A/N: And here it is. The final chapter of this short story. Hope you all enjoyed it. I simply can't get enough of this super-sweet couple so hopefully you all will get to see them more in the future. But for now, adieu. Do leave final thoughts and comments. You know I love 'em!

-FK.

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Hell, no!"

Davin and Cherian Fel stomped away from the knot of immediate family members comprising of their father, mother and grandfather, dark sulks adorning their faces, and almost collided with the legs of their eldest cousin.

"Whoa there, short stuffs! Watch where you're going! Oh my, what's with those stunning scowls?"

They looked up at him darkly.
"Ben, can we have a drink?"

"Oh, sure!"

Dav and Che's expressions morphed into ones of incredulity in seconds.
"We can?! You're not kidding?!"

"Well, sure you can!"

He lifted two glasses half-filled with a dark liquid off the tray he was carrying and handed one to each of the dumbstruck boys.
"Here ya go. Enjoy!"

He winked and moved off.

Their hearts hammering in their chests, the Fel twins exchanged an excited glance and in three seconds swigged down their glasses.
And then collapsed against the nearest wall, gagging, hacking and pounding each other on the back.

"Ben Skywalker! You shenbit!" they yelled in unison.
"That was just GalactiCola! Ooooh! My insides are burning!"

On the other side of the room, their cousin turned and grinned.
"What did you expect?! After your daddy, mommy and grandaddy all said no? Think I'm suicidal or something?!"


It was her first Fete Week as a member of the Skywalker-Solo family and Myri was nervous. Because this was also the first time she would be hosting the traditional Fete Day dinner at her and Ben's new apartment on Coruscant.
They were expecting a rather large number of guests, and Myri hoped the apartment wouldn't feel too cramped.
Thankfully, Ben had taken the actual dinner off her hands. Which left her to arrange for... well, everything else and clean up so the apartment was presentable.

At the end, she stood ticking off a mental checklist so as to make sure she hadn't missed anything. As the first time hostess, she wanted to make the best impression on her in-laws that she possibly could.

Well-stocked liquour cabinet and cocktail counter + Fizzade for the kids- check.
Sabacc table- check
Best table linen and dinnerware- well... relatively, check.
Now, to more important things- What shall I wear...?

Ben sneaked up behind her and encircled her waist.

"Red, I can smell you from a hundred yards away," Myri groaned, but leaned back against him anyway.

"Oh yeah? Remember that it's the smell of your wonderfully talented husband putting in a lot of hard work which you get credit for this evening!"

Despite herself, she had to smile.
"Mmmm. Well, I didn't say you smelled bad..."

Ben spun her around and captured her lips in a kiss.
"Wait till you get a taste of my nerf-steaks tonight, sweetheart. I promise you you're going to fall in love with me all over again!"

Looking at the dancing light in his eyes, Myri had absolutely no doubt that she would.


Luke Skywalker paused outside the apartment door to straighten his robes before he rang the buzzer. He knew he would probably be the first one there.

His son opened the door with a look of faint irritation.

"We gave you a key-card for a reason, Dad," he greeted him.
"You needn't announce yourself every time."

"The exercise will do you good, Jedi Skywalker," his father retorted amiably, walking in and handing him his outer robe.
"Men tend to become complacent after they're married."

Ben glanced sideways at him.
"My wife is a former CorSec and current CSF agent, Dad. Believe me when I tell you she'll have no qualms about pulling a blaster on me when I cease to meet her expectations. Think about it, did you let up on your training after you married Mom?"

Luke smiled and moved to the kitchen for a glass of water.
"So where is the missus?"

Ben winced.
"Have I told you how much I hate it when you refer to her like that? She's got a name, you know. And she's still getting dressed."

"And you're done?"

"With the exception of the twins and Allana, everyone coming here tonight has seen me in diapers, Dad. And even Allana's occasionally witnessed my true Dark Side. I have nothing left to prove."

His father chuckled.

Just at that moment, Myri came out of the bedroom, dressed very fashionably in sheer formal pants paired with shiny black stillettos and an A-line top in shimmering blue. Heavy eye make-up made her look very chic.

"Grand Master," she greeted, beaming and coming forward to kiss her father-in-law on both cheeks.

"Myri, my dear, what have I told you about calling me that?"

She shrugged and looked askance at her husband.
"It's actually my retribution on him. He finds it impossible to address my dad as anything but 'General'!"

Luke glared at his son.

Ben widened his eyes.
"He loves it! I doubt he'd rather I called him anything else. And he always takes on this stern commanding tone whenever he talks to me."

Myri rolled her eyes.
"You two have issues," she muttered.


So far so good.

Myri walked around the party and felt her heart swell with no uncertain amount of pride. She and Ben had pulled it off! No disasters... yet. She discreetly crossed her fingers behind her back.

She crossed over to the carefully set up bar counter which was her husband's pride and joy in the apartment.

Ben, the self-appointed bartender for the evening, jogged over.
"What can I interest milady in this evening?"

She smiled at him, her eyes reflecting her excitement.
"We did it, Red! We managed to pull off a sane party!"

Ben flashed her a lop-sided grin.
"Wait till your dad and my uncle have the best parts of a bottle of Whyren's inside them. That's when the fun's really gonna start! But seriously, can I rustle you up something?"

She rested her arm on the bar-top and placed her chin in her hand, batting her eyelashes prettily at him.
"Surprise me."

Ben didn't need a second invitation to lean in for a kiss.


Dinner turned out to be a grand success. For Ben, the high point came when his uncle and father-in-law, both reasonably drunk by then, started arguing over the nerf-steaks.

"Dammit, Wedge!" Han insisted, slapping the table, " I'm tellin' ya. He learned the recipe from me!"

"I've had your nerf-steaks, Solo," Wedge Antilles responded, unfazed, "And these aren't your nerf-steaks."

A thunderous frown formed on Han Solo's brows and he began to slowly rise to his feet.
"Hold on just a minute. Are you saying my nephew's cooking... isn't good enough for you?!"

Wedge's eyes were hard points as he looked down his nose at the older Corellian.
"No, I'm saying that my son-in-law's steaks are better!"


"Now this burtalle," Lando Calrissian was saying, grinning genially as he sat back and held up a cut-glass decanter containing a clear amber liquid, "Is a particularly special one for a very special Calrissian family tradition."

Tendra Risant Calrissian, Lando's extremely attractive wife, looked around at everyone as she explained.
"Lando's made it 'tradition' to open the oldest bottle of burtalle he has every Fete Day. It's to appreciate the old and make way for the new, as he puts it."

Han snorted into his whisky glass.
"Well, that's a better tradition than Leia's annual spiceloaf!"

Ben, Jaina and Allana immediately sprang to Leia's defence.

"Uncle Han, it's tradition," Ben interposed, solemnly.

"Yeah, Grandpa. You can't argue with tradition," Allana piped up.

"And the worse it is, the better, right, Mom?" smirked Jaina.
"You really outdid yourself this year. The spiceloaf was positively unpalatable!"

Leia smiled smugly.

Jag looked around curiously.
"You mean this is actually a ritual joke?" he asked.

"See, Mom can't cook" Jaina explained, matter-of-factly.
"In fact, none of the Skywalker women can. Even Aunt Mara couldn't! I actually attribute Ben's culinary skills to this very deprivation. But Mom would always insist on making her spiceloaf for Fete Day dinner every year! Eventually, it got so unbearable, we decided to absorb it as a joke, since we sure as hell couldn't eat it!"

Jag tried to suppress his amusement, but failed.
"You know, we Fels had a holiday tradition too, back on Csilla when we were children."

Han looked at him suspiciously.
"Really? Soontir allowed it? He didn't just give you a double dose of military rations as a Fete Day treat?"

Jag looked miffed.
"Father would participate in it with us. It was what Mother called the Ryshcate Treasure Hunt."

Wedge looked up at this from the other end of the table, obviously surprised.
"The Ryshcate Hunt?"

Jag nodded.

"Why, that used to be our old family tradition on Gus Treta! Syal taught it to you kids?"

Jag grinned broadly.
"Mother would make a special ryshcate the day before Fete Day and hide huge slices of it in different places. And at night, Father and we would all launch a mission to find them all. It used to be intensely competitive, needless to say. Chak would inevitably get into a fight with either Davin or me and Father would have to punish us afterwards. But Mother's ryshcate was always worth it."
He smiled fondly at the remembrance.

Wedge nodded enthusiastically.
"It was one tradition I preserved even after our parents died. I taught it to Mirax and either she or Booster would always manage a ryshcate in time for Fete Day. Does she still do it?" he enquired of Valin, sitting to his left and following the conversation interestedly.

"Yeah. But Dad insists on some sappy old story of it being in memory of how she had baked him a ryshcate when they'd first met."
He shrugged.
"Personally, I prefer the Fete Day Hunt explanation. I remember me and Jysella once made Master Tionne organize the Hunt in Shelter on Fete Day for all the kids. Remember, Syal?"

His new fiancee nodded in acquiescence.

He looked over at Ben.
"You, of course, were far too young to remember that."

Ben leaned his chair back on its legs and caught his father's eye.
"We have our own Skywalker family traditions, don't we, Dad?"

Luke nodded at him and grinned.
"Yep. Fete Day wouldn't be Fete Day without a mug of after-dinner hot chocolate."

"With extra whipped cream!"
Ben's eyes twinkled.

Han, Jaina and Myri, the caf-lovers, all groaned.

Dav and Che had so far been unusually patient, listening to all the adults' conversation. But now they felt they had to put in their own two-cred worth.

"But what about presents ?"
Che Fel bluntly pointed out the part of Fete Day that interested him the most.

His father, sitting beside him, chuckled softly and pulled them both onto his lap so they could witness the reactions from the gathered audience.
"I was wondering when somebody was going to come to that," he remarked.

Luke, Han and Leia looked to their children and grandchildren, who were smiling amongst themselves.

"Ah yes, the presents", Luke sighed indulgently.

"Is it midnight yet?" Davin asked worriedly, afraid the magical hour when they would finally be let loose upon their bounty would slip by in the wake of all the family remembrances.

Ben reached over and ruffled his hair.
"Don't worry, kiddo," he assured him, "It's not midnight yet. I've got my eye on the clock too!"

Lando turned to the newly engaged Syal Antilles with a benevolent smile.
"Well then, in honour of your special news, Syal, my dear, would you oblige us by initiating the celebrations?"
He offered her the bottle of burtalle.

Syal, taken by surprise at being asked, blushed, but accepted the honour gladly.


As the clock chimed the midnight hour, all assembled at the table raised their glasses in toast.

Ben leaned over to kiss Myri soundly on the lips, even as their little cousins emitted war-whoops of delight and shot off to attack the pile of presents waiting for them in a special corner.

"Happy Fete Day, sweetheart."

She looked at him, her happiness shining through her eyes.
"Right back at you, rockstar. The first of many, d'you think?"

Ben flashed her a wide cock-sure grin.
"You know it."

And the two kissed again, more in love now than they had been the first time they'd dared open their hearts to each other.


Leia was standing in the quiet semi-darkness of the balcony when she felt the familiar presence of her husband draw closer.

"There you are. I was looking for you. Everything alright, Princess?"

She turned around and smiled at him warmly.
"Everything's lovely, Han. Come, stand with me for a while."

He gladly obliged, wrapping an arm around her.
They stood in silence, the light breeze making Leia's open hair wave ever so slightly. Han looked down at her as she gave a soft sigh that might have escaped almost anyone else less attuned to her moods.

"Thinking about him?"

Leia gave a slight imperceptible nod.
"I wish he could have found such happiness here. Or anywhere, for that matter."

"We were never invited when he lived here, were we?"

This time Leia shook her head, a small ironic smile lifting the corner of her lips.
"Everytime I look at Ben, I'm newly proud of the way he's turned his life around. Force knows he deserves every scrap of it."

Han nodded behind her, shifting to hold her around her waist.
"Yeah. But it makes you wonder too, doesn't it?"

Leia turned around to look her husband in the eyes and found the old grief pooling in their depths. The grief for their sons.
She reached up to lay a soft hand against his rough cheek.
"Jacen could have had all of this, Han. He chose not to. And finally, I think I'm at peace with the choices he made."

She smiled, this time for real, and turned back to the panoramic view of the infinite city at their feet.
"Something tells me this house has never seen as much laughter as it has tonight. Myri and Ben made the right decision in deciding to convert this into their home. I know they will continue to fill it with their happiness and love. And I believe it will be a better place for it."

THE END