A/N: This is the final chapter. Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed (especially to Saber Girls for keeping me motivated to finish posting :) ). I hope you've enjoyed this revised version of my first foray into fanfiction.



CHAPTER TEN

The room was still, and quiet. It was too quiet. Where were the birds? Gradually, Mara realized that she could not hear them…or anything else. She inhaled carefully, expecting pain, and instead felt a ripple of energy in the Force. The Force?

Struggling for awareness, she tried to move and felt her right hand brush against something feathery and soft. She opened her eyes and tried to focus in the dimmed lights of the medical suite. Hot tears clouded her vision as she looked down at her hand. Luke was sitting in a chair beside her, slumped over with his head resting on the bed. She brushed his hair with her fingertips and luxuriated in the familiar sensation.

Luke startled and looked up. For a moment, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Brilliant green eyes, brimmed with tears, were gazing back at him. It was her touch that he had felt. Rising slowly, he sat on the edge of the bed and reached over to lace his fingers with hers.

"Am I dreaming again?" he whispered.

She smiled through quivering lips and shook her head. Brushing the dampness from her cheek, he cupped her face in his hand, "Oh, Mara-" His voice broke as he leaned down and gently pressed his lips against hers.

She welcomed the warmth of his kiss and raised her arms to wrap them around his shoulders. Feeling the muscles of his back rippling beneath her hands, she pulled him closer. Tears of happiness flowed and mingled in their embrace. She sensed that he was holding back, not wanting to hurt her, and separated sooner than either of them would have wished. Pleading his forgiveness with her eyes, she spoke in a hoarse whisper, "Luke, I'm so sorry. I should never have-"

He silenced her by placing his fingertips against her lips, "Don't. It wasn't your fault. Leia and Corran told me what happened." Her hair was as long as he had ever seen it and he brushed a stray lock away from her face. "You did the right thing. I'm the one who's sorry. I should have been able to find you. I should have been there-"

She cut him off, suddenly panicked as she tried to sit up, "The baby!"

"Shhhh," Luke eased her back into the bed. "She's fine." He stood and walked over to a small, portable baby bed that she had not noticed before. He spoke with his back to her as he lifted the bundle from the bed, "I've kept her with us as much as possible."

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"Ten days," he replied.

"And you've been in here the whole time?"

"Most of it," he answered casually. Walking back over to the bed, he pressed a button on the side that raised the head of the bed up to a semi-sitting position. Settling once again beside her, he placed the infant in her waiting arms, "Look, sweetie. Momma's awake."

Mara gazed down at the bundle, speechless. Wisps of strawberry blond hair framed the pale skin of the most beautiful little face she had ever seen. Pulling back the blanket, she counted twenty tiny fingers and toes, sported by perfect little hands and feet.

Swaddling the sleeping child once again, images of those last few hours of labor flashed through her mind. Searing pain…Sorada and Anise hovering over her, speaking with fear in their voices…violent ripping sensations…Anise frantically rubbing the tiny, blue body with a blanket…and then blackness.

Tears streamed down her face and splashed against a small, smooth cheek. "Oh," Mara gasped. "I'm sorry," as she rubbed the moisture away with a corner of the blanket. Petite eyelids fluttered, and Mara was startled by a pair of bright blues eyes glancing sleepily around the room. "Look!" she said to Luke. "She has your eyes."

Luke smiled, "The doctor says that they are all that color at first. We'll have to wait and see if they stay that way." He nodded to the child and Mara followed his gaze. Those blue eyes were now trained intently on her face. "She recognizes your voice," he commented softly.

"I can't believe it," she whispered. "I was so afraid. I didn't know if she was alive or not." Mara paused as a fresh wave of tears threatened to overtake her. Instead, she leaned down and pressed her lips against the smooth little forehead. "We made it, baby. Thank the Force." After a moment, she looked up at Luke. "What should we call her?"

"Well," Luke shifted uncomfortably. "We had no way of knowing when you would wake up, and Leia insisted that a child had to have a name." Luke leaned forward and ruffled her hair with his hand, "I call her Miriam. It means 'longed-for child'. But we can change it or add to it, if you'd like."

"No," she smiled as five tiny fingers wrapped themselves around her thumb. "It's perfect."


-Eight Months Later-

Mara emerged from the kitchen of their home on Yavin to find Luke crawling around on his hands and knees in the living area. "What are you doing?"

His voice was muffled as he rounded the chair, "Showing her how to crawl. She's trying – look." Sure enough, Miriam was up on her hands and knees as well, rocking back and forth and giggling.

Mara sat on the lounger and pulled her feet up out of the way, smiling down at her family.

Fractured light streamed in through trees outside the window and played across the floor. She watched, mesmerized by the interplay of shadow and light. Amazingly, the light would not be extinguished, no matter how many shadows appeared. In fact, it was the shadows themselves that made the light so beautiful.

END

Trace