My thanks to Freshman11, MultiFandomGirl1424, StatsGrandma57, ccp, EsmeAmelia, MrsScruffyNerfherder, jeanmarie3, and Book girl fan for your continued support, and to my son for beta-reading.
Note: As a migraine sufferer myself, I can say that there's definitely a lag time between a migraine trigger and a migraine. But I'm ignoring that little fact for this chapter.
Leia startled awake when Dr. Algers came in several hours later to check on her patient. The young woman smiled at her, a finger pressed to her lips, indicating that she didn't wish to disturb Han while he was sleeping in Leia's arms. Yawning, the princess watched as the doctor examined the monitoring feeds behind Han's bed and frowned.
"What's wrong?" Leia whispered.
The woman again put a finger to her lips and indicated that Leia should follow her out into the hall. The princess gently transferred Han's head from her lap to the pillow and slid out of his medical lab bed. Dr. Algers led her to a private conference room.
"I'm concerned about Captain Solo's condition," the doctor began. "He's developing another migraine now, in the absence of any external stimuli. He's self-reported temperature extremes and air pressure changes as migraine triggers, but I suspect that we're missing a piece of the puzzle. It's going to be difficult to find an effective treatment for him without a complete understanding of what triggers his migraines. How long were you with him tonight? Did anything unusual occur? Did he say or do anything to indicate there was a problem?"
Leia thought of Han and his recurrent nightmares about his mother. It occurred to her that he'd also developed a migraine after the previous nightmare she'd witnessed. She bit her lip. This was not the kind of information that Han would want anyone to know.
The doctor read her indecision. "Princess, here's my concern. We don't have unlimited time or resources to treat Captain Solo. The man obviously has a serious problem and I would sincerely like to help him. But we're in the middle of a war. There are injured Rebels who are going to need these med beds. We have to move forward on his case or we may have to release him without a solution. I'm not sure he'll legally be able to pilot starships if that occurs. If you know anything that might shed some light on his case, please let me know."
Leia folded her arms. Han, I'm doing this for your own good. "He has nightmares," she said carefully, not wanting to reveal the reason behind them. "That's why I came to see him tonight."
"Do you know how often he has them? Do they track with his migraines?"
"I don't know, but Chewbacca the Wookiee might. He would talk to you if he thought it would help Han. I can think of one other time recently where a nightmare about his mo ... uh ... a nightmare preceded the migraine."
The doctor frowned at Leia. "The same nightmare preceded both migraines?"
"Yes," she replied, feeling guilty that she had exposed such a crack in the Captain's armor without his consent. Han was not going to like this.
The doctor nodded, and Leia could visualize her mentally checking off various boxes in her mind. "Thank you, Princess Leia. Of course, this conversation will remain confidential. But I may order some new testing for the Captain, based upon what you've just told me."
Leia walked back to her quarters with an uneasy sensation in her gut. After lying awake for another standard hour, she slept fitfully the rest of the night. The princess had a very bad feeling about this.
Leia didn't have a chance to visit Han until late afternoon the next day. Peeking into his room in the med lab, she could tell that he didn't feel well just by looking at him. Beneath the crown of wires his face was ashen, and there was a v-shaped swelling between his eyebrows, giving Han a pained expression that Leia was starting to recognize as his migraine face.
She walked in quietly so that she didn't aggravate his headache further. "Hi, Han," she said softly.
He barely regarded her. "Princess." There was no warmth or pleasure in his tone; it appeared that he was barely able to speak to her civilly.
He knows, Leia thought. He knows I've spoken with Dr. Algers and he's already shut me out. The pang she felt in her heart was as intense as it was unexpected. "Han ... I didn't have a choice." He turned pain-filled eyes to her, just for a moment, before the walls went up and his hard look froze her out. Leia rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. "She needed to know more about your migraine triggers. They were going to discharge you without - "
Han held up a hand to silence her. "Three standard hours," he growled. "Three standard hours of psycho-kriffing-testing sithspit because you couldn't keep your blinking mouth shut."
His irritation sparked her own. "The doctor asked me, Han! She asked me because - "
He pointed a finger at her. "Look, your Worshipfulness. I don't need that kind of help. Now they've got some psycho-frink doctor coming in here to talk to me about my feelings about my mother." His glare could have melted durasteel. "Where in the nine hells of Corellia did they get that information?"
Leia shivered. "Han, I never said anything to anyone about your - "
"Who else would know?" he barked back.
"Chewie? Luke? How should I know?" she snapped in frustration.
"I know it wasn't either of them." Han's voice was a vicious whisper. "I can trust them." With that, he turned his head away from her and closed his eyes, effectively shutting her the rest of the way out.
