Playlist:

❶ "Han Solo and the Princess"—The Empire Strikes Back OST

⊘ Silence

❷ "Princess Leia's Theme"—A New Hope OST

⊘ Silence

❸ "Revisiting Snoke"—The Last Jedi OST

"Leia, he's doing it again," Han said while he teetered on a ladder and rubbed his arm.

Chewbacca, who was helping Han hang another piece of Alderaanian artwork Leia had acquired, growled at the little boy.

Ben continued pelting his father with hard toys, using the Force to hit their target without error.

Han jostled back and forth on the extension ladder, scraping the wall and almost tumbling three meters to the floor.

"We were wrong. We need to send him to Luke."

As she looked up from the fashion zine on her datapad, Leia said, "Not yet, Han. He's learning how to control it. Until then, I'll control him. I'm not ready for him to leave."

As Han dodged another toy and almost fell off the extension ladder, he said, "It doesn't seem to be working, Leia."

Setting her datapad on the couch, Leia shot out her hand and froze all the toys in the room in mid-air. "Ben, go to your room."

The five-year-old hesitated.

"Now!" Leia and Ben glared at each other while Han observed.

After a few moments of battling wills, the dark-haired boy scowled and planted his feet firmly with his arms crossed in front of his body.

Leia marched over to him. "You will either obey or suffer the consequences, young man." 

He kicked her in the shin and balled his fist. 

His mother placed her hands on his head as Luke had taught her and calmed him. He froze in mid-swing. 

"Don't make me do this, Ben."

"I don't want to! I don't want to! I don't—"

She gathered the Force and sent it into his brain, knocking him out. "Chewie, mind putting him into bed?"

The humongous Wookiee leaned the large canvas against the wall on the floor as he moaned an agreement.

Then she released all the toys onto the floor with another wave of her hand.

Han climbed down the ladder and waited until Chewie was in the next room before continuing the conversation. "What did you do to him, Leia? He's a monster."

While she picked up the toys off the floor, Leia said, "He's a five-year-old wanting his own way. He just has a few more ways of trying to get it than the typical five-year-old. I've got it all under control."

"Yeah, it looks like it." Han tilted his head and glared at her.

"Well, if you'd be around more, he might actually respect you."

"Me? I've got shipments to run, Leia." He held one hand to his chest and the other stretched out as his torso leaned forward. "Luke doesn't trust anyone else for the academy supply runs. You know that."

"But does it half to take three weeks of every month? Sometimes the whole month?"

"It's a week out and a week back, and sometimes we have to make stops on the way to pick up the supplies. Hey, I'm doing what you asked, being respectable, staying out of your hair—"

"I never said—" Leia stopped clearing toys, softening her voice. "Han, let's not fight. I just want to spend more time together, just the two of us, like before."

"Just the two of us?" Han asked, moving closer to her.

Rising from the floor, Leia ran her fingers up his chest. "Oh, you remember that time in the Falcon when the hyperdrive ... you know, on the asteroid." She raised her eyebrows at him and nodded her head toward the door.

Han yelled, "Chewie, watch the kid. Leia and I are going to check out something on the Falcon." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they headed off to the Falcon.

❶ Being on the Falcon again, away from the Senate and away from Ben, brought a relief Leia never thought she needed. She looked around her husband's freighter. It had not changed much in the last five years. I bet it hasn't been cleaned since then, either. What is that awful smell?

Han kneaded his fingers into her neck. "You really are tense, Leia."

"Ah," she moaned. "Life's not easy when you're gone, Han."

"Let's not talk about that right now. I want to check something on the power converter, though. Something was acting strange on our way in." He led her down a hallway to an array of devices and cables. He then took her in his arms and pressed his lips to hers.

However, Leia was not interested in tenderness today. This time would be about the passion, as the unresolved tension created by Han's long absences had only one viable release.

She looked around her at the panel of lights and cables. "Is this what you came to see?"

"Yeah," he murmured as he kissed her neck. "You. Here."

"You scoundrel," she teased.

He trailed his kisses down her arm as she ran her fingers down his back.

⊘ Han stayed longer this time, longer than he had in years, seeking to develop a relationship with his son. He took short shipping jobs between Hosnian and Zaxyn to the new military base to keep him occupied, allowing him to be home most evenings. Each month he would fly a longer mission to Khalkha to restock the Jedi Academy, since he and Chewbacca were the only ones trusted with the coordinates outside of the Jedi Order. Leia came up with the brilliant idea to have all the supplies sent to Hosnian first to Han's landing bay, so he didn't have to make side trips.

However, parenting skills eluded Han's best efforts, because Ben had bonded to Leia in the years he had been absent. Instead of disciplining the boy for his actions, he often found himself competing with him for Leia's attention. Han felt like Leia was being pulled in two different directions by Ben and the Republic, which left him no access at all.

❷ As Han reclined on the bed with the white sheets covering the lower half of his body, he watched Leia braiding her hair at her vanity table. I'm not giving up, Leia. These past few years without you has taught me one thing—I'm nothing without you.

The hatch sliding open interrupted Han's musings as Ben ran to Leia and hugged her. She lifted him onto her lap as he showed her the toy he carried in his hand. She kissed the boy on the cheek before she sent him on his way. "Go see if Threepio has your breakfast ready yet. I think he's making flatcakes. Better go get some before Uncle Chewie eats them all."

Ben's face lit up at that news. "Flatcakes!"

As the little boy scampered into the kitchen, Han chuckled.

"See, he's not that bad," Leia said, turning to him.

"Oh, he has his moments."

Leia sat on the edge of the bed while smiling at her husband. "Just like you."

When she leaned over to kiss him, he pulled her down onto the bed and reached over to the hatch controls on her side, pinning her to the mattress.

"Han, I have to be in the office soon," Leia said trying to squirm out from under him.

"This won't take long, and I guarantee you'll be in a much better mood today," he said as he ran his hands down her sides. "Don't want you to be impeached because you growled at the wrong senator."

⊘ Finally, when Ben was six, Han had reached his boiling point. He could not control his own son, and he could not deal with being bombarded by objects anymore when Leia was gone. "Leia, Ben's six years old now. Shouldn't he be controlling himself by now?"

Leia remarked, "He's got too much of his father in him." Then she winked at him. Chewie chuckled.

"You mean grandfather."

Ben whipped out a chair from the table and tripped his father. Han turned, growling at him.

Chewie roared and grabbed Ben, who continued to hurtle anything and everything at Han.

"Well, if he's staying, then I'm going."

❸ As Ben squirmed and wiggled, throwing a tantrum in Chewie's arms and tossing loose items around the apartment, Leia placed her hands once again on her son's head. "No. This is unacceptable, Ben Solo." The boy continued to squirm and thrash until Leia's touch send him into a trance once more..

Han grabbed his blaster. "Chewie, fire up the Falcon. Leia, let me know when things change."

Leia said with an arm outstretched, "Han, stop. Ben needs a father right now more than anything. That's why I won't send him to Luke. He needs us, both of us, right now, Han. Don't turn your back on him."

He stormed out the door in a huff without saying a word—only the swoosh of the turbo doors could be heard in the silence.

Leia set Ben down, bringing him out of the trance. "Ben, oh, Ben, mommy loves you so much." She gripped him, using the Force to control his ability to move or squirm.

He hugged her, too. "Wuv you."

"But it's time you learned some control. Let's start with some focus exercises. Hold your hands together like this." She clasped both hands with her thumbs on top.

"Wiggle your thumbs at me. Good boy. Now keep your eyes on your thumbs and move your arms slowly like me." She moved her arms in a figure eight.

He tried to copy her, but he ended up moving side-to-side.

She helped him from behind. "Let mommy help you."

He shrugged her off with his elbows. "Too hawd, Mommy. I can't."

"Ben, stop that. You can do this. Now, I'll help you. Let's do this together." He eventually conquered the task and focused on his thumbs.

"Now, Ben, when you are upset, I want you to do this. As you do it, I want you to let go of your feelings and be at peace," she said in a soothing voice. "Do you think you can do this?"

"No."

"Ben, obey mommy," Leia said with sternness.

"No. No. NO!"

Leia grabbed his hands and started the procedure again as the boy's anger welled up in him. She concluded the session with Jedi mind control to calm him down, which became a battle of the wills.

When he had finally settled down, she released her controls. "Ben, every time you do not control yourself, I will control you. It's your choice. Control yourself or be controlled and suffer the consequences."

As Ben pouted at her, Leia wondered if Han had been right about sending Ben to Luke. At least Luke would be able to control him.

Did you know ...

● The focus technique Leia uses with Ben is actually based on a exercise that therapists use with ADD patients.

● "He's got too much of his father in him" is an Easter Egg from A New Hope. Beru says that about Luke. We had no idea who his father was at that point. Ben has too much of everyone in him—Han, Leia, Anakin—all competing for dominance of his personality.

Tell me what you think ...

● Why does Han run instead of helping Leia with their wayward boy?

● Would things have been different if Leia had sent Ben to the academy now instead of later?