Mina and Lux don't wait for the handmaiden to show them the way. They run full steam toward the Med Bay, the others on our heels.

When they all try to push into the Med Bay, the nurse blocks the door. "I'm sorry, but she's very upset. Family only."

"I am her mother! Let me in!" Mina orders.

"We're all family." Ahsoka says.

The nurse blinks. "All of you?"

"Well…" Lux looks at all his friends. "Yes."

The nurse shrugs, and steps aside.

…

Her arms are lined with IVs. The oxygen nubbins are still in her nose. Her skin is still pale.

But Empire be damned, she's alive.

"Mom?" Sierra asks groggily.

Mina smiles. "Hi, honey."

"What happened?"

Mina pushes Sierra's hair out of her face, carefully untangling the dark strands from the cannula. "You were in shock. We flew you to Alderaan as fast as we could." She explains, her voice smooth and gentle.

"Mom, we have to ditch the ship." Sierra says. "Tor…he knows…I told him everything."

They expected this. But the terror in Sierra's voice takes it to a different level, one they hadn't considered when they discussed it logically, analytically.

"Hutch, get a new identification plate." Lux says. "We'll give the ship a paint job, it'll look newer that way. There are lots of freighters flying around."

"We have to find a new way to pick marks, too." Sierra moans. "And different aliases, and we can't use the janitor trick anymore. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Sierra, we understand. It's all right." Ahsoka says. "Most of us would have done the same thing."

But Sierra doesn't hear her. "It hurt so much. I thought I was going to die, Mom. I thought I was going to die unless I told him!"

Mina scoops her up in her arms.

"It's all right," she coos, rocking her. "It's okay. We're never going to let him near you again."

Sierra sobs against her shoulder and Lux throws his arms around the both of them, holding his desperate mother and his shaking sister, and crying.

Hero speaks up.

"Sierra," she says awkwardly, possibly the mouthpiece for Hutch, probably speaking for herself. "We all love you very, very much."

…

A half hour after the nurse banished everyone but Lux and Mina from Sierra's room, they emerge with a message.

Sierra wants Steela in her room. Alone.

"Oh boy, what did you do?" Saw asks.

Steela has no idea what she's done. But she stands up and enters Sierra's room all the same.

"It's good to see you again."

"You too," Sierra says.

"Are you feeling better? I can get you another blanket if you want, or some-."

"I'm good," Sierra says, pulling her blanket to cover herself more.

Steela takes a seat in the chair next to her bed and waits for a minute.

"I know you didn't call me in here just because you wanted to see my pretty face."

Sierra looks down at her belly.

"What is it?"

"What is…oh."

She glares down at my belly, angry at herself. Because guess what she was too worried about Sierra to remember?

She forgot to take off her stupid fake baby bump.

"Oh. That."

"How long did you guys leave me there?" she asks. "I saw you before I was taken, and you weren't that big. Though someone –" she fake-coughs Rex's name " - saw more than I did, I guess."

"You were there for four days." Steela says, trying not to laugh.

"Four days? No way! You don't just explode after four – why are you laughing?"

Steela lifts up the bottom of her shirt, tears of laughter leaking out of her eyes. "It's fake! We used it to sneak my gear past the scanner. Ha, ha, ha!"

Sierra's eyes are glued to the bundle of rags and wire mesh. "Wait, what?"

Steela reaches behind her back and undoes the snaps, removing the belly. "It was a part of a scam, and I forgot to take it off."

"What?" She stares at it, trembling with rage. "How in the name of the force do you forget to take something like that off? And why didn't you tell me when we were on the ship? Do you know what I thought? Don't you realize I thought you guys had left me with that monster?"

She barely has time to put the fake belly down before Sierra begins to sniff.

"Oh great," Steela mutters under her breath. If Mina hears Sierra crying through the door, she's toast. "I'm sorry I forgot to take it off. If it makes you feel better, the wire part was stabbing me the whole time."

Sierra looks up. "The wire part?"

"Yeah," Using her left hand to steady herself, she dumps the fake belly in a waste receptacle. "There, is that better?"

Sierra's spotted something else. "Steela, is that a ring?"

Guess what else she forgot to take off?

"Are you going to marry Rex?"

"Hang in there honey, I'm not marrying anyone."

"What did Hero say?"

"You know what this ring is. You were one of the people who helped Katooni pay for it!"

Sierra sits up all the way, a smile lifting her lips ever-so-slightly, and Steela stands up.

"Your mom is going to kill you if she catches you doing that."

"And you aren't?"

"It's a good thing I'm not your mom. Just so you know, she's only a room away and she'll come running if you say the word. Or," she points out, "If you make a racket. Then she'll be in here wanting somebody's head."

"Is it true what Tor said about Katooni?" she whispers, suddenly the picture of seriousness. "He said that he'd sent the Inquisition after her, and you guys had to go save her first. And then – oh kriff! Dalla!"

"Dalla's fine and it's true. That psycho Inquisitor Barriss -."

"The one you want to punch in the face?"

"That very one. Anyway, she kidnapped Katooni from a grocery store, dragged her off-planet to an old temple that was under construction, and to get Katooni back we had to pose as StarChucks baristas."

Sierra raises an eyebrow. "StarChucks?"

"Oh, do we have stories to tell you." Steela mutters, pushing a hand through her hair. "Oh, and your mom says she can fix up your hair a little later."

Sierra reaches to touch her cropped hair. "I'd like that. Tor didn't really care about looks when he cut it, he just chopped it off in one go."

Steela takes a step back. "He didn't do it while you were asleep?"

"No, he brought scissors with him when he came to take my temperature." She makes a face and adds dully. "If I knew that, I'd have tried to stab them into his heart."

What was he thinking? If I was going to cut a prisoner's hair, I'd do it while they couldn't fight back.

Unless…

She can't just go running out of the hospital room. She has to make an excuse, and a good one at that.

Steela glances at the chrono. "The nurse is going to come in any minute now to check on you, and I'm not exactly supposed to be here, so I'm going to run before I get kicked out."

"See you later," Sierra says, picking at her blanket.

…

"Steela! For the love of the force, slow down!" Hero begs.

Steela completely ignores her. "I can't believe we missed it. It's not about security, it's about his own sick mind. Why didn't we think of it before?"

Ahsoka stares at Tav, still in my arms. "Do you know what she's talking about?"

"Ba?"

"I thought so."

Steela babbles on and would probably keep going, if not for Tandin. He steps up, grabs her by the shoulders, and uses what is hands down the most effective tool in getting someone's attention: their middle name.

"Steela June!"

Steela stops.

Take a deep breath, and then tell us what you're thinking."

Steela takes said deep breath. "Tor cut Sierra's hair."

"Yes, to disguise her from the rest of the Empire. That's also why he registered her under an alias."

"I don't think it's that simple." She says. "Our physical profiles have five categories; height, weight, skin color, eye color, and hair color. There's nothing in there about hair length. So if he was trying to disguise her from people who've seen her profile, then why just cut her hair? Why not dye it?"

"Maybe he didn't have hair dye on hand." Lux suggests.

Hero shakes her head. "You can dye hair blonde with peroxide. Or use drink mix to make red. It's really easy to use."

"Then why didn't he use it?"

Ahsoka's catching on, quickly. "Steela, did he cut her hair while she was awake?"

"Yes. She says that he didn't pay attention to details. It was one stroke."

She looks at us.

"Haircutting can be a sign of violence." She explains, "It takes away something a girl has cared for and maintained every single day of her life. I mean, this is Sierra we're talking about. It's not just her hair, it's her beauty."

"Guys." Hutch interrupts, "The audio from the surveillance footage of when she was taken shows two guards discussing one of Tor's orders. They don't tackle Sierra because Tor ordered them not to bruise her face."

"We need to talk to her. We need more details." Lux says, wiping his palms against his pant legs.

"I agree. If this whole crime was motivated by an obsession, then Commander Torrance could be in the middle of a mental breakdown. That will only make him more dangerous." Rex says.

"You want to interview Sierra now?" Mina asks. "When she's just come out of torture and shock?"

"Mrs. Bonteri, I know you're concerned but time is of the essence." Rex says. "Sierra has information that could help us bring Tor to justice once and for all. And if this is in fact a psychotic break, then we have a very small window of time to act before he moves on to another victim."

"Oh gods." The color drains from Steela's face. "Sierra says he was talking about Dalla."

Saw startles in his seat. "If he gets ahold of her, the whole Mollymauk network will go down!"

"That settles it," Rex said. "We need to strike now, when he's in a precarious position. And we need to do it very, very well."

Mina pauses, waiting.

"Do it," she says finally. "But if this is too much, it stops immediately. On my orders."

"Don't worry, Mom." Lux says. "I think I have the perfect little therapist."

…

"Tav, who is that?" Ahsoka asks, carrying the baby into Sierra's room.

"Pvee!" he shrieks.

Sierra holds out her arms. "Ahsoka, bring him here?"

Ahsoka hands Tav over and Sierra picks him up by the sides.

"Oh, I missed you." She coos.

"Pvee," Tav repeats.

"That means he missed you too." Lux translates. "Sierra, can we ask you some questions?"

"What about?"

"When did Tor cut your hair?"

Sierra shrinks into her bed, the baby drooling all over her. "In my cell. He did it right after he took my temperature."

Out of Sierra's immediate sightlines, Hero writes that down.

"Did he say anything to you when he did?" Rex asks.

"Um, he said he was sorry, but he had to."

"Did he say anything more about your appearance?"

"He might have said that I look like my Dad," She says, making herself smaller by the second. "Why?"

"I know this is confusing, but it's important. Did he take something from you that wouldn't make sense for him to take? Like a piece of cheap jewelry, a barrette, anything?"

"Just my sweater, but that was to freeze me out…" She looks at all of us. "What's going on?"

"Just one last question." Ahsoka promises. "What did he do with your hair?"

She pauses. The only sound is Tav, snuggled against her chest and gurgling a soft "Pbbbb."

"He took it with him." She says. "I figure he dumped it in an incinerator or something."

"No, he didn't. Steela, you were right. This is about obsession, but it's not with beauty. This is another one."

"What are you talking about?"

"Sierra's hair isn't a by-product, it's a trophy. He wants to remember this. He wants to remember how he tortured John Bonteri's daughter."