The silence hung in the waiting room like a thick blanket as the three of them sat there in the chairs. Finally, Mara couldn't stay sitting any longer and stood up, stretching as she did so.

Roganda glanced at her, unsure of her next words, but knowing she couldn't just leave it at that. "It was a long time ago."

Luke turned to look at her, curious as to what she meant. "What was?"

"She asked how I knew. The answer is: it was a long time ago. Before Hoth. Before I ran into Solo and Chewie on my way to a medical facility." She paused, taking in the honest curiosity in both faces. "Before I left Coruscant the first time, in fact."

Mara sat back down and mulled over the answer, trying to figure out what the woman was trying to say. "You..."

"Had a son. Had. That's how I know about the shivering." Roganda winced Luke's sudden frown. "What?"

"You never said anything about..." Luke trailed off, suddenly remembering stories he'd overheard from Wes about a woman punching an icy wall on Hoth, incoherent, blaming herself for something she wouldn't even talk about. He hadn't given it much thought at the time, because he'd gone out on patrol with Han shortly thereafter, but... "When you said 'had', what did you mean?"

Roganda wanted to look away from him, but found she couldn't. Not about this... no more running away and trying to pretend it didn't happen. "Exactly that. Had. As in don't have any longer."

"As in dead?" Mara asked, getting what Roganda wasn't saying and trying to be as careful as possible in the way she asked.

"Yes," she answered, the word spilling from her lips before she could stop herself. And there it was, laid out for both of them to see. "He died on the operating table... or under it."

Luke blinked, startled more than he thought he would be, and he felt the same from Mara a few feet away mirroring his own. "On... or under?"

Roganda knew he wasn't usually this dense, but a little leading in the right direction didn't hurt. "There was a ground quake. The building..." And maybe it was best if she lied... who would believe that a five year old child could have a seizure during surgery and cause a building to collapse? Not many.

Luke nodded slowly, understanding what she meant. He'd have said more, but a light flash caused him to blink... but no light had flashed anywhere in the waiting room. "Weird."

"What is?" Mara asked him.

"Either I'm seeing things, or Leia's projecting again." He waited, but the flash didn't come again. And then a feeling made him smile. "I think Han'll be out here shortly."

Roganda stayed silent, though she wanted to ask both of them some questions of her own. She could feel it between them the longer she spent in their presence, though they weren't sitting close together at all.


Han smiled down at Leia as she held one of their newly-born twin children. She was holding Jacen, letting him suckle for the first time, and Jaina was in his arms. A small sneeze brought his attention back to the baby girl snuggled in his arms. "She looks like you."

Leia smiled back at him, wanting to grimace a little bit at the unfamiliar sensations as Jacen fed. "And he has your eyes."

For the first time in twelve hours, something occurred to him that had nothing to do with the children currently in their arms. "Do you think she's still out there in the waiting room?" Roganda had been on guard for days, saying that she was their personal guard until further notice. It had come in handy when Leia had gone into labor, helping him get her to walk to the medical suite with little fuss. He hadn't thought about it since.

Leia blinked at him, surprised for a moment at the subject change. Then she focused outward past the walls... and blinked again at who she found. "Luke's out there, too. And that Jade woman is with him. Go tell them?"

Han slowly laid Jaina in the bedside baby bed. Then he leaned down to kiss Leia tenderly. "Be right back."

Leia smiled at him again. "Okay."


Mara looked up when someone joined them, half expecting it to be that medic again, and sort of surprised when it wasn't. "Solo."

Han, for his part, looked worn out but also elated and happy. He nodded to Mara before focusing on Luke. "You want to come back and see your niece and nephew?"

Luke shared a glance with Mara, questioning with his eyes, and when she nodded, he looked Han in the eyes. "Actually, I think Roganda should."

Han frowned at him, but turned his attention to the woman who had appointed herself their personal guard for the past several days. He'd nearly forgotten that fateful first encounter, and the little boy who wouldn't talk to him. The little boy she'd lost in a rain of debris. Luke was right, and later he'd be asking how his brother-in-law knew it would do her good. "Roganda?"

She looked up at him from her hands. "What?"

"Come on."

She looked at Luke, who nodded at her to go with Han. "You're sure?"

Luke nodded again. "Yes." Slowly, uncertain, she stood up and followed Han back to Leia's room.

Mara glanced at Luke as they were left alone in the waiting room. She wanted to say something, but words wouldn't come. Maybe words just weren't needed.


Roganda carefully entered the room behind Han, suddenly very uncomfortable at being anywhere near Leia and the twins. She wanted to run all the way back to the waiting room and stay there. Han turned to her, and she knew he wouldn't let her do even that. Not from the expression on his face... comforting, but steely and determined. "Small steps?"

"Exactly that," he said as he grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her to Leia's bedside where she was holding one of the twins. "Luke thought Ganda should come back first."

Leia nodded and held Jacen so she could see him better, and Roganda tried to smile. Tried to, but the expression froze at seeing his face. "This is Jacen."

Han gently lifted Jaina out of the baby bed and let Roganda see her. "And this is Jaina. Would you like to hold her?"

Roganda started to shake her head no, but the encouraging expression in his eyes made her hold out her arms instead. He wasn't going to take no for an answer. As he handed Jaina over, Roganda felt muscle memory take hold and then she was holding the baby girl as if it hadn't been eleven years and a tragedy between moments. It had been a literal lifetime between then and now, and right now, the child in her arms had her full and undivided attention. "Hi there, Jaina." The baby girl opened her eyes and peered up at her for a moment, then sighed and closed her eyes again. Roganda glanced up at Han, who was watching her closely, and smiled. "Think she likes me?"

"I don't see why not..." He seemed to want to ask her something, but chose silence instead as she gently passed the babe back to him.

"I'll send Luke back," she told him. Then she nodded courteously to Leia and left the room. She knew what he was trying to do, what Luke and Mara had been trying to do, and it had helped a little, but nothing was as simple as that. And besides, there was a security detail she needed to attend to, people to relieve, and Leia's brother was a Jedi. She was pretty sure Luke would be in Leia's general vicinity for a while... even if that meant he was camping out on her couch once he heard it from Han the reasons why she had been sitting watch in the waiting room.


Luke looked up as Roganda came back into the waiting room, and was relieved to see her somewhat more at ease. She nodded to him. "What now?"

"Go and see your family, Skywalker." She turned to leave, but turned back to look at him. "And you remember those kidnap attempts that Thrawn tried before?"

"What about it?"

"Don't go far."

Luke was puzzled about that statement as she walked out. Wasn't his reach limited? "Right..." The sooner he talked to Han about that one, the better. Standing up, he turned to Mara. "Want to go with me?"

Mara shook her head. "No. It's a family moment. Go."

"You might as well be."

"Stop pushing, Luke."

Luke paused, taking in her put-upon expression and what he could feel from her. "Sorry. Didn't think I was."

She sighed. "Well, you were. Obviously."

Luke decided not to push the issue further and left to go back and see his family... though he still felt divided. It was good to include people, especially if there was a bond like this, right?


Leia felt him before she saw him enter the room, and she smiled as Luke sat down in a chair on her other side. Han was holding Jacen now, and she was nursing Jaina. "When did you get back?"

"An hour or two ago," Luke told her, smiling.

"How was the mission?" Han asked.

Luke rolled his eyes, all the wind seeming to go out of his sails as he looked at them tiredly. "Can we talk about that later?"

"Definitely," Han told him, walking around the bed and carefully placing Jacen in his arms. "This is Jacen. Leia's got Jaina."

Leia thought Luke looked younger in that moment... almost as if the years had peeled away, as if his guard had come down. She blinked, not having realized it had been up to begin with. Had it really been so long since he'd barged, wide-eyed, into her cell on the Death Star? At times like this, it sure felt like it. She started to say something, but thought the better of it when she caught sight of Han's face. He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

For here, and for now... nothing really needed to be said.