Ahem, so summer happened. I know I haven't responded to you individually for the last chapter and I do apologize and I sincerely thank you for taking the time to do that. I hope you will this time as well. We have at least one more chapter after this - maybe more, but let's just get back to where I left off, cool?

Chapter 20: Blasters Ready?

It was a nightmare to end all nightmares.

Correction: another nightmare to end all nightmares. She had watched as Han clung to life by only a thread and his sheer will. It was her fault. He went to Ord Mantell because of her and now he was barely breathing because of it.

Her heart was breaking. She vowed she would be done with it once and for all this time. They had been having too much romantic fun while on Ord Mantell and it had made them sloppy in their security. At least in her security, but it was all that bounty hunter needed to get the jump on them.

It had started out as a wonderful day that turned into a wonderful dinner. It had been about to be a most wonderful evening.

She had almost confessed her love for him.

It was sheer luck the hunter hadn't counted on Leia having any weapons training. He must've taken her for one of Solo's portside conquests. Luckily, she had been able to turn off the ringing from the approach sensor going off before the bounty hunter had heard it. With no time left for anything else, she had grabbed one of the blasters that Han kept stashed around the ship in various hiding spots for emergencies. As soon as she saw Han shoved so hard into the Falcon's main hatch that he slammed against the bulkhead and slid down seemingly unconscious, she jumped out of her hiding spot next to the acceleration couch in the hold and trained the blaster directly on the hunter.

Before she could blink, the Fett swung his arm up and shot at her with what should've been a kill shot to her chest. With lightning reflexes, Leia dodged right and the shot only grazed her shoulder. It was a deep graze, but not substantial enough to deter her from simultaneously squeezing off her own deadly aimed blast at Fett.

Unfortunately, her need to dodge had caused her shot to go off target and find Fett's leg instead of his unprotected neck.

Recovered from the jarring shove, Han attempted to build on Fett's injury and launched himself onto the bounty hunter.

Leia stood a couple of meters away with her blaster trained on both of them as the knot of the two men struggling in front of her moved clumsily around the main hatch area. She couldn't get a clean shot and didn't want to miss and hit Solo.

Suddenly, she heard Fett's blaster and its results of dropping Han to the ground. The hole in his thigh completely disabled him with a howl into a heap on the deck plates. Instantly, Fett found his footing and shot Han again at close range who slumped motionless to the floor.

Leia, thinking Han was dead, had fired again and again in a blinding haze and no longer caring what happened to her. Fett dodged and sought cover near Han's body as he yelled something about holding her fire or he would kill Solo, but she heard nothing at the time and only recollected it during her debriefing.

She saw Fett's blaster aim down again and another shot hit Han simultaneously as a couple of her shots found a vulnerable spots in the Fett's green armor.

Due to Fett's body armor, none of the shots Leia landed were kill shots, but the steady intensity of the shots raining down on him at an ever closer range were changing the odds. It must've have forced him to understand the odds of him getting out of there while dragging Solo's inert body without killing her first were slim to zero. Considering the barrage of fire, the odds of killing her at this point were also slim to zero. Meanwhile, the odds of Leia killing Fett were increasing exponentially by the second.

It had been enough to make the hunter decide to he was at a clear disadvantage from that point on. Fett took off hobbling out of the open hatch and down the ramp.

Leia had begun to run after him, but her now broken catatonic state gave her the presence of mind to instead shut the main hatch, close up the ramp and lock it in one fluid movement as she turned toward Han.

Kneeling down to Han she found him alive and breathing – barely. Fett had initially been looking to keep Solo alive and must've only stunned Han with the second shot, but the last shot left a gaping wound on his left side while his right hamstring was a mangled mess from the initial shot.

While her own left shoulder was painfully blackened in sympathy, her heart had leapt that he was alive and she had kissed his non-responsive lips quickly in jubilant relief. His dead-like response was enough to snap her into action to keep him alive until she could get help.

She had no memory of how she was able to drag him to the medical bunk. Nor did she remember flying the Falcon completely on her own back to the new Rebel base on Hoth. She was glad for those times when Han had left her to handle things herself in the cockpit over the last few years. Leia had never flown the Falcon from liftoff to landing by herself before, at least not on a longer trip that included going through hyperspace, and she felt like she still had not. Still it must have happened.

Leia did remember touching down and opening the ramp for the medical crew to rush aboard and that was simply because the cold of Hoth felt like it literally sliced through her. Luke and Chewie had rushed in just after the medical crew. She remembered Chewie's mournful wail upon seeing Han's state. It cut her much deeper than the frigid air.

She had stood off to the side as the emergency team strapped Han onto the repulsor sled to move him to the med bay. Again, she felt numb inside and out. Unbelieving what had just happened and not wanting to acknowledge why.

Luke had found her standing there leaning on the corner of the acceleration couch.

"Leia, you're wounded, too!" Luke leaned down to inspect her shoulder and saw that while she was most likely in no immediate danger, she needed medical attention. "Medic! Over here, the Princess is wounded."

She waved away the medic that broke from the pack working on Han. "No. I'll manage. Attend to Captain Solo." The medic flicked a glance at her shoulder and hesitated, but Leia put a quick end to it. "That's an order!"

Luke picked up his comlink and called for another personnel tram shuttle to come to the Falcon.

"I'm fine, Luke. I'll get it looked at once we get to the med bay with Han."

"Leia, it's a big hanger and the med bay isn't that close. I don't think you should be walking too far with that shoulder." Once her saw her frustration beginning to mount and he realized she had not taken her eyes off of Han, he knew he had to try a different tack. Similar to the one he had used on Han recently when Leia had been hurt. "We need to follow the medics and Han, anyway. This will be faster and we can keep up with them."

As the medics now hovered Han's lifeless looking body past her and Luke and down the ramp, it was plain on her face that she was only holding herself together by sheer will. Chewie followed growling very quietly and steadily which Luke took to be some sort of Wookie prayer. Luke gently ushered Leia out and made sure the main hatch was locked tight. Even on base, security was important and they would never hear the end of it from Solo once he recovered if they had left his baby vulnerable.

Luke had a good feeling that Han would indeed recover. At least, he didn't have a bad feeling about it and that had to count for something. At least he hoped Solo would recover. Yes, for Chewie's sake and for all their sakes, but more for Leia's sake than anyone else.

She did her best to hide it from the galaxy, but Luke had a way of reading her quite well these days. However, one didn't need to a Jedi to see there was an extraordinary chemistry between Han and Leia, just being sentient would be more than enough. At times, it was explosive. At other times, it was entertaining. Many times it was both, yet their consistent denial was the kicker to it all.

Not long ago during their last time they had all played sabacc, Luke had thought the spark ignited more blatantly than ever before, but it was difficult to tell with these two. What he did know was their care and concern for each other knew no bounds.

He could easily see how Leia was grief-stricken and probably blaming herself somehow. No doubt, Han would react the same way if the situation was reversed.

xxxmtfbwyxxx

Chewbacca, Luke and the Princess waited anxiously as 21-B and FX-7 worked on Solo. They waited while the wounds were sealed and new blood was pumped back into his body. Then, they watched as he was dipped into the recently acquired bacta tank. He floated unconscious for only a short time before he was pulled out and the medical droids began the regeneration process for the large wound in Han's side. Even with all of that, Two-Onebee had informed the trio that Solo's grip on life was tenuous at best and the prognosis was bleak at the moment.

No words were spoken until Threepio and Artoo arrived. Upon registering Solo's prone body lying motionless on the bed and quickly analyzing the conglomeration of the various apparati hooked up to the Captain, R2 beeped a soft enquiry Luke's way.

"It's not looking the best right now, R2," Luke answered quietly. Seeing Leia's face fall for a moment at his announcement before she covered up her emotions with her 'official concerned' mask, he felt the need to add, "Don't count him out, yet. He's not the kind of guy that gives up easily."

As Chewie seconded that emotion with a resolute growl. And Luke thought he caught a flicker of something wash over Leia. He thought he maybe even saw it in her eyes for a moment before it disappeared. C'mon, Han, Ol' Buddy! Don't make a liar out of me, he thought.

Threepio felt the protocol need to add his sympathies. "I do hope he recovers, Master Luke. I'm sure he was beginning to like me."

That brought a hint of a smile to everyone's face.

xxxmtfbwyxxx

Leia had watched the medical droids every step while fighting her deep fear for Han and her need to shout at the droids to keep moving with urgency. He was dying. She could sense it. And, she couldn't take it.

Now that medically what could be done was done and there was nothing to do except wait, it was just as excruciating. She was afraid to face Chewie. It was her fault Han was in this situation, yet any apology would be not only inadequate but she would have to explain why it happened. Regardless of Han's medical status, she wasn't prepared to do that.

When Luke had told R2's of Han's fight to cling to life, it had nearly broken her inside. She had started this whole venture to get him out of her head and out of desires. It had been a bet. A stupid bet that she let turn into something that it never should have and now the consequences might be death for Solo. She loved him. If she lost him now… She hadn't felt like this since Alderaan.

Even if he lived, she would have to cut him out of her heart.

Why was always so complicated between them?