Just a Kiss Challenge - Submission #4 by TooOldForThis

 Let’s try this again

By TooOldForThis

"Okay Chewie....   Detach."

A few moments later, the Imperial Fleet made the jump to hyperspace and disappeared.    All that was left was a bunch of imperial garbage floating in space, among which was the Millenium Falcon.     Han waited a few moments, entered the coordinates for Bespin, and then powered the Falcon off towards the City in the Clouds.     Chewie returned to the cockpit and sat in the co-pilots chair.     "What now?” he gruffed.

"Well", said Han, feeling rather pleased with himself, "I'm starving.   You think you can handle the controls for awhile, Chewie?"     

Chewie replied "Of course, don't I always?"      Han ignored this comment and turned to the princess.   "Care to join me?" he said as he extended his hand.    

"Sure", she replied.  She was a little hungry and everything here seemed to have settled down and be under control, at least for the time being.   She took Han's hand and let him lead her from the cockpit to the galley.     They left Threepio in the cockpit with Chewie, still turned off.

In the galley, Han put together plates of food for himself and Leia.   There was bread, cheese, Amalarian pears, and some slices of thinly shaved nerf steak.   Where he got this quality of food,  Leia never could figure out.   He always had some sort of fresh food, even when everyone else was on rations from the Rebellion.   Luckily, he was always willing to share it with her and Luke.    

“What do you want to drink?” Han asked.  “We’ve got water, ale, black chivian juice….”.

“Water is fine”, Leia replied.   

Han poured water for himself as well.  Then placed the plates and drinks on the table, sat down and started eating.

Leia sat down across from him and surveyed the contents of her plate.  Finally, she asked, "How are you able to get Amalarian pears?"

Han smiled, "I'm a smuggler, remember.   I have connections."

"Well, I can't say that I'm surprised, or disappointed.    I love these", Leia responded.

"Good,” he smiled.  "Next time, I'll be sure to get some especially for you."

After a few mouthfuls of food, Leia asked, “How long will it take to get to Bespin?"

"Well,“  Han drawled,  "If we had the hyper-drive, a day and a half.   But, since we'll have to stick to sub-light, I'm guessing about a month."  

"A MONTH!   You've got to be kidding!",  Leia wailed.

"Sorry,  unless we can figure out what's going on with the hyperdrive and fix it,  we're stuck."

"Do we have enough supplies?"

"We should.  Chewie and I stocked up for the trip to Tatooine and we've got some cases of rations stocked away for emergencies.   We may have to curb Chewie's appetite a bit, but you don't eat much anyway, so we should be okay", Han responded.

Leia stopped eating.    Hearing Han mention Tatooine made her remember that he had been planning on leaving.  If the Imperials hadn’t attacked, he probably be gone.  Just when they seemed to be getting along civilly (not to mention that kiss),  he had to remind her that he wasn't staying.

Han noticed that she wasn't eating.. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Leia was tempted to say 'Nothing', but decided to be forthright.    "Well to be honest, I had forgotten that you were planning on leaving!" she said a bit more forcefully than she intended.

It was Han's turn to stare down at his plate.    Truth was, he was going to leave, for her protection more than anything.  But that was before.  Before they ended up here on a slow trip to Bespin, before they kissed.   What he still going to leave?  He wasn’t sure right now.   All he could think to say was,   "Well, that's been postponed a bit now, hasn't it.  First we have to get to Bespin, get the hyperdrive fixed and then get YOU back to the Alliance." and he smiled a little to try to lighten the mood.

"But you're still going to leave",

Han was started to get defensive now.  Why did she have to push this?  He raised a finger and pointed it at her.  "Listen, just because you kissed me, doesn't mean I still don't have a price on my head.   I can't just ignore that!"   

Leia started to respond "Well, I can understand that, but....".  Then she realized exactly what Han had said.... "What?  I..I..  kissed you?", she stammered.

Han smiled.  He loved to see her get flustered.   

"Who kissed who first?" Leia retorted.

Still smiling, Han said, "Well, you did kiss me back, Princess.”  He paused.  “Or was I mistaken about that?"

 Leia blushed and turned her attention to the food on her plate, the anger she'd been feeling suddenly disappeared.

After a moment, he asked again, "So, was I mistaken?"  The tone of his voice lost its teasing sound.

“About what?” she asked coyly.

“You,  kissing me back.”

 "No", she said quietly, still not looking at him.  

 "I didn't think so", he thought to himself.  He leaned back against the cushions,  a smug look on his face.      Leia lifted her eyes as he moved and saw how please with himself he was.

 "Don't think too highly of yourself, Captain.    You're not the first person I've ever kissed back!"    That was a bit of a lie.  She had kissed a classmate back when she was 14, but it was only once and lasted about 2 seconds, so she wasn't sure you could really count that.  And she was pretty sure that she had initiated all the other kisses, all 5 of them in her life.  People don't readily just kiss a Princess/Senator without some sort of invitation to do so,      “Except Han”, she thought.

Han raised his eyebrows in surprise, but didn't say anything. 

Leia broke the silence.   "So why did you kiss me, if you are just going to leave?"  

At first he thought she was joking, but he saw the look in her eyes and he knew that she was completely serious. 

"Well…  I just… I mean…. You said I was alright sometimes and then you hurt your hand and we were so close.  Things just sort of went from there.  I guess I just wanted to...", he stammered as he looked back down at his plate.    He really couldn't put into words the way that she made him feel.   She was infuriating, stubborn, beautiful and captivating.    He hadn't been able to think about kissing anyone else for a long time.    He raised his head and looked her in the eye.   "I've wanted to for a long time.” 

She didn’t say anything.  She was getting lost in the way his lips moved, the sound of his voice and the green/gold of his eyes.

Han broke the silence, two could play at this game, “Why did you kiss me back?"

Her stomach felt like butterflies.    He was looking at her intently.    She wanted to say it was because he was so handsome, so reckless, so willing to take her on and treat her like an equal.     But that would be admitting way too much to him, and to herself.    So all she said was "It felt nice."       

He smiled that crooked smile of his.    "I told you I was nice man.", he said with a twinkle in his eye.    

She smiled and dropped her eyes, pushing the remains of the food on her plate.       

“I’d like to do it again”, he said softly.

Leia didn’t look up, but she did let a small smile curl the edges of her lips.   He wanted to kiss her again.  Funny thing was, she wanted that too.   Gods, what was in that food?   It was getting warm in there.  She felt flushed.

They finished the rest of their meal in relative silence, every so often looking at each other.  Neither exactly sure what to say.  When Leia was done, she non-chalantly looked at him, took a drink of water, and said  “Are you finished?   I’ll put the dishes away if you are,” standing as she gathered her dishes.

He took a drink of water, while still looking at her over the rim of the glass, then slowly put the glass down and licked his lips.   “That’s okay, I can get mine”, he said as he stood up in front of her. She looked up at his face as he stood in front of her.   “Suit yourself”, she said and turned to put her dishes away.       

Han followed Leia to the galley and stood behind her as she put the dirty dishes into the cleaner.  He handed his to her and watched her as she closed the unit and turned around.  They were standing inches apart.  

“So, do you think I could do it again?” Han asked softly as he place on hand against her neck, slowly rubbing his thumb across her cheek.  His gaze flickered between her eyes and her lips. 

Leia looked at him, trying to decide where she wanted to go with this.   The first kiss had taken her by surprise.  Now, he was standing in front of her asking her permission.  Did she want to take this further?  If she said no, she could just discount that previous kiss as a one time, in the moment occurrence and move on.   But, if she said yes, what would that mean?  Would that mean that she didn’t care that he was leaving?   Would that mean that she wanted a ‘boyfriend’?  Would that mean that she wanted him?

He was still staring at her, waiting.  As Leia looked into his eyes, she decided that she really didn’t know what she wanted.  But she did know that she had been fighting this attraction and he was there in front of her and he was so damn attractive and charming and right now, she really didn’t care about anything but what his lips felt like.    

Leia licked her lips, anticipating what was going to come next.  “Okay HotShot,” she said.

He smiled the slightest of smiles.  She’d said yes!   He could hardly believe it.   He tipped her chin up and leaned down to gently press his lips against hers.  Their lips were barely not touching.  He waited a moment, letting the feeling of anticipation build.  

He wasn’t sure if he leaned down, or if Leia got tired of waiting and pushed herself up into him, but suddenly he felt her lips fully against his.  They were soft and warm and he could hardly believe that he was kissing her again.  

Leia felt the warmth as well.  It radiated down to her core and expanded.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair.   How many times had she wanted to do that?

Han started moving his lips against hers and as she responded in kind, he felt the warmth of their kiss expand further down his body.  He felt her body press up against his and he wrapped one arm around her waist and let the other hand rest lightly on her hip, caressing her side.    She felt his lips part and his tongue gently brush against her lips.   She parted her lips and Han let his tongue find hers and explore her taste.

He ever so slightly pushed her against the counter.  He could feel the heat building between them as they continued exploring each other’s mouth.  She release her hands from his hair and moved them across his shoulders and down to grip his arms as he dared to slowly move his hands higher on her waist and up to let his thumbs ever so slightly graze the sides of her breasts.   He wanted to lift her up and set her down on the counter, wanted to unzip that snowsuit of hers and explore the body that he had imagined all these months. He wanted to consume all of her. 

But he knew that he needed to take things slowly.  They were just starting out on this journey and he didn’t want to ruin it.    So as a soft growl escaped from the back of his throat, he slowly moved his lips from hers to her neck.  A soft sigh escaped Leia’s lips as her mouth was freed.  And he kept his hands on her sides.

Han backed slightly away and placed his hand back on her cheek.   “I hope that you’re not going to run away this time”, he softly said as he looked into her eyes and then placed small kisses on her cheek and back down the side of her neck.

Leia smiled.  The feel of his lips on hers still radiating through her memory.  “No,  I don’t think I will.”  She moved her head to allow him better access.

Han pulled back and looked at her face.   “Good”, he said.

They stood like that for several moments, smiling at each other, bodies pressed against the other,  both remembering the feel of each other’s lips on theirs.

Finally, Han spoke.   “Well, Princess”, and he placed a small kiss on her nose, “as much as I’d like to stay here and continue this particular conversation with you.  I suppose that we should let Chewie get something to eat and plan the logistics for getting to Bespin.  What do you think?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, I suppose you’re right”, she replied sultrily.

Han smiled.  “Maybe we can continue this conversation later then.”

“Maybe”, Leia replied as she placed a quick kiss on his lips and then moved sideways out of his embrace.    “Coming, Captain?” she said as she moved out of the galley and glanced back over her shoulder.

“Damn”, Han thought to himself as she left the galley.  He wasn’t sure what had just started, but he was sure that he was going to enjoy it.