This was written for a challenge on another site where you had to incorporate a movie quote into a story somehow.

This is the quote I got.

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)

Strangers

Coruscant was free, or it had been in Alliance control for the last three months, but the last of the storm-troopers and hold outs had been captured a week ago. The High Council had decided now was the time to put out a call for representatives from the planets of the Alliance and those that wished to join. The delegates had been arriving for the past three days and, in celebration of this auspicious occasion, tonight there was to be a formal ball.

Leia couldn't help but frown as she prepared for the gala. Han was late, not that it was unusual but he should have returned with the fleet days ago. After all, he was one of the people to be honored on this occasion. While it would be well within Han's frame of thought to miss the ball for just that reason, he usually did as she asked. In addition, he never missed the chance to escort her in some of her more alluring apparel. She had even picked this dress especially with him in mind. It was his favorite color and clingy in all the right places with a slit up to there. The frown tightened into a scowl as she decided he would most likely make a dashing entrance with some excuse about someone needing help or, more likely, damsels in distress. She smiled; he had a definite knack for damsels in distress. It was perhaps one of the things that drew her to him; or was it her distress that drew him to her? He was, except for his time in carbonite, the one constant in her life after Alderaan. How was it that a stranger could so solidly entrench himself in her trust almost immediately? Perhaps she should seek professional help. Realizing she was fidgeting more than actually preparing for the ball at this point, Leia decided she should see if her airspeeder had arrived yet. Using the house comm, she didn't notice that her handheld had ten missed calls.

As she rode the turbolift down to the main lobby of their building, Leia again started to fume at her absent lover. "I will simply have to have a good time without him." Leia declared. She then caught her reflection in the door to the lift and gave herself one final assessment when the doors opened to reveal a freshly brushed and polished Wedge Antilles closing his formal uniform tunic over a white under shirt. Both stood wide-eyed at getting caught in a somewhat compromising position. Leia slinking a hand up her thigh in a sensuous pose and Wedge only half dressed.

"Y…Y…Your Highness" Wedge stuttered as he tried to come to attention while closing the tunic the rest of the way.

"Commander Antilles" Leia greeted as she straitened her dress and fought to repress the redness in her cheeks.

"I'll take the next one," Wedge gestured to the lift, "you go ahead."

"No, come along there is plenty of room, Wedge," Leia insisted slipping into an informal tone of conversation. There would be enough formality later. Wedge smiled sheepishly and joined her on the lift.

"Thanks, Leia"

"Do you have a date for tonight?" Leia asked after they had descended several more floors.

"Nah, I'm going stag." Wedge replied as he checked his hair in the reflective doors, "You?"

"I was supposed to have an attractive Correllian scoundrel on my arm, but I have yet to see or hear from him." Leia stated a bit grating.

"I guess he hasn't made it through customs yet" Wedge shrugged.

"Customs? What do you mean customs?" Leia questioned.

"They made us all go through customs as added security for all the politicians and royalty on planet."

"You're kidding," she alleged incredulously.

"Nope, their doing it in alphabetical order" Wedge explained. "That's why I'm not running as late. They started with 'a'."

So it was not Han's fault, Leia mused. Still he should have commed. She thought as another idea struck her. "Wedge," she waited until he looked at her, "I think I would like to be escorted by an attractive Corellian fighter pilot tonight. What do you think?"

Wedge looked at her with a raised eyebrow and deadpanned, "Do they have weapons checks at the entrances?" she nodded in the affirmative and he shrugged "Sure, why not."

Leia still hadn't noticed the comlink in her purse because it had been set to vibrate earlier at a meeting.

Han sat at a small bar in the customs area slowly peeling the label off his third bottle of ale. Leia continued not to answer her comlink. The customs agents who had assured the General that this wouldn't take long had just gotten to the 'P's and Han for his part was fit to be tied. He had already changed into his dress uniform in an attempt to save time he was already to late to arrive with Leia. After ordering another ale he looked back to the holo screen that was currently showing the red carpet at the Freedom Ball as the celebration had been dubbed. Han couldn't help but grimace as he watched the big-lipped hostess who always asked annoying questions. She then caught someone who was evidently trying to slip by and suddenly Luke Skywalker's timid face appeared with a microphone almost under his nose with an equally apprehensive Winter beside him. Han shook his head as Luke smiled and answered the reporter's questions. This had all the tell-tale signs of being one of Leia's setups. Eventually she would realize that Luke could take care of himself and find his own dates. Han hadn't been allowed to serve in that capacity since the exotic dancer. Leia could say what she wanted but Han knew Luke had a good time that night. It's almost too bad I can't hear Luke and Winter stutter out an explanation for their relationship Han thought. Han took another sip of his ale then choked at the sight of the next couple to come down the red carpet smiling happily arm in arm.

Great. Leia thought as Joan Streams ambushed her and Wedge on their way into the celebration.

"Princess Leia you look fabulous!" Streams shrieked. "Now, do tell," she started conspiratorially "who is this handsome devil with you?" Wedge for his part just smiled shyly.

"This is my good friend Commander Wedge Antilles." Leia answered genially.

"Ah, so our Princess has replaced the scoundrel with this fine specimen." Streams concluded already seeing the headlines from her exclusive. Leia grimaced.

"No," Leia started in an amused tone even thought she was incensed. "Han was detained getting the crew of his fleet through customs. He will be meeting me later and Commander Antilles was kind enough to escort me to the ball in his stead." Leia then acted as if she had just seen her brother and smiled at Streams "If you will excuse us."

Streams turned to her camera as they walked away. "You heard it here first: infamous former smuggler, Han Solo, detained while trying to get through customs. More at ten."

"Taxi!" Han yelled standing on the curb of the spaceport. He would probably get in trouble for threatening the customs agent with transfer to a listening post on Hoth, but desperate times and all. "I am going to kill that sawed off fighter jock." Han grumbled to himself. He remembered their earlier conversation about how lucky Han was to have someone like Leia, and how great she was. "I'm so lonely sometimes, Han. I wish I had someone like Leia." The dirty little punk probably setup this whole customs debacle. It was at that moment a dilapidated cab pulled up in front of Han. "To the Imperial Palace and move it." Han yelled after flinging himself in the back seat. The cab shot away in a plume of black smoke.

Leia couldn't help but smile as the party got up to full swing. Wedge had danced the first dance with her as per his escort obligations, but then he had quickly retreated to the decadence of Rouge Squadron who where slowly filtering in. It seemed that for Leia to be without her normal scoundrel was an open invitation for the various men that considered themselves of a proper station to engage her in overt and not so overt attempts at courtship. This being the case, Leia had a rather large entourage of eligible men seeing to her every desire. The problem was that they could not provide the one thing she truly desired: Han. Unbeknownst to Leia, the object of her affection had just arrived in a cloud of black smoke at the main entrance.

"Joan Streams here and it appears that one of the late arrivals has come in a cab." Streams frowned, "And a rather decrepit one at that." She finished waving black smoke out of her face. Her eyes went wide at seeing Han Solo with a determined scowl on his face storming up the red carpet out of the cloud of smoke. Streams set out on an intercept course catching him in front of the fountains.

"General Solo –" Streams started, but was cut off when Han put his hand on her forehead and shoved her back into the fountain. Han Solo's wake seemed to reflect his mood. He was making good progress until two rather stern looking marines stopped him.

"Sorry General, but we'll have to take any weapons you're carrying." The larger of the two asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Han said as he slowly removed the hideout from the inside of his tunic and handed it to the guard.

"Knife too sir," Han gave the smaller man a piercing look, "Sorry I served with you before."

"Your lucky I'm in a hurry." Han said as he fished the blade out of his boot.

"Your name, sir?" the very frilly dressed man just inside the guards asked.

"Why?" Han demanded. The man looked flabbergasted.

"Well, I have to announce you sir."

"Bah" Han blew as he shouldered past the announcer.

"But sir it's protocol" the man called after him. Han merely shrugged him off, and walked into the now dimly lit ballroom.

He slowly scanned the room as he walked to the bar knowing he was going to need a stiff drink to get this night started. He abruptly changed course when his eyes locked on to his primary target dancing with his secondary target. Smooth operator huh, Antilles? He thought. Han stalked across the dance floor stopping occasionally as a couple danced through his path. Finally he was in striking distance of his prey and he grasped Wedge's shoulder and spun him around.

"Hey, Han, you made it." Wedge said with a smile.

"What do you think your doing?" Han demanded before getting a good look at Wedge's dancing partner. "You're not Leia. Where's Leia?" Han demanded. Wedge only looked down and pointed to the other side of the room. Han slowly turned his eyes sighting down Wedge's finger. There surrounded by at least ten men looking radiant was Leia. Han grumbled something under his breath and left the still confused couple in his wake. As he approached the group, he noticed that Leia was laughing at something one of the men had said. Han couldn't understand what she was doing hanging out with strangers. He decided it would be best to go with the polite approach. When he got to the edge of the group he paused and cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"General Solo," she said in a neutral tone. Han plastered his best fake smile across his face and bowed slightly.

"Your Highness, I wondered if you would do me the honor of a dance." Han asked. Leia simply raised a single brow at him.

"I'm afraid the Princess has already promised me the next dance." Intoned the man Han recognized as a Duke something or another from Kuat that had joined after Endor as far as Han could remember. As he watched the man offer Leia his arm, the Duke spent most of his time on the back-lines, way back.

"Of course, Armand," Leia took his hand and looked to Han. "Perhaps we will get a chance to dance later but I'm afraid my dance card is quite full." That said, they left for the dance floor Armand gave Han a superior look. Han took a second to get his bearings then made a beeline for the bar wishing he had gotten the drink first and kept the knife.

Han spent the rest of the evening leaned against the bar watching Leia with a stiff drink in hand. She danced talked and danced some more all night and Han was fed up. The band had just announced that this would be the last dance. Han turned and left some credits on the bar to cover his tab. He turned to leave as he drank the last of his whiskey, but was cornered. Leia raised one brow as Han slowly placed the glass on the bar.

"I believe I promised you a dance."

Han didn't say a word simply taking her hand and leading her to the dance floor. The song was a slow one and the two seemed to slowly mold together. By the end of the song, they were cheek to cheek proving to all who cared how they really felt for one another. When the song ended Han calmly escorted Leia back to her entourage where Armand immediately spoke up.

"Princess, please allow me to escort you to your apartments." Leia smiled genially at the man. Han turned to leave beginning to slip his arm out of hers but she wouldn't release him. Han turned back to her confused.

"I am afraid I can't tonight Armand," Leia said holding Han's arm even tighter, "you see it is Alderaanian tradition that your last dance escort you home." With that she turned a still befuddled Han and started for the door.

They rode the airspeeder, took the lift, and walked to her door in silence. Han tried to figure out what had gone wrong and Leia thinking that he hadn't been punished enough. When they reached her door, Leia used her pass card and opened the door. She then turned around and put her hands on his chest as he moved towards her.

"I've missed you." She stated in a throaty voice. Han gave her a half smile and cupped her face in his hands.

"I've missed you, too." He murmured just before kissing her forehead, then her temple, her cheek, her neck, and up the line of her jaw before claiming her lips in a long, passionate kiss.

"You want to stay here tonight?" She asked in an impassioned voice.

"Yes" he growled as he nibbled on her neck.

"Too bad" she grunted out and shoved him back. "I'm still mad at you." Han opened his eyes in time to see a door slide closed centimeters from his nose.

"But"

"Go take a cold shower and call me tomorrow." She demanded through the door.

"But Leia it wasn't my fault."

Leia smiled as she walked away from the door she heard Han yell.

"Leia come on be reasonable.

Leia!

Leia!

Leeeeeeeeeeiiiiiaaaa!

Leeeeeeeeeeiiiiiaaaa!"

It reminded her of the old holo and Leia said to herself in her best Corellian accent, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."