"Once we touch down, Commander Organa and Commander Skywalker will be on reconnaissance. The droids will handle any translations or technical needs. Squad leaders, we'll need continuous backup – don't have much intel on the moon or the shield generator yet, so we may have to change our approach once we get there."

Han was giving the final briefing for the strike team and his newly recruited shuttle command crew – Chewie, Luke, and Leia – on the Endor mission.

"Remember, if it goes according to plan, we're in there before they even figure out we landed. And if it don't…" here Han grinned, "at least we got good blasters on our side."

He looked over the strike team. "Any questions? All right. See you at mission launch."

Thirty-six more hours.

Damn military meetings go on forever. Now I remember why I stopped doing that shit. Han was finally making his way back to Leia's quarters after the coordination meeting with Ackbar, Calrissian, and Madine.

"I'm not sure you should be using the Force for that." Han could hear Leia's voice from the other side of her door, then her laugh.

What the kriffing hell—

"It's fine, I swear. Come on, she'll love it." Luke's voice.

Han knocked.

"Why don't we let Han decide," Leia said, opening the door.

"Let me decide what?"

Luke was sitting on the floor, cross-legged, and had Lilya on the floor with him. She seemed enthralled with him. Well, as enthralled as a four-month-old could be.

"Lilya loves to bounce, so I was going to pick her up with the Force and bounce her around a little bit. But Leia doesn't want me to," Luke pouted.

Han looked unsure. "Uh…you're not gonna drop her, are ya?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Never mind." He turned to Lilya and grinned in her face. "You would love it, right?" She gurgled happily, smiling up at him, and he jumped up and began sweeping her around the room in a flying motion. Lilya began laughing and cooing.

Leia shook her head, smiling. "He turns into a kid around her."

"He is a kid."

"You do realize that we're the same age, right?" She put her arm around Han gently.

Han continued to watch Luke with Lilya. Kinda looks like he's her father, he thought. They seemed to have such an easy rapport, even more so than all her other adoring fans. They get each other, he thought, and then shook his head, almost laughing at how ridiculous he sounded to himself. What's to get? She's a baby, she doesn't get anything yet. He turned back to Leia, who was watching him.

"You know, he hasn't seen her in awhile. He went to Tatooine early, to take care of some family stuff," Leia explained.

Han immediately felt guilty at the mention of Tatooine. I should be thanking him, he thought, although he realized he'd already done that. "He's really good with her," he observed.

Leia regarded Han quietly. "He is," she agreed. "I think he's her favorite. Don't tell Chewie." She was watching Han's face. "But you're her father."

Han made a noise that was almost a sigh.

Leia continued. "You met her five days ago. He's known her for a lot longer. Plus, he has some Jedi thing" –she waved her hand a bit here– "They connect, somehow."

They watched Luke fly Lilya around the room for a few more minutes. Then Luke made a face and carried her back to them.

"Someone needs her diaper changed." Luke started to deposit Lilya into Han's arms. Han looked at Leia helplessly.

Luke raised an eyebrow and looked at her too. "Don't tell me he hasn't changed any diapers yet."

She shrugged. "I was letting him ease into things."

"I was changing diapers the first day!"

"You volunteered to help. And I was a little tired the first day, you know, from giving birth and all." She waved them toward the changing table. "Go show him how it's done."

While Han and Luke took Lilya to the changing table, Leia grabbed her drink and plunked down in the sitting area, listening. Even though changing a diaper wasn't difficult, and not that different from patching up an injured Wookiee, Han was obviously still in the phase where he was extra worried about doing everything just right. She herself had taken a few weeks to relax and get past that.

Luke was taking advantage of his position to get in a little teasing at Han's expense. She heard him tell Han that singing was a "required part" of the diaper change. Lilya did like singing, but it wasn't exactly required.

Han was game. "Alright. So like, what kind of singing?"

Luke's face was dead serious. "She prefers up-tempo ballads, usually. Songs from musicals, that sort of thing. Something you can belt out."

Ooh, you almost had him until that last part, Leia thought.

Han turned the tables. "You gonna demonstrate? I just wanna make sure I'm gettin' it right."

Leia turned in her chair, propping her legs up on the side, as Luke tried to come up with a comeback to that. He looked at her. "What're you doing?"

"Waiting for my concert," she said innocently. "You know, a nice up-tempo ballad. Something you can belt out."

Neither Luke nor Leia was prepared for Han's baritone, belting out the main chorus from one of the better-known Corellian light operas, The Smuggler and Satine. He swept Lilya into his arms and continued singing as he danced around the room with her.

"Oh, my," Luke said. Leia was speechless at first, then dissolved into laughter.

Han made another round of the room and then handed Lilya back to Leia with a flourish.

"Be back in a moment. I need to wash my hands."

Hours later, Leia was watching Han as he placed gentle kisses up her shoulder.

He wasn't overly talkative after sex, as a rule, but tonight he seemed especially quiet and pensive. And his kisses were reminding Leia of how he'd been the night before they'd reached Bespin. He'd kissed her all over, slowly, touched her face, looked into her eyes, over and over again. Like he was trying to memorize her.

She looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back, but he still looked a little bit…sad.

"Han, what is it?"

"What?" He avoided her gaze.

She looked into his eyes. "What is it?" she said, more gently this time.

He didn't answer right away, then took a deep breath and exhaled. "We're leavin' her."

Leia felt a rush of emotions – joy and relief at hearing his love for Lilya, sadness for his sadness, a small bit of guilt and regret knowing that she had made the decision to leave her daughter as well. She wanted to wrap him in her arms and hold him, reassure him that it would be all right. But she didn't know that herself.

She reached up to touch his face. "We are. Hopefully just for a little while."

They were both quiet for a moment.

"You're not regretting…volunteering, are you?"

"No, no. Just kind of hit me, what it meant."

The next question was harder for Leia to say. "Do you wish I'd decided to stay behind with her?"

Han pulled her closer. "No, no. Only if you wanted to. Otherwise I'd be leaving you both, again." He kissed her forehead. "'Sides, I need you on the team. I've run enough missions for the Alliance to know who I wanted on my command crew."

Leia smiled at him. "We do make a good team." She kissed him, and they grew quiet again.

"It was a lot easier to leave…before, wasn't it," Leia observed, thinking of his past life, before they were together.

Han sighed. "Sweetheart, it hasn't been easy to leave in a very long time."