Chapter One

Leia felt Han begin to sway sleepily as she stood resting her head on his chest. She quickly let go of Luke's hand and turned to face her new husband, ready to hold him up should he keel over snoring.

"Okay, hotshot, that's it," she said, motioning for Chewie to join them. "That stimshot's totally worn off and you need to sleep."

"Yeah, I think you might be right, sweetheart," Han mumbled.

As Chewie hurried over to support his fading friend, Leia kissed Luke's cheek. "Remember what I said, Luke. All of it."

Luke nodded at Han. "You sure you don't need my help?"

"Chewie and I can manage. He just need a lot of sleep, and so do I. You, however, need to stay here and make friends." She looked pointedly at Adria Pier, whom Lando was trying, without much apparent success, to charm.

"So now that you're my married sister, you're pushy?" Luke grinned.

"When have I ever NOT been pushy?" Leia replied, slipping under Han's arm to support him as they made their way to the exit of the gathering room. Hearing the applause and whistles of their friends increasing as she and Han neared the doorway, Leia realized that there was one Alliance wedding tradition that they had yet to keep. It was certainly not something that would happen at an Alderaanian wedding or, for that matter, at the kind of Corellian folk wedding that they would have had if they'd married on Han's homeworld, but the Alliance had developed a few of its own somewhat more physically expressive traditions given that they were a people at war.

"Think you can manage the Wedding Night Kiss?" Leia said to Han.

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you'd want to do that."

She turned to face him in the doorway, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Oh, hells yes," she said, "and since it's probably going to be the last thing you manage to do before Chewie has to carry you the rest of the way to our quarters, let's make it a good one."

Han laughed and roused himself enough to pull her into his arms, his mouth crashing down on hers in a passionate kiss. She tangled her hands in his hair, pulling him closer, barely hearing the whoops and hollers of their friends as Han bent her body back and continued to explore her mouth with his tongue as she returned the kiss in kind. Soon enough, she felt Han's hand snaking its way down to her bottom.

Well, Leia thought, what's good for the nerf is good for the nerfel…and she reached down to squeeze Han's rear-end herself, much to the loud surprise and delight of their friends.

Han pulled her back up to her feet as he broke the Wedding Night Kiss and turned to the gathering.

"And nobody in the Alliance is ever gonna top that, but have fun trying," Han grinned before turning awkwardly to leave, leaning on Leia for support.

XXXXXX

Chewie helped his friend, who was somewhere between sleep and wake, down onto the bed in the Princess' quarters. Before leaving the newlyweds alone, Chewie caught Leia up in a huge Wookiee hug. He'd wanted to say something to her all evening, but he hadn't had the opportunity.

**Princess** he growled. ** You may not believe me, but I have known for years that you and Han belonged together. His heart grew the moment you met. And, I believe yours soon grew as well.**

Leia nodded at the truth of Chewie's words. She often had difficulty understanding him, despite her efforts to learn Shriiwook, but after he experiences with the Force over the last week, she had tentatively reached out with her nascent skills and found his words – or, perhaps, his thoughts – to be clear to her.

**You are both stubborn humans** Chewie observed. **But as long as you continue to allow your hearts to grow and make room for the other, despite how much you may want to kill each other at times, you will find your happiness grows over the years as well. So that is what I wish for you.**

"Thank you, Chewie," Leia answered, both touched and amused by how well Chewie knew them both. "And thank you for bringing him home. He told me how much you did to you keep the Falcon together when he couldn't. I can never repay you for that."

**Yes, you can. Just keep him away from the Kessel Run, as I did not enjoy it at all.**

"Deal, Chewie," she said as Chewie left with a laugh. "Deal."

Leia entered the lockcode into the alarm next to her door and lowered the lights to dim before turning to look at her husband. He lay fully-clothed and sprawled across the bed, out like a light. She chuckled as she saw a little drool making its way out the corner of his half-open mouth.

Leave it to us, Han, to have a wedding night involving drool and sleeping fully dressed.

Fighting the effects of exhaustion herself, even though it was early in the evening cycle, she gently pulled Han's boots off and laid them next to the bed. He woke and mumbled something unintelligible, his eyes fluttering half open.

"Hey, sleepyhead," she said quietly, "can you sit up for a minute so we can give your bactapad room to breathe by getting that uniform off you?"

"Yeah," he yawned. "I should have a lewd response for that, but…"

"But you haven't slept for four days, so you're forgiven." She undid the jacket and helped him out of it, then he wriggled out of the dress pants and undershirt, dropping them in a pile on the floor before slumping over on the bed again, wearing only his shorts and the bactapad wrapped around his waist.

Leia looked down at him for a moment, wondering how many years the trials of the last week had permanently etched on both of their faces, before kissing his forehead softly.

"I'll be right back," she whispered.

"Don't go—"

"I'm just going to change out of this."

She frowned, realizing that she had nothing else; all she had was the blue dress she'd borrowed to wear to the memorial service this morning – which she would sooner burn than ever wear again - and the white dress that had become her wedding gown, which she'd found bunched on the floor of her closet in the old Alderaanian consulate. She sat down on her side of the bed, kicking off the slippers she'd borrowed and quickly downing a mouthfresh tablet.

I truly have nothing…not one possession, she thought. But I have a "side of the bed" now. A side of the bed I share with the man I thought I'd lost forever. So I have everything.

As she pulled down the covers to get into bed, Han rolled over, snoring softly. She bit her lip, hesitating about doing what she was considering. On Alderaan, she would have been wearing some sort of ridiculously chaste bridal trousseau. Of course, on Alderaan, she would have been married to some ridiculous noble she didn't even know very well. She smiled; there were no rules or improprieties anymore, just a husband and a wife who had fallen deeply in love and chosen, of their own free will, to commit their lives to each other. She unhooked her bra and dropped it on the floor, then curled up against Han, needing to feel the warmth of his skin against hers with nothing between them.

"Huh?" Han woke up as he felt her body, warm against his.

Leia laughed. "I should have known you would wake up when you felt a breast, Han."

"It's not just any breast, it's a perfect breast," he replied, trying to keep his eyes open and failing. His lips brushed her shoulder has he rested his head in the curve of her neck, his hand gently cupping her breast. "But this isn't the wedding night you deserve…"

"I think it's the perfect wedding night," she countered, running her hand through his hair, "because it's ours."

"I promise I'll be spectacular in the morn…" Han's voice trailed off as he gave himself over to sleep.

"Flyboy," she whispered, "I already think you are."

With that, Leia too closed her eyes, and they slept safe in each other's embrace.

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