Rachel

Great story! Leia's being evil and Mara's really messed up! I'm really curious to see where this goes.

Hey! I'm glad to see you drop by! Yes, Leia is very evil and Mara is messed up…. But Mara gets better, I promise! And I'm glad you're curious… it means that you might follow it. (fiendishly intelligent)

Jedi-lover

You're back! It has been such a long time since an update that when I got an email story alert for this chapter I didn't even remember what story this was. I am glad to see you haven't given up on this fic. It is very interesting.

AH! HUGS You're back too! I was hoping you wouldn't give up on me! Yeah… I thought that might be the case for you all. I'm really sorry it took me so long… and trust me, I never, ever give up on a fic. (beams happily) Leave it alone for insanely long amounts of time? Yes. Give up? NEVER!

Mara is still wallowing in depression I see, but I am glad to see her attitude is improving a little bit.

She'll actually be much better in a while! I promise!

Now I am worried about her. Is Leia setting up some sort of trap for her?

You know, you'll hate yourself. That idea hadn't even occurred to me, till you said that! But I love it! (works it into the plot)

I need to go back and read the first few chapters again. I forget why Leia is behaving so badly. She is acting like Mara is the Devil herself.

I haven't said why Leia is behaving the way she is. Just blame it on faulty genetics? I mean, Anakin + Padme Intelligence? NOT! (is angry)

Now that summer is here and school is out I hope you will have more time to update. I am really looking forward to reading more of this story.

Actually, I graduated about…. 19 days ago, and I started college yesterday… (nervous smile) But it's just math! I still have time for writing! Really!

By the way, sorry to hear about your jerk boyfriend. I had that happen to me a few times in my youth. Now I look back at them and think "Thank Goodness!" You never realize how better off you are without them until some time passes and you can reflect without all the emotion clouding your judgement.

I know, but it just… gah. It wasn't/isn't that I particularly am upset about the actual break up or anything (I was kind of expecting it) it just hurt that he picked HER…. (shrugs) I'm better off without him. I know that. Trust me, I really do. It's just…. her. and the timing. But I think being split up from him was/is good… I'm a lot more steady without him around to distract me.

There was a lot of heartbreak when I was young, but it all turned out for the best. Last month I celebrated my 17th Wedding anniversary.

Oh that's WONDERFUL! (HUGS) Congratulations to you and your husband! I'm glad you two are still together. 17 years? What fun! At the risk of sounding like a cheesy announcer, you're an inspiration to us all…. (no really, I meant that)

CeeKay

I went back and reread the whole thing from the beginning to catch up,

Hehe, why doesn't that surprise me?...

I noticed something I haven't yet mentioned to you: I absolutely love the way you write Luke. The only way I can describe it is "painfully innocent", if that makes any sense whatsoever.

Yes it does! He's not all that smart as they make him out to be. Well, he is? But they've lately been making him out to be a hermit, mellow version of Solo! And that's just wrong! He's supposed to be this smiling, gentle, polyanna type guy, but he's so… battered by the stupid canon writers! (fumes) I don't hate!hate Luke the way I hate!hate Leia, but for me, Luke has to be written a certain way or I just can't stand him. Hense, my Luke is much less World Weary then the guy in canon.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the Bandomeer mission . . . it looks like it could start to drive a wedge between Luke and Leia. I wonder why Luke doesn't want the Jedi involved.

The ensuing explosion will be magnificent, I assure you. And I'm not really sure why Luke doesn't want the Jedi involved… I just couldn't think of any other way to tie in the mission into the story very well. P

Wait a second . . . did Leia send Mara on that mission specifically in the hope of getting rid of her! That's really cruel, to Luke as much as to Mara. I'm really anxious to see where you take this!

Before you wrote that? No. But now she did! And I agree, it was really cruel. (wibbles)

please, enjoy….

Chapter Seven

The next day Mara woke up to the smell of hot chocolate and an empty bed. A faint frown creased her brow, but Luke sent a wave of comfort through their bond and she knew he wasn't far away from her. She smiled and stretched her arms above her head as far as she could, relishing the gentle tranquility of her home.

Home.

The word brought a smile to Mara's lips. Sometimes it still seemed amazing that someone like her could have a home like this…

Luke's face appeared in the doorway, tilted so she couldn't see his body; his hair was falling across his forehead boyishly and a glint in his eyes that made Mara sit up straight in bed. "Good morning?" Mara asked cautiously, unsure what she should do.

"May I come, Mara? Please? Please?" Luke rushed into the room and fell onto his knees before the bed, holding his hands out. "I really want to go!"

"Come?" Mara blinked and yawned, her mind not functioning other then to admire the way Luke's button-down - yet deliciously unbuttoned - shirt hung off of his lean body. "Go?"

"Please, Mara?" Luke begged. "I'll do whatever you say!"

Mara's lips curled up in a crafty smile. "Oh really. Anything?"

Luke paused, the glint in Mara's eyes giving what she asked entirely different connotations then what he had originally intended but... "I... sure?"

Mara leaned forward and then started to crawl across their bed, her hair falling into her face, obscuring her gleaming eyes slightly. "Can't you do better then that, farmboy? I promise no lasting damage..."

Luke swallowed. "Okay."

Mara arched an eyebrow. "Okay... what?" Mara perched on the edge of the bed and locked eyes coyly with Luke.

Luke smiled faintly, not bother to even try to hide the blush that crept up his neck and covered his ears. "I'll do whatever you say, Jade."

Mara leaned forward till her nose almost touched Luke's and their lips were close enough to taste. "What if I said you had to stay behind?"

Luke's jaw dropped at her impish defiance. "I thought you said 'no lasting damage'!"

Mara rocked back onto her heels, laughing unashamedly at her husband's dismay. Luke felt his heart tug, Mara hadn't laughed at anything like that since... well, in over a year. Since before the accident on Coruscant.

Luke reached out and touched Mara's cheek, vowing to himself that she could keep smiling no matter what happened – and then Mara overbalanced and tumbled off the bed and into Luke's arms.

"I have you now," Luke growled playfully, digging his fingers into her side.

Mara shrieked with laughter, squirming and thrashing about madly. "Stop it Luke! Stop it!"

"Say I can go!" Luke demanded, catching Mara's smaller hands in one of his.

"A'right, A'right!" Mara was gasping for breath when her husband finally relented and stopped tickling her.

"…Sorry." Luke said unrepentantly.

"Sorry my foot," Mara muttered haughtily, pushing her hair away from her face. "You're gloating."

"Me!" Luke looked shocked, then started batting his eyelashes as fast as he could.

"Yes, you." Mara kissed Luke.

-----

Mara yawned silently and scrolled down the information that Tionne had given her on Bandomeer and Dreamcry. Bandomeer, located in the Outer Rim Territories, had been a quiet, primarily agricultural world before the Empire. Peaceful to the point where Jedi outcasts would be shipped out to live there and be farmers – Mara couldn't help shuddering at that knowledge. About twenty years prior to the Empire though, it was found to be rich in ionite, and other raw ore materials. Offworld Mining, a branch of the Offworld Corporation, quickly bought up all the land available and began to strip the planet of the resources that had remained hidden for centuries. Currently, Offworld owned ninety-seven percent of Bandomeer's landmasses. Compared to the wealth of information known about Bandomeer, nothing was known about Dreamcry.

"Ooooh, wooooow…" Mara muttered darkly. "We know that they're based off of Bandomeer. What amazing, thrilling information. Wait- wait, I'm starting to get lightheaded…"

With a groan, Mara smacked her head against the desk and just let her forehead rest against the hard wood. "I am going to kill Kam. Wait. Jedi. I will calmly torture Kam, and block out his screaming with the Force. And cook. Yes. Split-attention exercise. Luke would be proud of me."

An ancient clock ticked the time away on the desk.

…"Or not," Mara groaned in mock agony. Kriffitall, I need to finish reading these readouts about it—don't. want. to…

She rested her aching head on the wood for a while longer, basking in the quiet moments of relaxation as the tension in her neck slowly seeped out.

A knock on her door made Mara sit straight up in her chair, a pensive look on her face, and then she scrambled for the door, knocking her chair over in her haste. "Coming!" she called. "Coming!" she called again, her forehead creasing with confusion as she couldn't identify whoever was at her door.

The door opened at a touch of her hand and Mara immediately slammed her hand back on it, trying to get it closed as the Force screamed at her to get away. The metal of her door grew hot under the barrage of blaster bolts as Mara sprinted for her bedroom, her mind frozen and on autopilot as she threw open a small chest at the foot of the bed she and Luke shared, and tried to find something... and then she was scrambling through a partially open window, and dropped down four stories to land on the moist dirt. Her legs jammed as she tried to stay on her feet. Using the Force to steady her weak knees, she ran.

A hot red bolt of energy z-inged past Mara's shoulder, burning her shirt and she hurled herself to the right, rolling into thick bracken. The sweltering heat of the jungle pressed in on her as she struggled to clear her mind.

WHY IS LEIA TRYING TO KILL ME!

Mara tried desperately to think clearly, knowing that she was missing something important, so terribly important. Another red, hot beam shot past her, and a third slammed into her shoulder.

Mara screamed, and screamed, and screamed…

---

Luke shook Mara's shoulder, harder this time. "Mara? Mara wake up! Mara, honey, please, wake up!" he sighed harshly, pulling Mara off of her chair and into his arms. Her head thumped against his shoulder, and her arms were limp as Luke carried her away from her desk. Mara, what are you doing? You've been working yourself into the ground for something you didn't even believe in a year ago and you've been all over the place… Why won't you talk to me about it?

Laying her on their bed, Luke noticed that the chest at the foot of their bed was open, but didn't question it as he tried to wake up his wife. "Mara?" he sat beside her still form on the bed, pushing a few stray strands of hair out of her face. "C'mon Jade, wake up. Don't do this to m-"

Luke's words were cut off as Mara slammed into his throat, flipping him off the bed and pinning him to the floor, one of her hold-out blasters pointed right between his startled blue eyes. Her dark green eyes were fogged, like she wasn't looking at what she was seeing, and her pale lips curved into a cruel sneer.

"Come to finish me off at last, niftyx?"

"Eh?" Luke muttered uncomprehendingly.

Mara moved her free hand from his throat to pin down his shoulder and scooted down so she was straddling his waist and not sitting on top of his ribcage. Locking her feet over his thighs, she held him down so tightly with added strength from the Force that Luke couldn't have moved even if he tried.

"Mara…" Luke said in a strangled voice. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Mara blinked, and the fog over her eyes receded. Her mouth swung open and she scrambled off of Luke. "Oh Luke, I'm sorry! What did I do? Did I say anything?"

Luke accepted the hand Mara offered him and stood up quickly, shaking his head. Rubbing his neck with his left hand, he looked at Mara warily. "Yeah, you said some things… what was that?"

Mara's face paled, even though her cheeks felt hot as the two suns of Tatooine. She shrugged, trying to play nonchalant. "A vision, or something like that. It happens from time to time… usually I don't attack anyone though."

Luke looked at her without speaking, and Mara squirmed under his intense gaze.

"What?" She finally asked.

Luke shook his head ruefully and tugged on her hand, pulling her close. "Nothing," he whispered as he leaned down and kissed her lips tenderly. "It's just another thing I'm adding to the list of topics we'll be discussing later."

"'Discussing'?" Mara asked skeptically.

"Mm-hmm," Luke brushed his nose against hers before pulling back and grinning impishly at her. "It'll be fun!"

Mara groaned and let her head thump against his shoulder. I can't wait, she thought sardonically. Why does he have to remember that still?...
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