(AN: Well, my posting schedule is just wack, you guys. Now that summer's begun, though, I have a better routine, so hopefully, I'll be more consistent with publishing this work. I have something in store with you all, and the next chapter is FINISHED and co-authored (yes I said co-authored!) You will be meeting a special new character created by one of my very good friends in chapter 37, so be on the lookout for that next week! I'm so excited! Please enjoy this rollercoaster of a chapter! Much love. -Rach)
Alana faded in and out of consciousness. She couldn't feel the passing of time. She didn't know what was happening. She didn't know where she was. As lights faded in and out of her vision, she could have sworn that she had died. Voices floated in and out of her hearing, and she struggled to identify them.
Suddenly, everything went dark and quiet. It was not an uneasy sense, but one of peace and tranquility. She had died. At least, so she thought until a bright light came into her vision and she was shocked into consciousness, gasping for air like a drowning person.
She was thrashing, trying to grab onto anything solid until suddenly she found herself being held down and a familiar, calming voice made her come to her senses. In front of her was none other than Obi-Wan.
He was holding her down, speaking to her, but his words were barely audible. As she regained her senses, the confusion settled in on her face.
"Where am I? How did I get here?" She began to babble, but a searing pain across her head caused her to shut up, and she winced.
"You have to calm down," Obi-Wan said gently, still holding tightly to her arms. "Please, Alana."
In his arms, Alana managed to calm down. He held her to his chest, his light breathing helped to clam her. She finally pulled back and felt him press his lips to her forehead quickly, reminding her of who she was to him. But for some reason, Alana still didn't feel right. Something was wrong.
"What's happened?"
"What do you last remember?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I remember getting to Christophsis," she shook her head. "I vaguely remember fighting and then looking for Sylvan, but after that, I don't remember anything."
Obi-Wan nodded his head solemnly, "You were much worse off than anyone could have imagined."
"Tell me what's happened, Obi-Wan. How long have I been out?"
"You've been under special care on Kamino for two weeks, Alana," he replied, running his hands through his hair. "You missed the rest of the battle, you missed Anakin's first mission with his padawan," he trailed off when he noted Alana's confused expression.
"Anakin- has a-"
"Yes, she's young, takes after him," Obi-Wan nodded his head, but he did not give her much more information on the subject. He quickly detailed the mission on Christophsis and that Sylvan had been temporarily reassigned under his guidance. Alana nodded, agreeing that it was a good decision, but the more she spoke with him, the more concern she felt.
Alana sighed, beginning to get the sense that her husband was in a mood. "What is it, Obi-Wan?" She asked, laying her head back on the bed, ignoring the dull ache that rang steadily in her head.
"You could have died, Alana," he said quietly, finally admitting what was wrong.
"But I did not."
"Yes, but you could have. You were too close to danger," Obi-Wan replied, running his hand through his hair yet again, causing Alana to narrow her eyes slightly.
"It's something more than that," she said.
"I can't stay," Obi-Wan said quietly.
"What do you mean? I've only just-"
"The Council has called me back out to the front. I was only coming here to say goodbye," he said, a deep look of regret on his face. "Sylvan stopped by just before I arrived. She'll be coming with me."
"What? But I'm awake," Alana said. "It is my duty to train my Padawan, not yours or anyone else's. We must call the Council and inform them that I am back."
"Alana, my dear, the Council has already given you an assignment," he said quietly. "Once you were to wake, then you would be reassigned to Coruscant to help with various tasks as assigned. Once you have healed, then you may have the chance to be assigned elsewhere."
"Coruscant? 'May have the chance?' Who does the Council believe itself to be?" Alana groaned in frustration and gritted her teeth. The more outrage she felt, the more the wound on her head would ache.
"Alana, please, you have done enough damage to yourself already," Obi-Wan said, pacing back and forth beside her bed. He stopped and looked down at where she lay. "You should lay down and rest and sleep."
"Sleep and rest?" Alana groaned. "You are not my mother, Obi-Wan."
"No, but I am your husband," he replied stiffly, causing her to glare up at him from where she lay on the bed.
"You do not own me," Alana snapped.
"No, I do not," Obi-Wan agreed. "But I am also a Jedi, and when I tell you that I do not think you are fit for battle so soon, then please, listen to me."
Alana frowned, finally letting his words sink in. The dull pain in her head was a little worse now, and she winced at the thought of returning to the noise of the battlefield. She was in bad shape.
"You're right," she said, barely above a whisper. She hated admitting that she was wrong, but she was not in the mood to argue, and she knew deep in her heart that he was right. "I'm sorry."
Obi-Wan was shocked at her quick response, faltering and hesitating at his next words. He was ready to fight her over it, preparing to tell her what he had told the Council of their mission, but he froze up. Seeing her lying there in pain made him hurt, and he took a deep breath before going back over to her and placing another kiss to her forehead.
"Rest. Get strong, Alana," he said, stroking her hair gently. "Please."
"I know," Alana admitted, reaching out and grabbing his hand before he could leave. "I want you to be safe. And promise me you will treat Sylvan well in my absence."
"Always," Obi-Wan said gently, squeezing her hand.
Alana suddenly tilted her head up and closed her eyes, kissing Obi-Wan on the lips, wanting him to stay beside her as long as possible, but all too soon, he pulled away, a strange and sad look spread across his face before turning towards the door.
Just as he was about to step out, Alana shifted in her bed and spoke quietly.
"I love you, Obi-Wan."
"I am yours forever," he replied before suddenly he was gone.
Alana took a deep breath, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall down her face. Her head was aching even more now. She laid there for a few hours in silence, wondering when she would feel better. She wished she had been able to speak with Sylvan, but it did not appear that she would have that chance. She stood and found herself walking slowly around the room as she thought about her situation.
Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a medical droid entering the room. Alana sighed, rolling over, trying to ignore the droid, but it began to speak with her.
"Good afternoon," it said. "I heard you were awake. I am the droid that has been your primary care physician. I have corrected the bleed inside of your brain, and you are well on your way to recovery. You may experience some pain, but that is normal until the tissue is fully healed. I am hereby discharging you back to your quarters on Kamino given that you minimize your physical activity for the next two months."
"That's good," Alana furrowed her brows at his statement. "Two months? That's a long time."
"Yes, it may appear that way. But, you have a few months to spend inside anyways. It won't be long until you're on bed rest again."
"Uh-" Alana looked at the droid in confusion.
"Oh, yes. I was doing extensive testing in preparation for the surgery, and one of your tests came back positive. You are 3.5 weeks pregnant."
Alana's eyes widened at the medical droid's statement. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she stood there, reeling from the shock.
"Did you not know?" The droid asked, appearing almost confused at her stunned reaction. She was frozen to the spot.
"Pregnant?" She finally hissed, finding herself glancing around the room as if she were afraid people were listening. "That's- that's impossible!"
"There are a few different methods that are commonly used to conceive a child. The most common for humanoids is-"
"Stop! Stop. I know," she hissed. "How many people know? Have you told anyone else?"
"It is illegal for me to share any medical knowledge about a Jedi unless specially requested by the Jedi Council. The knowledge of the pregnancy is only stored on my memory bank."
"Is your memory backed up?" She demanded, feeling herself begin to be overwhelmed and panicking.
"Yes, but I have not been backed up in fifteen days, twenty hours, thirty-four minutes and twelve seconds. You arrived in my care thirteen days, tw-"
At that statement, Alana stood and made her way towards the droid and ripped the droid's head off its body, not wanting to hear anymore.
She had the overwhelming urge to get the memory chip out, so she began to tear it to shreds, desperately trying to get into its head. She scoured the damaged metal before locating the chip and yanking it from the droid's body in a mindless panic. She shattered the chip into her hand, making sure that it would never be found by anyone or anything before sighing in relief.
As soon as she did that, she looked over to where she had torn apart the little droid like a rabid animal, and she gasped. It was like she had lost her mind, and she wobbled where she stood, feeling the pounding in her head grow.
"No," she gasped, beginning to finally wrap her mind around what the medical droid had said. She was not very far along, but she knew that the likelihood of the child's survival was high. Alana sat back on her bed, her hand immediately slipping down to her stomach where she took a deep breath. "I'm... pregnant," she whispered.
Her head immediately began to swirl to what the Council would do if they found out. She tried to take deep breaths, thinking about her action plans. A large part of her knew that she wanted the child, deep down. It was hers and Obi-Wan's.
As she began to think about Obi-Wan, she realized that she needed to talk to him. Before she could do anything, she would have to speak with him. She looked to where the destroyed droid was, and she swallowed.
"I have to get rid of that thing," she muttered before sticking her head out of her door and peering down the hallway. It was empty. She narrowed her eyes, squinting to see if she could locate a trash compactor, and she did.
Within seconds, she was dragging parts of the droid out of her room in the medical bay, down the hall, and to the trash compactor. She had nearly finished and had the last piece of the droid's body in her hands when she heard a familiar voice call to her from down the hallway.
She looked up, quickly hiding the droid's head behind her back when she noted who it was.
"Commander Bash!" She said, a smile on her face. She was actually very happy to see him, even though it was a rather inopportune moment.
"General, it's good to see you up and about," he said, approaching her.
"I should say the same about you," she replied, inching closer and closer to the trash compactor, which Commander Bash was now blocking. She knew he would ask questions if he saw what she was doing.
"A week and a half in the bacta tank and I am ready to get back out on the field of battle," he said. "When I heard you were badly injured, I came to visit every day. The men are worried about you."
"Thank you," Alana said, her eyes moving to where the trash compactor was.
"Oh, am I in your way?" Commander Bash noted her gaze. His eyes had also noted that she was hiding something behind her back, to which he was curious as to what it was.
"Uh," Alana hesitated, looking between Bash and the compactor before giving in. "I may have destroyed a droid."
Bash raised an eyebrow, "A medical droid?"
"Yes, yes, now would you let me throw this away?" Alana hissed, pushing past him and disposing of the head, much to Bash's delight. He chuckled at her expression.
"I assume it was a medical droid who came to take your vitals once too many times?"
"You could say that," Alana replied, dusting off her hands and looking up at Bash. Her mind quickly drifted to what the medical droid had said, and she shifted slightly, knowing that she needed to go. "I should, uh, get going," she said nervously.
Bash looked at her, a very confused expression on his face. "Go? We aren't leaving for Coruscant until tomorrow?"
"Wait, what?" Alana asked, freezing in her place.
"You don't know?" Bash asked. "As soon as General Kenobi informed us that you were awake, he contacted the Council, and they scheduled the departure for tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow?" Alana gulped. "Well, then, I will see you in the hangar tomorrow morning."
"Wait, General you-"
But before Bash could finish his sentence, Alana found herself half-way down the hall, heading in the direction of her quarters from the last time she had been on Coruscant. She quickly unlocked them using her code and made her way inside, noting that a handful of her things had been put inside.
She dug through the small bag that contained all of her possessions and supplies, before finally locating the emergency communications device. She opened up a link and waited, hoping that Obi-Wan would respond.
Again and again, she tried and failed, and each time she got progressively more and more frustrated before giving up altogether. She laid down on her bed, her head pounding slightly, and her mind tangled up with thoughts of the pregnancy.
"I would have to leave the Jedi Order," she said quietly to herself, her hand going to rest on her stomach where the baby was growing. Even though she couldn't feel anything yet, just knowing that the child was there was excited and utterly terrifying. "Or we could keep it a secret," she said, frowning at that. It was a terrible idea, but... it was the only way that she could still be a Jedi and be a mother.
If they had managed to keep their marriage a secret the past few months, then it was possible that they could keep a child a secret, but Alana wasn't sure how. She knew that she would have to contact Obi-Wan as soon as possible.
As she thought of those things, she slowly began to drift off into sleep, her mind wandering to her child.
"Just as your father has told me," she whispered. "You will forever be mine."