Story Challenge #30: 8th August 2005
Write a fic with the following elements: a fight in a cantina, a bottle of bath oil and flowered underwear. Time limit: 30 minutes. [Actually, this took me several days to finish.]

Knots
A SW fic by Morgan D.

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It wasn't too bad as far as cheap hotels went, Leia decided. The too dark wallpaper was peeling here and there, the mirror in the bathroom was a bit distorted, and there was this slight smell of mould permeating the entire place, but it was clean, no insects, and the sheets smelled of soap and lavender. There were those who would be appalled to see the Princess of Alderaan being given anything but the most luxurious lodgings, but in fact this bedroom was considerably larger and more comfortable than her usual quarters with the Rebel Alliance. One more reason — if a selfish one — to be glad she had come along in this mission, instead of remaining safely away from the action as the untouchable symbol some in the Alliance Command would rather her be.

Still, she would have felt a lot better if she had been able to go with Han and Luke to the Codzhon Cantina. The look of triumph on Solo's face when they had come upon the 'Human Males Only' warning at the door had left her itching to cause at least some mild damage to the man's manhood. Besides, she thought there was a really dark aura to the place, and she feared for the guys' safety. That kind of dump might be Solo's usual environment, but it definitely wasn't Luke's, and they didn't have a friendly Wookiee to watch their backs this time. Syrehlum City's renowned xenophobia had kept Chewbacca way outside the borders, watching over that rattletrap boastfully named the Millennium Falcon.

Leia was resting on the bed, over the blanket, trying to remember the last time she had felt completely relaxed, when there was a knock on her door. Goodness, not even a buzzer? "Who is it?"

"Uh... it's... er... me. You know."

Leia smiled. She was glad Luke had been wise enough not to broadcast their names in a place that was essentially hostile territory, but putting that much effort into not giving out any names somehow failed to sound all that natural. "Just a sec."

After a moment of negotiation with the door's old, uncooperative locks, Luke and Leia found themselves staring at each other, both gasping in surprise.

"Oh my, what happened to your eye?!" Gingerly, Leia touched the horribly black bruise that threatened to shut her friend's left eye closed.

Luke mumbled something that sounded a little like "misty flowers", and she wondered if whatever had hit him like that had also caused brain damage. He wasn't looking at her either; he gazed downwards, his brows contorting in a funny way.

She pulled him inside and closed the door, caressing his arms to get his attention. "Luke, what's going on? Talk to me."

"Those were the flowers," he murmured. "But I thought they were in a cloud of fog..."

"What?" She followed his stare, trying to see what he was babbling about... and felt her cheeks burning up. In her haste to open the door and make sure Luke had come back in one piece from the cantina, she had forgotten to put on her robe, and her white translucent night-gown did little to hide her flowered underwear.

"I'm sorry. I had this dream, you see. Years ago. I was still on Tatooine, and I had never seen thick fog in my entire life... Never seen flowers like these either," he said, pointing at the bright red blossoms in her peach-coloured bra. "Desert flowers are... well..." He realised he had a long finger pointing at her breasts, and shoved his hand quickly in his pocket. "Not like these."

"You dreamed of my underwear," said Leia, more perplexed than upset.

"I didn't know it was your underwear! I just thought... you know..."

"Flowers in the mist."

"Yes." He bobbed on his toes, visibly embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I'm gonna..." He pointed at the door.

"No, wait. You're not going anywhere without telling me what happened to your eye."

"Oh. Han did."

"He hit you?!"

"No, no. He just... sort of pushed me into harm's way."

"What do you mean? What did he do?"

"Oh, never mind. I was just wondering if you have a medpac I could borrow. I got one in my room, but he's there and I'm really not in the mood to deal with him right now."

Sympathetic to the feeling, Leia grabbed Luke's hand and pulled him with her into the bathroom, where she had left her medpac. "You come here and tell me exactly what happened, while I take care of that eye, mister!"

"Seriously, I'm fine, you don't have to... WHOA!"

"What?"

"Is that a bath tub?!"

"Uh, yes. Don't you guys have one in your room too?"

Luke shook his head, never taking his eyes from the small beige tub. "Shower. Real water shower, but still just a shower."

Leia found the medpac, and started going through its contents. "The faucets are noisy and the thermoregulator doesn't work too well, it'll say it's about ten degrees below the actual temperature... Other than that, it's a fine tub."

"You can actually set the temperature you want in those things?"

"Oh yeah. Usually you just set the thermoregulator to the temperature of your choice. But you can do it in non-automated tubs too, as long as you have two faucets, one with hot water and another with cold water. You just turn them on and adjust them until you have a combination that pleases you."

"I see..."

Leia raised her eyes from the medpac to find him kneeling beside the tub, tapping the porcelain interior with a fingernail. "Haven't you ever seen a bath tub?"

"Sure I have," said Luke defensively. Then he added in a murmur, "In holos and pictures..."

"Really?"

"I'm sorry. You must think I'm..."

She shook her head, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Luke, don't doubt for a second that if I ever find myself on Tatooine I'll be gaping in awe at a lot of things I've never seen before in my life."

Luke arched an eyebrow. "I do doubt that, unless you've never seen sand before. That's pretty much all there is on Tatooine."

"Well, I thought there was nothing ordinary about water until I met you," she grinned.

"Good point."

Her fingers found a conical phial inside the medpac and she pulled it out: scented bath oil. How had it ended up there? It was supposed to be in her other bag, with her toiletries.

No, Leia thought as a mischievous smile spread all over her face. This was supposed to be right here, right now.

"Leia? What are you doing?" asked Luke, watching the Princess handle the tub faucets.

"Running you a bath."

"Oh no, you're not."

"Oh yes, I am."

"But..."

"No buts. You take a bath, relax, and tell me everything that happened in the cantina while I treat your eye."

"There's no need..."

"Yes, there is," she said with finality. "Now get behind that screen and lose the clothes."

Leia didn't take her eyes from the tub, but she heard when Luke finally dragged his feet to the back of the folding screen and started opening the clasps of his clothes. "Boy, you are one stubborn lady," he was muttering.

"Takes one to know one," she sang back.

Small tub, gushing faucets... For all its inadequacies, it filled up rather quickly. Leia set the water a bit hotter than she would have done for herself, knowing her friend from Tatooine tended to feel chilly in places where she felt too warm. She poured in the water the same dosage of scented oil she would have used for herself though, and hoped Chewbacca wouldn't give him any grief about it. She was pretty sure Solo was not the kind of man that paid attention to that kind of thing, but the Wookiee's sense of smell would not be fooled for a second.

"Right... Now I'm going to cover my eyes, and you're going to get inside, okay? Slowly, you don't want to splash water all over the floor. Lie down, with your head to this side and your feet over there. Got it?"

"Yeah," Luke hissed nervously.

She stood up and moved away from the tub, covering her eyes as she had promised. As she listened to the quiet noises of bare footsteps and rippling water, Leia wondered why she didn't step out of the bathroom altogether. Or why Luke didn't ask her to.

"Oh my..."

"Luke? You okay?"

"Oooooohhhhh yeeeeaaaaahhhhh...."

Leia laughed out loud. "I knew you'd like it."

"This is unbelievable!" Splashing sounds. "It's like... It's like... I don't know! Like being hugged all over... but it's not... constrictive. Being held... while being set free...." He chuckled, bashful. "That makes no sense, does it?"

"It makes a lot of sense to me," Leia assured him. She reached blindly for the folding screen, and placed it beside the tub so everything but Luke's head would be out of her sight.

"And I thought showers were sinful," he moaned happily. "If there's a Hell, I know I just got my room reservation confirmed."

Oddly enough, Leia realised she could relate to the feeling. Those had been her exact thoughts when the Anoatian Embassador in Alderaan introduced her to Moibgi Cake with Iddenh Syrup — a delicacy that could have been Leia's definition of Heaven if it weren't also a sure way to lose her figure. "I'm sure you've done enough good in your life to make up for that, Luke."

"Moving feels weird," he mused out loud. "Sluggish. Like running in a dream, you know?"

"Do not kick your legs under the water," she warned him. "The auto-floordryer doesn't work too well."

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to." She could tell he was far from still in the water, though. "Boy, I can feel it between my toes..."

Leia picked up the medpac again, amazed that something as simple as water between his toes could make someone so enthralled. "I hope you're ready to fulfil your part of the deal."

"My... part?

Finding the salve tube at last, she sat on the floor beside the tub, pushing Luke's face nearer so she could apply the thick cream to the blackened skin. "What went wrong in the meeting?"

Luke took a deep breath before diving into his tale. "Nothing, actually. Things ran pretty smoothly. Han's contact arrived on schedule. He was willing to negotiate, but not so willing that might have sounded suspicious. We had to bargain a lot, and those weapons won't come cheap, but they'll cost pretty much what we were expecting to pay anyway. He agreed to do the delivery tomorrow, at the place we suggested, outside Syrehlum's borders, no arguments there. Han is confident... well, as confident as he can be of anybody else, that the guy will keep his end of the bargain."

"Then how did you end up with a black eye?"

"After the guy left, Han suggested we should stay for a few minutes more before leaving the cantina."

"Why?"

"He said we'd draw less attention like that. I didn't understand what he meant, but I thought, 'Hey, this is what he does for a living, he must know.' As it turned out, I don't think he was worried at all about attracting attention at that point."

"I'm not liking the sound of this..." Leia admitted, trying not to transfer her tension to her fingers, or else she might hurt Luke even more.

"He asked me to fetch us more drinks at the bar," Luke went on. "Said that since he had asked for the first round, I should be the one asking for the second."

"Okaaay..." she said uncertainly.

"And he said that if I want to be... I think his words were 'a big boy in the big, nasty galaxy'... I have to learn how to ask for a drink in a cantina."

Leia snorted. "Right. I'm sure that's in the basics of the 'Smuggler Manual'." She was all for teaching Luke to survive in the big, nasty galaxy; she just wished Luke had picked a better teacher than Captain Han I'm In It For The Money Solo.

"I told him I had already asked for drinks in a cantina, that in fact I had done so on the very day and in the very cantina we met. And that I got the barman to pour me a drink without saying a single word, which suggests I can probably pull it off on planets whose native languages I'm not even familiar with."

"Good for you!" Leia nodded.

"But then he reminded me of what happened right after I got my drink."

"What happened?"

"An Aqualish decided to pick a fight with me."

"For no reason?"

"I didn't start it. I wasn't doing anything, just minding my own business, nursing my drink while Ben tried to find us a pilot to take us to Alderaan. Ben had to save me then, and Han said tonight I had the chance to prove I could take care of myself."

"You don't need to prove anything to anyone, Luke."

"I know," he said, but something in his voice told Leia he did feel he owed something in that department.

"So...? You went to the bar?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"I asked for the drinks."

"Aaaaaand?

"The barman made a face and turned his back to me. Then four guys closed around me and told me the cantina wasn't for... people like me."

"People like you." Leia frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Luke didn't answer. He kept gazing nervously in the general direction of his feet, and Leia could hear him playing idly with the water.

"Luke?"

"I seem to have given away that I'm not from this neighbourhood, so to speak."

"Because of your accent?"

"Not... quite."

"Luke, neither of us is leaving this bathroom until you tell me what happened," Leia huffed.

The young man bit his lower lip, grimaced, and eventually conceded defeat. "You see, Han forgot to mention that the local men don't gesticulate when they talk," he said, raising his hands from the water and wiggling his fingers to demonstrate his crime. "And that those who do are considered... uh..."

"...what?"

"...effeminate."

Ah. "And they don't take kindly to effeminate men." Leia suppressed a sigh of contempt. Her training as a diplomat should have made her more accepting of such cultural... quirks. Every people had them, after all. But when innocent visitors got hurt just for not being in the know, it was hard to remember to be diplomatic.

"Later, when we were coming back to the hotel, Han said they think it's a form of usurpation."

It made sense in a twisted kind of way, Leia thought. Women in Syrehlum were worshipped. They weren't allowed in the Codzhon Cantina not because they weren't worthy, but because the place was considered too polluted for their divine presence. Effeminate men were probably seen as pretentious males mimicking aspects that made human females holy. She wondered how the 'men don't gesticulate when they talk' convention originated, though. Too bad See-Threepio had been left in the Falcon with Chewbacca; she would have liked to ask him about it.

"I think he tried to explain a few more things to me," Luke went on. "But I was too mad at him to care."

"You have every right to be mad," Leia muttered, shoving the salve tube back into the medpac. "How dare he leave you to face four bullies on your own?"

"Well, he eventually stepped in to help me out of there."

"Eventually? How very generous of him."

"I don't think I was ever in real danger. Han would not let me get seriously hurt."

"No? He lets you get beaten up..."

"I wasn't beaten up!" said Luke, looking upset at her opinion of him. "I can defend myself! Only one punch got through. One lucky punch."

"...because that's Solo's idea of fun?" she finished as if he had never interrupted her.

"I think that was just his way of putting me back in my place."

"And what place would that be?"

"Of someone who will never be as clever, resourceful and streetwise as he is?" Luke gave her an impish grin. "Which means I must have been doing something right, to get him so eager to get that point across."

Leia couldn't help but smile back. "He's feeling challenged."

"By me," Luke nodded, and there was no way to conceal the pride he felt for that feat.

"So you're not mad at him any more?"

"Of course I'm mad at him! He did get me into a fight with a bunch of strangers for no good reason. I know why he did it, I know he didn't mean for me to get hurt, and he was there getting those guys off my back when things started to get ugly. So it's not like I'll never forgive him or anything. But I don't feel like letting him off the hook just yet."

"I suppose a cold shoulder might wise him up a little," Leia agreed. She was done applying the salve, but she kept on gently massaging Luke's cheek and brow, with a soothing touch. "Who knows, he might even apologise to you tomorrow."

"Apologise? To me? We're talking about Han here."

Leia sniggered. "Right, what was I thinking?"

"Maybe if I had lost an eye in the fight he'd apologise," Luke pondered. "But I'm not that eager to find out. Besides, it would never have happened."

"You're pretty sure of that, aren't you?" she frowned. So far she had to admit that Solo had never truly failed them, despite his constant reluctance to help them. But Luke's unshakeable trust in the Corellian astonished her to no end.

"Uh-hum..." Luke's eyes were closed now, his head resting against the edge of the tub. "This is nice..."

"The bath?"

"The bath. And you and me. Really nice."

She felt something warm and bright growing inside her, spreading throughout her body, touching every corner of her soul. "It is, isn't it? So very nice..." Her eyes were suddenly wet, despite the beaming smile on her face.

"I wish we could stay like this... forever."

Leia giggled and brushed her fingers through his bangs. "Ten more minutes in that water and your skin will be all blue and wrinkly, believe me."

Luke leaned into her touch, his eyes firmly closed. "Hmm... Forget the water, then."

There was something incredibly familiar about their closeness, Leia noticed — and not for the first time. Something amazingly right too. No yearning, no pining, no painful complexities. Not even the fact that she was a princess and he was a poor farmer-turned-into-soldier seemed to matter in any way. When it came to what really mattered, they were merely Luke and Leia, as simple as that.

On the other hand... "Luke?"

"Hmmmm?"

"What were you saying before? About dreaming of my underwear?" There was something a bit odd about that. She imagined she should feel excited about it... but all she felt was confusion.

"Oh." He shrunk into the tub, his cheeks gaining darker shades of pink. "I'm sorry about that. I have lots of weird dreams."

"Which turn out to be true?"

"That sounds much more thrilling than it really is," he said with a short self-conscious chuckle. "I usually dream of tiny things. Like the time I dreamed of a carving shaped somewhat like a bantha's horn, and three years later I accidentally dropped my aunt's trunk and it left a dent on the floor that had the exact same shape. Freaky, isn't it?"

"Maybe. But it's happened to me too sometimes."

"Really?"

"When I was... ten? Nine? Something like that. I dreamed of the word 'idiopathic'. I had no idea what the word meant, I thought I had made it up. Many years later, my father showed me the death certificate of his great-great-great-grandfather, and there it was, 'idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis', written exactly like it was in my dream."

"Wow. Did you tell anyone about it?"

"No. I didn't want people to think I was..."

"...a freak? Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Did you?"

"Tried to tell Uncle Owen. He preached me on letting dreams take precedence over real life." Luke let out a long sigh. "If you wanted to get along with my uncle, there were a set of rules you had to follow. Not speaking of dreams, not indulging in fantasies and not talking about things you can't explain were three of the top ten."

"My parents were a bit more receptive, I suppose," said Leia, closing her eyes as those dear faces beamed in her memory. "But I sensed the subject made them uncomfortable, so I avoided it. Besides, it wasn't like I was having relevant premonitions about the future of the galaxy."

"I dreamed of you a lot," Luke admitted.

"Before you knew me?"

"Yes. Mostly of your smile."

"And my underwear," she giggled.

"I didn't know it was your underwear! I thought they were real flowers."

Luke was again staring at the pattern of her bra, but this time he wasn't blushing. He seemed relaxed, completely at ease, as if the sight before his eyes were nothing more complicated than a pleasant landscape. And Leia could feel that 'uncomplication' inside herself too. Yes, that was definitely nice.

"What a cosy picture," snarled a bitter voice from behind her.

With a surprised yelp, Leia turned her head around, and found a distinctly irritated Captain Solo looking down at them from the bathroom doorway. The sudden intrusion startled Luke too, and the young man slipped inside the tub, vanishing completely under the water. He re-emerged three seconds later, coughing, spitting water and cursing the Corellian.

"Who gave you permission to come in?" Leia asked coldly.

"Your door wasn't locked," Han shrugged.

"It was closed. I don't suppose you bothered to knock."

"As a matter of fact, I did. I gather you two were too busy to hear it." He made a vacant gesture toward them, and Leia was instantly reminded of her current attire. She might have been okay with Luke, but she did not want Solo ogling her see-through night-gown.

As she quickly wrapped herself in a towel, she noticed Luke had moved to hide completely behind the folding screen. Obviously the young man also had modesty issues when it came to Solo, even though he had seemed so comfortable with her.

"So..." Han growled at Luke. "Came straight to mama so she'd kiss your boo-boo better?"

"Get out, Han!" the young man snapped back.

"You're a lost case, kid. I don't know why I care."

"Care?!" Leia gasped. "This is how you show your care? By getting him in trouble?"

"I was just showing him the ropes..." said Han with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"...to hang himself? You don't care about him at all."

"I do care," Solo insisted. Then, as he seemed to realise what he had said, "A little, anyway. I made sure he got out of the cantina with all the important body parts intact so he could come and play in the water with you, didn't I?"

"You have some nerve!"

"And you're all nerves. Chill out, Your Highness! The kid is perfectly fine."

"No, I'm not!" Luke barked.

"He was beaten up!" Leia snapped at Solo.

"No, I wasn't!" Luke again protested, mortified.

Han shook his head in exasperation. "He's got a bruised eye, Princess. He's not gonna die from it."

"I'm more likely to catch pneumonia if you don't get out and let me get dressed!" By the sound Luke was making, Leia guessed he was stomping his feet in the water.

"Come on, kid, don't tell me you're shy."

"Han, I swear, if you don't leave now..."

"I don't believe you! You show her," Solo pointed rudely at Leia, "your endowments but not me? How fair is that?"

"I'll show my... endowments to whoever I want! And that means 'Not You'!"

The Corellian smirked. "Worried you might disappoint me?" He moved towards the tub, trying to lean his head around the folding screen.

Leia slapped him on the arm, discouraging any sneaky ideas. "You heard him. Get out."

"Ouch! Easy, Your Worship!"

"OUT!" She practically manhandled him back into the bedroom.

"Alright, alright, I'm out," he grumbled. "Damn, you're no fun at all."

"Neither of us is interested in your idea of fun, Captain," she said, wishing for the hundredth time that the man weren't so much taller than she was.

"You're not? Right. Then what the hell were you doing half-naked with a very naked guy in a bathtub?"

Leia opened her mouth to deny the accusation, but changed her mind just in time to stop the words from bursting out. She didn't have to defend or justify herself! She was free and single, and so was Luke. If something happened between them, that was nobody's business, and certainly not Solo's. "I wasn't talking about that," she said, bringing her voice to a lower, more confident tone. "I was referring to your strange notion that putting Luke's life in danger can be considered fun."

"For the last time, I didn't do it for fun, and his life was never in danger!"

"Says you!"

Solo's eyes widened. "Did Luke tell you I put his life in danger?"

She glared at him, unable to give him the answer she would have wanted.

A scornful smile — or was that relief? — spread slowly on his face. "He didn't. He's smart enough to know better."

"He should know better than counting on you to rescue him every time. After all, you won't stay with us for long, will you? Isn't that what you keep saying?"

Ooohh, sore point. She could see him tensing up at the reminder that, despite all his threats to take his money and leave, he was still hanging around the Rebels and finding reasons to postpone his departure. "All the more reason to make sure he can be on his own without me rescuing him every time," he muttered.

"But you did rescue him in the cantina today."

"Would you rather I had let him fight those thugs alone? Four against one?"

"Oh, I see. So you're teaching him to be independent by making him to get used to depend on you?"

Han gave her a dumbfounded look, his mouth moving but not forming any words. Some stutters and choked grunts, yes, but nothing intelligible.

"For once in your life, Solo, be honest. Are you really preparing him to be left on his own? Or to go with you when you leave?"

After a moment, he regained his composure. "Why? Afraid he's gonna leave you behind?"

Yes. Yes, she was. She didn't doubt Luke's loyalty to the Alliance for one second, but... the Corellian seemed to have some strange power over him. She knew Solo had already invited him to be part of his smuggling crew once and that Luke had refused. But that had been months ago, and Solo's timing had been dreadful; Luke would never have abandoned the Rebels moments before a battle that could decide the war's fate. Things were a little different now. The connection between the two men grew noticeably stronger every day — even on ugly, angry days like this. Next time Han asked, Luke's response might be different as well. "You didn't answer my question."

"Are you going to answer mine?" he retorted. "Honestly?"

And give him the pleasure of seeing her doubt and fear? Not in a million years. "I'm not going to let you turn Luke into a... a..."

"Into a...?"

"Into you!"

"Well, I wouldn't want to see the kid turn into you either," Solo snorted, looking her up and down. "Not that you don't have your own endowments..."

Her hand was slapping the smuggler's face before she even realised what she was doing.

"Ow! Heavy hand there, Your Ladyship!"

"Get out of my room before I give you more of it!"

Han raised his arms in surrender. "Fine! Leaving now. Enjoy your wet, naked soldier. Don't do anything I wouldn't." Just before closing the door behind him, he winked at her. "Call me on my room if you feel you need some pointers, okay?"

To her utter annoyance, Solo had managed to have the last word. Again.

She hated him. With all her heart.

Suppressing the urge to run after him and slap him again just for good measure, she went back to the bathroom, to find Luke still standing in the water-filled tub, hiding behind the screen.

"Is he gone?" he asked in a whisper.

"Finally, yes. You can come out now."

"Er... towel?"

"What? Oh." Stupid, she had covered herself with her only remaining dry towel. Shaking her head at her forgetfulness, she handed him the terry cloth over the screen. "Here."

"Thanks."

"Do you want me to wait outside?" She should. She really should.

"Nah, it's okay. Just..."

"Don't worry. I have my eyes closed." And she did, and she would keep them that way. And Leia was sure that, were their positions inverted, Luke would be just as respectful of her privacy.

Yes, they were so right together. So easy, so comfortable. Maybe too comfortable? So comfortable that it was wrong? It wasn't like she wasn't curious to see Luke's body — oh, she definitely was! So shouldn't the promise of a glimpse of him be enough to convince her to commit the little crime of taking a peek? 'Best behaviour' was not a concept she would have associated with 'passion' before.

"I'm sorry, I splashed water all over the floor," Luke said.

"It's okay."

"I wasn't expecting Han to sneak in like that. Hell, I wasn't expecting him to come here at all."

"It's not your fault. I should make him clean this mess up. With his socks."

Luke laughed. "I vote for his boxers. And make him wear them afterwards."

"And nothing else!"

"In public!"

"With an entire brigade of stormtroopers watching, whistling, roaring and hooting!"

"And giving him marks!"

"That might make things worse. If he gets one single good mark..."

"We bribe the judges then."

"Good idea," Leia agreed. "I'd pay a fortune to see him being properly humiliated."

"He's a real pain, isn't he?"

She bit her lower lip, hearing how Luke's tone had changed from contemptuous mockery to exasperated fondness. "Yes. The worst."

"You can open your eyes now."

He had put his clothes back on; the skin around his eye looked much better now, and his hair was dripping on his shoulders.

He was adorable.

"If you want to dry your hair..."

"No, it's okay."

"You shouldn't sleep with your hair all wet."

"Will it kill me?"

"No, but..."

"I like the feeling," he said with a boyish grin. "It's so different from when you get your hair soaked in sweat. I feel... I don't know. Blessed."

Leia nodded. "I understand."

"You really do, don't you?" he marvelled. "Some people would think I'm crazy."

She didn't have to ask to whom he was referring. "Well, I think 'some people' should just get over themselves. Who cares what they think?"

Luke shifted from one foot to the other, avoiding her eyes. Obviously, he did.

Leia considered inviting him to sleep in her room instead of returning to the one he shared with Solo; the Corellian would probably be waiting him with a full arsenal of teasing jokes and unbearably smug smiles. She hadn't offered Luke a relaxing bath just to have him all stressed out five minutes later.

However, the words 'Would you like to spend the night here?' were too likely to convey a meaning she didn't intend. Not yet anyway. Luke was attractive and sweet and passionate, and she could tell he liked her, and she certainly liked him, and she suspected sex between them would be a blast... But something was telling her that it was much too soon to open that door. Or that can of worms.

Then again, Solo might very well be expecting to open both tonight, judging by the hungry look on his face when he leaned over the tub to take a peek. She could imagine him in the other room right now, having pushed his and Luke's beds together, lying shirtless in a sexy position, hoping to get lucky.

No, not hoping. Counting on it. Because he was so full of himself.

And because Luke's tone of voice whenever he talked of Solo, even when he was furious with the man, was a dead giveaway that he was interested.

"You're frowning," Luke noted. "Something wrong?"

"No," she shook her head, forced a smile. "Just tired."

"I'm sorry, I'm keeping you awake."

"It's okay, I'm just..." Inspiration hit her. "...worried about tomorrow. It'll be a busy day, we should all be very alert. We'd better get as much sleep as we can." Each in their own beds.

"Agreed." He hesitated for a moment, then leaned down to kiss her cheek. Very soft, very sweet, with an apologetic look in his eyes, as if fearing a lash out. "Good night, Leia. Thanks for the salve. And the bath."

She liked when Luke called her by her name. He still addressed her by her titles every now and day, particularly in front of other people, perhaps unsure of where he fitted in her life. Well, if that night had served any purpose, it was to prove that Luke belonged in a very close circle, where formality was totally unnecessary.

Rising on her toes, she kissed him back. "You're welcome. Good night."

After he left, Leia stayed up in the dark for an hour more, straining her ears to hear any sounds coming from the next room. Muffled voices. A bitter laugh from Solo. No sounds of furniture being dragged one way or the other. And finally silence. A good night's sleep for those two, then.

As for Leia...

'Afraid he's gonna leave you behind?'

Sometimes it wasn't fear; it was a certainty. Both men would leave her behind. Disappear from her life as swiftly and dramatically as they had barged in. She had no idea why she harboured those feelings; there seemed to be little logic behind them. But they troubled her deeply and would keep her awake for most of the night.

She was a Princess — of a destroyed world, but still a Princess. And Luke was a Knight — okay, a Knight-to-be. They should have their happily-ever-after, shouldn't they?

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