Luke woke with a start. He had overslept . . . and he had fallen asleep on the children's bed.
The children! he thought suddenly in a panic. Where are . . . ?
He reached out to the Force, and it was with relief that he sensed them in the kitchen with his sister. He left the room and began to head toward them, but he was stopped by his brother-in-law in the living room.
"Get a good night's sleep?" Han asked casually.
Luke looked at the ex-smuggler, feeling his face redden a little in embarrassment. "Yeah."
Han graced him with a lopsided grin. "You're a good storyteller, kid."
Luke flushed. "You heard that?"
"Nice twist you put on things."
Luke shrugged, still feeling a little embarrassed, but then he felt a sense of mischief come over him, and he said: "I was somewhat inspired by what we learned about you around the time of the Dathomir incident."
This time, Han's face gained a little color. Luke was, of course, referring to Han's great-grandfather Korol Solo, who had been a pretender to the throne of Corellia.
Han tried to thrust his slight embarrassment about the incident with his devious ancestor to the back of his mind. He was supposed to be throwing the Kid off, not vice versa. He was Han Solo, former smuggler, current scoundrel. He wouldn't allow himself to be swept aside by some believer in a mystical energy field, even if the said energy field seemed to work most of the time. "It's not too late for you to have kids, you know."
Luke looked like he had been punched in the stomach.
Han Solo allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. He didn't have to use the Force to be able to see right through his brother-in-law. Luke was made to be a father. The ease with which he handled the twins and Anakin attested to that. And the longing glimmer in his eyes was simply proof of his desires for a family of his own.
"Han—" Luke said, sounding pained.
"Luke—" Han returned, not batting an eye. "I know you want to settle down. Leia knows you want to settle down. The whole kriffin' galaxy probably knows you want to settle down." At this last, his eyes moved quickly across the room, making sure there were no young ears present. "It's a wonder that you don't know yourself how much you want to settle down."
"I am settled down," the Jedi protested weakly.
Han gave him a skeptical look. "Even if we were talking in the traditional sense, you're not settled down." He sighed. "You have no permanent home, kid. Sometimes you're on Coruscant, moping around, and other times you're on Yavin, teaching a bunch of Jedi wannabes how to wipe their noses."
It was as if a shutter came down in front of Luke's blue eyes. Jedi were a somewhat sensitive subject with him nowadays. After all, she had left him because she was jealous of his powers and her lack thereof.
Han winced as his brother-in-law retreated further into his shell. That might have been going just a little too far. "Yeah, sure, teaching Jedi is important for the galaxy and all, but sometimes you have to live for yourself. What good's a life if you can't live it?"
The Jedi stared at him.
Han knew that the pain of Callista's departure was still recent. If Han kept pushing, Luke would probably bring it up and then storm off to mope at his apartment. One of the reasons Han and Leia had wanted him to babysit the kids was to bring him out of this state of constant misery. He looked a little better than he had before his babysitting adventure, but what he needed above all was, to put it bluntly, a woman.
Luke Skywalker was a man capable of great love, but it seemed that love always got him burned. It wasn't fair how Luke always seemed to be giving up his happiness for others. If anyone deserved happiness, he did.
"Luke," Han said softly, "she was never the right one for you. She was just your second-best since you thought you couldn't have what you really wanted. You need to be a little more selfish sometimes, kid. You do deserve to have your desires filled."
"What desires?" Luke's voice came in a croak.
Han studied him. For an all-powerful Jedi Master, Han's brother-in-law could be pretty dense sometimes.
"Junior, I'm gonna set you up on a date."
Whatever Luke had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. His jaw dropped. "What?"
Han smirked. Oh, yes, Han Solo could still stun the Jedi Master. He puffed out his chest a little. "A date. You know . . . where you take a lady out and wine her and dine her."
Luke shook his head adamantly. "No."
"Yep," asserted the ex-smuggler, poking the Jedi in the chest with a stiff finger. "You're going on a date, kid."
"Han, I can't—"
"Can't what?" Leia inquired as she entered the living room. She looked back and forth at her husband and her brother, looking somewhat suspicious.
"Oh, he's going on a date with a girl," Han said casually.
"I really don't think—" Luke tried to say, but he was interrupted by Han.
"Too late, Junior. I'm afraid there's a conspiracy against you, and you have no choice but to agree to this." He dropped the volume of his voice. "Now, kid, here's what you've gotta do . . ."
Luke stared down at the bouquet of flowers in his hand. How in space had he been roped into this?
He had been told to buy some Corellian Firelillies, for, as Han said, "They never fail to raise some eyebrows."
Luke hadn't known until he had seen them that Han really was right.
Their pale orange petals seemed to glow with an inner fire, and their centers sparkled beneath the light. There were few flowers more impressive than Corellian Firelillies, which attracted such creatures as Corellian whitemoths for pollination with their internal lights. There was some sort of science behind the light, Luke was certain, but he didn't think that knowing the reason would have made the flowers seem any less impressive.
He pulled the flowers up a little to his chest, resisting the urge to smooth out invisible wrinkles on the light blue top Leia had picked out for him. She had refused to let him wear his traditional black, and he felt somewhat out of sorts.
It didn't help that he was sitting in the living room of Han and Leia's apartment while they stared at him with grins tugging at the corners of their mouths.
"Nervous?" Han asked knowingly.
Luke glared at him. "I don't know why I'm going through with this."
"Aw, come on, kid, you have to admit you're curious as to who's coming over," Han said, eyes twinkling.
"Yes, I'm curious as to who else you conned into this," Luke retorted.
"I'm burned," Han said, bringing a hand up to rest on his heart.
His wife elbowed him and was about to say something when the doorbell rang.
"She's here!" Leia said, jumping up. Han followed her, a grin the size of Endor upon his face.
Luke struggled to see around the two as they went to open the door. He finally gave in and stood, dropping the flowers on the chair and walking up behind them to see who it was.
The woman's identity was revealed as soon as she started talking.
"I still don't know why I had to come here before going to this dinner you were talking ab—" came the clear voice of Mara Jade, which abruptly stopped in sudden realization. "You're not dressed for a formal dinner."
Han and Leia parted, giving Mara a clear view of Luke. Her green eyes narrowed. "But . . . you . . . are . . . ." The inner gears of Mara's mind started turning as she tried to work out the situation. "What . . . ?"
Luke looked at his brother-in-law, unable to miss the grin twitching at the corners of his mouth. Oh, he was enjoying this, was he?
Luke couldn't help but throw a scowl at the scoundrel before he walked over to his chair and retrieved the flowers. He handed them to Mara Jade, trying to keep what was left of his dignity.
She blinked down in confusion at the flowers, and Luke held his arm out. "Do you care to accompany me to dinner?"
The redhead looked at Han, who was still fighting off a mischievous smile. She drew herself up, threw a glare at the former smuggler that would have melted durasteel, and then linked arms with Luke. "I believe I will, Skywalker."
Once they had left the apartment and the door had closed behind them, Mara stopped and turned to Luke. "What in space is going on?"
He looked at her, feeling much of his patience trickle away. It was amazing how his brother-in-law was able to do something very few people in the galaxy could manage: profoundly irritate a Jedi Master. "Han Solo, that's what's going on! He set us up. Leia may have played her part, but I'm sure it was his doing."
"He set us up, did he?" Mara murmured, a malicious glint in her eye. Abruptly, she frowned, "Why?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why would he set us up?"
The Jedi Master shrugged. "It's Han Solo. I learned to stop questioning him years ago."
Mara looked down at the flowers in her arms, softening. "What are these?"
"Corellian Firelillies," answered Luke. He smiled. "Aren't they something?"
She nodded slowly. "Could we . . . go by my apartment and put these in some water?"
"Sure," Luke replied, knowing it wouldn't make sense to carry them around all night.
She didn't say anything else for a while, so he allowed himself to take in her appearance, though he tried to make certain she didn't notice his sideways glances.
She was wearing a shimmering green dress which brought out her emerald-colored eyes. Though the slit was modest, the dress definitely brought out Mara's figure. For the first time, Luke allowed himself to truly think of her as a woman.
He soon found that she had been studying him as well, for she asked with some skepticism: "What? No Jedi blacks?"
"Leia," he responded simply, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
Once they reached her apartment, they deposited the flowers in a vase without ceremony before leaving to go to the restaurant that Luke had chosen before he had known just who his date was going to be. It was one of Coruscant's finest, and when they went inside, Mara looked around and made a low whistle of appreciation.
"I have to admit . . . I'm impressed," she said. "Not the place I would expect to come to with a farmboy from Tatooine."
"You'll find Tatooinian farmboys are full of surprises," Luke returned with a slight grin.
Once they had been escorted to their table and given their menus, Mara surveyed the items before her—all of them rather pricey for a Jedi Master's budget—and then said, "I've been to a lot of Coruscant's fine restaurants, but I can't say that I've frequented this particular establishment. I'm guessing that you have been here before with your sister?"
The slight flush on his face told her all she needed to know.
"Well," she said, "then perhaps you can tell me what's good here?"
His face simply got redder as he murmured, "I usually just get the tomo-spiced karkan ribenes."
With some amusement, Mara thought: You can take the farmboy off the farm . . .
"Well," she said out loud, "I think I'll have the sunfish fillet."
A few minutes later, they had ordered, and they sat in awkward silence. Going out on a date with Luke Skywalker was the last thing she had expected from her night. She probably should have expected something from the way Leia had been avoiding some of her questions, but she certainly hadn't thought that this would be the result of Leia's machinations.
Finally, once they had received their salads, Luke looked up. He murmured something about signing his death warrant and then asked her: "Mara, do you ever think about kids?"
She blinked. "Come again, Skywalker?" Had he said what she thought he said?
"Kids," he said. He was wearing that earnest expression which always seemed to somehow both annoy the fire out of her and melt away her anger at the same time. "You know, settling down and having a family of your own?"
Deflect, deflect, Mara thought frantically. She laughed to ease the tension, but there was a nervous note in it that even she could detect. "I don't think I could see either of us ever 'settling down.'"
"But do you ever just want to have a family?" His blue eyes seemed to stare into her soul, seeking answers.
Mara knew she would have to tread carefully. "I never really had a family, Skywalker, so I don't know much about them." She wanted to leave it there, but she knew it wasn't very fair to him. "But I think just about everyone thinks about having a family sometime."
She almost thought she saw relief pass over his features, though she could have been wrong. Still, he seemed to be doubtful about something. "We've . . . we've been through so much, Mara. Do you think we aren't too jaded for something like that?"
"I don't think you can ever be too jaded for a family, Skywalker. After all, you, despite your 'jadedness,' are able to share your life with your sister's family."
An intense sadness seemed to come over him as he gazed at her. "Who do you share things with, Mara?"
She looked down at her salad, poking it with her fork. "I'm not used to sharing. I'm perfectly fine with it just being me. That's the way I work best."
Luke's left hand—his real hand—reached out across the table to still her right. He covered her hand with his, and she reluctantly brought her eyes up to meet his gaze.
"You don't have to be alone, Mara," he told her softly. "Others are willing to take the load off you, if you'll just let them . . . . I know I'm willing."
He held her gaze for what seemed like an eternity before finally leaning forward and bringing her hand up to his lips. He kissed her knuckles gently and then set her hand back down.
A waiter came up with their meal, but Mara only gave him a brief glance before she found her eyes drawn back to Luke's.
As the waiter put their plates down, Luke mumbled, "Thank you," and Mara continued to stare at him. For some reason, she still felt the ghost sensation of Luke's lips on her skin.
When she was finally able to tear away her gaze, she began to eat her sunfish fillet mechanically. But she found it impossible to savor the taste with her thoughts in such a whirl.
Skywalker. The only man in the galaxy who could throw off her equilibrium without even trying. Sometimes, it seemed like her whole life came down to Skywalker.
She had served the Emperor, and her most important assignment had been to kill Luke Skywalker, a farmboy from a tenth-rate backwater planet. She had failed in her job and thought she might never see him again. But then she had run into him years later, saving his life when she wanted nothing more than to take it.
After that, they had helped each other numerous times, but they had finally drifted apart, each tending to their own responsibilities, her with Karrde's organization, and him with the Jedi. But they still always came back together somehow.
And here he was again, wanting her to confide in him when she was so accustomed to holding everything back.
She sighed quietly, and as she glanced up at him, she wondered what he was thinking about. With some reluctance, she reached out to the Force to touch him.
Mara was surprised at how easily she could read him with the Force despite the barrier he always had in place. It seemed their bond had only grown with time.
She didn't understand how he could be feeling so many different things at the same time, though. He was nervous, scared, doubtful, hopeful, fearful . . . .
Only him, she thought. But there was no irritation in it.
She smiled at him, and when he smiled back, she felt her stomach do flip-flops. It's only Skywalker, she told herself. Shaking her head slightly to brush away her feelings, she cleared her throat and said: "So, would you like to get back at Solo?"
Luke's eyes glinted mischievously. "What did you have in mind?"
The next day, Han was lounging around the house. Winter was taking care of the kids, Leia was at some boring meeting, Chewie was checking on the Falcon, and Han was doing absolutely nothing. It was glorious.
He yawned and stretched; then he yawned and stretched some more.
His comlink beeped.
Cursing at the interruption, Han reached for it. "Solo."
Loud noises which could only be attributed to an upset Wookiee came from the device.
"What is it, Chewie? Chewie, slow down!" Han listened for a moment. Then his face turned pale. "I'll be right down."
He ran out of the apartment like his entire body was in flames, cursing the time he spent waiting on turbolifts. When at last he reached the docking bay, he stared with horror at his ship.
The Aurebesh letters for "M" and "L" were emblazoned in bright red colors on the Millennium Falcon's side, and random splotches of pink polka dots adorned the entire ship's body. He would later find out that the paint would easily wash off with water.
At the time, however, all Han Solo knew was that his beautiful baby was now hideous.
He stood looking at his ship and blinking, unable to form any words. He finally registered his furry companion's presence when Chewbacca clapped his shoulder and pointed toward the ship's outside control panel with a long and unsteady arm.
With a bad feeling, Han walked over to it. He began punching in the passcode, only to stop as something began scrolling across the screen:
Congratulations! What was once an ugly piece of junk is now an even uglier piece of junk. Hopefully, this will drive all ideas of playing matchmaker out of your head the next time. —M and L
Han scowled at the screen, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing. A few moments later, something else popped up.
By the way . . . your new password is HanSoloStinksWithABlaster.
Han punched his ship in frustration, cursing a blue streak. Chewie gave him a warning growl not to deform the ship any more than it already was.
"Blasted Jedi," Han hissed under his breath, surveying the damage once more.
Still, a moment later, he couldn't help but shake his head and grin. Maybe he did have it coming to him.
"Did you see his face?" Luke asked with a laugh. "That was worth every minute of it!" He and Mara had been hiding in the docking bay, and it had been all they could do to contain their chuckles while they scurried away to escape Han's wrath.
The redhead's eyes danced. "I didn't know you had a prank like that in you, farmboy!"
"Farmboys and surprises, we go together."
"Uh huh."
"Want to go eat lunch?"
Mara raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What?"
"Lunch. You know . . . one of those things called 'meals' where you ingest something so that you have energy to pull even more pranks."
She swatted at him. "You think you're soo funny, farmboy."
He put on his best hurt look. "You don't think so?"
She pursed her lips in mock-thought. "Funny-looking, maybe."
"What?"
"Just kidding. Stars, you need to lighten up."
Luke stopped walking, and when she paused and turned to look at him, he stared into her eyes. He felt a brave streak flare up inside him, and he strangely recalled the Corellian Firelillies. He took a step closer and leaned in toward her. "And how do you suggest I do that?"
Luke was standing so close that Mara could feel his breath on her face. Her knees felt strangely weak, and the muscles in her hands were tight in anticipation. Anticipation of what, she wasn't sure exactly.
How, indeed? she thought to herself, trying to concentrate on the words he had spoken. "Oh," she said with a confidence that was at odds with the twisting that was occurring in her stomach, "there are several different ways . . . ."
"Such as . . . ?" he inquired as he leaned in still closer.
"Such as . . ." she repeated back, her voice a mere whisper.
"This?" Luke said, finally closing the distance between them. The briefest touch of lips on lips was all it took for both to willingly deepen it into something more. Their Force presences reached out for each other, intertwining and exchanging a barrage of emotions so similar that it was hard to distinguish where the feelings of one of them began and where the other's ended.
When they at last pulled apart, each of them trembling, they both knew that things would never be the same between them.
Luke's face glowed, and the shadows that always darkened his face seemed to have been chased away. Breathless, he asked her, "Will you go on a lunch date with me?"
Looking into his pleading eyes and thinking about the beautiful fiery flowers sitting in a vase in her home, Mara couldn't say no.
Several months later, Mara was looking into his eyes once again. This time, however, they weren't merely the eyes of a pleading farmboy; rather, they were the eyes of her new husband.
They were cuddling on the couch—though Mara would have years before claimed such a thing would never be something she could ever seriously consider doing—and Mara, who could read her husband better than anyone, could tell that Luke was feeling pensive.
"What is it?" Mara asked, turning to look up at his face.
He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Well, I was just thinking. There's . . . there's a fairytale that I need to finish for my niece and my nephews."
She raised an eyebrow and looked at him curiously. Though she wanted to ask for more details, she merely nodded and said, "All right. I'll go over there with you."
"The kids are probably arguing with their parents about how they shouldn't have to go to bed yet. If we hurry, we can get there before Leia and Han win."
Mara chuckled. "Knowing your sister, it may already be too late."
The door to the Solos' apartment was opened by Leia, who was looking somewhat perturbed. She quickly pasted a smile on her face when she saw her two visitors, however, her years of political training taking over. "Oh, hi, Luke, Mara."
"Hi, Leia," returned Luke. "The kids aren't in bed yet, are they?"
"What do you think?" Leia returned with exasperation. "They've all piled into Anakin's bedroom, and they've been alternating between singing as loudly as possible and humming as quiet as they can."
Luke laughed. "I think I know how to get them to go to bed."
Leia looked at him for a moment and then made a sweeping gesture. "Right this way."
The three went to Anakin's bedroom, where Han was trying to convince his three children to stop humming and close their eyes to go to sleep. Leia grabbed Han by the arm and led him out before he could do anything but nod in greeting. Mara turned and watched them go, feeling a little puzzled. Evidently, Leia had some clue as to what was going on.
"Uncle Luke! Aunt Mara!" the children—now no longer humming—shouted. Then they jumped up out of bed. Jaina ran straight to Mara, and the two boys practically tackled their uncle as they embraced him.
"Hey kids," Luke said with a smile. "I believe I have a story to finish for you."
The children went wide-eyed and hopped back into their beds. For some reason, Mara thought Anakin Solo's blue eyes sparkled the most.
"Now, you remember the story about the Jedi and the Prince, right?"
Three little heads nodded.
"This is a continuation of that story," Luke explained. He put an arm around Mara and switched into storyteller mode. "After his father's death, the Jedi Knight became a Jedi Master, and he became very good friends with his sister and the Prince. The Jedi also befriended a beautiful young redheaded woman who used to work for the Evil One."
Mara had been watching the rapt attention of the three children, but she looked at her husband now. She hadn't realized she was going to be inserted into this story.
"At first," Luke said, "the Woman With Red Hair wanted to kill the Jedi because he was once an enemy of her master's. But at last she understood that he was to be trusted. They saved each other's lives many times after they first met, but life took over, and they began to see each other less and less.
"The Jedi kept trying to find the woman he was to marry, searching far and wide, but he could not.
"Finally, the Prince stepped in. 'Take these magical flowers,' he told the Jedi."
Here there were noises of approval from the children, who liked the idea of magical flowers.
"I want some of those!" Jaina asserted.
Luke continued after ruffling her hair. "The Prince said, 'Give these to the person you are to marry.'
"The Jedi Master said to him, 'But I do not know who I am to marry.'
"'Come to my house,' the Prince said. 'There someone shall come whom you must give the flowers to.'
"He went, right?" Jacen asked somewhat anxiously.
Luke nodded. "The Jedi went to the Prince's house, and he waited for someone to come. Finally, someone did, and he saw who it was. It was the Woman With Red Hair.
"The Jedi was surprised, but he gave her the flowers. She was surprised as well, yet she took the flowers, and they decided that they would pull a prank on the Prince for tricking them.
"The next day, the Prince found his favorite pet had been put in ridiculous clothes. Though he was a little upset, he realized that the animal was unharmed and that his friends did not appreciate being tricked."
"An animal?" Jacen asked, intrigued. "What kind of animal?"
"An ugly furry one with a heart of gold," Luke answered with some amusement. "Still, the flowers had worked their magic anyway, and at last, the two fell in love, and they married."
Jacen and Jaina, evidently recognizing the closure to the story, got out of bed to give their aunt and uncle each a hug before they finally padded out of the room. Mara followed them to ensure they were tucked in properly, and she heard Luke speaking quietly with Anakin as she left.
When Luke finally left the room, a set of closed blue eyes opened and stared up at the ceiling. Anakin smiled and whispered, "And they lived happily ever after," and then he fell asleep.
