Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars

Author's Note: The rating's gone up for alcohol and a swear word. The holo Luke takes of Leia and Han is a reference/wink to a behind the scenes photo taken of Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in costume. I'd like to thank you guys for your lovely comments, I hope you like this chapter.

Birthdays

Han still had difficulty wrapping his brain around the fact that Luke and Leia had the same birthday.

And if he were to, for example, throw a surprise party for one, he'd have to do the same for the other on the same day. Because, unless one of them went away on a mission or had previously made arrangements, which one would feel less slighted by having their party after the other's? And even if that had an answer, it was moot. Besides, Han wasn't one to throw a party and not go all out, so why not throw a double party anyway?

As the only member of the Orphan Club (which now had by-laws, written by the three of them, but he'd made the first draft without any prodding) not having a birthday that day, it fell to him to be the one to throw it. But that didn't mean he couldn't have help and so he enlisted a few of the pilots and Artoo. Threepio talked too much, so Han left him out of the planning. Chewie, of course, was in on it and had taken over decorating.

At the arranged time, Luke and Leia arrived and everyone jumped out to yell, "Surprise! Happy birthday!"

Now the party was winding down and the three of them were in a corner.

Weirder than their shared birthday, they had both unknowingly bought each other the same present: a holocam, the same model too.

These kids were weird.

Luke took a holo of Leia and Han. Han was pretty sure Leia was a bit tipsy, she was crouched down by him as he leaned forward on his chair. He doubted that she would have ever crouched by him if she weren't at least a bit affected by some kind of alcohol. "I don't get it," Han continued. "Why'd you guys get each other holocams?"

Chewie came back with a plate of food and growled at Han. Where are the rest of the chairs?

"You can sit on the floor like her highness."

Why is she sitting on the floor?

"It's fine, Chewie," Leia waved her hand in dismissal. She and Luke had been learning how to understand Chewie. "Luke wanted a holo of the two of us, I figured this would give the Captain one that truly reflected what he thinks I think of him." She grinned at Han so wickedly he rethought all notions of her being drunk. She and Luke had planned it, the little womprats. Chewie handed her his plate of food and went off to find some chairs. Leia waited until Chewie was out of earshot and explained, "All of my family holos were destroyed on Alderaan. Luke's are gone too. We'd talked about how we wanted to make new family albums."

"We never brought that up," Han frowned.

"Not at the Club, no," Leia agreed. "But Luke and I talk outside of the Club, you know. Besides, I know you and Chewie have holos of…well, you guys and some of us."

Han choked on his beer. "How did you know that?"

Luke laughed, a really bad sign. Han imagined the holos they'd seen and winced. There had been a few places with novelty photo ops for tourists that Han and Chewie had taken just because they were there. And then Cheiwe had taken a few of Han when he'd been extremely drunk. Outside of Chewie, he'd never wanted anyone to see them.

"Chewie showed us," Leia explained. "He's a wonderful photographer," a light blush appeared on Leia's cheeks, but it could just have been the lighting and/or Han's imagination. It wasn't, Leia had particularly liked one of the photos of Han in the pilot's seat of the Falcon and when no one had looked, she'd copied it.

Chewie returned with two chairs and Luke got up to set up another holo. He found a still sober pilot and had the being take a holo of the four of them.

After the party had ended, they'd gone to the Falcon. Han fell asleep at the gaming table. "You know," Luke said slowly, "I would have thought Han could drink more before falling asleep."

Leia smiled and took out her new holocam to take the picture. "I guess we should know he exaggerates."

"Have you had a surprise birthday party before?" Luke asked her.

Instead of answering, Leia poked Han awake. "Wake up, Captain, meeting's in session."

"Wha- ?" Han asked and then cleared his throat. "What do you mean, meeting?"

"Of the Orphan Club," Leia explained. "Luke asked me if I'd ever had a surprise party before, so that's the order of business: birthday parties."

Han straightened up. Even though he wanted to change into pajamas and go to bed, he wanted to hear this discussion more.

Leia had not had a surprise party before and neither had Luke. At Leia's home, there had always been well-planned parties where she was involved in the planning. They had been modest, for royal standards, but far more extravagant than Han or Luke had ever had. Certainly far more extravagant than the one Han had just thrown for them.

Luke's parties weren't parties. His friends gave him presents, but after the first few "parties", he'd decided he liked not having them. They made his aunt and uncle feel self-conscious because they couldn't always afford to give him the party he wanted like his friends had on their birthdays. Luke explained that he could always sense their discomfort.

Then it was Han's turn to talk and he said, "Yes. I've had surprise parties before. But that's because the first birthday party I had was a surprise. Chewie and his family put it on for me. I don't remember my parents, really, we were…not what you'd call close. My birth was a surprise – I was not a planned kid like you two probably were."

"I probably wasn't, either," Leia corrected him. "After all, I was adopted."

"Oh. Right. Well, I mean your parents wanted you, they adopted you after all. I don't think mine did. But Chewie and his family had us stop by on my birthday and his wife baked an amazing cake, his son and his dad went hunting earlier and so we had this delicious feast – and believe me, Wookiees know how to cook a feast."

"Damn," Luke muttered.

"What?" Han asked, taken aback by the kid's language.

"Well now how are we going to top that?" Luke asked. "I can cook, sort of, I know how, I'm not very good. I don't think Leia has much experience cooking eith-"

"All right, you two, listen up. I do not want a party. I want a quiet evening of friends and entertainment. We'll get wasted, tell each other the stupidest stuff and forget what was said in the morning. That's how you'll top it."

In the morning, Han received the holos from the party. He kept the one of the four of them. It was his favorite.