Note from Jade: Whee on being able to say that! We tweaked and retweaked, wanted things to come out just right, for Luke/Mara. Things are certainly deeper between them, if not at the steam-inducing point yet.
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Leia smiled and closed her 'padd as their ship jumped to hyperspace. "It's so nice to have that situation resolved." She commented. "I just got a message from Mon Mothma thanking all of us for all of our hard work in resolving what could have been a diplomatic catastrophe."
Han rolled his eyes. "That's putting it mildly."
He glanced across at Luke and Mara who were scrupulously avoiding one another's glances.
He leaned close and whispered to Leia: "Those two are avoiding each other like the worst case of the Krytos Plague."
Leia whispered back: "I've noticed. Frankly, I thought it would be otherwise. She never left his medbay room, and before this mission they were always together. Luke certainly never made a secret of his feelings about Mara."
Leia had picked up on Mara's concern for Luke after his confrontation with "Elan". She had thought things would be cozier and kind of warm/cuddly between them, but the opposite seemed to be occurring.
Han answered: "She never blatantly encouraged or discouraged him. Now, she's freezing him out totally."
Leia wondered if she should broach the subject to either one of them, and shrugged. If they wanted to talk to her, in a confiding sort of way, she'd be open ... but she herself wouldn't meddle.
Han gazed over at Luke and Mara thoughtfully. Mara was a beautiful and outspoken woman, and he'd long since concluded that if anyone could smooth out Luke's rougher edges, she'd be the right lady for it.
Luke certainly had never made a secret of his attraction; now it looked like he'd rather be 5 sectors away than in the same breathing space.
Han - in contrast to Leia - decided to thaw things a bit. "Well," He said to Luke, "Nothing like a little adventure followed by a close call to impress a lady, don't you think?"
Luke glowered but refrained from commenting.
Mara spoke up: "I would hardly call it that, Solo."
"Hmmm! It certainly pushed your sympathy buttons, Jade."
She avoided his gaze with a pointed "Drop it." expression.
Han caught Leia's: "Why'd you have to say that look?"
He smirked.
Luke and Mara's obvious attraction wasn't the only one going on here.
From the first moment he'd laid eyes upon Leia Organa, he'd been struck by her loveliness and from their first verbal tussle, he'd known that she was the only one who could match his Correllian wit barb for barb, give him as good as he got.
He found that refreshing and quite entertaining.
He certainly wouldn't mind stirring some softer emotions in the lady-although sometimes she struck him as being too focused on the "business at hand."
Even after that unimaginable loss she'd suffered, or maybe because of it, she didn't seem to want to reach out and get too close, to anyone.
Han thought fleetingly that if he were injured and if Leia showed a modicum of interest, he wouldn't follow that up by icy silence. Nope, he knew how to treat a beautiful woman and show her a good time and gratitude besides.
He realized that it wasn't a strange thought after all. For, now that he thought about it, he'd been as absorbed in the sometimes-prickly Leia as much as Luke had in the feisty Mara Jade.
Leia noticed that Han's little nudge had fallen flat with a resounding thud.
She shot him a frustrated look that clearly conveyed he'd made things worse between the other two.
His answering look said "I don't see how it could."
"You have all the tact of a stampeding herd of banthas." Leia commented.
Han laughed. "I'd have guessed you'd find it refreshing after all the boot-licking sycophants you've been exposed to."
"Candor is one thing, tastelessness is something else altogether." She retorted.
He smiled. "Admit it, Leia, I fascinate you."
"Don't flatter yourself." She blushed. Silently, she admitted, he did. Always had ... Han stood out from the other pilots, both in skill and in personality. It infuriated her to no end, but it also lightened her day to snark with him.
.
Mara sat with her arms across her chest, trying to avoid the stare she knew was aimed her way. She and Luke had only spoken when necessary and had not spoken to each other that much. Her heart was a swarm of emotions at the moment. She desperately wanted to talk to him, but he was avoiding her like the plague. Had she done the wrong thing by kissing him? She hated to think she had destroyed any hope of a civil relationship she'd had with him; after all, she was the only one who he was really close to.
Then, Han had to make a snarky comment. It had struck a nerve because her concern and affection for Luke had come to the fore after that incident with the infiltrator, who bore such a weird resemblance to her.
Mara wondered: if she spoke to Luke now, should she try to broach the subject? Or be nonchalant and try to reestablish their former footing?
.
Luke hadn't said more than a few words to Mara since he'd boarded the shuttle. It wasn't that he was angry, he was just baffled, and he knew that if he opened his mouth nothing good would come out. He didn't know how to handle what had happened between them—and he didn't know the proper response. He'd never felt like this before and had never encountered something quite like this.
This was a definite first for the Emperor's Hand.
That one kiss had taken him completely aback—and when she had left his medbay room without a backward glance, he'd been stunned. Normally, he would never let such a small thing get to him. After all, he was known to be quite the player by those who knew him—and he had never done anything to discourage their assumptions. It had been useful.
Now, he wasn't sure what to make of that reputation.
He looked over to Mara, who was doing her best to avoid him as much as he her.
Solo had spoken needlessly, Oh, he knew perfectly well what the ex-smuggler was trying to do. He saw a volatile situation and was trying to diffuse it as one would a bomb. Unfortunately it wouldn't be that easy, and he had made things worse than he had made them better. He had seen Mara shoot the smuggler a look.
When Luke had looked into Mara's eyes, he had seen the depth of her feelings. She had realized them; and that's why she had kissed him without a thought. That was until she'd done a complete roundabout and acted like she couldn't be bothered. He glanced at her again. Now that he examined her expression more closely, she wasn't angry or regretful, simply as confounded and bewildered as he was.
.
They arrived at the rebel base four days later.
The crew disembarked, shouldering their bags and greeting comrades.
Leia excused herself, saying she needed to speak with Mon Mothma amongst others. Han mumbled something about attending to the Falcon and called out to Chewbacca. The enormous Wookie cast a glance at Luke and Mara before lumbering off.
The two were left alone except for maintenance techs.
If the silence between them had been bad before it was even worse now.
"I'm going to go…to my room. I'm dead tired." She'd had to report to the leaders as well, but Leia had said she'd smooth things over and for her to get some rest.
He nodded. "I'll see you for dinner then I guess."
It was the first time they'd spoken to each other willingly since the trip started.
Mara picked up her bag and headed off.
Luke watched her leave, her hair glistening under the lights.
Mara came to a decision. She stopped suddenly, "Luke..."
"Yes?" He said, eyes raised to meet hers. He was a bit wary of what she had to say.
They started heading toward the crew-quarters.
"I don't know what any of this between us means or is leading to ... but I do not regret any of it, except freezing you out, like you had done something wrong, which you didn't."
He stood there for a moment, unsure of what his response should be. Thank you? I'm sorry? What was the proper response to an apology of someone who had kissed you and then withdrawn herself.
None of these seemed right.
He didn't know what to do…and until he had figured out what he did want to do, he couldn't go forward yet.
He decided. "I think we should sleep on this." He said slowly
Mara's face turned red.
"Individually." He amended. "We haven't spoken since the medbay…." He saw her on the verge of refuting this claim. "Not willingly anyway; I'd rather not say anything more until we're thinking clearly." He had a sick feeling as he said this, but he was sure this was the correct response. "This relationship hinges on it…what's more, our job hinges on it."
What are you doing!? His mind seemed to scream.
Mara had gone through the trouble of actually reaching out to him and it was almost like he was shutting her out.
Then again, what was he supposed to do, say no problem let's talk our feelings out. He snorted. If you asked him what was the most painless way to kill a man without arousing suspicion, he could tell you-but as for romance and relationships; he was a complete novice. He was floundering around with these new found feelings and he didn't know which way was up or down. Half of his leeriness probably came from the fact that he knew deep down if he lost Mara-even as a friend, he would not be unaffected.
Mara stopped and gazed at him with puzzlement.
Now who's sending mixed signals? He was practically pouting that whole entire trip back. She rolled her eyes.
"I can't forget it happened." She said bluntly.
"You think I can?" He asked caustically, obviously frustrated.
"Then all we can do is move forward, see what happens. I'm not one for pretending."
That was one thing he liked about her, that had struck him early on.
I could really think this to death, literally, Luke thought. Careful thought was needed, but so was letting things occur as they would, to an extent.
They had arrived at her door.
"OK, starting with dinner tonight," Mara answered, "Let's not force anything. We won't avoid each other or the subject, but we won't press it, either." She wondered fleetingly how they'd know the time was right to talk; she hoped one of them would, and would be able to talk the other one into a frank discussion.
Luke smiled, feeling slightly better. The mood was not as tense as it was, and although their relationship wasn't back to a hundred percent, it would get there. He could tell she wasn't going to give up so easily. He was glad about that. And at least, Mara was not angry, nor their former friendship ravaged.
"All right, Mara. I'll see you then."
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