The next day Charon had recovered her equilibrium and the medic droids had cleared her to return to full duty. Han had made a quick trip up to her quarters and gotten a change of clothes, even though he argued being the captain, she could run around the ship naked and no one could do anything. All that did was earn him another shot to the ribs.

He sat on the foot of one of the beds and asked as he watched Charon, dressed in a black undershirt, a set of black elbow length gloves, and a pair of white pants, cross one leg over the other to pull a pair of white boots on up to her knees, "Man, you remember how many times we frequented places like this just because it was a place to stay the night?"

Charon snorted and remarked, "Like the time you tried throwing yourself in front of that land speeder to shake the guy down for some credits?"

"And the damn thing actually hopped over me," Han remembered.

"See? Even the machines don't like you. That's why the Falcon keeps breaking down on you."

He got out a slight chuckle, but both their attention was drawn to a muffled howl through the door, and they looked at each other in a mutual expression of mild confusion and amusement.

Han turned towards the door and hollered, "Yeah, come on in, Chewie, we're decent," and added under his breath, "whatever the hell that is."

The sick bay door opened and Chewbacca walked in howling and grunting.

"Hey, Chewie," Charon stood up, "I understand I owe a debt of gratitude to you."

Han had explained how Chewie, thanks much in part to his gargantuan build, was able to rush her to the sick bay in record time after she lost consciousness, that combined with him being able to get her out of the bacta tank as soon as she started flailing around, not only saved her life but prevented her from causing herself any further injuries.

Chewbacca chattered something in response.

"No, I don't have the attention span for life debts...I like to settle my scores a bit more immediately."

Charon was almost as tall as Han, but she still had to jump to grab Chewie's shoulders as she kissed the wookiee on the side of his hairy face, drawing a surprised howl out of Chewbacca.

"Oh sure," Han grunted in disbelief, "She knees me in the bread basket but she'll kiss you."

Charon dropped back on her feet and looked at the Corellian and smugly replied, "Well, you should've been cuter."

Han felt the temperature in his cheeks rising as the sick bay rumbled with the sound of Chewbacca laughing again.

"Oh shut up," he told his navigator.

Charon patted the wookiee on his huge arm and told him, "Thanks, buddy, I really appreciate what you did."

Chewbacca snorted in response.

"Come on," Charon turned to Han, "I want to get to the cockpit and see what's been going on in my absence."

"Alright men," Charon announced as she entered the cockpit, "your captain's returned, I'm relieving you of your duties. I want to thank you for taking over while I was...temporarily delayed."

The crew members laughed and welcomed the ferryman back and one by one left the room, passing by Han and Chewie on the way. Only Kroob remained and he stayed in his allotted seat.

"Well, Kroob, how was it having a co-navigator?" she asked.

The young man looked like he was trying to be more convincing than he felt as he answered, "Oh it was fine, captain...the only problem is I don't understand wookiee."

Chewbacca briefly howled, which drew a question from the young man, "What'd he say?"

"That he wished you'd stop saying 'What'd he say?'," Han answered.

Charon chuckled and told him, "Alright, Kroob, we'll take it from here, at ease."

"Yes, captain."

"Oh Kroob," Charon said just before he left the room. She turned to him and asked, "What became of the Abyss?"

"Oh, we have it in the storage hold," he answered.

"Anything worth scrapping?" she asked.

"For us, no, but I think some parts could be compatible with the Millennium Falcon," Kroob told her on his way out.

"You see?" Charon asked Han, "every supercell has a prism."

Chewie grunted and turned to Han.

"Don't ask," Han returned, "it's one of those figures of speech from her galaxy, like water under the bridge."

Chewbacca chittered inquisitively, which had the smuggle responding, "How do I know what bridge? Any bridge."

The wookiee had another question in response to that, and Han was steadily losing his temper as he shot back, "How do I know why there's water under the bridge? That's not the point. It's just a figure of speech, like when they say 'When the wind blows'."

Charon turned and squinted one eye and asked him, "What wind?"

Han slowly turned his head and scowled at her and asked, "I'm gonna start having trouble with you now too?" he snapped, "How do I know what wind? Any wind!" His head suddenly hurt, and he told her, "I'm an idiot for arguing with you."

"You'll get no argument from me there," Charon replied. "Look cowboy, in the time it's going to take you to make your point, whatever the hell it even is, we can reach Hoth and double clear back around to Kashyyyk to find Chewie a mate with time to spare, so shut up already and let's get moving."

There was something in what she said that made Han's brain freeze up as he tried to decipher it. Confused, he pointed to himself, "Me?"

"I need a second set of eyes on this thing," Charon pointed at him, "you co-pilot, Chewie navigates, and just maybe we'll have a shot in hell of reaching Hoth on schedule."

It made sense to him. He sat down beside her and Chewie sat down behind him. Charon was saying something about their coordinates but it was hardly even registering for the smuggler. His felt his mind wandering elsewhere and didn't try to stop it. He was remembering a conversation the two of them had had the first night he brought the Falcon on the ferry.

"Is that Lando?" he asked.

"Is that Han Solo?" the voice on the other end of the comm unit asked.

Han made a nauseated sound and grunted, "Just what I didn't need to see in the middle of the night."

"Hey Solo, I heard you were dead, you don't look bad considering," Lando commented as he got an eyeful of the smuggler.

"Why the hell did you start talking to him?" Han wanted to know.

Charon shrugged, "he's a connection to the old days. I buzz him up when I'm missing you and we start talking about the times the three of us used to go out drinking together."

Misery could truly acquaint someone with strange bedfellows. He couldn't help finding it both amusing and ironic given how rocky their initial meeting had gone.

They'd crash landed in a couple escape pods they'd taken from a ship they'd stowed away on just before they could be caught by the crew. It wasn't a place either one of them could ever remember being on, but it was their home now for the time being. It was arid but not a straight up desert planet, and when they reached a hill they were able to see a thriving city scene down below, the trick was just getting there.

"There's a lot of traffic here," Charon noted as they trudged down the road, "why don't we hitch a ride on a speeder?"

"Suppose they want a fare for taking us?" Han asked. "We've only got 10 credits and we've got to find some way to stretch that out for dinner and a place to sleep."

"Uh, then we stick a blaster in their face and take it for ourselves," she answered nonchalantly.

"Cute," he responded cynically.

"Well you got any better ideas?" Charon asked.

"Uh..." he looked behind them and saw the dirt kicking up from another land speeder heading their way, "yeah, maybe...you get over to the side."

"What're you going to do?" she asked.

"You'll see," he told her, "just get out of the way."

She didn't get it but she did as he said. She stood by the side of the road and watched as Han tried to time it just right, and threw himself out in the road in front of the oncoming land speeder.

The driver didn't stop, didn't even slow down, if anything it looked like the damn thing jumped right over him and just kept on going.

"Was that your plan?" Charon asked as she walked back over to him.

"Oh shut up," Han told her as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Well come on," she said, "we better get going if we want to get there before nightfall."

They hadn't been paying attention and were both taken off guard by another speeding coming right at them. This time the driver hit the brakes, kicking up a huge dirt cloud that momentarily blinded them. As it started to clear, Han saw it was a fancier model of land speeder than most, and there was only one guy he knew who'd be caught dead zipping around in it.

"Lando?"

"Han Solo," a familiar voice said. Han looked left and looked right and finally saw his old associate walking over towards them. "You son of a..." whatever Lando was about to say, he quickly forgot about when he saw the woman standing behind the Corellian. "Well, and who's this lovely lady?"

Charon kept her feet planted but leaned her body over to murmur into Han's ear, "This the guy you told me about?"

"Uh huh," he murmured back, "shh."

"You got weird taste in friends," she told him.

"I didn't say he's a friend," Han replied, "I said I know him." He turned to Lando and answered, "This is Charon. Charon, this is Lando Calrissian, he's from Socorro."

"Never heard of it," Charon said.

"No surprise," he remarked with a slight roll of his eyes.

"What brings you here?" Lando asked.

"Oh you might say we just kind of dropped in," Han offered.

"We're trying to get to the city before night but so far all we've got to show for it is a bunch of blisters," Charon added.

"Well I'd be more than happy to give you a lift, I-" he stopped and noted the way Charon was staring at him. "What is it?"

Charon pointed and asked, "Would you mind standing over there for a minute, Mr. Calrissian?"

"Oh boy," Han grunted under his breath.

"Why?" he wanted to know.

"If we ride with you then there has to be a modicum of trust...I tend to weigh trust by how far I can throw people."

Han just knew they were going to be walking the whole way until they dropped dead of dehydration, he turned to his old associate and said, "You'll have to excuse her, Lando, she's from another galaxy."

"Most of the interesting ones usually are," Lando responded with more than a subtle hint of flirtation.

Han sighed, turned back to Charon and told her, "You'll have to excuse him, he's-"

"A horn boar?" Charon asked point blank.

Her response was so quick, and so unexpected, Lando broke out in a shocked laugh. Han himself struggled to maintain a straight face as he told her, "Not exactly...but not far off either."

"Hey," Lando jabbed him in the ribs. He gestured to his speeder and told them, "Hop in, I'll be glad to take you into town, Solo I simply must find out where you met this charming woman."

"Oh I doubt that," Han replied, "but we'll take you up on your offer."

"Are you buying the drinks?" Charon asked.

"Certainly," Lando answered.

"Okay then you got a deal...Han? Can I see you for a minute?"

Han tossed their things in the back of the speeder and leaned over to Charon, who told him in a firm whisper, "I don't like this guy, and I wouldn't be caught dead with him at a droid fight."

"Oh don't worry about Lando, he's harmless," Han told her.

"Why? Because he never put the moves on you?" she replied.

"No," Han answered before the question fully hit him and when it did his eyes popped out to twice their normal size. He told her, "I don't like it any more than you do but we either ride with him, or our blood dries out to sludge before we ever hit a cantina."

"Fine, but you're sitting between us the whole way," she told him. "I don't trust him."

"Fine," he replied.

They'd actually lasted there a couple months before leaving in the middle of the night. They got a room over the cantina which was the size of a closet, but it gave them somewhere to kick their feet up at the end of the day, and as long as they could get Lando to pay for the drinks while Charon kept him entertained with stories of their escapades thus far ricocheting around the galaxy, they were just able to make ends meet and Han decided to take his 'old friend' for all he was worth since Lando seemed to currently be doing far better than they were.

He knew Lando hoped to get Charon away from him, thinking she was wasting her time on a scruffy Corellian pirate, but he also knew there was no way in hell Charon would ever be alone with him, so he saw it as a harmless tit for tat. On the other hand he also knew Charon resented it completely, but they'd been running hungry long enough and for that reason if no other, she swallowed her pride and went along with it, though the only way the three of them ever went anywhere together was with Han right between the two of them. Even that wasn't always enough to keep Lando from trying something, more than once during dinner he felt a booted foot trying to reach past his under the table and he subtly kicked it back to its own space. One time they were crammed into a three-way booth and Han felt a hand blindly feeling along under the table and felt his eyes strain when it grabbed his knee. He responded by elbowing his drink off the table and into Lando's lap, which quickly let him know he'd latched onto the wrong target.

After about a month Lando finally got the hint that he wasn't going to get anywhere with Charon, but he still found Han Solo's company much more tolerable when she was in his presence, and remained his charming self when he came around to see them. For a week he told them about an upcoming load he was hired to haul, and bragged when he got paid for it he was going to get a new ship, one he'd had his eye on for a long time, the kick of it was he had to set foot on Solo's home planet to get it.

"A Corellian ship?" Han scoffed over their dinner that night, "is that supposed to interest me?"

"No, merely to serve as a humbling experience to me," Lando answered snidely, "that such a great ship, and you, should happen to both originate from the same planet, that is the universe playing a cruel joke, though on whom, I'm not sure."

A familiar wookiee growl drew Han out of his thoughts and he opened his eyes and realized his chin was down to his chest and he'd slumped over in his seat and he'd fallen asleep. He shot up and looked out the window at the stars ahead and murmured something about their flight path when he looked and saw the seat next to him was empty.

"Chewie, where's Charon?"

Chewbacca had an answer for him.

"What? Already?" How long was he asleep? He looked again, oh yeah, he'd recognize that planet anywhere, even from this distance. "Oh great, so once she dumps the passengers we can get out of here and head someplace warm."

He leaned back in his seat and felt like he could go right back to sleep. His life had never been a slow moving one and he wouldn't know what to do if it was, but damn it could get exhausting at times...especially now. He liked to convince himself that nothing, well short of torture anyway, could bother him...but torture could take on many forms. It sure as hell didn't have to be physical, he knew that, even though that was the kind he usually tried to avoid the most. Calling their marriage quits and walking away from one another all those years ago, that was beyond torture, that was hell. Lying to his best friend, that was another kind of torture. He and Chewie had been through a lot, some good, a lot bad, and plenty of it ugly, they should've been through so much stuff together that there couldn't possibly be any secrets between them, but there was, one anyway, this one, and that was as big as they came.

Hindsight was always sharper, but looking back Han realized how genius it actually was that they'd gotten married on one little stopover planet with a bare minimum of witnesses, and they'd never told anyone, anyone, that they were married. Lando knew more about their relationship than anyone else, and even he never knew they were married. Not that Han believed for one second that it would've changed his sleazy pursuit of Charon anyway. He'd always figured as long as no one ever knew the extent of what they meant to one another, they'd be safe, and the more time passed, the more he believed it. Nobody could go digging that far back into his history and find out about Charon, and even if they did, the number of years since that time would speak for themselves, making their marriage truly ancient history, so nobody could ever trap her and use her as a bargaining credit to reel him in for any past infractions he'd allegedly committed against any old enemies.

In the years since their departure, Han had never told anyone that the two of them used to be married, and that included Chewie. It wasn't that he worried that the wookiee knowing might prove a security risk, but it was just a lot of questions Chewbacca would have that Han didn't want to have to answer...it would also be a lot of old wounds he didn't feel like reopening. He already lived with them every day remembering it on his own, telling someone else about what happened back then could only make it worse, and it was just plain bad luck, which he and Charon had both already had more than their fair share of and didn't need anymore.

Chewie chittered curiously.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," Han answered as he sat up straight, "just a short night...I'm gonna go lie down for a while until we dock. Cuz once we can get out of here, we'll hit the air running."