The Space Between

Chapter 1

Leia sighed as she sat at an empty table in the nearly abandoned mess hall on their newest base – the ice planet called Hoth. It was late, and exhausted couldn't even begin to describe how she was feeling. Then again, she sighed, I can't remember the last time I didn't feel at least a little bit tired. Yet somehow, sleep just wouldn't come easily; when it did, she was plagued by nightmares that left her heart pounding and tears running down her face.

"Fancy runnin' into you here, Your Worship," Han teased, inviting himself to sit down at her table. He had been watching her from the doorway for a while – he found himself doing a lot of that these days – and the sadness in her expression always caught him off guard. It seemed that only yesterday they had smiled and laughed and celebrated when the Death Star had been destroyed. Soon after, however, the Empire's attacks had forced them to flee Yavin IV for the icy desolation of Hoth. Since then, the princess had been quiet and withdrawn.

She met his eyes, her expression slightly annoyed. "Is there something you wanted, Captain Solo?"

"Not in particular," he answered, pleased that his lack of explanation caused her to sigh in exasperation. It wasn't that he particularly wanted to make her angry; he just took a strange sense of pride that only he could elicit a deviation of manner in the otherwise diplomatic, regal Princess of Alderaan. "Credit for your thoughts," he offered, noting that something was clearly on her mind.

"I'm surprised you have a credit to offer after all you've spent on parts for your precious ship," she quipped, a hint of amusement in her tone as she avoided his invitation to confide in him. There were things she couldn't confess – not even to herself and especially not to the infuriating man in the seat beside her.

"Hey, hey! Watch it, Princess," he said, feigning offense as he held his hands out in front of him. "As I recall, that ship and this pilot helped save your hides not so long ago."

For all the ways Han Solo seemed to know how to get under her skin, Leia realized how little she knew of him. Her life had always been publicized for anyone in the galaxy to see, but he was as mysterious as the systems past the Outer Rim. She knew well, however, that the quickest way to get to him was to insult his ship; it seemed to work although – and she would never admit it – she couldn't help but be a little fond of that unpredictable bucket of bolts called the Millennium Falcon. "I suppose so," she conceded, looking down at the untouched food in front of her.

Han realized that she was trying to change the subject, and he let her. At the very least, he had managed to get a hint of something resembling a smile out of her, and that would have to be enough for now. He sat with her in silence instead of pushing the issue further and was rewarded when she suddenly spoke up.

"Another system joined the Alliance today. At this rate, we'll have a real chance," she offered, sounding more hopeful than she had in a while.

He nodded. "Good to hear. We can use all the help we can get."

"'We'?" she echoed in a tone that hardly concealed her surprise. "Does that mean you've decided to stay with us after all?"

Han shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "Jabba's waited this long. What difference'll a little while longer make?"

Her gaze met his again and she gave a smile that made his heart skip a beat. He wondered how she managed to do that – to make him care the way he did despite his desperate struggle not to. He sighed, defeated, as he realized he would do just about anything to get her to look at him that way, even if it meant hanging around with the Alliance on this ice cube of a planet for a while longer.

"It's late," she said abruptly, as though only just realizing it. "I should probably get back to my quarters now. It won't do to fall asleep during tomorrow's meetings."

"I'll walk you," he offered, standing and extending his arm before she had the chance to protest. "Never know what sort of riffraff might be wanderin' around this time of night," he winked, and she rolled her eyes at him but wrapped her arm around his nonetheless.

They walked along in a surprisingly comfortable silence. In spite of the cold, Leia felt her cheeks warm as she allowed herself to think about the closeness between the two of them. She couldn't help but notice the way he always watched her, the way his eyes raked over her body, making her blush. Her early involvement in the Senate and all of the obligations it brought hadn't left her much time for things like dating or romance – or even spending time alone with a man for anything other than discussing business – and the uncertainty of this new perspective both scared and excited her.

"Well, here we are," Han announced, snapping Leia back to the present as they stood in front of her door.

"I'm glad you're staying," she blurted out without thinking. Immediately, she regretted it – especially when she saw the cocky grin on Han's face. "I just mean—" she attempted to recover, but he interrupted.

"Ah, she admits her true feelings," he joked, unable to let her innocent comment go. "I've seen the way you've been lookin' at me these past few months, you know. Probably thinkin' all sorts of obscene things."

"The way I've been… Oh!" she fumed, ripping her arm away from his. "You're… you're impossible!" She mentally scolded herself for even entertaining the possibility of anything more than mere tolerance of such a scoundrel as Han Solo, slamming the door before he got another chance to speak.

…

"Hey, Leia. Is everything… all right?" Luke asked when he saw her early the next morning, noting the expression on her face and the way she cleared a path through the hangar, like a wildfire blazing through a forest.

"Have you seen Captain Solo?" she asked, trying her best to keep her composure. The truth was that their last encounter still had her seething and now that she'd had some time to gather her thoughts, there was a thing or two she intended to tell him.

"I saw him earlier this morning before he went out to do periphery checks. He should be back soon, though," he offered, wondering just what had happened between the two of them. He wasn't surprised that Han had done something to upset her, but she was usually over it soon enough. "Would you like me to talk to him about anything?"

She shook her head, touched by the concern in Luke's voice. She had come to feel a fondness for Luke, as though she had known him her entire life, and she was thankful to have some stability in a universe seemingly gone mad. "Just tell him that I'm looking for him."

"No need. I'm right here," Han announced boisterously, although the fiery stare she gave him was enough to wipe the grin off of his face. "What'd I do now?"

The sincerity behind his question took Leia aback. Had his comments from merely hours before already been forgotten? Suddenly, she felt ridiculous for getting so worked up over what had clearly been nothing more than a simple joke to him.

"Wait, you aren't still angry about last night, are you? You've gotta lighten up, Your Highnessness. I was only kidding," he said, only half telling the truth. He had said those things to gauge her response; clearly she didn't think of him the way he thought of her. Then again, he chuckled to himself, no well-brought up princess would think that way at all.

When she didn't answer, it said enough. "Aw, c'mon. No hard feelings. Let me make it up to you with a home-cooked dinner on the Falcon," he offered. However, when she eyed him skeptically, he added, "You, me, Luke, and Chewie. What do ya say, kid?"

"Sounds good to me," Luke agreed, more than happy to spend time with the people who had become his makeshift family over the past few months. "You should come, Leia. You could use a night without worrying about the Rebellion and everything else you've got going on."

She groaned quietly, clearly outnumbered. "Well, all right. But Luke and Chewbacca had better be there," she warned, giving Han the sort of look that dared him to defy her. And with that, she hurried along to the briefing that was only moments away from beginning.

"You must've done something pretty awful," Luke laughed as soon as she was out of earshot. "It's been a long time since I've seen her so angry with you."

"Nothin' worse than usual," Han shrugged. "I ran into her late last night in the mess hall, and I didn't want her wandering around alone so late, so I—" he started to explain before Luke stopped him.

"Something's bothering her. I've caught her wandering around in the middle of the night at least twice a week since we got here," he confided worriedly. "Has she said anything to you?"

Han shook his head, chuckling incredulously at the thought that Leia would tell him anything. "If she hasn't told you, I guarantee she wouldn't talk to me about it. But now that you mention it, I have noticed that she seems more… tired lately. Worried, too. I hate to see her so upset, you know?"

Luke nodded in agreement, glad to have someone else who seemed to worry about Leia the way he did. Between them, he felt confident that they could get to the bottom of whatever it was that was troubling the princess so deeply.