Han & Leia | Galaxy of Us

Chapter 16

"Han?" she called out, checking his cabin and the main hull. She frowned, raising her voice considerably louder, "Han!"

An unexpected bang and a yelp came from somewhere to her right. She spun around, but there was nothing. "Han?"

"I'm down here, Princess."

She looked down and discovered the loose tile in the floor...no doubt leading into the illegal smuggling compartments. "I'd like to speak with you," she stated.

"I'm a little...uh...busy at the moment," he said, his voice a little muffled; he probably had a wrench between his teeth or something like that.

She sighed in resignation, climbing down into the dark, cramped space, "What are you doing?"

He was on his back, wrench between his teeth, prying at something behind a tile, "I'm lookin' for somethin'." He cursed as it appeared that whatever he was looking for wasn't there and then spat out the wrench, sitting up to face her. "I know I hid it behind one of these tiles..."

"You forgot?" she said, amused, "It better not be something illegal, Captain..."

He looked aggrieved, "Now why would you ever accuse me of something like that?" he slid the tile back in place and slid further down to work at the next.

She watched him for a moment, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his arms dirty with some sort of grease, the only sound in the little space was the sharp little noises of metal scraping against metal. "I don't s'pose you came down here to help?" he said.

"Ah, no, I can't say I did," she cleared her throat, folding her legs in what she hoped was a more dignified position and began, "I came here to ask you if you've made your decision, yet. If you're ready to fully commit yourself to the Alliance."

He said nothing.

"It's been two years, Han," she reminded him, "You've had plenty of time to think over it."

"I know." He was quiet and calm and that worried her.

"So you've come to a decision, then?"

He went back to working at the tile and she made a frustrated sound under her breath, tugging at his boot and pulling him back, so he'd be forced to look at her. "Han."

"Princess," he sighed, sitting back up, "What do you want me to say?"

She went a little cold inside, "I want you to give me a definite answer. Are you staying or are you not?"

"I don't know."

"You've clearly been considering leaving, you've been avoiding me and you won't even look me in the eye now," she muttered, "What's going on?"

"Well, I can't find the thing I lost somewhere here and then you came down here wailing my name like a banshee and spooked me enough to bang my head against this thing," he motioned vaguely, "It's no wonder my eyes can't focus on you properly with my head spinning."

"You poor thing," she replied dryly, not buying it, "Would you like me to escort you to medbay?"

"I'll manage," he waved her off, but she'd had enough. She put a small hand at his arm, "Han. It's a simple question: do you want to leave?"

Silence. Then, "One month," he said abruptly.

"What?"

"Give me a month to decide and I'll give you an answer by then," he said quietly.

"Oh. Okay," she nodded, first hesitant, then brisk, "I'll expect a proper answer, you won't be able to fend me off with excuses."

"I haven't been able to fend you off with anything," he muttered.