Chicago, March 1929.
Bail sat back in his office chair. His desk in front of him was covered in papers, messy and unorganized as his current thoughts. He rubbed his temples, trying to rid himself of the dull headache that had been a constant annoyance to him for weeks. Since Leia's disappearance, the Mayor had thrown himself into his work. Breha tried to look after him, checking on him throughout the day, bringing him meals that she often found hours later untouched and cold. She urged him to try to sleep at night, to no avail as the days and weeks past. Many around the family spoke in hushed whispers that Bail had developed his own personal vendetta against every smuggler in the city, not willing to rest until each and every bootlegger in Chicago was behind bars.
The St. Valentine's Day massacre, as the papers had dubbed it, wrote story after story of what had happened between the rival bootlegging gangs had only made matters worse. Chief Oberholtzer was in charge of the investigation, which had only gone in circles. Suspects were questioned, possible leads were followed, but nothing came of it. No one talked and any promising leads quickly grew cold. Much was the same in finding any trace of Leia's whereabouts. Other than the accounts from the altercation between Lando and Han at the cafe where Leia was last seen and a plate number to the Falcon, the chief had nothing else to lead him to the mayor's daughter or the wanted smuggler.
In attempts to relieve himself of his headache, Bail pushed back his chair and made his way from his office, hoping that if he took a few aspirin and got himself a drink of water, the throbbing pain would somehow magically subside. As he walked down the upstairs hallway of his home, he paused outside of his daughter's room. He had not entered the bedroom since the night Leia failed to return home. Turning the door knob, he stepped into the room and flipped on the light switch. Her room was just as it had been, as if it was frozen in time. The mysterious sweater still lay on the floor from when he had discarded it there in a fit of anger weeks ago. Bending down, he picked up the clothing and ran his fingers over the knitting. It was clearly homemade for it's owner by someone. The yarn was roughly knotted at the seams and the article of clothing had clearly been well worn long before it ever came into Leia's possession.
Bail's heart ached for his daughter as he looked around her room. He had so many memories within the bedroom: reading Leia bedtime stories when she was young, watching the city out of the window with her as they sat together on the window seat. He had to remind himself that she was no longer the little girl he thought of her as. Traces of that were about the room: the stack of records on the table next to her gramophone player that she would often blast jazz music from that would distract him from his work as the songs floated down the hallway, the few pairs of high heeled shoes that lay struewn about the carpet. His daughter was a young woman now, whether he liked it or not.
Bail turned, sweater still in his hands, to leave the bedroom. He couldn't be in the space any longer, the room and it's contents only made his heart ache worse. Deciding to return to his office, he hoped lose himself in his work again. It was the only comfort he had, the only thing that could distract him enough to forget about the troubles his daughter might be in, wherever in the world she might be at.
Back in his office, Bail stooped down near the fireplace. Striking a match, he held it to the stack of logs in the hearth, waiting for the flame to catch. Despite the calendar nearing spring, Chicago was still gripped in cold. The snow had begun to melt outside, exposing patches of grass here and there, but the real warmth of spring was still far off. The logs began to glow and crackle as the fire grew stronger, adding warmth the room. Satisfied, Bail made his way to his desk and tossed the sweater to a far corner, focusing his attentions to his work. He began to engross himself in business when a sharp knock at the door interrupted him.
"Come in" Bail said, slightly annoyed that someone was bothering him. He was in no mood to be disturbed, the ache in his temples reminding him that he never did make it downstairs for any aspirin to try and quell the pain. Whoever was at the door, he knew it was someone close to the family for either Breha or a maid had allowed the visitor into his home.
Chief Oberholtzer shut the office door behind him before making his way to the leather chair that sat in front of Bail's desk. Shrugging his coat from his shoulders, the Chief lay his woolen jacket across the arm of the chair before taking a seat.
"Good afternoon" the chief said warmly "I called your office and they told me you had already headed home for the day".
"Indeed. What brings you here, Chief?"
"I wanted to discuss some things with you. As you know, we haven't had any new leads on Leia's disappearance and I'm afraid that I haven't been able to find anything else to go off of".
Bail nodded. He was hardly in the mood to discuss his daughter at the moment, but he knew the Chief had his best interests in mind. It had only added to his worry that the days continued to pass without the return of Leia or any new information about her whereabouts.
Pushing a few papers aside, Bail reached for a plain folder and opened it in front of him. It contained all of the details of Leia's case. Bail thumbed through the papers until he found a list of who the Chief had questioned so far. It was not a long list, just a few lines of scribbled names with few details about them. Bail sighed, the Chief was right in the fact that they were working with very little information.
"Have you found anyone else to talk to?" Bail asked.
"No. As you know, I questioned the woman who Solo rented a room from the night Leia went missing. She didn't know much about him. Typical, if I do say so myself. Smugglers aren't exactly the type to share personal information about themselves to everyone they meet".
"Have you questioned her again? Maybe Solo has made contact with her" Bail suggested.
"Doubtful. I don't see why he would run a risk of getting caught to contact to his landlord".
Bail sighed a long sigh, his shoulders falling slightly at the Chief's statement.
The chief could tell the mayor was disappointed. "Bail, I'm doing everything I can to find Leia. I've put an APB with all the information we have to law enforcement in every state around Illinois".
"You honestly think they are still in the Midwest?" Bail questioned, slightly surprised that the chief thought that they had stayed relatively close to Chicago.
"The Hutts have contacts and liquor manufacturers in Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana. Solo has known ties to the gang. He's got to have a source of income. I doubt he'd leave that all behind. Seems like it's the only thing he knows how to do for a living".
"What about this "Chewie" Bacca fellow?" Bail asked, scanning the names on the paper again.
"Stayed tight lipped about the Valentine's Day massacre till the end. We asked him from every angle about what happened and if he knew anything about Solo or Leia and he gave up nothing".
Bail put his elbows against the edge of his desk, letting his head fall into his fingers as he pressed his fingertips into his forehead, working them in small circles. He was beyond frustrated, not only with Leia's disappearance, but with the fact it seemed that every angle they had tried to gain information led to nothing.
Looking up, Bail glanced across his desk, his gaze falling across Han's sweater. The crudely knitted cardigan taunted him, mocked the fact that his daughter was with smuggler scum somewhere out there in the world and absolutely no one seemed to want to help get her home. His stomach churned, an anger rising within him the longer he looked at the beige and gray wool. Grabbing at the item, he yanked the sweater into his hand as he rose from his seat. Turning from his desk, he threw the sweater across the room into the fireplace in a fit of rage. The sweater landed squarely in the center of the burning logs, the wool quickly caught fire, engulfing the knitting in bright orange and yellow flames.
"Bail! What the hell are you doing?" the chief yelled out as he lept up from his chair. "What was that?" he asked as he pointed to the incinerated article of clothing.
Bail shook his head, letting his arm he had used to chuck the clothing across the room and into the hearth fall back to his side.
"Breha found it under Leia's bed the night she disappeared" Bail said, an obvious displeasure of the thought of how it might have ended up there in his voice.
"That could be considered evidence!" the chief yelped.
"I couldn't have that...thing... in my house anymore" Bail said as he stepped back to his desk chair, sinking back into high backed leather.
The chief nodded. He was a father himself. As much as he tried to understand Bail's frustrations and pain of Leia's disappearance, he couldn't fully understand what it was like to have a child gone.
The two remained in silence for a few minutes. Bail's gaze was lost in the fire as he watched the flames crackle and dance around the hearth. The sweater had quickly been reduced to ashes, any trace of it burned to bits.
"Have you spoke to Winter?" Bail asked, his mind suddenly working quickly, wondering why neither of them had thought of her earlier.
"Her parents were at a dinner party along with her last weekend. I only had the chance to say hello before being pulled into another conversation".
"No" Bail asserted, his hand waving at the police chief to quiet him. "Officially questioned Winter. She was always close friends with Leia, ever since they were children. If anyone might know any secrets about Leia's life, it would be her".
Chief Oberholtzer pondered Bail's suggestion. He had never thought to question Winter, figuring if she had any information she would have come to him immediately. It might be another idea that led nowhere, but it was more than what he had to work on now.
After the chief placed a call, Winter found herself sitting in Bail's office. In all the years she had been friends with Leia and her family, she could only remember a handful times that she had ever been in Bail's office. It felt strange to her that she was in such an unfamiliar place in Leia's home, even stranger that her friend was not there alongside her. Any time she had been in the office before, it was usually because Leia and her had been caught causing some kind of trouble. She felt very much the same way as she did as a child now, waiting to be scolded for whatever mischief they had managed to get caught in. The chief sat in a low chair across from her and Bail stood a few feet behind him with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a stony expression on his face.
"Winter, you are being questioned about any information you may have in the disappearance of Leia" the chief began in an official sounding voice.
He was speaking in a much more serious tone than Winter had ever heard him speak in before. To her, Chief Oberholtzer was always a family friend to both her parents and the Organas, not a police chief. It felt odd for him to be questioning her in such a stern manner, especially with Bail looking on, watching her every move.
"Do you understand?" the chief asked as he opened a pad of paper and lay it against his lap.
"Yes" Winter replied.
"Do you know anything about where Leia was the day she failed to return home?"
"I saw her that morning. At school. She had classes all day" Winter easily recalled the events of the frigid winter day.
"Do you know if she went anywhere between classes?"
"Not that I know of. I had classes of my own to attend to on the opposite side of campus".
The chief nodded, his pen moving across the paper as he jotted down Winter's responses to his questions. The tip of the fountain pen scratched against the paper as he finished his notes before looking back up at her.
"Had Leia ever mentioned anyone by the name of Han Solo to you before?"
Winter looked at the chief. She could feel her throat go dry at the mention of Han's name. Crossing her legs, she leaned back in her chair and swallowed slowly, trying to rid herself of the lump that had formed in her throat. She blinked slowly, closing her eyes for a moment, silently collecting herself.
"Yes" Winter affirmed.
Both the chief and Bail instantly looked shocked at Winter's answer. Bail took a step forward, his arms uncrossing from his body.
"Winter! Why did you never tell me this before?" Bail exclaimed.
"You never asked".
"I shouldn't have to ask you to tell me that my daughter has been around a dangerous man!"
Winter scoffed at Bail's accusation of Han. "He is not a dangerous man".
"I beg to differ" the chief cut in. "I don't know how Han Solo might have portrayed himself to you or Leia, but he is a wanted criminal, a low life smuggler with a rap sheet that's a mile long!"
"How in the hell did Leia even end up associating with this man? She has always been a good girl, always kept herself in decent company!" Bail cut in. He wasn't speaking to anyone directly, barely able to contain himself. The thought of his daughter with a criminal made his stomach churn and his face flush with anger ten times more than just the cardigan had.
"Bail, please" the chief turned in his seat and looked up at the mayor. "We are trying to figure all this out".
"I'm her father, I have a right to be angry with all this" Bail shot back.
"I understand. Just let me continue with the questioning" the chief calmly said.
Bail took a deep breath and stepped back, crossing his arms once again. He knew that Chief Oberholtzer was doing his job and he needed to allow him to continue to do so if they hoped to find out any more answers about Leia's whereabouts.
Turning back to Winter, the Chief, picked up his pen once again as he began his next question. "Do you believe that Leia left Chicago on her own accord?"
"Absolutely" Winter replied. She knew that Bail and the chief had the idea in both of their heads that Leia was some damsel in distress, kidnapped and held against her will by a criminal. Winter was disgusted by the idea, not only because she knew the truth about Han and Leia's relationship, but the fact that Leia could more than hold her own, something her father and the chief failed to realize about her in the midst of her disappearance.
"Have you had any contact with either of them?"
"No" Winter lied flawlessly, not even a waver to her voice. She wasn't about to give up any more information. Leia's friendship and trust in her was at stake and she had promised to hold her friend's secrets. While she did not know Han well, she would protect him and his freedom too. She considered him a friend in the same matter she withheld Leia in.
"Leia never mentioned that she was planning on running off with Han Solo to you? What was their relationship before their disappearance?" The chief continued to rapidly ask questions, desperate to find answers to each of them. It was the closest thing to a lead in weeks of frustration, almost desperate that he could possibly break the case back open again. "How did Leia meet Han Solo? Did he use an alias or his real name at first? Did Leia know of his associations to criminal gangs or the fact he was involved in smuggling illegal liquor?"
"Chief, please stop. I don't know the answers to any of those questions" Winter firmly stated. She pushed her blonde hair away from her face, flicking the golden strands over her shoulder. It was not her place to tell why or how Leia and Han came together, nor did she wish to share the fact Leia and her had attended the party at the speakeasy.
The chief's face fell, any optimism he once had that he was getting somewhere evaporating as quickly as it had come on.
"Nothing?" he asked desperately.
Winter thought for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she leaned slightly forward in her seat. She folded her hands and rested them against the top of her knee. She looked at Bail and then back at the chief.
"I do know one thing" she began.
The chief's eyes lit up for a moment, the tip of his pen hovering over the paper in anticipation of what Winter was about to say, not wanting to miss noting anything.
"Han may not look like a gentleman according to your official documents on him, but he deeply loves and cares about Leia".
Winter uncrossed her legs and stood from her chair. While not formally dismissed from the questioning, she was taking it upon herself to end it. Both Bail and the chief looked absolutely shocked at her statement. She almost could swear that both of their jaws hung agape as she stepped away from the two men and crossed the office towards the door. As she reached for the handle, she paused for a second. She turned back to face Bail and the Chief, looking directly at both of them.
"And Leia thoroughly loves him back just as much" she added firmly before turning back around, leaving the men in astonishment.
Chief Oberholtzer broke the stunned silence in the room after Winter's departure between them. "This still does not change the fact that Han Solo is still a wanted man. He was warrants for distribution and transportation of illegal liquor".
"Peter, stop. I need some time. I will phone you in the morning" Bail said, dropping any title the chief held, addressing him on a personal level, friend to friend.
Slightly taken aback, the Chief muttered "Of course" as he tried to make sense of everything that had just happened. He capped his fountain pen and tucked it into the pad of paper, folding it closed before pulling his heavy outer coat back over his lanky frame. He left the mayor alone without another word as he showed himself out of the office.
Sitting alone in his office, the room was silent aside from the occasional crackle or snap from the burning logs in the fireplace. Winter's words ran through Bail's mind over and over again. Bail was exhausted. The weeks of sleepless nights and the countless hours he had thrown himself into work and chasing after any possibility of finding Leia finally crashing down on him as he rose from his chair. He missed his family, he missed his wife. He had ignored her in attempts to cope with things on his own, only now realizing the error of his ways. They needed to be together in this, not withdrawn from one another.
Making his way downstairs to the dining room, Bail found his wife sitting at the table alone, eating her dinner in silence. He sat down at the table and looked across at her. She looked every bit as tired as he felt. Deep, dark circles shadowed beneath her eyes. Leia's disappearance had not been any kinder to her than it had been to Bail. Her frame had grown leaner and her cheeks had sunken slightly. Both Organas had seemed to age years in a few short weeks.
"You were right" Bail quietly said towards Breha.
Breha set her fork down and picked her head up to look at her husband. Their words had been few and far between since Leia's disappearance. Her husband's presence at the dinner table was even sparser. She was surprised to see him outside of his office, actually making an effort to speak to her about their daughter.
"What do you mean?" she asked inquisitively, wondering if the Chief's visit had meant a break in the case, something...anything that might be a clue to where Leia was.
"Leia wasn't kidnapped. She's in love".
Breha wasn't quite sure how to respond. She had been distraught in her own ways since the night Leia had failed to come home, but never thought Leia was in any serious danger in the way Bail had. The fact her daughter had been carrying on a secret relationship was her first suspicion upon the discovery of Han's sweater in her daughter's room. While she was still wary of the strange man based on the information her husband had shared about him from his records, Breha knew that Leia was strong and smart.
A maid quietly entered the room with a warmed plate of food and set it in front of the mayor without a word. Bail's stomach felt hollow and empty as he took a small bite of the food before setting his utensil back down onto his plate. He was still uneasy with Winter's words, her voice still ringing in his ears as he tried to make sense of everything.
"This is not what I imagined for Leia. Falling in love with a smuggler and running away? Why couldn't she could have come to me? I don't even know this man she's taken up with, that's the part that hurts me the most".
Breha sighed. "Bail, she was probably terrified of your reaction. She couldn't just bring him over to have coffee with us. Your entire political career has been based on locking up and throwing away the key on his kind".
"I'm trying to understand what she was thinking to just disappear with him. It was easier to process when I thought she had somehow been coerced into it".
Breha looked surprised at Bail's words. Her expression hardened slightly, wondering if her husband had somehow forgotten completely who Leia even was. "Did you really believe that Leia could have been swayed into running off? You know how stubborn and steadfast she is against anything she doesn't wish to do on her own free will".
Breha was right, Bail thought to himself. Leia had always stood up against anything she did not agree with, a sharp mind paired with an even sharper way with words would never let her fall victim to anyone's coercion. His mind had been so clouded. He was so desperate to find answers to the questions he had, his thoughts only confused and twisted further by sleepless nights and countless worry and work filled days.
"How do we get our daughter back then?" Bail asked quietly.
"I don't know" Breha answered, wishing she could give her husband something to ease his mind with. She was at just as much of a lost of what would bring Leia home, especially if her heart belonged to a wanted man who could never return to Chicago without repercussions.
Bail pushed back his chair and rounded the table to his wife who stood from her own chair. Stepping towards her husband, Bail wrapped his arms around Breha holding her close to him.
"I don't know either" Bail said.
Breha lifted her head from against her husband's shirt. Her eyes were heavy with tears, ones that she had refused to allow herself to cry, but no longer could hold back. "You can't blame yourself, Bail. It will only drive you insane if you keep going over and over the what ifs of the situation".
Running his thumb across Breha's cheek, Bail wiped away a tear that had escaped and rolled down his wife's cheek. "I keep thinking about if this Solo guy is keeping Leia safe. If she's been in any trouble along with him. If she is happy where ever they might be. I just can't understand how a smuggler..." Bail paused for a moment "...a wanted criminal... can care about someone other than themselves. Winter said that he loves her".
Breha sniffed her nose and cleared her throat. "And Leia loves him". She closed her eyes for a moment while taking a deep breath. "He might be certain things on record, but that doesn't mean he is not capable of being selfless".
Bail remained in silence for a moment, musing over his wife's comment. Her words went against everything he had every thought or believed about the bootleggers and criminals that plagued his city. Men who had corrupted and spilled blood on the streets, ones who seemed to love nothing other than the money they made. He couldn't fathom a man who had participated in all of that could leave the only life he had known behind for his daughter.
"I still want her back home" Bail said, sadness hanging in his voice.
"I do too" Breha replied. "I do too".