So I admittedly came into the whole Star Wars fandom very late in the game, having only watched the original trilogy after Carrie Fisher's passing (I know, what was I, living under a rock?) once I had seen various clips on YouTube and became very intrigued with the whole Han and Leia dynamic/relationship. I, of course, fell in love with the original trilogy and had to see The Force Awakens. Now, while I did enjoy the movie as a whole in terms of the plot line and continuation of the franchise, I am utterly heartbroken that they killed Han. I don't know but it's almost even worse knowing that Carrie has now passed and we will be losing Leia as well – almost like things have happened in the wrong order…or they should have just killed them off together in the first place. Not to mention, given the new canon since Disney's acquirement of LucasFilm, they seemed to bring Han and Leia back together to sort of patch things up after some period of prolonged separation only to kill him off and separate them again! Like come one, why would they do that?! It's so unbearably cruel to HanLeia shippers everywhere! And to make him die at the hand of his own son (what a little shit-head by the way)! My god! Stomp on our hearts, why don't you! And poor Leia – now both childless and a widow! Has the woman not been through enough already without taking away the love of her life and their chance at finally having a happy ending?! I understand that they would have had to kill off Han and/or Leia at some point to continue the story for any number of reasons, but I just really hate how they decided to go about it. I guess I always imagined that Han and Leia would make their exit in some blaze of glory, two larger than life characters flowing out with the Force in a larger than life way – together! So my writer's brain kicked in and I've come up with this fanfic of sorts that basically tells things how I would have liked to see them work out for HanLeia in a way that would still pretty much suit the existing TFA plot line and general continued direction of the franchise lore, as well as (posthumously) Carrie Fisher's death. And if I'm going to be completely honest, this also serves to soothe and please my slightly over-dramatic, romantic, OTP, HanLeia shipping heart.

In the interest of maintaining consistency with the piece I was working off of (thank you IMSDb for your copy of the script from The Force Awakens to use as reference), and to give myself some much needed practice in this arena of writing, I originally wrote this fanfic in script format. I am, however, posting this fanfic in a chaptered short story format so it is better received by a wider range of readers. Also in the interest of maintaining consistency with the original script/plot of TFA, I have copied in certain segments of the existing dialogue/plot as required to line up with my original segments. Places where I have used the pre-existing dialogue/plot have been indicated by italics and bold type. All credits for these indicated segments go to LucasFilm/Disney. By that token, any segments from the original script/film that are not directly mentioned/altered in my version are for all intents and purposes unchanged in the realm of this fanfic– my story is very HanLeia centric and I wasn't going to needlessly copy out pre-existing work just for a full script/plot re-creation. In addition to making changes to Han and Leia's plot in this story, I have also made some other changes to situations/characters in the original script/film to better serve my overall story arc, as well as based on personal preference. These changes should be kept in mind as you read this fanfic. First off, in my version Lt. Connix is not a technician with the Resistance. Here I envision her of a higher rank, a more junior General if you will, who Leia has taken under her wing to train in hopes of her one day taking Leia's place in the ranks of the Resistance (seeing Carrie and Billie together on screen gave me some serious generational passing of the torch feels) – and, as such, Connix replaces Leia in all her scenes post the farewell with Han in the original film. Secondly, there is a brief scene in the original film where the Falcon is discovered on Starkiller Base and there is an allusion to the Falcon being searched by First Order troops. For the purposes of my story I would ask that you look to this scene as more than an allusion. As it serves my story, the Falcon is searched by the First Order, and they sabotage the ship in a few ways as a little contingency plan to prevent the escape of its as-of-yet undiscovered crew and whomever they may try to take along with them (sorry, I can't say more, this is already kind of spoiler-ish for my story).

Ok, just so I don't get sued, here is my little copyright disclaimer. I do not own in any way/shape/form Star Wars, its characters, or existing original stories etc. – all legal rights/licenses/ownership belongs to LucasFilm and Disney and I have indicated where credit is due to them directly and my sources for existing original material in the above paragraph. I have only borrowed their characters/realm for my own entertainment and yours, and I am receiving no compensation/payment of financial or any other means for any of this work.

Now, enjoy the story…

Chapter 1: Goodbye again…

The Resistance base on D'Qar was a flurry of activity, pilots and technicians running around readying various aircrafts for the upcoming battle with the First Order. The late afternoon sun beat down upon Han Solo and his crew as they hurried to finish the last minute preparations on the Falcon for what might come to be her final fight.

"Chewie, check that donal capitator. Come on. Let's go," Han barked as he observed his ship with a keen, critical eye. Then, noticing Finn fooling around with several detonator spheres as he sat on an overturned crate, "Finn, be careful with those – they're explosives."

"Now you tell me?" Finn choked nervously, almost dropping the detonator that was sitting in his hand.

"No matter how much we fought, I've always hated watching you leave," said a soft yet powerful voice from somewhere behind Han.

Han turned slowly to face the owner of the voice which he had come to know as well as his own. With a roguish grin he took a step towards her and replied, "That's why I did it – so you'd miss me."

Leia let out a small laugh as she took the final steps to come face to face with her estranged husband. "I did miss you," she added with a soft smile.

Han just stared at her sweetly for a moment, and then he took the opportunity to ask his wife the question that had been plaguing his mind for years. The question he knew he needed the answer to before leaving again, especially if he wouldn't able to come back. "It wasn't all bad, was it? Huh? Some of it was…good."

"…pretty good," Leia agreed with a small nod and half smile.

"Some things never change," Han pressed, trying to gauge how she really felt how things stood between them.

"True - you still drive me crazy," she agreed, now with a full smile and a familiar mischievous glint in her eye that Han hadn't seen in ages.

Han released something between a soft chuckle and a sigh and softly placed his hands upon her shoulders. They stared into one another's eyes, and to anyone who knew them it could have been a picture of them from thirty years before. In a few short moments their looks into one another's eyes told of all their thoughts and fears. They were both painfully aware that there was a good chance Han would not make it back from this mission alive. Slowly their arms found their way around each other and they both held on fiercely, quietly.

Leia let out a soft sigh against Han's chest, relishing in the sound of his heartbeat beneath her ear. Then she whispered softly, longingly, "Han…if you see our son again –"

"I'll bring him home," Han vowed with a hoarse voice as he held her tighter to him and placed a gentle kiss upon the top of her head.

Leia held him a little tighter for a moment, a silent thank you and expression of love before slowly extracting herself from his arms and trying to regain her bearings. "How long until you leave?" she asked softly, though not really eager to hear the answer.

"Not long…just have to make sure everything's in working order then we'll head out," he replied, glancing over towards the Falcon where Chewbacca and Finn continued to work. Looking back at his wife he didn't miss the sadness that crossed her face, and the corners of his mouth turned downward at the sight of her sorrow. He was about to try and offer some words of comfort to her when he was interrupted by an officer approaching them.

"General Organa, we need you in the command centre," the young officer called out urgently.

Leia squared her shoulders, stepping back into her role as General Organa, and slightly turned her head towards the officer without really looking at him. "I'll be right there," she replied shortly before looking back up into Han's eyes. Though she tried to hide her disappointment at their time being cut short, she was far from successful.

"You'd better go," Han sighed gruffly, looking off towards other crews working on other ships, not wanting to see the sadness in her eyes or watch her walk back out of his life so soon after she'd walked back in.

Leia nodded sadly, not really knowing what else there was to say between them given the situation they were facing. As she turned to leave she was caught off guard when Han reached out and took hold of her hand, pulling her back to face him once more. Before she could ask him what he was doing he reached up to gently caress her cheek and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"I love you Leia," he whispered huskily. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he hadn't said those words to her before leaving. No matter what arguments they had had in the past, however many differences of opinion, the fact that he loved her more than life itself had never, and would never, change. And if the mission blew straight to hell and he wasn't able to come back to her, he didn't want her to ever have any doubts about how he had felt.

"I know," she smiled up at him warmly. "I love you too." She pulled him into a tight embrace then and sighed, "Please be careful."

A warm smile crossed Han's face then as he teased into her hair, "Hey, who do you think you're talking to?"

Leia let out a genuine laugh then looked up into his eyes and teased back, "You really want me to answer that?"

Han favoured her with one of his infamous smirks as he reluctantly released her from his arms, her smiling up at him and trying to remember his face just this way – just in case – before turning and heading back to the command centre.

Once Leia was out of his line of vision, Han looked back towards the Falcon and quickly made his way over when he heard his first mate let out an angry whortle. "Whaddya mean it's not working," he called out in frustration.