Hey! I'm back. Sorry for keeping you waiting so long. My thanks to StatsGrandma57 for beta-reading and to HannahRachel05, Hazel, MrsScruffyNerfherder, Mako-clb, Loufiction, nerdyninjaunicorn, Fawn Hickory, luv15, and various Guests for your comments on the previous chapter. I appreciate everyone who's favorited or followed this story - you keep me motivated to finish this one day. :) Any remaining errors are mine.
Leia smelled the peculiar, acrid odor of singed carpet. The musty, woodsy scent was overpowering and vaguely familiar. Wrinkling her nose, she realized that the smell grew stronger every time a piece of the damaged fabric slapped her in the face. Her mouth felt full of carpet lint; she spat it out in disgust.
Wait, what?
Leia struggled to remember the past few hours but her mind came up blank.
Where am I? What's going on?
Her body jostled seemingly against her will. She heard an accompanying thud with each jerking movement.
Thunk ... Thunk ... Thunk.
So, I'm moving. Transport? No, I feel wind on my arms. Taxicart?
A hissing whiz of blaster fire. The pounding sped up: thunk, thunk, thunk! Another bolt seared by, close enough that she could smell charred nerf hide.
"Chewie, I'm hit!" A voice, garbled and in pain, jolted Leia into greater awareness, but she was still unable to rouse enough to inquire what was going on.
The answering Wookiee cry sounded like a klaxon. Leia felt the call to battle reverberate throughout her entire body. Chewie's hairy arms tightened around her legs at the same time she heard the zing of his bowcaster.
"Nice shot, pal!" Leia heard relief in Han's voice. "We need to get back to the Falcon. Now!"
Leia opened one bleary brown eye to the visual of a disheveled Han Solo upside down. He was splayed out on the ground, brown hair matted with sweat, bloodstripes torn. A distinct blaster scar crossed the ankle of his right boot.
Oh gods. I'm slung over Chewbacca's shoulder like a dead nerf. Images of herself and Han drugged and hiding behind a planter crossed her mind. The bounty hunter must have given chase.
Leia tried to yell at the great beast to put her down. Unfortunately, her body wasn't yet responding to her commands and the order emerged like a mewl. This did not produce the results she'd hoped for.
Han and Chewie continued to ignore her. Chewie yowled at Han, pointing at the spacer's ankle.
"I know, I know. It's my fault." Leia's ears perked up at this and she stopped fidgeting. Han admitting he's wrong? This should be interesting. "Looks worse than it is."
Chewie grumped in return. Leia didn't know much Shyriiwook, but she was pretty sure she caught the word "idiot."
"Yeah, I'm sure I sprained it again too, but we can't check it here."
Another growl.
"I know it's gonna swell. What do you want me to do about it, huh? You can't carry both of us and shoot, and that bounty hunter's prob'ly got more friends." He grunted as he tried to stand. Chewie reached a great paw in Han's direction to steady him. "We'll just cut my boot off later if we have to. I got another pair around somewhere onboard the ship." He glanced up. "What'd'ya think? About two klicks back to the spaceport?"
Chewie grumbled. Leia sensed an exasperated mix of both irritation and concern.
Han sighed as they began to walk. "You're right. It would've been easier for you to carry me." Leia watched him wince every time he put weight on his injured ankle. "I thought that drug would wear off faster than it did." He cast a glance in Leia's direction, and she shut her eyes before he could catch her eavesdropping. "But then you wouldn't have had your paws free to shoot that second one. Kriffing bounty hunters." Leia could hear Han swallow before he cleared his throat. "She ought to be comin' around by now, huh?" Did she detect a hint of worry in his tone?
This time, Chewie let out a long string of growls, grunts, and grimaces.
"Screw the mission. She's not stepping foot aboard that ship! Rieekan can kiss my exhaust port. We've got the codes; he can send someone else down here to retrieve it. We're headed back."
Leia twisted under Chewie's grip. "Like hell we are," she ground out with effort.
"Leia?" She saw a flicker of something - fear? relief? annoyance? love? - cross Han's expression before his features settled down into his usual sardonic sabacc face.
Chewie set her down gently, which was when Leia realized she wasn't wearing any shoes. How is a person supposed to feel dignified without shoes? "What time is it?" Leia tried not to slur her words. "How close are we to zero hour?"
Han narrowed his eyes at her. "We're heading back to Hoth, your holiness. You're not fit for this mission, bounty hunters know we're here, Black Sun are crawlin' -"
"Not fit for this mission!" Leia retorted. "Who are you to judge -"
Chewie whuffed at her to lower her voice, and Leia dropped her tone to a violent hiss. "I should be leading this mission and you know it! I'm more fit for command than you'll ever be. Add in your sprained ankle and that migraine medication slowing you down ..."
Whoops. Leia watched the light in Han's eyes flicker and dim, replaced by a cold, calculating glare. Blast it! I shouldn't have said that. Whatever this drug was, her self-restraint had gone out the airlock.
"I'm gonna kill Luke," Han muttered. "Damn kid can't keep his kriffing mouth shut."
"He didn't have to tell me anything!" Leia insisted. "I just knew." And that, Leia realized a second too late, was a terrible lie to tell Captain Solo. Hurt flashed across his face, and she caught a glimpse of the scared little boy who hadn't been able to protect his mother when she was gunned down. "Han, I didn't mean -"
"Great job proving my point, your Worshipfulness," Han snapped, every word clipped and precise. "Let's get these codes back to Rieekan so Chewie and I can get out of your hair." The captain's previously vulnerable expression hardened into a Hoth-cold sneer.
Still in her altered state, Leia had no idea how to reach him. She kept her mouth closed for fear of making things worse, and let Chewie cradle her in his arms since weaving for two kilometers without shoes on this kriffing planet was not her idea of fun.
Leia had two klicks to come up with a plan to convince Han to stay with the mission. Twenty or so Imperial minutes, no, Rebel minutes. I can do this. But despite her anger and frustration, Leia found herself relaxing in Chewie's warm embrace. Within minutes - Rebel or otherwise - she fell sound asleep.
