As Leia grabbed his wrist and dragged down the hallway after her, Luke wondered if the Force would mind its Jedi flat. Or, maybe just with every bone in their body broken… twice. From the look on his sister's face, Skywalker figured Wedge and Wes would be using a spatula to remove his remain from the walls in the very near future.

Luke slammed into then skidded around another corner in Leia's furious wake. She had a white knuckle grip on his arm. He could just make out a few of the stream of words Leia was muttering under her breath,

"…going to kill… how could he? …Hapes… Isolder… this shouldn't be… a very dead Jedi… Mon Mothma is… Han… have I done?..."

The young Jedi bit his lip as he tried to decipher what she was talking about, other than his imminent death. She'd mentioned Han's name without anger – that was good. Leia'd also mentioned Isolder with no apparent displeasure. Bad? Maybe he had misjudged this entire thing and was about to die a gruesome death that would bring Han and Leia no closer to one another.

The sudden stop in front of Leia's cabin jolted Skywalker out of his contemplation. After calmly inserting her door key, Leia wrenched her door open dragged Luke inside then dropped him unceremoniously as she closed the door behind her. Luke quickly reassembled his formal black Jedi robes around him in some semblance of calm while internally he panicked. Leia stared down at him, unblinking,

"Explain." Skywalker had to mentally stop himself from squirming under her intense glare,

"Explain what?" he asked innocently hoping he could somehow bluff his way through this ordeal.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Luke!"

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't," he lied.

"Han. What is he doing on this ship?" Leia snapped.

"He's in charge of this fleet, that's why. Didn't Mon Mothma tell you?"

oooooooooo

Leia could tell Luke was lying, but for some reason, she just couldn't pursue questioning him anymore. She just wanted to be alone.

"No, she didn't tell me." Leia turned away from him, suddenly, not wanting him to see her expression. "You should probably be checking that your door key works."

Luke waited a moment for her to say more, then taking his cue to leave, muttered,

"Yeah, I'd better do that now." Leia sighed when she heard the quiet click as Luke silently slipped out of her cabin and shut the door behind him. That was when Leia finally allowed herself to fall into a complete emotional wreck.

What had she done? Leia had known at some point she would see Han Solo again, but she had thought that it would be several years from now, after she was married to Isolder and probably had her first child, and from a distance. By then, the media would be leaving Han alone and she would have been able to delude herself into believing that she loved Isloder again! Maybe she would even be happy! But this timing was horrible! In a month, two weeks after this diplomatic venture on Akkinth was over, was Leia's wedding. The entire New Republic was counting on her to marry the Hapes for…

Leia paused and reassessed her last thought. Marry the Hapes? She was marrying Isolder! Was that really how she thought of it? She was actually marrying a planetary system, not a man? How had that happened?

She flopped down on the cabin's narrow bed. She could feel tears stinging in the corners of her eyes. And Han… Some section of her brain still doubted whether she really loved him but- but- he'd looked… so…. Leia struggled to think of the right word to describe what she'd seen. Broken. He'd looked so broken. Like he was living on scraps of life and spare time. She'd seen that looked before a long time ago, back before the destruction of the second Death Star, but where? Leia grasped at the thought, trying to remember, but it was only a fleeting impression and the more she tried to concentrate on it, the fainter it grew until it was gone entirely.

A questioned pushed at the edge of Leia's mind. Why hadn't Han resigned his commission? One of the only reasons he had joined the New Republic in the first place had been her! So why hadn't he just left like he'd always claimed he would?

Because he can't. Because I made it impossible for him to leave. I trapped him and before he's always been free!

Leia felt a tear begin to trickle down her cheek as she slowly tried to collect the emotional tatters which had once been her heart.

oooooooooo

Han curled up against his cabin door. It felt like someone had stabbed a knife in his chest and twisted. She looked just as shocked as he was; she hadn't known he'd be there either… Wasn't his life bad enough as it was? Couldn't she just leave him alone now?

Han stared blankly at the gray cabin wall opposite him. Why did I let this happen to me? How can I still love her?

Greetings oh wondrous readers! Please review! It is your reviews upon which I thrive and prevent exceedingly long and annoying bouts of writer's block like the one I just had! No worries, this piece won't stay melancholy forever. More positive chapters soon to come! So, please, review!