Title: Clear As A Bell
Author: Sw (aka Jeditheskyisblue)
Rating: Teen
Summary: Mara waited too long to accept Luke's offer of marriage or did she?
Author's note: I wrote this for a challenge I believe from a yahoo group about how the Emperor got Mara Jade as a child. I have a whole outline of that but never did get around to actually putting it into the story. Perhaps one day I will.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars and am making no money off of this story. I just wrote it for fun.
Part 11:
Finally, Leia thought after trying for the last hour they had reached Mara Jade's apartment. It had seemed like the force itself was behind most of their detours.
At first it had been a little funny how Callista's shirt had caught in the door on the way out. What wasn't funny was how Han had had to work from the inside of the apartment while they were on the outside to get the door open.
After that they had started the one mile journey to Jade's apartment. Leia had been confident they would find transport on the roof. As the Chief of State, she always had to have transport waiting for her.
Wrong again. It had to be the Force or, better yet, Han behind that one. It seemed someone had Okayed her personal transport crew to leave and take the transport with them for a late lunch or early dinner.
Callista was the one that who pointed out it was rush hour and they could walk to Jade's apartment faster than they could get another transport. So the two women headed out. Little did either one of them know they had one little wannabe Jedi behind them.
Anakin had told his father he was going to a friend's. Of course his father had been too busy at the time to really listen--calling his mother's transport crew about something or the other. So it had been an easy getaway.
Anakin didn't know why but he felt the force telling him to slow his Mother and Aunt Callista down. Of course there was always the other reason. Anakin found he didn't want Callista to be his Aunt.
No, not when Mara Jade could be his Aunt. All the boy had to do was give Uncle Luke and Mara time alone together, and he was sure they could do the rest.
So for the last 45 minutes Anakin had done everything he could to slow his Mother and her friend down. The funniest was getting the guard to check the two for weapons.
Anakin could have sworn he heard his Mother using words that she usually complained about his father using. Callista, on the other hand, had been nice to the guard. She was smarter than his mother and obviously knew that the more you argued with a guard, the longer it took to get away from him.
Anakin couldn't wait to tell Jaina and Jacen about this. But on second thought Jaina really liked Callista. So scratch that plan. He could just tell Jacen, who didn't care which woman, Mara or Callista, became his aunt.
Anakin kept his little sky blue eyes glued to the two women as they knocked on Mara Jade's door. As the door opened and revealed his uncle, he turned and headed back home, knowing his job had been well done.
Luke had been in heaven, holding the sleeping form of Mara in his arms with her red-gold hair around his shoulders while she used him as a pillow.
Just as he started to doze off himself, Luke felt Leia's force presence, and following close by was Anakin's.
At first Luke thought Leia and Anakin were coming for a visit, and then he picked up on Leia's thoughts. Leia was on a manhunt for him and like any good hunter, she wasn't alone. The blank spot in the force next to her's could only belong to one person Callista. So Leia had brought backup. That meant that in a few moments, not only his sister would be banging on Mara's door, but also his ex-girlfriend.
What puzzled the Jedi Master was why had they brought Anakin along? Luke didn't have to wait long for that answer. As he reached out to touch his nephew's mind he got the answer. A smile appeared on Luke's face as he gently moves Mara off himself onto the bed. So his nephew had subdued his mother's efforts to get here sooner. Luke picked up his shirt and told himself to remember to thank the boy later.
The Jedi Master shook his head as thoughts of what would have happen if Leia and Callista would have showed up sooner played in his mind. Maybe a toy should be brought to show just how thankful Luke really was to Anakin for not allow that to happen.
On the other side of the coin Anakin shouldn't have been using the force like that. It was too close to the darkside. Yet, Luke couldn't find it in his heart to want to yell at his nephew over this. Perhaps because he knew it was the will of the force that Mara and he be together. So how could he blame his nephew if the force was telling him to do it?
Luke didn't have time to answer that question it seemed Leia and Callista had finally arrived.
Luke shut Mara's bedroom door as he left, hoping she would sleep through whatever Leia had to say. As he opened the door, the look on the faces of both Leia and Callista told him this wasn't going to be fun.
"Won't you come in?" Luke asked as he stood side ways so they could pass him into Mara's apartment.
Leia and Callista both nodded, then entered. Leia had to admit she hadn't expected Jade's apartment to look so neat and clean. Callista would have agreed, except that she couldn't look away from Luke. He had a huge smile on his face and there was a shine in his eyes that she had never witnessed before. Luke Skywalker looked, for the very first time since she had met him, completely happy.
"Luke, where have you been?" Leia asked planning on tearing into her brother even more but Callista's hand pulled her back. Leia turned to ask what was wrong but before the words came out she saw what was. There in the hallway standing in robe and nothing else was one very sleepy Mara Jade.
"We were sofa shopping." Mara said as she wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Luke couldn't help but smirk at her. No other women in the galaxy could pull off stepping out of her bedroom dressed only in a robe to find company in her apartment and not be embarrassed
(Why should I be, Skywalker?) Mara asked through the Force, but Luke just shook his head and continued to smirk at her.
"You were sofa shopping because--?" Callista asked hoping to break the silent spell Mara had cast over Luke.
"Luke's idea really can't say I blame him. After all does this look comfortable," Mara asked as she sat down on her sofa, "to sleep on?"
Both Leia and Callista looked at the sofa. Now that they had taken a closer look at it, both could clearly see it wasn't something anyone would want to sleep on.
"So where's the new one?" Leia asked as she looked around the small apartment. But, as far as she could tell, there wasn't one.
"That's a really funny story," Luke began as he took a seat next to Mara. "We just couldn't find one. We looked everywhere, but nothing just seemed right." Even before Luke had finished, he felt a flash of anger coming from his beloved sister.
"Why did you turn off your com? We have been trying to get you for hours. We thought something had happened to you!" Leia asked in what Mara would call Skywalker fashion. Leia's soft brown eyes had turned hard, she was angry all right Mara didn't need the force to tell or show her that. Anger flashed in Mara's eyes a second later but this was Luke's sister and friend. So Mara decided to let me him handle this.
"Leia, we turned them off so we could shop. When we got back here I forgot all about it. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to worry you." Luke said then another thought hit him. "Why didn't you use the force to call me?" Luke asked as he looked his twin in the eyes.
"I tried but you were blocking." Leia stated as she looked at Mara, then Luke. Leia got the feeling she had missed something that had happened between the two.
(Were you blocking Luke?) Mara asked as she looked Leia then Callista over. (Not that I know of.) Luke replied as he tried to keep his eyes off Mara's left leg, which was not covered by her robe at all.
"I wasn't blocking," Luke stated formally. This had to end. Luke had tried to be nice, but the time had come that even he, the ever-patient Jedi Master, had lost his patience. Couldn't Leia or Callista ever take the hints he had been giving them? Hadn't he come right out and told them he was in love with someone other than Callista? Yes, he had, and now it was time for them to learn once and for all just who he was in love with.
"Leia, Callista, I have to tell you something," Luke said. Mara's eyes grew wide as it dawned on her what he was about to say. (Luke, are you sure about this?) Mara asked through the Force. Luke's clear blue eyes looked at Mara for a second, and then he continued on. He was sure that now was the right time. "Remember when I told you a few months ago I was in love with someone who just needed time to figure out they loved me in return?" Luke asked.
Callista and Leia looked at the two on the sofa, not believing their ears. It couldn't be! Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade lovers?
TBC….