TO YOU

(A Qui-Gon and Tahl romance in short installments)

by ardavenport

/\\v/\\v/\\ He Lives /\\v/\\v/\\

They finally let me into the room.

'His vital signs are dropping,' the doctor said. But he is only a doctor.

One of the medical people leads me in, but I push the arm away when I know we are close. I reach out and my hands touch the padded edge of a diagnostic table. Then I find him. The skin of his arm is cold and I cannot stop the sudden fear inside me. I brush past sensors and tubes and find his hair and face.

I am close enough to feel his breath on my lips. It is so faint. My fingers touch his mouth.

"Qui-Gon. . . ."

'The damage is severe,' the doctor said. Now I can feel it as I had not, as I would not hear in their voices when they finally came after working so long on him.

I feel his head move a tiny bit. He is weak. His great strength is gone, drained from him by the evil device he was imprisoned in for so long. It took so long to find him and the treachery in our midst. The betrayers are undone, but Qui-Gon . . . . there seems so little left of him.

"Tahl. . . ." he breathes. "I could not go without seeing you again."

"Stay," I plead. I have never begged for anything as I do now. "You came to me and told me my own feelings when I did not know them myself. You cannot go now." My eyes sting with tears. I press my forehead to his and they fall on him. "I pledge myself to you, Qui-Gon. You must stay."

I take everything I have inside me, my love, the Force, my own breath and I will it into him. It seems so small compared to the great strength that has always been Qui-Gon. There is so little left now that my blind eyes weep freely. There must be more. Just a little bit more. Just enough.

I feel movement and I know he feels what I feel. My hand goes to his chest; I search for the life left within him. He breathes in.

"Stay," I beg. "Please."

He breathes out.

He breathes in again.

It is a small motion of his body. But it is enough. His skin is wet and warmed under my tears.

He breathes out.

He breathes in.

I am frozen in place, breathing with him. I dare not move. Nothing else exists except for this. There is nothing else for a very long, long time. The Force is faint in him, but it stays.

Eventually there is motion around us. Medical sounds and then hands and voices. I will not be moved and the others move past me.

"Tahl?" The voice has been calling to me and I can no longer ignore it. "Please, the doctors need to put in a breathing tube. Let them help him." It is Qui-Gon's Padawan, Obi-Wan.

I lift my head and he pulls me away, his hands on my shoulders. I am startled when my hand no longer touches Qui-Gon's chest but Obi-Wan grabs my wrists; his grip is gentle but strong. Obi-Wan is so much bigger then I recall, almost man-sized. When did this happen?

"Tahl, please. They need to help him now." The voices of the medical people are no longer muffled. They have become efficient again amidst the beeps and buzzes of their machines. There are still doubts among them, but I know. . . .

. . . .Qui-Gon will live.