Chapter 28: Two at a Time

"Marry me." Han looked expectantly at the woman he loved, waiting for her response.

Leia looked up at Han, surprised by his statement. She didn't expect him to react this way. Leia had just realized she was pregnant herself and hadn't even put any thought into what she needed to do to prepare for a child. What she did know was that she didn't want Han marrying her just out of a sense of guilt or honor. Leia knew that he loved her and she loved him, but were Han's feelings really strong enough to build a marriage upon? "Han, you don't have to marry me just because I'm pregnant."

Han took Leia's hands and looked her straight in the eyes. Had someone told him a couple years ago that he would be ready to get married at this point in his life, he would have laughed in their face. It was strange how differently he looked at things knowing he had found someone to love. One day, he just knew. Leia was the one for him and he wasn't going to let her go. "I know, but this is something I want. I would have gone ahead and asked already, but we're in the middle of a war. It's not exactly the best time to settle down and start a family."

Leia cocked an eyebrow at his statement. A war was not the best time to be starting a family, but there wasn't exactly another option. Not in her opinion at least. "It's a little late for that now."

Han ignored Leia's dry response, intent on getting an answer. This was the right thing to do for both of them. The situation may not have been ideal and their entire relationship was a bit rushed, but their lives were never simple. Someday, they would probably look back on this day fondly. Assuming Han got the answer he wanted of course. "I love you."

Leia gave Han a small smile. It wasn't the first time Han had told her he loved her and it surely wouldn't be the last, but this time meant more than the ones before it. This time it was forever. He was asking her to be with him for the rest of their lives. Still, she couldn't resist turning his words from the first time she had admitted her love for Han back on him. "I know."

Han smirked at her response. Leia would never let him forget his answer the first time she had told him she loved him, but Han didn't care. "So are you going to make me beg or will you give me an answer?"

Leia sat silently, making a show of considering the options Han had just presented. As much as she would have liked seeing just how far she could push Han, the excitement of the moment got the better of her. "Yes. Yes, I'll marry you."

As soon as she finished her answer, Han picked Leia up from her seat and pulled her into a kiss. He hadn't realized just how happy a few words could make him. Only Leia could turn him into such a softy. When they released, Leia grabbed Han's hand and began to lead him toward the door. "Come on. I have a few choice words for my brother. And I have to tell Mara that we're having two weddings now."

Han got a confused look on his face at her statement. He understood her issue with Luke, but the comment about two weddings went over his head. Apparently, he was being left out of the loop again. As if the whole Jedi thing wasn't bad enough by itself. "Two weddings? What are you talking about?" Han didn't get a response as Leia walked out of the room. He quickly followed his fiancée down the corridor, intent on finding out what the hell was going on.

Leia didn't even bother to knock before hitting the activation pad for the door to Luke and Mara's quarters. She stormed in and found her brother leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. Leia marched right over to Luke's seat and pointed her finger just centimeters from his face. "You just had to play your games, didn't you? Little Brother."

Opening his eyes, Luke laughed at the finger pointed at his face and grinned at his irritated sister. It hadn't taken her that long to figure it out. "But of course. Little Sister."

Leia narrowed her eyes at her brother's sarcasm, causing Han to put a hand to his mouth to keep down his laughter from his place by the door. Looking over the situation, Mara decided that it would be better to stop this now before it got too out of hand. She cast a mocking glare toward the twins. "Children. Behave."

Mara's joking reproach caused Leia to turn her head and blush slightly in embarrassment while Luke gave his fiancée the same 'who me?' expression their son did when he got caught taking something apart. After composing herself, Leia turned to face her brother and his fiancée once again. Today was a day for good news, not getting back at troublesome Jedi. "We really came by to tell you something else."

Mara smirked as she beat them to the punch. The happiness she could feel coming from both Leia and Han made their news rather obvious. "Let me guess. There's going to be two weddings now."

Leia gave Mara an annoyed glare for spoiling her surprise while Han could be heard complaining about "damn Jedi mind readers." Mara just grinned in response to the couple's irritation.

However, Leia's attention was quickly drawn away from her soon to be sister-in-law when Luke turned away and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "among other things."

Her brother was hiding things again and Leia was not about to let him turn into the Jedi teacher again. This time, she was going to get a straight answer out of Luke. In order to let her brother know she meant business, Leia grabbed him by the collar and fixed him with a glare. "What did you say?"

Luke swallowed hard and looked around the room, avoiding his sister's glare. He needed to learn to keep his comments to himself, especially around his pregnant sister. "Nothing. I didn't say a thing."

Leia pulled Leia to a standing position and finally released his collar. She narrowed her eyes at her brother and crossed her arms over her chest. Luke Skywalker was not going to weasel his way out of this one. "No more games. Out with it."

Luke looked to Mara, hoping to get support from his fiancée. Mara, however, just raised her hands in the air and stepped back. She wasn't about to get in between the bickering twins. "Don't bring me into this. You're own your own here. I would advise against baiting the pregnant Jedi, however."

Luke threw his hands in the air, defeated. "Ok. You win. You're having twins."

Luke saw Han's eyes go wide in the background as Leia's jaw dropped at hearing his news. The newly engaged couple remained silent for a moment, absorbing the reality of the situation. They weren't just having a child. They were having children.

Leia's voice was a mixture of excitement and worry when she finally spoke. It made sense. If she and Luke were twins, it would have passed on to her as well. Still, Leia couldn't help but feel slightly troubled at the prospect of carrying and raising two children at the same time. "Twins! Are you sure?"

Luke nodded at his sister with a wide smile on his face. He could tell that Leia was nervous, but he knew that she would make a great mother. Once the children arrived, Luke was sure her doubts would fade away. "If you look closely, you can sense two very strong Force presences overlapping each other. Don't feel bad that you didn't notice. They're so close to each other that I didn't even pick up on it until we got back to the fleet and I even knew to look."

"Well…wait a second." Leia glared at her brother once again If he knew to look for her children when they got back to the fleet, Luke had known about her pregnancy even longer than she had suspected. "How long have you known about this?"

Luke turned his eyes away from his sister's angry face and stared at the ceiling. He just kept getting deeper and deeper. At this point, it would be best to just go with the truth and deal with the consequences. Eyes still on the ceiling, Luke's voice was sheepish when he responded. "Since Tatooine."

Leia's eyes went wide at her brother's statement. He had picked up on her pregnancy just after the twins were conceived and didn't even bring it up until now. "That was over three weeks ago!" Leia spun on her heel and directed her glare at Mara. She wanted to know if Luke had an accomplice in this. Mara should know better being a mother herself. "Did you know about this too?"

Mara threw up her hands and stepped back, speaking in her defense. She was innocent in this. Luke had been the one holding things back. "Hey, don't look at me. I only found out about the pregnancy today when Farmboy pointed it out to me. He's the one that's been keeping secrets. In fact, I found out about the twins part when you did."

Leia turned to face her brother once more. "So, Luke. Any more secrets you'd like to share with the rest of us?"

"You're having Force strong twins. I don't know anything beyond that. I swear." Luke's face took on a pleading expression before he continued. "Look. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I didn't think you would want to hear about this from me. I thought it was best that you figure things out on your own. Will you forgive me?"

Leia was unable to resist her brother's plea for forgiveness. She wanted to make Luke suffer for a little longer, but didn't have to heart to ruin his day. "You're forgiven. But if you ever pull anything like this again, I will not be held responsible for my actions."

Before Luke could respond, Mara grabbed his arm and began pulling her fiancé toward the door. She wasn't going to give him an opportunity to raise his sister's ire once more. "Come on, Farmboy. We're leaving before your big mouth gets you in trouble again." Through the cabin's durasteel walls, Han could be heard laughing at the bewildered look on Luke's face as the door of his own quarters closed behind him.

Luke knocked on the hull of Cort's ship, the Crystal Blade, as he walked up the ramp looking for its owner. He was hoping to take a look on the disks of Jedi history and teachings the man had brought with him. Receiving no response, Luke walked up the open ramp of the craft and called down the corridor. "Cort?"

"In here!" Luke followed Cort's voice to an open maintenance hatch in the main deck. The newest Jedi boosted his grease covered form out of the hole in the floor and waved at his visitor, hydrospanner still in hand. "Hey, Luke." Seeing Luke looking down into the maintenance hatch, Cort waved toward the machinery within and answered his unspoken question. "Just fine tuning the hyperdrive. It took a bit of a beating in those uncharted spacelanes when I made that blind jump."

Luke nodded at the man's comment. "Do you need a hand? I've learned a thing or two about fixing hyperdrives with all the trips I've taken in the Falcon."

"No, thanks. I have everything pretty well wrapped up here and I like doing repairs. Gives me time to think." Cort sat tossed his hydrospanner into a nearby toolbox and picked up a rag to clean the grease off his hands. "Did you need me for something or is this a social call?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you had copied those disks of Jedi teachings yet. I was hoping to take a look at them."

Cort quickly made his way over to a nearby computer terminal and started to bring up the information Luke was inquiring about. "Not yet. They have some rather tricky encryption on them. You can't just tell the computer to copy them or it will destroy the original in the process. If you want, you can use the copies stored on this terminal for now."

Luke's eyes shone with excitement. He had been looking forward to learning as much as he could about the Force from Cort's files as soon as he had heard about them. Hopefully, he could find the information he was looking for. "That would be great, thanks."

Cort looked up from the terminal he was leaning over, typing in access codes. Luke seemed surprisingly anxious to look over the Jedi texts. It was almost as if he was on a mission. "Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"I'll know it when I see it."

"Fair enough." Cort keyed in the final password and waved to the open seat in front of the terminal. "You should have access to all the files now. I'll be in the cockpit upgrading the navigation computer if you need anything." Luke nodded to his student and sat down in the open chair. It was time to get to work.