Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or these characters.

Author's Note: This is a companion piece to my last Star Wars fic. In this one, Darth Vader has been arrested for the murder of Earl Jones, and Luke and Leia have been sent to live with their godparents. Luke is very depressed. Can anything help him feel better?

"Beru, have you seen Luke this morning?" Owen Lars asked his wife. Beru Lars was scrambling eggs at the stove for breakfast.

"He's up in his room. He doesn't feel well."

"He never feels well. We really ought to send him back to the hospital."

"They can't do anything for him anymore, Owen. That's why they sent him home!"

Upstairs in his room, 16-year-old Luke Skywalker was sitting in bed in his pajamas and robe, staring up at the ceiling. He thought he would enjoy coming to live with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, but it was getting to be just as bad as the hospital. It was almost harvest time, and Uncle Owen was trying to calculate the shipments he'd be able to make and the money he could earn. Aunt Beru was stuck helping him figure out their family budget for the next year, which involved planning for three instead of two. They weren't sure how long Luke would be living with them.

Luke missed the Aunt Beru who would watch TV and play games with him when he was sick.

"Owen, speaking of Luke, I can't help you today. I really should spend some time with him. Last night, when I was giving him his medicine, he looked more depressed than ever," Beru was telling her husband. "He needs me. Otherwise, we might as well ship him up to the Organas and let their staff look after him."

"They have the money," Owen admitted. "But we can put still food on the table, can't we?"

Beru nodded and corralled the scrambled eggs into a bowl. "I'm not giving him up that easily."

Luke had just been released from a depression clinic. His father, Darth Vader, had been arrested earlier in the summer for the murder of a colleague—his father's boss, Yoh Da, had been doing some investigating and had pieced together what had happened to the CEO of EmpireCorp, Earl Jones. Jones had apparently been strangled using some mind control technique, which Da was able to recognize. The police didn't care how the mind control technique worked, only that they had found Jones' murderer. Darth Vader had been arrested on possible murder charges.

Luke and his twin sister, Leia, had been sent to live with their respective godparents. Leia's godparents, the Organas, were wealthy politicians who lived in the Nevada state capital of Carson City. Luke's godparents were his father's stepbrother and his wife, who lived on a farm in Tattooine, Nevada, which was three hours away.

Days into his new living arrangement, it became apparent that Luke was depressed and on the verge of suicide. When Beru Lars had walked in on her nephew trying to slit his wrists, she had called for help. Luke had been placed into a hospital and entered into a six-week program for depressed teens.

He had done very well, and had been released to his aunt and uncle just two days earlier, with the stipulation that Luke do as he pleased and got lots of rest. No farm chores.

That sure made him happy, but it had made his aunt and uncle want to cry. Owen and Beru hadn't known that the little nephew they had held as an infant, fed, burped, and played with for hours on end while his parents were busy would grow up to harm himself. Luke had always been such a happy-go-lucky kid, but now he felt as if his world were over. It was so sad.

In a few minutes, Aunt Beru entered Luke's room with a breakfast tray. "Good morning, Luke, honey. I told your uncle that I've been neglecting my sick nephew, so I'll be able to spend some time with you today, okay?" She set the tray in front of Luke and caressed his cheek in her hand.

Luke smiled and picked up his fork. "Okay," he said, in a voice so soft it was but a whisper.

"Unfortunately, honey, it doesn't look like we can afford new school clothes for you this year," Beru said kindly. "We're already looking at a bigger electric bill and food for three. But I've looked at your things, and I can patch up your jeans and sew up the holes in your sweaters. If you really need some new things, I'll look at what I have for material."

"I don't want to go to school," Luke mumbled, playing with his eggs.

"Would you like to be tutored at home? I'm sure the school has some kind of homestay program for students who have been hospitalized. I'll get one of your doctors to write a letter to the school."

Luke nodded, finally managing to get a bite into his mouth.

"Okay, we'll do that," Aunt Beru smiled. "Can I get you anything else before I have breakfast with your uncle, sweetie?"

Luke shook his head.

Aunt Beru gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Please try to eat, Luke. If you don't start eating, I'll have to call your doctor and have him put you on medicine to give you an appetite."

Luke moaned silently. The last thing he wanted was more doctors, but he couldn't bring himself to eat. He just had no desire for food.

Aunt Beru went downstairs to eat breakfast with Uncle Owen, and Luke took a look around his room. It was usually a room he shared with Leia, but Aunt Beru had decked it out with pictures only of Luke: Luke as a newborn, being held by Uncle Owen. Luke standing up in his crib, his blue eyes wet with tears, probably due to a soiled diaper. Luke playing with blocks and putting one in his mouth. Luke milking a cow. Luke happy and smiling, hugging Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen.

Why were they pretending that Leia didn't exist?

"It's not that we don't love your sister as much as we always have," Aunt Beru had told Luke as soon as she'd gotten him settled and home from the hospital. "It's that we need to focus on you from now on. We need to focus on Luke for a while."

With good food and loving godparents, Luke should have felt happy and on the way to recovery, but he didn't. He still felt so depressed.

He knew it was because his father and lied to him and Leia.

At Alderaan- her godparents' house- Leia Skywalker was sitting at the computer in her room, writing an e-mail. For the past couple of days, she'd been trying her hardest to get in touch with Luke mentally- the twins could speak without words- but either Luke wasn't getting her messages or wasn't responding.

So she had to get in touch with her brother the old-fashioned way.

Dear Luke,

Haven't you been getting my mind messages? I've been trying to get in touch with you at least once an hour, but you're not responding to me. Are you upset or drugged up? Both?

Uncle Owen isn't making you do chores, is he? That would be plain unfair.

I don't want to make this any longer than it has to be, because I don't want to bore you or upset you. I just want you to respond to me, it only has to be one line, telling me that you're okay and you're not going to kill yourself again. You're my brother, and you're too precious to lose.

[Big hug],

Leia

P.S.- Be sure to have Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru send your medical bills to Mr. Organa, even if you just need checkups. He's paying for everything.

Just this morning, Leia had asked her godfather when she would be able to see her brother again.

Bail Organa replied that he wanted to give Luke enough time to heal, so it was impossible to tell. That had made Leia cry; she wanted to see Luke and hug him again more than anything.

She would have to settle for a hug across cyberspace.

Author's Note: I've decided that the town of Tatooine, where Luke and Leia live, is in Nevada, because Nevada is as close to the desert as one can possibly get. That would make the Organa family live in Carson City, the capital of that state.

Up Next: Han Declares His Love (Again)