Of Love and War: Us Against the World

Sickness

"It hurts," Luke whimpered.

Zelina smiled softly, taking a seat next to Luke on the bed and placing the rag and bowl of cold water she'd been holding onto the nightstand next to his bed before tucking the covers closer to him. "I know it does, Luke, but it will go away soon, I promise."

"I'm gonna die," he groaned as she soaked the rag, coaxing a chuckle from her. Such a dramatic child...just like his father...

Zelina dispelled the thoughts. Now was not the time to mourn those lost; she needed to focus on Luke's well-being. Carefully she wrung out the water, getting the rag ready as she touched his forehead tenderly once more. He was burning up with a fever, sweat beading his brow. Poor kid...

Luke groaned again, and Zelina frowned. It sounded like a warning.

"Do you think you're going to be sick again?" she asked warily.

Luke nodded, already sitting up as Zelina quickly passed him the small waste basket not a moment too soon. She tenderly rubbed the trembling child's back until he was done, prying the basket from his clutches before gently switching it out for the root drink sitting on the nightstand. It wasn't a cure-all for what he was sick with, but it would help settle his stomach. She knew from experience, as Ur-Sema had provided the same root-based drink to help settle Zelina's stomach when she had her first serious stomach related illness.

"Here...just take a sip...it will help to settle your stomach," she told Luke soothingly.

"I can't keep it down!" he objected wearily. Zelina smiled softly. That had been her initial reaction as well with her first stomach sickness.

"It will, trust me. I speak from experience."

Reluctantly, Luke obliged, hesitantly sipping on the drink before she helped him slowly lie back down. He grimaced. "I hate being sick."

Zelina chuckled softly. "I do too, Luke...just try and rest, you'll get better faster if you rest..."

"I can't sleep," he murmured as she pressed the back of her hand lightly to his forehead. He was still burning up; his fever still hadn't broken.

"Just try," she responded gently before she leaned over and wrung out the now cool wet rag. Tenderly, she began to sponge Luke's forehead, wiping the sweat from his brow with care. "Try and sleep..."

"You won't leave? You'll stay?" Luke asked her softly, cracking his eyes open to peer up at her. He looked exhausted, since he'd been awake vomiting or suffering from a migraine for hours now.

"I'll stay right here," she promised, gently brushing some of his hair out of his eyes before she returned to carefully sponging his forehead with the rag.

"Thank you, Mommy..." Luke murmured.

"Of course, Luke," Zelina replied quietly, ignoring the squirm in her stomach when he called her mother. It had been several years, and she still wasn't comfortable with the title he'd graced her with.

Silence fell, though she could sense the poor boy still couldn't find it in him to sleep. In an effort to help, she started to hum softly. She hummed the first song that game to mind, an old ballad that both she and Anakin had known when they were children. Still, it was soft with soothing tones, and it served her purposes.

The familiar tune stirred up distant memories-memories part of her wanted to bury and never touch again, while the other part wanted to cradle them out in the open and use them as a slight balm for her soul's many injuries. She was trying to be better and allow those memories to surface, especially since Luke was officially starting to ask about his father. She needed to be prepared to talk about Anakin and Padme, and the first step to that was being able to comfortably think about Anakin and Padme.

So, instead of trying to bury the memories, Zelina allowed them to float to the front of her mind. Images of little Ani and Zee having a sleepover, Shmi singing the tune in the kitchen as they whispered stories to each other about exploring the stars. She remembered on one of their walks through the Room of a Thousand Fountains, how she had watched him with a soft smile when she realized she was hearing Anakin hum the tune softly to himself in the silence, half there with her, half in his mind.

That was always their relationship, wasn't it? She'd only ever had part of him...while he had all of her.

Lost in her own memories, she almost didn't realize that Luke had fallen fast asleep. Still, she didn't stop her gentle humming and tender sponging of his forehead for several more minutes. Once she felt that she'd done enough for the night, she wrung out the rag, folding it neatly before gently placing it on the sleeping child's forehead. She let her hand drop to his shoulder for a few seconds, studying Luke's face with a bittersweet smile. He looked peaceful, and just like his father when Anakin had been young...

Zelina gently leaned down so she could place a soft peck on the child's cheek. He stirred slightly, but made no other acknowledgement of the world around him, which prompted her to carefully ease herself off the bed and into the chair on the other side of his nightstand. She got comfortable, hoping that Luke would be able to get some real, solid couple hours of sleep.

And speaking of sleep...

Zelina sighed, leaning her head back and keeping her gaze on Luke as she slowly drifted off to sleep.