There's a small epilogue coming after this chapter and then the story is done. Thank you to everyone for the encouragement!

Despite the raging inner debate that plagued him, Han was still able to nab a few hours of sleep that night. He awoke the next morning when he felt Leia lift her head from his chest. With one eye open, he watched her stretch her arms languorously before she turned to face him.

"Morning," he muttered.

"Hi," she answered, almost whispering, which seemed like an unusually shy reaction from her.

"I'm sorry if I hogged your chest all night," she added.

"It's ok. I wasn't using it. I'm glad it could be of use to you."

Leia smiled bashfully at his quip and bit her lower lip before speaking again.

"I wasn't sure if you would be here when I woke up," she said quietly. "I wondered if you might bolt the second I fell asleep."

"To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure if I would be here either," he admitted.

Leia nearly winced at his admission and quickly drew in her shoulders in an unusual insecure response that tugged at his heart. If it was possible, in that moment, she looked even smaller than her already diminutive frame. Han felt the familiar urge to pull her into his arms, hold her securely against him, and pepper her with kisses. Clearly, she was bracing herself emotionally and physically for a rejection.

It was always difficult for Han to see Leia looking susceptible and emotionally exposed since he was all too familiar with the tough exterior she saved for most of the world. Despite wanting to alleviate her concerns, he didn't expand on his straightforward answer. He wanted to hear her response first.

When Leia realized that Han would not be clarifying his answer, she sat up straight and swallowed nervously. She folded her hands in her lap and assumed what she hoped looked like a casual demeanor.

"So, I don't want things to be awkward between us," she finally stated. "I'm not expecting us to reunite, or anything like that. Last night was just sex. We don't have to label it or make a big deal about it."

A flash of anger ripped through Han. For a second, it felt like he was like he was back on Hoth, standing in an icy corridor shaking his head in disbelief at the absurdity of Leia denying her feelings for him.

No, I won't backtrack to past behavior, he silently told himself. We've come too far since then.

"Is that all it was?" he said in the calmest voice he could muster.

Leia looked up at him with her doleful eyes as if she were searching his face for the right answer. Then, she studied her clasped hands again.

"Leia?" he prodded softly, impressed with himself for reining in his temperamental instinct.

To Han's surprise, Leia's bottom lip began quivering. Her frail shoulders trembled as she shook her head.

"No," she whispered. "It wasn't just sex. I love you. "

He felt his breath hitch, floored by her unexpected admission.

"I screwed up," she admitted through a series of choked sobs. "I was so devastated when I found out that… that…"

She placed her hands over her face, as if the simple physical act would shield her from the truth about her parentage.

"Leia, I know," Han said, inching closer to her on the bed. He gently pried her hands off her face and clutched them reassuringly. "I know how difficult it was for you."

"I felt so lost," she confessed. "I didn't know how to cope with it. I thought if I got away for a while, I would eventually find answers. Except, I was wrong. I didn't find any answers. The morning after I left, I woke up and knew I'd made a mistake, a terrible mistake in leaving you. You were my everything, but I felt so suffocated by the truth and felt this intense need to run away from you, Luke, and everything I knew, as if that simple act would free me from the truth. It was a foolish, impulsive reaction. I should never have left."

"I've spent the last couple of years regretting my decision," she continued. "I just fell deeper and deeper into the black hole I had dug for myself. I drank and partied and wasted two whole years trying to forget the terrible mistake I had made, trying to forget… who my father is. I even tried to justify my adolescent behavior and told myself that I was making up for the normal teenage years I had missed when I was forced to grow up too soon. But deep down, even I didn't buy my own argument. I was just so confused, so lost. And the longer I stayed away from you and Luke, my anchors, the more I drowned."

"But you eventually did come back," he answered. "Why?"

"Hope," she said in a small voice. "Somewhere deep inside of me, I had an infinitesimal scrap of hope that you and Luke might forgive my mistake and accept me into your lives again, even if I didn't deserve you both."

"Can you forgive me? Or did I irreparably break your trust by leaving? Is there any chance that things could ever be the same again?"

Han hesitated, mulling over her question. When he met her eyes, he saw fear and also that glimmer of hope she had referenced.

"Trust doesn't come easily to me," he admitted. "It wouldn't be a cinch for me to jump back into a relationship with you as if the past two years hadn't happened."

"I understand," she whispered meekly, miserably.

"Ya know, in a way, no matter how much it hurt when you left, I also felt slightly relieved."

Leia furrowed her brow and gave him a questioning look.

"Come on," he said with a shrug. "The entire time we were together, I always wondered when you would come to your senses about me and leave. I never expected a guy like me to hold on to someone like you for very long. Being with you always seemed too good to be true, like I was living someone else's dream. Throughout our entire relationship, I was always slightly on edge, just waiting for you to come to your senses about me."

"Don't say that," she commanded, clutching his hands fiercely. "Before Endor, I never once doubted us. I thought we would be together forever. You were the best thing that had ever happened to me and…"

Leia's voice cracked, and a fresh batch of tears began spilling down her face.

"I threw you away," she whispered.

Han couldn't disagree with her assessment, but he could not summon the energy to compose an answer that wouldn't make him sound bitter or broken.

And then Han realized with a sudden rush that he was tired of second guessing everything in his life, sick of viewing the world through cynical eyes. Fuck it. He wanted Leia, dammit. He'd always wanted her and his desire hadn't diminished, no matter how painful the past two years had been. For once, Han Solo wanted to let his heart guide him instead of his head.

"I love you, too," he said simply.

For a moment, Leia didn't react. She sat deathly still, looking down at her hands, not budging in the slightest. Just as he began wondering if she had even heard his confession, she lifted her head and met his with astonished eyes.

"That's the reason I stayed last night, why I didn't bolt," he continued. "A big part of me was urging myself to leave to, uh, protect myself from getting hurt. Then I realized that leaving wouldn't change the simple fact that I love you. I have always loved you and always will. And I knew then that I had to stay and face the truth."

"You hurt me, badly, but I'm not angry with you," he stressed. "I've never been mad at you. We had just finished fighting a grueling war, one that was emotionally draining on you on so many levels. On top of that, Luke dropped an enormous bombshell on you. It was a revelation that would have destroyed most people, but not you, not my brave princess. Maybe you were lost for a while, but you rebounded, like you always do."

"You love me?" she asked hopefully. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes."

Leia flung herself into his arms, gripping him with a strength that belied her small body. Half laughing and half crying with joy and relief, she sprayed him with a million kisses anywhere she could reach, on his forehead, nose, cheek, and finally his lips.

They shared a long, searing kiss that dulled the pain of the last two years. When they broke apart, Han gave her a smug smile.

"I knew you'd be back," he joked, ducking just in time as she playfully swatted at him.