"You know, Mara, when I first met you, I was deathly afraid of you."

Mara took another swig from her drink, something from Corellia. Luke stared at her for a moment, before turning his face back to his mug. Of course, even if he was a bit intoxicated, he had no desire to make Mara uncomfortable if she caught him staring at her like a lovesick fool.

Which is, of course, what I am. Now that I think about it. A lovesick fool who trusted the wrong people.

Corellian ale sure tastes good. I wonder if Han has anymore stocked up.

"I know you were, farmboy. Everyone is afraid of me when they first meet me. Most are still scared to death of me for years after meeting me!" she nearly exploded, followed by a small hiccup that escaped from her alcohol drenched lips. Luke laughed aloud at her, gently rocking back and forth.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Mara whirled around to face him, her features tightened in an aggravated state.

"And just what are you laughing at, Skywalker!" she snapped, poking him fiercely with the bottle of corellian ale.

Luke help up his hands in mock surrender, smiling lazily as he did so.

"Just thinking Mara."

"Oh." She brought the bottle back to her lips, indulging in the taste of the bittersweet alcohol.

Luke found that he couldn't stop staring at her, no matter how hazy his vision seemed. He found himself thinking such thoughts that would not be acceptable for a Jedi Master… or even a Jedi.

He noticed how flushed her usually pale skin became – probably because of the alcohol. He noticed the tight grip her hands had on the bottle, afraid to let go. It showed him how vulnerable she truly was – vulnerable and alone.

Not anymore, she isn't. I can stop hoping that she'll come back to me. There's no point in hoping. Now's the time for me to focus on the people who care about me.

He observed the way she would constantly reach out to her tied up hair, that tight bun that Luke couldn't understand how it wasn't killing her head. He always preferred it when her hair was down, set loose. It was odd, really. Odd how Luke always found himself thinking about Mara's hair at the most unusual times. One of those times being during a lesson he was giving a while back here, at the Jedi Temple. It was a lesson where he was teaching the students to open their minds, and clear their thoughts.

Apparently, some of the students were already strong enough in the Force to see through Luke's at the time open mind. And, at the time, he was thinking of Mara's long, russet colored hair when she had let it down the day they had finally beaten the Dark Jedi clone of Jorrus C'Baoth. It was a day he knew that neither of them would ever forget.

He inwardly chuckled at the memory, his eyes smiling in the dimness of his outer balcony.

"I can practically hear your chuckling, farmboy. What's going on inside that head of yours?" she smirked, leaning back in her chair to get a better view of the Jedi Master.

"Nothing of your interests, Jade."

"Fine. I did want to ask you something, though. Why do you think she left you without telling you anything?" Mara questioned, taking a small sip of her drink. This caused Luke to freeze for a moment, his blood turning cold.

"I don't know, Mara. She left me without any note of where she was going, why she left me… she didn't say anything. Obviously she doesn't want to be found, wherever it is she's going. And it hurts, you know? Having a loved one (or what you thought was a loved one) just all of a sudden leave you and not bother to tell you why," he sighed dejectedly, placing his head in his hands.

"You know, Luke. This would be a good time to move on. Let's face it: she won't be coming back. The best thing for you to do now, Luke, is not to dwell on the past, but focus on the now," she replied, edging forward, and slowly taking a seat right next to Luke on the bench, wrapping an arm softly around him.

Silent tears began to form in his eyes. They didn't fall – no, he wouldn't let them. He wouldn't let Mara see how weak he really was.

He couldn't.

"It's funny, Mara. It's funny… how much it used to burn. It nearly killed me, when I found out she left without word. It burned day and night. I thought I wouldn't get over it. It burned so much.

"But it's gone. That burning. I've realized now that… the fire for Callista died a long time ago. Maybe even before she left, I don't know. In a sense, I'm glad she's gone. I had a thought (that I tried to ignore) from the beginning that we weren't for each other."

He shook his head, shaking the tears away and shaking the memories of Callista from his mind. For now it was over for them.

It was time for him to start anew.

To step out strong.

Yet another chapter in this series. I hope you all have noticed by now that these chapters are not necassarily in a particular order. They are simply glimpses into Luke and Mara's lives. Fluffy at times. Angsty at others. Maybe even humourous.

FIN