The first thing Lux realized when he woke up the next morning was that Ahmina was missing.

The only thing that could be thought after that was "oh, no," as Lux saw dozens of scenarios flash through his mind of Ahmina getting into all kinds of trouble.

But then he heard the happy babbling from down the hall, along with a voice he recognized as his wife's.

The sound rejeuvanated him, and he nearly leapt up and hurried down the hallway.

Indeed, there was his wife, and Ahmina hanging off of the sling on her chest.

Lux had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Somebody slept late." Ahsoka teased, and Lux's jaw dropped as he eyed the clock. It was nearly ten o'clock! He had never slept this late.

"See? I knew daddy couldn't last a day without me." Ahsoka declared to her daughter, who babbled in what seemed like agreement.

"Or maybe you couldn't last a day without him." Redia interposed from the corner of the kitchen, almost forgotten.

Ahsoka glared, and her adoptive daughter raised her hands in surrender. "I tried to keep her away, dad."

"It's quite alright." Even at her expense,Lux couldn't help but feel extremely grateful for the turnout. He wouldn't have made it another day.

"There's always next time." His wife assured him, ruffling his hair and kissing him on the cheek. Then her attention turned to her son, who was blinking sleep from his eyes.

"He's the one I worried about." Ahsoka continued. "How many meals did you let him skip?"

"Only one!"Lux exclaimed.

She raised an eyebrow. "And why did I hear him crying for help at least two separate occasions?"

Lux visibly deflated under her interrogations. "I'm just... I couldn't keep up with both of them. It was too much."

There was no use trying to hide his ego. Even at forty-five years of age, Lux was still learning new things... This time, it was how to be a father.

"All failures aside, I did have fun, 'Soka. It was tough, but still worth it."

"And that's all that matters."

"But I still feel like this is revenge for not helping you raise Aidan."

Before her mother could respond, Ahmina let out an especially loud fit of babbles, which Lux translated loosely into, "you haven't seen anything yet, dad!"

He groaned, but had to appreciate his younger daughter's enthusiasm, so perfectly checked by her brother's sense of calm. He certainly couldn't handle two days of a pair of rascals.

Once Redia had wandered off back to her room (only appearing slightly annoyed by the rearranging of her painting supplies) the parents sat down together on the couch, the twins they held switched as Ahsoka fed Acelin a late breakfast.

"You said you could "hear" Acelin?" Lux prompted.

"Yes. All weekend." His wife replied."His telepathy is much more developed than his other siblings."

"Does that mean anything?"

"I'm not sure. It's too early to tell." Ahsoka switched Acelin to her other side and watched him a moment, running her fingers through his impressive head of hair.

"He and 'Mina are as different as day and night."

She snorted."I knew that from the moment I first sensed them. It's nothing new, Lux."

The news was sobering, and only added to Lux's hypothesis: he hadn't spent as much time with his children as he'd like to.

Eventually, he began to relay the events of their day together, starting with accidentally having to scold Ahmina for bullying her brother and then mixing up their clothes before going out. Ahsoka seemed surprised, even proud at the idea of them going out for the first time, and chuckled a bit as she easily visualized a frazzled Lux trying to keep up with 'Mina. Her face fell slightly when she learned of Acelin's response to the feel of grass.

"What?" Lux paused in his narrative at her long face. She had gone silent and was now looking at her youngest with a face that was nearly regretful.

"He's special." Ahsoka decided."That's all I can say."

As much as he wanted to press the subject, Lux didn't and continued his story until he got to the part about their joint art project.

"I'll be right back." He set 'Mina down on the couch beside her mother and hurried off to where he had hidden the letter and prints.

For some reason, he was about as nervous as the time he was presenting Ahsoka with an engagement ring rather than a silly piece of flimsiplast. It had dried well, even Acelin's rather smudged little handprint.

"Ahmina gave me the idea while we were looking through the family albums. I found the lack of memorium appalling, and tried to fix it." He was already blushing as he held out the prints of their children's hands and feet.

Ahsoka accepted gratefully with both hands, her mouth already open in an "awe" as she beheld the simple gift. "This is just the kind of thing I would've hung up in my x-wing, back in the day!"

Phew. Lux felt the weight of the galaxy removed from his shoulders as he watched her face change with emotion as she scanned his letter. She liked it!

"And look at you!" Ahsoka cooed,looking at her children with pure adoration. "You've grown so much!"

It was true. In comparison the the first hand and footprints, (immortalized on the corner of the scrub top Lux had been forced to wear in the delivery room or when handling the newborns) they had almost doubled in size.

They weren't so small anymore.

In just a blink of an eye, 'Mina and Acelin had grown at a rate Lux could never have predicted. A rate he was missing, if not for this project...

"You know what, Soka?" He asked, readjusting his posture so she could lean into him, still holding both babies. "I think I'll give this another shot. I can get some time off again in a few weeks. By then they'll be crawling-"

"And teething!" Ahsoka finished enthusiastically."Lux, you're going to have so much fun!" The faintest twinkle of her eyes revealed her true feelings: she really was being sarcastic. No, she was enjoying Lux's struggle.

"And they'll need their six-month vaccinations." She went on."Can you handle that, too?" She paused."Lux?"

The poor man was already zoned out, imagining the horrors that would await him in the month to come. But as he had said before:

"It's all worth it, Soka." He said, a genuine grin coming across his handsome features. "It'll be hard... But it's all worth it, just like I said in my letter. I meant every word."

His wife flashed an impish grin."Then maybe we could try for ano-"

"NO!"

oooooooooooooo

Author's note:

And so, Lux survived!... Kind of.

We have to give him kudos for making it halfway through before Ahsoka crashed his party. To be fair, he did seem to be having trouble... We'll have to see if he can manage to last two full days in the future.

Just a side note: the end of a section will always be less "Lux centric" like this chapter was, as there will always be a homecoming to write in order for Ahsoka to see how well- or badly- he does. (Maybe she really is doing it out of revenge. Who knows?)

In the next bit, we'll see the new dad conquer new obstacles and discover more ways that being a father is much harder than it looks. You might laugh, you might cry, who knows what the future will bring??

Reviews appreciated, but no flames please!

May the force be with you,

Dinui