A/N: Please read and review. More to follow.

I

Silence spread through the frigate as Luke held Leia. The two had just watched the Millennium Falcon disappear into space as Lando and Chewbacca took off on their adventure to locate and rescue Han Solo. This would be the first time Leia had been able to think straight since watching Han fall to the bottom of the carbonite pit on Cloud City. Though Luke had his arm around her to support her, she did not feel a bit better. Staring at the Falcon in the distance simply reminded her of Han.

Everything felt cold. Suddenly, Leia couldn't figure out how she had gotten onto the Rebel ship, or how Lando and Chewie had decided to go after Han on their own. She should have gone with them; he wouldn't be safe until she could hold onto him again.

"Leia," she heard Luke whisper softly from her side in an attempt to soothe her.

She didn't want to tell him to stay quiet; it wasn't Princess-like to take her anger out on him, even though she had done it many times before. Right now, she didn't want to listen to anything except for Han's voice in her head, which she was already struggling to hold on to.

"Lando and Chewie know what they're doing," her companion promised. "I can feel it."

No response. Leia couldn't muster up any sort of reply. Part of her wanted to tell Luke she knew she would see him again, but she didn't feel so sure. Another part of her didn't understand how Luke could say such things; she knew he was a Jedi, but she still didn't get how he could rely on nothing but a feeling. Organa decided it would be best to keep her head up and focused on the small dot in space that just barely shone as Han's ship traveled out into space in the distance.

Luke frowned, but knew it wasn't worth pushing her. He could feel Leia's sadness radiating off of her like nothing he had ever felt before. Although he hadn't experienced the full power of the Force just yet, he knew well enough to sense when someone close to him was not okay.

Leia's breathing came in shallowly and slowly. She was focusing on pacing her breaths so she wouldn't think about anything she didn't want to, but it didn't seem to be working well. Luke could sense her distress gathering with every passing second.

At first, Leia was able to block out the images from her head and focus on escaping what was the awful system of Bespin. Then, she had to rescue Luke. After that, she was worried about getting his hand fixed up. Until now, she had kept busy. She had kept her mind elsewhere.

Now, everything came flooding back. She had felt so sure that she and Han would make it out of the struggle in Cloud City. When she held him in the cell Vader had dumped them in as he struggled to regain his strength, she still felt safe in his presence. She couldn't place her finger on it then, but she figured it out not long after. When Han had been brought to the center of the carbonite pit in shackles, she had figured it out. Too late, as she always was, just like with Alderaan. Everything she loved was destroyed by the Empire. Soon, she would see the Rebellion destroy the Empire, and it would still not satisfy her completely.

Han's face had never had so much emotion before. At least, not that Leia knew of. All at once, she regretted fighting with him on Hoth. She regretted their escape to Bespin, when she could have stayed embraced by his kiss, but instead had run in embarrassment. At the time, she hated that she had let such a low life seduce her. Later, she had grown to love his sense of romance; he had touched her and held her and caressed her. He had cared. She didn't see the smuggler side to him then. She never saw it again, until Vader had encased him in his silver prison. She even regretted her snide remarks about Lando, although she had been right from the start. He was Han's friend, or so he thought. She should have valued his opinions, but instead, she had caused tension.

Slowly, tears welled up in her eyes just as they had during the freezing process. In her desperate attempt to make up for it all, she had blurted out that she loved him. His longing kiss wasn't good enough for her; if she had to say goodbye, she had to tell him the truth. In honesty, she had hoped he would tell her he loved her, too. Part of her wondered for a moment if he didn't care for her the same, but she knew that part was the panicked part that figured Han was long gone. The part that hoped there was still a chance to save him screamed that he loved her just as much, if not more. His kiss was enough to say it all. His face as he was dropped into the pit pushed that fear away even further. Leia remembered how he had looked. She remembered how his eyes were wide with terror, even though he was doing his best to keep her and Chewie calm. He secretly showed more fear than he thought he was showing. His intentions were to make Leia feel better, but she read him like an open book. The pain of leaving her alone shone bright in his eyes. The look pierced her and dug deep into her heart. She didn't let her gaze falter until it had happened.

When Han had been shoved to the ground, encased in the silver carbonite, the sound of metal hitting the floor rung louder in her ears than for anyone else in the room. She felt Chewie hold onto her just as hard as she was gripping his arm. She felt bad for a moment about that, but she knew he was feeling just as much sadness and hatred as she was. She knew that even if she tried, that moment would never leave her memory. Han's pained face in that awful frozen liquid would forever haunt her.

The only plus side was that Lando had announced Han was still alive. See-Threepio had ensured her that he would be fine, as long as he survived the freezing process. Thankfully, if they could find him, there was hope.

Finally, Leia let her gaze turn away from the giant window in front of them. She stared at the ground to her right, tilting her head down to hide her tears. She needed a moment to gather herself to she didn't appear weak to the rest of the Rebellion when they rejoined the rest. As far as she knew, they had no information of her romance with the Corellian smuggler, and until Han was safely back in her arms, she wanted to keep it that way.

"Leia," Luke cooed again, feeling her turn away. He lifted his arm off of her and instead tapped her shoulder with his hand, hoping she would spin around to face him.

"I'm fine, Luke," she said steadily.

Luke was impressed with how well she had calmed her voice, but could feel through the Force that she was far from 'fine'.

After a moment, she lifted her head and spoke again. "Vader will be after you," she said, changing the subject. "We need to get the rebellion out of here before he locates us again."

Luke pressed his lips together as Leia spoke. He knew she was right, but right now, he wanted to do whatever he could to help his friend. She would be struggling until she had Han back, and he knew that perfectly. Carefully, he reached out to her using the Force and did his best to calm her down further. When she turned to face him, he knew he had succeeded just a little bit.

Leia smiled briefly, wiping away a tear that had left a wet streak on her right cheek. "Take me to Mon Mothma," she ordered.

Nothing like having the old Princess back, Luke thought as soon as she demanded they jump back into tactics. He chuckled slightly, but didn't want to overdo it in case Leia was still temperamental. Instead, he offered her his hand and led her through the corridors behind them and up the access ramps to the bunks and central command room of the Rebel fleet.

"Leia," Luke began, guiding her through the silver hallways. "I've been thinking…"

"What, Luke?" she questioned.

"If I can complete my training, I might be more of a help," he told her.

"Your training?" she asked. "Isn't that where you were during our trip to Bespin?"

"Well, yes," he stammered. "But there is still much Yoda has to teach me," Luke clarified.

"Like what?"

"For once," he informed her, "the Jedi have many tricks of persuasion. It could aid us nicely when we need to convince Jabba to hand Han back over."

Leia thought for a moment as they neared the entrance to the command room. She studied the walls of the ship as they walked; everything was cold and silver. Everything reminded her of the carbonite block. She made a mental note to make sure she didn't have to stay in such a colored bunk room.

"Would it help us find his location?" she asked, suddenly expanding the possibilities of Luke's Jedi powers.

"It may," he agreed. "But I must become a Jedi master before we enter something as dangerous as Jabba's palace."

She hated to admit it, but Leia did agree. They had no idea what kind of place Jabba resided at, but it was probably protected by the most dangerous of guards, all of whom were most likely expecting the Rebellion to attempt a theft of Solo.

Leia stepped forward and smiled back at Luke. "Then go," she allowed.

She turned to the door, but before she could take another step, she felt embraced by Luke's presence.

"He's alive, Leia," he told her quietly. "I'm sure of it."

The Princess struggled to brush off his comment, but was able to hold a straight face. His words would bother her until she knew for sure, but for now, she did all that she could to remain in her position as a Rebel officer and appear strong.

When the doors slid open in front of her, chatter ceased and all eyes turned to the Princess and Jedi Skywalker. Leia felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment. Had someone alerted the fleet of her struggles with Han?

"Princess," Mon Mothma greeted from the back of the crowd. When she approached, Leia saw that her long white robes hung just above the floor, making her seem taller than usual. "The Rebellion is terribly sorry for your loss."

Leia felt like turning and walking out, but decided it would be best to assure the Commander that she could still function properly without worrying about Han. She held her head high and disregarded the comments.

"Luke has shared some news with me that I think is important to all of us," the Princess told not just Mon Mothma, but the entire group gathered around the room.

"We will discuss it after you both get settled," she agreed, dipping her head in a small acceptance. "For now, please allow me to show you to your bunks. Then, we will start to plan our next move," she told the two. "With help from you both, of course," she added before leading the two back into the awful, silver corridors.