*~*~*~*~*

Mara opened her eyes to find herself in a garden shrouded in darkness. She shivered, and examined her surroundings further, and turned her head to see... a rather impatient-looking five-year-old with red hair. Mara blinked. Was she there earlier? "Hello, little one."

The little girl stopped tapping her foot and ran toward her. "Hi! I'm Marani Jaden!" She grabbed Mara's hand and pulled her along, Mara resisting the pull. "Come! I want to show you something!"

Mara stared at the insistent five-year-old. Is that really me as a child, she wondered.

Marani stopped pulling, let go of Mara's hand, and looked up at her in puzzlement. "Of course I am." She started to walk away. "Are you coming?"

Wordlessly, Mara nodded and followed Marani to a structure on the other side of the garden from where they were. Mara squinted, trying to make it out in the half-light coming from inside. It... looked like a greenhouse for plants.

Marani stopped at the entrance and waited for Mara. She glanced up knowingly. "Go inside."

Mara slowly entered the greenhouse, and stopped in amazement when she saw the flowering plant on the table. "But..."

"Daddy and Momma worked on it for six months," Marani explained from behind her.

Mara tore her gaze away from the flower to turn and stare at the little girl. "Really? Why?"

Marani smiled at her. "It was a challenge. Did they need a better reason?"

Mara laughed. "No, I guess not. But why..." she trailed off and bit her lip at the memory that the flower brought to mind.

"...is it what you linked to them?" Marani finished for her.

"Yeah."

Marani sighed. "We snuck out of the house in the middle of the night, to get another look, because it was going to be sent away the next day. And... well, you know the rest."

Mara nodded absently, thinking about it. She did. "But if I hadn't snuck out..." she trailed off again, noticing that Marani was shaking her head. "What?"

"No," Marani said forcefully.

"Huh?"

"They wanted us. If I had been asleep in bed; if we hadn't snuck out, even more damage might have been done." Marani glared at her, then turned and walked out.

Mara spared one more look at that flowering plant, and then rushed to follow Marani, and was surprised to see that it was suddenly day out in the yard where it hab been night not two minutes previously. Mara paused, and looked around again. The yard, with it's bushes of flowers and green grass and various vegetables, looked much more inviting in the daylight than it did in darkness.

"Are you coming?" Marani asked impatiently.

"Wait just a minute, little one." Mara sat down on the grass and motioned for Marani to sit by her. "Sit with me?"

Marani pouted. "But I wanna show you Momma and Daddy."

"And I want to talk to you right now." Mara waited patiently as Marani considered her warily, and then came over and sat down in front of Mara.

"But..." Marani started to protest.

"Little one," Mara interrupted her, and gestured around to the yard with beautiful plants. "Sometimes one must stop and enjoy the pretty things."

Marani spared the yard a glance. "Yes, pretty."

"Tell me about our parents, rather than showing me," Mara requested, fixing the little girl with a stern look.

"Momma was pregnant," Marani blurted happily. "And Daddy..." She trailed off and looked away, chewing on her lower lip.

"And Daddy what?" Mara asked, curious as to what would make her younger self clam up so suddenly.

Marani shook her head, as if to clear it, and then looked at Mara again. "Daddy never liked it when I asked about the future. The... glow upset him."

"'The glow?' What kind of glow?"

Marani raised her hand and concentrated. Slowly, her hand began to glow faintly blue. "This glow."

Mara stared at her. She knew about the force at age five? "And why did it upset him?"

Marani stopped making her hand glow and shrugged. "He would never say. But I wasn't ever allowed to speak of it in front of people."

Mara's eyes softened. That explained some things. She opened her arms to the little girl. Slowly, warily, Marani entered the embrace. "Thankyou, little one." Mara closed her eyes and whispered in her mind, [I accept you, Marani. I accept that you're me.] She opened her eyes to find that Marani had disappeared. She was now hugging herself.

Mara closed her eyes again and let the tears fall. She was a carefree child once, before the kidnapping. Accepting that was harder than she ever thought possible, but with that acceptance came the knowledge that, somewhere out there, she had a family that missed her.

[Momma's alive,] came the faint child-like whisper. [I know she is.]

Mara stayed in the garden until morning.

*~*~*~*~*

It was early the next morning when Mara woke up from her dream, to find her husband dozing in a chair.

She gazed at him for a few moments before shaking her head and getting out of bed. Mara went over to him and cupped his cheek with her hand.

The contact was enough to rouse him from the light slumber. Luke blinked his eyes open and found Mara right in front of him. "Hi."

"Good morning, Farmboy." She smiled at him. "Why were you sleeping in the chair, hmm?"

Luke took a moment to yawn, and then smiled back at her. This was most assuredly his Mara. "Had an urging not to... you know..."

"Ah."

Luke sat up and took her in his arms. "Thank you for telling me what the problem was... I love you, Mara."

"I love you, too," Mara whispered. She noticed something on the floor and broke the embrace to see what it was.

The item was a datapad, displaying information that was eerily familiar. She stared at the picture. "Luke? Where did you find this?"

"I found it in the living room last night," Luke explained. "When I was cleaning up." He watched as she read through the information, and then her expression changed to one of being stunned. "Mara? What is it?"

She handed the datapad to him, pointing to the part that was relevant. "I have a family, see?"

Luke looked, read the information, and shook his head. "That's not your name."

"He changed my name," Mara said wryly. "From Marani."

"That's... not much of a change," Luke observed.

"No, it isn't. It was enough of one, though." Mara considered her words carefully, and then turned to look at Luke. "But it clears up one thing."

"Really?"

"Yeah... My mother is alive, even if my father isn't." Then something occurred to her. "Luke?"

"Yes?"

"Where is Ben?"

"Han and Leia's."

"Why?"

He just looked at her for a moment. "Do you really want me to answer that?" At her nod, he sighed. "You were acting funny. I wanted to find out why, but didn't want Ben to be here... I was right about that, you know. And he felt it before I did."

"Huh?"

"His exact words were: 'In the dark, she's scared. Of the bad man.'"

Mara stared at him, mouth agape. "Oh."

"Don't feel bad about it. That was when I knew mostly what was wrong. Mostly." Luke looked down at the datapad again and got an idea. "We could go." He held up the datapad. "I've never been to Naboo, and I'm sure Ben would like to see a new place."

At the system name, Mara shuddered. "I missed that part. It says Naboo?"

Luke looked again. "Yes. It does."

"Palpatine was from Naboo," Mara whispered. She sat on the bed and looked at him dismally. Then she noticed his clothes and started laughing. "Okay. But if we're going, you are not wearing those."

"I wasn't planning to," Luke muttered. He watched as she stood up and walked out of the room, a sense of purpose in her step. "Not my fault she hid my clothes."

Mara came back two minutes later with a box and set it on the floor in front of him. "Here. Sorry about that, Farmboy."

Luke took the lid off the box and stared at the dark clothing. "How?"

"There's an extra compartment in the hall closet," Mara said, trying not to giggle.

Luke looked up at her, then started to laugh. That made sense, in an odd way. It was the one place he never thought to look.

Mara noticed the flowered Jedi robe, picked it up off the floor, and studied it. "I want this."

At that comment, Luke just couldn't hold his laughter back any longer.

Mara looked away from the garment to see her normally composed husband holding his sides, laughing in hysterics. "What? I like it. It has a certain charm and is well-sewn." That just made him laugh harder. "Unless you want it." She held it out to him.

Calming down some, Luke shook his head. "No. I don't want it. Feel free."

~*~*~*~*~

When Han opened the door to find Luke and Mara standing there, he had an overwhelming sense of deja-vu. Only this time, it was Mara wearing the flowered Jedi robe. He still stared, though.

Luke sighed again. "Han?"

Han continued to stare at Mara.

"What?" Mara asked, innocently. She looked at Luke in puzzlement. "Why is he looking at me like that?"

They were saved from continued awkwardness by a small bundle of energy running through the foyer, and latching onto Mara's leg. "Momma! Daddy!"

Han looked down at an obviously happy child, shook his head, and stepped aside, again, to allow them entry. Then he closed the door and stood there.

Luke picked Ben up after Mara pried him off her leg, and was just turning around to thank Han for taking Ben for the night, when Han chuckled, and then outright laughed. Luke shared a knowing look with his son, and smiled at Mara. "Must be the robe."

"What?" Mara stared at Han, wide-eyed. She never seen him laugh like that before.

Han turned, looked at Mara again, and continued laughing.

"I was wearing it yesterday," Luke muttered. "Han? We'll be in the living room when you're done."

Han nodded, and they left him in the foyer. Laughing.

~*~*~*~*~

Mara was still confused when she entered the Solo's living room and sat down, Luke sitting beside her. "Why is he acting like that?"

Luke sighed. "Mara, I was wearing that robe yesterday."

"But..." She shrugged and touseled Ben's hair. "How are you?"

Ben smiled. "Got to pway with Jasa and Jaya! And Ani!"

"Did you have fun?" Luke asked, keeping an eye on Mara.

Ben nodded excitedly.

"That's good," Mara murmurred, remembering her dream.

"Momma?" Ben asked, looking at her seriously.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Is the bad man going to come?"

Mara stared at her son, eyes wide, then looked at Luke (who was boggling at that question), and then stared at her son again. Then she pulled him into her lap and hugged him fiercely. "No, Ben."

Luke broke out of his shock and pulled Mara and Ben into a group hug.

"The bad man is not coming." Mara assured him. "Not ever again."

"Ok," Ben said simply.

There came a silence from the direction of the foyer, and then Han entered the living room to find them in a hug. "Sorry about that."

Luke broke the hug and looked at him. "Uh-huh."

"What?" Han asked innocently, then looked at Mara and Ben. Mara was still hugging Ben fiercely.