The children had thoroughly exhausted themselves at the hotel pool for the rest of the afternoon. Han and Leia had to practically drag them back to the suite after their fingers had shriveled up and all three sets of lips had started to turn blue as the sun began setting over the mountains.
They'd managed a quiet dinner at one of the resort's more casual restaurants and almost immediately upon returning to their room the kids were ready for bed. Leia was tucking them into bed, kissing them each lightly on their foreheads, ending with Jacen.
"Goodnight, Jacen."
"Goodnight, Mom."
She smiled at him and started to move away and Jacen decided now was as good a time as any. "Wait, Mom?"
She turned back to him. "What is it, sweetheart?"
"Mom, I – I've got something for you."
"For me? What do you have for me?"
He held out his small fist and opened his hand to reveal a gold necklace. This was not the sort of thing a young boy went out and bought for his mother.
"Where did you get this, Jacen?" She tried to keep the accusing tone out of her voice.
"I… I found it on the ground. We weren't near any stores or anything and I didn't see anyone around, so I picked it up because I thought you might like it."
"Honey, I appreciate the thought but I'm sure this belongs to someone else. Tomorrow you can show me where you found it and we'll see if anyone is looking for it, all right?"
He looked disappointed. "All right. I never get to give you anything good."
Leia sat back down on her son's bed and brushed the hair away from his forehead. "You don't need to get me presents for me to love you, sweetheart. How about you give me a nice hug instead?"
Jacen leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his mother's neck, squeezing with all his might. When he pulled away she kissed his forehead again. "I love you. Goodnight, honey. Goodnight Jaina, Anakin." The other two children had already fallen asleep the moment their heads hit their pillows. Leia pulled the blankets up under Jacen's chin and left the room.
When she reached her and Han's bedroom, she shut the door behind her, anxiously awaiting crawling into bed and putting her feet up. It had been an awfully long day of walking. She could see Han in the 'fresher washing his face through the open door.
Leia collapsed on her back on the bed, not entirely sure she had the energy to brush her teeth before she fell asleep. After drying his face, Han turned to see his wife on the bed and walked toward her, appearing almost as tired as she felt and plopping down next to her. "Let's make tomorrow the day we find out how room service is for all three meals," he suggested jokingly.
"You're the one who promised we'd take the kids to the beach."
"You think maybe in the morning they'll forget I said that?"
"You've met our kids, right?"
"How about a Jedi mind trick?"
She playfully slapped him in the arm and then propped herself up on her elbows to look down at him. "Hey, this is strange."
"What?" he asked, disinterested. His eyes were already closed.
"When I was tucking Jacen in he gave me this, said he found it on the ground somewhere."
She held out the necklace and Han opened one eye, reaching his hand out and bringing the necklace in for a closer look. Suddenly he sat up fast and his face turned white, closing his fist and shutting his eyes.
"Han, what is it?"
She could tell he was in turmoil. She'd only seen that look on his face once or twice before when he'd first awakened from a nightmare that he was back in carbonite.
His fist was balled up tightly, the white knuckles visibly straining as his arm shook. Reaching out, she covered his fist with her hand, an attempt to steady him as well as calm him. "Please, just tell me. What is it?"
She felt his grip relax under her palm, his other hand coming to grab her wrist and turn her hand so that it was facing palm up. His sweaty hand opened to reveal the simple necklace she had just handed him.
She took it back from him and Han's eyes were still fixated on it as she held it in her hand. She ran her thumb along the small, heart-shaped pendant. It was flat and about the size of the pads of her fingers. Looking closer she noticed that there was an engraving on it - some numbers etched into the gold.
At first they didn't really mean anything to her, but then she realized that the pattern indicated a date. Some quick math in her head told her that the date was probably somewhere around when Han was born, although they had never figured out the exact day.
She turned her eyes toward him, his head still hanging low and staring intently at her hand. "Where did this come from?"
He lifted his head to look at her, and his eyes looked red as he tried to hold off tears. He spoke softly, "It was my mother's."
Taken aback, Leia answered, "How can that be? And I thought you didn't remember her?"
"I didn't," he said quietly, still staring blankly at the wall. "Not until I saw this. I… I can see her now. I remember the last time I saw her."
The incident had been too terrible for words. As the images from that night went flashing through Han's brain he realized why he had buried them so deeply all these years.
Han recalled himself as a small child, kneeling on a light blue carpet with a toy space ship in his hands. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a woman in the kitchen, apparently cooking the family dinner. She was tall and slender with light brown hair and eyes just like his.
He heard the echo of her voice as she turned and smiled at her son and said, "Dinner will be ready soon and Daddy should be here any minute."
He felt a sense of contentment and love just from the smile she had given him. She walked over to him and lifted him into her arms and kissed him on his nose. He could almost smell her sweet perfume.
"Hanny, baby, will you go to the 'fresher and wash your hands?"
"My hands are clean, see?" He held his little hands up to his mother and she looked at him skeptically.
"Hmmm… if you weren't so cute I might be mad at you. You still have to wash your hands before dinner, okay?"
"All right."
She kissed him again and lowered him to his feet so he could scamper off to the 'fresher. He had just shut the water off when he heard a scream; the most horrible scream he'd ever heard and his heart started beating almost out of his chest when he realized it was his mother.
He could see them through the 'fresher door as his father had burst in from outside and was holding his mother and trying to calm her down before three men dressed in white armor came in behind them, pointing their blasters. His mother glanced over to Han and gave him a terrifying look that he somehow knew meant that she wanted him to hide, so he backed up and got behind the shower curtain, too afraid to look at what was going on.
He heard the blasters, the screaming, the noises that made his heart leap into his throat. Tears were stinging his eyes but he didn't know if he could look or if someone might come and find him. Seconds ticked by and he felt as though it had been an eternity before he heard his mother's terrified voice. "Han! Honey, come out here, hurry!"
He carefully opened the curtain and looked out to see his mother lying on the floor, the previously blue carpet stained with the dark red of her blood. He wasn't even sure where it was coming from, but he ran to her side and she reached out to take her hand. There was fire spreading in the living room, the heat building as the flames grew.
Behind his mother his father lay motionless, face down. Noticing Han's gaze, his mother put her hand against his cheek and turned it so he was facing her. "No, baby, don't look. Just look at Mommy. You have to listen to me, honey. You need to run. Go out the door and run as fast as you can."
He shook his head. "You come with me, Mommy. I don't wanna go." He could hardly see her through his tears anymore as her hand enveloped his and held it tight.
She shook her head sadly. "I can't go with you, sweetheart," she said as she looked down at her badly wounded leg. Her hand came up to rest against his cheek and he held it there, savoring her loving touch. "I love you so much, sweetheart, but I can't go with you. You have to run, Han."
"I don't want to leave you," he pleaded with her.
"You have to, baby, please!" She looked over toward the stove and his gaze followed hers to a metal cylinder with some lights on it. "There were some bad men here, and they put that there and it's going to explode any minute now. And that fire is going to get too close soon. So you have to run so you'll be safe. Please, you don't have much time!"
His entire body was shaking and he was torn between a desperate need to help his mother and the painful realization that he needed to run or he was going to get hurt and he knew she didn't want to see him get hurt. "I don't want to go alone," he barely choked out.
The pain so evident in her eyes, she held out her hand and gave him the small, gold necklace she always wore around her neck. "Take this and I'll always be with you, Han." He took the necklace and put it around his neck, watching the nearing flames dance in her hazel eyes.
In one, last, desperate move he stood and pulled his mother's arm with all of his might, trying to get her up and out the door, but she didn't budge. He was just too small and nowhere near strong enough.
"You have to go, sweetheart!" He looked down at her and finally realized that he had run out of time. Leaning down, he wrapped his arms around her neck and felt her squeeze him in a desperate hug. "I love you so much, Hanny. Your daddy loves you, too. I'm so sorry, baby. I don't want to leave you alone, but I want you to be safe. You be strong for Mommy, okay? You be strong and you're gonna be okay, all right? But you have to run, now! And don't stop for anyone!"
"I love you, Mommy," he said before she took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. She kissed his face several times and then looked at him sadly.
"I love you, Han. Now go. Go!"
He looked at her pleading eyes one last time and then turned to run out the front door as fast as his little legs would carry him. They had a small yard in a residential neighborhood. He only just made it to the end of the walkway when the loudest noise he'd ever heard blasted in his ears and he was thrown off his feet and into the street.
After composing himself he turned back and saw his house engulfed in flames, wanting to scream for his parents, but he remembered his mother's words, and he began to run. He could barely breathe as he ran and ran into the night.
Han looked up at Leia and the pain in his eyes was worse than anything she'd ever seen. She gently ran her fingers against the side of his face, unsure of what she should say. "Han?"
His eyes met hers and he didn't say a word, merely pulled her into a desperate hug and buried his face in her shoulder. She could feel him shaking and her heart ached for him. Han had always said he had no memory of ever having any parents or how he came to be an orphan. Whatever memory had been sparked by seeing this necklace had likely been repressed for close to forty years.
She wanted to ask him what had caused him so much pain, but she knew her husband and she knew that he would tell her when and if he was ready to. Right now he seemed only to need her comforting presence, and that was what she gave him as she held him tight and stroked the hair on the back of his head, tears filling her own eyes.
That was how they remained until Leia became so exhausted she gently leaned over and lowered both of them into the soft mattress, never breaking the embrace. Han offered no resistance but he didn't let her go, and without even noticing it eventually they both drifted off to sleep.