12: Take Care
"Miss, stop your screaming, please," Cody Kamino said to Leia but she only shouted louder.
"Let her," Rex said, a note of pity on his put-together voice.
"We did what you asked from us," Cassian broke in, "let us go now!"
Leia shot him a glare of unmeasurable hatred.
"Yeah, I believe that's fair," Cody said.
Cassian let out a sigh of relief, and he urged Jyn to move, but she only stood there watching Leia, who now shed tears more in silence, exhausted.
"Jyn, let's go!" Cassian whispered at her ear. "Please, my love."
Jyn paid him no attention, for some moments she remained immobile, and when she decided to move her feet, it was not in direction towards the door, but to the young Skywalker heiress.
Leia was in a corner, shaking, arms clasped together involuntarily, tied by a rope.
Little by little Jyn reached her, and the two young women crossed glances. Leia's dark eyes filled with fire, Jyn's watering ice-blue.
The older woman took her trembling fingers to her ears and begun removing the stolen jewelry, she did the same with the necklace. "They—" Jyn's voice shook, "they told me you were kidnapped."
"I am now," Leia bitterly said.
"No, child," Rex broke in, "we're helping you. We're taking you back home."
Cody picked up Han's unconscious body from the floor, and got to work tying his arms and legs. "Quit your weeping," he roughly said to Leia. "I only hit his head… he'll wake up in a few minutes."
His carelessness and insolence awoke Leia's strong spirit, almost erasing the previous shock.
"Cowards, you are afraid of him! Why do you tie him down? Fight him you—"
"Taunting will not work, child. You don't know who you're dealing with. We are professionals."
"At a very low profession, I must say. You will not get us, I swear you will not—do not touch me!" she suddenly screamed, Jyn had tried to put the jewelry on Leia's hands but Leia jumped, savagely rejecting her.
"I only want to give back…"
"Take it with you. You had the nerve of using another woman's belongings to trick her into this… wear them forever and remember what you did!"
"I didn't know they were stolen!"
"I'm sorry," Cassian said, speaking to Leia yet avoiding her eye at all costs. "It was in the suitcase you left in my restaurant that night we met…"
"I should've let Han beat you to death!" Leia cried, incensed.
"I'm sorry," Cassian repeated. "I know it means nothing but… I only wanted to give a present to my girlfriend. I—I thought I'd never see you again. I'm sorry—"
Just at that moment, Han woke up. "What the…" he muttered. "What's going on? Leia!"
"Han!"
"Sweetheart—you!" Han turned to see Cassian. "What are you doing here, waiter boy? What the hell is going on?"
"I wouldn't mind explaining… if only I knew that myself," Cassian muttered, just a hint of sarcasm and bitterness on his rough voice.
"Leia, are you all right? Who are these people?" Han asked.
"They work for my Father," Leia said with scorn, "they must've put something in my drink… I still feel so dizzy."
"That's just a happy coincidence," Cody grinned. "Thanks to your bad habits you made our mission a lot easier."
"Cody, leave her alone," Rex pleaded.
"Bah! This child deserves no consideration!" Cody cried. "Running off with a low-life criminal. Mind you, Skywalker didn't mention that part! He swore the girl had been kidnapped. To tell you the truth, I don't know if I would've agreed to look for her across the fucking country had I known the truth."
"You would've done it either way because we owe it to Skywalker, and that you know." Rex calmly said.
The twins sighed and finally agreed.
"I think we should call him now. Tell him we found his daughter. So at least he can sleep on this night… Cassian, Jyn, thanks for your cooperation. You may go now."
Cassian nodded, Jyn kept staring guiltily at Leia. The two Kamino brothers forced them outside.
"Wait," Cody said before closing the door, "you're not suggesting we leave these two alone?"
"Yes, brother," Rex said without looking at either of the two tied down lovers. "That's exactly what we'll do. It's not like they can move or anything… let's go."
Once again alone, Han fought every restraint that hold him to be free and reach Leia, but it proved to be useless. Rex and Cody really were professionals…
"What are we going to do?" Leia said, frustrated.
"Let me think," Han said, slowly, in a low voice. He had no idea.
"So… should we mention to Skywalker that we found his 'little girl', drunk and drugged in a questionable night club in the downtown area of L'étoile du Nord?" Cody asked his twin brother, already dialing to make a phone call.
"No. I don't think that'd be prudent… if Skywalker still has the same old temperament… Here," he snatched the telephone from Cody's hands. "I'll talk to him."
Anakin didn't sleep.
His nights had been either insomniac or nightmare fueled ever since his beloved daughter disappeared.
He paced around his spacious bedroom, from one corner to the other. Every once in a while reaching out to the balcony for some air, and when that didn't work, and he still felt so smothered he might choke, he simply sat beside his beautiful wife, who slept soundly, tired of tears and fear.
Night was quiet in the Skywalker Ranch, the quietest step could easily be spotted even by an untrained ear, and for a sharpened one like Anakin's, it was a simple task.
He heard the low noise, and quick as he was, he found the night-walker red-handed.
"Where do you think you're going, son?" Anakin asked, gravely.
"Father," Luke recovered from the shock of being caught and spoke calmly, "sorry, but I have to go. Only for a few days. I will come back and help you. I promise."
"You must be very ungrateful, son. Leaving when I need you the most."
"You're not the only one that needs me, Father."
"You are going to see Mara Jade, then?"
"If you must know… Yes. That's what I'm planning to do. She told me not to tell you, but I don't see why not. I have left her for too long. And I want to see her, as well."
"Is that girl more important that you sister and family?"
"She is part of my family, father."
"Not yet! You know I don't approve—"
"Father, this is not the time to argue about this. And pardon me, but I am going now."
"You're not going anywhere—"
The sound of the ringing phone interrupted the argument between father and son.
"Who could be calling at this hour?" Anakin cried, angrily.
"Could it be something about Leia?" Luke said with hope.
The two Skywalkers looked at each other for a moment, then they ran full force following the telephone's noise.
Anakin answered. "Rex!" he cried, a knot quickly forming in his throat as he recognized his old friend's voice. "What is it? Something happened? Did you find out something…? Something bad?"
"Why must you first assume something negative?" Luke said, apparently annoyed, though he was also greatly afraid to hear Rex's voice.
Luke saw his father nod, say a few monosyllables, and then hang up the phone.
Anakin looked like he would fail to stand, and fall down, he managed to find a seat and then, incredibly for Luke, he shed a few tears.
"What happened?" Luke urged him to speak, the threat of tears around his angel-blue eyes.
"They found her!" Anakin cried, his face a large smile against tears of happiness and relief. "She's all right. They have her!"
"Thank God," Luke sighed with supreme relief. Father and son embraced.
"I have to tell your mother," Anakin later said. "I'm sure she'll forgive me for interrupting her slumber. Oh she's going to be so happy!"
"Mara will be so happy, too, when I tell her," Luke said.
Anakin's smile died. "You're still going?"
"Yes, father. Now with more reason. My sister's well-being is assured, and I can go to Hollywood now without guilt. Mara needs me. She's always alone and I can't allow that."
"She's a big girl, Luke. You need to get it out of your head that she can't live without you."
"She told me so herself," Luke said, angrily. "She keeps calling me and sending me letters asking me to leave the Ranch and go to her."
"Did she?" Anakin said, lowly, ominously, without looking at his son.
"Yes," Luke nodded, unaware of the change in Anakin. "Please tell mother I couldn't say goodbye, but that I will be back in a week or two… call me on any news regarding Leia, please. Goodbye father!" he hugged him again, and grabbing his suitcases, he left.
Anakin breathed in and out for some moments, trying to control his anger and hatred. "You will pay for this, Jade," he said to himself. "Just as I get one of my children back you take the other… No. That's the last time it happens."
When thoughts of vengeance could leave his brain, he knew he was ready to see his wife.
Han and Leia found no success. Escape Rex and Cody proved to be impossible.
Who are these people? Leia wondered, crazily. Where did my father find them?
They put a black barrier between her eyes and the world, she couldn't see anything but she just knew they were walking her outside. She could not hear Han.
"Where is he?" she wondered out loud, hating the shaky nervousness in her voice.
"He's walking behind you, Child," Cody said. "We had to cover his mouth. Can't really stand his stupidity anymore."
"What about my mouth?" Leia said, defiantly. "What if I start screaming for help right now?"
She heard Cody's mean and sarcastic laugh. "Go ahead, Child! You'll get this bastard in his rightful place then: Jail! He's a criminal and it won't be hard to lock him up for life!"
"That—that's not true," Leia muttered, unsurely. "Is it Han?"
"Would you risk it?" Cody answered.
Leia stayed quiet after a while.
The next thing she heard was the sound of a car door open and close, and strong arms were rushing her to move.
"No…" she gasped, for the first time in her life truly terrified. "Please don't! I beg you… let-me-go!"
"This might not seem right," Cody said, "but we're doing you a favor."
"No! No! You're doing my father a favor! He doesn't deserve it. He's been ruining my life for the past few months. He practically forced me into exile. I did nothing wrong. Only follow my own heart. Is Han really here?" she suddenly muttered, her voice low, broken by tears as a child's voice breaks in sobs. "Han… are you… is he here?" despair she had not shown in nineteen years exploded in her countenance.
"Miss Skywalker, enter the car," she heard the sound of the other Kamino brother, who had been silent all the way there.
"Sir," Leia, for the first time in her life, was ready to beg. "I beg you, don't do this! Let me go—oh please. No! No! No!" she screamed as she was forced into the car. "Han! Han!" she repeatedly cried till a big hand forced her shut. She heard the car door close. The engine on. They were moving.
Her heart was bleeding. She really thought this was the end. What would her father do with Han? She wished he had not come back that night to her room after all. She should have taken the heartbreak all her life. Thinking him indifferent had seemed like the worst thing ever, now she trembled for what life had in store for them. She had condemned the love of her life.
"Oh Han," she sighed desperate when the hand set her mouth free, after what felt like a million years of pain.
After that, the bandage was removed from her eyes. The face she least expected welcomed her.
"You?" she cried, astonished. Jyn nodded her beautiful head, her ice-blue eyes still shining with the previously shed tears. "What are you… where's—"
"He's next to you," Jyn calmly said. "Not beaten down, don't worry. He's just fainted from some strange drink they serve in the club in which we were. He'll wake up in an hour or two most likely."
"I don't understand…" Leia shook her head, "where are the Kamino brothers?"
"Most likely cursing us, the wind, and even the sun that shines above them in Minnesota's capital city," Cassian said, looking at Leia in the rearview mirror, driving calmly across the deserted highway. "I really don't want to be them right now…"
"But, how did this happen?" Leia asked. "They're professionals. Impossible to beat!"
"We didn't beat them, Leia. We only gain a little more time," Jyn said.
"But, why did you risk your life for me and Han?"
"Seems only fair. It was us who put you in jeopardy first. I can't say we're even. We probably can't ever pay you for this horrible night…"
"Thank you!" Leia suddenly screamed, realizing she and Han were again free. "Oh God, I can hardly believe it. Thank you Jyn! Thank you Cassian!"
"Don't mention it, rich girl," Cassian smiled. "Now, where should we drop you and your boyfriend off?"
Leia's wild smile faded, and the rapidness under her chest was now not just excitement and happiness, but outrageous fear and uncertainty.
She said her answer confidently, though; just as she caressed Han's forehead, playing with his strayed hairs, praying that when he woke up he wouldn't hate her for what she decided.
AN: A friend of mine said my story is too confusing to understand. Is that true? I like to write with a certain ominous quality. I like things to be a little ambiguous so the reader can work his imagination, work conclusions that may or not be correct. Mystery and thrill are things I've been trying to bring into my story. I probably didn't succeed, but hey I tried!
Thanks for reading! Please review!
