Chapter 8

A half an hour after Luke was brought to the med center, Han, Leia, the kids and Chewbacca gathered in the common area. Threepio bustled about taking care of academy business, comforting the students who came to him in a panic after hearing the announcement.

Leia lay on the couch, gazing up at the ceiling; Jacen sat playing with his pet lizard; Jaina curled up beside the couch reading, and Han was in the midst of building a fortress out of blocks with Anakin. A familiar "wooo beep beep!" broke the silence, and the Solo family saw Artoo Detoo rolling through the double doors.

"Artoo!" Jaina cried, hopping up from her spot on the rug, and hurried to the astrodroid. Artoo gave another woeful bleep, which sounded as though he were expressing his sympathy for Luke's condition. Leia, too weary to lift her body from the couch, turned towards him, and smiled.

"Thank you," she replied, and Han cocked his head.

"You understood what the thing said?" he asked, and Chewbacca gave a small rawr, from where he stood by the window.

"Luke taught me how to understand the tone of the bleeps and other noises he makes," Leia explained, as the bot rolled over to the couch. She eventually forced herself to sit up, and peered down at the bot. "Artoo?" she asked, and the droid gave another bleep of acknowledgement. "Could you go and check on my brother for me?" She grinned to herself, thinking it would be less irritating to Luke if he knew a droid had come to check on him, and not a family member.

"Beep, beep, woooo." Artoo's red eye moved about, just as Threepio waddled in. "Artoo Detoo, are you causing another racket?" he asked, receiving a nasty sounding noise from the smaller droid. Artoo wobbled and rocked from side to side, whistling. "Master Luke? Naturally, he's under anesthesia now. And no, it would not be appropriate to visit him at this time."

Leia frowned at Threepio. "I asked if he would check on him for me." She looked at Han and Anakin, who were watching her worriedly. "I'll be back," she added, standing. Jaina wet her lips, and re-joined Jacen on the floor. Han shook his head with a sigh, giving Threepio a glare.

"Are you quite all right, Mistress Leia?" Threepio asked, watching as the former princess of Alderaan reached the doors.

"Mmmm? Oh, I'm fine, Threepio."

Han raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going exactly?" he asked, placing a block onto the pile, and allowing Anakin to crawl onto his lap. She smiled.

"I think I'll feel better if I spent some time alone in Luke's room," she told him. "Setting things up for when he's ready to come back."

Han nodded in understanding. "Okay, sweetheart. Just let me know if you need anything." Jacen and Jaina's expressions were sad, and the two of them glanced at each other as their mother disappeared from the common area.

Leia made her way down the corridor, hugging herself around the middle. She closed her eyes, trying to connect with Luke's mind. He seemed to be at peace at the moment, though she could detect a tiny hint of pain. She turned the corner and walked down another corridor, allowing the tears she'd been holding back to fall down her cheeks. 'I love you, Luke. Please,' she begged. 'Please don't take my brother from me. Not after I just found him.' She reached Luke's room, punching in the code, and watching the doors open.

The bedroom was silent, and the bed was still a mess from when Luke had last been in it. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and made her way over to the bed. She could still detect her brother's calming scent, and sat down on the edge of the mattress. It was still somewhat warm, the sheets and the quilt. Standing up again, she began to smooth the sheets, making the bed and folding the blankets down halfway. She gazed around the room, taking in the items Luke had put there. On his desk sat a photograph of the two of them after Leia's wedding. Han and Leia's wedding picture sat beside it, and a portrait of all three children sat on the other side.

Leia smiled softly, reaching over to pick up the framed photo of herself and Luke, laughing quietly at his wide grin. He'd pulled her aside after the wedding, saying how proud of her he was. She set the picture back down on the desk, and lay down on Luke's bed. Just being in his room made her feel a bit more calm; perhaps he left a residual presence of some sort. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep.

In the med center, the surgical droid had just completed making the first incision on Luke's chest. The Jedi Knight lay very still on the operating table, an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. Blood dripped down the young man's side, into a metal bucket that an assistant droid held in his mechanical fingers. So far, everything was going quite well, and quite timely in the droid's opinion.

It was so dark, but it wasn't cold. Suddenly, Luke saw swirls of colors surrounding him; he breathed them in…they smelled so sweet. Leia. So sweet…so sweet. "The Force will be with you. Always." Ben? The colors were fading a little, but they were still so blindingly bright. Ben, where are you…use the Force, Luke. The Force. Swirls of energy. Swirls of color; so sweet…my dearest sister, Leia…

The droid finished slicing Luke's chest, revealing his pulsing heart and blackened lung. To a normal human being, the sight before the animatronic figure would have been sickening. But the droid felt nothing of the sort, and accepted a tiny pair of scissors. The right lung was perfectly natural, but the left was slowly being eaten away. How the Jedi had survived this long, was purely a miracle.

Threepio, at that moment, happened to approach the med center door. He had come on a dare from Artoo Detoo, who had taunted that he wouldn't be able to stand the sight of Luke during the surgery. "Utterly ridiculous!" Threepio had scoffed. "Frightened! What does that tin plated ninnyhammer mean? I'm a protocol droid. I do not have feelings. Daring me to look in. What nonsense." He peered through the glass window, just as a sudden spark shot out of the surgical droid. That single spark was followed by several more, and the area around it swirled in smoke.

Threepio raised his metallic hands in alarm, letting out an astonished, "Ohhhhh!" he abruptly turned, and began to waddle as fast as he could towards the common area, desparate to find Captain Solo and the children. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Help! Help!"

Han heard the droid's cries of distress from down the hallway, and abandoned the game of patty cake he'd been playing with Anakin. He stuck his head out through the door, and saw Threepio flailing as he shuffled along the carpet. "Oh, oh, Captain Solo, it's dreadful! It's dreadful!" Threepio cried, and Jaina stood up, alarmed.

"What's up, goldenrod?" Han asked.

"Master Luke! It's Master Luke…he's dying!"

Threepio didn't need to explain any further. Han shoved the golden droid aside, and took off a fast as he could towards the medical center. "Dad!" Jacen, Jaina and Anakin shouted in unison, listening to Threepio's repeated "Oh goodness gracious, oh dear…" Artoo gave a somewhat satisfied whistle from where he stood in the corner.

Threepio smacked the astrodroid over his domed head. "Watch your language, Artoo! Master Luke is in great danger!"

Artoo warbled another reply, and Threepio raised his head. "What do you mean, don't worry about it?" he snapped, and Artoo explained himself. "Yes, yes, I suppose that's true. Master Luke is quite clever, for a human being."

Han was nearly out of breath by the time he reached the med center, and he burst through the double doors. He coughed as a result of the smoke, though what caught his eye made him gag a little. Luke lay on the table, cut open and bleeding. Another spare medi droid was preparing to continue where the broken one had left off, and it's sensors detected Hans' presence. "Sir, I will have to ask you to leave," he said in his drone of a voice. Han took a gulp of air, and aimed a pointer finger at it.

"What happened?" he asked, panting.

"We had an emergency, sir, but it is being taken care of."

"Taken care of." Han nodded. "Yes, right." He gulped, escaping from the med center just in time to see the children running towards him. "What…Jacen, Jaina, Anakin, I told you to stay where you were!" he snapped, and Anakin looked at him.

"No you didn't," he replied innocently. "You just ran out."

"What's…is Uncle Luke dying?" Jaina asked, her voice in practially a squeak.

"Ugh, smells awful!" Jacen added, waving his hand in front of his face.

"They have a spare surgeon in there," Han told her. "But Luke seems to be in pretty bad shape right now. Jaina, go find your mother, but tell her Luke's going to be fine. No need to worry her unless there really is something to worry about."

"Okay," Jaina replied, still feeling terrified. She gave her brother's a quick glance, before hurrying towards Uncle Luke's quarters.

As soon as his sister disappeared around a corner, Jacen raised an eyebrow at his father. "Good going, Dad," he smirked. "Now Mom's gonna ground you when she finds out you're fibbing."

Han scowled at his son. "Back to the common room," he ordered, lifting Anakin, and, with one last look over his shoulder, followed Jacen.

Luke. As Leia continued to sleep, she realized she could hear him. She could hear her brother, though his voice was so faint, so weak. Luke, I'm here. Why wasn't he answering her? He usually did if she called.She turned over on her side, stretching out and trying to get comfortable. Luke. Luke? She could no longer feel him at all now. Oh Kreth…she felt perspiration popping out on her forehead, and suddenly jolted awake with a scream, when she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Mom?"

Leia turned around again, and saw Jaina standing beside her. Her face was pale, and she was trembling. "Jaina?" she asked.

"The medi droid short circuited while he was working on Luke," she sobbed.

Leia felt suddenly faint. "What…he's…is he…I was cut off," she whispered, and Jaina shook her head.

"Threepio told us what happened, so Dad went to go and check it out. He's still breathing, and there's another droid that was the assistant. I don't know exactly how Uncle Luke is, though. Dad wouldn't tell us," she lied.

Leia pulled her daughter into her arms, pressing her lips against the young girl's soft brown hair. For a moment, neither of them spoke…only held each other. When Leia let go of Jaina, she stroked her daughter's forehead. "Uncle Luke is still with us," she told her. "That's all that matters. He's still alive."

"I just want him to be well again," Jaina whispered, and Leia smiled softly.

"Me too, love. Me too." She gave Jaina another kiss, and aided the little girl onto the bed. It had only been an hour and a half since Luke had gone into surgery, and no doubt the short circuiting droid would postpone things even longer. Then there would be the process of rousing Luke from the anesthesia, which, depending on the person, could be a bit difficult.

"Do you remember the song I used to sing to you, Jaina, before you went to slep?" Leia asked, trying her best to keep her mind off of the current situation. Jaina smiled, and began to sing the first verse. "You mean this one?" she asked, and closed her eyes.

"When the busy day is done,
And my little weary one
Rocketh gently to and fro;
When the night winds softly blow,
And the crickets in the glen
Chirp and chirp and chirp again;
Where 'pon the haunted green
Fairies dance around their queen,
Then from yonder misty skies
Cometh Lady Button Eyes."

Leia nodded, holding Jaina close. "Your Uncle Luke taught me that," she whispered. "He said he learned it from his Aunt. Supposedly they used to sing together every night before they went to sleep."

Jaina tried to imagine her Uncle singing, and had to giggle. Luke was so quiet now, and probably because of his illness, didn't sing very often anymore. "Maybe he'll start singing again when he feels better," she suggested. "I don't think I've ever heard him."

Leia smiled. "He has a very nice voice," she replied. "It's deep, but smoothe." She took a deep breath. "Oh Jaina," she breathed, closing her eyes tightly.

"Mom, I don't mind if you cry," Jaina insisted. "I miss Uncle Luke, too."

Leia pressed the back of her wrist against her lips, her shoulders trembling as a new set of sobs were released. Before she knew it, she and Jaina were both sound asleep again, exhausted from crying. Luke, she thought, feeling comfort from having her arms around her daughter, I wish you could hear me. I wish you knew just how much we love you. How much we need you to get through this. Please don't give up on me, Luke. Don't give up.

Author's Note--the verse I used is from the novel "Beloved", by Toni Morrison, called "Baby Button Eyes".