The boat ride back had been very quiet once Han and Leia were moved inside to sit wrapped in their blankets, trading off holding one or two of their children in their laps – not just for comfort, but because it helped them warm up faster. While the outing had been shorter than expected, the kids were still tired from their day on the ocean and had been sufficiently shielded from the severity of what had transpired earlier. As long as it all had turned out fine, there was no need to frighten them.
After a very brief check in with a doctor who saw no lasting effects on Han, the family went back to the resort to relax. Han was amazed at the wave of exhaustion that came over him once he had gotten cleaned up and into some dry clothes and almost immediately collapsed onto the bed.
He'd barely had his eyes closed for five seconds before he felt the familiar weight of someone climbing into bed and poking him in the chest. "No sleeping, Daddy, we want to go swimming!"
Han peeked to see the blue eyes of his youngest son looking down at him with an adorable smile on his face. "You wanna go swimming, huh?"
Anakin nodded enthusiastically and grabbed his father's hand to try and tug him off the bed. "Come on, let's go!"
After putting up a minimal fight, Han grabbed Anakin by his sides and threw him to the bed before beginning a relentless tickling assault. "You're gonna get it now!"
Shouting words of protest and giggling uncontrollably, the youngest Solo curled up and futilely tried to protect himself.
Having heard the screeching of their younger brother, the twins came running into the room and promptly jumped up onto the bed to join in on the fray.
"Hey, what's going on here?" The loud, authoritative voice of Leia came from the doorway. Hands on hips, she looked every bit the part of the disciplinarian mother, but Han sensed no real anger in her tone. "You three leave Daddy alone."
"We want him to come swimming!" Anakin shouted.
Leia moved to sit on the bed and smoothed the hair on her youngest son's head. "Daddy needs to get some rest, but I'll take you swimming. Does that sound okay?"
He looked disappointingly at his father who replied, "Sorry, buddy. I promise though that tomorrow we can go to the beach and I'll swim with you all day, okay?"
"All right," he replied.
"Why don't you three go get ready and I'll be out in a minute to take you to the pool," Leia said.
Jaina and Jacen immediately ran out of the room, but Anakin looked at his father and then leaned in to give him a quick hug. When he pulled away, Han looked at him and smiled. "Go get changed and I'll be here when you get back, okay?"
"All right," he replied, moving to get off the bed.
"Hey, Anakin," Han said, and the boy stopped in the doorway and turned to look at his father. "I love you, buddy."
He smiled back and said nonchalantly, "Yeah, I know," before running out of the room, leaving his parents laughing.
Han lay back against the pillows and Leia leaned in against him and rested her head against his chest. "You sure you don't mind if I take them?"
"Sure, I'm gonna be asleep in about ninety seconds anyway. I know they must be disappointed they didn't get to spend that long on the boat."
"They're fine. They told me they'd rather go swimming anyway. Are you sure you'll be all right?"
"I'm sure."
She squeezed her arms around him. "I don't know if I want to leave you."
"I promise I'm not goin' anywhere," he said before he kissed her forehead.
"Mom!" a young voice yelled from the living area.
Leia sat up and looked down at Han. "Duty calls. Rest up, birthday boy. We'll be back soon." She leaned down and kissed him quickly before leaving.
Han had no idea what time it was when he awakened, rolling over to see the sun almost setting. His body had apparently decided that it needed three hours worth of sleep. Hearing faint murmurs out in the lounge area, he slowly stood himself up and walked out.
As the door opened, he saw three excited young faces sitting on the floor, stunned to see him and quickly pulling together to yell, "Happy birthday, Daddy!"
It wasn't as though his family had never made a big deal over his birthday before, but this time, after what had happened earlier that day and finally celebrating his true date of birth, it felt more special.
Leia had been seated on the couch behind them and stood up to give him a quick kiss. "Happy birthday."
Han scanned the table in the middle of the room to find a large cake and a few wrapped presents. "How'd you guys pull this off? You've only known about this for a couple of days and we've been so busy."
Leia smirked at him. "I have my ways. You know me, I am quite resourceful."
"Among other things," Han teased as Leia pulled him to sit down on the couch next to her and he was accosted by his kids who scrambled up to give him hugs and kisses.
The kids all fought to be the first one to give Han his presents, and each included a hand-made card which was his favorite part. After presents and dinner and cake and it didn't take very long before everyone in the room under age ten was ready for bed.
The entire vacation on Corellia had meant far more to Han than he ever expected it to, and he was grateful that he got to share it with his family. And for the fact that he had a family to share it with. He had no idea what he had done to deserve these people who were smiling back at him and showing him how much they loved him, he only knew he wouldn't ever waste an opportunity to show how much he loved them.
"Daddy, will you tell us a story?" Jaina asked once she was nestled into her bed.
"Yeah!" the two boys chimed in.
If his kids had asked him to give up the Falcon right then he probably would've said yes, so it was very easy for him to take on this challenge. "All right. Come here."
He leaned back against the wall on Jaina's bed and Jacen and Anakin came and settled in beside him as Han pulled them all in close. Not wanting to be left out, Leia sat down and snuggled in next to them.
Han thought for a moment what his mother might think if she saw him now, enjoying this time with her grandchildren. He suspected it was times like these where she smiled down at him, and he was grateful for it. "What story do you want to hear? The one about the pirate and the farmboy who saved the princess? Or the princess who saved the scoundrel from his carbonite prison?"
They all shook their heads. "How about the time your old dad flew the Falcon through the asteroid field to get away from the evil Empire in order to save your mom?"
"We heard all those before, Dad," Jacen objected. "We want to hear a new one."
Han sat back and thought for a minute. He had always enjoyed relaying old stories from his younger days to his children. He loved the looks of awe and wonder they gave him, wondering how he could've done such things and how their parents had actually had a life before them. To most people he was the Han Solo, but to those three, for the most part he was just plain Dad. And he didn't mind at all.
Han smiled when a thought popped into his head. "Would you guys like to hear about your grandmother?"
Their eyes widened and they nodded. Han pulled them all even closer and began relaying all of the nice little memories he had of his mother. When she'd smile at him or kiss the end of his nose, holding his hand while walking down the beach and swimming with him just as they had all done a few days before. "She was a great lady," he finished up with. "And I know that she watches out for us and wherever she is, she loves all of us very much and she's very proud of you."
They all smiled at him as he pulled them into a big hug. Once he let go, he said, "All right, now I think it's finally time for you guys to get in bed."
Without a word, the children all got into their beds and under the covers, and Han and Leia took turns kissing them goodnight. Once they exited the room, Han took Leia's hand and led her back to their bedroom where he immediately sat on the bed and pulled her down to sit next to him. "I'm sorry about today. I shouldn't've-"
She placed a finger on his lips to silence him. "It's all right. It's over. But if you ever do that to me again…"
He shook his head. "Don't worry. I promise I never, ever want to go on another boat ride. I think I'll stick to space travel."
"That sounds like a good idea," she said.
He reached up and brushed his thumb along her cheek. "And thanks for saving me again."
She merely smiled and leaned in to kiss him gently. "Happy birthday, Han," she said before moving in to kiss him again, this time much more passionately as she lowered him back to the bed.
Much, much later, Han held Leia snuggled up against his side contentedly while his fingers trailed absently up and down her arm. He thought back to earlier in the day and couldn't believe what had almost happened. He didn't want to contemplate leaving his family, missing out on the rest of their lives or leaving them alone. He and Leia had both suffered so much loss and hadn't had the luxury of growing up with both parents and siblings. He would stop at nothing to make sure that Jacen, Jaina and Anakin would never have to go through that.
Without warning, he had a flash of the terrible memory of the last time he saw his mother. He felt himself once again trying to save her but not being able to. Leia seemed to sense his tension and asked him, "Is something wrong?"
After all of the wonderful things she'd done for him that day, he didn't want to give her any reason to think she had any role in the pain he was currently feeling. "It's just… just something I'm remembering. It's all right."
She leaned up on an elbow and looked down at him, her hair framing her beautiful face in a way that made his breath catch in his throat. "Are you sure? You can tell me."
He took a deep breath as her fingers started playing with the hairs on his chest. His defenses always came down at times like this, and she knew that. It made him remember prying out of her what she had gone through when her home planet was destroyed. It's not that he wanted her to relive it, he just felt like it wasn't good for someone to bottle up that sort of pain and never talk about it. He knew he'd want her to tell him if something like this was on her mind, and looking into her beautiful brown eyes now, he'd tell her anything she wanted to hear.
"All right," he began slowly. "I was thinking about the last time I saw my mother."
She listened intently and patiently as he recalled the horrible images from that night. He could see the tears forming in her eyes and fought to keep the same thing from happening to him as he struggled to get the words out. "I wish I could've saved her," he finally said as he finished telling the whole story, barely speaking above a whisper.
She opened her mouth as if about to say something, but then he cut her off and said, "But I think if I did, I never woulda' met you." The tears in her eyes spilled over as she smiled at him then and moved in to kiss his lips softly.
She wiped at her eyes once she pulled away and said, "You know there was nothing you could've done. If you'd tried any harder, you probably wouldn't be here right now."
That was something he hadn't thought of. "And," she added, "you wouldn't have been there to save me."
His arms slipped up the bare skin of her back and he pulled her into a tight embrace. "The universe is funny like that sometimes, huh?" he said and simply felt her head nod against him.
He didn't want to know where he'd be now in his life if he had never met Leia or they didn't have those three, amazing kids sleeping soundly in the other room. Even scarier was wondering what the galaxy would've been like if Leia had died aboard that Death Star. It was entirely probable that Palpatine would still be ruling.
Those realizations let him enjoy what few memories of his mother he had. Of course he wished there could be more of them, but one couldn't have everything. "I love you," Han said into her ear.
She leaned back to look at him, smile and say, "I love you," before leaning down to kiss him deeply.
At that moment, with his wife in his arms, Han felt as though he truly had everything.
THE END
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