Chapter 26: It's Time

Mara nearly knocked over a Twi'lek pilot as she rushed through the corridor trying to catch up to Luke. His reaction to overhearing Leia's comments had been surprising and Mara intended to find out why. She finally reached the quarters they were sharing and hit the activation panel. Mara pounded on the door when nothing happened, noticing that it was locked from the inside. "Luke! Let me in!"

Mara was surprised at how quickly the normally stubborn man opened the door for her. What was up with him today? Mara stepped into the cabin to find the room dim and silent. "Lights on." The glowpanels in the room came up and she saw Luke sitting in a chair in the corner looking out the room's viewport at the stars. Mara nearly forgot to be irritated with him for storming out on her when she saw him, but quickly snapped herself out of it. "What the hell was that all about!"

Luke sat silently for a moment as Mara glared at him with her hands on her hips. Not wanting to risk irritating Mara further, he finally muttered a response without turning from the viewport. "She has a lot of room to talk."

Mara was confused at Luke's response. Did something more happen between him and his sister that she didn't know about? "What are you talking about?"

Luke finally turned to face her. His face seemed not sad or angry as Mara expected, but rather it was regretful, as if Luke had realized that he was simply being childish in storming off. Luke's eyes, however, held a hint of mischief. "Stretch out with the Force in Leia's direction. See if you find anything…different." Mara gave Luke a skeptical look but closed her eyes and stretched out her senses toward the training room where she could still feel Leia. Luke was definitely on to something because Mara felt a different sense in the Force around Leia than would be expected. Mara opened her eyes and gave Luke a quizzical glance, trying to determine the cause of Leia's change. Luke's mouth formed into a small smirk, but he wasn't letting Mara off that easily. "Look closer."

After giving a Luke a quick glare for slipping into his teacher role with her, Mara closed her eyes once more and this time probed deeper into Leia's Force sense. Mara's eyes popped open and jaw dropped when she realized what Luke had been pushing her to find. She hadn't expected that at all. "You're kidding me."

Luke smiled broadly as Mara picked up on what he had nearly a week ago. "No. It's true."

Chuckling softly, Mara shook her head, absorbing the revelation. Now she understood the odd interaction between the twins for the last couple days. In fact, Mara was surprised she hadn't noticed right away. Between the attention she was paying to Ben and her sister, it had slipped past her entirely. "Well that explains a lot."

Remembering her reason for following Luke in the first place, Mara walked over to Luke and leaned down to look him in the eyes. "She did have a point though." Before Luke could protest, Mara brought a finger up to his mouth and silenced him. "We've put this off for long enough. It's time."

Luke looked at Mara, confusion written on his face. What was she talking about? "Time for what?"

Mara shook her head at his response. "You really are a dense Farmboy sometimes." Mara locked eyes with Luke, preparing to jog his memory. "I want you to think back. A few rescue missions, many months of Jedi training, one lost hand and a few newly found family members ago, you asked me a question. I said yes."

Luke's eyes flashed with realization. He really was dense. "You want to get married…now? Right now?"

Mara laughed at Luke's excited response. "I knew you could figure it out. And, no, not this very moment, but soon. A week, maybe two. Definitely before it's time to go off on whatever mission comes up next."

Luke pulled his soon to be wife into a warm embrace, happier than he had been in months. It was finally going to happen. They had been engaged for close to a year and Luke had yet to tell even his sister. But soon, Luke Skywalker would be married to the love of his life. "I love you."

She smiled at him, her eyes sparkling. "I know. I love you too, although sometimes I don't know why." Luke kissed her softly on the lips in response to her jab, bringing a smile to Mara's face. They parted slightly and Mara whispered against her future husband's lips. "Now I remember."

Leia stopped at the door to Luke and Mara's quarters and hesitated before finally hitting the activation panel. She hadn't meant to set her brother off like that. In fact, she didn't know what came over her when she said what she did. The door opened and Leia saw Mara sitting on Luke's lap in a chair in the corner of the room, curled up against his chest. "Umm…I'm sorry to disturb you, but Ben was getting tired. I brought him back for his nap." Luke and Mara both looked down to see Leia holding the hand of their obviously exhausted son before Leia called their attention once more. "You seem like you're in a better mood."

Luke smiled at his sister as Mara got up from her seat and pulled Luke to his feet as well. Luke gave Leia a smile to let her know that he wasn't mad at her anymore. He had been out of line storming off and Leia probably didn't even know why her comments had upset him. "I am. Actually, I'm glad you came by. We have some good news."

Leia gave her brother a small smile and a curious look. He had gotten over whatever had bothered him rather quickly. "Really? What?"

His smile grew wider as he wrapped his arm around Mara's shoulder, causing Mara to roll her eyes at his display of possessiveness. Still, he couldn't hold it against him. Luke was happy and that made her happy too. "We're getting married."

Leia clapped and a huge smile appeared on her face as she moved across the room to embrace her brother and soon to be sister-in-law. They deserved to have that kind of happiness. "Congratulations. I'm so happy for you two."

Leia pulled back and Mara could see her already beginning to plan. This had to be cut off before Leia started to get out of line. She grabbed Leia's shoulders and turned her future sister-in-law to face her and pointed a finger at the overexcited Princess. "A small wedding. We are still at war. This is not a time for something extravagant.

Leia's smile faded slightly and she let out a soft sigh. Her brother deserved the best, but Mara had a point. This wasn't the time for a regal gala. "You're right. Thanks for stopping me before I got carried away."

Her face turned serious as Leia turned to face her brother. "Luke, I really came by to apologize for my behavior before. I had no right to say that. I don't know what has come over me lately. Even Han says I've been moody the past few days."

Luke exchanged a brief, knowing look with Mara before accepting Leia's apology with a smile. "You're forgiven. I was out of line too."

Ignoring Luke's implicit apology, Leia turned a quizzical eyebrow toward the engaged couple. Something was going on and she was out of the loop. And Leia couldn't help but get the feeling she shouldn't be an outsider to their little secret. "What was that look for? Do you know something I don't?"

Luke placed his hands on his sister's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "I can tell you that the answer to your question lies within you. Use the Force to search within yourself and you'll have your answer. Consider it a test." With a small smirk, Luke turned and began to lead Leia to the door. "Now, if you'll excuse us. I believe you returned to us a tired three year old that needs be convinced to take a nap."

Leia was unable to respond when she found herself in the hall looking at a closed door. Her brother could be as infuriating as Han is he felt like it. She marched down the hallway towards her quarters to figure things out, mumbling the whole way about a cryptic Jedi who spent too much time in a swamp with a green troll.