AN: The final chapter...

The Long Night

Immediately Following, August, 1966

"Hello? This is the Organa residence." The woman's low southern drawl was like a balm for Leia's battered soul.

"Hi, Mama. It's Leia."

"Are you alright? Did something else happen?"

"I'm fine Mama, but I have a problem."

"Well, tell me all about it, baby." Her mother's kind voice sent her over the edge. She told Breha the entire story, sparing no detail of her argument with Han.

"Have you talked to him since?" Breha asked when Leia had finally finished.

"No. He said we should take some time."

"Did he give you a chance to say you love him back?"

"Yes. It was awful, watching his face the longer I went without saying anything…It's all my fault, Mama. I…I can't love him. It's just…not possible. But, I…care about him, I really do. Things that matter to most people…they don't matter to Han. For example, one day, I had to cancel a date to do some research for Carl. Han told me he didn't mind making dinner and sharpening my pencils all night if it meant we could still spend time together. We barely spoke all evening, but he said he didn't mind.

"And the other night, after…after the bomb, I stayed with him. And I had a nightmare…about Daddy. I woke up screaming, and Han didn't care. He just let me cry, held me and kept telling me I wasn't alone." Leia found that once she started, she couldn't stop.

"And that same day, he saw me without any makeup on and my hair all wet, and he told me I looked pretty." Physical beauty didn't mean everything to Leia, but it had warmed her heart to know he didn't care whether she was made up or not. She was instantly brought back to Kes and Shara's wedding and his sheepish admission that she looked beautiful in her maid-of-honor dress with the little veil and the peach bows around her elbows. She smiled. "And he sang to me, too. Han hates singing, but he thought it would make me laugh, I guess. It was so sweet." Leia paused, suddenly feeling sad when she realized that there was a possibility that there were not going to be any more moments like those in the future.

"Leia, I am going to be perfectly frank. Now, you know that I love you, but sometimes you can be as stubborn as your father, bless your hearts."

"What are you trying to say, Mama?"

"I am sayin' that you're passed the "carin' about" stage and you are well into the "in love with" stage."

"I can't be in love!"

"Why not? You can't possibly be telling me that you're incapable of feeling' or showin' love. You do that in everything you do. So that means you're sayin' you aren't lettin' yourself be in love, and that is just about the stupidest thing I ever heard. What could possibly be keeping you from the best thing in the world?"

"I have my job and...plans, and…"

"And what, Leia? You're not going to be a paralegal forever. What if you get sick of bein' a lawyer and decide to do something else? There are always other jobs out there. There aren't other Hans out there."

"But what if I hurt him? What if I get so caught up in my job that he thinks he's second place? What if he doesn't want to have to fight for my attention all the time? What if we have a family and I can't be around for them the way a mother should? What if someone else hurts him because of me, like Vader tried to do to you? Mama, I can't hurt him." Leia was beginning to get worked up again.

"Child, child. Hush now," she soothed. "Love…you can't really love without bein' at risk of getting hurt, and you can't really love without bein' at risk of hurtin' him. But love—real love—it heals that hurt. And real love is worth it."

Leia mulled that over in her mind for a moment. Did she remember what real love felt like anymore? It was there, in her mind, like a distant memory: the way her mother's kiss could chase away the pain of a scraped knee or the way her father's lap could clear the clouds from a bad day. And it was with Han, too, waiting to be let in: it was there in the way he made her laugh after a day full of frowning, in the way he held her when her past became her present, in the way he saw her when she made herself invisible. All she had to do was open the door.

"It sounds to me like this young man is nothin' but supportive of you. He's gonna help you through everything: all the memories, all the nightmares, all the good times. He's gonna help you follow your dreams, honey, whether you decided to practice law or run for office or do anything else. He loves you, Leia. The real, honest-to-Pete, marryin' and growin'-old love. Trust me. I know about that kinda love. Don't you dare take that for granted, you hear me?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Now that we've got that part outta the way…would you do all that for him? Would you support him, no matter what he wanted to do with his life?"

"Of course." Leia felt the door opening and the love seeping in, filling her with warmth.

"You'd help him follow his dreams?

"Yes."

"If you think about him leaving—or worse yet, if you think about never having known him at all, how does that make you feel?" Leia felt her stomach churning at that thought. The thought of not being with Han…never even knowing him…

"If…if that's what he really wanted. If it would make him happy."

"You want him to be happy, then?"

"Well, yes. More than anything," she added quietly. "Because…because I love him," she admitted for the first time out loud, loving how the words tasted on her tongue. Leia heard Breha stifle a chuckle. "I love Han, Mama."

"That's right, baby."

"I love him." Breha chuckled again. Leia felt like she could do anything, the feeling was so strong.

"Now the question is: what are you gonna do about it?" Leia's soaring hopes hit the ground with a thud that was almost audible.

"I'm not sure. He's stuck somewhere in Missouri with a flat tire and no way to change it." The line was quiet for a minute as the two women searched for a solution.

"Do you remember when I would read to you out of the fairy tale book before bed? Every time we would read one, you'd be disappointed that the princess always got saved by the prince and it was never the other way around. Well, baby, now it's time for you to go rescue the man you love. Go save your prince."

"The man I love. Thank you, Mama. Thank you so much. I love you."

"I love you. Drive safe, Leia. Call me in a few days." Leia hung the receiver up and hurried to her room. She had no idea what to pack, so she threw a change of clothes and her toothbrush into her old briefcase. She scribbled a brief explanation of her absence to Jen and ran the six blocks to Han's house.

Chewbacca seemed a bit confused by her reappearance but welcomed her anyway. Among Han's maps spread out across the table, she found a list of possible stopping locations. Glancing over the list and the charts, Leia tried to figure out where he might be. If her guesses earlier had been right, he was somewhere in southern Missouri. If she left right away and drove through the night, she'd be there by noon. She grabbed a few cans of Chewie's dog food, scooped up all the maps, tucked the adapter in her briefcase, and put Chewie in the back seat. Then, she pulled out of the driveway and set off to save her prince.

00

Han was wondering how his life had gone from just fine to completely miserable in such a short time. He'd been stuck at the same stupid truck stop for a whole day while someone rustled up the adapter for his tire iron. It had allowed him plenty of time to work on other aspects of the truck, but the tinkering gave him an inordinate amount of time to think, and his mind would predictably wander to Leia and the mess of things he'd made between them.

He was lying under the truck on a piece of cardboard, looking over the exhaust system when someone tapped him on the foot.

"Who's there?" he called gruffly.

"Someone who loves you." That voice could only belong to one person, and she had used the word love. Love. He scrambled out from under the truck. She looked like she'd been driving all night, but she was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Leia." He wasn't sure who moved first, but the next thing he knew, she was in his arms and they were kissing and that was all that mattered in the whole world.

When they finally separated, Leia held up the adapter he'd left on the kitchen table.

"You're amazing, you know?" he asked, taking the adapter from her. She smiled and gave him a shrug. "How did you get here?" She pointed to his station wagon parked near the restaurant. Chewbacca had his enormous head sticking out the window.

"We've been bonding." Han kissed her again.

"You look exhausted. I've got a room at a motel a few miles down the road. You can sleep, shower if you want. I'll be there in a little while," he promised. Leia yawned and took the room key from him. He kissed her one more time before she walked back to his station wagon.

"I love you," she called over her shoulder. He looked smugly back at her.

"I know."

00

They were lying together on the cheap mattress, wrapped around each other as the morning light filtered through the curtains. Han was peppering her face with kisses and she was giggling at his affections.

"See? I told you that falling asleep together is only half the fun," he replied, holding her even closer and starting down her neck.

Han had come to the motel the night before to find her freshly showered and sleeping on the bed. They'd gone to dinner, where they'd talked everything out: their desires not to hurt the other person, Han's feelings of inadequacy, Leia's fear of closeness, and what that meant for their future. Some parts of the conversation hadn't been easy, but it was important that they get through it.

Fortunately, they had, and the night had ended with far more pleasurable pursuits.

"I didn't doubt you," she replied, pulling his lips back up to hers.

"How do you expect me to want to sleep by myself ever again?" he asked.

"This is a Sunday, hotshot. I don't think you're going to want to get up at 5 am every morning with me." Han kissed her passionately.

"I don't know. I would get up pretty early for this," he teased.

"Will you bring me back here some day?" Leia asked as he gave attention to the soft spot behind her ear. He tore his lips away and glanced around the nondescript motel room.

"I know last night was pretty good, sweetheart, but I'm sure we can find a better place to…relive the memories."

"That's not what I meant. I meant this area. Route 66," she teased.

"Sure. It's a nice place. Maybe someday, we'll drive the whole thing together. Start in Chicago and go all the way to California. We'll get a tent and take Chewie and we'll camp along the way. We can even stop in Arizona and see your brother," he offered. "It'd be a nice vacation; it takes about two weeks to do it right."

"Two weeks? I don't think I'll be able to take that much time off in a row until I retire."

"Hmm, I'll wait," he offered, nuzzling her neck.

"We might need a camper by then. I don't think I'll want to sleep on the ground when I'm 60."

"Well, I'll be almost 70 by then. Maybe we could do it in a few sections. Just take a few days, go a couple states at a time every few years."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"We could do the first section as our honeymoon," he suggested without thinking. Leia sat up, looking at him in surprise.

"Why, hotshot, is that a proposal?"

"It might be…soon…if you want it to be. Someday when we're dressed and thinking with our heads and not…other parts. Plus, I should probably get you a ring and think up somethin' nice to say and get down on my knee. I'm a nice man, remember?" Leia kissed him soundly. His hands slipped down from her shoulders and she squealed as he tickled her ribs.

"Nice man, my foot. You're a scoundrel, through and through." Han's hands dipped even lower. "And I don't think I'd want you any other way."

"You know, we're going to have to drive back at some point. Separately," he added glumly.

"Well, then you'd better give me something to remember you by."

AN: Before we go on to the epilogue, I have a few people that I need to thank: Once again, thank you to my fabulous betas, Captainskysolo and Reading Writing Watching! Thank you also to CorellianSmuggler for looking over these last few chapters for characterization! Thank you to every single one of you who has taken the time to write me a review, especially the guest reviewers who I couldn't reply to! I read and appreciated every comment given! Thank you all, so very very much. This has been a pleasure. And now, onto the epilogue...remember how I promised Leia a nicer dress? Yeah, that's coming. If you want to see a picture, there's one on tumblr!

All the love, Organanation