Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.

Author's Note: There's no "meeting" in this chapter, sorry, but there's some Luke and Leia bonding time and one shenanigan between Han and Leia.

Sick Bay

Leia began coughing on the way back from Malastare. Pretty soon Luke too had the same hacking cough. The captain found it slightly amusing and completely predictable that the two of them came down with the same illness one after the other. The two hung out together and she'd seen them at mealtimes once or twice. The princess had encouraged Skywalker to try some food, but he hadn't wanted to get a full serving just to try, so they'd shared it. If that didn't suggest a good friendship, the captain would eat her hydrospanner.

Upon return, the two were sent straight to the Rebel sick bay, accompanied by the medic. Several tests later and two mugs of tea for both patients, the medical droid pronounced the diagnosis: a virus they'd picked up on Malastare, probably from contaminated water or other beverage.

At that point, Leia didn't care how they'd contracted it. She wanted to know when it would stop and what the treatment would be. She blew her nose and felt more mucus push its way to fill the vacancy created. If she tipped her head back, she could feel the mucus slide down and eventually drip down the back of her throat. Just thinking about it made her want to throw up. Actually experiencing it did make her vomit.

Next to her, Luke tried to turn up the heat. He was already wrapped in two blankets and wearing a sweater and long, thermal underwear. She knew this because of two reasons. The first was that the sick bay on the transport ship wasn't big enough to have separate rooms and neither of them had felt up to walking much, plus they were too miserable to feel self conscious and therefore they both dressed in front of each other. The other reason was that the medic objected to both the sweater and the long, thermal underwear. One or the other, she told him. Luke took off the sweater and when she left, he put it back on.

"The two of you will remain quarantined until the virus is no longer contagious. The Resilient and passengers will undergo disinfecting procedures and examinations. The virus should run its course in a week."

Being stuck together in quarantine for a week didn't sound too bad. And it really wouldn't have been so bad, if not for the fact that they were both so congested, they snored. The other's snoring would wake the other and only one could sleep at a time. They also spent a fair amount of time using the 'fresher.

By the third day, they wanted separate rooms. "No offense, Leia," Luke told her, sounding strange with his plugged nose. "But I just want to sleep."

"Me too," she told him and coughed.

Luke pressed the call button for the med droid and waited. It did not take long before the droid buzzed in. "How can I help you?" the droid asked.

"We want separate rooms." Luke spoke for them both. "We can't sleep."

"That is not possible," the droid replied apologetically. "There aren't enough rooms available. Why can't you sleep?"

One explanation, two decongestants, and two sleeping pills later, the two managed to sleep for a while. Their sleep ended when Leia woke up screaming.

At first, the screams confused Luke even more than his location. He'd rarely felt the fear and confusion at waking up and not knowing where he was until he'd joined the Rebellion. And often the screams he heard were remnants of his nightmares. But these screams were different – they were hoarse, they were happening in real life, and they were coming from next to him.

Luke realized they were coming from Leia and in his scramble to help her, became entangled in his sheets and fell to the floor. The crash bothered him more because of his dizziness and the sudden rise of nausea than the impact. He ignored all of it and moved to Leia. He reached out to her but didn't touch her, unsure if that would upset her more or not. Unconsciously he accessed the Force and touched her mind. The gentle touch interrupted her nightmares and she woke. "Leia!" Luke held his hands out in front of her so she saw them first and then he took her into his arms. "It's all right, you're safe, you're all right."

Leia had stopped screaming, but the screams had hurt her throat and so she coughed violently against Luke's chest. She also began crying.

None of this made her feel any better.

When she finally calmed down enough, Luke offered her a throat lozenge and she took it. Then she began to cry again to Luke's bewildered horror. She hurled the lozenge at the wall and covered her face with her hands. The lozenge struck the wall and shattered.

The commotion had stirred a med droid but Luke shooed it away with a pointed look. He didn't want the droid to trigger memories of the interrogation droid. "What is it, Leia? What do you need?"

"Alderaan," she whispered. It was an answer, a request, and a horrified observation.

He didn't know what she'd observed but he had to find it. He glanced around the room and then finally looked down at the package he'd taken the cough drop from. They were flavored to taste like Alderaanian fruit.

Luke didn't say anything, there was nothing to say. She'd heard every platitude in the books. He just took her hands away from her face and held her hands in his. Let her cry in the open, he thought. Let her not be ashamed to grieve.

Leia looked at their hands and slowly calmed down. Her throat felt terrible and so she called the med droid to request some ice. The droid did better and brought them both some popsicles. The two ate their frozen treats on Leia's bed. In order to eat it comfortably, Luke wrapped himself in one of his blankets.

"Don't tell Han," Leia whispered hoarsely.

"I won't." Luke assured her.

"I don't think he'd understand getting upset over a cough drop."

"This is my first popsicle," Luke held up what was left of his. "So I'm kind of glad you didn't want the cough drop. These are amazing."

For the first time since she'd woken, she looked at his face. How could anyone not have eaten a popsicle before? Surely desert planets specialized in frozen deserts? They would be incredibly popular. But he clearly had told the truth, it was so easy to read Luke's lies and he had no indications of lying now. But those thoughts left her when she noticed that his mouth was bright orange. She grinned and pointed it out to him.

"Yeah, well, your mouth's purple, so I don't think you can judge."

"Hey, kids!" Han waved to them as they left the quarantined ward. "Threepio here told me you guys caught some virus. Now, as your next-of-kin, I feel the need to tell you this: whatever garbage your guardians gave you about sharing, don't. Keep that away from me."

Luke started to tell Han that they weren't contagious any longer but Leia hurried over and hugged Han tightly, then coughed onto his face.

"Oi! That's real mature, your worshipfulness!" Han pushed her away and grabbed a hypospray, which he thrust towards her like a lightsaber and waved it in defense of himself.

"I'm sorry," Leia apologized without any sincerity. "I just had to do it."

Han put the hypospray down and grinned. "I know you guys aren't contagious any more. How're you feeling? You don't look half bad, did you guys just want to get some time off?"