THE BABYSITTERS' CLUB
Chapter 3
Chewie and Luke tucked the babies into their cribs. Han had built them; Luke felt sure they were destined to become family heirlooms. They were beautifully and solidly built from hardwood, stained a deep reddish brown, and intricately finished with flower patterns carved in the ends. Both babies were sound asleep after being bathed, given bottles, and read to. Luke had actually enjoyed reading to them; there was something about sweet smelling, drowsing babies warm against him that almost had him falling asleep. He'd seen Han and Leia at those moments with the twins, and now he understood why they seemed so serene.
"They do sleep through the night, don't they?" Luke said to Chewie after he'd quietly closed the bedroom door.
{Not usually}, Chewie barked softly. {But they only get up once, usually. Better than when they got up every hour}.
"Sleep deprivation is a well known form of torture," Luke commented as they sat down on the sofa. Luke found the remote and turned on the smashball game. His Tatooine Glop Monsters had actually been doing well this season, which made Han even more annoyed than usual. The thought made Luke smile. "Do Wookiee babies do this?"
{Wookiee babies are always in the mother's presence for the first year. Then they go to nursery ring. So no, they do not wake up during the night}.
"That had to be a rude shock when you saw how these guys have to be taken care of."
{Yes. It is very exhausting}.
As Luke sank back into the sofa cushions, he was overcome with a monstrous wave of exhaustion that he'd never before experienced.
He never saw a single play of the game.
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Luke was fast asleep when something jarred him from his slumber. It was coming from the monitor that was on the side table (another one of Han's wood creations). He blinked groggily, and realized that there was whimpering from at least one crib. His limbs felt as if they weighed half a ton each.
Then he heard a second baby start to whine. Closing his eyes, he attempted to block out the sound, but within a few minutes, whining had escalated to out and out crying. Chewie had gone downstairs to his own place to sleep; there was no place for his hammock in Han and Leia's tiny apartment. He'd left a message on Luke's comm to wake him when the babies woke up and he'd come upstairs.
Luke decided to let the Wookiee sleep. Wookiees functioned better than humans on inadequate sleep, but he knew that Chewie did a lot for Han and Leia and the little ones.
He was guessing they'd be hungry. Chewie indicated in his comm that he'd left bottles of formula in the chiller and to heat them in the microcooker for one minute.
Luke opened the chiller, still rubbing his eyes. He couldn't remember being this tired, even after fighting some pretty horrible battles in the war. He stuck them in the microcooker and set the time.
The crying was becoming more insistent. Then Luke suddenly realized he had to feed two babies, which was going to be interesting, seeing as he only had two hands.
He decided he'd first pick up the baby who was crying the loudest. Jaina was outranking her squalling brother, but he decided to set her on the sofa while he went back to carry Jacen to the sofa. Their cries had somewhat subsided when Luke picked them up but they went right back to where they left off.
"Hang on there, guys, lemme get your midnight snack warmed up,"Luke yawned as he tried to show the babies that he could actually handle the task at hand. He tried to find the timer for the microcooker, which would have benefited from him having the lights on, but before he could figure it out, he heard a thud on the floor and one baby now screaming inconsolably.
"Oh no!" Luke ran over to where Jacen had fallen on to the floor. "Oh gods no!" He picked up Jacen, but Jacen was still screaming all the way to Corellia. He carried the little guy, rubbing the baby's back, as he retrieved his comm. Luke hit the return function and attempted to raise Chewie.
{What is it}? Chewie got on promptly.
"I dropped a baby! I mean, I put the babies on the sofa and Jacen rolled off and I think he's hurt and I don't know what to do!" Luke, normally an incredibly calm individual, was now frantic.
{I'll be right up. And don't worry. Babies are tough}.
He'd better be right about that, or Leia and Han will kill me, Luke thought, as he tried to comfort Jacen.
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Jaina continued to wail, Jacen screamed, and Luke was so overcome with panic that he failed to notice that he'd left Jaina on the sofa. Fortunately, Chewie was good for his word and arrived in haste. Anyone who thought that normally easygoing lumbering of the Wookiee meant he was harmless was seriously mistaken and usually found out about it the hard way.
"Chewie, I'm sorry -"
{Parenting is amateur hour}. Chewie took the baby boy from Luke's arms and made soft cooing noises to him. Luke picked up the crying Jaina, probably as upset over her brother crying as she was about being hungry. {If you think Leia and Han were any different, you'd be wrong}. The Wookiee chuckled softly.
"Shouldn't we take him to the medicenter?" Luke said as he tried to prepare the bottles for the two babies while holding a screeching Jaina against his shoulder.
Chewie put on one of the brighter lights in the kitchen and looked at the little boy. He actually got Jacen to smile at him. {I think he's all right}.
"But what if he just seems fine but isn't?" Luke felt as if he was about to fall apart.
{Let's feed them and then see how they are}, Chewie said as he grabbed a bottle. He tested the formula on his arm. {Too hot. Needs cooling}.
Luke shook his head mournfully. "I swear I'm never going to get this right. I can't even fix a bottle of formula."
{All these things take learning}, Chewie said as Jacen sucked on the nipple as if he was going to starve to death if he wasn't fed immediately. Jaina did the same with Luke, and the weary foursome made their way back to the offending sofa.
"I didn't know how many details were needed. I mean, they're babies. I always thought babies had simple needs."
Chewie chuckled softly. {It's mostly a matter of getting to know the baby and figuring them out. Nobody does that in a day. When Lumpy was born, I was a nervous wreck, even with all the support that the community provided to Malla and me}.
"Han and Leia make it look so easy," Luke said, keeping his tone low and soft, thus calming Jaina as she fed.
Chewie laughed heartily. {You should have seen them the first month. They had no idea what to do}!
"So they had to learn."
{They're still learning. Children are always one step ahead of you}.
Luke felt himself relax a little was Jaina drank happily and Jacen was vigorously doing the same. Jaina and Jacen had started life at similar sizes, but Jacen was getting to be a bit of a chubby baby, whereas Jaina remained petite. Jaina had been easily weaned from the breast; Leia worried that Jacen would be a full fledged Jedi before he gave it up. Apparently he'd adapted well to the new feeding method.
Luke watched as Jaina's eyelids fluttered and eventually closed. Jacen was already asleep.
"I still think we should take Jacen to the medicenter," Luke said quietly to Chewie as they tucked the babies back in their cribs.
{I think he's fine. But if you'd feel better about it, we'll go in the morning. Try to get some sleep}.
Luke, exhausted as he was, hoped that he could.
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To Luke's relief, Chewie was willing to spend the rest of the night in the apartment, and he'd fallen asleep so soundly that he was surprised to find Chewie with the babies in the kitchen, feeding them cereal and fruit.
{You look terrible}, Chewie said, but he was teasing.
"I can't remember when I was this tired," Luke groaned. Still, he couldn't resist joining Chewie and the twins. Chewie indicated that he should feed Jaina, who wasn't terribly interested in her food. Jacen, of course, was gobbling his as fast as Chewie could spoon it into him. Jaina was more discriminating and was spitting out more food than she was getting in.
"Jaina, open the hangar," Luke said in a sing song voice. "Here comes the spaceship!"
Chewie chuckled. {Leia and Han do that all the time}.
Jaina's mood brightened and with each repeat, she ate more. Luke was change the type of aircraft that entered the 'hangar,' and she thought this was marvelous. Granted, half of her breakfast was still on her face and pajamas, but she was full and happy, as was her less-finicky twin.
"They look like they need another bath," Luke commented.
{They always need another bath, but save your back and your nerves for now. We'll just change them}.
"They're sticky," Luke observed again.
{I told you yesterday, they're always sticky. Now you know what I mean}.
"You know, I keep trying to use the Force to figure them out, but it's not working."
{Their brains aren't that developed. Besides, they're babies. They don't always know what they want}.
"That helps a lot," Luke remarked dryly. "Should we take them for a walk or something?"
{It's winter. I don't know how they feel about freezing rain, but I hate it}.
"Yeah, I'm with you on that." Luke realized he hadn't looked out the window since arriving. He wasn't even sure what time it was, and for him, that was unusual. Time was important to Luke. It was strange to not even realize what day it was. Han and Leia said they'd be gone three days. Luke felt as if a week had passed already and one with no sleep.
{They like the baby holocartoons}, Chewie suggested.
"Leia doesn't want them watching too much holovision," Luke reminded him.
Chewie laughed. {We're in charge. We make the rules}. He lumbered to a basket filled with stuffed toys and plasticate cups and blocks, emptied the contents to the floor, and watched while the twins crawled at what had to be a new land speed record to them.
It was then that Luke began to take note of how many potential items existed that could be a hazard for the twins. Some obvious ones like power outlets had covers on them, but it amazed him that the living room table, which Han had beautifully finished, had no protective coating. The edges were slightly rounded but a baby, especially moving at 1.5 past light speed, could easily be injured.
{I need some groceries}, Chewie announced.
"I just bought groceries yesterday!" Luke told him.
{Yes, but I need more meat}.
Luke looked up at him. "You ate everything I got yesterday?"
{I have to food shop a lot. Will you be okay}? Chewie asked
Luke really wanted to say, whatever passes for 'okay,' but he simply said, "Sure." Jacen had seemingly recovered without incident, and Chewie never took long, especially since Luke was sure Chewie considered him incompetent.
Chewie left and Luke sat down on the floor with Jaina and Jacen. Despite his nervousness, he found that he really liked his niece and nephew. They were nearly irresistibly cute and when they were clean and sleepy, he found their presence calming. He thought of Mara. Granted, they were still far from discussing marriage, never mind children, but he wondered what it would be like to love a tiny person that was created in love. He thought about what it would be like to be joined to Mara like that. Despite their constant fog of exhaustion, Luke had never seen Leia and Han so happy.
Of course, dealing with the babies wasn't exactly turning out to be a confidence building exercise. Then again, he reminded himself, neither had training to be a Jedi.
The two were sticking the toys in their mouths and giggling and shrieking with pleasure. They'd then toss them and crawl and reach for the next item, repeating the oral treatment each time. This redefined sticky for Luke; he'd grabbed a towel to remove quantities of saliva from them, which the babies considered a great challenge. Luke made a mental note to clean them off later.
The two finally became bored and skittered over to their uncle, climbing all over him, planting sloppy kisses on him, their tiny arms reaching for him to hold them, then wiggling to be released.
Jaina slid on down off his lap, and then, before he even realized what was happening, Jaina began screaming. She was face planted with one of the living room table's legs, and blood was coming from her mouth.
Oh gods, Luke winced as he picked the little girl up, racing her into the kitchen, frantically grabbing some ice and a flimsi. Jacen began crying. The problem with twins, Luke realized, is that getting hurt affected both.
At that moment, a familiar voice, prissy and proper, spoke up. "Master Luke, may I help you?"
Luke nearly dropped Jaina. "Threepio! Don't scare me like that! Oh gods, we need to take her to the medicenter!"
If Threepio had been programmed to laugh, this would have been the moment. But instead, he said gently, "Master Luke, the children do get cuts and bruises. It's part of the learning and growing process."
"And you know this how?" Luke asked warily.
"Why, I have assimilated the contents of several hundred readings regarding human infants."
"Of course you have," Luke mumbled, setting Jaina back on the floor with her brother.
"The only question regarding survival is that of the parents."
"And babysitters," Luke added wryly.
"Yes, those as well."