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Special thanks to Notes from the Classroom. Her comments made this chapter much better. Check out her latest "People Will Say" in my faves for Spock and Uhura goodness.

Epidemic: Chapter 2

There was a Jedi saying, "When you cannot win, stop fighting."

With the help of Ulneo's rebel forces, Luke and his team found a suitable location for their "last stand," an old wooden building at the edge of a telnarite mining town in the mountains. Luke's team settled in and only made cursory efforts to hide their whereabouts.

Predictably, the Central Authority found them. When the gunships attacked, Luke's team exploded the bulk of their remaining weaponry - as though it had taken a direct hit. The building went up in flames and Luke and his team went down into the mines. Luke and A84 moved boulders to hide their exit.

Tense hours later, Luke pulled his consciousness from the surface back to his body, opened his eyes to blackness and smiled. "It worked. They have their suspicions, but the general consensus is we're dead."

There were murmurs in the dark around him. A flare lit, and B36 said, "You heard him, boys. Let's move out."

x x x x

Swirling his drink in his glass, Han silently cursed Chewie. The furry bastard had gotten out of coming to this reception at Interior Secretary Dinel's estate on the pretense of "seasonal shedding." If only Han could be so lucky as to have that as an excuse. Too bad Luke was off on Ulneo; Luke hated these things, too. Han wanted company for his misery.

Feeling the heat of someone's gaze on him he glanced up. Across the press of human and alien bodies decked out in at least four dozen types of finery, Leia - Minister of Restoration Projects- Organa, was staring at him. For the past few months she'd looked tired, as though she was carrying a great weight. Han asked her about it and she said it was just too much work. Despite her fatigue she looked lovely, hair upswept high, a deep wine red dress on that plunged just so in the front. Han was sure the old white haired bureaucrat guys looming around were drooling. Leia smiled at him and gave him a wink.

He did his best not to roll his eyes. As though flirting with him made it all better. Actually, it almost did, but he would never admit it. His eyes went to Lando - Senator Calrissian, in thrall of another set of bureaucrats, and then a motion at the door caught his eye. A man in New Republic Force gear strode purposely into the room and made his way to the Interior Secretary, crowd parting and murmurs arising as he did.

Interior Secretary Dinel was a lean man in his 50's with a hawkish nose. As the trooper approached, Han swore he saw Dinel smile and bare fangs. He blinked. Dinel was human and didn't sport fangs. Han's vision cleared. Dinel was not smiling; his face was pinched and hard. The trooper was whispering something in his ear and Dinel was putting his glass down on a tray. The murmurs in the crowd grew louder.

Stepping forward, Dinel put his hands together and the crowd hushed. His form seemed to shimmer oddly. Han stared down at his drink; he'd barely touched it. He'd been getting light headed like this a lot recently. Rubbing his face, he looked up and Dinel was solid again. But no. Something was wrong, off, backwards, inside out and Han just couldn't tell what it was.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said Dinel, "I regret to inform you, the terrorists on Ulneo have attacked..." Closing his eyes and bowing his head, he said, "Luke Skywalker is dead."

And then Han knew what was wrong. The words were at his mouth before he could stop them. "You fucking liar! You know that's not true!"

x x x x

Somehow Han had let Lando push him from the reception into the foyer.

Lando's hands were on Han's shoulders. "It's okay, buddy. It's okay."

Pushing Lando's hands away, Han said, "It's not okay! Luke is alive!"

A blur in wine red entered the foyer. Eyes meeting Leia's, Han said, "He isn't dead, he isn't...you know that."

Frowning, Leia said softly, "No, Han, I don't know that."

Han's eyes went wide. "You're lying to me, too, now," he said. He knew it, somehow, like he knew that gravity would hold his feet down while he was planet side.

Swallowing, Leia came closer to him. "Han, we have to...accept that what Dinel says is true."

Han's stomach dropped, his hands felt like ice. How could she?

Murmurs were coming from the reception hall, people were listening in.

...She didn't want anyone else to know. Something was going on, and he'd bet it had to do with whatever had been on her mind these past few months. He was furious. At her for not trusting him. At Dinel for wanting Luke dead. At stilted receptions where you couldn't speak your mind and had to watch your mouth.

Spinning and heading for the door, he said, "Yeah, right."

x x x x

Leia tracked him down, of course. Not right away. She gave him an hour or so to cool down - or so he supposed. But damn it, there was no way he was going to be cool about this.

When he was elbow deep in the Falcon's innards and he heard the main hatch creaking open, he knew who it was.

Pulling himself half out of the engine, he saw her at the bottom of the ramp, still in her reception gown, a halo of light around her.

"What the Hell is going on? Dinel lied, you lied...and you know Luke is alive," Han said, pointing a hydrospanner at her. Which didn't explain how he knew, even before her subtle hint in the foyer. He'd spent the last hour rationalizing it. Maybe it was just because Luke Skywalker wouldn't die, not on a routine inspection assignment to Ulneo. But that wasn't it: he just knew...like he knew Dinel lied, Leia lied, and how to breathe.

She walked up the ramp and over to the hatch controls. Pressing a button she waited until the hatch closed before she said, "Dinel did not lie...well, yes he did. He pretended to be saddened; that was a lie. He genuinely thinks Luke is dead, though - and is happy about it."

"And we aren't arguing with him because..." Han said.

Turning back to him she said, "Because they've been trying to kill him and it's better if they think he is dead -"

"They? Who? Trying to kill him? For how long, Leia? How long has this been going on?"

Swallowing, she said, "I don't know exactly who...It's been a month or so, I -"

"And when exactly were you going to tell me?"

"I couldn't risk you going off after him," Leia said, not meeting his eyes.

"Couldn't risk...Well, you are right about that, I am going after him," said Han pulling himself out of the compartment and shouting towards the cockpit. "Chewie, rev her up!"

The Falcon's engine's hummed to life.

"Han," said Leia, "you can't go, please."

Something cold stirred in the pit of Han's stomach. An icy chill that reached its tendrils up towards his throat. He was afraid; no, terrified. He had that inside out and backwards feeling again, and that was unacceptable, irrational. Which maybe is why his next words were completely unforgivable. "What's wrong with you, Leia? You so happy with your newfound respectability and authority, Your Ministership, that you can't do what's right, and don't care about the what really matters anymore? You don't care about Luke?"

As soon as he said it he regretted it. He waited for the stinging retort to come. Instead, she crumpled. "Don't care! He's my brother! He and you and Chewie are the only family I have left in this galaxy! I can't lose you, and I know, I know, I know if you go you all will die." Wiping tears away from her cheeks, she looked down, her whole body shaking. "And I don't know how I know, I just do...Luke knows it, too...but it's not logical, and that's why I couldn't tell you."

Her body shook again with silent sobs, and Han silently cursed her. If this was an act she was good at it; he couldn't stay mad at her. Moving forward he put his arms around her. "It's alright, it's alright, we'll be okay, we've gotten out of scrapes worse than this." But as he said it, he knew it was a lie. That cold was in him again, spreading to his arms now, making them feel like lead.

Pulling away, face streaked with tears, Leia said, "No! No it will not be okay! You have to stay here..."

"And do nothing!" said Han, his friendship with Luke overriding the terror.

"We have to wait," Leia said, looking at the ground, "There is another thing...something we're overlooking, but if we go we won't find it...I don't know what it is...but we have to wait..."

Han tilted his head. When she said "something we're overlooking," something clicked inside him, like a puzzle piece falling into place. He took a finger to her face and wiped away a tear. "Okay..." He took a breath; he couldn't believe he was saying this. "We'll wait - a little longer."

Leia looked up at him through wet eyes. He saw relief, disbelief, and joy. "Thank you, thank you," she said. "I know it's crazy, but I can't explain it..."

He kissed her then, and she responded. And suddenly he was thinking of other things. She had been busy of late; they both had, and it had been so long - and now, he felt, he felt...

Pulling her towards his quarters on the Falcon, they fumbled at each other's clothes, their lips coming together again and again. As soon as the door was shut behind them they were stripping, and then he was pulling her on top of him, and they were one. It felt better than it had in...in forever...he felt complete.

And then they were floating. Leia gasped. In the back of his mind Han noted Chewie must have been testing the grav controls. But he wasn't going to stop, not in the middle of this. He grabbed hold of the emergency hand grips and braced himself against the ceiling.

When they were done they fell suddenly and inelegantly onto the bed. Han laughed and Leia looked at him with wide eyes. Han hit the communicator, "Hell of a time to test the gravity, Chewie."

Han blinked as Chewie growled and barked that he had not, in fact, been testing the gravity. Looking into Leia's wide eyes, Han suddenly made the connection.

Ah, the unexpected happy surprises of having a wife who was strong with the force. Pulling his thumb off the communicator, he said to Leia with a proud smirk, "Well, hey, I must still have it if you get that excited."

Leia shook her head. Her lip trembled. "Han, that wasn't me...that was you."

A/N:

...and the contagion is...Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed please leave a review!