Yay, I'm finally updating again. :P Thank you guys so much for being so patient with me all the time! I know I keep saying it, but I mean it! :) Also, thank you to everyone who followed and/or favorited my story since last time! 3 Anyway, enjoy!

QueenNaberrie: I'm sorry for not getting back to you normally, but I took so long to reply I thought I'd just put my reply here. So yup, they have gotten themselves into a mess once again. And an upfront approach with Anakin would probably be best, but now that Luke's unconscious for the time being, that's probably not going to happen. ;P haha. But don't worry, there will be an attempt to keep Anakin on the right side. Thanks for reviewing!

PPP: haha I'm glad you liked it! :D I hope you continue to enjoy my story! Thanks for the review!

Liby: Omigoodness, thank you so much! :"D It means a lot that you think so! And I'm glad you liked the Palpatine-Anakin scene. I actually really enjoyed writing it! :) Thanks so much for the sweet review!

springpanther: haha yeah, Anakin needs a good smack every now and again. X) And Obi-Wan is definitely going to start asking questions (when he gets the chance anyway). Sidious is going to be sweating for a while, that's for sure. As for Luke, sorry - I can't say. ;) And Ahsoka isn't forgotten, don't worry. Neither is Padme, although she isn't going to have a large part. I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the review!

Previously: Anakin, Leia, and Han have made it back to Obi-Wan and Luke. After Anakin tells Chancellor Palpatine his troubles over a comm-link, Obi-Wan is distressed to hear from the Jedi Council that Anakin's conversation has had an affect of their plans. Later, Han wakes up confused and disoriented before falling back under again only to wake to some bad news from Leia. Meanwhile, Luke realizes he has a problem, and passes out...

"What?" Han blinked at her, an incredulous expression on his face. Leia took a moment to take a deep breath before replying.

"I said; I'm going to jail, Han." She repeated, schooling her face into a blank mask. Still, she let some of the remorse seep into her voice. "I know it sounds bad," She added quickly once she saw his darkening features. "but things could have gone a lot worse."

Han's mouth opened like he was going to say something before closing it again. The action repeated several times before he shook his head and started to sit up. He smacked away her attempts to get him to lie down again. Leia frowned at the gesture. "I'm sorry, maybe it's my spinning head, but just how could this be any worse? I thought it was a general rule to not get into trouble when time traveling." Han cracked, no real amount of humor in his voice besides the dry sarcasm as he situated himself on his elbows.

Leia shook her head, letting her expression fall into something more imploring. "You don't understand, Han; everything was going so wrong. I had no choice but to do the things I did."

"Which was what exactly?" He asked, sounding a little more than over it. Leia frowned.

"I stole a military transport." She said simply.

"You what?"

"You know what I said. And I don't even regret it. It was worth it; I got you back, after all." She replied tightly. Han stared, completely bewildered, his mouth hanging open. She could see the frustration on his face as his thoughts tried to catch up with his groggy mind. She could practically feel him attempting to clear his mind. Whether or not he was able to accomplish that was another matter.

Shaking his head again, he said, "But what about the kid? Why'd he let you go alone?" He sat up the rest of the way. This time, she helped him—hands and arms supporting his torso on the way up.

She didn't answer him right away. "I…" She started, hesitantly. "I left without telling him." Letting her arms drop to her sides as he became situated, she bit her lip for a split second before catching the telling gesture. When he caught her gaze, she stared back hard. Han Solo had no right to complain.

"You left him?" He asked in disbelief. Initially, she felt irritated at the criticizing tone, but she couldn't blame him. She knew that it had been a selfish and stupid move. Still, she couldn't bring herself to regret it. If it had taken her and Luke any longer to find him, who knew whether or not he'd still be alive?

"Yes." She stated, confident. "And what's that matter anyway? I can take care of myself, Han. I don't need you or Luke watching my back all the time. I survived eighteen years before the both of you." She crossed her arms tightly. She was growing tired of the constant reprimanding.

Han scowled in response. "Yeah, and that worked out so great. We found you as a prisoner on the Death Star, Princess. And I'm not saying you can't take care of yourself, I'm saying that that would be a stupid thing for anyone to do." Somewhere in his speech, his scowl had turned into an infuriating smirk, sparking Leia's ire.

Her fingernails dug painfully into her arms. "Oh, you're one to talk. You're the one pulling stupid stunts all the time!" She flung her arms out towards him, standing up. "I don't understand why you're so upset. I got you. You're safe—with me. I wasn't about to let us be separated like that again. Not after what happened last time with Jabba and that bounty hunter." She turned her back towards him, trying to ignore the pit in her gut as she realized how close they had come to never seeing each other again.

She had almost lost Han. The thought in itself was unreal to her. She had been worried sick—had put her neck on the line for him—and all he did was get angry at her. She crossed her arms again, glaring at the medical bed opposite of where Han's was. She almost missed the soft huff of air behind her.

"Listen Leia, I know I sound ungrateful, but I am glad you found me. It's just that, sometimes you're just so…" He trailed off, and Leia, in her impatience, whipped around to glare at him.

"So what, Han?"

Han sighed, his mouth twisting in agitation. "I don't know. Reckless, I guess. I can't think of a good word for it." He shrugged tersely.

Leia resisted the urge to scoff in frustration. She knew Han meant well, but she couldn't get past the anger spreading in her chest. Maybe she was reckless, but things didn't get done without people like her. After all, the destruction of the Death Star would have never happened if they hadn't come up with a plan that was, for all intensive purposes, reckless.

But even though she wanted to bite back at him, she took a moment to breathe. She didn't believe he was being fair, but she wasn't exactly being pleasant either. She would back down, she decided. It wasn't how she wanted their first conversation to go anyway.

Forcing her body to relax a bit, she spoke in a kinder tone, although she only really succeeded in sounding like a politician. "I know, Han, and I'm sorry for getting into this situation, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Just…don't be angry at me. Not now." She reached to hold his hand apologetically. Han stared down at their locked hands, twisting his fingers in between hers as he flipped their hands over, considering. He still looked upset, but she knew he would forgive her. He always did.

As if to confirm her theory, he looked back up at her, a charming—and a little sad—half smile on his face that had the corners of her own lips twitching upwards. "Angry? Me, Princess?" He gave a mock-hurt look. "You must have me confused with some other ruggedly handsome ex-smuggler."She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but a clone medic walked in, interrupting her.

"You're up." The medic stated the obvious, barely glancing up at Han from the chart in his hands. Both Leia and Han turned to look at the clone in silence as he walked up to the two of them, placing the chart on a small counter next to the bed, their moment broken. "I'm going to need to take some blood samples." He explained, picking a syringe out of a drawer. Han looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"Look, I know you probably mean well and all, but I don't think that's a good idea." Han said, face pinched. The clone stared blankly on, and Leia had the feeling that if they could have actually seen his face, it would look just as impassive.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you too." Han sneered.

"It's standard procedure." The clone stated, making an attempt to grab Han's arm, but Han jerked it out of the way before the medic's fingers could close around it. Straightening up, the clone said, "Sir, I don't want to sedate you, but I will if I have to." Scowling, Han reluctantly—and very slowly—gave the clone his arm.

After the blood sample had been taken, Han rubbed at the puncture on his arm as the clone cleaned up his equipment. Leia frowned sympathetically at Han's discomfort. She had heard about the device used to torture him when Vader was holding them on Bespin. From what Han had described, there were a lot of needles.

Finishing up, the clone turned to Leia. "I have orders to bring you back to your room." He said, waiting silently for her to respond. Leia blinked, furrowing her brows.

"What? But Han just woke up." She glanced quickly at Han, his own face showing his displeasure.

"I have my orders." He repeated, waiting for her to start moving.

Leia looked over at Han, trying to decide what to do. He met her gaze but just shrugged. She didn't really have much of a choice and they both knew it. She would have to go—no matter how much she didn't want to.

Sighing, Leia turned to face the clone again. "Alright," She said, letting her features fall back into a neutral mask again. "Let's go."

Lying underneath the belly of his Jedi starfighter, Anakin didn't flinch when a drop of oil fell onto his cheek.

He had been tinkering with his fighter for the better part of the hour tying to let go of some of his frustration with Obi-Wan, all to seemingly no avail. If he didn't find it completely impossible, he might have tried mediating instead, but since he had negative patience when it came to sitting still, he had decided to put his efforts into something a little more active.

Twisting a screw into place, Anakin frowned at the tight feeling in his shoulder. Since Coric had applied a bacta patch to the blaster wound it had felt better almost instantly, but that didn't mean that it was anywhere near completely healed. It was still uncomfortable if moved in certain ways, though. It would most likely be healed by the morning. If he reapplied some bacta by then, anyway.

Of course, he could just not go and tough through it, but it would be an annoyance more than anything else, and he had more than enough of that emotion for one day.

Sighing more forcibly than necessary, Anakin rolled himself out from under his fighter and grabbed at a soiled cloth to wipe his hands as he sat up from his board. He'd really rather stay and tinker some more, but his exhaustion had been creeping up on him for the past day or so and his emotions were fried, so the idea of grabbing some bacta and heading off to bed suddenly seemed more appealing.

Standing up, he turned towards his favorite astromech, finally wiping at the oil on his face. It only smeared. "Hey buddy, do you mind closing this up for me? I think I'm gonna turn in for the night." Artoo bleeped and blooped in confirmation, wiggling a bit in his spot. Anakin grinned at his antics. "Thanks artoo."

Bending down to clean up his tools, Anakin caught sight of the alien ship he and Leia had escaped on. They had brought it back onto the cruiser to take back to Coruscant because, apparently, someone there was interested in it. But Anakin was too, and the pain had practically been physical when he found out he couldn't get his hands on it.

Biting back another sigh, he gathered up his things and left for the med bay, his thoughts drifting towards Ahsoka.

She hadn't been happy when he had first saw her after getting back to the Resolute. She had made that fact clear enough. Even having the nerve to scold him for "reckless actions" as she called it. Anakin scoffed to himself. Like she had any right to complain. He was surprised he didn't have bald spots from and the stressful hair ripping he had done as her master. It didn't matter though, 'cause he had sent her back to her quarters to meditate-an order he was actually surprised she followed-and got some precious time to himself. Thank goodness he wasn't Obi-Wan though. BUt that's all he would think on that matter.

Shaking his head of his thoughts, Anakin found himself at his destination and put his tool kit down outside the door. As he did so, he caught sight of his hands, and cringed at how dirty they were. He hoped Coric wasn't inside. Outranking officer or not, when it came to the med bay; Coric outranked everyone, and he did not like dirt in his workspace.

Figuring he'd just hop in and hop out, Anakin entered the med bay, and with a quick scan of the room, he saw that—to his great relief—Coric wasn't there. He also noticed, however, that the man he and Leia had rescued was there, sitting idly on a med cot, looking bored out of his mind.

Planning to ignore the man and just grab some bacta, Anakin made his way to a medical cabinet in three long strides.

"Hey," Han spoke up behind him, causing Anakin to pause mid-reach into the drawer and glance over at him. "Are you, uh, a medic here or someth'n?" Anakin raised an eyebrow, following the man's eyes to his rumpled and dirty clothing. Anakin almost laughed out right at the idea, but thought better of it. He was probably confused.

"Ah, no." He said lamely, finishing his search for the medical gel.

"Oh," Han scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Mind telling me who you are, then? I've been kind of out of it lately…"

"Anakin," He said simply. "You're Han, right?"

Han blinked, looking a little taken aback. "Yeah…Have we met?"

Anakin shook his head, completely forgetting about the dirt and oil on his outfit, and leaned against a sterile counter. "No, not really. I was with your fiancé when she went to rescue you." Understanding passed over Han's face before he cringed at some realization.

"She didn't steal that military ship from you, did she?" Anakin stared blankly at him for a second, readjusting himself against the counter. So she had told him already…Something hit inside Anakin, and he became increasingly interested in what else she had told him.

"Yeah, she did." He hesitated before adding, "Can I ask you a question about your fiancé? It's just something I noticed, and I was wondering about it." He kept his voice casual, even adding a nonchalant shrug. Still, Han looked suddenly wary.

"Sorry if I don't jump up and down in excitement at the prospect." Han said dryly.

"I was just wondering if she had anything against Jedi." He said, all fake casualness in his voice replaced with genuine curiosity. Han's face scrunched at the question, but Anakin couldn't bring himself to understand what that meant.

"No, she doesn't. She's a big supporter of Jedi." Anakin frowned at the answer. That didn't help him at all. He was still no where closer to understanding what he did to deserve her hate. Sure, she had made it very clear that he despised him specifically, but for some reason, he still felt that maybe it wasn't that personal. He was wrong, of course.

He sighed, a little resigned. "Oh."

Han raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, instead, he gestured to Anakin's clothes. "So did you just come from Mud Lake or something, 'cause last time I checked, Tatooine had dry dirt."

Anakin looked back down at his Jedi robes, not really expecting the question. "Uh, no," He said after a second. "I was just messing with my fighter. Most of this is oil." He rubbed at a particularly dark smudge on the corner of his tabard.

"You like working on ships?" Han asked, his tone brightening considerably. Anakin looked up, a half-smirk on his face.

"Oh, yeah. You like it too, I'm guessing." He gestured towards Han, who wore a smirk of his own.

"Oh, yeah." Han echoed.

Anakin grinned at the words. It was rarer than you'd think that he found someone who shared his love for mechanics. Sure, there were people Anakin had come across that had expressed an enjoyment in the area, but no one seemed to love it as much as he did. He'd even tried to teach Ahsoka some of what he'd learned, but even she didn't show a great enjoyment of it either. Han, though, he loved it. Anakin could tell. It was something in his blood, and he could tell.

"What do you fly?" Anakin asked, his original goals completely forgotten.

"She's a YT-1300 light freighter. The name's the Millennium Falcon, and she's a beauty. I've never flown a better ship in all my life." Han practically gushed, a doting look in his eye—a look Anakin could relate to. "What about you, kid? What do you fly?"

Anakin's mouth twisted at the comment about him being a kid—he was not a kid—but for the sake of continuing a very rare, pleasant conversation about starships, he let it slide. "A Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor. She's the newest model of Jedi starfighters there is." He boasted, his chin up and a smirk on his face.

Han whistled. "Nice, but if you're feeling up to flying a real piece of art, you should see my baby. Might even knock you out of your diapers."

Anakin felt a vein in his forehead throb at the comment, but just as Anakin was about to say something further on the matter, his comm-link beeped. Frowning down at the device, he turned it on.

"Skywalker here." As he said the words, he felt a distinct spike in the Force around Han, but since he wasn't able to focus on it, he didn't pay it much attention.

"Anakin, there's something wrong." Obi-Wan's calm voice came through the device, but Anakin could still hear the edge it carried. Obi-Wan was distressed. Anakin's curiosity peaked.

"What happened?" He asked, already heading towards the door. His conversation with Han had been enjoyable, but it would have to be cut short.

"I sensed something was wrong with Luke, so I stopped by to check on him, but he was unconscious when I arrived. I want you to help me get him to the med bay."

"I'm on my way, Obi-Wan, but wouldn't it be a little faster if you got some clones to help?" He asked. It was a little bit disconcerting that Obi-Wan sounded so distressed about Luke. He was still just a stranger, after all, and Obi-wan hardly ever took to strangers. Still, he found himself hurrying down the bland, grey hallways, his bacta forgotten with his toolkit.

"Anakin, listen," Obi-Wan's voice was firm, so Anakin did as he was told. "I can't feel him in the Force. It's like he's not even here. That's why I need you to come." Anakin's purposeful steps faltered a bit before he continued.

"That's impossible." He insisted. Unless, of course… "Are you sure he's not…?"

"He's alive, Anakin."

"Ok, fine. Whatever. I'm almost there." He turned off his comm.-link, not bothering to wait for a response. Guess sleep would have to wait a little longer…

"Luke, can you hear me?" Obi-Wan asked the prone man uselessly as he crouched down beside him. He hadn't expected to get a response, but the silence was still discouraging. He had no idea what was wrong and it bothered him more than he cared to admit. Not being able to sense someone as strong in the Force as him was…unusual.

Speaking of strong Force presences…

"Obi-Wan, I'm here." Anakin announced as he crouched next to him, bringing a slight breeze against Obi-Wan's face at the motion and breathing a little heavier than normal. He was also still covered in dirt and…oil? He must have been working on his fighter again…

"Good," He decided to ignore the unclean state of his former Padawan, scooting over so Anakin could get a better look at the unconscious man on the floor. "I still can't sense him in the Force, but I'd like you to try too. You have a stronger connection anyway."

Anakin's gaze flickered over before looking back down at Luke. "I'll try."He muttered, his face twisting in concentration for a moment as Obi-Wan started to feel his senses stretch out towards the young man. He looked up after a long pause, his brows furrowed in what looked like frustration. Maybe concern. "I can't feel him." He said, and Obi-Wan frowned.

"If you can't find him in the Force, then I think it's just better if we get him to the med bay so Coric can have a look at him." Anakin nodded in response and moved to help Obi-Wan with the task.

Thankfully, hauling him to his feet wasn't as difficult as it could have been because of his smaller size. Obi-Wan had hauled Anakin's dead weight around enough times to be thankful for that fact. Still, it took efforts from both of them to get him moving down the hall at a reasonable pace. It was slow, tedious work, but they made good time, and they soon found themselves back at the med bay.

"Luke?" Han sprung off of his spot when he saw the three of them enter and hurried over to help get Luke onto a bed. "Hey, what happened to him? What's wrong with him?" He demanded. "Hey, kid—"

"—He can't hear you." Anakin spoke up, rubbing his shoulder briefly. Han looked unhappy, to say the least.

"Well what happened to him?" Han repeated.

"We don't know," Obi-Wan started, sweeping a gaze over the room and failing to find the medic he was looking for. Corc should have been back by then, and although they could still use a medical droid, they really needed a live analysis of Luke's situation. "I found him like this on the floor of his room. He hasn't responded to anything I've tried." Obi-Wan found Han's gaze, trying to sense how the man was feeling.

He was like an open book, of course-most non-Forcesensitives were. Only the ones actively training their minds against a Jedi were ever able to block their minds from them. And judging by how open Han's mind was, he hadn't been doing anything of the sort.

And normally, Obi-Wan might respect someone's privacy when it came to their mind, but he had no idea how the man would react to his friend being in danger. The only thing could hope was that him and his fiancé had more differences than just their blood.

Brushing him mind, Obi-Wan felt the emotions he was looking for. First, he felt frustration, then confusion, stress, helplessness—but nothing he found screamed for the need to remove him from the immediate area. That in itself was somewhat of a relief, at least.

Still, the distress he felt reminded him of earlier, when Han had first woken up. He had said something strange then about a "stormtrooper," whatever that meant. He amde a note to ask about it later.

Coming back to himself, he noticed Anakin speaking to Han.

"It's alright, we'll figure out what's wrong with him. I give you my word as a Jedi." He said, seriously, trying to Ease Han's nerves. Whether it worked or not, Obi-Wan couldn't tell. Han seemed to fall into silence, an unreadable expression on his face—nothing Obi-Wan felt in the Force to match to it either. Whatever it was, Han seemed to study Anakin as one might a candy-promising kidnapper. The moment left Obi-Wan feeling more than confused.

"General Kenobi, General Skywalker; is there something you need?" At the voice of the clone medic Obi-Wan was looking for, both him and Anakin half-turned to see Coric standing there in stiff curiosity. Turning to face him completely, Obi-Wan folded his arms into his cloak

"Coric, I'm glad you're here. Luke is unconscious and we don't know why. I need you to run a full diagnostic as soon as possible." Having said that, Obi-Wan backed out of the way of the bed Luke was lying on as Anakin did the same. Han stayed where he was, looking conflicted on what to do.

"Right away, sir." Coric nodded, a stiff motion with the helmet on his head, and hurried over to do as he was told.

Han moved away from him then, His mouth still slightly open. He didn't sand next to them though, instead, he kept his distance, catching their attention with a head jerk towards Luke. "Does Leia know that Luke's like this?" He asked. Obi-Wan shared a look with Anakin.

"We will tell her when the time is right," Obi-Wan offered. Anakin, he noticed, seemed to catch the unspoken reason behind his hesitation. They didn't need a repeat of her actions from earlier, however unlikely it was that she would even be able to think of something rash to do in the situation at all. It just wasn't worth the risk.

Han seemed to disagree.

"She needs to know," He argued. At their silence, he added, "He's her brother for crying out loud." Obi-Wan's lips tightened in dull remorse. As much as she had a right to know, she had given up that right when she broke the law and stole one of their ships.

Obi-Wan shared another meaningful look with Anakin, fully expecting the younger to look upset with him. Anakin had a knack for siding with people he barely knew when he felt sympathy towards them. It had granted him many, easy friends on missions, but even more betrayals. Obi-Wan had tried to break him of the habit. As kind and innocent of a trait it was to trust people so willingly, it had hurt them more than anything else. Maybe that was why it was such a shock him to see—or rather, to not see—that familiar longing to help the people in their care.

Anakin's eyes were cold, holding no sympathy whatsoever.

Obi-Wan felt a chill go up his spine.

Anakin blinked. "Obi-Wan—" He started, but was cut off by a tremendous lurch underneath them. It was so unexpected, that even with their Jedi reflexes, Anakin and him were thrown off their feet. Meanwhile, Han and Coric never stood a chance, thrown across the room like child's toys. The lights flickered above them as they all scrambled to their feet.

Anakin was the first to speak. "What the kriff was that?" He cursed, already looking alert—ready for danger.

"Sir, the patient." Coric managed to gather himself enough to make an attempt to put Luke back in his spot. Apparently, he had flown out of his cot along with them.

Anakin hurried over with Han to help Coric while Obi-Wan turned on his comm.-link. "Someone give me a status report. What just happened?" He ordered into the device on his arm. Surly the Separatists hadn't found them. Not just as they were starting to jump into hyperspace.

A clone from the bridge answered. "General Kenobi, sir. I'm just getting reports that our hyperdrive has failed and three of our eight engines have malfunctioned. More details are coming in. I'll keep you updated."

"See that you do." He let his arm drop, steadying himself as another, although weaker, tremor shook the cruiser. The whole ship seemed to groan in protest—a grading sound on the ears.

"That doesn't sound good." Anakin managed, almost tripping on his way over to him. "What'd the clones say?"

"Nothing good. Our hyperdrive has failed along with three of our engines." He repeated the information to Anakin, keeping a grip on the wall. He had a feeling there would be aftershocks.

"What?" Anakin gaped. "But I modified those engines myself. There's no way they're just breaking down like that."

"We'd better head to the bridge then; they'll have more information for us there." He said before turning to Coric and addressing him. "Keep an eye on things here. Don't leave unless you get the ok from me or General Skywalker. Also, call some more clones to help you."

"Yes, sir." The clone said, and they were gone.

Running down the halls just behind Anakin, Obi-Wan's mind was focused on the problem ahead. As much as he wanted to be there for updates on Luke; Han and Leia and them would have to wait. They weren't going anywhere, after all.

But neither were they.

Obi-Wan sighed.

I hope you liked it! :D I know things might have been a little slow in this chapter, but things will start to pick up again next time - I promise! :) And just in case anyone wonders whether or not Han would actually know Anakin's first name be now; he doesn't. At least not in my story anyway. ;) So sorry if that doesn't line up with any EU that might be out there. And sorry if it feels like the chapter kinda just cuts off. It felt like that to me. :P Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you continue to do so! :D But let me know what you thought of the chapter! Until next time!