A/N: Timeline would be pre-ESB. I don't know exactly where the inspiration came from, but it all started with one little word whispered by Han. You'll have to read to find out what it was.
Don't Let Go
It didn't matter now that he had been wrong. There was no point in assigning blame. Yet, that was all that he could think about. If we get out of this alive, she's going to kill me.
"Han?" She called out, her voice trembling. His grip on her tightening in response. He had told her not to look down but now he had become dizzily mesmerized by the tiny strip of land that lingered dangerously far below them.
"Leia," he responded, forcing his voice to sound calm, cool and in control while his mind reeled trying desperately to find a means of escape. She had wanted to go around the ravine, following a circuitous path that would've added several hours to their trip. He had insisted the bridge would be safer. Quicker. The bridge that was now crumbling beneath them as Leia dangled from his fingertips.
"Don't let go," she said. He could tell by the tone of her voice that she knew that he wouldn't. She always enjoyed telling him what to do, especially when she knew he had no choice but to do as he was told.
He mentally shook his head at her, even in the face of death she could rile him, but before his brain could manufacture a flippant response he heard himself saying, "Never," with a little more emotion than he had ever dared plan on. Hells, he hadn't even planned on saying it at all and there was now an aching pain inside of him where that word should've been.
Never.
He heard it repeat in his mind as he tightened his grip on her. It was a simple word. But on his lips, at that moment, to that particular person, it sounded...dangerous. It held implications, double meanings, promises that he wasn't prepared to own up to just yet. He swallowed, not knowing what else to do. Had she heard it in the same way? Would she decipher the hidden meanings that he had not intended to divulge? He wanted once again to camouflage the moment with a smart remark, yet instead he heard his voice repeating, this time with perhaps even more conviction, "Never."