Leia had been watching Luke, he looked upset all the time now, ever since losing his hand to Vader and almost dying on Bespin. To top it all off Han Solo, Luke's best friend and in Leia's keen eyes, Luke's big brother, had been taken to Tatooine by Boba Fett while being cruelly encased in carbonite.

Luke was sitting on the floor of his medical bunk. His knees pulled up to his chest, staring at the toes of his slippers instead of the vast starlit galaxy beyond his window displayed seemingly just for him. And yet Luke ignored the beautiful world outside the viewport entirely.

Leia came forward finally, her long white dress made a soft swishing sound in time to her steps though Luke didn't seem to acknowledge her presense, so she spoke up. "What's wrong?" She asked gently, her voice seeming to startle Luke as he jumped slightly before relaxing. A strained smile was pulled on as his lifted his head to look up at Leia.

"Nothing's wrong, why?" He asked in as casual a tone as he could muster, but it wasn't good enough and Leia's brow only crinkled more in concern. "Oh right... you can't lie to a princess, she's too smart." Luke thought to himself with fondness and dry humor as Leia seated herself beside the blonde boy, her deep brown eyes piercing his azure blue ones.

"Don't lie Luke, I don't want us to lie to eachother after..." Leia's words wondered off as the weight on her shoulders only increased.

Luke hugged his knees tight against his chest, resting his chin on top of them as his gaze returned to the slippers he wore. "Ridiculous things." Luke thought to himself at random before returning his attention to Leia. "I'm sorry, I... I just don't know what to do." Luke admitted with a lame shrug of his shoulders.

Leia bit her lip. Luke was definitely hiding something, she could feel it, just like how she had felt his call for help. It had to do with Vader, at least she suspected as much and it must have been more than just the loss of Luke's right hand. There had to be more.

Timidly Leia reached out and took Luke's prosthetic hand in hers. It passed easily for a normal human hand, but it was anything but normal to Luke who seemed to stiffen slightly before relaxing as Leia gently stroked the prosthetic limb with a gentleness only matched by his long gone Aunt Beru. "Does it still feel weird?" Leia asked gently, it had been a week now since Luke received the new limb.

Luke shrugged again, hesitantly squeezing Leia's hand with his prosthetic in an affectionate, grateful manner. "It's not so bad, it could've been worse." "How could it have been worse!?" Luke asked himself, resisting the urge to allow a ball to form in his throat after finishing his half-hearted assurance to Leia.

Leia sighed, showing no sign of letting go of Luke's hand, yet he was fine with it. Silence dominated them now, a comfortable, gentle silence as Luke found his gaze on Leia's two small, pale pink hands holding his prosthetic. He'd already admitted to himself that he liked Leia, having a crush on the girl ever since seeing her holo-message to Obi-Wan. Luke's crush hadn't lessened, but his responsibility to the Rebellion had left him with little time to meditate on such feelings, besides, Han had poked at the possibility of he and Leia being together.

Luke wasn't jealous, this was also not the time to be jealous. His best friend was in trouble, REAL trouble! And here he was, just sitting and, and thinking!

"What happened on Bespin?" Leia suddenly asked gently, her expressive eyes boring into Luke's very soul it seemed.

"I already told you and High Command everything." Luke replied with a sigh. Retelling what had happened to High Command had been hard. Especially when Luke told them about his hand. Luke, however, had kept Vader's revelation to himself. "It's none of their business." He had told himself bitterly, and he was sure as the Tatooine suns burned that he would not tell anyone of his newfound parentage. What would the Rebel Alliance do with the spawn of their worst enemy? Probably suspect him of being a spy and interrogate him, maybe use Luke as leverage against Vader, kill him immediately, the list went on.

"It doesn't feel like everything." Leia ventured hesitantly, breaking Luke's dark thoughts.

Luke shrugged and pulled his knees up tighter to his chest, feeling chilled.

Leia sighed softly and looked out the view port before tugging Luke along gently. Luke seemed surprised by the motion but he didn't fight Leia as she took him to the viewport and sat on the floor, urging Luke to join her. Once settled, Leia pointed to the stars. "Look at the stars, Luke. What do you see?" She asked softly.

Luke seemed think be somewhat baffled by her question, but after a moment he shrugged. "Stars, galaxies, no end in sight?" He ventured, unsure where Leia was going with this.

Leia smiled and shook her head. "What do you feel? Use your Force." She suggested with a smile.

Luke frowned but for Leia, he reached out and tried to find whatever it was Leia was talking about. But still he felt nothing and pulled away, giving Leia a confused look.

"I don't know what you're asking for Leia." He admitted after a moment, biting his lip in disappointment.

Leia only smiled. She wished Luke would smile too, so she scooted a little closer to him, and pointed to the stars. "Whenever I was sad or scared, my father would take me outside on a big balcony in our home on Alderaan." Leia began with a fond smile as she allowed fond memories of her father to surface. "He'd tell me the story of how I was adopted, and how my mother only looked upon me with love while they held me in a golden evening. And then," Leia added, giving Luke a gentle nudge to look at the stars again, "he'd tell me about the stars, how they pin back the darkness and give us light when the sun is gone and the moon dark. They keep the dark from getting to us, like a billion little Light Guardians watching over us."

Luke listened intently, the story filling him up as he looked to the stars again. Now he saw what Leia saw, and it was a beautiful thing. "They're hope..." Luke murmured, looking to Leia for confirmation.

Leia smiled widely and nodded in response. "They are, and they'll always be there, even if clouds cover them." She explained, feeling joy as Luke smiled back at her and nodded.

"Thank you, Leia." Luke said after a few moments of peaceful silence. "I owe you a lot."

Leia only shook her head. "You owe me nothing Luke, we're in this together." She replied softly, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around Luke in a gentle hug.

Luke smiled and rested his head against Leia's, hugging her back as he watched the stars. All would soon be set right, because they had hope. And hope would never leave them as long as the stars held back the darkness.

The End