Well, school sucks. When in my life is the Associative Property going to be of ANY use?

I mean, seriously.

Disclaimer: nope.

Chapter 3: You Can't Fall In Love With Her

Lila sat in the waiting room. She drummed her fingers on the hard chair she was given and awaited the verdict.

Luke, meanwhile, floated in a bacta tank.

Han was also bored. Chewie was . . . well, Lila couldn't read the expressions on Wookie faces, so she didn't know what he was thinking. Leia was worried. The princess leaned over and whispered in Lila's ear.

"Did you seriously slap him?"

"Hmm? What?" Lila was jolted out of her thoughts. "Oh, that . . . yeah, he was being an insensitive idiot—"

"This comes as a surprise?"

"—and so I slapped him." She and Lila exchanged high fives.

A medical droid poked its head around the door. "Commander Skywalker is awake now; you may see him."

"Finally!"

They entered. Luke was lying in a bed. The medical droid said "You can't stay for too long—" but was cut off by Lila giving it the finger.

"Welcome back to the world of the living," she said.

"Hey kid, great to see you," said Han. "You don't look so bad to me."

"Thanks to you."

"Which is exactly his point," said Lila loudly, "so if Han could stop bragging for ONE FRIGGIN MINUTE I'm sure we would all be very grateful."

"Spoilsport," muttered Han. He turned to Leia. "Well, your Worshipfulness, looks like you managed to keep me around for a while longer."

"I had nothing to do with it. General Rieekan thinks its dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we put up the energy shield."

Lila, again, interrupted loudly. "But seriously. A Wampa? How in the name of the Force did you let yourself get attacked by a Wampa?"

"Hey, I didn't know it was there!" Luke protested.

"Be mindful of the Force, my young apprentice."

Luke stared at her. "Since when—"

"It's a classic line. I had to say it. Anyway—" Lila was beaten at her own game as Leia and Han's arguing reached a new level of volume.

"I think you couldn't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight."

Leia blinked. Lila barely contained a grin.

I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain," retorted Leia. Chewie barked. Han looked insulted.

"Laugh it up, fuzz ball. But you didn't see us alone in the south passage."

"The question is not did he, but did he want to."

Han glared at Lila very threateningly. She raised her eyebrows. "Go ahead. Make my day."

Leia made a very frustrated noise. Han returned to his argument.

"She expressed her true feelings for me."

"My true . . . ! Why you stuck up . . . half-witted . . . scruffy-looking nerf-herder!" And without further ado, Leia grabbed Luke's head and kissed him on the lips. When she released him, she stormed out of the room.

Luke grinned smugly. Lila and Han glared at him. Lila had one thought running through her head:

Don't fall in love with your sister don't fall in love with your sister PLEASE don't fall in love with your sister . . . too late. You fell in love with your sister.

Crap. Yoda's gonna kill me.

"Well, Han, she got you there."

"Shut up."

Before anymore insults could be exchanged, an urgent voice came out over the loudspeaker. "Headquarters personnel, report to command center."

"Couldn't leave us alone for five minutes?" asked Lila grumpily as she heaved herself out of the med center.

"Take it easy, kid," Han advised Luke.

In the command center, they found General Rieekan hunched over a computer console. "We have a visitor. We picked up something moving east outside the base, in zone twelve."

"It's metal," called a senior controller.

"Then it's definitely not a Wampa," muttered Lila.

"It could be a speeder, one of ours," offered Han.

"No," said the controller. "Wait—there's something very weak coming through."

Everyone listened intently to the faint, strange signal. Threepio came over. "Sir, I am fluent in over six million forms of communication. This signal is not used by the Alliance. It could be an Imperial code."

"Crap," said Leia under her breath.

"It ain't friendly, whatever it is. C'mon Chewie, let's check it out." Han went to go find a speeder.

Thirty minutes later, Han's voice, preceded by a large explosion, came rattling over the comlink. "Afraid there's not much left."

"What was it?" asked Leia.

"Droid of some kind. I didn't hit it that hard; it must have a self-destruct."

"An Imperial probe droid," breathed Lila. "They found us."

"We better start the evacuation," said Rieekan.

Okay, thought Lila. She remembered a dream she'd had five years ago: Lila turns to Dark Side. Lila kills everybody. Lila rules galaxy. I guess I'm out of danger. My dream included Hoth in it, so I obviously didn't do what I was supposed to.

She thought she was safe. She thought wrong.

jedi-josh: yeah, the Force is not very happy with her right now . . .

SwimAngel: thanks!

Hello! Where ARE you people! I know a lot of people read Three Lives Connect, are you out there somewhere?

Happy birthday to me! I turned 13 today!