A/N: Same as the previous chapter. Feels like part of a bigger story pestering me to get out. But if that ever happens, I can always steal it from myself. :-)

Timeframe: Sometime during the Rebellion (post ANH)

Only He Would Know

"We're dead. We're dead. By the goddess, we're dead. They'll find us. They're gonna find-"

"Shhhhh. Shhhhhh. We're not dead. We're not dead and we have to try and keep it that way," Leia whispered while Han searched the house to ensure it was empty.

"Eryan. Eryan. He's..he's..." The woman sobbed uncontrollably and Leia pulled her to her and held her. Han entered, took one look at the scene and shook his head. He was frustrated. He always got frustrated when things didn't go as planned. He got frustrated quite a bit.

"Eryan was brave," Leia soothed. "He died for what he believed in. He was fighting for a better future. And you can, too."

The woman pulled away and began to shake her head furiously. "No. No. I can't help you. They'll kill me. They'll-"

"They'll kill us," Leia said, her voice hard. "Is that what you want? Should we walk out of that door and turn ourselves in now? Is that what Eryan would've wanted? To die for nothing?"

The woman snapped her mouth shut, still shaking her head, tears streaming down her face.

Leia looked over to Han. He waved his hand dismissively, rolling his eyes as he looked away. He never liked counting on anyone else for help. If it was up to him, they would be running through the streets now, dodging blaster fire. It had been Leia that wanted to return to their safe house and stick to their original plan for extraction. Even if their agent, this woman's husband, had been executed before their eyes.

Nici," Leia said, placing her hands on the sides of the woman's face and forcing her to make eye contact with her. "Listen to me. They're coming. The Imperials are raiding every house in the village, there is no way that we can avoid that."

The sound of blaster fire barked in the distance and sharp, clipped voices echoed down the streets outside. "They'll kill us!" Nici screamed hysterically.

Leia once again looked over to Han. This time she needed reassurance from him, strength and she got it. His eyes were hard and his mouth set in a grim line but he gave her a nod of encouragement. It was all she needed. She looked back at Nici. The twenty-two year old young bride of a brave man that had agreed to help the band of Rebels. A man that now lay dead in an alley, the information that he died for in Leia's pocket.

"Yes," Leia said quietly, taking the young woman's hands into her own and squeezing them gently. "They will kill us. Because that's what they do. That's what Eryan was fighting against." She glanced back at Han before returning to Nici. "What we're fighting against. We need to get out of here, Nici. We need to get back with the intel that your husband died for. You don't have to help us. You didn't sign up for anything, I know. But we are here and I'm asking." She stopped, watched as Nici worked to control her sobbing. "Will you help us?"

"What?" The word broke out of her, a half-sob. "What can I do?"

The Millennium Falcon, Four Hours Later...

She sat with a blanket wrapped around her, eyes staring ahead blankly. She saw him enter the lounge out of the corner of her eye. Had felt the Falcon slip into hyperspace and had been counting down the seconds until he would find her.

"Hey," he whispered, crouching down in front of her so that his face was all that she saw.

"Hey."

He put his hand on her knee, squeezing it. "You doin' alright?"

She nodded her head. But his question made her think, something she had been skillfully avoiding for the past few hours and the corners of her mouth started to pull downward as her chin quivered slightly. It was never easy, when missions went wrong. It was hard to stay focused on the one thing that had gone right on this one. Leia curled her fist around the datacard in her hand.

"Leia," Han soothed.

She shook her head, dismissing his concern, tilting her head up to keep her tears in check and then sniffing and running a hand over her nose. "I'm fine," she said. "I'm fine, really."

"There was nothing we could've done."

"No?" She snapped. "This isn't the part where you tell me that you were right? That we never should've went back there?" She sniffed again. Her breath was tripping over itself like it had done when she was a child and her father pressed her to tell him how she had skinned her knee. But she didn't care.

"No," Han answered patiently. He could be like that: patient, compassionate and caring. Back at the base, in the next few days, she would be yelling at him, finding that fact to be very difficult to remember. "You were right," he continued. "If we'd've run, we'd be dead. It was the only way."

Leia shut her eyes, they burned from being held open for too long. Against the backs of her eyelids she saw her. Nici. Lying dead in a pool of blood, a blaster hole on her forehead. A sob caught in Leia's throat and her body shook. Strong arms took hold of her, her cheek pressed against his chest and finally, finally she let the tears come.

Back at the Rebel Base he would be there, sitting beside her as she delivered the report. She would read it without emotion, her voice calm and her eyes hard but he would know. Large warm hands slid around her and across her back and she snaked a hand around him to hold him close as she cried. He understood her as so few did. Knew that she could be like this yet still be strong. A leader. So she allowed him this...allowed herself this, because...

Only he would know.