Chapter 12

Outside in the hallway, Leia finished venting her frustration to her husband, and leaned against the wall with her arms folded.

"Leia," Han told her, "I'm sorry." He came to her, and touched her arm. "I was only trying to help Luke."

Leia looked at him, exhasperated. "The least you could have done was to let me know, Han. And entrusting Anakin to bring it to him? He's four years old! How could you even…did it occur to you that he might try drinking it? He doesn't know any better!"

Han felt a blush creeping into his cheeks. He had known the risk of sending the youngest of the children to bring the cup to Luke's room, but Anakin's innocence was what convinced Luke to even taste it. When he told Leia this, she pulled away. "It was stupid, Leia," he finally admitted. "We really should have let you in on this, but I didn't think…"

Leia snapped at him. "Well, that's just it, Han! You don't think!"

He backed away at the anger in her voice, and raised his hands. "Don't turn to the dark side on me, sweetheart. Fathers are allowed to make mistakes every once in a while."

Leia blew out her breath. "Sometims I don't know what to do with you, Han. I really don't." she glanced up as the children came into the hall, hesitating to come any closer to their parents. Leia smiled at them, motioning with her arm that it was safe for them to intrude.

"Uncle Luke's sleeping," Jacen told her. "He told us to make sure you two haven't killed each other yet."

Jaina nudged his arm, and Leia merely laughed.

"Is Daddy in trouble?" Anakin whispered loudly to Jaina. "I've been yelled at by Mommy before, and I know what it's like!"

Jaina covered her mouth and giggled, shhhshing him. Leia laughed also, and shook her head. "No," she replied thoughtfully, "He's not in trouble."

"Grown ups never get in trouble," Anakin whined. "It isn't fair! Daddy doesn't even get time out!"

Han sniggered, folding his arms, and gave Anakin a hurt look. "Way to stick up for me, kid." He teased. "Who's side are you on anyway?" he asked, and Anakin clung to his mother's legs.

"Mommy's," he replied, and Han smirked.

"And why are you on Mommy's side?"

Anakin looked up at the former Princess of Alderaan, and gave her a sheepish grin. " 'Cause she gives me cookies." His answer was so serious, that it sended Jacen and Jaina into fits of laughter, and even Han had a difficult time keeping a straight face.

"So!" he cocked his head to one side. "That's how you've been doing it!"

Leia glanced down at Anakin, and nudged his arm. "Honey," she whispered. "That was only the one time." She cleared her throat, and avoided Han's stare.

"One time? You used bribery to get Anakin to do something? And ha! You go off on me about being dishonest!"

Leia raised a finger at him. "That was a completely different situation, Han."

Jacen and Jaina looked at each other, biting their lips. "Uh oh," they said together.

"And you say you're not a corrupt politician," Han spat. "Bribery. My own wife resorting to using bribery on our kids."

The twins distracted Anakin for the time being, and pulled him away, heading in the direction of their bedroom. The last thing they wanted was to get in the middle of another one of their parents' arguments. It amazed them that Han and Leia had been married for so long, considering how much they fought.

"I'm not a corrupt politician!" Leia exclaimed. "I'm a knowledgeable mother! And sometimes, you have to be creative."

Han smirked, pulling her into his arms and dipping her backwards. "I love you, your worshipfulness," he whispered into her ear, and she felt the blood rushing to her head from being hung upside down. Still, she loved when he made these passionate moves on her, and didn't complain. Eventually, he pulled her up, and the two of them kissed.

"I love you, nerf herder," she replied.

Han snorted. "Aren't you ever going to stop calling me that?" he asked, moving his kiss down her neck. She groaned with pleasure, pressing him against the wall.

"Aren't you ever going to stop calling me your worshipfulness?" she whispered into his ear, and he thought for a moment.

"Good question," he laughed, and lifted her into his arms.

"Han!" she yelped, clinging to his neck for dear life.

"What?" he asked, carrying her down the hall. "The kids aren't watching."

Leia rolled her eyes. "To the bedroom?" she asked, appreciating being pampered for once. She was so tired after all of the commotion with Luke, that she wanted nothing more than to just relax with her husband.

"Absolutely," he replied, and carried her the rest of the way there.

When Jacen, Jaina and Anakin entered their room, it seemed so foreign. Jaina carried her little brother, and had to let him down when he started squirming. They were grateful that their Uncle had survived the surgery, though deep down they knew perfectly well that he would have been fine.

"Hey," Jacen spoke, flopping down on his bed. "D'you think Uncle Luke could have survived with one lung? I mean, didn't the healer say his other lung was fine?"

Jaina shrugged. "I think so," she answered. "But they wanted to be safe by putting another healthy lung in."

"I wonder why they didn't put him in the bacta stuff. Mom said he was fine when he was attacked by the wampa on Hoth, and was in the tank for a little while."

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Jacen," she spoke, "The bacta tank is used for injuries on the outside. Like if you cut your arm or something. Uncle Luke was hurt on the inside."

Jacen nodded. "Oh." He turned over on his back. "I'm just glad he's okay."

Jaina smiled, watching as Anakin sat in the center of the floor, fascinated by the lizard in the cage. "Why do lizards have yellow eyes?" Anakin asked, resting his chin on his arms, and Jacen looked at him.

"Same reason why we have brown and blue," he replied. "It's all about the color of the parents' eyes."

"I have Uncle Luke's eyes," Anakin told his siblings proudly. Both Han and Leia had dark eyes, which the twins inherited, but the only reason for Anakin's icy blue eyes was that he'd gotten them from Luke.

"I know," Jaina told him softly. "But they could have come from grandpa's, too."

"Yeah," Jacen agreed. "Grandpa Anakin had blue eyes, too."

"Jacen, can I hold the lizard?" Anakin asked, and Jacen sat up.

"No," he replied firmly.

"Why?" Anakin whined.

"Because, it might bite you."

"Then why d'you hold it?"

Jacen sighed, rolling his eyes. "Because it understands me. It's not scared of me."

"Don't argue," Jaina interrupted. "Didn't we promise Mom and Dad that we'd be good if Uncle Luke got better?"

Jacen looked at his sister. "We are being good," he snipped, and Jaina shook her head.

"No. We're getting mad at each other, and that's not being good."

"I'm hungry," Anakin randomly announced, and the twins looked at him, and then at the chronometers on their wrists. It was not quite lunch time, though they had to admit, they'd been so worried about their Uncle that it had made their appetities thin. They were only now aware of their growling stomachs.

"Me too, actually," Jacen agreed. "Wonder if we can ask Mom and Dad if they'll let us get lunch early."

"Let's go!" Anakin cried with delight, abandoning his desire to hold Jacen's pet lizard, and he hopped to his feet. The three siblings dashed into the hallway, and made their way towards their parent's room. They stopped outside when they heard what sounded like the bed bouncing, and giggling from behind the door. Jacen and Jaina stared at each other, and both turned a ridiculous shade of crimson.

"Anakin, no!" Jaina hissed as her youngest brother reached a pudgy hand for the door knob, and turned it.

"I wanna see Mommy and Daddy," he told her, and she took his shoulder firmly.

"No you don't," she whispered. "Not now."

"Why?" he asked, and Jaina sighed.

"We'll explain it to you when you're older. Let's go find Threepio and ask if we can eat now." After all, they'd practically been raised by the golden droid and their mother's maid, Winter.

"Or Chewie," Anakin replied, and Jaina shook her head.

"I don't want to bother Chewie. Besides, I can barely understand him," she admitted, and Jacen, though he certainly had an understanding of animals that his siblings didn't, he still had quite a bit to learn about wookiee speech. So the twins successfully convinced Anakin to let their parents alone, and made the treck towards the mess hall. When they met with Threepio, the droid announced that lunch would be occurring in a little more than sixty minutes.

"But Threepio," Jacen complained, "We're starving! We haven't eaten a lot since Uncle Luke got sick. Can't we have something now?"

Threepio raised his mechanical arms, his optical sensors blinking. "I suppose I might be able to fetch you a bit of something from the kitchens, Master Jacen."

Jacen patted the droid's arm, grinning. "You're the best," he replied, and the droid gave a surprised start.

"I am honored you feel that way, sir," he replied. "Is there anything specific you would like to eat?"

The kids looked at one another. "Uh," Jaina began, "Whatever looks good?" she replied.

"All right." Threepio began to waddle towards the kitchen, and the group watched as he disappeared around a corner.

"I guess we'll wait in our room for it then," Jacen suggested, shrugging.

"We should go and check on Uncle Luke," Jaina added, and Anakin shook his head defiantly.

"Mommy said we couldn't," he protested.

"She said we couldn't burst in and be loud," Jaina retorted. "We can just take a peek and make sure he's okay."

"Let's go," Jacen agreed, and they headed in the opposite direction.

Laying on the bed in each other's arms, Han and Leia gazed lazily up at the ceiling. It had been an eventful week, that was for sure. "Why is it," Leia began, "that we just cant seem to ever have a relaxing vacation? Or that we can never seem to relax in general?"

Han sniggered. "Anakin did bring up a point, even though he didn't," he admitted. "Grown ups don't get in trouble. At least not that way," he added. "We just get into a different kind of trouble."

Leia smirked. "A deadlier kind of trouble." She sighed. "I wish we didn't have to constantly live with the fear that some outside world is going to attack us. I mean, we thought the entire Empire had collapsed after Palpatine was destroyed."

"And then Grand Admiral Thrawn," Han replied. "Yeah. Who knows what might be lurking out there. It's never safe, Leia, but we can at least enjoy peacetime when we have it." He hugged her.