Home is Where the Heart Is
Wow, a Star Wars work that isn't about the villains? Egasp! I must be feeling off today!
It's been a long time since Luke had actually wanted to get his day of teaching hopeful Jedi Initiates over with, and now, he's late by three hours. In all honesty, it's not his fault. He'd had the timing of the whole day all planned out!
Sadly, sparring class hadn't played out as intended, ending with him spending an entirely ridiculous amount of time being fussed over by the healers, lectured by a hormonally irate Leia, and teased by Han, who was far to curious over the "special" reason for Luke's lax focus.
Luke protests that it's all unnecessary, that he's perfectly capable of treating himself back home. Unfortunately, even with all the changes that have happened over the years, Leia still refused to stop fussing over her brother.
After a final earful from his pregnant twin over how a good Jedi Master is never supposed to let himself get tagged by a first year Padawan, Luke is finally allowed to leave for his apartment. He'd stopped paying attention and probably couldn't recall anything Leia had said for the last three hours, but that's not important. Right now, he just wants to get home.
When he finally enters the apartment, Mara had already arrived, made dinner, eaten it, and changed out of her formal robes. Before Luke can say anything, she immediately noticed his arm.
"Start explaining. Now."
"It's nothing to worry about," he assures his wife. "It's just a scratch."
Mara's hands are on him in a minute, prodding and examining.
"It looks like a little more than a scratch to me."
"Really, Mara, I'm fine," is what he starts to say when her fingers graze against the absolute worst spot.
He doesn't intentionally pull his arm away since, first, he would never not enjoy having Mara's capable hands running over any part of his body, and, second, the automatic flinch invalidates his earlier claim. Sure enough, when he meets Mara's emerald eyes, she has a mixture of concern and smugness which makes him regret his words immediately.
"Like I said, more than a scratch."
"It's nothing to worry about. I overextended and one of the students got a lucky hit," Luke protests. "It was actually a pretty good object lesson, when you think about it."
"For what exactly? That you shouldn't let yourself get distracted?" Mara's voice hardens in that particular way when she knows she's right but is too stubborn to let it go.
Luke resists the urge to roll his eyes. "Do you really want to spend our first night together in four weeks arguing over a little scratch?"
Mara's returning grin is quick. "Come off it, Luke. You missed arguing with me as much as I did."
A fair point, and Luke can't fault her logic. He'd known that he was going to miss Mara the minute the council asked that she be dispatched on a mission to the Outer Rim with Talon Karrde, but he'd tried making a joke about it being "just like old times". In some ways it had been.
"Luke?" Mara's hand is cupping his cheek, her voice as tender as it had been on the day they'd made their vows to each other. "You still there? You're spacing out on me."
"Yes, I'm still here. I was just thinking how lovely your voice gets when you're worrying about me."
The frown of worry on Mara's face is replaced by a much more mischievous smirk. That exact same grin which could make Luke squirm in all the right ways, and it still has the same hold over him.
"Well, here we are, together, after I've had no one but the cold of space for company," she whispered.
"I've had even less," he retorts.
"You've had the entire academy to look after," she scoffs.
"During the day, maybe. But at night, I'm all alone."
Maybe his teasing has gotten to her, or maybe Luke has grown impatient with playing their game. Either way, Luke's hands slide around her waist, and Mara's happily mirror the gesture. When his lips finally meet hers, he's not about to let anything else distract him from this moment.
Mara Jade is equally unwilling to break the kiss. Hands seek and explore, touching skin, and he's glad that he found her wearing something other than the heavy Jedi robes befitting their status as Masters of the new Jedi Order. She, in turn, is very pleased that her husband has decided to get straight on to the intimacy they'd both been craving the entire time they'd been apart.
Mara smiles as she licks her lips, her hands now firmly resting on his shoulders. "Shall we go make the bedroom a little less lonely?" she asks coyly.
"Whatever you want, Mara," he promises.
She intended to hold him to it.
Happy Valentines Day of 2019!