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Chapter 3: A long walk home

We headed back to the house. It was a long, windy walk back to the house. Corellian winters were rough. It didn't snow but it would rain for a month straight. The roads were wet and it was generally miserable but a true Corellian can deal with anything. The way back was filled with questions.

"So where ya been the last 10 years?" Jack asked.

"All over the galaxy. You wouldn't believe the things I've seen."

"I wanna know where Hany met someone as fine as the Princess here." Sam said.

"Ah, c'mon, Sammy, no one wants to hear that story."

"No. I think Sammy's right." Jack said. "We need to hear this story."

"What's to tell? Luke convinced me I'd get a huge reward for rescuing her and the rest is history."

"And you just fell for our brother?"

"No. Not at all. In fact most of the time, she hates my guts. Isn't that right, your worship?"

"Yea."

"That sounds like Han."

"Thanks guys."

"So why come back now?" Jamie asked.

"It's the holidays, kid" We had reached the house. Sam, Jack, Jovi, Luke, Leia, and Chewie went into the house. I puttered around the garage. Jamie stopped and stared at me. I turned around and jumped. "Stars, Jamie. Don't do that!"

"Sorry." Jamie said putting his head down.

"I'm sorry, kid. I guess I'm jumpy. What is it?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yea sure."

"How'd you deal with what dad did to you?"

"I…a…well, I drank and stayed out a lot. I liked to wait until I thought he was asleep."

"It's so hard. I know what he did."

"What do you mean you know?"

"When I was four, I had gotten up to get a glass of water and you had just come home. You were in the living room. Dad was shouting. He hit you and you hit your chin on the coffee. When you didn't get up, I was going to see if you needed help but then dad went one step further and started kicking you and beating you. Then he left and I had to call for help." (A/N: Flashback is in third person)

FLASHBACK:

Jamie ran towards the semi-conscious Han. His tiny little hands shook his big brother.

"Han, wake up." Tears streamed down his tiny cheeks. When he wouldn't wake up, he raced up the stairs to get Jack and Sam. "Jack, Sam, wakeup! Hany's hurt. Wake up."

"Hey little man, what's wrong?"

"Daddy hurt Han. He needs help." They followed him downstairs. Looks of awe fell over their faces. Sam took Jamie up to bed while Jack got Han medical attention.

End Flashback

Han stared off into space for a minute as if he were thinking. "That was you? You're the one who got them?"

"Yea. It dramatized me." Jamie said. "How did you get him to stop?"

"I left, kid."

"When do I get to leave?"

"Look, bud, I know it's hard but you can't just leave."

"Why not?" Jamie asked. "Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and wanna go and then I see Jovi."

"That's exactly why you can't leave. If you leave, think about what he'll do to Jovi."

"Then why'd you leave?"

"I didn't want to leave. But I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to take you but I was 19 and had no idea how to take care of kids."

"What about now?"

"What?"

"Take us with you now. Please." I stared at him. I could see what Dad was doing to him. It broke my heart. Actually it was more like a heart wrenching pain going all the way through me.

"Yea. Ok." I said. "Listen, I was going to go work on the ship. You wanna tag along?"

"Yea, I'll go grab my stuff." He ran off while I looked for some tools. A girl came out of the house. I could feel her staring at me. She was burning a hole in the back of my head. In fact, I'm pretty sure if I didn't turn around my brains were goin' to fall out.

"Hi Jovi." I said not turning around.

"Hi."

"Is that all your going to say to me? I've been gone for 10 years and all I get is a hi." She came up to me and touched my cheek.

"Did he really do that to you?"

"Yea, he did."

"I kinda knew."

"What do you mean?"

"Things you did. You would always wear sunglasses. You always wore your hair to cover your right eye. You always said you got into a fight at school but you were popular, no one would ever fight you. You always came home late and drunk. Jamie and I would hear you yelling at dad. Jamie does the exact same thing."

"I'm sorry I didn't hide it better."

"You shouldn't have hid it at all!" She said angrily. "You should've told somebody. You should've told mom! He could've killed you."

"It's not that easy, cupcake. Dad told me if I told mom then he'd kill her. I was tryin' to protect her."

"Yea. How's that plan working out for you, genius? He takes his anger out on me and Jamie and Mom. He blames her for what you did."

"It's his fault I left. He made me leave."

"You should've taken us with you!"

"Don't you think I wanted too? But like I told Jamie, I was 19. I had no right to be raisin' kids. I had no idea he'd start on the two of you."

"Yea well, he does."

"And you blame me?"

"No. I just needed to yell at someone and you were the closest." She said quietly. "I resented you for not taking us with you."

"Yea, well, that's gonna change." I marched into the house. I had to confront mom about this. The only problem was getting' her alone. Lucky, for me she was in the kitchen. Her sanctuary. Leia was there with her.

"There you are. I was starting to worry."

"Look princess, I need to talk to my mom. Can you go find Chewie for me?"

"Sure." She said kissing my cheek. Stars, she was sweet. We watched her go.

"I like her." Mom said.

"Me too." I said sitting down. "Why didn't you tell me what dad was doing to you?"

"Why didn't you?"

"I wanted to but Dad said if you ever found out he'd kill you. I was tryin' to protect you."

"Han, I'm the parent. It was my job to do the protecting, not yours. If I had known, I could've done something. I could've protected you and your sibilings. Maybe you wouldn't have left. I wouldn't have lost my son."

"He kicked me out. I had to leave. I thought it was for the best."

"No. It wasn't."

"But…"

"You listen to me, young man. I would've dealt with your father. I do it every day. I knew everything you did. I knew you partied and got drunk. You were a teenager. I didn't expect anything else. I would've been worried if you didn't."

"I…"

"I'm not finished! Your father is an angry man. Always has been. Now come to find out he hit one of my children. That's not ok! He could've killed you. I know your brothers knew. That's not what makes me mad. What makes me mad is that you felt you had to protect me because that means I didn't do a well enough job being strong for you. I have a question. When did he start?"

"When I was nine, after he got fired from the senate, when the Clone Wars began." I said starin' at the floor, like I used to when I was in trouble.

"I see. That's why you didn't tell me because when you were nine you believed everything he said. You still looked up to him."

"I know I made a mistake. I can see that now. But I can fix it."

"Don't you get it! There is no fixing it. The damage has been done. Jamie is exactly like you when you were his age."

"I can take them away from here. They can come with me."

"Well alright. That might make things a little better. You seem to have done fairly well for yourself." I chuckled at that.

"If that's what you can call it. I'm a smuggler. I've worked for some of the nastiest scum this side of the galaxy. The worst is probably Jabba. Bounty Hunters are always after me."

"It doesn't matter. None of it matters now. All that matters is protecting your siblings." She turned and smiled at me. "I'm proud of you and who you've become. So what if you've got bounty hunters after you. You're doing what you love that's all that matters." Jamie came down the stairs ready to work on the Falcon. Chewie was at the door.

"Bye Mom."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going with Han. We're going to fix his ship."

"Have fun." We walked to the landing dock and started working on it.