jedi_librettist | He Was Starting To Foam In the Heat...

How the hell had it gotten so difficult to try to put a shirt on someone? It was like Ben had special... shirt resisting powers. Did that make sense? No, but it was how it felt. Bail paused in what he was trying to do to stare at him, glancing over at Ani. The kid had an equally confused look.

"...He doesn't need to see you sick?"

“I’m not sick, master,” Ben insisted, glancing at the toddler. He couldn’t figure out why the child looked familiar. He’d free the boy if he could. “Please.” He reached for the Force, threading into his words as he spoke. “He doesn’t belong here.”

"...I'm no one's master, Ben," he spoke clearly, stepping back and frowning at his brother. "You're... home. With me and Mom?"

Ben frowned slightly. So it was going to be like that. At least maybe he wouldn’t be cold anymore after. “Yes, father,” he whispered.

He slipped his arms into the sleeves, reaching for the man’s shoulders. “How was work, Dad?” he asked, teeth chattering.

"Wha.... No, Ben," he held his brother's arms as still as he could. "It's me. Bail."

He frowned deeper than he had earlier. “Don’t hurt him,” he whispered, slipping into Huttese. Going through this was bad enough. He didn’t think he could deal with his brother getting hurt like this, too.

The Huttese threw him, especially with what was actually being said. In his own experiences with Hutts, they were usually calling for more violence, not less.

"...Hurt who?"

“My brother,” Ben slurred, still in Huttese and sliding closer to the man. “I’ll do whatever you want. Let him go.”

Of course, that wouldn’t do any good if one of the Hutts had taken Bail. Getting a Hutt to give up a Solo would take a free man and a bunch of people dying. Still, Ben had to try.

"I'm not in their pits anymore," he said quietly, well aware that Ani had big ears for his little age and would repeat stuff at a really awkward moment. Ot had been Hell, fighting his way up in the Hutt owned pits... but he had done it.

"Ben, I think we need to get you to med. You're not well."

A sense of sharp terror slipped through their bond at those words before Ben did his best to close it off. He held the man in front of him tighter, pressing his lips to the clothes chest.

“I don’t need a doctor. I swear.”

It was the lips pressed to the chest that did it. Bail pushed his brother back his his shoulders hard, sending as much reassurance and awareness as he could via the Force

You're safe, Ben. It's me. You're home.

"You need a doctor."

Ben fell back to the bed. The push came as too much of a surprise for him to react and he just didn’t have the balance to keep himself upright. He trailed off into confused, indistinct muttering. But he cling to his twin’s Force presence even while he tried to hide his fear from the bond. Perhaps he could pretend he really was back home, at least until he got to the med center.

He was home. Well, sort of. He was with family. Home was the Falcon and Han was exactly back yet.

"Come on, can you stand?" Bail asked, holding out an arm to help Ben up.

Ben didn’t really react much. He didn’t flinch from the arm but he didn’t reach for it either. He let his eyes drift shut as he pulled into himself, trying to shut the world out. His brother’s name passed through his lips amid the muddled slurring in Basic and Huttese.

Oh fantastic. He would roll his eyes, but he needed to play the adult here, since Ani was still watching. He looked down at his nephew.

"Your Dad's got a fever," he said, "we need to get him to med bay. You gonna open the doors for us?" He could do it with the Force but... no, practical, let's just get the kid to do something and keep him busy.

Ani looked up at his uncle, suddenly frowning a little less. Unca Bai was the best uncle. He always found ways for the toddler to help Dada.

The little one palmed the door open while Ben muttered something about just send him home, slipping between Huttese and Basic within the same sentence.

Bail decided to ignore his brother's mutterings. They were brought on by the fever and once he was back to normal, Ben would ignore them too. The state of his brother's chest... Well, that was for another day. He managed to get his twin balanced enough that he could walk with him.

"Right, off to med bay."

Getting Ben balances to wak would probably have been a lot easier if Ben were actually trying to stand and walk. He seemed more interested in turning into the heaviest heated blanket in the galaxy.

“Med bay.” Ani frowned up at his uncle, more confused than unhappy. That wasn’t something people had really talked much about in front of him. “They fix Dada?”

It probably said more than Bail would ever admit to that he was pretty good at dragging people who did not want to cooperate and walk. He would never explain the why of that.

"That tends to be what med bays do," he said. "Probably should get you checked out too," he added, frowning down at the kid. They picked up stuff fast, least he thought they did. If Ben was this bad, chances were the kid would be next.

“Me?” Ani pouted unashamedly. “I not sick. Dada sick.”

Well, he wasn’t sick anymore. He’d had a touch of the sniffles a week ago but they were gone now. Dada had given him lots of warm things to drink and made him rest a lot.

Ben sagged against his brother, face pressed into his neck. This man smelled like home. He sighed, content for now.

He was not going to roll his eyes at a toddler's lack of understanding. He would just get the kid checked out, and that would be that. Still, he could drag his brother along the halls to the med bay if the kid kept opening the doors. He hoped.

Ani went ahead and opened every door they went by. He had no idea where the med bay was so decided to just open them all.

Ben, meanwhile, slipped in and out of consciousness.

"Left, Ani," Bail directed, trying his best to keep his brother upright. Next left, then right and then they'd be there.

Ani opened the left door before Bail had even finished saying the word. Once they arrived, he looked around, wide-eyed. He couldn’t remember seeing such a place before in his short life. It didn’t take him long to notice a bunk in the next room.

“Dada bed?”

There was a nod, and Bail shifted Ben's weight again.

"Come on then, brother, we got another bunk for you." Then he needed to find the doctor. Which was gonna be great - they didn't get on.

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