Chapter 4

Luke sat in his office at the Jedi Praxeum staring blanking out the window. Since his vision of a son he remained completely distracted. He couldn't get the image of the young man out of his mind.

He always wanted a family, but he never obsessed over that particular desire like he did now. The boy had Luke's facial features and eyes...but that hair. He had distinctive fiery red hair that he had only seen on one other person…Mara Jade. But he didn't see Mara in the vision. It could be a complete coincidence.

He desperately wanted to contact Mara and ask her about what she saw in her meditations. She had said she had seen Luke, but did she also see a son? He shook his head. He couldn't imagine what he would say to her. 'Hey Mara, in your visions did you ever see me and you married and with a kid?' He chuckled at how that would sound. Mara would think he'd gone insane.

And what would he do if she said she did have visions of a son? He loved Callista. He couldn't leave her because of a vision that might never come to pass. The thought was ludicrous. He really liked Mara and after Wayland he had hoped there could be more to their relationship, but that never came to pass. For a long time he wished he never left Mara's apartment that night on Coruscant, but he had no choice. After things got a little out of hand she became panicked and asked him to leave. He complied…and the next day she was gone.

A sad smile graced his lips as he remembered that night. They watched a holo together and laughed over the ridiculous plot. At some point their eyes met and he gathered up all his courage and leaned in and kissed her…and she kissed him back. They kissed and caressed and he felt a heat building up between them until he couldn't take it any longer. He broke away from her his heart pounding and gasping for breath. He looked over to the bedroom. "Do you want to do this?" he had asked. He hoped above all hope that she did, but as the words left his lips he could see fear and doubt in her eyes. She detangled herself from his arms and began muttering that things were going too fast.

He reluctantly left that night fearing he had lost his chance at love. He tried contacting her the next day, but was told she checked out of the Palace guest quarters. Later he discovered she returned to the Wild Karrde. He tried contacting her every day for a week until he realized she was avoiding him.

He decided to back off and try to slowly reestablish a platonic friendship, which he did eventually. He was resigned to the fact that friendship was all that could be between them, until she visited him two days ago.

Now he wasn't sure what to believe.


When Mara finally arrived to the Wild Karrde she thought perhaps she could immerse herself in her work and purge her mind of Luke Skywalker. It worked to a degree. She could distract herself temporarily but she couldn't escape the dreams. She had taken to using stim tea in an effort to keep herself awake, but now she was so tired she was making mistakes at work. Talon Karrde became so concerned that he ordered her to her cabin to get some rest. She bristled that the man thought he could send her to her room like he was her father, but she knew he was only concerned for her welfare…so she didn't give him any grief. It helped that she didn't have the energy to make any snarky outbursts. Reluctantly she dragged herself to bed and settled down to sleep.

It felt like only a minute or two before she realized she was in another dream and not a good one. She was in some type of underground cavern fighting for her life. She was using her lightsaber to deflect heavy blaster fire from what looked like sentinel droids. Her saber was a blur of movement as she twisted and turned to keep herself alive. She was immersed deeply in the Force so all she could sense were the blasters, her lightsaber…and Luke.

In her dream she took a sharp breath as she realized she could sense Luke's presence as clearly as she could sense her own thoughts. She could feel his back pressed against hers and the movement of his muscles as he desperately fought to keep them alive. They were so immersed with the Force that their minds had melded together until they were one. She could see Luke's thoughts and feel his grim determination to save her…but there was so much more. She knew Luke Skywalker…she knew every detail about him. She knew his happiest and his saddest moments of life, his strengths and his weaknesses and his greatest wishes and fears. She saw Luke Skywalker the man and she realized that he knew her. He knew all of her deep dark secrets, her fears, all she had done in her past and he knew her most intimate desires.

She thought this would be a humiliating experience, but she found it elating. Luke's Force essences flowed and swirled with hers, binding the two together, now and forever. It was the most intimate encounter she had ever experienced. Luke and Mara had become one and she never wanted to be apart from him ever. She wanted him with a burning passion. She wanted him more than she wanted anything in her life.

"Oh kriff!" she gasped as she woke up. Sitting up in bed she took a few deep breaths as she tried to calm her wildly beating heart. The lingering memory of the bond they shared made her shiver. She could still feel his masculine Force presence enveloping her and caressing her soul. She held out her hand in front of her and noticed her body was trembling as if she had touched a live wire...or was it the nervous anticipation of a lover's touch.

She flopped back down in her bunk and stared at the ceiling. For the last week her dreams of the Jedi master had become more sensual and erotic… and agonizingly detailed. In the dreams she could feel his body move against hers, she could smell the faint hint of his cologne, and hear him whispering in her ear sweet words of devotion.

She didn't think she could experience a dream more intimate than the carnal images that recently plagued her sleep…until tonight. Instead of dreaming of a physical closeness, she dreamt of a deep emotional and mental bond that she never thought possible.

She rolled over to her side and readjusted her pillow. She tried to fall back to sleep, but it looked like this was going to be another sleepless night.

"Damn Skywalker!"