AU: Of all the punishments imposed by the Emperor, Vader mused to himself, chaperoning Luke and his... friend had to be the worst.
His son has started to recover again. To Vader's concern however, there are still instances when the boy's vision suddenly loses focus; when even the sound of his own name fails to catch his attention, or lift him out of the spells of desolation that haunt his steps. For all of his strength, Vader can do little but swear bloody vengeance on the bastards who did this to his son.
Mara Jade on the other hand, seems to understand better than he does.
Vader watches in dawning horror as Luke seeks her touch with his one remaining hand. The girl sits quietly by his son's bedside, dutifully rubbing circles in the narrow space between his neck and collarbone, softly whispering words into his ear that Vader cannot (and will not) decipher.
Moments pass between them, and eventually some level of peace is restored to Luke's brilliant blue eyes. He slowly turns his head to gaze upon her, clearly fighting against the pain he feels, and her usually inscrutable mask cracks with a rapturous smile as she lifts her hand to caress his cheek.
There's a strong… affection between his little prince and the Emperor's new Hand, a unique bond forged through shared experience; yet another arena in which Vader will have to let his boy strike out on his own.
Later in the evening, they stop to make camp in a clearing they found discretely nestled beside a waterfall. After he finishes documenting the day's events on his personal datapad, Vader heads to the edge of the stream, hoping to find water safe enough for his young charges to drink.
Catching the sight of a tangled mess of red and gold towards the corner of his visor, he clenches his fist around the pommel of his lightsaber. Slowly, quietly, he slinks forward predatorily as he's done a million times before.
His son and Mara sit together on the stump of a fallen tree, bits and pieces of what is supposed to be their camp scattered carelessly around them. Vader contemplates as Luke neatly lifts the girl's right wrist to observe more carefully. Through glimpses in the Force, he knows without seeing that the operative took a cut while protecting Luke from a vornskr after he'd left for the waterfall.
"It's just a scratch," Mara complains ruefully to his son. But Luke only smiles and continues to heal her.
"I'm not doing this because I don't believe in your abilities." Drinking in the coy upturn of her lips, He leans forward until his forehead barely brushes Mara's…
With a loud grumble and swish of his cape, Vader forces himself into the clearing, greeting the surprised pair with a sustained glare until they reluctantly step away from each other.
For Kriff's sake, he was going to kill Ozzel for taking this long to pick them up… There was absolutely no way him and Padme were like this last time…
By his command, Mara has a tent all to herself, leaving Vader and his son to share the only other one- appropriately placed on the opposite side of the wooded area. Devious teenage romancing habits aside, he knows Luke well enough to understand the vulnerability of his current state; it would be best to keep him close by. If in doing so, Vader can almost pretend that they're back camping on Vjun as they did when his son was just a boy , then it's merely an added benefit of the circumstances…
Luke stirs restlessly in his sleep; He peers over at the golden-haired youth (almost a man now), only to hear his son murmur something with deep fervour.
Annoyingly, it's the same thing, again and again, and again— two syllables. Vader draws closer to him, always anxious of dreams afflicting his son as they once did to him.
But then the words leave his lips louder…and stronger…
"Mara…"
Of all the punishments meted out by the Emperor, Vader thought to himself exasperatingly, forcing him on this trip had to be the worst.
Very inspired by NikkeiSimmer's classic fic 'But Honey, Our Son's MarryingAn Imperial!'