A/N: Sorry for the long wait! This is the last drabble I wrote for this series - married, expecting a child Han/Leia. I can't promise that I will, but I might come back to add more drabbles if I ever feel like writing for the remaining prompts. In the meantime, many thanks to everyone who has read, favourited, reviewed, reblogged, recced or just thought about this fic in a positive way! xx

Prompt: Reacting to the other one crying about something [post-RotJ]

Understanding

Han assumed Leia had gone for her usual past-midnight snack when he woke up to use the refresher and found her side of the bed empty and cold. Used to this pregnancy-induced behavior by now, he decided to empty his bladder and wait for her in bed without much thought.

The bed was still empty by the time he left the 'fresher, though. He knew his brain wouldn't let him go back to sleep without first checking on her, so he ambled out of the bedroom and down the corridor. As he had predicted, the light was on in the kitchen, yet when he called Leia's name, there was no answer. Han picked up his pace and his heart did, too. It could just be that her mouth was full, or it could be that the baby was coming before his due date and she was mute in her pain. At last, right before he stepped into the kitchen, she said, 'I'm here'. In that split second before he saw her, Han knew, from her strained tone, that something was wrong.

Leia wasn't lying on the floor clutching at her stomach, like in the worst case scenario he had come up with, but standing up, one hand laying flat on the countertop for support as the other clutched a packet of something to her chest. She was also crying, even though she seemed to have hastily wiped her cheeks before Han's entrance, so while Han's worst fears hadn't come true, seeing his wife in any sort of distress wasn't ideal, either.

'Leia, what's wrong?' he asked in a croaky voice, covering the space between them in three long strides. His hands hovered around her with some hesitation, still not certain that she wasn't in physical pain. 'What—is the baby—?'

Leia quickly shook her head, touching Han's arm as she looked straight into his eyes. 'No—it's fine—I'm fine, it's nothing. Go back to bed.'

'It's two in the morning and you're cryin' in the kitchen. I'm not going back without you,' Han said earnestly, reaching for her hand.

'Really, it's stupid,' Leia protested, lowering her gaze. 'I only—I came here to find something to eat and—' Her voice, which had been hoarse but steady as she spoke, suddenly cracked. She expelled a shaky, impatient sigh and showed him the item she had been holding: a crumpled packet of sweet-sand cookies that said "Granny's recipe" in bright letters across the top. Han stared at the culprit without really knowing what sort of explanation he was expected to find there, but Leia's eyes were swimming in tears again, so he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.

'Hormones?' he suggested into her hair, and felt her nod. Han kissed the top of her head lightly and stroked her back as she sniffled. 'You wanna talk about it?'

He knew that mood swings, including unexpected bouts of crying, were fairly common during pregnancy—Han Solo liked to be prepared before walking into unfamiliar territory, and becoming a father fell into that category. He had done his research. But Leia was still Leia, stoic in most situations even with him, not because she couldn't bear to appear vulnerable but because that was what she was used to doing in order to function. He had only seen her cry a total of three times since they'd met—one of them had been from physical pain—and while he'd caught her eyes glazing over on several opportunities during the past few months (in response to what, he couldn't be sure), she never gave in to actual crying. In a way, it was relieving, because it wasn't like he wanted her to be miserable all the time, but he wished she didn't hold herself back so much.

Leia heaved another sigh. 'It made me think of my mother,' she replied. Han understood why thinking of Breha Organa at any time would make her sad, but he still missed the connection to the cookies that were presently being crushed between the two of them. Leia extricated the bag from her arms and left it on the counter, staring at it until tears started falling again. 'She—she would have loved this baby. She would have loved be—being a grandmother, Han.'

Oh . "Granny's recipe". Han supposed that was a fair association. He enveloped her in his arms again, pushing the cookies out of sight. He had no words for that. He hadn't known her parents, and he didn't know if they would have been accepting of him… but he was sure that they had loved Leia, and they would have loved any child of hers. Leia would always live not only missing them, but missing the things she would never have the chance to share with them, and there was nothing he could say to fix that.

So he said, 'Yeah,' and kept holding her until her crying subsided, and later on when they got into bed, his hand curving around the mound of her belly, letting her know he understood.

('Sorry if I scared you,' she whispers, running her fingers over his knuckles and the backs of his hands.)

('It's fine,' he says, kissing her shoulder. 'I'll just buy a different brand next time.')