Jaded Skys

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A/N 1:Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm/Disney.

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A/N 2: For the purpose of this particular one-shot, I am changing the ages of the Solo children. Call it artistic license.

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Arcade Madness:

"…Happy Lifeday, dear Anakin!" a chorus of voices rang out against the din of the large arcade hall. "Happy Lifeday to… you!"

Mara cheered with the rest of her family as the youngest Solo child blew out his candles. She had to admit that Leia and Han had really done a great job so far in containing the madness Mara knew to be a child's lifeday party.

Mara drew her gaze over the small group of non-family children that also sat with the lifeday boy. Friends from his kindergarten class in school, Mara had been told. The children squirmed anxiously as they awaited their slice of Anakin's fancy cake.

Mara found herself drawn by the artsy creation done by Leia's favorite bakery. It was a tall round thing with fondant in bright green and yellow while a pair of banthas frolicked atop. She admired how realistic the entire thing looked, and felt the faint desire to meet someone who could do that with food.

A nudge on her elbow brought her back to the present, and she glanced to her right to see Luke tilt his head toward Leia. Mara's gaze shifted and Leia spoke for what had to be the second time.

"I said would you like some cake?"

Mara realized with a small amount of chagrin that nearly half the cake had been dismantled during her reverie… and she hadn't noticed.

Clearing her throat, Mara stepped forward to take the proffered plate.

"Yes, thank you."

Luke also accepted a piece, and the couple retreated a safe distance from the rambunctious kids who were now in various stages of sugar-highs. Mara shook her head as she took a bite of the cake, letting the scrumptious morsels tickle her taste buds pleasantly.

She'd forgotten how much she loved a good cake.

"I don't know how Leia does it." Mara said around her bite.

Luke followed her gaze, and then chuckled. "Well, she is a master politician."

"That would work in her favor." Mara agreed, as she indulged in a second bite. "This is delicious."

"MmHmm." Luke replied as he spooned another helping into his mouth.

They turned as one at the sensation of raging excitement drawing rapidly closer. Anakin raced up to Luke, his face and hands still bearing signs of his dessert.

"Uncle Luke! Uncle Luke!"

"Yes, Anakin?"

"Come play with me!" Anakin pulled on Luke's arm, ignoring the fact that the Jedi Master was still trying to eat.

"Can I finish my cake first?" Luke asked as he attempted to take another bite.

"No!" Anakin tugged harder, and Luke sighed before putting his spoon aside. "Mommy said to find someone to take me to play the games!"

"Where's your father?"

"With Jaina playing the X-wing game." Anakin pouted. "And Mommy said she needs to start clean-up, and Chewie is with Jacen."

"Tell you what," Luke said, turning Anakin about. "Tell your mother to go play and I will clean."

Anakin mumbled something, but scampered off anyway.

"Eloquently handled, Master Skywalker." Mara commented around a growing smirk.

"Quiet, you." Luke nudged her shoulder playfully with his own.

He had just lifted a bite of cake to his lips when Anakin reappeared; his little face red, with small hands planted on his hips.

"Uncle Luke!" he whined. "Mommy said you have to take me!"

Luke dropped his head briefly in defeat and shot his sister a look, but he set his plate aside. "Alright, little man, let's go play."

Despite his meal's interruption, something Mara knew to be a dangerous thing—one should be careful not to get in a Skywalker's way when food was involved—she could feel the affection and joy radiating from Luke.

Her husband loved playing with his sister's children, and they cherished him for it. Mara watched as the two of them melded with the crowd about the hall, taking her time to finish her own piece of cake.

After tossing her plate in the trash, Mara picked Luke's up, and grabbed him a second piece of cake before setting it aside.

Next she approached Leia, who was fussing over the table.

"You know, Anakin only turns six once." She said pointedly.

Leia looked up, startled at the words. "Excuse me?"

Mara steeled herself against Leia's indignation. "This can wait; and anyway, that's why this place has employees. Let them do their job while you spend time with your son."

"I was simply putting his gifts away." Leia said with dying acid in her tone.

Mara could feel her resignation as her sister-in-law looked from the mess to the various members of their family scattered helter-skelter in the arcade.

"Go." Mara urged. "Have some fun."

Leia offered a grateful smile, and dropped her task. Mara joined her in wandering over to where Anakin had Luke engaged in a game of roller-ball. The two of them were trying to best each other as their bright orange balls raced up the narrow ramp to fall into various holes.

Mara raised her eyebrows at Luke's higher score and had to wonder if he was using the Force. But then she chided herself: Luke would never cheat on his nephew like that.

The game ended and Anakin threw up his hands in delight as his final ball made it into the highest-point hole, gaining him the premier score after all was said and done. Luke gave him a high-five and that was when the women arrived.

"Mommy, did you see?" Anakin squealed. "I beat Uncle Luke!"

"Yes I did see!" Leia cheered. "Well done!"

Luke smiled warmly at Anakin, and ruffled his hair.

"I'll take over if you don't mind." Leia told her twin.

Luke kissed her cheek. "Not at all. Have fun."

Leia was instantly pulled away by her son, and that left the Skywalkers standing side by side.

"Would you like to play anything?" Luke held up a small cup. "I have a few tokens left over."

Mara lifted an eyebrow and then pursed her lips. "Let's see what's here."

Luke offered his hand; she entwined her fingers with his, and together they navigated the arcade. They were just about to give up when Mara's eyes fell upon a table in the corner. Two children were currently playing, and her interest was piqued.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Let's go see." Luke encouraged.

They stopped a few paces from the table and Mara caught sight of the game's name as the children darted about it.

"Repulsor hockey?" she read aloud.

"Ah!" Luke grinned. "I remember this game from Jacen and Jaina's party a few years back. You're supposed to use those hand-held pushers and hit the puck around the table. You want to get it into the opponent's goal. See that narrow open strip in the center of the table on each end?"

Mara nodded. "Sounds like fun."

"I loved it." Luke quipped.

"Well then, let's call next game, shall we?" Mara slipped two coins onto the side of the table near the token-slot.

The two Jedi watched with renewed vigor as the children finished their game and finally left. Mara claimed one end of the table and waited for Luke to insert their coins. The game clicked and the puck exited a slot on her end of the slab; Mara placed it in the center ring.

Luke took his pusher, and waited for her to signal readiness.

"Ladies first." Luke smirked.

Mara lifted a wry brow and gave the puck a hard shove toward Luke. He swiftly maneuvered his pusher to block the shot and the puck bounced from his end of the table to ricochet wildly about the length of the game until Mara knocked it back.

Luke nearly missed the thin puck as it rebounded off his own walls and slipped behind his hand. But he managed to swipe it to the left enough to where it evaded the goal-slot. He gave the puck a good shove and it was intercepted by Mara, who by now was formulating a strategy.

When Luke blocked her shot and sent it back at her, Mara feinted a blast to the right before quickly sending it left. Luke's brow shot up in surprise as the puck slipped by with centimeters to spare.

Mara crowed with delight as the game-piece clanked into the slot on Luke's end of the game.

"Good shot!" Luke complimented as he fished the puck from the slot.

He placed the disk on the table, and signaled readiness, Mara doing likewise. They battled fiercely for a full minute before Mara went wide on her parry and the puck whisked by to land a point for Luke.

He pounded the air with one fist, a grin lighting his face. "Yes!"

Mara decided it was time to up the ante. She placed the puck on the table and instantly fired it off. Luke shouted briefly in surprise and nearly missed the riposte as he recovered from his victory dance.

The puck veered sharply right and then slid easily across to stop in the center of the table. Mara reached it first as both she and Luke leaned over to take the shot.

"Ah!" she squeaked as the puck ended up caught between two pushers seconds later.

Luke chuckled and maneuvered his pusher and deftly moved the puck around her hand and under elbow. Mara was a split-second too slow to stop it from entering her goal. She glared at Luke, who now wore a triumphant half-smile.

A quick glance at the score board showed her that Luke was now winning two-to-one.

Well, that's about to change. Mara decided.

"What does this game stop at?" she asked as an after-thought.

"Five, I believe." Luke answered.

"Alright then, prepare to lose." Mara lifted her head defiantly.

Luke gestured for her to retrieve the puck and she again shot it off without warning, though this time he was prepared for that.

They danced about the board for an unknown length of time before Mara finally spotted a weakness in Luke's defense. Mara grinned evilly, and aimed the puck at an angle that would shoot it a sharp seventy degrees to aim for the rear of his pusher. Luke's arm twitched and instead of catching it, he ended up scoring for her as the game-piece was pushed along its same trajectory.

Mara lifted her head haughtily. "Two and two now, Farmboy."

Luke laughed and started the next round, his face falling into a mask of concentration as the puck once again traversed the playing field. They continued their game until the score was four on both sides.

By that time they were both sweaty and sore from jostling one another as they battled for repulsor-hockey superiority. But both of them were equally pleased at the great fun they were having.

The puck was placed on the table for the final round, and Mara gazed at Luke. "Loser gives the winner a full-massage."

"Deal." Luke nodded, and then had to fight to keep a naughty smile off his face. "I like Saneese oil…"

Mara gasped at his boldness, eliciting a hearty laugh from Luke as she shoved him lightly with the Force. Saneese oil was used in more… romantic massages. The game commenced, and Mara decided that two could play Luke's new game.

When the puck came to her end of the table, she sent it intentionally near the center of the board. As Luke leaned in to take a shot, Mara sent him a mental image that made him turn beet red.

"Mara!" he squeaked as he tried to figure out if he should laugh or hide his face. "There are children about…" he finally choked out.

"Farmboy, it's not like anyone else can read our mental frequency." Mara snickered.

She could feel him deliberately cooling himself down after that one, and took advantage of his distraction. Clanking her pusher against the puck, she sent it toward Luke's goal. He barely blocked it, and Mara laid on the taunts, sending him another image. He swallowed hard and doubled his efforts to contain his desire.

"No fair!" he accused half-heartedly as Mara's tactic finally won her the game. "You cheated!"

Mara sidled up to him as she relinquished her end of the table. "Would you prefer to not do those things when we get home?" she asked huskily.

Luke stepped close, planting a passionate kiss on her lips.

You know I want to. He sent through their Force-bond.

"Way to go Aunt Mara!"

Both Luke and Mara jumped, breaking away to look down at Jaina's beaming face. And only then did they realize that at some point in their game they'd acquired a captive audience.

Jaina hugged Mara tightly; oblivious to the moment she'd just broken. Luke cleared his throat as his gaze traveled from face to face, some familiar, others simply onlookers who'd come to watch the Skywalkers duke it out in the arcade.

"You beat Uncle Luke!" Jaina went on. "Sorry Uncle Luke; you played good too, but I was betting on Aunt Mara winning."

Luke looked at her, and then released a tension-breaking laugh. Mara eyed him warily for a moment before his laughter became contagious and soon they were both chuckling. The crowd broke apart, and Luke followed Mara back to their table to help Leia gather Anakin's gifts.

An hour later they finally trudged through their front door, the night of Coruscant lit by millions of points of light in various shades of the color spectrum. Luke closed the door behind them and turned just as Mara pressed against him, wrapping slim arms about his waist.

"I do believe the deal was you give me a massage." She murmured seductively.

Luke ran his hand over her arms and slipped her blouse down from her shoulder. He then proceeded to shower her exposed skin with kisses.

"Hmm…" he moved to run his lips down her neck. "But you never said what kind of massage."

"Oh, I think you can come up with something, Farmboy." Mara breathed.

She sent him another image across their mental link, and this time Luke didn't hold back his desire.