a/n: and, last but not least, in honor of the times: leia solo works from home.

"Sani Snakes"

Leia was comprised entirely of tightly compressed stress. It had been a few weeks since she agreed to take the reins of leadership from Mon, in light of Mon's worsening illness, and it was not a decision she regretted. The relief on her old mentor's face when she'd agreed was encouraging enough.

It wasn't that she questioned her ability to lead; she questioned her ability to balance it all.

Han was supportive of the change. Han was always supportive. Max and Noura were too little to notice much difference, and Jaina was starting school soon, anyway. It still seemed daunting – and Leia was immensely grateful that when she'd asked for two month's sabbatical to begin the transition for her family, the entire government had agreed to it.

Stepping into the role of Chief of State was no easy, painless thing.

As the time drew closer, Leia found herself eager to take over, throwing herself into transition processes. Today, for the fifth day in a row, she was sequestered in her home office, tending to a daily update meeting. If all went well, the power exchange would be seamless.

The only difference today was…well, the routine was…off. These transition consultations usually took place as nap-time was settling in at the Solo household. Leia wasn't having as much luck today – Han had been out with the kids this morning, so they were unusually riled up – but she soldiered on regardless.

She adjusted her headset and shifted, crossing one of her legs over the other. She made sure Max was nice and snug against her chest, and hit the unmute button on her console (again) so she could chime in if need be. Currently, she was listening to a daily readout. Max sighed softly, but didn't budge much. He was half asleep, and he could easily latch back on to nurse if he woke up and fussed. Leia had had to bring him in here, though – she'd forgotten to leave extra bottles for Han.

Mon continued on with some of her missives, and someone coughed over the conference call. Rieekan was there – he still headed up most defense activities, as well as a few regional generals and all of the Vice Consuls, of which Leia still technically was one.

"One deal we have in place – pending ratification – is that no governors or generals be removed during your first year in office," Mon said smoothly, "barring egregious violations of the law, of course."

Leia murmured.

"For stability's sake, fine," she agreed. "This isn't a transition to a different party, Mon."

"Well, no but for transparency's sake," she sighed.

"We'll treat it as such," one of the Consuls said, apologetic.

Leia nodded. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door start to open, and she fixed a murderous glare on the crack, baring her teeth. If Han interrupted her, it better be a damn emergency.

Instead, the door slowly creaked open, and no one appeared. Which could only mean –

As Ackbar started to say something, Leia smacked her finger lightly down on the mute button.

Jaina came bopping around the desk, dragging her sock feet behind her. Leia narrowed her eyes. Jaina rolled her body against the desk dramatically, inching closer.

"What're you doing?" she asked.

"I am in a meeting, Jaina," Leia warned. "Are you experiencing an emergency?" she asked sternly.

Jaina giggled.

"Work voice," she snickered. She put her hands to her ears and waved them. "Mommy's using her wooooorrrrk voice."

"Why doesn't Jaina listen to Mommy's work voice, and please leave Mommy's office until this call is over?"

Max kicked a foot out of the sling Leia had him in. Jaina looked at him with interest.

"Are you breasting him?" she asked. "For food?"

"Jaina!" Leia hissed, rolling her eyes. "Where is your your father?" she demanded.

Han had sworn he was putting the girls down for a nap! And if Jaina was down here, and he wasn't, then she must have waltzed her little four-year-old self down the stairs alone, and Leia didn't like that idea very much. Jaina was too impressed with her own dexterity sometimes –

"He's asleeeep," whined Jaina, wincing at Leia's no-nonsense tone. "He fall asleep."

"What?" Leia explained, glaring. "What, he – well, where's your sister?"

Jaina bit her lip.

"I sat her in Zozy's bed, so she is mad," Jaina confessed.

Panic rose up Leia's spine. She grit her teeth.

"Go upstairs and tell Daddy to wake up," Leia said, trying to remain bright. "Dump a cup of water on his head," she added, "and scream in his ear."

"But Mommy," whined Jaina, "I need help in the sani now."

Leia reached for her headset, hesitated, and then realized she was no longer hearing droning politicians anymore, she was hearing silence. She looked down at her console.

Was – she thought faintly - was that the – was the mute …not on?

"Ah, Leia," Mon said, her voice crackling politely. "I…believe you hit the volume up. Not the mute," she warned.

She sounded neat, professional, and put together – but Leia had known her long enough to hear the slight tremor of laughter in her voice. Well, they could only hear Leia's side…and they'd heard – Leia ran over the past sixty seconds; it hadn't been that bad, right? It had to have been a shock for them to hear her go into Mommy mode, though.

It was Carlist Rieekan who broke the silence, with a big snort of laughter.

"Aw, hell," he drawled. "I'd hate to be Han Solo right now."

Leia grit her teeth. She took the headset off, fumbling with it, and stood up. The jack came out of her console,

"If you will – excuse me," she tried, regally. "A pause, if you will – " she started, only to be interrupted again.

"Hi, people," Jaina said, directing her voice at the console. "I have to use the sani," she informed them. "I'm scare of sani snakes, though," she said, quite conversational. "Need help."

Leia heard a snicker. She pressed Max closer to her chest firmly.

"JAINA? WHERE DID YOU GO?" Han suddenly bellowed, panicked.

Leia rolled her eyes. Han came stomping down the stairs, and then slowly, she heard him creep towards the office.

"Jaina?" he hissed.

"She's in here," Leia said stonily.

Han walked in sheepishly, half-dressed, hair sticking up, a sleepy Noura clutched on his hip – another nap-time casualty. She should have known better than to let Han do nap-time. He always fell asleep rocking Noura. And then Jaina always went rogue.

Always. Always.

Leia stiffly nudged Jaina towards her father, glaring daggers at him.

"Shit. I mean, blast. I mean…you're not on a call, are you?" Han mumbled.

"Hello, Han," Mon greeted, voice calm and steady through the speakers.

Han cringed so hard Leia thought he might be having a stroke. She held her stony glare on him, and he took Jaina's shoulder. He held his other arm out, and Leia unwrapped Max to hand him over, too, since he was asleep now.

"Mommy, I can see inside your shirt," Jaina announced.

Leia had never seen Han wrangle the three of them and get them out of a room so quickly in his life. The door shut behind him, and Leia adjusted the buttons on her shirt, smoothing her hair back, and returning to her seat. She cleared her throat, re-set her headset, thanked god that it had not been a visual call, and took a deep breath.

"I apologize. Where were we?" she asked innocently.

There was a beat of silence. Leia glared at the console menacingly. There were at least two other vice consuls who had kids, and they should understand –

"What's a sani snake?" Rieekan asked curiously

He sounded dead serious, and after a defeated sigh, Leia could only smile, and launch into a quick, humorous explanation of Jaina's latest phobia – which was an elaborate idea that some sort of mythical snake would launch itself up through the plumbing and eat her.

After all – this was what life was going to be like for at least the next few years.

the end

- alexandra