Archive of Our Own

This is Lady’s favorite. Her Patient human and herself, taking a walk, appreciating the smells accentuated by the fresh rain that fell last night. 

He is in good spirits---she can tell. She can always tell, because he is hers and she knows him well now. Some of the lines of strain that were on his face when she found him have been eased now. He walks with confidence, briskly marching through the tall wet grasses of mid autumn, and swinging the long handled ball thrower casually. 

Lady is humble. Unlike some she could mention. (Artoo) She knows that she is not completely responsible for the change in her human. He has Threepio’s human after all. She is the dearest to him---Lady can sense their bond (humans are not necessarily so unlike dogs after all. There is pack recognition.) But he also has the Boss master and Artoo’s human. And the Stern human. ‘Max’ her human calls him. And he is stern. But Lady is drawn to that. She likes him a great deal.

Artoo fusses about this, because he is somewhat intimidated by the Stern human.

She had informed him that this was because Artoo insisted on being a nuisance to people’s trousers.

Artoo had informed her that trousers were meant for rubbing against.

She had rolled her eyes and moved off to investigate the squirrel incursion at the bottom of the garden. Corgis. The squirrels fled at her approach---as they ought. This is the garden that belongs to herself and her Patient human. Squirrels have no business loitering about here. 

Artoo rushes up barking madly at the already retreating squirrels.

“I handled that,” she told him calmly. “And I did not need to raise my voice to do so, Artoo.”

“Squirrels fear me,” he informed her, flicking grass of his back feet at the squirrels. 

Lady raised an eyebrow at him and moved on to do her rounds of sniffing all their plants. Her work was never done, but smells had to be smelled on a daily basis. Some dogs just did it with more dignity than others.

Her human lifts the ball thrower again and she tenses, ready and quivering with anticipation. He smiles down at her.

“One bounce or two this time, Lady?”

It is a challenge. She is incredibly fast--she knows this--but the ball moves very fast as well. On one memorable occasion she actually nabbed it out of the air. Her human had praised her extensively for that, and she had received an extra piece of jerky.

He let it fly and she is off through the grasses, sensing the arc of the ball as she pricked her ears and then she saw it. There. 

One bounce and she leaps for it, closing her jaws around it firmly before it could hit the ground again. 

“Nicely done!” her human calls proudly as she sweeps back to him to drop the conquered ball at his feet. He snags it with the ball thrower once more, and looks up at the sky.

“Maybe two more, my girl, and then we should turn around. It gets dark swiftly now.”

Yes. It is colder now as well, and frost is to be  found on the grass in the garden in the mornings. 

Her human is wearing his warm jacket and boots as he strides along. 

Another spectacular nab of the ball.

It is as she is leaping for the final throw that a small, blue/grey shape whizzes into her, completely throwing off her aim.

Lady swears as she lands and Artoo runs to retrieve the ball which has now bounced at least three times.

She rounds on him, showing her teeth in displeasure as he comes back with the ball, whole body quivering in his joy.

“Did you shee?” he asks, somewhat muffled around the ball in his mouth. “Shee that? Three bounshes. Pretty good?”

She glares pointedly, before turning to stalk back to her human. The last throw of the day---ruined.

“It’s all right, Lady,” says her human, walking to meet her. “You had some wonderful catches. It’s all right for Artoo to have one. But where did you come from, Artoo? This is a long way from home for you!”

They often walked near the wooded area that connected Threepio and Artoo’s home with the Lady’s and her human. They were a good few miles away, so Artoo and his short legs had travelled some distance to achieve this level of obnoxiousness. 

Her human strokes her head before turning to take the ball from Artoo.

“Drop it. Artoo, goodness, you little menace, drop it.”

Lady whuffs and Artoo opens his mouth to let the ball drop.

“You really travelled far. I hope you’re not expecting me to carry you back,” her human says, replacing the ball in the thrower as he turns to head back, Lady at his side.

Artoo races ahead, no doubt to show his energy. Lady wants someone to punt his white little backside. 

Corgis taking balls…..what was the world coming to….

The hand of her Patient human lands on her head again as they walk, rubbing at her ear, in her favorite spot, and she leans into his leg. 

All right. Life isn’t that bad. Her human is the best, and he loves her. The walk was almost perfect, and she knows that he has saved a steak bone for her in the cold box. 

****

Piett smiled down at Lady who had that huffy gait she got when something offended her. This time he knew without doubt it was the whizzing fur bomb ahead of them. He stroked her head, paying attention to her favorite spot behind her ears and she leaned into him, relaxing her stance.

Heaven knew how long Artoo had been tracking them. This was a good distance for such short Corgi legs. They were at least two miles from his house. Piett decided to take the short cut in order to get Artoo back to the Skywalker residence in decent time. 

He turned and cut down the slope toward the wooded area near the green. He loved wandering it, but Lady needed to run in open spaces as well, so he saved a wood walk for once a week on Saturdays, typically. 

He loved the trees, and the late afternoon sun cast a glow that was quite similar to that of cathedral windows. The gold and red leaves shone, both on the trees and the forest floor. Soon the branches would be bare, but if they got a skiff of snow, a whole new beauty would be found here. 

His boots sank into more mud after last night’s rain, and he would no doubt need to wipe down Lady’s legs after this. Artoo …...would need a bath (the Corgi was already black from the stomach down) but that was his own silly fault for coming out.

Piett smiled as Lady ran silently ahead to catch a squirrel (the eternal quest) and Artoo foiled her efforts completely, barking madly as he shuffled his way to the elusive animal. It retreated up a tree to chatter at them much like a cabbie swearing at traffic.

Piett might later blame the squirrel for what happened, but really had no very clear memory of the actual moment that disaster struck. 

The sloping earth under his feet was moving…..

He lost his grasp on the throwing stick, whipping his hands out to stop himself with anything….

Everything was upside down and sideways….. earthquake ?

The sensation of falling…..

Sickening pain and then nothing. 

*****

Lady was frantic. The very earth had betrayed them! She and Artoo had sensed it in time, as dogs do, but her human, her very favorite human, had not known until it was too late.

She called for him loudly, but he did not answer over the crash and thunder of the hilliside giving way. 

He was in that.

The earth (traitorous bastard that it was) stilled at last and she knew that Artoo was doing his best not to act terrified even though he was. 

She moved swiftly over the newly churned ground, careful to avoid the sharp roots of the downed trees and the now loose boulders. Artoo could be heard snuffling behind her as he had to work harder to get down here. 

She was frustrated with the strong new scents of the dirt and dead plant matter. It was making it more difficult to find her human.

There! That was a smell she knew. But it was the coppery smell of blood and that did not bode well at all. She called for him again, but nothing answered with the exception of the squirrels expressing their limited thoughts and the birds shrieking about the mess. 

She saw him and called Artoo over to help her.

He lay at the very bottom of the slide, partially in a muddy puddle where once part of the stream had flowed. She nosed at his face, licking off the mud that coated one side and nosing at the wound in his hairline. He was breathing steadily, but he was not awake. She did not know how human physiology worked, but was reasonably certain the wound on his head was not bad. It would not be bad for her, so she hoped he was similar. 

Artoo was pawing at the ground near his legs and trying to get her attention.

Oh.

Oh that was not good. 

A significant tree lay across his leg, effectively pinning him down. Artoo was mining away in a futile attempt---too many rocks had gone down here as well and that was the problem. Her human’s leg was caught between them and the tree. 

She needed him to wake up and try to free himself. It was one of the rare occasions that Lady envied the humans their hands. Typically dog anatomy was superior but in this instance, she wished to have hands to grasp and pull. Her jaws were powerful yes, but they could cause damage to him and she wouldn’t have the strength to get him out. 

She returned to his head and continued to offer ministrations to wake him up by licking his face. Nothing. 

Lady paced and looked up at the sky. She could feel the approaching chill as the sun sank lower. Her Patient human needed to wake up! It was dangerous here if he got too cold. He needed to speak to his little box and get help.

Artoo insisted that his barking into her human’s ear was helping. She growled. He barked at squirrels instead, to keep them from attacking. Lady knew it was her intimidating presence that kept them away, but was content to let Artoo think he was doing something useful. 

The sun was very low in the sky, and she had paced and licked numerous times when at last, her dear human opened his eyes. He blinked a few times then slowly moved his hand up to her head and gently stopped her ministrations.

“Thank you, Lady.”

She whined at him to get his box and call for help. He looked around.

“Some sort of slide then? Damn. Is Artoo ok….? All right yes, yes, you’re fine, I can see that.”

This was in response to a very over the top greeting from Artoo who had planted his very muddy paws on her human’s chest to lick his other cheek vigorously.

Lady whuffled at him. Honestly. This wasn't Artoo’s human after all. 

Very cautiously, her human pushed himself up on his elbows and no….he shouldn’t move his legs. She barked sharply and planted one paw on his chest.

“Yes, all right, I see. But I have to try, Lady.”

He moved as well as he could to a sitting position. It was difficult with the angle of the slope he lay on, and he had to brace himself with one arm to try and lean forward to reach the heavy tree on his leg…..

He gave a sharp exclamation of pain and fell back, closing his eyes and flinging an arm over them, his jaw tight.

She knew all his signs now---this was strong pain---she could smell it. Something was wrong with the leg. 

He was breathing through it and moved his arm to look at her.

“You tried to warn me,” he told her, tears of pain evident around his eyes. He felt in his pockets at last for his small box.

“Oh no. My mobile must have fallen out….” he bit his lip and looked at her and Artoo who had now seated himself on the other side of her human.

She glared at the Corgi. This was not the time to be frantically wagging one’s tail. 

Her human looked up at the sky as she had done, assessing the sun. It would be dark very soon.

“Lady,” he said at last, and his tone was so serious.

He reached for her head with both hands. “Lady, I need you. I need you to leave me and get help. Artoo can’t possibly do it and they may notice if he’s gone long enough. Lady. Go home.”

What? No. She could not possibly leave him. With Artoo no less.

She whined and tried to tell him this, and licked his cheek.

“I know,” he panted, working through the pain now that he was awake and feeling it. “Lady. I need you to go home .”

She barked. Please don’t have him make her do this…

“Lady.” The tones of command. “GO. HOME.”

She looked at Artoo and barked, telling him that he had better guard her human with his life. 

And she was off.

****

Artoo was IN CHARGE. That was what he took from Lady’s instructions. She had to go and get help for her human. So.

Artoo was IN CHARGE.

He informed the squirrels (cursed spawn of every hell) that this was the case. He also informed any of the birds that would listen. 

A few of the pigeons cocked their heads at him. Several sparrows made rude remarks with their opinion of his authority, and several even had the cheek to fly right by his head. 

He barked furiously. They left in a huff, and he trotted proudly back to the Lady’s human who was watching him tiredly.

Artoo informed him that he was IN CHARGE and therefore he didn’t need to worry. He licked his face, and then moved to patrol again because that rock over there looked rather like it wanted to challenge his authority. 

He stared it down, holding himself perfectly still. Ha. That’s right. Let it be known that Artoo has done dominance over the rock. He moved to it to discreetly mark it as his territory before coming back over to the Lady’s human.

He was in considerable pain, and Artoo could smell this. He informed him that he was very sorry about it, but the ground under his leg was not very diggable. Too many rocks. 

He tried to entertain the Lady’s human to distract him. Artoo was excellent at entertaining everyone. Just because Threepio moaned about it did not mean everyone else felt that way. Threepio had never done anything entertaining in his life. Artoo suspected that he sighed and flopped everywhere, even as a puppy. 

That was an amusing thought. Threepio as a puppy. He stood and grinned, tongue lolling out before he recalled that he was supposed to be entertaining the Lady’s human. 

He had his eyes closed so Artoo barked to get his attention. He opened them to look at Artoo.

Promptly he jumped straight up in air on all fours and did a half turn. He then immediately turned this into the ‘spinning doughnut’ move and he almost caught his tail this time. 

He staggered out of this move, feeling a little dizzy, but secure in the knowledge he had set a record number of successive spins. He looked to Lady’s human for appreciation.

He gave Artoo a small smile. “You are trying to keep me occupied aren’t you, Artoo?” 

His name was said with fond approval. It was working. He barked and then ran to a tree to rebound off of it and do another mid air twist. 

A squirrel mocked this attempt somewhere above him. It was very dark now, but Artoo had a wonderful sense of smell and knew exactly where the little git was. He snarled a response and dared the squirrel to do better. 

Silence. 

That’s what he thought.

“Squirrels…..are your great enemy then, Artoo?” asked the Lady’s human and he was shuddering a bit.

Hmm. He was reasonably sure humans were not supposed to do that regularly. But he wasn’t certain. Oh, don’t get him wrong. Artoo was an expert on humans. Well. The Smiling human. But that was almost the same as all humans. 

Regardless, the shivering of the Lady’s human wasn’t good. He didn’t have the glorious thick fur that Artoo did.

Hmmm.

He moved forward cautiously. Typically most humans, with the exception of the Smiling human, who was perfect, did not appreciate Artoo’s flop of affection.

But in this case perhaps the Lady’s human would recognize that Artoo was trying to share his coat. 

He started by laying his head on the human’s left shoulder. He laughed a little. “Thank you, Artoo. It’s…..nice not to be…..alone.”

And his other hand landed gently on Artoo’s head and he scritched his ears and….oh. Yes, he could see why Lady liked her human so much. He was very skilled with an ear skritch. Artoo whuffled his happiness, and then recalled he was trying to loan his coat to the Lady’s human. He carefully wriggled to fully lie across the chest of the Lady’s human.

“Oof. Artoo……” He sounded doubtful, and Artoo pointed out he was keeping him warm, by whining and licking his face. 

And surprisingly, Lady’s human seemed to understand. He brought up an arm and wound it around Artoo.

“Well. Thank you. I…..didn’t know you could….hold so still.”

He could. For the right reasons. He absolutely could. Unless a squirrel…..No. Even then, he must do the noble thing and stay with the Lady’s human.

He sighed and laid his head on the shoulder of the Lady’s human once more.

And they waited.

*****

Humans were so slow . And in so many ways. Lady had to keep pausing to wait for the Boss master and Artoo’s human. Threepio’s human--the one so dear to her own human---was preparing the Range Rover. Once they located her human she would drive as closely as possible to help retrieve him. 

Or so Lady understood from watching all their interactions.

She had had quite a time getting them to follow her in the first place.

She was tired, but this run was nothing to her. Her human needed help. He had known to send her not Artoo, because she had longer legs. 

And she would not get distracted. Artoo had better be staying with her human….

She had arrived to the broad sloping lawns of the back gardens at Artoo’s home. She raced up to the double glass doors and barked madly at the occupants inside. She rose to place her front paws on the glass and barked some more.

“Good heavens….!”

“It’s Lady, Dad.”

“I’m so sorry about this, excuse me…”

And the Boss master had risen to come to her.

“Lady!”

He grabbed her collar. 

“Does Firmus know you’re over here?”

She struggled madly. No. He could not lock her in. Her human needed  help!

“Lady! What’s got into you?”

But Threepio’s human was rising at last to join them.

“Something’s wrong, Dad. I’m calling Uncle Firmus.”

She pulled out the little box and held it to her ear.

“It keeps going to voicemail.”

She was worried--Lady could hear it in her voice. Yes. Good. She barked loudly at Threepio’s human and squirmed out of the Boss master’s grasp with a mighty effort. She dashed to the edge of their garden and back, then paused, pointing back toward where she’d come.

“Dad. Lady never does this. Something’s wrong.”

“I just tried calling Uncle Firmus and got no answer.” Good. Artoo’s human was with them now, leaving other humans at their dining table.

The Boss master looked down at her, considering. She told him how urgent it was. He was hurt. Trapped. They had to come! 

“Lady doesn’t just bark like that, she wants us to follow her.”

The Boss master nodded. “All right. Leia, please make our apologies and then get the car ready. We’ll call when we have a location.”

“Should we call 999?” 

“A wise precaution. We can cancel if needed.”

“Dad.” Lady could feel the anxiety from Threepio’s human. “It’s so cold….if he’s unconscious somewhere….”

“I know,” he said grimly. “Take the Rover. Lots of blankets. Tea. Throw in our medkit just in case.”

“I have a location for his mobile!” shouted Artoo’s human triumphantly with a manner that reminded Lady of Artoo when he thought he did something brilliant, like dig a big hole. Artoo had different definitions of brilliant than others.

“Well done, Luke,” exclaimed the Boss master. “Where?”

“About two miles that way,” he responded with a frown. “That’s….”

“..the woods,” finished Threepio’s human. “No time to change, Dad. Just get boots and coats on over the dinner jackets.”

So at last they were running after her, their heavy boots weighing them down. If only humans had paws. Of course, she was reminded that the reason she needed them was for their hands so….

Her urgent need to return to her human drove her on. The humans couldn’t see in the dark as she could. They had brought their lights but they still stumbled and cursed behind her.

She urged them on impatiently.

“We’re doing our best, Lady,” panted Artoo’s human as she barked. 

She whuffed in frustration and turned to run ahead again. 

Please be all right, my human.

****

Piett shuddered under Artoo’s weight. The Corgi had surprised him immensely. He had managed to stay reasonably still on top of Piett for three quarters of an hour now, and he was grateful. The cold ground beneath him was getting harder to deal with and the pain in his leg was throbbing with every heart beat. 

However, the warm dog body draped on his chest was helping him---he knew for a fact he would be doing considerably worse if it wasn’t for that. 

“I know that your chief end in life is to be a menace in general,” he commented, holding the dog tightly and rubbing at Artoo’s neck to keep his own blood flowing. “But I am immensely…..grateful for you right now.”

Artoo whined and wriggled to lick his face again.

“I’ll owe you at least one pair of….shoes if we get out of here,” Piett told him, shuddering again. 

He hoped Lady had made it to the Skywalkers. He was reasonably sure they were hosting a formal dinner for some very important clients this evening. Of course, if Lady found them, that would be ruined. Perhaps he could explain the circumstances to the client and try to patch things up….

He was feeling rather sleepy now, despite the constant pain in his leg. Some part of his brain told him that wasn’t a good sign. 

Artoo whined and wriggled in his arms, and then he was up and running off. The sudden cold left in his absence was striking.

“Artoo!” he called, trying to push himself up once more. 

Surely the Corgi wouldn’t leave him now. It was so damned cold!! 

For the first time, Piett became truly concerned. Before, he could trust that Lady was getting help. That he could hold on as long as Artoo was around. Now…..

Perhaps it was time to have another go at shifting the tree. He’d heard people in truly dire circumstances could do stupendous things such as lift ridiculously heavy objects.

He carefully shifted to a sitting position and leaned down and…. damn everything , that was terrible.

He couldn’t get an angle to even begin to shift it without passing out or causing worse damage.

He leaned back, head swimming from the newly awakened fire in his leg.

He could hear Artoo barking at something. 

“Artoo!” he called. His voice sounded so small in the dark woods. He heard rustling sounds and then a cold nose was thrust into his face, followed by vigorous licking. 

It wasn’t Artoo.

“Lady!” he gasped, more relieved than he cared to admit to have his beautiful dog with him again. And hopefully her arrival meant….

“Firmus?”

“Uncle Firmus!”

He could see the torches now and felt weak with relief. “Here!” he called, voice croaking slightly in the cold. 

Lady barked and then Artoo was bowling into her, barking madly as well. 

“Well,” said his Lordship, coming to kneel beside him. “This is quite the situation.”

Piett squinted in the light from the torches as Luke came running up to his other side.

“Why weren’t you answering your phone Uncle Firmus?”

“Lost it in the fall.”

His Lordship was moving to look at the tree pinning him. 

“How bad, Firmus?”

“Leg’s broken, beyond that I’m hopeful nothing else is the matter. Just…. A bit cold….”

“A bit….” Luke sighed. “Understatement of the year, Uncle Firmus. Leia is coming with the Rover.”

“Luke,” said his Lordship, “I think we can lift this. We need to get you out of the elements, Piett.”

He agreed. He just wasn’t looking forward to the process.

Luke patted his shoulder, and Lady came to sit next to him.

“All right, Piett, hold on. Do you have it, Luke?”

Lord Vader and his son were odd shapes in the light of the torch Piett was now holding to light their efforts.

“On three. One….two….THREE!” 

“Son of a….!” Piett was certain he would break the torch as the large tree crashed further down the embankment, and Lord Vader picked up his torch to shine it on Piett’s leg. He tried to draw shuddering breaths, fighting the new levels of pain the removal of the tree had afforded.

“Mmm. Well the good news is nothing’s broken the skin.”

His big hands were careful as he felt for any more breaks. “Luke, find some sturdy sticks. I’ll need your scarf as well.”

In short order, and displaying talents Piett didn’t realize he had, Lord Vader had his leg splinted. He and Luke lifted him into a seated carry quite easily, despite his concerns.

“You weigh almost nothing, Firmus, don’t be insulting.”

“And thank you for that, my Lord. Which of us is being insulting again?”

Luke snickered.

They made their way carefully back up the bank, and out to the open green where Leia had driven the Ranger and she was waiting anxiously, Artoo racing around her in ever widening circles. Really, how did something that short and fat have that kind of energy?

“Uncle Firmus,” she said fervently, eyes huge in the lights from the car. Then she visibly straightened and took charge, and his heart hurt because the motion was so very much her mother.

“All right, let me get in first, then set him here….” She was hopping into the back where she had made a cozy nest indeed as they had removed the back seat. She held out her arms and between the three of them he was settled carefully against her. 

“Let’s get this soaking jacket off, yes?” she asked and gave him a hand in shrugging out of it, tossing it aside and snatching a blanket out of a….cooler?

But it was deliciously warm as he wrapped it around his shoulders, and she snagged another to hand to her Father who was very carefully maneuvering his legs. 

“Here Dad, put this over his lower half. I warmed them with loads of hot stones in the cooler,” she said, answering his unspoken question as Lord Vader spread another thick blanket over his legs. 

“Luke make Artoo stay up with you. He’ll bump into Uncle Firmus’s leg back here.”

His nephew snagged the ever enthusiastic white bundle and complied. 

“I’m happy to drive….”

“No,” Leia said firmly. “Of the two of you, Dad is more likely to be careful, right Dad?”

“Your lack of faith in my driving is disturbing, Leia.”

Lady made a terrific leap and settled next to him, laying her head in his lap. He smiled and rested one hand on her head as Lord Vader shut the back of the Rover and came around to the driver’s side.

His people were here. He could relax. Leia’s arms were firm around him, and she had handed him a flask of hot tea which was another level of marvelous warmth. Lady watched him with half lidded eyes---she had earned her rest. Artoo’s head could be seen from the front, wondering why he couldn’t be back here no doubt.

“I told the ambulance that we’d meet them at the motorway junction,” Leia was saying to her Father as he rested against her, feeling more boneless by the moment. Well. The broken bone let him know about it, but even that he could handle. He was warm and safe and with his family. The rest would fall into place.

*****

Artoo was excited. 

Lady had pointed out that this was a constant state, and made some rather disparaging remarks about his character, but even that could not dampen his excitement. 

ALL the humans were in the sitting room today. The sheer joy of this was almost overwhelming. He operated best for a full house, and he had that today. He would need to move Threepio from the centerstage area by the fireplace, but he was very good at moving Threepio so that wasn’t an issue.

The Lady’s human was staying with them for a while while he learned how to navigate with three legs. 

Artoo did feel sorry that he didn’t have four legs like he did. He had expressed this regret to the Lady’s human, bouncing alongside the metal leg and trying to smell it. 

Lady had growled (rude) so he backed off. He was just trying to be polite after all. 

“Artoo,” sighed Threepio’s human, holding a satchel which contained…..he sniffed at it...things that belonged to Lady’s human. “Do not get in the way of Uncle Firmus’s crutches.”

“Quite. This is difficult enough,” panted the Lady’s human. 

Artoo wasn’t really sure why it seemed so hard to use three legs. He’d had to do it once when he stepped on something sharp. It slowed him down certainly, but he had managed fairly smoothly. Ah well. Humans were not as balanced as he was.

Currently, the Lady’s human had been given the big sofa so that his injured limb could rest on it. The metal legs were fascinating. He could just take them on and off apparently. They rested on the floor by the sofa, and Artoo had sniffed every inch of them. 

Threepio had gone so far as to lift his head and gaze at the proceedings before groaning and flopping back in front of the fire. 

Artoo wasn’t sure if Threepio would have any purpose for existing if he Artoo was not around to give him life and joy. 

Threepio’s human had smiled and rubbed his tummy. Threepio made the pleased yowling sound he did on such occasions and Artoo leapt in to join the action, bouncing his front paws on Threepio’s stomach. 

He grunted and gave Artoo a supremely disgusted look before rolling to his feet and striding pointedly to the armchair that the Boss master was occupying, to flop at his feet.

The Smiling master had entered!!

Artoo greeted him four times (it was expected after all) and avoided the Stern human who had also entered. He ran to the sofa and announced the arrival to Lady’s human who smiled at him and placed a hand on his head.

“I can see that they’re here Artoo. Thank you for the very loud obvious.”

Fond exasperation. He was doing things right.

“Good to have you, Mr. Veers,” said Threepio’s human, settling herself on the ottoman by the head of Lady’s human and handing him a cup of tea. 

“Well. I come bearing gifts, quite literally, actually.”

He came first to Lady’s human to grasp his hand in the strange way humans did to greet each other.

“I’m very glad to see you out of hospital, Firmus. The amount of items that are piling up in your office are ridiculous.”

Artoo crept closer. The Stern human was holding many parcels, all of which smelled both delicious or interesting.

“Items?” Lady’s human was puzzled. Artoo was now sniffing at the closest package. Food was in there. His mouth watered.

“Get well gifts and cards and things. You now own about fifteen plants of various types. I think I found all the food related things and brought them here. At least one of them was a box of macarons.”

“ Was ?” asked the Lady’s human with a smile. 

“I am carting all this to you,” the Stern human answered loftily, “payment was owed.”

“You have a terrible weakness for macarons, Mr. Veers,” said Threepio’s human, resting a hand on the arm of Lady’s human. She notified humans and dogs alike who her pack was frequently, by doing things like that----looping her arm through that of his own Smiling master, pats and hugs to the Boss master and Lady’s human. In many ways she was the alpha. Artoo knew that Lady had expressed this thought before as well. 

The Stern human placed numerous boxes and crinkly bags on the lap of Lady’s human.

“Here are all the offerings to date. I don’t recall getting all this when I sprained my elbow. It’s almost as though your people like you.”

“Almost,” said Artoo’s human, smiling broadly, and leaning over the back of the sofa. “Can I help open some of this loot, Uncle Firmus?”

“Help yourself, Luke,” said Lady’s human, raising his eyebrows as the Stern human handed him a small box with a simple silver bow. “What’s this, then?”

“Well. Given how all this went, I rather thought that Lady deserved some recognition for her valor.”

Lady pricked her ears at her name and looked at her human with interest from her spot by Threepio’s human. 

Artoo did several consecutive rolls on the carpet to get out some of his excitement. Threepio whuffled at him. Artoo made sure to end his last roll on Threepio’s face.

“Max. I love it----how perfect.”

Artoo looked up. Lady’s human was holding something small and shiny. 

Threepio’s human peered at it and laughed. “A G.B.E. replica. That is marvelous, Mr. Veers. I assume it goes on her collar.”

“If you would permit me,” the Stern human said and he took it from Lady’s human, to kneel in front of Lady and attach it to her collar. “For your great gallantry and service, Lady, in rescuing your master, and our very dear friend.”

She was unbelievably smug and sat very primly as Threepio’s human laughed and stroked her ears, before leaning her head against the side of Lady’s human. 

Artoo huffed.

Lady’s human smiled at him. “We haven’t forgotten you, Artoo. Did you have time to swing by mine, Max….?”

“I did.”

“Artoo,” said Lady’s human. “Given your astounding ability to lose any and all collars, I didn’t get you a medal. But I did make you a promise out there while you kept me company. So, knowing your favorite past time, Veers picked these up from my house.”

The Boss master chuckled. “This is going to reinforce a terrible habit, Firmus.”

The other humans were groaning as well, but Artoo had his eyes on the most wonderful gift that the Stern human was holding out to him.

Shoes. 

For him.

Both shoes.

He moved forward carefully to take one and moved swiftly to stash it under one of the armchairs, before returning for the second. He paused with it in his mouth to look around, still fearing that he would be told off. But the humans were all smiling at him (as they ought to really) and the kind eyes of Lady’s human met his.

“Thank you, Artoo,” he said. 

Life was good.