WE NEED A VACATION
Chapter 11
"Mommy, this is pretty!" Jaina said, pulling out a shirt in bright orange and covered with fake jewels.
"It is, sweetie, but I don't think that'll fit me," Leia said, drawing on her diplomatic skills, which were needed in order to not tell Jaina that she'd chosen very possibly the most ghastly garment in the shop.
"I like tis one!" Jaina said, undaunted. She pulled out a pretty jade green tank with light embroidery around the neckline and armholes.
"Now that's pretty," Leia said, and meant it. "Let's put this aside for me to try it on. Can you hold it?"
"Sure!" Jaina was delighted to be of service, for at least a few minutes. Leia then found a sun dress in brilliant yellow.
"That's pretty, Mommy!" Jaina cheered Leia on.
The two looked at shorts, a garment Leia didn't remember ever wearing. She'd seen them on other women, of course, but dress on Alderaan was very conservative. Skin wasn't revealed anywhere but at the beach. She hesitated.
I'll try it. Han'll probably love it, she told herself. And it would be nice not to be so warm all the time.
She found a deep blue-green halter top that she wasn't sure she'd be totally comfortable in, but it was something that would delight Han. There were other colors and varied styles of the garment. Time to start expanding my horizons, she told herself, with shrinking garments.
Leia found several long dresses she liked, but sleeveless and with lower necklines than her work mandated. One of them had a slit up one of the legs.
"Mommy, it's t'heavy!" Jaina began complaining.
"You're right. I'm going to try them on."
Jaina joined her, and ooh'd and ahh'd as Leia became transformed from diplomat to vacationer. Three kids had thickened her slightly, but she discovered that it had been in all the right places. When Han had met her, she was still very much a girl and possessed a girlish figure. Now she was a woman with a woman's curves.
The hells to what Mon Mothma thinks, she told herself. She's not on vacation, and I am. If I see someone I know, I expect them to be dressed for vacation. Mon Mothma felt Leia was something of a standard bearer, along with many others in the diplomatic corps, and that they should dress conservatively whether on the job or not.
Leia decided to reject that dictum out of hand. Vacations were time for her and her family.
"You know what?" she said to Jaina as they left the store. "I think we should get some lunch."
"Fur reals?" Jaina was very excited.
"Yes, for reals," Leia said, giving her little daughter a kiss on the forehead. "Then we'll go to the room and get our swimsuits on and head for the pool and the beach."
"Yay!"
The two entered a restaurant that was in fact a tea room, a place that, while not a place where no men would enter, was certainly a place that held no appeal to the male members of Leia's family. But Jaina thought it was lovely.
"I like i'when you're wit'me, Mommy. I don'like when you go t'work."
Leia felt her eyes tear up. "I don't like it sometimes when I have to work. I miss you and Jacen and Ani and Daddy when I'm away. I will try to spend more time with you when we get home."
Jaina beamed. The words had stung Leia, but Leia was forced to concede that the little girl merely echoed her own guilt at her absences. She was going to have to do something about it. What's the point of establishing a new galactic order if not to improve the lives of its inhabitants, she asked herself. All of her colleagues had despised the Empire, but the way some of them behaved it was as if nothing had changed.
It's probably what my father meant when he said, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
It was nice not to have to think about it, Leia mused. Right now, it was just her and Jaina, having a lovely girls' day out. She had to make it a point to do this more often, not just on vacation.
"Mommy, are you gon'be t'Sea Monster or Daddy?"
"Probably me. Daddy hurt his back."
"Did you put a bandaid on it?"
Leia smiled at her. "No, it's not the sort of ouchie you can put a bandaid on. He just needs to rest today."
"Why can'Uncle Chewie go in t'water?"
"Wookiees don't like swimming. Their fur is heavy and when it gets wet, it weighs them down."
"Oh." Then she smiled brightly. "Bu' he can t'row us in t'pool!"
"Yes, he can."
"So wha's Daddy gonna do?"
"Probably sit in his recliner and watch smashball on his datapad."
"Bu'yer gon'go in the pool, right?"
"Yes, I am. I have to make up for the two days I was sick."
"I'm glad yer better," Jaina said, smiling.
"Me, too. We'll have a great time at the pool and we'll go to the beach, too."
"Can Daddy go t't'beach?"
"If he behaves himself."
Jaina giggled. "Is Daddy a bad boy?"
Leia wanted to say, you have no idea, but instead she said, "Only if he tries to be the Sea Monster today."
A woman came by Leia and Jaina's table. "Ma'am, I just want to say how well behaved your little girl is."
Leia simply said, "Thank you."
I think I've entered a parallel universe, she told herself as she and Jaina chattered on.
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Han and Chewie were at the beach when Leia and Jaina returned to join them. They found them with both boys, building sandcastles. Han was a remarkable designer, and the castle was starting to look not unlike the former Imperial Palace cum offices of the Galactic Alliance.
"Are you feeling better?" Leia asked Han, leaning over to kiss him.
Leia was dressed in shorts and a snug fitting T shirt. Han looked at her, his mouth gaping.
"What? Is it that bad?" Leia demanded.
"No. It's...incredibly sexy. You should wear girls' clothes more often."
"Very funny," Leia said. "The first time in my life I've worn shorts."
"You'll have to do a repeat performance. For research purposes, of course. Jacen! More water!"
"'Kay!" Jacen shouted back, running to the shoreline to grab another bucket of water.
"I have to say I never knew you had architectural talents," Leia said admiringly. "Although in view of the furniture you've built, I shouldn't be shocked."
"I remember when I had time to build furniture."
Anakin was sitting near Han and picked up a handful of the beautiful pink sand that characterized the beaches on Selonia and stuffed it in his mouth.
"Ani, no, that's not food," Leia said, picking up her younger son. He began to fuss.
{He's getting grumpy}, Chewie said. {And I need to get out of the sun}.
"Have they had lunch?" Leia asked.
"Mommy taked me t'lunch at the tea room!" Jaina said to Han, beaming.
"That sounds nice," Han said, giving his daughter a hug.
"A woman came to our table and complimented me on how well behaved she was," Leia said.
Han looked skeptical. "Where is our daughter and what have you done with her?"
Jaina had gone to her twin brother and began splashing Jacen. "Stop!" Jacen ordered her. Jaina refused to do so, and then they began pushing each other in the water.
"It looks like she's back," Han observed.
"Did the kids have lunch?"
"Yeah, we haven't been here all that long. I let Jacen watch holocartoons while I was resting up."
"Well, its vacation. I doubt one morning of holocartoons will damage him."
"We had lunch, too. I made pasta with butter and cheese. Kids loved it, of course." It was one of the very few things Anakin would eat. I could use a traladon cheeseburger."
"We can go back to the pool," Leia suggested.
"As soon as our creation is complete. Jacen, what're you waiting on? More water! Jaina, you too!"
Leia grabbed a recliner and basked in the warmth of both family and sunlight. Truly, she told herself, there are days when you can't help but feel blessed.
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Han and Leia were on their poolside recliners, having completed the architectural magnificence of their sand castle. Jaina and Jacen were arguing and their parents were ignoring them.
Han was watching a smashball game on his datapad, noise cancelling headphones in place. Leia was sufficiently slathered with sunscreen so not to burn to a crisp and reading a fiction book.
Han took off his headphones at a commercial. "Tell me, sweetheart. Do we look like a cliche or what?"
"We totally do. I'm perfectly fine with that," Leia responded.
"Mommy! We wanna play Sea Monster!" the twins called out.
Leia smiled. "Okay, coming in." She peeled off the shorts and and T shirt.
"You can keep going, you know," Han leered at her.
"And make every guy on the beach jealous?" she teased.
"Well, it's a problem I'm willing to tackle."
"Scoundrel!"
"Your worshipfulness!"