Sometime after Return of the Jedi
Leia walked beside her Corellian as they weaved through the enormous crowds of people attending the New Republic gala. Every step they took, people looked in their direction.
She stiffened as a few senators she knew somewhat well glanced in the direction of her and Han before snickering to themselves. Leia stopped dead in her tracks when a young Alderaanian woman carrying a few glasses of brandy whispered, "we thought you were better than that princess."
Leia was too stunned by the comment to respond. For once, Leia was speechless. As she struggled to make her lips move, to manage some kind of response, she felt a familiar hand on her back pushing her away from the woman.
As they moved away, his arm wrapped around her in a cute, protective kind of way. Leia could feel his hand on the side of her pregnant belly. She immediately closed the small gap between their bodies and walked side by side with him as he guided them out of the crowd.
Han guided her into the elevator before stepping in himself and gesturing for the Mon Calamari behind them to take the next one up. He turned his back to the closing door and focused on her.
"You okay?"
Leia nodded. "I'm okay."
But by the way she was looking back at him, Han knew that wasn't the case. "You're not okay."
"Han, I'm fine."
He took a deep breath. "No you're not."
Leia stood up to her full height in front of him. "People talk about me all the time. It's part of my job. I've learned to live with it and you need to as well."
"But-"
"There's no 'buts.' It's done and over with." She said it so halfheartedly Han knew that no matter how hard she tried to hide it, the comment got to her.
The elevator beeped when they got to their floor. The door started to open but not before Han pushed the button to close it again. He leaned against the door and said, "we're not leaving this elevator until you talk to me."
"There's nothing to talk about."
Almost all of his weight rested against the door as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You're gonna pull one of your stunts again like you did on Hoth aren't ya sweetheart?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"About the times you wouldn't admit your true feelings to me," he answered. "You did it then. You're doing it now."
He continued. "You don't like that she said that to you because she's Alderaanian."
Leia took a deep breath. Han was right on the mark again. "I don't care what anyone thinks about us. Your people think you could've done better than me. Nobody likes me. They don't like that I got you pregnant. They can say all they want about me and it doesn't matter because I have you."
"Don't let it get to you princess," he whispered. "I promised I was going to protect you." Han pulled her to himself. "And I'm going to do just that."
He leaned down and pressed a passionate kiss to her lips. Leia felt his hands touch her rounded belly before settling on her hips. They kissed again, this time he took his hands down farther under her dress.
She pushed away from him. "Not here."
Han leaned back against the elevator door. "I love you."
"I know."
Leia decided to have some fun with him. Before he could stand up and press the small button to open the elevator door, she reached out with the force. The doors opened and he tumbled out backwards in front of a few senators waiting to head down to the lobby.
She stepped over him and around the group of senators while giggling to herself. "Come on flyboy."
•••
Leia had taken over the copiloting job of the Millennium Falcon after Chewie returned home to his family. Han had taught her everything about the Falcon he knew, and she'd even started to help him when he worked on it.
"Daddy!"
Just as the Falcon lifted off the ground, five year old Ben Solo joined his parents in the cockpit. "Where are we going?"
"We have to go on another supply run," Han answered as he transferred partial controls to Leia. "We're going to have a lot more fun this time though because mommy is coming with us."
He noticed Leia sitting in Chewie's chair. "You're coming too mommy?"
"I am."
Ben made his way over to her. "But aren't you always busy?"
"Yeah I am buddy. Daddy was able to get me out of work for a few days."
Han's way of getting Leia out of her office was to not give her a choice about not coming. He asked and she responded with something along the lines of that she was busy. When she didn't comply again, he rolled her and her desk chair all the way to the Falcon and up the ramp.
"Mon's going to kill you, you know?" Leia stated as she looked over at her husband.
He shrugged. "I don't care."
Leia sighed and shook her head. "Of course you wouldn't."
Ben stood between Han and Leia and watched as the ship cleared the atmosphere of Coruscant. "Daddy can I fly for a little bit?"
"Sure Ben."
Han picked Ben up and onto his lap. "You got it."
Ben would ask his dad to fly the Falcon so much, it scared Leia into making sure that he wasn't going to start flying himself until he was ten. He was so much like Han.
"Can we do a few tricks daddy?"
Neither of them looked over at Leia who rubbed her temples. "Sure, you know how to do it."
Soon the Falcon was spinning to the right in a maneuver Han often did to avoid rear fire. Leia was able to reach out with the force and catch her mug of caf before it could hit the floor.
"Can I do another one?"
Han made eye contact with his wife as a smile curled onto his lips. "Go for it."
They shot upward and around in a circle until Ben leveled them out as they had been before. "That was awesome wasn't it?"
Han gave him a high five. "It was buddy."
The comm crackled to life. "Your highness, Captain Solo, is everything okay up there? We're seeing some unusual movement on our scanners."
Leia laughed and answered the comm. "Don't worry, we're alright up here."
She looked over at both boys holding back smiles. When she raised an eyebrow, they both started laughing.
"You guys drive me crazy."
