Disclaimer: Not George Lucas. I only own Grace Skywalker.

Inspired by the song Mr. Mom by Lonestar and dedicated to my Dad in honor of his 51st birthday. And all dads everywhere brave enough to take care of the kids for a day…

STAR WARS

Anakin Skywalker loved his children. He really did, but after a day of being with the four of them (between the ages of six to six months) he was ready to turn to the Dark Side.

It had started innocently enough. Padmé had made plans with her friends to go to the city for a girls' day out. She had told Anakin that it would only be for a few hours and the kids wouldn't be that much trouble and, Anakin being Anakin, he hadn't been able to refuse.

He was seriously starting to doubt his sanity.

"Daddy! Jinn pulled my hair!" Leia's screech could clearly be heard down the hallway from the room that the six year-old twins and four year-old Jinn had disappeared into.

"Dad! Leia threw my speeder!" Jinn's shout came only a second after.

Anakin sighed and looked down at Grace, who, at six months old, was just starting to sit up. "They never stop," he confided.
Grace answered him with an open mouthed grin that revealed two sets of teeth just starting to come in. Her brown eyes, so similar to her mother's sparkled with some hidden amusement that only she knew and tufts of blonde hair stuck up in every direction, having defied all of Padmé's attempts at taming.

"Artoo, keep an eye on Grace, please." The astromech bleeped a reply that sounded vaguely like 'not in my programming' but Anakin was already on his feet and down the hall, where sounds of a scuffle could be heard in the twins' room.

Poking his head in the door, Anakin saw Luke first, sitting off to the side, surrounded by several toy starfighters and a landspeeder with working repulsors, studiously ignoring his twin and younger brother.

No one could say that Leia allowed her brothers to figuratively (or literally) walk over her. She exacted vengeance as only a six year-old girl could. Leia had Jinn pinned to the ground and was sitting on his back, with his hands pinned under her knees.

"Leia," Anakin sighed, causing her to jump and scramble to her feet. Jinn, who had been surprisingly quiet during the whole confrontation, shot to his feet and darted over to hide behind Anakin's legs. "What have we told you about sitting on your brothers?"

"You told me that I shouldn't." Leia stared down at her hands, doing a fairly good impression of looking suitably chastised. Her sense in the Force, however, was clearly unrepentant.

Anakin crossed his arms over his chest. "And why is that?" he asked, going into full 'dad mode', causing Luke to look up from the speeder that he had just disassembled.

"'Cause it's not nice." Leia looked up at Anakin, brown eyes wide. "But Jinn pulled my hair."

Anakin caught ahold of his younger son's shoulder and steered him around to stand next to his older sister. Kneeling down to their level, Anakin said, "Tell me what happened."

They spoke at the same time. "Leia took my speeder-"

"Jinn pulled my hair-"

Oh, boy. "One at a time, please," Anakin looked at Jinn. "You first,"

"Leia threw my starfighter," Jinn pointed at the yellow, wedge-shaped starfighter against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Anakin released his growing annoyance to the Force. "So why did you pull Leia's hair?"

Tears brimmed in Jinn's blue eyes. "It broke!" he whimpered, darting into his father's arms and burying his face in Anakin's shoulder.

"Easy, Jinn," Anakin said, sitting down hard as his son threw him off balance. "Can you bring it over? Maybe we could fix it."

Jinn pulled back, sniffing. "Really?"

Anakin smiled, relieved that he had headed off the inevitable sobfest that would have ensued. For whatever reason, if one of them cried, the other two would start as well. The three of them were linked through the Force by a bond, and, while none of them were able to actively use the Force (yet), they were still able to sense the others' feelings. They were also able to communicate quite effectively mentally without speaking, something that told Anakin just how strong in the Force all three of them were.

While Jinn went to retrieve his starfighter, Anakin turned to Leia. "Why did you throw Jinn's starfighter?"

Leia looked over at Luke. Her twin was watching her expectantly, blue eyes not in the least sympathetic. Finding no help there, she looked back at Anakin. "He wouldn't listen to me."

Anakin came this close to laughing. He quickly hid his amusement, but Leia, like Padmé, had always been able to tell when someone was laughing at her, and the scowl that she directed at him now told Anakin that she knew he was laughing at her. "Leia, he's four-" and a Skywalker. "Sometimes he doesn't listen."

"I listen!" Jinn protested. He was clutching the starfighter and the two broken wings as he joined Anakin and Leia by the door.

"Only when you want to." Luke put in, standing up and examining Jinn's starfighter.

Anakin looked at his oldest son. "And you don't?"

Luke shrugged. "When I want to."

This time, Anakin did laugh. An urgent warble from Artoo echoed down the hall, followed by a wail from Grace. Stang. Anakin thought, getting up.

Leia frowned at him. "Mommy says you shouldn't say things like that."

"I didn't say anything," Anakin said, confused. Surely he hadn't said that aloud? Padmé would be very, very… annoyed if she heard about this.

The trio before him exchanged glances. Jinn was elected to speak. "You thought it Dad."

Anakin stared at them, surprised. "You heard that?"

"We hear what Mom thinks too." Leia said.

That was…enlightening. Tightening his mental shields, Anakin herded the group out the door and down the hall. "Let's see what Grace and Artoo are up to, shall we?"

Luke, who had elected himself as Grace's protector, darted down the hallway and picked Grace up. She stopped crying almost immediately and reached for Luke's hair. "No, Grace." Luke ducked her hand and sniffed. "Uh oh. Dad, Grace stinks." Artoo gave an electronic snigger.

Anakin set Jinn's starfighter on the table. "So change her."

"Dad." Luke carried Grace over to him. "Mom doesn't want us to."

"You tried to change her?"

"Well, no. Mom thought she didn't want us to change Grace."

Thoughts weren't safe anymore, it would seem. Anakin would have to warn Padmé before any unwanted questions arose. Especially when the twins started school next year. Taking Grace, Anakin carried her over to the changing table.

The stink that assaulted him was unbearable. Breathing through his mouth, he peeled the shirt off her. "Really Grace?" Anakin asked, mock sternly.

Grace giggled and wiggled, trying to grab his fingers. Leia appeared beside him, clutching a dress and a new diaper. "You're going to need these." She informed Anakin, depositing the things next to him. She scrunched her nose at the smell. "I didn't think something so small could smell so bad," Leia commented, pinching her nose and backing away.

Anakin wished he could back away also. The mess Grace had made in her diaper hadn't been contained, and had oozed out the sides and down her legs. Sighing, Anakin shook his head at her. "I'd have expected this from the boys Grace, not you." Grace smiled at him.

"Dad! We don't wear diapers anymore!" Jinn protested, looking up from the toy that he and Luke were trying to reassemble.

Anakin caught a flash of disapproval through the Force from Luke, who was attempting to reattach a piece of the starfighter's wing.

"Is that really necessary, Dad?" Leia asked, raising one eyebrow at Anakin, her resemblance to her mother uncanny as she glared at him.

"Probably not," Anakin said, dumping the reeking diaper in the trash disposal and picking up the dress. Anakin frowned.

Seeming to sense his sudden confusion, Leia stepped up next to him and took it. "You put it on like this Daddy." She said, turning the dress so that the buttons were on the back and slipped it over Grace's head before deftly buttoning the buttons.

"How did-" Anakin started, but Leia turned to look at him.

"Do you think I'd let Threepio dress Grace?"

Oh. That would explain it. There was a ping from behind them and a half-sphere of metal hit Anakin in the back of the head. Ow.

Setting Grace carefully back down on the blanket among her toys, Anakin turned to face the boys, both of whom were staring at Anakin, horrified expressions on their faces. He picked up the offending piece of metal before turning back to Luke and Jinn.

Leia sat down in front of Grace and played with her, watching Anakin.

"I don't think this was supposed to come off, was it?" Anakin asked, moving over to the table that the boys were seated at and depositing what appeared to be the astromech unit's domed head on the table next to the dismantled fighter.

"Sorry, Dad," Jinn mumbled, fingering one of the wings.

Anakin snuck a quick glance at the chrono. An hour until dinner. Four until bedtime. Six until Padmé came home. It had been a long day and he desperately wanted some time to himself. "Don't get too upset, Jinn. Accidents happen."

Both boys brightened at that and became more animated, showing Anakin what they already had reassembled- all the parts in the correct places too, Anakin noted.

Taking the wings, Anakin examined the break. "Artoo? Could you weld this back together?"

Rolling forward, the astromech twittered a reply. One of the hatches on his side opened and an arc welding appendage extended out. When he was done, there was hardly any visible damage, minus the weld lines.

STAR WARS

"Dad, when's Mom coming home?"

Anakin shifted Grace in his arms as she drooped, eyelids falling half-closed. "In about another two hours Jinn." Anakin said, carrying her into the living room.

Luke, Leia and Jinn followed after him. "Daddy, can we watch a holovid?" Jinn darted across the room to the stack of shelves, quickly followed by the twins as they went through the holographic holovid cases.

Anakin collapsed into his chair and rubbed a hand over his face as Luke and Jinn argued quietly over a holo. They settled on a vid featuring talking speeders and the three of them climbed up onto Anakin's lap as the opening sounded.

STAR WARS

When Padmé entered the house, it was ominously silent, much too quiet for Anakin Skywalker and his four children to be there.

The lights were out in all the rooms, but she heard music playing softly from the living room and set the bags that she had down on the table, noting all the dirty dishes spread out on the counter, and poked her head into the other room.

What she saw made her heart swell with love. They were all sleeping, Anakin was sprawled across the couch, Grace was lying on his chest, Jinn held in his left arm, Leia in his right, with Luke pressed against his twin, one arm around her shoulder. A smile spread slowly across her face as Padmé watched her family. They all looked so peaceful right now.

She only wished it could stay this way forever.

STAR WARS

This is actually for the one month anniversary of my Dad's birthday. It's my tribute to my parents for dealing with all the crap teenagers can generate. I'm sure there's a lot of other people out there who can relate.

Let me know what you think!

-CommChatter