The sun was warm but the wind was cold. The sun was also setting. The shield that separated the western portion of the city from the eastern went up an hour after the work day was done. It gave the Easterners time to use transportation and get out. Han and Luke were late but you never knew. Maybe they'd make it out.

Both were clad in large, roomy cloaks with hoods. Han's was dark gray and Luke's was brown. They had their hoods up and Luke kept being reminded of his old mentor Ben when he looked at Han.

The delay was unfortunate, only in that Luke would miss a good, hot meal and the bunk on the Falcon. He thought they'd be okay on this side of the shield. It was a local matter that divided east and west, not the Empire. They would just have to obey by the rules. A curfew kept everyone off the streets and if he and Han were caught trying to leave that would raise the attention of the Empire and of course that concerned Han and Luke the most.

Han was flying the speeder patiently, tough for him. It meant obeying the local fly laws, but he kept checking his chrono and cursing the other pilots. He kept both hands on the steerer and his fingers drummed on it with nervous energy.

Suddenly the directional lights started flashing. Luke checked his own chrono. "Two minutes," he said.

Han squeezed the steerer like he wanted to strangle it. "We're not gonna make it," he said.

"No," Luke agreed.

"So let's stop trying and think about how we're gonna spend the night."

"OK." Luke nodded. "We'll have to call-" he remembered at the last moment to use Leia's code name- "Mom."

Han flashed him a wry look. He hated her code name but at the same time he loved using it. "Curfew's at nine. We got time. We need to ditch the speeder."

"OK." Luke didn't like Leia's code name. He didn't like his either. Kid. And Han's was Dad.

The reason he disliked it was they fell in to this weird family dynamic all because of a stupid name they only used in case a stormtrooper happened to be listening. He didn't mind family; they were one, kind of, so why couldn't they be siblings? Bro and Sis?

Leia was always bossy, but down here she said things like, "listen to your mother." And Han- the truth was Kid was Luke's name because Han always called him Kid, no matter who was listening. Stormtroopers or rebels. But now he was calling him Son.

"What do you want to do?" he asked Han without using his code name. Still, he was content to let Han take the lead. It's what he usually did. Han wasn't bossy exactly, but he was experienced.

Han pulled over and stopped. He fished a credit chip from his pocket. "Go in there and get us something to eat."

Luke nodded. Inside a store- it was a kind of bakery, and it sold cheese too, and a yellow milk. It wasn't blue, but Luke was willing to give it a taste. When he emerged, Han was waiting for him a good distance away from the speeder. He faced the airway, his eyes dark and glaring, doubtless still cursing the pilots with their quiet lives who had someplace nice to spend the night.

Luke showed him his purchase. "Think we can get a room?" he asked.

"Too risky," Han shook his head. "Let's head back this way. That residential area near the border."

"The run-down one?"

"Yeah. They won't like troopers on their property."

"We're gonna knock on their door?"

Han scoffed. "'Course not. Find a shed or something."

They found the desired neighborhood after an hour of walking. It was dark now, and it was hard to see Han's cloak in the night, but Luke wondered if anyone was alerted to their presence by an animal's barking and happened to peer out the window. Then he wondered if the homeowner would call the authorities.

Han dragged Luke around until they found the perfect place. The home itself was sweet, or anyway it had been a few years ago, but the current owner parked eight speeders on the lawn. The engine blocks were off to the side. Some were covered with a tarp and others were open.

Han took out a knife and cut off the section of tarp that hung below the fasteners. He worked quickly, sometimes not looking at his handiwork but with his eyes roving the surroundings. He handed the section of tarp- longer than Luke but not much wider- to Luke and began to cut himself a piece. "Your bedding," he hissed with a wink.

Reluctantly, Luke spread it on the ground under a dilapidated speeder. The craft must have been propped up on ratchets for some time, for the ground underneath it evidently had not seen the sun in a long time. There were pebbly seedlings blown down from trees, dried leaves and needles but little grew in the patch of dirt.

Luke stretched out while Han arranged his piece of tarp next to Luke. He set himself on his side and pulled out his comm, using his body to hide the light from the unit from any unwitting observers.

"Keep your voice down," he said to Luke, who hadn't said a word. Han waited a moment, then in an almost-whisper, said, "Hi, Mom."

Luke heard Leia sigh. "Are you boys safe?"

"Yeah. Missed our appointment with prejudice."

Luke grunted. That was perhaps the most concise description of the reason for the shield he had yet heard, and he definitely appreciated it. He ripped off a hunk of fresh bread and passed it to Han.

"Uncle Chewie and I have been waiting," Leia was saying. I've been worried sick- if you were detained-"

"Aww," Han said and winked again at Luke. "Hear that, Son? Mom cares."

Luke leaned over so Leia could hear him. "We're good, Mom. We'll see you in the morning, promise."

"Better have a big breakfast prepared," Han said. "It'll keep me moving, just knowing how you're standing by that hot stove, all sweaty, stirring with love-"

"Dad," Luke complained. "That sounds really disgusting."

"Your son is correct." There was a smile in Leia's voice. "You've sent regards?" That was code for tracking position.

Han grunted. "'Course."

"Local authorities use drones with heat sensors."

"Great." Han and Luke exchanged an uneasy glance.

"We got it covered," Luke mostly lied to Leia, just to ease her mind.

"Listen to your father, Kid."

Luke rolled his eyes and Han chuckled. "As long as I'm your favorite," Luke told Leia.

"Goodnight, boys."

Luke and Han ate bread and cheese in silence. The milk was good. Not as thick and creamy as blue milk, but it had a nutty flavor. They discussed the curfew, and calculated that they had eight hours before they were allowed to be seen walking again. Luke would keep watch the first four.

They settled down. It wasn't very comfortable, but Luke wasn't about to complain. "I'm going to meditate," he informed Han. "Practice my Force."

Han's hands were clasped over his belly. "So long as you're paying attention. Don't fall asleep."

"I won't," Luke promised. "Ben taught me that it actually heightens your awareness, so I'll know if anyone is slinking about looking for us."

"Troopers don't slink."

Luke looked up. The speeder blocked his view so he shifted a few inches, where he could see the sky in a gap between the speeder and ratchet. The night was a dusky black, with little starlight. Too much light pollution, he realized. He saw Han was watching him, his face toward him.

"Do you admire her?" he asked Han.

"You're askin' if I admire my wife?"

"Well. You know. But yeah."

"Do you?"

"Of course I do," Luke stated. It was obvious, like saying his eyes were blue.

"Just to be clear, admire is to what on Tatooine?"

"Look up to someone," Luke said. "What's it on Corellia?"

"Same. Just checkin'. Yeah, you could say I admire her."

"I have since the moment I saw her. I told you about it, in the holomessage."

"I remember you telling me all sorts of things. That she was in distress, that she was beautiful, that-"

Luke cut him off. "It was complicated. But yeah. All that. And since then, all this," he waved his hand to incorporate all the time and adventures they had shared together, "I admire her even more."

"I'd say you're close to sounding like you worship her."

"Lots worship her. I know you don't."

Han lifted his fingers. "I look up to her. I look down, too; she's short." Luke shook his head. "I also," Han continued, "look at her, 'cause like you said, she is beautiful; I'll give you that. Look behind... not so much, unless Darth Vader is there and I got to shoot. In front in case she's gonna slug me-"

"Will you be serious for one minute?" Luke complained again.

"It's different when you're married."

"Which you're not. You're hard to talk to, you know that?"

Han shrugged a shoulder. "Levity makes light of the enemy."

Luke blinked. "What?"

"I said-"

"Where'd you get that?"

Another jerk of the shoulder. "I said it."

"You took it from Ch- Uncle Chewie. Didn't you. It's a Wookiee saying?"

"It's a me saying," Han wasn't offended. He tapped his chest. "A So- From your wise old Dad. Careful, or soon you'll admire me much as your Mom."

"Sorry, Dad, but you don't hold a candle to Mom."

Han's teeth gleamed white in the dark from his smile. "All I'm sayin' is she wakes up with bad breath, same as me."

"Oh, that'll be lovely come morning," Luke said sarcastically.

"Same as you," Han said pointedly. "Now, what'd we say each sleep shift is?"

"Four hours."

"Right, and you've used up ten minutes of mine talkin'. That ain't fair. You're supposed to be practicing your Force."

"I am." But Luke quieted, stretching out with his feelings. He saw love, and brotherhood, and family, and he tried to project his own shield around the speeder, so that the aggression he felt out in the shielded city stayed away.

XXXXXXX

Oh, his feelings were stretched out alright. And his body was tight, his muscles tensed. The sky had hummed a few times; it might have been a drone but no light shone down. Infrared, Leia had said. Maybe they didn't need a light-

He didn't know how much time had passed. Nothing was happening, which was unnerving. Like Han driving the speeder, it was hard to wait. Luke fought boredom and calm. He focused on Han's breathing, an almost-snore, and on the quiet rustle in the lawn of things moving, the chirp of insects, the distant howl of an animal.

But after a while he couldn't take it anymore and Ben's brief lessons were no help. Luke announced in a fretful whisper, "Something's crawling on me."

Han was asleep, Luke knew, but he was a light sleeper, and made a noise. "Mmph."

Not enough to wake him up. "Dad." Luke assessed the slight tickling on his cheek. Could be he was overreacting. Could be his hair, blowing in the wind a little, sneaking under their shelter? Or, if it was indeed not his imagination, then... so what? He was an obstacle and something awake needed to get past?

Luke rolled his eyes sideways to see if Han had anything crawling on his face. There wasn't much light. He knew where the scar on his chin was, easily located the bridge of his crooked nose. Doubtless there was the shadow of a beard, but no moving shapes.

Had C-3PO listed any dangerous creatures? Luke thought back to the briefing as a delicate- not a caress; a tapping, two legs, out of - two? there were more? caressing? Was it preparing his body for something? Was it going to eat him? Poison him? Or lay eggs in his ear, and he would be a host- kriff-

Luke gritted his teeth and pushed his friend's name out between clenched jaws. He didn't want the creature to detect the movement of his facial muscles, and in his discomfort completely forgot the code words. "Han."

"What," Han groaned, bothered with noise reaching his slumbered state.

"I think a spider is crawling on my face."

"Let it crawl."

"I want you to see."

"Why?"

"To know if I'm right."

Han sounded annoyed. "And then what? Just brush it aside."

"What if it crawls up my sleeve?"

"I don't do spiders, kid."

"Well, then it's a beetle. That better? Six legs out of eight."

Han's voice was sarcastic, but he sat up, remembering the low ceiling of the speeder above him just in time. The light hadn't changed much. Luke could see the gleam of his eyes in the darkness. "You're able to distinguish legs?"

"I distinguish something. Give me some light."

"Give yourself some. Actually, don't. You're on watch. It's my sleep shift. Leave me alone."

"What if it interferes with my Force?"

Han was stretched out again. "Everything interferes with your Force."

The crawling sensation continued. Luke swore there was a tugging at the corner of his eyes. He reached a hand up to his cheek. "Oh my gods," he swore out loud.

"I'm not gonna get any sleep tonight, am I," Han said.

"I'm gonna look," Luke warned.

"Fine."

"I'm gonna use the mini beam. I apologize in advance if any stormtroopers see it."

Han was sitting up again. Luke saw him out of the beam of tiny light. His Force sense also told him Han was very awake. Ready to flee, in fact.

"Holy shit, kid."

Luke plucked something off his face and met Han's eyes- they were wide- before he dared take a look at the thing in his hand. It wriggled a little, legs working in midair.

Han had his blaster out.

"Don't shoot me because of it," Luke whined.

The thing was- Luke didn't know, but he set it on the knee of his pants to take a mental picture before setting himself free of it. Colors was the first thing to hit his brain. A bright yellow shape, about the length of a first finger knuckle, with dots- it looked like a scary face; a dark hull... it was a hull. Shiny, maybe maroon. Hard looking, like metal. A tail, or the head? It was tongued, stiff. Tail, then. It looked sharp, for sure; probably stinging or stabbing or poisonous, and Luke was glad that wasn't the part near his eyes. Neither spider or beetle. Did worms have legs?

"It's a larva," Han said in the same tone of voice announcing Darth Vader's presence.

Luke didn't mean to, but after realization sunk in- this was the thing on his face; big when you set it against a cheek, and armored and, and tailed- he sort of shrieked. And he made a flinging motion, and the thing was thrown from his leg. He heard it land.

"Should I check on it?" he whispered. "Make sure it's not upside down?"

"Who the kriff cares," Han said.

Both men froze as they heard noise.

"It's working for the Empire," Han stated.

"The Empire doesn't deal with non-sentients," Luke contradicted him.

But they gathered their stuff anyway. Luke wasn't going to sleep and had to leave the chewy bread behind, but he didn't mind. He had his lightsaber out. He felt much better to be standing, on the move.

"Let's go find a tree," Han suggested in a whisper.

"There they are!" a helmeted voice cried out in excitement.

"Sorry," Luke breathed as they took off in a run.

"S'okay." Han fired his blaster behind him. Luke had tried to tell him not to do that, especially at night, because it gave away their location. Han never listened. "Maybe I'll get lucky and hit something," he'd say.

"I'd rather fight the Empire than a caterpillar," Han said. "Helps to know one's enemy."

"There you go again," Luke panted. "With the little Force nuggets."

They were running in a zig zag pattern, swerving away from each other and then meeting again. "I think that's why I woke you," Luke managed to whisper roughly before he zagged away.

"You know," Han said hopefully, "the troopers are breaking curfew too."

Luke didn't add what he'd been thinking during his meditations. How his admiration of Leia gave him a goal. He would learn the Force and become a Jedi and finish fighting the Empire until one of them wasn't left. And he was thinking of Han and how he didn't like calling him Dad, even though he was older and experienced. Han wasn't Ben; he wasn't a teacher and he wasn't interested in being one. But still, Han had a way of throwing lessons in Luke's path.

They ran through the back yards and woods of the neighborhood while troopers used the airways on speeders, chased by the Westerners. They were close to the border, and it would be fine if they managed to not get shot. Leia was tracking them, and she would pull them out, just like she always did.