I was sitting at the table in the kitchen eating breakfast and playing twenty questions with Cliegg when Daddy said that I was going to have a babysitter.
"Minera- but Daddy, Cliegg can keep me safe! I don't need a babysitter!" I interrupted myself.
"Luke, Cliegg is in a cell. If something attacked you he couldn't protect you. No offence, Cliegg, but he couldn't protect himself."
"None taken," Cliegg added.
"So you're having a babysitter." Daddy said firmly.
"But I hate my babysitter! He's strict and he doesn't understand me!"
"I know you don't like him. I hired another person to do it today. And this time I want you to avoid lighting a fire, okay? That might be why your other babysitter won't let you in the kitchen anymore."
"I didn't know that'd happen," I said under my breath.
"Luke, it is common sense that if you stick something flammable near flame it will catch fire."
"I just wanted to know for sure!"
"Right. This argument is over. The babysitter will be here any moment. And I don't want any more complaints; it's your pet I'm going to get."
"Snakey's all better now?"
"He should be."
"What happened to your snake?" Cliegg asked.
"Luke has been feeding his snake vegetables instead of the mice he's supposed to feed it. That's not exactly a recommended diet and the snake is somewhat ill. It's been at the vet since you arrived."
"Oh, I was wondering what had happened." Cliegg nodded.
Then the doorbell rang and Daddy went to get it. I slid off my chair and through the bars of Cliegg's cell. He hugged me when I got to him and I pulled some more paper out of the pile that was slowly growing as I brought more down every day.
Cliegg took one too and he started to draw again. I heard the sitter coming up the stairs and promptly tuned him out.
"Luke! What are you doing in that cell?" The sitter said from behind me.
"I'm drawing pictures, what does it look like I'm doing?" I asked rudely.
"It looks to me like you're consorting with a dangerous rebel. Get out of there right now."
"Daddy doesn't mind when I play with Cliegg. Daddy, please tell him you don't mind." I said, still not turning around.
"Your daddy has already left, Luke. Come out right now."
"No. I'm staying here."
"Don't make me get you out." He threatened.
"I'm telling Daddy you threatened me."
"If that's how this is going to work, then I'll tell your daddy that you wouldn't listen to me. And that you were consorting with this scum."
"Thanks a lot," Cliegg said in a hurt voice.
"Don't listen to him, Cliegg. He's a jerk." I said.
"That does it, Kid. Out you come." He unlocked the cell door and dragged me out. I bit him. He deserved it. Sadly, he didn't notice.
"Stay out of here," he said as he locked the cell again.
I darted back through the bars, but he caught the back of my shirt. He dragged me out again.
"If you won't be mature enough to do what I say, I'll have to hold you down and not let you move at all. Stay out of that cell. Would your mommy and daddy want you to act like this?"
That was mean. He knew I didn't have a mommy. He must have. I started to cry.
"Stop being stupid, Luke. You can't play with the rebel."
I started to cry harder and I heard Cliegg say something to the sitter, but I was crying too hard to hear what he was saying. The sitter screamed at him and tried to hug me. That was not okay. He was such a jerk! Only Daddy and Cliegg are allowed to hug me. I started screaming louder.
Daddy doesn't like it when I get like this. It makes him sad. So I try not to do it. But I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect. And he wasn't here so it couldn't make him hurt.
I heard Cliegg's cell lock click and I knew that he'd used the Force to let himself out so he could make me feel better. The sitter let me go right away. I started trying to stop crying, but then I turned to see the sitter punch Cliegg's nose.
"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!" I screamed louder.
The sitter didn't seem to hear me. He started punching and kicking any part of Cliegg he could reach. Which was a lot because he was bigger to start with.
That's what Daddy saw when he got back, me starting to gather the Force to throw things at the sitter, who was sitting on Cliegg's chest, twisting his hurt arm. Cliegg was lying on the floor screaming in agony and begging the sitter to let go.
When Daddy saw what was happening everything froze and it took me a second to realize that he had stopped everything with the Force.
"Lieutenant, release the prisoner. Luke, let those drop. Do it now." When Daddy gets really mad, he sometimes gets really quiet which is scarier than screaming. I dropped the things I was holding. The sitter let Cliegg go. Cliegg moaned and pulled away.
Daddy put the things I'd been holding back down and stepped farther into the room. Wrapped around his right wrist was my snake. I went to get it. Daddy held his arm down and Snakey crawled on to my arm. Then Daddy walked to where the sitter had been hurting Cliegg.
"What were you thinking, Sunber? Why did you hurt them like this?" Daddy knelt down and helped Cliegg sit up. His nose was bloody.
"The boy wanted to be with him and wouldn't listen to me. Then he let himself out of his cell to hurt the boy." He said the 'he' like it was the worst insult he could think of. I went to Cliegg to hug him better.
"Luke?" Daddy turned to me.
"I just wanted to play with Cliegg. He wasn't trying to hurt me. He was trying to make it better when the sitter hurt me. Then the sitter hurt him. I was trying to protect him."
"Cliegg, what do you think happened?" Daddy turned to Cliegg again.
"Exactly what Luke said. But I don't think that it's quite fair to Janek. He didn't know what I was doing. I should have explained."
"He wouldn't have let you. And he hurt you, so I don't care what he was thinking." I scowled at the sitter.
Daddy looked at all of us, and then he turned to the sitter, "I won't need your services anymore. You should head home."
"Don't just let him go! Kill him! Cut him up with your lightsaber!" I said angrily. I didn't really want him to die, but I was mad.
"No, Luke. That's not the solution to everything. But you reminded me, before you go, Lieutenant. Luke, how did he hurt you?"
"He talked about Mommy like she was still here. He said she'd be embarrassed by me." I started to cry again just because I'd thought about it.
"Don't cry, Luke. It'll be okay. Your mom wouldn't be ashamed of you no matter what. Lieutenant, you may go."
The sitter ran out of the room and out the door. I laughed meanly at how scared he was.
When he was gone, Daddy helped Cliegg to his feet and put Cliegg's arm around his neck. He helped him to the small medbay in the basement and I followed him, carrying Snakey.
He helped Cliegg to sit on the bench there and he started to brush the blood away from Cliegg's nose. As Daddy cleaned all Cliegg's new hurts, I crawled up beside him and gave him my snake to hold to make him feel better.
"Thank you, Luke," Cliegg said, but it came out all funny, like he was pinching his nose.
"I'm sorry, Cliegg, but it looks like that fight broke your nose." Daddy said.
"What fight? You were right; I didn't have a hope of defending myself!"
"I'm sorry to hear that. Hold still." Daddy carefully moved a little device over Cliegg's nose. "There, good as new."
Cliegg moved one hand up to touch it and smiled a bit. "Thank you."
"Is it all better now?" I asked.
"Yes, it's all better." Daddy answered replacing the machine. He helped Cliegg back up, but Cliegg collapsed right away, so Daddy picked him up the way he carries me. Snakey crawled down Cliegg's arm to me again.
When we got upstairs, Daddy put Cliegg back in his cell and let me in too. After our fight, we were both really tired. I snuggled Cliegg and went to sleep in his arms.