"A Polite Conversation" by Blamey77

This is a "Han's Birthday Challenge" Submission by Blamey77.  Thanks for sharing!  :-)

A Polite Conversation

"When is your birthday, Captain?"

"Why? You thinkin' of planning a surprise party?" Han asked, with a grin.

"No, I'm just curious," answered Leia.

"If you were thinking of a surprise party, I would be fine with that."

"Oh, really?" she asked, drily.

"Yeah. So long as the surprise is a beautiful woman waiting in my cabin with wine and balloons. What do you say, Princess? Can you clear your schedule?"

"Could you possibly be anymore inappropriate?" Leia snapped in response.

"Is that an actual request because I could go on-"

Leia abruptly stood up, ready to storm out of the falcon. She wondered why she bothered coming here. The uncouth captain seemed continually determined to prove her worst expectations about him.

"Hey, wait," Han said, putting his hand on her arm. "I'm sorry."

Leia shot him a frustrated look. "Is it possible for you to go one conversation without making an innuendo?"

"Yes," Han said firmly. "I think."

Leia raised her eyebrow at him.

"Hey, give me a break. I've never tried it before!"

She couldn't stop a small smile from appearing on her face. Han grinned in response.

"Please sit. We'll start over," he said, sitting back down. His posture was straight and he had his hands clasped in front of him in an exaggerated display of decorum.

The Princess bit her lip to muffle her own grin. She slid back into the booth.

"So, what were we talking about?"

Leia eyed him warily and answered, "Your birthday."

"Can I ask why you want to know?"

"I told you, I'm just curious," she said, slightly blushing.

Leia had been reading the smuggler's file when she noticed the absence of a birth date. Her curiosity had been piqued over the omission. It seemed like a harmless piece of information.

"I don't know the actual date I was born," Han said, matter-of-factly, "At some point; I just picked a date and stuck with it."

Leia tried to conceal her surprise at his admission.

Han shrugged. "I've never really paid much attention to my birthday- except to add another year to my age. Chewie usually tries to put something together on the day."

"Like a party?" Leia asked.

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that. He cooks dinner, buys beer, washes the dishes that night..."

Leia couldn't stop herself from suddenly erupting in laughter.

"I'm sorry," she said in response to his startled expression, "It's just a funny image and...it's sweet."
She covered her mouth but couldn't stop giggling.

"This is what I get for trying to have a polite conversation," Han said, shaking his head.

I Know, it's Been a Slow Month...

We're all fine here, now.  How are you?  Sorry for the lengthy absence.  I think that was a new personal worst for total silence.  Rest assured, nothing is wrong, it's just summer and frankly we're all feeling a bit disconnected.  But here's a great new picture of Han to make up for it. 

Let's see, on my end, I read Crucible and now understand why there weren't really any spoilers out there before it came out.  I'm not even sure what you'd spoil.  There are no major revelations.  We all knew already that the point of the book was for the Big Three to retire, and that's what happens in the end.  The details that get them to that point are fairly convoluted and I'm still not sure what I read.  Han and Leia certainly have some nice moments, although in between them they spend a lot of time within a centim of death so that's not quite so pleasant.  I really don't even know what else to say about the book.  I wouldn't rush out to read it, but if you're like me, you'll probably want to get around to it eventually.

Harrison has been making the rounds on some talk shows promoting his new movie "Paranoia" which I have no intention of seeing.  At least not until it appears on HBO in probably a year.  Check him out on Conan and Jimmy Kimmel if you enjoy a good laugh.  He really appears to be having fun with all of this Star Wars talk.  Or, more accurately, lack of Star Wars talk.  I'm sure some people see it as him being a grumpy jerk or something but I think he's mostly playing a part.  There are also some fun interviews circulating of him at ComiCon, so check those out if you're bored.

Episode VII news is slow at best.  No revelations there yet.  However, just today I saw that there are rumors that Ewan McGregor will be coming back as Obi Wan's Force ghost... which I have mixed feelings on.  I will say, however, that he was one of the few bright spots of that travesty known as the prequel trilogy.  So maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world... provided nobody ever mentions anyone with the words Hayden or Christiansen in their name.  There are also reports of the Emperor himself, Ian McDiarmid, will be back to reprise his role.  Um, resurrected Emperor?  Didn't we see that in like, a half dozen EU comic books?  I suppose it could be cool if they did it right.  And man, that dude is scary.  Certainly makes for a convincing villain if we're forced to do without Vader.
Also, there is a tiny blurb from the new Leia book that comes out in October.  Han is in it.  It's like a paragraph long and, sadly, I already know I'll be out another $20 when it comes out.  I keep thinking I'm going to be done with the books, and they keep figuring out ways to make me come back.  Oh, also the Making of Return of the Jedi book will be out in October as well.  Admittedly with my first two books I've only ever looked at the pretty pictures and not actually read them.  Does that make me a bad person?  Maybe someday.

So, that's it.  We're not gone forever.  Or at least I'm not.  Please feel free to continue to comment here and keep things going and maybe eventually we'll get on a roll again!