Hi everyone, realised thanks to a friendly review that it's been nearly five months since I updated, so without further ado, in the midst of my exams, here is (possibly) the penultimate chapter of Surrey Girls.

This week's shout-outs go to: Reploid Avenger, Miriel Tolkien, Booksnake3, Song of Death, Groundhoggirl, Laurel, Shannyrox101, ArtistsChild93, sarahmichellegellarfan1, Emonster94, Chosen1, Concrete63, Peachy, Beatlefan110, Charli, Whitwhit1893, and three Guests. Thanks so much everyone, especially those of you who have been with this story since the beginning - I hope you've enjoyed hanging out with Alice.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.


They ran, with no more need for caution, but plenty for speed; Alice for one felt more aware than ever of all the people that were relying on them to get this shield down. Han barrelled into the control room, Alice two steps behind him. Immediately, he started slamming the charges down around the room and pressing the small red buttons on the top that primed them. Chewie covered the points that Han missed, and Alice supplied them with extras when they ran out.

"Okay," Han said, glancing around, "that looks good. They all primed, Chewie?"

The wookiee wailed an affirmative, and with a lively grin, Han grabbed Alice by the hand, "Run."

They sprinted at top speed, and Alice yelled as they went, "I just think you should know, if we get blown up, you guys are the best friends I ever had!"

"Likewise!" Han shouted back, backed up by a full-blown roar from Chewie.

They had just reached the entrance when Alice felt a sharp ripple through her feet. She glanced at Han, who grinned, and launched himself forward, dragging Alice with him. Not a moment too soon; as soon as their feet left the floor, the charges detonated. The force of the blast catapulted them five or six feet through the air, and Alice had time to think, in one of the most epic slow-mo moments of her life: this isn't flying, this is falling – with style! before they slammed into the ground again. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, even with all the soft moss and ferns to cushion their fall.

In a daze, her back aching, and her vision slightly blurry, Alice rolled slowly over. "Dearie me, that hurt!" For a minute or so, she lay on her back, gathering her strength until gradually, she was able to sit up. Running a hand along her sore neck, she turned slowly to see the bunker, and the satellite dish above it exploding in a huge fireball, so large that it scorched the trees around it, and as far away as she was, Alice could feel the heat of it on her face.

The brightness of the explosion left black spots dancing over her vision, and her eyes watering. She closed her eyes, waiting until the spots faded before opening them again. The fireball had dissipated into the air, leaving the bunker a smouldering wreck, crushed by chunks of flambéed satellite. Beside her, Han was sitting up; as he gazed at the very successfully destroyed bunker he absentmindedly swiped at a smudge of dirt on his cheek and managed to smear it all over the left side of his face.

Alice grinned, and leaning over, wiped the dirt away with her sleeve. He turned to look at her, his expression dazed. "We did it."

"Yeah," she agreed, grinning as widely as if she were the Cheshire Cat, "I think we can safely say we did it."

He gave a shout of laughter, and threw his arms around her. Alice hugged him back, feeling energy suddenly bubble up inside her; she wanted to jump up and down and squeal very loudly.

"Come on," Alice said, breaking away, her voice swooping between octaves as she tried to contain her happiness, "let's go find Leia."

"You got it," Han said, his eyes sparkling as Alice had honestly never seen them sparkle before. Hand in hand they lurched to their feet (in her excitement, Alice forgot that she had just hit the ground very hard for the fourth time in three days) and limped off as quickly as they could into the forest.

They found Leia waiting patiently by her tree stump, the broken Artoo by her side and a dazzling smile on her face. "Well done," she said, warmly, as Alice and Han collapsed to the ground next to her.

Alice leaned back against the log, and tipped her head up to the sky where the Death Star hung, not quite as brooding and ominous as it had been. "So," she said, "how long before we never have to look at that thing again?"

"Whenever it is, it can't come too soon," Han said, eyeing the space station darkly. Leia said nothing, but her smile faded a little, and she gazed thoughtfully up, as if she could see something no one else could, written across the sky.

Alice started tapping her knee lightly with her fingernails, nervous, delighted, terrified energy still bouncing around inside her. She felt as if she'd just eaten an entire flock of butterflies, and all she could do was fidget madly until an appropriate opportunity came for letting it all out.

Luckily for her, that moment came sooner than she could have hoped. Staring up into the sky, eyes trained on the Death Star, Alice would've had to have been blind to miss its final demise. Her only warning was a sudden bright flare of light that made her flinch – when she looked back, there was nothing but an immense fireball, rippling across the sky. Alice's eyes widened. It's…over.

As celebrations broke out around them, as ewoks and rebels and Chewie roared in delight, she, Han and Leia stared up in solemn silence, composed partly of awe and partly of utter shock, witnessing, as they were, the end of an era within this galaxy. Then a thought occurred to Alice, and she clutched anxiously at the arms of her two friends, "Luke…"

Han rested his hand lightly over hers, "I'm sure that he wasn't on it when it blew."

She bit her lip, uncertain, but beside her, Leia said, quietly, "He wasn't. I can feel it."

On her other side, Alice heard Han swallow, and glanced at him. His expression was resigned, his jaw clenched, "Do you love him?" Well, looks like he forgot all about my declaration of love earlier. Idiot.

Alice turned her gaze to Leia, who gave her a small smile, and said, in a playful voice, "Of course I love him."

Han nodded dejectedly, looking away. Alice grinned as Leia went on in a matter of fact kind of voice, "He's my brother after all. It would be a shame if I didn't love him."

The smuggler jolted as if electrified, "He's what?"

"My brother," Leia repeated with a smile, leaning in to kiss him. Alice shuffled back to give them space, suddenly very aware of the awkwardness of sitting in between two kissing people.

Eventually, Leia and Han broke apart. Han looking a lot happier, Leia on the verge of laughter, and Alice realised just how happy it made her to see them happy too. Oh god…I'm going to cry. Alice reached out and put her arms around their necks and hugged them tightly, her eyes squeezed shut to try and stop the tears. "I love you both."

"We love you too, kid," Han said, pressing a kiss into Alice's hair. It was just about the sweetest thing he'd ever said to her, and the consequence was really inevitable…Alice burst into a flood of tears, releasing Han and Leia to press her hands to her mouth in an attempt to smother her braying sobs.

"Uh, Alice?"

"Sorry," she choked, "I'm just…so happy!"

Han looked frankly baffled by the contradiction sitting in front of him, but Leia smiled and hugged Alice again, "Me too."

Leia held her until gradually Alice managed to calm herself down. She took several deep breaths, rubbed her eyes and smiled weakly, "Phew. Well, now I feel better. So, I guess we just wait…"

"Wait for Luke to come back?" Leia finished, with a knowing glint in her eye.

"Yeah," Alice said, shifting restlessly and ignoring Leia and Han as they grinned at each other, "oh, I want to see him." She jumped to her feet and started pacing, sparing glances for the sky above, half-expecting Luke to simply appear in front of her, "Do you guys think anyone will have any jobs for me? Stuff to do to keep me busy?"

"It's not going to take him that long to get here," Leia said, teasingly, "surely you can wait ten minutes?"

Alice bounced lightly up and down, twisting her hands, "Nope. My stomach feels like a sarlac. It's like I've got a giant game of snakes and ladders going on inside me…oh, curse you adrenaline!"

"Lieutenant Miller?"

"Yes?" Alice said, whirling around. But it wasn't Luke behind her – it was a man, a rebel, someone she didn't know. He smiled shyly at her, and said, "I saw you take down that walker. I reckon we all would have been for it, if weren't for you."

"Oh," she said, flustered, "well, um, thank you – it was only one walker though-"

"I saw that too!" Someone else cried, apparently overhearing the conversation, "Nice work Lieutenant!"

"Thanks-"

"Yeah! Let's hear it for Lieutenant Miller!"

Alice stared at Han and Leia as the soldiers around her burst into rounds of applause and cheering. How the hell did this happen? The two lovebirds were absolutely no help whatsoever though – they only had eyes for each other. So Alice just stood there awkwardly while a group of men she had never met before two days ago cheered for her. It was like everyone singing Happy Birthday to her, but without the cake and party hats. And in a forest. With alien teddy bears.

Well…I guess that I've learned some new stuff to add to the 'awkward moment when' list…

She heard the familiar squealing of large numbers of ewoks, and saw Chewie struggling towards her, his arms and legs weighed down by practically the entire tribe. Alice grinned, and taking the opportunity to wave to her fans and sneak away, she went over and gave the wookiee a big hug. "Well fought big guy. You were awesome."

"Well done, miss!"

"Engineer Bob!" Alice cried, delighted, "What are you doing here?" Then she gasped, "Quick, quick, you have to fix Artoo again!"

"Again?" The poor man repeated, as Alice dragged him through the trees to where Han and Leia sat with Artoo, "Always getting himself into trouble, that particular little astro droid."

"Can you fix him?" She asked breathlessly, depositing the old man beside the droid. Engineer Bob frowned, and dropped to one knee to inspect Artoo – beside them, Leia and Han sat up straighter to watch.

"It'll be tricky, miss," he said, adjusting his spectacles, "but I think we'll have him working again."

"Really?" Alice chirruped, delighted, "Yay! You're the best engineer ever!"

She stayed beside Engineer Bob as he set to work, listening and laughing as he told her odd and amusing stories about other droids he'd had to fix during his time with the Alliance. Around them, a small medical station seemed to have been set up – one of the rebels on the strike team was apparently also a field medic, and was taking care of his wounded comrades.

Ewoks rolled around in the ferns and sang songs to each other, which Threepio translated, whether anyone asked him to or not. And Han and Leia walked around, talking to each and every soldier individually, congratulating them and commiserating with their losses.

Alice was just telling Engineer Bob about that time she knocked out a storm trooper on the Death Star, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Leia was standing behind her, a bright smile on her face.

"Hmm?" She said, cheerfully – Bob had nearly finished repairing the damage to Artoo's circuit boards, which was, according to him, the most difficult part of fixing him.

"Look over there," said Leia, pointing through the trees. Alice followed her finger, and saw that all the rebel soldiers, some of them covered in bandages, had gathered out in the clearing, and were flocking around something. Some of the ewoks, seeing the crowd, had apparently taken an interest and were pushing their way between people's knees to see. The sheer press of people and teddy bears made it difficult to see what they were looking at, and Alice frowned a little in confusion. "What's going on?"

Leia's smile widened slightly, "Why don't we go and find out?"

Aww…but…Artoo… Reluctantly, Alice got to her feet, and followed Leia, who snagged Han by the arm as they passed him.

"What are we looking at?" He asked, spotting the crowd and raising his eyebrows.

"You'll see," Leia said, her tone distinctly smug. Alice happened to glance at her, and caught her friend giving her a sly smile. Wait a minute…I know that look…

She glanced back at the crowd, craning her neck, trying to see… and as if by divine providence, at that moment, the crush of people before her parted, giving Alice a clear view of none other than Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian. But mainly Luke Skywalker.

He was standing in the centre of the crowd, looking tired, and pale, but smiling and having his hand shaken, and being clapped on the back. Lando was at his side and clearly loving the attention, grinning around at everyone and laughing his distinctive full-blown, in-your-face laugh. Not that Alice really cared about Lando at this point.

Breaking away from Leia, she took advantage of the sudden gap in the crowd, and bounded down it, skidding on a patch of leaves, nearly falling, but catching herself at the last minute. She came to a halt in front of Luke, and said, breathlessly, "Hi."

A sudden hush fell, as Luke smiled at her, and said, "Hey, Alice." Alice opened her mouth, pretty sure that she should say something…but all she could think of was how wonderful he looked, in his black suit and boots, with his hair ruffled and his beautiful greeny-blue eyes staring straight into hers. Oh…my.

Then someone, Alice wasn't sure who – but she suspected it might have been Han, or Lando – shouted, "Just kiss already, would you?"

There was a ripple of laughter, and Alice blushed furiously. Luke grinned, and said, like a perfect gentleman, "Alice, may I kiss you?"

Quick, say something cute and endearing!

"Let's do this," she said, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him towards her. Oh well…I do try…

To Alice's intense relief, it went a hell of a lot better than their first kiss; she could practically feel herself melting into Luke's arms as he wrapped them tightly around her waist. She was vaguely aware of the sound of cheering around them, but at the moment, it really wasn't very important.

Wait a minute!

She jerked her head away from Luke's, and gave him a rough shove, "Stop right there, mister."

He blinked in confusion, then tensed up with apprehension as he saw the murderous look on her face. "What?"

"You!" She accused, poking him in the chest, "You went off to face your doom without even saying goodbye to me!"

He raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, but Alice, I'm-"

"I know that you're here now," she said, pointing at him, threateningly, "but you might have died, and I would be very sad."

"Only very sad?" Han butted in, watching the scene with amusement, "That's a bit harsh, Alice."

"You keep out of this," she said, not taking her eyes off Luke for a second. Han fell silent.

"I'm sorry," Luke said, gazing straight into Alice's eyes, "I should have said something to you. But the longer I stayed, the greater the danger for all of you." He took a tentative step forward; Alice eyed him suspiciously as he slipped his hands around her waist again, "Would it help if I said it now?"

Alice frowned, her heart fluttering uncertainly, "Said what?"

He smiled, and leaned in towards her until he was thrillingly close and Alice was pretty sure she was going to pass out from hyperventilation; or, if not, from delight as he pushed a strand of her hair aside and said quietly into her ear, "I love you."

Her breath caught, and it was all she could do not to fall over. Instead, she grabbed his face in her hands and pulled him towards her, releasing all the stupid emotions she'd been keeping cooped up since the battle started in one explosive kiss.

A second cheer went up from the soldiers surrounding them, and laughing and/or growling, Chewie, Han, Leia and Lando all mobbed the two of them and wrapped them into a big group hug.

Alice blinked in surprise, her cheeks pink and slightly mad laughter bubbling up inside her, "Can I help you?"

"Just wondering if you were going to hog the kid's attention all day," Han said, wryly, "we were worried about you too, you know, Luke."

"Do you want a kiss, Han?" Luke said, wryly.

The smuggler raised his hands, "Er…no. That's fine. I think I'll leave that to Ally."

She grinned, and pressed a kiss to the tip of Luke's nose, "Wise decision."

In amongst all the noise, the sound of a trumpet call attracted their attention; they all looked up together and saw the tiny figures of the ewoks scattered through the trees, little horns held in their hands.

"Mistress Alice! Master Luke!"

"Threepio," Luke said, keeping one arm wrapped around Alice's shoulder as he clapped the droid on the back, "good to see you."

I would quite possibly be happy to stand right here forever. She wanted to fling her arms around Luke's waist and not let go until it became a practical necessity, but trying to play it cool, she simply slipped one arm around his waist. Nice. Good one, myself.

"You will be delighted to know that the ewoks have invited us to a celebration in their village," the droid said, happily, "including the rest of the fleet!"

"Hey, Luke," Alice said, glancing up at him, "you know what that means…"

He raised an eyebrow at her, "No…?"

"More tree bark soup! Yeah!" He laughed, and pressed a kiss to her temple, "You should tell Han."

Alice grinned evilly, "Thank you. I will. Oh, Han!"


Finally, Alice and Luke made up for that awkward first kiss...hope you enjoyed reading, and please review!