Chapter 1 - By Your Side

Han Solo's Ubese was a little rusty, but he understood enough to know that this wasn't a friendly conversation. Of course, the blaster pointed at him was a bit of a tip-off, too.

"Come on, I'm sure this is just a little misunderstanding," he said, putting on his most charming smile and giving a slight nod to Chewbacca. "Your boss is gonna get his money. These things just take time."

[Forget it, Solo. My boss isn't interested in giving you any more chances. Time to pay up], the bounty hunter said, finger on the trigger.

Chewie made his move, but the bounty hunter seemed to have anticipated it, jumping out of the way and, despite their small size, leveling the Wookiee with a well-placed blow to the hip.

Mere minutes later, Han and Chewie were in binders. [Now, let's get a tour of my new ship], their captor said, leading them up the ramp of the Eravana at blaster point.

The ramp made a loud scraping sound as it closed, and the bounty hunter holstered their blaster. "I didn't hurt you, Chewie, did I?" asked Leia, her voice still metallic-sounding from the voice modulator behind her helmet.

[I'm fine, Little Princess], Chewie said, struggling with his wrists. [You could've made these binders a little less tight, though.]

"Sorry. Had to make it believable for our little audience in the hangar," she said, removing his binders and starting to work on Han's. She pulled off Han's binders, then reached over her head to remove her helmet and hood, shaking a few loose tendrils of hair out of her face.

Han drank her in, a crooked grin spreading across his face. "You even make this getup look good, Sweetheart," he admired, shaking his head.

Her brown eyes twinkled, but she wasn't feeling terribly patient at the moment. "Shut up and kiss me, flyboy," she demanded, pulling his body to hers. It had only been six weeks since their last meeting, but their kisses were urgent, hungry, as if they'd been separated for years. Then their urgency melted into a slow, comfortable embrace, and they continued kissing, leaning up against the corridor of the ship.

[Don't mind me! I'm just going to go take off now so you two can mate all over the damn place!] Chewie yelled sarcastically behind them on his way to the cockpit.

Han lifted his head. "Thanks, Pal!" Leia laughed softly, then leaned in to Han for one more kiss before pulling him along the corridor toward the captain's quarters.

Han fingered the edge of Leia's tunic. "This is a little blast from the past," he commented, as they made their way down the corridor. The disguise was the same one she'd used to spring him from Jabba the Hutt's palace thirty years ago.

She sighed. "Yeah, who knew this would come in so handy? We use it for reconnaissance missions sometimes now. Doesn't fit me quite the way it used to, though." She smiled ruefully. "Of course, nothing really fits me the way it used to anymore."

He palmed open the door to his quarters and led her inside. "Princess," he chided gently, his hand on her waist, "do I need to show you again how beautiful you are?"

She smiled at him slyly. "You gonna worship at my feet?"

Han drew her to him and pretended to consider that. "Well, I was thinkin' about worshiping some other areas, but if you want me to start with your feet—"

He was interrupted by her mouth on his again.

"I miss the Falcon," Leia yawned, snuggling into Han's chest, her hair spilling out onto the pillow behind her.

Han pretended to do a double take. "I need to record the time and the date. You miss the Falcon?"

She punched him lightly on the shoulder. "You know I love that ship almost as much as you do," she said, lying back. "The Falcon was home. This is fine…it's just not home."

Han sighed, staring up at the ceiling of the bunk. "I know. Still scanning for it. Told Chewie we should check the Western Reaches again, but he doesn't think Ducain would've taken it out that way." He shook his head. "Hell, for all I know he sold it off for parts years ago."

Leia furrowed her brow thoughtfully. "Wedge has been out in the Western Reaches recently. Too bad I can't put him on the case."

Han turned over onto his side, facing Leia again. "How's he doing?"

She turned toward him as well, reaching her hand up to trace small circles on his shoulder. "About as well as can be expected, I guess. I've got him busy training pilots and running reconnaissance most of the time." Leia looked a bit wistful. "It's hard, though. He really misses Luke."

"Yeah, he ain't the only one," Han sighed.

She squeezed his shoulder, her eyes focused on his. "You know it's different for Wedge. He hasn't seen his husband in four years."

Han smiled at her. "Tell him to suck it up," he teased, trying to lighten the mood. "You haven't seen your husband in seven years." Leia punched him again, and they both laughed, but they immediately grew quiet. Han pulled her closer, and caressed her arm with gentle strokes.

After a few minutes, Leia broke the silence. "Does it bother you that people think we've been apart all this time?"

He moved his hand to her face, cupping it gently, his thumb running down her cheekbone. "'Course it does. This is epic love, Leia. Nobody wants to think that it all went to shit."

Here is what is believed: that Leia Organa has been abandoned by her husband and her brother, the two men who loved her best, in her time of greatest need. Her son Ben was lost to the Dark Side, responsible for a massacre; her daughter Jaina was killed in an attack meant to target Leia. And even with the New Republic crumbling, the new Jedi Order destroyed, and her family in tatters, Leia endures and continues to fight, alone.

Some of these things are true. Ben was seduced to the Dark Side and committed the massacre at the Jedi temple, seeking to destroy all that his uncle had tried to rebuild. The First Order's rise from the ashes of the Empire continues to threaten the very survival of the New Republic. And despite the attempt on her life and the odds against her, Leia endures and continues to fight.

But these things are also true: The Jedi were crippled by the massacre, but not destroyed. For years now, Luke Skywalker has been establishing a series of small colonies of Force-sensitive beings, trained on the planets that had housed the old Jedi temples. Leia and Han have helped Luke identify, protect, and safely transport students to these colonies for years. Their daughter Jaina is alive and well, hidden from her brother and the First Order, and being trained in the ways of the Force by her uncle.

And Han is still Leia's greatest love, and she his. They send their love in coded messages that say, "You know," in the sudden arrival of ships or supplies to the Resistance, in a smuggling job that has mysteriously become available. And when they can, they steal some reunion time under whatever ruses or disguises will get them alone together for a day or so.

Han's kisses were hot on Leia's neck as she began pinning up her braids. "Quit that," she said, a little halfheartedly. "You're distracting me."

He chuckled softly. "That was the idea."

She tilted her head back at him. "You've already distracted me once this morning, Solo. Don't start something you can't finish."

"Oh, I intend to finish, all right." She rolled her eyes, but bared her neck to him and made a satisfied hum as he continued his kisses, snaking an arm around her waist as he did so.

"You do know that I need to actually accomplish the mission I'm supposedly here to do," she reminded him. "People are starting to get suspicious of all my solo trips."

She could feel his grin on her neck, and he stopped kissing her for a minute. "Did you just make a pun?"

She smiled slyly. "Maybe." He returned to her neck, and she gave in and gave up pretending to get ready for the day.

This space, this time after love, had always been special. Sometimes they talked; some things seemed easier to discuss in the quiet after their storm. Sometimes being together in the silence was enough.

Today, Leia definitely had something on her mind. "It's time to find Luke," she said, her voice firm in its conviction. "It's time for them to come back."

Han held her closer. "I miss her, too," he said quietly. Luke had disappeared, Jaina with him, four years ago. For the three years before that, Jaina had lived with Han and Chewbacca on the Falcon, traveling the galaxy and hiding in the smuggling compartments or the cargo hold when others came on board. Leia had managed a few visits a year, when they thought they could chance it.

Luke had hidden Jaina's Force presence to stage her death; they'd thought that precaution and her parents' supposed breakup would be enough to hide her until she was older, until enough of the new Jedi had been trained. But one disastrous mission had lost the Falcon and almost revealed Jaina to the First Order. They'd managed one last visit from Leia to say goodbye – the last time Luke, Leia, and Han had all been together— then Luke took Jaina with him and vanished. Despite their strong bond in the Force, the only thing Leia could sense about Luke now was that he was still alive.

"It's not just Jaina," Leia said. She had that look that Han sometimes referred to as "Force face;" on Leia, it looked like unusually intent daydreaming. "Something's happening in the Force," she said. "I can feel it. Something has changed. I don't know what it is, but I know that we need Luke." She turned back toward Han and placed a kiss on his hand, which was resting on her shoulder. "But I miss our girl. We need to bring her home."