AN: Happy New Year! I don't own Star Wars, as you know. Well, with The Force Awakens opening in just a little less than a year, I have a limited amount of time to play with my personal fanfic universe before it officially becomes AU. So this fic takes place in my "Defenders of the Force" universe, but you don't have to have read those fics in order to enjoy this one. Basically, Luke is married to my OC Rianna and they have two children: Mae and Owen. Leia and Han have the same three children they have in the EU, but this story takes place before the "Defenders of the Force" series. Jaina and Jacen are six, Mae and Anakin are four, and Owen is two. This will be a two-parter, since it's already after Christmas anyway and I wanted to get the first part posted before I was totally out of the mood.
Oh, and Fete is an actual winter festival in the Star Wars universe. I could find very little information about it on Wookieepedia, so for this story I just made it similar to Christmas. Okay, yes, I used it as an excuse to write a sappy Solo family Christmas story, so what?
"Fete with the Solos"
By EsmeAmelia
Chapter 1
The alarm jolted Leia out of sleep, causing her arm to reflexively swing out to the side and hit the chronometer's snooze button before her mind sorted out the fog and remembered why the alarm was set in the first place. Her eyes peeled open to darkness pierced only by the lights outside the window. With a yawn, she rolled over and gently poked her snoring husband's side.
"Han," she whispered, "it's time."
After a snort and a long yawn, Han's eyes slightly opened. "Mm, time?" he asked.
"Yup," said Leia. "Now come on, you don't want the kids deprived of the Fete magic, do you?"
Han gave her a tired smile in the dim light. "Nope."
The couple got out of bed and slowly pulled on the robes they had left on the chair next to the bed. The nighttime cold brushed Leia's face, fully waking her up as she noticed snowflakes dancing outside the window. "Look," she said, pointing out the window, "we'll have a white Fete."
Han grinned as he put his hands on his wife's shoulders. "The kids'll like that. They'll probably be beggin' to play in the snow before the sun comes up."
"Let's hope not," Leia said with a small chuckle, reaching up to ruffle her husband's hair. "It's probably freezing like Hoth right now."
"Sweetheart, I've spent a night on Hoth and there's no way in hell it's that cold here."
With a laugh, the two left the window and headed for the closet where the Fete surprises were kept, already wrapped in paper decorated with snowflakes.
"I can't believe you managed to wrap all the presents with three kids to take care of," said Leia.
Han shrugged. "Well, ya know, have Chewie take 'em out for an afternoon, then you can wrap stuff."
One by one, the parents loaded the presents out of the closet and onto the bed, until the bed was almost covered with light blue wrapping paper that was dotted with sparkly snowflakes.
"Like a little winter scene," said Han. "Almost too pretty to disturb." He grinned at his wife. "Hey, how bout we break tradition and have the kids open the presents on the bed instead of under the tree?"
"Sure," said Leia, "if you don't want to sleep any more tonight."
"All right, bad idea," said Han, squeezing his wife's shoulder. "Then let's get started."
"Fine, hotshot," said Leia, planting a small kiss on her husband's cheek. "I'll go light the tree."
. . .
The living room was colder than the bedroom. Leia pulled her robe tighter around herself as she crept over to the Fete tree, guided only by the lights outside. Of course, she could have just turned on the living room light, but there was something about the darkness on Fete Eve that made her hesitant to break it with anything other than Fete lights. She bent down at the wall, feeling around for the switch to turn on the tree lights. Her hand had to rub the wall a few times, but once she felt that little bump, she flicked the switch in less than a second, illuminating the tree in dancing multicolored light.
For a few moments she could only stare at the tree, watching the lights dance. Her gaze leapt from ornament to ornament: the stars the kids had made out of paper, the tiny Millennium Falcon Han had insisted on buying when he saw it at the mall, the tiny holographic mountain scene that reminded her of Alderaan.
"Feelin' the Fete spirit yet?"
Leia turned and there was her husband standing in the doorway, clutching three presents against his chest. The rainbow of tiny lights danced across his body, highlighting his dark blue robe and his bed hair sticking up in various places.
"I think so," she said, swaying from side to side and smiling at her husband. "I'm feeling something, anyway."
Han grinned at her. "Well whatever you're feelin', you can help me out here, right?"
"Of course."
The parents made several treks back to the bedroom to fetch presents and place them lovingly under the Fete tree, dividing them into three stacks according to which child they were for, still lit up only by the tree lights. They said nothing, only smiling at each other as they arranged the presents.
When they were finished, they sat together on the couch facing the tree, snuggled against each other, gazing out at the sight before them. The lights continued their endless dance, splashing color against the presents and painting fireworks on the ceiling, reminding Leia of the Fete trees she decorated during her childhood. When she was little, she used to crawl under the tree and hang ornaments from the bottom branches, then throughout the season she would lie under there and gaze up at the wonderment above her.
"Do you think it will always be this magical?" she asked.
"Hmm?" said Han, still giving the tree most of his attention.
"Do you think it will always be this magical?" Leia repeated. "When the kids are older."
Han leaned forward as if he were trying to get a closer look at the tree, his hands clasped between his knees. "Hard to say. Can't really imagine them as teenagers, but they probably won't think Fete is so magical when they're older."
Leia ran her hand up and down her husband's back, digging her fingers into his fuzzy robe. "I remember Fete always being magical on Alderaan no matter how old I got . . . but that might be me idealizing my memories."
Han reached up and ran his fingers through his wife's hair. "Don't worry about losin' the magic right now, hon. They've still got a lotta years ahead of them." He stretched his arms over his head. "Well I'm goin' back to bed - the kids are probably gonna be up before dawn, after all." He pushed himself to his feet. "Wanna join me?"
"In a minute," said Leia. "I'd like to look at the tree a bit longer."
Once Han left, Leia slowly, quietly pulled one more gift out of her robe pocket. She tiptoed over to the tree and kneeled by the stacks of presents, searching for the perfect spot for this particular gift and finally tucking it directly beneath the tree's stump.
"Happy Fete, Han," she whispered.
. . .
"Mommy! Daddy!"
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
"Wake UP!"
Leia groaned as the children leapt onto the bed, shaking the mattress beneath her and making those annoying springy sounds.
"Come ON!" shouted Jacen. "It's Fete!"
"We know," Han mumbled.
"Then get UP!" screamed Jaina, grabbing Leia's shoulder and shaking her as much as a six-year-old could.
Leia yawned, forcing her eyes open to see her daughter's cheeky face just inches above hers, grinning so wide that dimples were creasing her cheeks. "C'mon Mommy, wake up!"
Leia yawned again. "All right, all right, I'm up."
"Yay!" shouted Jaina.
Meanwhile Anakin was pulling his father's hand, urging him into a sitting position despite the fact that he seemed only half-awake. "Daddy, Daddy, Fete!" he yelled.
"Okay, okay," mumbled Han, rubbing his eyes. "Let's go open presents."
"YAY!" all three children yelled together.
. . .
Even though the children knew their parents had put the presents under the tree while they slept, their eyes still widened as if the presents had appeared by magic. Leia and Han grinned down at their children, savoring the moment before they would dive at the gifts.
And dive they did. With loud whoops, they leapt at the presents, ripping one open and then the next, barely pausing in between to notice what they were.
"A toy Falcon!" Jaina screamed, waving her new toy in the air. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!"
"A Tatooine animal set!" Jacen exclaimed. "Thank you so so much!"
"A ball! A ball!" yelled Anakin.
On and on they went until the floor was covered in ripped and crumpled wrapping paper and stacks of toys. When they ran out of presents to rip open, Jacen and Anakin dove onto their parents, throwing their arms around their necks and giving their cheeks little kisses. Jaina, however, crawled under the tree, showing the soles of her little bare feet as she kicked them in the air. After digging for a moment, she emerged, a small wrapped box under her arm.
"Daddy, Daddy!" she said, waving the present at her father. "This one's for you!"
"Oh?" said Han, gently putting Anakin down.
"Yeah," said Jaina. "It's from Mommy."
"From Mommy?" Han repeated as he took the present from his daughter. "Well how'd Mommy hide that from me?"
"That's a secret," said Leia, giving her husband a cheeky grin. "Come on, open it."
"Yeah, open it!" said Jacen.
With a grin back at his wife, Han ripped off the paper and opened the box. He looked around at his family for a dramatic moment before reaching into the box and pulling out the item inside.
"Well?" said Leia. "Do you like it?"
Han held the tiny glass object up to the light, making the intricately sculpted figures of himself, Leia, and the children sparkle. "How did you get this made?" There was awe in his voice as he tilted the figure this way and that, making little bits of light jump around on his face.
"Well, there's this place that's only open during the holiday season. If you bring them a holo, they can make a glass figurine of whatever's in the holo." She rubbed her husband's shoulder. "So, what do you think?"
Han's recognizable cheeky grin slowly spread across his face. "I love it." He gave her cheek a long kiss, generating giggles from the children. "Happy Fete, hon." After a shared kiss on the lips, he cleared his throat. "Unfortunately . . . you're present's gonna have to wait a bit."
"Did you forget Mommy's present?" Anakin asked, jumping onto the couch.
"No!" Han said quickly. "Of course I didn't forget her present, but your uncle and aunt are hidin' it for me, so she'll have to wait until Fete dinner to get it." He leaned over to focus on his kids. "Speakin' of which, would you guys like to help wrap their presents before we go have dinner with them?"
"Yeah!" all three kids shouted in unison.