"Luke."

Something drew Vader's thoughts out of his meditation. It wasn't distinct, but somehow he just knew it was coming from his son. Whatever it was, it didn't feel urgent, all the same the dark lord suspected his presence was required.

Reattaching his mask and his helmet, he left his oxygen pod and his private chambers and made his way over to Luke's bedroom. The boy had, presumably, gone to bed a couple hours ago.

"Luke?"

Upon entering the room he saw Luke was awake, he was sitting on the floor on his knees, his arms wrapped tight around him, an almost blank look in his eyes.

"Luke."

The boy looked up and saw him, then returned his gaze towards the floor.

"Hi, Father."

"Luke..." Vader knelt down on one prosthetic knee in front of his son and asked him, "What's the matter?"

Luke pursed his lips together tight as if willing himself not to answer. Keeping his gaze downward he shakily answered, "I...I don't feel well."

"What is it?"

"I..." Luke put his arms down at his sides and answered, "my chest feels weird...I...I don't know...I'm..." the boy sounded near tears.

It didn't seem to matter how much time passed, some things never changed. Luke never could get sick in the middle of the day, no, always in the middle of the night, it had been that way since he was a baby.

Vader placed a gloved hand on the boy's shoulder. "We'll go to the med bay and have them check you over."

"I'm so tired of going there," Luke said in a frustrated whisper.

"I know, my child," Vader responded as he stood up and pulled Luke up with him. "But they can figure out what's the matter, then you'll know, and you won't have to worry."

The medic finished checking Luke's scans and told Darth Vader, "It's pneumonia."

"How bad is it?" Vader inquired.

"Well it's never good, it's uncomfortable to be sure, it can be a frightening experience, but we'll get him started on medication right away and it should clear up in a couple weeks," the medic answered. "You...maybe expected something else?"

"I don't know what to expect anymore," Vader answered. "I'm not sure Luke does either."

"After what he's been put through, he's going to be paranoid every time he has a pulled muscle, a chest cold, anything...and given what we know, I can't say I blame him," the medic said. "There is however, something else."

"What?"

The medic gestured to the scans, "This didn't just happen...as much fluid's in his lungs, this would've been building up for a few days...he would have known it."

Vader looked at the medic in otherwise silence as this fact slowly sunk in.

Luke was sitting up on one of the bay beds with a nebulizer mask strapped to his face, he looked somewhere between half asleep and frantic. The mask muffled his voice but he sounded close to hysterical as Vader approached him. "Father!"

"It's alright, Luke," he said as softly as he could manage with his vocoder, "it's just pneumonia, you will be fine. But the medic said you've had this several days already."

The look in his son's eyes told the dark lord all he needed to know on that subject.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Luke breathed in heavily, and when he exhaled a cloud of steam came out through the holes in the mask. "I am sick and tired of always being paranoid about every weird feeling in my chest, I know I am, I know there's no way anything from that alien could still be inside of me, and I still worry about it, and no matter what, I can't stop it, I'm sick of it, and I'm sick of always having to bug you with it." His eyes teared up and his voice broke as he told his father, "I just want to be normal again."

Vader was sure he could feel his heart breaking behind his chest plate. He leaned down and pulled Luke into his arms and told him, "I know, my son, I know." If at all possible, he wanted it for his son's sake more than Luke even did, but he couldn't let the boy know that.

"Is it always going to be like this?" Luke asked.

It would figure he'd ask a man who had spent almost 20 years adjusting to life with a half prosthetic body and a life support suit.

"You need to be patient," Vader told him. "This is all still new."

"But in a few months-"

"I know." In a few months it would be a year, it would be time for Luke to re-enroll in the flight academy. Vader knew come hell or high water the boy was determined to see it through this time, it wouldn't matter what was going on, he wasn't going to sit out another year at home. "By then you'll have a better understanding of all this."

"I hope so," Luke huffed another cloud of medicated mist out of his mask.

Luke stood in the front hallway of the Imperial palace as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, with his fingers tightly interlaced in front of his chest, and a blank look in his eyes.

Vader looked at his son. He knew this day was going to be hard for both of them, but he honestly didn't have any idea what was going through his son's mind.

"It's..." Luke broke the silence first. He looked to the floor, then turned towards the door. "My shuttle's here."

Vader nodded.

"I...I should go," Luke said.

"I know," Vader replied.

He walked with Luke. The young blonde man made it a few steps before he suddenly stopped and seemed to freeze. After a few seconds he sunk to the floor and sat on his legs as he told his father, "I can't do this."

This was the first day anxiety that he had expected would surface a year ago when Luke left home for the first time, but it hadn't happened. At the time he thought Luke was too caught up in the adventure of leaving home and being on his own for the first time to really consider all the self doubts and what-ifs. Now he knew it was because the boy was so nerf-headed he could only focus on 'proving' he was over his attack when he wasn't. Vader wondered to himself just what it was he'd done during Luke's life to make the boy think he would let his father down if he failed or even if he didn't do everything in a timely manner, if he'd actually taken time to stay home and further recover. It seemed for all his best intentions, he was constantly failing his son and didn't even realize it until the damage was done. Every day he wished Padme was still here and could've helped him when he was raising Luke. He knew if she was, this would be an equally hard day for her.

The dark lord grabbed Luke's hands and pulled him back to his feet.

"You will be fine, Luke."

"I'm scared, Father," the boy admitted.

"I know," Vader said. "That's to be expected."

Luke hugged his father, clinging to him one last time as he confessed, "I'm going to miss you."

"As I you," his father told him. "But it won't be so long."

Luke's body tensed up, and he asked, "What if I can't do it? What if no matter how hard I try, I don't make it?"

And there it was again. Vader felt a cold sensation behind his chest plate. He was certainly never aware of any demands or expectations he'd placed on Luke, to feel that there was no room for error, but that didn't seem to matter now. Somehow or other the damage was done, and now that he knew about it, it was his job to try and repair things between them.

"I know you will do your best, that's all anyone can ask, Luke," Vader told him. "If you don't...it does not matter, you can always come back home."

"Really?" Luke looked like it was almost too much to hope for.

"My son, this will always be your home," Vader said.

Luke nodded uncertainly and hugged his father. "I love you, Father."

"I love you too."

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry for how much trouble I've been the past year."

"You were never any trouble, Luke."

The truth was in a way, he'd needed this as much as Luke had. Neither of them had truly been ready for Luke to leave home, but he wouldn't ask to stay, and Vader couldn't ask his son to stay. Luke's attack, horrible as it was, gave them both room to fully prepare for this moment.

"Be careful," he told Luke as they pulled away.

Luke nodded, "I will." He headed towards the door, and walked out with his father.

Vader watched Luke's shuttle take off, and he stood there, feeling truly alone for the first time in a long time.

He tried to feel confident that he had trained Luke to be capable of handling anything. Many times over the months while they awaited the new term to start at the academy, they had gone over the training exercises with the alien droids. After Luke's first victory destroying them blindfolded, Vader was certain that he would be able to do it again. The droids had been repaired and deemed functional, and they had done it again, and again, and again. Vader had watched as time after time, Luke's fears and struggles were diminished bit by bit, until he was finally able to step into the exercise with no hesitation. The droids were no longer a carbonite copy of the monster that had forever changed his life, they had become a mere target to destroy.

Knowing all this, however, did little to alleviate the dark lord's own fears that something would happen to Luke out there, something he was not prepared for, something his father had not been able to anticipate.

He thought again of the embalmed alien embryo in the med bay, and the holotapes of what it could become in adult form. The guilt that he had withheld this side of it from Luke ate at his remaining insides. If anything happened to Luke because Vader had futilely thought he could spare the boy unnecessary pain and worry, he would never forgive himself.

Darth Vader paid a visit to the flight academy a couple weeks later and went straight to the behaviorist, who didn't appear all that surprised to see him.

"I came to see how Luke has been doing since he re-enrolled."

The behaviorist nodded but told the dark lord, "Luke has actually hardly been in to see me since he arrived."

"He has?"

The vocoder was able to conceal most of the shock in those two words, but the behaviorist was able to pick up on the father's concern all the same, he assured Vader, "It's actually not uncommon. Most pilots who come to see me don't do it voluntarily, and as soon as they're no longer mandated to see me, they don't. It's not much different than a patient who quits taking their assigned medication once they start feeling relief from their symptoms instead of completing the regimen to wipe out the disease."

"Then that means Luke will get worse again," Vader said.

"It's quite possible," the behaviorist said but didn't seem too concerned. "It's more common than you think. Unfortunately young people have to learn the hard way that a problem isn't over just because it ceases to paralyze their day-to-day life, fortunately however, our doors are always open, so when they relapse, and many do, they know where to come to start from the beginning again, and hopefully take away the knowledge to see their treatment through the second go-round."

"And Luke?"

"He knows where to find me, if he starts to feel himself spiraling out, I have full confidence he'll come see me," the man answered. "You raised an intelligent son. He knows when he needs help, he just doesn't always know how to ask for it. That's why he resorted to self medicating with stimulants, he knew he had a problem but the only way he could see to handle it was to stop dreaming and the only thing that can do that is to cease sleeping."

"I suspect there's a lot of use of those around here," Vader said.

"Quite common, the newfound stress and responsibilities can be overwhelming for most young men and they cut corners on downtime and sleep so they can fulfill their daily obligations. Are you worried that Luke will start using them again?"

"Isn't that every parent's fear?" Vader questioned in return. "If they start once, how easy is it to fall back into old habits?"

"That depends," the behaviorist answered. "Luke is going to remember how he felt that last night, and if that's a strong enough motivator, he won't use them again."

"I sincerely hope you're right," Vader told him.

There was a brief pause before the dark lord added, "I want to thank you for everything you've done for Luke."

"I'm merely doing my job," the man insisted with a hint of modesty. "Luke is one of the most well adjusted young men I've seen at the academy. I have no doubt that if any other recruit here had been put through the same trauma he's suffered, they would be dead by now."

For some reason, hearing this sent a cold chill running through the remaining human part of Vader's body. With Luke gone and Vader unable to keep an eye on his son throughout the days, his thoughts were often plagued by questions of how close Luke had come to meeting that exact same fate, and what were the odds it wouldn't happen now? That's why he'd made the trip to the academy, he wanted to be able to see with his own eyes that Luke was alright.

"For what it's worth," the man told him, "I've spoken to some of Luke's instructors in passing, they seem quite pleased with his performance this go-round. He's more focused, more alert, aware, more coherent. I think he'll be fine in the long run."

Vader merely nodded in response.

He left the behaviorist's office and was heading back the way he came to exit the academy when he saw a group of young pilots turn a corner and one in the middle was his son, who stopped in his tracks, his eyes widened in awe.

"Father," Luke said in surprise.

Vader said nothing. He'd hoped to catch Luke alone and speak to him privately. After everything he'd already been put through, the last thing his father wanted to do was make him feel uncomfortable in the presence of others.

Luke turned his head and told the others, "I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Okay, Luke."

"See ya."

Luke walked over to Vader, a mild expression of shock still visible in his eyes.

"Father...what're you doing here?" he asked in genuine curiosity.

"I came to see you," Vader answered.

"How come?" Luke asked.

"Is there a place we can speak alone?" Vader inquired.

Luke nodded, "Yeah, sure, come with me."

"So this is where you stay," Vader looked around the cramped dorm room that was shared by several pilots in training, all of whom however were absent at the moment.

"Yeah," Luke answered. "So what's up?"

"I wanted to know how you were doing," Vader answered.

Luke was confused. "I commed you last week, I told you what's going on."

"I know," Vader nodded, "but it's not the same thing. I wanted to see you."

"Oh."

"So how are you doing, really?" Vader inquired.

"Uh...good," Luke nodded, "busy."

Vader was able to get a better look at Luke now. He was able to see the lines forming under Luke's eyes, and a less than fully alert look in his eyes now.

"Have you been sleeping?" Vader dreaded the possibility that he knew the answer.

"Oh yeah," Luke nodded his head a bit jerkily, "they run us so ragged with training exercises and test flights all day long, that's about all I do once we're done for the day. Half the time I don't even stay awake long enough to get dinner." He changed the subject and asked, "How're things at home?"

"Uneventful since you left," Vader answered.

"Everything's okay then?" Luke asked.

Vader nodded.

Luke nodded in turn. "Good...that's good."

Luke suddenly flopped on his bed, his eyes all but completely shut for a couple seconds before he opened them again and looked up at his father.

Vader stepped over to the bed and looked down at Luke. "You would tell me if something was wrong."

Luke's eyes shut again but he nodded his head in answer.

"I'm fine, Father," he weakly insisted as he struggled to stay awake, "I'm fine...I just need to..."

He was gone before he finished the sentence. That initial parental twinge of concern rose in Vader's chest, he moved to rouse his son, but then decided against it. He would wait. He would watch. He would see what happened. He would see if Luke was telling him the truth. Searching his feelings, he believed Luke, and he wanted to believe him, but not being able to see for himself what was going on in Luke's daily life, he had to be sure before he left here. If there were any problems, he had to find out now so he could help his son.

Seating himself on the bunk across from Luke's, he listened to the mechanical sound of his own breathing, the only sound present in the whole room, and he watched Luke while he slept. His head turned one way, then the other as he got more comfortable, other than that he didn't even move.

For the next two hours, Luke slept undisturbed and hardly even moved, which took a massive weight off Vader's chest. When Luke's recovery was still fresh, he would've shot up in bed screaming long before this when the nightmares returned. He trusted the behaviorist's assurance that Luke would come to him again when and if he felt it necessary. He also trusted that his son was aware of his situation and would know how to ask for help if the need arose again.

Standing up, he crossed over to his son's bunk and reached a gloved hand down and nudged Luke's shoulder, jarring him out of his sleep.

"Hmm...huh, wha'zit, Father?" he asked, eyes open but not focused yet.

"Go eat," Vader told him.

"Huh?" Luke blinked, and checked the chrono, and realized everybody else would be dishing up in the mess hall. "Oh, thanks."

"I will be going now," the dark lord told his son. "It was good to see you, Luke, and to know you're doing so well."

Luke was slow to comprehend what his father was saying but nodded, "It was good to see you too, Father. Thanks for coming."