It was late evening by the time Han and Leia made it onto the last shuttle off Endor, Chewie and the droids with them. They turned Threepio off almost as soon as the journey started.

"Are you going to miss the Ewoks?" Leia asked Han, grinning.

"Princess," said Han, "if I never see another Ewok in my life, I'll be a very happy man."

"GRRrrrargh," said Chewie.

"What do you mean, they weren't so bad?" Han told him. "They were going to eat us!"

"GrrraAAArgh!"

"Yes, I know they helped us later…" Han admitted. "Still, if Luke hadn't come through with the Jedi powers, we'd both be roasted barbecue by now." He paused for a moment. "How's the kid doing, anyway? He never did tell me what happened up there."

Leia breathed in, trying to reach out through the connection that she now knew was there. Where was Luke? That's right, he'd been going to Home One, and he'd promised he'd go to medical afterwards. She focussed, and she thought she managed to sense his presence somewhere up there. It seemed a little muted compared to before, but very peaceful.

"He went to medical," she said. "He'll be fine later, if he's not better already."

"What did he need to go to medical for?" Han asked.

"He was in pain, earlier," Leia said, sighing. "Something the Emperor did before dying."

Han frowned. "If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him again," he growled. "Luke killed him, and Vader?"

"No," said Leia. "Vader killed the Emperor." It still sounded unbelievable to her. Han's mouth opened wide.

"GraAagh?" asked Chewie.

"It doesn't make sense to me, either," said Han. "Is Luke sure it was Vader?"

"He's sure," said Leia. She breathed in again, trying to decide how much to tell Han. She didn't want to be that monster's daughter, but Luke seemed sure that he hadn't always been a monster. And she supposed Han and Chewie would find out eventually, whether she told them or not. "The Emperor was torturing Luke, killing him, and… well, Luke tells me that Vader is his… our… father." There, she'd said it.

"Your father?" said Han, as if the words would become less strange if he repeated them.

"I don't want to believe it either," she agreed. "But if Luke says it's true, then it's true. Apparently, he used to be Anakin Skywalker." Han looked at her, and then pulled her close.

"Han," she said, "what if I'm… like him? What if I start trying to learn to use the Force, and it makes me evil somehow? What if evil's in my blood?"

"Hey, sweetheart," said Han, "that's not true. First, you're nothing like him. Second, if that made you evil, then Luke'd be evil too. Does he seem evil to you?"

"Of course Luke's not evil," said Leia.

"Well, there you are, then," said Han. He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. She rested her head on his shoulder, and they waited for the shuttle to arrive.

Han and Leia made it to the debriefing room not long after boarding- apparently, because they had key information, they'd been bumped up the queue. Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar were waiting for them.

"Princess Leia, General Solo, come in," said Mon. "Before we start, neither of you have any injuries you should be in medical for, do you?"

"No, we're fine," Han told her. Mon seemed relieved.

"Commander Skywalker let us talk to him for ten minutes before we realised he needed to go to medical," she explained. "Do you two know anything about that?"

"The kid's in medical?!" shouted Han. "He didn't tell me anything."

"He was in pain this morning," Leia said, reaching out to touch Han's hand beneath the table. "I think it was something the Emperor did."

"The Emperor attacked him with lightning," said Ackbar. "The doctor's report says he should recover, but he's in intensive bacta treatment right now. You can go and visit after the debriefing."

"Then let's get this over with already," said Han.

"What would you like to know?" asked Leia.

An hour later, after Mon and Ackbar had coaxed them through the whole tale, complete with speeder chases, being captured by Ewoks, and Threepio's unwitting magic impersonation, Han and Leia were finally given leave to go and visit Luke. Leia's concern for him had only grown during the course of the debriefing, being made to wait for news, even though she didn't have any foreboding feelings about him. Han seemed just as concerned, and impatiently made their excuses, and the pair strode down the corridors towards the medical bay as quickly as they could without alarming people. Sliding the door open without even knocking, they entered the room.

The medical bay was surprisingly calm for somewhere where, even now, several Alliance pilots had to be fighting for their lives in the smaller rooms off the side of the main area. The medical examiner- Doctor Oorden Fliss, Leia recalled- was sitting down, resting, and she could see Luke bobbing slowly in a tank of bacta plugged into one of the additional stations in the back corner of the room. She breathed deeply, calming herself, as she felt Han also relax a little on seeing their friend – Leia's brother, now – under the healing effect of the bacta. Then Doctor Fliss looked up, spotted his visitors, and got to his feet.

"Princess Organa, General Solo!" he said hurriedly. "What can I do for you? Are you here for treatment, too?"

"No, we're both fine," said Han.

"You can check us over if you want, Doctor Fliss," said Leia, "but it's nothing serious. We're here to see Luke."

"Ah, of course," said the doctor. "Right this way, sirs. Actually, I looked at his forms and he'd put you two as his emergency medical contacts, so I can tell you a lot more than I'd be able to tell someone else." He smiled at them kindly, and walked them over to the bacta tank. The Jedi was floating steadily in the bacta mixture, looking just a little ridiculous. Leia took a closer look, and winced, seeing that Luke's body was crisscrossed with thin burn wounds, though they didn't look as bad as she knew they would have done when they were fresh.

"Luke…" she whispered.

"Hey, kid," said Han. "You better be back on your feet soon- I need you to help me go over the Falcon now Lando's finished with it."

"What can you tell us about his condition?" Leia asked Doctor Fliss. The doctor took out his datapad, and began his explanation.

"Initially," he explained, "Commander Skywalker had burns to 2% of his skin, bruising to another 2%, and internal burns throughout 70% of his body. However, the bacta treatment is already making a great deal of progress there, and I expect both the burns and the bruises to be fully healed by the middle of the day tomorrow. The more serious condition, however, is the calcification of the commander's bones caused by the, ah, electrocution. The bacta will make good progress towards healing this too, but after he comes out of the tank, I'd like to put him on a week's bed rest, supplemented with a carefully controlled diet, to ensure that the mineral balance in his body stabilises correctly and to prevent the condition from creating any long term side effects."

Leia nodded, taking this in.

"How are you gonna keep the kid on bed rest for a whole week?" asked Han.

"Well, I was planning to ask him, sir," said Fliss.

"We'll help if he gets restless," Leia volunteered. "Just keep us updated."

"Of course," Fliss agreed. "If you like, Princess Organa, I'll examine both of you now, just in case there's something you missed in the field."

"Well, that's not-"began Han, starting to walk off. Leia grabbed hold of his arm, keeping him next to her.

"Yes, thank you," she told the doctor, smiling. "We had bacta patches with us, but it'd help our peace of mind."