Chapter 2: What Are You Doing Here?

Luke didn't know who had moved to embrace whom, but he didn't care. He knew that the tears started with Mara. His own soon followed, however, but it didn't matter. After three lonely years, Mara was here, in his arms. This time it wasn't a dream and he wasn't going to let her go again. He barely noticed Leia exit the room, intending to give the reunited couple time alone. "I was afraid I'd never see you again."

Mara could barely get her words out past the sobs. "I thought I would never see you again either. I…I thought you were dead. I thought I had failed you."

Luke quickly drew back to look Mara in the eyes. "What are you talking about? What made you think I was dead?"

Mara took a moment to compose herself before she began to speak. "I ran away from the Emperor only a month after I left you on Tatooine, but I had to go into hiding. It was nine months before I could come for you. I found your farm, your home, destroyed. I could tell just by looking that it was the handiwork of stormtroopers. No one could have survived that. I could barely identify the remains through the ashes and I thought that the Emperor must have found you when looking for me and killed you. When I heard rumors of a Jedi in the Rebellion, I came looking for help to avenge you." Mara paused and looked deep into Luke's eyes. "You're the Jedi I was looking for all along, aren't you?" He nodded to confirm her suspicions, but didn't speak. "How? You knew nothing of the Force when I left you. You had just found out you were Force sensitive to begin with."

Luke's face turned sad upon reflecting on how he got to where he was. He spoke slowly there was a slight sense of mourning in his tone. "About six months after you left, Uncle Owen bought a couple of droids. It turned out that one of those droids was carrying a message from Leia to an Obi-Wan Kenobi. He left during the night to find Obi-Wan. I went searching for him the next morning and ended up being attacked by sand people. The old hermit Ben Kenobi saved me. It turned out he was Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight. Like my father. R2 gave him the message from Leia and we found out that R2 was carrying the plans for the Death Star. Ben gave me my father's lightsaber and asked me to learn the ways of the Force. I turned him down at first since I couldn't leave my aunt and uncle like that. But then we found a destroyed Jawa sandcrawler and realized that it was attacked by stormtroopers searching for the droids we had bought. I tried to race home and warn them, but I was too late. The farm was destroyed and my aunt and uncle were dead before I got there. I left Tatooine with Ben to begin training as a Jedi."

Mara was speechless for a moment as Luke stood in silence, trying to keep back the tears. She pulled him into a warm embrace. "I'm so sorry." The couple stood there for minutes just taking comfort in each other's arms before Mara pulled back a little to stay in Luke's embrace while looking him in the eyes. "That still doesn't explain how you got here though."

Luke's mouth curled up into a small smile. "That's an even longer story…I'll give you the short version for now. We hired a couple of smugglers to take us to Alderaan, but didn't arrive until after it was destroyed. We were drawn into the Death Star by a tractor beam, but avoided capture. While waiting for Ben to knock out the tractor beam so we could escape, we found out Princess Leia was onboard and about to be executed. We managed to save her and get out, but not before Ben was killed in a duel with Darth Vader. We met up with the Alliance where I became an X-Wing pilot and, actually, was the one who made the shot that destroyed the Death Star. So now, I'm on top of the Empire's Most Wanted list and on the run with the Rebellion. I think that covers it."

Mara looked at Luke wide-eyed for a moment before smirking at him. "I knew you couldn't keep that hero complex in check." Luke gave Mara his best innocent smile in response and shrugged.

"Mara, why did it take you so long to come looking for me? There must have been some opportunity to at least let me know you were safe during the time before I left Tatooine."

Mara moved to leave the room and grabbed Luke's arm. She turned to give him an apprehensive smile as she walked. "Come with me. You need to see something that will help this all make sense."

Luke was very curious when he made his way up the ramp of the Falcon behind Mara. 'Han must have been the one to bring her in. I need to remember to thank him.' Luke followed Mara down the ship's corridor to the door of one of the spare cabins. Mara took a deep breath and palmed the control panel for the door. Inside was a small boy, not much older than two, too engrossed with his toy starcruisers to even notice his visitors.

She turned to Luke and took his hands in hers before looking back towards their son. "Luke. I would like you to meet Ben. Our son." Mara looked expectantly at Luke and watched as shock, awe and finally happiness flashed across his face. She was relieved that he seemed happy about finding out he had a son. Luke didn't say a word but pulled Mara into a strong embrace.

"I wish I could have been there for you. But from now on, we can raise him together. He will know his father…unlike I did." Mara just smiled, letting Luke know that she wanted him in his son's life. Luke closed his eyes for the moment in concentration. "He's strong in the Force."

Mara nodded and looked toward Ben. "Just like his father."

Luke turned to look at their son as well. "And his mother." A curios look crossed his face and he turned to the mother of his child. "Mara, why did you name him Ben?"

"Honestly, I had a dream. You were holding a baby and looked down at him and called him Ben. When I woke up, I knew that was what I would name out child if he was a boy. It just felt right. Why do you ask?"

"After Ben, Obi-Wan, died protecting us from Vader, I knew that if I ever had a son I wanted to name him Ben. I wanted to honor the man who started me down the path to become a Jedi. I even had the dream you described to me." He turned to Mara, his face showing an unspoken question.

Mara turned to look into his eyes. "Somehow, you must have subconsciously sent that dream to me through the Force. We…we must have formed some sort of bond during the time when we were together." Luke nodded, feeling that what she said was right. There was no other explanation for the closeness they felt even though they had only been together for a short time. Mara turned her gaze to their son once more and Luke did the same. "And now, he has a last name. Ben Skywalker…I like it." Mara grabbed Luke's upper arm and finally stepped into the cabin. "Ben, honey. There's someone I'd like you to meet." The boy reluctantly put down his toys and stood to meet Luke. When father and son first caught each other's eyes, Mara knew everything was going to be fine.