Hey, thank you all for reviewing! Sorry about the insane amount of time in between chapters - I have become a lazy college girl. This may get rather sappy, so I'm just warning you now before anyone throws a tissy fit or something like that.

Chapter 69

It was nighttime and the rain had ceased, luckily giving Fabio his leave to return to his palace. He had been grating on everyone's nerves with his incessant whining, much like Threepio, and finally Han had had to instill a rule stating:

"If anyone whose name starts with either a 'F' or a 'T' whines about one thing I'm locking them up in the smuggling compartments."

Threepio had tried to argue that his serial number started with a "C" and not a "T" and therefore he was exempt from the rule, but Han had promptly grabbed the golden droid's arm and proceeded to drag him across the lounge toward the compartments, eliciting a series of whiny screams. Instead of following through with the act, though, Han repeated the rule, replacing the "T" with "See-Threepio."

This had been sufficient to shut both of them up, and Fabio had sulked about the cabin for the remainder of his stay in the Falcon. Now he was gone, however, and Threepio was shut down for the night.

Chewbacca had gone to bed early, leaving the young couple and their son to themselves. Alden was lying on a blanket on the floor of the cabin that was delegated as his nursery, and both parents were enthralled with the sight of him. They had thought that they would get used to seeing him – they had thought that his little face would become an ordinary sight, but they had been wrong in their supposition. From the tiny, dark-brown hairs on his head to his bubbly little toes; no part of him was exempt from their wonder. Three months had passed since his birth, yet it seemed as if they had just arrived home from Medical.

As the parents watched their son with pure wonder, he wriggled around happily. He slapped his hands on the floor with inadvertent rhythm, and shifted back and forth as far as he could without completely flopping over. His parents laughed at his antics and played around with him, teasing and entertaining him. They were not expecting what was coming, however. Alden was wobbling back and forth in his typical fashion, which drew no distinct attention from his parents. Therefore they hardly even comprehended it when tilted so far that he rolled over completely. Both parents were completely shocked. Alden stared up at them with big, hazel eyes, smiled and practically winked at Han and Leia. So they both saw their son roll over for the first time, but the event had been completely unanticipated and unprepared for.

Once they had come out of their stupor, they clapped a little and congratulated him. Alden's eyes grew wide and a little bit frightened by the sudden noise, but when his mother lifted him up into her arms and spoke to him soothingly he calmed down, and grew sleepy. His internal "bedtime clock" seemed to go off, and he was asleep in her arms within a couple of minutes.

Leia brought Alden over to his crib and gently set him down on the mattress. Han stood behind her and the two of them admired their son for a few more minutes, then they headed to their own bedroom.

Han was already in bed when Leia stepped out of the refresher. He was stretched out to his full extent, feet nearly hanging off the end of the bed, and he motioned for Leia to join him. She climbed into bed and snuggled against his body, pillowing her head against his shoulder.

"We're lucky, you know," she murmured, lifting her chin up to kiss him. "The odds were definitely against us making it."

"Well, like I always say…"

"…never tell you the odds," Leia finished.

"Yeah, and that there's no such thing as luck," he added.

"Since when have you said that?"

"Never," he grinned. "I've just spent too much time around Luke and you."

"You can never spend too much time around me," she returned, kissing his cheek and caressing him gently.

"True," he whispered, "definitely true."

He kissed her ardently, full on the lips, and no more words were needed for the rest of the night.