THE BABYSITTERS' CLUB
Chapter 4
Luke was sitting on the floor with the babies, rolling balls to them and watching them try to maneuver them back to their uncle. Jaina's lip had a cut on it but it was nowhere nearly as terrible as Luke imagined it had been. She was acting as if nothing had ever happened, whereas Luke was still shaken a bit. The twins were laughing and giggling.
And then the room become aromatic, and not in a good way. Luke groaned; it had only been two days and he'd lost count of how many diapers he'd had to change. Chewie was out food shopping, naturally, so the task fell to Luke. First he had to determine which baby smelled foul, so he picked each one up. It was Jacen.
"C'mon, big guy, let's get you cleaned up," Luke said, carrying the little boy to the bedroom. He turned to Jaina. "And you, stay out of trouble." Of course, Jaina's response was to begin crawling after them. She was, by Luke's approximation, crawling at the same rate as the Falcon, assuming the hyperdrive was functioning properly.
Luke did find that he could change diapers faster than the day before. He still felt as if he needed a gas mask, but he was mastering the task. He'd watched Han and Leia try it when the twins were just born; now they did it without flinching. Most of the time, anyway.
"Only thirty-six standard hours till reinforcements arrive," he said to himself. He felt vaguely guilty for being aware of it; he loved his niece and nephew. But never having been around babies, he had no idea how much work they were and how exhausting caring for them could be.
Despite all that caring for them involved, Luke did, for the first time, feel the stirrings of perhaps wanting to have children of his own - someday. He and Mara had implied that they were thinking of marriage, but Luke had yet to propose to her, and her signals were of the sort that said 'wait a little while.' They were strong in the Force and the Force encompassed the love they had.
Celibacy had been required of the Jedi for over a thousand generations. Anakin Skywalker, tragic figure though he was (to Luke's mind; Leia felt more ambivalent), had desired love and family. Luke wondered what would have happened had his father's desire for power had not consumed him. Perhaps he and Leia would have grown up together, played together, had ordinary lives.
No, he told himself, that would never have happened. Their mother was Queen of Naboo, their father a Jedi. Normalcy was out in any scenario.
Luke did feel that the kids should start training at three, perhaps four; that had been vetoed repeatedly by Han and Leia. They were adamant that their babies have normal lives, or as normal as possible in view of the fact that their parents were public figures. The official position was that no photos of the children were to be taken by anyone who was not a close family member. That didn't stop all of the holorazzi from trying, but generally the word 'lawsuit,' if applied directly, silenced some of them.
And truth be told, he'd never seen Han and Leia as happy as they'd been in the last six months. They were chronically exhausted but in all the holos (and there were a lot of them), they were smiling. For them, he realized, these children were love made flesh.
His thoughts traveled to Mara, and how much he loved her, and what it would be like to bring life into the world with her. He thought back on how Han had looked at Leia while she was pregnant, and there was some understanding of that.
And there was something miraculous about watching Jaina and Jacen exploring their world, everything new and amazing. Of course, there was drool involved. The twins stuck everything in their mouths, and didn't discriminate. Hence, the exhausting perpetual supervision.
"Jaina, honey, don't put the holoremote in your mouth," Luke said, jolted from his thoughts and realizing that not only was the holoremote being drenched in saliva, but also contained a battery for power. Luke had never been a spectacular student growing up, but he knew enough that moisture + batteries generally was not a good combination.
Luke had never even considered that something so mundane as a holoremote could be hazardous. How did parents learn all of this? How many details were involved in managing a small child? His mind was boggled.
"Jaina, let me have the remote," Luke coaxed her. She shook her head and refused to take it from her mouth. Finally, realizing that reasoning with a six month old was an exercise in futility, he snatched the remote from her, which led to her screaming at the top of her lungs. Luke went to the toy basket. "Here, sweetie, how about this?" The item felt heavier than he thought a child's toy would be. This was, he realized, no toy; it was the comm that Leia had to replace last month because she 'lost' it. He put it up on the kitchen counter.
Jaina continued to carry on, and Jacen, hearing her crying, began to sob on his own. While trying to comfort the babies, his comm started to go off. It was on the kitchen counter and he was trying to carry two infants, who began to feel heavier each time he picked them up. Finally, after a crossing from the living room that felt as though it was twelve parsecs away, he grabbed the comm.
"Leia!" he gasped. He had set the twins down on the floor, and that made them cry even more.
"How's it going?" Leia asked, smiling. She looked and sounded completely relaxed.
"Oh, fine, it's going fine, I took the holoremote from Jaina and she's not too happy with me."
"Sounds about right," Leia said languidly.
"You guys having fun?" Luke asked. "Oh gods, it's lunchtime, I gotta get lunch ready for these guys."
"It's been wonderful," Leia told him. "We'll be home tomorrow early evening. Sounds like the kids are in good hands."
I'm not sure I'd go that far, Luke thought, but didn't voice. "See you then," he said to her.
"Bye for now." Luke could tell she was snickering. Sometimes being Force sensitive could be a real nuisance. On the other hand, she hadn't accused him of trying to murder her offspring, which he'd feared. He really had no idea what he was doing; he was making it up as he went. Leia had offered no advice, either. Maybe this was their new normal and they had been just as clueless as he was now.
Maybe I'm a little less ready for parenthood than I thought, he told himself.
Much of the lunch Luke served ended up, as usual, on the floor and all over the twins' faces and hands. A not inconsiderable amount was on Luke as well. They'd returned to good humor at lunch, but then started to whine.
"I hope you guys are ready for a nap, because I'm tired," Luke informed them.
He changed the babies - it seemed as if they were constantly needing new diapers - and set them in their cribs. Immediately they began wailing.
"Oh, I forgot." The twins were loathe to sleep at any time, day or night, without a story first. And it was always the same story - "The Little Lost Bantha Cub." He'd lost track of how many times he'd read it since arriving two days ago. He cuddled them against his sides, and began to read the story. They weren't asleep when he finished the story, but they seemed comfortably drowsy.
Then, as soon as he tucked them in their cribs, Jacen began to cry again, with Jaina soon joining in.
"Forgot the bottles," he muttered to himself. "Just getting them down for a nap needs more planning than a major battle."
Bottles finally ready, Luke distributed them to the complaining twins, who promptly stopped grumbling and replaced it with contented sucking. Luke softly closed the bedroom door and headed for the sofa. The living room was a mess and needed a cleaning, but he decided he'd rest for a few minutes.
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"If only we didn't have to put on clothes to eat," Leia said, smiling at Han. Their vacation had largely consisted of amatory activities, mostly in bed and in the water shower, but they also had a private spa tub on the balcony and that, too, had gotten a workout. They'd only dress for meals and for walking along the beach.
"It's that or we order nerfburgers again," Han said to her. The hotel they were staying at was small and elegantly appointed, but the room service menu was extremely limited and they'd manage to eat everything on it.
"I'm thinking a little variety might spice up our lives," Leia remarked teasingly.
"What? I haven't offered variety?" Han looked mock injured.
Leia gave a melodic laugh. "Flyboy, you've been nothing if not inventive. Which is why we need to keep our strength up."
"There is that." Both laughed and Han wrapped his arms around Leia the way he'd done the first time they ever kissed, but lasting much longer. "Say, you heard from Luke or Chewie?"
"I talked to Luke a short time ago. Sounds like he's got things under control." Leia began to laugh. Han grinned and joined in.
"Lemme guess," Han said as he was laughing, "the babies were crying, the house is a mess, and Luke looks like a warmed over corpse."
Leia agreed. "Pretty much. Now let's get some food so that we can refuel for our next session."
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