Leia luxuriated in the warm, soapy, sweetly scented water that surrounded her. The heat of the bath seeped into her muscles, sore from an afternoon of loading supplies into the Millennium Falcon and other New Republic spacecraft--until Han came and literally carried her away from the stacks of crates to a pallet of small boxes.

"You're gonna hurt yourself...again," he'd argued. "Come work on this smaller stuff. Only little hands like yours can stack it properly," he'd said, kissing her fingers and adding a rather uncharacteristic if not superfluous "please." Han was definitely feeling good to be alive these days. Guess that's what a near-death experience like being frozen in carbonite will do to you.

She slid her feet up, waved her arms underwater, and watched the resultant currents rise and lap around the pink islands of her knees. A wet strand that had escaped the loose pile of hair on the top of her head ran down her back. It tickled but she didn't care. When's the last time she'd had a water bath instead of a quick jump in a sonic 'fresher? Had to have been back at the palace...back when there was a palace.

Leia let her head fall back on the glass-block wall surrounding the spacious circular tub. For the first time, she didn't break down at the thought; tears welled silently in her eyes and she just remembered...Alderaan.

The door to her hotel room whooshed open. "Luke?" Leia called, squeaking along the bottom of the tub as she sat up and tried to keep calm, tried to reach out and feel him in her mind. Stang. Why hadn't she brought her blaster with her?

"Even better," Han said as he poked his head into the room. "Smells great in here," he added, then his gaze dropped to the waterline in the tub. "Looks great, too."

"How droll," Leia said dryly as she fought not to blush. Han had seen her...parts of her...before. But never all of her. "How did you get in here?"

"Sorry. Do you want me to leave?" Han asked, putting a hand over his eyes.

"Of course not," Leia said. "You can come in." Han dropped his hand and moved to sit down on the edge of the tub. "Just don't get in with me," she added with a wink.

"I promise," Han said with hands up. "But come on, Leia--Luke can have the code to your room but I can't? You still trust your big brother more than me, huh?"

"Han," Leia tried not to sound exasperated, "you know I got this room to get away from you guys. Forget us being apart--you and Luke were apart too long. You two are making up for lost practical jokes, and I can't take it anymore!"

"Aww, come on, Your Highness," he drawled softly. "We're just havin' fun."

"I know..." Leia said, fighting a smile at Han's rare proper acknowledgement of her royal status. Han absently spun the tub stopper on the edge of the bath; Leia popped a soap bubble.

"Besides," she continued in a small voice, "I wanted a bath. Do you know how long it's been since I've had the chance to take a hot water bath?" Han raised his eyebrows and she already regretted the question.

"Remember, Your Worship, we were at this hotel before," Han intonated. "Sodus Bay? Colosse Crushers? Is the night coming back to you?"

Leia pressed her lips together. "Yes, I remember," she sang, flicking water at him. "We didn't have a room with a tub," she added lamely. Did we? She really didn't remember much of the hotel part of that evening.

Han watched the water glisten on her shoulders. 'Got to get her in a shower,' he thought. 'Yeah, definitely have to do that.'

Leia watched his face, wondered what he was thinking. "How'd you get this room, anyway?" he asked after a moment. "Throw your royal weight around?"

Leia let out a snort. "Please..."she said. "The Colosseans insisted I have a room during my stay."

"That's a good story," Han said with a smile and crossed his arms, "I think you're lying."

Leia sighed and turned her head sideways to glare at him. 'I have got to get Luke to teach me that Jedi mind trick thing,' she noted to herself. "OK, I asked for it," she blurted as Han started to laugh. "But they insisted they pay for it."

"That's mighty big of them," Han said then stood up and hitched his thumbs on his belt. "Look, I just came here to see if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight," he continued with a slightly vulnerable look. Leia was temporarily stunned. Yes, there was a reason she spent time with this guy. She smiled, slid down in the tub, and wiggled her toes. "Han, that's a very nice thought..." she began, then remembered her brother. "But what about Luke? It wouldn't be fair to leave him high and dry."

Han dug his hands into his pockets. "Sweetheart, it's real nice you're trying to be a good long-lost sister and all, but come on. A few hours alone? I think he'll understand." Leia gave him a dubious look. "Anyway," Han continued, drawing his ace, "he's already got a date for the evening."

"What?!" Leia exclaimed and sat back up in the tub. Unbidden, a twinge of jealousy had stabbed through her. 'Wait a minute,' she thought, 'this is old stuff,' and a warm wave replaced the twinge as she remembered what she and Luke were to each other now, what they'd always been and always known somehow: they were twins. She smiled to herself. It was all so perfect.

Han watched the parade of emotions that passed across Leia's face. "Is there a problem?" he edged.

His voice brought her back to him. "Of course not," Leia said, wondering who Luke's date was. There were only a few other women in the group that had come to Colosse; maybe it was that new recruit. "I'd love to go out with you tonight, Han," she finished with a smile.

Han grinned and his eyes swirled to gold. "Well, allright," he said, reaching down for the towel on the tub's edge and cracking it like a whip. "In that case, let's get goin'."

"You can't be serious," Leia said. "I've got another 15 minutes in this thing."

"Sorry, Your Pruneness," Han said as he draped the towel over his shoulder, then reached for the tub stopper and pushed it down. "Time's up."

The drain below gurgled, and water started to pour down and out.

"How dare you?!" Leia shouted as she scrambled still submerged for the control and tried not to laugh.

"Careful, Princess," Han teased, keeping a hand over the stopper, "your 'parts' will show."

Leia turned red. "You've seen my 'parts,'" she tried to argue. He really was a scoundrel, and she loved it.

Han nodded and leered. "Yeah, but not quite the whole package yet."

"That's right, flyboy," she answered. "Use your imagination."

"I do, gorgeous..." he intonated. "All the time."

Leia groaned; she'd walked right into that one. OK. Let's try a different tack. "I seem to recall your being concerned for my 'royal dignity' once," Leia said, both of them remembering how he'd laid a sheet over her as he stripped her bloody clothes off after her scrape up a thornworm tunnel on Half Moon. "Do you think you could conjure some of that concern back up?"

Han seemed to actually consider the request. "Nope," he decided. "But I WILL give you this towel if you ask nicely enough."

Leia was too agitated now to think of lounging in the tub any longer. He'd won. She would have to come up with some better counter strategies for his kissing games. Oh, well. Even in her romantic relationship she was going to have to play politics. No bother, though; she'd take pillow politics any day.

"OK," she grudged and reached out a hand for the towel. "Please." The water level in the tub was getting revealingly low.

"Good start," Han said. "Now again--this time with feeling." He yanked the towel off his shoulder and dangled it just out of her reach.

The water was too low to hide in anymore. Leia heaped soap bubbles onto herself. "Please," she repeated and started to giggle.

"Faster, more intense," Han said, starting to laugh himself.

"Please, please, please, you nerfherder," Leia spluttered and lunged to grab the towel away from him. They both laughed as Han turned his back to her and Leia wrapped the towel around herself.

"You can turn around now," Leia said. Han faced her with a sheepish look. "You're such a scoundrel," she began with a smile. "I think it's time for you to pay for your little trick at the bar," she ended
mock-menacingly, stepping out of the tub and beginning to playfully slap at his chest.

"Oh, hurt me, baby," Han said and wrapped her in his arms. Ricocheting wildly off the glass block, their laughter filled the room.

Han had heard of cozy, but this was ridiculous. The lanky Corellian shifted in his seat in search of legroom, but only knocked knees with Leia again.

"Hey, Your Shortness," he said, peering under the dark tasseled lampshade that hung low over the small circular dinner table they sat at, "ya think we could get a bigger booth?"

Leia was leaning back and soaking up the atmosphere, revelling in the smooth leather booth back behind her bare shoulders. Her eyes flitted from one glowing tasseled lampshade to the next, each lamp centered over a table among the pool of chairs beyond their booth, each shade a different deep jewel color, each a different wild organic shape. By Han's request she wore a crimson halter dress and left her hair in the loose pile on the top of her head that he'd found her in the tub with. A pair of gold tassel posts dangled from her ears.

"What?" Leia asked after a moment, tearing her eyes away from the lamps, grasping the edge of the table, and leaning forward to him. "Oh, Han, isn't it comfy here?" She gave him a dazzling smile.

"Yeah," Han said, his pained expression melting into his patented lopsided grin at the sight of her contentment. "It's perfect." He reached across the table and they held hands. The background music faded as another song queued up. "What's with the service here?" he muttered after a moment. "Menus would be nice."

"Doesn't it ever bother you?" a female voice asked on the other side of the curtain that separated Han and Leia's booth from the next. "I mean, he's an ex-criminal...and 10 years older than her."

These circumstances sounded way too familiar to both of them to ignore. Han and Leia both keyed in on the conversation.

"You have to understand how they met, how we all met, what we've been through together since then," answered a male voice. Leia didn't want to, but she knew it was Luke. Of all the restaurants on all of restaurant row in all Colosse, Luke walks into theirs. She shot a look at Han; he was staring at her intently.

"I guess I don't understand," the female voice said. "You know me, I'm new to the Alliance...I mean, the New Republic...All the stories I hear, though...it's just that he seems pretty wild...a smuggler, a ladies' man...and the age difference. You've never wondered how compatible they really are?"

Han smirked. It was Luke and his date, allright.

"Honestly, no," Luke said, then fell silent.

'He knows I'm near,' Leia thought, trying to keep him out of her mind. "Let's go," she mouthed to Han and moved to leave.

Han grabbed her arm and held up a hand. "I wanna hear what he has to say," he whispered, looking grimly at the curtain. Leia sat back down on her hands.

"Sure, they've fought since the moment they met," Luke continued, "but that's because they're both so opinionated, so strong-willed." "Plus," he added with a laugh, "by nature they push each other's buttons. Leia's used to a world of order and hierarchy; Han's made a conscious effort his entire life to avoid those very things...Leia goes about things deliberately, logically; Han thrives on instant inspiration, the turn of a friendly card."

"So what is it they like about each other?" the female voice asked, exasperated.

Han pointed a thumb to the curtain with a leer. "She wants me," he whispered to Leia.

"Who doesn't?" she whispered back then crossed her arms. Luke and Leia hadn't announced their families ties yet; his date had no idea she was grilling the Princess' twin brother.

"Oh, underneath it all they've got the same brand of courage and determination, the same need for freedom," Luke said.

Han and Leia looked at each other and gave the same wry smile.

"And there's the physical attraction," Luke added. "That's been there as long as the fighting's been...at least on Han's side." He felt Han near, too. Let Leia share that with him wherever she was.

Han has started to waggle his eyebrows at Leia when he caught the end of Luke's sentence, then scowled as she stifled a laugh.

"They spent three years trying to NOT like each other," Luke said. "I think if there were any serious incompatibilities, they would have won out. And the age thing...I don't know. It's just never been apparent between those two. I'm pretty sure her soul's older than his."

They were quiet for a moment. Happy tears shimmered in Leia's eyes.

"And where do you fit in?" the female voice asked softly. Ah, so this was what she was really after.

"Me?" Luke asked lightly, then added weight to his voice. "I'm just a friend. A friend that loves them both dearly."

Leia nodded toward the door with a smile at Han. They got up and walked out into the night.

* * * * * * * *

"That was a nice performance for us, but he deserves some privacy," Leia said as she walked with an arm around Han's waist. The ship captain-turned-New Republic general draped an arm around her shoulders as they headed down restaurant row toward the bar district.

"The kid's good," Han said admiringly. "Do you really think he knew we were there?"

"Oh, yes," Leia said. "But his words would have been just as kind if we hadn't been there."

Han nodded. "Yeah, you two are pretty good eggs. How the hell that happened with the Dark Lord of Kreth as your dad I'll never figure ou--"

"Let's not start that again," Leia cut in. The two walked on in silence. Leia saw The Brewcaster sign in the distance.

"Han," Leia asked distantly, "why did you say I was your wife earlier?"

The Corellian didn't answer for a while. Why did he do anything? The idea had come to him like all his good ones did--in a flash.

"It seemed like fun at the time, sweetheart," he said, then his stomach dropped as he thought of what her feelings might be about his joke. "Why? Did I offend you? Aw, Kreth, Leia--I didn't mean t--"

"No, no," Leia assured him, leaning her head on his arm. "I was just wondering. I mean, we've never talked about marriage before...."

"No, we haven't..." Han realized. "I don't know. I guess when I saw all those guys checking you out, I wanted them to know you were special to me."

"You were jealous," Leia amended.

"Yeah," Han edged. "Anything wrong with that?"

"Absolutely not. But am I special enough to be your wife?" Leia looked up at him and asked.

"Without a doubt," Han answered. "The question is," he stopped and asked her, "am I special enough to you to be your husband? What do you think? A Princess and a guy like me--?"

"It's not out of the realm of possibility," Leia cut in. "It could happen if you play your cards right."

They smiled at each other and walked on in silence once more, each lost in their own thoughts.

"I'm hungry," Leia said at last. "Me too," said Han.

They stopped and looked up and down the street. Nothing was inspiring them.

"Well," he said, gesturing toward The Brewcaster, "how about the scene of the crime?"

Leia laughed. "What, are we going to drink our dinners?"

"No," Han said indignantly. "I'm tellin' ya, they've actually got some decent food here. Trust me."

Leia rolled her eyes. "If I had a credit for every time I've heard--"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, opening the door and scooting her in.

"Coupla menus?" Han asked as they sat at the bar. In a few minutes they'd ordered. Han spun around on his stool and leaned his elbows back on the bar. The sabacc tables beckoned in the distance.

"How 'bout a game to kill time?" he said, stepping off his stool and eyeing Leia. She looked good in that dress, but the shower idea still glimmered in the back of his mind.

Leia eyed him suspiciously. What WAS he thinking? She took his hand and they threw in at one of the tables.

"Place your bets," the dealer said. Leia admired the action at the surrounding tables. The Zeltron was apparently done with his shift; he was nowhere to be seen.

Han faced the dealer. "I bet this lady will marry me one day," the Corellian said as he looked at her out of the corners of his eyes.

The dealer raised his eyebrows at Leia. Her gaze was frozen on the table. She saw herself in a diaphanous white gown and a sparkling diadem. Then she saw Han...tugging...a whuffa? She laughed. The Force must have been playing tricks on her with that last one. She laid a hand on Han's arm and kissed his cheek tenderly.

Han's eyes lit up. "What was that for?" he asked with a chuckle.

Leia's mouth turned up into a small smile. "For luck."

back to
You Do Have Your Moments
home page