Chapter 23

They all entered the Senate building intending to see Chancellor Mon Mothma. Once they received permission from the Senate to open an adoption center they would be able to sign the adoption papers and grant adoption rights to Helena and Gerry. Leia would talk to Mon Mothma, and if she approved of the proposal they would bring it before the Senate.

As they briskly walked down the hall they almost passed the leader of the Alliance, but luckily Leia did a double take and hurried over to Mon Mothma's side.

"Mon!" Leia shouted, happy that she was able to find the venerable leader.

"Leia! Back so soon?"

"Yes, Mon, we had a little change in plans. I won't be coming back to work quite yet if that is acceptable, but I wanted to bring a proposal before the Senate and I wanted your approval first."

"Sure, Leia, what is the proposal?"

Leia turned to her husband. "Han, why don't you tell Mon about your proposal?"

"Um…sure. Madame Chancellor…"

"Mon is perfectly fine, Han," Mon Mothma said with a genuine smile.

"Oh, sure. Mon, while we were on Corellia we met this little boy," he said as he motioned to Ty. "His name's Ty. He's an orphan from Corellia, and he wants to be adopted by this man and woman here, but there are no agencies on Corellia that will allow the adoption to take place. I wanted to propose that I create an adoption agency here on New Alderaan, and have Ty be the first kid adopted. I think that this would be very beneficial to the new government, and the planet in general."

"Oh, Han, that is a wonderful idea. New Alderaan is in dire need of a place of adoption. Would you really be willing to be in charge of the agency?"

Han nodded and let a lopsided grin cross his face. "Yeah, of course. I love little kids, and I'll have to get used to them with the new baby and all…"

"New baby? Who's having a baby?" Mon Mothma asked.

Leia blushed and glared at Han, quickly trying to divert her attention from the conversation in the hope that the Chancellor wouldn't become suspicious and figure it out. She "inconspicuously" whistled and stared at the ground while shifting her weight from her toes to her heels.

"Leia? You're pregnant?" Mon Mothma asked incredulously. Leia blushed even redder when she added, "You've only been married a few months!"

Han shrugged and winked, and Leia sighed. "Why does everyone need to find out before I tell them?" she asked no one in particular.

Han wrapped an arm around her. "Because you're not exactly doing the best job at hiding it, Sweetheart."

"Like you're helping!"

Han backed away, having learned his lesson to not get on Leia's bad side with her fluctuating hormones. "Sorry, honey, it was just a slip…"

"Everything's ruined! I had this big plan. I was going to have everyone come to our apartment, and I was going to tell them all at once. Now Luke and Mon have both found out, and I wasn't even able to tell them! Why does nothing go as planned?"

"It's okay, Leia, it's life. Nothing can be planned perfectly or life would be boring. You gotta admit, it is more interesting this way."

"No, it's not. Luke's feeling's were hurt, and you ruined it for Mon…"

"Why does it need to be a big production, anyway? I mean, they've gotta find out some time or another, right?"

"Because it's the most important thing in our lives, that's why!" Leia said before clutching her stomach and putting her right hand over her mouth. "Stupid morning sickness…I'll finish my point later. You'll pay for this, Solo!" she said before running for the 'fresher.

After she left, Mon Mothma turned to Han. "Well, congratulations about the baby, Han. And I must say that if the Senate does not approve of your proposal they are going to be regretting it, because I don't think that they want to be facing an angry, hormonal Leia."

"Yeah. She'd start ranting about how dumb they all are and then get weepy and tell them how sorry she was. It'd freak them out."

"So, I see that you've already been experiencing this, Han. How long has she known?"

"Only a few days, I think. Though I think she suspected something before that." He then turned toward Luke, Ty, Gerry, and Helena. "Hey, why aren't you guys in this conversation? Are you protesting against words?"

"Well, this isn't exactly a group conversation, Han old buddy. It was interesting enough to watch," Luke said.

"Well, you're going to be seeing a lot of it over the next eight or nine months. Leia's got the side effects of pregnancy pretty bad. It's gonna be ugly."

"I bet. Hey, Han, I didn't get a chance to congratulate you yet. I was a little shocked. Thanks for making me an uncle!"

"No problem Kid, no problem at all."