Vested Interest

by Susan Zahn and Erin Darroch

…the heart is slow to learn
What the swift mind beholds at every turn.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay: Pity Me Not

Every man has three characters—that which he exhibits,
that which he has, and that which he thinks he has.
—Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)

Note: This story is part of the Kismet series. It takes place immediately after the events of Full Circle by Sue Zahn. You may wish to read that story first. The full list of stories in the Kismet series can be found on the authors' profiles (suezahn and erindarroch).

With thanks to our beta readers: YellinYee, BonesBooth206 and Gus Downey.

Chapter 1:

"What were you two doing up there, I wonder?" The teasing voice of Lieutenant Keris Aldric floated through the warm, humid air of the early Serricci evening, reaching Princess Leia Organa's ears just as she finished descending the access ladder that led from the roof of the Alliance Command Center.

Keris's sudden appearance and vexing question startled Leia, and she released the last rung as if it were hot. Dusting her hands off on the seat of her khaki trousers, Leia turned to see her friend emerging from the shadowed road that bisected the Rebels' jungle base. Keris was dressed, like Leia, in an Alliance-issued uniform, and her dark blonde hair was arranged in a practical, work-friendly knot at the nape of her neck. As she watched her friend approach, Leia found herself chafing her own hands together in a nervous gesture, then folded her arms across her chest to stop herself fidgeting.

Captain Han Solo had only just descended the ladder a few minutes ahead of Leia, heading back towards the Millennium Falcon, but Leia had lingered on her lofty perch, in part to avoid exactly the sort of awkward scrutiny she now found herself under, and in part simply to watch him go. With the taste of his mouth still on her lips, and the pleasant tingling that had accompanied his kiss still coursing throughout her body, Leia had felt simultaneously reluctant and relieved to see him leave. Even the distant sight of his loose-limbed, confident stride had been enough to set her pulse racing all over again, and she didn't yet know what she was going to do about that.

"Oh, you know," Leia responded to Keris's question with a nonchalant air, "we were just making love under the stars…." She rolled her eyes with a smile, and hoped her mocking exaggeration would forestall any further inquiry about what she and Han Solo had actually been doing together on the rooftop. She probably should have known better.

"It's about time you got around to that," Keris joked as she closed the distance between them and gave Leia a warm smile in return, although her brown eyes twinkled in a way that promised she wouldn't be dropping the subject so easily. Over the span of five months since they'd met back on the Rebel base on Yavin IV, they'd developed a close friendship that Leia had come to value highly. Keris had proved to be exactly the sort of open, wise, and trustworthy friend Leia needed most, particularly when it came to confiding details of her complex feelings about a certain Corellian spacer and his often baffling behaviour.

Keris raised an eyebrow at Leia's lack of response to her quip, and prompted her again. "Although the roof of the Command Center seems like an odd place to begin a romance…."

Leia winced, and finally found her voice. "I'm joking, of course. We were just talking."

"Really?" Keris narrowed her eyes, fixing Leia with an analytical gaze. "Something in your face tells me you were doing a bit more than talking."

Leia reflexively covered her mouth with one hand, then jerked it down as Keris's expression changed to a victorious grin.

"I knew it."

Leia groaned, shaking her head in defeat. As much as she'd once prided herself on her political savvy, the look of vindication on Keris's face drove home the fact that she'd just been out-maneuvered. Although she probably would have discussed tonight's unanticipated milestone with her friend eventually, she'd hoped to have a little time first to sort out the feelings stirred up by their first kiss.

First kiss? Sounds like you're expecting more. Do not get carried away, Organa.

"It's not what you think," Leia attempted to mitigate her own obvious guilt at being caught in apparent consort with the roguish smuggler.

"And what is it that I'm thinking?" Keris asked with an innocent air.

Leia wasn't falling for that trap a second time. She recognized that she might still be rather naive when it came to affairs of the heart, but she wasn't an idiot. Instead of responding to the question, she shook her head and gestured back down the pathway in the direction from which her friend had emerged. "Are you heading back to quarters?"

Although Keris maintained her air of open curiosity, to Leia's relief she didn't press the matter, but instead shrugged. "I was looking for you to see if you're planning to watch the holovid they're showing in the Mess later tonight, but if you'd rather talk, or just be alone…"

Leia's first instinct, for reasons she didn't even fully understand, was to keep her private moment with Han to herself, but suddenly the last thing she felt like doing was being alone. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No. Let's do that."

In consensus, they started walking together, keeping conversation simple as they headed for the building that housed the mess hall. Once inside, after both had acquired a tray of various food items and a drink, they paused to glance around at the assortment of long tables in the center of the room, most of the spots still occupied by other Rebels who'd also just finished their shifts. Then Keris spotted an empty booth that lined the far wall of the hall and nodded in that direction. Leia followed her, hoping immersion in the noise and hustle of the busy dining hall would be enough to provide a sort of privacy. She was almost certain of where the dinner conversation would go tonight and wasn't at all sure she was up to engaging in it, let alone risk having it overheard.

Sure enough, after a few minutes of light chatting as they ate, Keris leaned in and gave Leia a meaningful look. "So...I'm dying to know..."

Leia finished chewing, swallowed, then sighed. "It wasn't planned. I just decided to go up for the view, and to be alone. He found me up there."

Keris looked a little dubious at that. "He just found you. On the roof?"

Leia shrugged, silently agreeing with her friend's skeptical expression. "Somebody must have seen me go up the access ladder, and he probably asked around."

"Of course he did," Keris said with a knowing tone and nod of the head.

Leia looked up from where she'd been pondering her nearly empty plate. "What does that mean?"

Keris shrugged and gave her a smile. "He seems to be doing that a lot lately."

"Doing what?"

"Asking around for you. Practically every time he comes into the Command Center, it's you he's looking for. It's become...noticeable."

Despite the cool air-conditioned atmosphere of the large room, Leia could feel her cheeks growing warm again. "Oh. It's only because he wants something."

Keris nearly choked on her kaffe, and Leia instantly regretted her comment. It was amazing sometimes how her friend could make a simple conversation seem suddenly riddled with double meanings.

"Oh, you know what I mean!" Now fully conscious of just how red her cheeks probably appeared, she brought a hand up to hide her face from any potential spectators. "Han's figured out that tomorrow is Luke's birthday. It's his Majority, actually. Han asked me to requisition a few things for a small celebration tomorrow night in Rogue Squadron's quarters."

Keris's head tipped back a little in discovery, then she nodded. "That sounds good. They could use a break to blow off a little steam."

"Yes, I think so, too. It's at 21:00. You're invited. It's unofficial, of course," Leia added at the end, mindful that this was still a military facility in a time of war. There was no question that the recently dubbed Rogue Squadron, which was formed from combining the remnants of Red Squadron, Gold Squadron, and the new influx of Rebel pilots and crew, could use an excuse to strengthen their comradeship. While it was against regulations in the strictest sense, she couldn't really see the harm in indulging in a little fraternization for morale purposes.

"Of course. High Command probably wouldn't sanction that, but sometimes it's easier to get forgiveness than to get permission." Keris followed that up with a little wink. "And a Majority Day is a good excuse."

"Right. Actually...it's odd."

"What's odd?"

Leia wasn't even certain how to voice her thoughts. As if her mind weren't already swimming in baffling questions surrounding her most recent interaction with Solo, there was the whole shared discovery of yet another coincidence with her other close friend, Luke. She hesitated, giving her confidante a pointed look. "This is confidential. It's my Majority tomorrow, as well."

Keris set her cup of kaffe down and sank back in her seat, giving Leia a look of open disbelief. "You're joking."

Leia shook her head. "No, I'm not. I would have been…" She stopped herself. That particular topic—of what should have been her coming of age and coronation on Alderaan—was still too sensitive, too recent, for her to dredge up. Instead, she redirected her energy. "Like I said, I'd prefer to keep this between us. It's easily verifiable because it was public knowledge on Alderaan, and General Rieekan might remember. But nobody else here knows. Well, except for Han now, too."

Keris raised an eyebrow, seeming to gain a flash of insight from Leia's comment. "So he found you up there thinking about all that."

Leia dipped her head in agreement. "I hadn't meant to tell him, but I was surprised when he told me about Luke. And he…"

Leia stopped herself again, now genuinely torn on whether or not to continue. She glanced around at their surroundings—the dull hum of many conversations, the clatter of eating utensils, trays and shifting chairs offered its own sort of privacy, but it didn't help with her general sense of wanting to keep events to herself. She debated how to broach a topic she wasn't convinced she wanted to talk about. "Are you familiar with Corellian customs?"

Keris's dark blonde eyebrows shot up, then one dropped back down into a skeptical look. "Well, I'm not Corellian, but I dated one or two before the war."

Leia's mood lightened a little. She hadn't expected Keris to be an expert, but she was relieved to discover that her friend had some knowledge of the subject. "Have you ever heard of a Majority Kiss?"

Keris managed to maintain her straight face for about three long counts before she started to chuckle. "Is that what he called it?"

The gentle blush Leia had been feeling since their conversation had turned toward Han flared into full-on core meltdown as her earlier worry that she'd been played for a fool resurfaced.

"Well, what did he tell you?" Keris prompted.

Realizing that there was little point in holding back, Leia sighed. "That it was in lieu of a proper gift he'd give me later."

This time Keris broke out in a full laugh, but she must have recognized the creeping mortification in Leia's expression because she calmed down after a moment and leaned forward, meeting her eyes directly. "Yes, giving a kiss when you don't have a gift is a real Corellian custom. The event isn't important so much as the intent. For what it's worth, he was probably serious."

"It felt serious," Leia admitted quietly.

Keris's eyebrows rose again as she tipped her head to one side. "And then there's that…"

"There's what?"

"Let's just say that it explains a few things."

With an entirely new sense of dread, Leia laid her fork down and gave up the pretense of eating. If she'd had any common sense, she'd have gotten up and headed for the refuge of her private quarters without asking any more questions. But she felt increasingly bewildered by her own emotions, and compelled to seek insight from her more experienced friend. Rip off the Bacta bandage, she thought.

"It explains what?"

"There are rumors going around. You know, the usual sort of silly chatter stuff. But lately there's been more about Solo in particular. With you."

Leia straightened up in her seat, and felt her expression pinch into a mix of confusion and concern. "With me?"

"Well, sure. Like I said, he's always asking around for you. And you're almost always there to meet him when he arrives—"

"But that's my job!"

"—and you're the last to see him off when he leaves."

Leia brought up a hand to rub her forehead, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

"Add to that the fact that you have dinner with him on board his ship—"

"With Luke! And Chewie!" she interjected, feeling the need to defend herself yet again.

"—whenever he gets back from a run."

Leia began shaking her head, simultaneously dismayed and exasperated by the implications of Keris's words. She sighed. "We're friends."

"Of course you are. That's plain to see." Keris's tone was not the least bit mocking, and the smile she gave Leia was kind. "In fact, that's a great place to start. He's clearly a friend."

"He said as much tonight," Leia admitted, finding the confirmation here a little more reassuring. A friend wouldn't take advantage of me, would he?

"You've been with this group long enough now to know what it's like around base." Keris shrugged. "In between missions, people get bored and look for drama. There's the occasional tryst, but for the most part things are pretty dull, you know? So when they start to notice a pattern…"

"A pattern…" Leia repeated under her breath, staring down at the remnants of her meal.

"He's an attractive and unattached man, and a hero of the Rebellion. You're young and beautiful...and single, too. Not to mention a bit glamorous—"

Leia gave a very unglamorous snort of derision.

"Well, relatively speaking," Keris grinned at Leia's display of skepticism and shrugged. "You're a highly visible public figure. People are going to notice what you do."

"Yes, but...well, so is Luke. I spend just as much time with him."

"You think so?" Keris raised an eyebrow. "I've heard one or two things about him, too, but not in connection with you. And not nearly as much as about you and Han. There's an obvious attraction going on, and you do spend a lot of time together. For people who are starved for a little excitement, that's like a magnet." Keris paused, seeming to debate with herself over whether or not to say more, then shrugged as she made up her mind. "I know for a fact that several of the women here—and a couple of the men—have been chasing Han for months, but he's yet to take any of them up on it."

This was another surprise, and Leia's eyes widened a little at the discovery. In the first month or so of their acquaintance she'd noted with some irritation how freely Han exchanged flirtatious winks and suggestive comments with females of every description. She'd formed an initial impression of him as an indiscriminate scoundrel whose easy banter did little to disguise an unprincipled character. That impression had been dispelled almost as quickly as her perception of him as a ruthless mercenary, which had dissolved in the face of his continued service to the Alliance at steadily diminishing rates, and despite the fact that he repeatedly expressed his intention to move on. After his abrupt reversal during the Battle of Yavin, Leia began to notice how often his actions belied his words—and now her usually reliable sixth sense told her that most of his roguish behavior was an act as well.

Her own behaviour, she realized with a pang, was just as transparent. Although she spent much of her time between shifts with Keris or on her own—or with Luke when he was around—she had to admit that the pattern invariably changed whenever Han was back on base.

I enjoy his company, she thought irritably. What's wrong with that?

"Actually," Keris continued, interrupting Leia's thoughts. "In the women's barracks yesterday, I overheard Aslin Mori complaining about him."

Keris paused to cast a surreptitious glance around the room, in case the woman in question was nearby.

Leia looked around, too, and was relieved to see that their nearest neighbors were seated a comfortable distance away. Nevertheless, she lowered her voice as she asked for clarification. "Complaining?"

"Yes. Apparently, he's 'all talk' and 'no action.'" Keris laughed at the description. "She was telling her friends that she'd given up trying to get anywhere with him by being subtle, so she flat-out propositioned him a few days ago."

"How charming." Leia attempted to sound droll, but inside she was a mix of conflicting emotions.

"Aslin said she wanted to find out once and for all if he was actually interested in some...action...or if he's just a hopeless flirt."

Leia snorted. "Oh, he's a hopeless flirt, all right." She rolled her eyes for added emphasis. "I hope Aslin Mori got all the 'action' she was after."

"That's the thing, Leia. She didn't get anything. He turned her down."

"Well, it's nice to know he has some taste." Leia winced as soon as the words left her mouth. She generally tried to keep above the usual gossip around the base, but she was starting to sound downright bitchy, and she didn't know where that was coming from. While the idea of anyone so blatantly targeting another person for casual sex struck her as rather crass—and even vulgar—it was none of her business. The fact that the target happened to be Han Solo just made it seem even more so. "Nevermind that, I don't care. He's an adult. They both are. So long as it doesn't interfere with our operations here, they're free to do whatever they want."

"That's very true," Keris agree with a sage nod and an abiding smile, as though she still knew more than she was letting on. "The point is that you're the only one he ever seems to have any time for."

Leia's stomach fluttered, but she couldn't be sure if the cause was excitement or trepidation. To cover her consternation, she lifted her cup, took a sip of cold kaffe and cringed at the taste. If Han had, in fact, refused multiple opportunities for the sort of common pleasures that many people on base freely indulged in, it was no wonder that rumours were flying. Leia felt inexplicably gratified and dismayed all at once, as well as utterly adrift in unfamiliar territory. As the only daughter of a royal house, she was long accustomed to superficial flirtations, and adept at fielding attempts by charming men to win her affections. But this thing with Han—whatever it was—felt very different.

Keris's words also made her realize just how much Han's behaviour had changed in recent months. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time he'd openly flirted with someone else while in her presence. And although he'd often teased Leia, and made suggestive comments whenever an opportunity arose, these days his advances were beginning to feel more serious than playful. Keris's observation only seemed to underscore that fact.

"I don't know what to say about that," Leia finally admitted, shrugging ruefully at Keris's amused smile. "I don't think I've given him any particular encouragement in that direction."

Keris was silent for a moment, apparently considering Leia's words. "Sometimes men see what they want to see." She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "But that makes me wonder, why haven't you given him any encouragement?"

Leia felt slightly bewildered by the question. "What do you mean? Why would I?"

It was Keris's turn to look flummoxed. "Leia! You're nineteen years old...well, twenty," she corrected herself. "Han Solo is available, gorgeous, and clearly as interested in you, as you are in him. So what's the story?"

Leia, feeling increasingly flustered by the line of questioning, began gathering up the detritus of her meal onto the empty tray, and retreated into safer conversational territory. "We're at war, Keris. I really don't have the time or inclination for that sort of nonsense."

Keris's brown eyes widened. "Well, even in wartime 'that sort of nonsense' can keep you sane, Leia. Especially in wartime. You've been through a hell of a lot in the past six months. All you do is work and worry. You deserve a little fun."

"That's just it. I'm not interested in fun."

Keris began to pile her own waste onto the tray while shaking her head in bemusement. "That's quite possibly the saddest statement I've ever heard."

"Oh, you know what I mean! I'm not interested in anything...casual."

"Ah, so now we come to it. You want more?"

Leia's shoulders slumped. "I don't know what I want. I certainly don't have the time or energy to try guessing at what he wants." She glanced around, relieved to notice that some of the mess hall staff were beginning to clean up and rearrange the unoccupied chairs and tables. "Looks like they're starting to set up for the vid tonight. I think I'm going to skip it and get some rest. I'm feeling a little tired."

Keris nodded, although something in her faint smile hinted that she saw through the excuse. "Hey, don't let the idle gossip get to you. Like I said, some people have nothing better to do in their downtime. I just thought that you should know."

Leia accepted that with a nod as she slid to the edge of her bench and got to her feet. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy the show," she added before turning and walking toward the clean-up station with her tray.

Leia headed back out into the night and paused beyond the door in the pale blue glow of the artificial light that ringed the Mess Hall. She peered out into the pitch blackness of the surrounding jungle, listening to the now-familiar sounds of the local insects and occasional calls of larger creatures hidden in the thick undergrowth. After a moment, she glanced up with the hope of spotting the stars again, but the light surrounding her now overpowered their faint twinkles high above. A deep breath of the thick, humid air did little to calm her thoughts or nerves.

Much as she liked to think of herself as mature and worldly in some matters, her agitated state —in response to a single kiss!—revealed just how much she had yet to learn about the galaxy, and about personal relationships in particular. It was bad enough that Han had unquestionably escalated things an hour or so ago. But to learn that the two of them were already a topic of idle conversation around the base added a whole new layer of stress to her life that she did not need. One lesson her courtly upbringing had certainly taught her was that battling rumors was a tricky and potentially dangerous endeavor—the more one tried to smash them, the more likely they were to splinter and fly out in new directions. Matters were made more complex by the fact that Han had just kissed her for real, leaving her no defense in the face of such gossip.

She scuffed the toe of her boot into the hard-packed dirt and sighed. If she couldn't address the rumours directly, she supposed, she'd have to quell them by avoidance. As she crossed the broad road that separated the Mess Hall from the structure housing her private quarters, Leia resolved to put some distance between herself and Captain Solo, beginning with the party tomorrow night.