Hola, amigos! It's my birthday on Friday! Yay!
Shout-outs this week go to: Jedi Everdeen, and Taboo22 - as ever, I am much obliged. :) Hope you enjoy this week's chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.
When Alice woke up, it was to find her eyes sore and bleary, and her body uncomfortably cramped. For a moment she couldn't piece together why she wasn't in her bed. Then she remembered that, not wanting to leave the control room, she had slept in a chair, where she currently sat.
Leia had tried to talk her into going to bed, but she had flat-out refused, and eventually the princess had given up in exasperation. Perhaps that was a little childish of me, Alice thought guiltily as she stretched. She rubbed her eyes and blinked fiercely. As much as she would like to conceal it, she had cried a little before she fell asleep last night.
I'm so glad there aren't any mirrors around. I look like a rabbit with conjunctivitis when I cry.
"Alice." Leia's voice was stiff and tense. Most of that could probably be attributed to the fact that Han and Luke weren't back yet. But Alice still felt she'd behaved badly last night – Leia already had enough to deal with without putting up with a stubborn history student as well.
"Um, Leia…listen, I'm sorry if I seemed a little…a little immature last night. It wasn't really very fair to you…I know you're just as worried about Han and Luke as I am."
The princess seemed to consider her words and her face softened slightly. "Thank you, Alice. I understand. I'm sorry if I was sharp with you."
Alice laughed, and Leia raised an eyebrow at her quizzically. "What?"
"Nothing," she said, waving her hands around in an impression of a startled hamster, "that just sounded like something an old school teacher of mine would say."
Leia cracked a smile at this, and Alice felt quite proud that she had managed to lighten the mood even a little bit.
The princess turned to Alice's friend Liana, who had been on shift overnight and had been the one responsible for eventually stomping over, covering Alice up in a blanket and telling her to shut the hell up. "Have you heard anything from them?"
"Nothing, your highness," said Liana, typing away at her monitor, "but there is some good news. Our engineers have been working through the night and we have managed to adapt the speeders to the climate at last. In the last hour we sent out a full detachment of pilots to search for them."
"So…" Alice stared at Leia, "what do we do now?"
"We wait," Leia replied with a shrug.
Alice huffed, "I hate waiting. Waiting's the worst."
"It's all we can do. Unless you have any better ideas?"
She didn't. Realising that she wasn't doing any good here however, Alice headed for the hangar and the Millennium Falcon, where Chewie was more or less living – none of the living quarters available in the base itself were quite big enough for him, and he didn't seem to want to leave the ship anyway. She found him sitting near the ship's gangway, dispiritedly playing with some wires, though it didn't look as though his heart was in it.
Her heart went out to him – with Han gone, Threepio was the only one who could properly understand the wookiee, and the golden droid was still with Artoo and Leia back in the control room. It must be extremely frustrating not being able to communicate his anxiety to any of them, and Alice got the idea that Chewie was far more worried than any of them, even Leia.
"Hey, big guy," she called quietly. The rest of the hangar was strangely quiet; as many pilots as possible had gone out looking for Han and Luke. It was another reminder of how important the two of them were to the rebellion, seeing all the empty spaces that had been occupied by speeders the day before.
Chewie whined and tilted his head on one side. Though of course she couldn't be sure, Alice thought he might be asking for an update on the situation.
"No news yet, I'm afraid," she said, sympathetically, "everyone's out looking though. Finally got their ships flying."
The wookiee nodded once, and bent over the wires in his paws again, obviously trying to find a distraction. Alice peered over, watching what he was doing; the wires he was holding were twisted into tangled knots, and he seemed to be having trouble untying them with his huge paws.
"Do you want some help?" She asked, holding out her hands. Chewie yelped and passed them over. Alice got to work at once, grateful for something to fiddle with. "Well, I was just saying yesterday that we should spend more time together, and here we are," she commented, grinning wryly to herself.
Chewbacca grunted in what she assumed was agreement. Glancing over, she saw that his head was bowed again, his gaze fixed on the ground.
Pausing with her hands still tangled in wire, Alice said tentatively, "Don't worry, I'm sure Han'll be back soon. He's a survivor, right? I mean, he somehow managed to get us all on and off the Death Star-" she stopped. Well…most of us. Chewie was looking up at her now, and did he look sceptical, or was that just her? "What I mean is, he's great at getting himself into trouble, but he's also great at getting himself out of it. He'll be fine."
The wookiee held her gaze for a second, then nodded silently, and held his paws out for the wires she'd managed to untangle so far. She placed them neatly in his grasp, and together they went back to work.
She wasn't sure how long they sat together in silence, Chewbacca working on the Falcon and her unknotting wire but eventually, something happened. On the far side of the room, the massive hangar doors began to creak open, letting in a blast of cold that flooded the entire hangar. At the same time, a beeping noise started somewhere at Alice's waist, breaking the silence and after a confused second, she recognised the sound of her communicator. Pulling it out, she opened the line, her heart suddenly pounding in her throat.
"Hello?"
"We've found them! We've got them!"
"Leia?"
"Yes! Han and Luke, they're back!
Alice shot to her feet, closely followed by Chewie, who roared loudly, "Where? Where are they?"
"Medical bay. I'll meet you there."
"Yes, ma'am."
Shutting down the call, Alice dashed after Chewie, who had charged off the second Leia said the words 'medical bay'. But are they alright? Are they majorly injured or is this just a standard procedure sort of thing? Oh god, I hope they're okay…
They belted through the base, meeting a sudden crowd of rebels coming in the opposite direction, all of them dressed in outdoor gear, suggesting they'd been part of the ground team in the latest search for the two missing men. For a second Alice was caught in a crush of bodies, until Chewbacca let out a deafening roar.
Instantly a path cleared for them, and Alice skidded along in the wookiee's wake, hanging on to the belt that hung around Chewie's shoulders and mixing apologies with thanks as they flew past the rebel soldiers.
When they reached the medical bay, they found Han relatively quickly, only two rooms down and undergoing a full check-out. Leia was with him, watching with her arms folded and a cross expression that Alice thought was there to hide how relieved she really was.
The smuggler was wrapped in a foil blanket and looked twitchy. "Han! You're alright!"
"Just about, kid."
Chewie whined and looked ready to run in and sweep his friend up in a huge bear hug, until the doctor fixed him with a stern look, stopping him in his furry tracks.
"Hey, I'm alright, don't worry about me," he said tersely, shifting in his seat and jostling the doctor trying to treat him.
"Stop fidgeting," Alice chided, stretching a hand out to still him.
"Have you seen Luke yet?" He demanded, pushing her away.
"Not yet," she said, anxiety building, "is it bad?"
"I don't know either, because this wonderful woman isn't letting me go and see him," he said through his teeth, glaring at the doctor.
The woman in question looked unfazed as she pulled her gloves off with a snap, "There. Finished. Now you may go and see your friend."
Han was up and out of the room almost before she'd finished speaking, the blanket she'd given him dropping to the floor as he went. The doctor sighed and went to pick it up. "Please, make sure he keeps this on?"
"I'll certainly try," said Leia, grimly.
They followed Han along the corridor and into a slightly larger room, dominated by a large, clear tube in the middle. Alice stared at it, puzzled, then suddenly realised what was in front of her. A hot blush sparked in her cheeks, and she froze, not certain what to do. Part of her wanted to shield her eyes, and another extremely self-serving and inappropriate part wanted to keep looking.
Luke was floating in the tube, submerged in some kind of liquid. He was also very, very scantily clad. As in, he was wearing a pair of underpants. And not much else.
…I had no idea he was so buff. When did that happen?
"Um," she said, swallowing and averting her eyes before the others could catch her staring, "is it okay that he's underwater right now?"
"It's not water," Leia, who had been consulting with Luke's doctor while Alice fought against her inner demons, "it's a solution to help speed up the healing process."
Alice wasn't convinced, "But he can breathe, right?"
"Of course he can," Han said, rolling his eyes at her. The smuggler walked up to the tube, followed by Leia. Evidently they were far too mature to be bothered by Luke's unexpected state of undress. Hesitating, Alice came up behind them, hanging back a little and keeping her eyes determinedly fixed on his face.
"The kid took a beating, alright," Han said quietly, his eyebrows drawn down in a worried frown.
Alice's heart lurched. She could see what Han meant. One side of Luke's face was swollen and purple, and his eye was so puffy it looked like he wouldn't be able to open it at all if he were awake. Oh, Luke…
"What happened to him?"
Her voice was choked, and she saw Leia give her a sideways glance out of the corner of her eye.
"Not sure," Han said, turning to look at her, "he was delirious when I found him. Kept muttering about Ben, and someone or something called Yoda."
Alice gasped, "For real? That's crazy…"
Han's eyebrows shot upwards, "You're telling me you know what this Yoda is?"
"Um…not…not exactly. Well, I know he's a person at least. Besides that…"
Leia stepped in, matter of fact, "We can ask him when he wakes up. For now, there's nothing we can do for him, we should just let him rest."
"Leia?"
The princess stopped in the doorway, looking over her shoulder back at Alice, "Yes?"
"Can I sit with him for a bit?"
Leia exchanged a look with Han, "Sure. Alright. You're excused from duties for the rest of the day, Private Miller."
"Thank you," Alice said, genuinely grateful.
Han wrapped his blanket tighter around him, apparently feeling the chill now that he wasn't fuelled by furious anxiety, "I'll stay with the kid."
"Of course," Leia said, and if the look she was giving him wasn't love, Alice was a tauntaun's uncle, "you're off active duty anyway. Doctor's orders."
Normally, Alice would have expected Han to argue, but not today. Instead, he just nodded once, then went to collapse in a chair.
So for the rest of the day, Alice and Han sat with Luke; she took up a spot cross-legged on the floor, while he slumped in his chair, wrapped in a blanket and after a couple of hours, snoring lightly. Threepio appeared at one point with some food, which Alice wolfed down. Eventually, when the light was fading fast outside the one icy window in the room, Leia reappeared. She took one look at Han, who was completely out of it, and called for a doctor to take him to bed.
When he'd been carried out of the room, still bundled up like a caterpillar in a cocoon, Leia turned to Alice, "Come on, you need to rest. Luke will be fine."
Alice yawned, and got to her feet, her joints creaking in protest, "Okay. Can I come back tomorrow?"
"You can," Leia said gently, as she escorted her to the door, "but it might be better if you do some work instead. Luke will probably be in here for a few days, and you'll feel better if you're busy."
"Okay, mum," Alice said, with another massive yawn, "night."
It was only when she was halfway down the corridor that she realised what she'd said. She blinked, not sure whether to laugh or cry. She had just genuinely mistaken Leia, with her wise words and her compassion, for her mother. Right, that's it. Now I know I'm tired.
BREAK
Over the next couple of days, Alice did as Leia said. She went back to work, exercised with Clementine and generally went about carrying out business as usual; except that every evening she went to the medical bay to check on Luke, rather than having dinner with him. Each time she went, the bruises and cuts on his face were less pronounced, and on the morning of the fourth day, Leia told her and Han that the doctors said he should be able to emerge that day.
"Like a butterfly," Alice commented. Then she was suddenly attacked by dozens of mental images of Luke prancing around in a butterfly costume and had to stifle a giggle.
Leia raised an eyebrow, evidently resigned to the fact that Alice often made no sense, "I'll let you know when the doctors say he's ready to have visitors."
"Good," she said, determined, "I'm going to tell him off."
"For what?" Han protested mildly.
Alice stuck her tongue out at him, "For scaring the entire Echo Base to death of course. You too, mister. I'll have you know that Leia and I were extremely distressed."
Leia flushed instantly and glared fiercely at Alice, who realised too late that she'd made an error of judgement. "I mean, um…"
"Distressed, were you, princess?" Han asked, looking delighted, "Well, well, what do you know. I guess you do care about me after all."
Leia stuck her nose in the air and swept off to talk with her generals without replying.
Alice bit her lip, "Oops. I guess I'm in trouble now."
"Hard to stay out of trouble with that one," Han said, still sounding distinctly pleased with himself.
"You know," said Alice, hesitantly, "you could try to be a little…nicer to her. I mean, I know you've got the whole bad boy thing going for you, but…just a suggestion."
He eyed her suspiciously for a moment, then shook his head, "Come on. Let's get some breakfast; I'm starving."
"You go," she said, waving a hand, "I've already eaten."
Han raised a hand and headed off in the direction of the canteen, while Alice meandered off in the direction of the storage depot, where the pilots delivered any new materials or tools they found. Unfortunately she got distracted on the way as Tal the tauntaun keeper suddenly popped up in front of her. He was halfway down the corridor, but when she called his name, he stopped, and turned around.
"Alice," he smiled, "how are you?"
"Fine, thanks. How's it going in the tauntaun stables these days?"
He shrugged, "Busy – since the speeders started working we don't need them as much for patrols, but we don't want to turn them loose in case it turns out we need them again. So it's pretty crowded and we don't have enough hands to take care of them all."
"Oh. Well, I'm not too busy, I could give you a hand for a bit if you want." She wanted to see her friend Aleya and chatting with her seemed a much better way to pass the time than sorting out screwdrivers and pieces of scrap metal on her own.
"Really?" He grinned, "That would be great, thanks."
They headed off together, and when they reached the stables, Alice was delighted to find that Aleya was there, brushing down a tauntaun which looked rather pleased by all the attention.
"Hey, Aleya."
"Alice," she said, surprised, "what are you doing here? I mean…Commander Skywalker?"
"He's not allowed visitors right now," said Alice, raising one shoulder in a shrug as if she wasn't desperate to see how he was, "so I came to help out. Is that okay?"
"Um, yes, of course." Aleya handed Alice a brush and directed her to simply mimic her actions. The tauntauns stank even worse up close but brushing them felt strangely soothing. Alice could almost feel her eyelids drooping. So this is what people are talking about when they say looking after horses can be like therapy. Well, I am all for this, this is great.
"Alice?" Aleya had a really sweet, shy little voice – luckily, you could tell that it wasn't put on, so it wasn't annoying – and right now she sounded even shyer than normal.
"Yep?"
"Are you and Commander Skywalker…you know?"
Alice raised an eyebrow, "Are we…what?"
"Um…together?"
Alice stopped brushing, a light blush spreading across her cheeks, "No. We're not. At all. Ever. Why does everyone think that?"
"Maybe because you kissed him before he blew up the Death Star? And then you came to Hoth with him? And then you waited outside in the sub-zero temperatures when he went missing? And then-"
"Yes, thank you," Alice cut her off, perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary, "Luke's just my friend. That whole…kissing thing was entirely accidental." She coughed awkwardly and went back to brushing.
"Oh. I see."
"Han came back to save Luke at the Battle of Yavin, and he stayed out overnight looking for Luke when he went missing," Alice grumbled as she resumed brushing, "but no one thinks they're dating."
"That's because everyone knows Captain Solo fancies Princess Leia."
"Hm...true…"
"Alice Miller?"
She glanced up to see a random member of the rebellion (she didn't have anything against him, she just didn't know who he was) standing in front of her, an anxious look on his face, "Yes?"
"Princess Leia sent me to find you – Doctor Rannera says Luke Skywalker is clear for visitors now."
"Great," Alice said, jumping to her feet. She handed her brush to Aleya and said, "See you later."
The other woman didn't reply, just smiled and waved. Bless.
Alice hurried to the medical bay – at the moment she arrived, several doctors and a medical droid came streaming out of the main entrance and dispersed through the corridors.
Slipping past them, Alice made her way inside and found the same female doctor who'd been examining Han when they got back. "Um, excuse me…Doctor Rannera?"
The woman looked up, "Yes?"
"Luke Skywalker? Is it okay for me to see him now?"
"Yes, he's just woken up. He's in that room just down there."
"Thank you. Oh, by the way? The way you dealt with Han the other day? Awesome. Give me a high five." The woman clearly had no idea what Alice had just said, but gamely raised her hand as directed and allowed Alice to high-five her.
Her work spreading modern Earth customs done, Alice headed in the direction the doctor had pointed. She hesitated outside the door, then slammed her hand against the opening switch.
With a hiss, the door to the hospital room slid open, and Alice peered inside. It was a large white room, dominated by a narrow, uncomfortable-looking bed right in the middle.
Luke was stationed on it, facing away from her and thankfully fully-clothed – she didn't need nakedness getting in the way of this reunion. From what she could see of his face, he looked slightly paler than normal, and more tired. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward, letting the door slide shut behind her.
Luke looked up abruptly, and everything she knew about how to talk to people simply fell out of her head. She opened her mouth, couldn't think of anything to say beyond "Oh my god do you have any idea how worried I was-" and shut it again. He stared at her. She stared back. Why…why am I so socially inept?
She tried again to speak and managed to get out, "How are you?"
He shrugged one shoulder, as if nearly dying of exposure was an everyday occurrence. "Tired. But not too bad. And you?"
"Um, alright, yeah. Worried. About you."
He smiled at her, but it was a tired ghost of his usual smile, "Don't be, I'm fine."
So…why is this awkward exactly?
After all the waiting, Alice had been pretty sure she'd throw herself on him in a hug and carry straight on to scolding him for scaring them all so much. But for some reason, maybe the barely visible cuts and bruises on his face, maybe the fact that she'd had to wait so long to see him, it was like there was some kind of distance between them, one she was afraid to close.
Alice hesitated, then shuffled over and leaned against the side of his bed, positioning herself at around the level of his knees, "Do you mind?"
The question was belated and she felt stupid as soon as it had left her mouth, but Luke answered anyway.
"No, go ahead."
"You're making quite a habit of this running off and getting yourself into trouble, you know," she said, trying to regain her normal frivolous tone, but the words just came out quiet and surprisingly hurt.
"I know," he said, sounding guilty. "I'm sorry, Alice. I didn't mean to upset you. Any of you."
"Yeah, I know you didn't," she said, hastening to reassure him. It wasn't really fair to get the boy who had nearly died to comfort her. "What actually happened?"
"I got attacked by a wampa. It knocked me out then killed and ate my tauntaun."
"Oh," she said, blinking, "wampas sounding a lot less funny all of a sudden…"
He cracked a smile at that, then winced as the motion tugged at the still-healing scars on his face. "Oh no," Alice said, grimacing, "sorry. Is it…?" Before she could really think about what she was doing, she reached out her hand and sort of…brushed his jaw with her fingertips. What the…? Um…
He glanced down at her hand, now hovering about a centimetre from his face, then looked up and met her brown eyes with his blue ones, with an expression she couldn't quite read… Hold up. Wait. What?
"Alice…"
"Master Luke! We were told that you were now well enough to receive visitors and we- oh…"
Alice snatched her hand away from Luke's face instantly, and felt a hot blush spread its way all over her face. I have got to learn to control that reaction.
Moving swiftly, she circled the bed, stationing herself on the far side of the room opposite the door.
She caught Luke throwing a quick glance at her as she went, but when he turned to Threepio and Arto, who had apparently just walked (or rolled) stealthily into the room, it was like nothing had happened, "Hey, guys. It's good to see you."
"I'm just so glad that you're once again fully functional," Threepio said, with typical tact. Artoo beeped, and the golden droid went on, "Artoo expresses his relief also."
"How're ya feeling, kid? You don't look so bad to me."
Han came striding in, Chewie firmly in tow (obviously he'd decided not to let Han out of his sight again), and Alice instantly took it upon herself to avoid his gaze at all costs as she said, "Of course not. He looks fine."
"Thanks to you," Luke said, quite seriously to Han. She glanced up at them tentatively – Han crouched by Luke's bedside, and Luke gazing at the older man with respect and gratitude. It was rather sweet, really, and it suddenly occurred to her that she wouldn't be surprised if Han and Luke were secretly dating. That would be just my luck…
"That's two you owe me, junior," Han said, teasingly. There was a rustle from the other side of the room, and Alice glanced up to see Leia standing quietly by the door, watching them. Immediately, she started sending Leia 'I'm really sorry I told Han you were upset, I severely miscalculated' thought waves. The princess met her eyes and smiled in a warm, forgiving manner. Alice was intensely relieved. She really didn't like fighting with Leia.
"Well, your worship," Han said loudly, "seems you managed to keep me around for a little while longer."
"I had nothing to do with it," Leia said, with a hint of superiority, "General Rieekan thinks it's too dangerous to let any ships leave the system until we activate the energy shield."
"Well, that's a good story," he said, mockingly, "but I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight."
"Han," Alice muttered, seeing Leia's lips tighten and sensing danger, "drop it."
"Thank you, Alice," Leia said, still glaring at Han, "but it's alright. It's obvious that laserbrain here is deluding himself."
Chewbacca snickered and Han raised his eyebrows at him, "That's right, laugh it up, fuzzball. But none of you," he gestured to the three of them, "saw us in the South Passage, where she expressed her true feelings for me."
Alice snorted, "Han, trust me, you are seriously pushing your luck here."
"Ally," Han said, rolling his eyes, "come on, I think that-"
"No, no, she's absolutely right, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking…nerf-herder!"
Han's mouth dropped open in a pantomime of shock and outrage, "Who's scruffy-looking?" He leaned down next to Luke, who looked far from happy with the current topic of conversation.
Desperate to stop Han's mad escapade to make everyone annoyed at him, Alice tried one last time, "Han, seriously. Shut up."
Ignoring her, Han cocked his thumb at Leia and said to Luke, in a conspiratorial tone, "Wow, must have hit close to the mark to get her all riled up like that."
Alice glanced twitchily at Leia, who looked icily furious. "Well," she said, striding towards Luke's bed (it was getting quite crowded with all of them gathered round it like this), "I guess you don't know everything about women yet." And with that she leaned in and kissed Luke. Properly. On the mouth.
Alice stared, her mouth dropping open. Han's expression was surprisingly similar. What? No! No, this is…so wrong! I don't even know where to start with this one!
"Uh…but…you…wha-?"
Leia broke the kiss and met Alice's gaze, a flush already spreading across her pale cheeks. Then without a word, the princess turned and left the room, leaving Alice with a stunned Han and a slightly smug Luke.
She shut her mouth with a snap, surveying the two men before her. Luke, still revelling in this victory over Han, put his hands behind his head, smiling to himself, while Han was staring out of the door after Leia as if she'd just punched him in the stomach.
"Well," Alice said, clearing her throat.
This broke the spell, attracting the attention of the others at once. Uncomfortable with their eyes on her, she dropped her own gaze to the floor, "I'm glad you're feeling better, Luke. But I think I'm going to…yeah, I'm going to go now."
"Alice," Luke called, and she was a little bit gratified by the distinct tone of sudden realisation and faint desperation in his voice, "wait-"
He was cut off as the PA system in the room crackled into life, "Captain Solo, report to the control room."
Han straightened his jacket with a jerk, and with a quick, "Take it easy," which didn't sound particularly sincere, he headed for the door, reaching out to grab Alice's arm as he went.
Thanks for reading and please review!
