Star Wars: Rotta's Revenge

Chapter 9

Han and Leia sat alone on the sofa overlooking Cloud City. Lando was prepping the Falcon for their departure, and Luke had gone back to Tatooine, with the promise that he would be back quickly. He told them that there were people he needed to talk to, a conversation he had been putting off for far too long. Han didn't have any idea what he was talking about until after he left, when Leia explained to him that Luke's friend Biggs had been killed in the attack on the first Death Star, and his parents didn't even know that he'd joined the Rebellion. Luke didn't even know whether or how they had been notified. He owed it to Biggs to break the news personally. He should have done it long ago, he knew, but he didn't have the nerve to face his friend's no doubt angry and grieving parents.
"I hope he makes it out of there all right," Leia said in a worried tone, finally breaking the silence.
"Of course he will," Han said reassuringly, putting an arm around her. "You know him. He can get out of anything."
She nodded in agreement, smiling. They sat quietly like that together for another few moments, until Han realized that this was the moment he'd been waiting for.
"Leia..." he began, swallowing nervously before continuing. "I have to ask you something."
"What is it?" Leia frowned. It was extraordinarily out of character for Han to appear nervous in any situation, especially after having just escaped from a situation in which nervousness was most certainly called for. "Han?" she prompted, when he did not immediately continue.
"I-" Han hesitated. He'd been planning this for a while, yet, now that the time had come, it all seemed inadequate. Nor would it impress Leia, he knew, to hear a fancy speech that was out of character for him anyway. There was only one thing that needed to be said.
He got down on one knee and took the little box out of his pocket, which had miraculously survived the recent events. He opened it to reveal an intricately carved ring. "Leia, will you marry me?"
Leia had spent her entire life training to be a diplomat, to control which emotions she expressed and to what degree. Even so, it took all of her self-control to not leap into his arms and weep with joy. She pretended to consider the question for a moment, then nodded. "Yes." As she said the word, she couldn't keep a smile from breaking out across her face, and then the last of her defenses went down. "Yes!" Laughing, she embraced him. He held her tightly, not daring to believe his ears. At last concluding that he was not in fact imagining things, he pulled away so that he could see her face, gazed into her eyes for a long moment, and kissed her tenderly on the lips.
After an eternity had passed, they broke apart. Han took her hand and slid the ring carefully onto her finger. He continued to hold her hand for a moment longer, then released it and took her in his arms. They sat quietly together, wrapped in each other's embrace, until Luke returned and it was time to leave the city.

The End