"So what's the next step?" Jacen asked, smiling at Tilly as she handed them both their cafs. "Thank you hon."

"Damned if I know." Leia replied. "Your father recommends the short, sharp, shock treatment. You know, leave him with a screaming kid for half an hour and see who crumbles first."

"Yeah...I'd offer you Ren, but he's so contented you'd be hard pressed to get him to scream for a full half hour if you took a bite out of him." Jacen chuckled.

"I think we both assumed he'd grow out of this obsession with Riva, but she's all he talks about again now. Oh, and he still wants to marry Sena, just have his babies with Riva." Leia elaborated. Jacen laughed and Leia sighed. "This is all new territory for us." She said, shaking her head. "We had our problems with you and your sister, but this..."

"You'll figure it out Mom, you always do." Jacen assured with a glance at the kitchen. "I, on the other hand, will be in deep poodoo if I don't go help Tilly with the evening's prep."

"How's she doing?" Leia asked.

"She's amazing Mom." Jacen shrugged and called. "Till, hey Till!" Tilly, trying not to look weary, peered out from the kitchen. "Come talk to Mom." He called.

"I'm in the middle of prep." Tilly reminded.

"Five minutes won't hurt." Jacen insisted. Tilly disappeared back inside the kitchen, emerging a minute later minus her apron and knife. Jacen rose and offered Tilly his seat. "You talk. I'll go finish prep." He offered with a kiss to Tilly's cheek and a wink at his mother.

Tilly scowled at his back until it disappeared. "He's so annoying!" She stated.

"That'll be his father's influence." Leia said. "What's he doing to upset you?"

"He fusses. Like all of the time. I'm not getting enough sleep. I'm not getting enough fresh air. I don't eat properly. I don't rest when I should. Everything. All the time!" Tilly rolled her eyes.

"You do look a little tired." Leia admitted. "But that's from me, not from him."

"We've had full covers for the past three nights and we're catering a party tomorrow. He thinks I should be resting instead of prepping but he can't do it all himself either. Plus the childminder called in sick. Again! If you ask me, she just doesn't like our kids." Tilly complained.

"Can't be easy with two force sensitives." Leia reasoned.

"I sound like we're not coping, we are. It's just sometimes, whenever it feels like we're just getting ahead, something comes along to wreck it all." Tilly groaned and nudged her head toward the kitchen. "Then he starts with his 'you're supposed to be resting' lecture again."

"We could take the kids for the night!" Leia exclaimed.

"Oh no, I wasn't suggesting that, I swear!" Tilly moaned.

"No, seriously, you'd be doing me a massive favour." Leia insisted. "I have to work on the script and the kids would get Han out from under my feet."

Tilly seemed to consider.

"Please! You know what Han's like." Leia begged. "I'll end up killing him and I really don't want to be celebrating my grandchildren's birthdays from behind a secure unit's forcefield."

"You're..really sure?" Tilly asked.

"You have no idea!" Leia answered with a shake of her head.

"Well...Ren is a pretty contented baby." Tilly said, chewing her lip. "He sleeps most the night through; the same can't be said for Anais though, she's quite demanding at the moment. I can only assume she can sense the baby already."

"Perfect. Han loves a challenge. More so if she's female." Leia said patting Tilly's hand. "Why don't I come up with you, pack a few things and get the children in the landspeeder. Then you can get a couple of hours rest while Jacen finishes prepping and before the evening rush." Leia was on her feet before Tilly had chance to question her further.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"You know, when you said you were popping into town for a caf..." Han started.

"There you go sweetheart, go to Grandpa." Leia told Anais as she helped her from the landspeeder.

"Hey there gorgeous." Han beamed and scooped Anais into his arms. Anais squealed and wriggled.

"I keep telling you, she doesn't like being picked up all the time." Leia reminded, throwing a travel pouch over her shoulder and lifting Ren from his baby seat.

"One kiss." Han said, chasing Anais' face as the little girl dodged his puckered lips.

"She's pretty grouchy, apparently. You might find your position being usurped." Leia said with a wry smile.

"So we're keeping 'em, why?" He asked.

"So Tilly can get some rest and Jacen can get off her case about it." She replied.

"Ahuh. You remember being pregnant?" He queried, following her into the house.

"Vividly." She answered.

"You remember anyone taking our kids off of us so we could get some rest or so one of us could get off the other's case?" He questioned.

"It's one night Han." Leia said, dropping the bag on a sofa and placing Ren on the rug.

"One night more than we had." He countered.

"Do you want me to call them and say you can't cope?" She asked.

"Hey, I never said that." He shot back.

"Because I had to as good as beg to get them to let you look after them in the first place." She told him.

"Beg them! To look after our...hey, wait a minute! Did you say 'to let me look after them'?" He growled.

"Just think..." Leia said, her eyes twinkling. "With you and Jorj looking after these two for the night, they might just change his mind about wanting a baby of his own. Plus, if I work really hard, I could maybe get that script finished so we can spend the day tomorrow together. Just you and me. All by ourselves." Her grin was enticing.

"Where's Jorj gonna be?" Han asked.

"Gambe said she was going to stop by. I might be able to persuade her to take him into town with her." Leia promised.

"What if she doesn't want to?" He pressed.

"Then I'll use a Jedi mind trick on her. Do you want a couple of uninterrupted hours with me and a tube of lube or not?" She barked.

"Put like that, how could I resist?" He queried, his lip curling. "One observation though. Anais might not like being held so much any more, but at least I don't lose mine."

Leia looked down to the empty rug and sighed. "Ren!" She hissed and started hunting for the boy.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Leia worked feverishly to finish as much of the script as she could while Han and Jorj entertained Anais and Ren Solo.

Ren, just as his mother had predicted, made his fatique known by a number of wide yawns and smacking of lips. He was asleep almost as soon as his bedtime bottle was emptied and lay curled in his grandfather's arms while Anais chased Jorj around the garden.

"I'm gonna take this little guy up." Han spoke softly to Leia who nodded but did not raise her head from her comm padd.

Taking the stairs carefully so as not to disturb his grandson, Han carried the boy into his and Leia's bedroom where they had agreed to place Ren's crib. Gently, he laid the baby in the crib and fell to his knees to watch him sleep.

"You know something kid, you probably don't realise this right now, but you are so lucky. You got a Mom and a Dad who adore you. You got grandparents, that's me an' that nice smellin' lady downstairs, to love you. You got your Aunt Jaina, to feel jealous 'cos you're a boy an' she aint got one o' those yet. You got your Uncle Jorj, who's never gonna threaten your intelligence and you got a big sister to look after you one day and leave you to rot the next." Han ran his hand across Ren's head. "Sleep well little one. Dream a happy dream." He groaned as he rose slowly and exhaled. "Man!" He moaned, stretching.

"Feeling your age, hotshot?" Leia asked from the doorway.

"Yeah! I like it better when I'm feeling yours." He drawled.

"Jorj has had enough of being chased by 'a girl' so I got him sitting, literally watching her until I bring you back down." She said.

"How long do you think it's safe to leave them?" He queried, rolling the knot out of his neck.

"About long enough for me to do this." She said, pushing away from the door and moving to wrap her arms around his waist and tilting her head up to his. "Thank you for looking after them today."

Han leaned forward to kiss the tip of her nose. "How'd you get on?" He asked.

"Almost done. If I don't finish it tonight, I'll definitely have it beat in the morning." She replied.

Han kissed her forehead. "Is it good?" He queried.

"No. But it will be." She grinned.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The following morning gave Han the chance to see if Leia was as good as her word. Closing the padd, he slid it toward her. "Well?" She asked, expectantly.

Han's finger wagged at the padd. "That aint half bad!" He declared.

"You think?" Leia checked.

"Sure beats some of the crud lines his guys wrote us sayin'!" He answered.

"My note wasn't quite so blunt. I just said he could write that stuff, but sure couldn't say it." She admitted.

"There's an understatement!" He added.

"You think he'll like it?" She queried.

"I think if he's got even a pea for a brain he'll love it." He confirmed. "An' it'd still be bigger 'n what he's got in his pants."

"Han Solo!" Leia swiped at her husband.

"I'll be taking the young Master into town soon as he's ready." Gambe told them from the hallway.

Leia left her padd on the sofa so that she and Han could see them on their way. "Thank you Gambe. Now don't let him take advantage of you, he's been a perfect monster these past few days." Leia said.

"I don't believe that. I got corns and bunions that're monsters! But that sweet little boy..." Gambe gazed affectionately at her charge who was sitting on the bottom stair securing his shoes.

"Thing is..." Han said, lowering his voice. "He's decided he wants a baby."

Gambe scratched at her chin. "Think I'm kinda past the having babies stage of my life!" She commented.

"He doesn't want a baby with you!" Han exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "Point is, we need some time to come up with a plan so as to explain to him how bad an idea that would be."

"You ever think o' just telling him that?" Gambe asked.

"The subtle approach doesn't always work with Jorj." Leia pointed out as the boy came bounding up to them. "Promise me you'll listen to everything Gambe says." Leia said sternly to Jorj.

"I will." Jorj replied.

"And not to play up otherwise we'll have to rethink our level of trust." She reminded.

"You got your credits?" Han asked. Jorj pulled a bundle of coins from his pocket, showed them to his father and returned them carefully so as not to lose any.

"And you know what you're going for?" Leia queried.

"Feed for my Glowfish and a new toy for Dude." Jorj replied.

"And you have enough to pay for that?" Leia asked.

"Ahuh. And enough to buy Aunt Gambe and me some ice cream so long as I only have one scoop, two maximum." He said, trying not to sound rehearsed.

"Be good." Leia told him with a loving smile.

"Do we really gotta walk all the way there?" Jorj asked, a lip curled much in the manner of his father's.

"All the way there and all the way home again." Han answered.

"Not sure my corns an' bunions are cut out for walking all that way back again." Gambe grumbled.

"We could get a hovercab. I got enough if I don't get any ice cream." Jorj offered.

After their recent disagreement culminating in Jorj's name-calling of his mother, Leia couldn't have been more proud of her son. "You should get a 'cab, use our account." Leia said, ignoring Han's mouth falling open. "Now go on, skedaddle." Leia beamed and waved them off. She was still smiling as she leaned against the closed front door and turned the snick. "What?" She asked.

"Did you have to tell her we got an account?" Han queried.

"It's one ride back from town Han." She argued.

"Like it's one hide of nerf...and a couple of nights stay...and..." He started.

"And a whole afternoon, all to ourselves. Just you. Me. And a tube of 'Lady Moisture'." She arched a neat eyebrow at him.

"Put like that..." He said, his own grin starting to spread. Leia offered him her hand which he accepted, drawing her fingers to his lips and pressing a light kiss to her knuckles at which point her comm padd bleeped for attention. "Figures!" He groaned.

"Leave it." She breathed, leaning on tiptoes to press her lips against his.

Han shifted, letting his hands rest lightly on her upper arms and deepened the kiss.
The padd beeped again.
Han broke their kiss and snorted.

"It's either going to be Lukash or Jaina. Or possibly Jacen, saying thank you for having the kids last night." She assured him.

A further beep interrupted Han's move toward her. "Whoever it is, they're not taking the hint." He growled.

"I'll get rid of them." Leia offered.

"No, you go on up, I'll get rid of them. If it's Jaina or Jacen, you'll only end up in conversation with 'em and if it's Lukash he'll only want you to revise another eight pages of dialogue down to two lines or something." Han told her.

"Don't be long. I'm feeling horny." She said with a sly smile. Han watched her mount the stairs, considered mounting her where she stood and then heard the padd beep once more.

With a muttered Corellian curse, he went and snatched up the padd. "Solo!" He barked into it's receiver.