A Lovely Night--Han and Leia and Romantic Shenanigans--Vignette for WIP Month

Author’s note: While this isn’t set in any specific universe, it is definitely one where Han and Leia didn’t get married right after Endor. I just thought it would be fun to write and it’s part of my September is WIP Month! (Finish WIPs, get colors!)—IT'S ON! Challenges to write a Han/Leia vignette, since I haven’t gotten to do so in a while. The definition of a date is from a church leader I once had. Of course I ascribed it to Rieekan because, well, if you know me, you know he’s the number one H/L ‘shipper. And shows up in everything.

A Lovely Night

One of the benefits of peacetime that Leia had never anticipated was that life became quite boring. It had been exciting and invigorating to help draft the charter of the New Republic, to affix her signature to the old-fashioned document that Mon Mothma had insisted on, to stand as Minister of State with the Chief of State and the very-fledgling Provisional Council. All of these actions were privileges that had been ignored when the Republic was crushed beneath the heel of the Empire shortly before her birth.

Three months in, being Minister of State involved a lot of datawork that she was sure was unnecessary and meetings that could have been communiques.

Today, there were sixteen worlds applying for inclusion as member-states and she was in charge of drafting the formal declaration of citizenship for all of them. The only things that broke up the monotony were that two of them had planet-wide constitutional requirements that had to be included in the wording and Birren, an ally of Alderaan, had its declaration written in both Basic and High Taiald. Leia could have given the translation job to Threepio, who spoke High Taiald the way her sixth great-grandmother might have, but she welcomed the chance to put her joy at the alliance into the words used for the most solemn of ceremonies on Alderaan. Threepio could proofread.

She had just translated the complex phrase about the rights of citizenship being in accordance with the will of the people when Han stumbled through the doorway of her office.

She arched an eyebrow at her datapad, then glanced up to favor him with a wry smile. “Bit early in the day, isn’t it?”

She’d assumed his tripping was a result of some quality control tasting for the shipment of Whyren’s he’d mentioned last week, but his words were steady. “I got here as soon as I could, Your Highnessness,” Han said. “Sorry if I didn’t curtsy the right way when I was in this big a hurry to see you.”

The use of the time-honored nickname was a good indicator of his reasons for being here. He would have used her given name and brought backup if this had been something serious. Then again, Han Solo’s definition of ‘serious’ sometimes boggled the mind.

“All right, nerf-herder,” she teased, setting her datapad aside and getting to her feet. “You’ve got my attention. Why did you come here as soon as you could?”

“This.”

He had the presence of mind to round the desk first, since the kiss knocked her back into her seat. Her toes curled under in appreciation while the rest of her mind went blissfully blank. By the time he broke it off a few minutes later, her chrono’s heartrate monitor had sent her an alert about her elevated pulse and she was so dazedly happy that she couldn’t even think of the High Taiald word for government. She was pretty sure she could remember her own name only because it was printed on the nameplate on her desk.

“Well,” Leia Organa, Minister of State of the New Republic, Hero of the Rebellion, High Princess of Alderaan, gasped, “thank you for bringing this urgent matter to my attention.”

Han, still bracing himself on the armrests of her office chair, grinned. “Do you need me to put it another way?”

“Let me summarize.”

She kissed him back into a standing position and let her hands work their way up his arms until they reached his shoulders. His arms made it easier for her by circling her waist and pulling her so close that it almost became impossible to bridge the space between them. She could tell by his scent that he’d spent some of the last hours in the repair bay and that meant he had probably neglected some other needs.

“Let it be known,” Leia called to the aide who was looking both amused and embarrassed to have noticed the interactions, “that I will only greet people of the rank of general this way.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Alole called back dutifully. “I’ll close the door so you have some privacy for your meeting with General Solo.”

“Wait,” Han protested as the door hissed closed. “People of the rank of general is a pretty big group. You’ve got General Madine, General Solo, General Rieekan…”

She shut him up much more briefly this time, then gently nudged him in the direction of a chair while coming to perch on the edge of her desk.

“Speaking of General Rieekan, how is he?”

Han rolled his eyes at the change in topic. Leia knew he hated making small talk about anyone he’d stood in the line of fire with, but it was the one way to make sure that they actually had a conversation after a long separation. She could have been cruel and asked for a complete inventory of the weapons he’d delivered to Noquivzor.

“He’s doing great, sends his love and approval of how friendly we’re being these days.” To illustrate his point, he patted his thighs and she rested her feet in his lap, leaning back into a slightly more comfortable position. “He also approves of us not trying as hard as we used to to get ourselves killed.”

“I quite like that myself,” Leia chuckled. “No one’s tried to murder me in at least a week and you can’t imagine how much I approve of that.”

She also approved of him removing one of her shoes and running a finger along her right foot’s arch. It was a classic opening move for a footrub, the most hands-on friendliness that they could engage in that wouldn’t be unseemly if one of the other generals or–gods forbid–Mon Mothma happened by.

“Anything else?”

Han looked up from the task of kneading a tendon and grinned, “He thought that I could use some relationship advice.”

Leia matched his grin. The man had rarely shown any interest in meeting a romantic partner, much less taking time off from the war to have a relationship.

“Is that why you got here as soon as you could?” she asked after another moment, schooling her features into something more appropriate to a pre-mission briefing.

“No, that was on my own initiative,” Han said, moving his hands to the base of her right calf.

She kicked out lightly, tapping him on the breastbone with a toe that he had recently drawn tension from. “Tell me about this relationship advice, flyboy.”

He slid his hands back to her ankle, tethering her while not getting her more excited, and adopted a contemplative expression. “Well, see, that’s where my urgent business comes in. He couldn’t be happier that me and you are you and me, but he thinks we’ve got it kind of backwards.”

“I see what he means,” Leia said, resting her foot flat on his left knee. “My parents got through happy decades together with not nearly as many instances of near-death.”

“Imminent death,” Han corrected. “And yeah, most people don’t fight ninety percent of the time between ‘Hello’ and ‘I love you.’”

She had to agree, but that wasn’t a conversation she was interested in having while they were in such a good place, emotionally and physically.

“So, what does the good General recommend?”

“He says that we haven’t dated enough.”

She didn’t expect the bark of laughter that escaped her at that moment. “We’ve dated at all?”

“Exactly.” Han couldn’t keep a straight face while she was being this unrestrained. His right hand slid up to clasp her knee and he leaned against that hand, looking comically worried. “Me, I think we’ve done pretty well since we got things straightened out.”

“I certainly think this is a wonderful way to debrief,” Leia agreed.

“Exactly. But Rieekan said that dates have to be planned, paid for, and paired off. And that using a mission expense fund to eat dinner while we’re negotiating for an ion cannon on his orders doesn’t count as any of those things.”

She leaned forward, extricating her knee from his grasp, and kissed him quickly on the forehead. “I have some very fond memories of what we did with mission expense funds, but I can understand his point.” Her next kiss landed on his cheek, tantalizingly close to the mouth he had used to greater effect upon his arrival. “So, what does the good General recommend?”

“Oh, this next part was all my idea.”

“Do go on, General Solo,” she murmured.

“Would you allow me to pair off with you for a night out?” he asked very formally, wrapping his hand around hers. “Dinner’s on me and I’m sure we can find a fancier place than the officers’ mess to discuss some other plans.”

She was more interested in the other plans than whether they had a Grand Republica star rating, but they could start with a meal. Her mind suddenly went to the way he would look by light of candledroids and whether she could wear something incredibly elegant that also could be alluring. Then again, the man was currently finding her alluring while she hung out on her desk in slacks and a black button-down.

“I would certainly be amenable to that,” the Princess said to her Nerf-herder. “I do have one requirement, though.”

He kissed her hand and quirked an eyebrow in question. “Anything, Your Worship.”

“Wear something slightly scruffy-looking,” Leia requested. “I like you because you’re a scoundrel.”

 

Pardon the goo puddle that I have BECOME AFTER THAT! Oh, delicious! Thanks for making this the first review I've done!

 

Wonderful! Love Han's romantic gesture of coming to see Leia. You capture their relationship perfectly.

 

Delicious snarky fun with Your Highness Leia and General Solo.
A perfect describing of those two characters

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, @JediMaster_Jen, @earlybird-obi-wan, and @devilinthedetails, general “many thanks” first. I’ve been working on fics that never get Han and Leia into a loving mood for a while and I’ve really missed it. My secondary issue is that I have touch aversion something awful because of my PTSD and, as a result of even hugs sometimes giving me panic attacks, I really don’t excel at writing the touchy-feely stuff, so I appreciate the positive attention this is getting. I told my roommate that I had just written a kind of PDA Star Wars fanfic and she looked slightly astonished.

Now on to specifics.

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, I’ll let you mop yourself up. I’m glad you chose this for your first review of the challenge and am smiling at the delicious comment.

@JediMaster_Jen, I have this theory that Han is clandestinely only a romantic where Leia’s concerned. He realized that he could impress her, commit to her, serve her, but to love her, he has to treat her in a way that no one else in her life would think to. Thanks for liking it. Also, I need to read your fics because I have one called Sins of the Father as well.

@earlybird-obi-wan, Thanks. I have so much fun with snarkiness and especially the fact that them being annoying turned into their love making sense to no one else at times.

@devilinthedetails, the peace/boredom factor was actually inspired by my return to normal life after 18 months as a full-time missionary. Those 18 months were incredibly stressful and rewarding and then I spent three days hanging out in a guest room with books I hadn’t read yet or going to a pool party and, worse, got a throat infection and couldn’t get out of bed for three weeks. There’s this seismic shift that’s both a relief and a burden in some changes of life. Leia probably doesn’t like how exciting it felt at times, but it was always a call to action for her and being able to rest is WEIRD. I can’t believe I brought a “This Zoom could have been an e-mail” joke into the GFFA, but I blame writing mush at 9 a.m. Thanks for the comment on the integration of Leia’s thoughts on the job she has to do. Banter is 100% why H/L are worth writing and reading for me. The privacy thing was partially a callback to something I did in Lest Ye Be Judged. Leia’s Chief of State and Han’s leading the war against Zsinj and at certain points, she calls him a few minutes before a scheduled meeting so she can talk to her husband before she has to check in with General Solo. This fic made me rewatch ESB a day after I wrote it because I love the nerfherder so much. Thanks for reviewing.

 

I haven't read quite enough of your work to be able to make this comment, but this was... different from the stressful-angsty-claustrophobic stuff I read thus far!

I find that H/L mush is difficult to write, because Han has to be Han and Leia has to be Leia, but you managed to keep them in character while being perfectly mushy, which is a tour de force IMO. A few titbits I really enjoyed:

I laughed out loud at the insertion of High Taiald in this sentence!

Rieekan up to matchmaking tricks is something I'll never get tired of. I had a look at your diary the other day, and that's something I need to read in more detail for sure.

I LOVE this. Han and Leia's interactions throughout the OT, summarised in a single sentence!

You know, Rieekan has a point – and, more generally, it's pretty good advice for people who are in a relationship while working together, that they need to make us-time outside of work-time.

This was a perfect ending. I can just picture them in a fancy restaurant of Han's choosing, where Leia is very much the High Princess of Alderaan and Han is... Han.

Thanks for sharing this very entertaining read!

 

@Findswoman, Thanks! Especially for approving of the touchy-feely stuff. Alole is my favorite blink-and-you-miss her character in Michael Kube-McDowell’s Black Fleet Crisis. She is cheerful and efficient and chubby as well as the one crying genuinely at a personal tragedy and I had to use her for Leia’s “I’ll just look the other way, shall I?” aide in this. I literally never thought of John Kerry’s Body Double and now I can’t unsee it/ Glad you enjoyed the romp.


@Chyntuck I’m still laughing at this opening line and it’s not because it’s inaccurate. It’s that what I’m known for off the boards is being the founder of a humor-heavy Transformers fanfic project that started out with conspiracy theorists realizing their college roommate knows the giant alien robots that they’ve been following and those robots have a blog where they blow off steam. I also write Autobots playing pranks on high-ranking military officers. So I’m laughing because I know exactly what you mean given what you’ve reviewed so far. I’m glad I could give you a break from “OH GOD, WE’RE GOING TO DIE! OR EVERYONE WE LOVE IS GOING TO DIE! OR BILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE TO EVACUATE OR THEY’RE GOING TO DIE!” I should send you some palate-cleansers like my child-Yoda humorfic or sanctioned spoofs of Pink 5. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a “tour de force” comment. The insertion of High Taiald there is based on the day when I was 5 days into a stressful work week and couldn’t remember the word “granola” at the grocery store because I was so tired. I really should finish or adapt the Diary of a Matchmaker General. I feel like the “summarized in a single sentence” line is also what they’d say to a couples therapist. I hadn’t thought about the people working together. It reminds me of Wedge’s Mutiny of Anonymity in Solo Command. I want to see that date.

 

The Han/Leia in this is just delightful, and I also like the bits we see of how things are after Endor. We definitely get to see enough to realize that it makes maintaining a relationship a challenge -- one that Leia and Han are able to tackle, however.

This seems like such a Leia thing to think, and then feel bad for being bored by something as good and hard-won as peace.

And I like that it's not that Leia is bored by politics in general -- she loves it, and especially having the chance to restore some part of what the Empire tried to destroy. It's just this particular aspect of politics that she'd like to send to a circular file, but can't.

This is really poignant, and I can absolutely see why she'd insist on doing the job herself. (Also, Threepio speaking the most outdated version of High Taiald is just so funny and so him. Never change, Threepio. )

And we're halfway to arguing -- sounds like a day that ends in "y". But they manage to regroup a bit and figure things out.

All of this is just so much fun to read; I really enjoy seeing these two at a point where they kind of see through each other's nonsense. There's a comfortable nature to the irritations and idiosyncrasies instead of overwhelming tension.

Nerf-herder spotting!

Aww, I loved this! Sizzling, and also a bit hilarious with the bit about the nameplate.

Oh Han.

Something to celebrate for sure!

Aww, very sweet -- and also Mon Mothma would not fail to guess what you're up to, you rogues.

If it ain't broke don't fix it, I suppose. And the occasional good bicker is certainly entertaining for the rest of us.

Oh wow, I love that Rieekan ships it. That's just hilarious, and also kind of sweet.

Of course! And she wouldn't want him to be any other way.

 

A great read and a quick one at that I enjoy a long post, but I can always appreciate shorter work as well honestly this bit had me rolling

“Let it be known,” Leia called to the aide who was looking both amused and embarrassed to have noticed the interactions, “that I will only greet people of the rank of general this way

I just imagined her making out with other generals and it made me laugh. Thanks for that. Honestly this is just a great fun read. I highly appreciate it.

 

@Kahara. Thanks for being delighted by this. I feel like Leia has a bit of guilt associated with that boredom while all the people who died are just relieved that she survived the war long enough to miss strife. Politics that goes 100% one person’s way is tyranny and she doesn’t want that either. But yes, the ASPECT. Threepio’s outdated Taiald reminds me of my friend from Peru. She was really amused because I’m fluent in Spanish and she really admires how well I speak it as a very white girl from Boston, but I was taught to speak Spanish in very formal terms. And learned it to speak about religion mostly. So she recommended that I study to be a court interpreter because it’s normal for lawyers to talk like they’re not allowed to use slang. Once I came up with the superfluous language of Alderaan, the Leia in my head got very sentimental about it. . . . And yes, they now have time and space to work on de-escalation. If I could add an audio file to an author reply, it would be a long rolled r and a wink at the sizzling comment. The “Oh, Han” doesn’t even cover “Wait, Lando’s a general, too!” I hold that Mon mothma also ‘ships them.

@Jedi Knight Fett Thanks for liking the length. When I was getting my first book published, I had to cut 37000 words and I did a lot of it by making Bostonian characters more snarky. It worked great. But it taught me to leave things brief if I needed to. Don’t forget, Hera Syndulla is also a general. :-D

 

Bostonians are nothing if not snarky.

 

@Jedi Knight Fett Exactly. Though I had to do a lot of work to stop writing snarky Bostonians into my other stories where there were no Bostonians. When I moved back here, I started volunteering at an auditorium and someone threw shade in a perfect Southie accent. At intermission, I texted my editor friend who complained about that habit once and told her I was back where Bostonians were snarkier than my characters. She found it hilarious.

 

Oh. My. GOD.

YOU CAN WRITE THIS STUFF!!!!

Ish, I'm proud.

(I guess this just goes to show that Palpatine and Amne have a pretty anemic relationship.)

Hm. My new assignment: Write a Sereine and Palpy that's at least this steamy, but still suitable for TFN.

 

You really know how to make someone wake up with a giggle. This was the first thing I checked on my phone today and it made me very happy. And yes, anemic is the word by comparison.

 

Poor dears ...