Epilogue

Mon Mothma had agreed to allocate resources for the liberation of Alderaan ostensibly because of the psychological benefit it would provide to the Alliance after the Emperor's death. As they headed off to take part in the battle though, she quietly told Bail Organa that her decision was also made in part because she knew Leia would undertake the battle on her own if the Alliance didn't step in.

They had braced themselves for heavy losses, but it was a surprisingly straightforward battle in the end, in large part thanks to a young technician who had been working for some time on hacking into the defense platforms that ringed the planet. Without air support, the Rebels' ground invasion, supported by a guerrilla force that came pouring out of the Juran mountains to overwhelm the Imperials main position in Aldera was both simple and successful. The governor assigned to subjugate the planet surrendered quickly when he was surprised in his private office by two young people holding the ancient weapons of the Jedi order.

The news of the liberation spread across the galaxy quickly, and exiles flooded the space around Alderaan, stationing their ship-newly armed with defensive weaponry-in a protective circle around the planet. With the Empire in disarray from the loss of its leaders in a mysterious incident over the remote planet of Tatooine, the planet turned to cleaning up, to mourning its dead, and to celebration.

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Leia looked out the fourth story window of the intensive care wing of the Alderaan Medical Center grumpily. Her reader, loaded with hundreds of books, sat idly on her bedside table next to the holoremote. On the otherside, piles of bouquets were wilting slightly, dropping petals and leaves onto the floor for the cleaning droids to sweep up. Her nurses had offered to move the old flowers, but she insisted on keeping them there, the sweet scent of dying blooms covering up the smell of the hospital.

Against her protests, her parents had forced her to spend the better part of a week in a bacta tank on board the Alliance flagship Home One when the Falcon arrived at the Rebel fleet. Ultimately she acquiesced, feeling guilty at the memory of her mother fighting back tears as she patched Leia up with the Falcon's first aid supplies during their journey to the Rebellion. Admittedly, the long soak in bacta had healed the stinging burn on her back, faded her bruises, and even lightened the long red lightning bolt shaped scar that climbed her neck. Her eyes looked better too, no longer a sickly yellow.

They knew better than to try to keep her back at the fleet during the liberation of Alderaan, and so she was assigned to go with Luke to sneak into the palace and take out the governor. On reflection, she realized that everyone thought that would be an easy part of the mission, but Luke used the opportunity to teach her the fundamentals of Jedi methods. Amazed, she found that using the Force energized her.

There were tears and shouting on both sides when Bail and Breha took her back to the hospital on Alderaan. Leia felt fine, better than she had in months, but Breha blanched when the doctors informed her that she was still severely underweight and anemic. Her parents insisted on staying by her bedside for the first few days, taking turns holding her hands as the other went out to manage the reconstruction of the planet's infrastructure.

After a few more days, Leia ordered them both out, demanding some alone time. For a while, she read, then watched reruns of holocomedies from the Old Republic days. Finally, she just sat, staring out the window.

As the daylight started to fade and she finished her dinner, there was a sharp rap on the door.

"Come in." Holding a small bouquet of flowers, it was Han Solo. Leia's eyes lit up. "Han!"

"Thought you might be interested in some company," he said, pulling a chair up next to her. "I was here bringing some supplies from Rendili and Luke said you were going stir crazy."

"They won't let me out until my blood levels are back up," she said, gesturing at the remains of the meal in front of her. "Nerf steak, three times a day."

"I'm impressed you're letting them take blood," Han said. "I thought no medical droid would want to get within a hundred meters of you."

"Well, actually they're able to do it from the surface here," she said. "They have a neat little device- Alderaan Medical has always been pretty far ahead of the curve on that stuff." She pointed at a handwritten sign hanging prominently above her charts, which read, "No needles." Han smiled and patted her on the hand.

"You've been sleeping okay?"

"Yeah, better. Still not perfect. They've been giving me some pills to help relax, but I don't want to be out of it." She reached into the pocket of her gown and pulled out a crumpled napkin that concealed a small supply of white pills.

"Probably could get a few creds for that on the black market," Han told her. She laughed and put them back away. "But seriously, how are you doing, sweetheart? Luke told me….well, he told me a lot."

"I see." Leia got quiet. "Did he tell you about our father?"

"Yeah." Han brushed a stray hair off her face. "He needed somebody to talk to. That's a rough thing to find out."

Leia nodded, looking down at the sheets covering her legs.

"He said he's pretty sure that he was the one who took out that Super Star Destroyer. The one the Alliance thinks the Emperor was on." She nodded again.

"I felt him die. I thought it would feel…good, or like a relief or something. I'd been terrified of him for so long. But it just felt like, I don't know, a loss."

"Like I said, I don't really understand this Force stuff you all deal in," Solo told her, "But if you want to talk about it, I'm here."

"Thanks." She grabbed a tissue to swipe the tears out of her eyes. "Han, can you do something for me?"

"Sure."

"Get me out of here. I can't take it anymore."

Han stood and looked at her appraisingly. She did look a lot better than a few months previous, when he found her covered in dirt on Endor. Her cheeks were filling out again, and the color had come back to her face. Her hair was clean, neatly braids hanging down either side of her head. And her eyes no longer had that sickly yellow pallor. Instead they were bright and sparkling as she looked at him expectantly.

"Lemme see what I can do," he said with a wink. "See you soon." She smiled as he walked away whistling.

The next day another bouquet was delivered, this one with a wrapped package attached. She waited until the nurses were gone and then opened it quizzically, finding a small card that said 2100 hours attached to a pile of soft red-brown silk. She shook the cloth, revealing a beautifully cut tunic and pants and smiled slyly to herself.

He walked in casually as the sun set, grinning when he saw that she was buried under the blankets. "Ready?" She whipped the blanket off, revealing the outfit he'd sent her.

"Lovely. Now, your Highnessness, how do you propose to get out of here?" She winked and hit a button on the side of her bed.

"Do not disturb," she explained, crossing the room to open the window out onto the balcony. "So long as I'm back by morning, they won't think anything of it." Carefully, she swung a foot over the balcony, clinging to the flowered trellis that extended from the ground to the roof of the building.

"You just don't stop, do you?" Solo said admiringly as he followed her, realizing afterwards that perhaps it would have been a better idea for him to meet her down below. Oh well. It was a lovely night and the structure seemed sturdy enough, assuming no one looked up and wondered why two people were scurrying down the side of the hospital wall like spiders.

Giggling, Leia dropped to the ground and waited for Han to follow. "So where are we going?" she asked as he took her hand and led her towards the speeder garage.

"Little place I discovered," he said. "You Alderaanis do have a few decent places to eat, you know?"

She ducked down in the seat next to him, expecting to be surrounded by her parents' security guards at any moment. Most of the palace personnel were too busy with the rebuilding effort though, and with the defensive emplacements around the planet the Organas felt their daughter was reasonably safe, as long as she made an effort to stay out of trouble. They cruised down a bustling street in the market district, pulling up next to a restaurant filled with people, piano music pouring out of the open front door.

"This is a Corellian place!" she said, laughing, as Solo escorted her inside and neatly slipped her into a dark booth before anyone could recognize his companion. He held up a hand for two Corellian ales and then watched Leia bouncing in time to the music.

"You didn't expect me to take you to eat that rabbit feed you call Alderaani cuisine, did you?" Solo asked her, "You're supposed to be getting your strength up." She just shook her head and sipped her beer as Han sat back and admired her. Amazing the difference a few pounds and turning back to the Light Side of the Force could make.

"What are you looking at, flyboy?" Leia said as the server brought them a platter of food. She looked at the sausages, finding one that looked slightly less greasy and tearing into it.

"Just enjoying the view," he responded with a little smirk.

"How do you stay in such good shape eating stuff like this?" Leia asked, wiping juice from her fingers with a napkin.

"Hey, this is a treat," Han protested. "I usually stick to steak." She laughed again, and he closed his eyes for a second, simply enjoying the sound. She was so different from the suspicious, terrified waif he'd found huddling on Endor, but somehow she had always had that spark. He found himself wondering if he could find an excuse to stay on Alderaan a little longer…

The piano launched into a jaunty version of a traditional Corellian drinking song, and half the patrons stood to join the musician in song. "Care for a dance?" Han offered, expecting Leia to insist on staying concealed. She shocked him by leaping up, and he led her to the dance floor.

The music stayed fast paced for a few minutes, then slowed to a waltz. More couples joined them on the dance floor, clutching each other as they swayed back and forth. Leia cradled closer to Han.

"You know," she said, "The first time I came back here to Alderaan, these three boys helped me sneak back into Aldera."

"And?" Han said, his eyes twinkling.

"I wished you had been there," she said. "They were so….immature."

He burst out laughing and pulled her closer, swinging her into a twirl. As he came back around, he accidentally bumped another couple—belonging to some religious group, he surmised from their head coverings. Or perhaps someone else trying to escape the burdens of everyday life for a few hours.

"Beg your pardon," he said, then blanched as they looked up, surveying him and Leia.

"Captain Solo." Breha Organa was clearly not amused as she detached herself from her husband. "Precisely what are you doing with my daughter?"

The End

A/n

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it. It was my first Fan Fiction and it was a lot of fun to put together. It meant a lot to me to see the positive reactions. I hope to keep writing more- this one was done pretty hastily, and so I'm sure there are edits that could have been made, pacing that could have been more even, characters that could have been better developed. But I'm pretty happy with it, and a little wistful about being done. Thanks again! Radioboca