My thanks to EsmeAmelia, Anonymous Pr!ck, MultiFandomGirl1424, jeanmarie3, Guest, and Book girl fan for your reviews of the previous chapter, and to my son for beta-reading. This chapter is for EsmeAmelia, who picked up that Han's mother was a key element of this story long before I did.
"Post-traumatic stress disorder?" Leia repeated, her teacup halfway to her lips. She set the cup down so that she didn't spill the tea. "Where did you hear that?"
Luke looked down at his bowl of steamed phraig rather guiltily. "Wes Janson. He and the Rogues were talking about it." He slurped a spoonful of blue milk.
Leia frowned. "And where would he get that kind of information?" she asked indignantly, thinking of her own visits to the base psychiatrist to deal with the mental aftermath of Alderaan. I'd be mortified if anyone knew.
The young blond sitting across from her shrugged. "Wes is dating a girl from supply who's friends with a girl whose roommate enters the medical codes ..."
"So the whole base knows," Leia interrupted. Her heart sank. Han will never forgive me for this.
"I probably shouldn't be spreading gossip either," Luke admitted. "But I thought you'd want to know."
Leia gave him a sad smile. "How's he doing today?" She hadn't seen Han in three days.
The grin on Luke's face told her the answer. "I think the new treatment's working. Finally! Han's back to playing sabacc. He won ten credits off me." At Leia's pained expression, Luke reached out a hand and clasped her wrist. "For what it's worth, I think you did the right thing." As her eyes narrowed, Luke clarified, "I would have told the doctor about his nightmares, too, if I'd known about them." He let go of her and added, "Although I probably wouldn't have mentioned anything about his mother."
"I never said anything about Han's mother!" Leia yelled, and several other patrons of the mess hall turned to stare at them. She lowered her voice. "I only mentioned his nightmares, not the reason behind them."
Luke shook his head. "Han's convinced you did."
"I'm well aware of that," Leia snapped, folding her arms. "He left a standing order barring me from visiting him in the med lab." In a softer voice, she cajoled, "Do you think you could talk to him again? Convince him I was only trying to help?"
Her friend sighed. "I can try, Leia, but I can't promise anything."
For the rest of the day, Leia remained on high alert, waiting for a comm that never came. She finally fell into a fitful sleep punctuated by nightmares. A woman who looked like Han was tortured and fatally shot. In the dream, a little boy tugged at her sleeve. "Where is my mother?" he asked.
Despite the late hour, Leia grabbed her comlink off the nightstand. "Han, are you okay?" She didn't expect an answer, but she couldn't relax after those terrifying images had filled her mind. Once again, she dressed in the middle of the night and ran from her quarters to the med lab.
"You're not allowed in there." The night nurse caught Leia before she could enter Han's room.
Leia turned desperate eyes to her. "Could you please check on him for me? I know something is wrong."
The woman raised an eyebrow at her. "Not one of them Jedi freaks are you?"
Leia frowned and folded her arms. "Please."
Peering through the window, the night nurse shrugged. "He's asleep."
"I'm well aware of that! He's having another nightmare. Comm Dr. Askara now!" Leia snapped, wondering at the outside edges of her mind how, exactly, she knew with such certainty.
As the night nurse gave her an incredulous look, two things happened at once: an alarm sounded in Han's room and Chewbacca the Wookiee ran out and howled.
Leia paced the halls of the med lab, Chewie at her side. Luke ran down the corridor and embraced them. "What's going on?"
"Han had another nightmare," Leia said with a sniff. She wiped one eye with her sleeve. "He pulled out his IV and ripped off the migraine monitor before he woke up. Dr. Askara is with him now."
Chewie stood at the doorway, peering in the window, whuffing softly. Luke patted him on the back. "He'll be okay."
From her own experience with flashbacks, Leia knew the routine: bilateral stimulation of the brain combined with relaxation therapy and calming techniques to help reduce the severity of the patient's traumatic memories. Her own flashbacks of Alderaan's destruction and her torture at the hands of Darth Vader had diminished considerably under the careful guidance of the Twi'lek healer. She wondered if the healing process was different if the traumatic memories were rooted in childhood.
Shaking away her thoughts, Leia looked at Luke curiously. "Why are you here? It's the middle of the night."
Luke turned toward her and shrugged. "I dunno. Something just felt wrong." He gave her an appraising look. "What about you?"
She stared at the floor. "I know it sounds strange, but I think I had a nightmare about Han's mother." Leia raised her eyes to Luke and spoke in a soft voice. "I think he witnessed her murder."
Although this is a work of fanfiction - and I am no doctor - I wanted to note two things. Studies have shown that people with migraines are more likely to also have post-traumatic stress disorder. And EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing - is a real technique used to help people with PTSD, although it is far more complicated than what I refer to here. In our world, people don't stimulate the brain directly, but I thought that since Star Wars seems more advanced medically, maybe they can do that there. Plus, I want Han to recover quickly!
