By contrast, Han would have cheerfully exchanged his current position for a night of relative discomfort in the cockpit of the Falcon.
The baby's first feed had not gone well. Having taken a quarter of the bottle, she promptly and repeatedly vomited, spilling milk across Han, Jacen and Tilly along with much of the couple's bedding. A prolonged period of crying ensued which gave way to screaming and more vomiting.
"You know..." Han said, rubbing a weary hand over tired eyes. "She could be lactose intolerant."
"How are we supposed to know that?" Jacen pleaded, doing his best to soothe the infant.
"Medical tests." Han answered.
"We can't take her to a Medical Centre! They'd know she wasn't ours!" Jacen exclaimed.
"Mine, specifically." Tilly corrected.
"Ours!" Jacen insisted.
"Maybe she doesn't like your perfume." Han suggested, sarcastically.
"I'm not wearing any." Tilly replied.
"I was talking to Jacen." Han scoffed.
"Thanks Dad. Real helpful." Jacen sneered.
"Kid I don't know what to suggest. You took a little longer than your sister to latch on but once you did, you lapped it up!" Han said, scratching his cheek. "That stuff's supposed to be just like breast milk, only better."
"Come on Sweetie! You're gonna get us evicted!" Jacen rubbed at his baby daughter's back.
"You think some fresh formula might help?" Tilly asked.
Han shrugged and Tilly took her leave to make up fresh supplies.
"C'Mon, hand the kid over." Han waved his hands to take the baby from his son. "You should go with Tilly."
"But..." Jacen started.
"Son, that girl is a saint to stand by you through everything." Han said, forcefully. "She looked upset, so you get on after her and you remind her how much she means to you!"
Jacen handed his daughter to her Grandfather, hesitated then followed Tilly into the kitchen. Quite how that kid had managed to bed Tenel Ka was still a mystery to Han. Then again, she wasn't the first Princess a Solo had succeeded in snagging.
"You wait until you meet your Grandma." Han cooed in the baby's ear. "Now she was something else, let me tell you. Still is, come to think of it. Tiny, but packs a punch you know you've taken, if you know what I mean."
The baby on his shoulder hiccuped and started crying again.
"A heart just brimming full of love. Waiting for a real nice guy to come along and steal it from her. Now, as luck would have it, just so happens that I'm a real nice guy..."
Han could feel her fingers in his hair, her lips pressed to his. See-Threepio scratching at his back and then she was gone. That damn droid had gotten in their way almost as often as Luke had back then.
"He was just the littlest bit infatuated with your Grandma." Han chuckled. "Poor kid, didn't stand a chance. Not with your Grandpa on the scene. I mean seriously, who'd you rather have tickling your tastebuds Luke? Or me?"
The baby gurgled.
"Damn straight it'd be me." He patted her back lightly. "Your Great Uncle Luke though, he figured he was in with a chance. But I knew. I knew."
The baby dribbled baby-puke onto Han's shoulder and he smiled.
"Wasn't all clear skies though, I can tell you." He told the infant. "First off, there was your Great Grandpa to contend with. You don't need to know it all right now, but you see the thing is he was this big shot on the side of the enemy. Hurt your Grandma a lot that did. Hurt her in a lot of ways."
Han's thoughts drifted back to the events post Endor. When he had finally managed to see Leia, who had already been entrenched in New Republic politics.
She had told him her most desperate secret. And he had stormed away, like a child refused a treat after misbehaving.
In an effort to apologise, he had arranged dinner for the two of them. Eaten amid polite conversation, the couple had then settled on a sofa to drink the champagne Han had also managed to acquire to accompany their meal.
He still couldn't quite believe that she could have been the offspring of such a monster and Leia must have sensed his trepidation when her big brown eyes blinked up at him, her lips lifting to form a soft smile.
"You want to know how I know." She stated.
Han acted as though he didn't understand for a moment, then let the mask fall and gave her his own smile in return.
"Just 'cos the kid says it's so, don't necessarily mean it is." He suggested.
"I can't explain it any better than to say I know it to be true." Leia shook her head sadly. "So much seemed to fall into place after Luke told me. Not least Luke's own disposition after Cloud City. He became so introverted. In my vanity, I thought it was due to my confessing my feelings for you. Truth was, he'd just learned Vader was his father from Vader himself. Thankfully, I was at least spared that."
"Can't have been easy for the kid." Han mused.
"That's how he ended up hanging off an antenna." Leia explained. "He only told me recently, at the time he led me to believe he'd fallen during the fight that cost him his hand. In reality, he'd chosen the probability of death over his father's taunts to join him."
"Hell of a burden to carry alone." Han noted.
"Yes." She nodded, her voice just above a whisper.
"Hell of a burden, even if you're not alone." He corrected.
It was the most honest declaration of allegiance Leia thought she had ever heard from him.
Her heart beating, Leia collapsed into his arms, letting them envelope her, the warmth of his love caress her.
"Tell me." He said to her, laying his cheek against the head she'd tucked beneath his chin.
"Luke asked if I remembered my real mother." She recalled. "And I did, for the first time in a very, very long time I recalled the sensations I experienced at the time of my birth. How she had loved us, the babies she would never know."
Han hugged her tightly and waited patiently for the words to tumble from her lips.
"He told me the Force was strong in the Skywalker line. In him. In his father." She looked up at him then, her eyes misty. "And in me. I can't explain it, not really, but I knew what he was saying was true. The feelings I'd had for Luke, the love, it finally all made sense to me."
Leia returned to the safety and comfort of Han's arms. She settled herself against his chest, his arms encircling her once again protecting her from the evils of the outside world.
"I wanted him to leave. To go away, far away and never come back." She continued. "I think I knew he wouldn't, but the thought of losing a brother I never knew I had when I'd lost so much already, I had to suggest something. He told me he could feel the good in Vader. That he could turn him back to the Light and that he had to try. Then he was gone and I was starting to process all he'd told me when you found me."
"I was such an asshole!" Han said.
She could feel his lips press to her hair, his arms tighten around her.
"I wanted to tell you. I wanted to so very much. But I was so scared. Scared I'd lose you as well as everyone else I'd lost. Scared I wouldn't have the courage to go on alone." She said.
"You? Scared? Never!" Han quipped, tilting her chin enough to kiss her forehead.
"If anyone was to learn the truth..." She implored.
"No one will learn a thing from me, I can promise you that Princess." His smile was so earnest, she would have believed him if he'd told her the moon had just fallen from the sky.
"I love you." She breathed, her eyes searching his.
"I know." His lopsided grin was replaced by the open honesty he predominantly showed only to her. "I love you too."
Han felt the rumble vibrate through the baby's back and understood.
"I hear ya honey. Come on, Grandpa knows what to do." Han stood carefully, the baby perched over his shoulder and strode to the kitchen.
Although aware he had interrupted an intimate moment, Han nudged his chin toward the unpacked package on the counter-top.
"Pass me the medicine bottle that's in that bag would ya son?" He asked, ignoring the blushes of the young couple as he accepted the small bottle. "And you might wanna get a towel. One you won't mind throwing away after."
When Jacen returned with a towel, Han told him to spread it out on the kitchen table.
"Poor kid's got a blockage. Fortunately, we had the same thing with Anakin." Han lay the baby on the towel and prepared a dropper with the fluid from the bottle. "This stuff'll clear a Bantha's ass. Okay, sweetheart, open up for Grandpa."
Han leaned over the baby and dribbled three tiny drops of liquid into her open mouth.
Thrusting the bottle and dropper back at Jacen, he wrapped the baby in the towel and waited for the inevitable explosion.
When it came, it sounded like the Falcon backfiring all her thrusters and smelled reminiscent of the garbage compactor on the first Death Star. But, the baby immediately stopped crying and started slapping her lips hungrily.
"You might wanna keep her in that towel for the time being." Han suggested. "If she starts wailing again after you've fed her, give her two more drops. Any more an' you'll be cleaning poodoo off the ceiling 'til you're a hundred! Once her little innards have settled down, she's gonna be just fine. You got a name for her yet?"
"We've been talking about it." Tilly said, looking to Jacen for approval. "And we've decided on Anais."
"It means Gracious...Merciful." Jacen added.
"Anais Solo. Cute." Han agreed, looking down at his Grandchild. "And hungry. You guys are on your own there. I'm gonna go get something to wet the baby's head."
"You're coming back though, right?" Jacen asked. "You said you told Mom you wouldn't be home tonight."
"Don't worry kid, I'll be back. Right now though, you two need to bond with your daughter." Han told them. "Plus you need to get your story straight. 'Cos tomorrow, you're gonna go tell your Mom and she's part Jedi remember."
xxxxxxxxxxxx
A hot shower helped to ease Leia's stiff neck if not the sense of foreboding she felt.
Jorj was studying with Winter again, something Leia knew had to stop. It was unfair to keep relying on her oldest, wisest and dearest friend - after Han - to help with their childcare just as she knew that they needed to come to an agreement over Jorj's future education. Thus far, however, discussions were at a stalemate.
Clearing away the last of Jorj toys from the night before, Leia was relieved to hear the apartment door whoosh open. It meant Han was finally home and she was resolved to make today decision day.
"Am I glad you're home!" She threw over her shoulder, tossing another model x-wing into Jorj's toy box. "We really have to talk about Jorj's schooling, we can't keep asking Winter to take him."
"Got a surprise for ya." Han said, stopping her in her tracks.
"Tell me it's flowers." She muttered, straightening. When Leia turned around, Han had Jacen by his side and the reason for Leia's earlier feeling of ill-ease seemed all too obvious.
"Mom. I want you to meet Anais." Jacen smiled, stepping aside.
"Anais? What happened to Tilly?" Leia queried, her jaw dropping open when Tilly followed Jacen into the apartment with a tiny bundle of baby in her arms.
Jacen straddled a supportive arm around Tilly's shoulders.
"Is that...Did you...How...When..." There were too many questions for Leia to form them quickly enough.
"Last night. It was all very sudden." Tilly started to answer.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Leia asked, scolding first Jacen then Han.
"We didn't know." Tilly replied, the well rehearsed speech falling readily from her lips. "I had no idea I was pregnant and I was only in labour a short while before...well...she popped out."
Tilly offered the baby to Leia, who accepted her Grandchild into warm, waiting arms.
"Oh! She is so beautiful." Leia cooed down at the infant.
"Probably hungry too. All she does is eat and poop!" Jacen added, smiling tenderly at Tilly. "But we wouldn't exchange her for anything."
"I should think not!" Leia slid carefully into a chair and looked up at her son. "You should still have told me."
The sound of slapping lips interrupted Leia chiding her eldest son.
"I'll go warm her bottle." Jacen suggested.
"We still got Jorj's old crib in storage?" Han asked Leia.
"Some of his bedding and stuff too I think." Leia nodded vigorously.
"I'll go see what I can scrounge up. Back in while." Han winked at Tilly before leaving.
"You're not feeding her yourself?" Leia asked.
"Um...no. Didn't work out so well, so we decided bottle was best." Tilly took a seat, anxiously waiting for Jacen to return.
"You look incredible!" Leia complained to Tilly. "You must be exhausted, yet you look like you've just taken a stroll around the park."
"Jacen did most of the feeds and changes last night." Tilly laughed nervously. "He's marvellous with her, a natural."
Leia let the infant grip her finger and guide it to her mouth.
"I had no idea you were Force Sensitive." She said, tiny lips and tongue suckling against her fingertip.
"I'm not." Tilly refuted the suggestion with a frown.
"Oh! It's just..." Leia started with a glance at the baby. "It's nothing. Doesn't matter."
"What doesn't matter?" Jacen asked, returning with his daughter's next meal.
"It's nothing, really." Leia repeated, untangling her finger from Anais' mouth and passing her to Tilly.
"You don't like the name, do you?" He queried, settling next to Tilly and gazing in wonder at his baby in her arms.
"I think the name's lovely. It's just..." Leia puzzled. "Well, when you, Jaina and Anakin were born, I knew you were Force Sensitive. I could feel it from the moment I knew I was pregnant. I have the same sense from Anais, it's just strange to feel it so strongly from one so small. Last time I had that feeling was from Ben. But of course both his parents were full Jedis. I just assumed that Tilly must be Force Sensitive too."
"Is it hard, raising Force Sensitive children?" Tilly questioned.
"Incredibly!" Leia joked with a smile. "But also unbelievably rewarding. You just have to remind them who's boss occasionally."
"Mom was real good at that. Of course, she was Chief of State at the time." Jacen said.
"Your Aunt Winter did most of the heavy lifting with you three. I missed so much of your childhood." Leia recalled, a sad reflection she risked repeating.
"Well, you got Lei and Anais to make up for that. They'll be running you ragged in less than no time at all..." Jacen turned to look at his mother, sensing her unease. "What? What's wrong?"
"Your father's not talked to you has he, about the plans we've been making?" She asked.
Jacen's clearly puzzled expression answered her question. Leia sighed inwardly, then explained their possible vision for the future. When she'd finished, Jacen was silent for a time.
"This is my fault, isn't it?" He queried.
"It's nobody's fault Jacen." Leia assured him. "This is a dream your father's had since he was a boy. Neither one of us is getting any younger, if he wants to follow his dream he needs to do it now. While he still can."
Anais had finished with her milk. Sleepy eyes were already closing when Jacen lifted her from Tilly's arms.
"I need to burp her." Jacen intoned. "We forgot her cloth so I'll be in the kitchen."
Tilly chewed her bottom lip as she watched him leave the room.
"My daughter chastised me for suggesting I shouldn't go. My son, for telling him I would." Leia rolled her eyes. "Lesson one in parenting Tilly, you're always in the wrong!"
"He admires you. For all you've achieved professionally and personally. He hoped to learn from your example. He still struggles with his addiction and...and other stuff..." Tilly told her.
"What 'other stuff'?" Leia asked.
"Can I ask, did you make a conscious decision not to fully train to be a Jedi? Or was it simply that circumstances led you along a different path?" Tilly queried.
"A little of both. It wasn't until after learning Luke was my brother that I even had any idea I had Force abilities. By then, the war against the Empire was mostly won and my future seemed to lie along a more political route." Leia replied.
"It's still a cause for consternation with Jacen. He feels torn between two worlds, one with only light and one that tempts darkness." Tilly shook her head sadly.
"You're a wise young woman Tilly. Promise me you'll never change." Leia smiled while Tilly laughed. "Now, may I ask you something? You and Jacen...you have a baby together now, would it be wrong of a mother to hope for something more...permacrete...between her son and the mother of his child?"
Tilly blushed. "Anais was a surprise. One which I hope will bind us together more permanently, but for now, all I want is for Jacen to reconcile himself with his internal struggles before embarking on anything more demanding with me."
"A very wise young woman." Leia repeated, her smile widening.
The door whooshed open, curtailing any further discussion.
"I tell ya something Ley, when you're not looking I'm gonna go get a transport an' ship half that poodoo outta storage and into a garbage scow!" Han grumbled, hefting a huge box into the apartment.
"That so?" Leia arched her eyebrow at Han who's lip curled momentarily.
"Anyway, I lashed the crib to the 'speeder and brought this stuff up for you to take a look at." Han dumped the box in front of the caf table.
Leia slipped forward in her chair and peered into the box.
"There's some of Jorj's educational toys. Oh...and we still got some o' these!" He rifled through the box's contents, pulling out a tiny triangle of quilted material.
"What is it?" Tilly asked, as Leia drew a hand to her mouth.
"Jorj was premature. We had to go get him special diapers." Leia answered, examining Han's find.
A myriad of emotions flooded Leia; from the moment she felt her first contraction, to the knowledge she was in full and early labour, to the sight of her baby, tiny, shrivelled and surrounded by equipment and tubing fighting for his life.
Han felt it too.
A lot had changed in the last thirty years. Little more so than in Han himself. Once self-centred, the slow-burning love he had developed for the fearsome warrior Princess had given him cause to stick around with the Rebels long after his tenure should have been up.
Less obvious than his younger counterpart, Luke, Han had taken the time to observe Leia in all her natural habitats and found that he liked them. Liked them all, to a degree. Even the one's he personally couldn't stand seemed more palatable whenever she was in the vicinity.
That slow-burning love had ignited into a roaring flame in the moments he thought he was going to lose her: rescuing Scarlet Hark; the incident with the bounty hunter on Ord Mantell; Leia's marriage proposal from Isolder.
Being made a fool of three times was Han Solo's official limit. Thereafter, nothing and no one was going to come between him and his Princess. Having not really believed himself to be 'the marrying kind', he'd realised the only way to keep her safe and by his side was to snag her himself.
Their wedding had been befitting of the last Princess of Alderaan.
Their marriage had suffered it's share of ups and downs.
Their love had endured and would continue to do so until either or both of them were nothing but dust and distant memories.
"You know what, I'm gonna go put these in the 'speeder too. We'll sort the trash from the treasure back at Jacen's 'cos if Jorj sees these, there'll be questions and questions. Then there'll be tears over the toys he'd forgotten he ever had but now can't bear to part with." Han said.
Han hoisted the box back into his arms and set off to secure it for transport.
"Don't kid yourself. The only tears will be Han's!" Leia winked at Tilly.
Tilly laughed, glancing toward the kitchen. "You're both such strong role models. I can understand why Jacen doesn't want you to leave."
"It's not that I haven't struggled with the decision myself. There are more reasons than I can count for staying. And really only one for going; Han." Leia admitted.
"Then you should go." Jacen said, returning with a sleeping baby in his arms. "We'll miss you. But you and Dad have sacrificed enough. First for the Alliance, then the New Republic and now for us kids. It's about time you did something just for yourselves."
Leia blinked back the tears forming along the rim of her eyes, felt her chest swell with pride and...something else. Something she couldn't quite identify. Some sense of...doubt. But doubt about what, Leia couldn't determine.
Before there was a chance to explore her suspicions further, the door swished aside and six year old Jorj Bailey Solo thundered into the apartment, followed by Han trying to keep up.
"Mama! Mama!" Jorj squealed, stopping dead in front of Jacen and Tilly, blinking then frowning at the baby in Jacen's arms. "What's that?"
"That." Leia answered, tugging Jorj toward her. "Is Anais. She is Jacen and Tilly's daughter, your niece. And she's just a few hours old."
"She? Another girl!" Jorj scowled furiously and folded his arms. "This is such poodoo!"
"Jorj!" Leia first scolded, then softened. "Jorj, we talked about this. Human babies come in two types. Girls and boys. And we don't get a choice."
"But another girl Mama!" Jorj stamped his little foot and Leia struggled to keep from laughing.
"That's right Jorj, another girl." Leia held up two fingers for her son. "That's two little nieces you gotta look out for when they get older."
"Mom's right." Jacen agreed. "I'm gonna be trusting you to make sure she's okay."
"You know, not hanging around with the wrong crowd." Tilly said.
"Seeing the wrong boys. Or, in fact, any boys." Han added.
"It's a very big responsibility Jorj." Leia suggested. "You think you're up to it?"
Jorj seemed to consider, before reluctantly agreeing.
"You wanna get this little sleepy head home?" Jacen asked Tilly who agreed wholeheartedly. "You wanna come too Jorj? Help us set up the nursery?"
"Can we Mama?" Jorj asked, excitedly.
"Come on then." Leia smiling and nodding, then adding. "Then Papa and I have got to talk about you going back to school."
"I like home school." Jorj declared.
"I'm sure you do. But you know Aunt Winter only home schools Jarik because he's not yet well enough to go to regular school." Leia half-chided.
"Besides, Papa's been missing his 'alone time' with Mama thanks to home school!" Han mumbled.