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[imahologram]

for whatever miscellaneous bullshit your little heart can come up with.

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[solochild]

[ Ben rolls his shoulders forward in a shuttering yawn deep from the chest. Still one foot in a half-remembered dream he was too tired to more than relax against his mother's embrace. She stilled smelled like the last hint of perfume and the inside of a rental grav-car. He was right about her having only just gotten in. ]

Dad's not coming back until we leave.

[ A statement, not a question. One too colored by Ben's exhaustion to be anything more than resigned to the fact. He had far from accepted the fact that it would always be rare to have both parents at once, but Han's ploy yesterday worked. All the fight had been kicked out of Ben for now. ]

I can show you how to build a sand castle and how to be my second mate on the paddle boats. [ It doesn't occur to him that his mother might know her around both these topics. Ben learned yesterday and this considered himself the premier expert in both fields. ]

[imahologram]

I know.

[Her voice is low and soft, and not a little rueful. How much more enjoyable all of this would be if it could be the three of them curled up in bed--Han laughing, Leia ruffling Ben's hair, and plans coming together in the salt air.

But what they have is something good in itself, and there will be other holidays together. There have been in the past--fewer lately, perhaps, but she can change that. Once the current chancellor finds his feet... It's hard to take Mon Mothma's place, but when the adjustment period is over, Leia's certain she'll have more time.]

I'm looking forward to it. [Above all, she's going to be cheerful for Ben's sake. She'll be cheerful if it kills her--and if nothing else has yet, this effort is unlikely to do it.] How's the swimming coming?