The sun was just starting to come up on Endor, but already the air was thick and humid. Leia opened her eyes slowly and stole a quick look at her chrono. Figures, she thought. Her body had a habit of waking her up about 30 minutes before her chrono alarm was set, and this morning was no exception.

She did feel a lot better than she had last night. The sky will be blue again in the morning, her mother used to say. Bail may have been Leia's champion and ally in most things (you two are like peas in a pod, her mother also used to say, laughing) but Breha was the one who could soothe Leia like no other. When she was sad, or scared, or angry, or just full of thoughts and couldn't sleep, her mother would stroke her hair and tell her – Lelila, the sky will be blue again in the morning. And she was right; it was always better in the morning. There was always hope.

It helped that she had woken up with Han's body gently curled around hers this morning. Even after their fight on the bridge last night – the first time they'd fought since they got back from Tatooine, she realized – he'd obeyed when she'd asked him to just hold her. He'd held her on the bridge, then come with her back to the hut where they were spending the night and held her there, too. Just held her.

She hated that they had fought. This wasn't like the fights they'd had on Hoth, all the stupid arguments they'd had about his ship being a piece of bantha shit or him not following Alliance protocol or her acting like a high-and-mighty priss or her being married to duty and to the Alliance. All those arguments really weren't about those things they were supposedly about anyway. They were about a princess who'd lost everyone she'd loved and couldn't bear to feel how that felt, and a smuggler who'd never had anyone give a damn about him without an ulterior motive, who made sure to leave before he could get left.

This fight was about secrets and about finding out the person who had created every nightmare in your life had also helped to create you. And knowing that the same power he'd used to do all those horrible things was in you, and your brother, and your daughter…This will make that conversation about who should raise Lilya if I die seem like a really fun time, Leia thought.

But Han didn't even know what they'd fought about. That's why they'd had the fight.

"I—I can't tell you." Not now. Maybe not ever.

"Oh, but you could tell Luke? Is that who you could tell?"

Luke. My brother. She hadn't known, really, though it clicked so completely when he told her he had a sister that it felt like she always had. They'd already known they had the same birthday, but they really didn't look particularly like siblings. Han had admitted once that he originally thought Leia was older, just because Luke seemed to act so much younger. Luke had definitely aged in the last year, though.

That's it, Leia realized. That's why he's been so troubled all this time. He must have found out on Bespin. To live with this secret, all by himself…

She thought of where he was going, to face Vader. She'd just told Han that Luke had left because he was afraid Vader would feel his presence, and made some vague reference to a Jedi thing he said he had to do. Which was true, just not the entire truth. She wanted to reach out to Luke, to give him comfort, but as he was leaving he'd warned her not to reach out to him through their connection, said he was closing it for awhile. I don't want Vader to find you, or find her, said his voice in her head, and she knew he meant Lilya.

Oh, gods, Lilya, she thought. What have I done? How will I protect her? What am I going to do when I get back? If I get back….Her thoughts started to race again, like they had last night, until she remembered another thing her mother used to say when Leia started to panic and get ahead of herself: You'll never catch the falcon by running after it, Leia. Let the falcon come to you. She had to smile at that one.

Mother, she thought longingly. She'd thought of her often in the last year or so, especially after finding out she was pregnant, and in the early days and weeks of motherhood, when she'd alternated between an intense love for Lilya and a sleep-deprived conviction that she was losing her mind and might be the worst mother ever. Breha had never been able to carry a child to term, so when Leia came to them, she'd thrown herself into motherhood with everything she had. Many royal houses would leave the care of children primarily to nannies and governesses, but Breha was the exception. It helped that Bail shared her zeal for parenthood, and that theirs was a true partnership.

Mother was right, she thought to herself. Let the falcon come to me. One thing at a time. She took a deep breath. First, the mission. Then, I'll tell Han, and I'll let him go if I have to. He's already suffered enough for my sake. And if I have to do it to protect her, I'll let Lilya go, too. She tried not to get ahead of herself, to think too much about what letting them go would mean, how it would break her heart. And she didn't want to die today, but if she did, at least she would do so trying to repair what her original family had broken. Lilya could go with Han, or with a nice Alderaani couple, her own Bail and Breha.

She checked her chrono again. Five more minutes. She snuggled into Han's arms, savoring his touch for just a little while longer.

Han was grateful to have the mission to focus on this morning. Things had gotten weird yesterday, even for him. First, it was like a dark cloud had descended on Luke the minute they got near that command ship. Does becoming a Jedi just mean you brood all the time? Then, they got through that okay, but the rest of the day, he could see Leia looking at Luke in a different way. Like she was looking for something, checking on him.

Then he thought they'd lost Leia after she went missing chasing those speeders, only to find her in a village of little furry…whatevers, her hair down and wearing a dress for the first time for a long time, as far as he could remember. And, of course, nearly being dinner for those little furry bastards until Luke managed to float that damned droid in the air. Weird.

And something was going on between Leia and Luke, that was for sure. What happened while I was gone? He knew neither one of them would have done anything to hurt him, but they seemed to share something he didn't understand. Maybe that's what the tears were about, what Luke's leaving so suddenly was about. The kid loved her and was trying to do the right thing by going away. Maybe she loves us both. That feeling he'd had on the way back from Tatooine returned, that sense that everyone else but him knew what the hell was going on.

Despite his confusion, Han realized he loved Leia more than ever. I won't let her sacrifice herself for me, he thought. When we get through this, I'll let her go if I have to. If Luke's the one she loves, she deserves to be with him. He knew Leia would never keep him from his daughter, no matter what happened between them.

He felt Leia snuggle into him. But first, I'm going to hold her for as long as I can.