Author's Note: I thought I'd be evil and leave you with another cliffhanger this time, but decided I'd take pity on my readers and just finish the story already. Plus, I mean…there's kissing. :-) Warning: sappy ending ahead.
Chapter Ten
Han swore as he scooped up piece after piece. He examined each one, and kept some while throwing others away. Leia realized the ones he was throwing away were damaged.
He finished sorting and straightened. "Okay. Good news. Everything over there," he pointed at the pile of damaged pieces, "is only necessary to the hyperdrive if you want to be absolutely certain you survive re-entry to normal space."
Leia rolled her eyes. "Good thing that isn't us."
Han grinned. "Now our only problem is getting into hyperspace in the first place." He held up another piece. "This we need to work around. I need you to take off while I figure out how the hell we're going to do this."
Leia swallowed. "Han, I've never flown anything more complicated than an on-planet transport on autopilot."
"No sweat, Highness. You know the theory. You'll be fine. Just get her up. I'll be ready to take over by then."
Leia looked into his almost-reassuring eyes and decided they really had nothing to lose. She walked to the cockpit and sat down. She heard Han grunting for a few minutes and knew he was dumping the bodies outside. She waited until she heard the ramp seal itself, and spent the next twenty seconds screwing up the courage to touch even the most basic controls.
Finally Han yelled, "Sitting on the ground isn't getting us away from the Imps, darling!"
Leia muttered something about self-assured Corellian pilots thinking they knew everything, and turned on the engines. She checked the controls as well as she could remember, and programmed the ancient computer to take them into space. Thankfully, it seemed to work, and they were out of the atmosphere in what seemed like no time at all.
"Han?"
He was distracted, but called back, "Haven't heard any loud noises, so I'm sure you're doing fine."
"It's not that," Leia called back. "We've got company."
Han swore. "All right. Don't panic. Come down here."
Leia obeyed.
Han handed her a few pieces and pointed to the components in front of him. "Those pieces you're holding go in here. All you need to do is fit them in and tighten everything up. I'll lose our friends, we'll make the jump."
Leia thought he sounded entirely too confident.
She was proven right a moment later when she heard him swear again after seeing what was pursuing them. It was the patrol from their earlier trip, of course, and it was already close enough that Leia had judged escape practically impossible.
Frustrated with one of the components of the hyperdrive that didn't seem to fit anywhere, she yelled, "This is probably your worst plan yet!"
Han ignored her as he decided to use a small moon's gravity to speed him on his way. The patrol ship's larger mass would prevent it from following as closely, and the Falcon just might keep enough of a lead to escape, provided the hyperdrive was functional on time.
The next few minutes while Han did all he could to increase their speed were torture as Leia tried to stuff in the various components into the board before here while trying to keep her balance. It seemed inertial compensators only went so far on the Falcon.
Finally he called back to her. "I hope you're done back there! We've got about thirty seconds to the limit, and this better work the first time, or we won't be around to try a second time."
Leia looked down at the two components she had left.
"Uh. Yeah! Just…" she fitted one more in, tightening it down. "One. Minute." She finished with that piece and moved to the next one. She jammed it into the most likely-looking spot and jammed a long, thin bar over it just as Han yelled,
"It's now or never!" Leia heard him throw the switch, and prayed her makeshift clamp would hold.
With one great clunk, the Falcon jumped into hyperspace and away from their pursuit.
Leia laughed with relief, and Han yelled, his excitement audible throughout the ship.
Han threw a couple more switches to make sure everything was really okay, and ran aft. He came upon Leia leaning against the wall, grinning. He swept her up and twirled her around. She did not even feel it as Han set her down again.
She looked up at him and stopped laughing. She felt the same unfamiliar tightening in the pit of her stomach and she saw his eyes darken as he looked down at her.
He let her go.
"My worst plan yet?" Han sounded offended.
Leia smiled broadly, hoping the tension was broken for now. "Okay, it might come in a close second with that plan you had on Sunara. At least this plan worked."
"That plan would have worked if you had just cut your hair."
Leia sputtered. "Run casual? Not even Luke could have pulled it off."
"The main problem with that plan was that a certain princess was too stubborn to cut a couple of inches off—"
Leia was actually angry now. "A couple of inches? You wanted me to cut everything but a couple of inches!"
"Hey," Han shrugged. "It would grow back!"
She must have seen that he wasn't serious, because she narrowed her eyes but did not say anything back to him. She folded her arms, just looking at him, the hair in question still pinned back, although parts of it were threatening to escape.
Han leaned close and tugged at one of the pins he saw holding up her hair. Almost nothing happened, so he tugged at another, his hand—dirty as usual—brushing her cheek and reminding her of their lunch on Sunara.
"Stop that." Leia's voice was a little hoarse. She remembered the kiss Han had stolen earlier on the trip, his reassuring presence at night and on Q'Alde, and realized she was trembling again.
Han tugged at yet another pin and kept his tone light. "What are you afraid of, highness? That you'll have to do your hair again?"
Leia shook her head, causing one whole section of hair to fall.
"I'm not afraid."
Han started on the other side. "Prove it."
Leia was silent. The next pin came out, then another. She said, somewhat frantically, "How did they find us?"
Han said, still reaching for more pins, "I found a beacon. Must've activated when we hit the patrol." He leaned forward to get a pin in the back, and said, "Actually, I'm glad you didn't cut it."
Without allowing herself to think any more Leia reached up, pulled his head down toward her, and kissed him.
Han hadn't expected that, but he wasn't about to let the moment pass.
With his left hand he pulled her close, his lips pressing back against hers. His right hand kept seeking out pins. There seemed to be hundreds of the things, but Leia was still kissing him when he pulled out the last pin minutes later. He pulled back just slightly as the last one fell to the deck and her hair tumbled down her back and over his other hand at her waist.
Han pulled back. Leia opened her eyes.
"Princess…"
She said, softly. "You really need to stop calling me that."
Han swallowed. "Leia."
Before she pulled him down again, she said, "By the way, I'm never flying in this death trap again."
It really didn't seem like the right time to complain.
Much later, Leia turned over, and Han put his arm around her waist, nuzzling the back of her neck. He remembered her earlier comment, and said, "You know, it's not the Falcon's fault we almost didn't make it out."
Leia made a sound in the back of her throat. "What? Oh. No, not that. I was talking about the fact that your bulkhead plating fell over…that was the thunk we heard before we were boarded."
Han dropped his head back onto the seat. "That was it?"
Leia sat up and looked at him incredulously. "That was it? Oh, just another bulkhead falling over. Nothing to worry about. Not like those things are heavy or important or anything!"
Han put his finger on her lips.
"It was the bulkhead in the aft corridor, right? It does that all the time." He leaned closer to Leia, who was not reassured. He smirked. "I think that corridor's haunted."
Leia couldn't think of anything to say to that, so when Han kissed her, she didn't even protest. Right now there wasn't time to worry about how Corellian pilots deluded themselves when it came to their ships, especially when a certain Corellian pilot was proving to be very distracting (and, she admitted, very reassuring). She figured she could always bring it up later, after they fixed the hyperdrive and if they survived reentry into normal space.
They did.
Fin