Mousewolf – Nope. Luke tried though, he really did. Don't worry, there's still a lot more!
From-Heaven2Earth – Thank you! I don't remember if they ended up doing charades or not, but it puts quite an image in the mind, now, doesn't it?
Thejedistarfiregrayson - Thank you! Yes, I've read Tatooine Ghost. It's probably my favorite EU book, since it focuses on Han and Leia and all.
TheRealLeia – Thanks for the props! Yeah, Luke has to be the mature older brother now. It's gonna get quite interesting, I'm tellin' ya!
KnightedRogue – Yes, you did read it on the JC, but there's nothing wrong with reading it again! I forget a lot of the stuff too – it's fun to go back and read it when I post the chapters. Glad you're enjoying it the second time around! Pink and H/L mush rule!
Jade Skywalker – Thank you! I'll try to keep the updates fast.
Chapter 50
The next day Han and Leia went back over to Luke's apartment. Luke had opened the door even before they rang the bell, and he immediately handed Han a bottle of Corellian Ale.
"What's this for?" Han asked, confused.
"I have a feeling you're going to need it," Luke stated.
"Ah…you have a 'feeling,' huh?"
"Yeah. You'll be afraid, Han. You will be," Luke said, looking strangely distant.
"Uh, okay Luke," Han said before leaning toward Leia and whispering: "I think I already am."
"So, Luke," Leia began, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had formed. "I see you don't have the book with you. Where is it?"
"Over there," he replied, nodding toward a container by the door that was filled with paper shreds. "I couldn't just throw it away. I needed to make it so that no one ever read it again."
"Good job, Luke. You did the galaxy a favor," Han grinned.
"I know. That doesn't mean that we're safe, though. Leia has something evil in mind for us."
"Oh, what do you mean, my dear brother?" Leia asked, feigning innocence.
"I am a Jedi, dear sister. It's pretty obvious that you're up to something."
"Like what?"
"Like completely humiliating Han and I by making us play stupid baby shower games. You know, something along that line."
"I was planning no such thing," Leia replied prettily. "I was only planning on mildly disgracing you, that's all."
"C'mon, Leia. We're trying to do something nice for you here. Can't we just keep all the girly stuff out of the shower?" Han protested.
"No, because the shower guests will be mostly women," Leia countered.
"What? I thought you said that most of your friends are men," Han said.
"They are, but I decided that my baby shower isn't just going to be an excuse for you all to get drunk. I'm going to invite some of my female acquaintances, and you men will just have to deal with it."
"But Leia…what happened to us planning the party?" Luke asked.
"You are going to plan the party. Now you have to plan a party for women. And don't try to get out of attending the shower, either. If you plan it, you have to go to it."
Han took a long swig of ale.
"Why don't we invite women and men, and then the men can just go drink in a corner while the women are playing the games and doing whatever it is that you do?" Luke asked shakily.
"We can invite men too, but they have to do everything the women do. If we have a diaper-changing contest, everyone has to do it. We don't want to be discriminatory now, do we?" Leia asked with an evil grin.
"There's a big difference between being discriminatory and being realistic. If you invite men to the party and make them do stuff like that, they're gonna jump out the window," Han stated.
"Oh, I don't think so. I think everyone will have fun. We can even have that beer-drinking contest you were talking about. But that's enough about the games for now. We need to send out invitations before we go and plan everything."
"How can we send out invitations if we don't know who's invited?" Luke asked.
"Oh, I just happen to have a list with me," she said, as she handed the list to him.
He read it, and went over the names several times to be sure that he was seeing correctly.
"Who are these people? I haven't even seen half of these names before."
"Oh, they're women that I know. Or at least women that I've met."
"Lemme see," Han said, taking the list from Luke. "You're right, Luke – I don't know any of these people. There's Malla, Mon Mothma and Helena Bengley, but other than that…who are these people?"
"Oh, stop being such babies. We can invite Lando, Chewie, Wedge and some of our other friends. You won't be the only ones there with Y-chromosomes."
"Is that gonna make it any better? I think I'd rather be humiliated in front of a bunch of women I don't know," Han moaned, downing more of his drink.
"Well, you can decide later. Let's design the invitations first." Leia said, going over to the computer terminal. "We could just send out a message to all the guests, but I think that the invitations should be cute. I was thinking of having the text of the message in baby blue, with a border of blue rattles…"
"Whoa – wait a second. What's wrong with just sending a plain message out? Who cares about how 'cute' the invitations look?" Han challenged.
"The guests will care, that's who," Leia stated, focusing her attention back on the terminal. "Okay, so we want to have it next week, right? We can have it midday."
"Okay," Han and Luke mumbled.
Leia typed quickly, shielding the supposed planners of the party from the screen, and smiled with satisfaction upon finishing.
"Okay, it's all done. Want to look?" Leia asked, moving over so the two men could have a good look at the message.
The invitation was merely a message that would be sent to all the guests' computers. The writing was fancy and done completely in baby blue. The invitations also featured rattles and blue bows, much to the disgust of Han and Luke. Han read it over, trying to ignore the frills, and noticed that something wasn't mentioned.
"Wait – it doesn't say anything about presents. I thought we were gonna get stuff!"
"Well, it's generally known that it's a custom to bring presents to a baby shower. It would seem really desperate if we wrote that they had to bring presents, wouldn't it?"
"But what if people don't know? The whole party would be pointless!"
"What happened to it being 'a celebration of our child?'" Leia asked dryly.
"Well, it would be a pointless 'celebration of our child' if nobody brought presents, wouldn't it?"
"I'm not writing that people have to bring presents on the invitations," Leia stated, crossing her arms.
"Well, Luke and me are planning the party, as you've so conveniently written on the invitations, so we can write that the guests have to bring presents if we want," Han said stubbornly.
"Go ahead," Leia answered, motioning to the screen. "If you want them to look tacky, that is."
"Tacky is fine by me if it means presents," Han said, typing in his addition. He leaned back and appraised the message.
"It looks better that way," he claimed. "I think that we should invite the guys now."
"What, you're willing to sacrifice your pride for a few presents?" Leia asked.
"Pretty much."
"You never fail to surprise me, Solo," Leia said. "You never fail to surprise me."
