Confession Challenge: Submission #2

Here is another one by StatsGrandma, a newcomer to our fandom.  You guys better get on top of your writing because she is outdoing most of you with submissions and she's only been here a week ;)

 

I CONFESS

Takes place  at the victory celebration on Endor.

"Falling for You" is by Colbie Caillat.  I am stealing her song.

"You wanted this?"  Lando Calrissian said to Han Solo, handing him a fairly large and somewhat oddly shaped case that Han had requested he remove from the Falcon.

"Yeah, that's the one.  I'm amazed, you got it right on your first try,"  Han said, grinning at his friend.

"You gonna tell me what's in there?"  Lando asked curiously.

"Nope."

Lando went off in search of intoxicants.  There was no shortage of them, and most of the celebrants were holding up their end. 

Han scanned the crowd, looking for his beloved Leia.  She'd been dancing with Luke, but Luke had found someone else to dance with, and Han chuckled.  Luke had grown from a complaining farmboy to a Jedi master, a transition Han was glad he'd never had to make; things had been hard enough without what he considered the complications of the force. It wasn't lost on Han that the woman Luke was keeping company with was indeed beautiful.  Good, he thought.  He won't go chasing after either of us.

Han finally located her dancing with Wicket.  He wasn't that much shorter than she was, and she was laughing as she and the creature moved across the ground.

"May I cut in?"  Han said to Wicket.  Wicket glared at him, but Han didn't care.

"Thanks for saving me,"  Leia said sotto voce.  "I was afraid he was never going to let go."

"Should I be jealous?"  Han winked at her.

"Oh, please,"  Leia groaned.  The corners of her mouth turned up in a wide smile.  "I'm amazed that you're still sober." 

"Feel like cutting out for a while?" Han said, giving her his most seductive smile.

"I could use the break." 

"Let's make a run for it before anyone sees us."

The two ran hand in hand, laughing happily as they made their way to a clearing Han, unbeknownst to Leia, had chosen while there was still daylight.  He'd left a backpack there that contained some of the essentials. 

Leia looked to sit down, but Han stalled her.  He opened the backpack and removed two soft blankets, spreading one of them on the ground.

"It wouldn't do for a princess to have to sit in the dirt,"  he teased.  He was pulling her leg; she'd gotten down and dirty all the way down the line.  He liked that that didn't bother her.  But they weren't fighting a war tonight.  Tonight, there was peace in the galaxy, and the sky gleamed with a creamy white moon and hundreds of millions of stars that gleamed.

"This is nice,"  Leia said, smiling shyly at him. 

"We may be members of the tribe, but I think I've had enough mobile rugs for one night,"  he said to her.  "They really have bad breath."

This caused Leia to burst into laughter.  "They do, don't they?"

"And their idea of ale...I could burn a hole in my stomach just thinking about it.  I'm ready for some lager that isn't rotgut.  What about you?"

Han sensed that she was nervous, as if she and he both knew of what was to come that evening, but neither had spoken of it.  Yet.  Han went to the backpack again.  "I've been saving this," he told Leia as he produced a bottle of Alderaanian Emera wine.  He pulled out two glasses and took the opener he carried on his belt to uncork it.

"You went all the way to Nenmo's for this?"  It touched her heart that he would have gone out of the way to find a reminder of her vanished home.  "When did you do that?"

"I asked Admiral Ackbar to send me to Cularin." Han grinned at her again.  "He said fine, so long as I brought him back some celebrity bobbleheads."

"Some what?"

"Guy collects 'em."

Leia laughed.  "Funny, Admiral Ackbar doesn't strike me as the tacky tchotchke type."

"Everyone's got a secret,"  Han said, laughing.  He sat next to Leia, pulling her close and touching his lips to hers.  They held the kiss for a long while, his tongue darting against hers enough to make her moan softly. 

Gods, he wanted her.  Wanted her so much.  He sensed that she wanted him, too, but was rather nervous about the whole intimacy business.

"So what's your secret, Flyboy?"  she asked teasingly.

Han reached over and grabbed the case Lando had brought to him.  "This."

"What is it?"  Leia asked, with some trepidation.

"It's a guitar.  The Emera wine wasn't all I bought at Nenmo's."  He began to open the case. 

"It reminds me a little of a Jinda. Or a Zeltron lute."

"But with a much sweeter sound." 

Leia watched as Han's hands moved deftly to the tuning pegs.  He began to adjust them, trying to get them in tune as he used his other hand to play each string and then form them into an arpeggio to make sure they were properly in tune.

"It has a lovely timbre," Leia agreed.  "I never knew you were musical."

"It's not something I exactly put out as a public service announcement." His hands were involved in practice scales.  "For one thing, I'm not that good."

"If your hands are half as good on the guitar as they are on me, I'm expecting more than that,"  Leia said, blushing a little.

"It's not just the guitar.  I've got a confession to make." 

"Let's hear it,"  Leia said teasingly, but her expression was gentle and soft.

"I like love songs.  Really sappy ones.  There, now you can make fun of me."

Leia leaned in to kiss him again.  "I consider this to be an amazing new dimension about the man I love." She kissed him again.  "So what can you play?"

"Mostly instrumentals,"  he said.  Having gotten the instrument tuned, left hand formed chord patterns as his right hand moved over the strings.  Leia gasped as she grasped what he was playing.  It was a love song that had been popular in Alderaan for centuries.  He played several selections from traditional Alderaanian music.  Leia's eyes filled with tears, but she couldn't help but smile. 

Just watching his hands was stirring deep emotions in her. "I told you, I'm no pro," Han said at the conclusion of a half dozen songs from Leia's home world. 

"Han, they're beautiful.  I can't believe that you're this good, only because I've never heard you practice.  How long have you been doing this?"

"About five standard years now.  I'd practice in the cargo hold, where I couldn't be heard, because when I was first learning, Chewie had a number of unflattering comments about suffering through my practice sessions."

Leia giggled, sipping her wine.  "You play beautifully.  Let me ask you: do you sing?"

"Okay, now we're moving into dangerous territory here,"  Han said, a little nervously.  "As I said, I play mostly instrumentals."

"I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but one of the things I love about you is your voice, especially when you're alone with me.  It's soothing.  All right, not when you're cursing in 600 dialects about the hyperdrive on the Falcon, but when we're away from everyone, you speak very softly."  She kissed him again.  "Please sing something for me."

"You're gonna scream and run.  You've been warned."  He cleared his throat.  "This is something I picked up at Nenmo's about three years ago.  It's from Earth in the early 21st Century.  It's about...it's about how I felt...when I met you."  He hesitated.  "Please stop me at any time.  The vocal line's a little thin."

Han took a deep breath and began the song.

"I don't know but/I think I may be falling for you/dropping so quickly/maybe I should/keep this to myself/Waiting till I know you better/I am trying/not to tell you/but I want to/scared of what you'll say/and so I'm hiding/what I'm feeling/but I'm tired of holding this inside my head/I've been spending all my time/just thinking about you/I don't know what to do/I think I'm falling for you/I've been waiting all my life/and now I've found you/I don't know what to do/I think I'm falling for you/falling for you..."

"As we're standing here/and you hold my hand/pull me towards you/and we start to dance/all around us/I see nobody/here in silence/it's just you and me/I am trying not to tell you/but I want to/scared of what you'll say/and so I'm hiding/what I'm feeling/but I'm tired of holding this inside my head/I've been spending all my time/just thinking about you/I don't know what to do/I think I'm falling for you/I've been waiting all my life/but now I've found you/I don't know what to do/I think I'm falling for you/falling for you..."

"Oh, I just can't take it/my heart is racing/emotions keep spinning out..."

"I've been spending all my time/just thinking about you/I don't know what to do/I think I'm falling for you/I've been waiting all my life/and now I've found you/I don't know what to do/I think I'm falling for you/falling for you/I can't stop thinking about it/I want you all around me/and now I'm scared I am/I think I'm falling for you/falling for you/I can't stop thinking about it/I want you all around me/and now I am scared I am/I think I'm falling for you/falling for you/oh no no/oh no no/falling for you."

Leia smiled at him with a tenderness with even more depth than before.  "I love you."

"I know."  He looked up hesitantly.  "It wasn't terrible."

"It was wonderful."

"Well, you are quite the inspiration."

"And you mine,"  she said gently.  "Is there anything else you can play?"

"Well..."  he had to catch his bearings again.  "I can play a Corellian wedding march.  But I think before that, I'd better have a bride."

Leia looked upon him.  "Did you have anyone specific in mind?"

"As a matter of fact,"  Han said, very softly.  He set the guitar down and knelt before Leia.  "Leia Organa, will be you be my wife?"

She paused for a moment, and then smiled radiantly.  "Yes.  On one condition."

"And that is?"

"That you never stop playing love songs."

"Deal."

 

Thanks for the submission!  And as always, comments are encouraged and welcomed.  As are more submissions!