• "Between the Lines," Susan Zahn

'Time is running out.'

As the Rebellion scrambled to deconstruct its frozen home on the planet Hoth in the midst of an Imperial attack, Captain Han Solo, smuggler, gambler, and unofficial Rebel, was scrambling to reconstruct his ship--the Millennium Falcon, his career, and his very life.

Another explosion erupted on the Falcon's hull.

"What the hell was that?!" Han bellowed, his lanky body striding across the top of the ship.

The mech droid helping Han and copilot Chewbacca glided over and offered an explanation, which only elicited a Solo-patented scowl.

'One more thing holding me back.'

And he so desperately needed to go. Left too many things to the last nanosecond this time. Fixing the Falcon's lifters. Paying Jabba the Hutt for his past smuggling misdeed. And the Princess.

Han wasn't quite sure when it happened, but he had fallen in love with Leia. What had started out as typical condescension toward someone 10 years one's junior, a healthy disrespect for people in high places, and good old-fashioned Corellian flirting had turned into feelings so serious that he was scared to even think about them.

That's why he was so very scared when he saw Leia go down on Ord Mantell, blasting and drawing the bounty hunter Junius Ponds' fire to buy Han enough time to escape into the Falcon and pull out the big guns. When the laser smoke cleared, Ponds was dead and the Princess lay paralyzed by a stun gun.

'Dammit--why'd she do that?!' Han cursed to himself as he scooped her up and into the Falcon, Chewie howling furiously at him to step it up before any other bounty hunters made an appearance. But he knew why she did that. Because she was by nature a fighter, loyal to a fault, and didn't know when to quit. Three of the many reasons he found her irresistible. One of the other reasons being that she even knew how to handle a blaster, and did so in the fight for freedom from the dark Empire. "Free of spirit, free to dream." That was the motto of the now defunct Spacer's Guild he'd once belonged to. Blaster in hand, she was the embodiment of that saying.

On the way back to Hoth, he sat--leaning forward with forearms on knees--across from Leia's petite, unconscious body strapped in the Falcon's tiny med bay, staring at her small face and brown hair falling out of the knotted tail at the nape of her neck. Imagined that face smiling at him and her hair free and falling around her shoulders. And realized he loved her. And that he needed to deal with Jabba once and for all. And that in the process of dealing with Jabba he'd have to leave her, and possibly lose his life, neither prospect in which he was particularly interested.

And Han knew that Luke, also 10 years his junior and a guy he considered a brother--though he'd never tell him so, was in love with Leia himself. It wasn't exactly hard to see. Luke made no effort to conceal his crush on the Princess, acting on those feelings as he did all his other ones--without hesitation, implicitly trusting them. While Han outwardly chided Luke for that quality, he inwardly admired--and even envied--him for it.

For Leia's part, she clearly had a friendship with Luke that was special--as if they shared something no one else could. Something that Han could never hope to have with her. He and Luke were just too different to share the same kind of relationship with her.

Shifting in his seat and unconsciously sighing, Han was truly at a loss at what to do for the first time in his life. So he did what he did so often in his life--put things off. He did nothing.

Now, as the Hoth cavern roof fell around him, he had to do something. For starters, he had to get himself, Chewie, and the Falcon out of there. Luke was above ground in his snowspeeder, trying to buy Han, Leia, and the rest of the Rebellion enough time to escape. 'Dammit--why'd he do that?!' he cursed to himself as he remembered asking Luke to join his crew, to escape with him and Chewie. Luke had just laughed softly, shook his head, and looked through him in that way he had. Of course Luke would stay and fight. He was by nature a fighter, loyal to a fault, and didn't know when to quit...just like...

Leia. What of the Princess? Han's stomach dropped as he predicted how she would play her hand now. 'Not even a captain, and she'll go down with the ship,' he smirked to himself.

Then his countenance grew dangerously serious.

'She's got to know. Even if she's never given me a second thought, even if she laughs in my face--she's got to know once and for all I'm serious.'

Han straightened up from the lifter he was working on and ran across the hull to Chewie, putting a hand on his furry shoulder. "Stop what you're doing and get 'er ready to go," he said, pointing a finger at the wookiee. "She can fly, and that's all we need right now. I'll be right back."

Chewbacca roared his approval and sent the mech droid scuttling off the roof. Han slid down the ladder to the frozen floor and hit the ground running to the command center.

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