AN: Gah, SORRY I took so long! I got sick and school started again so I went back to teaching and all that. Well, I knew for a long time that I wanted the group to go to a museum of some kind, but for a long time, but I wasn't sure about the details. Then I went to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not on the boardwalk and inspiration struck.
"The Chaperones"
By EsmeAmelia
Chapter 11
Day Five
The next morning, there was even more chatter than usual at the hotel restaurant. The adults (including the ones who worked at the restaurant) all seemed relieved that the group would be going home tomorrow, but the kids were of course lamenting.
"Why can't we stay longer?" Anakin was asking.
"Because tonight's the last night we have rooms reserved," said Leia.
"But Ms. Tano could make our reservations last another day," said Jaina, peeling the wrapper off her muffin. "We never got to see Obi-Wan's house, remember?"
"Well Ms. Tano would have to pay extra money then," said Leia.
"Can't you pay for another night?" asked Tad, stroking Han's arm. "You guys are super rich, after all."
"No!" Leia and Han exclaimed together.
"Not fair!" said Kai.
"Look, we're not leaving until tomorrow," said Leia, trying to calm the mood before she got the Twi'lek girls yelling at her. "We've still got the museum to visit, that'll be fun."
"Museums are boring!" said Allura, folding her arms.
"This one isn't," said Leia. "It's full of all sorts of weird and unusual things."
"Boooor-ing," said Allura.
"Say Han," said Tad, pulling on his hero's arm, "before we leave, you've got to play the dancing game!"
"You know I'm gonna be locked up again tonight," said Han.
"Then let's go play NOW!" said Tad, now yanking at Han's arm.
"Yeah Dad," said Jaina, suddenly yanking on Han's other arm, "you've got to play it!"
Han looked at his wife for support, but she just gave him a sheepish grin.
"I think you should go do as your fan says, Han," she said. "Better than causing yet another scene." She then leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Besides, if I have to endure the embarrassment, so do you."
. . .
The children were even louder than usual as they got out of the shuttle. It took Ms. Tano at least ten minutes to get them to line up and at least ten more minutes to get them to be quiet, by which time the adults were of course soaked in their sweat.
"Younglings, younglings," said Ms. Tano, "remember this is a museum. It's a very unusual museum, but it's still a museum - which means we look but we don't touch."
"Awwww," several kids cried.
"Can't we touch a little bit?" asked Niko, pinching two fingers together.
"No," said Ms. Tano. "Now if you don't want to behave, you can wait in the shuttle, is that what you want?"
"No, Ms. Tano," the kids chimed in unison.
"Good," said the teacher.
Leia shuffled up to her husband. "So, how was the game?" she said, barely able to keep herself from grinning.
She was expecting a grimace, but instead Han actually grinned back at her. "I dunno why you were so sensitive about it, sweetheart. It was pretty neat."
"Neat?"
"Sure," said Han. "That song captured all my great ponts and your level . . ." He pointed a cheeky finger at her. ". . . your level was hot."
Leia's jaw dropped. "What . . . how dare you . . ."
"What?" said Han, putting his arm around her shoulders. "I can't say my wife's hot?"
Kai prevented Leia from responding by screaming, "Ms. Tano, Niko's cutting!"
"No I didn't!" Niko protested.
"Yes he did!" Kai insisted. "He's trying to get in first and hog all the good stuff for himself!"
Niko growled at her. "She's lying! She just wants to go in first so she can get all the good stuff!"
Ms. Tano took a deep breath. "O-KAY, it doesn't matter where you are in line. Everyone has a ticket, so everyone will get in, and there's pleanty of good stuff for everyone. Okay? Okay. Now come on, let's go."
As the line proceeded into the museum, the kids were chatting with each other and Ms. Tano wasn't even bothering to quiet them. Once each child had his or her ticket scanned, he or she immediately zipped off to one of the exhibits - and there were at least ten different exhibits in the first room, which meant the children were scattered yet again.
"Younglings, this isn't how we behave at a museum, you know better," Ms. Tano called out, but it went unheard. She repeated her call, but once again the children either didn't hear her or chose to ignore her. When it became obvious that the teacher wasn't going to succeed in rounding the children up, the parents scattered as well, mostly going after their own children and whoever happened to be with them. Of course, that was rather difficult with the Solos, since they had three kids running around.
Leia found Jaina at a miniature exhibit of a pod race where the pods were around a centimeter long. "Mom, look!" she said, "Watch this!" She pushed a button on the side of the display and the tiny pod racers began flying around the miniature arena. "Isn't that cool?"
"Yeah," said Leia, "but we need to regroup now so we can see the rest of the museum."
"Aww, but Mom . . ."
"Sorry," said Leia, taking her daughter's hand, "but the chaperones have to listen to the teacher."
She led her daughter away from the miniature pod race and to the adjacent exhibit, which was a trivia game of some sort where Kai was eagerly pressing the buttons and Allura was fussing that she wanted a turn.
"Mrs. Organa Solo," Allura said when she saw Leia, "tell Kai it's my turn!"
"Not until I finish!" Kai wailed.
"Kai, Allura," Leia said after taking a deep breath, "Ms. Tano wants you to round up."
"Let me finish!" cried Kai.
"No, I need a turn!" cried Allura, looking ready to yank her sister's headstalks yet again.
Leia leaned over to Kai's level. "You'll probably get to finish later, but right now Ms. Tano wants everyone to come with her."
"Get outta my face!" Kai said with a snarl.
"Hey," said Leia, "we don't talk like that."
"Leave me alone!" Kai shouted.
Allura's eyes were already welling up. "But I didn't get a turn!"
"Guys, guys," said Jaina, putting her hands on their shoulders. "Just let it go, okay? Trust me, it's not worth it with my mom."
"Yes, it's not worth it with . . . hey!" Leia exclaimed, glaring at her daughter.
Jaina gave her mother an innocent grin. "What?"
. . .
When Leia and the girls caught up with Han, he had of course found Tad (or more likely Tad had found him) and he was trying to pry Jacen and Anakin away from a small scale.
"Come on Dad!" Jacen was wailing. "Just one more try? I wanna see how much I weigh on Teth."
"No," said Han.
Leia waved at her husband and sons. "Hey," she said. "What's going on?"
"This scale shows you how much you weigh on different planets," said Jacen. "But Dad won't give us anymore credits to use it!"
"Oooh, can I try it?" asked Jaina.
"No," said Han. "Cause we've gotta go meet with your teacher before she comes here and yells at all of us."
"She's already here," said a voice.
The two adults and six kids whirled around to find Ms. Tano staring at them, her hands on her hips, her right foot tapping on the floor.
"I'm disappointed," the teacher said. "You all know better than to go running off like that."
"Sorry, Ms. Tano," the kids said in unison.
"Good," said Ms. Tano.
The Solos and their roommates followed the teacher to the rest of the group, though Kai and Allura were still hissing insults at each other and Jacen was still grumbling about wanting to use the scale again.
"All right everyone," said Ms. Tano, "are we all here? Good." She clasped her hands and rubbed her palms together in excitement. "Now as you've already seen, this isn't your ordinary museum. We're about to experience all kinds of interesting things, but first we must go through . . . the TUNNEL OF DOOM!"
She stepped aside and gestured at the door behind her, which was indeed labelled, "TUNNEL OF DOOM!"
"The Tunnel of WHAT?" a father exclaimed.
"Don't worry," said Ms. Tano, pointing to the right. "If you don't want to go through the Tunnel of Doom, you can take the Coward's Way."
"What?" a mother exclaimed. "You're making fun of people who don't want to go through the tunnel? What kind of teacher ARE you?"
"No no," said Ms. Tano, holding up her hands. "The museum is."
The group looked to the side and just as Ms. Tano had said, there was another, smaller door labelled "Coward's Way," which was presumably an alternate route for those who didn't want to go through the tunnel.
"Hey Jacen," Melda called. "Bet you're gonna take the Coward's Way, aren't ya?"
"No!" Jacen shouted, though he was trembling a little.
Melda grinned at him. "Jacen's afraid of the tunnel!" she said in a singsongy voice. "Jacen's afraid of the tunnel!"
"No I'm NOT!" Jacen screamed.
"Prove it!" Melda stuck her tongue out at Jacen, which of course went completely unnoticed by her father.
"Fine!"
Leia quickly bent down to her son's level. "Jacen sweetheart, you don't have to go through the tunnel if you don't have to. Don't let Melda dictate your actions."
"But you heard what she said!" protested Jacen. "She'll think I'm a coward if I don't go through the tunnel!"
"Come on, younglings!" Ms. Tano was saying.
Leia patted her son on the back. "Sweetheart, it doesn't matter what she thinks. What matters is what you want to do."
"Yeah," said Jacen, "and I want to go in the tunnel because I don't want Melda to think I'm a coward."
"That's not exactly what I meant," said Leia, but the children were lining up, preventing her from saying anything else. As it turned out, no one, child or adult, opted to take the "Coward's Way." There was probably more peer pressure going on than anyone cared to admit.