AN: I don't own Star Wars. This was written for a Christmas fic exchange with my friend MasterOf4Elements. Oh, I didn't make Fete up – it's an actual winter holiday in the Star Wars universe.
"A Baby Changes Everything"
By EsmeAmelia
"Aren't you adorable? Yes you are, yes you are, yes you are. You know, your Daddy picked out that Fete shirt just for you, yes he did!" Han gushed, planting several kisses on Ben's forehead and cheeks. "You're gonna look so handsome for your first Fete, not that you ain't already handsome, of course."
"Han, what are you doing?" Leia chided as she entered the room.
"Ben was just tellin' me how much he likes his shirt," Han said matter-of-factly as he rubbed noses with his son. "Weren't you, sweetie? Weren't you?"
The baby squealed as if agreeing with his father, waving his little hands in the air.
"Come on," Leia said, bending over and holding out her arms. "Let Mommy see your new shirt too."
With a bit of hesitation, Han handed the baby to his mother, letting her admire his new red shirt with the Fete tree on it. "Yes," she said in a high voice, "yes, you look so handsome, don't you?" She kissed his little round cheeks. "You're Mommy's handsome little boy, yes you are."
"Oh, now who's hogging the baby?" Han said as he got up from the sofa.
"Hey, I had him inside me for nine months, so I get more time with him when he's out."
"What kinda sense does that make? I'm the one who didn't have him in me for nine months!"
Ben clapped his little hands and giggled as if he relished in both his parents wanting to spend time with him, which immediately sparked simultaneous "awwwww!" sounds from both Han and Leia.
"Leia," said Han, raising his finger so Ben could wrap his hand around it, "you'd think by now we'd be used to his cuteness, wouldn't you?"
"I don't think we're supposed to get used to his cuteness," said Leia, kissing her son's downy, sweet-smelling head. "After all, he's learning more every day and changing every day."
"Hey buddy, don't change too fast," Han said quickly. "You're Daddy's little boy, remember."
Leia laughed as Ben began sucking on Han's finger as if he thought it was a bottle. "Hey Ben,"
she said, "it's time to decorate the Fete tree."
"Then I can hold ya while your Mommy decorates the tree." Han grinned knowingly at his wife. "I know she loves doin' it so much."
Leia didn't argue as she handed Ben back to his father. The baby kept his hand wrapped around Han's finger during the pass, not that Han was complaining, of course. He just let Ben keep sucking as Leia put on the Fete songs and opened the ornament boxes. Within a minute, she was humming along with the music while trying to find the perfect spot for each decoration.
"Yeah kiddo," said Han, "your Mommy loves Fete, so you're gonna have to get used to this every year."
Ben just looked up at his father and cocked his head as if he didn't understand what all the fuss was about.
"You're gonna love Fete too," Han continued. "Your Mommy'll make sure of that."
Ben cooed, putting his free hand on his father's cheek, making Han grin as widely as he could. "Yeah Ben, your Daddy loves you very much."
"Ben, come look!" Leia called in a singsongy voice. "Come look at the pretty ball!"
Han carried Ben over to the tree, where Leia had just hung a red Fete glass ball. The baby blinked at his distorted reflection in the ball for a moment or two before letting go of Han's finger and grabbing at the ornament, giggling loudly, batting at it like a lothcat.
"Uh, Leia?" Han asked. "You sure this is a good idea?"
Leia just looked at Ben as if the idea that he might think the ornament was a toy hadn't even occurred to her. "Well . . . now that you mention it . . ."
Before she could finish, Ben pushed the ball off its branch and it went falling to the floor, shattering into pieces. Almost immediately, the baby burst into tears, his face reddening and his mouth emitting loud, shrill sobs.
"Oh no, sweetheart!" Han exclaimed, brushing his son's eyes with his thumb, but the tears kept right on coming. "It's okay, little guy, it's okay . . . shhh . . . don't cry . . . you liked the ornament, didn't you? Poor little guy, you wanted to play with it and you didn't know it could break. Shh . . . shh . . . it's okay . . . it's okay . . ."
But the infant kept crying despite Han stroking his back and kissing his head. Who knew a baby could get so attached to a Fete ornament in just a few seconds? "It's okay . . . it's okay . . ." Han attempted to hum along with the Fete song that was currently playing, but the melody was too fast for him to keep up with.
Meanwhile, Leia was carefully picking up the pieces of the ornament, a forlorn look on her face. "I'm sorry, Ben," she said. "I shouldn't have told you to look at the ball." She gave a long sigh as she rose to her feet, gazing down at the broken pieces in her hand. "I guess we'd better be careful with what we let Ben handle."
Han was still kissing the baby's head and wiping his tears. "Yeah, that's kinda important with babies."
Leia planted a long kiss on the other side of Ben's head. "I'm real sorry, sweetie."
After Leia threw the pieces away, it took a good four songs for Ben to stop crying. "Yes," Han said in his most soothing voice, running his hand up and down the infant's back, "yes, I told you it's okay."
Leia smiled at her husband as she took their son into her own arms, swaying gently to the music. "Han, when I first met you I wouldn't have been able to imagine you being so good with babies."
Han snickered. "Well I wouldn't have been able to imagine you singing along to Fete songs either."
. . .
That evening, after putting Ben to bed, Han and Leia were relaxing on the couch in their pajamas, wrapped up in a blanket, the only light coming from the fire blazing in the fireplace and the fully-decorated Fete tree next to it. Leia rested her head on her husband's shoulder, gazing dreamily into the flames, listening to them pop and sizzle, remembering how when she was little she would pretend fire embers were glowing jewels.
"I wonder if I ever broke any decorations . . ." she suddenly found herself saying.
"Hmm?" Han asked in a drowsy-sounding voice.
"When I was a baby," Leia continued, "I wonder if I ever broke an ornament like Ben did." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "But I can't ask my parents about it, so I guess there's no point in wondering . . ."
Han wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders. "Maybe you did, maybe you didn't, but either way I'm sure they had many happy Fetes with you, just like how we're gonna have many happy Fetes with Ben."
Leia gave a long inhale, smelling the smoky odor from the fire. "We had pretty cold winters on Alderaan, so it became a tradition on Fete Eve to wrap ourselves up in a blanket in front of a fire just like this. We'd drink hot chocolate and watch Fete specials wrapped up in that blanket."
"I like that idea," said Han. "We should make it our Fete tradition too."
They sat in silence for several more minutes, watching the flames dance and savoring each other's warmth. Leia was slowly drifting off to sleep when a loud wail coming from Ben's room jolted the couple awake.
"Figures that the kid would get hungry now," Han groaned.
"Well let's go get him," said Leia. "He can enjoy our new Fete tradition while he nurses."
THE END