A FULLY CHARGED BLASTER

(Han's POV)

Two months ago, Leia had her implant removed. I don't like medics much and med centers even less, but I insisted on going with her to have it done. I think it was selfishness on my part, but she seemed happy to have me there.

The med droid told Leia it might be a few months before she conceived but told her that she saw no reason why Leia wouldn't be a healthy mother.

Needless to say, I was overjoyed when she said that she'd changed her mind about having children. I was willing to go along with her declaration about not having kids, but I hoped that she'd rethink it. And she did. I'm glad I never brought it up; she got there on her own. Okay, maybe she got a little help from her grandmother. She read all of Shmi Skywalker's diaries and she figured out that her father hadn't been born the monster he became. She's still ambivalent about him, and I don't blame her. I'd have killed him in a heartbeat for what he did to her. (And I did try.) Let's just say I'm glad he won't be showing up at our place anytime soon. Luke's a great guy, but he's enough as far as inlaws go.

Right now I'm hating on him because his Tatooine Glop Monsters are clobbering my Corellian Dreadnaughts in smashball. They're a pathetic excuse for a sports team and they're still winning. Fortunately, he's a guy, and he understands this.

Our first year wedding anniversary is coming up soon, and I've got a surprise planned. Leia, as by now everyone knows, lost her homeworld on the day I met her. She lost all of the relatives she knew, and I don't think she's ever recovered from that. But what I did learn via Wedge Antilles was that Leia's biological mother was Padme Amidala of Naboo. Wedge told me that Padme still has living relatives. Her older sister Sola Naberrie is a cousin of Wedge Antilles, who's a cousin of her adoptive mother Breha, who married her adoptive father Bail Organa...it's a small small galaxy after all. At least when talking about royalty it is.

I think Leia's greatest loss from her homeworld was her family. She and I are her new family, and unlike me, she grew up in one that kept her grounded. As far as I'm concerned about my own, if anyone's out there, stay gone. But she was loved and connected. I might not have even bothered had I not heard it from Wedge when we were at happy hour about a month ago. Apparently his cousins were talking about our wedding and how much they wanted to meet Leia. And her groom. I think I was an afterthought and I'm fine with that. If they think I'm gundark dung, I can just stay drunk the entire time.

As for me, I have Luke, and as inlaws go, he's decent, but he's plenty. And this isn't a risk free proposition; her people could end up being The Family From Hell. But Wedge is a standup guy, and even after a few Alderaanian ales, he's not sloppy. He said he'd get me in contact with Sola, and she got back to me within a day, saying she hadn't even known Leia was alive until after the Battle of Yavin.

I haven't sprung this on her yet, and much as I want to, I'd like it to be a huge surprise. It's not for another month and a half.

Despite what the medic told us about not worrying about it taking a few months, Leia's been impatient as all get out. I'm lying in bed, thinking about what I'm gonna talk about with my trainees today, while she's in the 'fresher.

She bursts into tears.

I get out of bed. "Honey, are you all right?"

"No!"

"Need some help?"

She's crying in earnest now.

I open the door.

"I'm menstruating. Again!"

I gather her in my arms. She's dressed in an old T shirt of mine that I think looks adorable on her.

"Sweetheart, don't you remember what the medic told you?" I say to her as I massage her back. Her face is buried in my shoulder. "It's been two months. That's hardly any time at all."

"It just seems like forever," she sobs.

"Leia. It's all right. It's going to be all right." I hate tempting fate, but I don't see any reason why we can't have a healthy child. We just need a little more time. Of course, I'm not the one that's going to be renting out space in my body to grow that baby, so it's easy for me to say.

She calms down as I keep her close to me. "I think I know what the problem is," I kid her gently.

"What?"

"We need to have more sex."

She looks up and laughs at me. "Where are we going to get the time to have more sex?"

"Well, if we quit our jobs and stopped eating, we might have more time."

She's smiling at me now. "I'm sorry. I didn't even know how much deep down I really wanted children. And now, I want that more than anything else."

"We both do, sweetheart, and it'll happen. How much time do you have before you have to be at work?"

"Unfortunately, I'm already late for the breakfast meeting," she grumbles. I leave her to get ready.

So much for that thought.

I don't think it will be much longer, but what do I know? It's not as if have the Force or something. Just a fully charged blaster.

01123581321345589144233377610987