A/N: As always, I don't own, or make any money off Star Wars. This work is purely for entertainment.
It was late at night when Luke Skywalker snapped out of a restless sleep. It was his arm that had woken him. Even the best painkillers could not totally control the searing pain of a severed limb. Luke looked at the bandaged stump of his hand; he couldn't wait to arrive at the fleet rendezvous. He got out of the bunk in the cabin he shared with Lando, heading toward the galley and a glass of water.
The light of the glowpanels cast eerie shadows on the familiar corridors of the Millennium Falcon, making them seem like unknown and forbidding caves. As he walked past the closed door to the cockpit, Luke thought he heard someone crying. For a second he stood at the door, hoping he wasn't going crazy. Then belatedly Luke realized he was on a ship and someone must be on watch. Usually Threepio took the late shift, but considering Droids could not cry it had to be someone else. Listening again, Luke decided it was Leia and pressed the door control.
It was Leia, although Leia as Luke had never seen her. She was curled in Han's pilot seat, the top part of her snowsuit tied around her waist, revealing her white undershirt. Around her shoulders she had wrapped his distinctive jacket.
Luke thought back to earlier, just before he'd taken his nighttime dose of the painkiller, when Lando had presented the jacket to Leia. "I had my aid take it from your rooms and put it on board before we left," he had explained. "Han would want you to take care of it for him." Luke had wondered at that. When he'd last seen them, Solo and the Princess had been constantly at loggerheads with each other. Did this mean something had changed between his friends?
As Luke stepped into the cabin Leia spoke, her voice a mix of relief and pain, " Oh, it's you. I was worried it was Lando, or worse Threepio. They wouldn't understand. I don't even know if you will."
Luke stared, struggling to think of something to say. "You… shouldn't you be asleep? Threepio was supposed to take this watch…"
"I'm not tired," Leia replied, a yawn instantly revealing exhaustion.
Luke raised and eyebrow and Leia silently cursed his Force abilities. It wasn't fair. She had never been able to lie to him, and most likely never would. But that didn't mean she had to be happy about it. Leia sighed. "Luke, I….I need to tell you something," she said looking through to window at the mottled darkness of hyperspace. "I… I'm…"
"In love with Han?" Luke finished for her.
"Yes," Leia whispered. "How did you know?"
The young Jedi smiled sadly at the small princess. "You're not the only one who noticed the way her looked at you. And he's not the only one who saw how you look at him," he said with a touch of regret in his voice.
Leia turned back to face him. She was at once horrified and relieved that Luke knew. Part of her had wanted to spill her feeling and let the tears flow. But the other, cynical side of her had wanted to keep the events of the flight to Bespin a secret to her dieing day. "I'm so sorry Luke. I really do care for you. I care for you a lot. But…"
She trailed off and slowly closed tear filled eyes. Luke could have cried, seeing her in such sorrow. It seemed that the physical attraction between his friends had developed into something more. Leia turned away and resumed staring out at the stars. Luke decided to get the worst over with. He needed to get her talking. For far too long the princess had been silent about her feelings. With Alderaan gone and now the loss of Han, Leia had to be an emotional wreck.
Sitting across from her in Chewie's over-sized co-pilot chair, Luke took his companions' hands. "So, tell me," he said softly. "What happened?"
Leia hesitated, wondering where to start. "Well, with the Falcon out of commission I ended up doing some welding. It was simple work but I had to turn this valve and-"
"Leia," Luke said gently, "get to the point."
The princess took a deep breath. "All right. To cut a long story short he kissed me and…" She paused, "I don't know how to explain it. It's just…"
"Just what?" Luke prompted.
"Oh Gods," she sighed, obviously lost in memory. When Leia spoke again she was like one in a dream. "It felt so right. Like we were meant to be there, together. I was so scared. One moment I doing a repair job, and the next I'm backing against the bulkhead and his lips are on mine and… I lost control Luke. I had no will to fight him, to fight my self any more. But then Threepio barged in and I came back to reality with the force of a crashing asteroid."
Knowing it was best to get the worst over with, Luke looked Leia in the eye and asked, "Did you sleep with him?"
The princess nodded once and then turned to face him. "And I don't regret it," she said in an almost defiant tone. They were silent for a moment, both trying to process Leia's statement. Suddenly she spoke up. "I was so afraid…and then, somehow, it didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was our love".
To Luke, she looked as if she were fighting desperately for emotional control, he had never seen her so, frankly, human before.
"Han once told me," Leia continued, "that I should want what I want for myself, and not for others. It wasn't until after Hoth, in his arms, that I accepted that." She took a deep, unsteady breath. "I'm so sorry Luke," she repeated.
"I… uh… I understand", Luke told her, slightly at a loss for words. This was the first time he had ever seen so emotional. Usually she hid behind a mask of determination and a wall of iciness. Apparently Han had found chinks in her armor, and a way into her blocked heart. Luke suddenly realized something. The self-professed mercenary was very much like the princess in the way he hid his feeling behind a smuggler's mask. Perhaps that had brought them together.
Luke was brought back to the present as Leia's eyes flashed in anger. "No. You don't understand. You can't understand. Not unless you've been in my place. Ever since I met Han I've been fighting with my life for control. It wasn't until Ord Mantell that I realized I'd lost every bit of it. And not until the flight to Bespin that I accepted that."
The reference to Ord Mantell piqued Luke's curiosity. He'd know something had happened, but Han and Leia had not spoken to anyone else, much less each other, in the wake of their solo mission.
The princess bit her lip for a moment, and then answered. "Han and I realized how much we wanted each other." Leia sighed. "But I got scared and ran at the last minute. I was terrified. I grasped the fact that the wine was really just a convenient excuse to…You can't imagine it Luke, that feeling…" Leia trailed off.
Luke gazed out into the wilderness of space. Obviously the turmoil within him was nothing compared to the princess. For a moment he felt a pang of jealously, but only for a moment. He could sense something about Leia, a freeing of sorts. If Han was the one who could make her happy, make her human, not ice, then Luke was grateful to him. Leia Organa deserved to be happy. Luke had no worries that he would his friend ship with the princess. There was an undeniable connection between them; it just was not one of the romantic kind.
For several minutes silence ruled. Then Leia softly whispered, "I love Han Solo, and I have no intention of losing him."
They looked at each other for a moment, and all was understood and forgiven. Luke took her hand. "I promise Leia, I'll help you find him."
The princess smiled through her tears. "Thank you," she said quietly.
The End.