A strange sensation fell over Han Solo and he realized his eyes were closed. He opened one first and looked around to remember where he was. Still in their bunk room, that was the easy part. The next part was figuring out why half of his body felt like it was being crushed and especially why his collarbone felt like it was going to collapse under a sudden weight or pressure. He could barely turn his neck but he got the answer in the form of the young farm kid Luke Skywalker laying half on him as he slept. It took a minute for Han to remember what had happened, and when it did, he'd just started to feel relieved about that, when he made another unpleasant discovery, they had company.

He didn't know where the princess got off yelling at him for entering her bedroom without permission, but she had no problem traipsing into his at all hours of the day and night, though never when he would've wanted her to. As such though, he found her standing over the two of them now, apparently watching them while they slept, a soft and slightly amused look on her face as she stood with her head tilted slightly to the side as she watched them.

The last thing Han wanted to do was wake the kid up, so he raised the arm that still had circulation in it and jabbed a silent but accusing finger at Leia and scowled at her, silently threatening her not to say one word. He could feel his blood boiling by this invasion of privacy but for some reason the princess found it amusing because her whole face scrunched up as she suddenly struggled not to laugh at his outrageous reaction, which only infuriated Han all the more, which made the princess struggle all the more not to bust out laughing.

Han managed to wriggle the other half of his body out from under the kid's weight, Luke fell back against the mattress without so much as a stir. Once he was loose, Han got up from the bed and sharply gestured to the door, forcing Leia out by inches as he took one step towards her with every step she took back. Once the door closed behind them, the princess lost her composure entirely and doubled over laughing, her hands pressed tight against her knees to support herself so she didn't collapse entirely.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Han wanted to know.

"I'm sorry," Leia howled through a gasp for air, "I couldn't help it, you two look so cute."

At any other time, Han would've used that as a lead-in to try and make the princess admit she liked him, right now he was too enraged by her disregard for his and the kid's privacy. "You got a lot of nerve coming into my bedroom unannounced."

Leia stood straight and calmed down notably and told him, "You two never showed up for breakfast, everybody was starting to get worried...I wasn't sure what was going on but figured it'd be better if I came looking for you than the others."

Han grumbled and responded, "It's been a short night."

"How's he doing?" Leia asked.

Han inhaled and immediately exhaled twice as loud as he tried to think. "I'm not sure how to answer that." He briefly explained about finding Luke with Chewie out in the hall early that morning.

"Luke doesn't know the wookiee language," Leia pointed out.

"I know," Han replied, knowing there wasn't any way Luke could know about Chewbacca's own stint with the slave traders, "that's what doesn't make any sense."

"Or maybe it does," Leia thought. The smuggler looked at her confused and she explained, "It might be easier to talk to someone who can understand you, but you don't know what their response is."

Han's eyebrows furrowed together as he let that idea sink in for a minute.

"You might have a point," he reluctantly conceded.

"Gaah!" Han yelped as he was suddenly awakened by something touching him. He opened his eyes and discovered it was Luke, who had crawled into bed with him. He was tempted to ask the kid just what the hell he thought he was doing when he felt the air being choked out of him by the kid squeezing him as Luke held tightly to him, and what he initially thought must've been some seismic activity of the planet's, he realized it was Luke's body trembling against him.

"Let me guess," he said, "nightmare?"

"I'm," the last sound of the word seemed to stick before Luke was able to form the next word, "sorry...can I stay with you?"

Han looked to the ceiling and rolled his eyes, he could tell there wasn't any way out of this that wasn't going to be ugly. He felt his body sag bonelessly against the mattress and answered, "Sure, no problem." First Chewie, then him, at this rate the kid would be hopping into bed with the princess before too long- as soon as that thought entered Han's mind he wished he could beat it right back out, he didn't want to see that.

"What's the matter, kid?" he asked, trying to sound not too emotionally invested in whatever it was.

Luke made a couple of choked grunting sounds before he was able to answer, "I see them every time I close my eyes...it's like I'm right back there...and I still can't do anything to stop it..." he looked up at the Corellian and asked him, "did I tell you that...during the dog fight...I heard Ben talking to me?"

"Uh, yeah," Han answered, "yeah, I think so." He hadn't questioned it at the time, he knew it wouldn't do any good, but he suspected then that the kid wasn't cut out for this kind of life, it sounded like he was already starting to crack up. It was one thing for the old guys who'd been doing this stuff forever to crack, but it was a far uglier sight when it happened in someone so young.

"The whole time," Luke said painfully, "the whole time I was on that ship, I tried to hear him...I tried to remember what he taught me, I tried to use the Force to block out the pain, to stop what they were doing...but nothing worked...I never heard him...I just kept thinking, if I could stop responding to the pain it wouldn't be so bad...and I don't know what happened after that."

Han did. But he'd be damned if he was going to explain it to the kid. He'd never known anyone who was catatonic before, he didn't know if they remembered it happening or not, Luke had enough problems already without remembering that part of the ordeal.

"The next thing I remembered," Luke said, "was waking up in the med bay, and you were there..."

"You didn't miss much, kid," Han told him, "oh sure, we made a hell of an entrance on the ship, but, the rest of it was pretty boring."

"Thank you."

The two words were so unexpected, Han felt like he'd been sucker punched.

"What?" he tilted his head down to look at the kid.

Luke looked up at him and told him, "Thank you for coming for me."

"Hey, it wouldn't be good for the Rebellion to be without a commander, now would it?"

He didn't miss the small smile showing through all the turmoil the kid was suffering.

"You don't fool me," Luke told him in a small, self assured tone. "You never could."

Han resisted the urge to laugh in response. He settled for mussing up the kid's hair with one hand and telling him, "Hey junior, go to bed, we've got our work cut out for us tomorrow."

The next night Han cut out from dinner early, picked up a bottle of brandy and took it back to his room to be alone while he drank it. He had a lot on his mind these days, a lot of it was the arguments he'd had with Leia over the past few weeks playing themselves over and over and over in his head like a holotape stuck on repeat. Her numerous accusations that he was to blame for what had happened to Luke swirled through his brain, he heard himself arguing back, but even louder was the voice that had been inside his head that whole time, telling him that she was right, that this wouldn't have happened if he'd kept an eye on the kid. And why not? He was older, he had more life experience than the kid, he knew what kind of people frequented those places and what all could possibly happen to someone young, naive and sheltered who hadn't learned yet to watch his own back. He drank half of the bottle in an attempt to drown out the voices, but it didn't work and if anything they just grew even louder with every drink he swallowed, until all the voices were yelling at him at the same time and they were just about deafening.

He felt dizzy and the room looked like it was starting to spin as the accusations still screamed in his head. Han pressed his hands hard against his ears, trying to block it out, but the noise wouldn't stop, never got quieter.

"Shut up, shut up," he told the voices, to no avail, finally he picked up the half empty bottle and screamed at the top of his lungs as he sent it hurling across the room, smashing into a million pieces when it hit the wall, "SHUT UP!"

The noise traveled through the walls and it wasn't long before somebody came to see what was going on. Leia ran into the room with Chewbacca right behind her and they found the smuggler collapsed face down on the middle of the floor, weakly stammering something as he continually pounded one fist against the floor.

"Han," Leia knelt down beside him and tried to figure out what was going on, "Han, what's wrong?"

His incoherent stammers suddenly became slightly more discernible as she was able to just barely make out weak and frantic, "Sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

"Chewie, help me get him up," Leia turned to the wookiee.

Han knew he was hungover before he even opened his eyes. Hell, opening them was too daunting a task for him in his present state, his head was already killing him and he could hear a low guttural moan eking through his body as he barely even tried moving. Where was he?

He felt a bed under him, not particularly comfortable, so he could've been in his room on the base, or it could've been the med bay...it definitely wasn't his bunk on the Falcon.

A door somewhere hissed open and he heard someone come in.

"Han?"

Oh hell. A pained moan escaped him as he felt a stabbing pain in his head at the sound of Leia's voice.

"Not so loud," he weakly murmured as he rolled on his side and slowly forced his eyes open. He saw Leia standing before him, and glancing around at bits and pieces, the light being too bright for him to really take a look around, he deduced he was in his room.

"'ere's Luke?" he forced out.

"He's with Chewie," Leia answered, "how're you doing?"

"F...ine," he barely got the word out. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and block out all sound.

"You're hung over," Leia said.

He tried to laugh but it hurt too much. "Not the first time...not the last..."

"Han, I need to talk to you."

"Oh, sorry, princess," Han tiredly slurred as he raised his arm up in the air high over her head and told her, "You need t'be this tall for that to happen."

"Damn it, you scoundrel, look at me," Leia commanded him.

Han lifted his head and forced his eyes open a slit and looked at her. There was something in her eyes, what was it? Fear? That didn't make sense, of what?

"I'm sorry," she told him. "I shouldn't have blamed you for what happened to Luke. I know it wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't it?" Han responded.

"I never really got the chance to thank you," Leia continued.

Han squeezed his eyes shut and groaned around a small yawn as he asked, "For what?"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and forced his eyes open again, he looked up at the young woman, who returned a poignant stare as she told him, "Thank you for saving Luke. Thank you for going after him."

Han tried to shrug but it was too taxing in his current state. He slumped back against the pillow and slurred, "All 'n'a day's work, princess. 'esides, I know he'd do the same for me."

"Well I know Luke appreciates it too," Leia said. "He seems to be doing better now."

"Good...good, good, good," Han said wearily.

"You are in no shape to fly today," she told him.

"Oh sure I am," he weakly insisted, "I've flown in worse shape than this."

"Somehow I don't doubt that," she responded, "but you're not going out today."

"Sure I am," Han pushed the sheet back and tried to get to his feet, but the rest of his body wasn't willing to cooperate.

"You take it easy and sleep off that hangover," Leia told him as she poked him in the stomach and made him fall back against the mattress, "I'll tell the others you're under the weather today."

"I'm fine," Han tried to insist.

Leia smiled at him, "Sure you are. You just get some rest you scruffy looking rascal."

Han's eyes were already closed and for all intents and purposes he seemed to be dead to the world. Leia drew the sheet up over him again and left the room, Han lay there for a couple minutes, a low hum hanging in his throat, when suddenly his eyes opened a slit and he asked half coherently, "Who's scruffy looking?", then he was out like a light.

"Han? ...Han?"

The voice was muffled and sounded so far away, it must've been part of a dream. Wait a minute, Han realized if he could use rational thought like that, he wasn't dreaming, he was awake, or rather he would be once he opened his eyes. They opened easier this time than before and he saw Luke hovering over him.

"Hey kid," he tiredly groaned as he shifted around in the bed, "what's going on? You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm...I'm fine," Luke answered.

Han had to admit, the kid sounded more like himself than he had since the rescue.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," he said, and closed his eyes again.

"Han, wake up, I need to tell you something."

"Sorry, junior," as before with Leia, Han raised his hand up above Luke's head and told him, "you're taller than the princess, but still not enough for this ride."

"Han, wake up!"

"Alright, alright," the smuggler grumbled as he forced his eyes open and sat up in his bed, "I'm up, what is it?"

"Leia told me about what happened," Luke said. "About you two fighting."

"She thinks that was a fight?" Han asked jokingly, "That was just making conversation, no big deal."

"Han-"

"What?"

Luke looked down at him and with a sincere look in his eyes, he told the smuggler, "I don't blame you for what happened to me."

Leave it to that damn princess. If he hadn't known that she'd held out against Vader and the others on the Death Star, he'd assume she didn't know how or when to keep her mouth shut. But apparently she could, so why hadn't she now?

"Kid, I..."

The expression on Luke's face didn't waver as he continued to stare down at the older man and told him with a slight shake of his head, "What happened to me wasn't your fault."

Han had to admit, only to himself, he'd never say it in front of another person, it was good to hear that, he knew Luke well enough to know the kid wouldn't lie about something like that to spare his feelings.

He pressed his head back against the pillow and sighed tiredly, wishing he could come up with some sarcastic remark but not possessing the energy or interest to do so, so instead he opted for a rare choice: honesty.

"I'm just glad that we got you back, and that you're doing alright," he told Luke.

He saw the light shimmer against Luke's eyes as tears started to form in them.

"Thank you for saving me," Luke said, sounding like the weight of the entire galaxy was on his shoulders in that moment.

Among all the things in the galaxy Han Solo hated, emotional scenes were definitely a big one, he preferred to avoid them at all cost because he never knew what to do during them. They always made him want to crawl under a rock somewhere, and he didn't feel too different this time around either. He gave a small, self conscious smile and somberly replied, "No problem, kid."

He'd do it again in a heartbeat and he knew it, but he chose to keep that fact to himself. Once Luke left the room and Han was alone again, he sighed and closed his eyes, wishing like hell he never had to do another rescue mission again. Han still wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten himself roped into following these guys and unofficially joining in their cause, but, be that as it was, here he was in the middle of the Rebel base with the kid and the princess. He was still fairly new to this concept of having human friends once again in his life, people who actually cared about him and in return he was forced to care about them, and as much peril as they already put themselves in in an ongoing battle with the Empire, he never wanted to see any of them in the situation he'd pulled Luke out of again.