CRASH LANDING
Chapter 6
(Han)
"It's a boy." I'm text comm'g Chewie.
{Congratulations.}
"How are the kids?"
{Asleep for now.}
"Good. Let me tell 'em when they wake up."
{How's Leia?}
"Being monitored in recovery. Upset that she hasn't gotten to hold him yet. I held him for a minute but he's in an incubator."
{What are they saying?}
"He's even smaller than the twins were, but he responded well when they gave him oxygen. He's in NICU. He's very tiny but very cute."
{Name?}
"Not yet. I'll ask the kids to help."
{Okay to bring them to see their mother?}
"Later on, yeah. Not sure they're allowed to see the baby." It's probably bad practice to bring school aged kids into the NICU, seeing as they're disease breeders. There's almost never a time when at least one of them doesn't have a runny nose.
{How are you, cub?}
"I'm okay." I'm a lot of things right now. Need to sort them out, later. Right now Leia and our new son are all right. That's all that matters.
{Jaina just walked into the living room.}
"Put her on."
"Hi Daddy!" she switches to voice comm. "Is Mom okay? How about our new brother?"
"New brother needs a lot of help right now but I think he'll be okay. Mom's resting."
"Can we come see you? Please?"
"After school, honey."
"And can we see our brother?"
"I don't think you can see him today, but I'll check. How's the runny nose?"
"It's allergy season, Daddy. Don't you know anything?" Her eye roll is identical to her mom's. Cracks me up.
"I don't know much, that's for sure," I tell her.
"Jacen! Ani! Our brother's here!" she says excitedly.
"Put one of 'em on."
"Hey Dad. Is Mom okay?" It's Jacen.
"She's all right, resting right now. I'll see if I can bring you guys over after school. Have to make sure she's in a room where you can visit."
Jacen frowns. "Why isn't she in one now?"
"She's in recovery. She had to have surgery to take your brother out."
"And what's our brother like?"
"Small, but he's a fighter, I can tell."
Jacen laughs. "Hold on, Whiny Butt wants to talk to you."
"I'm not a whiny butt!" Anakin protests. "Hi Dad. I wanna see Mom."
"I'm working on that, kiddo."
"Is our brother gonna be okay?"
"I think so." I don't want to make guarantees, but I think it's a fair bet.
Jaina pops on again. "Uncle Luke's coming with Aunt Mara."
"When did you hear from them?" I haven't heard a word from either.
"Oh, just Force sense."
Oh. That's it, then. They're on Yavin, so about an eight hour flight at near lightspeed. I of course have no idea what time they left, but for all I know, Luke knew about this before Leia or I did.
The one thing I've learned from being surrounded by Force sensitives is to never ask what a future outcome will be. I think that's reasonable; had I been able to anticipate what happened at some points in my life would have caused me to clock out early. And besides, is there anything that's all good or all bad? Not in my experience. I can't believe that once you turn to the so called 'dark side' of the Force that you can't return to the light. Nothing's that neat in all the galaxies of the universe, and my life's pretty good evidence of that.
I must be incredibly tired if I'm waxing philosophical. I've gotta find a sofa somewhere, preferably one that won't cripple me.
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I find an unoccupied sofa in one of the family areas. It's small for a guy my height, and narrow, and it was designed for utility, not comfort. I fall asleep anyway, I don't know for how long, when I'm dreaming I hear my name being called.
"Mr. Solo?" I raise my head a little, and this time, a real droid's calling me.
"Yeah?" My eyes feel like they've been sandpapered, my throat like I've been sitting by the smokers all night at Chalmun's, and my stomach destroyed by caffeine. But at least I still, for the moment, have my hair.
"Your wife has been moved to the obstetrical floor. She's asking for you."
"Thanks." She gives me a room number and tells me which lifts go to it. I know exactly what Leia is going to say: she's going to tell me that she's fine, that I need to go home and get some sleep and to lose the stubble. (The only reason she says that is because her skin is very sensitive. I rub stubble against her face and it turns red. I prefer her skin turn red from other things, and you are not allowed to know what those things are.
When I see her, she's smiling at me. She looks tired, but she did just have an emergency delivery.
"I hear our little boy is doing well," she said, the smile not leaving her face. "I just want to hold him."
"They were really in a hurry with him. I didn't get holos. But I'm gonna ask when we can see him, preferably with his mom."
"I hope it's not long off. My milk's starting to come in."
I take the chair next to her and we hold hands. I can't help but smile. I'm holding hands with my wife, my lover, my best friend, mother of my children. Despite her weariness and being a bit swollen from the edema, she looks radiant.
She is absolutely beautiful.
"You look exhausted, my love," she tells me. "Did you get any sleep at all?"
"Some, although I think my spine has been permanently displaced."
"You need some real sleep," Leia says to me.
"I knew you were gonna say that." I push a tendril of hair away from her face and tuck it behind her ear.
"We aren't going to be getting any sleep for a while, you know," she reminds me.
"And that's different from how we are now?" She arches an eyebrow, sending me a bemused smile that I love so much. Like other women deeply in love with their husbands, she views me with a mix of adoration and exasperation. Speaking for myself, I probably rate more on the exasperation side.
"You remember middle of the night feedings, don't you?"
"Oh yeah," I say, and she extends a hand to my cheek. "I know, I need to shave."
"I think you can be excused for now." I lean over and kiss her. "Right now, there's something I want you to do for me."
"And that is?"
"Go home, get some sleep, take a shower, and shave."
"Why did I know that you were going to tell me that?"
"You know me, flyboy. I'm dependable."
"That you are, among a million other amazing things. I'd rather stay here with you."
"Leia, Han!"
Damn, kids were right. "Luke! Mara!" I'm happy they're here. I get hugs all around from them.
"Congratulations, Dad," Luke says warmly. He then leans over and kisses Leia's forehead. "How're you feeling, Mom?"
"I'm all right. I just need some sleep." She looks over at me, then back at Luke. "Mara, I'm putting you in charge of making sure my husband goes home and rests up." Mara's as good a shot as I am. I suspect this is why she got the job.
"I will make sure he does," she laughs, and takes one of Leia's hands. "Luke woke me up about nine hours ago and said, we need to get to Coruscant. I felt it, too, so I'm glad we were right for once." All four of us laugh. "Is Chewie taking care of the kids?"
"Yeah, he's been with 'em since we left," I tell Mara. "Fortunately, Wookiees don't need as much sleep as humans." My comm goes off. "Excuse me. It's our realtor." I step into the hallway. "What's up, Kuro?"
"Go up another 10K, and I think I can make it yours."
I think about this. "Five grand. That's our final offer. Sorry I'm a little outta it right now. Leia delivered our new son a few hours ago."
"Already? I thought he wasn't due for another two months."
"That's what we thought, too, but already the kid's got a mind of its own."
"Congratulations. Is the baby well?"
"He's in NICU, but he's a Solo and a Skywalker." Meaning he's stubborn as all holy fuck.
"I'll let the bank know that you just had the baby and need to move on this quickly."
"Thanks, Kuro. Solo out."
Right now, real estate seems far away. I kiss Leia, a real kiss. "I'm headed home. Mara, Luke, you coming?"
"I was going to stay with Leia," Luke says.
"No one is staying with Leia," Leia lets everyone know in no uncertain terms. "All of you, go home, go to sleep, stop smelling like you've bathed in gundark piss, and let ME get some sleep."
I look over at Luke. "You coming?"
He looks back at Leia. "You heard the lady," I tell Luke. "I'll be back soon, sweetheart."
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Chewie greets all of us, grabbing me in a huge Wookiee hug. I haven't been hugged this hard since Leia freed me from Jabba's palace.
{You all right, cub?}
"I'm okay, pal."
{You need sleep. And a shower.}
"Funny, you're the second person today to tell me that."
Chewie hugs Luke and Mara. He and Luke are close and Mara's pretty much gotten used to the fact that my best friend, apart from my wife and family, is a Wookiee. She and Chewie tease each other and then taunt the rest of us.
In the House of Solo, the sarcasm is just part of the service. Mara fits in well. She can hold her own.
"Make yourselves at home. You do, anyway," I say to Luke and Mara. "Feel free to use the kids' 'fresher, assuming you can get into it."
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By the time I wake up, there're a bunch of messages on my comm.
First one is Kuro. If I go up another 2500, it's ours. I'm okay with that. I tell him to get the docs going.
Next is from Jaina, asking if the baby and Mom are okay. I don't have any messages from the medcenter. I consider to be a Good Thing. I have one from Leia, telling me she asked about the kids coming by and they can, but they can't be around our new addition just yet. One from Luke, saying he's picking up the kids and will be home shortly. I tell him I'll see them at the medcenter and to remind the kids that Mom had surgery, meaning that they should use some restraint. Luke texts back, good luck with that one. He says there's some food in the cooler that he and Mara brought back for me. I hadn't even been aware of being hungry, but now that it's mentioned, I realize that I really could eat something.
I am also acutely aware that this will be the last decent sleep I'll get for what will probably be a long time to come.
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(Leia)
I needed that nap. I hit my call switch. A few moments later, the nurse droid responsible for my section responds.
"Yes, Mrs. Solo?"
"I'd like to see my son, please."
"Let me see what I can do."
"I need to feed him before I explode."
"He might not be strong enough to nurse yet. We can give you a pump."
"No, I want to try it myself first." I'm upset that I didn't even get to hold my baby when he was born. Everything was happening so fast, it still feels a bit unreal.
"I'll be back," the droid promises.
She's good for her word; sometimes things get very busy in obstetrics and they forget. But she's got a repulsor chair for me to ride on (I'd normally rather walk, but right now, I just want to see my new little guy). I still have to drag the IV setup with me, but she tells me that I should be ready to have it removed by this evening.
I have to put my arms and hands under the sterilizer before I go into the NICU.
I'm led into a dimly lit ward with childlike prints on the wall. There are monitors everywhere; alarms go off and the droids and humans who work here are amazing. They're truly the most skilled and compassionate individuals I've encountered.
I'm taken over to my son's incubation unit. I marvel at him. He's so tiny, and I can see the blood vessels beneath his skin. He was on a ventilator for a while but he's doing well enough that he's on a nasal cannula. He's got other monitors as well.
"He's doing very well for being born so early," one of the neonatalogists tells me. "He's so cute."
I'm in awe of him. He's tiny, but I can sense a fighting spirit in him. He may not be Force sensitive and honestly, for that I'm grateful.
"I'd like to try feeding him," I say to one of the nurse droids.
"That's fine. Let me disconnect him," the nurse droid tells me. "He might not be strong enough yet, so don't be discouraged." He's still on oxygen but otherwise, I have a soft, pink, tiny human in my arms. His little hands flail gently about. I embrace him closely.
"I'm Mommy," I tell him, "and we need to give you a name. How about some dinner?" I've nursed three babies already, so I pretty much have the drill down. It takes him a while to figure it out, but he finally latches on.
"He probably won't eat much," I'm told. "But every little bit he can get this way will help him. You'll probably have to pump so you don't dry out."
I'm just happy to have him in my arms, against my breast, as I look with awe at how perfect he is. He actually has some dark hair, and it's so amazingly soft and silky.
"Looks like you two are getting to know each other just fine." I hear the most familiar voice and I look up and smile. Han has just arrived, and he looks far better than he did when he left. He leans over and kisses me. "How are you, sweetheart?"
"Tired, sore, but better now that I can hold him and feed him." I look at his tiny features. "I think he looks like you."
"The nose is mine, that's for sure." Han looks so happy. "Looks like he's figured out where the good stuff comes from."
"He's not as strong as the other kids were, but I have a feeling that that is all going to change." Despite our son's prematurity and our rather abrupt change in plans, in this moment, there's a serenity I feel.
Han grabs a chair and sits down with us. "When he's done, can I hold him?" he asks me, giving that lopsided grin that always moves my heart.
"Sure. I think he's almost done here."
"You should be taking advantage of this," Han tells him, leaning over to touch him. "You only get this for a while. After that, all mine."
Nobody makes me laugh more than Han Solo. Just one of the thousands of reasons why I love him so.