twelve_not_fourteen | Facing the Dawn with Sleepless Eyes ...

Han was sitting in the curved bench of the Millennium Falcon’s galley with a half full glass of a colorless liquid in his hand. It was a loose, but familiar grasp. Like he had held a glass like this a thousand times and he knew exactly how to wrap his fingers around it comfortably. Whatever he was drinking smelled kind of like what leaks out of a power coupler when it’s busted.

He happens to be drinking it slowly, at least.

His other hand is occupied stroking through over the hair of a young lady who decided that his thigh ought to be her pillow while she took a nap.

Most days on the YT-1300 were good. Better than they had any right to be.

A fact that he attributed much of to the very same lady in his company now, but the path they treaded earlier in the day had been as choppy as entering a planet’s atmosphere during a raging storm. He should have seen it coming. He did, after all, accept a job that was going to have them delivering vaporators to a collective of moisture farmers on Jakku.

Yeah. That Jakku. The very same desert planet that he had gotten the lonely girl off of. The one she spent so many years waiting on, barely scraping by sometimes, waiting for people who never did end up coming back for her. The planet she never hesitated to mention that she would be perfectly happy never to go back to.

She put on a brave face when he told her their destination. Tried to act like it didn’t bother her, but he was beginning to know Rey very well and she wasn’t quite the card player he was yet. He saw the worry in her eyes and the nervous fidgeting of her hands when she thought Han wasn’t paying attention.

Hardly ate anything all day.

Didn’t find the usual things to talk about.

The worst of it, however, was when she tried to smile for him. The occasional attempt to smooth things over and prove to him that everything was okay – but the smile was wrong. She wasn’t feeling it and it made for a lame comparison to one of her real smiles; which he was pretty sure could light up Umbara if given the chance.

Han felt terrible about everything, of course.

Didn’t even come to bed, which, Rey realized after an hour or two of trying to wait up for him. That was when she took it upon herself, blanket in hand, to wordlessly collapse on him in the main hold. It was the only way she could see herself getting any rest.

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And Rey, not knowing any better, wonders if every couple shares this sort of chemistry, this sort of passion, the sort of emotion that bubbles beneath the surface of every look they share, and every word they exchange. Yeah, maybe it's like something out of some old holo, but Rey wouldn't change much if she could. Maybe the nightmares. But not much else. ~~Oh, she loves him, she does, but despite her best efforts, she still worries ...~~

She's tired in all the best ways - and for the moment, perfectly content to sit under the spray for a little bit longer if it meant they could keep this close without having to come apart just yet.

They'll take care of the bandage once they're out of the shower and dry. For the moment, she's happy to reach up and brush heavy wet hair away from his eyes, and to cant her head just slightly to the side, giving Han enough room to press as many kisses to her throat as he so chooses. "Always is with you."

He could stay in a moment like this for a long time. The water heating system in the Falcon is actually one of the few things Han can count on to work well. If they weren't due to be at their destination in an hour or so, perhaps would. He'd love to get them back to somewhere that they could just relax for a while - even if it was just Kashyyyk.

Maybe when they figured out about her dreams.

"I hope to keep it up then." His hands unclench from her skin. One falling away while the other settles on the small of her back. "Always is a tough standard to live up to for a long time."

As long as they're able to take their time in extricating themselves from each other, Rey will be happy. Next time they find themselves in this position, hopefully it's with much more time to spare. There are things to be done, she knows, preparations to be made still, but when they're so caught up in moments like these, it's almost like time stands still.

(Don't mention Kashyyyk. She wants nothing more than to visit again, to spend even longer just enjoying a break, no worries, and all the time they could ever want to spend with each other, both with Chewie's family and without.

Maybe after they figure out just what's causing her dreams.)

"I have - ", Rey begins, smiling the softest, most fond smile she can muster, even with hair plastered against her neck and face and down her back, water dripping from her nose, " - the utmost confidence that you will."

He doesn't seem to be in a rush. That boneless, lazy feeling after sex is one of his favorite parts. Just like all the rest of it is his favorite part too. Who knows when the next time they'll get to sneak off together like this is?

Here's hoping she's not self-conscious. She still looks like the prettiest girl in the whole galaxy to him. Even with water dripping off the rounded part of her nose and her long hair all sleek and stuck to her skin. Matter of fact, she'd getting an awfully deep look of appreciation from his hazel eyes.

"That means a lot to me."

Even as she works it into pillow talk - those sweet things a couple will say to each other after sex, it matters a lot to him that Rey will say she has confidence in him. So few people in his life have.

"You know that I think you're the best person I know, right? We're gonna figure out what's going on with the nightmares and then, I'll get all squared up with Jabba and we can start deciding what we want to do and ... not what we feel like we have to do."

That's a good thing, since Rey isn't in much of a hurry to disentangle, either. The water was still hot, and this was nice, just enjoying each other's company, the time they've been gifted in which to enjoy each other, and their shared afterglow. Because they never really can be sure when they'll be able to do this, or something like this, again.

She might be a little self-conscious, but she isn't going to allow it to make her try to move away any faster. Besides, it's easy enough to forget when he's looking at her like she's the most delectable thing he's ever seen.

Rey means the sentiment completely, believes it wholeheartedly, and maybe it's not the typical sweet nothing, but it's a good thing if it's reiterated the depth of her feelings, and her belief that what they have is exactly what she wants.

Normally, she'd probably make the joke that she was the second best person Han knows, after Chewie, but he says it very seriously, and she knows, even in her pleasant haze, that now was not the time for jokes. "Are you saying that maybe you'll want to start thinking about ... settling somewhere?"

She can bring up settling and it doesn't make him want to panic, which is nice. It's been a number of years since he's been around a woman that made him want to change his life to make it better suited for their life together.

"I suppose I mean more that we don't need to be smugglers just because I've always been a smuggler." Which he hasn't. The idea that he's always been a smuggler is actually a fiction, but hey, it's what he tells everyone. It's not as if his military career was all that notable.

"If that's what you wanted, though, we could."

It's come up in conversation a few times since Kashyyyk. Not many, but enough to cause Rey to think about the prospect from time to time. Not that she was in any way disillusioned with the life they were already living, but Han had been doing it for so much longer, and maybe -

Maybe he was getting a little tired of the same old routines?

But more likely is the fact that she's probably still a bit addled from their previous activities, and she hasn't given the statement nearly enough thought.

"At some point, I would, yeah", she answers, pausing as she tilts her head up just enough to be able to press a kiss to his jaw. "What would we do if we weren't doing this? S'pose I could always be some sort of mechanic. I do have a way with fixing things ... "

Facing the Dawn with Sleepless Eyes ...

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