Did They or Didn't They?

I think we've tip-toed around this topic but I'd like to dedicate an entire blog post to it, shall we?

If there's anything, as a Han and Leia fan, that I could sit around and discuss incessantly - it is about what happened on the way to Bespin.  Did they or didn't they?  How long was that darn trip?  And if they didn't, how the hell long did poor old Han have to wait?

I have been one big pendulum on this issue.  In the beginning, back when I thought the trip lasted all of the 30 minutes tops it looked like it could've in the film, I didn't think they did it on the way to Bespin. 

Then I discovered Fanfic and found out that it could've taken them anywhere from 3 weeks to a few months to get there.  Hmmmm, how very interesting, that little development was to me.  So, I jumped right in with the "Yes, they did it!" faction and the pendulum swung.  I had my arguments.  I mean, look at how much differently they interact on Bespin.  The HUGE smile she gives him when he takes her hand from Lando.  Face it folks, Princess Leia does VERY LITTLE smiling in the entire trilogy.  There is the little knowing exchange as they walk down the corridor and Lando is talking to them.  Then when Han returns to "their" apartment, he calms Leia down with a kiss to the forehead like he's totally got her number, you know what I mean?  Then, he juts his arm out and offers it to Leia on the way to dinner.  AND, they hold hands in the face of Vader.  Yadda.  Yadda.  Yadda.

Buuutttt, now, it's been a year (or more) since I have been contemplating this and I think my pendulum has once again swung in the other direction.  Yes, something happened to them (or with them) on the way to Bespin which does explain all those little things that I described above.  But then there's these things:  "Then you're as good as gone, aren't you?"  Leia's line in the apartment.  Does this sound like a woman who has given herself to someone?  IMO, probably not.  Sounds like they never really worked out what he was going to do when they got the hyperdrive fixed and she's still worried about him leaving her.  IDK if she would've had sex with him without that little piece of information discussed and decided on.  Even if he told her he had to leave and she agreed and they made plans to find each other again and then they had sex, okay, that might happen, but then she wouldn't have said that line like that, you know?  Then there is the all important, "I love you." line.  To me, like the kiss in the circuitry bay (which I firmly believe was their first), I firmly believe that this is the first time she said those words to that man.  Would she not have said she loved him if they had had sex?  I think so.

And the whole timing argument.  Well, in all honesty, by the time they say they are going to go to Bespin, Luke has already been training.  Maybe they were in the asteroid for a few days?  Maybe they rode around on the Super Star Destroyer for a while?  But when they finally say they are going to Bespin, bam next scene Luke is leaving to find them.  I just don't think it was all that long.  (I hear a little "I told you so" here from Zyra...)

Oh, but then I think:  these guys knew each other for over three years and clearly had hoards of UST going on during the Hoth stuff, so could they really be holed up for even a day or two without that going somewhere?  Especially since they had kissed and pretty much admitted to one another that something was going on?  I mean, Han was in his mid-thirties, she in her mid-twenties, c'mon!  They weren't timid teenagers!  But, she was a strong-willed Princess and if she waited that long, chances are she could wait a while longer, right?

I guess, truly we will never know and the next generation of fanfic authors will be arguing this same issue for years and years to come.  But for my final conclusion, I would like to offer some visual evidence (or arguments) for the "Yes they did it!" faction.

I ask all you Han and Leia fans out there (answer honestly):  If Leia walked into the Captain's quarters to use the 'fresher, say 15 minutes into their trip, and found this, could she have controlled herself????

Or if she waltzed into the galley for a cup of kaf and found this:

Could she just say, "Excuse me." and walk away?

Hmmmm....  If so, I must say, she is a better woman than me...