Found

It was easily one of the longest days of his life.

The hasty escape from Hoth, pulling Leia away from the command center as the base crumbled around them. The frantic chase through the asteroid field, his already-wired nerves twisting even tighter as they evaded the fighters. Their encounter in the circuitry bay, the tension between the two of them finally culminating and, he hoped, breaking for good. The decision to limp to Bespin and the plotting of the course. The sight of her asleep in his chair when he returned to the cockpit after wrestling with the shields. The feel of her in his arms as she swayed in exhaustion, their embrace turning from comforting to incendiary more quickly than even he would have predicted. The way she reclined against him during dinner as they somehow managed to carry on a conversation with Chewie. The sheen of her lips as he fed her the last piece of fruit and his tongue investigated every crevice of her sweet-stained mouth. The instructions to Threepio repeated again and again, ending with an exasperated order to wake Chewie if anything went seriously wrong.

The curve of her back under his shirt as she sorted the dishes at the sink while he stood silently, asking himself, Is this it?

The way her body succumbed to a full-on trembling when he closed the gap between them.

The warmth of her hand as he led her through the darkened ship to his cabin.

She was flushed and breathless beneath him on his bunk. The kiss that began as they crossed the threshold had only broken for the removal of their shirts. Lying against each other, her bare skin threatened to overwhelm any rational thoughts he still possessed. He traced a shaky curve across her neck and down her sternum, her skin silky and yielding under his fingertips. Cupping her breasts in turn, he suckled gently on the peaked nipples and felt her gasp and arch under him. Then her fingernails bit into his shoulders as she pulled him back up to her mouth.

"Leia," he murmured against her lips. He couldn't remember ever feeling quite like this, fervent and raw, shivering in anticipation of something he had almost given up hope of ever happening.

"Han." Her lips on his ear as if she sensed his thought. Something unspoken hovered between them.

He pulled away and looked down at her. Her dark, desperate eyes must have matched his own.

"I know, Sweetheart" he whispered. And then he was kissing his way down, across her breasts again, skimming over her stomach until he reached the waistband of her leggings. She lifted her hips as he tugged at them, assisting him as he dragged the offending garment down her legs.

This close to her juncture, the urge to taste her was overwhelming. Her thighs fell apart and he brushed his fingers, gently at first, through her folds. The wet heat already in evidence hit him in his groin and he was barely able to resist grinding against the mattress. He forced himself to focus on her, on her reactions to his hand as he increased the pressure bit by bit. Her grip on his arm tightened and a low moan escaped from above his head.

Emboldened, he slid a finger inside her. Under his cheek her abdomen muscles twitched and jumped as he found her clit with his thumb. When he could bear it no longer, he dove down and lapped at her wetness. She tasted rich and earthy and he withdrew his finger only to return with two. He kept his tongue dancing above his fingers, weaving patterns over the slick flesh. She was pressing against his face now and whatever technique he had mastered in his previous life came back to him; he tongued firmly over the bundle of nerves while pressing up inside her womb. His other hand wandered to her stomach and found her own, squeezing it tightly. She tugged his hair and writhed underneath him but he kept his movements steady and unrelenting until she spasmed violently in release.

The room seemed darker now and smelled of sex. He kissed the quivering flesh above her pubic bone and cupped her tenderly to draw out the final tremors. When her breathing finally slowed, he brushed back up her body.

"You could have warned me, you know," she whispered when she opened her eyes.

He ran his tongue over her lower lip, soothing the indentations from her teeth that were visible even in the dimness. "Consider this your warning that I plan to do a lot more of that."

That earned him a soft laugh. She reached for his belt, making a feeble attempt to undo the buckle. He rolled onto his side to help her and shucked his pants off quickly.

"Come here." Her voice was low as she wrapped her fingers around him. "You must be —."

He moaned into her hair as her hand slid up and down his aching flesh. "I'm okay," he gasped. He was far from okay.

And then she was pulling him on top of her and tilting her hips against his. He was nothing but instinct now and no force in the galaxy could have stopped him from sliding inside her, all the way in, until they were flush together. Her inner muscles were like a vice around his cock and caused his breath to expel harshly. They were both still for a moment clutching each other, only their fingers moving, clumsily petting the other's head and face as their hips stayed frozen.

"All right?" The last vestiges of his self-control were rapidly deteriorating.

She nodded and kissed his neck, her voice muffled. "Yes. Move, Han," and then pressed her palm on the swell of his ass.

There was no holding back now. He hitched his arm under her body and thrust into her again and again. She threw her head back, throat bared, and in the resonant motions of their damp bodies, merged with him more thoroughly than he could have ever conceived.

He had long dreamed of making her come like this, of being a witness to her pleasure while partaking in his own. But that dream hadn't taken into account the desperate need that rendered him unable to focus on little else besides the tight slickness gripping him. He couldn't easily reach down to touch her, so he angled his hips as best he could and hoped it would be enough. Distantly he heard his name above the pounding roar of his blood.

Time ceased to exist. He hovered in a anticipatory state, every nerve-ending seized up. When the tension broke, for a delirious moment he was disengaged from himself, floating in deep space, tied to nothing solid. And then his body came rushing back as searing pleasure crackled up his spine and through his limbs and engulfed him completely.

It was dark. His eyes were closed and he had somehow ended up flat on his back. Her fingers parted his hair as she kissed his forehead. Murmuring a soft promise, she withdrew and slipped away.

He floated on a sea of bliss until she returned, the light from the 'fresher blinking in and out from between his eyelashes.

She lay next to him, her hand sliding up his chest until it cradled his jaw. She kissed him, feather-light, and pulled back to peer at him amusedly. "Are you in there somewhere?"

"Yeah. I think so." He licked his lips, the taste of her still lingering. "Everything okay?" He wasn't sure whether he was referring to the sex or her trip to the 'fresher.

She nodded, the corners of her mouth turning upward. "Everything's fine." He spotted a mischievous glint in her eye. "Or are you asking me to assess your performance?"

"I wasn't." He paused dramatically. "But you're welcome to."

"Mmm." Her movements were languid and sensuous as she drew her thigh between his. "Where should I begin?"

He ran his knuckles along her ribs. "You can tell me how I stack up against all your royal suitors."

A shy expression darted across her face and his heart stuttered. She was so — well, not young, exactly; few people fighting in a war this long could claim to be young — but youthful, certainly, at least the parts of her not yet hardened by trial and loss.

Her gaze flickered to his chest and then back up. "Let's just say there's not much to compare to."

That didn't shock him. They had never seriously discussed their sexual histories but he had guessed hers was a bit on the sparse side. It didn't matter either way to him; as far as he was concerned, it was all in the distant past.

"But don't think that means I'm going to go easy on you," she warned.

He couldn't help laughing. "You're certainly something, Princess."

She cocked an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I'm something?"

"Yeah. Something." His neurons were firing a bit faster now. "But also sexy. Very sexy."

She rolled her eyes. "And just when I was beginning to have a newfound appreciation for your mouth, Captain."

Captain. It always drove him crazy when she spoke like that, arch-regal and haughty. Drove him crazy in the best possible way.

He flipped her effortlessly onto her back and pinned her arms to the mattress, entwining his fingers with hers.

"Are you saying you appreciate this?" He grazed behind her ear with his teeth before dotting the spot with a kiss. She arched beneath him wantonly.

"Yes," she breathed. "But that's not what I was referring to."

"It's not, huh." He continued down her neck, biting and licking, until he reached where her shoulder began.

"No."

"Not this either?" He flicked a nipple with his tongue.

Another shudder. "Not quite."

He nosed the depression of her naval and released her hands. They fluttered to his shoulders, gently guiding him as he dipped lower.

"Here, then?" He felt himself start to harden as he breathed in her scent.

"Maybe."

"Maybe," he echoed.

This time he went slowly, exploring thoroughly, making sure he had wrung every last drop of pleasure out of her before resurfacing. She was still panting lightly when he smoothed the wayward hairs from her forehead and pulled her to his chest.

They didn't speak as she hooked her leg over his hip and positioned him at her entrance. He thought they fit together better like this, on their sides facing each other, the difference in their heights less pronounced. She bowed her head under his chin as he kept his hand just above her buttocks, his thrusts tight and deep.

Afterwards they stayed like that, arms encircling each other, legs slowly shifting from their entanglement. She pressed her lips to his chest and then he must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew he was blinking in the now-dark room and registering the churn of the sub-light thrusters. He idly wondered whether Chewie had woken up to check on things but found himself unwilling to get out of bed or even retrieve his chrono. Instead he watched her as she slept curled next to him, her arm rising and falling as it lay bent against her chest.

It must be a new day by now, he thought, one that contained something that felt like a promise. Pulling the blanket the rest of the way up, he closed his eyes and basked in the warmth of her body until he too slipped back to sleep.