Ice
story by Leela Starsky
art by Kate
PART 2
The low hum of the ice-cutters had become a comforting background reassurance. Help was definitely coming. Leia paced restlessly, seemingly unable to relax despite her best efforts, and Solo couldn't relax because she wouldn't let him. She kept trying to talk to him; asking questions about his past, but he would have none of her inquisitiveness, brushing aside her curiosity with an expertise born of practice. He considered exploring the shelves some more just to get himself out of the firing line, but it would have been too dangerous.
Virdon was still unconscious, and Solo suspected the man was comatose. He knew Leia was worried for the same reason and decided they both needed some sort of frivolous distraction.
"All right, let's play a game."
Leia looked at him as if he' d suddenly grown another head. "What?"
"A game. You know--something to while away the hours."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"You got somewhere else to go? Something better to do?"
"Oh, sure. What do you suggest? Strip sabacc?"
Solo grinned. "Now, there's an idea!" He made a show of checking his pockets for a deck of cards, then snapped his fingers in overstated disappointment. "Too cold anyway."
"What a shame."
Solo's gaze sharpened. "Truth or Dare." Leia's eyes flashed with veiled warnings. ''I'll even go first," he soothed. "C'mon, ask me."
"No." She pointedly moved to check on Virdon again.
"Come on," he goaded.
"No."
"Well don't hassle me when you get bored out of your brain--"
"Oh, for goodness sake!" She sat down between Han and Virdon, then asked flatly, "Truth or Dare?"
"Dare."
Leia rolled her eyes and sighed. ''I dare you to stand on one leg."
Solo scowled. "You're not even trying."
"It's a stupidgame!"
"Truth or Dare?"
She looked at him and said melodramatically, "Truth."
"Why did you join the rebellion?" The look she gave him was one of total incredulity, but Solo regarded her seriously. "Really."She started to laugh, and he shook his head emphatically. "And don't give me Alderaan, because you were a part of this before Alderaanhappened." Grief swept across her face and she looked away. Solo winced, regretting the unspoken implication that she had been at all responsible for Alderaan's destruction. He plunged ahead before it had time to settle and take hold. "You,Princess. Why are youhere?"
Leia hugged her knees to her chest, and Solo thought he could hear disappointment in her voice when she finally replied, "If you don't know the answer to that, Han--"
"But are you here because it's what youwant or because it's what your father wanted?"
Leia rolled her eyes. " Ah, yes--Bail and his manipulated daughter. That was a verypopular supposition in the Senate." She looked at him. "No, Han, Ichose to join the Senate and Ichose to be here."
"Why?" Solo shook his head. "Why would anyonechoose to join the Imperial Senate?"
The princess' eyes widened with mild outrage. "To make a difference, of course!"
Solo met her gaze and said forcefully, "You were a teenager.You should have been out playing with boys and getting drunk!"
For a moment Leia looked shocked, then she laughed. "I'm sorry," she said sarcastically. ''I guess I just had more importantthings to do! Truth or Dare, Han?"
Solo paused for a moment, then said, "Truth."
Leia regarded him with suspicion and Solo smiled, hoping she'd be too fazed to ask anything pertinent. "Truth...umm..."
He watched the young woman as she considered her question. Her face looked like porcelain against the blue-black of her slightly disheveled hair, some of which now hung in damp wisps down the side of her face.
"Okay." She pushed the loose strands of hair behind her ear and looked him straight in the eye. "Who was the greatest love of your life?"
"Whoa! Jump right in, why don't you?"
"It was your idea."
"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?"
"Well?"
She was enjoying his discomfort, and Solo came to the conclusion that he must have suffered a moment of insanity. What hadhe been thinking? This line of questioning was making him think about things...no. They'd been buried this long; there was no way he was going to let them out now. "There isn't one." He thought he saw the briefest flicker of disappointment skitter across her face.
"Liar."
"There isn't."
"What, you've never been in love?"
"Have you?"
"This is your Truth, not mine."
"No, I've never been in love." There was perhaps a little too much vehemence in his voice. Solo could see the determination in her eyes as Leia leaned toward him and asked, "No one you've evercared about?"
He smiled arrogantly. "I've had plenty of lovers, sweetheart, but I've always made it a policy not to get involved." She looked away, and Solo realized she was blushing. Delighted, he asked, "Truth or Dare?"
Leia said it without thinking. "Dare." And immediately looked as if she wished she could take it back.
Solo favored her with a lopsided grin and decided he'd found a way to cure her nosiness. "Dare?" He knew her pride would not let her back down, no matter what he suggested. He leaned toward her and challenged, "Kiss me."
She was not prepared for that one. "What?"
"You heard me." Her composure seemed to waver, and his grin got wider.
"No."
"Hey, you chose Dare."
"Stupid game, anyway."
"Coward."
''I am not."
"So kiss me." He leaned closer. "What are you afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid--"
"Yes you are. Afraid you might feelsomething."
"Oh, I'll feel something, all right--"
Solo grinned. ''I know."
Leia's eyes narrowed. "You are soconceited."
''I know that, too--stop trying to change the subject." She glared at him. "Come on. I dareyou."
Swiftly, before he had time to recognize the cunning in her eyes, Leia leaned across and kissed him on the cheek.
"That's not what I meant."
Leia leaned back against the ice wall, smiling. "You just said 'Kiss me.' You didn't stipulate where! Truth or Dare, Han?"
Solo regarded her for a moment, then said cautiously, "Dare."
Her gaze was thoughtful, but she looked as if she couldn't decide what to ask him.
"Well?" His expression turned cocky. "Can't think of one, huh?"
''I dare you to make a commitment."
Solo frowned. "What?"
''I dare you--"
"To what? Commit to what?"
"To us. To the rebellion."
Solo was affronted. "I'd call three years pretty committed."
But Leia shook her head. "You've never officially joined--"
"I've never officially joined anything."
"Except the Academy."
"And look where thatgot me." Solo shifted uncomfortably. ''I heard you turned down the offer of a command."
Solo asked sharply, "Who told you that?"
"It's true, isn't it?" She shook her head. "Why, Han? You have a natural rapport with the pilots-- they'd follow you anywhere--"
"You think I want that on my conscience?"
"You think I want Alderaan on mine?"
"That's your choice. Nobodyblames you for Alderaan."
"Exactly my point." Solo hrrumphed and fell silent. Leia let it ride for a little while, then pushed. "Well?"
He felt cornered. "Well, what? What do you want? A declaration of fidelity?"
Leia sighed. "No."
"Truth or Dare?"
She shrugged, feeling vaguely cheated. "Oh, Truth, I guess..."
Straight away he flung at her, "Who was the greatest love of yourlife?" She scowled at him, and he quipped thinly, "Good question, huh?"
"Very original."
''I thought so." He looked at her. "Well?" he prompted. "Some special boy on Alderaan, perhaps?" Luke?
She didn't meet his sardonic gaze. "No," she said sharply.
"Someone not so special, then?"
Leia looked flustered. ''I never had time for anything like that. I...It just complicates things too much."
"How do you know if you've never tried?"
''I don't have to make my own mistakes, Han. I can learn from others. I need to be able to work with all sorts of people without emotions clouding my judgment." She looked away, irritated. "What am I saying? I don't need to justify any of this."
"Don't you ever want a relationship?" Solo pressed.
"What I wantdoesn't enter into it--"
"What about what you need?"
Leia's eyes, shocked and vulnerable, met his. He'd obviously hit a nerve. "What d'you mean, what I need?"
"We all need relationships--"
"Oh, youcan talk!" She got to her feet. "There aren't any people in yourlife at all." The fervor with which she rubbed her upper arms looked to Solo as if she were trying to rub away her annoyance as much as the cold.
"Subtle," he said, trying to hold his anger in check. "But racist nonetheless."
"Chewie's is a Life Debt,"she snapped defensively "He'd follow you around if you were a..." She cast about briefly, searching for the right expression, sighed, and ended lamely, "...a Sith lord!"
Solo couldn't help smiling at the outrageous analogy, but he was still angry. "He's also my best friend."
"Yes, but he's--"
Whatever she was going to say, she stopped herself, and he caught the guilty look on her face before she turned away.
"What?" he demanded, hotly "Not human?"Solo stood up swiftly, a lithe movement that had him towering over her in an instant. He radiated disappointment. "Princess, that is the most Imperialthing I have ever heard you say."
She had the grace to look ashamed, but he could see it was conditional. There were still unspoken issues in her dark eyes. He decided to let the argument go.
"I'm hungry," he said matter-of-factly. He looked at the package of hot drinks they'd salvaged earlier and deemed them unsatisfactory. "Are you hungry?"
"Tired, hungry, freezing..."
Solo took the lamp to the shelves, and Leia opened another of the thermal blankets. She wrapped it around herself, pulled a cup of tea from the package, tore off the seal, and moved to check Virdon while she waited for it to boil.
Removing her glove, Leia slid her hand inside the man's collar and for one shocked moment thought he was dead. Then, realizing her fingertips were too numb to feel anything, she picked up the cup of tea, warming her hands against it. She winced as her fingers started to tingle painfully. She sipped carefully, ignoring the bitter taste, enjoying the sensation of warmth as the tea slid down her throat. For a moment, she closed her eyes to savor it. But despite the stillness of her body, she could not quiet the turmoil in her brain. Of all the people I had to be trapped with...
She heard Solo curse and looked at him. He was struggling to open a container, which had been largely crushed by the shelf above it. He's going to pull it down on top of himself,Leia thought, but held her tongue and forced herself to look away. She tested the warmth of her hand against her own cheek, then slid it inside Virdon's collar, closing her eyes so she could concentrate. At the same time that she found the man's pulse, Leia heard the container Solo was fighting with crack. When she opened her eyes to close Virdon's collar, the sound of crunching snow and ice under Solo's boots announced his return.
"How is he?" Solo asked.
"Pulse is erratic," she answered, flatly. Solo sat down beside her and, looking at the package in his hand, Leia realized he'd succeeded in finding food. "What is it?" she asked, surprised.
He tore open the packet and broke the seal on the container. Inside was what looked like partially frozen, gelatinous goo. ''I think it's rhyll fish."
Leia grimaced. "Uncooked rhyll fish?"
He sat down beside her and proffered the container. She glanced at the contents and looked far from enthusiastic. Solo removed a glove and scooped some into his mouth with two fingers. ''I thought you were hungry."
Leia still regarded it with disgust. ''I am."
"It isn't bad," he said encouragingly.
Leia reluctantly scooped up a gelatinous glob with her hand. It was cold and wobbled uninvitingly. "It's disgusting."
Through a mouthful, Solo said, "It's food."
Leia forced it into her mouth. It tasted fine, despite being raw. The texture was repulsive, but she ignored that. Solo grinned at her and she managed to smile back at him.
Eating created its own problems, and they reserved the smaller part of the L-shaped cubbyhole for bodily functions. Leia returned from her last visit shivering uncontrollably. The construction of her snowsuit required her to virtually strip to relieve herself, and her body temperature had plummeted as a result.
Solo glanced up at her as she struggled unsuccessfully to pull her jacket back on and leapt to his feet to help her. Leia's automatic reaction was to flinch away, to do it herself, but she forced herself to let him help her, knowing she was dangerously cold. She thanked him and tried to rub her upper arms with her gloved hands but couldn't coordinate them; she was shivering too much. He did it for her, and she smiled apologetically. "I'm so cold..."
"There's not enough of you to keep you warm." Solo was concerned. Her lips were blue. He picked up the thermal blanket she'd been using and wrapped it around her.
''I can't feel my toes. Or my ears..." She covered her ears with her hands, then abruptly pulled off one glove and started tugging at her carefully bound hair.
Solo held the blanket around her, watching as she dragged her fingers through the plaits and shook them loose. He knew she was doing it for purely practical reasons, for the warmth and insulation her hair would provide, but he found it very distracting. She looked so much more approachable with her hair down.
He pointed at Virdon. "Lie down beside him. I'll get behind you."
Leia looked at the comatose man, her teeth chattering. Body heat.Solo was trying to keep her warm. She nodded acquiescence and sat down beside Virdon.
Solo wrapped a thermal blanket around himself and sat beside her. Lying down, Leia turned to face the unconscious man as Solo unfolded the last of the blankets and moved in close behind her. "Lift your head," he said.
Leia complied, holding her hair out of the way, and he slid his arm underneath her. She lay her head on his arm and they both settled, Han pushing her as close to Virdon as she could get and enveloped her with himself. She closed her eyes, trying not to think about the closeness and how nice it felt.
"Feeling any warmer?" he asked, pulling the hood of his snow jacket up and arranging the last blanket across the three of them.
She felt his voice as much as heard it, vibrating through his chest and her back, and his breath across her head. So close...and, yes, she was feeling warmer. Leia nodded.
"Good." He swallowed, affected by her closeness, by the smell of her hair. "Try and sleep."
"But we shouldn't," she murmured. "We'll get too cold."
Solo looked at the back of her head; she was borderline hypothermic now.If the rescue team wasn't through to them by morning, he knew Leia would probably be dead. Her trembling had abated slightly, and he touched his nose to her head, intending to rile her, to take her focus off the cold. "We could always bonk, I suppose."
She stiffened in his arms. "What?"
Solo stifled a laugh. She was so predictable, so wonderfully easy to bait! Leia must have realized he was joking, because she suddenly relaxed and laughed--the most welcome sound Han had heard in hours.
"You're laughing at me," he scolded, smiling into her hair, and she chuckled some more. "I'll be scarred for life."
"But it'll be a nicescar," she assured him, still chuckling. "Character-building. Like the one on your chin."
"You like my chin?"
She buried her face in his elbow, and murmured shyly, ''I like your chin."
''I like your chin, too," he rumbled, and Leia felt a twinge of excitement in her belly. "What other partsof me do you like?"
Leia thought for a moment, chewing her bottom lip, ''I don't know...your eyes, I guess."
Solo groaned with melodramatic disappointment. "Ah, they all go for the eyes."
Leia turned her head toward him slightly, and argued, "But you have nice eyes."
"But no one ever said they liked my chinbefore." He put his lips to her ear and murmured suggestively, "You were my first."
Leia felt an automatic flush of embarrassment, considered her response briefly, then smiled and said, daringly for her, ''I hope I was gentle."
"No, you weren't,"he said, trying to sound hurt. "You just barged right in and told me you liked my chin!"
She snickered, burying her face in his elbow again.
"Next you'll be saying you like my thumb.Or my feet!"
Leia paused a moment, considering, then asked, "Have I seenyour feet?"
Solo grinned. "You show me yours, I'll show you mine." Leia laughed. "Feeling warmer?" he asked.
She nodded, then added quietly, "Thank you."
They lay silent for a long time, listening to the muffled scream of the ice-cutters, each wondering what the other was thinking.
Leia sighed and Solo asked, "What is it, Princess?"
"I...I was thinking about Virdon."
"He'll be fine." He decided her concern was more personal and added, "We'll be fine."
"It'd be ironic really...after being hunted for so long. To die like this."
"Pointlessly?" He felt her nod and teased gently, "Do I detect visions of martyrdom?" She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow but their proximity and the bulk of their clothes blunted the blow. Solo smiled, but said with surprising insight, "You're afraid of a meaningless death."
"Aren't you?"
"In my line of work? Are you kidding? Best I can hope for is that it won't be too painful."
"Hence your desire to pay off the Hutt," she said. Some of her hair had fallen across her face and she brushed it away with one hand.
Solo resisted the temptation to brush aside a strand she'd missed. "Jabba's methods of killing are...inventive," he said.
"How do you know he won't kill you anyway?" His lack of response prompted the princess to turn her face toward him. "That's why you're still here, isn't it? You're as afraid of a meaningless death as I am."
Solo met her gaze, struggling to concentrate on forming a response and not think about how desirable she looked. Was that why he'd stayed? "Maybe..." he started. Her eyes were dark pools that seemed to draw him in. "You keep finding work for me to do..."
"You've been a great help to us," Leia said, unable to recall ever seeing eyes that changed color quite like Solo's did. Certainly she knew of species that could change eye color at will, and some whose eye color was an indication of age and sexual maturity. But with most humans it was a genetic lottery. She had seen blue eyes enhanced with lighting or clothes, but brown eyes never changed. Hers certainly didn't. Solo's, on the other hand, showed the same lack of commitment to color that their owner showed to responsibility. The green was constant but incredibly variable. Sometimes Leia could swear they changed with his moods, and wondered what their current dark, sea green might mean.
"The pay is reasonable," he continued. "Certainly regular."
He smiled gently and Leia almost forgot to breathe.
"Company's tolerable," he said, then clarified, "mostof the time."
"Mostof the time," Leia agreed.
Silence descended like a thick blanket and for a moment neither of them moved. Then Solo frowned as the realization sank in that the shrieking of the ice-cutters had stopped. He sat up. "They've stopped."
Leia shuddered, feeling the sudden lack of his warmth and a horrible sense of dread.
Solo tried to switch the radio on and swore. "Radio's dead," he growled. He looked helplessly at Leia, then at the slab of ice over their heads. "Maybe I should try doing something with Luke's lightsaber?"
"They're probably close and can't use the ice-cutters any more," Leia reasoned, but her thoughts and body language screamed, Come back, I'm freezing!
Solo looked at her. Sensed her need. He gave the ceiling one more glance, then lay down again, and the princess settled eagerly into his embrace. She was shivering again, and Solo reflexively tightened his hold on her. He pulled his knees up behind hers, heard her sigh with relief, and then felt her embrace the arm he had around her waist. Solo's mind was suddenly flooded with fantasies about her, and he closed his eyes for a moment, struggling to ignore them. Then she moved her head fractionally and he found his nose pressed against it. Instinctively, he nuzzled deeper into her hair, wallowing in the silken feel of it against his lips.
"Leia," he sighed, his voice barely a whisper.
He felt her hold on his arm tighten. "Han," she answered softly.
Luke joined the dig-out crew in the early hours of the morning. They were getting close, but the surrounding ice was getting more unstable, so they had switched from ice-cutters to focused blasters and were literally melting their way through. It took longer and the wait was excruciating, but it was safer. Chewbacca had been with them all night, too big to fit in the actual tunnel, but helping out with the water pumps and any other way he could.
They'd tried to contact Han and Leia a couple of times, but without any luck. Everyone hoped it was simply a problem with the radio.
There was a muffled shout from inside the tunnel, quickly followed by a cheer, as the word came that they'd reached Solo, Virdon, and the princess. Then came the realization that they'd miscalculated and had come up in the wrong aisle, the one from which Solo had rescued Virdon.
A soldier named Felder Romt was the first man through. Realizing the error, he climbed through the shelves as Solo had. He didn't recognize the warnings from the creaking ice. After listening to ice squealing all night, he probably didn't even hear it. He grinned down at the three figures, cuddled up together against the cold.
"Good morning!"Solo and the princess awoke and looked blearily in his direction. "Rescue team's here!"
The rumbling from above was continuous, and Solo and Leia looked up at the ice, alarmed. Fear brought them quickly to their senses.
"What the--" Solo lurched to his feet.
Leia simply screamed from her makeshift bed. "Get out of there!"
Romt had expected to be greeted with shouts of joy, or at least relief--not abuse. He was taken aback.
Solo rushed at him, shouting, "Get out--"
Romt never knew what hit him. The collapsing shelves crushed him instantly. Solo barely had time to turn back to the princess, now on her feet, before the ice came down behind him, knocking him off his feet and carrying him toward her on a frozen wave. It slammed him into the wall. He heard Leia scream. then something hit the back of his head. His skull reverberated with blinding pain. Merciful unconsciousness took him.
I t was the sound they'd been dreading all night, faintly punctuated by Leia's scream.
Somebody groaned, "Oh dear god.. ." amid an army of comlinks screaming for attention. Sick with grief and disbelief, Luke finally answered his to hear Rieekan on the other end demanding to know what had happened. He could barely find the words. "It's gone... It's gone..."
Leia struggled to consciousness and moaned, surprised to find herself alive. The light was brilliant. Too bright. She couldn't see. The roof had fallen in and now she was outside. Unless they found her soon, she'd freeze to death. She was buried up to her waist, one leg painfully twisted under the weight of snow, but there was nothing she could do about it.
She looked for Solo and found him right beside her, buried a little deeper, his head level with her chest. He was lying face down, and blood had turned the snow around him red. Fear gripped her heart.
"Han?" She turned his head so she could see his face, unable to feel for life through her gloves. "Han?" Panic began to beat in her chest. He was very still, and for an awful moment she thought he was dead, but he moaned as she felt around his head for the source of the bleeding. Relief left her light-headed. She looked around, squinting at the glare.
They were protected from the worst of the wind and ice by the trough created by the cave-in, but only the worst. Snow flurried in and settled on them. They'd be buried unless someone found them soon. She gazed down at Solo, who moved but did not open his eyes. "Now what do we do?"
"Cluuugh...now it comes out..." His words were slurred. "Who didn't pay attention...in glacial...survival...hmmm?"
Leia didn't even try to smile. At least his bleeding seemed to have stopped. He turned his head up to grin at her, opened his eyes, but quickly shut them again, the light obviously causing him great pain. "We mustn't sleep," she recited numbly. "Our bodies will slow down too much and we'll freeze."
"Bodies? What...bodies?"
Leia brushed the snow from his face. She couldn't feel her legs any more. At least being frozen quelled some of the pain, she thought wryly. She told him, "If we don't stay awake, they'll never find us."
She watched his face relax as he slipped into unconsciousness again.
"Han?"
She let him sleep.