Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)
The babies were asleep. Asleep. Leia Organa Solo sighed inwardly, not daring to make any outward noises and risk all of her and Winter's hard work. She turned to her old friend, "You'd better get what sleep you can before they wake again." Winter nodded wearily and left to her own rooms.
Leia stood by the crib, enjoying they silence that had been so rare since she had given birth to the twins, when a light hiss indicated Han's return. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, a feeling of warmth blossoming within her soul as it did every time Han was near. He kissed the side of her head and murmured into her ear, "I can't believe they're actually asleep."
As if the Force was aspiring against them, Jacen began to whimper. Han's face fell. Leia, calling on all of her training as a politician not to burst into tears, began humming lightly to her infant son, stroking the tuft of brown hair on his head.
"Is that an Alderaanian lullaby?" Leia could feel more than hear Han's deep voice as his arms moved to her waist and tightened.
She attempted briefly to search her memory, but to no avail. "I don't know," she replied quietly, "it's something I remember from when I was a child." Jacen's whimpering died down to nothing, but his parent's relief was to be short lived. Jaina, awakened by her brother's distress, started up with cries of her own. Jedi twin infants, Leia thought to herself, Should be an interesting few years.
Wedge Antilles, galactic hero and ace starfighter pilot extraordinaire, was deathly afraid of a nine pound, six ounce, pink, newborn baby girl, who he could swear was currently screaming louder than a TIE's engines in a planet's atmosphere. A sweating, tired Iella laughed weakly at the look of sheer terror on her husband's face. "Would you like to hold your daughter?" She offered the baby to him and he accepted, though warily. She only screamed louder, and his face fell even more.
"Hold her a little tighter Wedge, she won't break." He did as he was told, and the most wonderful thing happened. She opened her eyes. They were the most beautiful blue eyes he'd ever seen, and they were just like his sister's. He smiled sadly at the memories of Syal, humming an old lullaby and rocking the child back and forth. Wedge could remember Syal and his mother singing this to him when he was very young, some of his earliest memories. Here in his arms was his sister's namesake, his beautiful baby girl.
Wedge wondered if Syal ever had the chance to sing the lullaby to her children. He wondered if she'd ever had the chance to even have children. She always had the most soothing voice.
Valin was getting big now, walking and talking brokenly on his own. Yet Mirax still insisted on singing the boy to sleep. Booster couldn't understand her daughter's insistence on the habit until he finally asked her about it on one of his visits.
"Wedge's mother used to sing it to me when I'd stay with them," she replied a little sadly. "I could never sleep when you weren't there, so she'd sing to me." Booster never pushed her to stop after that conversation. He knew that she was a better parent than he had ever been.
Luke hadn't realized he was humming to his sleeping son until his wife asked him about it. He shifted Ben's weight in his arms and thought about her question. "I don't think I learned it from Leia. It's from when I was a child."
Mara's brow creased in thought. "That's very strange. I remember her singing that song to the twins during the Thrawn campaign."
Luke shrugged at this, "It's probably a common lullaby." There was only the slightest shift in their bond, but it was enough to alert Luke that something was wrong.
"You're probably right Luke," Mara replied quietly. "It's very likely it is common and I just don't know it. Never had the chance for lullabies as a kid."
Luke, realising where all this was coming from, closed the distance between them and touched her chin, bringing green eyes up to meet blue ones. "Oh Mara . . ."
"Luke, it's alright." Emotions in their bond were already settling. "You can't replace a lost childhood, farmboy, but you've already started making up for it." Luke smiled at this, and leaned in for a kiss.
She loved putting her nieces to bed. They were the sweetest little girls, and she tried spending as much time with them as possible. As she finished the lullaby, she quietly left to room only to be startled be her sister's voice in the hall. "Where did you learn such a pretty little song?" her sister asked.
She smiled at her sister, "On the way here we stopped at a refueling station in the Correllian System. The owner's wife was there with their daughter, and I heard her singing it to the little girl. She was a beautiful child, blonde hair and big blue eyes. It's been stuck in my head ever since."
Later on that night, Padmé Amidala sat alone in her room singing the lullaby softly to herself and rubbing her slowly growing stomach. She was frightened about so many things, her unborn child, Anakin, the ongoing war. As she watched the stars, she wondered whether or not she would be strong enough to get through all of this. Only time would tell.
Goodnight my angel, time to close your eyes,
And save these questions for another day.
I think I know what you've been asking me,
I think you know what I've been trying to say.
I promised I would never leave you,
Then you should always know
Wherever you may go, no matter where you are
I never will be far away.
Goodnight my angel, now it's time to sleep,
And still so many things I want to say.
Remember all the songs you sang for me,
When we went sailing on an emerald bay.
And like a boat out on the ocean,
I'm rocking you to sleep
The water's dark and deep, inside this ancient heart
You'll always be a part of me.
Goodnight my angel, now it's time to dream,
And dream how wonderful your life will be.
Someday your child may cry, and if you sing this lullaby,
Then in your heart there will always be a part of me.
Someday we'll all be gone
But lullabies go on and on
They never die
That's how you and I will be