He sure does have good taste in liquor. That's a definite.

She took another gulp of her drink, Corellian ale, she thought. Though she knew she was here for his sake, she couldn't help but take some comfort in the foaming ale in the bottle she gripped so tightly.

"I knew you were afraid, farmboy. Almost everybody is, when they first meet me. It's after a few years, whether they are still afraid of me or not, is when I know if they're a friend or not," she had replied earlier to his "I was so afraid of you when I first met you" statement.

Afraid. They were always afraid of her.

And, quite frankly, she was starting to get quite fed up with it.

When she heard his laughter coming out from behind her, she turned around to face him angrily.

"And just what are you laughing at, Skywalker!" she nearly yelled, her eyes narrowing in aggravation. She saw Luke hold up his hands in mock surrender, hoping to appease her.

Which did, for once.

"Just thinking, Mara," he had said lazily, smiling the whole time.

"Oh."

As he stared out into the open night sky, she took this time to sneak a glance at him. Only meant to be a quick glance, of course. But what started as a glance turned into nearly gawking.

Even without the alcohol intake he was having tonight, she could tell his thoughts and mind was out of… place. He seemed to be elsewhere. In a different galaxy, it seemed.

Probably thinking of that little schutta who left him.

Light, wispy strands of blonde hair fell into his eyes, shielding the sadness and torment that she knew seemed to brew inside of them. He left his shirt a little unbuttoned at the top, showing bits of a glistening chest that Mara suddenly found herself wanting to lay her head on.

Stop it. It's the alcohol that's making you think this. Stop it.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Always, he was always wearing those confounded black Jedi outfits of his! Didn't he own anything else besides black?

Mara could tell that his whole body, his whole system was about to just shut down.

I need to help him.

She heard him chuckle lightly in his head. Of course. How could she ever forget that bond they shared?

"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. For once, she was a little timid of overstepping the boundaries.

Usually it was Luke who was afraid of overstepping the boundaries.

"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.

Mara just sat there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Never before had she seen Luke act like this – so dispassionately and so melancholy. It nearly broke her heart to see a friend of hers act like this.

And yes, she realized that he called him a friend.

"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.

"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 pulled her into a tight embrace, nearly scaring her out of her wits. She slowly eased into the embrace, placing her arms lightly around his shoulders, playing with the soft hair at the nape of his neck.

"What would I do without you, Mara?" he asked hoarsely, pulling her tighter to him. As much as she wasn't used to this kind of contact, she somehow felt… comfortable in his arms.

Comfort. Something she hadn't felt in quite some time now.

"I don't know, Luke. Probably out in some lonely planet all by yourself somewhere. Much like this planet, really," she mused, her breath faintly tickling his ear as she spoke quietly to him. Soothing him like a child as best she could. She felt his smile.

"No, Mara. I'm not quite alone anymore. Not quite alone."

He softly leaned in, bringing his lips closer to her face.

And then, she felt it. A small warmth on her cheek.

"You're welcome, farmboy."

Hence, another chapter in. You all will really like the next two, I hope. They will pretty much be the climax of the story. If you could call it that.

It's a fanfiction sin to read without reviewing. I love that phrase.

FIN