Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.
Author's Note:
Thank you so much to those of you who favourited and followed this story, it means a lot to me. Please read and review!
There is a time skip here, Leia is now five. Enjoy!
Chapter 3- Fett's Life
"Leia, can you hand me the spanner, Princess?" Boba called from his position inside Slave I's engine compartment. A few moments later he heard the gentle padding of Leia's feet as she ran across the room, he heard the soft thud above his head as she plopped down to lay on her tummy as she lowered the requested tool down to him, just like he'd taught her. "Thi un daddy?" she'd asked as she handed him his spanner, Boba smiled as he stood up and reached one greasy hand up to ruffle her hair as he took the tool, "You know it is, Princess." Leia giggled as she rolled away from her dad's hand in her hair.
Boba had been letting Leia help him around the ship since she could walk. He found that it was a good way to keep her from wandering off and into trouble, as well as teach her a skill that she'd find useful later in her life. "Since I need the regular spanner and not the hyper-wrench, can you guess what daddy's working on down here, Leia?" Boba asked as he wiped his hands on the cloth that he'd set next to the compartment opening. Leia rolled over and sat up, "Sub-wight eni-ne?" "Are you asking or telling, Princess?" Boba asked as he heard Leia's unsure tone. "Tewing!" Leia shouted "Sub-wight eni-ne!" she chanted, jumping to her feet. Boba grinned, "That's right Princess, I'm fixing the sub-light engines." "How dey bwoken?" asked Leia, her eyebrows furrowing. "They still work, don't worry about that, Princess. But one of them is leaking a little bit of fuel, so daddy's making sure that it gets back to perfect."
Leia grinned up at Boba, "Okay." her smile then changed, "Uh oh, scheming face." Boba thought to himself as Leia smiled sweetly up at him through the thick curtain of her hair, which always seemed to fall over her face when she thought that she was being sneaky. "Daddy…" she said, shifting from one foot to the other. "Yes, Princess?" "Do you fink, if I'm a good hewper, vat maybe we couwd have puddim aftew dinnew tonigh?" Internally Boba was laughing at his daughter's attempt to negotiate, but he decided to play along, "I don't know Miss Leia. What makes you think that I'd agree to such a steep price? You'd have to be the best helper in the galaxy for me to agree to such a bargain, how about double vegetables instead?" Leia lifted her chin in attempt to meet his eye, a difficult feat for her even though he was on one knee in front of her, "I am de bes' hewper in da gawaxy." Boba smiled and was about to respond, when Leia did her best mimicry of Boba's voice when dealing with a stubborn client, "An my tewms stiw stand."
Boba tapped his chin and pretended to think about her terms before heaving a dramatic sigh, "Miss drives a hard bargain, but I suppose, if Miss is not exaggerating her skill, the price is fair." He then held out his hand, and Leia slapped her hand down on his. "Now, shall we get to work so that dinner with pudding can be at a reasonable time for the little hunter to get to bed?" Leia nodded and pranced over to Boba's tool kit with a look of determination on her face, believing wholeheartedly that the prospect of pudding hinged on how well she helped her dad fix the sub-light engines.
After dinner that night Boba began getting Leia ready for bed, no easy task as she wanted to make everything into a negotiation. It began as it always did, bargaining for more time to play, then begging to watch one holovid together, then trying to get out of bathtime, and finally slipping out of bed after he'd tucked her in.
"Bed, Leia." "Bu' I don wanna." "We have another busy day tomorrow, Princess. No proper hunter can let themselves be over-tired when they have a job to do." "Bu' I don 'ave a weaw 'ob." "Yes, you do. You have the most important job of all." Leia cocked her head to the side, "You, Princess," Boba said as he scooped her up in his arms, causing her to giggle, "have the incredibly important duty of keeping daddy out of trouble." Leia was still giggling as Boba laid her down on the little bed in her cabin, tucked her in with a kiss to her forehead, and then stood up to his full height, placed one hand on his hip and extended his other to point directly at her, "Now stay there til morning." He gave her one last kiss with a firm sounding, "Goodnight." "Wuv you daddy." He turned back to his little girl, his heart melting all over again, "I love you too, Princess." as he flicked off the light he whispered, "Now, go to sleep."
After peeking into Leia's room a few times to make sure that she had really gone to sleep Boba opened his computer to place a few orders to be delivered to his Guild dropbox on Chandrila. Leia would be six in a few short weeks, and even though she didn't have friends her age, aside from a boy that she told him about in her dreams, he wanted her to have as much of a birthday party as she could with just him.
As he drifted off to sleep himself, he saw the holo on his bedside table. It was a simple picture, one of him struggling to hold Leia still for the photo on her fifth birthday, she'd had too much cake and hadn't calmed down until well after midnight. Kait had visited, and thought that Boba attempting to corral his hyperactive five year-old was the funniest thing that she'd ever seen. So, naturally, the holo that she'd sent Boba was the one of him with bits of frosting covering his clothes, his hair dishevelled, and Leia's small hand pressed hard into his cheek as she attempted to escape his grasp.
He smiled, his life was nearly perfect right now, all due to the gift that Padmé Amidala had given him nearly six years ago. The one thing that could make his life better was if he could find Luke.
Author's Note:
Hello again my lovely readers! How did you like this chapter? I've been experimenting with different dialects in my writing lately, so I tried to make Leia sound like a five year-old. It's been a while since I've had five year-olds, so I'm sorry if I got it a bit wrong. Anyway… It's almost Leia's birthday! Next chapter will focus on Boba preparing for, and throwing, his princess a little party.
I'm sure that some of you can guess who the boy in Leia's dream is, *nudge nudge* *wink wink*
I'd like to take a little bit of a poll, in the reviews section since it's just for this story: would you guys like longer chapters with sparser updates or quick updates (like I have been) with shorter chapters (same approximate length as the past few)?
Please review!
xx
Eponine-Skywalker7