A.N. And with the conclusion of the last chapter, that's why Tia's been nearly silent throughout this whole story! Well, I received what was probably the greatest review EVER and I just wanted to take the time to really thank the reviewer. So, chapters 27 and 28 are dedicated to LiaLia15. Thank you so much! Hope you're still enjoying.
He was the good friend here, Chewie reminded himself as he crept along the walls, quietly as though he feared he would get caught. By leaving, he was going to be the good friend here. What an honor to his Life debt it would be! It would make Han so happy and Chewie would have the better Han back again. That's why he was doing this. That's why he was leaving Han for now. He had to find Leia and reunite these two poor lovers. Chewie was sure he couldn't handle another day with Han if he didn't fix this soon!
He snuck out of the hotel, all of Han's earnings from working for Ducchi tucked safely until his crossbow sash. He was sure he'd taken every precaution to be sure Han didn't mess this up. He'd taken the money to be sure Han wouldn't be able to leave the hotel. He'd left his friend just enough to pay for each day it would take until Chewie came back with the princess. Now, he was leaving the Falcon, hurrying to find Leia before someone messed his plan on up.
Chewie made it to the Falcon and he hurried to the controls, his hands flying across the control board as he prepared for takeoff as fast as he could, still worried Han would wake up and come chasing after him. Soon, the Falcon was ready to go and Chewie typed in Alderaan's coordinates, setting course for Han's princess.
So often, Leia found herself trying to shut her eyes against the world, but today, more than she'd ever wanted to . . . Leia wanted to be able to do it for real, to be able to ignore the world without a worry and have all the time in the world to break down and cry.
She had her hands covering her ears, her elbows tucked between her pulled up knees. She rocked back and forth, studying the maps and running her every conversation with Han over in her head. "He has to be there," she cried to Tia, shaking her head and sniffling. "We don't have the time to go looking everywhere!"
"Leia," Tia spoke up, one hand moving to gently rest on Leia's knee. Her voice was just as soft as her touch, light as a feather, calming as the sea. Leia turned her eyes up to look at her aunt and the sad, understanding look in Tia's expression melted Leia's heart and she fell into her aunt's embrace. "I need to find him!" she cried into Tia's shoulder. For a long moment, Tia didn't say anything. She just held onto her niece, rocked her like a child and told her without words that she understood, that she was doing everything to help.
"I need you to promise me you'll act smarter," Tia said when she finally spoke up again. She carefully pushed Leia back and wiped away her tears. "Right now. I need you to look me in my eyes and promise me that you'll never make the same mistakes that I did. Don't act low like that. You're strong and smart, so much stronger and smarter than me. Never let that slip away, Leia. Stay strong and smart. Keep a clear head. Don't let everyone else around you sway you. You know what's best. You know what you have to do. Don't ever do what I did, Leia."
Leia nodded, wiping her own tears now. She sat up in Tia's arms and promised her. "You loved Nial's father, didn't you?"
Tia nodded.
"And I love Nial. And you, so you'd better listen to me."
Leia nodded and shut off the holographic map. "You're right, Aunt Tia. It isn't fair. Part of me doesn't want to find him because I always knew it could only last so long. I didn't want it end. I don't want this to be the end. "
"I know, Lelila. And my promise to you is that I'll do everything to help you with this-"
"It's hopeless. And you know it is. Papa isn't going to allow this. Alderaan isn't going to allow this. I just want to be sure Han will be okay."
"I think the better question is: are you going to be okay. When all is said and done, your father deals with this rogue suitor of yours, and Celly and Rouge finally have the wedding of their dreams . . . are you going to be okay? Are you ever going to be my happy little niece ever again? Lelila, I love you and I care about you. You're the only niece I have. I don't want to watch you live life completely miserable and depressed. If Mothma and Alderaan get their way . . . what's going to happen to you?"
Without words to say, Leia avoided her aunt's eyes, her own eyes studying the blankets beneath her, picking at the fabric with her nimble fingers. "That's what I thought," Tia muttered.
Leia un folded her legs and rested her head on the bed, staring up at the wall while Tia listened. "I never meant to fall in love with him. In fact, at first, I couldn't stand him. But everything just happened so fast, I didn't even know what was going on."
"In true love, you never do. In true love, you never mean for anything to happen. Like you said, it just does. Life unravels, you react to it, and it brings you two closer. Life happened to you. You were hurting and you needed someone who would listen. Han listened. Things happened. It brought you two closer. And now this has happened. And it's going to bring you both even closer. Love stinks, doesn't it? It's great while it's still working for you, but the second it fails . . ."
"It hurts," Leia murmured simply, closing her eyes. Tears fell down her cheeks and Tia brought over a hand to swipe them away.
"Yeah, it does. Now, you keep your eyes closed, fall asleep. You need your rest more than any of us."
What was a father to do? When he is standing between his heart-broken daughter and her happiness, is he just supposed to let her go, let her run off without knowing the first thing about what she's running toward? Bail heaved a sigh, drawing his hands down his face. Light footsteps came echoing down the bare hall towards the crew lounge and he turned to see Tia entering. "She's sleeping," she said, nodding back down the hall. "Why aren't you? Didn't Breha go to bed, too?"
Bail, Tia, and Sabé were the only ones still awake. Tia joined the other two at the round caf table and scooted in beside the Nabooan. "I can't sleep," the brother told his sister. "My daughter is in love with a Corellian criminal. Let me guess. You're on her side now, too?"
"I'm sorry. I have to. I understand this. It would be hypocritical of me to take your side on this. Besides, I know Leia and she's smart. Very smart and strong. If Han wasn't a decent man she would have dealt with him instead of letting him swoon her."
"Am I the bad guy, now? I'm worried for her and I'm the only one against this and I'm everyone's enemy?"
"No! Breha is on your side. She should be. You two are her parents. You should be worried. In fact, I'd be a little worried if you weren't worried."
"Bail," Sabé reached out her hand to settle it on Bail's arm as she told him, "I've met Han. I've seen him several times and he's good to her. He's so good to Leia. He cares about her far more than Isolder or Gram ever will. He loves her. He loves her enough to leave her. To keep her safe. I know this scares yo, Bail, but she's growing up. You know that. You need to let her go and I'm telling you now who you want her to be leaving with. Han's so good to her, he'll care for her just right.
"Han wants her to be happy, too. He wants to give her the galaxy just like you do. Have you seen the earrings Leia's wearing? The spirals? Han bought them for her. He was working for Ducchi so he could earn the money to pay off his debt and he spent it on earrings for Leia. He spent it on treats from the bakery that he would bring Leia whenever he visited. He spent it on tickets to the dancing house in Aldera. He spent it all on her because he loves her, Bail. He loves her just like you do and he wants to give her everything he can. The thing is, he doesn't realize that all she needed from him was his presence, his love, his support. He's been keeping her going this whole time. What's going to happen to Leia when she doesn't have him there to keep her going anymore?"
Bail sat on Sabé's words for a while, considering the answer to her question. The truth was that Bail was too scared to know the answer to that. He finally dared himself to meet Sabé's gaze and he asked her, "The night of her birthday. Han visited her that night, didn't he?"
With a smile, Sabé nodded. "What else could have made her so happy the next day? You want to know what she told me when I asked her what exactly happened that night? She told me that it was official; she'd fallen in love with him. And all he had to do was listen. I bet Isolder has never listened like that."
"I hope he's good to her," Tia said. "I hope he's just as good as everyone says he is. All I know is that I haven't Leia that happy in . . . I don't think I've ever seen her as happy as she was after her birthday. I don't want that to ever end."
"Viceroy," the call cut through her thoughts and Leia was almost thankful for it. She looked up to see Captain Raymus Antilles approaching her father. "Sir."
"Captain Antilles," her father nodded to the man as he approached. "Is there something you have to report?"
"An unknown freighter is crossing our path. The pilot has identified their ship as the Princess of Blood, but I suspect it's an alias."
That caught her attention. She could recall a certain exchange between her and Han a while ago. She's asked him how many aliases he had for the Falcon and he'd gone through the list for her. As a joke, Han had promised her that when there was a time she'd be able to fly with him, they'd go by Princess of Blood because it would only be fitting. Leia had rolled her eyes at that and slammed him with a pillow, but her thoughts ran berserk as she let the captain's explanation sink in. Princess of Blood.
"Han!" she screeched, jumping from her seat and racing to the viewport. Outside, gliding through space, she saw her; the Millennium Falcon. Small and junky, she knew Raymus wasn't too worried. He was just reporting to her father as was his job. He just didn't know that this ship had a lot of fight in her. And it was also the home of her flyboy.
This was it, she realized. She'd see him now and this would be the end of everything. But this was him and he was safe. "That's him," she told her father and he, with Tia and Raymus, came to look with her. "That's Han."
"He greets us in that thing?" Tia almost laughed. "He's braver than I thought."
Bail quickly turned form the viewport and ordered to Raymus, "Have him board the Tantive. He'd better show himself within the hour."
"Yes, Viceroy."
He went off and in his place came Breha. She watched the freighter approach closer, frowning slightly. She came to her daughter's side and told Leia, "Please don't forget how much we love you."
The simple comment jerked Leia back to full reality and it took all her courage not to cry. She hurried before her family to meet the ship as it landed in the Tantive's bay. She waited patiently as its boarding ramp lowered slowly with a long groan. She waited for Han to appear out of the darkness, waited for his gaze to meet hers. But first came Chewie and Leia smiled graciously at him. She waited longer, a few seconds more before she turned to the wookiee and asked him, "Chewie? Where's Han? Isn't he coming?"
Chewie just watched her for a long moment before growling a soft response, a tone so soft Leia had never heard a wookiee speak so gently, so softly before. [I came here by myself to speak with you. I didn't bring Han because he wouldn't let me. He doesn't want to see you again, Princess. He doesn't want to hurt you anymore. I came because I know that'snot going to help anything either. Han became a different person after he met you, a person that I enjoyed a lot more than loner, cynical Han. And I want that different Han back. You need to come with me; back to Han. He needs you.]
Leia briefly looked past her shoulder to her family, to Bail and Breha and Tia and Sabé. She bit her lip and said to Chewie, "Han's right. We can't do that. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. I'd better be on my way."
[But that's just it, Princess!] Chewie took hold of Leia by her shoulders and gently shook her, staring her dead in the eye. [He's not okay. He hasn't been okay since we left Alderaan. Han needs you. He needs to stay with you. This is the only way!]
"That's not going to happen. He's going to be put in prison, Chewie. All I'm doing is making sure Jabba isn't the one that finds him first."
Chewie switched his gaze from Leia to her father, then back. [No,] he insisted again, his growl sounding alarmed. [No, you don't understand. If you understood, you would come with me. Han needs you!]
Leia couldn't say anymore. Her throat constricted and she looked away, waiting for everything to fall apart. Sure enough, "Where is he?" her father's deep voice rumbled in anger. He approached Chewbacca and waited. The wookiee looked to her and Leia nodded. "Tell him, Chewie," she said, her throat tears threatened to choke her and she hurried before a single sob could escape. She turned back towards her own quarters aboard the ship. And she left with those words being said.