Wow, I'm on a roll today! Thanks to all who reviewed, you ROCK!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Keeps me on a roll...

Disclaimer: My name is not George. It is not mine.


It was the day after her talk with Luke, and Leia sat in yet another meeting. The only difference between this one and countless others she had sat through was that with this one, she was actually making an effort to pay attention.

They were discussing possible locations for a new rebel base. Right now they seemed to be favoring a small planet on the outer rim called Karntil VII. Unlike Hoth, It was very dry, but like Hoth, extremely inhospitable. At all times of the year, it was plagued by high winds, reaching up to 400 torapecs a standard hour, and was nearly totally without vegetation or life of any sort. The 'no life' part was good for the rebellion as there was no chance of them being discovered by anyone on the planet, but it also meant that they would have to build the entire base underground, and ground patrols would be hard. Currently, General Madine was engaged in a very heated argument with Mon Mothma, who did not think that using Karntil VII as a base was a good idea. Leia hadn't actually come to a conclusion about the planet; making an effort to listen seemed to be the extent of her capabilities at the moment.

Luke's blue eyes met her brown ones across the table. He had been more understanding of her position since yesterday, but Leia knew that he couldn't really know the full extent of her feelings until he knew of her relationship with Han. For some reason, she didn't feel comfortable telling anyone about that yet, it seemed too private.

Finally, Admiral Ackbar intervened between Mon Mothma and General Madine. "This argument is getting us absolutely nowhere. Does anyone else have an opinion? Leia?"

She sat up straighter in her chair while her brain began working extremely fast to formulate an opinion. If she spaced out again, the entire High Command would probably send her down to the med bay immediately for mental tests. "Both Mon Mothma and General Madine have good points," she said, her voice stalling for time while her mind worked, "If we use Karntil VII, we will be fairly safe from Imperials for some time at least. But there is the problem of having to build the base. And we would not be able to run ground patrols. I think that we should stay as a fleet. We have grown quite a lot stronger, and the Empire knows that. We need to make our move soon, and we will be better able to do that if we are more mobile.

General Madine looked annoyed, but Admiral Ackbar was nodding.

"I agree. We are much more mobile like this." He said, looking around at the other people as if daring them to contradict him. Luke stood up.

"The Force warns me that Leia is right. The time to strike will come soon," he said calmly, "I don't know any more than that at the moment though. I would need to meditate first."

Gods, thought Leia, he sounds so different. Gone was the innocent, reckless boy she had met nearly for years ago. Now he was more mature, more sure of himself, he thought before he spoke. Then she remembered his antics with the Rogues a few days ago; they had been testing out his new hand while flying. Ok, maybe the old farm boy Luke wasn't completely gone.

Mon Mothma stood up then. "I believe that we need more information before we make a decision." She said, looking around at the various officials. Her brown eyes were impassive. "This meeting is adjourned. Leia, Commander Skywalker, I need to talk to you for a minute."

Damn. She had hoped she would be able to get away without another lecture. But maybe this wasn't a lecture, as she had asked Luke to stay behind too.

The others filed out, and Mon Mothma shut the door. Luke looked at her inquisitively. She shrugged.

The older woman looked at them both hard before she spoke. "I need to speak to you regarding your behavior since your return."

Oh shit. She and Luke traded glances. Mon Mothma continued. Both of you, especially Leia, have been acting very unusually since your return." There was a note of disapproval in her firm voice that grew stronger with every word. She kept going. "Commander Skywalker, you lost your hand, so understandably you would be in a mild state of shock for a short time. But you refuse to tell anyone details of the last three months, you spend much of your time brooding, you seem very cut off from everyone else and you flinch every time Darth Vader is mentioned -" Luke cut her off.

"I can't tell you anything about the last three months for the Jedi masters safety. All I did in that time was train. I can't tell you the particulars of that right now either. As for Vader…" A shadow crossed Luke's face as he said the name. "He told me… things… I need to talk to… people… about."

Leia frowned. So did Mon Mothma. "Can you be more specific, please?" asked the rebel leader, annoyance entering her voice now.

His tone was final. "No."

She scowled, and then turned to Leia. "As for you, you haven't been paying attention, you don't eat, the men on night duty have told me in their reports that you come down there every night and just work on broken machinery for hours. I need to know why, Leia."

The princess shrugged. "The machinery needs fixing." She said softly. Obviously, my excuses haven't gotten much better since 'my hands are dirty', she thought wryly.

Mon Mothma was starting to get angry. "Someone else could do that. It's not fitting for a princess to get her hands dirty with equipment at all hours. And as for your attitude…" Leia stopped listening and stood looking out into space, not really thinking about anything. It wasn't until Luke squeezed her shoulder that she realized Mon Mothma had finished.

"What… Sorry." She said, not really meaning it. Mon Mothma was looking at her expectantly. She blushed.

"Did you hear any of what I just said?" she asked.

Leia bit her lip. "To tell the truth, I started ignoring you around 'It's not fitting for a princess to get her hands dirty with equipment'. This isn't a palace, Mon! And I couldn't sleep."

The look of annoyance, which had come back onto Mon's face while Leia spoke was replaced by worry. "When was the last time you slept?"

Leia was thoughtful for a moment. "Do you mean slept, slept for the whole night, or slept without nightmares? If it was 'slept' then last night, if you meant either of the other two, it would have been sometime on the way to Bespin."

There was concern on the other two's faces. "You should use sleeping pills." Mon Mothma told her. She shook her head. She had tried them for a while after Alderaan, but they didn't stop the nightmares, just trapped her in the horrifying images without being able to wake.

Luke was saying something, but Leia wasn't listening. She had started to feel nauseas. The room seemed to swirl around her, and she swayed a little on her feet. Dimly, she felt Luke put his hand on her arm, but it wasn't enough to keep her from falling. Just before she hit the ground the world went black.


Luke watched with growing alarm as his friend started to sway gently. Putting a hand on her arm to steady her, he saw that her eyes were unfocused. A split second later she fell to the ground in a dead faint.

"What's happened? Did she faint?" asked Mon Mothma with real concern. For all her disapproval, she did care about Leia. He picked up her wrist and gently checked her pulse. It was beating steadily.

"She just fainted." He assured the Alliance leader. "We should get her to the med bay though just in case." Luke picked up the girl and made for the door.

She really isn't eating enough, he thought. I'm sure she shouldn't be this light. It was true. She weighed almost nothing. Her head lolled back, features for once completely relaxed.

They entered the med bay, Mon Mothma following close behind him. Several medics saw him, and then the whole room converged on them when they saw whom he was carrying. Luke saw Leia's friend, Zara, among them. Questions were fired at him as Leia was taken and put on a nearby bunk.

"She's fine, just fainted, just wanted to check that everything was alright." Luke shouted over the din. Movement slowed and the voices became calmer when they realize that the princess hadn't been shot and probably was not about to die. He came over to her side as Zara gave her a shot.

"Stimulant." She explained in response to his curious gaze. "Should bring her around." They didn't have to wait long. Within moments her eyelids flew open, brown eyes flickering between his blue and Zara's green ones.

"Oh my god," She growled. "I fainted, didn't I?" Zara nodded, and began to scan her with a small piece of medical equipment that Luke could not put a name to. Leia looked around taking in her surroundings, before fixing Luke with her clear gaze. She was amazing, he thought, that she could faint and be so calm immediately upon waking up.

"How many people saw?"

He winced inwardly. "Well, I had to carry you across the base to here."

She flopped back on the pillow with a groan. Luke knew how much she tried to make everyone think she was invincible. Although she hadn't been doing a very good job since their return.

She was looking at Zara now. "What's the verdict?" She asked wearily.

Zara stopped scanning and looked at her, exasperation written all over her face. "Leia, you are suffering from lack of sleep, not eating enough and stress. Sorry, but I don't want you to leave for a little while yet." Seeing Leia's glare, she shrugged apologetically. "I'm going to bring you some food." She left. Luke looked around for Mon Mothma, she too had left. He squeezed the princess's hand. "I'll be back later." With that he turned and exited the room in search of his Rogues.


Leia swam upwards out of the dark stuff that was clouding her brain. She opened her eyes. She was in the med ward. Luke and Zara stood over her while Mon Mothma stood back a bit farther.

"Oh my god." She growled. "I fainted, didn't I?

Luke told her what had happened. The princess glared at Zara when she told her she would have to stay. Zara shrugged her apology. Luke soon left, and she was alone.

Leia stared up at the ceiling. Gods, why did she have to faint? That surely didn't help her to convince Mon Mothma to leave her alone.

Zara had retuned. She shoved a bowl of soup at her. "Sorry, but I'm not letting you go until you eat something." Leia sat up and took the bowl, but just stared at it. The bed creaked as Zara sat down.

"Why do you do this to yourself?"

"Why do I do what to myself?"

The other girl waved a hand at Leia. "You know what I mean. You are several kilos under average. I know how much you sleep. Why?"

Leia shrugged and took a bite of her soup. It was some sort of broth with vegetables, she wasn't sure what, nor did she care. "I have nightmares. That's why I don't sleep. And don't suggest sleeping pills," she added, seeing Zara open her mouth, "They don't work on me. As to why I don't eat, I just don't get that hungry. What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know you don't sleep either, unless you're nocturnal. Which is unlikely, since you're usually up during the day too."

Zara smiled briefly, but it faded as she answered. "I have nightmares too. My family was killed in a raid. I was nearly killed with them." Her voice trembled and Leia squeezed her hand.

Just then, alarms started ringing, and a voice came over the loudspeaker. "We are under attack. All pilots to x – wings. I repeat, we are under attack."

Leia put down her soup, jumped up, and ran towards the control room.