"What's wrong?"
The moment Leia walked in the door Anakin had run to her and flung himself into her arms as she knelt to his level. He squeezed her with every ounce of his strength and Leia's heart nearly broke as she sensed the anguish her youngest son was feeling.
"I don't want Daddy to die!"
Leia held him close and spoke soothingly into his ear. "Daddy's fine, honey. He's not going to die. He just needed to be alone for a few days." The words sounded hollow even in her own ears. She could no longer deny the fact that she now feared Anakin might be right.
"No, he's dying, Mommy! I can feel it, he's so cold. He wants to come home. He wants you to find him and bring him home."
Leia found it difficult to keep herself from crying along with him, and without releasing her youngest son, she glanced over his shoulder to see Jacen and Jaina looking at her from the living room, each holding one of Winter's hands. Although the twins were not crying, the look of fear in their eyes was unmistakable.
"Do you two feel it, too?"
The older Solo children looked at her and nodded slowly. Leia often wondered if maybe even though Han had no Force sense of his own, the children could sometimes sense strong feelings from him simply because they shared his blood.
Knowing Anakin wasn't ready to let go, Leia looked to Winter. "Would you mind seeing if Luke can come over here as soon as possible?"
"Of course," she replied before going to call him.
Leia carried Anakin with her over to the couch and sat down. The twins each snuggled up to either side of their mother while she held Anakin in her lap. As she held her children close, she couldn't help but wonder if their family would ever be whole again.
By the time Luke arrived, after having spent some time trying and failing to locate Han himself, Leia had managed to get Anakin to the point that he was no longer sobbing, but he still refused to leave her arms. His small hands were wrapped around his mother's neck as she rocked him gently.
Luke didn't need to see his nephew on the couch with his sister to know what the boy was feeling. He knelt next to them and placed a hand on Anakin's trembling shoulder. "What's going on?"
Anakin sniffled but didn't say a word, so Leia answered. "He's afraid something has happened to Han." After speaking for Anakin, Leia mouthed the words, So am I to her brother so that none of the children could hear her.
"Is that so?" Luke asked.
Quietly, Anakin answered. "I don't want him to die."
Luke exchanged a concerned look with his sister, noting the glassiness of unshed tears in her eyes. "I don't know what to do anymore, Luke."
"Well, have you heard anything from Han?"
Leia nearly-imperceptibly shook her head, not wanting to further alarm the grief-stricken child in her arms.
"Do you have any idea where he is?"
"Go look at that security file on my data pad, Luke. I need you to help me try and figure out what's going on."
Luke was confused, but did as she asked. When the video image appeared, he saw his brother-in-law exiting an establishment, a woman's arm draped over his shoulder. Luke realized very quickly why his sister seemed upset and confused. But perhaps she had failed to notice a smaller detail of the recording.
He called to her from across the room. "Do you know who this woman is?"
"No, I've never seen her before. Please tell me it's not what it looks like, Luke."
Luke could tell by the hurt she was feeling that she had misread the image, but he didn't want his niece and nephews to know what he'd seen. "Leia, I think you need to take a closer look at this. I'm pretty sure it's not what you think it is."
Leia sat up, lifted Anakin off her lap and placed him on the couch between his siblings. "I just have to look at something with Uncle Luke, ok? I'm not going anywhere." The children nodded as Leia wiped the moisture away from Anakin's eyes with her thumbs before walking across the room to join Luke.
"I can't take much more of this, Luke. Tell me you saw something helpful."
"Trust me, it's important. Just watch."
Leia turned her eyes toward the screen, and briefly, he felt her sense of betrayal. That is, until he saw her eyes widen and her hand come up to cover her mouth.
She turned to look at her brother, painful realization in her eyes. "Oh, gods, Luke. She – "
Luke placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know, Leia."
Her head turned to look at her youngest son, still staring back at her from the couch. "That means he might be right about…"
Luke knew exactly what she feared. The first time she'd seen the recording she'd only noticed the left arm draped over Han's shoulder, and not the blaster in her right hand, pushed up against Han's side. He hadn't sought comfort in the arms of another woman, he'd been kidnapped. And it was quite possible that Anakin was feeling like his father was dying because it was actually happening.
"We have to find him, Luke!"
She was on her feet in an instant, and Luke stood and placed his hands on her shoulders. "We will, Leia. Just calm down a bit so we can figure this out."
"We have to find that woman, Luke. Let's see if she's on any recent security recordings."
Leia snatched up her data pad and began searching for the woman's face in any recordings over the past several hours. After a few minutes of silence, her finger pointed to the blip on the screen. "There, Luke. She's there right now! We have to go."
She stood, and Anakin had his arms wrapped around her leg instantly. "No, don't go!"
Leia bent down to his eye level and hugged him tightly. "It's all right, Anakin. Everything is going to be fine. I just have to go find Daddy so I can bring him home safe. I'm going to make sure he's all right."
Leia looked at his icy blue eyes, understanding dawning in him as he slowly nodded. "I promise I'll be back soon and so will Daddy." She hugged him once more and then looked up to Jacen and Jaina, seated silently with Winter. "You guys stay here with Winter. Uncle Luke and I will be gone for a little while, but we'll be back soon." She looked to Winter. "You don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not. Please, go."
She turned to her brother. "Luke, let's go get him."
"Right."
It seemed to take an eternity to get to the lower levels of Coruscant. Leia was not generally a nervous person, but it made her incredibly uncomfortable to be in such a seedy part of the city. It didn't hurt to have an armed Jedi Master on her side, though at the moment she'd prefer an ex-smuggler with a blaster.
Once they pulled up to the location indicated on the latest recording, Leia immediately recognized the speeder she'd seen Han take off in. "There it is, Luke. She must still be inside. Let me do the talking."
In spite of the fact that there was very little light in the bar, it didn't take long for Leia to see exactly who she was looking for, dressed exactly as she had been on the recording. The woman was seated at a table by herself, nursing a drink with her head down. Leia forced a deep breath to calm down and keep from launching herself at the woman and demanding to know what she'd done with Han.
Instead, she quietly slid into the chair across from her, Luke standing over her shoulder, and gave her a stare that could melt duracrete. She asked plainly, "Where is he?"
The woman looked up slowly, and although Leia could tell by the woman's eyes that she recognized her, she feigned innocence. "I don't think I know what you're talking about."
Leia had no patience for such games, and all of her diplomatic training went out the window. You did not mess with Leia Solo when her husband's life was at stake. "You know damn well what I'm talking about. I saw that you took my husband away at blasterpoint. Now tell me where he is."
Leia had spoken the words more calmly than she thought possible, and the woman looked back at Leia and gave her a half-smile, only infuriating her further. "It took you an awfully long time to come looking for him didn't it? I'm not sure it matters anymore anyway. You're probably too late."
Pushed too far, Leia reached across the table and grabbed the collar of her cloak with both hands. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, lady. I'd know if I was too late. Now you're coming with me and my brother here," she nodded to Luke and continued, "and you're going to show us where Han Solo is." And maybe I won't kill you.
The woman swallowed hard, then responded casually. "You really care about him, huh?"
Leia was confused, and eased the tension in her fists. "What kind of question is that? Of course I do."
The woman laughed to herself. "Huh, must be nice."
Leia knew she was wasting time, but she had to ask. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Just one of the ones who didn't make it out the way Solo did. Did he tell you about how he grew up?"
"He told me a little bit. He doesn't really like to talk about it."
"Well, not all of us were lucky enough to grow up and have a nice life and find people to care about us. Why did he get to live such a great life, huh?"
Leia was about ready to lose her mind and somehow managed to keep herself from punching this woman in the face. But she needed her to cooperate. "Listen, I'm sorry about whatever happened to you, but you can't blame Han, and you shouldn't be punishing him for it. Han got to live the life he has because he earned it. Now please, I've got three young kids back home who are convinced that their father is dying, and I don't want them to grow up without him. And I need my husband. Take us to him!"
The woman's eyes seemed to soften at her plea. "Tell me, is he a good father?"
Leia was dumbfounded as to why this woman was asking such a question, but sensing she might finally be coming around, she decided to answer. "Yes. He's a great father. The kids love him more than anything, and I don't know if they'd be able to handle it if he was taken away from them." I don't know if I'd be able to handle it, either.
The woman's shoulders slumped, and Leia released the grip she had on her cloak. "It's not easy to lose your parents," she said. "Han was the only real friend I really had after I lost mine when we were kids."
Leia knew quite well what that was like. "Then why did you kidnap him?"
"I… I wanted him to know how it felt. He told me he'd never let anything happen to me. But he couldn't save me."
"Listen, whatever happened obviously happened a long time ago. Han's got a great heart, and I'm sure that he would've done anything to help a friend if he knew how. You have to forgive him. Please don't punish him like this. Please don't take him away from me and my kids."
Leia stared deep into the woman's eyes and finally she exhaled a sharp breath, her lower lip quivering. "I never wanted to turn out this way. Nobody ever gave me a chance to be anything better."
"It's not too late, you know," Leia said. "You can still be a better person. You can still fix this. Please, show us where he is."
"All right, I'm sorry. I'll show you where he is. But I'm afraid it might be too late."
Leia pulled her to her feet in an instant and headed for the door as Luke trailed behind. Relief briefly surged through her before she realized the urgency of the situation. "Don't count on it."