Han had discovered a long time ago that his wife's bedtime regime was fastidiously observed.
Facial cleansing and toning.
Teeth scrubbed and mouth gargled.
Hair brushed and tied in a single plait.
Han has also discovered a long time ago how much he liked to watch his wife brush her hair.
Liked the way it cascaded down her back.
Liked it's swish and sway.
It had grown, not to the length it was before, but long enough for him to admire.
On days when necessity demanded she act more like an ornery old codger than even the ornery old codger's did, it was a salutary reminder of her all too obvious femininity.
Propped against his pillows, he watched her now as she brushed through her locks one more time...for luck...then twisted it into a soft braid.
"Are you even listening to me?" She asked him through the mirror.
"Every word sweetheart. What were you saying?" He grinned and patted the bed beside him.
Leia rolled her eyes, pushed herself awkwardly to her feet and joined him in bed.
Her crutch stored in it's customary place, she swung her legs up and curled into his arms.
"I was saying that I think Jaina looks tired. Exhausted even." She said into his chest.
"I'm not surprised the way she chomped through that nerfsteak!" He complained.
"You think she looks tired?" She asked, tilting her face toward him.
"Maybe. A little I don't know." He shrugged.
"And she was deliberately blocking me." Leia alleged, snuggling against him.
"And you shouldn't have been probing her." He chided.
"I wasn't probing!" She told him defensively. "I was just trying to establish that she was all right."
"I think she looked just fine." He smiled. "When did my little girl get so grown up?"
Han felt Leia shiver against him.
"You okay sweetheart?" He queried.
"Those were my father's exact words when he kissed me goodbye the day I left to retrieve the Death Star plans." She hugged him tightly.
Han tipped her chin in his direction.
"Don't suppose you feel like picking up where we left off earlier do you?" He asked with a lop-sided grin.
"Not tonight." She answered, wrinkling her nose. "Do you mind?"
He repositioned himself under the covers and cradled her to him, one arm holding her protectively around the shoulders, the other draped loosely at her waist.
"Woulda been kinda nice." He muttered before smiling. "But no. I don't mind."
He pressed his lips to the top of her head and within minutes both were asleep.
Across the living area, in the bedroom that had been hers since her third birthday, Jaina Solo willed herself without success to sleep.
She hated the night.
Hated when her body was disinclined to obey her desire to relax.
Finally, after tossing and turning for what felt like forever, she threw back her covers and padded softly around her room. She rearranged a few oddments and books; checked her padd for the dozenth time for messages; filed her nails.
With a sigh, she left her bedroom and headed out to the kitchen.
She poked about the refrigeration unit but finding nothing of interest went back to the living area and stood taking in it's familiar contours in the stillness of the night.
Memories flooded back; dinners they'd shared when the family was still young; her father playing at Starships when she and her brothers were still small enough for him to lift aloft and circle around the room; watching holovids until they all fell asleep in a heap.
Wonderful memories of wonderful times.
Her family.
Back before the burden of responsibility had extended to her young shoulders.
Jaina's smile faded and she sank into the sofa as though the fate of the Galaxy rested on her.
Before they had all gone to bed, Jaina had asked to look at old family holos, which her father had all too readily produced. Her mother's soft sigh told Jaina that her father enjoyed showing off his holorecording skills to just about anyone who remained seated long enough to view them.
She grinned to herself as she found one marked 'Twins First Outing'.
Leia and Han had taken the twins to the park and, as far as Jaina could tell, they would have been about three or four months old. They were laid on a blanket kicking their legs in the shade of a tree, their mother to their side. Their father circled the three of them, his focus on the twins drifting then to their mother, still carrying a little of her baby stomach and most likely already pregnant with Anakin. She'd waved him off, pointing at the twins and saying something the micro-recorder failed to pick up.
Replacing the disc, Jaina pulled another labelled Leia and Me.
Jaina's eyes grew wide as it opened with her naked father laying atop her equally naked mother, arms and legs entangled, kissing for all they were worth. It cut immediately to a beach vacation, her blushing mother trying in vain to get her father to stop recording her. Next they were in their kitchen where her father stood behind her mother, his hands gripping hers as together they flipped pancakes. He deliberately flipped one toward her and when it landed on her chest burst out laughing at her outrage. Right before he apologised with a flurry of kisses to her face and neck.
There were similar such holos until Jaina found one of her mother, heavily pregnant and lying in a steaming bathtub, arms covering her breasts and one knee drawn up to preserve her modesty. She was again berating him for recording her, then her father spoke as his finger traced the linea negra from her mother's pubic bone to her belly button. Soft words of their love and of her devotion and of his absolute awe of all her mother was doing in bearing his children.
The screen turned dark and Jaina was about to eject it from the player when her father appeared once more, sitting back in his pilots chair in the Falcon, having obviously set the autorecord.
He smiled at the screen, his usual cock-eyed smile that others tried so hard to emulate but always failed.
"If you're watching this sweetheart." He intoned. "Either I've forgotten to stop it playing or...or I flew too close to that super-nova you've been warning me about one too many times and didn't make it home. I kinda hope it's not the latter. 'Cos that would mean I wouldn't get to take my last breath by your side. And when my time comes Leia, that sure as Hell is where I wanna be. You're the better part of me sweetheart. Without you, I'd be nothing. You're my confidant, my wife, my lover, and after Chewie, my best friend. I know I don't say this too often, but I love you Leia my darling. Love you so much." He lowered his voice. "You know I only said that about Chewie 'cos I know he's listening!" An angry Wookiee snarl made Jaina laugh.
He opened his mouth as if to say more. Smiled and nodded a knowing look at the screen.
It was a look Jaina had seen her father give her mother a thousand times.
Maybe he'd planned on adding more to the recording at another time.
But Jaina had a feeling he'd said all he needed to say.
And all that her mother would have needed to hear.
The look had said more than his words ever could.
Jaina breathed deeply and ejected the disc.
"Can't sleep?" Leia asked from behind her, causing Jaina to jump.
"Sorry. Body clock adjustment." She apologised. "Did I wake you?"
"No." Leia replied joining her daughter on the sofa. "That would be your fathers' snoring!"
"Since when did Dad snore?" Jaina asked.
"Oh, he got in a fight a couple of weeks back." Leia rolled her eyes. "A simple misunderstanding to hear your father talk. All I know is, he got a broken collar bone, dislocated shoulder and bloodied nose. And since then, he's been snoring like a Bantha!"
"Did he go to the Med Centre?" Jaina asked concerned.
"After I'd badgered him for three days, sure." Leia groaned, watching Jaina eject the disc. "What you got there sweetheart?"
Jaina showed her mother the disc and watched the blood drain from Leia's face.
"He promised me he recorded over that!" Leia spluttered.
"He did. There's just a tiny bit at the very start. But don't worry, you were trim back then." Jaina smiled.
"Is that more Rogue-talk?" Leia asked.
"No Mom." Jaina laughed. "It's young-person-talk. You were trim and Dad was buff. Trim and Buff are good."
"Glad to hear it." Leia mumbled.
Jaina selected another disc and inserted it into the player. A hologram appeared of a four year old Jaina, riding her father's shoulders, her twin brother bouncing along in a piggyback. Anakin's small fingers coming into view as he tried desperately to pry the holocam from his mother's hands but she was perfectly skilled at avoiding his grasp.
"My, you are in reflective mood tonight aren't you?" Leia observed.
"If you had to live your life over, would you have done anything differently?" Jaina asked, pausing the disc.
"Sure. Lots of things." Leia replied with an honesty Jaina wasn't sure she was expecting. "But not your father. And definitely not you or your brothers."
"Even though you didn't want to have us at first?" Jaina pressed.
"That's not entirely true." Leia sighed. "It's not like I didn't want you or Jacen or Anakin. I just wasn't very receptive to the idea of having any children after I'd learned about my real father. But your Dad made me realise any children we had would have an enormous advantage over Vader; they'd have us as their parents. And I think we did okay. Considering!"
"I know I've behaved like a complete Gamorrean toward you Mom! And I sorry." Jaina hugged her mother tightly. "Truly sorry."
"Oh sweetheart..." Leia laid her head to her daughter's head and reached out through the Force to
reassure and comfort her child. And felt movement in response.
"Oh. My. Goodness!" Leia exclaimed. "You're pregnant!"
xxxxxxxxxxxx
When Leia eased herself back into bed beside her husband, her mind was in turmoil.
"Couldn't leave her be, couldya honey?" He mumbled into the pillow beside her.
"I was right. She's in trouble Han." Leia whispered.
"She's a smart kid. Whatever it is, she'll find her own way out of it." He said, reaching to throw an arm over Leia and tug her closer.
"I don't think so. Not this time." Leia fretted.
"She's a Solo. Trust me." Han assured her and nuzzled her left shoulder blade. "No trouble's too big, no trouble's too small. Hey, I should make that my business tag-line."
He planted a kiss on her shoulder.
Leia rolled onto her side, considering what his reaction might be.
"Don't freak." She told him.
Han's eyes opened slowly.
"How much trouble is she in?" He asked cautiously.
"About eighteen years worth." Leia replied.
"What she do, crash a Star Cruiser into the General's private yacht?" He scoffed.
"Not that kind of trouble." Leia answered.
"Then what?" He shrugged one shoulder.
"The small infant kind." Leia said softly. "She's pregnant."
Han blinked and sat up slowly. Leia rising to sit beside him.
"P. Pregnant. Did you say pregnant?" He asked calmly.
Leia nodded trying to assess Han's state of mind.
"I'm not going kill your brother with his own lightsaber." He was shaking his head. "I'm gonna use it to slice Jagged Fel's sorry ass in half!"
"Jag's not the father." Leia laid a small hand on Han's arm.
"Then...then who?" Han looked puzzled.
"She wouldn't say. Just that she and Jag had different assignments and that she hasn't seen him for the past six months." Leia replied.
"Was she..." Han's face turned dark. "Did somebody hurt her? Force her?"
"No. Nothing like that." She assured him.
"I thought we brought her up better than to fall for a one night stand!" He cursed.
"It wasn't like that either." Leia countered. "She said it was just...just something that happened."
"Isn't that the same as a one night stand?" Han queried.
"No. They're totally different." Leia answered, defending Jaina. "A one night stand is an emotionless coupling between two people who's only intent is mutual gratification."
"Whereas 'just something that happened' is more like what you and Isolder shared?" He arched an eyebrow at her.
"You are needlessly baiting me!" Leia observed. "Besides, whether Jaina was the victim of an assault, loose morals or just 'something that happened' is immaterial, because she's decided that she's not keeping it."
"The Hell she's not!" Han barked.
"This is her life Han. It's her decision." Leia asserted.
"You stay here." He pointed his finger in her face and climbed off the bed. "You've had your say with her, now it's my turn. No Grandchild of mine is gonna grow up not knowing their own family."
"Han!" Leia called after him. But he was already stomping across the darkened living quarters and down the hallway to what remained his children's bedrooms.
He paused outside Jaina's room, his knuckle ready to rap on it's frame when he heard Jaina's voice. "It's not locked. Come on in Dad."
Palming the door aside, he found her sitting cross-legged on the bed.
"Mom told you, didn't she?" Jaina sighed.
"A baby!" Was all Han could say.
His little girl was sitting as she had a hundred times before for one of their father-daughter chats.
And it made his heart ache to think of someone pawing at her like she belonged to them.
"It's not an actual baby." She said stubbornly. "It's just a collection cells at this stage."
"How far along are ya?" He asked.
"Not enough for anyone to call it a baby yet." She dodged, her eyes not meeting her fathers.
"One month? Two? More?" He pressed.
"I haven't even skipped my first period yet." She glared up at him. "And before you ask, I know I'm pregnant because I can feel it inside me. And no, that still doesn't make it a baby because what I feel is just the cells thickening as they attach themselves to my uterine wall. At this precise moment in time, it's nothing more than a parasite."
"A parasite?" His mouth gaped.
"A blood-sucking parasite." She continued to glare at him. "Though not for much longer."
"Honey..." He sank onto the bed beside her. "Shouldn't we at least talk about it first."
"There's nothing to talk about Dad. My mind's made up." She insisted.
"Look, I know your Mom and I haven't really discussed this but I know she'll agree with me wholeheartedly." He blurted. "You don't need to give your baby up for adoption, your Mom and I can take care of him, or her, and you can still have your career with Rogue if that's what you want."
"Adoption?" Jaina asked confused. "I'm not giving it up for adoption. I'm having it terminated."
"Abortion!" Han exclaimed.
"It's called a medical termination." She corrected.
"You can call it what you like, it amounts to the same thing." He spat.
"And you can call it what you like, I'm not going to change my mind." She said, unwavering.
"Now listen here young lady..." Han pushed to his feet, glowering and wagging his finger at her.
"It's not like I have to ask your permission or anything." She jutted her chin at him in defiance.
Same damn look her mother used to give me! He thought.
Any further retort died on his lips at the sound of Leia's high-pitched scream.
He raced back through their apartment and found Leia lying, face down and bloodied, struggling to rise after tripping and falling into a glass-topped table.
"Okay sweetheart, I gotcha!" He scooped her easily into his arms.
"It's nothing. Just a scratch." She insisted, aware that blood had streaked her face and was soaking into her sleepwear.
"I'm getting you to the Medical Centre." Han told her.
"I'll drive." Jaina offered.
"You stay put." Han growled. "We're not done yet, but right now I need to take care of your Mom."
"Dad!" She tried to appeal as he disappeared out of the apartment.
Her hand lightly touched her abdomen as she felt the mutation continue. She'd hoped that they would understand. Maybe they still would. Maybe she was just going to have to be that little bit more honest with them.
Meanwhile, Leia sat on the biobed and waited patiently for the medi-droid to finish encasing her ankle in a cooling bacta bandage and a six inch bacta strip to clot the blood and knit the flesh wound to her forehead.
Han paced annoyingly back and forth while the droid finished up and rolled out of the room.
"An abortion Leia!" He finally exploded.
"I know. You said it already. Five times on the way over here and twice more on the elevator to the emergency suite." She groaned.
"Why didn't you get her an implant?" He asked accusingly.
"So, now this is my fault?" She asked. "And will you please stop pacing, you're making my headache worse!"
"And just what did you think you were doing, wand'ring through the apartment without your crutch?" He demanded.
"I was trying to stop you making an asshole of yourself!" She snapped. "Obviously I was too late. As always."
"Well how was I to know she wanted..." Han was interrupted by a human doctor entering the room.
"Organa-Solo?" He asked.
"Guilty as charged." Leia smiled.
"Dr Kree." He smiled back. "I've reviewed your notes and I'm happy to tell you, you're free to go home. Two inhibitors when the pain becomes too intense." He told her and handed her a bag of painkillers.
"Thank you Doctor." Leia was all smiles as Kree left the room then turned an icy stare on her husband.
"Don't give me that look!" Han protested. "And don't tell me you agree with her either, because I know you better'n that!"
"I'd prefer it if things were different." She confirmed, accepting his offered hand of assistance in getting off the bed. "But it's not for us to judge. We raised her to be her own woman. We can't now try to stifle her just because her decision doesn't agree with ours."
Han growled something akin to his agreement and helped Leia to their waiting speeder.
"Seriously?" Han snapped, snatching a flimsie from his windscreen. "A parking fine! Can you believe that? I'm in a medical bay and I got a parking fine! Can this day get any better!"
Once home, Han helped Leia change into fresh nightwear and although he had hoped to speak further with Jaina, Leia's disapproving pout persuaded him to leave it until morning. Without even trying, both were asleep almost before their heads hit their pillows.
Jaina, meanwhile, was meditating.
It was the closest she had been to sleep in the better part of a month and almost as relaxing.
Through meditation she was able to slow her heart rate and her breathing. And for the most part their voices, which still penetrated her mind on a daily basis.
It was something she had been warned to expect.
And something she hoped would fade soon.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Jaina remained deliberately still until late morning giving the impression that she had finally managed to bring her body clock in line with Coruscant standard time.
It wasn't true. She was still very much on Killik time but her meditation helped her to successfully hide the fact.
By the time she eventually emerged from her bedroom, her father was gone and her mother was working at the table on her personal screen. The cut to her forehead had healed overnight and her ankle, although still strapped, appeared not to be troubling her.
"Finally! She emerges from her pit of primordial soup." Leia scolded.
"You want some stim tea?" Jaina asked.
"If you're making some." Leia smiled and continued tapping at her padd.
"What're you working on?" Jaina enquired, returning with two cups of stim and tea and sitting beside her mother.
"My memoirs!" Leia explained and turned the screen toward her daughter.
"The Crook, the Wook and Me." Jaina read.
"It's just a working title. I doubt it'll ever get finished. And if it does, I doubt it'll ever get published. But so many people said I should write about my experiences." Leia continued.
"Am I in there?" Jaina sipped her tea.
"You will be, once I get that far." Leia scrolled back to re-read a couple of lines.
"Can you make me nicer than I really am?" Jaina pulled her legs up onto the chair and hugged them to her chest before slipping them back down to the floor. "Sorry. I know you always hated me sitting like that." Jaina apologised.
"I hated that your brothers copied you and neither one of them could get food in their mouths without dropping it down them first." Leia commented, lightly caressing Jaina's cheek. "And you already are nice."
"Girl meets nice boy, nice boy and girl get on. Girl listens to older man telling her nice boy cheated on her even though he wouldn't do that to her and allows herself to become infatuated with older man. Nice boy won't forgive her saying there's nothing to forgive, making him even nicer than before. Girl falls out with mother for no reason at all and comes home pregnant by someone who isn't the nice boy." She quoted.
"Don't you think you're being a little hard on yourself?" Leia asked.
"Did I meet a nice boy, yes. Did I believe every lying word from Isolder's lying mouth, yes. Did Jag have every right to shun me, yes. Am I humbled that he doesn't want to run me through with my own lightsaber, yes." She ticked them off one by one on her fingers. "Am I now pregnant by someone who isn't Jagged Fel, yes. Ergo, I am not a nice person."
Leia pushed her padd away from her.
"You know, I never told your father, but early in our marriage I found myself in a similar position to you. We'd been married about six, maybe seven months and everyone was talking about when we might produce 'an heir'. Your father was away on business and I, well, I thought I might be pregnant. Now I had been very clear that children were simply not an option for me, so I figured if we'd...you know...had a little accident, then it was up to me to do something about it." She took a sip of her tea and collected her thoughts. "I also figured if I told your father, he might try to persuade me that it was a sign from the Force or something so it was probably best if I didn't tell him."
She paused, reflecting.
"And did you?" Jaina asked after a while. "Did you have do something about it?"
"No." Leia's lips formed a thin smile. "When I got to the Medical Centre, it turned out it was just a false alarm. I hadn't been paying proper attention to the calendar and the downside to continued space travel is it can really throw your cycle out of whack! But you know, after I came home...here to this apartment...with your father away and all, I don't think I ever felt more empty. Or more alone."
Jaina watched her mother take another small sip of tea, her eyes watery with remembrance.
"Whatever you decide Jaina, you know your father and I will support you." Leia turned her full attention on her daughter. "Just be sure it is what you want. Because once the decision's made, there's no going back."
"I will." Jaina nodded her confirmation.
"So, what time's your psyche evaluation?" Leia asked brightly.
"Oh poodoo!" Jaina exclaimed. "I gotta go. See you later."
And she was gone. In the same whirlwind as she had arrived.