2
"Okay Jade. Who busted you out of the Carbonite and why?" Han stirred Mara to the sabacc table and stared her straight in the eye. "And be straight with me."
Mara nodded, understanding why Han was so suspicious. He didn't want to see his brother in law get in trouble and neither did she. "They were these men in cloaked robes. They wanted me to help them resurrect the Emperor."
"What!" Han sat straight up.
Mara nodded. "I know. That was my reaction too. They told me that they needed a subject of the Emperor with Jedi powers to resurrect him. I told them they had the wrong person and pushed my way out of there. I of course went to the apartment because I wanted to see my son and daughter and maybe even a peak at Luke. Then I was going to leave Coruscant all together. I can't let Luke see me because he won't let me go and it'll be assumed that he was the one that released me."
"With good cause. The kid made thousands of attempts before," Han sighed. "Listen Mara…why don't you stay here for a couple of days. Rest up and think about where you're going to go from here and how you're going to avoid those cloaked goons. By the way…do you know what they called themselves?"
"Sorry. I can't help you there. The only thing I know is that they wear these cloaks, they're not very tall, and they're creepy."
"Ok. Listen…I know you miss Luke. If you like…I can arrange for him to be here. I'm sure he already knows you're free and everything. You might as well see him."
"Han no! I can't!"
"Mara, the kid has a right to a good-bye from you. He deserves closure…something he never got from that Callista."
"But he'll want to talk me out of leaving Han. Plus…it'll be too painful for us both. Gods, I still love him now as much as I did when we married. There's no way I'll be able to lay eyes on him again and let go. Seeing our children was enough. It'll have to be."
"Uncle Han!" A young voice called out. Mara's eyes widened as Ben walked into the ship. "There you are. Aunt Leia called and asked me to come over and get you. Oh I'm sorry I didn't know you had company."
"Oh no, don't be sorry kid Jr. We're just wrapping up here. Come tell me what's going on?"
"Something about the NRI wanting to talk to you…" Ben's attention was still drawn to the beautiful stranger talking to his uncle. "Do I know you from somewhere? I could have sworn we've met before."
"Oh no. We never met," Mara stammered getting to her feet. Her son was too smart for his own good. It was time she left.
"My name is Ben Skywalker," He held out his hand and smiled. Gods he even had Luke's smile.
"Oh yes, Luke Skywalker's son. You look just like your father."
"You know him?"
"Oh no. I've just seen holovids of him. Well it was nice meeting you Ben but I really do have to go. Han…thank you."
"Don't be a stranger," Han waved as Mara dunked out of the ship, just to run right into Leia and Luke.