By JediGirl
CATAGORY: New Republic
SPOILERS: Tim Zahn's Hand of Thraw duology
RATING: R
SETTING: Those missing chapters that Mr. Zahn forgot to write in Visions of the Future. Luke and Mara have just taken off from Nirauan and heading out to meet up with Leia, Han and Karrde. This is my version of what happened between Luke and Mara during those days alone on their "borrowed" Chiss ship. And of course how the "family" hears about the pending nuptials.
DISCLAIMER As always, these charcters do not belong to me. They belong to wonderful people such as Mr. George Lucas and Mr. Timothy Zahn, among others. They inspire me to make up my own tales and share them with others....just for pure enjoyment. There is more to life than just money :)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: A huge big THANK YOU to my wonderful beta reader,
Michele. This story would never have happened without her. She completely
inspired me and helped to make it as good as it could be. Plus, if it wasn't
for her, the "challenge" would never had happened
-----------------------------------
CHAPTER 9
"He suspects something," Mara said pushing herself away from the comm station.
"What makes you say that?" Luke asked as he crossed his arms over his
chest and
leaned on the desk.
"I don't know," Mara said looking at the now blank screen. "I just know he does.
"That comment you made about being paid didn't help either," she said
looking at him
darkly.
"Sorry," Luke said, with a smirk. "I couldn't help myself."
"Boy, bed a Jedi Master and all his self-control goes right out the
window," she teased
as she got out of the desk chair.
Luke's expression quickly changed to serious. A sense of nervousness
flowed through
his body once again. His thoughts turned back to what had transpired
in the bedroom
only a short while ago and how he had lost control there.
Mara picked up on the mood shift instantly and moved to stand in front
of him. She
wrapped her arms warmly around his waist. "Hey, I was kidding," she
said and
brushed his chin with her nose to bring him back from his thoughts.
Luke let out a breath and gave her a small smile. "I know, but it is
the truth," he said
in a serious tone. "I lost control back there in the bedroom, that
should never have
happened. I'm a Jedi, I should have..." he trailed off, lost for words.
Mara could sense the nervousness swelling inside him. His emotions were
starting to
swirl into complete confusion. What had happened in that bedroom was
definitely not
something that Luke Skywalker did on a regular basis. In fact it probably
had never
happened to him before. It was up to her to quell these thoughts and
emotions.
"What?" she said sternly. "Luke, what happened back there had nothing
to do with
you being an 'All Mighty Jedi Master'. It had nothing to do with the
Force at all. It was
about US and our bodies and our needs. It was nature. Completely natural
for two
people."
Luke closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath. His body shook
a bit as he
released it. "I could have hurt you," he said quietly.
"You didn't," Mara replied simply. She softly brushed her lips across
his. She felt a
quiver run through his body and his muscles tightened. "And I know
you never
would," she continued, sending warm thoughts of love about him.
"Luke," she said very quietly. "You are a kind," she kissed his chin, "caring," she
kissed his nose." and compassionate man." She kissed his lips again.
"And I have no
fear of being with you, in 'any' way."
His body relaxed as he wrapped himself in Mara's warmth. "Thank you...again."
he
whispered and leaned in to return her kisses.
Mara pulled away slowly and looked into his sparkling blue eyes. "No.
Thank you,"
she said with a broad smile, "for everything. Including what took place
back there. It
was pretty amazing."
Luke's cheeks blushed a bright red. He couldn't think of any reply so
he just gave
her an embarrassed smile. His expression made her laugh.
"Ok farmboy," she said in a lighthearted voice as she pulled herself
away from him.
"Enough of this talk. You have to call and check in with your 'big
sister' and then we
have to get ourselves off this rock. I would like to get to Bothawui
as soon as possible."
"And why is that?" Luke asked as he seated himself at the comm station.
"So we can break this damn news and get on with our lives," she said
happily as she
walked across the room. "I'm going to pack up a few things for the
trip. Tell Sis I said
'Hi'"
"Don't forget to pack the straight edge!" he called in reply.
-----------------------------
Luke turned back to the comm terminal and proceeded to place his call
to Leia. It took
him a bit of time, but he finally got connected to Leia. He may have
been the brother
of the High Counselor, and pretty high on the New Republic social ladder
to boot, but
he still had to go through 'channels' to get his call through. He must
have spoken
with about a half dozen comm technicians before one of them successfully
located
Leia.
"Hi Leia," Luke said cheerfully as the image of his sister finally appeared
on the
comm screen.
"Don't 'Hi Leia' me!" she said with a tightness in her voice. "Where
are you? Where
have you been? Why didn't you tell me where you were going? Did you
find Mara, is
she ok? How quickly can you get here?" she shot off the questions rapidly
without
even taking a breath.
"Whoa, whoa!" Luke said, putting his hands up to physically block Leia's
attack of
questions. "Slow down, one question at a time."
Leia seated herself at a chair in front of the terminal. Her stern look
softened a bit
but she didn't apologize for her burst of questions. She didn't repeat
any of them
either, knowing that her brother more than certainly caught each one
and could
remember them on command. She gave him a look that told him to continue.
Luke took a deep breath and proceeded to answer each of his sister's
questions. "I'm at
one of Karrde's bases near the Outer Rim. I'm sorry I didn't call you
before I left, but
it was a completely last minute situation," he told her. "Karrde asked
for my help--
you obviously know why. I asked him to tell you where I went." He tried
to keep his
voice as calm and collected as possible. He had no desire to rile his
sister, there would
be plenty of time for that later.
Leia's eyes hardened a bit. "He told me," she said. "However, I would
have preferred to
have heard it from you."
A quick retort formed itself in Luke's mind, *you're not my mother!*
But he pushed
it down and took a deep, calming breath and continued without responding
to her last
comment. "I can't tell you right now where I was," he said. "We will
talk about it
later." The strength in his voice told Leia not to press the subject.
Not being particularly happy with being put off, Leia kept herself calm.
"And Mara?"
she asked.
A small smile tugged at the corner of Luke's lips. "Yes," he said as
the thought of Mara
warmed him. "I found her, and she's fine, absolutely fine." He could
feel his cheeks
redden a bit as memories of the past few days came to mind. He hoped
Leia wouldn't
notice over the comm screen.
But she was his sister, his twin sister, and she knew him well. She
had noticed his
expression and the slight flush that touched his cheeks. Suddenly all
the annoyance
that she had built up over the past few weeks in regard to his disappearance
melted
away. She found herself contemplating the look on Luke's face. *Now
what is that all
about?* she asked herself. She allowed her features to soften completely
now. There
was something going on, and she wasn't going to find out anything if
she gave him
the "hard-nosed princess" attitude.
"Good," she replied warmly. "I was worried," which she truly was. "I
consider Mara a
friend you know."
"I'm glad to hear that..." Luke said, but trailed off and just stared at her.
There was a few seconds of silence as each waited for the other to say
something. Leia
was the first to speak. "So, how long will it take you to get to Bothawui?"
she asked, as
something told her it was best to change the subject of conversation.
"Several days at least," he told her. "We will be leaving shortly. Karrde
is eager to talk
with Mara about something important."
"Ah yes, he does indeed," Leia said with a twinkle in her eye. "Well,
I guess that will
have to do."
"You know what Karrde is up to?" Luke asked with a bit of surprise in his voice.
Leia's face suddenly lit up brightly. "Oh Luke, there is so much going
on out here,"
she said excitingly leaning forward and coming closer to the comm screen.
"You
should be here. I have SO much to tell you."
Luke could see the excitement dancing in Leia's eyes. Whatever was going
on at
Bothawui, it wasn't as disastrous as he had imagined. In fact
it seemed to be the
complete opposite. Maybe they had found themselves their own copy of
the Camaas
Document? "I'll do my best," he told her as his eyes searched hers
for some hint of
what was the cause of her excitement. "I have a lot to talk with you
about too," he
added as an afterthought.
"You do?" Leia asked, now it being her turn to act surprised. There
was something in
his tone that told her that whatever it was, it was pretty important.
"What is it?" she
asked.
"It can wait until I see you in person," he told her with a warm smile.
"Luke?" Mara called from the bedroom. "Do you-"
"One second Mara," Luke called, cutting off the rest of her question.
He turned back to
the comm screen to see Leia staring at him a bit wide-eyed.
"Did she just call you 'Luke'?" Leia asked him.
"That is my name," he replied with a raise of an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know..." she responded but trailed off. Leia blinked her eyes
a couple of
times and tried to clear her mind as it started to ponder *what exactly
is going on?*
She took a deep breath and smiled back at Luke. "Well, hurry on your
way. I miss
you."
Luke returned her smile. "I miss you too Leia. I'll see you soon."
--------------------------------
Mara walked out of the bedroom with a small pack and plopped it on a
nearby couch.
"Sorry," she said. "I didn't realize you were still talking with Leia."
"That's ok," he said, his voice a bit distant.
Mara noticed he had a puzzled look on his face. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"You called me 'Luke'" he said.
"It is your name, isn't it?" she asked with a wry grin.
Luke chuckled quietly and rubbed his hand across chin. "Yeah, that's
what I told
Leia," he said as he smiled at her.
Now it was Mara's turn to look puzzled. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Leia commented that you called me 'Luke'," he told her.
"Yeah, so?"
"You usually call me 'Skywalker'," he explained. "Leia picked up on it instantly."
"Ooops!" she said bringing her hand up to her mouth. "I hadn't even noticed."
"Neither did I. Guess it just became kind of natural."
"Yeah, I guess it did," Mara responded as she tried to think back to
when she made the
switch. "Well, I guess you can just think of it as payback for that
'payment' comment
you made to Karrde."
"Ha, Ha!" Luke commented as he rolled his eyes at her.
------------------------------
Han Solo entered the sitting room of the suite he was sharing with Leia
on the New
Republic flagship, Home One, which had arrived two days prior. "Was
that Luke?" he
asked his wife.
Leia was staring at the blank comm screen and didn't even notice Han
walk in. His
question pulled her from her thoughts. "What? Oh! Yeah, it was," she
responded a bit
startled.
"Leia? Is everything ok?" He asked her with concern in his voice.
Her eyes glossed over as she once again started replaying the conversation
with her
brother over in her mind.
"Leia?!"
"Huh? Oh, yes. Everything is fine," she responded coming back to the
present. "I
think," she said as her brow knitted together.
"What is that suppose to mean?" he asked her, annoyance starting to
edge into his
voice now. "Did he find Mara? Are they ok?"
Leia rose from the comm station and walked over to her flustered husband.
She gave
him a quick hug. "Yes, and yes," she said to him sweetly. "Now, enough
questions. I
have to get back to my meeting."
"Whatever!" he said throwing up his hands in surrender and shaking his head.
Leia headed for the exit as she gathered up a few data cards on a side
table. "Hey!" Han
shouted as she opened the door. "When is he going to get here?"
"Not for several days," she told him and shut the door behind her.
"Great!" he said aloud to himself. "Several days with only Goldenrod
to entertain me."
He continued to grumble to himself as he flopped down on a nearby couch.
------------------------------