Signs of Life

By JalendaviLady

Chapter 14

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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

If you recognize any characters, locations, or things in the following story, George Lucas owns them.

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Han was coming in the room just as Mon was heading out in a rush. "Keep him calm," she ordered. "I'm going to go get the medics."

She charged off, grumbling something about medcenters that thought incapacitation of a patient meant there was no need for a visible call button.

Han came in and sat down beside the bed. "What's going on?"

Anakin was curled up on one side slightly, eyes clenched shut and a look of utter pain on his face. He groaned slightly.

Han thought for a moment, then placed an arm around the ex-Sith's shoulders. "Just hold on. The medics should be here soon."

A young medic Han thought he had seen a few days before came in, followed by a few of her colleagues and Mon Mothma. Han stepped aside to let the medics work, giving Anakin what he thought and hoped was a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. He thought he saw Anakin relax slightly, at least.

"Well, Anakin," the leader of the group said suddenly after a short series of measurements and tests, "it seems this may be the only one of your current problems with an easy and quick solution."

"And that would be?" Anakin asked weakly as Han moved close again, putting a firm hand on a quaking pale arm.

"Your digestive tract just started recovering from being inactive for a while and realized how long it has been since you ate last. The discomfort and pain should start to go away once we get you to ingest something a bit more substantial than water." She murmured something to one of the other medics, who then exited the room. "We're going to see if you can handle a nutritional shake formulated for those either with extremely picky stomachs or those who have just been through digestive tract operations. Hopefully your system can handle it."

He nodded understanding.

"We hadn't really hoped you'd recover to this point this quickly. If you can't keep the stuff down, you can't keep it down. It won't be a setback, because you're already ahead of where anyone thought you would be by now, and since the nutrient IVs are still going, it won't affect calorie intake and such. We just need you to try."

A mumble only Han could have heard: "I'm a Jedi. We don't try, we do." His shoulders gave one large shudder as he apparently realized what he had said.

Han squeezed his arm, trying to show support. The sooner his mind switches from considering himself ex-Sith to being Jedi, the better.

Mon Mothma walked over to Anakin's other side, placing a slender hand on his shoulder.

There was trepidation in Anakin's eyes. He's afraid what happened earlier today will happen again, Han figured. That he'll jerk away again, only this time with more witnesses than just his daughter. Leia had told Han of the morning's near disaster. He thought he had his own form of a solution to the problem. Just got to see if it'll work.

...

A few moments later, Anakin felt like climbing the back wall of the room, just to get away. If only I was strong enough to... then they'd leave me alone.

He almost laughed to himself. If I was strong enough to even Force-lev myself up a wall, I wouldn't be here in the medcenter. And they wouldn't be avoiding letting me know how Luke is doing... I don't even know if he's conscious or not! He felt tears start welling up in his eyes. Luke...

The medic had returned with the... well, the whatever-it-was. It dimly registered in his mind that Han was trying to get him to sit up, even if only a little bit. Mon had joined him after a moment or two.

It all just hurt so much... the ache in his mind...the burning agony that was his stomach... the pain of knowing that no matter what he ever did, he and Luke could never have a normal relationship...

He couldn't help it and let out a huge but muffled sob.

Something moved at the edge of his mind... and he suddenly found himself facing a very irate medic. She's... Force-strong? The shock of the discovery stopped the crying outbreak temporarily and he found himself hauled into an upright position and braced that way by no fewer than two people on each side. Han had the large drinking bulb full of... whatever... in his hand and was sitting close. It was one thing for Leia to try brute force, but this is something completely different...

Han gently grabbed one of Anakin's hands, placed it on the bulb, and covered it with his own hands. "Anakin, we're just gonna take this nice and slow and at your own pace. I'm just offering a bit of help, but you've got general directional and tilt control. But you are going to have drunk at least some of this stuff before any of us leave this room."

He managed until near the end of the... gunk. That's it. Gunk. There were a few rough moments, but having control over the situation helped some of the ingrained avoidance that had caused such a problem earlier.

Then, Duria suddenly appeared in the doorway. Anakin yanked his hand up in surprise, covering himself with the remains of his meal. "Biggs told me to tell you 'Hello'... Oh."

Everyone, including Anakin, started laughing as Han and the medics tried to clean him up. Mon, still giggling – I never knew there was a way to giggle and still seem dignified – excused herself from the room.

Duria and the medic were the last to leave. Han was going to stay for the first part of the night. Duria was about to head out when Anakin quietly asked her, "Has anyone checked to see if any of the medics on the Executor are qualified?"

She paused, and for a moment he wasn't sure she'd understood, until he saw the slight quiver of hope that seemed to run through her.

"They were going to take a look at the latest set of scans tomorrow," the medic whispered loudly. "One of them thinks he might be able to do something – no promises, Duria, and don't you dare let it slip to Biggs." She stared hard at Duria.

"I understand." Duria came back into the room as the medic left. Tears were in her eyes. "If you hadn't turned back..."

"Duria, there are still no promises. No one there may even be qualified. And even if they are, there are no guarantees they can do anything for him at all. Or that anything they can do would work," Anakin warned. Don't get your hopes up, Duria. Even if the damage can be completely repaired, Biggs may never regain the full range of movement and reflexes he had before. That realization will be hard on both of you.

She left.

12 more days and the SkyLords come.