Masquerade
Mara has the perfect costume for Han & Leia's annual Spirit Day party.
The timeline is a little screwy, but I'm just assuming that the Yuuzhan Vong War never happened. Work with me here people!

It was Leia's fault really. She was the one to plant the devious little seed in Mara's brain, where it could grow and fester and make it impossible to ignore. The two women had been sharing their experiences on the fabulous planet of Tatooine, Mara recalling her time spent in Jabba's Palace—an experience which both women shared—and Leia sharing she and Han's experiences while searching for Killik Twilight.

"I would pay a lot of credits to see Solo dressed as a Devaronian," Mara laughed.

Leia smiled at the memory as she drank her tea. "He complained the entire time about the prosthetics. Mine were no more comfortable than his, I can tell you that much."

"You were a Devaronian as well?" Try as she might, Mara could not imagine her sister-in-law with red flesh and horns.

"Force, no. I was his Twi'lek 'companion.'" The last word dripped with enough sarcasm to choke a Hutt, but caused nothing but laughter from both women.

Mara laughed as she tried to picture her sister and brother-in-law in their disguises. Picturing Han with horns was easier than Leia with lekku and scantily dressed as one would expect a 'companion' to be. The rest of lunch was spent sharing stories and laughing. Neither woman brought up the topic again, but when she received the invitation to Han and Leia's annual Spirit Day costume party a few months later, Mara was struck with a great idea.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" Luke asked. He was standing in the living room fiddling with his armor for the millionth time in the last two hours. He looked decidedly uncomfortable in his storm trooper costume, which caused Mara to laugh at his expense. Luke had volunteered to watch the Solo children while Han and Leia got ready for the party before escorting them to the Antilles' apartment where they would be spending the evening under the watchful eyes of Wes Janson and Hobbie Klivian. She didn't know who to feel worse for: the Rogues or the children.

"Not on your life, Skywalker. I'll meet you at Han & Leia's at 1900."

Luke shook his head, kissed her goodbye, and was out the door. Mara looked down at her wristchrono; she had about two and a half hours until the party started. Grabbing a coat and the bag with her costume in it, she headed out the door to meet her contact.

She couldn't wait to see the look on her husband's face.

"How long will the dye last?"

"About twelve hours."

"And you're sure it's okay for me to take it?"

Iyani rolled her eyes and looked at the woman standing before her. "Yes, Mara, it is perfectly safe for both you and the baby. It's no different than dying your hair."

"I wouldn't know anything about that," Mara joked. She eyed the little capsule in her palm warily. "If this baby comes out blue, you will have two very pissed off Jedi looking for you." She popped the pill in her mouth, threw her head back and swallowed.

Iyani laughed and tugged Mara forward. "You have my word. Now come over here and let me attach your prosthetics while we wait for the dye to take." She pulled a chair out and waited for Mara to take a seat. Iyani braided Mara's hair before twisting and pinning it to her head so the prosthetic lekku would cover it. "How far along are you by the way?"

Mara smiled and dropped her hand to her still flat stomach. "Seven weeks. I had our healer at the academy run all the tests and so far everything is perfectly fine."

"I'm so glad to hear it. Is it just one or will you be blessing the universe with another set of Skywalker twins?" Iyani asked.

Mara scowled. "Gods, no! I'm not even sure I'll be able to handle one, let alone two miniature Lukes."

"I'm sure you'll be a great mother," Iyani assured her. A comfortable silence descended on the pair as Iyani worked on her costume. Finally the younger woman stepped back and admired her work. "All done, and I must say it's some of my best work."

"Let me see," Mara said attempting to turn around to see her reflection.

Iyani's hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her movement. "Not until you get to see the whole package. Now go put your clothes on." Picking up the small bag next to the chair, she handed it to Mara and gingerly nudged her toward the fresher. It took her only a few moments to change and when the door opened once again Iyani was floored. "Wow."

"Can I look now?"

Iyani didn't answer, but merely swept her arm toward the large mirror in the room. Mara stepped toward it and had to laugh. Her skin had turned a deep shade of blue from head to toe and with her hair hidden beneath the prosthetics and her normally green eyes shielded by a pair of colored lenses, she barely recognized herself. A brown leather top encased her breasts with straps covering her shoulders and wrapping around her waist leaving much of her midriff bare. Her pants matched the top but were made of a soft brown material that she suspected was Bantha hide.

"Huh," she said still staring at her reflection. "Iyani?"

"Yeah?"

"You are a miracle worker," Mara smiled. Glancing at the chrono on the wall, she began to gather her things all the while plotting her grand entrance. She definitely wanted Luke to see her first. His reaction would be worth a million credits. "Thank you so much."

"No problem," Iyani laughed. "Now we're even."

Mara laughed as she left the woman's apartment. Sometimes it paid to have a friend in New Republic Intelligence that owed you a favor.

"Luke, do you want in on this bet?"

The Jedi Master looked up from the conversation he was having with Mirax Terrik Horn.

"What bet are we talking about?"

Wedge shifted as his fake lightsaber poked him in the leg. "How many bacta patches will Wes and Hobbie need by the end of the night?"

"How many kids are they watching?" Luke asked.

"All three of ours," Han said.

"Both of ours," Corran added.

"And ours…well one of them anyhow," Iella finished rubbing a hand over her bulging stomach.

Luke grimaced. "I don't think patches are going to cover it. Someone better call the med center and make sure they have two tanks reserved." Luke laughed. He studied Wedge with a critical eye. He was floored when he got back to Han and Leia's place and saw Wedge and his wife Iella dressed in dark robes with fake lightsabers hanging at their sides. Iella's hair was tucked underneath a bright red wig and she and Wedge both wore colored contacts over their eyes. "What are you two wearing by the way?"

Wedge's grin nearly split his face in half. He stood up and wrapped his arm around his wife's waist. "We are the galaxy's most famous Jedi. Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker."

Luke quirked an eyebrow. "Well it seems Luke's put on a few pounds," he said under his breath.

"Hey!"

"Seems like Mara may have as well," Han added with a chuckle.

Iella rubbed her swollen middle with a grin. "It's all Luke's fault."

Wedge wagged his eyebrows. "Oh Mara, you know you enjoyed it."

"Listen here Farmboy…"

"Okay," Luke interrupted, throwing his hand up to halt conversation, "this is getting weird. And we don't talk like that!"

Wedge shook his head. "You really do, Commander."

"It's a fairly good impression," Corran input from his place next to Mirax, "but you have to make sure to follow up every argument with a hefty round of make-up sex then spend the following day with a goofy grin on your face." Everyone laughed, save for Luke who had the good sense to blush slightly.

"Speaking of Mara, where is she?" Leia asked.

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "She should be here any minute."

This answer seemed to satiate the growing intrigue as the various guests went about their conversations. With alcohol flowing easily and a dozen voices mingling together, no one noticed the lithe Twi'lek slipping in the doorway. Mara waited there for a moment, masking her Force signature so Luke would not sense her. Satisfied that she was flying under everyone's radar, Mara grabbed a glass of punch and headed for the balcony. Finding herself alone, Mara dropped her shields and waited. Barely three minutes passed before a familiar figure stepped onto the balcony, walking over to the railing and leaning his forearms against the cool metal. With lightening quick reflexes, she stepped from the shadows and wrapped her arms around Luke from behind, letting her sense wash over him.

"There you are," Luke said.

"I guess you found me," Mara purred into his ear. "I have a surprise for you."

"What's that?"

Mara's voice grew husky. "Turn around."

With a wary slowness, Luke spun around and took in the sight before him, his jaw nearly hitting the ground. "Mara…what…how…I mean how…"

"You're so eloquent, Farmboy," she teased, slipping her arms around her husband's waist, but having a difficult time getting comfortable around the plastic armor he wore. She felt his arms encircle her own frame, but sense his hesitation. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," he stuttered. "I'm just trying to take all this in. It's an amazing costume, Mara. If I couldn't sense you, I wouldn't have recognized you."

Mara smiled. "Well that's kind of the point, isn't it?" She leaned her head back in a silent request for a kiss, which Luke was happy to oblige. "I really must give all the credit to your sister though."

Luke's eyebrows shot up. "Leia suggested this?"

"Kind of," she explained. "She was telling me about her disguise when she and Han were on Tatooine and the idea just stuck. Add to that your little obsession with Twi'leks…"

"I'm not obsessed with Twi'leks. I just think they have a natural grace and elegance that makes them unique."

Mara nodded emphatically. "Uniquely sexy," she purred. "You can admit it. That's why I picked this costume."

"You did this for me?"

"Partially," she admitted. "I also did it to win the 'Best Costume' Award."

Luke laughed and kissed her soundly. "It's a very good costume. How did you pull this off?"

"I called in a favor with Iyani. She had the prosthetics and the dye—"

"Dye?"

Mara nodded, shifting slightly with the unfamiliar feeling of her prosthetic lekku wiggling against her shoulders. "Yeah it's a little blue pill that dyes my skin for twelve hours, and before you ask, yes it is perfectly safe for the baby."

Luke smirked. "Stay out of my head, Jade."

Mara smiled devilishly. "But it's so much fun to delve into your mind. You know, you are quite naughty when you think no one is listening."

"I blame my corruption on you." His left hand grabbed the back of Mara's neck and pulled her face to his. Their lips locked in a passionate kiss as Mara's pulled her body as close to her husband's as possible, his free hand coming to rest on her hip. Slowly his fingertips glided over her bared stomach, coming to rest just below her belly button.

*I can't wait until you have a baby bump* Luke sent through their bond.

Mara's voice laughed in his head. *It's there already. You can't see it yet, but if you press just…here.* Her hand covered her husband's and pushed on his fingers lightly.

And there just beneath the surface, Luke could feel a small, very solid mass. Immediately his Force sense flared, reaching out to feel both Mara and their unborn child. *He's going to be a handful.*

*I wouldn't expect anything else from a Skywalker.* Throughout their conversation, their lips never parted, keeping their bodies in constant contact. They were completely submerged in the Force, sending and receiving all their love and passion, and reaching out to the tiny life between them. Distracted as they were, neither Jedi noticed the approaching presence.

"Hey Luke, where did—" Corran Horn came to a screeching halt as he stepped through the balcony doorway. Walking in on one of your best friends in the middle of a rather intimate embrace was embarrassing; finding said friend sharing such a moment with someone other than his wife was downright traumatizing. "What the kriff is going on here?" Corran's startled demand broke the couple apart, two sets of eyes turning to focus on the newcomer.

"What's wrong Corran?" Luke asked, a slight blush rising to his cheeks at having been caught in such a situation. No matter how old or how far away from Tatooine he got, part of Luke would always be that bashful farm boy.

"What do you think is wrong, Master Skywalker?" he asked, the title dripping from his lips with more than a hint of disdain. Luke was his friend and—though he loathed admitting it in most circles—a mentor of Corran's. To find him with another woman was more than a little unsettling.

"What's your issue, Corsec?" Mara asked, a bite to her words showing her annoyance at the interruption.

Jedi Horn ignored the Twi'lek and kept his angry eyes focused on the other man. "What are you doing, Luke? Do you have any idea what your wife would do to you if she found out? We all know you have a thing for Twi'leks, but come on. What happened to that Jedi self control?"

And suddenly it all clicked: Corran had no idea that the woman standing beside Luke was in fact Mara Jade-Skywalker. He thought he had just caught his friend cheating on his wife and was prepared to read him the riot act.

"Corran you don't understand—"

"No I really don't understand," the Corellian replied. "Force, Luke! You've got an amazing woman in Mara. I can't believe you would do this to her. She's finally going to kill you!"

"Corsec," Mara growled, quickly becoming irritated with her friend's rant.

Corran's eyes locked with Mara's, and normally that would be enough for him to see through the guise, but because of the colored contacts she wore, Mara's emerald eyes held no recognition for him. "I don't want to hear your side of this. If I weren't such a gentleman, I'd have some choice words for you as well," he seethed.

Mara rolled her eyes. "That's rich, Corsec. You: a gentleman! Ha!"

Corran's face turned red with anger, but before he could open his mouth to respond something stopped him. "W-what did you call me?"

"Corsec," Mara replied sarcastically. She and Luke waited with their heads cocked in amusement, as if they could actually see the wheels in Corran's mind turning. Mara felt the gentle brush of his Force presence and immediately dropped the barriers that she had erected to hide from her husband.

Corran's facial expression was priceless. "Mara? Is that really you?"

"About time you figured it out. Must be all that fancy Corsec training that makes you such a great detective." Beside her, Luke chuckled softly as his hand found hers, their fingers weaving together in a familiar gesture.

Corran continued to stare blankly at the pair while his brain processed the details. Finally he began to laugh, "I think you win the cup this year, Mara."

"Win what?"

"You'll see," he shook his head in amusement. "Let's head inside. I can't wait to see everyone's reaction to this. They're going to flip!"

And flip they did. Once Luke introduced his newest "friend" everyone's jaws were hanging down. Several people commended Mara on such an inspired costume, and a few even dared to touch the prosthetic lekku attached to her head. Mara took all of it in stride, laughing at the comments directed toward Luke's involvement in the costume. Across the room, Mara's eyes caught those of her sister-in-law, sharing the private joke that had led to a truly amazing costume.

"I think it goes without saying that the winner of this year's 'Best Costume Award' is—drum roll please," Wedge announced. Around the room Corran and Gavin Darklighter began to rhythmically pound on nearby flat surfaces in anticipation of the impending award ceremony. "Mrs. Mara Jade-Skywalker!" Mara stepped forward and nodded her head in acknowledgement of the honor. "And as last year's recipient of the award," Wedge continued, "I hereby present you with the sacred Spirit Day Cup." From behind his back, Wedge produced a rather large, rather cheap looking cup and handed it to Mara.

She took the gift and cradled it in her hands. "This is…what the hell is this?" she asked, unsure of what to make of the odd relic she was looking at. The cup itself was unremarkable, light blue in color and made out of a heavy plastic material, but it was the decoration which drew Mara's attention. Scrolled across the surface, in varying colors of ink and handwriting, was the name of each year's recipient as well as their costume. By the look of the records kept here, Mara was the sixth recipient of this award.

"I really don't know what to say."

"That's a first," Han laughed.

Mirax stepped forward with a bottle of Whyren's Reserve, preparing to pour Mara a celebratory shot. "Don't say anything then. Just drink!"

"Oh I uh…I'm not drinking tonight," Mara explained. A dozen confused eyes stared back at her cause Mara to look at the man standing next to her. *We're going to have to tell them eventually. I guess now is as good a time as ever.*

Luke smiled back and squeezed her hand with reassuring comfort. *Leia's going to be ecstatic. Ten credits say she tears up.*

"Why exactly aren't you drinking tonight, Mara?" Han asked, his trademark Solo grin gracing his face.

*You tell them,*she sent to Luke. She knew how excited he was about this baby. Not that she wasn't excited, but Luke had wanted children since he was old enough to consider such things, so this was a huge deal for him.

With a smug grin that could rival Han's, Luke finally ended the suspense. "We're having a baby!"

As suspected, congratulations were had all around. Mara was pulled into one hug after another while Luke was clapped on the back by all his friends. Very quickly the women started handing out advice and reliving their own pregnancies while Mara attempted to take it all in, the good and the bad. Across the small space of the Solo's living room, Luke caught Mara's eyes and smiled.

*I love you.*

*I love you too, Farmboy.* It had been a very good night.

The following morning Luke sat at the kitchen table waiting for his wife to join him. He had already taken the time to prepare a veritable feast of different foods since Mara was always her hungriest early in the morning. Thankfully the morning sickness hadn't hit her yet, and Mara intended to capitalize on that by enjoying all of her favorite breakfast foods while she still could.

"Good morning, Luke," Mara smiled as she entered the kitchen. She leaned over and kissed her husband's cheek before taking a seat across from him. "This looks amazing!"

"I figured you would be hungry," Luke said.

"After last night, I'm starving," Mara grinned. Shortly after their announcement was made, Luke and Mara left the party and returned home. Both were so overjoyed at their friends' reactions that they could barely keep their hands off one another. That night, Luke finally got to live out his fantasy of making love to a Twi'lek.

Luke grinned at the memory before dragging himself back to the present. "I made pretty much everything we have. Eat up!"

Mara filled her plate with a little of everything: fruits, pastries, eggs, nerf sausages, and topped the meal off with a huge glass of jambaberry juice.

"You know, I don't think you're supposed to actually use that to drink from," Luke laughed.

Mara glanced down at her cup and smirked. "Please. I can almost taste the stale ale of Whyren's still in it. I don't think I'm the first to use this. And besides, I earned this cup. My fingernails are still blue!" To prove her point, Mara held her right hand in the air showing off her blue fingernails. The color was fading and would probably be completely gone by the end of the day, but it was still there.

Luke shook his head in amusement. "I told you that dye pill was questionable." He looked at her for a second and took in the picture that was Mara Jade-Skywalker first thing in the morning. Her hair, which had been shook loose of its tight braid last night, hung around her shoulders in fiery waves. She wore a pair of Luke's sleep pants, with the waist folded over several times, and a sleeveless undershirt. Her eyes were sleepy and there wasn't a touch of make-up on her face. She'd never looked more beautiful. "In fact I think there are a few more spots of blue left over."

Instantly Mara's face fell. She held both of her arms out in front of her and scanned her skin. "I don't see anything."

Climbing to his feet, Luke crouched down next to his wife and took her hand in his. "There's a spot right here," he said kissing her shoulder, "and here," another kiss to her throat, "and here." As his lips worked their ways up the column of Mara's neck, to her ear, across her cheeks and finally to her lips, his fingers intertwined with hers.

"That is certainly a lot of spots," Mara whispered, only a centimeter or two separating their lips. "Maybe I should hit the fresher and try to clean them off." Luke nodded in agreement as their lips brushed softly. "Wanna help me get clean, Farmboy?"

Luke nodded. "I would love to help you clean up, Mara. But we'll have to get dirty first."

And yes, if you are wondering the Spirit Cup was based on an actual award I won at a Halloween party. It required me to paint the top half of my body green, but it was totally worth it!