Han Solo awoke with a jolt. For a moment he thought he was still on the scan grid trying to anticipate the next bout of searing pain from the arcing bolts of power but no, that part of the nightmare was over. He was in the holding cell, the air was cool. He could just make out the shape of Chewie slumped against the far wall, a soft rumble issuing forth from his sleeping form.

A familiar smell reached Han's nostrils, her smell. he glanced down. Leia was asleep on his chest, her face angled up slightly toward the glow from the single light in the cell. A wisp of hair, looped around her cheek. He gently pushed it behind her ear. She murmured something but didn't wake up.

If he ever thought he had loved in the past it didn't compare to what he felt now. As a child he had never known the love of a parent or sibling so, as in so many areas of his life, he had made it up as he went along. With litle comprehension, came no expectations and often as a young man he just failed to understand why a girl got upset when he went his own way. He had made mistakes and chalked it up to experience. But now? What was going on here? He stared at every detail of her delicate features, memorising each aspect.

God, she could drive him crazy like no-one ever had before.
Perhaps because she didn't fall for the act. He hadn't known it had been an act until she had shown him it was. She forced him to acknowledge what he could be if he just gave more of a damn. That unsettled him.

He had always been impressed with her strength but he also knew the weight, the hurt she carried inside for Alderaan, the rebellion, all the souls sacrificed for the cause and over time his thoughts had evolved from relishing the conflict between them to wanting, needing to convince her that she could let someone in, let him in.

But now they were here..at the end? He tried to remember if they had gotten out of a worse jam. He shifted his position a little. His body ached all over and his stomach muscles involuntarily spasmed.

The princess stirred.
"Wha..what are you doing? Are you OK?"
Her tired eyes came into focus and flooded with concern again at the sight of his discomfort and the black rings under his eyes.

"I'm fine, i just had to move a little, go back to sleep"

"I wasn't really asleep"

"It looked real enough to me" he smiled wearily and traced his finger down the side of her face.

"You were watching me?" she smiled shyly

"Nothing else to do round here" he teased.

"You're impossible" she said and kissed his forehead gently.
"How do you feel?"

"Oh, it's not so bad. Only hurts when I move"

"It's been a while now, what are they waiting for do you think?"

"Don't know, just hope Luke hasn't got any dumb ideas about getting us out of this mess"

"I don't see how he could know"

"Well, Vader seems pretty sure he's coming" Han looked up at the ceiling closed his eyes for a moment then looked back at Leia, a new urgency in his gaze.
"Listen, Leia, I, er, I don't know what's going to happen but.."

She took his hand "Hey, you don't need to re-asssure me. We're alive and while we're alive, we still have a chance."

Her eyes didn't inform the small smile at her mouth and he too couldn't quite carry through the usual cocksure smirk as he had in countless other dire situations. This time it felt different, they both knew it.

Leia began to say something else but Han cut her off with a slow, lingering kiss. If there time was running out he wasn't going to waste it on empty re-assurances. They had already wasted so much time avoiding the truth, he needed her to know now that whatever it was they were feeling, they could draw strength and comfort from it now and yes, he wanted to kiss her, more than anything he wanted to kiss her.

The door hissed open.
Chewie jumped at the sudden intrusion, growling at the unwelcome visitors. Threepio awoke from his self induced diagnostic cycle to chastise the wookie once more at his apparent disregard for his current condition.

"On your feet rebel scum" the troopers moved to either side of Han, shoving Leia out of the way and roughly hoisting him up.
"Leave him alone" shouted Leia angrily as 2 of the imperials blocked her path.

Han glanced at her "It's OK, it's OK, I can walk, just..give me a second". The soldiers released his arms and he took a few shaky steps around the cell. He waved Chewie off when the wookie approached to help his friend before turning around and standing up straight.
The guards strode over and yanked his jacket down from his shoulders, placing his wrists in binders.
Han looked down at his wrists; "why the royal treatment?"
He looked at Leia, her face a mask of concern at this development.
"Alright move out" said the lead stormtrooper.
Two troopers formed up in front of the smuggler with Leia and Chewie behind. The wookie had slung a net containing the constituent parts of the protesting protocol droid over his back. The other troops followed the procession, their ocular sensors trained on the tall Wookie.

The blank corridors gave way to a darker, more oppressive part of the city, the sound of mysterious mechanical processes came through the walls, hissing steam could be heard in the pipes above their heads and the atmosphere grew steadily more dank and warm. It was as if they were descending into hell.
Leia wanted to reach out to Han but the trooper next to her had his rifle trained on her, ready to interpret any gesture as an attempt to escape.
Threepio noted every nuanced change in their environment as they progressed with the unassailable enthusiasm of a scientist on an expedition, only pausing to once again admonish Chewie when his head clanged against an overhead pipe.

Leia's eyes were fixed on Han's back, the pragmatic portion of her mind raced. Why was he manacled? if he was to be given to the bounty hunter, why had the rest of them been brought along?

The rest of her thoughts were taken up with her feelings for the handsome smuggler. She had never allowed herself the luxury of emotional attachments outside of her family but he had awoken something inside of her which she could no longer suppress. She hated her pride, her need for control for now she might be about to lose him as she had lost so many others. Did he feel the same? The way he had looked at her on the Falcon made her think that he did, that these weren't just long established moves he had practised on so many other women. They reached a large burnished door inlaid with orange light cells. It slid up slowly with a heavy grinding sound to reveal a ramp on a gentle incline.

Slowly the group resumed their progress.