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The night before Leia’s first day of preschool, Eric paces around the living room while Donna puts everything in Leia’s backpack. It’s not much, just her snack and a folder for the teacher to send things home in. Leia’s been talking about school since her third birthday last month and she’s very excited about it. Her parents on the other hand, mostly Eric to be honest, are quite nervous about it.
“Do we have to send her to preschool, Donna? I have my substitute teaching license, I can teach her everything until kindergarten.”
“Eric, we’re sending her to preschool, she needs socialization, and we need to have lives outside of being her parents.”
“Fine, but I’m not happy about it.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“ We didn’t go to preschool and we turned out okay.”
“Eric. She’s going.”
“Okay.”
“She’s excited Eric, and if she figures out that you don’t want her going, she’ll change her mind.”
“I’ll be fine once we get through her first day.”
“It’s okay to be sad. I’m gonna miss the hell out of her.”
“How’d she get so big so fast?”
“We blinked.”
“Isn’t that the truth? She’s gonna be so cute with her backpack, it’s bigger than she is.”
“Lord help me if she wants pigtails again tomorrow. I have worn my hair up approximately five or so times in my adult life.”
“But she looks adorable in them.”
“You brush, I pigtail, okay?”
“Okay. Let’s go to bed. I think Leia’s gonna wake us up at the crack of dawn.”
XXX
Much to her parents' surprise, Leia’s just waking up when Eric goes to her room.
“Leia, it’s time to get up for school.” Eric tells her gently.
Leia shakes her head. “I don’t want to.
“You don’t? Why not? You were so excited yesterday.”
“I wanna stay with you and Mama.”
“Baby, you can’t. You have to go to school.”
“No, I don’t want to!” Leia screams
“Leia, what’s the matter?”
“Daddy,” Leia says, starting to sniffle “I’m scared.”
“That’s okay, it’s a big deal.”
“I don’t want to leave you and Mommy.”
“I know you don’t, but Honey, listen, me and your mama won’t go anywhere until you’re absolutely ready, okay?”
Leia nods, slowly sitting up in bed. “Okay, Daddy.”
Eric kisses Leia on the forehead.
“That’s my girl, come on. Let’s go get you some breakfast.”
Leia follows Eric out to the kitchen table and plops into her seat.
“Morning Mommy.”
Donna smiles “Morning Lei, Lei, you ready for your big day?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re gonna have so much fun at school, baby.”
“No I’m not.”
“Sure you will, there’ll be lots of coloring, and you’ll make so many new friends.”
“I guess.”
“Maybe you’ll feel better about it once you have your special first day outfit on, huh?”
Leia shrugs “Maybe.”
Eric brushes Leia’s hair after breakfast, and Donna puts it in pigtails, then leads Leia back to her room to get dressed.
“What do you think of your outfit, baby?” Donna asks her as she stands in front of the mirror in her dark overalls and a yellow shirt she’d selected, more than likely because it matched the Care Bear on her backpack.
Leia giggles “I look pretty.”
Donna kisses Leia’s forehead “You look beautiful, should we go show Daddy?”
“Yes please.”
Leia comes back to the living room, beaming.
“Daddy! Daddy! Look how pretty I look.” She squeals.
Eric grins at her. “You’re gorgeous, and far too big for my liking, my little buddy. Go get your backpack so we can go okay.”
“Okay Daddy.” The little girl says, excitedly grabbing her Care Bears backpack off the extra chair in the kitchen.
Eric smiles at her.
“Alright then, big girl, let’s get you to school.”
Leia is particularly quiet on the way to the school, a rare occasion for her. The car stops and she doesn’t bother unbuckling her car seat.
“Leia, baby, we’re here.” Donna says, and Leia stares at the floor.
“I don’t want to get out yet, mama.”
“Okay, you can have a couple more minutes, but we can’t be late, Honey.”
“Fine.” Leia says, reluctantly unbuckling her seatbelt.
Eric stands next to his daughter, giving her a reassuring smile. “Don’t you remember how excited you were about school yesterday, kiddo?”
Leia sighs dramatically. “Yes, but I’m not anymore.”
Eric kneels down to be at eye level with Leia. “Do you know why you’re not excited anymore?”
Leia nods, sniffling. “Because I’m scared.”
“What are you scared of?”
“You and Mommy have to leave me here. And I don’t know anybody.”
“Leia look at me, it’s gonna be fine, I’m sure your teacher’s very nice and you’re going to make all kinds of new friends.”
“Why do I have to go to school?”
“Because you’re a big girl and I know you’re going to love school. But it’s okay that you’re scared.”
“I’m not being a baby?”
Eric kisses Leia’s forehead “Of course not, you’re very big, and very brave.”
Leia smiles. “Okay.”
As they walk into the school, Leia holds onto both of her parents’ hands. Freezing in the doorway of the classroom, running to cling to her daddy’s legs
“Leia, sweetheart, you have to let go of me, okay?” Eric says gently.
“No!” Leia shrieks.
Donna steps in between the two of them, gently separating Leia from her father’s legs. “Leia, you can let go of Daddy, it’s going to be okay.”
“Fine.”
Eric smiles softly at Leia “Come here, baby. Let’s give it another minute and then we’ll try again.”
Leia sniffles “Okay.”
“You know I’m gonna miss you so much while you’re at school, right? But I can’t wait to hear all about your first day. And when you’re done, your mama and I will pick you up and we’ll go for ice cream, okay.”
At the mention of ice cream, Leia perks up. “Can I get extra sprinkles?”
Eric chuckles, kissing Leia’s forehead again “Yeah, you can get extra sprinkles.”
Leia stands in the doorway a few more seconds, before following her parents into the classroom, still a little nervous, so she looks at the floor, while her parents talk to the teacher. The teacher asks her for her name and Leia answers shyly. Then, before she knows it, her parents are saying goodbye.
Donna goes first, knowing Leia’s gonna need a few extra moments with Eric. “Okay Lei Lei, you have a good day, and I’ll see you soon. I love you.”
Leia sniffles. “Love you, Mommy.”
Eric can see Leia’s bottom lip trembling, as she’s trying not to cry, so he wraps his arms around her, and holds her there for a minute. “You’re gonna be just fine, my little buddy. You know that, you’re gonna have so much fun, but I’m going to miss you, so, so much. I love you, I’ll see you so soon, okay?”
Leia nods, “Okay. Bye Daddy. I love you.”
“I love you more, my big, brave, beautiful girl.” Eric says, and his eyes linger on Leia until he sees her walk over to where the other kids are, and he puts on a brave face all the way to the car.
“Holy shit, that was hard.” Eric says, as soon as he sits down in the passenger seat.
“Yeah, it was, but it will get easier. I think.” Donna says, uncertain.”
“God, I hope so. I’m gonna have such a hard time dropping her off if she cries like that every day.”
“She won’t, once she makes some friends, she’ll be talking about school all the time.”
“What are we supposed to do for the next three hours?”
“I don’t know. Go home, look at her baby pictures, and cry. Or we can sit in the parking lot for three hours. Whatever you need.”
“How are you so level headed right now?”
“Because I had a secret cry in the bathroom while you were taking pictures of Leia with her backpack.”
“God Donna, she looked so freaking cute, that backpack is bigger than she is.”
“She’s adorable. I can’t believe how big she is, I swear we brought her home from the hospital like two days ago.”
“I know,I hope she’s okay, she hasn’t been that clingy in a long time.”
“She was just scared, I’m sure she wasn’t the only kid in her class who cried.”
“Do you think it was because I wasn’t exactly hiding my emotions?”
Donna shakes her head. “You did better than you think, she’s just little, and she loves you, and that makes it hard for her to be away from you. You guys are inseparable, and that’s not a bad thing.”
“God, I miss her.”
“Me too. We’ll figure out how to function without her attached to us at all times eventually. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
“Yeah, I know. This is just weird, one day we’re both going to have full time jobs, and Leia will be in school full time, not that I want to wish time away or anything.”
“She’s growing up so fast, and I know sometimes I tease you for always being sad about it, but it really does suck.”
“We could have another kid?”
Donna chuckles at this suggestion, sometimes it seems like her husband’s one personality trait was being a dad. Although, she did find it sort of adorable. “No Eric, not yet. We have our hands full with Leia already.”
“This is true, she’s pretty great though.”
“Yeah, she is. I bet she’s having fun at school.”
“How are you so sure? She cried so much.”
Donna smirks “Because she’s a little nerd, just like her daddy.”
“Damn. Hit me where it hurts, why don’t you?”
“Sorry.”
“By the way, do you think I did a bad thing, bribing Leia with ice cream?”
Donna smiles “No, especially since I had considered bribing you with date night if you promised not to pull Leia out of preschool.”
Eric laughs “Shit, I really could teach her myself though.”
“Oh boy here we go again.” Donna says, laughing, and then kissing Eric’s cheek.
XXX
When Eric and Donna get inside of Leia’s classroom, the little girl sprints over to them.
“Mommy! Daddy! I missed you.” She squeals.
Eric kisses Leia’s forehead. “I missed you too, my little buddy! Did you have a good day?”
Leia nods enthusiastically “Mhhm. Really good.”
“See, I told you you were going to love school.”
“Can we go now?”
“Yeah, we can.”
Donna smiles “Hey Lei Lei, you didn’t forget about me did you?” She teases.
Leia giggles “Noooo.”
“Good. I’m really glad you had a great day today, I think you’re going to love school.”
“Uh huh, it’s fun.”
Eric turns to whisper in Donna’s ear “Thank goodness.”
When they get to the ice cream shop, Leia confidently orders her vanilla soft serve with extra sprinkles. Licking it, with a silly grin on her face.
“How’s your ice cream, Kiddo?” Eric asks her.
Leia grins “Really good. Thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome. So what’d you do at school today, Leia?”
“We did letters, numbers, and colors, and then we got to play on the playground, and I went down the slide a bunch of times.”’
“Sounds like you had a fun day, did you make any new friends?”
“Uh huh, they’re nice.”
“Hey Leia, did you know I met your mommy when I was about your age?”
Leia’s eyes light up “You did?”’
“Yeah, she used to chase me around the playground.”
Donna smiles “Daddy’s right, and I was always faster than him.”
“I can run really fast too, Mommy.”
“I know, I’ve seen you.”
Leia finishes her ice cream and when they get home, Leia sprints inside.
“I forgot, I drew a picture at school, you wanna see?”
Eric smiles “Of course we do.”
Leia proudly pulls a drawing from her folder, and waves it around.
“Look Daddy, it’s us, me, you and Mommy.”
“I can see that, it’s beautiful, baby. You did a really good job.”
Donna smiles. “He’s right, you are quite the little artist, it’s gorgeous.”
Eric smiles at Leia again. “You wanna go put it on the fridge, Kiddo?”’
“Ooooh, yes please.”
“Alrighty, then. Fridge it is.”
“Hey Daddy?”
“Yeah, little buddy?”
“I missed you so much and I love you whole bunches.”
Eric melts. “I missed you too, and I love you to the moon and back, Leia. Don’t you ever forget it.”
“I won’t.”
“Good.” Eric says. Kissing Leia’s forehead.
Donna smiles, her arms wide open. “Alright, family group hug time, get in here.” She says.
Leia loves it when she’s held tightly by both of her parents, it’s safe and warm and it makes her feel special. She feels like the luckiest little girl in the whole world.