Jaina's mother didn't use a beings mover like the others did. It was a mover; you were supposed to stand still on it. But, Jaina's mother kept walking once she boarded it, politely passing the other riders standing still.
Her father, on the other hand, would pick her up and sit her on the back of his neck, his big Daddy hands holding on to her shins. He'd bend and swoop and jump, pretending they were navigating an asteroid field. Jaina had a high view of the mover, and though it was pretty slow, it was still a fun way to ride.
Jaina tugged on her mother's hand as they turned sideways to avoid an overweight twi'lek.
"Excuse me," Princess Leia murmured to the being.
"Mama?" Jaina asked, pulling on her mother's hand. "Can we get a cookie?"
Her mother turned warm brown eyes to her daughter. "A cookie?" It had been a fun day, out shopping with her daughter. The holidays were approaching, and they were out getting gifts for Chewie and Uncle Luke and his family. "I suppose we can."
"Yummy!" Jaina celebrated.
Leia smiled. "What kind of cookie do you want?" Maybe she'd buy a few dozen, bring them into the office as a treat for her assistants.
"A Daddy cookie."
"A Daddy cookie?" Leia's face gathered in thought. "What's a Daddy cookie?"
"A Daddy cookie," Jaina answered simply. "You know."
"Is there a Mommy cookie?"
"Well, you're on it."
"I am?" Leia laughed and shook her head in puzzled delight at the mind of a child.
Bakery visits were usually something Han and Jaina did together. He always brought one home for Leia, but he and Jaina ate theirs on the way home, so she didn't know which ones they usually ordered.
The bakery was around the corner from their Coruscant apartment, and as soon as she stepped in Leia resolved to come more often. With or without Han or Jaina. What a heavenly smell!
"Which one do you want, Jaina?"
"That one." She pointed a stubby finger at one that was frosted in two colors. Half was a rich dark brown and the other was snowy white.
"A moon cookie," the proprietor told the little girl. "Good choice."
"It's a Daddy cookie," the four year old girl informed the baker.
The baker and Leia exchanged indulgent glances, but she wondered why Jaina associated this particular cookie with her father.
"Is the cookie dressed like Daddy?" she asked Jaina.
"Cookies don't dress, Mama." Jaina gave a toddler-sized snort.
Leia bought three moon cookies, three sour snaps, three chocochip and three fudge drops for home, plus the large Baker's Sample tray for the office.
The proprietor added a fourth moon cookie to the bag. "For the general," he said, and winked at the little girl. "Tell your father hello for me."
Jaina pulled her moon cookie from the bag as they exited.
"Wait until we get home," Leia said.
"But, Mama," Jaina whined.
"I think you should eat your Daddy cookie with your Daddy."
Jaina clearly wanted to eat it now, like she always did, but there was a finality to her mother's tone she knew not to ignore, so she sighed and slid it back down into the bag.
"We're almost home," Leia encouraged. "Wouldn't it be nice to have some blue milk to go with your moon cookie?"
"Yah!" Jaina brightened. "Uncle Milk!"
Leia smiled. Her child was so sweet, and she was glad Jaina had such a strong sense of family when there wasn't much of one Han or Leia could give her. No grandparents, only one uncle, no cousins. Just a tiny nucleus. Still. Daddy cookies and Uncle milk. You made traditions where you could. Leia had learned that a long time ago.
When they arrived home, C-3PO greeted them at the door.
"I hope your shopping excursion was successful, Mistress Leia." He hung Leia's coat up in the closet. "Mistress Jaina!" he admonished.
Jaina had slid her coat off and dropped it on the floor and drifted off to find her father.
"Jaina!" Leia called. "Please hand your coat to 3PO. You know he can't bend down far to pick things up." She watched as her daughter stomped back into the foyer. "What do you say?"
"Here, Mr. 3P," Jaina handed her coat unenthusiastically to the droid.
"Thank you, Mistress Jaina," C-3PO intoned regally, but Jaina had skipped away.
"We had a lovely day, thank you, C-3PO," Leia told her droid and went to find Han.
He was in the kitchen, picking his daughter up so she could sit on the stool pulled up to the counter. She'd fallen off one day, and ever since it made Leia nervous to see her on it. She sat on the stool next to her.
"We got cookies, Daddy!" Jaina said. "And today, I'm gwona drink Uncle Luke!"
"Any day's a good day for Uncle Milk," Han smiled. He had opened the sampler tray and his finger was hovering around all the cookies.
"Those are for the office," Leia said, swatting his fingers away from the cookies lightly. She opened the bag. "These are for us."
Han pulled them out one at a time. Jaina grabbed a moon cookie quickly. Han selected the fudge drop.
"Ooh, you're gwona eat Darth Vader!" Jaina squealed, wiggling on her stool.
Leia put a hand out to catch her daughter if she needed to. "What is this with naming all the cookies?" she asked Han.
Jaina changed her voice to make it sound like she was telling a ghost story."The Dark Side. It's in the cookie, Mama!"
Han bit and smiled, gooey fudge at the corner of his mouth. "Got to defeat the Dark Side," he said, and crammed the whole cookie in his mouth.
His cheeks were full, and fudge still oozed, and he looked like he was going to have trouble swallowing. Leia passed Jaina's cup of blue milk to him. "Here," she offered. "Looks like Luke needs to help you."
"He was always good in a fight," Han said with his mouth full, and he drained Jaina's cup.
"Hey," she protested. "Daddy. Bring Uncle Luke back."
"The thing about Uncle Milk," Han said as he went to the cooler and pulled the pitcher of blue milk out, "is he never runs out on you."
Jaina showed her cookie to her cup. "Oh no, Uncle Luke, it's pulling us in!" She took a small nibble.
"I need to hear about the Daddy cookie," Leia said with a laugh.
"Moon cookie," Han said as if Leia was supposed to know. "Except it's the Death Star."
Leia racked her brains. "I don't know what you're talking about."
C-3PO, who was hovering nearby to be helpful, saw an opportunity. "At first sight, Master Luke described the Death Star as a small moon," the droid informed Leia.
"When the tractor beam hit us," Han said.
"Ooh," Leia realized. She turned to Jaina. "I wasn't there, so I don't know."
"You were here, Mama," and Jaina pointed at a spot in the soft white frosting.
"Yes, I was," she blinked. Her daughter was so cheerful, Han so matter-of-fact, and Leia wanted to cry. Her history, told in the eating of a cookie, was transcending.
"What happens next on the Daddy cookie?" she asked.
"This." It took Jaina a while. Leia almost figured nothing happened, as she and Han watched her nibble her way through the chocolate frosting. "Ready, Daddy?" Her big eyes, brown like her Mama's, were looking at him.
"Ready," he said.
Jaina took her index finger and poked a hole into the white frosting. "Into the tummy, Fly Boy!" and like her father she crammed the rest of the cookie into her mouth.
Leia laughed in delight. She really was in the cookie!
"You call that a Daddy cookie?" she teased Han.
"Maybe you'd like it better on the bakery shelf," he pretended to sneer at her, and kissed her on the lips.