He lay there, and he was thinking it was nice, having someone to lie with. Share the night. It wasn't that it was her that made it special or anything. Well, she was someone he knew. That's what made it nice. Because he had lain with others, just didn't really know them.

Lays and lies.

In the morning this would make no sense, but he liked it now, these two words- or was it the same word- and the play of the language.

A drink, and a woman, and loneliness or boredom or a set up and a long night. It didn't change anything. Morning came, and boredom or loneliness didn't leave, but sometimes your credits did.

He didn't lay the Princess. But he lay with her.

A meaningful lie. Huh.

The other lies, the ones that spilled from his mouth, had more meaning than the lays he slept with.

Was he going somewhere with this?

They were in a little shack. Some free cabin on a hiking trail with wide, hard berths. They had no gear but it wasn't so bad. They'd shaken off the pursuers. The night before was in the shadows behind a building. Tomorrow, who knew.

He couldn't sleep. It didn't frustrate him, but it was different. Usually he had no trouble sleeping.

Nice gave one insomnia, apparently.

His chrono was motion activated, and when he moved his wrist it lit up, a soft green glow. When he did that, he could measure how he wasn't sleeping and he could measure how close she was.

Without moving his head he could see his chrono, and her shoulder, and even part of her arm and her hair and how each quiet breath lifted her body, just slightly.

So he couldn't sleep but he felt all right. Warm. With someone. Comfortable.

Even when not touching. Pretty close. A distant spooning. Was that a thing? Was it normal to think that was nice?

And then, she... trembled. Shivered. His mind went through a list of words, trying to bore himself to sleep, and his chrono read :05. Shuddered?

Contracted. Hell, he'd never played word games before. Shook. Was she cold? It might be chilly in here at that. Cool. Frosty. Freezing. There wasn't a blanket. He could take off his jacket, and lay, place, set it on her.

He didn't want to move though. He was... he didn't want to disturb her. He was comfortable. At ease. Happy?

At :07 her body trembled again. And resting on his side he tensed, wondering if there was something he could do. Something he had done.

They were rarely on the same page, them two, he thought. It was moments like this, where he thought maybe, maybe, things could be different. When they could be comfortable at the same time. Together. Synchronous. That he wanted to be.

He waited for it, and at :09 it happened again. He moved his hips and inched closer, just a little but not enough to wake her or touch her or worse; just give her some more body heat, and he felt bad that the times his motives were pure they were misread. Sad, low. Lots of words came, not synonyms but ones full of reproach.

Stupid game, he thought. I need sleep.

"Princess?" he spoke real low at :11, low enough to pierce her slumber but not puncture it. Stab. Penetrate. "Something wrong, Princess?"

She exhaled a sleepy sigh. Not really a moan. Barely a noise. Sometimes only one word would do, the word. And she hid her face a bit more and angled her bottom hip, and she was that much closer. In his mind, Han pinched his thumb and index finger together.

So perhaps he'd merely entered her slumber. Poked a tiny hole in it and sleep was leaking out. Maybe that would be enough to- No.

When his chrono showed :13 Han decided, fuck it; he was going to ruin it. He put his palm on her bicep and pressed the slightest bit. "You okay, Princess?"

She rolled her head back and up so he could see the point of her chin. Fondness or affection is what he felt. Heartbreak.

"You're shivering," he told her.

Still not awake, she said, "Mm?"

He propped himself up on his elbow. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Her voice was quiet, full of sleep. There wasn't a good word for that. There should be. "Go back to sleep."

"I can't," he stated. "I try but you keep trembling."

She rolled on to her back, interested and awake now. "Trembling or shivering?"

"Like clockwork. Every two minutes."

"You're timing my trembles?" she said with her eyes closed but her brows were up a bit.

"Yup. Think you're giving birth to a small fear, Princess."

She smiled a little. He loved when she got him. It was the best thing. She hadn't heard him think it, the word contraction, but she knew he had.

"I'm not trembling," she denied.

"You're doing something. Your body moves in little quakes."

"Now it's quakes." There was laughter in her sleepy voice. "When am I due?"

Han angled his wrist to see the glowing face of his chrono. "Oh, you missed one. 'Bout twenty-seven seconds ago."

"There you have it," she answered conclusively. "If I were shivering, and I do not concede that I was, Captain, but if I were, I am no longer. So go back to sleep."

"You sure?"

"Yes. And last night, I'll have you know, I did not wake you when you snored every exhale."

"I snored, did I? Nice sound?"

"No, it made my teeth gnash."

He chuckled.

"So I am the stronger of us two."

"What, 'cause you didn't wake me? Nah, Highness, that's weakness."

"How so?"

"You think you gotta suffer through, when all you gotta do is shove me. Gently."

"I was considering putting the jacket I'm using as a pillow over your face."

His brows raised. "A little nighttime suffocation?"

She laughed. "Not fully. Once you realized your air supply was cut off, I'd return it."

"Thanks a lot. You know what, I'm gonna spend the rest of the night here, quakin' and tremblin', thinking you're gonna do me in."

"That's your problem," she stated primly. "You should know me."

"I know what'll help me sleep. If I could, just a little, put my arm across your middle and hold you to me. It'd keep me on my side and I won't snore."

"Then I'd be less cold. And I do know you."

"Yeah."

He could see her chin again, raised up to the ceiling of the abandoned shack while she considered.

"All right," she finally decided. "You may."

He swept her to him, squeezed maybe too hard, and her hand was on his wrist, and he felt comfortable again, sleepy now and warm and definitely happy.

"Goodnight, Princess."

"Goodnight, Captain."