Hey dudes - I couldn't leave you waiting too long after that cliffhanger, now could I? :) Also, I think it needs to be said...100 reviews! You guys really are absolutely awesome - thanks so much! Force hugs (the nice kind) for all of you!
This week's shout-outs go to: sarahmichellegellarfan1, Time-Dog, ArtistsChild93, Taboo22, AsMadAsMurdock, Katyperry22, and three different Guests, one of whom informs me they've been with this story since chapter one. For that I say - thank you very much, and have a cookie and a big wookiee hug from Chewie. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.
Super quick recap: Team Jedi just escaped from Cloud City and Luke just told Alice Darth Vader is his father and basically OMG.
Damn it. This is worse. This is far worse. What do I do?!
Alice put her hand to her mouth to hide her reaction, which was something between pity, guilt, and fear. "How did you…?"
"He told me." He was sitting up now, and their faces were very close together, close enough for her to see that his mouth was trembling slightly, "Alice, I want you to know…that I am not like him. I'm not…"
"No," she said at once, holding his one hand in both of hers, "no, I know you're not. You're…one of the good guys." She smiled, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work.
Oblivious to her attempts at humour, he gazed at her fingers, intertwined with his own, then slowly, he said, "Ben must have known."
Alice winced. "…Yeah?"
"Yes. He…my father was his apprentice. Vader was his apprentice." He met her gaze, his expression hurt and confused, "Why didn't he tell me?"
"I…" She hesitated, her insides twisting with guilt, "I don't know…maybe he thought you'd want to hurt him, and you'd put yourself in danger…he was probably just trying to protect you."
Luke gave a short, doubtful laugh, "I thought you'd say that."
"It's true though," she protested, her voice cracking with the strain, "Ben would only keep something like this from you because he thought it was for the best. You trusted his judgement in everything else."
"Yes, but this?" He said bitterly, "Did he have a right to keep this from me?"
Alice looked away, unable to answer, partly because her voice was almost completely gone, but also because she simply had no words to face his questions. Oh, he's so right. I should never have kept this a secret from him. He needed to know. I have to tell him. Don't I?
She opened her mouth, hesitating, but before she could speak Luke had dropped his gaze to their joined hands and started to talk again, his voice weary and apologetic, "I'm sorry, Alice. I don't want to upset you. But I…had to tell someone. You promise you won't tell the others?"
She swallowed, "Of course not."
"Thank you, Alice." And then, because the universe apparently hated her and wanted her to suffer, he gave her a warm, tired and indescribably lovely smile.
I'm a terrible person.
She stared into Luke's handsome, trusting face, and all she could think about was how he had trusted her with his darkest secret, a truth so horrible he couldn't face it alone, and now she was going to reveal that she had not only known all along, but that she hadn't told him. It was completely going against the trust he'd put in her, and though it wouldn't exactly be true to say that it had been hard-won, she was so pathetically afraid of the pain of losing it that instead of opening her mouth and saying, "Luke, I knew that Darth Vader was your father and I didn't tell you this entire time", she said, "I should…leave you to sleep. Leia…Leia will probably have us up early to start planning Han's rescue."
She got to her feet, all thoughts of totally platonic bed-sharing completely blown out of her mind, but Luke didn't let go of her hand, preventing her from leaving, "Alice? Are you alright?" She couldn't look at him, couldn't even reply. "Alice?"
"Night, Luke," she rasped, pulling her hand away from his.
She walked back to the main cabin, feeling a bit like a zombie. It was like she was being haunted by the image of Luke's smile, the way his fingers had squeezed hers as he'd apologised for upsetting her, like she hadn't just chickened out of telling him that she'd completely betrayed him.
Why did I completely forget about this until now? If I'd remembered…but Ben made me promise not to tell him. Thanks a lot, Ben.
If the old man heard her, he chose not to comment this time. With a sigh, Alice flopped down in one of the chairs and rested her head in her hands. She felt miserable, both physically and emotionally. Her throat ached, her legs were sore and crampy from all the running (and sleeping in a broom cupboard) and there was a lovely feeling of guilt sitting heavy on her chest. Not to mention, there was the faint and lingering fear that Vader would suddenly burst out of a dark corner and start throttling her. She groaned. Great, now I'm paranoid as well.
A hand brushed against her shoulder, and she flinched, staring around madly for her assailant.
Leia looked down at her, wearing an expression of concern.
Alice groaned again, and let her forehead thump against the table top, massaging her temples gently.
"What's the matter?" Leia asked, dropping to one knee beside her, her hand gentle on Alice's back. "Alice?"
With an effort, she lifted her head, and gave her friend what she hoped was a weak smile. Going from the way Leia's eyebrows furrowed into a frown, she guessed she wasn't that successful.
"Why are you crying?"
She put a hand to her eyes and was surprised to find a steady flow of tears dripping down her face, making her eyes smart, "Oh. I didn't realise I was. I'm…well, I'm probably just tired."
"Why aren't you getting some sleep?"
She shifted uncomfortably, not meeting Leia's eyes as she said, quietly, "I had a nightmare about Vader and I couldn't sleep."
Leia's eyes flashed in anger. Then she took a deep breath, and nodded, "I understand. But you're not well, Alice, you need to get some rest."
Feeling ashamed, but not able to stop herself, Alice said, "But what if…what if I dream?"
Leia looked at a loss, and simply placed her hand over Alice's on the table top. She looked so tired, almost as tired as Alice felt, and she wondered guiltily if her friend had let herself get any sleep either.
Just then, somewhere over Leia's shoulder, a machine beeped. The effect it had on Leia was palpable: her back straightened, her eyes grew bright and a smile actually broke out across her face. "We've reached the rendezvous point. Wait here, Alice, I'll get us docked, and then I'll call someone to look after you."
"Thank the Force," Alice murmured, as her friend hurried away to the cockpit to start bringing them in. Leia really was one of the best people she'd ever had the good fortune to know, every bit as high in Alice's esteem by now as her own mother. She still felt guilty though, as she thought about how much they placed on their princess's shoulders; always taking care of them, fighting, planning, no matter how dire the circumstances.
Trying to shake off some of her drowsiness, Alice got to her feet and moved to the cockpit to watch as Leia directed them towards one of the larger starships. It took a while, but eventually, they docked, and a shudder ran through the ship as the engines finally cycled down, leaving it in silence. Moments later, a medical team rushed on board to whisk Luke away and start looking after him.
Leia tapped one of the paramedics on the arm before he could run off after the Rebel Alliance's hero, and pointed him towards Alice, who was staring out at the crowded hangar through the front viewscreen in a state of semi-comatose exhaustion, "Private Miller has sustained severe trauma to the throat and is suffering from fatigue. I would appreciate it if you would see to her care."
The man looked a little bit disappointed to be looking after one of Luke's hangers-on as opposed to the man himself, but nevertheless, he took Alice gently by the arm and started leading her after his colleagues towards the ship's medical bay.
For her part, Alice was largely insensible to what was going on around her. Her dizziness had suddenly increased tenfold, and it was all she could do to walk in a straight line; it didn't even look like she was managing that, after her friendly paramedic guide had to save her from bumping into a wall more than once. By the time they reached the ward itself, Alice was feeling well and truly sick.
"Lie down," the man said, directing her towards an empty bed, "we'll get you sorted out, Private Miller."
She did as she was told and watched with vague interest as he picked up a small torch, opened her mouth and shone the light down her throat. His expression was grim, especially as he closed her mouth again, tilted back her chin and studied the bruises Vader's Force grip had left on her throat. He disappeared off to get something or other, leaving her on her own. Feeling drowsy, and with nobody there to keep her awake, Alice closed her eyes, not even caring that she might have nightmares. When the paramedic got back, she was asleep.
BREAK
When she opened her eyes, the first thing she was aware of was the fact that her head hurt. Not much, just a dull ache that promised to get worse when she sat up. Yay, she thought grumpily, raising a hand to block out some of the bright fluorescent light that burned behind her eyes.
"Alice?"
"Leia?" Her voice came out sounding clear, if quiet, which for some reason came as a surprise, though she couldn't remember why, "Where are we?"
"The Redemption," said Leia, "one of the Rebel starships."
The Redemption. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I think that's probably quite ironic.
Bracing herself, Alice opened her eyes. Her friend stood over her, smartly dressed in battle-casual once again, her hair plaited and tied into a bun. She smiled to herself. Leia would never let herself look unstylish for long.
"How are you feeling?"
She took stock. Arms, legs, chest, back – all felt fine. There was a tender pain in her neck, and her headache, but other than that… "Good," she said, puzzled, "is that wrong?"
Leia laughed warmly, "No, Alice, that's just right. I'm glad you're better."
"Huh." It was an effort, but she managed to curl her mouth into a smile, "Thanks, bestie." She heard a quiet whine and blinked in surprise when Chewie appeared over Leia's shoulder, "Oh, hey big guy." He purred at the sound of her voice and looked anxiously at Leia.
"She's doing much better," said Leia, looking pleased, "it was only exhaustion, brought on by everything that happened on Cloud City…"
Alice frowned, "Cloud City…" A feeling similar to receiving an immense electric shock whipped through her, and her mouth fell open as she suddenly remembered everything that had happened, and why she was in hospital. "Where's Luke?" She grabbed at Leia's arm, "Is he okay?"
"Alice, calm down," Leia said, soothingly, though she darted a worried glance at a monitor at the side of Alice's bed, "everything's fine. Luke's still resting but he's going to be alright."
"…Oh. Okay." She took a deep breath, and unclenched her grip from Leia's arm, "Sorry. Just…phew." Her head was pounding, as she'd known it would; sitting up that fast probably hadn't helped. "How long have we been here?" She asked.
Leia was massaging her wrist, and looked reassuringly at Chewie at his questioning growl, "Three days now."
"Three days?" Alice said, "I've been in bed for three days? No wonder I've got head rush…"
"The doctors said a long rest would do you good," said Leia, sitting down at the end of her bed, "they were impressed that you managed to keep going for as long as you did after Vader attacked you. They said you were probably running on adrenaline alone."
"Oh," she said, feeling embarrassed at that for some reason, "well. It was that or get captured by those little gnomes back at Cloud City, am I right?"
Leia gave her a small smile, amused. "Your voice sounds much better."
"Yeah," she said, tentatively putting up a hand to touch her bruised neck, "thank goodness. What would you all do if I couldn't talk?"
Leia grinned mischievously, "Thank the stars?"
Alice rolled her eyes, "Hilarious, my dear." She propped herself back against her pillows, and let out a small sigh, "How much longer do I have to be here?"
"That depends," Leia replied, "how soon do you want to leave?"
She blinked, then sat up eagerly, "As soon as possible, please. I get really bored just lying around…and I want to see Luke."
"Good," her friend said, sounding satisfied, "because Luke can't leave his room, and we all need to be together if we're going to start planning how to get Han back."
…She really is in love with him, isn't she.
"Organised," Alice said, vaguely impressed.
"Someone has to be the organised one," Leia said, all business once again, "are you ready to get up now, or should I give you a bit longer?"
Something about the way she asked it suggested there wasn't really a choice in the matter, so Alice said, "Um…no. I can get up."
"Excellent," said Leia. She got to her feet, reached over to the empty bed next to Alice's and picked up a bundle of fabric that appeared to be a towel and some clothes. "You'll want to shower – it's just over there. Take your time."
Chewie whined and headed for the door; clearly he wasn't comfortable with all this talk of showering. "See you later, buddy," Alice called as loudly as she could as she got carefully to her feet and started wandering off in the direction that Leia had pointed her. Beyond the gleaming white door she found a small shower cubicle, a toilet, sink and tiny mirror. Hanging up the towel and chucking the clothes on the toilet seat, Alice stripped quickly and climbed into the shower.
Half an hour later or so, she emerged, smelling a good deal cleaner than she had for days, which went a long way to cheering her up.
"Remind me what we're doing now?" She asked, as she picked up the clothes Leia had given her. She unfolded them and let out a delighted laugh. It was her jumpsuit, which she hadn't seen since she and Leia first arrived on Hoth, when she'd put it aside in favour of the regulation winter gear provided by the rebellion to their soldiers. She pulled it on, feeling surprisingly comforted by the familiar outfit.
"We're going to meet the others in Luke's room," Leia called through the door.
Oh god…Luke, she thought, freezing as she remembered their little chat aboard the Falcon. I still haven't told him about Vader…
"Alice? You alright?"
She pressed a hand to her forehead, thinking fast. I've got to tell him sooner rather than later, otherwise I'm just going to feel guilty about it for the rest of my life. Maybe he'll forgive me…maybe…
"M'fine." She wrapped the towel firmly around her damp hair, gave herself a quick once over in the mirror, then stepped out.
Leia gave her an appraising look which turned into a radiant smile, "You look beautiful. Come on, let's go."
"Okay," Alice said, bemused, as her friend took her by the wrist and started pulling her along. Her smile faded quite speedily though, as she started desperately planning just how she was going to break the news to Luke that she'd known about his unfortunate parentage for quite a while now, and yet had not seen fit to tell him. It's just a tiny, little baby betrayal. And I promised Ben that I wouldn't tell, after all…oh, that's no excuse. I just have to act natural…
"Um…Alice?" With a jolt, she realised that Leia had stopped already, and she'd carried on down the corridor. Blushing, she returned to the princess's side, ignoring the odd looks she was getting from passing medical staff.
Leia raised her eyebrows at her, and she shook her head in reply, "Don't ask."
With a shrug, Leia opened the chrome door in front of them, which slid open to reveal Chewie, Lando, Threepio and Artoo scattered in various poses all around the room, with Luke propped up in a bed in the middle. Their male companions all looked up as they entered. Alice almost couldn't bear to meet Luke's eyes as he smiled at her. He was so…trusting, and she didn't deserve it.
Something beeped near her feet, and she looked down to see Artoo sitting there; he stomped cheerfully, clearly glad to have her attention. "Hi, buddy."
"Alice." Leia was looking at her, eyebrows raised and waiting.
"Sorry," she muttered, leaning against a table behind her, and gesturing to Leia to go ahead.
The princess forged ahead at once in a business-like tone, "Right. You all know why we're here. First thing's first. Where did Boba Fett take Han?"
"That's easy," Lando said confidently, "everyone knows Boba Fett is Jabba the Hutt's favourite bounty hunter. He'll have taken Han to Tatooine, Jabba's base of operations."
"Tatooine?" Alice blurted out, before she could stop herself. Then she paused and cocked her head on one side, "Hang on, remind me who Boba Fett is?"
"The bounty hunter from Cloud City."
Alice frowned, "You mean the one in the multi-coloured suit that looked as if it was painted by his three year old daughter?"
"That's right," Lando said, raising an eyebrow at her, "my guess is that Han owed Jabba a little something – and the Hutt sent his bounty hunters out to get recompense."
Leia started to pace, her teeth gritted, "Damn it. Han said he had to pay Jabba back, but I didn't realise he was in this deep."
"But what is Jabba going to do with Han once he has him?" Alice asked, anxiously, "I mean, he's frozen, for goodness' sake!"
Lando shrugged, "From what I've heard about Jabba, he likes to humiliate his debtors. I think it's quite likely that he'll just keep him in carbonite, use him as some kind of decoration. It's not pleasant, but at least he won't kill him."
"And I assume Jabba's not going to just give him back to us, even in exchange for money," Luke said from his bed. Alice glanced twitchily over at him, then quickly away as he turned his head towards her.
I can't look at him…
"I doubt it," Lando said, glancing at Chewie, "From what Chewbacca's told me, Jabba has a bit of a grudge against ole' Han. He'd probably prefer having him at his mercy to having his debt paid ten times over." The wookiee wailed loudly in apparent confirmation of this statement.
"Well, in a way that's good news, because the Alliance can't spare that much money on one man, even if it is Han," Leia commented drily. "It looks like our only option is to try and break him out ourselves."
"Uh…" Alice said, raising her eyebrows, "If we're going down that road, can I just come straight out and suggest stealth?"
"Alice is right," Leia said, "A direct assault on Jabba would be foolish. So our first task is figuring out how we're going to get inside Jabba's palace."
"Well, what pretext have we got for going in?" Alice said slowly, folding her arms, "What could we do that would mean they would just let us inside? Any ideas?"
There was a long, thoughtful silence.
Lando clicked his fingers. Alice pointed at him, "Bing! We have an idea."
"Bounty hunters. Jabba's always on the lookout for new ones, and new prizes…one of us could dress as a bounty hunter, bringing in a prisoner…that'd get at least two of us inside."
"That's a good start," Alice said encouragingly.
"But that would still leave five of us," Luke said, glancing around at them all, "what do we do then?"
"Well, then…" Leia gritted her teeth and knuckled her forehead, "There are too many variables. How can we possibly predict how this'll turn out?"
"Take it easy, honey," Alice said, laying a hand gently on her friend's shoulder, "we don't have to figure everything out at once. Let's not try and sort any details out now – if we rush into anything, it just won't work. I think our priority is figuring out what's happening on Tatooine; one of us needs to get on the ground and look around. Then they can tell us what they find out and what they think might work."
"I can do that," Lando said raising a hand, "leave it to me."
Chewie growled loudly from the corner of the room, and Threepio stepped forward, "Chewbacca says that he will accompany Lando on his reconnaissance mission."
"There we are then," Alice said chirpily, "let's start with something simple. I mean, going from what you said, Lando, Jabba isn't going to actually do anything to Han, in which case…well, we can afford to take our time."
"Alright," Leia said, looking unhappy, but acquiescing never the less, "Chewie, Lando, when would you be happy to leave?"
Chewie whined, and Threepio translated, "He wishes to leave as soon as possible."
"And I'm with him," Lando said, clapping the wookiee on the upper arm, probably because he couldn't reach his shoulder.
"Well, don't go now," interjected Alice, quickly, "wait until tomorrow at least. It's…well, I'm assuming it's late now…" she glanced out at the darkness of space, frustrated, "Annoying lack of natural light making it difficult to tell the time…"
"It is late," Lando said, amused, "and it's probably time you got some rest, Luke." He gave him a salute, "Take it easy, buddy."
Hold up…when did Luke and Lando become 'buddies'?
"Alice, we should go too," Leia said, beckoning her.
"Yeah," she said, glancing over at shoulder at Luke, who gave her a brief, bright smile, "okay."
With Artoo rolling along at their heels, they left. As soon as the door had shut behind them, Leia turned to Alice with a shrewd look, "So. Tell me why it is that you won't even look at Luke?"
Alice shrugged uncomfortably, "It's…complicated. I can't really explain it…it's up to Luke if he tells you or not."
"Why?" Leia asked, frowning.
"Come on, Leia," Alice said, shaking her head, "I just said it was complicated…"
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