Fame and Fortune

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Rolling to her side, the Former Princess of Alderaan carefully propped herself up on an elbow, putting her hand under her head for support. She watched Han sleeping next to her, his expression happy and content. He was on his stomach, both arms tucked under the pillow, his face toward her with the bruised cheek showing. Leia gave a slight grimace, noting the bruise appeared darker now in the early morning light of the Hapan dawn. Then her gaze traced over Han's back and shoulders. His new body wasn't as muscular and didn't have quite the width of broad shoulders as he'd had before. This was undoubtedly due to his younger age, as well as the fact he didn't have nearly as much time to spend on physical labor now that he was an entertainer. When Solo smuggled, he would do hard labor, loading and unloading contraband, some of it quite heavy, as well as constantly making repairs to the Falcon. Leia knew from experience that some of those repairs required muscle. She pondered his chest. She always liked the amount of chest hair Han had... neither too hairy nor too smooth. This new body's chest hair situation was pretty much equal in quantity to his old body's, which pleased her more than she'd ever admit. Her wandering mind took her lower and despite the fact Han was sound asleep she felt herself blushing. Leia had no complaints about this new version, and she wasn't certain if this would make Han pleased if he knew that, or upset that she didn't consider his former manhood considerably better than his new body. She decided it would be something she would never mention in case he got offended; you could never be certain what would make Han upset. She smiled at her lover, thinking that both versions of Han were a million times better than her wandering husband.

Then she drew her eyes back to his face. His hair was a shade or two darker brown than Han's had been -neither a positive nor a negative in Leia's mind. His new eye color was blue, but unlike Luke's sky-blue, his were now a deep blue. Leia didn't mind blue eyes, but she felt a bit of a nostalgic pang knowing how much she loved and missed Han's hazel eye color, with hues that seemed to shift from light brown to green to gold depending on his mood. So, the eye color was a negative for her, even though the shape and size of his eyes, both the old and the new, were fine. The line of Han's nose was now perfect, his profile nearly flawless. That was a plus, she thought with a smile, recalling his oft-broken and off-center nose of old. Full lips for both bodies, she determined, again flushing slightly at the memory at how those lips had felt on her body last night. Han's 'old' body had a strong, masculine jaw line, and so did this new body, although this new body didn't have the chin scar that was so apparent that people would often ask, much to Han's chagrin, how he got it. Leia had found his scar made him look both dangerous and sexy. She would miss it. His teeth were fine, white and straight, so therefore Han obviously took care of those quite well, just as he'd taken care of his teeth before. All and all, if he had to end up in a different body, this one was acceptable. Judging by his millions of adoring fans, perhaps more than acceptable.

Slowly, Han became aware of being watched and studied. He opened one eye, looking up at Leia. "What are you looking at?" he said, his voice deep and slightly hoarse from sleep.

"You."

He turned his head so he could see her with both eyes and asked, quite earnestly. "Do you like what you see?" He sounded concerned that maybe she wouldn't like this 'new' Han, and there would be nothing he could do about it.

Leia smiled. "I like what I see just fine. I'm committing to my memory this new version of you."

Han gave a slow grin and propped himself up facing her in the same pose so they were nose to nose, only inches separating them. "You don't really have to memorize what I look like, ya know. All you have to do is buy the latest celebrity holo-zine gossip rag and my face is plastered all over inside them. I'm constantly havin' affairs with almost every female holo-star in the galaxy. Hells, I'm sometimes havin' affairs with male holo-stars. I really don't have time to do anything but have sex, according to the shills. Now if they find out I've been messin' around with Hapan Royalty, I'll probably end up with entire editions dedicated in my honor."