A/N: Okay, this one is not as short as the last part…..

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"Please explain why it's complicated." Ben sounded angry.

"Because love is complicated. Relationships are complicated in general. They can't be explained so easily, because sometimes, you're not able to understand why you feel the way you do about that one person. With you mother I believe it was like that.

"Our meeting was perilous to say the least. It started with her pointing a blaster at my head and threatening that she was going to kill me—of course I knew she wouldn't. I could sense good in her even then. What she had become was not who she truly was deep inside. I trusted her not to kill me, as much as I could feel she hated me.

"Your mother often made excuses as to why she kept me alive, but I always felt if she truly wanted my dead, she would have killed me the first time she met me. No questions—no monologue. I guess, she preferred that at the time." He smiled lightly.

"After you mother had fulfilled her last command by killing my clone, she was freed from Palpatine's control. What began between us was a tenuous relationship at best; your mother still had problems with trust and was shy to show her emotions to others. Palpatine had long since engrained those feelings into her and beat others out of her. But, in time we formed camaraderie of sorts; we slowly became, I guess what you would call friends. At least I felt it was that way on my part. Your mother was still reserved; still wary of what I offered.

"She later confided that…I was perhaps the only friend she'd ever had. I felt her admission had drawn us one step more to being closer."

Ben sighed. "I know all this."

"But you don't know what I'm about to tell you." He traced lines on the deck. "You see back then, I felt a certain pull in my very soul. It was as if I felt a certain kinship with your mother. I felt a deep trust for her more the any woman I'd ever known..."

"Except for Callista." Ben scoffed.

Luke warned, "Ben."

The youth raised his hands on surrender. "Please, by all means continue."

His father frowned. "I don't think I should if you're going to give me that kind of attitude."

Ben frowned, casting his eyes to the side. "You can't stop." He said pleadingly. "I have to know."

Luke sighed. "Then maybe you'll let me finish without casting judgment."

"Go ahead."

"As I said, I felt a very deep trust for Mara. I did have feelings for her per se," He put a hand on Ben's arm. "But it wasn't love." He took a deep breath. "I loved Callista. Very deeply—and at the time, I thought she loved me. I was fool. She cared about obtaining the Force once more, more than she wanted me. It broke my heart."

Ben didn't like this; didn't want to hear his father talk about this other woman with such emotion and love in his voice.

"Your mother was there for me. To me she was a very dear friend, who helped me through that hard time in my life. I felt so lost without Callista. I searched for her, but couldn't find her…I gave up. Mara was there. I think there was a time she grew sick of my moping. Disgusted of me. But I knew she cared. She later told me, she hated what Callista had made of me, what she'd done to me; that, as my friend, it hurt her to see me hurting.

"I knew your mother cared, and I cared for her. It was a powerful bond I felt; though as I said not necessarily of love. I couldn't deny that the relationship I had with Mara was evolving, your mother was starting to open up more. Even when she refused my attempts to get her to train, she still took time to see me. In fact, she once told me, she'd come to Yavin IV one time because she wanted to see me. I couldn't help but feel she wasn't as completely hopeless as she believed herself to be.

"Then came Nirauan...When I saw that vision of your mother, my heart felt tight and I was frightened for her, for some inexplicable reason I couldn't explain at the time. Now, I believe it largely had to do with the deep connection felt with her. And when we experienced that Force-meld, my heart pushed me, and I knew what it was telling me. It was in that moment that I knew, the reason I cherished her so much…Because she was the woman I was meant to be with for the rest of my life. All the other women, that had gone before her….were merely stepping stones; a broken path that led me to who I was truly meant to be with. I realized that my failed relationships had been a sign, which I had not been able to see before—a sign that Mara was the true one for me."

Luke shrugged with a timid smile. "And so, I asked her to marry." He looked earnestly at Ben. "It felt so right. We felt right. Even if we may not have lived, I wanted her as my wife, to know she would be regardless of the outcome on Nirauan.

"And Mara said yes."

He took a breath, coming to the end of his long winded explanation. "So to answer your question…Did I love your mother before we married? I don't believe I did, but what I felt for her, could not be denied. She was very special to me, Ben…I wasn't about to let her go—and frankly if she'd said no, I think it would have broken me.

"I'm forever grateful she said yes—while your mother was alive, I felt my life would never be empty as long as I had her by my side." He smiled. "So, it doesn't matter in the long run if I loved her before. I loved her then and I still love her now. That's all that matters."

Ben sat still for a moment. He was dangerously quiet and that unnerved Luke slightly. The boy was a ticking time bomb when he was silent.

"Ben?" He quested.

"All right…That was satisfactory." Ben got up, dusting off his pants. "But this time…can we cut out the long exposition." He rolled his eyes. "Next time, just say, you realized that mom was a very special friend who you wanted to be with for the rest of your days. It'd be a lot easier and take up less of my time."

Luke sat there, jaw agape.

"Oh, one more thing…" He grinned. "Did mom love you?"

"Why you..." His father growled playfully

Ben ducked an oncoming pillow.

"Eh, you're still alive, so I guess so."

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A/N: Oh, Ben, you are so gonna get it lol Hope you enjoyed! Please review!

Oh, and that broken road comment...kind of from the song Bless the Broken Road from Rascal Flatts. Go find it, listen to it, its Mara and Luke entirely. Also you Belong with Me by Taylor Swift (both are country but they so fit).