Any confidence the twins had been feeling about how easy this might be had dissipated quickly. Han had grabbed a ration bar before disappearing once again, and Leia sipped her caf in relative silence. It wasn't totally unusual for their own parents to act like this. If their father had been really focused on a task, he would often forget that anyone else was even around. And their mother could easily sit in comfortable silence. The key word there was comfortable. Nothing about this felt comfortable. And the fact that the two of them were barely acknowledging each other's presence wasn't helping either.

Jacen and Jaina were starting to wonder too if this was how relationships were supposed to start. Were they supposed to hate each other for a while? None of this was making any sense.

"So," Leia began, breaking the silence a bit after Han had disappeared. "You said your parents are in the Rebellion?"

Jacen and Jaina exchanged nervous glances. Hopefully they'd be able to improvise and keep their stories straight. "Uh, yep," Jacen said, hoping somehow that would be all she wanted to know. Even though he knew his mother well enough to know that surely she was going to have follow up questions. She had always been curious about people, and interested in getting to know almost anyone.

"I'm sure that's not easy, you two are still pretty young."

"I mean, yeah, I guess," Jaina said. She paused a moment and then smiled. "They're pretty amazing people though. I know they'll be all right." She felt somewhat confident when she said that, but there was still some worry that this wouldn't work out.

"Well they must have done a pretty good job raising you if you're willing to jump into all of this yourselves."

"They did," Jacen said sincerely. "They're the best." The Solo children had been so fortunate to have grown up in a time of peace, thanks in no small part to their parents. But he felt like knowing what their mother and father had done to help so many, all three of them would feel the same inclination toward joining in on such a fight. He still hoped they would never have to.

Leia smiled and set down her mug. "Sometimes it's easy to forget that there are real families involved in this. It's been a long time since…" she trailed off and her eyes looked down.

The twins could feel the sadness and longing coming from her and it nearly broke their hearts. Jaina reached over and touched her mother's hand. "We know. It's all going to work out better than you think," she said with a reassuring smile.

"Hey," Han said as he suddenly reappeared. "I need some help in here. Jack, come with me." Jacen rolled his eyes. Working on the Falcon was not one of his favorite past times. And as he glanced over at his sister, he saw the reaction he was expecting, which was annoyance. Everyone in the Solo family knew that Jaina was your first choice for such endeavors, but in this case their father seemed to assume that Jacen was the better option. But this version of their father seemed like he would be a lot less receptive to advice, so Jacen simply followed.

As he approached the mechanical bay he saw one of the floor panels had been removed. "I need someone skinnier than me to get down in there and reach a couple of valves, can you do that?"

"Uh, sure," Jacen said. "I'm surprised you didn't ask the princess. Don't you trust her?"

Han didn't even hesitate to answer. "Completely. But I can tell she's not too happy with me right now, so I figured I'd ask you instead, and you could help me without insulting me."

"Does she really insult you all that much?"

"Kid, you'd think it's her favorite past time." There was a hint of a smile on his father's face as he said it, but Jacen could tell that he would've preferred a different sort of reaction from Leia. Especially since any insults his mother might use on his father in the future always seemed to come from a place of love, offered mostly through sarcasm. This certainly didn't feel the same.

Jacen decided to go for broke. "You like her, don't you." He said it as a statement and not a question. For a moment he regretted saying it, fearing more anger from a man who was quite clearly already very frustrated.

But the response he got was not what he expected. Instead, Han took a deep breath, swallowed, and answered a little quietly. "It doesn't really matter."

"Why not?"

"Don't make me regret not leaving you on Hoth," the older man said while pointing a finger at Jacen.

"We both know you never would've done that, no matter how annoying I am. So, why not?"

Han seemed taken aback. "Look, kid, we all know she's a princess. And besides, she doesn't like me." Jacen could feel the disappointment and longing coming from his father. It was astonishing to him that both of these people could feel such longing and neither one of them had actually acted on it. What were they afraid of?

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that she tells me so almost daily."

"Well, I think she likes you. My sister thinks so, too."

"Kid, what have you been watching since you've been here?"

"No, I'm serious! We both agree you remind us of our parents."

"So then your parents yell at each other and insult each other all the time?"

No, but apparently they did before they had us. Jacen thought longingly about these two people, so far in the future, wishing he could somehow show these two people on the Falcon how things turned out so he could speed up this whole process. He shook his head. "No. Actually, they are still totally in love after over twenty years together. It's almost enough to make us sick."

"So what does that have to do with me and Leia?"

"Just… trust me, okay? You guys are just like them. And maybe someday you two could be just like them."

Han shook his head and bent down to grab a tool off the floor. "That ain't happenin', kid."

"Why not?"

"Guys like me don't get to be married or have kids and families." He said it in such a matter of fact way that Jacen almost couldn't believe his ears.

Jacen had never in his life witnessed his father being this insecure. It was unsettling, but also made his heart hurt a little that he would feel that way. The man in front of him had turned into the best father he could ever imagine having, and he was sure his siblings would agree. And if his mother's happiness was any indication, he was a pretty great husband as well.

He'd been quiet too long, not sure what to say next, so finally Han shook his head and his voice hardened again. "Look, this isn't why I brought you down here. So enough of that and why don't you climb down there so I can tell you what I need you to do?

Jacen nodded and lowered himself down into the bowels of the ship, hoping that maybe his sister was getting somewhere talking to their mother.