Skywalker Apartment, Coruscant. 32 ABY

"Mara what are you doing?" The sluggish, coarse voice of her husband cut through the darkness.

Mara looked up briefly from the floor to find him peering at her from his sprawled position on the bed. She returned her attention to the shirt in her hand, before discarding it back onto the floor. She picked up another from the scattered pile of cloth, hers this time. "Trying to keep warm" she answered, pulling the shirt over her head and smoothing it down over her body.

He grinned foolishly at her. "I thought that was my job?"

A wave of playfulness crossed Mara, and she folded her arms in defiance. "Well, you're being lax".

"Come here".

Smiling, Mara moved back into his embrace, pillowing her head on his bare chest. She moved an arm to rest on his hip and held him tightly. "Luke?"

"Hmmm?" His eyes had drifted closed and he began to breathe evenly.

"I've been thinking".

"Hmmm? Me too" he murmured, automatically.

"Luke?" She slapped his chest lightly, jolting him back into awareness.

"What?" With a wince, he inclined his head slightly towards her.

Mara sat up slightly, resting her hand on his chest as she swivelled to face him. "Not tired, are you?" She asked mischievously.

"I'm sorry, my love, you appear to have…rather exhausted me". His eyes fluttered closed again.

"Luke!" She slapped him again, lightly this time.

"I'm not that young anymore, Mara" he reminded her, a grin forming on his lips.

Mara shifted up the bed slightly, bringing her face close to hers. "Well, I've always believed that youth and age have very little to do with one another". She placed a light kiss to his lips.

"Hmmm" he muttered again, returning her kiss. Perhaps he was not as tired as he claimed, Mara though wickedly, doubling her efforts.

"In fact" she murmured, between kisses, "Leia was telling me just the other day that Han…"

"Mara!" Luke pulled abruptly away from her, wide-eyed in horror. "There are certain things I'd prefer us not to talk about…especially when…" he gestured his hand between them.

"Especially when what?" Mara grinned, and leant in close to him again, her hand travelling sinuously down his chest. "Luke?" She kissed him soundly. "Especially when what?"

"When…Oh, never mind"

It was some time later when Mara finally allowed herself a sated sigh, and for her eyes to begin to drift closed.

"What were you thinking?" Luke's deep voice came from behind her.

"I'm sorry?" She turned a little on her side to face him.

"Before – you said you'd been thinking". He grinned inanely at her. "Or was it just a ploy to get my attention and ravish me?"

Mara gave him a derivative laugh. "You are attributing me with ravishment?"

"I most certainly am" he grinned.

"Shut up, or I'll never do it again".

He lapsed obediently into silence, but she felt a loving, playful caress through the Force. The minutes drifted by in silent companionship as he breathing evened and peace settled upon them. Mara waited until she could feel he was beginning to drift off again before speaking. "I was thinking about us" she said softly.

Luke remained silent, but she could feel his grip around her tighten slightly, and his unspoke urge to continue. "Ben was…very difficult when you were away". Mara was careful to keep her voice neutral.

"I guessed as much". Luke admitted with a grimace. "He was rather emotional when I saw him earlier".

"He misses you, Luke" Mara swivelled her body, twisting around to face him. "We miss you". Her hand reached up to caress his cheek, tracing a soft pattern over his marked skin.

"I'm not gone that often" Luke defended himself, but his words were without substance, without the will to convince her.

Mara eyed him penetratingly. "It's enough, Luke" Her hand dropped back onto the sheets, and he quickly covered it with his palm. "Ben doesn't understand how much responsibility falls to you, how much you seem to be needed out there. He thinks that he's second best".

Luke closed his eyes, contemplating. Mara disliked being harsh with him, but it was the only way to get through to him sometimes. Those lofty ideals, while admirable, made a rather tough shell to penetrate.

"Kyp asked me when I was planning to take on a new apprentice" Luke said finally.

Mara stiffened slightly, turning her head towards the window, away from him. "What did you say?"

"That I wasn't sure" he replied evenly. "Were you considering - "

"No" she cut him off harshly, retreating from his embrace.

Luke was visibly shocked by the dismissive, final nature of her tone. "You never even thought about it?"

"I do have a child to raise, Luke".

"We" he reminded her. "We have a child to raise". His arm reached over her again, but she repelled him through the Force.

"Sometimes I wonder" Mara replied, almost inaudibly.

"What do you mean by that?" Luke raised himself up to an elbow, so that he could peer down at her. Mara's face was shadowed, her cheeks adorned by the moonlight that left her eyes shaded. He was careful to keep his voice neutral. They'd only just recovered from their last argument.

Mara sighed, and moved further down the bed. She sat up, and crossed her legs, eyeing him squarely. But there was no malice or anger in her face. But there was a strange longing, a sadness that he could discern in her expression. Carefully, he sat up to face her, and was pleased when she reached for his hand.

"You know that I've never been good at this, Luke" she began, her slim fingers caressing the skin of his palm. "Do you realise we've been married for over ten years?" Mara smiled indulgently. "And known each other ten years before that?" she added, shaking her head, almost in disbelief. "It should seem like a lifetime, but it doesn't". Her smile lessened slightly, a wave of melancholy crossing her face. "It still feel like we haven't had enough time to enjoy each other".

"I know what you mean". Luke felt as if the last twenty years of his life had gone past him in a flash, slipped through his fingers as easily as sand.

"There's always been war, or politics or some other crisis keeping us apart" Mara continued. "Or…our own stubbornness" She added as an afterthought.

Luke grinned at this. "Yours more than mine I think, Mara" he teased.

He received a glare and Luke forced a neutral expression onto his face. Mara had never been comfortable exposing herself like this, even to him. For her to be so serious was a clear sign that what she wanted to say was important. He nodded, urging her to continue.

"We finally have a time for ourselves, Luke" Mara continued heedlessly. "The time I'd always taken for granted before".

"Mara" Luke started to reach out for her, but she stopped him.

"Please, Luke" her eyes pleaded with him. "I need to say this". He nodded to her, giving her a small smile, squeezing her hand gently in reassurance.

"I realised that the reason why I was so upset about Callista. It wasn't her – or you" She looked at him deeply. "It was me – It was the danger of losing you, even the slightest threat of it. Because I do need you". She gave him a weak smile. "I know I've never admitted to it before, but I'm saying it now - I need this family. You and Ben".

Luke felt overcome by the emotion of her words, and what it must have cost her pride to admit it to him. Even after all these years, those simple words brought such fulfilment to his heart. Oh, he'd always known she'd felt that way, but to hear her say the words was indescribable. Impulsively, her brought her hand to his lips, and placed a tender kiss to her fingers. He continued to clasp her hand in both of his.

"You know that I'll always put this family first" he told her, his voice a gentle caress. "That the two of you are more important to me than anything". He saw her nod, and shift a bit closer to him, their knees almost touching. "I gave up responsibility on Ithor…And I think it's finally time to prove it".

Mara placed the warm skin of her free hand to his knee. "I'm not asking you to give up the Jedi. You couldn't, even if you wanted to".

"I know" Luke nodded. "But I need to be a husband and father first".

Giving him a tentative smile, Mara's eyes met his tenderly. "I mean, look at us, Luke. We're a generation of orphans". She took a deep breath. "We grew up without guidance, without protection. We lived through war and sadness, and we did it alone. I want to give more to Ben. I want to try".

Luke took hold of Mara firmly, and drew her into a tight embrace. She allowed him to do so, her hands breaking free and twining around his neck, through his cropped hair. "I do too" he whispered into the soft skin of her neck, overcome with sheer emotion. Gently, he relaxed his muscles and moved gently back to lay on the bed, bringing Mara with him. Her hand darted out to clutch the nearby blankets and pull the coverings over the both of them.

They lay in silence for several minutes, as Luke gently stroked his wife's long red tresses absently. "Where would you like to go?" he asked finally, into the darkness.

"What?" She shifted slightly against him, confused.

"I've told you that this was never really a home for me. For either of us". He moved his thumb gently over her cheek in a soft caress. "We should find one".

"You'd leave Coruscant?" She asked, rested her head back onto his shoulder. "Leave the Jedi Temple?"

"You see, Jade, there's this ingenious invention called intergalactic space travel" he teased her. "It allows you to travel between systems in short amounts of time". He was rewarded with a playful swat. Subduing his smile, Luke's tone became serious. "I wouldn't mind any planet in the galaxy, so long as you and Ben were with me".

"Well…" Mara closed her eyes and settled herself, her Force presence mingling with his gently and a contentedness washed over her. "I rather liked Ossus.."

It was there again. A tingling in the back of Ben's head, a slight varying of his perception. It had always been there, really. His father called it the Force. Ben didn't really understand how it worked, only that most of the time, it felt good. Colours became brighter to him, sounds clearer. Every sense became more acute, more real. He had learnt that if he concentrated, he could hear people walking in the hallway outside their apartment, or the speeders shoot by in the night, or his parents talking quietly in their room. Mostly, he blocked out their voices, respecting their privacy. It was a skill he could probably have taken advantage of, but Ben believed his mother would become very angry with him if she found out he was listening to their conversations. Ben understood. He liked to be left alone sometimes, too.

He had enjoyed exploring these new sensations, and they had mostly been good experiences. But Ben found that the more he focused, the harder he tried to open himself up like that, the more bad emotions he was beginning to feel. It was always sudden. One moment he would be watching a bug crawl across the floor, listening to the quiet tapping of its legs against the ground, when he would hear a scream, or see someone fall, or feel that someone, somewhere near, was crying.

It hurt so much, and he couldn't make it stop. Ben tried to concentrate only on the good things, but he could not filter out the agony, the pain. He knew about the war, about how many people had died, had suffered. It had been so distant to him, though. History.

He couldn't help but feel it now. And he didn't understand, why the Force was so bad to him when it could make him feel so happy. Why he couldn't just ignore the pain – and feel only the colours and lights that filled him with such peace.

That is the way of the Force, Ben. And life.

Ben almost jumped out of bed at the sound. He threw the covers off and slammed the light on, illuminating his small room. It was empty. But he had heard something, a voice… No, Ben told himself. There was nobody there.

Always trust yourself.

A part of Ben told him to call out for his parents, to run to them where he would be safe. But the strange thing was…he wasn't scared. The voice was there, now, he had heard it clearly. He could feel it as well. His body felt warm and protected, like when his father would envelop him into a firm hug and hold him tightly. The part deep inside of him he had learnt to trust told him that there was nothing to fear.

"Hello?" he called out into the room softly.

It wasn't quite a figure that appeared before his eyes. But in Ben's vision, the spot before his vision seemed to…shift slightly. He couldn't make out anything in particular, except – eyes, perhaps. Bright, familiar eyes. Blue like his own, like his fathers. And dark robes, he could see them now, though faintly. And a smile – a gentle, peaceful gaze on his face.

"You're him, aren't you?" he asked in wonder. Ben didn't just guess at who his visitor was – somehow, he just knew. "My…grandfather" Ben's lips closed around the unfamiliar word. "Your eyes are just like Dad's. Like mine".

Anakin's smile widened as he nodded.

"Dad told me about you" he added when the figure didn't answer.

Finally, the image shifted, and reappeared next to Ben on the bed. "What did he say?" His deep voice filled Ben's heart, rather than his ears.

Ben furrowed his brow. It was difficult to reconcile the image before him to the many stories his father had told. "He said…that you were once a great Jedi Knight. And that…you did bad things" Ben spoke up finally. "That you hurt a lot of people".

The apparition nodded sadly. "All of that's true".

Biting his lip in concentration, Ben continued. "But he said that you were good in the end. That some part of you was always good. That you…saved him".

A wistful smile crossed the figure's face. "He saved me".

"So it is you" Ben declared. "What…" he faltered slightly, ashamed of his ignorance. "What should I call you?"

The figure features seemed to shift, becoming not quite sad, but regretful. "I'm sorry, Ben, that I robbed you of the chance to know your grandparents. I know what it was like to grow up like that, and I never wished it for you". He appeared to sigh, and the Ben it felt like the whole room was inverting towards him, breathing with him. "You may call me Anakin".

"Did you hear them, Anakin?" Ben scowled, the sadness suddenly overcoming his curiosity.

"Your parents?" Anakin raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I did".

"Dad said they were just talking, but I don't believe him" Ben thrust out his bottom lip, pouting. "I felt it…they were so angry".

"Just be glad you didn't feel what they've been doing for the past few hours" Anakin smirked as he patted Ben playfully on the shoulder, halting any further questions on the subject.

Ben looked at him quizzically, but put the comment down to just another thing the adults wouldn't tell him about. Or promise to explain when he was older. "Everyone treats me like such a kid" he whined. He expected Anakin to laugh and pat him on the shoulder again, or make a patronising comment about how he was a kid. Or to tell him knowingly that he didn't want to grow up too soon.

But Anakin seemed to muse on the complaint. "I was like that" he said finally. "I used to tell everyone that someday I would visit every star in the sky. No one took me seriously, of course". He smiled wistfully. "But I never forgot about it".

"I bet you visited heaps, though, didn't you Anakin?" Ben bounced up excitedly on the bed. "I wanna fly a X-wing like Dad" he informed him. "He said that it's so fun when all the stars are going past".

Anakin laughed warmly. "It is. As long as you're not flying anyway from something".

Ben felt his scrutinising gaze, but it didn't make him feel uncomfortable. It was warm – accepting. He hadn't felt like that in a while. Ben cast his eyes downward, his voice becoming soft. "Dad's always flying away. And Mama – she gets upset and wants me to go away. She says I wouldn't understand".

"That is the way your mother is" Anakin explained gently. "I remember -" But he cut himself off and lased into silence.

"What?" Ben moaned, irritated. That happened to him a lot. Someone would begin to say something about his mother, but stop themselves at the last minute. Aunty Leia did it to him all the time. What weren't they telling him?

A grimace formed on Anakin's face. "That is not something you should hear from me". Ben wasn't ready to accept that, but Anakin quickly moved on. "I know it's hard, Ben. When I was growing up, I could feel it if someone was hurt, or sick. Or even the slightest bit upset". He sighed deeply. "I was never able to forget it – how it felt. But maybe you'll be able to benefit from my mistakes" He added, almost to himself.

Ben didn't quite know what the say – there was so much he didn't understand, so much he hadn't been told. But underneath the bewilderment and curiosity, there was a streak of exhilarating excitement. He was actually talking to his grandfather, the hero who he had heard so much of, who he had always wondered about and secretly admired. It was someone who didn't shy away from his questions, didn't dismiss him as too young to understand or felt the need to whisper around him. Who he could talk to…who would listen.

"So are you the Force now?" Ben asked, gazing up at his transparent image of his grandfather. "That's what Dad said".

"In a way" Anakin nodded acutely. "I am a part of it, a part of everything, now".

Ben lowered his head. "I don't understand it" he said, reluctantly. "The Force".

"I know Ben" Anakin reached out a ghostly hand and placed it on his shoulder. Ben immediately felt his skin warm and glow. "That's why I'm here".

"Dad doesn't know" Ben looked up again. "I tried to tell him but he doesn't get it. He doesn't hurt like I do".

"Your father has forgotten how strongly the Force manifests itself in the young" Anakin answered. "You are receptive fully of the Force in a way you never will be again. You must learn to control it".

"What if I can't?" Ben felt the oppressive weight in his heart again – the fear that the darkness, the pain, would overwhelm him and smother the light.

"I'll help you" Anakin said resolutely. His spectral hand drifted down from Ben's shoulder to tightly grasp his small hands. "There are dark times coming for the Jedi, Ben. You can't allow yourself to be caught up in it". Anakin's eyes darkened slightly. "There is so much I've learnt about the Force, Ben. So much I could teach you". He looked up, to a point behind Ben's shoulder – almost as if he was listening to something. Ben strained his ears. Perhaps he was imagining it…but he almost could hear voices. They were too soft for him to make out, whispers in the dead air. But Anakin seemed to hear them clearly.

"I never learnt restraint in my life" Anakin refocused his attention back on Ben. "But we must teach it to you". He grimaced slightly. "Even if it means distancing yourself from the Force".

Ben wriggled eagerly. "From the pain you mean, Anakin?"

"From all of it" He replied sorrowfully. "The good as well as the bad". Anakin took Ben by the shoulders gently. "It may feel empty, but we believe that it is for the best. If you trust me?"

Ben stared into the twin eyes of his grandfather. The man who had helped wipe out the Jedi so long before he was born. Who had saved his father, and turned back to the light. Who he had been told was strong, and without fear. Who could see inside of him in a way even his mother and father could not. Could, perhaps, understand the depression, the darkness he was feeling.

"I trust you, Anakin" he answered resolutely.

"I couldn't be there for your father, Ben" Anakin looked deeply back into his eyes. "But I will be there for you".

Dante-Reven - Thank you. There will be some more Mara/Callista interaction later, I promise.

Salinethe saltlakequeen - I think Luke and Mara would still be pretty active - with help from the Force, of course ;) Thanks!

doreenthatshot - Thank you.

AgiVega - Thanks - I agree, I don't think Mara has ever loved anyone other than Luke. Had relationships with, perhaps, but not loved.