Standard Disclaimer: These characters belong to G. Lucas. No copyright infringement is meant.
Dedication: To the beautiful people on SWSB – especially JediJade88, RedGold, The Good Twin, and Ginchy.
Rating: PG-13/T
Spoilers/Timeline: After The Corellian Trilogy but before "Vision of the Future". Set in the "Lightheaded" AU.
A/N: Do read and review. I'm not sure if this can be read with much enlightenment if you haven't read Lightheaded. You could try, I guess. I'm not planning for this to be very long. Actually, I don't plan anything at all; fics just write themselves.

Chapter 4: The Nightmare

Han watched as Leia tucked Anakin in. He really must have been tired from that wrestling with the cleaner, Han thought, shaking his head and smiling at his youngest son. I've never seen him quite so pliant before. Makes for a refreshing change.

Leia looked over at him and smiled. Smoothing the covers one last time, she left and closed the door quietly behind her.

"Lots of activity up there, what are you thinking about?" she asked, smoothing his hair down.

"Nothing much. Just how easy it was to get him to sleep tonight. And half an hour before his bedtime!" Han shook his head, amazed. Leia just smiled. She walked over to the study, and accessed the holonet.

"You're not doing what I think you're doing, are you?" He walked to her and looked over her shoulder. "Yes, you're doing what I think you're doing, and I don't think it's a good idea."

"Good thing I can think for myself, nerf."

"What are you going to say to him?"

"I'll think of it as I go along."

"Thinking on the fly is my speciality."

Leia just grunted in reply, then turned back to the screen as the connection to Yavin stabilised.

"Bantha droppings… I think that we're going to get bad picture transmission from this connection." True to Leia's words, the connection to Yavin was successful, but the picture flickered in and out sporadically, with long periods of blackness between flickers.

"Kam?"

"This is Yavin IV, Knight Tionne speaking for the Jedi Academy."

"Tionne! Is Luke around?"

"Please transmit your identification code… oh!" Tionne's slightly bored voice took on a more alert tone as Leia's credentials were relayed. "Senator, I apologise… Master Skywalker is currently in his quarters."

"Could you patch us through please? I have Han with me."

Tionne paused, and through the blackness of the screen, Han wondered if the connection had been dropped.

"Master Skywalker left instructions that he was not to be disturbed."

"Did he say why?"

"No, this is merely the message Kam left on the comnet channel when I tried to patch your call through. Let me try again." Leia looked at Han, who shrugged. "Maybe he's meditating or something. Or sleeping."

"Han! It's not even nine!"

"Leia?" Luke's voice came through the speakers, a little scratchy.

"Luke!" Leia sat forward in her seat. "Luke, are you there?"

"No, this is just my holocron speaking. Of course I'm here," Luke said drily.

"Are you seeing Mara Jade?" For one microsecond, the picture connection between Yavin and Coruscant stabilized, and Han and Leia saw the taken aback expression on Luke's face.

"Han!" Leia hissed in an undertone. "He doesn't have a shirt on!"

"Why do you ask?" Luke's voice came coolly over the holonet.

"Sweetheart, he's in his quarters, and he asked not to be disturbed. His hair's a mess, so you possibly just woke him up," Han replied quickly. To Luke, he said, "Ah… Leia found that piece of clothing you left behind on your last trip here."

Luke was silent. After a while, he said in a strangled voice, "I see."

"Luke, all I want to know is – "

"I'm getting married."

Han felt Leia stiffen – in shock or in disapproval, he couldn't tell. He leaned forward towards the microphone. "Uh, kid, you wanna run that by us again?"

In that same uptight voice, Luke's reply crackled over the speaker. "I'm getting married."

Leia awoke from her shock. "To Mara Jade."

"Yes."

"When."

"No… uh… no idea."

"Luke? Are you alright?"

"Uh… yes, I'm alright. It's fine. We're fine. I mean, I'm getting married. Soon. Could you… uh… could you see to… the… preparations and protocol?"

"I hardly think – "

"Look, we're getting married, and we'll get you details once we know. We're busy." And with a click, Jade severed the connection. But not before the flicker of an image imprinted themselves onto Han and Leia's retinas.

Wide-eyed, Leia turned to Han. "Was that… were they… in the middle… while talking to us?"

Han had an impressed and surprised look on his face. Well, well, kid. Well done. "It looks like they really are fine and busy with things."

"She was sitting on his lap!"

"And he was enjoying it!"

"But… but… " Leia was having difficulty finding the words, which was a wholly new experience for Han to watch. He rubbed her back again to soothe her.

"It's his life, sweetheart. He's never meddled with us before."

"Yes… but… but… he's my brother!" Scandalised, Leia leaned forward in her chair, and put her head in her hands.

In lieu of something useful to say, Han went back to rubbing her back and making soothing noises. Through her hands, he thought he heard her say something.

"What's that, sweetheart?"

Leia pulled her hands away from her face and looked at him.

"I said, this is going to be a diplomatic nightmare. And I'm going to need therapy."

fin

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A/N: Thanks for reading again! 'Lightheaded' just didn't want to end, and this sort-of-sequel just begged to be written. Remember: feed the monster, and the monster will feed you! (Read: click that button, y'all.)