Notes: Here it is, the story in which that ever-pressing question is answered: exactly how far *does* Luke's tan go? :)
I should mention, if I haven't before, that the TPM and Trilogy stories in this series, while forming a cohesive whole together (eventually), are not strictly dependent on one another. So, if you haven't read the TPM stories in the series - "The Final Lesson", "Bonds", and "Ceremonial Masks" - because you didn't want to be spoiled, you *can* read the Han/Luke stories - this and "Careful" - with no worries. And, if either one of the pairings does not appeal, you can read the other without feeling that you are missing something really important. Just some Mona mumbo-jumbo.
Nuff said. Enjoy.
Pairing: H/Lu
Posted: May 23, 1999
Rating: PG
Series: Fifth in "Twin Destinies"; sequel to "Careful", "The Final Lesson", "Bonds", and "Ceremonial Masks".
Spoilers: Yup - for "A New Hope". If you haven't seen that - why are you here, again?
Summary: Han, Luke, Chewie and Leia are trapped on the Death Star, and Ben is their only hope.
Warnings: I don't use betas. :( Any mistakes are solely my fault and the fault of my *#^&@ spellcheck.

As far as Han could tell, jumping head-first into a garbage chute leading who-knows-where wasn't the worst idea he'd ever heard, but it was definitely in the top ten. Still, he covered Luke from the advancing stormtroopers' blaster fire, as the kid made a dive for the hole Leia blasted, and then, with one last laser-blast into the smoke-filled passage, jumped in himself.

The smell was indescribable, which was a good thing, because Han didn't ever want to have to remember what it smelled like after he managed to pry the stench from his nostrils - if that ever did happen. He raised his gun in frustration as he realized that it didn't seem that there was any way in hell they were getting out of this pit, and shot it at the door, ignoring Luke's protests and that of Leia, especially. He'd already heard more than enough from her. They all hit the deck - or, more precisely, the water that floated above the deck - as the blast ricocheted around the room.

Luke yelled at him again. "Will you forget it? I already tried it. It's magnetically sealed."

Great. Just great.

"Put that thing away!" Leia said, her brown eyes snapping in anger. "You're going to get us all killed."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Absolutely, Your Worship. Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here. You know, it's not going to take them long to figure out what's happened to us."

"It could be worse."

Yeah, I could still be on Mos Eisley, with a drink in one hand and a girl on each arm. That would be much worse.

Suddenly, something let out a moan. Han didn't want to think about what the hell would be living in this pit, and why it sounded so unhappy about its situation. I know just how you feel, buddy, he thought to himself. If I were you, I'd bitch and moan plenty. "It's worse," he said, a perverse sense of pleasure coming over him when Leia looked vaguely disgusted.

"There's something in here!" Luke said.

"That's your imagination," Han replied, trying to project a certainty that he didn't feel.

"Something just moved past my leg," Luke insisted. "Look!" he pointed out at a flash in the water. "Did you see that?"

"What?"

Luke didn't have a chance to answer. One minute, Han was looking at the kid, trying to see past him to whatever it was that they were waiting for, and the next, Luke was gone, pulled under the murky water.

"Kid!" he cried out, panic in his voice, blaster ready, but unwilling to shoot in case he missed 'it' and hit 'him'. "Luke! Luke! Luke!" He waded through the water, trying to be quick and careful at the same time.

Finally, Luke came up sputtering water, the tentacle of something wrapped around his neck. Han thought he caught sight of a single eye, but it happened so fast that he wasn't sure.

"Blast it, will you!" Luke shouted at him. "My gun's jammed."

Han still couldn't make out what it was, and didn't know what he could hit to make it let go of the kid. "Where?"

"Anywhere!"

Han shot blindly, and thought he made contact with something, but then the kid disappeared again. For too long. The hair on the back of his neck started to prickle the way it always did when he had a bad feeling about something, and he pictured trying to tell the old man that Luke hadn't been done in by the evil Empire, but by a garbage monster. Some care I'm taking of you, kid, he thought, and waded in again, trying to find where Luke was.

He broke through the water, the animal still wrapped around his neck finally giving up and breaking away. Han was absurdly grateful to see him, and helped pull the kid to his feet.

Leia was the one to ask, "What happened?"

"I don't know," Luke said, coughing up murky water. Han winced as the kid tried to catch his breath and secure his footing. "It let go of me and disappeared - "

The hair on the back of his neck seemed to have a mind of its own. "I got a bad feeling about this - " Han started, and then the walls of the room began to move. He shot a glance at the Princess. Oh, yeah, it could be worse.

"The walls are moving," Luke yelled, still coughing up water.

"Don't just stand there," Leia ordered. "Try and brace it with something." She pulled up a pipe from the pile of garbage. "Help me!"

After what felt like hours of yelling into the commlink, Luke finally managed to contact the droids, who ended up saving them from existence as wall-to-wall carpeting for the Empire - or maybe as rather attractive wallpaper. Chewie ripped open the door just as soon as Artoo had it unlocked, and Han boosted Leia up and then pulled himself into the - thankfully - deserted hallway. They all smelled just wonderful, and Han grinned as he reached a hand down to pull Luke out of the garbage room.

"What?" Luke asked, with a grimace.

"You're squishing, kid. Better get out of that suit before you start to rot."

"There's enough water in here for me to drown," Luke agreed, and started to unbuckle the heavy stormtrooper armour that they wore. "You'd think that they'd make this stuff waterproof."

"I'm sure that the Empire doesn't have much of a regular problem with their people falling into garbage rooms, kid." He eyed Leia, who was trying to wring out the wetter spots on her white dress. "Uh, maybe we should go somewhere, so we can change," he said, nodding his head in her direction.

"What?" Luke asked. Han grinned as a flush rose up the kid's cheeks, when he realized he was stripping down in front of the young Princess. "Oh, yeah," he mumbled. "Just a sec." He grabbed the rest of his gear and followed Han around the corner. "Thanks," he said, and started to pull away the armour.

"Here, kid," Han said, "Let me give you a hand with that." He lifted up the breast-plate and separated it from the back, brushing his hands through Luke's wet hair as he did so. "Too bad there's no crew quarters around here, or we might be able to score some new clothes off the Empire."

Luke looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Do they have regular clothes?"

"Good point," Han grinned. "I don't fancy spending any more time looking like them, myself."

Luke chuckled, and stepped out of the armour pants. "I wouldn't mind having something dry," he said, trying to wring the water from his tunic. "At least my pants aren't so bad."

"Take it off and wring it out," Han said, bent halfway over, pulling away the armour-plates of his own outfit. "It'll be easier that way."

When he stood up again, Luke had taken his advice, and was wringing out his tunic, making a murky puddle of water on the floor beneath them. The environmental-control regulator in the Death Star was so efficient that the cloth was already beginning to dry, and he grinned at Han. The look on the older man's face stopped him short, however.

Han was staring, open-mouthed, at him. When he realized that Luke was looking up at him, he leaned against the wall, his mouth curling into a leer, arms crossed over his chest.

"What?" Luke asked, a little self-conscious under the unblinking gaze.

"I think I just won a bet with myself, kid," Han said. Luke asked a question with his eyes, and Han nodded at him. "I was wondering how far that tan went down on you."

That made Luke blush outright. The pink spread from his cheeks down to his pale-skinned chest. He had a farmer's tan - the sudden unpredictability of the sandstorms on Tatooine were such that he never dared go shirtless, so only his face and forearms were tanned, the rest of his upper body pale. He wanted to ask the Corellian just why he'd bet himself about it, but when he looked up again, suddenly Han was there in his personal space, and he just had a chance to open his mouth when warm, wet lips came down on his.

Han kissed like he did everything else - straightforward, not wasting any energy. Luke was startled to find the man's tongue in his mouth, more startled when he realized that he liked it, that and the lean, strong body pressed up against his. His entire body, caught between the metal- cool wall and the warmth of the pilot, felt like a tensed string, suddenly drawn between someone's fingers and released. He was trembling, hard, anxious with a need that he hadn't even realized he'd had until that moment. His hands came up against Han's chest and lay there, flat, not holding him and not pushing away, unsure just what he should be doing in return.

Finally, Han released him, the cocky, wicked grin back on his face. Luke stood there, stunned and unable to speak, wanting to pull him back and to hell with the fact that they were escaped fugitives hiding in plain sight on the Imperial Death Star.

"We'd better get going, kid," Han said, turning his back and walking to where they'd left Leia and Chewie. "Somebody's bound to be looking for us, by now. I wasn't joking about not wanting to be caught on this place, if at all possible."

Luke rounded the corner after him, trying to strap on his blaster belt with shaking hands. A thousand thoughts were rushing through his mind, most of them centering on the fact that he was no longer kissing Han Solo.

"It's about time," Leia said, impatiently. "What took you so long?"

"You want to try getting out of one of those industrial-strength straightjackets in under a minute, you're welcome to try," Han retorted. He handed a blaster over to Luke. "If we can just avoid any more female 'advice', we ought to be able to get out of here."

Luke was amazed at how normal his voice sounded when he tested it out. "Well," he said, grinning broadly, "let's get going!"

Han and Leia ignored him, and he shook his head as they bickered about who was in 'charge' of their mission. Like an old married couple, he thought, his grin fading away as he realized what he'd thought. What if Han likes Leia, too? Wait - what if he just likes Leia, and he's just trying to confuse me so he can have her all to himself? He watched them argue, the sparks flying in between them, the imprint of Han's lips still warm against his own, his heart sinking lower and lower.

The made it to one level above the docking bay, where the 'Falcon was in plain view, surrounded by a number of stormtroopers, heavily armed. It was going to be a neat trick, getting back on the ship under guard like that.

Luke contacted Threepio on the commlink. "See-Threepio, do you copy?"

"Yes, sir."

"Are you safe?"

"For the moment. We're in the main hangar across from the ship."

"We're right above you. Stand by."

Leia almost laughed when she saw the somewhat- less-than-awe-inspiring sight that was the Millennium Falcon. "You came in that thing?" she said to Han. "You're braver than I thought."

Han looked disgusted and offended. "Nice. Come on!"

They rounded another corner and came face-to- face with a group of stormtroopers, outnumbering them two to one. Luke was so startled that he barely had a chance to react when Han had his blaster out and shot at them, then ran, shouting and chasing them down the hall. "Get back to the ship!" he called out, before he disappeared after the group, yelling like a crazy man.

Luke was stunned by the Corellian's kamikaze act. Han was going to get himself killed for sure. "Where are you going? Come back!" he yelled after Han, but the pilot was already gone.

"He certainly has courage," Leia said.

"What good will it do us if he gets himself killed? Come on!" he said, and grabbed her hand, dragging her in the opposite direction. Please don't get yourself killed, Han.

There were stormtroopers everywhere they turned. Luke wondered just how big this Death Star was - it seemed like every man in the Empire was here. Of course, anything big enough to destroy an entire planet - "I think we took a wrong turn," Luke said.

He stopped short, nearly going off the edge of a bridge overhang. Leia caught him and pulled him back. They turned, but the troopers were right behind him.

"There's no lock," Leia said, after she had the door shut.

Luke aimed his blaster and shot the controls. "That oughta hold them for a while."

"Quick, we've got to get across. Find the controls that extend the bridge."

Grim realization hit him in the chest. "I think I just blasted it."

"They're coming through."

A blaster shot rang across the room, from stormtroopers on a bridge level above them. Behind them, the door was opening from the bottom up; Luke could see it raising, revealing a dozen or so troopers as well. He handed the blaster to Leia, who started to shoot at the troopers above them.

Luke took a chance, praying that the hook on the grappling wire he found on his stormtrooper belt would attach to something solid, knowing that they didn't have much time before the door opened behind them or the troopers in front of them got a good shot. It caught, and he grabbed Leia around the waist.

He felt the kiss on his cheek, startled by a memory of another kiss, so much different than hers. "For luck," she said, and then they jumped off, into space.

Luke was deliriously, absurdly glad to see Han and Chewie waiting for them at the docking bay, staring at the 'Falcon, which was still under heavy guard.

"What kept you?" Han asked, a relaxed ease in his voice.

Luke wanted to kiss him for that ridiculous assurance ever-present in his voice, in the face of impossible odds. He settled for a smile that he hoped would say what he could not.

"We ran into some old friends," Leia said.

"Is the ship all right?" Luke asked, anxiously.

"Seems okay, if we can get to it. Just hope the old man got the tractor beam out of commission."

Luke opened his mouth to make a reassurance to Han; he was sure that Ben had been able to release the beam, so they could make a getaway. But he'd have to get here soon, or they'd all be captured waiting for him. Before he could say anything, the entire group of stormtroopers suddenly left the ship, giving them a clear path to their getaway. If only Ben would come -

"Now's our chance!" Han yelled. "Go!"

As Luke ran with the others towards the ship, a sudden movement caught in the corner of his eye - a flash of light, and then two. Lightsabers. His hand moved reflexively to his own belt, where his father's 'saber hung, secure. Ben was not only fighting a Dark Lord, he was now also surrounded by the stormtroopers, coming to their leader's aid.

Luke stilled, unable to move. He couldn't see how Ben could possibly get away from such a large group without being captured. They couldn't just leave him here, not when he was responsible for both the rescue of the Princess and their freedom. He sent a thought out to the Jedi. Ben -

For a startled moment, he thought that Ben had heard him. The Jedi looked away from the fight, his laser-sword still crossed with that of the Dark Lord opposite, and, although Luke was so far away he couldn't quite be sure of what he saw, he thought that there was a smile on the old man's face, and - something else. A look of recognition. Resignation. Understanding. Acceptance.

Luke called out. "Ben?"

The Jedi Master turned to face his opponent, and raised his lightsaber, straight up. The Dark Lord's red sword flashed around, passing through the centre of the old man.

Luke felt the blow as if it had caught him, directly in the pit of his stomach. "NO!" he screamed, the sound echoing through the suddenly- silent bay. It came back to his ears in stereo, the wide planes of the open room tricking his ears, making him think that there was another voice, calling out with him.

He raised his gun to shoot blindly, wildly at the troopers, alerted to his presence and that of his friends by his scream. He only barely heard Han and Leia yelling at him to move.

"Come on!"

"Come on! Come on! Luke, it's too late!"

Ben was gone.

Han's voice shouting the nickname that would always be his suddenly made sense to him. "Blast the door! Kid!"

He raised the blaster again and hit the control panel for the door, slamming it shut. The Dark Lord was caught behind the blast-doors, with Ben.

Only Ben was gone. He'd seen it.

He was frozen, wanting to do something. There were still stormtroopers in the room, blasting he and the ship, and he started towards them, gun held high.

/Run, Luke!/

No. It can't be -

/Run!/

Ben?

He moved, running towards the 'Falcon, pushed along by an unseen Force, and jumped in, the deck raising behind him. Ben.

The ship was rocked by blasts from the TIE fighters following them away from the Death Star, but Luke barely felt them. He barely felt anything, only looking up as Leia placed the blanket gently around his shoulders. Only then did he realize that he wasn't alone - Threepio and Artoo were across from him, Leia on the seat beside him.

"I can't believe he's gone," he said, startled by the hollowness in his own voice.

"There wasn't anything that you could have done," Leia said, comfortingly.

He looked at her in surprise. He felt, somehow, that she knew what she was saying, and wasn't just mouthing words to make him feel better.

Han barrelled into the room, crackling with energy. "Come on, buddy," he said, to Luke, "we're not out of this yet!" He climbed into the gunport, Luke following, still numbed but moving.

It made him feel good to do something. It made him feel. Han's energy was infectious - it surrounded him like a cloud, and swirled out, bringing Luke slowly back to life.

Han's voice crackled in the earpiece of his headset, bringing him out of his reverie. "You in, kid? Okay, stay sharp!"

Luke took the controls in his hands, readying for the TIE fighters as they came into range. The ship moved along, the fighters barely more than streaks of light as they went past, and he despaired of being able to hit anything that moved that fast. He was surprised at his lack of anger, and waited until he thought that he could make a clean shot. The first few missed, but not by much, and he held back, brought the ship into his range, and tensed his fingers over the control.

"Got him! I got him!"

He looked around for Han, who waved at him, grinning. "Great, kid! Don't get cocky!"

He grinned back. Leave it to Han to pull him down a notch in the midst of battle. He swung around in the seat, waiting for the next fighter to come into range. Wait, he told himself, steady, and wait. Let him come to you.

The next one was Han's, and then his. They worked in tandem; Luke felt that he could feel the Corellian's movements, behind him, and reacted as much to him as to the movements of the 'Falcon and the fighters they were gunning for. Han took out the last, and Luke fell back in his seat, relieved beyond words. "That's it!" he laughed. "We did it!"

He took off the headset and jumped up, looking around for Han. He had no more turned than strong arms came around him, and Han was hugging him. "Great work, kid!"

"Thanks," he said, and then reached up and took Han's head in his hands, bringing the pilot's mouth to his for a deep kiss. Han was as surprised by the move as Luke had been in the corridor of the Death Star, but he molded against the younger man with ease, opening his mouth and deepening the kiss.

His eyes were twinkling when they parted. "One of these days, kid," he said, with a grin, "we've got to try that when someone isn't trying to kill us."

Luke watched as Han disappeared, making his way towards the cockpit of the ship. When Han had gone, Luke sat down again, in the gunner seat. "Yeah," he said, quietly, with a smile. "We will have to try that someday, won't we?"

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