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It was quite a chaotic handful of months in the direct aftermath of the Battle of Endor. Not that it was surprising, the subsequent defeat of the Empire and Palpatine in one fell swoop, as far out of reach of an idea as it had seemed for years to both the rebels and plenty of others across the galaxy, was perhaps one of the greatest events that chaos could truly be understood for. The galaxy as a whole had to deal with the Rebellion’s win in a myriad of ways—from facing the scattered remnants of the Empire that were trying their damndest to recuperate and mount a retaliation to each individual planet needing to restructure their governments, senatorial presence, and just determine what day to day life would look like moving forward (some planets didn’t even get that chance, always striking a bittersweet chord anytime they were mentioned.)
And for Han, that was something he’d been thinking on quite a bit recently, what his own day to day would look like moving forward now that the Rebellion and a certain princess-senator-general rolled into one were knee-deep in the process of building out a new galactic governing body to fill the Empire’s dictatorial-shaped hole. Since the Battle of Endor, things had been going absolutely non-stop—including himself.
There had been no shortage of places to help out, from running direct missions for the Rebellion to acting as a transport for goods (in possibly the most above board manner he’d ever done-so before with fully clean documents and everything.) Han, Chewie, and the Falcon had been plenty busy across the galaxy in many respects. It felt like their days before meeting Luke and old Ben on Tattooine at times, what with how often they were flying here and there to carry out all manner of jobs.Though even with the amount of work they’d taken on, they’d been making a point to carve out time for the little group of friends, of family, that they’d pieced together.
That also meant time with Leia specifically. And despite how overwhelmingly busy they both were at any given time, they’d been able to snag moments together here and there. Moments apart from the group and the larger Rebellion that were just for them, quiet and away, allowed them to get to know each other even better outside of an active resistance movement. And sure, they’d gotten plenty of time to know each other since they’d met, but there was something very different when their moments were less hectic and the press of leadership on both their parts could be left at the door a little easier.
Meals together, a quick cup of caf if time was short, evening downtime when they were both on base, and more than a few pleasant long evenings that stretched into the next morning. These pockets of time together were just… nice. It was something Han kept in the back of his mind every time they parted ways to get back into the work of everything that the post-Empire world had brought with it.
And it was this time with Leia and their still brand new relationship growing that had really pushed what exactly came next to the forefront of Han’s mind, despite how much he was really doing at the moment. For quite possibly the first time in his life, there was someone else beyond just himself and Chewbacca that he wanted to directly factor into his plans.
That was daunting enough on its own without even factoring in that it was Leia Organa who he wanted to consider in his future plans. She was a whirlwind of a person and had about a million different things going around her at once, but he was confident he wanted to be at least of of those million things.
Which is how he now found himself outside of the door to Leia’s quarters deep in the Endor base. He’d made his way shortly after touching down in the Falcon with Chewie, just back from their latest supply run. And while he wouldn’t say he’d been pacing back and forth for a few minutes, he also wouldn’t be able to deny that he was purposefully stalling from seeing if Leia was in (he knew she was inside, he’d asked Luke where she was after he’d caught sight of him in the hangar bay). But there wasn’t anyone in the hall to witness General Han Solo’s pacing, so he was in the clear.
Or so he thought.
The door to Leia’s quarters slid open with a soft whoosh, stopping Han in his tracks where he’s standing right in front of the door. He glanced over, offering a crooked grin to Leia.
She was dressed down in casual clothes, a brow raised as she took Han in quickly.
“Are you pacing?” She asked, stepping back and gesturing for him to enter.
“No, of course not,” He said, moving in. “Why would I be pacing?”
“Well, you’ve been outside my door for a few minutes at least.”
“How do you even know that?”
Leia laughed, pressing the pad next to the door to close it once Han was inside. “I have my ways.”
“Ways you’re not gonna share?”
“Of course not.”
Han huffed out a laugh of his own at that. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Exactly, you already know I don’t share my secrets with anyone,” Leia said, stepping in close to press a brief kiss to his lips before moving over to the small dedicated seating area pushed into the corner of the room. “Now, why were you pacing outside my door?”
Han followed after her, plopping down onto the two-seater sofa next to Leia. “I wouldn’t say I was pacing.”
“So what would you call walking back and forth in front of my door?”
“Contemplating.”
“Contemplating?” Leia asked, raising her brow once more.
Han nodded. “Contemplating.”
That only got him an amused but exasperated expression from Leia in return.
“Well since you won’t admit that your contemplating was actually pacing, what were you contemplating?” She asked instead. If there was one thing Leia would do, it would be digging until she got some kind of answer that she was satisfied with—something Han was all too familiar with by now.
And she didn’t really even need to dig all that much in this instance since Han had purposefully come to talk to her.
“The future.”
“Oh?”
“Yup.”
“And what about the future?”
“Well, y’know, in a broad sense what comes next.”
That caught Leia’s attention. She shifted on the sofa just a bit so she was pointed more directly towards Han. They’d touched on the topic of the future here and there, but more-so in the context of what mission was next, what meeting was scheduled between the Rebellion’s leadership, what the next few days looked like for themselves and the Rebellion. Nothing had really been said on the long term future by either of them just yet.
“Alright.”
Han scrubbed a hand over his face before letting his arm drop along the back of the sofa, fingers tapping quietly against the smooth fabric. “I won’t beat around the bush. I’ve been on the go most of my life, even more since Chewie and I met. And even after joining up with the Rebellion, that didn’t change all that much. You know that we’ve been running missions almost non-stop, before and after the Empire fell. But now that things are moving in the direction you and everyone have had planned, it’s got me thinking about what comes next for me, outside of just the Rebellion.”
Leia nodded as she listened, not surprised at all. “Of course, that makes sense. I can’t say that I haven’t been thinking about the same thing. My place is here, I’m going to be involved in what all comes next as we work to build the Republic back up, but I’ve been thinking beyond that too Han.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
Han gave a small nod in response. “I want to include you in what comes next for me,” He said. “I don’t know how else to say that, so there it is. I’m more used to thinking in terms of just me or me and Chewie, but you’re here now too and I want to be on the same page, you know?”
“I see,” Leia said, offering a smile to him. “This contemplating you’ve been doing is exactly where I’m at too, so I think we’re both on that same page right now. It’s a good place to be.”
“Yeah, it sure is Princess,” Han said, something settling inside of him at her words. This conversation hadn’t been something he’d necessarily been putting off, but there had been a small part of him that had been worried about where it might lead. But that worry, even as small as it was, hadn’t been needed it seemed. “A real nice place to be.”
He shifted forward on the couch a bit, letting his leg press against Leia’s where it was curled underneath her, and pressed a kiss to her lips that she returned immediately. The kiss lasted for several long seconds before the two broke apart.
“I think we’ve got this whole figuring out the future down already, huh?” He asked with a playful grin.
Leia cocked her head to the side, reaching a hand up to pat his cheek a few times. “Oh definitely, flyboy.”