Phew! I'm back! Sorry for the delay - just come back for the summer term, and boy, has it been busy. :P I'm afraid my updates might be less regular in the next couple of months, because I've got exams and the end of term and then I'm going to Africa for three weeks (yay!), but I'll do my best to keep you up to speed on all of Alice's doings. :)

This week's shout-outs go to: Taboo22, crossMIRAGE19, Time-Dog, sarahmichellegellarfan1, Katyperry22, Zyanadryn and Soup is Good. Thank you all very, very much for your reviews; every time I find one in my inbox, it makes me smile. :) I think a special mention must be made for Taboo22, who has been a consistent reviewer since the beginning of this story - you may have a cookie and a smile from Luke.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.


As the Millennium Falcon looped back towards Cloud City, Alice sat in her chair, gnawing frantically at her fingernails. The ache in her throat was getting worse and worse, probably because she continued to try to talk, even though her voice was already reduced to a hoarse rasp. All she could think about was Luke: was he okay? Did he know about Darth Vader yet? Would he be pleased to see them? Would he-

"Alice!"

She jumped and looked at Lando, and coughed out a "Huh?"

"You're shaking. I think you need to calm down."

She glanced down at her hand, resting on the arm of the chair, and saw that her whole hand was indeed trembling. Low blood sugar, she supposed. When was the last time I ate something exactly?

Unable to speak clearly enough to retort, she settled for making a rude gesture at him.

"Look!" Lando suddenly flung his arm out, pointing through the front window, "There's someone up there!"

Leia had directed the ship beneath the clouds, and now, as they broke through a thick layer of mist, Alice saw they were underneath Cloud City, coming up on the flat underside of the mushroom-shaped structure. Squinting, Alice could make out a number of narrow poles, like television aerials, protruding from the metal just above them. And on one of them, there was the dim and distant shape of a person clinging desperately to the main shaft of the pole.

"It's Luke," Leia said, though how she was so certain, Alice wasn't quite sure. "Chewie, slow down and we'll pick him up. Lando, open the top hatch."

Their moustachioed friend disappeared from the cockpit and Alice took his place leaning down over Leia's shoulder, peering through the window in an attempt to see out of it more clearly. As they grew closer, the figure of the stranded individual became more defined. Alice let out a wisp of noise that was as close to a shriek of joy as she could get. "It is Luke!"

Chewie burbled eagerly as Leia gently brought the Falcon up alongside the aerial that Luke was hanging on to. "Steady, Chewie," she cautioned. Luke disappeared from view as between them, Leia and Chewie positioned the ship so that they hung directly below him, in prime position for Lando to reach through the hatch in the roof and carry him down.

Alice shifted restlessly from foot to foot until she heard Lando's voice over the intercom, saying, "I've got him, let's go!"

Immediately she turned and dashed from the room, her heart pounding, stumbling a little as the Falcon dropped away from Cloud City.

She met Luke and Lando in the middle of a corridor and skidded to a halt, panting. Luke looked up, probably at the sound of her hyperventilating, and the look of open and weary relief that spread across Luke's face when he saw her was enough to send a jolt of adrenaline through her body.

"Alice."

He was sweaty, dirty, bruised and bloodied, and the sleeve of his right arm was smoking slightly. Her eye was drawn to the twisting, smouldering fabric, and she had to stop a gasp as she realised what she hadn't seen at first: that where his right hand should be, there was nothing, only gaping space.

It was Vader, she realised, with faint horror, they must have fought…lightsabers…oh my god, he cut his hand off.

She was startled back from her thoughts as Lando stepped forward, bringing Luke with him, "Can you take him, Alice? I need to help Leia."

She nodded once, preferring not to speak, and held out her arm towards them. Lando unceremoniously deposited Luke next to her, then hared away, his cape flapping behind him.

As soon as Lando stepped away, Luke's entire weight was suddenly resting on Alice, and she staggered, shocked by the knowledge that he was so weak he couldn't support himself at all. Then she regained her balance and wrapped her free arm around his waist, propping him up, "Come on," she rasped, "you need to lie down."

What?! He's had his hand forcibly amputated; he needs major intensive care, not a lie down and a cup of tea! Honestly, Alice!

She helped him stagger down the corridorto the tiny, cramped cabin that she just about remembered was Han's, though honestly she really didn't care at that moment – all she could think about was getting Luke on a semi-horizontal surface before he collapsed altogether. Getting through the door side by side was a challenge, but they managed it, and Alice somehow half-lowered, half-dropped him onto the bed.

"Alright," she mumbled to herself as she clumsily shoved a pillow under his head and pulled the blanket up to his chest, "okay, that's good. This is…good." She caught him watching her with hazy, slightly bemused eyes and huffed out a small embarrassed cough which had only a hint of tears to it, "This is good, right? You're good?"

"Been better," he replied; clearly he was trying for humour, but he choked on the last word, and it came out sounding more like a death rattle.

Oh my god, why did I think that? He's not dying! He'll be fine!

"You're going to be fine," she said as loudly (which was not very loud at all) and confidently as she could, trying to reassure herself as much as him, "absolutely fine."

Unbelievably, his mouth quirked into a smile at that, "Missed you, Alice…" Then his eyes fluttered shut, and Alice felt cold panic grip her heart.

"Luke? Luke!" She put a hand on his chest and freaked out even more when she couldn't feel a heartbeat. Looking back, she would admit that what she did next was probably a little extreme, but it had definitely seemed rational at the time.

Scrabbling at his jacket, she ripped it back, and pressed her hand even harder against his heart, her fingernails digging into his exposed skin in her fear. And that – because Alice's life was, after all, nothing more than embarrassment after embarrassment – was how Leia found her when she burst into the room.

Leia stared at Alice. Alice stared back, her hand still clawed over Luke's bare chest, where, now that someone else was in the room, she could feel a weak but steady thumping.

"I was…uh…"

"Is he alright?" Leia cut her off, clearly not concerned with Alice's antics at present.

"I don't know," Alice said, hesitantly. She glanced at Luke's still face, and bit her lip, "His hand…"

Leia frowned, and she scanned him quickly, her eyes widening in shock, "Oh no…"

Alice started to speak, then stopped when she tasted blood. She grimaced.

The ship jolted suddenly, and Leia had to grab the door frame to stop herself from crashing into Alice. "I'll go and help Lando. Stay with him?"

Alice nodded, but inside her head, where her thoughts still had a voice, her answer was much fuller: I'm not leaving him for bloody anything.

True to her (sort of) word, she stayed exactly where she was as the Falcon beat a hasty retreat from Bespin, pitching and rolling in a flurry of laser blasts, bent over Luke, who drifted in and out of consciousness, his temperature spiking until it reached fever-pitch. Alice fretted over him, painfully aware of how useless she was as a doctor – she couldn't even figure out where this fever had come from. She supposed it could be the result of infection in his arm…but how could it have hit him so quickly? And when she had gathered up the courage to look at the stump of his right hand, she saw that it was a clean cut, blackened and burnt, as if cauterised.

Well, it would be, if it was done with a lightsaber. Stupid. Maybe it's shock-induced…

"First you disappear, then you reappear, then you faint and contract a magic mystery fever," she rasped to herself, wrapping the blanket more tightly around him (and doing the best she could to hide the fact that the front of his shirt was in tatters) as he tossed and turned, "Should have known you'd cause me trouble, Skywalker."

Perhaps in response to his name, his eyes opened briefly, their bright blue colour unusually clouded. He seemed to be finding it difficult to focus on her, so she gripped the fingers of his remaining hand, and held tight.

"Is this a dream?"

Alice forced a laugh, though it didn't really sounded more like a cough, "That's my line."

He struggled briefly, clearly trying to remember the situation she was referring to, "Oh. I guess so. Sorry."

The fact that his first instinct was to apologise was both incredibly sweet and utterly heart-breaking, and she couldn't resist reaching out to smooth back his sweat-darkened hair. "Not to worry, I'll get over it."

He stilled at her touch, and his eyes seemed to properly focus on her for the first time: she didn't miss the way his gaze flitted down to her neck. Instinctively, she dropped her chin, trying to hide the bruises she was sure were already blooming there, and felt his grip on her hand tighten briefly. When he spoke, his tone was nothing less than anguished, "Alice…I'm so sorry, I should have come sooner."

Alice hesitated, then whispered, "It doesn't matter. I'm just glad you're here, despite- well. I missed you."

His gaze shifted to the ceiling, and he sounded exhausted, "Not much use to you now, am I?"

"Don't be silly, you don't have to be useful," she said, surprised to find herself echoing the soothing tones her mother had always employed when Alice herself was ill or upset, "you just need to go to sleep, and when you wake up, you'll feel better."

"Really?" He said, watching her, his eyebrows drawn together in doubt.

"Positive. Sort of. No...?" She felt helpless, but the corner of his mouth twitched upwards in a smile. Moved by a sudden impulse, Alice leaned down and pressed her lips lightly to his forehead. He blinked, and she blushed, "Just try and get some rest, okay?"

His hand flexed, gripping hers tight again, "Will you stay?"

"Of course," she whispered, "of course I will."

He sighed, and his eyes drifted shut. Alice could feel her own eyelids drooping, but she kept running her other hand lightly over his hair until Luke's breathing evened out and she was sure he was asleep. Then, and only then, did she let out a sigh of relief, and slump forward, letting her head rest against his side. Oh, Luke…I hope he's okay… It was scary, seeing him incapacitated like this – much worse than when he'd gotten lost in the snows on Hoth. Then there had been professional doctors to look after him, with access to medicine and special glass healing tubes. Now there was only her, in the rusty old Millennium Falcon.

She wished her mum were here.

Next to her, Luke murmured something softly in his sleep, and Alice sighed by way of a reply. She'd hoped he'd sleep peacefully and get some proper rest; then she might be able to as well. All her hopes of a quiet doze were shattered though when very suddenly, Luke rolled over sharply in his sleep, dislodging Alice and leaving her with a throbbing temple. She frowned up at him, and saw his lips move – this time, she could make out a word: "Father."

She blinked, and leaned closer uncertainly, "Luke?"

"Vader!" Quite suddenly, Luke jolted upright, and cracked his skull hard against Alice's, which in his state, probably wasn't very good for him. She swore, reeling backwards at the pain, but Luke didn't even seem to notice. Throwing back his blanket, he got to his feet, though he still looked far from well.

"Luke? Where are you going?"

He ignored her, and stumbled out of the door, leaving his blanket fluttering to the floor. She cursed again, and hurried after him, "Luke! Come back!" She chased him all the way to the cockpit, and by the time they got there, she was completely voiceless from begging, threatening, cajoling and attempting to otherwise reprimand the most stubborn fool in the galaxy.

He leaned forward between Leia and Chewie, while Alice lurked grumpily in the corner, her arms folded and her expression extremely disapproving.

They'd left Bespin's atmosphere and were currently flying full in the face of an Imperial star destroyer, which as far as she could tell, wasn't the brightest idea they'd ever had.

"It's Vader," Luke muttered, staring apprehensively out of the window. Alice watched him, taken aback by the tone of utter certainty in his voice. How do you know? That was the question she would have asked, had she physically been able to. Before she could figure out some way of signing her inquiry to him, Luke's eyes snapped shut, and he stumbled back into the chair, raising one hand as if to ward something off. Alice was beside him in a second, "Luke? Luke!"

To her growing concern, he didn't resond. Don't do this to me, don't freak me out. She barely even noticed the ship suddenly lurching forward into light speed as she crouched next to him; fear eliminated social awkwardness, and she rested a hand on his cheek, trying to get any type of reaction from him.

"We did it!" Leia's voice broke in, loud and clear, bright with triumph, "We got away! Now all we need to do is regroup with the rest of the fleet!"

Alice glanced over to see Leia turning towards them. Luke stirred in his chair, and Alice reluctantly took a step back as Leia approached, allowing her to take her place at his side. She hugged Luke tightly, and helping him to his feet, led him back out of the cockpit. Alice watched them go with a strange ache in her chest, then with a sigh, curled up in the captain's chair, tucking her knees into her chest. She felt completely wrung out, both mentally and physically.

"You alright, kid?"

She started, and swung around in her chair, certain that it would be Han she found standing behind her. But it wasn't. It was Lando.

Alice rubbed her eyes tiredly, "Fine, I guess."

"You should really get something for that throat," he said, sitting down next to her.

She turned to him, her eyebrows raised, "Like what?"

"I don't know…"

She snorted, "Helpful." She laid her hand tentatively on her throat; pain flared and tears sprang up her eyes. "I was supposed to be watching films with my friend," she said, forcing the words out as clearly as she could, "before this whole thing started. I wish this was a film…watching Han being frozen and Luke losing a hand would suck a lot less if I was just watching the movie with Emi." Even as she said it though, Alice wasn't sure if she meant it. Sure, what had happened to Luke and Han was horrible – but if the alternative was never meeting them at all, this was preferable, wasn't it?

Lando blinked, "I'm sorry…I also don't know what you're talking about."

She sighed, and shook her head, "Story of my life."

Lando settled down next to her, "You never did mention. How did you get mixed up with all this?"

"What, with princesses and Jedi and dictatorial dark lords of evil, you mean? Dunno, really. Everyone keeps asking me that but the truth is I don't have any more idea than the rest of you."

He laughed softly, "Fair enough. But you seem to be holding up okay."

"Do I? Well, that's impressive." There was a rustling behind them, and Alice glanced up to see Leia entering behind them. "How's Luke?"

"He sounds better than you do," Leia said drily, though her eyes betrayed her concern, "I convinced him to settle down again, and I hooked him up to a medi-pack, see if we can't bring his fever down. I brought this for you too." She held out a small pack of pills and something that looked like a cereal bar in a silvery wrapper.

"What are they?" Alice croaked, picking up the drugs.

Leia winced at how weak her voice had gotten, and said, "They'll help to soothe some of the pain. There's nothing we can do about the bruising though…at least until we get to the fleet."

Oh yeah, the bruising, she thought glumly, laying her own fingers gently over the lances of dull pain on her neck, how am I bruised when he didn't even touch me?

"You should get some rest," Leia continued, studying her with obvious worry, "don't worry; Lando, Chewie and I will keep an eye on things."

"Like in case we get attacked again, or something similar?" Alice suggested.

Leia smiled faintly, "Yeah. Eat that, take two of those pills and go to sleep."

She got clumsily to her feet, "Will do."

"Sleep well, kid," Lando called, as she left.

Yeah…fat chance of that.

BREAK

Alice didn't like to think of herself as an overly dramatic person, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. So when she woke up screaming shrilly through a throat that felt like it was on fire because of a nightmare about Darth Vader, she was more than a little embarrassed. Clapping a hand to her mouth to stifle the banshee-style wail, she turned her head to the door, hoping against hope that no one had heard her.

When it became apparent that no one was going to come bursting into the makeshift bedroom she'd fashioned for herself (it was basically a small alcove at the far rear of the ship, one free of bare wires and sharp tools, something of a rarity on the Falcon), she relaxed, and slumped back against the wall, panting.

In the dream she'd been trapped in the dark, with nothing but the sound of that horrible rattling breath and the feel of fingers around her throat. Alice shivered, and pressed her hands to her eyes, eager to be rid of the general yucky tense sweatiness that accompanied a nightmare.

The Millennium Falcon hummed quietly, warmth seeping from the floor and walls as it bulleted through hyperspace. She wondered how long they'd been flying now, and how much further they had to go before they reached the Rebel fleet.

Something clanked within the bowels of the ship, and Alice flinched. Damn it, she thought tiredly, get it together, girl. Unwilling to sit scared and alone in the dark, she got to her feet, and poked her head out into the small corridor her cupboard was on. Little safety-type lights flickered on as she walked down the hall like friendly fire-flies.

She'd set off without a specific destination in mind, but before she knew it, she found herself standing outside Han's cabin. She drew herself up short, surprised and a little embarrassed.

She hesitated for a moment longer when the issue was decided by a particularly poignant crashing sound from the Falcon's engines. Jumping like a startled cat, Alice slammed her hand on the opening switch, attempting to squeeze through the door almost before it had begun to open.

Luke was lying on his side with his back to her, but as the door opened, he flinched and jerked around to face her, his eyes wide and straining to see through the dim light.

Oops. I think I might have startled him.

"Sorry. It's me," she rasped, her voice still weak and painful in spite of the pills Leia had given her, holding up her hands towards him, "how are you?"

"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep," he said, settling back, his injured arm cradled against his chest, "I feel better. Sort of."

"Good," she said, coming towards him and sitting down on the floor beside his bed, her back against the bedframe.

They sat in silence for a bit, listening to the pulse of the engines and the faint beeping of the ship's computer. Then Luke spoke, his tone even, but in a way that suggested he was working hard to make it so, "He hurt you, didn't he. Vader."

Alice put her hand to her throat almost reflexively, her eyelids fluttering at the memory, and said, "Yes."

There was a rustling sound and suddenly she felt his fingertips brush her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

Reaching up, she took his hand, and a terrifyingly tempting thought occurred to her: what if she just climbed onto the bed next to him, curled up and fell asleep? It wouldn't be weird, would it, for two totally platonic friends to sleep next to each other? Nah, of course not, not weird at all…

A deep blush flooded her cheeks, and she found that she was very glad it was so dim in Han's cabin. Still, at least she wasn't thinking about Vader anymore. The fear of the dream was melting away; just being with someone else was calming.

Ah, but is it being with someone else, or being with Luke that's helping? Her traitorous mind asked, in distinctly sly tones.

Shut up, brain.

Luke spoke suddenly out of the dark, quiet and intensely serious, "I have to tell you something, Alice."

She could hear him breathing in the dark above her – shallow and unsteady. Preparing herself, almost without realising it, for something big, she lifted her head and looked in the direction of his shadowy silhouette.

"Okay."

"It's something…secret, something I can't tell Leia." Where is he going with this? "Please. You have to promise me you won't tell her."

She frowned. Oh lord…please say he's not going to tell me that he's in love with Leia…If he does…I don't know what I'm going to say… "Okay. I promise."

Luke choked out the words as if they were physically painful, "Darth Vader…is my father."


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