I didn't realize when I married Luke that I was marrying the Solo children as well. I have never seen myself as much of a kid person, but their Solo grins could melt the coldest heart.
"Aunt Mara, watch this!" Anakin cries, leaping off of the side of the natural swimming pool on Yavin 4 and pulling his legs up to his chest. The resulting splash rocks his older sister who floats on a raft, soaking up the light of the sun. She and Jacen have just turned eleven and she is starting to see herself as much more mature than her male siblings.
"Anakin!" she objects, indignation in her voice.
"Nice splash, Anakin," I praise as he turns an expectant blue look at me. His eyes are a lot like Luke's, but so much more searching and inquisitive with an otherworldly intelligence.
"Thanks, Aunt Mara," he grins, ducking under the water to escape his raging sister.
"Aunt Mara? When are Uncle Luke and Mom and Dad coming back?" Jacen pipes up, looking up from the creature he is studying. He is perched on a rock in the middle of the spring, poking and prodding a glass snake gently.
Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that the Fab Four (Luke, Chewie, Han, and Leia) have left me in charge of the little rascals for two days while they go to some conference.
Babysitting Aunt Mara… That's a new one.
"They're coming back this afternoon," I answer.
"If the Falcon's still running," Jaina giggles, splashing her twin brother and causing him to stumble off of the rock.
"Ouch, Jaya!" he cries, coming up for air and shaking out his curly hair.
Anakin laughs and pulls himself up onto the rock. "She'll hold together, Jaina. We helped fix her ourselves, remember?"
"Well, that's scary," I add teasingly. "Maybe we should take my ship out for them."
"Yeah! Can we drive?" Jaina asks, rolling off of the raft and going to stand with Anakin.
"She'll never let you two fly," Jacen says wisely. "She likes her ship."
"Maybe when you can see over the control panel," I laugh, watching Jacen scramble back onto the rock.
Anakin and Jaina grumble in discontent.
"Are you gonna come in, Aunt Mara?"
"Yeah, you must be pretty hot," Anakin echoes his sister. Jacen tries not to look guilty.
Uh oh.
"No, I'm fine guys, thanks," I say, backing away from their mischievous smiles.
Then they dump a Force-powered wave on my head, soaking me thoroughly and amusing themselves to no end.
Han Solo should never have reproduced, especially with a Skywalker Jedi.
But it is that Skywalker in them that has them almost immediately beside me, dry towels in hand.
"Thanks," I can't help but smile. "You guys've really been practicing, huh?"
Twin pairs of brandy brown orbs and a pair of ice blue are leveled at me and nodding. I shake my head and feel their parents and my husband approaching through the jungle.
"Guys!" Leia calls out as she sees me, hiding a laugh. "What've you done to poor Aunt Mara?"
"Mom!" they all cry in unison, rushing to their parents. Anakin beats the twins to their mother, throwing his short arms around her waist. The interaction between Leia and Anakin has always been the most surprising to me; I didn't expect the young boy to be such a Mama's boy and Leia to be so very doting. The twins hug their dad and uncles (Luke and Chewie), finally getting to greet their mom when Anakin eventually lets go.
Chewie growls his disapproval of Anakin's wet manner before setting the youngest Solo on his shoulder.
"You okay?" Han asks with a smirk, tousling Jaina's wet hair and laying a hand on her shoulder. Jacen is jabbering to his uncle about how they worked together to create the wave.
"Fine," I answer with a shrug, starting to dry off. "Remind me why we teach them how to use their abilities?" I lock each of them with a menacing glare. They each return a guilty smile.
"How were they otherwise? They didn't give you too much trouble, did they?" Leia asks, picking up nine year old Anakin's discarded cap and throwing it up to his perch. He smiles sheepishly and replaces it, casting a shadow over his sun-burned nose.
"They were angelic," I respond with more than a little sarcasm. "No, really, Leia, they were on perfect behavior until they drenched me. I think we had fun."
"Yeah," Jaina agrees, pulling her dad back towards the temples. "Aunt Mara was gonna let me fly the Sabre."
"Was not," Anakin corrects as Chewie follows them. "You're making that up."
"Thanks, Mara," Leia smiles appreciatively, laying a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think we could've kept up with them."
"Any time," I smile in return, strangely enough meaning it. We had a very fun two days.
"Careful. She'll hold you to that and we'll have them all the time," Luke laughs, finally disengaging from conversation with his elder nephew and sending Jacen and Leia back towards the temples.
"It sounds like it was a pretty impressive Force push, though," he continues.
I roll my eyes, toweling out my hair. "Were you this much trouble as a kid?"
"No," he laughs, "That's the Solo in them, I'm sure. Winter tells me Leia was pretty mischievous as a kid, though."
"And you still let them procreate?"
"You've seen them together. Do you think I could've stopped them?"
I join his laughter, knowing he has a point. "They're fun though. Don't think I could survive being their parent…"
"Han and Leia have a lot more patience than any of us give them credit for…"