Star Wars: A Long Drabble Ago

A Little Piece of Home

A/N: This little piece is something I wrote for a Valentine's challenge for the shipper blog HanLeiaFanFicWriters. Enjoy!

It was just a rock. Gray, hard and rough-surfaced and sparkling with minerals in some places, it was. Yes, it was just a rock. Or so it may have seemed. Or so Leia may have wished. It was just a rock, so she tried to convince herself, but staring at it was like watching a holodrama in slow motion. Memories young and old were revived and played in Leia's head over and over until she thought she could take it no more. It was a rock, that much was true, but there was more to it and Jaina and Jacen had known that.

As special as the rock was to her, just the mere fact that her own children had gotten it for her doubled the value she held it at. Had her twin children asked her if they could venture into such a dangerous asteroid field, she immediately would have started ranting out a list of every reason why they shouldn't- and wouldn't- and how dangerous it was and, most likely, even borrowed See-Threepio to assure them of all the horrible odds. Then, she would have kissed both on their foreheads and sent them off for bed. But the two had purposefully gone behind her back to find her the greatest gift they thought they could give her. Not to mention that they faced all those dangers Leia probably would have warned them about before. And that was what made this particular rock special to her, that her own kids had gone to so much trouble for a rock they knew meant something to their mother. The twins could have gotten it from Mustafar and Leia would still have had it proudly displayed on the wall of her bedroom.

Her fingertips automatically went to her eyes where she felt salty wetness already dripping from them, down her cheeks. Hurriedly, she wiped them off on her sleeve and took a calming breath, sniffled, attempting to calm herself, but Leia couldn't figure out what it was that she had done to deserve such wonderful children. She closed her eyes, smiling at the holodrama of memories for a long moment until something quickly wrapped itself around her waist and she gasped aloud. "Hey, Princess," his hot breath whispered against her ear, like a light wind gently blowing through her hair.

"Flyboy," she acknowledged her husband and turned in his arms to stand on her toes and kiss him.

"Are you having a good birthday?"

Leia managed a nod, bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck, staring into his hazel eyes. "Yes. Of course. Today's been wonderful. By the way, if I didn't say so before, I really love the necklace you got me." Leia brought a hand to her chest and played with the necklace's charm, an Alderaanian flower, between her fingers. "It's beautiful."

"Well," Han held the charm in his own palm and looked at the jeweled aralute for a second. His eyes found their way back to hers and he smiled, tickling her neck with kisses until he got to her jawline, at which point he skipped the rest to meet her mouth with his. "I thought I'd get a beautiful jewelry piece for my even more so beautiful wife. I'm glad you like it. I wanted today to be special for you. You know this has to be the first time you've had work off for your birthday."

"I had my birthday off during our second year of being married."

"Yeah," Han chuckled. "Except, you were pregnant and the twins were just about ready to come."

Leia laughed, resting her head on his shoulder and fell into a rhythmic sway, their arms wrapped around each other. "Yeah. Only a couple days later I got the greatest birthday gift of all."

"Speaking of our wonderful children and birthday gifts, what did they get you?"

Leia pushed back from Han so she could look up at Han, smiling euphorically. "You didn't see?"

"No. I missed it while I was ordering dinner. Your favorite."

"Mmm. I can already smell the gorba melts. Now, you have to see what they got me. Han, I don't know what Winter did to them while they were with her, but I think we might have the wrong kids."