DOWNHILL RACES AND WINNING HANDS
Chapter 8
Leia was groggy the next day, but the day after, the kids visited, along with Lando and Chewie, while Han went back to their suite to get some much needed sleep.
"Maybe we shouldn't iceboard anymore," Anakin said.
"No, Anakin, just because you have mishaps, you don't give something up," Leia explained.
"I'm not giving it up," Jaina assured her mother. "Maybe you're getting too old, Mom."
Leia shot her a look that could have shattered glass. "I'll decide when I'm too old to do something, thank you very much."
"So you're gonna go iceboarding again?" Jacen asked her.
"Next season. I'd like to come back here," Leia told them. "Yes, I broke my leg and it isn't fun, but I am going to do it again."
"What about Dad?" Jacen asked her hesitantly.
"I'm going to drag him out on the slopes next year." Leia smiled mirthfully.
"We have to go home tomorrow. Are you coming with us?" Anakin asked, a bit nervously.
"Well, I'm going back to Coruscant with you, but I'm going to have to be off my feet for a while."
"Dad said we had to be extra good," Anakin told her.
"And we will," Jacen said. "We promised."
"I did, too," Jaina said, and not in her usual sarcastic way.
Jarik was just happy to be with his mother, and babbled, "Mama home! Mama home!"
Leia hugged her youngest son. "Yes, sweetie, Mama's going home."
Lando, who'd disappeared for a time, returned with a huge bouquet of flowers in a crystalline vase.
"Sorry, the selection here's not the best," he said.
"Are you kidding? They're beautiful," Leia assured him. "And thanks for helping with the kids."
"Are you kidding? It's the most fun I've had in a while," Lando said, his eyes staring at her.
"Do I have broccolini in my teeth?" Leia asked.
"No. I'm just marveling at how good looking you are for an injured woman."
"I'll take that as a compliment. This time." Leia laughed. Then she winced sharply.
"Mom, you okay?" Jaina asked.
"I'm fine, honey. It just hurts when I move it a certain way," Leia assured her.
{That's every way, isn't it}? Chewie cooed.
"Pretty much," Leia agreed, but laughed a little.
"All right, all right, there's nothing to see here, you guys get out of here," chimed the familiar voice of Han Solo. The kids laughed and greeted their father, who was looking more rested than he had earlier in the day. "And you," Han pointed at Lando, "quit trying to seduce my wife in her condition." Both men laughed.
Lando kissed Leia's hand. "C'mon, kids, this is your last chance to hit the slopes," he said to them as he corraled them to leave.
Chewie headed out with Lando, and Han and Leia were alone.
"Seems like I got better just in time," Han remarked, sitting in the chair next to her bed and taking her hand in his. "So, you still hate Hoth?"
Leia smiled. "Nah. I've had the best time with the kids. I'm going to do paperwork from home, but only when they're at school. I may not be getting around very well, but I'll get a chance to be with them and talk to them."
Han smiled at her. "I've got flight trainees the next four weeks, so I'll be around a lot. I've got deliveries the month after, but I think I can take it light there."
"I'm looking forward to that," Leia said, giving her husband a soft smile, a smile that melted him every time. "By the way, I asked about sexual acts." A blush rose on her cheeks.
"And?"
"Anything that's comfortable." Leia sighed contentedly. "I'll tell you one thing I'll miss, and that's the hot tub."
"We can get one in our bathroom. You love the nice deep tub. Why not?"
"I'd really like that."
"You're not the only one. My joints certainly aren't getting any younger."
Leia yawned. "I never thought we'd come back to Hoth, certainly not voluntarily. At least now the walls are made of materials whose first ingredient is snow and the second is ice." She smiled. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if the walls hadn't caved in."
"I'm glad they did."
"Even if I gave you your first back injury?"
"Hey, I've gotten some good massages out of the deal," Han said slyly. "A favor I plan to return."
"I think we're probably even on that."
"I'm fine putting in extra."
Leia leaned back and closed her eyes. "I could really use more pain meds." She grabbed the device that was designed to give her meds as needed and squeezed it. "Think you can get everyone together tomorrow morning?"
"Would that be with or without forgetting anything?"
"We're the Solos, remember."
Both laughed.
"It's good to be a Solo," Leia said, smiling as her eyes closed.
"It is. But it wasn't till after I met the future Mrs. Solo."
