Father's Day Challenge: Submission #5 by Amara Z

Sorry, there are not many pictures of the Solo kids!  But the following story was submitted by Amara Z. 

Han Solo was doing two of his favorite things in the whole galaxy – taking care of his baby while watching his babies. The Falcon needed some work on a minor support system and he wasn’t one to put off such things. It had always brought him a certain amount of joy to tinker with the old girl and he never minded when she required a bit of attention. Unless it was the hyperdrive failing in the middle of fleeing from the Empire and even that had eventually turned out ok.

But he also had to keep an eye on two other sources of joy in his life – his twins, Jacen and Jaina. Leia was finishing a meeting and keeping track of the kids had fallen to him. So he decided he’d combine things into one and brought them to the Falcon with him.

Just about to turn one, his children had constantly kept him on his toes and taught him more about himself in the last year than anything else had. But they also were a constant source of delight and had never ceased to amaze him.

He sat on a bench nearby working on a part from the system and looked up at his children, smiling. They were hanging onto a rack of bins he and Leia had filled with toys and old tools for them to play with and were quite well occupied with what they were doing. They would squat to pick up a piece, bang it against the rack, or walk hand over hand to another bin. Apparently transferring items from one container to another was highly entertaining and they continued on, happily oblivious to anything but each other and babbling occasionally.

As he watched them, he could see they were a bit awkward on their legs and they still crawled to reach most things. But recently they had begun to walk with assistance. They were still learning, but eager to try and it had resulted in them turning anything that moved into walking toys, even their own cribs. Their enthusiasm was much to the chagrin of their mother and not without a few scrapes and bruised chins in the process. But it was still a wonder to see how much his children had grown up over the last year. He didn’t think he’d end up with a stack of parts to one side of him, a child’s stuffed Wookiee toy to the other, and children babbling and playing in the hold of his ship. But here he was. And he wouldn’t change it for anything.

Han smiled one last time at them before focusing on the piece of equipment in front of him again. Turning it over, he realized it was more damaged than he originally thought and sorting through the pile of parts, he could quickly tell he didn’t have everything he needed to repair it either. It appeared that would be it for the day on this particular task. He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face for a moment thinking of where he could pick up the items he needed. It wouldn’t take long, but it would keep the Falcon in less than travel ready shape for another day or two.

He put the piece he had been examining back in a box on a high shelf, scooped up the rest of the loose parts, and dumped them in as well. He turned back to the twins and watched them playing with a grin. On the upside, now he had more time to see how his other babies were doing. In a couple of steps he crossed the hold and dropped to sitting on the floor next to them. Enthused, the children quickly started giving him each item they grabbed, showing it to him with glee on their face before dumping it into one of the containers. It became quite a game for the twins to see which could get the biggest reaction from their father. He had to stop them briefly from swinging their toys at him or each other, but it only took a quick correction.

Jaina caught Han’s attention the most for some reason. She stood a few feet from him, staring at him. Han watched her carefully as she dropped her hand from the bins and stood on her own. She was a little wobbly, but held her stance easily enough. He saw her foot move slightly and his eyes widened expectantly. But then nothing. She stayed where she was and holding onto the rack, supported herself as she made her way over to Han. She gave him a big toothy grin.

He returned her smile and guided her the rest of the way to him. As she grasped at his jacket and shoulder, Han’s brow furrowed slightly. She was ready to walk. He could see it. And she was plenty eager, but not taking that first step. It was curious to him. He was in no rush for his little girl to grow up, not quite yet. But he could imagine the happiness on her face when she took her first steps and it wouldn’t hurt to practice a little.

He stood, grasping Jaina’s tiny hands in his. Taking small, careful steps, he held her steady as they moved together towards the center of the hold. He stopped and tried to let go of her hands to see how she did on her own, but Jaina just smiled and grabbed the leg of his pants. He tried a couple more times as he walked her around the hold. But when he got the same result, he decided to give it a rest. He was directing Jaina back towards the bins when he heard footsteps and a familiar voice.

“How’s it going, flyboy?” Leia asked as she appeared in the doorway of the hold. It was hard for him to believe their next child was already growing within her. She was beautiful in her long flowing dress and he was glad to see the color in her cheeks returning now that the morning sickness was starting to subside. She had complained her waist was filling out more quickly than the first time and was already wearing her dresses more loosely than normal.

Han smiled at his wife. “We were just practicing our walking.”

“Sounds like fun and seemed like she was getting the hang of it.” Jaina was already making a direct line for her mother, dragging Han along with her. Leia crossed over to them, lifted Jaina up in her arms, and ran a hand across her hair before giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek.

“Kind of. I thought she might be ready to have a try on her own, but she didn’t seem that interested in letting go.”

Leia laughed. “Well, I’m not sure crossing the hold would really be much motivation, Han. You and Chewie are the only ones I know of that would do it for no reason,” she said with a smile. “But I can think of something that might.”

Leia squatted down with Jaina in her arms and Han followed her lead, positioning himself arm’s length away from her.

“What do you think Jaina? You want to go to Daddy?” Jaina laughed and kicked her legs, already reaching out for Han. Leia stood Jaina between them and held her letting Jaina gain her balance. Leia slowly took her hands away, holding them close in case she needed to grab her quickly. But Jaina held steady and grinned at her father.

“Come here, sweetheart. Come to Daddy.” He held out his arms to Jaina and she seemed to be considering it, but didn’t move right away. After an unsure moment, Jaina pushed forward on her toes, taking one cautious step forward. And then took another and another until Han caught her in his hands.

Han let out a whoop and gathered Jaina to him. It was surely the beginning of the end, but exciting nonetheless and he gave her a big hug. “That’s my baby girl.”

Leia closed in and they covered Jaina with kisses and Han hugged his girls tight. They were still celebrating when Han heard something - tiny footsteps on the decking. Looking over his shoulder, Han’s mouth dropped open as he saw Jacen toddling over to them by his own power. As Jacen neared him, he scooped him up and stared in amazement at his son.

“What are you doing buddy? Not going to let your sister outdo you, huh?” Han asked, laughing.

There was a long round of hugs and back rubs for each of their children and they had them giggling as they kissed their cheeks repeatedly. But the twins quickly grew tired of the game and wiggled to be set free. Setting them down on the floor, Han and Leia stood side by side as their children made their way back to the bins for more fun. They were able to take a step or two on their own, showing the progress they had made in the short time. Han scratched the hair at the back of his head, thinking about of all the changes he would be seeing over the years.

Leia caught the thoughtful look on his face. “What is it?”

“Ah, just thinking this is one of the many steps we’ll have to coach them through. Who knows what that’ll be like.”

Leia glanced at her husband and smiled softly. “We’ll get through it somehow like always. But I’m sure it’ll help they love you so much. Those kids adore you.”

Han shrugged. “What’s not to love?” he replied with a grin. Leia gave him a hard nudge in the side and had Han laughing.

“Seriously, Han. You’re a good dad. They’re lucky to have you,” Leia said. She reached up to kiss him lightly on the cheek before settling back down beside him.

Han sighed and slung an arm over Leia’s shoulders, watching their children as they played. “You guys make it easy, sweetheart,” he replied and kissed her on the temple.