

"That's Dashoban's doing, not mine."

"Let me explain this to you, Han: Dashoban knew who he'd be meeting and he brought you along, and didn't tell us, because he wanted me distracted. It isn't like our previous relationship is a secret."

"Did it work?" Without seeing his face, Leia could picture his raised eyebrows and slight smirk as he asked the question.

"Of course not," Leia lied, "It was obvious. You wouldn't believe the kinds of things I've encountered. Alderaan, Anakin Skywalker, the Force. You're just another attempted distraction on a very long list of failed negotiation tactics."

"Too bad. Anyway, I wasn't exactly happy about it. I wanted to see you while I was on Coruscant if I could, just not like that. More like … this."

"Why would you want to see me after so long?"

"Aw, c'mon, Princess – "

"Minister."

"Do I need a reason?"

"You're only seeing me now because your boss is a cunning negotiator and because I trusted Lando."

"You know not to trust Lando."

"I trust him more than I trust you. I don't even know you."

"Ouch, that hurts, Your Highness. I'm the same great guy I've always been, but you don't even have an intelligence file on me?"

Her earlier conversation with Rieekan and the feeling he had been deceiving her suddenly made sense. The Intelligence Secretary, her friend and mentor, had omitted the information he must have known: that Han Solo was involved in the leadership of the New Trade Federation.

"No," she answered.

"You weren't the least bit curious?" Leia felt him move closer again, "Didn't wanna know if I was dead? Bonded with kids? A respectable businessman?"

"No. I didn't care, and I don't care. I mean, great, you're alive. Glad to know your luck hasn't run out yet."

She could sense the heat radiating off his body now. His voice dropped low, "I know all about you, Leia."

"That's because I am the third most senior executive officer in the galactic government and my life is public record."

"Maybe you need to do something off the record, then."

She slipped away from him just before his lips landed in her hair, "You are so uncouth. I am not going to perform sexual service for you while you're here."

"Hey, I don't need your," he gestured dramatically at her, "services. I've got plenty of better options."

"Oh, that's rich. Why aren't you busy pursuing those better options, then?"

He crossed his arms like a petulant child, "Maybe I plan on it."

Leia could hardly believe she was getting sucked into keeping up a conversation with him, especially one that took a turn like this one just had. They might as well have been back on Echo Base, with the heated arguments and innuendos - no history, just promise. He was so much like spice, uncontrollably addictive. When he'd first abandoned her, she could barely figure out how to function. All of horrors of the war she had suppressed with his help had come back to her, and with the added pain of his largely unexplained departure. She'd successfully kicked the habit, thanks mostly to Luke and the demands of state-building. But just conversing with him again brought back the rush and falling back under his spell was clearly all too easy. She didn't need him and she definitely didn't want him.

"Well," she smiled and laced her voice with sarcasm, "good luck, then. The blonde host looked like your type."

Leia was proud of herself for leaving Han standing dumbfounded. What had he expected from her? An admission of loneliness? Acquiescence to his advances? Seven years to be erased with a charming word? An acceptance of an apology for leaving her? She hadn't been lying when she told him she didn't know anything about his life during the lost years, although it had been a constant battle to not give into her desire to know. Some days had been easier than others.

She climbed out of the speeder one of the security officers was driving and bid her goodnight. The night was warm but she still shivered as the air touched her skin. During the ride from the entertainment district, Leia had repeatedly run over her conversation with Han, trying to figure out why she hadn't just walked away and why he had suddenly reappeared in her life. She had not bothered to ask him why he had shown up at the lounge, whether he and Lando had agreed on the plan beforehand, or if Lando had surprised him as well.

Keying in the entry to her building with a nod to the security droid, Leia shook her head. Of course Han had been in on it. That Han had wanted to see her to get attention, and probably action, wasn't a far-fetched theory. For someone who insisted constantly that he didn't want to draw attention to himself, Leia knew that he liked nothing better. He probably wanted to confirm that she hadn't forgotten him in the past seven years.

Maybe she didn't need her former lover, but she did need her twin brother. She opened her mind to create a mental connection with him. Talking through one another's heads was an activity she would never get used to, and she did it as little as possible. Luke was already tempted – he said so – to probe her mind more than he already did, but she had warned him in no uncertain terms that just because they had shared a womb didn't meant they had to share thoughts. Leia cringed a bit as she felt his mind open to her.

Luke.

The lush vegetation of the building's courtyard drew her there, and not up to her apartment. The common spaces of the luxury complex were all deserted; wizened government bureaucrats turned in early.

Leia.

She wandered between the tall plants with broad leaves as she formulated a thought to send him.

Han is here. I just saw him.

Energy thrummed across the mental connection, I know. We talked earlier.

Leia was sure he could feel the anger she felt at the admission.

Why didn't you tell me?

What was there to tell? He's been on Coruscant for a few days. I didn't think you'd really want to know.

She sat down on a curved stone bench and slipped off her shoes. The extra height they gave her felt good but taking them off always felt better.

Some warning before he showed up at a government meeting would have been nice.

Really, Leia, what would you have done differently if you'd known he'd be there?

She sighed, Probably nothing.

I can come over if you want.

No need. It's late.

Remember I'm here for you anytime, sister.

She kicked at a monstrous waxy leaf near the bench, watching it bounce in response to the contact.

I know. Goodnight, Luke.

'Night, Leia.

By the time she made it up to her apartment, Leia decided that as tired as she was, sleep wasn't going to come. She tossed her shoes on the floor, right where Luke had found them that morning, and made her way into her study. The room, like the rest of her apartment, was decorated in lush colors and fabrics and filled with items that weren't Alderaanian but reminded her of her home planet just the same. Living in a palace as a child had been much like living in a museum, and she couldn't stand the thought of living as an adult the same way. Nothing was precious, but everything was beautiful.

Rather than sitting at her desk, she sunk into the soft bark chair that had been a gift from Lisi Nix when they both had first been confirmed to the Cabinet by the Republic Senate. A large transparent screen that could be used to view data on the holonet sat opposite the chair. Leia flipped it on with the remote controller and scrolled immediately to the login for the secure Ministry of State database. She'd done this hundreds of times before, with the same intention she had now, but had always successfully stopped herself, being convinced that whatever she found she didn't want to know.

The empty search box blinked. Taking a deep breath, she typed in SOLO, HAN.

His prominence in the Rebellion made his file the first search hit. A surprisingly recent looking holo from a Corellian shipping license popped up on the screen. A detailed physical description accompanied the image, and Leia scrolled through it, certainly not needing to know how to identify Han Solo. As she read further, interesting pieces of information popped up: he was single, never bonded, he still only owned the Falcon, and he had established legal residency on Corellia. She dug even deeper, knowing the further into his file she went, the further drawn in she would be and the likelier it was she would find something she wouldn't particularly like.

As she read, and followed links to various documents and information, she was a little annoyed at how dull it all was. Aside from an arrest and fine for drunkenness and assault soon after he left Coruscant, his post-Rebellion life was shockingly uncolorful. He'd been involved with the New Trade Federation from the beginning, as far as she could tell, and had engaged only in legitimate business pursuits – the list of his affiliations and licenses was as long as any legal trader's would be. Even his known aliases had been inactive for years.

She wondered if the holos, all 237 of them in the file, would give her a better idea of what he had been up to. The first set were official portraits of various kinds, beginning with the most recent that had appealed on the first layer of the file.

"Gods, he is handsome," she whispered aloud as the images changed.

His Imperial Academy intake holo gave way to a much newer image of him at a business function with a beautiful brunette human on his arm. These were the candid holos, culled from news outlets and public holonet databases. She recognized the woman as a minor holovid actress and felt a stab of irrational jealousy at the casual way Han's arm was draped around her small frame. The screen switched to another image of Han, from a different event, but with the same woman. Her focus went to the data-stamp on the holo – it had been taken only five months ago. Leia scrolled back to the prior image. It had been taken a few days afterward.

Leia chewed lightly on her thumbnail, thinking, as she let the images in the series change every three seconds. Most of the holos were recordings of meetings with business leaders. A few were clearly taken on vacations, and she recognized Coronet in the background of others. Various women appeared in the holos from events and dinners and nearly all could have been clones of the holovid actress: pretty, petite brunettes. The only deviation from the pattern was a striking black-haired Zeltron wearing next to nothing, standing alongside Han in what she was sure was a swanky casino.

She was annoyed with him, annoyed with his handsome, smirking face, annoyed with the parade of women he's been recorded with, and annoyed with herself for the comment she'd made about the tall blonde host at the lounge. Judging by the evidence flickering across the screen in her office, the host wasn't his type at all. She, Leia Organa, was his type, even though she knew she wasn't as stunning as any of the women she'd seen just now.

The images had begun to blur together until, without any warning, she was staring at her own likeness. It was a holo from the end of a command meeting days before the Alliance invasion of Coruscant. Leia remembered it well. The recorder had captured them in mid-conversation, seated next to one another. His forearm was resting on the back of her chair, and they were leaning toward one another, but she was looking down toward his lap, where their hands had been clasped and he was looking at her face. In this holo, he looked nothing like he had in the more recent ones. In those newer images, he wasn't in love with her, and that made all the difference in the galaxy.

She sat unmoving, the holo show paused, and let her heart remember what it had been like to be that woman projected on the screen.

Feeling upended and aggravated, she hit the power button the display with a little too much force and made her way toward the refresher.