Beyond Doubt -[Shakespearean Roulette]- Han, Jaina - family fluffiness

A/N: Why no, I haven't been sitting on this quote for 11 months now... Better late than never, right?

Anyway, this is a response to #65:
?Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.?
Hamlet, II.ii.115-118.


Doubt

Dinner in the Solo apartment was never a dull experience, with twin five-year-olds who were just starting to come into their Force-abilities, and a three-year-old who was still teetering on the edge of that age where the entertainment of throwing his food battled with the fulfillment of actually consuming it. Add a bustling Threepio into the mix and it was all but guaranteed that, if one of the kids didn?t try to pelt the droid with a lob of mounder rice, Han would.

This particular night was a little different though. After returning from a typical afternoon with Lando that was part discussion of a business proposal, part excuse to get together and drink an ale while reminiscing about the old days, he?d found the atmosphere more subdued than usual, even with Anakin running around half-naked while Threepio chased him frantically, carrying the toddler?s shirt. After wrangling the giggling child, he?d stuck his head in the twins room to see that they had, most uncharacteristically, settled themselves down for a nap.

Two hours later and almost finished with dinner, it was becoming readily apparent that what Han had mistaken for post-nap sleepiness was actually sullenness. Jacen and Jaina had hardly exchanged a word throughout the meal, and Jaina had a poorly-suppressed scowl on her face through half of dinner.

Han found himself more bothered by this than seemed strictly necessary- after all, they were siblings, and they were five. Arguments happened. But Jacen and Jaina weren?t just any siblings. They were twins, and Force-sensitive twins to boot, and usually the only times they fought was for show when they needed to distract Threepio from whatever mischief they were planning behind his back.

Or maybe his concern stemmed from the fact that Jaina seemed more perturbed than her brother, which was unusual as Jacen tended to be the more sensitive one. Whatever they had argued over had clearly affected her more, based on her downcast eyes and mechanical chewing, without truly seeming to taste her food.

Logic- and Leia- suggested that if the kids weren?t all-out brawling with each other, there was no reason to intervene in their little spats- spats which Han was sure would become much more frequent in the next couple of years as Anakin emerged from that toddler stage. When Han had pointed out that everyone would be happier faster if he just mandated a settlement, Leia had, in turn, countered that his idea of mediation was honed from years of using and dodging blasters. The diplomatic way, she said, would be to teach them to work out their disagreements on their own, so they wouldn?t feel the need to run to their parents for every little issue.

Be that as it may, Han Solo would be borked if seeing his little girl so clearly distraught by something didn?t make him want to hold her close and protect her from the galaxy. And that was just when she had a little fight with her brother.

Force help him when she started dating.

After clearing up from dinner, he found Jaina sitting alone in the living room, little legs sticking straight off the sofa, staring thoughtfully across the room but probably seeing nothing at all. He stood and watched her for a minute while Leia collected the boys for a bath, and then decided he might as well give it a try.

?Hey, kiddo.?

Large, expressive eyes turned up to him, her unruly dark hair falling back from her face. ?Hi, daddy.?

Settling down on the sofa beside her, Han briefly pondered the best way to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her; and then he decided that he lacked tact at the best of times, and was probably hopeless when dealing with the politics of being five and reticent to share problems with adults, so he just got rig

So cute! Well done, Lexi!

Awww. I loved this! Jaina is such a daddy's girl. And I love that she felt so guilty for telling Jacen she hated him. It's like hating a part of yourself, and so poignant considering what happens later on...

A really beautiful piece with Jaina and Han

That was really good! Great use of the prompt and so sweet!

Lovely father/daughter time. Very sweet indeed!

She eyed him funnily, and planted her hands on her hips. ?Not if I lived on Ryloth.?

Classic! Ahh, the adventures of two gundark-headed serial contrarians attempting to have a conversation. Great job!

Oh, my, that was so sweet! I love Han/Jaina moments.

Poor Han, though! Your average 5 year old has no concept of light years, stars going nova, etc. Not Jaina, though; she's learning all of this because she wants to fly daddy's ship!

As for Jacen's love... well, it's too bad what the profic EU did with that, isn't it? Still, the concept is a good one.

I'm usually so focused on older Jaina, that I forgot how sweet and adorable they all were as kids. Thanks for reminding me Lexi

Also, the absolutely best part:

?But they?re light years away,? Jaina countered blankly. ?If one of them went nova, we wouldn?t be able to tell on Coruscant- if we could see them, which we can?t- for hundreds and hundreds of years, right??

?Well??

?So you don?t know the stars are always there, do you??

When did Jaina become such an expert on light years and celestial bodies, anyway?

Poor Han, it's tough when parents realize their kids are smarter than them

Han made a mental note to tell Threepio to lighten up on the astronomy studies.

So, what you're saying is, it's Threepio's fault that Jaina is so assertively argumentative? Lol, I can kinda believe that

Great job!

That was such a lovely, sweet, tender little moment between Jaina and Han. And the way you wove the quote into it...simply lovely.

Beautiful job.

Lexi lexi lexi! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! SQUEEEEEEE! for daddy!Han I loved the back and forth he had with Leia over whether to let the kids stew or not. Leia's right about letting them handle things for themselves if they can instead of running to their folks for everything but Han intervened in just the right way with Jaina And the quote fitted in excellently.


Woohoo! for the H/L at the end.

Parents are still a couple and need to be ... spontaneous and toe-curling every once in a while LOL

& thanks for the great read!

I really liked this! Han and Jaina's relationship was sweet, but I think my favorite bit was Leia's last line. Nicely done!