The sun had started glowing just over the horizon. Having finally made it to the other side of the mountain, Han and Leia treaded onward, finally moving through the forest on flat terrain. The mud on their skin had started to dry and crack, and Leia thought for about the hundredth time about how nice it would be to rinse it off, considering what a sad sight the two of them had become.

They were cut, bruised, covered head to toe in mud and had been wearing the same clothes for the past three days. If their lives weren't currently on the line, she might be tempted to laugh at their current situation. She hoped everything would turn out okay, so that maybe one day they could look back and do just that.

Han continued to hold his side, and though she could see the pain in his eyes, Leia tried her best not even to look at him as they ran. She was leading the way, holding Han's hand behind her and trying to get him to keep up. His shortness of breath was cause for concern, but they needed to keep going, and she knew that if she looked at his face she would probably become more worried than she already was, so she opted to concentrate on running.

Her ears perked up when she heard the unmistakable sound of small waves lapping up against the shoreline. Urgently, she pulled Han along faster. They were nearly in the clear, as long as the Falcon was back in working order, anyway. She hoped that whatever this so-called 'Jedi friend' of Xizor's had done would no longer be affecting the vessel.

Their feet met sand and they came to the last row of trees separating the forest from the beach. There, just where they had left it, was the Millenium Falcon. "We're almost there, Han. Can you make it?" She finally allowed herself to turn and look at her husband. He was letting out short, strangled breaths, and his eyes were squeezed shut as he continued to grip at the injured area on his side, his other hand clenching hers.

"Yeah, let's hurry."

Leia pulled at his arm once again as they ran into the salty sea, finally washing most of the mud from their clothes and skin. Fortunately, it wasn't too far to swim out to the ship. When Leia was in over her head, she began swimming as fast as she could towards their destination. After a few frantic strokes, she realized that she couldn't hear Han right next to her anymore, and she turned to make sure he was still on his way, only to find him struggling to keep his head above water. Continuing on land was one thing, but he was in no shape to be swimming at the moment.

Leia was mad at herself for not realizing, and she surged back to help him. When she reached the struggling Correlian, she swam behind him and slipped her arm under his and across his chest. "Are you all right?" she said to him.

"Yeah, just don't let go," he replied, his voice barely more than a whisper, his face just barely breaking the surface.

She pulled him along as best she could, annoyed that he had to be so much bigger than she was. By the time they reached the ship, her breathing started to sound more like Han's, and she was relieved when she could finally pull herself up towards the top hatch. Reaching back, she helped hoist Han up along side her, and he looked equally relieved to once again be walking instead of swimming, even though what he had been doing was more along the lines of just trying to stay afloat. They quickly made their way to the top hatch and Han entered the security code and exposing the entrance.

Once they were inside they moved quickly to the cockpit, hoping that everything was back in working order.

There was a good chance it would be back to normal. Xizor had alluded to the fact that he had some Force-sensitive individual who had caused Han to crash the Falcon. And whoever had crashed it had most likely also kept the communications from working. They figured that once they had been captured, there would no longer be any reason for anyone to bother with keeping the ship incapacitated, and they prayed they were right about that assumption.

Leia felt a surge of relief when Han keyed up the engines and heard the familiar sounds of the ship coming to life. She released the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Let's go home," Leia said.

"I'm with you on that one, sweetheart."

Leia sat down next to Han in the copilot seat, watching as he worked the controls before she felt the ship slowly rise up out of the water. "Now let's just hope we get out of this atmosphere in time," Han said as they rose slowly off the ground.

Before they gained much altitude, there came an unmistakable sound.

"Tell me that's not what I think it is," Han said.

"Damn you, don't you have anything more powerful than that?" Xizor yelled as he pounded his fists against the control panel.

"I'm sorry, sir. We weren't anticipating the need for such things yet. We only have the necessities. We were going to upgrade the weapons systems later." Tako was almost shaking as he delivered the news, knowing Xizor was not someone you wanted to upset.

"Well, keep firing! We can't let them get away."

"Yes, Your Highness." And he fired again.

The bolts shook the cockpit, but still hadn't caused any permanent damage. The shields were doing their job, but there was no telling for how long.

It was time to retaliate. "Leia, I need you to go to the lower turret and blast the hell out of that green son-of-a bitch."

"I'm on my way," she replied as she exited the cockpit. Han had every confidence in his wife's shooting, he just hoped she would get there in time. He heard her voice through the intercom. "They're right on our tail. Don't worry, a few shots and they should be out of our way."

Xizor watched in anger as the Millenium Falcon got closer and closer to space. He knew his chances were much better when they couldn't go to lightspeed, and he cursed himself for not permanently disabling their ship when he'd had the chance. Why had he grown so careless? Suddenly, there was a flash that caused him to flinch.

"They're firing at us, Your Highness."

"Well, fire back at them!"

"Yes, sir." But the next shot was enough to knock Xizor off his feet. He knew that Leia must've been doing the shooting as Han Solo wasn't the type to let anyone else fly his ship, not even his wife.

Leia was turning out to be a better shot than anyone Xizor had ever worked with, and it made him want her now more than ever. That thought was interrupted as another blast hit them with enough force to knock out the lights in the cockpit.

"They've hit the engines, we're going down!"

Xizor sneered as he watched the Falcon fade away. He knew he had lost this time, but there would be other chances. Sooner or later, he would have his princess. And then everything went dark.

Leia heaved a sigh of relief as she watched the ship leave a trail of smoke from a smoldering engine in its descent. "We're all clear, flyboy. Now let's get the hell out of here."

"I love it when you shoot the bad guys. Now get up here and help me savor the victory."

Leia climbed up the ladder and made her way back to the cockpit. Han was finishing setting the coordinates back to Coruscant, and just after Leia sat down next to him, he sent them into hyperspace. There was nothing left to do now but wait to get home.

"Nice shooting," Han said as he reached over to squeeze Leia's hand.

"Well, I learned from the best," she replied.

"Chewie," they said simultaneously, just before bursting into laughter. But Han's laughter was cut short as he grabbed at the stabbing pain in his side. "I forgot," Leia said as she reached over and touched his arm.

"So had I. I think I'm pretty well reminded now."

"How bad is it?"

"Just a little bruise. You know me."

"Yes, I do. And I know when you're lying."

"Okay, fine. Maybe it's a little more than a bruise."

"A little more, huh? Han, you could barely breathe before. Now, I know you may be a little out of shape…"

"Hey, I am not out of shape."

"Well, it's one or the other. So what's it going to be?"

"How do you do that?"

"It's a gift. Now come on, how bad is it?"

"Honestly? It hurts like hell. I mean, I have no idea how I made it all night like that. It hurts to breathe just sitting here."

"Let's go back there so I can take a look at you."

"You can look at me anytime you want, Princess."

"Let's go, Solo."

Leia helped ease Han to his feet, and they went back to their cabin and sat down on their bunk. They were both a complete and utter mess. Leia lifted Han's arm to get a better view of his injured ribs. "Phew!" Leia winced as she turned her head away from him

"What, is it really that bad?" Han asked, looking genuinely more worried than he had before.

"I'm sorry, it's just that…you, well, you could really use a shower."

Han smiled. "Listen, you're no bed of roses right now yourself, sweetheart."

Leia chuckled and then went back to examine Han's ribs. She traced her fingers lightly along his skin where it had begun to turn purple. "I'm just going to press here for a second to see if they're broken."

"Ahhhhhh!" Han yelped, as Leia put some pressure on him.

"They're definitely bruised, but I'm pretty sure they're not broken."

"I'd hate to know what it feels like when they are broken."

"Let's try not to find out. So it's probably going to be pretty tender here for a while. And you'll still have shortness of breath for at least a couple of days."

"I didn't realize I married a doctor."

"If I were a doctor you'd be paying me for all this. I'm working for free. Consider yourself lucky."

"I always do. You're quite a mess here, too," he said as he reached up to brush his thumb along her reddened cheek. "After being held prisoner and falling down a mountain in a horrendous lightning storm, I'd almost forgotten we had that crash landing. How does this feel?"

"Probably no worse than that cut above your eye."

Han reached up to touch his forehead. "With the new injury and all, I didn't even remember about that."

It was at that moment that Leia noticed Han's fingertips for the first time. They were still raw and red from digging his way out of their cell. "Look at your hands," she said as she took one of his into her own.

"Aw, like I said, that's nothin' compared to everything else."

"You're giving me quite the opportunity to test my first aid skills, aren't you?"

"Hey, when I know that the doctor is as beautiful as you are, I practically do it on purpose."

She smiled at him. Even looking as worn out and beat up as he was, she still loved everything about him. And she loved that he made it known that he felt the same way.

"Well, I think I need to get out of these clothes and then burn them. They're just about ready to run away on their own, and yours look about the same," Han said.

"You're telling me. I've never been so ready to get out of a pair of clothes."

They looked at each other and laughed at the unintended suggestiveness of the comment, then Han jumped at the unexpected opportunity. "Oh really, Princess? I can think of a few times maybe where we might've been a little more ready."

"Well, we're not going to be ready for anything like that until we get cleaned up."

"No arguments there."

Han unbuckled the belt of his damp shorts, finding it difficult to slide them off since they were clinging to his legs. He stopped midway as he felt the sharp pain in his ribs. "Uh, Leia? Could you, um, help me out here? I can't really bend over so good."

"Sure you can't, Han." She knew he was serious, but it was more fun to tease him. She helped him out of the rest of his clothes and then got out of her own, leaving the garments in a filthy heap to deal with later. "Well, I don't know about you, but I definitely need that shower," Leia said.

"You sure do," Han said as he waved his hand in front of his face pretending to wave off her stench.

Leia playfully tapped at his arm before grabbing it and pulling him toward the 'fresher. She turned on the water and felt the warmth with her fingertips. Once she determined the temperature was just right, she stepped in and pulled Han behind her, looking down to see days' worth of mud and dirt disappear down the drain. She was glad to know that they would be home soon enough so there was no real need to conserve water rations at this point, especially since they were showering together.

"I've never been so happy to finally take a shower," Han said.

"What about after we were in that garbage masher on the Death Star?"

"That was different. You weren't in there with me then. Trust me, this is much better."

She couldn't argue with that. They washed the dirt off of each other's bodies and relished the warmth as long as they could. Han shaved off the several days' worth of stubble and watched Leia rinse the shampoo out of her long, chestnut hair. When they could barely see each other through the steam, they finally shut off the water and draped themselves in large, white towels, Han's around his waist, and Leia's pulled up under her arms. The shower stall was left a dingy mess, but that could be cleaned some other time.

"Come over here and sit down; we need to put another bandage on that cut," Leia said, pointing at Han's forehead. "And while we're at it, on a few of those fingers, too." Once he reached her, she inspected his hands. "Didn't you used to have fingernails?"

"Nah, you're imagining things." Han sat on a stool as Leia wrapped up Han's fingers and then gently applied a bandage to his forehead. After a few silent moments, Han finally felt the need to say something. "Leia? I'm sorry I acted so crazy when I found out about you and that Xizor… thing. It's just that every once in a while I get a little scared that I could lose you. I don't even know why sometimes, I just…"

Leia watched Han struggle to find the words to finish his sentence, and she sat down on his lap, brushing his wet hair away from his face. "Han, what we have together is irreplaceable. There isn't another man in the universe I would rather spend the rest of my life with, even if you are a little cut and bruised. You don't ever have to be afraid to lose me."

Han knew she felt that way, but somehow it was more reassuring to hear her say it. He reached up with a half-bandaged hand and pulled her head to his and kissed her softly, and a few moments later they pulled away and smiled at one another. Just one look into his eyes told her how much he loved her.

After one more quick kiss, Leia stood, pulled Han by the arm and led him back to their bunk. Without another word, Leia sprawled out on the bed, letting out a sigh. In all her efforts to get clean, she had forgotten how exhausted she was.

Han lay down and curled up behind her, enveloping her in his arms. "It's too bad we're both so tired. I can think of a great way to pass the time." His breath was warm in her ear, and he placed a soft kiss just under her lobe.

As much as she might have wanted to, she was far too tired to do anything but sleep, and she was fairly certain Han felt the same, especially with his bruised ribs. "Han, we're both about ready to pass out. We're going to sleep. If anything else, we should probably consider eating first."

"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry, but I think I'm too tired to eat."

"Me, too. But when we wake up, I'm sure we'll be well rested and ready for anything."

"You'd better mean that."

"Don't you trust me?"

"Always." He kissed her again, and after a few moments she pulled away, knowing that if they kept this up, they were never going to get to sleep. For once, he didn't seem to mind.

"Oh, pillow, I've missed you," Han said sleepily.

Leia couldn't help but laugh. "Have I said thank you yet for saving me again?"

"Nah, but that's okay. It's just what I do."

"My hero," Leia said sarcastically.

He smoothed some wet strands of hair back and softly kissed the spot behind her ear. "Goodnight, Leia," he whispered. "I love you."

"I love you, Han. More than anything." And within moments, they were asleep.

THE END

Thanks for reading, and please let me know if you enjoyed it! It would encourage me to post more.