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Princess Leia wasn’t worried. No, she didn’t worry. Princesses such as herself had been taught to not worry about anything. She could express concern, or perhaps mild interest when something was wrong, but she did not worry. It was simply not in her training. In fact, “worrying” under a list of things she did not do , just under “not drinking too much blue milk” and “actually processing her feelings about Alderaan.”
So no, Leia wasn’t worried. And she certainly did not worry about random smugglers she had met mere months ago and their annoyingly conspicuous absence.
She told herself she wasn’t worried, she was simply mildly concerned for a fellow rebel’s wellbeing. But that logic unfortunately did not check out- this particular person was not a member of the Rebel Alliance and had actually made it quite clear he did not wish to be.
And that was perhaps why she was so worried. A not–even-offically-commissioned smuggler, who had a habit of leaving them before (maybe only once. But the fact still stood!), sent off on a dangerous supply run? Who’s to say he wouldn’t leave them again, or worse, get captured by the Empire and killed?
Leia knew Han wouldn’t give up the Alliance’s location if he were to be captured. She was simply worried- mildly concerned!- that he wouldn’t come back. She knew she shouldn’t concern herself too much with the matter: after all, he had made it quite clear he wasn’t officially joining the rebellion, and volunteers had broken their commissions with the Alliance before. If he never returned, it might be slightly disappointing, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing that happened to Le- ahem, to the rebellion.
So why was she worried? Well, she wasn’t.
She said.
And yet she found herself checking her chrono, absentmindedly scanning the display systems to see if the Falcon was near the fleet, scouring the rosters of returning pilots, and glancing up hopefully every time there was an announcement a ship had arrived back to base.
But if Luke or Rieekan or any of the rest of them asked her, or even if she stopped to think about it too long, she adamantly declared she was not worried.
“He probably decided to ditch the mission,” Leia said to Luke simply one day in the mess hall, sipping a cup of caf as she swiped through some briefing summaries on her datapad. It was a few days past Han’s projected return date, and Luke was noticeably distressed over his friend’s absence.
Luke sighed, picking at his sad excuse for a Xizor salad. The greens were droopy and there wasn’t any Chadian dressing, leaving it rather dry except for the soggy, under-flavored cheese crisps.
“You don’t think he’d really abandon us, do you?” he asked morosely, shoving a small, purplish tomato to the far side of his bowl.
“Maybe. I wouldn’t put it past him if I were you,” Leia shrugged impassively, pulling up a briefing titled The Outer vs Middle Rim: Which Better Suits Our Purposes?, undoubtedly about where they should look to build a base soon.
Once the Empire had discovered where they were, the Alliance had evacuated their base on Yavin 4. Leia and the rest of High Command had been searching for a potential location for a new one and had been having countless meetings about the subject. Leia was just about exhausted with arguments about it. Dodonna advocated for a planet in the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim, but she had countered that by pointing out how difficult that would make supply runs.
Rieekan and the rest of them seemed far too close to throwing their hands up and just choosing a planet by rolling some dice, but Leia argued they should take some more time to decide. She conveniently left out the fact she was hoping a certain smuggler would return before they broke up the fleet and went off the grid.
Two weeks ago, Han had left on his very first commissioned supply run for the rebellion. He was tasked with collecting a hefty bunch of industrial supplies from Kuat, a planet located in the Core Worlds that was teeming with Imperials and other dangerous beings. It was risky for his first mission, but they desperately needed the supplies if they were going to even think about setting up base somewhere else, and Han had proven himself to be a skilled pilot and smuggler.
Still, Kuat was in a completely different region than where Home One was situated right now, and Leia couldn’t help but wonder if Han would come back. He had adamantly refused to sign a contract in the three months since the battle against the Death Star, and despite his “commission” (as in, he and Rieekan had worked out some sort of verbal agreement that left Leia entirely too unsettled), she knew he had to pay off some crime lord back on Tatooine, and that the amount he’d earn from the run wouldn’t cover the debt. He’d make far more if he picked up their supplies and smuggled them off to sell somewhere on the black market.
Leia knew it was a very real possibility- a scoundrel like him didn’t stay in one place for too long, and he’d made it clear he had very little interest in signing up for her rebellion. And it was already four standard days past his expected return date. She really should just forget about it: he probably wasn’t coming back.
She decidedly tried to ignore the way her heart sank when she imagined the prospect. If he didn’t come back before they decided on a new base, not only would that severely limit where they could go without the supplies, she’d likely never see him again.
Stubbornly brushing off how thoroughly disheartened she was by that possibility, Leia focused her attention to the briefing data in front of her and watched out of the corner of her eye as Luke stabbed gloomily at his salad.
Two mornings later, Leia was startled from intensely reading yet another briefing by the buzzing of her comm. She grabbed it up and pressed the accept button, only half-paying attention to it as she finished reading the briefing document.
“This is Command Center to Princess Leia Organa,” she heard the transmission officer say.
“This is Princess Leia. How can I be of service?” she asked distractedly, swiping down on her datapad.
Another voice crackled into the transmission- a familiar, gruff one. “This is Han Solo, askin’ to see Her Highness,” Han said, and Leia’s heart leapt as equal parts relief and happiness washed over her. He was back.
“Captain Solo, I will see you for your briefing at precisely 1000.” Leia said diplomatically, fighting to keep the smile out of her voice.
“Sounds good. Signin’ off.” Han said. As soon as the transmission cut, Leia couldn’t help the unabashed smile that broke across her face at hearing his voice again. He had come back. Six days late, yes, but he had come back all the same. Perhaps he wasn’t the scoundrel she thought he was.
The briefing took place an hour later. Leia sat directly across from Han at the meeting table, trying to keep her face composed and ignore the excitement in her chest at his return. She was simply relieved he had made it back safely without getting caught by Imperials, and had managed to collect the supplies they needed- that’s all.
Han kept throwing glances over at her, with little winks and half-smiles she tried her best to not roll her eyes at. He was teasing her a bit, something Leia hadn’t realized she’d missed until he’d left.
Once Han had explained he and Chewbacca had needed to go into hiding for a few days to escape the notice of some bounty hunters for the Empire, and then had conveniently run into some issues with the hyperdrive on the way back, the meeting adjourned. Rieekan and Dodonna left to go confer some more about the location of their next base now that they had the supplies they needed, leaving Han and Leia alone in the briefing room.
“Well, Princess, looks like I saved the day again,” Han drawled, leaning against the table and crossing his arms.
“You helped us out, and I thank you.” Leia said politely, stacking up the flimsies from the meeting in a neat pile.
“You wanna come over to the Falcon for dinner? Chewie an’ I picked up some real nice foods he can make somethin’ from Kashyyyk outta.” Han asked. Leia’s movements faltered for a split second, caught off-guard by the invitation, but not unpleasantly so.
“Thank you, I will.” Leia said warmly, to which Han smiled. “You might want to invite Luke too. He was worried you weren’t going to come back,” she added as she picked up the pile of flimsies.
“Oh, he was worried, huh?” Han said, tilting his head to the side.
“Yes, he thought you might have decided that rebellion life wasn’t for you,” Leia explained, though it had been her suggestion that had put that idea in Luke’s head in the first place.
“Mhm… you sure you weren’t the one who was worried, Your Worship?” Han asked, a lopsided smile forming on his face.
“Quite sure,” Leia said simply, not meeting his eyes.
“Right… well, I had the pleasure of talkin’ to Luke when the Falcon landed back here, an’ he said you’d told him you didn’t think I’d come back,” Han said, nodding his head wisely. “So I’m thinkin’ it was you who was doin’ all the worryin’.”
Leia rolled her eyes, busying herself with adjusting the flimsies in her arms. “And I think you must have an ego the size of Mandalore if you think I was worried about you.” she retorted, and with that walked straight for the exit.
She heard Han’s laugh behind her. “Right… see you at dinner, your Worshipfulness.”
Leia smiled.
Unfortunately, Leia had a long day ahead of her before she and Luke were set to go to dinner on Han’s ship. First she had to write up a short summary of Han’s mission since she was the one who had vouched for his commission in the first place. She also had a meeting with High Command to discuss potential planets Dodonna had chosen for their next base. And then she had a number of contracts she had to write up for new volunteers. She was half-tempted to write one for Han, since his verbal commission with Rieekan was one of the main reasons she’d been wor- concerned about his supply run and conspicuous absence, but she doubted he’d sign it.
She sat herself down in the corner of the mess hall, her datapad and stack of flimsies by her side to get through this mountain.
However, she’d been working for not even forty minutes when Luke dropped into the seat in front of her with his lunch tray.
“What are you doing?” he asked curiously, taking a bite of his denta bean bun. A few crumbs fell onto a sheet of flimsi and Leia brushed it off, shooting him a look although it lacked any real malice.
“Just working,” she replied, ticking off something on her datapad.
“Can I interrupt?” Luke asked, and Leia glanced up at him, smiling.
“Didn’t you already do that?”
Luke grinned. “I guess so.”
Leia continued writing up one of the contracts, half-watching as Luke dug around in his jacket pocket for something. After a moment, he handed her a small, blue-gray box. Leia cast him a wary glance.
“What's this?" she asked.
"A gift. What do you think it is?" Luke laughed a little.
"I wasn't aware we were in the business of giving each other gifts." she said, to which Luke shrugged and gestured at the box.
"Open it!" he encouraged. Leia set her stylus down and popped off the top to the gift box. Inside sat a small silver piece of metal, with three loops on each side and long band running down the center-
The Alderaanian crest.
“What?” she breathed, swallowing back tears and barely daring to believe her eyes as she gently touched the hair piece. She’d had a gold one exactly like it long ago, but she’d foolishly left it in her room at the palace the day she’d left Alderaan on her secret mission, and now-
Well, now she didn’t have it anymore.
Luke smiled. “I thought you’d like it,” he said happily. She looked up at him in wonder.
“Where did you get it?” she asked, fighting to keep her voice even. Oh, how she wished she’d opened this in her quarters. She couldn’t show too much emotion in the mess hall; there’d be too much talk from the Rogues later that day if she did.
He shrugged non-noncommittally. “Oh, you know,” he said vaguely, waving a hand.
Leia let his non-answer go for the time being. She was still so in awe of the hair piece, of seeing something from her home world, that she couldn’t be bothered to concern herself too much with anything else.
“Thank you, Luke,” she said gratefully, though she knew she’d never be able to convey the height of her gratitude towards her friend.
Luke smiled. “I’m glad you like it. Now I’ll leave so you can get your work done.”
Luke left, but Leia knew she wouldn’t be able to get much more done today.
Six hours and one unresolved meeting with High Command later, Leia set off for the Falcon, dropping by Luke’s room on the way so they could walk over together.
“Look, I’m wearing my hair piece,” she pointed out to him, turning so he could see the silver crest pinning up her braids.
Luke smiled. “It looks nice,” he complimented. “The crest is an interesting pattern.”
“It is,” she agreed. “I had a similar one back home and it was always my favorite to wear.” Leia reached up and softly touched the hair pin again, before giving Luke her brightest smile.
"I really can’t thank you enough for this, Luke,” she said honestly. “It means more to me than you know.”
Luke nodded with a half-smile, then suddenly turned to her. “Leia, I didn’t get that for you,” he said seriously, and she looked at him again in confusion.
“What are you talking about? You handed it to me in the mess hall,” she countered, laughing a little nervously.
Luke shook his head, looking slightly hesitant but determined all the same. “No, I mean I didn’t get that for you. Han did.”
Leia stopped dead in her tracks. “What?”
He nodded. “Yeah. That’s why he was six days late instead of only five. He found that on the planet he and Chewbacca hid on and stayed long enough to snag it.” Luke explained, guiding Leia to keep walking so they wouldn’t be late.
“He did what?” she repeated, stunned.
“Don’t tell him I told you! He gave the box to me and told me to come up with some excuse as to why I had it,” he added nervously.
“Why would he not want me to know he got it for me?”
Luke glanced at her sideways. “Well, uh, don’t take this the wrong way, Leia, but you guys kinda argue a lot and he didn’t think it would go over well.”
Leia snorted. “Bantha shit,” she said. Han wouldn’t back down from an argument like that.
Luke was confused. “Why?” he asked, but Leia shook her head.
“Doesn’t matter. Anyways, we’re here.”
They had indeed arrived at the Falcon. Leia let Luke walk up the boarding ramp first, still turning over the information in her head. She knew Han wouldn’t have shied away from giving her the hair piece if he had simply not wanted to argue- Han seemed to enjoy arguing with her, so if for whatever reason he thought she would fight him on the gift, she knew he would actually seek out the argument. A more plausible reason, and one that seemed much more in tune with Han’s character, was that he didn’t like doing kind things, at least not publicly. He was always declaring himself to be a scoundrel, but Leia was beginning to see he might actually be a nice man under all the facade.
She tried not to let this newfound knowledge show on her face throughout dinner. She wasn’t sure she was doing so well at hiding it though, because Han kept glancing over at her in confusion when she kept studying him, and Luke nudged her foot and muttered she was being weird. She focused her eyes on her plate after that.
After dinner, Luke left but Leia stayed behind, lingering in the galley.
“Somethin’ you want, Princess?” Han asked as he brought his dishes to the small sink.
“Hmm, nothing,” she said neutrally.
“Well, you’re standin’ there like you expect me to do Boxnov-three step, and I hate to tell ya, but my dancin’ skills are pretty rusty,” Han joked, draining the rest of his ale.
“Why did you get me the hair piece?” Leia asked bluntly, and Han choked on his drink.
“I, uh, what do you mean?” he asked when he recovered, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. She watched him, amused.
“The hair piece,” she repeated. “The one with the Alderaanian crest on it.”
Han shrugged. “Dunno what you’re talkin’ about,” he said, putting his glass in the sink along with the rest of the dishes and grabbing an old rag.
Leia fixed him with a long look.
He sighed.
“Fine. So, I got it for you. What’s the big deal?” he relented, putting his hands up.
“The big deal is that it was very sweet of you, Han, and I didn’t expect it.”
“Yeah, that’s kinda the point of a gift, ” he muttered, wiping half-heartedly at the galley counter with his rag.
“Still. You didn’t have to have Luke give it to me on your behalf. It would’ve been perfectly fine to give it to me at dinner instead of via him in the mess hall.” Leia responded. He looked up.
“He gave it to you in the mess hall?” he asked, looking disgruntled. Leia nodded and he grimaced. “I told him to give it to you in your quarters- y’know, somewhere less, uh, public.”
Leia smiled slightly. He’d been aware seeing something from her home planet might affect her more than she’d like to let on somewhere so populated as the mess hall.
“Thank you,” she said. “For the crest.”
“No big deal,” he repeated.
“It is a big deal,” she countered for the second time. “It means a lot to me.”
“You know what else I think meant a lot to you?” Han asked suddenly, pointing an accusing finger in her direction.
Leia raised her eyebrows expectantly.
“Me comin’ back.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she answered instantly, parroting his words back to him.
“You can deny it all you want, Princess, but I saw your smile when you saw me in the briefin’ room earlier. You were excited I was back.”
Leia felt a slight burn in her cheeks at this. She’d hoped she’d hidden it better or that he at least hadn’t noticed, but she really hadn’t been able to fight the smile off her face when she’d seen him sitting there, already looking bored with a meeting that hadn’t started yet. She had been happy to see him, though she didn’t want to think too hard about why.
“I was simply relieved you’d returned in one piece without being discovered by the Empire,” she said with a small shrug. Han’s face broke into an even larger grin at this.
“Oh, you were relieved, were you?” he said, and Leia scoffed, irritated at her slip of tongue.
“Don’t let it get to your head, flyboy,” she said, backing up towards the boarding ramp exit.
“Princess Leia admittin’ she was relieved I returned from my dangerous mission? Nah, that won’t go to my head at all,” Han remarked sarcastically, though she could hear the joking tone in his voice.
“'Relieved'? Well now you’re just getting ahead of yourself.” Leia said dryly. Han shook his head with a shrug, the smirk still wide on his face.
“Yeah, well, if you’re worried when I go on supply runs, then you should come with me next time.” Han suggested, and Leia rolled her eyes again.
“Then I’d be worried for my own life in this bucket of bolts you call a ship,” Leia retorted. Han put a hand to his heart in mock-hurt.
“Hey, this bucket of bolts made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!” he protested.
“It’s a miracle it had the strength to make it to Kessel in the first place.” Leia said cynically, and Han shook his head.
“This ship saved your ass and you still doubt it? It’s the fastest ship in the galaxy and this fleet by far. ” Han told her, wagging his finger.
“Careful, Captain Solo, you’re going to make me more concerned about your ship than you the next time you’re late to return,” she said.
“So you admit it!” he cried gleefully. She bit the inside of her cheek, annoyed at herself but unwilling to be defeated.
“I admit nothing!” she exclaimed defiantly, putting her hands on her hips.
“Sure, your Highnessness.” Han looked far too pleased with himself.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, would you stop with those ridiculous nicknames.”
“How can I? When I know you were worried about me?”
“I was not!”
“Was too!”
“Was not!” Leia pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a deep, calming breath. “We are fighting like children,” she said after a second.
Han shrugged. “Yeah, ‘cause you won’t admit you were worried about me.”
Insufferable man, Leia grimaced, how could he be so thoughtful one second and absolutely irritating the next?
“How can I admit what isn’t true?” she countered, not missing the irony that that was a blatant lie.
“All I can say is that you’ll be doin’ a lot more worryin’ when I’m off on my next supply run,” Han said, finally turning the sink water on to wash the dishes.
“Your next run?” Leia frowned, and he nodded.
“Yep. In two weeks. Anelsana.”
Leia fought a smile off her face, her irritation forgotten. He was definitely sticking with the Alliance, at least for the time being.
“Another supply run? You should just join the rebellion officially at this point,” she said teasingly, though she was half-serious.
“Nah, no need to do that. But I can promise I’ll come back, so you don’t gotta worry.”
Leia sighed. “I wasn’t worried.”
“Whatever you say,” Han said simply, though it was clearly not “whatever she said.”
“Thank you for dinner,” she said, choosing to move on. “And… thank you for the hair piece.” She said that part quieter, knowing it would be hard to voice just how much she wanted to thank him. He seemed to understand, though, and just nodded. Leia straightened up, deciding to walk out of here with her dignity.
“Captain Solo,” she said politely, turning on her heel to walk away.
“Your Worshipfulness,” he fired back, and her steps faltered for just a second before she picked up the pace, ignoring the smile on her face.
Maybe she didn’t have to worry the next time he left.
“I’ll come back.”