"Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited." - Princess Leia Organa, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
It had been a good year on Hoth so far. The raids got trickier, as the Empire gradually regained power and resources, but they had grown more careful as well. And Rieekan was a good leader, Leia had to admit. They'd built up a mutual sort of respect between them. While initially she had doubted his capabilities and inwardly resented him for taking Dodonna's place, she'd come to realize he was proving to be even more efficient and resourceful than the late general. And seeing as he was hardly protective over her, she could count on him to make logical decisions regarding her role in missions and raids.
Such as this one.
She, Han and Luke had stealthily boarded a ship headed for Dantooine, allegedly holding a captured general hostage. They hadn't originally planned to board the ship, but to report on its destination and holdings. However, she'd come to appreciate Han's advice on taking risks and so, once they had figured out General Liawkman was being held onboard, they snuck in when they could, hiding behind the crates in the back of the ship.
Tiptoeing quietly across the deck, keeping a firm hold on her laser, Leia took a quick survey of their surroundings, "This isn't where they're holding him."
Han looked incredulous, "We haven't checked those rooms over there, in case you hadn't noticed-"
"I've been held hostage onboard a ship before, in case you hadn't noticed," she adopted his tone, rolling her eyes, "Believe me, they wouldn't keep him in this area. There aren't any guards patrolling and it's far too open."
"If you say so, Your Worship," he replied, following her, "Luke, why don't you check down there just in case?"
"He could be discovered; do you want to get us all killed?" she said irritably, about to take a left when Han pulled her back sharply into a dark corner, holding a hand over her mouth. She struggled for about a second, before she noticed the clone patrolling down the side.
She relaxed her posture, keeping her eyes trained on the clone. Han released his hand over her mouth, yet she realized he had not loosened his arm wrapped around her torso, trapping her back against him. Typical. The man couldn't resist an opportunity to hold a woman in a secluded dark corner, even if they were hiding for their lives on an Imperial cruiser. Or at least that was what she thought.
Tilting her head slightly to look at him, she could see that he was just as focused on the clone as she had been, his brows knitted in a slight frown. She wriggled slightly and that was when he looked at her and seemed to comprehend that he was still holding on to her tightly. A slow grin lit his face, even as he looked back to the clone, maintaining his grip. He knew very well she could hardly struggle without making a commotion and catching the clone's attention. Impossible man. She resignedly kept still, although her breath hitched when he slowly drew her blaster from the holster on her waist with his other hand in a smooth, fluid motion. He could've grabbed his own, but no, he did this to purposefully discompose her and Leia hated to admit it, even to herself, but it was working...
She gave herself a little mental shake as she realized what he was about to do. "No," she breathed warningly. The sound of the blaster firing could gather unwanted attention. They needed to make this a quick, efficient rescue without anyone becoming aware of their presence.
He bent his head, murmuring in her ear, "He's not going to leave this corridor."
She did a quick scan of the place – she'd been too distracted to notice – but this was very likely where the General was being held, she recognized the similar layout to the Death Star. Behind one of those doors...she quickly made an estimation to be the one on the far right. And Han was correct, they wouldn't be able to make it without the clone seeing them.
"We can't fire," this she was certain about.
"So what would you have me do, Princess?" this time he let his mouth brush against her ear, his breath hot and teasing and she had to suppress both a shiver and a glare in his direction. How he managed to disconcert her at the time, she didn't know. How he had the audacity to do so...well, she'd always known he was a scoundrel.
"Wait till he gets close, then grab him from around his neck and hold till he's unconscious," she said, formulating a plan quickly.
"Easier said than done, sweetheart, with all that armor..."
"I've got your back," she responded, "I'll shoot him myself if things get out of control."
"Why, Your Worship," he finally released his hold around her and she felt unexpectedly deprived of his heat – she could hear the grin in his voice, as though he knew what she was thinking – "Have a little faith in me."
Easier said than done.
Han quickly grabbed the clone from behind, grunting as he struggled, before finally going limp. He set him down on the ground with some effort, while Leia headed into the cell. He kept the blaster trained outside, watching warily for any more troopers.
He hadn't exactly meant to land up in such close quarters with the Princess, but her certainly wasn't complaining. He'd come to accept the fact that he was attracted to her, that there was a sharp sort of heat between them that hadn't merely come about as a by-product of their infamous arguments. That didn't mean he'd come to take it seriously, however. She was his superior officer and he didn't like to mix business with pleasure. Not to mention the fact that she'd probably kiss a tauntaun before admitting she might feel the same way.
He knew she did. Perhaps she didn't quite realize it, but she was definitely attracted to him, she felt that heat too. And there had been no greater enjoyment for him than to confirm that with her back pressed to his chest and her heart thudding from more than just the danger they were in, that tiny catch in her breath when he'd allowed his lips to just sweep the dainty curve of her ear. She was so small in his arms, yet she was like an explosive; volatile and brimming with locked-up passion. He'd only managed to release some of it when he made her angry and damn, she was a stunner when she was angry. He'd allowed himself to imagine far too many times what she might be like in bed, although he'd quickly shut down such thoughts as pointless and futile.
He'd considered finding himself a bedmate – the base had a number of willing females who'd made their attraction towards him pretty clear – but he knew any sexual experience would be lacking and unsatisfactory if it wasn't with the woman he wanted. That was the root of the whole messy problem. Physical attraction could be brief, but with Leia, it only seemed to get worse over time. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was because he saw her everyday, they worked together regularly, even spent some of their limited free time in each other's company. Constantly being in such close quarters with the woman in question would frustrate any man, he reasoned. And maybe it also had to do with how she didn't throw herself at him, blatantly nor indirectly, as many females were wont to do in his company; maybe he just liked the chase. But, he couldn't seem to get her out of his system.
"Found him?" he queried, nudging the clone's helmeted head with his foot and shaking off his thoughts.
"He's here...but he's not conscious. He's been tortured. Looks like Vader's work," she responded grimly from the cell, "We'll have to carry him out."
Han dubiously peered in to inspect the massively sized man, "Great."
Chewie's worried growl from his earpiece made him halt, "What is it?"
"They're starting to return to the ship. You need to get out of there fast."
"Damn, damn, damn. Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can, we found the General, but he's knocked out cold."
"Hurry," his friend said tersely.
"Where's Luke?" Leia suddenly looked around in concern.
The firing of blasters down the next corridor answered her question. "Found him."
Leia slumped down tiredly in the Falcon. She'd hardly gotten much sleep over the past days and the rescue had been an extremely close-call. Luckily they'd gotten the General out of the ship with few mishaps, due to Luke being the centre of attention on the other side. She wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed to cause such a ruckus, but luckily he'd escaped. This hadn't gone smoothly, but at least they were alive and had gotten away. Her head hurt and she leaned back, shutting her eyes for a bit. A rough jolt in the ship had her eyes flying open. They'd been shot at; the cruiser was giving chase.
"Han!" she quickly joined him behind his captain's chair, "We need to lose them fast!"
"Tell me something I don't know," he retorted, "Luke, take the other end and fire!"
She watched worriedly as the cruiser dodged and continued in pursuit, "Han, if we can't lose them, we can't lead them back to Hoth."
"I can lose them, I can lose them," he said stubbornly, pulling the gear to lightspeed, then looked in horror as the ship didn't make the jump. The same horror pulled at Leia's insides. He tried again, to no avail and swore violently before making a wide swerve around, trying to dodge the cruiser's firing. A sharp hit made the entire vessel shake.
"Han!"
"I know, I know, hang on!" he fiddled with some knobs and hit the thing, dodging around a crater and then pulled the gear again, slumping back in his chair when they finally made the jump. It took about thirty seconds of pure relief to hit Leia, before her fury sparked.
"This is ridiculous; do you know how dangerous that was? You keep insisting on flying this thing every time, whether it's a safe bet or not, I've told you at least a hundred times by now to not fly it if you're not completely certain it's going to get us out of a tight corner! We almost got caught back there, why? Because you couldn't bear to part with your precious ship to fly a more reliable one," she shot out with biting sarcasm.
"How many times has this "thing" saved my life? Saved our lives?" he demanded, turning to face her, "I know what I'm doing and I don't need some goddamn stuck-up princess to tell me otherwise!"
"Do you really know what you're doing?" she said with derision, "Every choice of yours is a split-second decision, you treat every mission like a sort of game, getting closer and closer to the edge each time and endangering other people's lives in the process!"
"A game? You think I'm fooling around here? I wouldn't be out here risking my life every damn day just for the thrill of it, Princess!"
"And today you risked all our lives by choosing to fly this rusty old junk-piece!"
"And we're safe now! Is it so hard for you to appreciate the fact that we're alive and maybe even show a little thanks?" he grumbled.
"Thanks?" she almost laughed, "What? Do you expect me to just hop into your bed with gratitude?" she walked away huffily, leaving Han gaping, open-mouthed, after her retreating form.
"I've never seen a female strike you speechless before," Chewie remarked.
"Have you ever met a female like that?" Han retorted, having sufficiently recovered, turning back to the controls, "This is what comes of consorting with Princesses, I tell ya..little hellcat..."
"She was just worried. And she has a quick temper, but so do you. Besides, this week's been rough on her. One of the younger ones got lost on a patrol and by the time they sent someone to look for him, he'd already frozen to death."
"Yeah. Quaid," Han muttered. He'd been fond of the little guy too.
"She's not used to this like we are. I doubt she's even fully recovered after Dodonna and her parents and entire planet...she acts tough and she is...but, she's also a person with emotions and feelings and she deals with them the only way she can," his friend said wisely.
"By taking them out on me?" Han said indignantly.
"By blocking them out. And that just gets her more on edge. Especially with you because you like to purposefully irritate her – don't argue, you know it's true," Chewie said swiftly before he had a chance to protest.
"Are you saying that I purposefully tried to get us all killed today?" he muttered sourly.
"No...but, she's just used to getting mad at you," the Wookiee shrugged, "It's just...habit, I guess, especially when she's strained. And well, I suppose she's comfortable enough with you to get angry and yell and yet know you'll be by her side in a tight fix nonetheless."
"Huh," he grunted pensively.
"And I think she doesn't quite know what to do with you either. You flirt with her, tease her, mock her, irritate her...she's not used to all that."
"She needs a little riling up once in a while..."
"See, that's what I mean? You like to rile her up."
"So? I need some source of amusement to pass my time when I ain't getting shot at," he countered defensively.
"But why her?" Chewie prodded knowingly.
Han didn't answer. He'd asked himself the same question too many times and yet, even he didn't know...why her?
A/N: So just to make something clear - a reader asked me about this on my last chapter - where's the romance? Which, I thought was a pretty good point, it's a fic based on Han and Leia's love story after all. So I thought I'd clarify to you all now :) As, I think, most of you have realized, I'm basing this story solely off the movies and so, I want to show the progression of their relationship in my own way. At this point, I think it's a little early for romance - I mean, Han definitely has a thing for her, as you can tell, but he doesn't intend to act on it, although he likes rattling her up, and Leia realizes she's physically attracted to him, but doesn't believe there's any emotional involvement either. It's three years from A New Hope to The Empire Strikes Back and I've already decided their first kiss will occur as in canon, ie. on the Falcon in a giant creature's belly in ESB - though, they'll definitely have some romantic moments prior to then - just not kissing. Not yet :P
So, anyway, thanks again you all for leaving your thoughts and reviews and suggestions, I really appreciate them <3