Laureena

Laureena.

        

Authors note: Raque is Luke's best friend and accomplice in many things. Lisa was like a mother figure to Luke. Beru remained kind of aloof so Lisa was the mother substitute. Please review. If it goes off well I might make it into a long story.    

 

        "L-luke, take good care of her, and tell her that her mo-mother l-l-oves her." Came Lisa's dying words.

        "I promise." Luke said, holding his best friend's hand as she passed to the other side.

        In the other room the baby wailed, as if she could feel her mother's passing, even though she was not force-capable.

         Luke hurriedly wiped his tears and ran to the girl. "Shh." He said. "Shh, she'll always be with you. In the meantime I will take care of you."

       Luke's comm. link rang, and he put the baby in the crib and answered it. "Hello… hi Leia, no… Lisa died. Yea, Leia I have something to tell you…no, its ok, I will tell you when I come to Yavin, tell Tionne that I should be back in a few days, after the funeral, love you. May the Force be with you. Skywalker out."

        Luke turned back to the baby and saw that the baby had wiped her tears. "Laureena, come to Luke." He said cooing, pretending everything was all right for her sake. He'd grieve for his two best friends, Lisa and her husband Raque who'd died a few days earlier later.

       The baby stopped crying and lifted her hands to Luke. Luke picked her up and played with her, tickling her feet. Luke felt his other Tatooinian friends enter. Sophwa came running in. "Luke, how is Lisa."

      Luke put his finger to his lips, and gestured to the baby and mouthed "No sorrow in front of the baby. Babies aren't dumb, they can pick up on our feelings."

        "She died then." Sophwa mouthed back.

        Luke nodded his head. "She couldn't hold on after Raque died. She left Laureena in my charge. Listen, go to the other room to grieve."

         Sophwa, Binns, and Leiku went to the other room. After a bit, the memories hit Luke, of how close he and Lisa had been, of how she'd done so much for him, and he couldn't hold back tears anymore. He put Laureena down, so she could crawl around a bit and he could grieve. Then Luke let them fall. He mentally cried for his two best friends.

      Binns came out a few minutes later, his eyes red, but otherwise he was fine. "I'll watch Laureena." He said, putting his hand on Luke's shoulder, "You go give yourself time to grieve."

      Luke did as he was told. He went to the other room. He sat down on the bed and cried, cried for the two people who'd cared for him when he was younger, cried for his best friend. I have been orphaned again, he thought, I have been orphaned again. All his Jedi control left him. He pounded his fist into the wall. Sophwa grabbed him before he could follow that action by pounding his head. "No, Sacre, don't." he said, his voice cracking. "Don't. We can continue living. At least do so for the life in your hands now, Laureena's life. Don't orphan her."

      "Someone else should take care of Laureena." Luke said, his voice rough. "I don't have a stable enough lifestyle… the Jedi temple isn't the best place to raise a kid."

     "Luke, you must raise her." Leiku said. "You need someone like her, and this is an opportunity-"

      "You call the death of my best friends, who were more than once parental figures, an opportunity. The orphaning of a 8-month old girl, and opportunity!" Luke asked, sorrow making his voice shrill.

         "Yes." Leiku said. "Not an opportunity like it was a good thing,  we all loved Raque and Lisa, but as something good can come out of it. Luke, you have been alone for to long, your sister is keeping you alive, but having an extra thing keeping you alive won't hurt. Besides, here is an easy way for you to start a family."

      "I also promised Lisa." Luke said, "I can't believe for a moment."

       Luke turned away. "I don't deserve friends like-.:

      "Luke, this is one of your bad habits that will kill you." Sophwa cut in. "You can't take extra blame on yourself. Everyone has moments where they think of shirking. Its HUMAN. JEDI CAN BE HUMAN."

      Luke realized that the last person who had said those words to him had been Lisa, when he felt bad about Jacen, Jaina and Anakin getting kidnapped. He realized again, that Lisa would never be there to comfort him when he was sad, Raque would never be there to let him go do something fun when his work was overloading, and he'd never make another wisecrack. "No!!!!!!!!." Luke cried. "No!!!!!!!!! LISA, RAQUE, YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME." HE said, breaking down again.

      Luke felt a concerned Leia in his presence. ~Luke~

      ~LEIA, THEY CAN'T BE GONE. I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM.~

       ~I love you.~ Leia said, simply, knowing that that was all she could say.

      ~I can't live without them.~

       ~I am coming.~

       ~I will have left for Yavin before you could reach.~
     Leia sighed. ~All right, but if you delay one extra day I am coming after you.~

      When Luke finished his conversation with Leia he saw that Binns had brought Laureena in. "She was crying for you."

      Luke could tell that Binns wasn't lying. "Come here little one." He said, taking her into his arms.

      As Luke made her laugh he realized that they had already formed a bond in the short time they had been together. 

         After she went to sleep Luke returned to his friends. "Listen, we need to give Raque and Lisa the BEST funeral Tatooine has seen."

         "We have already planned it." Sophwa said. "All that's left is deciding what to do with the house and the belongings."

        "Leave them intact for Laureena." Luke said, firmly. "Someone can come take care of them periodically. Trust me. I am an orphan myself, and you need a place to come back to, memories to latch on to, parents to remember."

         "You sure?" Binns said. "I mean, no one can challenge your experience, but still."

        "Trust me. No matter how well your adoptive parents raise you, blood comes first, and there comes a time when you feel your identity can only be reached if you you're your blood parents." Luke said passionately. "I don't want Laureena to have to go on the long search I did. I want her to have the information there for her."

         "All right." Sophwa said, hearing Luke's passion.

         "Listen, when did you put the funeral for. I need to be back on Yavin ASAP or Leia will get nervous."

        "We guessed that so put the funeral for the day after tomorrow, which was the soonest because people have to travel, and we have to set up." Sophwa said.

          "Thank you." Luke said, glad to have friends who understood.

          "Laureena is sleeping, right?" Binns asked.

       "Yup, and I have a force 'alert' on her, so when she wakes up I should know."

       "That's good." Binns said.

        "Yea." Luke said.

      "I am hitting the sack." Sophwa said. "We are going to have a long day tomorrow."

      "Good night." Luke and Binns said.

    "I am going to go to, are you coming?" Binns asked Luke.

      "No." Luke said, he knew his pain was to large to be able to rest right now, he had just been hiding it.

      Binns sighed. "Luke, I am going to be honest. You have a tendency to go overboard in things like grieving. Don't stop living. Don't stop having fun. There are still people left to live for. Especially now. Luke, you have an 8-month old who is going to depend solely on YOU. You say you have been orphaned many times, don't orphan her."

          Luke looked away. "I will kill myself before I orphan anyone willingly. The pain hasn't hit yet. I know it will though. Raque and Lisa were so much to me."