I really have no right writing a Star Wars fanfic, and I will be the first to admit that, but I was re-watching Return of the Jedi and this ficlette wrote itself. All I did was hit the keys on the keyboard. Please review! Anything! Flames welcome!

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He would remember.

She could tell that he was there, in the way his fists would clench and unclench at night, the way his closed eyes would wince and his whole body would tense. His back would arch just slightly, head thrown back, mouth shaping words heard only by the shadows that danced in his mind.

Small comforts eased the ordeal. A cool, damp cloth on a feverish forehead. Hands clasping each other. Gentle touches, desperately rubbing at the silent pain that they could not heal.

Tears, sometimes from one, sometimes the other set of eyes. Miniscule variations in an otherwise perfect routine.

There were drawbacks to being special. She'd decided that long ago. She would touch his hand and sense pain, touch his brow and see dark confusion, touch his heart and feel desperation, loneliness, and scars that ran far deeper than what could be seen on his body. He had suffered, for his specialties. She had, and she would, for as long as they were bound by emotions that could trace their own routes back to that suffrage.

He watched over her in the light of day. She watched over him in the dark of night.

In the morning, he would be withdrawn, quite, unusually thoughtful. If left alone, he would slip back into that darkness. She alone could be his hold on the light, on humor, on reality, on precious sanity.

She would approach, her best small smile of comfort well prepared. He would try to smile back. His eyes were dark.

"He's dead."

He nods, turns away, bits his lip.

"He's not coming back. Ever."

He nods. It's so important to him. She knows that his trust in her is far more valuable than any crosshairs aimed at her living nightmares. He trusts her with his dead ones.

He sighs, accepting it once again, convincing himself of the truth. That the nightmares are dead, the pain is gone, the darkness never again crawling out of the cage in his mind.

He turns to her. His eyes are lighter. The smile is real.

"I know."

For now.

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Thanks for reading! Please review!