Whisper Your Weakness

Luke smiled at his namesake as he completed his tale. He had only rarely wondered about the fate of the many nameless people he had somehow helped in his career as a Jedi and to actually meet one of them several years after the fact was an enlightening experience. His thoughts suddenly wandered to what a child created by himself and Mara would look like…would they name a little boy after him?

“Luke? Dr. Mondahl is ready for you now.”

He looked up at Beki, a little startled and realized he’d been lost in his own thoughts. He glanced over at Little Luke’s mother and smiled somewhat self-consciously when she was still staring at him, obviously trying to contain her awe.

“Thanks, Beki. It was nice to have met you, Miss…” railrailed off questioningly.

“Uh, Corman. Aneta Corman and you met Luke already,” she said, blushing a little as she mentioned her son’s name.

“Aneta,” Luke nodded in acknowledgement. “And Luke, you take good care of your momma, all right?” he smiled at the little boy. Little Luke grinned proudly back at him.

Luke stood and followed Beki to the examination rooms at the back of the doctor’s offices, still contemplating having met a child who had been named for him. It boggled his mind, although he supposed he shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, people named their children after holosoap stars. Luke had always been incredibly modest about his accomplishments, but at the same time, he understood that his life held a fascination for many of the galaxy’s citizens. He had never imagined, though, that someone would name their child after him. That seemed like such an important part of life to him.

He remembered well how Leia had agonized over whether or not to give the name Anakin to her youngest son. There was a lot of baggage that came with saddling an infant with someone else’s name, especially when not everything that someone had done was exactly worthy of the honor. Luke recalled his mistakes in dealing with the Dark Side and wondered if Aneta had come to regret her choice when naming her child in the light of those incidents .

He wondered if he was becoming callous to how others saw him. To him, the incident on Calius had been just something that he always did, so usual that he had had to try and recall the occasion. Obviously, to her, it had meant everything. Not only her life, but the life that had been growing inside her at the time as well.

His musings were interrupted as Dr. Mondahl greeted him heartily.

“Luke, my boy! Wonderful to see you. How’s that sister and brother-in-law of yours? And the children?”

Luke gave a genuine smile, something that few people ever saw. He had become quite practiced at the Jedi Master face, but he had a real affection for the doctor who’d given him his bionic hand.

“Hello, Dr. Mondahl. Leia and Han are just fine and so are the kids. Growing like weeds and in the Force every day.”

“You’re just never going to call me Darek, are you?” Dr. Mondahl sighed.

Luke shook his head no with a grin. His Aunt Beru had drilled respect for the medical profession in his head too many times as a boy for Luke to feel comfortable taking that liberty. This was a little routine they played out every time Luke had an appointment and deep down, the Jedi appreciated the familiarity of it. Too much of his life was uncertain these days.

A movement behind the doctor caught Luke’s attention and he shifted his gaze to the man standing patiently behind Mondahl. He had to look up to meet the stranger’s eyes, but then that wasn’t an unusual situation for Luke. Sometimes he dearly wished that he’d inherited his father’s height along with Anakin’s Force ability. For a brief instant, something akin to fear skated up Luke’s spine as he met Viktor Berdin’s gaze, but it was swiftly gone and Luke wondered if he had imagined it.

No, he didn’t imagine things like that very often. The Force speaking to him? Or perhaps he was just leery of a stranger knowing the intimate details of his life as a doctor would. Maybe I’m just getting way too introspective lately. Han always said his brother-in-law spent way too much time ‘contemplating his navel’ and not enough in the real world.

With the thought that he was just overreacting, Luke forced a smile on his face and held his hand out to Dr. Mondahl’s new partner. Dr. Berdin looked to be in his early forties, and he was tall, at least a head taller than Luke. He had dark hair that was slicked back on his head. His eyes were almost as dark and again Luke felt a moment of uneasiness.

“Luke Skywalker,” he said, introducing himself as Dr. Berdin shook his hand. The instant Luke’s skin touched the other man’s, a strong sense of anger and darkness washed over him and he had to struggle to keep a straight face. Anger at me? Or just anger in general? He couldn’t tell. Either way, I think I’ll be finding a new doctor once Mondahl retires.

“Yes, of course. I can’t tell you how intrigued I was when Darek said that you were a patient of his. I’ve followed your career with interest over the years. I’m Dr. Viktor Berdin. I don’t suppose you’ll be willing to call me Viktor anymore than you would call Darek by his given name?” Although his tone was polite and his words were circumspectly correct, Luke could not dispel the slight revulsion he felt.

“Sorry. Just the way I was raised, I guess,” Luke said quietly.

“Well, Luke, let’s take a look at your hand,” Dr. Mondahl said jovially. He seemed completely unaware of the tense undercurrents between his most famous patient and his new partner.

The actual examination of Luke’s prosthesis usually only took about fifteen minutes. Normally, Luke spent some time talking with Dr. Mondahl about whatever took their fancy, from politics to Mondahl’s curiosity about how Luke’s lightsaber worked. Today, Luke simply found himself too unnerved by Viktor Berdin’s intense gaze to spend much time on small talk.

“We might need to seriously think about replacing this soon, Luke. They’ve made some significant improvements in prosthetic technology since you acquired this one. Do you still feel the numbness occasionally?”

“Sometimes,” Luke admitted. “I rarely notice it anymore, though.”

“Well, why don’t we take a look at his DNA sample, Dr. Mondahl, and I can do a holonet search on what would be the best fit?” Dr. Berdin offered.

“You know, I’m not sure if I still have that on file or not, Viktor. Things were still rather hectic in the galaxy when Luke first got this hand and a lot of records were lost. Don’t know why I never took another one.”

“This hand works just fine,” Luke protested.

“Now, Master Skywalker, surely you know that we only want what is best for you? It will take but a moment,” Dr. Berdin said with a smile. For some reason, that smile did nothing to ease Luke’s nerves.

“Absolutely, Luke! And you know what your sister would say if she thought that we weren’t giving you the best of care,” Dr. Mondahl said.

Luke turned to look at Mondahl and his smile was genuine. “Well, that is true. Leia can be a little pushy sometimes.”

Thinking of his twin’s reputation for assertiveness made Luke think of Mara and the discussion they’d had earlier that morning. He remembered that she would be waiting for him at her apartment after his dinner at Leia’s and suddenly Luke was eager in more ways than one for this appointment to be over. The sooner he was done here, the sooner he could get to Leia’s. The sooner he got to Leia’s, the sooner he could leave and go see the beguiling redhead who seemed to occupy his every waking thought these days.

“All right, I guess I should make sure that I keep up with the latest technology.”

Luke remained silent as Dr. Berdin retrieved a needle and a vial. Again, he had to repress a sense of disquiet as the man’s hands touched his skin, pushing Luke’s shirt sleeve up to reveal the vein in the crook of his elbow. Luke watched the needle as it sank into his skin and then raised his eyes to look at Dr. Berdin’s face.

There was an odd gleam in the doctor’s eye that Luke didn’t quite understand. It was almost as though he enjoyed what he was doing a little too well. And he seemed to be a bit disappointed by Luke’s impassive reaction. What, like he’s expecting me to flinch at this? My father cut off my hand, for Force sake, not to mention the lightning bath that Palpatine so graciously gave me, Luke thought to himself sardonically. Yep, definitely finding a new doctor, he mused again.

Fifteen minutes later, Luke was smiling at Beki as he slid his credit chip across for her to debit the amount of his visit. They also played the usual game of her trying to not accept his credits, but Luke had always been adamant about paying his own way and not trading on his fame as the ‘savior of the galaxy’. Stepping out of Dr. Mondahl’s office, Luke took a deep breath, unsettled at the realization that he had felt like a bug under a microscope during his appointment. It was an unpleasant sensation and one he was not accustomed to after a visit with Dr. Mondahl.

Luke was notorious among his friends and family for despising medcenters - mostly because he was never sick, so he was usually in them because he was injured and needing a bacta tank - but he honestly didn’t mind seeing Mondahl. Normally, the visit was a chance to catch up with a friend whom he didn’t get to see very often.

“Well, at least I won’t have to see him again for another year or so,” he mumbled to himself as he pressed the button for the turbolift, knowing that he was not referring to Darek Mondahl.

*******************************