Chapter 11

Dinner had proven to be surprisingly uneventful given the sudden turn of events.  Leia had seemed more civil than Han could remember her being since this whole ordeal had started.  They’d talked about anything aside from their ‘marriage’ or the war that would continue without them while they would be stuck trying to convince some counselor that they did not belong together.

Han laughed to himself, wondering if it could possibly take an entire month for anyone to know for certain that he and Leia could not be husband and wife.  He’d have to see if anyone had ever been dismissed early from the program.  Any sane person would be able to tell that for their own personal safety their marriage needed to be dissolved as quickly as possible. 

While spending all of this time with Leia talking about their non-existent relationship wasn’t Han’s first choice, he had to admit that it sure beat hanging around with the Rebels in constant fear that the Empire could show up and obliterate them all at any moment.  Sure, he might miss flying the Falcon for a little while, but keeping her docked might give him some time to fix up a few things he’d been putting off that required excessive idle time that up until now he hadn’t had. 

With those thoughts in mind, Han slept surprisingly well that night.  While he never liked the idea of some counselor trying to tell him how he should ‘feel’ and spending the next several weeks playing ridiculous games designed to keep a loving couple from making a mistake, he wasn’t really anxious or worried about what the experience would entail.  Just about anything beat being shot at. 

He awakened feeling well rested and almost having forgotten what he had to do that day.  Opting to let Leia sleep a bit longer – if that was in fact why she hadn’t yet emerged from her bunk – he made his way to the galley to fix up a quick breakfast.  He could still hear Chewie snoring loudly, the Wookiee knowing full well that he had the day to himself and there was no reason to get an early start.  And in the middle of his first sip of caf he looked up to see a tired-looking princess.

“Good morning,” he said casually, not entirely sure what sort of mood to expect from her.

“Hi,” she replied indifferently.  Her hair was meticulously wrapped in a crown of braids on top of her head and she was dressed simply in black pants tucked into equally black boots, a while button-down blouse adorning her upper half.  He noted, not for the first time, that she could make the simplest outfits look good. 

None of that, Solo.  You gotta spend the next month making sure how evident it is that you can’t stand this woman.  “You hungry?” 

She shrugged.  “I’ll just have some caf.”  Without another word she went and poured herself a cup before sitting across the table from Han.  After a few moments of near silence, the exception being the sound of Han chewing his breakfast, Leia spoke again.  “So, today should be… interesting.”

Han arched his eyebrow, surprised that she was choosing to bring it up.  “Yeah.  How long do you think it will take for us to prove to them they need to grant us a divorce?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, looking down while her fingers absently played with the warm mug of caf on the table in front of her.  “They take the sanctity of marriage pretty seriously around here.”

“Yeah, well, they obviously need to have a less liberal policy on the distribution of marriage licenses if that’s how they feel about it.  Prevent people from making any rash and/or drunken decisions.”

He caught a hint of a smile from her, which caused him to display a full-wattage grin.  He caught himself just before she looked up at him.

“Just do me a favor and try not to make me look too bad, all right?” Leia joked.

“Only if you promise the same.”

“Yes, well, whatever horrible things I say about you will be true.  You’ll just start to make things up in order to make me look like the bad guy here.”

“Well, you are the bad guy, aren’t you?  I mean, if it were up to me, we’d just stay married.”  He’d said it as a joke, but for a brief moment he wondered if he wasn’t kidding.

“No, you want out just as badly as I do.”

Han hesitated before answering.  “Right, sure.”  He glanced at his chrono.  “I think it’s time to go, Mrs. Solo.”

She had started to get up and stopped immediately upon hearing him say “Mrs. Solo” but it seemed her sense of humor had returned because instead of being angry, she looked up at him with a smirk on her face.  “Don’t get too used to saying that.  I know you only married me for my money.”

“Who says I need your money?  I got plenty of my own.”

They began walking down the ramp.  “Really?  You could’ve fooled me.  Wasn’t that duct tape I saw holding the thermal exhaust port together?”

“All right, all right,” he said as they walked.  “Save it until we have an audience.”

And with that, the Solos headed for their first day of marriage counseling.