The next morning. Han woke up to an empty bed. He sprung out of bed. She wasn't in the fresher. He walked downstairs and found her. She was standing outside, looking out at the water. He walked out and stood behind her.
"You're up early." He pointed out. She didn't even turn around. She just nodded.
"I would have thought that you would have still been asleep after...everything." He said.
She didn't answer him. She just shook her head. Han stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and walked away to the open field not far away. The grass was up to his knees, it was a bright yellow-gold color. He caught up to her.
"Leia," he called out to her. "Leia! Stop." She stopped where she was standing.
"What's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?" He asked her. Her back was turned to him. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. She turned around so she was looking at him now.
"It's nothing." She said.
"You're lying to me, Leia." She let out a deep breath.
"It's nothing, Han."
"Was it something I said last night?"
"No."
"Alright then. What's going on?"
"Han, it's nothing." She raised her voice.
"That's Bantha shit and you know it. Leia, I'm your husband. We're supposed to talk things out." He yelled.
"You wouldn't believe any of it."
"Try me." His voice tone now matching her soft tone.
"That nightmare I had last night. Vader was there. And he gave me a small ball of light."
"Maybe it was a peace offering?" he tried to joke, but Leia wasn't in the mood for jokes right now.
"It was our child, Han. Vader handed me the ball of light and then said something. After that, Vader disappeared. Then there were sounds of a baby crying coming from the ball, and it all clicked. The ball was our child, Han. Vader said 'Take it Leia. Take this light. Protect it from darkness'. Our child is going to be another Vader." She said, tears streaming down her face. Han hugged her and kissed the top of her head.
"Our child will be fine, Leia. It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real." She backed away from his embrace and looked at him.
"You don't know that!" she exclaimed. "We don't know that. I don't know that." Worry covered her face.
"Leia, listen to me." Han said, taking her hand and looking into her eyes. "This baby will be surrounded by love and light. It will always be protected from darkness. I promise, Leia. Everything will be alright. We will be fine." He cupped her face and kissed her. He wiped her tears and gave her a soft smile. She nodded.
"Now," he said. "Let's get back to the house and get ready to go to the appointment." She nodded. They walked hand in hand back to the house.
They sat in the medcenter waiting for a nurse to call their name. Han was happy that Leia wasn't so rattled by the nightmare anymore after their chat that in the field. A nurse came out and called their name. They followed her back to a room. It didn't take long for a doctor to knock at the door.
"I hear you want to find out what you're having?" he said.
"Yes. We do." Leia said, smiling at Han.
"Okay. Lay back and lift your shirt."
Leia did what she was told. He put the gel on her stomach. She jumped at how cold it was. The doctor laughed.
"Sorry! It's a little cold." He said. Leia giggled.
"Just a little bit."
The doctor moved the wand around her abdomen. He smiled and paused the screen.
"Well, your son looks like he's doing very well."
"It's a boy?" Han asked.
"It's a boy sweetheart!" Leia said, with a giggle. Han looked down at Leia, a smile slowly coming across his face. Leia smiled. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"If you have a datachip, I can put the picture on there for you, if you'd like." The doctor said. Han pulled the datachip out of his pocket and handed it to him.
"That would be great." Han said with a nod.
The doctor uploaded the photo and the updated information onto the datachip and handed it back to Han. The doctor wiped off Leia's stomach and looked at them.
"Do you two have any other questions?"
"Everything looks good?" Leia asked, sitting up.
"Yes, Mrs. Solo. Everything looks great with your son. He's developing and growing as he should be." Leia smiled and nodded.
"Thank you." She said.
"You're welcome." The doctor said, shaking Han's hand before walking out of the room.
Leia and Han walked back into the house. They could tell that her family was anxious to find out because they all were sitting in the living room, staring at them, as they walked into the room.
"What did the doctor say?" Jobal asked.
"The baby is doing very well. And it's growing right on schedule." Han said.
"And, it's a boy." Leia added.
The family cheered. Jobal got up from where she was sitting and hugged Leia and Han. Ruwee hugged them too. It was like a chain reaction.
"Oh! Leia, I was wondering if you and Han wanted to come out to the garden and pick fruits and vegetables with us all. We planted many seeds weeks ago and now everything is ready to be picked." Jobal said, smiling at Leia. Leia looked at her grandmother and smiled.
"We'd love to."
Leia followed the family out to the garden. Before he could leave the house, Ruwee stopped Han and asked to speak with him. Han let go of Leia's hand. Leia looked at him. He smiled at her.
"Go on, we'll catch up to you all in a few." He kissed her and she nodded and continued walking to the garden. Han walked over to Ruwee.
"You wanted to speak to me?" Han said, Ruwee nodded.
"Is everything okay?" Ruwee asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Last night, I heard Leia yelling. Then this morning, I woke up to get some caf and I saw you two walking toward the field. I stepped outside and saw you two, what looked like fighting, in the field."
"Oh. You saw that?"
"Yes, I did." Ruwee nodded. "Is everything alright between you two? I mean, I don't mean to pry."
"Leia has had nightmares since she was tortured. They were really bad. Then they got better. She could finally be able to sleep at night without a single one. But, after what happened to me, she started having them again. Luke told me that they were so bad that he had to stay in her apartment every night so if she had one, someone would be there for her to help her through it. After I came back, her nightmares got better. She could finally have those nights where she wouldn't have any at all. They happen every once in a while, now. What you heard last night was Leia having a nightmare." Han said. Ruwee looked at him. He nodded.
"That explains the yelling. She sounded scared, frightened."
"She was. She was scared. When she woke up, she kept pleading with me to never leave her. I would never leave her. After I came back after being frozen in carbonite, she would have terrible nightmares, repeating over and over the moments she had to watch me be taken away from her. She would beg me, saying 'please don't leave me again'." Han remembered it very well.
The events of Han being frozen were etched into Leia's mind. She watched him get lowered into the chamber. The next time she saw him, he was in a big slab with a painful expression on his face. She didn't notice the expression until they pushed the slab backwards, making a loud BANG. She flinched. Then she saw him get taken away from her. Fett's ship taking off. The heartbreak she felt. The tears in her eyes. The worry and sadness showing on her face.
In real life, Han was yelling at her, trying to wake her up. Her eyes were screwed shut. She was sobbing and yelling out.
"Leia? Leia! Open your eyes." Han said to her. She was thrashing around. That's what she did when the dreams were horribly frequent. She'd lash out.
He saw tears running down her face. She was twisting around. He put his hands on her arms to keep her from causing any possible damage to herself.
"Leia? Listen to me. Wake up, sweetheart. You're having a nightmare. Sweetheart, open your eyes, Leia."
After a few minutes of yelling at her, Leia opened her eyes. She gasped and sobbed. Han reached up and turned on her lamp next to her. Tears fell like a waterfall down her cheeks. She looked up at him. She saw that he had tears in his eyes too. He felt bad that she had to go through this and he thanked Luke for helping him out the first few times she had these nightmares. Leia was shaking. He just took her in his arms and kissed her forehead.
"Shhh. Leia. It's okay, sweetheart. I'm here. I've got you. I'm right here Leia." He said, stroking her cheek.
"Han! Please don't leave me again. Please don't leave me again. I'm sorry." She sobbed into his chest. He closed his eyes and tears began to fall.
"I'm never going anywhere again. I never wanted to go anywhere. You don't have to be sorry, Lei. If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. I'm so sorry they made you watch everything. You shouldn't have seen it all. I'm right here. I'm never going anywhere." He squeezed her tighter. "I love you." He said, kissing the top of her head.
"I love you too." She sniffled and kissed him. The memory ends.
"All that she has seen, all that you two have been through, that she has been through. That must have been like dying a million times inside. Jobal and I had a similar situation happen to us."
"You did?"
"Yes. When Padme died, Jobal began having terrible nightmares. She would scream, thrash around, she would yell, cry. It was very rough on her. To lose her youngest daughter and her grandchildren. Well, we found out not long after that she had them successfully before she died. But at the time it was very hard on her. It was hard on me to have to watch her suffer through that." Han nodded. He didn't know that that had happened to them after Padme died.
"It's hard but it eventually went away." Han noted. Ruwee just simply nodded before asking his next question.
"So, then what happened between you two in the field?"
"We were talking about the night before. What had happened and she told me about the dream. She's just nervous about the baby." Han knew he was only telling half the truth, but from the way Ruwee was looking at him, Han could tell that Ruwee had a good idea of what he was talking about. Ruwee didn't need Han to go any further than that.
"I just wanted to make sure everything was alright, Han."
"Thanks." Han said, giving a soft smile. Ruwee smiled and patted Han on the back.
"Now, shall we see where everyone else went?"
"Yeah. They're probably missing us."
"Probably because there's only three strong men and they need them to carry the heavy baskets." Ruwee said with a laugh. Han laughed and walked down the path with him.