Hunted

XXXVII. The Plan

Her first day in the medical bay had felt daunting, but after Leia came to her room the same night Luke and Dr. Kalonia had explained their plan to her, and hugged Serela to her body so tightly, she knew it was the only way forward.

"Thank you," Leia had whispered to her, lips brushing Serela's forehead as she did. Tears streamed down her face and onto her shirt, "Thank you for giving me a chance to get my son back."

The pain of the needle had not been as bad as she thought, and with Reha and Leia both there holding her hands, she felt better. It might have also had something to do with the fact that Luke stood in the corner staring at her, and she could feel his calming rays bouncing off her mind like beams of sunshine.

She tried to concentrate on the feeling of the sun on her face while the blood drained out of her arm. Woozy, but determined, she closed her eyes and focused in on the memories she kept close to her heart: lazy days on Takodana, the rustle of the trees in the wind, Kylo's lips on hers.

"Are you feeling okay?" Reha asked in concern. She had been more reluctant at the idea, but after Luke's insistence that without this risk most likely Serela and her future grandson would be retaken she had come round to the suggestion. Still, it didn't mean she liked it.

Serela squeezed her hand, "Yes. I'm doing this for all of us," she reminded Reha, and smiled faintly, already feeling dizzy from the loss of blood.

Dr. Kalonia entered from the door beside her bed with a clipboard. Her fingers pushed reading glasses up the bridge of her nose and scribbled something on the paper, then addressed the three women in front of her, "Normally we would tell a blood donor to just eat and drink something and then go about their daily routine, but given the advanced stage of Serela's pregnancy I'm going to hold her here overnight for the next few days so we can monitor the fetus to be sure the blood loss is not affecting him adversely."

Both women nodded at her, Leia stroking the top of Serela's head in affection.

"What if it doesn't work?" Serela asked in a hushed tone meant only for Leia, the strange sensation of blood leaving her body heightening her anxiety.

"Then we will have tried everything humanly possible to bring him back," Leia stated simply, but the look of turmoil in her eyes suggested letting go of the possibility for her son's rehabilitation would be anything but simple for her.

The doctor said nothing, listening to the exchange between the women impassively, as though she had heard all of this before.

"We'll only take one pint today Serela, then you must be sure to eat plenty for dinner, breakfast and lunch tomorrow so we can do it again. You're very small and your veins were difficult to find, so I'm going to leave the needle in until we're finished with the whole procedure if you don't mind."

Serela agreed, if only halfheartedly. She hated the idea of keeping this thing inside of her arm any longer than necessary.

Dr. Kalonia looked at the bag of blood hanging from the hospital bed and checked her watch. "Only a few more minutes," she assured Serela when she caught a look at her worried face.

Resting her head back against the pillows, Serela felt a light squeeze from Leia, and in less than a moment she felt herself fall into the same dark place she always went when one of the visions overtook her.

She saw Kylo in his chambers, the same ones Phasma had brought her to all those months ago when he had tried so hard to seduce her to the Dark side. It had been very difficult not to give in she remembered, and a familiar feeling stirred in her stomach, a hunger that Kylo brought out in her which only he could satisfy.