a/n: ties in to a lot of other things i'm posting right now but can be read on its own, as the rest of the anthology can!
Girl Talk
"Lube Lozange"
Leia arrived at Winter's apartment just as Tycho was heading out. They collided with each other in the doorway; he exiting, and she just about to ring the chimes. He accidentally knocked Jaina's bag off her shoulder, and then lunged forward to catch it and readjust it for her. She smiled gratefully, and he stepped back to let her in.
"Hi, Jaina," he greeted warmly, lifting his hand to wave. He raised his eyebrows in exaggerated excitement and then gave a little silly bow to her.
Jaina, clutching Leia's shirt with one hand and her teething ring with her other, smiled at him slowly and waved her hand, shaking the ring back and forth. Tycho grinned and put a hand to his chest.
"She's not screaming when she sees me anymore!" he said proudly.
Leia tilted her head to look at Jaina, rolling her eyes affectionately.
"Don't take it personally. That was all men for a while," she said.
For a brief period, Jaina had taken to shrieking at the top of her lungs and hiding her face whenever she encountered a man who was not, specifically, her father, uncle, or grandfather. Leia had been at her wits end trying to figure out why she was doing it, and then she'd abruptly stopped. It hadn't seemed to be a thing she was doing out of fear, either.
She just seemed to think it was…funny.
"That's not the worst habit to have," Winter said, peering into the hall. "Men make me scream, too."
"Hey, what's with the plural, babe?" Tycho asked, pretending to be wounded.
"Well, now its just one man," Winter said, disappearing back into the kitchen. "But I think maybe Jaina has a good tactic there. We should all do more screaming wordlessly at men without telling them why."
Leia laughed and hoisted Jaina up a little higher on her hip.
"Where are you off to tonight?" she asked Tycho.
He wasn't pairing up with Han for the duration of this evening's girl time; Han was reconfiguring the control panel for the Falcon's auto valet. Which Jaina had somehow managed to break despite the toddler shield on it, and within the approximately sixty-seven seconds Han took his eyes off of her.
"Groom's night, actually," he said. "Winter picked tonight 'cause of that."
"Who's getting married?"
"The last of my squadron," Tycho snorted. He touched his throat, and looped his finger in the fine gold chain that he'd been wearing since his own wedding. "We're all spoken for now."
Leia leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
"Have a good time," she said. "Don't do anything Han wouldn't do," she added smartly.
Tycho snorted.
"Tycho, get out!" Winter yelled fondly from the kitchen. "Your boys already started drinking, you putz. Go catch up!"
Tycho wiggled his eyebrows at Leia, and slipped past her, continuing out the door. Jaina turned and looked over Leia's shoulder, keeping her hand up enthusiastically.
"Bye-bye," she said. "Bye-bye."
Walking backwards, he gave her a serious look.
"C'mon, yell at me," he joked. "For old time's sake?"
Jaina shrieked happily.
Leia winced, sliding her hand on the inner palm reader to close the door of the apartment. She ran her hand over Jaina's back and gave her a withering look.
"That's Mama's ear," she warned. "Verdict is still out on if you got those lungs from me, or Han," she murmured.
"Are you talking to yourself, or the baby?" Winter yelled.
"She talks back now, its not weird," Leia retorted.
Winter laughed.
"Go ahead and get settled in the living room, I'm just fixing a tray," Winter said, poking her head into the hall again. She held up a corked bottle of champagne. "Want this, or are you pregnant?" she joked.
Leia shook her head, and Winter nodded, ducking back in. Leia carried Jaina down the familiar hall into Winter's posh living room. She set the bag down on the floor, and let Jaina down to the floor. She stood, watching her. The two-and-a-half-year old chewed on her ring for a moment, leaning against the sofa, then turned and made a stealthy beeline for a decorative vase.
"Nope," Leia said, swiftly picking her up and placing her firmly on the sofa, sitting her back into the corner of the couch. "Not for you."
Jaina grinned at her innocently.
"Stay," Leia said, pointing a finger at her.
Jaina flopped backwards and shrugged.
"Winnie's house is not Jaina-proof," Leia told her.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Winter said, her voice louder as she came in with the tray she'd fixed.
She balanced it carefully, set it down on the table, and then grabbed the face, looking around placing it far away, up high on a shelf. She started to turn back, and saw a horrified look on Leia's face, pausing, alarmed.
"What?" she asked anxiously.
"You have to put it close to the ground, on a soft surface," Leia warned. She pointed to her temple lightly. "She can knock things off high shelves."
Winter looked incredulous.
"That's new," she said, taking the vase down. She looked around with a thoughtful frown, and then ended up placing it on an armchair, and putting a pillow in front of it. Worst-case scenario, it rolled onto the carpeted floor. "When did she start…?"
"I don't know, recently?" Leia said, exasperated. She shook her head. "She doesn't mean to. At least, I don't think she does. She wants to play with something and she fixates on it and sometimes they just…fall over," Leia explained.
She sat down, her brows raised.
"Jaina-proofing is different than regular baby-proofing."
"Sounds like it," Winter said.
She came close to the couch and crouched down to say hello to Jaina.
"Hi, Jainy," she said brightly.
"Hi," Jaina answered. She waved.
Winter beamed and held her hands out.
"Will you snuggle with me for girls' night?" she asked.
Jaina shrugged compliantly, and Winter swept her up, taking her spot on the couch and settling Jaina on her lap. Leia took a seat, too, sitting forward to pour a glass of champagne for herself.
"Fancy tonight," she said. She shot Winter a wry look. "Han's mad at your for inviting Jaina," she told her.
"Oh?"
"He asked who he was supposed to hang out with while she was with me."
Winter laughed.
Leia grinned, taking a deep breath and breathing in the wine's bouquet. Her brow furrowed as she watched Winter make faces at Jaina and tickle her ribs.
"Why did you want me to bring her?" she asked.
Leia did not make a habit of bringing Jaina to girls' nights. Jaina was technically a girl, but she was a baby girl, and Leia tried very hard to maintain adult spaces in at least some aspects of her life. Aside from once or twice when she was a baby, and Winter had wanted to get to know her better, or Leia had been using girls' night to train herself to be away from the baby – in other words, Winter was at the Solo house, and Han was upstairs with Jaina yelling down for Leia to calm down whenever she panicked about the baby – Jaina had remained with Han, or various other sitters for nights like these.
"Well," Winter said. "The champagne is because we're celebrating – you have to drink two glasses – and I asked you to bring Jaina so I can practice!" she exclaimed, her excitement nearly bubbling over.
Leia paused with her glass half to her lips.
"I have to drink…? Practice…what?" she asked, realization dawning on her even as she repeated the words. She sat up straight and widened her eyes, her brows shooting up. She waited to be told, and Winter started nodding rapidly, her eyes shining.
"I'm pregnant!" she announced. She hugged Jaina close to her, leaning down to tickle her affectionately. "I get one of these, too!" she exclaimed, pressing kisses to Jaina's cheek.
Leia squealed and jumped up, nearly flinging champagne all over the couch before she caught herself. She set the glass down hastily and lunged down to hug Winter tightly. Jaina squirmed and giggled, startled by all the loud affection, but indulgent of it.
Laughing, Leia sat back down, reaching for her glass and raising it in toast. She shook her head, narrowing her eyes.
"I'll toast you, but I can't drink two of these," she said.
"You have to," Winter pleaded. "Have one for me, please."
"I cannot, I am such a lightweight since breastfeeding – "
"But you're not – "
"I never drink anymore!" Leia protested. She laughed again. "If I have even one and a half of these," she shook the glass pointedly, "I'll be on my ass and Han will have to come pick me up!"
Winter sat forward seriously.
"Leia," she said firmly, "you know damn well that would be the best thing to happen to Han this entire week. He would be delighted."
Leia hesitated, her lips on the wine glass. She snorted.
"You're right," she decided – and gave Winter a look that said maybe she'd relent, maybe she wouldn't.
Han would find it beyond hilarious if he had to come fetch her because she had a tad more than one glass of alcohol.
"Winter, that's so exciting, I'm so happy for you!" she said, pressing a hand to her chest.
"Thanks, I hate it," Winter said blithely, snickering at herself. Leia smirked – she knew how much the physical idea of pregnancy had always made Winter cringe herself into a small, uncomfortable ball of nerves. "I feel vaguely hung-over all the time."
Leia laughed.
"I didn't know you two were trying!" she said.
"I'm full of surprises!" Winter joked. She leaned forward, pretending to cover Jaina's ears. "Actually, this is kind of embarrassing – we had discussed starting to try for a baby and, ahmmm, well about – ten weeks ago, to be exact – we came home very drunk from an event and I haven't been using contraceptives because my hormones go haywire on it," she bit her lip, "and we found the condom we were very sure we used…in its package on the floor."
Leia stared at her in disbelief, and then burst out laughing. She took a large sip of champagne, raising her eyes to the heavens.
"For Sith's sake, Winter – good thing it's Tycho, and you're married," she chastised – like the more uptight friend in any relationship like theirs predictably would.
Winter clicked her tongue and nodded in agreement, but looked lighthearted all the same.
"Hey, it's easier to be careless when you're with the one you love," she said.
"That's true," Leia murmured.
"Mama," Jaina said.
"Ye-e-es?" Leia drawled.
Jaina looked at her seriously.
"I want some soos!" she said, pointing at Leia's glass. "Soos, please."
"This juice is for mommies," Leia answered.
Jaina lowered her hand and glared at her.
"Share," she growled.
Leia arched her brows.
"Winter, do you have any - ?"
"Yes, I've got apricot nectar," Winter said, standing up. She waved at Leia hastily when Leia started to stand. "I'll get it, just relax. I'm practicing, remember."
"Okay," Leia agreed, leaning back. She cupped one hand around her mouth, "but that's a toddler, just so you know. It doesn't come out a toddler!"
"Ahhhhh don't talk about it coming out!" Winter shouted back dramatically.
Leia snorted.
"Nectar is too sweet, can you cut it with some ice water?"
Winter answered an affirmative, and Leia reached down to get out a few more toys to have them ready for Jaina to entertain herself.
"I think I have a sippy in here – " Leia started, rummaging.
"Don't bother, I've got one," Winter said, coming back in. Jaina was happily clutching a sippy cup half full of watered down nectar in one hand, and her teether in the other. "Han left one here when he picked her up one day."
"Ahh," Leia breathed. She nodded. "Well, keep it is a congratulatory gift."
Winter settled back down, and stared suspiciously at Leia's glass.
"Drink up, Your Highness."
"I may already be drunk," Leia joked.
"Drunk," Jaina repeated around the lip of her cup.
Winter snorted.
"Right," Leia said dryly. "Another new development – she repeats everything. Upside, her pediatrician says she's unusually vocal for her age. Downside: Han has basically had to stop talking."
"Fascinating," Winter murmured, tilting her head down and ruffling Jaina's hair.
"She forgets the words a second later, though," Leia said.
Stubbornly, Jaina proved her wrong.
"Drunk," she said again.
"Jaina," Leia said sternly. "Do not remember that one."
Jaina held out her nectar.
"Cup!" she said proudly.
Leia took it from her and set it aside, nodding.
"Yes. Cup! Good girl," she praised.
Jaina turned her attention to her teether, and sank back against Winter. Leia sighed, and lifted her eyes.
"You're ready for this to be your life?" she asked slyly.
"Yes, I think so," Winter said earnestly. "I'm nervous, of course, and have all sorts of fears but," she nodded swiftly. "I wanted a baby when you had one, but I sat on in for a bit. And Tycho hasn't been ready."
Leia nodded.
"You're feeling okay?" she asked. "You said you felt mildly hung-over?"
Winter sighed, stroking her hands through Jaina's hair.
"Yes, like achy and tired and irritable, and there were a few days when I had cramping."
"That's when it implants," Leia said.
"So I was told," Winter murmured. "I'm nauseous kind of vaguely, all the time, but I haven't started actually getting sick yet."
"Count your blessings," Leia said dryly. "And how's Tycho doing?"
"He's good! He's happy. Nervous, but happy. I'm sure he'll ask Han for advice. I told him he has to tell Pasha and he freaked out," she laughed.
"Oh, so did Han, he'll get over it," Leia said dismissively.
"Well, Han's just scared of Bail," Winter said flippantly – at which Leia gave her a skeptical look. "For Tycho, that's his sovereign, you know. I don't think he expected to have an equalizing conversation like that with him."
"Father will cherish it, though," Leia said earnestly. "And you deserve having that tradition carried out with Father. He raised you, too."
Winter nodded.
"You're the first person I've told. I think we'll tell him next, and Rouge – and of course I expect you to tell Han. Then we'll keep it private for a while," she explained. "I know it's early, but I already know if it's a girl, I want her middle name to be Sheltay."
"Of course," Leia said softly. Sheltay had been Winter's mother's name.
"I want to honor my mother but I…don't love her name," Winter admitted sheepishly.
Leia snorted, and shrugged.
"Well, I feel that way about 'Bail'," she admitted.
"Because Bail is the worst name on the planet," muttered Winter. "We have so many beautiful names in our language and Queen Mazicia named him that. Do you think she hated him?" Winter asked innocently.
"Yes," Leia answered flippantly. "No one talks about Mazicia the way they talk about my mother," she noted warily. "And she reportedly told Father he had single-handedly ensured the demise of Alderaan's monarchy when he brought me home."
Leia looked bitter for a moment.
"Which, actually, was true," she muttered.
Winter sighed, shrugging.
"Well, she was fairly cruel to Rouge, too, wasn't she?"
"For reasons that have never been disclosed," Leia said.
"Add it to the list of Rouge's mysteries."
Jaina sat forward, reaching for her juice, and Leia handed it to her, letting her drink for a moment. She intercepted when Jaina tried to throw the cup, and Jaina responded with an outraged squawk, giving Leia a menacing glare.
"No good would come of you throwing that, little girl," Leia warned.
Jaina snapped her teeth at Leia.
"Daddy," she whined gloomily.
Leia put her hand to her chest, pretending to be offended. Jaina very slowly put her teether into her mouth and pouted. Winter watched the exchange gleefully, and burst into laughter, bending down to kiss Jaina's head.
"Oh, you're going to be such a fun teenager," she cooed. "You're going to get in to all kind of situations and Han will have a stroke and Bail will laugh, and laugh – "
"Stop encouraging her, Winter," Leia said dryly.
Winter laughed, and kept snuggling the toddler. She cuddled Jaina closer, stroking her soft, auburn hair back. Jaina played with the teething ring, tilting her head curiously and trying it out against her sensitive gums. Her elbow propped up on the back of the sofa; Leia rested her head on her palm, watching them.
"She's so sweet," Winter murmured, still petting Jaina's hair. "Just a little darling," she said, smirking and kissing Jaina's cheek.
"She bit Han twice last night," Leia offered, having long since been disabused of the idea that Jaina was an angel.
Winter laughed.
"I'm sure he earned it," she teased. "Hmm? Didn't he?" she asked Jaina seriously.
"I've never seen Han so offended," Leia snorted.
"Well, Pasha always said you used to bite," Winter remarked. "Maybe it's genetic."
"If it is, I'm sure it's a Skywalker thing," Leia said dryly.
Jaina pulled her teething ring from her mouth and stared at it curiously with a cute frown on her face. She turned her head up, dropped it on Winter, and said something in gibberish. Winter raised her eyebrows.
"She says 'your turn,'" Leia translated. "You don't have to put that in your mouth. She won't notice."
Jaina stared at Winter expectantly, and after a moment, Winter grinned, looking up.
"How often can I borrow her and practice? I have so many questions," she said eagerly. "Will I understand my baby's gibberish? Or is that a Force thing?"
"Maybe the Force enhances it," Leia said, shrugging, "but Han understands her, too. He had trouble at first, but sometimes he's faster than I am at interpreting. He's home with her more."
Winter leaned back. She rocked slightly side to side, keeping Jaina moving, and content.
"I'm going to dig in now. The real raw questions," she warned. "Did you have an epidural? You did, didn't you?" she asked, brow furrowed. "I mentioned planning for one and Tycho asked me if it was safe."
Leia made a face, taking a sip of champagne.
"What does Tycho know?" she asked skeptically.
"He found out I was pregnant and started reading everything under the stars."
Leia looked aghast.
"Don't let him do that," she warned. "Han got a bunch of absurd fears into his head once before he realized he was halfway through a forum for Twi'Lek babies."
She pursed her lips, and tucked her hair back, tilting her head at Jaina.
"I had one," she confirmed calmly.
"Why did you choose it?" Winter asked curiously. "Didn't midwives on Alderaan frown on it?"
Leia shrugged.
"You know how Alderaan could be," she murmured without malice. So female-centric and focused on pedastalism that it sometimes held its women to standards they may not want to meet – or considered those who wanted modern comforts to be lesser.
Leia sighed.
"I've had a lot of physical pain in my life," she admitted, wincing, "and pain…hurts, you know." She laughed a little gruffly. "I'm a strong person but," she shrugged, "I just didn't think I needed to feel excruciating pain to prove I'm a real woman or a real mother," she explains.
She'd needed as clear a head as she could have to help ease Jaina's anxiety during the whole process, and to keep her own physical strength up. Pain clouded her mind. It often triggered worse pain she'd experienced. She hesitated again.
"I can have bad reactions to pain," she said. "I didn't want to associate that with Jaina."
Jaina looked up at Leia at the sound of her name.
"Mama," she said pleasantly, and jolted forward, crawling off of Winter's lap and towards Leia.
Leia caught her and hauled her into her lap.
"I didn't have a strong epidural, and I waited until the latest I could, so it wouldn't slow down the contractions. And the latest is as long as you aren't laying there with half the baby's head out, which no one wants to tell you," Leia added. "Arksiah let me get it towards the very end. And I didn't have trouble with sensation; I could read Jaina and tell what I needed to do."
She hesitated, looking down and catching Jaina's eye. She glanced at Winter wryly through her lashes.
"It was still hard," she said dryly. "It's like running a marathon, even if the acute pain is numbed," she explained. She arched a brow. "Not to mention the epidural ends," she snorted. "It's not like it erases the fact that you just gave birth."
Leia ruffled Jaina's hair.
"Believe me Winter, you'll still hurt," she warned with a laugh. "The first time you use the sani you will spend the next twelve hours setting a personal record for how long you can go without doing it again because," Leia widened her eyes, shaking her head. "Mayhem. Mayhem."
"Oh, good," Winter said, deadpan.
Leia nodded.
"Mmm-hmm," she said, patting Jaina's head. "The assurance we always get that it stretches is a stretch of the truth," she lamented dryly. "I'd like to have a word with evolution. I could use some more elasticity."
"Are you trying to scare me?" Winter groaned.
"I'm terrorizing you. It's what older sisters do."
"I'm older, Leia," Winter retorted.
"Not in terms of motherhood," Leia said loftily.
"Oh, here we go," Winter sighed.
"Here go," Jaina repeated. "Heeeeere go!"
"Yes," Winter said, leaning forward and tickling her ribs. "Your Mama is mocking me."
Jaina raised one hand and opened it and closed it like a puppet. She gnawed on her teether with the other hand, and Winter sat back a little.
"I thought she had all of her teeth," she said.
"This is the last bit of teething," Leia said gratefully, relieved. "She's a little on the late side, but I'll take it."
The end of teething meant no more random sleep regression, either. Things had plateaued so well with Jaina lately, she and Han were more than ready to return to the idea of another baby.
Winter rested her own elbow on the back of the sofa.
"Obviously you know what I'm going to ask next," she said primly.
Leia gave her a look.
"Sex, after the baby?" Winter prompted, matter-of-fact.
Leia rolled her eyes good naturedly, and covered Jaina's ears with a wry smile.
"Han and I have plenty of sex," Leia said.
"Not what I mean," Winter said, cringing a little. "I mean the first time after childbirth."
Leia tilted her head, thinking about it. She smoothed her hands over Jaina's ears and then let them fall to her lap.
"I can only speak for myself," she murmured. "It was not as bad as I thought. In fact I was letting fear of how bad it would be stress me out so much I could not relax, and I would say that is what initially hurt."
"Ugh, was it like losing your virginity?" Winter asked grimly. "Because when I lost mine, the guy kept telling me to relax, and I thought I was relaxed, and he kept telling me he could not get anything in me, because I was so not relaxed – "
Leia shook her head abruptly.
"No, it wasn't like that," she said curtly, her expression suddenly edgy.
Winter broke off, hesitating. She glanced down, and then back up.
"Leia, that does not count as your first time."
"I know," she said tightly, "but it's what I think of for a split second, and I hate it," she said. "I hate that even years later I don't immediately think of Han. It's just a split second but it's the worst second of my life, over and over."
Winter nodded.
Leia took a deep breath, and – with a small smile, considering, relaxed.
"It wasn't like my first time," she said, backtracking. "That didn't hurt. It was a little – awkward and unfamiliar because Han was so slow and nervous, but it didn't hurt at all. After the baby," she trailed off, thinking.
Her brow furrowed.
"You know…when you have a sore throat," she began, "and when you wake up and swallow it is miserable, but you swallow a few more times and kind of get numb to it, and you're fine all day – better if you have a lozenge?"
Winter stared at her.
"Hold on – the word swallow was just used so many times I can't think straight – yes, I think I know what you're saying. Sore throat. Unpleasant, but bearable once you get acclimated."
Leia nodded.
"It was somewhat like that," she said. "It was like that for the first few times and then it went back to normal. You need to make sure you have lube."
"Oh, is that the lozenge you mentioned in the throat metaphor?"
"Yes," Leia retorted. "You need a lube lozenge."
Winter giggled.
"Jaina is getting so many new words!" she exclaimed.
Jaina looked up from playing with her toes, and grinned shyly.
"Words," she said.
"Shhhh," Leia hushed Winter.
"What is it, six weeks, before you're healed enough?" Winter asked.
"I got the all clear at four weeks," Leia said. She shrugged. "But Han and I didn't have sex again until she," she pointed at Jaina, "was almost five months old. And Han was good about it. He went down on me a couple of times but I was just…so tired. All I really wanted to do was lay next to him."
Winter nodded.
"Han didn't get impatient?"
Leia shook her head, shrugged.
"If he did, he didn't let me find out about it," she said. "I think I tried to give him a blowjob once but he wouldn't let me."
"You think?"
"Winter," Leia said seriously, holding her palms up. "The first several months are a blur. It's a fog. Your memory fades into a haze and soon all you wonder if you're remembering it more tiring than it was – and that is a biological trick," she said accusingly. "If it didn't become a blurry haze, no one would have another baby," she joked.
Winter grinned. She rested her temple on her knuckles and stared at Jaina for a while, smiling softly.
"Another baby," she murmured, lifting her eyes questioningly. "Is that in the stars for you?"
Leia nodded. She stroked Jaina's hair, and Jaina rested her head back on Leia's abdomen and looked up at her pleasantly, her eyes drooping. Leia hoped she'd fall asleep soon.
"Yeah, we want another one," she said. "I think when Jaina's two, we're going to go off the contraceptives again, for real."
"For real?"
Leia nodded.
"Mm-hm, I had another miscarriage last year," she said. "When Jainy was about fifteen months. And I just felt like I needed more time with her."
"Oh, Leia, I'm so sorry," Winter murmured, her brow furrowing. She hadn't known. Leia nodded, shrugging.
"It wasn't bad," Leia said honestly. "It was very early. Too early for most women to tell," she explained. "It did drive home the point that it happens more often than we think."
"I've been reading about that, and discussing it with my doctor," Winter said. "I'm still going to tell people pretty freely. If something does happen, I don't want it to be a secret."
"You'll be fine, Winter," Leia said softly.
Jaina titled sideways in Leia's lap and rolled onto her back, splaying out at a quirky angle and closing her eyes. Leia let her do her own thing.
"Does anyone else know? About last year?" Winter asked.
"Dad," Leia said.
Winter nodded.
The two women sat in silence for a moment, and Leia looked down at Jaina, shifting her a little so she'd be cozier. She looked up, hesitating, and then swallowed hard.
"I really used to resist the idea that motherhood was this hugely significant feminine experience that has unique power," she said, "but she made me feel indescribably different. About myself, about Han, about the world," Leia paused, "and I'm not saying that to imply women who haven't had a baby are lacking."
"Of course you aren't," Winter scoffed.
"I just mean there is something very empowering about having a baby." She tilted her head. "I'm glad you're going to have one. I can't wait to talk to you about it," she confided.
Winter lit up. She sat forward, shifting, and reaching for the bottle of champagne, coaxing Leia into accepting another glass. Leia sighed, rolled her eyes, and did so.
"I can't wait either," Winter said fiercely. "And I can't wait until this champagne you are having on my behalf, since you are such a good sister, turns you into a speeder wreck – Jaina will be asleep, anyway."
Leia groaned.
"And – can we go back a little – Han was nervous? The first time you had sex? How nervous are we talking?"
"Winter," Leia protested. She pointed at her lap, at Jaina, and gave her a look.
Winter grinned wickedly, and cocked an eyebrow in a way that implied she wasn't done. Leia smiled indulgently, and shifted Jaina again, cradling her in her lap lightly. She tilted her glass back and forth languidly, breathing in the spicy, sweet bouquet of the wine again, and for another treasured moment among millions of treasured moments, she reveled in the miracle that had brought Winter back to her against all odds.
The End
This is the last installment of Girl Talk!
-alexandra