Grounded
by Judy Ebberley
art by Liz
PART 2
"Just don't yell at me," Solo pleaded the next morning. "I swear, Chewie, I didn't have more than four drinks. I felt fine until I stood up, and then it hit me like a stun beam." A half-hopeful, half-apprehensive look came over his face. "I didn't say or do anything too stupid after that, did I?"
"Not if you don't count almost falling flat on your face and telling the little princess how much you admired her."
"I didn't!"
Noting his captain's red face, the Wookiee bared his fangs in a grin. "I assure you, you did. You can ask young Walker if you don't believe me."
"Not the kid, too! They're never goin' to let me live this down. Why didn't you stop me?"
"I tried. I had to all but carry you back to the ship as it was, and put you to bed. The princess offered to help me."His teasing caused Solo to moan even louder.
"You didn't let her, did you?"
Chewie's lips twitched. "No, but I was very tempted just to pay you back for your foolishness. Here, take these meds. They should help clear your head."
He handed over two pills and a glass of water. Han automatically put out his hand, but then withdrew it again.
"Thanks, but I don't need anything. I feel fine. No hangover, no nothing. I seem to have slept the effects off. Maybe it wasn't the alcohol at all." He shrugged. "I dunno. Still, I don't suppose it matters now. We better get going, or Her Highnessness will start hollering at me, and that will give me a headache!"
"I don't know about shouting, but you can expect some teasing after your performance last night,"the Wookiee warned. A frown replaced Solo's smile and his forward movement was temporarily stayed. "You have to face her some time,"Chewie advised, seeing Solo about to make an excuse for not going out with the foraging party. "The sooner you get it over with, the better."
"That's easy for you to say," Han grumped as he followed his partner out of the ship and made his way over to the deck entrance where the others were waiting.
"How are you feeling, Han?" Genuine concern was clear in Luke's voice.
"Never felt better."
"Yeah?" Luke stared at his friend worriedly. Seeing no sign of distress, he looked relieved. "Well, that's great... Hey, Leia!" Before Han could stop him, Luke shouted across to the princess. "Han made it! I told you he would."
Leia turned. Seeing the Corellian, she joined them. "Captain Solo, how are you feeling?"
Already tired of answering inquiries about his health, which only served to remind him of his exhibition last evening, Han growled, "Like I told the kid, I'm fine. Uh, thanks," he added as he caught the frown that had appeared on his partner's face. "Princess, about last night...well, I'm sorry if I upset anyone. I didn't do anything too stupid, did I?"
"No more than usual." Her reply was accompanied by a twinkling smile. "Are you really well enough to take part today?"
"Yeah, I don't even have a headache."
The princess raised her eyebrows at him. "Then let's get to work."
The party split into several smaller groups, each one with its own list of needs. Han and Chewie voted to join the hunting party and spent much of the morning tracking, setting traps, and catching a variety of animal life that had been identified as edible. By the time they caught up with the other foraging parties in an open glade, it was well into the planetary afternoon.
Solo dropped into a seated position next to a lounging Luke Skywalker. "I hope you left something for the real workers," he grunted, seeing the empty platters.
"There's plenty," Luke appeased. "Here." Han helped himself to the food that was passed, taking a large portion of the berries he'd taken a liking to, and set to with a will.
"You sure you got enough?" the Tatooinian queried.
"Yeah. Are there any more of those berries...? Thanks." He nodded at Petri, who'd passed over his helping.
"We were intending to take some of those back with us to the base."
Solo looked over to where the princess was seated. "I'll try and remember that, Your Highnessness."
She smiled as she took in the state of his fingers and the telltale ring of blue around his mouth.
"What?" he asked warily.
"You may want to wipe your face, Captain, unless wearing lipstick is a new Corellian fashion."
Hastily wiping his mouth on his sleeve, and his fingers down the back of his pants, Han asked "That better?"
"Much. Are you returning to the base now or going out again with the trappers?"
He checked his chronometer; there were a couple of timeparts of daylight left. "I'll check the traps me and Chewie set, then come in."
"We'll see you later, then."
Han stood and watched as Leia led her group back to the rock fissure. They had collected substantial amounts of fruits and tubers to supplement the base members' diet, and Her Highness looked very satisfied with her day's work. That gave him a very contented feeling; it was beginning to be a habit with him, one he had to admit he was not making any real efforts to curb.
He waved as the group rounded a corner, then moved off after his partner. The smile he was wearing slipped a little as his stomach did an unexpected flip-flop, and he had to swallow hard on the bile that rose in his throat.
As if sensing something was wrong, Chewie turned back to wait, giving a worried frown as Solo pushed in front of him and set off at a brisk pace into the woods. Han ignored him. He had no intention of admitting that he felt nauseated--it would leave him open to the sort of oversolicitousness he hated.
Nevertheless, by the time they had checked their last trap and were on their way back to the base, he was finding it increasingly difficult to disguise his growing discomfort. Along with the nausea he was experiencing dizzy spells and increasingly sharp abdominal pains. Han was thankful that the rapidly settling dusk hid his features from the sharp eyes of his partner.
"I'm just going back to the ship," Solo announced as the group exited from the tunnels. "Don't bother to wait. I'll catch up."
Concentrating on carrying the large game animal he'd snared, Chewbacca nodded agreement. "Don't be too long. I don't want to end up preparing all this meat on my own."
"I'll be as quick as I can," Han called after him.
Relief at having gotten back to the base undetected gave way to haste as a sharp pain stabbed at his stomach. Gasping and wincing, he grabbed at the Falcon'slanding struts, then hurried inside, making straight for his cabin.
"Didn't Han come back with you?" Luke watched as the Wookiee gutted and cleaned the carcass of the deer he had trapped.
"He went to the ship for something. He should have been here by now."
"You want me to go and get him for you?" the Tatooinian offered, seeing the look of concern that had settled over the Wookiee's features.
"Thank you, yes."
It was only a short walk to the hangar bay. "Han? Han?" Luke called up into the Falcon."Are you in here?" A sudden bad feeling encouraged him not to wait for permission to enter the ship. He hurried up the ramp. A quick inspection showed that Han was not in the main hold or the cockpit. Luke's unease grew.
The door to Han's cabin was open. He found the pilot slumped across his bunk, unconscious.
Leia and Luke stood silently in the forward hold waiting for the Too-Bee unit to complete its diagnosis. It had chased them from Solo's cabin, complaining of the lack of space in which to work. It had not, however, succeeded in budging the Wookiee. Chewbacca had announced his place was with his captain, and the medical droid had heard enough tales to know that it wasn't wise to upset a Wookiee.
It had been almost a full timepart since Luke had discovered his friend. Anxious moments had followed for the young Jedi and the rebel princess. Both of them had become very fond of Han Solo. He may have been stubborn, self-centered, egotistical, and arrogant, but he was also brave to a fault, loyal, charming, and a wonderful person to have as a friend.
The door to Solo's cabin finally slid open, and the medical droid moved toward them. "Is he going to be all right, Too-Onebee?"
"Captain Solo should make a full recovery, Your Highness. A few days' bed rest and careful monitoring of his diet should be all that he requires. I have left medication and instructions with First Mate Chewbacca. I have complete faith in his ability to deal with the captain." The two humans exchanged relieved smiles at this news and at the droid's comments on Solo and his first mate.
"You may go in and see him now, if you wish. I will be by later to administer some more general medicines. First Mate Chewbacca asked me to complete a full vitals scan while I was working on the captain. Some of his inoculations are overdue. If you will excuse me, Your Highness, Lieutenant Skywalker."
The medical unit continued on its way, unconcerned by the amusement its last words had engendered. Solo's hatred of medical procedures in general, and needles in particular, was well known.
Leia tapped lightly on the bulkhead panel next to Solo's open cabin door. "May we come in?" A soft Wookiee woof gave them permission, while a raised finger indicated that they should keep quiet.
Leia approached the Corellian's bunk in silence. It was not the first time she had seen him asleep or ill--Han had an unfortunate knack of getting himself into situations that ended with him spending time in medical facilities. Still, she found the experience very disturbing. Asleep, Solo looked so much younger, so much more vulnerable, his hair falling over his forehead as tousled as ever. Against the white of the sheets, he appeared very pale.
Almost unconsciously, Leia let her hand run through the tangled mass of copper-shot hair, then carefully felt his brow. Han stirred, but didn't wake. "He is very hot. What did Too-Onebee tell you, Chewie?"
"That Han has suffered an extreme allergic reaction."
"To what?" Luke wanted to know.
"Something he ate."
"But he hasn't eaten anything we haven't," Luke protested, then paused as he recalled something. "Not to those berries he'd become so fond of?"
Chewbacca nodded. "Apparently so. It seems his digestion system reacted very badly to the mixture of Benith berries and alcohol. Initially, it gives a false impression of well being, like a state of drunkenness, which is what we all saw last evening. If more are eaten, the reaction becomes more extreme--violent stomach cramps, nausea, and dizziness, which if ignored, lead to fever and eventually unconsciousness. It is good that you found him when you did, young Luke. It could have been much worse. As it is, the cub has gotten away quite lightly."
"Lightly?" a weak voice interrupted. "You try having your stomach pumped, and then call it getting off lightly."
"Han! How are you feeling?" Solo's sour expression answered Luke's question. "Chewie said it could have been much worse," the Jedi told him defensively.
"How?" Han groaned and attempted to pull himself into a sitting position. "Don't stand there frowning, fuzzball," he commanded his partner. "Help me sit up."
"Too-Onebee said you should rest."
"Well, he ain't here now, is he? Come on."
Seeing that his captain was determined, Chewbacca lent him aid in getting upright, but also secured him more tightly by tucking in the covers.
"I ain't about to run away," Solo protested. "The way I feel now, I probably wouldn't make it as far as the door. What did the damned medical droid have to say, anyway?"
"You are suffering from an allergic reaction."
"To what?"
"To those berries you told me wouldn't do you any harm." Leia's concern was tempered by a desire to point out to the stubborn Corellian that she had told him so.
Han had the grace to look a little discomfited, but he did his best to defend his behavior. "I was okay that first time, no aftereffects at all."
"That's true enough," Leia agreed. "And for most people, there would be no problems. Unfortunately for you, you're different. Apparently your body chemistry changes the properties of the fruit, which wouldn't have been a problem--but when you combined it with alcohol, the interaction became more extreme. Which explains your performance of last night. When you ate more of the fruit, the reaction became even more dramatic."
"Tell me about it." Han shifted uncomfortably. "So now what happens?"
"You get to spend a few days in bed while the aftereffects are cleared from your system."
The face Han made at this piece of news made his audience exchange long-suffering looks. Keeping the Corellian supine for any length of time, unless he were tied down, was almost impossible.
"Until all the chemicals are removed from your system, you may suffer from recurrences of the dizziness and nausea," Chewie warned. "You have to stay in bed."
"That's what you think." Han made to pull the covers off his legs. A Wookiee roar, combined with the voices of the two humans, demanded that he stay right where he was. Outnumbered by three to one--and not at all sure that he could actually have made it to his feet without falling flat on his face--Solo dropped back into his pillows, arms curled across his chest, his face a study in frustrated helplessness.
"But I feel fine!" he complained when their scolding had died down. "Why do I have to stay in bed?" Chewbacca frowned at him, and Han dropped his eyes back to the covers. "Okay, okay," he mumbled. "I was only asking. Jeez."
"Too-Onebee knows what he is doing."
"Yeah, making my life miserable." Han's sigh was long and heartfelt.
"At least, with the base closed down, you aren't missing much," Luke commiserated with his friend.
"Ah, well, that's not quite true. We've just heard we can open up the base again."
Leia's interruption caused a violent reaction from the Corellian. Han sat up abruptly. "What? Oh, shit!" He groaned and had to grip the edges of the bunk as his stomach protested the sudden movement.
"Clearance came through this afternoon while we were out. The first ships fly out tomorrow. And if you hadn't ignored the basic rules of not eating food on strange planets until they have been cleared, you could have joined them." She wagged an admonitory finger at him.
An increasingly sheepish-looking Han Solo acknowledged the truth in her words by dropping his gaze back to the bed covers. He really didn't need a reminder that he was in this mess because of his own stupidity. "So how long do I have to stay here?" he asked penitently.
"Too-Onebee has prescribed bed rest for at least five days." The princess didn't bother to hide her smile as Solo's mouth dropped open at the pronouncement, as if it were a life sentence.
"Five? You have to be kidding. There's no way I'm staying here for five days."
"That's what Too-Onebee feared you would say." The tone of her voice and the distinct twinkle in her eyes warned Solo that there was more, and it wasn't likely to be anything good. But Leia left it to the Tatooinian to break the really bad news.
"Seems he doesn't think he can trust you to stay put, Han. So he's made it official. As the chief medical officer on base--even though he is a droid--he has powers to order people to rest if he thinks it's necessary. He's used those powers on you. You're grounded. Sorry."
Han turned desperate eyes on the princess. "Isn't there anything you can do to get this ban lifted?"
"I'm sorry, Han." Solo noted sourly that she didn't look the least bit sorry. "There's nothing I can do. Even I can't overrule medical orders."
Han fell back into his pillows, cursing his ill fortune. Luke, however, had begun to laugh.
"What's so damned funny?" Han glowered at the Jedi.
"I was just thinking." Luke's wide grin encompassed them all. "Your boast about never being grounded by the rebellion again didn't last very long, did it?"
"That's true."Ignoring his captain's baleful protest, Chewbacca joined in the teasing.
"Never mind, Han. " Leia patted his hand comfortingly before turning to the others with a wink. "At least this time it wasn't a bureaucratic little autocrat who grounded you. It was only a droid!"
Solo pulled the covers over his head to drown out their laughter. He had a feeling that it was going to be a hell of a long five days.
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PART 1