WELCOME TO PARENTHOOD

It was 0300 hours. Skies over Coruscant were dark; the late night scene, always lively, was fading. By 0600, the planet would be hopping to life again.

At the Solo residence, however, there was nothing remotely close to rest going on. Two noisy newborn babies refused to allow their parents to engage in anything resembling it.

"I think he's almost done," a weary Leia said to Han. Jacen had been feeding for a while now, and his twin sister Jaina was growing very impatient for him to finish his middle of the night dinner.

"That kid eats more than Chewie," Han said, trying to soothe Jaina. Her fussing gave way to outright screaming and Han's swaying to comfort her was now an exercise in futility. "Hold on, baby girl, hold on. Mommy'll feed you soon."

Jacen's eyes finally began to close, and Leia took the opportunity to release him from her breast. Jaina was screaming and locked on to Leia's nipple for dear life.

"You realize it's been days since I've had my upper body covered," Leia pointed out to Han. "If one's not eating, the other one is. This is not exactly glamorous."

"When was the last time we got more than thirty minutes of sleep?" Han asked, yawning while leaning Jacen against his shoulder, patting his back. "There now, little guy, you're all fed and ready to-" Before Han could finish his sentence, Jacen spat up on his shoulder, sending a trail of curdled white liquid falling down his father's arm and back. "Well, there goes another T shirt." The babies were barely two weeks old and already most of Han's shirts had been barfed on. "Let's see if I can get this one down to sleep."

And wash more baby barf off me, he muttered to himself.

To Han's relief, Jacen did not protest when laid in the cradle he'd built for the twins. He kept it next to their bed so that Leia would not have to go far to nurse.

Han thought back to the many hours he'd spent fashioning the cradle. That time seemed long, long ago, back when a decent night's sleep was not in the past tense. Like all new parents, he had no idea how time consuming caring for infants was. Others hand told them, but it was the sort of thing that one could not understand until experiencing it.

He and Leia were certainly experiencing it, in spades.

"Han?" Leia called out wearily.

"Yeah?"

"I need something to drink." Nursing made her thirsty. Han scrounged around the chiller to find some juice. There was no juice. He realized he'd forgotten to foodshop, or at least call for a delivery. He would have to do that. There were no more asteria waters. That left ice water. He took it to her.

"Sorry, we're out of everything."

"This is fine for now."

"I'll put in a delivery order now." Han grabbed a datapad, went to the site of a local grocer, and began placing an order. He remembered they were out of kaf; he'd drunk the last of it trying to remain awake yesterday. He made an entry for a giant economy size of his and Leia's favorite blend, teas that she liked but wouldn't keep the babies awake (they're already doing it without any chemical accentuation, he thought gruffly), juices, asteria waters, a large quantity of his favorite Alderaanian ale. He was trying to remember what they were out of other than beverages. His mind drew a huge blank. They were going to need to eat at some point. So far, they'd been calling for takeaway and catching bites as they could. He couldn't remember since he'd brought Leia and the twins home having an actual meal where he and Leia sat down together, let alone a conversation consisting of more than 'which baby is crying now.'

Jaina, unlike her brother, did not guzzle her food; she preferred to graze, meaning that every hour, she ate a small amount. Already her eyes were closing and she had barely eaten anything.

Han took a moment during the lull to look for a clean shirt. It didn't take him long to realize that he'd gone through every last one. There were also two baskets of infant clothing and more than a number of Leia's clothing items. Time to run stuff through the valet, he said as he took the two baskets and began feeding them in. He felt his eyes closing and wished to the gods that they hadn't run out of kaf.

He could hear Leia's footsteps padding towards the bedroom. He left the laundry for a moment and watched her as she gently tucked Jaina into the cradle with Jacen. She sang softly to their babies, rocking the cradle gently. Despite the fog of exhaustion, his heart melted, watching his beloved wife as a new mother. He set down the laundry for a moment and sat down next to her on the bed. He slipped his arm over her shoulder.

"That's a Corellian lullabye," he said, pulling her close.

"Did anyone ever sing that to you?" Leia asked.

"Not that I can remember."

"I wanted to learn it."

"You sing it beautifully." Her husky contralto had flooded him with warmth.

Both stared at their tiny babies, evidence of their love made flesh.

"You know what I don't understand?" Han asked Leia.

"Much?"

"Very funny. What I find mind boggling is how you fall in love with someone you're still getting to know. Here we are, dead on our feet, no clean clothes, in need of groceries, and yet, I don't think I've ever been so happy."

"To be honest, I don't feel like I know what I'm doing," Leia said.

"Neither do I, but I can't believe how much I love these little guys."

"I know what you mean." Leia smiled lovingly at the two little bundles in the cradle.

Han gave her a rakish smile. "These guys are asleep. Whaddya wanna do?"

Leia grinned at him.

Within moments, they were asleep atop their bed.