Author's Note: In Restless Walks, thanks for betaing the last few bits of Murderer for me!
The New Republic had been restored, to a certain degree, with the help of many individuals (and the help of a rather large Star Destroyer commanded by Gilad Pellaeon). Thrawn was still helping implement certain safeguards before the long truce process began.
Luke was sitting his Coruscant apartment, quietly contemplating, as he had nearly every day after the incident involving Kantasha Pellaeon's death. His name had been cleared, but there still seemed to be something (or perhaps several somethings) bugging him.
The door chimed, and the Jedi slowly rose up and answered it. Mara stood there.
"Sit down on the couch," she instructed bluntly.
Confused but amused, he complied.
She sat down beside him. "Skywalker, look at me."
Flinching, he did as he was told.
"Where are you?" she asked, staring into his eyes.
He thought about feigning confusion, but he knew what she meant.
Where was he, in the Dark or the Light?
To tell the truth, he wasn't even sure he knew. He felt almost indifferent, like he was actually dabbling in Gray.
Sensing that he wasn't going to answer, Mara began shooting questions off at him, which he answered without thinking.
"Do you know your family loves you?"
"Yes."
"Do you know your friends love you?"
"Yes."
"Do you believe the Republic can survive this time?"
"Yes."
"Are you mad at Thrawn?"
"No."
"Are you mad at Kantasha?"
"No."
That one seemed to throw her off. "Oh?"
"She was troubled...I can understand that," Luke said quietly.
"Okay...Are you angry at anything?"
"No."
"Do you feel anything at all?"
"...No."
And there it was. He was feeling indifferent. He'd gone from two extremes and was now smack dab in the middle. He just didn't care.
People had tried talking to him, but it was just no use. You couldn't make someone who didn't care...care.
Mara took a deep breath. It was going to be weird, and it was going to be outside her comfort zone, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
She poked his chest. "Do you feel that?"
"Yes."
She fluttered her fingers across his chest. "That?"
"Yes."
She moved her hands down to his sides, where he stared at them. She placed her hands under his shirt, resting them against his warm stomach. "That?"
"Yes."
Then Mara removed his shirt. She saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Good, she thought.
Feeling like a silly schoolgirl, Mara leaned down and kissed his belly. "That?"
A hint of amusement made its way into his voice. "Yes."
Continuing her one-word questions while receiving one-word answers, Mara made her way up his chest. Finally, she came to his throat, placing a kiss on it, and noting with satisfaction the chill that coursed through his body. When she playfully bit his right ear, his answer was a very shaky, "Yes."
She placed her forehead against his, their noses touching. Gazing into his eyes, she asked, "This?"
"Yes."
She pulled back a little, moving her gaze down his face. "How about this?"
Throwing away all that made up the image she projected of herself (independence, a caustic attitude, no concern for anyone), Mara Jade slowly, teasingly, moved her lips toward Luke's. Impatient, he put his hands around her and brought her closer, enveloping her lips in his. His indifference was gone as he held this woman in his arms and knew his life could never be the same again.
"Yes, Mara Jade. Yes," he breathed at last.
She smiled, tracing a finger across his chest.
"I love you," he said, causing her to bring her eyes up to meet his. "You know just what to do to get me out of a slump. You always have."
"And always will, farmboy." She rested her head against him, and he played contentedly with her red-gold hair. "And always will."