A/N – Well, here it is. The end of the ride! Lots of Han angst, and hurt/comfort in this one – and yes to "Bookworm" - a happy ending. Thank you again to all who read, reviewed, marked this story for an alert or put it on your favorites. You all rock and I appreciate it so much. I feel very inspired to get on with the next story.

Now, a couple of disclaimers: First: I don't own anything Star Wars – it is all thanks to George Lucas that these characters, including the ones who have previously lived only in my imagination, exist; and I don't make any profit from any of this.

And second, I have no medical training, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes, errors or just plain stupid medical mishaps in the telling of this story. I simply write what I like, and hopefully, that is satisfactory to all who choose to read my stories.

Thank you again – and now, the final chapter – where all will end up "The Way It Should Be!"

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"The Way It Should Be"

Chapter 16

Leia watched as Jenina changed her persona into med tech mode without missing a beat. She decided she would simply stand by, ready to help as needed. Chewie came into the medical bay and placed himself near the door, where he could see and hear all that was going on to treat his injured life-bonded friend. Leia moved to the other side of the diagnostic bed and again, wanting to be close to Han, took his hot right hand in her own.

Han's eyes flew open at her touch and she could tell by the confused look in his pain filled eyes that he didn't know where he was or what was going on. However, as his eyes rested on her face, and he was able to assure himself she was okay, she saw him relax minimally, at least.

"Leia," he whispered. "Are you . . . —uh, where are we? Where's Chewie?" And he tried to raise his head up, intending to look around, but the movement, slight though it was, caused his vision to waver and things to gray out around him. Next thing he heard was Leia's soft voice, "Easy there, Hotshot," she said to him, as his grip tightened on her hand, "We're on the shuttle. Chewie's right over there; everyone is ok. We're going to get you all fixed up in no time." Chewie moved into Han's line of sight and briefly laid his massive hand on Han's shoulder, the uninjured one, and squeezed it slightly. "Take it easy, Cub," he told the pilot. "Relax. Everything is under control. Let them help you." Han closed his eyes and tried to relax, but now that he was awake, his mind and body refused to cooperate. Between the pain pounding incessantly at him, and one other nagging concern, relaxing was out of the question.

"The Falcon?" he managed to get the words out through gritted teeth. "Where is she?" Alarm spread over his features, to go along with the lines of pain on his face, as he realized they weren't on his beloved ship, and again, he raised his head up. This time, he held the Wookie's eyes with his own, refusing to lay his head back down until he got an answer. With a heavy sigh, Chewie regretfully told Han the truth. "She's still there. On planet. We had no choice, Han," his words coming out more forcefully than he intended, but knowing he had to get through to the stubborn man. "I'll get her back. Don't worry. You need to let them take care of you now. Stop fighting, Han." And again, Chewie laid his hand on Han's shoulder, pressing him back against the bed. Han glared his displeasure at this turn of events, first at Chewie, then at Leia, but his struggle was short lived. Again, with the pounding of his heart, he felt his vision growing dim and with a groan, once more he let his head fall back against the hard surface of the diagnostic bed.

The first thing Jenina did, after getting Han to lay back and agree, however reluctantly, to "behave himself," was to run a full diagnostic scan of his entire battered body. As she studied the readout on the medi-puter screen, she shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure why he's even alive," she muttered to herself. Leia looked over her shoulder, and even though she had been present and observed all of the abuse Han had taken, she was still shocked at the readout. As Chewie finally saw for the first time exactly how badly Han had been hurt, and gradually heard the story from Leia, his countenance grew more and more grim. "I wish I had killed the bastard when I had the chance," he growled. "If I had known what that monster did to both of you, I would have torn him apart with my bare hands." Chewie regretted leaving the giant of a man known only as "Pix" alive, but took some comfort in the gruesome death of Trave, the man who had masterminded the whole thing.

Jenina checked the treatment instructions and asked Leia if the bay was equipped with everything required by the medi-puter. She began reading the growing list of injuries and necessary treatments out loud, pausing to glance at Leia or Chewie to make sure everything was available to her.

"He has a concussion, we already knew that. We'll need anti-concuss medications for that. He has several broken ribs, I'd like to use bacta, but this is recommending bone knitters instead." She glanced up at Leia, surprised at these instructions. "That's likely because of the pneumonia," Leia said. "It can be dangerous to use large amounts of bacta when there is lung infection involved." Jenina nodded, and continued. "Same instructions for his wrist, but we'll need to set it. Do we have a bone setting device on board?" Leia just nodded, and Jenina went on. "He has several cuts and gashes than need bacta treatment and sealant, and a deep bone bruise on his right thigh – that's going to need a regenerator." Again, at Leia's nod, Jenina returned to the growing list.

"I am very surprised he doesn't have more internal injuries; after the beating he took, it's almost a miracle. But," and here her face grew grim again, "he's still bleeding internally from the chest wound, which is infected, as is his arm and shoulder. Which explains his high fever. I'll need to clean those, apply multiple bacta treatments, and then eventually we'll need to seal them with synthflesh again."

Han had listened to the growing litany of his injuries, with his eyes closed, and his teeth clenched tightly together. Just hearing them spoken out loud seemed to remind his already aching body of how much pain he was really enduring. Hating to be talked about, he finally pulled Leia's hand closer to him, squeezing her fingers until she looked away from the medi-puter list, and looked at him. "Princess," he managed to gasp out, "If you two are done talkin' 'bout me, maybe you could stop squawkin' about it, and do something about it." He continued in an almost incoherent plea. "Hurts, damn it. Tired of it. . ." Leia had no idea who was more shocked at this admission from the usually taciturn Corellian; when it came to pain, he never expressed what he was feeling. But as she looked more closely at his features, she could see he was gulping and swallowing with the effort not to cry out.

"Jenina," Leia turned urgently toward the young clone, "What can we give him for the pain?" Jenina sighed and shook her head, "I'm sorry Leia, I can't give him anything very strong until we treat the head injury and knock the infection back. We can't risk masking symptoms that could indicate a worsening of his condition, and I can't sedate him due to his decreased lung function."

Again, Han's irritation at being discussed as if he wasn't even there showed plainly on his face. "I didn't ask ya' ta' give me anything," he growled at them without opening his eyes. "Just get on with the treatment. Whatever needs doin', quit stallin' and get to it!" Chewie's mild roar in support of this course of action caused both Jenina and Leia to jump slightly. "All right, Captain," Jenina said softly, gently laying her hand on his forehead, "but it isn't going to be very pleasant." Han just grunted, but refrained from saying anything else.

Jenina moved into action, removing and then reinserting the IV line, which had been jostled beyond effectiveness during the rescue, into Han's relatively undamaged right arm, although finding a spot that wasn't already bruised and abraded wasn't easy. She quickly mixed the antibiotics suggested by the medi-puter and started them dripping into Han's veins, hoping to at least slow the infection raging through his body.

"I need to treat the blaster wounds next," she said, with a look of slight revulsion toward Leia. "I'm sorry, Han," she told the sick man, and Han just nodded slightly, and told her, "Don't worry 'bout it. Just do it." Jenina peeled back the bandages which were sticking ever so slightly to the wound in his chest, right below his left collar bone, then gently removed the one on his shoulder and his upper arm as well. "You should have ducked, Captain," she quipped, trying to lighten the mood. "Thought I was ducking," Han managed a ghost of a smile, which quickly turned into a grimace of pain as she began using antiseptic cloths to clean the wounds, trying to remove the dead tissue, as well as the dried blood, while simultaneously staunching the flow of blood that didn't want to lesson any. Eventually, she moved onto the first of the many bacta treatments he would require, by now wishing the Corellian would pass out to save himself more pain. But he seemed all too wide awake, keeping his eyes closed, and biting his lip so hard to keep from crying out that he eventually drew a few droplets of blood.

Leia spent the time by Han's side, helping whenever she was needed, but mostly trying to offer care and comfort to the suffering man. Somewhere along the line, as she smoothed his sweat soaked hair back from a feverish brow she realized that Han had stopped being her enemy and had become one of her dearest friends, if not something more.

The depth of her feelings for him frightened her. They had been through so much together in the past year or two, and always, somehow, even though he frustrated her endlessly, she knew he had confidence in her, even more than she sometimes had in herself. It was, as often as not, Han's undying trust that kept her going, but until this crisis, Leia hadn't recognized it for what it was. The tears slipped unchecked down her cheeks as she contemplated what her life would be like if he didn't survive, as well as all he had so willingly suffered on her behalf.

Han seemed to sense her mood and his eyes fluttered open. "Hey, sweetheart," he croaked, and again the term didn't irritate her. "Wha's wrong?" Amazingly he lifted his right arm and gently swiped at the tears on her cheek, before dropping his hand heavily back to his side. "Oh Han," Leia couldn't help but gulp, "It's just that you're hurting so much, and help is so far away, and, and I don't want you to die." She knew she was losing her tight control, almost wailing with her fear, but she was so tired, and so very, very fearful at this point. Incredibly, Han raised his head up a few inches, trying to look her in the eye and managed to answer with another pitiful attempt at his wry grin, "Ahhh, uh, umm, 's that all?"

The effect of his charming smile lost some of its effectiveness as he also tried to stifle his moan of pain as his head lolled back again, "Hey, babe, don't worry none, ah, I don't plan on checkin' out jus' yet, ahh . . . . takes more 'en these minor cuts an' stuff to finish me off." Leia just shook my head, amazed that he could possibly refer to his horrible wounds as 'minor cuts and stuff.' "Solo," she just shook my head in amazement at his fortitude and desire to provide comfort for her, when he was the one obviously suffering. "You really are a wonder, you know that?"

For his sake, Leia managed to stop crying and tried to lighten her tone. When he didn't respond to her comment, she glanced at his face, and saw he was again struggling not to moan and had his lips pressed too tightly together to be able to speak

Jenina paused after completing the treatment for his blaster wounds, and sighed, rotating her neck to ease the tightness in her muscles, and then started on his broken arm.

Han's face was totally white by now, except for the high color on both of his cheeks. Beads of sweat dotted his brow and his body was taut and rigid. Again, he had his teeth embedded in his lower lip, obviously still trying to control his reactions to all that was going on around, and tried to stifle the moans that escaped his throat.

As the treatment when on, his battle to remain coherent was lost. He began moaning softly and tossing his head from side to side. Bits and pieces of words and jumbled sentences were mixed in with his sounds of pain. He opened his eyes briefly and just looked around, seemingly confused as to where he was again. He appeared trapped in his world of pain and agony, reliving some of the darker times when danger had threatened those he obviously cared about the most.

"Sith!" he cried out. "Get down Leia – Leia! No, don't let 'em, ah,…" and his frantic movements would result in more cries of pain. "No! Leia – look out! No you don't, you bastards, I won't let you . . . uh." They realized he must be reliving some battle or another. Leia continued to be amazed at the concern in his voice, and at his desperate attempts to protect her, even in his delirium, from the danger he perceived in his delirious state.

"Easy, Han." Leia finally had to shout at him to get him to hear her. "I'm alright, they're gone. All gone. I'm safe— safe. Thanks to you." He rose up slightly on his right elbow, and turned toward her then, focusing on her face with great effort, "Leia?" he whispered. "That you? You okay? They didn't hurt. . ." And finally, after reassuring himself once more that she was okay, with his hand tightening convulsively on her fingers, he gave up the battle to stay awake. Everyone was relieved when with a sigh, his grip on Leia's hand loosened, his eyes rolled back, and he gave in to the pain, lapsing into a deep unconsciousness.

Jenina had finished setting his arm, with help from Luke, he had held the device in place while she adjusted the settings. Han had groaned when it had tightened on the fractured bones in his wrist, and it was apparently that pain that was too much for him. After that, it was a matter of adjusting the various medications dripping through the IV into his system, and keeping a close watch on his various wounds.

The next hours were trying for all concerned. Jenina moved efficiently, continuing to work on Han's injuries as necessary. Luke, Jeffries and Wedge took turns flying the shuttle and keeping a look out for Imperial ships, constantly keeping the ships scanners active. When they weren't flying or sleeping, at least one of them hovered in the medical bay as well, anxious to hear the fate of their friend and pilot.

Throughout the five days it took them to return to the hidden base on Hoth (Chewie lamented the fact they weren't on the Falcon, knowing he could have coaxed their ship into making the trip in 3 ½ days), they took turns monitoring Han's condition. Sometimes he was aware what was going on, and even talked to Leia about what had taken place, and his concern that they had never been able to secure the Spirot Vaccine – which they all knew was badly needed, as well as his continued desire that Jenina be looked after – but more often than not, he was tossing in delirium, unable to contain his moans of pain as the infection continued to ravish his weakened body.

It was with great relief that Leia and the others heard Wedge giving the coded sequence that would allow them to land. They had all strapped in again for the entrance back into normal space, and then despite Wedge's admonishment that descending through the planet's atmosphere was going to be rough, both Leia and Jenina had chosen to take a place on either side of Han's bed, trying to sooth his agitation. His condition had been greatly aggravated by the high g-forces on his body as they had made the entry.

Luke had been on the inter-space comlink as soon as it was possible, explaining what had happened and demanding that full medical treatment for Han be ready and waiting. As soon as they landed, Wedge lowered the ramp, and Leia heard voices shouting, and was relieved to hear the voice of Dr. Tulary, who had treated Han's injuries in the past, and was familiar with the quirks the Corellian's body often displayed when he was hurt.

Han was in and out of awareness, confused at all the noise going on around him, but recognizing the doctor's voice, and knowing they must be back on Hoth; he tried to keep track of both Leia and Jenina, but soon his weakened state was too much for him. Hearing Leia's frantic cries in conjunction with a terribly annoying beeping, then a prolonged shrill sound, as the monitors he was hooked up to began going off, was the last Han knew for a very long time. He did not hear Leia's agonizing cry as the doctor shouted instructions, and various techs worked frantically on him. "He's crashing. I don't have a heart beat. We're losing him." Leia thought she might pass out when she heard the Dr.'s voice. "No," she whispered, and buried her head in Luke's shoulder, unable to bear looking at Han.

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"Welcome back, Han," was the next lucid thing he heard. Though it took every bit of will power he had, he was finally able to open his eyes and look around, squinting at the bright lights surrounding him, trying to make out the owner of the voice. "You had us awfully worried." Han tried to make an intelligent response, and was somewhat appalled when the words he tried to say came out sounding like "Umphhhh," rather than the much more responsive "huh?" he had intended to say. "Take is easy; here, have some water." The room finally stopped swimming around him, and he was able to recognize Luke's voice, as well as the feel of his hands as Luke eased his head up and encouraged him to take a few small sips. Han was amazed at how much that took out of him. He fully intended to ask questions, but found that his eyes would not stay open.

Several hours later, when he once again found his eyes stubbornly wanting to remain closed, but forced them open, things were a little clearer to him. This time, it was Jenina sitting next to his bed and offering him some water. Han waited until he had swallowed several sips, then blurted out the first thing that came to his mind, "How long? And where's my ship?" He was surprised at the light laughter that came from Jenina's lips. "Leia was right. She said you'd ask about your ship before anything else." She smiled at him, and Han couldn't help but return the look with a half grin of his own. He shrugged his shoulders, but quickly realized that was not a great idea. "It's been a week and a half, and we just heard from Chewie and Wedge yesterday. They are on their way back; and Colm is right behind them in the shuttle. Before you ask, your ship is fine, and you'll be pleased to know, Wedge was somehow able to make get in touch with with Leia's contact – they got most of the vaccine. And, for only half the payment."

Han didn't know whether to be more astonished that he'd been out of it for over a week, or that somehow, Wedge had been able to complete the mission. He decided it was too much to figure Wedge out, and instead zeroed in on the length of time he'd been out of it. Scowling at the tech, he asked "Why'd ya' let 'em keep me under that long?" Jenina smiled again, and shook his head. "Leia said you'd be mad about that too. She seems to know you awfully well, Captain." Jenina got up and checked Han's IV, before adding, "No one kept you out, Han; you've been unconscious the entire time. You really did almost die. Get some rest; you'll be having lots of visitors before you know it." And before the astonished Corellian could ask any more questions, she flashed him another impudent grin, and left his room.

Han didn't have long to contemplate this turn of events; Jenina's prediction came true. As soon as people realized he was finally on the mend, he had an almost unending stream of visitors. He was glad to see all of them; well, almost all of them, he didn't particularly enjoy the visit from the "old fogies" from high command who came in to both scold him for his recklessness and thank him for saving the Princess' life. But as first one day, then another passed, and he didn't see said Princess, he began to wonder if something else had gone wrong.

The next time Luke managed to make his way into the room, Han demanded he shut the door. "What's up Luke? Where is she? Is she ok? Did she get hurt after all and no one is telling me?" Han was prepared to continue peppering the young Jedi with questions, and had even thrown his covers back, half rising from the bed, before a stab of pain reminded him he was no where near healed yet. Luke advanced into the room, and shook his head, folding his arms and grinning at the irritated man getting tangled in the bed clothes.

"Han, Han, Han," he smirked. "Why, if I didn't know better, I'd think you cared!" Han looked back at him in astonishment – "You stupid farm boy, of course I care! Why else do you think I went with her in the first place? Everyone knows she can't take care of herself!" Han's attention was taken up at that point trying to get himself straightened out, and untangled from both the blankets and the IV lines that had somehow managed to wrap themselves around him. Therefore, he did not hear the door open again, he was unprepared when he heard a slight "Harrumph!" in a decidedly feminine voice, coming from behind Luke.

Knowing he was in trouble now, he closed his eyes, ducking his head before facing the wrath of one very irritated Princess. He was trying to decide whether to put on his "I'm so relived to see you look," or a "I'm still hurt – don't smack me look," when he was suddenly surprised to feel small arms going around him, and as he was fiercely hugged. Not one to miss any opportunity that presented itself to him, he stopped struggling with the tubes, and simply wrapped his arms around the dimutive lady he found in his arms.

To his astonishment, Leia sighed, and laid her head on his right shoulder, snuggling close to him. "I'm sorry, Han," she spoke. "High Command has had me in meetings non stop for the past few days. I've been in to see you, but you were always sleeping, and I didn't want to wake you up. I didn't mean to desert you." Just as Han began to get over his shock, and decided the only course of action left to him was to hold the Princess a little closer, and maybe even try to sneak in a kiss, he was shocked again when she pulled back and lightly smacked him on his right shoulder. "But, if you ever, ever scare me like that again, I'll never speak to you."

Luke looked up, just as Chewie elbowed his way into the room, crowing with delight at seeing his cub awake, looking decidedly better than the last time Chewie had seen him, and even holding "his" princess in his arms. Right behind him, Wedge, Jeffries and finally Jenina crowded in, everyone talking at once. Han managed to keep his hold on Leia, settling her in beside him on the bed, and refusing to let go of her hand, even when she made a token show of removing it from his grasp. He smiled in delight at seeing all his friends together in one place, and grinned even wider as he listened to the reports Chewie and the pilots made of their adventures while retrieving the Falcon.

He looked around, spotted Jeffries casually draping an arm across Jenina's shoulders, and didn't miss the way she smiled shyly up and him. Listening to the banter going on between all of them, he pulled Leia a little closer, flashing one of his dazzling lopsided grins at her. "And this is why, Princess," he whispered. "What is why, Han?" the puzzled Alderanian asked, unable to resist smiling back at him in return. "This," he said, carefully motioning at all the happy people gathered in his room, with his still healing left arm. "In spite of everything, it all came out ok. The Empire is never gonna' win as long as ends up like this." At Leia's continued puzzled look, he smiled at her again. "You know, the way it should be."