Chapter Twenty-Seven:

The next time Luke woke, both Anakin and Padmé were present.

They rose when his chest heaved and his eyelids fluttered up, gracing the elder Skywalkers with blessed blue. Luke's gaze focused, and then he smiled warmly, the sight filling Anakin's heart with light.

"Good morning," Anakin quipped lightly.

"H-hi," Luke spoke whisper-soft and on a hoarse throat.

It had been three days since his first awakening, and while the medics were not exactly pleased they'd missed it, Padmé wasn't about to apologize for her moment with her son. They had both needed it.

"How do you feel?" Anakin inquired softly.

Luke blinked a few times, but his brow was furrowed as he thought it over. "Worn out still, but better than the... well, before." He threw Padmé a look, unsure if he wanted to talk about their private moment.

Her reassuring smile told him she understood, and Luke sighed with relief.

He glanced about his room, first noting all the gadgets he was hooked up to, and then the pieces of furniture. Luke spotted a holo screen on the wall, and glanced about for the remote. It was on his right, as were the controls for his bed. He wanted to try sitting more upright, and so he lifted his arm to try reaching the device...

... and froze in utter shock when instead of his hand, only the stump of his forearm greeted him.

Luke stared, his jaw hitting the floor. What in space?

Many long, terse moments of shocked silence filled the room, during which Anakin and Padmé traded many concerned looks. Finally Luke reacted, and it wasn't pleasant.

He began to shake, unable to help it, and his breathing quickly became uneven. He shook his head at random, jerky intervals, trying to deny what was right before him.

"Luke..." Anakin stepped forward, is voice laced with concern.

But he couldn't take his eyes off the stump of his hand. Where had it gone? What had happened? Luke managed to lift his left hand and grab at his right arm... and met with air. He wasn't seeing things then: this was real.

"Luke, it's..." Padmé began to say, but Luke shook his head, his wide eyes sweeping between his parents and the missing limb.

"Wh-where is my h-hand?!" he cried.

Anakin looked down for a moment, then met Luke's gaze once more. There were unshed tears in his father's eyes. "We had to amputate it."

"What?!" Luke shouted, trying to sit up, but when he subconsciously used his right hand, he fell back into his pillows. He breathed heavily from the exertion, since he was still weak as yet. He stared with growing panic at the offending body part. "W-why?"

"Do you remember getting attacked by Sidara?" Anakin asked, growing more worried by Luke's reaction.

Luke frowned. "I... yes. Yes I do. But what does that have to do with me missing my hand?"

"She cut it so that you were bleeding too much," Anakin answered. "We had to cauterize and remove what was left of the hand's connection to your arm to save your life."

"What was left of it?" Luke seconded, seemingly calming down.

"She tried to remove your hand, but when Mirat foiled her attempt, the blade instead only mostly sliced the hand off." Anakin cringed. "The limb was barely attached, and you were bleeding far too much." Anakin took a breath. "So... I cut if off with my lightsaber."

Luke sucked in a breath, unable to tear his gaze from the missing hand. Then he began to quake harder, and he shook his head more earnestly.

"N... no! I-I... I can't... it can't..." His voice continued to rise in pitch, even as his heart-rate monitor began to beep with a warning.

"Luke, you need to calm down!" Padmé fretted, jumping forward to try helping, but Luke pulled away in fear.

"No!" he cried... or tried to.

His face paled, and the word came out breathy and faint. He pitched forward, gasping as if he was being choked, and his left hand flew to his chest.

"Luke!" Padmé cried, turning to Anakin to tell him to call the doctor, but her husband was already doing so.

Luke's terrified gaze lifted to hers even as he worked his mouth like a beached fish, his entire body trembling.

"Stand back!" Dr. Javas shouted as he barreled into the room.

Padmé obeyed instantly, not wanting to interfere with the chances Luke would be saved. The doctor stepped up to Luke and began using his stethoscope to listen to Luke's heart and lungs from the back and front, then he nodded to himself and began to rub soothing circles on Luke's back after he grabbed a breath mask and placed it over Luke's airways despite the fact he already had an air tube.

"Relax, Luke, you must try to relax. Your body is having a panic attack," Javas said soothingly. "Breathe..."

Luke tried, he really did, but he just couldn't get his lungs to function properly. And, despite the air mask over his face, he was starting to turn an unhealthy hue.

Anakin had a sudden thought; something Shmi had done with him once when he was very young and had nearly drowned in Gardula the Hutt's bath. Without waiting for permission, Anakin crawled into the bed behind Luke and drew him backwards and flush against his chest.

"Luke, feel my chest rise and fall: focus only on that," Anakin told him.

Luke grabbed Anakin's arm tightly, his desperation clear. Anakin used the Force to touch his mind, and he sent soothing waves to help him calm down. Luke grasped at the connection with all the need of a starving man offered a morsel of food.

Anakin helped Luke focus, and feel the way his father's chest rose and fell against his back, and then how Luke should follow suit. Luke focused... focused... and then he caught on to the rhythm.

He suddenly gasped, the air filling his lungs with a sweetness that burned. Anakin held him while he continued to pant, his chest heaving with exertion even as he sagged against Anakin now, completely drained from all the activity his body was not used to after a near-death experience and then weeks in bed.

Only when Luke was able to once more breathe independently did Anakin attempt to leave the bed, but Luke tightened his grip on Anakin's arm, the tears falling hot and heavy down his face as fear continued to course through him.

"N... no, p-please s-s-stay," Luke stuttered hoarsely.

He still shivered, and he turned into his father's embrace more, needful of it.

"Alright," Anakin reassured him, wrapping him in his arms. "I'll stay."

Javas stepped forward. "I need to check your airways and heart again, Luke. Please try to take deep breaths for me."

Luke did not have the energy to nod, so he simply began taking the deepest breaths he could physically manage. The doctor continued to study Luke, and then he pulled back, looking at his eyes next, and then his open mouth.

At last he pulled back and folded his hands across his front. "My initial prognosis of breathing issues appears to have been correct. His lungs seized up, and his heart-rate increased dangerously." Javas looked to Anakin and Padmé. "I'd like to run some tests, do some scans, and see if I can't give you more information."

"That'd be fine, so long as Luke can rest," Padmé decided, noting that Luke had once more fallen asleep. The sight of him snuggled into his father's embrace brought her joy.

"Of course," Javas assured her. "He won't have to do anything but lie there. We will take care of the rest."

"How long until he regains his strength, Doctor?" Anakin asked, indicating his son.

"Now that he is waking up, his strength will return with each successive period of sleep and waking," Javas replied. "The more he interacts, the more his energy will return and build up to its former strength. It will take time, mind you, but I am confident in his recovery."

"Alright, thank you." Anakin nodded.

"Since he is asleep, I would like to begin those tests, especially since he just had an episode. That's the best time to do this." Javas lifted his brows questioningly.

"Very well," Anakin answered, scooting carefully out of bed and gently lying Luke down.

00000

Leia Skywalker walked as quickly as she could without actually running. She was making her way through the corridors of the Coruscant Medical Center, intent on finding room 734.

She was on the correct floor, and the numbers were steadily coming closer and closer to her destination until finally she spotted it. Leia burst through the door in a barely contained fit of energy, her eyes falling upon the figure sitting propped up in his hospital bed with the help of a few pillows and the bed itself. A hover-table sat over his lap with a plate of half-eaten soft foods resting atop it.

Her parents were already there, and they smiled at her. However, Leia's full attention was drawn when a pair of blue eyes focused on her and their owner smiled.

"Leia!" he beamed.

"Luke!" Leia leapt forward, conscious of his meal, and wrapped him in a carful hug. "Dad commed me when I was on Trichi and told me that you'd woken up!"

Luke stiffened, pulling back to look at her in bewilderment. "Trichi? You mean... you went back? What were you doing there?"

Leia stepped back, glancing at her parents, who were sharing a knowing look.

"We didn't say anything to him yet," Anakin told Leia.

"We figured it should come from you," Padmé agreed.

Leia smiled, while Luke just looked equal parts hopeful and confused.

"Tell me what?" he asked, glancing from their parents to Leia.

She took a seat behind his hover table, looking him in the eye. "I, with the help of Mom, have been working on returning your people, and many of the others who weren't Denei, back to the Core. I just got back on the first ship with about thirty people."

Luke's eyes widened and he took a moment to process what she was saying. Then his gaze moved between Padmé and Leia.

"You... are helping my people?" There were clearly tears in his voice.

"Yes," Padmé answered simply. "We're your family, and what's important to you means a great deal to us as well. We couldn't just leave them all there."

Luke closed his eyes, the tears now spilling over. "You did this... for me?"

Leia reached around the tray and took his left hand in hers. "Of course we did. We love you."

He squeezed her limb in return, and smiled.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Leia grinned back, and then sobered. It had been four days since she'd received the worrisome message from her parents, which had also included a note about her brother's first breathing episode.

"Are you alright? Dad told me you had a panic attack."

Luke blushed, clearly embarrassed, and he looked away while suddenly hiding his right arm beneath left armpit.

"I... I'll live," he muttered unconvincingly.

Clearly she'd struck a raw nerve, and Leia threw her parents a worried look. Then she returned her gaze to Luke, who was staring glumly at his half-consumed food. He was sniffling almost silently, and there were tears collecting in his eyes.

Leia moved the hover table, and Anakin took it to the side for her while she slid forward carefully. She reached tentatively for him, and he tensed ever-so-slightly, but did not resist when she placed her palm on his left forearm.

"Luke, I'm sorry about your hand," Leia murmured. "It was Dad's and my decision to remove it, and we did so to..."

"To keep me alive." Luke finished, looking up now. "I know; Dad told me. I don't blame you." He frowned suddenly, moving his gaze between his twin and their father.

"You don't think I blame you two... do you?" he asked, feeling horrible. "Because I don't! I... I'm just..." He broke off with a sigh. "I don't know. I... I'm trying to cope with the fact that I'm... missing a part of me."

Leia didn't neglect the fact that he tried to further hide his right arm. She reached for it, but stopped just shy of actually touching the limb when he shied away from her touch, his cheeks burning.

"Luke, are you ashamed of yourself now?" Leia asked quietly.

Luke snapped his blue eyes to her brown ones, his gaze wide, face contorted into an emotion she couldn't quite name. Then he deflated and hunkered down, looking away from them all.

"Yes." It was a barely audible answer, but Leia heard it nonetheless.

Leia nodded, and then took his right limb in her fingers, trying to gently but firmly pry it out of hiding. Luke jumped at the sudden contact and tried to pull away, but Leia wouldn't relinquish his wrist and finally he stopped resisting when it was clear she would not take 'no' take for an answer.

Leia pulled the stump of his trembling arm to her and kissed it. Luke shuddered, trying again to pull it back even as his tears began to fall anew.

"Please stop," he whispered.

"Stop what?" Leia countered. "Stop loving you?"

"Stop acting like I'm still normal!" Luke pleaded. "Because I'm not!"

"Dear brother," Leia smirked wryly. "You and I have never been 'normal'."

Luke glared, but it wasn't out of anger, and he tried again— unsuccessfully— to free himself from her grip.

"Luke, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Leia assured him. "A missing body part doesn't change who you are."

Luke shook his head dejectedly. "You just don't get it."

Leia tried not to take offense to that, reminding herself that her brother was still recovering. "Then clarify for me: help me understand."

Luke blinked rapidly, his lips twitching a few times before he breathed out his answer, unable to meet anyone's eyes. "I... I'm ugly now..."

Leia's jaw dropped. "What?!"

"The hell you are!" Anakin spluttered indignantly, making Luke flinch. "You forget I'm technically an invalid as well, or have you forgotten my mechanical arm?" He pitted Luke with a pointed stare. "Does that make me ugly too?"

Luke cringed, shrinking guiltily away from his father.

Anakin removed his gauntlet, exposing the metallic components that made up his lower arm, and Luke looked from the corner of his eye. "I won't say it didn't take some getting used to, but the loss of my arm was not the end. I actually saved many lives, more than once, with this arm." Anakin flexed his fingers. "I once grabbed a bundle of live wires with this hand when Obi Wan and I were falling to our deaths. Had I done that with a flesh and blood hand, I would have been fried on the spot."

Luke bowed his head, nodding wordlessly. But the pressure of his three family members' gazes upon him grew unbearable, and he covered his face with his left hand, breaking down into sobs.

"I'm sorry!" he cried around his ragged breaths. "I'm s-so sorr... sorry! I... I d-didn't m-mean to b-be insensitive!"

Anakin looked to his two ladies, and the trio moved together to bring Luke into their collective embrace. He fell into their arms, let their love envelope him as he sobbed out his sorrow, grief, pain and frustration.

They held him through it, and there was not a dry eye in the room in that moment. But the healing that occurred in the midst of that embrace was unlike any other time they'd recently had.

It was a re-establishment of their familial bond as it had been, but with a new spin on it after all that they'd been through. They accepted the events of the past— good and bad— and agreed to look to the future.

Long moments passed, and they held the embrace until they were all sated. And then they held on a little while longer...

... and Luke smiled; softly, but happily.

He was home! He was finally, really home!

"I love you all," he whispered.