PERFECTION

"Goochee goochee goo..."

An incredibly loud burping answered the man's antics and all the faces in the crowded waiting room turned to the young couple and their baby.

Laughing softly, the mother teased her suddenly redder-than-a-red-Twi'lek husband. "She must take after your side of the family..." Then turning to her right and blushing a little herself, she explained to the older lady next to her. "I'm sorry, she's been having problems with her stomach lately..."

"It's alright, dear, I've already raised three of those, and it seems that my fourth's on the way," she explained, rubbing her slightly rounded belly. "What was the color of her feces last time?"

"I don't know, Ferin changed her diaper last time... what'd you say, love?"

An assistant came in and called their names, putting a merciful end to everybody's embarrassment before the young father could extend himself much about his child's depositions color, texture and smell.

Han Solo took his wife's hand and entwined his fingers with hers. "You sure you wanna do this?" He whispered in her ear.

"Nice try, flyboy," Leia Organa-Solo sniggered. "Shouldn't I be asking that?"

"Promise me only one thing, sweetheart."

"What?"

"Put me out of my misery if you ever catch me acting like that in public..."

"Can I choose the method for your probably very untimely demise?" The Princess wriggled her eyebrows in a very Solo-ish way and her husband answered by waving a mock-menacing index and finally tapping gently her nose with it.

"Maybe I'll let you," he drawled with a wink.

"Han and Leia?" Another assistant approached them cheerfully. "We're ready for you now. My name is Grendorlask, Gren for short, and I'm Dr. Bloster's assistant healer. Please follow me," he asked with a bright smile.

"I'm sorry for the delay, it's been a crazy morning, let me tell you," the young man in a green disposable attire with small Wookiee cubs with pink and blue bows all over it explained. He guided them down a corridor with plenty of doors in soft colors right and left. "Twenty deliveries, three emergency transfers, plenty of babies with diarrhea... There's a virus going around, I had to step in for one of my colleagues who caught it, but don't worry, I've gone through a sterilizing cycle already!" Gren laughed.

"Is this their version of a fair warning?" The former smuggler growled lowly to his wife with a shudder.

"Hey, you chose this clinic because it was very private and droid-free..." Leia elbowed him softly.

"Yeah, but this guy babbles more than Threepio!" He complained

"Here we are, the Peach Box!" The healer announced happily. "Don't you like it?" He asked, opening the door for them.

Han Solo rolled his eyes.

"Here, here, please take a seat. Han, you over there and you, my little mama, here," he addressed the Princess waving to a couple of chairs next to a small desk.

"Sorry, I'm not..."

The young healer – How old is he, Han asked himself, twenty-five? Twenty-six? Probably younger. How much experience can he have? – stopped for a moment and directed a warm smile to her, patting her hand. "But you soon will be, darling, I'm sure of that. You will take care of that, won't you, Han?" He winked at the Corellian, who almost jumped out of his chair.

Leia Organa blushed a lovely peachy-pink that matched the walls.

"Now if you'll excuse me I need to take a look at this..." The healer extracted a datapad from his robe's front pocket.

Han Solo crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the holo-tank in the wall that showed images of some of the thousands of babies of every known species, and quite a few hybrids too born at the clinic over the years. Hairless Bothan babies were definitely the ugliest of the lot, he though. From time to time, the company's motto came up. Coruscant Family Clinic. We treat you like family, right from the start. Family indeed. Way too familiar. He glanced covertly at Leia, who was worrying the edge of her sweater, something he had not seen her doing since the days when they had met.

"Uh-oh..." Grendorlask muttered. "There's something wrong here..."

"What's wrong?" The Princess asked anxiously.

"Nothing serious, dear," he smiled gently, taking in his patient worry. He shook his head and headed for the exit. "They gave me the wrong record. Madhouse, I tell you!" Gren added, closing the door behind him.

Solo's attention went back to his wife. She was again concentrating picking on the sweater's imaginary strands. He moved his chair closer to hers. "Hey, you alright?" he asked, gripping her shoulder reassuringly.

The Princess shrugged, her cheek rubbing against the back of his hand. "I'm fine."

"Worried?"

Her mouth curved up in small smile. "You know me."

"Look, sweetheart, we've talked about this, but you know you don't have..."

She silenced him placing her fingers on his lips. Her dark eyes locked with his and she felt deeply moved by the love and loyalty she found in those clear gray pupils. "I still want it," she stated simply.

Han's mind flew back to a special night, a couple of months before.

There was no doubt in their minds about it at the time when they had married. Leia did not want to have children and he understood her reasons completely. It seemed so unfair, almost cruel, to condemn any child to carry Darth Vader's genes. A child of his own was something he had never given much thought to anyway, except to take the necessary precautions to avoid unexpected pregnancies by one of his many previous lovers. He had the Falcon to fly, Chewie and Luke to get drunk with and Leia to come back home to. Perfection. What else could he want?

Then the Tatooine affair had come along, and next she had found out about her mother. And then they had paid a long visit to her newfound aunt and cousins in Naboo. As she placed the new pieces together the picture of who her biological parents were started to come together. It was still unclear what Anakin Skywalker had really felt for Padmé but Sola was adamant about what she believed was the truth about her beloved sister: she had loved her Jedi, deeply.

As the days passed, the Princess became more and more silent. By the end of their sojourn, he and Leia had been asked to present Pooja's youngest daughter at her Blessing. The baby was called Amidala Leia Naberrie in her and the late Queen's honor. His wife had never looked sweeter as she held the little girl in her arms for the ceremony. They had left the planet the next day after many promises of coming back soon.

That night on board the Falcon en route to Coruscant, after an especially intense session of lovemaking, the Princess broke into unstoppable tears.

It took him a few minutes to realize that she was not just overwhelmed by his outstanding performance but then he set himself to discover what was wrong with her. He did not need much coaxing to get her to spill it.

"I want a baby!" She choked, exploding in renewed tears.

It was like lightning from a clear sky.

In truth, he was not sure about what he had said next, trying to get her to calm down, but it may have involved something about adopting a pet.

"Nerfherder! You don't understand!" Leia had shouted, her strong fist landing squarely on his chest several times. "I want your baby! I. Want. To have. YOUR. BABY!"

To his despair, he suddenly realized that it was exactly what he wanted too.

Sweet Corellian stars.

Grendarlisk cleared his throat as he reentered the room.

Solo and the Princess pulled away from their kiss.

"It seems that you're both shamefully healthy, considering..." He muttered, studying the new datapad he had brought with him. "You have rather interesting medical records, I must say. Your genetic profile is quite clean, nothing we need to prevent in advance... Do you have any preferences about sex?"

"What?" Han choked.

The healer rolled his eyes. "The gender of the baby... Any preferences?"

"No, not really..." Leia kicked subtly Han's shin.

"Eye color? Hair? Height?"

They shook their heads.

"Alright, all-natural it is, then." The young healer clapped his hands. "First things first... Sleeves up, my dears," he ordered, placing the datapad on the desk and opening a cabinet behind him.

While the couple rolled up their sleeves, he extracted a bracelet-like device from a drawer. "Who goes first?"

"Me," Han and Leia both answerd at the same time.

Smiling, the healer attached the device to the ex smuggler's forearm. "The procedure is quite simple," he explained as the bracelet flashed a few lights and started to buzz. "A laser scanner locates the contraceptive device, and then Ace applies some local anesthetic and extracts it." A led blinked green twice.

"Ace?" The Princess queried.

"Auto-Contraceptive Extractor," Gren explained.

Han Solo rolled his eyes.

A few seconds later, all the lights flashed together and the Ace emitted a soft beeping.

"Ok," the healer smiled again, transferring the device to Leia Organa's forearm. "One down, one more to go." He activated Ace again and inspected her husband's arm, spraying a little synthflesh over the small abrasion it had left there.

"Now remember," he advised, "the contraceptive will need three days to completely dissappear from your systems. After that," he winked, "anything can happen." He took the ACE from Leia's forearm and placed it again in the drawer. "I would advice to wait at least one cycle before trying a pregnancy, there are several alternative methods..." The healer finished to dress the Princess' small wound and extracted some flyers from another drawer.

"That's not necessary..." Han interrupted.

"But I must..."

"Kid," the former smuggler dropped his hand casually to the vicinity of his blaster. "I'm Corellian, I can manage that, believe me," he said dead seriously.

The healer swallowed dry.

Leia Organa repressed a giggle.

"As you like it, Han... I just... Never mind. Well, in that case, all you need is a nice shot each and you'll be on your way. Only vaccines and vitamins, I promise."

"Alright." Solo started to roll up his sleeve once again.

Healer Grendarlisk smiled sweetly. "No, not there, Han dear..."

"He did that on purpose," Han complained, massaging his aggravated posterior as the lift's doors closed behind them.

"Uh-uh, poor baby," the Princess cooed, her hand replacing his on the sore spot. "Better?"

"Much better," he sighed exaggeratedly, pulling her to him and lacing his fingers behind her back. He wriggled his eyebrows mischievously. "How's yours, Princess?"

"Why, very well, thank you, Captain," she answered with her best diplomatic intonation, her eyes sparkling with delight.

"You sure? Maybe I should verify that myself, " he drawled.

"If you feel that you must..." Her eyes rolled in mock annoyance.

"I insist," Han growled, his lips grazing on Leia's throat and his hands sliding down her back.

The lift chimed and the doors opened.

"Ooops, sorry," the young father from earlier in the waiting room apologized profusely. His wife followed him into the lift with their baby in her arms.

The older couple disengaged and adopted a more dignified stance, but still keeping their fingers laced.

"Is she all right?" The Princess asked politely.

"Yes, thank you," the mother answered. "We only have to keep her away from spicy sausages," she remarked, narrowing her eyes at her blushing husband.

The lift reached the parking level and the couples said goodbye to each other.

Han Solo and Leia Organa walked silently to their speeder. Still silently, they got in and strapped themselves in for the ride back home.

"Do you realize what we just did, don't you?" The Princess suddenly asked in a whisper.

Solo raised a brow. "My mind hasn't fully absorbed it, but I can tell ya my arm and my butt are fully aware of what we just did..."

She slapped his shoulder playfully. "What am I going to do with you?" The Alderaanian shook her head.

"I dunno what you had in mind, but I vote for some lunch and a little practice... for next cycle..." He winked.

"Practice?"

"You know what they say..." Han Solo smiled lopsidedly. "Practice makes perfect..."

"You're incorrigible," she laughed. Then she leaned in and placed a tender kiss on his lips. "I'm sure our baby will be truly perfect." She leaned back before he could kiss her back. "Get this thing going, flyboy," she ordered haughtily. "We have some practice to do."

"As you wish, your Highnessness!" Han laughed back.