Chapter 4: Calling

Luke collapsed face first into the snow, physically unable to continue on his trek over the icy terrain. He felt himself beginning to lose consciousness and willed himself to remain aware, drawing on his raw, untried ability in the Force to aid him. He reached forward hoping to somehow strength from such a simple action. 'Can't stop. I must see her again, let her know what she means to me. My son will know his father. I won't allow him to be an orphan too.' As his senses began to fade once more, Luke heard the familiar voice of his late teacher.

"Luke. Luke!"

Luke's weary face was puzzled at the shimmering specter of Obi-Wan Kenobi before him standing firm in the face of the blizzard. The young Jedi was afraid he was hallucinating due to the cold, but spoke to the spirit anyway with disbelief in his weary voice. "Ben?"

The image spoke firmly and Obi-Wan's spirit put the weight of the Force behind his words to insure Luke would take heed and remember what he heard this night. "You will take your family to the Dagobah system."

Luke grew even more confused at the instruction he received from his dead teacher. "Dagobah system?"

"There you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me." Unable to remain in contact with the physical realm, Obi-Wan's image faded from view. At this point, Luke's senses finally failed him and he began to slip into shock and his face was once more buried in the snowy ground.

Han spotted Luke through the blizzard and spurred his tauntaun forward toward his battered friend. The smuggler quickly dismounted when he reached his injured friend and called to him, hoping to get some sort of reaction from the still form before him. "Luke! Luke!" Han ran over to the young man and found him blacked out, but alive for the time being. He pulled Luke to him and found that his vital signs were weak and his face showed signs of some sort of attack. Han tried to rouse him from his unconscious state by pleading with him. "Don't do this Luke. Come on. Give me a sign here." The smuggler looked up for a moment, trying to come up with some sort of plan only to see his tauntaun collapse from exposure. Han knew the only way his friend would survive was to find him a source of heat until he could put up the emergency shelter.

Han dragged Luke over the icy ground to where the tauntaun now lay dead. While he was being pulled, Luke regained some of his senses but was still delirious and began repeating "Ben", "Dagobah" and "Yoda" over and over.

'The Kid's losing it.' Han looked toward his battered friend and then to the dead tauntaun. "Not much time." Quickly deciding on a plan of action, Han pulled Luke's lightsaber off his belt and cut open the tauntaun's stomach, releasing a strong odor from the fallen beast of burden. Han pushed his friend's head into the opening in the tauntaun's torso and tried talking to Luke in hopes of keeping him from giving up hope and slipping back into unconsciousness. "This may smell bad Kid, but it'll keep you warm until I get the shelter up." After getting Luke settled inside the creature, Han paused for a moment to regain his breath. "And I thought they smelled bad on the outside." The smuggler then retrieved the survival tent that was on the tauntaun and set to work. They would not last the night if he couldn't provide a haven from the storm soon.

The next morning, Mara sat next to Leia in the command center as they listened to the tactical frequency as the members of Rogue Squadron attempted to establish contact with two missing men. Wearily, Mara buried her face in her hands, trying to think of something more she could have done to avoid this situation. 'I should have sensed it earlier. I should have known right way that he was in trouble and went out there after him. Now, Han will pay too. He didn't deserve this, neither of them did.' Mara was shaken from her depressed thoughts when she noticed a spike of hope emanate from Leia through the Force. She turned her attention to the crackling speaker at the communication console. "…could be a lifeform. Commander Skywalker, do you copy? This is Rogue 2. This is Rogue 2…Captain Solo do you copy?" 'Come on, answer them. You have to be ok.' "Commander Skywalker, do you copy? This is Rogue 2."

Han's voice finally broke through the static. "Good morning. Nice of you guys to drop by." Upon hearing this Mara nearly broke down, barely hearing the rest of the communication. Han had found him and she knew by the way he was speaking, Luke would survive even though he was hurt. The exhaustion of staying up all night worrying was beginning to take its toll on her, but Mara was able to stay composed enough to reach the hangar as Luke was brought in on one of the speeders. 'Thank the Force he came back to me.'

Mara refused to leave Luke's side while he was being treated. She sat in the medical center for hours on end watching him float in the bacta tank. Leia, seeing herself as a surrogate aunt to Ben anyway, was more than happy to watch out for the boy until Luke was finally brought out of the bacta tank. Mara was the first one into his recovery room, having waited impatiently outside the door for the 2-1B to release him to receive visitors. She ran into the room and quickly pulled Luke into a deep kiss. As soon as she released, Mara gently shoved him back onto the bed and gave him a half sincere glare. "If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I'm going to change my mind about what I said when we met and kill you anyway."

Luke's face was contrite, even though he couldn't have done anything to change what happened. He had felt a sensation of worry through the spot in his mind he had come to know as his bond with Mara when he finally came to in the bacta tank and knew that it must have been much worse the night before. "I'm so sorry. I can't begin to imagine how worried I would have been in the same situation." Mara silently accepted his apology by embracing him gently, not wanting to aggravate his wounds. She then sat down in a small chair next to the head of the bed and Luke reached over and took her hand in his. He looked deep into her eyes and Mara knew that he had something important to say. "Mara, while we're alone…" However, before Luke could finish his statement, the door of the recovery room opened and Leia entered the room with Ben holding her hand.

Leia smiled at both of them and Luke returned the smile in spite of the damper it was putting on the moment. Leia looked at how close the couple was and regretted coming in, but it was too late now. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but I couldn't keep this little guy back any longer."

Leia let go of Ben's hand and the boy ran over to the side of Luke's bed with a huge smile on his face, yelling "Daddy!" He reached the chair where his mother was sitting next to his father and Mara picked him up and placed him on her lap so he could see Luke more easily. Ben looked at his father, still smiling broadly. "I missed you last night."

Luke smiled at his son's innocent comment. "I know. I missed you too. I'm sorry I couldn't come back…but something came up." Luke didn't want to worry the boy and hoped he wouldn't question why he was lying in a bed with scars on his face. No more questions were forthcoming as the boy just curled up against his mother's chest, content to be with his parents again. Luke turned to face the entrance to the room when he heard the door open once again, this time revealing Han and Chewie.

The pair made their way to stand by Luke's bed on the opposite side of where Mara was seated. Han leaned over the bed and looked his friend over. "How you feeling Kid? You don't look so bad to me. In fact, you look strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark."

Mara responded before Luke had a chance, her voice conveying the sincere gratitude she had for the man who had rescued Luke. "Thanks to you." Han smiled at Mara and turned his attention back to Luke.

Han held up two fingers in the young man's face. "That's two you owe me, Junior."

Luke let out a small laugh at his friend's gesture and then turned serious again. "Thanks Han."

Han smirked slightly, accepting Luke's gratitude in his own cocky way, and turned to face Leia who was watching the exchange from the other side of the room. "Well, your worship. It looks like you managed to keep me around for a little while longer."

Leia's eyes narrowed slightly at the smuggler's subtle insinuation. "I had nothing to do with it. General Rieekan thinks it's dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy shield."

"That's a good story. I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight." Upon hearing his comment, Luke rolled his eyes while Mara just shook her head. Both knew where this was heading and wished they could leave the room before the fireworks began.

Leia was quick to retort to Han's cocky statement. "I don't know where you get your delusions laser brain." Leia's comment drew a barking laugh from Chewie, placing Han on the defensive.

The smuggler strode over to where Leia was standing as he spoke to his Wookiee companion. "Laugh it up fuzzball. You didn't see us alone in the south passage. She expressed her true feelings for me." By this point, Han was smiling with his arm around Leia's shoulders causing Mara to groan quietly "Not again," forcing Luke to stifle a small laugh by moving his hand to cover his mouth and faking a cough.

"My…" Leia looked at Han stunned at his audacity and finally exclaimed "Why you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy looking, nerf herder!"

Han looked at the princess with a mock hurt look on his face before replying "Who's scruffy lookin'?" Han made his way back over to the bed leaned in toward Luke conspiratorially. "I must have hit her pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh Kid?"

Upon hearing his comment, Leia threw her hands in the air and stormed out of the room, unable to put up with Han's bravado anymore. Mara stared at the smuggler dumbfounded for a moment before saying "You really don't know anything about women, do you?"

Han's face quickly sobered up at Mara's remark and he turned to Luke and said "Take it easy" just before he left the room with Chewie in tow.

Mara turned her attention to Luke with a small smile on her face. She looked down at the now sleeping child in her lap before turning her gaze back to Luke. "So, before we were interrupted, you had something you wanted to say while we were alone?"

Luke's heart began to race as the moment of truth finally arrived. His voice was shaky. "Mara, I…I mean…" Mara looked at Luke expectantly, wondering what could be so difficult for him to express. Luke turned away for a moment and muttered to himself "This was so much easier in my head." He took a deep breath and looked back at Mara, becoming lost in her beautiful green eyes. He finally began speaking again, this time with a sure tone having finally collected his courage. "Mara, now more than ever, I realize that I don't know what I would do without you in my life. I knew I loved you the first time I met you and I want you with me always and forever. Mara, will you marry me?"