Chapter Four:

"Would you like to stop by your place first?" Luke asked as they exited the gym.

"No, I'm fine, thank you." Mara answered.

"Alright. Why don't we stop by the market and grab some produce?" Luke gestured to the walkway.

"Are you going to carry that duffel around everywhere we go?" Mara inquired, uneasy with the stares drawn his way.

"Oh, yeah." Luke shrugged. "Well, we can go shopping tomorrow then, after morning class. I do have a few things we can make at my place."

"Sounds fine." Mara said, then did a double take. "Tomorrow?"

Luke glanced at her. "If you want to learn to cook, it's going to take more than one night, Mara."

She saw his point. "Alright. How do you want to work in the cooking lessons then?"

Luke pursed his lips. "We could alternate lunch and dinner?" he suggested.

Mara gave him a sideways look. "How often are we talking?"

"Um… I guess we should see how you take to the first night." Luke said sheepishly. "And if you want to continue after that, we can."

Mara found his embarrassment amusing, and allowed it to show. "You're fun to tease Skywalker, you know that?"

He shrugged. "It's just part of my charm." Luke quipped.

Mara laughed. "And oh so humble."

Luke jerked a thumb at his chest. "That's me!"

Mara just shook her head. About ten minutes later, Luke opened his door for her, and Mara walked in. She glanced around the sparse furnishings and even sparser decorum. The sitting room contained a couch, two chairs and a table, while the only decoration was a potted plant in the corner and a few family holos.

Mara did note the only other wall-hanging was a small tapestry of the Tatooine sunset. Mara studied it while Luke went to his office to put his bag away. It was quite a lovely piece, woven with small threads in desert tones. Tatoo I and Tatoo II chased each other over the horizon while the dunes seemed to stretch to the heavens in a vain attempt to touch the stars.

"So, in an effort to gauge your current skills, what can you do in the kitchen?" Luke asked as he came back into the room.

Mara turned from her scrutiny to offer a sardonic smile.

"Well, let's see… I can boil water for caf… pour myself a bowl of cereal… I can get a cup of yogurt from the fridge without killing myself. Other than that… well, actually that's about it."

Luke shook his head. "Mara Jade; all those skills and you never learned your way around a kitchen?"

Mara placed her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry, but there were more important things on my mind than food all those years ago."

"How is food not essential to survival?" Luke asked incredulously.

"Says the man who lives off of ration bars on the go?" Mara shot back.

Luke held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, I concede the point, you win."

Mara lifted her chin. "Thank you."

The Jedi chuckled as he walked to the kitchen. "How about we just do something simple for tonight, since it's so late?"

"That sounds like a great plan." Mara agreed.

"Right." Luke said, looking through his cupboards. "How does biscuits and gravy sound? With a side of nausages?" he shot her a teasing look. "Maybe some scrambled eggs?"

Mara swatted him, which only served to yet again make him laugh.

"Keep it up, Skywalker." Mara warned. "Just remember who teaches class in the morning."

"Alright." Luke settled down and pulled out the supplies. "Okay, this one's really easy. You make the biscuits, and I will grill the nausages and make the eggs."

Mara looked dubiously at the box. "Are you sure about this? We could both end up in the med ward if you let me make food."

Luke gave her a look. "Mara, that's what we're here for, remember?"

"I'm having second thoughts now that the food is in front of me…" Mara confessed.

"Well, do you plan to eat tonight?" Luke asked.

Mara glared at him. "I can grab take-out on my way home." she huffed indignantly.

Luke shook his head adamantly. "Oh, no you don't. We will make a cook out of you yet, Jade. Besides there's no way I'm going to let you bow out before you at least try."

Mara sighed. "Fine."

Luke stood beside her as she read the box. He offered her the measuring cups and she scooped out the required powder, collected the necessary water, and then found two eggs.

"Um… how does one crack an egg without getting the shell in the batter?" Mara asked skeptically.

Luke took one of the eggs from her. "Like this. Gently hit it against the edge of the bowl, or the counter until a crack appears. Then you hold it over the bowl and carefully pull the edges apart, and drop the yolk and whites in."

He demonstrated, and then stepped aside to allow her to do it. Mara took the egg like it would shatter at her very touch. Luke did his best to keep a straight face at this new side of Mara Jade he'd never seen. He felt privileged in the next breath to be one of the few people who would probably ever see her like this.

Mara hit the egg twice before it looked split enough to open like Luke did. She held the egg over the bowl and pried the shell apart. Somehow it ended up crushing in her hand, and before she knew it, egg yolk and shell fragments were running through her fingers.

"Ah poodoo!" Mara cursed. "Now we'll have to start over!"

Luke placed a hand on her arm. "Not so fast. We can pick the shell pieces out."

Mara offered a strained look, but followed his lead in searching out the hard shells from the batter.

"There, see, disaster averted." Luke told her once they finished. "Now mix it all up."

Mara did as he said, and soon she had a sticky mass of batter in the bowl.

"Is this what it's supposed to look like?" she asked suspiciously.

Luke nodded, bringing over a baking pan. "Yes, these are called drop biscuits, my favorite for this recipe and by far the easiest to make."

"Oh. So what's the next step?"

Luke indicated the pan in his grasp. "Get your hands dirty!"

"What?"

"Go on; use your hands to drop medium balls of dough in a line on this pan. It'll be fun, trust me." Luke encouraged.

Mara was beginning to wonder if her friend had a screw loose, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Halfway through, Mara had to admit that getting her hands messy in the dough was a lot of fun.

Who'd have thought? She asked herself.

Luke placed a few nausages in a pan while she worked, and turned in time to see her looking at her hands in wonder. Luke saw the mischievous glint in her eye, and felt his heart flutter. Then she met his eyes.

"Um…" Mara blushed, dropping her gaze. "I need to wash up."

Mara quickly washed the excess dough from her hands, and grabbed a nearby towel. "So what now?"

"Would you mind putting the biscuits in the oven?" Luke asked as he turned the meat. "We need to start the gravy."

Mara placed the pan in the oven and set the timer according to the box directions, feeling a surge of pride.

Wait until they come out un-burnt to celebrate, Jade. She reminded herself.

"Would you like to help with the gravy now?" Luke asked as he took the nausages from the pan.

"Show me how."

Luke did show her how to make gravy, and Mara realized at one point in the process how close they were standing, but Luke didn't seem to notice as he instructed her. Mara swallowed, wondering why she wasn't freaking out about his close proximity like usual.

Finally the gravy was prepared, and Luke brought out a few more eggs.

"Time for some more practice." he grinned.

Mara groaned. "Do you really feel like picking out eggshells again?"

Luke shrugged. "It wasn't all that bad. Come on, the more you do it the easier it will become."

Mara knew she wasn't going to win this so she took her own advice from that morning and just went with it. To her delight, only one egg crushed in her grasp, but she managed to contain the shell fragments.

"There, you see?" Luke applauded. "You can do anything you set your mind to."

Mara looked into his eyes, wondering how she was so lucky to have such a friend as Luke.

She was saved an awkward moment when the oven signaled that their bread was finished. Mara found the oven mitt and took the finished product out. A smile split her face to find perfectly golden brown biscuits staring back at her.

"Those look amazing!" Luke said over her shoulder. "Everything's all set. Let's eat, shall we?"

Mara's stomach rumbled loudly in agreement, much to her chagrin.

"Right. Let's go."

They sat at Luke's small table, and delved eagerly into the home-cooked meal. Mara felt strangely comfortable as she tasted her creation.

No, not just mine: Luke and I made this. She admitted.

She quickly ate her fill, and Luke offered her the leftovers to take home.

"Mmm." Mara agreed. "I won't pass that up."

Luke smiled. "I'll get it all boxed up then."

As Luke took the food to the kitchen, Mara cleared the table, and started washing their dishes. Luke set the contained food aside and helped.

"So, how did you like cooking?" he asked curiously.

"Actually, it was quite enjoyable. Fun even." Mara allowed. "I never knew what I was missing. I will never take a home-cooked meal for granted again."

"Would you like to do this again?" he asked hopefully.

Mara did not miss his eagerness.

"What do you have planned to cook for tomorrow?" she asked.

"Ah, you'll have to wait and see. I have a special dish in mind, but we will need to go to the market for the supplies." Luke told her. "So what do you say?"

Mara bit her lip. More home cooked meals sounded wonderful, and if Luke could cook like this and have it rub off on her, wouldn't she be a fool to deny that?

"Alright, I'm in." she decided.

They finished the dishes, and Luke handed her the food.

"Thank you for tonight." Luke said quietly. "I had a lot of fun."

Mara smiled warmly. "So did I."

Luke found his heart lifting at this rare open smile from the redhead.

Stars she's even more beautiful when she smiles! Luke thought.

"Good night, Luke." Mara said as she walked out the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Good night, Mara."