Characters: Ben Skywalker, Jysella Horn

Timeframe: Sometime during the Legacy series.

Genre: Romance, angst

Authors Notes: This is a response to a challenge issued over at TFN
The challenge was... Write a romance story where Ben's love is an already established Star Wars Character. To make it even more of a challenge you have to include the following words: dubious, tempestuous, fervor, and assemblage.

The sections in italics are flash backs!

I sit holding my infant son, Rade, rocking him back and forth as he cries. Nothing I do seems to calm him. I've walked with him, bounced him, fed him, changed him, I've even sung to him, although I think it made him cry harder. I am completely exhausted, mentally and physically, and I have no clue what to do. I contemplate calling for back up, but I want to prove that I can do this.

I rock him back and forth for a few more minutes, his each cry tearing my heart apart, and then an idea comes to me. He is too young to understand, and he won't remember; although I'm sure he will hear the story time and time again as he grows up. I take a deep breath and begin the story of how his mother and I met.

"I guess it began as most young loves do. I would catch her looking at me when we were in a class together, and of course, when I would catch her, she would look entrenched in whatever she had been doing. I had been looking at her too, or I would have never caught her. I would frequently find myself staring in her direction, day dreaming, I guess. She had a beauty about her, one to which no other could be compared."

Rade seems to be interested in my story, since his cries have quieted. His blue eyes stare at me as though he is comprehending every word I speak. A small smile comes to my lips at this new development.

"I would pass her in the hallway and give her a big, probably goofy-looking, smile. She would wave and smile back as the girls she was walking with would giggle, and she with them. I guess they thought it was funny I had a crush on her." I tickle my son's stomach, making ihim/i giggle at me.

"To think, had I continued to deny my birthright, shut out the Force and hid from its light, I probably would have never really known her beauty, her passion or her fire."

I lean my head against the back of the chair, closing my eyes. That isn't something I even want to think about, let alone consider. My life would have been incomplete with out my beautiful Jys.

"As we grew older, the giggling turned to soft, sexy smiles. We were together at every possible moment, although we insisted we were just friends; and we were for a long time. I remember the day all that changed like it was yesterday. We were attending the assemblage of all the Jedi students. What it was about I don't remember, but it doesn't really matter now..."

"Ben," she whispered to me, "why don't we sneak out of here and go somewhere else."

I look up to the front where Kam... Master Solusar was speaking. I know it's not a good idea--I'm the son of the Grand Master of the Jedi, and I'm sure he would just love to have a rebellious, trouble-making son--but I find I can't resist her. I would probably walk off the top of the highest building, as long as I knew she would be there. "OK, but how are we going to get out unnoticed?"

"I'm gonna get up and go to the 'fresher, give it a few minutes and follow me. I'll meet you in the hallway."

I nod my head as she stands up to leave. I watch her leave to see if anyone gives her any trouble, but it seems as though everyone is paying attention to what was going on at the assembly. After about five minutes I get up, walk along the outer wall and out the back set of doors. Looking around I don't see her, so I continue to walk down the hall. All of a sudden, I feel something grab my hand and pull me into a nearby room. The next thing I know, she has me pushed up against a wall and her mouth is on mine.

At first I am too stunned to do anything, but after a few seconds I realize that the woman of my dreams is kissing me. Her soft lips are on mine, and I'm standing here doing nothing? This is something I quickly remedy, as I begin to return her kiss.

"We must have been there longer than I realized, because the next thing we knew her father was standing in the doorway with an angry look on his face. Neither of us knew he was on-planet; he should have been on Coruscant, but obviously he wasn't. Now we look back, and the moment is hilarious, but at the time I thought for sure we were dead."

"Jysella Horn, just what do you think you are doing?" Master Horn says with a raised voice.

I can feel the tempestuous emotions rolling off of him. Not only was his only daughter skipping a required meeting, but she was doing it to make out with another student. I can tell he is angry, but his face tells a different story: pure shock; and his eyes look as though they might pop out of his head at any moment.

Jysella smiles at me and turns to walk out the door. I smile back until I meet the eyes of her father. I expect he will go straight to imy/i father and tell him what has just transpired.

"I guess he never did, I don't think my parents found out about that little incident for years, and when they did they both just laughed, much to Corran's dismay." I pick my son up so his face and mine are just inches apart, "Just so you know, you had better not do anything like that to me." He just gives me a smile, and I smile back.

I lay him back in my arms and continue my story. "We continued to date for the next few years, although we were never as careless as we were that first time. One day I decided I couldn't live any longer without her being my wife. I didn't ask her father, nor did I tell my parents what I was going to do. I was only eighteen, and she was only twenty, almost twenty-one. I had just been Knighted, in fact it was that very day. The Knighting ceremony had taken place early in the day and my family was throwing a party later in the evening, so I had plenty of time in the afternoon. I had previously reserved the room where our relationship began for meditation, but there would be none that day..."

"Ben, what are we doing? Where are we going?" Jysella asks me, confused as to what I have up my sleeve.

"Be patient, my love, all will soon be revealed." I smile.

She looks at me with skepticism but I know she trusts me. We finally make it to the door where it all began, where her father caught us several years before.

I nod for her to enter the room. There is a blanket on the floor, with a picnic basket sitting beside it. Candles are the only light in the room. During the ceremony I had sent a friend to set this up.

She turns to look at me with a soft, sweet smile on her face. "What is all this about?"

I gesture for her to sit, and I begin to serve her the food I have prepared. Our conversation is light; she asks me how I feel about finally being a knight. We talk about the ceremony in general, and what we think the other new Knights will do now that they can go out on their own and defend the galaxy.

We have finished our meal, and now we lay together, staring into each other's eyes. I brush a strand of dark brown hair out of her eyes and build my courage.

"Jys," I use the nickname that only her parents and I are allowed to use, "can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can. Why couldn't you?" she asks innocently with a furrowed brow.

I shrug as I sit up. "I know we are young, but I don't want to take forever to be with the person I love, as my parents did. They missed so many years they could have been together. They took so long, and they were only able to have me, and I know they both wanted more children. I don't want regrets like that, I want to be with you now, and for as long as the Force wills us to be in this plane of existence. I love you." I pull a box out of my pocket and slide it in front of her. "Jysella Horn, will you marry me?"

She looks at the box with disbelief, but she opens it as she sits up to face me. Her eyes move back and forth from the ring to me, a bright smile spreading across her face. "Yes, Ben Skywalker, I will marry you," she says as she throws her arms around me.

I pull back to look at her face, and with my thumb, I wipe away a tear that has escaped. "You've made me the happiest man alive," I say as I lean in and kiss her with a fervor neither of us has ever experienced.

"I think our parents were dubious about our decision to get married so young, but they all knew how cruel the galaxy was, and that any of us could be taken away at any time. We had a small ceremony a few months later, with just close family and friends. Luckily the holopress didn't find out about it until after it was over, and we had returned from our honeymoon. My parents had to get married in front of the entire galaxy. Their marriage was seen as a mending of the New Republic and the Empire, and I think it made them both happy that your mother and I could get married in privacy."

Looking down at my son, figuring he would be asleep by now, I find his eyes looking back at me with rapt attention. With a small laugh I continued to tell the story he is apparently so interested in.

"About three years after we were married you decided to grace us with your presence. We were both ecstatic, and a little scared at your arrival, but your mom was happier than I had ever seen her. Her smile was parsecs wide, and her eyes shined bright enough to light an entire system."

I pull my son up to my chest as tears begin to stream down my face. As I tightly shut my eyes, I take a deep, shuddering breath. "I wish more than anything you could get to know your mom for yourself. But I vow you will know her. I'll tell you about her every day. I'll tell you everything I can remember, even things you probably won't want to know." A sad laugh escapes my lips. "You'll know all about how she approached life with an amazing passion, and how being a Jedi, something I tried to run away from when I was young, meant the world to her. But most of all you'll know how she loved you... and would have given... " my voice shakes as I try to hold back my tears. "She would have given anything for you." Unable to hold back anymore a sob, escapes my lips.

I feel Rade start to slip from my grasp, so I tighten my arms around him even more, until I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up to see my mother's sad green eyes looking back at me. I hadn't even felt her enter. She takes my son from my arms and I bury my head between my knees trying to contain my sobs. I feel her kneel beside me as her hands rub my back. She doesn't say anything, there is nothing to say, but I can feel her love wrapping around me. She, my father, and Jysella's parents; Corran and Mirax will be there for Rade, and that fills my heart with hope.

My wife might have left me... left us... too soon, but I know that with time, the hurt will fade and only love, eternal love, will remain.