Thursday, June 6, 2013

Just a Kiss Challenge: Submission #1 by Zyra


 This is cheating a little bit because I have had this written for a long time but decided it fits here.  It's a scene from a story I started but will probably never finish and even without context it works fine and you don't really need to know anything about the story it goes with for it to work in this challenge.  I suppose all you need to know is that it is a regular night at the Solo house and the kids are teenagers.  Let's just pretend for a moment that their lives might have been a little more normal...

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Dinner was the usual affair of  a mixture of comfortable silence and mundane chat about what everyone had done that day.  Although Leia spent much of the time distracted by the amount of food Jacen and Anakin could consume.  She’d been witness to this for several years now, but it hadn’t ceased to amaze her.  Han had stood to bring a few plates in to the kitchen and Leia followed suit.

Once she placed the dish on the counter she felt his warm hands gently grasp her waist and turn her to face him, pulling her close.  “You remember what today is?” Han asked, a mischievous glint shining in his hazel eyes. 

Leia had a moment of panic as she ran through the mental list.  It wasn’t anyone’s birthday and they hadn’t planned anything special, and it wasn’t their wedding anniversary… wait… anniversary.  Anniversary of…  Leia’s eyes widened.  “Oh!”

“Yes, oh,” he said, leaning in close and bringing his lips to hers.  “There’s only one good way to celebrate,” and with that he kissed her gently, sweetly, savoring the moment. 

The moment was broken by a loud, irritated voice from the next room.  “You two better stop makin’ out in there.  There are young, impressionable children nearby.”

Han and Leia smiled at the words of their youngest son who had turned out to be quite the character.  “Then you better all shut your young, impressionable eyes for what happens next,” Han said before leaning in and making loud kissing noises against Leia’s neck.

Leia couldn’t help but laugh but then she playfully slapped Han’s arm.  “Leave them alone.”

Han took Leia’s hand and walked back to the dining room table where the children were finishing their meal.  “What, you guys don’t want to see your old mom and dad kissing?”

“Not really, no,” Jacen replied.  “I mean, good for you, I guess.  But I don’t need to see it.”

“Aw, you guys are no fun,” Han said as he moved to take his seat. 

“So, what is today?” Jaina asked.

Leia eyed her daughter.  “What do you mean?”

“I heard Dad say something about today meaning something.  What is it?”

Han and Leia exchanged knowing smiles and Leia gave Han a slight nod indicating that he should tell them.

“Well, today is the anniversary of the first time I kissed your mom.”

Leia could already see her sons’ eyes rolling, but Jaina smirked, looking a bit embarrassed at hearing the answer.  The children had heard the story of their parents’ first kiss a few times over the years.  Leia suspected they were the only ones in the universe who had reached that particular milestone while trapped in the belly of a space slug. 

“So,” Jaina continued, “is that when you first, you know, ‘knew’?” 

Both Han and Leia looked confused.  “Knew what?” Han asked.

“Mom was just saying how when you find someone you want to marry you ‘just know’ so I’m wondering if that was when you first, you know, knew.”

Leia considered the question.  While it was certainly a defining moment in their relationship, she didn’t consider it to be the moment she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with that man.  Looking across the table at Han it appeared that he would agree.

“Nah,” Han said.  “I think I knew I wanted to marry her a while before that.”

This surprised Leia.  “Really?  Before?” 

“Yeah, before, sweetheart.  Sometime between when you yelled at me to get into the garbage chute and when you hugged me after we found out we weren’t going to get crushed in that garbage masher.  Although I changed my mind for a while when you told me I had to do what you told me and called my best friend a walking carpet.”

“You called Uncle Chewie a walking carpet?” Anakin’s blue eyes showed a great level of amusement at this. 

“Well, your father called me ‘Your Worshipfulness’ among many other so-called clever nicknames, so I don’t think it matters.  And besides, I apologized later for that.”

“I don’t know how you two wound up together when it sounds like you spent so much time arguing,” Jacen said.  Leia had wondered if her oldest son had even been listening up to that point as he was still quite preoccupied with his dinner. 

“I often wonder that myself,” Leia said.

“Maybe if you didn’t we wouldn’t have to watch you two being all lovey-dovey with each other,” Anakin said as he picked at his food.

“That’s right,” Han replied.  “And you also wouldn’t be here at all.  But since you are, why don’t you come and help out with these dishes?”

19 comments:

  1. Awwww. That was cute Zyra. You write the family well. And I love how they remember what day it is. And Jaina's question.

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    1. Thanks. And Jaina's question comes from a conversation Jaina and Leia had in an earlier scene where Jaina asks how you know when you want to marry someone and Leia tells her that infamous advice that "you just know." I hate that crap too, Jaina ;)

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    2. You have a point, but it's true. When you know, you know. :) I'm sure it's highly annoying to hear that though.

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  2. Loved it!! That was really cute! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked Jaina's question too. :-)

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  3. So cute! Thanks for posting it.

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  4. I always enjoy these glimpses into their happy life and you write them so well. Thanks for sharing. :-)

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  5. I love the way Han responded that he knew way before the kiss! Now that's romantic. Love the kids' responses -- kids do NOT want to know what their parents do behind closed doors, and if they're young enough, the idea of parents kissing sounds like they have cooties or something :)

    Good job, warm and delightful.

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  6. This reminds me of my daily life. My parents are like this very often. But I like to see them like this after nearly 30 years of marriage. I DO complain, but only to tease them.

    I love Han telling Anakin he wouldn't even be there so stop complaining. XD

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  7. Nice story. I liked Han's response “Then you better all shut your young, impressionable eyes " I can hear him saying that. Also liked that Jaina was interested in in how you 'know', but the boys are 'whatever'. And nice significant kiss, without it needing to lead to something else.

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  8. Sorry I'm so late commenting. This was just great, and I'm extremely impressed that Han actually remembers the date of that fateful kiss, wow. I love all the family snapshots you treat us to, and you always write the kids so naturally which is nice to read. Very cute all round. Think maybe you should finish the story this was part of, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to read it.

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    1. She really needs to finish it. Give her a hard time. Although I don't think that really works...

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    2. Hasn't worked so far. This has been written for well over a year I think. And this scene has very little to do with the larger story it was going to be part of.

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    3. You could winnow it down and make it a different, but shorter, story.

      Richard Feynman gave a lecture in 1959 called "There's Always Room at the Bottom." In science, we tend to be reductionist -- we're always looking for that which can be generalized. But what is often more appropriate is to take it apart and think smaller, not larger. It's something I have to keep in mind when I get ahead of myself on an experiment. You have to think small in engineering as well -- you're not going to design the entire plane, but you might have to design the landing gear, or even parts of the landing gear.

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    4. I think you should finish it too. Pretty please?

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  9. I absolutely love the fact that Han says he realised he loved her some time in between the garbage shute and the hug!

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  10. I always enjoy these little moments you write. :)

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  11. I like the family interaction here and Han picking with the kids about their discomfort/distaste upon knowing their parents are "making out". Totally there with my kids now. Any affection between my husband and we get the EWWWW treatment. Very true to life. Thanks.

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  12. Sorry took me so long to post.My laptop is so old, it needed work,again. My kids get all the good stuff now. Think I am ready for an upgrade.

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