It's official. I absolutely loathe galactic Republic Dinners.

He was not having a good time. Not at all.

All of the music and talking was beginning to make him feel a bit drowsy.

The food tasted terrible, as always.

And there was no one to talk to. As always.

His sister, Leia was a bit preoccupied with some rather belligerent senators from, what planet was it again?

Luke shook his head. It didn't matter. They all seemed the same to him right now.

He eyes searched the great stateroom for Han Solo. He was nowhere to be seen. But was that a surprise?

He chuckled. Nah. As much as he cares for Leia, Han wouldn't be caught dead here. Not yet, anyway.

And then his eyes seemed to stumble upon… her.

He gulped for some air, unable to breathe properly. Everything around him seemed to fade away, and suddenly, the only thing he could see clearly was her.

There she stood, quiet and aloof, apart from all the others. Her flaming red hair (the hair which he would so love to kiss) was done up in some kind of unknown style – from what planet, he had no idea. Most of her hair was pulled back into a high, layered and curly ponytail, one that intertwined with several intricate braids. A few perfectly made curls were falling casually into her sparkling jade green eyes.

He eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the rest of her.

It seemed that tonight she chose a long, elegant green dress to wear. A dress that made her eyes stand out even more than usual. It was a dark, forest green dress. The neck plunged deep, right underneath her chest. On her waist was a long sash that seemed to gather up the front of her dress, showing her beautifully long, slender legs. All the way up to her mid thigh. Her sleeves seemed to wrap around her powerful arms, trailing down near to the ground. He could see part of the back. The back of her dress dove deep down to her lower back, stopping right above her backside.

She is so beautiful. What I wouldn't give…

He quickly shook his head out of these murky thoughts and brought his attention to the present. He noticed Mara Jade looking quite bored, standing there. He chuckled aloud when he noticed several starry eyed men desperate to get her attention, but too afraid to make the first move, for fear that she might try to kill them.

My turn to make the first move.

He casually (well, as casually as he could) walked over to her. As he looked upon her fair face, he thought he saw a hint of a smile on it, but must have been dreaming. All he saw was a scowl.

"What do you want, Skywalker?" she growled, looking positively disgruntled at the sight of him. He laughed a hearty laugh at the look on her face, leaving her quite bewildered.

Check.

"Well, nice to see you too, Mara. I must say, you are quite the radiant beauty tonight." You always are, of course.

Oh, I am, hm?

Stop that!

Stop what, Skywalker?

Walking right into my thoughts! Stop it!

Usually I'm the one yelling to get out of my thoughts. Why the sudden change of heart?

She smirked at him, leaving him speechless for a moment.

Damn her. Seems she has me in quite the awkward position.

"You know, Mara, you seem quite bored, standing here with nothing to do. Let me cure that," he smiled and grabbed her hand (so soft) and led her to the dance floor, causing her to open and close her mouth like a fish.

Checkmate. For the time being.

Forgive me for taking so long to update. Been doing a load of thinking and meditating lately. (go figure) What did you think? As you can tell, the chapters aren't in any particular order. It's more or less thoughts and pieces, if you get what I mean. The next chapter (and the one after, if I get around to writing it) shall be very good, I promise.

FIN