Standard Disclaimer: These characters belong to G. Lucas and T. Zahn. In other words: not mine.
Dedication: To anyone who loves hot chocolate.
Rating: M (just to be on the safe side)
Spoilers/Timeline: After The Corellian Trilogy but before "Vision of the Future".
A/N: Do read and review.

Lightheaded
Chapter 11: Yes, Mom

"Why now?" Luke asked urgently, trying hard to ignore the sensations rushing through his body Mara pressed her self against him. "Why now?"

Mara stilled against him, her mouth still by his ear. "Why not now, Skywalker?" She nipped lightly at his earlobe. "Don't deny that we've had…something…between us for a long time." Luke felt, rather than saw her smile. "And I don't mean this." And he saw stars as she pushed her pelvis against his hips.

"I…I…just think…" Luke was trying to gather his thoughts when he felt Mara push off him. His fevered body cried out for the loss, and he could not help but follow her warmth for a few inches before Mara pushed him against the wall again.

"You've been thinking too much tonight, Skywalker. Too much. And too loudly. I've not had a moment's peace since you arrived. Is that all your brain does? Think, think, think." Mara tilted her head and regarded him.

Luke folded his arms across his chest, his ardour cooling a little. "That's what it does best, you know, think. And right now, I'm thinking…"

"…that getting out of here would be a good idea." She finished for him.

Luke frowned in confusion. "How did you know…?"

Mara threw her hands up in consternation. "You've been projecting ever since you arrived, Skywalker! I've been trying to dampen you, but it's tiring me out, so you have got to repair and put those shields up now!"

"Oh." Luke chewed on that new tidbit of information while he unconsciously adjusted himself. "Why are you wearing that wig?"

"Your sister's coming." She turned and entered the ladies' 'fresher, leaving Luke mystified and unsatisfied. Determined to get to the bottom of the matter, he turned to enter the ladies' 'fresher as Leia had done to him earlier, but his sister's voice stopped him.

"Luke! Where have you been? You're going the wrong way!" Luke reluctantly turned around and faced the direction of the party. Unaware of the frustration that her brother was currently feeling, she continued blissfully. "They're about to make the closing statement for the reception, and there's this reporter who wants to take an official holo for the news flimsy tomorrow."

Caught with nowhere to go, he cast a last look at the ladies' 'fresher door, still firmly closed, and followed her out to the party.

-----

Luke was very distracted during the closing remarks, straining his eyes and craning his neck in a vain attempt to locate her brunette wig over everyone else's heads. He posed for news flimsy holos, and was in the middle of explaining what the Jedi Praxeum did to a newly-minted bureaucrat when he saw her leave – with Isaar.

Pausing in mid-sentence, he was about to throw propriety to the wind and call out her name when he heard her admonish him.

No.

Left staring at her (beautifully bare) back, he was about to mutiny and run after her, when she turned around and fixed a smoky gaze on him.

No.

And then she left the room. With Isaar.

Luke felt his heart drop to his boots.

"Master Skywalker? Master Skywalker?" He turned towards the Twilek he had been conversing with. "Does the Praxeum separate Force-strong children from their parents without consent?"

Plastering a fake interested look on his face, Luke continued to explain the Praxeum's policies while wrestling with his emotions.

What was Mara playing at? He wondered. She…we…nearly… Luke refused to dwell upon the earlier incident. Well, Miss Jade, I think you owe me an explanation, and it's a good thing for me that I know where your Coruscant quarters are. And I don't care if you're entertaining tonight… because we're going to have a little chat.

"So we've decided that being a Jedi has to be a purely voluntary decision – nobody can and should be forced into becoming a Jedi. One's willingness actually opens up oneself to the Force much better, and if someone does not want to accept that power, who are we to force ourselves upon them?"

"That's very true, Master Skywalker. I've heard tales from the Old Republic, of how the old Jedi Order had its temple right here on Coruscant, and…" Luke fidgeted with his robe as Dilys reminisced to him. It had started to slip backwards as the weight of the cowl pulled the material backwards, and he grasped the lapels to pull it forward. As his grip tightened on the material, he felt something underneath his left lapel. A small piece of flimsy, perhaps? His mind analysed immediately.

"Ready to go?" Leia interrupted his conversation and his thoughts. "Ah, Administrator Dilys, how nice to see you here. Did you enjoy the food?" Not giving time for the Twilek to answer, she continued airily. "It's getting quite late, and I did promise Han that I'd get back before twenty-three hundred hours tonight, so Luke, I'm sorry, but we have to leave."

"Ah…yes." Crushing whatever the material was, Luke casually moved his hands into the pocket of his inner cream robe, and deposited the crushed lump there. "I'm sorry Administrator Dilys, we have to make a move. Feel free to contact the Praxeum if you have any more questions. My pupils, and current administrators of the Jedi Academy, Kam and Tionne, will answer any query you care to pose." Luke offered his hand to Dilys, and they shook.

"It was good speaking with you too, Master Skywalker, and I hope to see you again soon as well. Goodnight." And he left the Skywalker twins with a small bow.

Leia turned to Luke. "Well, princess, I saved you again."

"Now let's get you home."

"Hey, I never said that I wanted to go home now, I just wanted to leave here."

"Well, for once, I didn't lie; Han really wanted me home before twenty-three hundred hours, so let's scoot and get out of here."

"Yes, mom."

"Luke!"

"Yes mom?"

"Stop that this instant."

"Yes mom."

-----

Knowing that he wouldn't get a chance to read the note until he got back to the apartment, and knowing that he'd have a better chance of getting out of the apartment by himself, rather than not following Leia home, Luke wisely kept his mouth shut. The children were staying over at Corran and Mirax's apartment tonight as a treat – but it was highly debatable whether it was a treat for the children or for Han and Leia. Luke figured that it was more the latter, and was not surprised when Leia excused herself with barely concealed impatience once they arrived home, and headed straight for the master bedroom, where Han was presumably waiting for her.

This all worked out well for Luke, since he was dying to see what Mara had planted on him. Once the master bedroom door had closed, he scrabbled about in his pocket for the piece of whatever, and drew it out. It wasn't a piece of flimsy, as he had earlier thought, but a scrap of serving tissue which had been available at the function earlier. He smoothed it out, and read:

Why are you not at my place yet?