Watching, Waiting & Hoping 6

Usual disclaimers apply. I have no money and please don't sue.

ImperialPalace – Exercise facility

Leia wandered through the halls of the Imperial palace on her way to her office. She was tired and a little irritable, but her disgruntled morning mood faded in a rush of remembered heat as she recollected Han's passionate lovemaking the previous evening. The route to her office took her past the viewing platform for the exercise halls and she cast a casual glance below to see if any twisted individuals were actually exercising at such an early time in the morning. The clash of lightsabers drew her attention and it looked like the combatants were filled with deadly intent. Leia leant over the observation rail, which ran right around the training area, and marvelled at the skill shown. A fair-haired man in a grey vest faced off against a slender red-headed girl in a green body suit. The combined power in the Force could be clearly felt as the lightsabers sizzled and sparked. The pair spun, tumbled and dived, narrowly missing injuring the other in a true test of skill and dexterity. Leia gasped in horror as the man tripped and fell, but still managed to outwit the graceful girl and with a triumphant laugh hooked her blue saber and arced it away from her.

Luke and Mara.

She smiled as Luke collapsed to the ground beside his companion, both of them breathing heavily. Luke turned and crawled to where a couple of towels and a carafe of water waited and threw a remark at his winded cohort. Mara threw back her head and laughed. It was good to see them like this.

Leia noticed that she was not the only person watching the good-natured contest. Across from where she stood, she observed a tall loose-limbed woman with a malt crown of braided hair, who stood surveying the Jedi with serious, large grey eyes. She walked closer, calling out quietly.

"Callista?"

The woman turned with a sharp intake of breath, her hand flying to her mouth as if she had been caught indulging in something forbidden. "Leia?" she queried quietly.

"I've not changed much in eight years, Callista. Have I?"

"I didn't expect to see you here."

"Why not? This is the Imperial Palace. My office is still here."

"I thought you were away somewhere… with Han."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I suppose it's because Luke hasn't said very much about you…arranged a meeting. I figured you were away. You are often off-world."

"Luke is…" She shrugged her shoulders. "You know how he is. He sometimes doesn't say much." There was a strained silence between the two women. "You could have visited us by yourself, you know." Leia remarked mildly. "I thought we were friends."

Callista looked down at the couple duelling below her. "I didn't know how you would feel if I suddenly turned up at your door after…"

"Eight years?" Leia finished grimly as she remembered what the Jedi woman had put her brother through. "You hurt my brother very deeply, Callista, and I don't think he's recovered from the way you deserted him."

"You're very to the point."

"And you're very cold."

"I can understand your wariness, Leia. The last person I ever wanted to hurt was Luke."

"Yet you did."

Callista fidgeted under Leia's penetrating stare. "I know." The admission emerged soft and pained. "But Leia, consider my position. Luke couldn't marry someone without the Force."

"I did," was all that Leia said. She considered it all that needed to be said.

"It was different for you," Callista declared desperately, her grey eyes filling with tears. "You are not head of the Jedi order."

"Do you think the head of the Jedi Order cared?"

"Of course he didn't care. He's Luke," she said simply. "I made a mistake, Leia. I left him to look for the Force and all I found was misery and failure. I can touch the Force, but only through the dark side. Nothing I tried worked. I've finally given up and accepted the inevitable."

"You've given up your search?"

"I guess you might call it that, and the only thing I have left is Luke's love for me. I came back to see if he felt the same. I know I do."

Leia's heart slammed into her ribs, leaving an uncomfortably sick sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Have you told Luke all of this?" She stared over the barrier to where Luke had his arm around Mara Jade demonstrating some sort of manoeuvre with the hilt of his saber.

"No, he hasn't asked. I thought he would know. He just said he was glad I was back. He did…" Callista paused to moisten trembling lips. "He did say that he didn't love me any more." She stared directly into Leia's appalled brown gaze. "It can't be true. He has to love me. It's the only thing I have left."

'Stars' Leia thought. "Callista… I don't know what to say."

"It's all right Leia. I don't know what you can say."

Leia looked up at the taller woman, her mouth firming as she made a decision. This wasn't really interfering. "Luke's right, you know. He doesn't love you. We both owe you a great debt. In fact, I owe you my life, but I cannot fill you with false hopes and neither can Luke. Face the truth, Callista. Over those eight years, Luke fell out of love with you. That part of his life is in the past."

"He does still love me; he's only forgotten…"

Leia shook her head and, for the first time in the conversation, pity filled her dark eyes. "I can only say again that I'm sorry."

"He's not found any one else has he – I still have a chance?"

Leia hesitated and glanced quickly over the railing to where Luke and Mara had abandoned whatever they'd been doing and were sitting close together deep in conversation. "He…" She turned away and headed towards the turbolift, Callista followed with a persistent expression on her face.

"Leia, he's not found someone else?" she repeated. "Has he?"

"Didn't you ask him that?"

Callista stared down at her brown leather boots. "I couldn't ask him. I was afraid of what he might say."

"You've not told him why you came back either."

"I couldn't say, 'I've don't have the Force back, Luke, so I'll just make do with you after all.'"

"Why can't you just say it? It is true."

"It seems so heartless."

"You said it." 'Stang!' Leia thought to herself, that wasn't very diplomatic. 'But it was true,' she thought.

The turbolift came to a halt with a soft chime. "This is my floor," Leia murmured as the door slid silently open.

"Mine too," Callista answered. "I thought I would go and meet Luke."

"Is he expecting you?"

"No, he still can't sense me through the Force, but I left a message for him. Luke's obviously been here since early this morning, so he won't have received it. I expected that so I came here to meet him. He said he sometimes came here early in the morning before too many people were about."

"He's been training with Mara, and she doesn't like crowds watching her train either." Leia reached out with the Force to locate her brother's sense. "You've been monopolising his time while he's been here, so far. He needed a work out"

"I wanted him to get to know me again, get used to me being in his life again – to fall in love with me again."

"Well…" Leia drawled in her best imitation of her husband. "He does need to spend time with other people and he has agreed to train Mara when she is on Coruscant. It doesn't happen often that she and Luke are here at the same time. She's still busy working for Talon Karrde."

"Oh!" murmured Callista softly relieved to hear that the Jedi Master and the red-haired woman were only occasional sparring partners. "They look as if they've spent a lot of time together."

"They have a bond through the Force," Leia explained, unconsciously cruel. "It doesn't seem to matter how long they are apart. They just take off from where they last finished."

With a soft hiss, the door just along from where Leia and Callista were standing, slid open and there, exiting the exercise facility, were Luke and Mara Jade - eyes brimming with laughter over some joke or other. Leia was surprised to see how well the pair was getting on and she hadn't forgotten her discussion with Han either. Mara and Luke – yes, it was possible – infinitely possible. In fact, she couldn't recall seeing her brother so happy and relaxed in a long time. She sent a warning to her brother that Callista was here and he lifted his head, gazing round to locate her presence.

Mara saw them first and Leia felt her stiffen, whisper something to Luke and make as if to leave. Luke frowned and caught her hand to stay her. It was fleeting but Leia could have sworn that the touch on Mara's hand turned into a caress, as if Luke's flesh enjoyed being next to Mara's. And as for Mara… Leia was sure the feeling was reciprocated because the innocent stroke lingered.

'Well, well… the wily old Corellian Pirate.' There wasn't much that got past Han and he didn't even have the Force. 'I have to hand it to you, Solo,' Leia mused silently and moved to block Callista's view of the Jedi. "Luke and Mara are nearly finished. He says to go on ahead and he'll join us for a caf."

"I could wait…" Callista could still sense Leia's resentment but she didn't need the Force to be able to do that.

"Nonsense," Leia uttered briskly. "You and I have things to catch up on. It's been a long time and I don't have to start work immediately." 'Anything to give that brother of mine some more time.'

Luke hadn't enjoyed himself this much for a long time. He'd put his ambiguous late night parting with the beautiful trader behind him and had indulged in a sparring match the like he hadn't experienced since the last time Mara had visited him on Yavin IV. There was no one that could match him like she did. They'd fought like true adversaries and, free to tumble and dive in the specially created environment, had eventually collapsed, panting and laughing, to the floor.

"You've given me a run for my credits this time, Jade," Luke grinned breathlessly at her. His heart, if he had known it, was in his eyes as he took in Mara's equally flushed and sweaty appearance. Her hair was coming undone from its plait and was plastered sleekly against neck and shoulders, left bare by the brief exercise suit she wore. He traced her shapely figure with his eyes, adding it to the other memories captured the previous evening – the black lace, slipping from the creamy skin of her satiny shoulders, the rounded breasts with the rosy nipples straining through the sheer, embroidered fabric, taunting him, tempting him, calling him to taste and tease, until they burgeoned into aching fullness.

"I need water," she gasped as she recalled her lightsaber to her side.

"So do I," Luke's plea was heartfelt. "Hold on,"

Mara chuckled weakly as Luke crawled to where the water containers sat.

"I thought the Jedi trained body as well as mind. Yours looks as if it has just given up." It wasn't true; Mara let her eyes drift over Luke's well-sculpted chest, covered in the clinging grey fabric, leaving his muscular arms and shoulders bare. For a moment she was presented with a view of firm, grey clad buttocks and if she hadn't been so dry, her mouth might have watered in anticipation.

"I recover quickly," Luke countered, "But I'm not as young as I used to be."

"You're in good shape," Mara blurted out and then bit her tongue in horror.

"I would say you are too, Trader Jade. But there's never been a lot wrong with your shape…" 'Oh sithspit!' Luke winced in anticipation of Mara's anger, with the vision of his lightsaber pointing at his own chest. What on earth was up with him? He'd never risked Mara's wrath in such an obvious fashion before and now he was doing it on a regular basis. She was going to kill him. The impulsive tendencies he'd had as a youth were still with him and were going to get him into as much trouble as they did back then.

But all Mara did was give him a surreptitious glower and close her mental shields up tight. "I said I was thirsty, Skywalker," she growled.

"Right," he murmured and threw her a water container.

"How did you…?" Mara asked about a technique Luke had used during their practise session and Luke used the opportunity to show her, putting his arm around her to demonstrate the exact angle of the thrust. Involved in their mutual learning Luke and Mara failed to spot Callista as she watched from above and also didn't sense Leia viewing them.

"What about meeting up later?" Luke suggested casually. "I could cook you supper."

"Aren't you busy with whatsername?"

"Mara!" She felt his irritation through the Force. "I told you how I felt about her."

"I don't know that I believe you. You've stayed faithful for nearly eight years!"

"That's not true."

"Not true" Mara's eyebrows rose in astonishment. "What do you mean – not true?"

"I haven't been in love with her for a very long time now. I did love her," he muttered defensively, still remembering Mara's comments the previous night. "But when she didn't return - the love got fainter and fainter until it faded away. Nobody asked me what I really felt until now. Nobody wondered if I was heart whole or heart broken until now. Nobody – just you."

"Leia and Han?"

"They're family – but until now they've never asked either."

"But faithful?"

"Technically my body has been faithful, but that's it."

"So are you in love with someone else?" Mara's mind quivered at the enormity of her question. He'd evaded the question last night - suppose he had met someone and was just waiting for the right moment to spring it on everyone.

Luke shrugged. "I don't love Callista", he repeated.

Still, Mara noted that he hadn't denied loving any one else. She quickly sifted through women Luke might be in love with and came up with a blank. The only female he'd been with apart from his sister and Callista was Mara herself. Her insides trembled at the thought.

"What about a drink, then?" he persisted, his expression earnest under his untidy hair. "I need a break from Callie, she's getting a little too intense."

"Yeah, why not, farmboy? Could you have a drink with me because I'm trying to avoid someone else for a while." She grimaced. "How to make a girl say 'yes', Skywalker."

Luke stammered in apology. "I… I'm sorry; I didn't mean it like that, Jade. You have to be so prickly. You're a friend and I would like you to come and have a drink with me, if you won't come for supper."

"Sure,"

'Luke 'Leia's voice rang in his head. 'Callista's here. I've taken her to the tapcaf on level forty-eight. Take your time.'

"Oh dark side of the planet Serrat!" Luke exclaimed.

Mara quirked an amused eyebrow in his direction. "Interesting use of an epithet, Luke. Don't want to corrupt the children on Yavin?"

"Yeah!" He muttered, his expression morose. "I thought I was having a Callista free morning and she's here already. I'm very fond of her and she's a lovely person. You can't get rid of the good memories all at once. It's just that she's gotten awfully persistent, almost desperate. What will it take for the message to get through to her?"

"Say it frequently," she responded tartly. "It should eventually penetrate Callista's grey matter. Some things take time to sink in. Repetition usually does the trick or hit her hard over the head with a sharp object."

"Mara!"

"You asked." She scanned furtively around seeking Leia and Callista. "I'm off then." Mara returned briskly.

"You're not going now, are you?" Luke asked Mara, his hand holding hers preventing her from running away.

"I have things to do," she muttered with a scowl, unaware that her hand still lay clasped in Luke's. "I've wasted enough time here already this morning." Mara peered up at Luke through her untidy red-gold fringe, just in time to catch the disappointment and a little hurt in his clear blue gaze. 'Oh, Sithspawn.'"Luke, I…"

Luke's expression blanked out into the Jedi Master mode, which Mara hated. "I'm sorry, Jade," he remarked with the ageless graciousness of dignity the order instilled. "I had hoped that you might have wanted to spend a little more time on your training. It is not often we can be together. You have so much to do…"

"Listen, bud. You are not the only person in this galaxy who has a life…" She took a deep breath, ready to throw a couple more insults at him.

"No? According to you, I don't have a life. I'm too busy theorising and atrophying on Yavin IV." His hold on her hand tightened and finally Mara realised that he still held it.

"Well aren't you?" She pulled at her trapped hand and it slowly slid unwillingly free.

"I'm here, not on Yavin. Do I look as if I'm decaying away into mindless old age?" Luke's voice softened. She brought out the best and the worst in him - The greatest of friends, and yet the eternal antagonists. What made them react like this to each other? Something in Luke's being shied away from the true answer. "I'm sorry, Mara, that I'm not exciting enough for you. Cancel the drink if you want to. You, perhaps, have your life out there to go to." He remembered Han's question. 'Have you ever wondered why she doesn't like Callista, Luke?'

"Luke…" Mara's mouth closed over his name. Strange she'd been calling him Luke more often since she'd… 'Decaying' – now that was amusing in a way. He didn't appear to be decaying at all. His body was still firm, there was little hint of grey at his temples and his face could still take on the youthful eager appearance he'd had when she'd first met him. And as for 'exciting…' Something told her that under the right circumstances Luke Skywalker could be very exciting indeed. She'd never found her time with him boring, whatever she had said to his face. Under the utilitarian ship suits and functional exercise wear, her heart thundered very loudly indeed.

"If you change your mind, you know where my apartment is."

He turned and strode away and Mara was left feeling a little foolish. 'Well done, Jade,' she mocked herself. 'Your life is about as exciting as his is.'