A/N: I was reading Abyss and the scene where Leia has a vision of Allanna's future made me wonder if her own parents had the same trepidation about her destiny. This was the result.

The room is dark save for an open window letting in a small burst of starlight from the night sky and Bail moves silently so he does not disturb the pair before him.

His wife stands at the new crib, her elbows resting against the rail and a look of tenderness on her face that fills his heart with joy. She doesn't start when his arms come around her and he rests his chin on her shoulder to gaze down at the sleeping infant.

Breha's hand rests on their daughter's stomach, moving up and down with the calm breaths as she slumbers.

"She's so perfect," he whispers against his wife's neck, his eyes unblinking as he drinks in the sight before them.

She gives a small murmur of agreement, leaning into his embrace before drawing in a shaky breath, her body warm against him.

"A bit of perfection in an imperfect universe." Her tone is thoughtful but he knows her too well- can hear the unvoiced thoughts and the wave of worry.

He knew fatherhood would bring with it a million joys and blessings, but he did not fully understand the responsibility - the weight that it would bring to his life as well. Perhaps more so given the uncertainty of where his family's future lay.

Leia. Such a small name for someone with so huge a destiny. He knew little of the Jedi and their ways, only what he'd gleaned from history and the friendships he'd made - but he knew that the life his daughter would lead would one day be filled with chaos and heartache.

He could give her the finest clothes, the best education and all the love he had to offer - but nothing would tear her away from a fate of undoing the mess her predecessors had left her with. He wondered if he was up to challenge of preparing her for the fight that lay in store. Sometimes he wondered if Obi-Wan had been right - and maybe Yoda would have been the better one to train her. But gazing at her soft brown hair and her dark lashes fanned against her porcelain skin he knew he would not complain about a lifetime spent adoring her.

"We could do it, you know," Breha's whisper broke the silence of the room and Bail tried to convince himself he did not know what she was talking about.

"We could leave, we could fake our deaths and run." Her voice was as soft as steel but her hand moved in a mother's caress over the child. "Stop by Tatooine," she breathed out in a whisper, "and head for wild space - we could go and never look back."

It was an idea that Bail had wanted to act on a million times. For every news report of the Empire's atrocities, for every story of Vader's merciless killing - he had fought down the instinct to take his wife and child and flee - take them from the awful future of deception and fear and espionage. They could take Luke with them- another child with a destiny too big, living unaware on the other side of the galaxy.

They could do it.

"I wish with all my heart," he began, one arm tightening around his wife as his free hand came to rest over hers on Leia, "that we were people capable of that."

"Me too," she answers.

And with a finality that belied the cool night breeze he feels their fates seal forever.