A Miracle Find
Starting to probe my body with the Force, I knew I was getting closer to knowing what was wrong. I tried to ignore all the diseased cells and found what I was searching for. That's when I noticed something that I had somehow missed before. The Force Signature that was coming from it was too close to Luke's to be a coincidence. I took a deep breath as I started to panic about what the Vong disease could do to my baby. Wait a minute, you've known about this for what, thirty seconds and already this is your baby and you're worrying about it? Must be the maternal instinct starting to come in.
My ex-farmboy chose that moment to walk in. "Mara, what's wrong?"
As if in answer, I took his hand, the real one, and put it on my abdomen. "Why don't you probe and see if you can find what I found. I want a second opinion."
Luke's expression of surprise turned into just about the biggest smile I have ever seen after a minute.
"You wanted this," I say, accusingly.
"I didn't realize until this moment how much I wanted it."
Luke has always been an idealist. I still plan on trying to talk some sense into him. "You aren't concerned about the risk of bringing a child into the Galaxy right now?"
"Mara; there's always some risk. The Vong could kill us tomorrow, for all we know."
He does have a point.
"Yes, but do we have any idea what my disease could do to an unborn child?"
"We'll do all we can to protect him from it."
I have to make sure I heard that correctly. "Him?"
"I don't want to call the baby an it, but I'm pretty sure we've got a him." He pauses, soaking in the first happiness he's found since we learned about the Vong. "Our son."