Author Note: I want to thank my readers for being so patient with me. I have been dealing with a lot of family problems. It is extremely difficult having to deal with alcoholic family member...and that is what I have been doing for the last couple months. Don't drink kids! That's my public service announcement for the day. I hope to have this story wrapped up soon. If you were looking for a lot of action, I'm sorry. I write love stories. Now I just have to get Luke and Mara to consummate their love. ;)

My spell check keeps telling me Moustache is spelled Mustache. I guess there is a difference between the American and British spelling and I have been spelling it the British way according to my computer. So I kept it the way I usually spell it because I have never wrote it the other way and when I do it looks wrong.

Thanks everybody who is reading and a special thanks to the people who leave the reviews. Without you guys I probably would have left this story unfinished.

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Chapter 21

The next two weeks were probably the best Luke had experienced in a very long time. Although it was somewhat irritating that he was confined to a medical facility for up to a month, he couldn't complain about his company. Mara Jade was a pleasure to be around. In fact, he couldn't think of anybody he would rather be with.

He was extremely happy when she asked him to train her in the ways of the Force. It was slow going at first. Her belief that Emperor Palpatine was the source of her Force powers hindered her training. When she finally was able to make a small object move, her faith was restored and her training progressed quickly.

Luke wasn't the only one acting as an instructor. Mara somehow convinced him he needed to learn how to dance. They would use the audio portion of the holoprojector to play classical music as Mara walked him through the steps of a Corsucanti waltz. He must admit, he didn't need much convincing. He looked for any excuse to hold the beautiful redhead in his embrace. For some reason when she was near him he felt whole…like they were meant to be together. He never was one to believe in soulmates, but if there was such a thing…Mara Jade was his.

Currently he had his sexy roommate in his arms as they swayed to the sound of a soft melody. He leaned in and kissed her neck, which resulted in a soft giggle. Mara pulled away and gave him a smirk. "If we are going to continue dancing like this we are going to have to trim that prickly brush you call a beard."

Luke ran a hand over his now fully grown beard and frowned. "I thought you said it made me look dignified."

She put her hands on her hips and looked at him defiantly. "You were dignified a week ago. Now you are approaching Wookiee status." Her face softened as she moved closer, running a hand over his facial hair. "I'm not asking you to shave it all off…just trim it so you don't look like some hermit."

Luke leaned in and kissed her on the lips. "Okay, but I've never had a beard or moustache before. I'm not sure what style would look good on me."

She walked over to a small table next to their beds and picked up a datapad. "We can look it up on the Holonet." She activated the onscreen keypad and typed in 'beard and moustache styles'. She took Luke's hand in hers and led him to a small couch provided to them earlier that week. Luke sat down next to Mara and shifted closer to her until he could feel the heat of her body pressed against his."Look at this." She held out the datapad for him to review. "This holosite shows various facial hairstyles."

Luke took the proffered device and scrolled through the different beard types. "I want a style that says I am a wise Jedi Master, but also young at heart." He grinned at Mara and held out the datapad. "How about this?"

Mara gazed at the model on the screen. The man was clean-shaven with the exception of a moustache that went across his upper lip and then dipped down to the sides slightly. Mara made a face and shook her head. "No, that style screams 'I'm a skinholo star!'"

Luke gazed at the image with a frown. "Really? Kyp has that moustache style." He turned to Mara and gave her a wink. "Maybe that is why he is always getting the girls."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know who Kyp is, but I'm sure that's not it."

He chuckled. "Fine how about this style." He showed her a man with a thin, neatly trimmed moustache and a beard that was narrow as a ribbon and followed the contours of the bottom jaw.

Mara laughed. "Really Luke? You want something that looks like a hairy chinstrap." She shook her head. "I am fairly sure you have to own a strip club to make that look work."

"Okay." Luke found another style and passed the datapad to Mara.

She handed it back immediately. "Now you're just trying to irritate me. A chin curtain? You really want a cleanly shaven face but have a neck beard? I am fairly certain only Tartarian holy zealots wear their beards that way."

Luke had trouble keeping a straight face and purposely picked another facial hairstyle that he would never actually consider. "How about this?" The holo was of a male model with a cleanly shaven face except for a small patch of hair under the lower lip.

She frowned. "We used to call that a dork tuft back in my day."

"How about a goatee?"

She made a face. "You don't want to know what women think of goatees."

"Okay, then you find a good look." He handed her the datapad. She flicked through a number of pages before she came to a style she liked. "Here. It is basically your beard but clipped down." She reached out and tugged on his facial hair. "Just trim what you've got."

He leaned in and kissed her gently. "Anything for you, My Love." After expressing that particular term of endearment he began to panic. He meant to be playful, but saying 'my love' might be misconstrued as a very premature declaration of love. He didn't want to look desperate and scare her away. He waited for Mara's reaction, but none came. She simply smiled and stood. "Good, I'll get something to cut your hair." She moved to the 'fresher and rummaged around for a moment before returning with some scissors. She sat next to Luke and reached forward and started trimming. After a minute or two of silence she raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I felt your panic in the Force." She moved closer to him and kissed his cheek. "I think My Love is a nice pet name."

Luke blushed. "I didn't want you to think I was rushing things."

She continued cutting his beard. "I didn't think that. We're just getting comfortable around each other. Don't worry. I don't expect you to declare your undying love for me after knowing each other for a little over a month."

"Thank you," Luke said with a warm smile.

She grinned. "It's okay if you declare your undying lust."

He snaked an arm around her waist careful not to jostle the scissors. "That I can do." He took the sheers out of her hand and pulled her onto his lap. "Come here. I have a lot to declare."

An hour later Luke gazed at his image in the mirror and smiled. Mara was right; it did look much better trimmed. He exited the 'fresher and found her sitting on the couch viewing a celebrity gossip show. In the past couple weeks it had been quite entertaining to see Jacen flustered when ambushed by reporters. So far he gave one press conference on the front steps of the temple. He told the reporters in advance he was not going to answer any questions about his or the Grand Master's personal life. He only wished to discuss the mission to Darten Six and the Grand Master's recovery.

Luke really wished he had recorded that interview. The first question was, "Is the Grand Master now dating?" Jacen firmly reinstated the rules of the press conference. The second question was, "There's a rumor that Miss Angola Lee, the holostarlet, is pregnant with the Grand Master's child. Can you confirm or deny this?"

Jacen shook his head. "Does anybody have any questions involving the mission to Darten Six?"

"Who was the woman who accompanied you to Darten Six?"

Jacen took a deep breath and let it out before answering. "I am not at liberty to disclose her name at this time, but I can say she did accompany the Grand Master and I as an navigator and slicer."

"Is she a Jedi?"

"No, she's not a Jedi."

At that point the questions once again focused on a possible blossoming romance between Luke and Mara. Jacen quickly ended the press conference saying he would send out an official press release via the holonet. That was a week ago. Jacen now appeared to be laying low and avoiding the media frenzy.

Luke sat down next to Mara and put an arm around her shoulder. "Have you seen my nephew yet?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Not yet. It appears a senator was caught cheating on his wife with two twi'lek dancers. A holostar was arrested for driving a speeder while under the influence of death sticks. They just showed a very unflattering mug shot of him. No Jacen yet."

Suddenly the image of Luke appeared on the holoprojector. A scantily clad, blue-haired and red-skinned Zeltron moved in front of the image of the Jedi Master while smiling smugly. "Hello everyone, today we have some exclusive holovid footage that can only be seen here on Celebrity In-depth. Although Jedi Solo has made a pronounced effort to downplay the role of the mysterious redheaded woman who accompanied him and the Grand Master to Darten Six, we now have shocking video footage proving once and for all that she is more than a slicer and navigator to the Jedi Master."

The scene changed and Luke sat up in his chair slackjawed as he stared at the projected image. There, floating above the projector, was a grainy holo of him and Mara lying in his bed within the isolation unit. They were clothed, but in an ardent embrace and kissing passionately.

"Kriff! That's holovid footage from the cameras monitoring this room!" Mara gasped and turned to Luke. "I thought the staff had signed nondisclosure agreements and had a legal duty to maintain patient confidentiality?"

"They do." Luke's jaw tightened as he gritted his teeth seething.

"As you can see the Jedi Master has obviously thrown his non-attachment vows out the window and is very much romantically involved with the woman who accompanied him on the mission to Darten Six."

Luke stood and identified all the monitoring holocams in the room. He reached his arms out and with the Force crushed all four cameras simultaneously. He then turned to the side room where the medical droid was located. "Two-One Bee! Get your metal ass out here, NOW!"

The droid shuffled out of the side room "Yes Master Skywalker. Is there a problem?"

Luke pointed to the holoprojector that continued to show security holovideo of Luke and Mara. "Yes there is a problem! Somebody in this facility leaked out security vids of Mara and me! I want to speak to Doctor Minsk right now!"

The droid backed up a step. "Doctor Minsk's shift ended an hour ago. I will contact the intern on duty."

Luke was fuming. "You will call Doctor Minsk right now or I will shatter those transparisteel windows and walk out of here."

The droid looked to the windows and back to Luke. "Those windows can withstand twenty-nine thousand kilograms per centimeter. I highly doubt you can…"

The shaking of the window cut off the droid. Luke probably could shatter the window with little effort, but he wanted to make a point, not cause tens of thousands of credits worth of damage. He glared at the droid. "I assure you, I can do what I claim."

The droid turned and ran into the side room. "I will inform Doctor Minsk immediately, Master Skywalker!"

Luke turned to Mara, his hands balled into fists. "We're getting out of here. Either they discharge us outright or rig up an isolation room in the temple infirmary."

Mara moved to Luke and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry. This has to be upsetting for you as a Grand Master…I never wanted to cause you embarrassment."

Luke stepped back and looked at her perplexed. "That's not the reason I'm upset. This is a total invasion of our privacy, but I'm not embarrassed to be seen kissing you." A slow smirk crossed his face. "I hope to be doing it publicly and privately in the future."

She smiled and raised an eyebrow. "It's a good thing our romantic encounters never got out of hand."

Luke chuckled. "I'll say. I don't want to star in an amateur skinholo."

Mara looked up at the destroyed security holocams. "I guess it's safe to kiss now." She moved closer to him and ran a hand down the front of his tunic.

He was still upset, but Mara had a calming effect on him. He lifted her palm to his lips. "I can't wait until we are out of here and have some real privacy." He stepped closer and pressed his lips to the sensitive curve between her neck and shoulder.

Mara shuddered in his arms. "Oh really, what are we going to do when we have privacy?" Her voice was low and husky with desire.

Luke pulled back and grinned. "Anything you want My Love. Anything at all."