It was late in the night that the noise began. Luke Skywalker had gotten up for a drink of water, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and yawning loudly. His muscles ached from the running he and his family had done in the past week. Anakin had done even more; he was the one to run and tell Padme what had happened to Leia and where Luke and Han ran off. But Luke's legs felt like lead as he tiptoed down the stairs.

He headed into the kitchen and pulled out a glass. Everything was in order, and he sunk into a chair gratefully to finish his water. Luke was known for his random midnight snacks that were never necessarily at midnight. Upstairs his sister groaned and covered her head with her pillow; he hadn't been so quiet after all. The Skywalker kitchen was dim, until suddenly, two bright beams of light pierced through the window. Maybe it wasn't him that woke Leia up, Luke thought.

The lights moved, then stopped completely, suggesting that their source was the headlights of a speeder. The Padawan sighed as he got up to put away the remnants of his trip to the kitchen. Hopefully it was a wrong turn that someone made and not a visit; Luke didn't want to be bothered on his first night of sleep since the disaster with Sideous.

All of them needed it for different reasons. Luke was overcome with fatigue, Anakin had been sick with worry for his wife, Padme had found the hospital bed to be quite uncomfortable, and Leia was in a sour mood in general. She had returned from the hangar late that very night with the news that Han had left and that he hadn't come back in the many timeparts she'd stood there.

He could seriously hurt the smuggler for standing up his sister like that. Naturally, this wasn't the Jedi way, but since when had they ever paid attention to it before? Hopefully Leia would realize the dangers of having a relationship with Han and move on. Luke headed up the stairs, his feet lighter on their wood surface than when he'd come down.

He stopped midway up, convinced that he'd heard a slight knocking sound. Chalking it up to the lateness of his journey, he continued until he heard it again: frantic knocking. "Who's there?" he called. All he got in response was more knocking and a familiar voice, though it was so muffled that he couldn't identify it. Luke walked to the door, and what he found there was surprising.

Han Solo's face was pressed to the glass. "Luke!" he yelled happily, relief spreading over his face. "I'm so glad to see you. Hey, could you open up? I need to talk to your sister. I need Leia." Which, in Luke's frame of thinking, sounded quite hypocritical. Still, seeing the distress on his friend's face, he opened the door.

"You didn't seem so worked up when you left her," he said condescendingly. Han started to apologize or argue, but Luke didn't bother to find out which. "Don't deny it. She was really angry, sure, but that's no all. She's my sister, Han, and I can tell when she's upset. You won't get off easy, that's for sure."

Luke headed up the stairs, Han hot on his heels and spilling out scores of apologies. "Luke, you don't understand! She was all I could think about, and it wasn't natural for me, so I thought that sticking around might cause problems for you guys. Jabba offered me this deal, and…"

"You'd rather spend time with a smelly Hutt than the woman you love?" he finished for him.

"That's where you're wrong! I just needed to clear my head, is all." Luke turned to look Han in the eye, but the smuggler was undaunted. Han continued, "Ever since I was a kid, I've never really been loved, or in love, so I never knew what to expect. I know that I'd betray my feelings to your folks sooner or later."

"You have a point," Luke agreed. "I suppose you're right, that you really did need to get your feelings sorted out. But you went about it in the wrong manner. Leia would've appreciated it if you told her what you just told me before you left, and it's too late for that now. Go on, talk to her. She'll listen in time." They finished the climb, and Luke turned to stop Han before he entered Leia's room. "Tomorrow morning. She's asleep now. You can wait here until then."

There came a muffled voice from Leia's room. "No I'm not, Luke, I'm wide awake. You and your glass of water kept me up. But you're right, I don't want to talk to Han until morning. In fact, it'll take most of my strength to keep a civil tongue when talking to him then, so unless you want to hear a Jedi do a lot of swearing, you'd best leave me alone for tonight." Han winced, but headed off to Luke's room where he stayed the night he first came to the Skywalkers. It seemed, Han thought, like they just kept running in circles, and it was partially his doing.

Morning couldn't come soon enough for a troubled Leia. Her sleep was light and the aging beams and flooring of the Skywalker home was conspiring against her, or so it seemed. Han popped in and out of her dreams, along with Luke, who constantly repeated the mantra, "Search your feelings." "I'm trying!" she would yell back, but whenever she looked for that feeling of oneness with the Force and more importantly, with Han something held her back. It was the sound of her voice and it just kept getting in the way.

So when she saw Han, eating the breakfast that Padme had whipped up the minute Luke revealed their secret guest, she knew what to do. The dream had given her an idea: if Han wouldn't listen to her talk, maybe he would prefer to hear her think. 'Are you okay?' she said through a small bond that had developed between them. It wasn't as powerful as hers was with Luke or her master, but it was decent.

Naturally, Han turned to Padme. "Did you say something?"

"Nope," Padme said with a smile. "But I'll bet I know who did. When you live with Jedi constantly around you, you get used to having their thoughts broadcast into your mind." Han looked from Padme to Leia and gave the latter a glare. 'Sorry,' Leia tried again. 'It's weird at first, but it's nice to have a little privacy. Unless you'd like to talk somewhere else?'

It took a bit more effort to read someone's thoughts, especially the better guarded they were. Most Jedi masters were capable of blocking this, but Han lacked the necessary experience in the Force, and Leia breached his feeble defenses easily. As with most non-Force wielders, his thoughts of her remained in the third-person manner most were accustomed to. 'I wish she'd just stay outta my head. I don't want her to know what I'm thinking! But maybe she'll know what I'm feeling and then she won't get mad.'

Leia smiled secretively. She now knew exactly how to get the message across to Han that he shouldn't have to hide his feelings from her. 'Could you give us a minute?' she thought to Padme, who instantly improvised a story about Anakin and some speeder parts. "You'll be fine alone. I'll be back soon!"

"Well," Leia said, turning to Han. "You wanted me out of your head, and that's what you'll get. But it's not going to be easy hearing what I'm about to say. You had your chance," she said sadly. "Some people find it easier to hear it through someone's thoughts, as if that makes it more genuine. Well, here goes. You do realize, that after what you did, how you left me here, that I really have no reason to forgive you?"

"Yeah," Han said gruffly. "I know you probably don't care anymore than you ever said you did. All that stuff back there…I'd guess you don't mean that anymore." She could feel his inner doubts through the Force, along with a horrible sensation of self-loathing. Leia struggled to keep her calm veneer, knowing that while her words were agonizing for the smuggler, it was what would prove her loyalty to him in the end.

"And you probably realized by now," she continued, "that the most sensible thing for us to do is move on, because my loyalties should lie with the Jedi order, always?" He nodded slowly, and she thought her heart would break from the sorrow resonating from his core. But she knew that the next few words would ease him.

"Han," she said softly, taking his hand in hers. "Look at me," she pleaded, then turned his head when he wouldn't listen. A smile began to break out on her face, and Han's expression was as confused as hers was elated. "You also realize that I'm too stubborn, to set in my ways, and too hell-bent on being with you to care about all those things?" She had to repress a laugh; he was a mixture of confusion and giddiness.

"Actually," he said, calm voice not betraying any of what Leia already knew, "I don't think I did." And suddenly, burning clear in his mind were her thoughts, plain as if he'd thought of them himself a few moments ago. Suddenly, Han knew why she said it was easier to communicate through the Force, because he knew for certain that Leia really loved him no matter what she said. Had she been doing this all along?

"To answer your question," Leia's actual voice cutting through the dreamlike state the bond had left him in, "I hadn't gone into your mind intentionally. But on occasion I could tell when you really meant what you were saying. If you could use the Force you would have been able to figure out that I was struggling to keep from falling for you ages ago. That is, of course, before I realized that it was futile to fight it, since it would be a whole lot nicer just to give in. Who cares about the Jedi code? I love you."

"You know what?" Han said, leaning closer to her and stroking her hand. "I love me, too." If this were a few weeks ago, Leia might never let him hear the end of it. But the Force was flowing though her and everything else, and through it she could tell that despite what he said, he always seemed to mean something else. And that was how they came to understand each other, and how Leia found herself eagerly returning his kiss.

They sat there together for some time after they made up, talking about things such as government and even getting into a few petty arguments. Leia, of course, used her mother's diplomatic skill to state her case, and Han found some form of loophole to pick at no matter how well she'd laid things out. Things were much friendlier between the two now that they were on the same page. "Leia?" Han said after some time. "I was just thinkin'…if there weren't a Jedi code, would you say yes if I ever asked you to, you know, marry me?"

"Well," she began. "I'm not sure. I mean, I've only known you for a few weeks, so it'd be a little weird. Then again, my parents met a long time ago, but it was only for a short time that they were together, and they got married right after they met up again. Of course, this is strictly hypothetical, so I'd have to say yes."

"You would?" Han said brightly.

"That's what I just said, isn't it?" Leia was confused more than just slightly. "This is, of course, assuming that there is no Jedi code and that my father would not disapprove highly of-" Han cut her off abruptly.

"Leia," he said, laughing slightly, "I don't think you understand the question." He just smiled at her, watching the light coming from the kitchen window as it danced across her face. He knew that it was a risk, putting his heart on his sleeve like that, but this was Han Solo, and he tended to take a lot of risks. The greater the risk, the greater the reward, right? He sighed. "Leia," he paused again, "would you…?"

She couldn't say that she hadn't understood the question that time. It was apparent without even looking to the Force for help. This wasn't a rhetorical question, either, and she was positive that he wasn't speaking hypothetically this time. She wanted to wait, she wanted the question to be something she could come back to later in life. But she remembered the letter on her desk, the letter she'd burnt last night. It wasn't going to wait for her to make up her mind, and although Han might, she could never put him through such agony. It was now or never, the Force seemed to be telling Leia. There was no multiple choice, this was just a question she had to figure out on her own.

She let out the breath she'd been holding in, and she answered.

End