Chapter Eighteen:
Mara was a block away from Luke's presence when she felt it: a maelstrom of anger followed by several flashes of pain.
Mara broke into a sprint, fearing the worst, and almost missed the entrance to the seedy pub, despite the clamoring of customers trying to leave. Mara had to fight against the flow of people exiting, and when she made little-to-no progress, she growled.
Drawing her hold-out blaster, Mara fired a shot into the air.
"MOVE!" she hollered.
Wonder of wonders, a channel appeared in the crowd and she had a clear path to her destination. Holstering her blaster, Mara rushed inside.
She was prepared to find a Jedi Master with his green lightsaber lit and fending off angry customers. What she wasn't prepared for was the sight that greeted her when she finally got clear of the people.
Luke Skywalker was in the midst of a fist-fight with a gang of five men, one of whom was about to knock the smaller man into next week. He managed to twist just out of the way as the man with the cigar threw a mighty right-hook.
It landed in the face of the man on Luke's left, and suddenly that side was free-and-clear. Luke instantly threw his head into the nose of the man behind him. That man howled as his nose began to bleed, and Luke now only had one man holding him.
Luke took a page from Mara's book and used his extended limb to flip over. He landed and took a step behind the man who was holding his arm.
To the guy's credit, he twisted with Luke to meet him head-on, yanking the Jedi on the arm. The Luke's face paled, and he cried out in pain, which shook Mara from her stupor.
She jumped into the fray as Luke hit a nearby wall. She leapt upon Cigar when he waded forward to take advantage of Luke as he struggled to stay on his feet. She grabbed the burly man in a choke-hold, locking her legs about his waist.
"Hey!" the man choked.
He grabbed at her arms, but Mara called on her training to hold tight. Luke had his hands full with some scrawny guy and the man who'd thrown him into the wall.
She felt Cigar dig his nails into her arms, and she hissed furiously. Releasing him with one arm, Mara grabbed her hold-out blaster and shot his foot. Cigar howled in agony, and Mara used the distraction to release him, set her blaster to stun, and shoot him in the head.
The beefy man went down with a resounding thud that shook the furniture. Mara turned to find Scrawny hit the floor and lie still. Next she stunned two of the men who'd been holding Luke, and they slumped to the ground like sacks of vegetables.
That left just the one man that'd thrown Luke into the partition, who moved as though to hit a glass bottle over the Jedi's head. Luke sensed it via the Force, and dodged enough so that it hit his shoulder instead.
Mara motioned with her blaster, and Luke ducked as she shot the final man. Luke fell to his knees, panting hard. Mara scrambled to his side and hauled him up, wrapping her arm about him.
Luke leaned heavily on her, and Mara staggered under his weight. On their way out Mara spotted the waitress, and glanced at the men on the floor.
"Um, sorry about the mess." Luke murmured.
"Don't worry about it." the waitress assured them. "They had it coming. I assume this is Mara Jade then?"
"Yes." Luke bit his lip. "I don't suppose you could keep this quiet?"
"No worries. You were just sticking up for women." she winked. "And if the authorities do get involved, which isn't likely down here, who do you think they'd believe? A bunch of drunkards or the sober wait staff?"
"She has a point, Skywalker." Mara told him, nodding to the other woman. "Thank you."
Luke dug into his pocket and tossed the barkeeper a credit-chip. "To pay for the damage."
"Much obliged. Now go before the thugs come-to." She waved them out.
Luke managed to take his own weight again, relieving Mara of his greater mass. She still kept a hand ready at his elbow, but he didn't stagger again.
He was strangely silent the whole way back to their end of town, but when the Imperial Palace loomed into view, he stopped. He looked from her to the Palace, clearly indecisive. Mara decided to relieve him of the burden of running into the Solos in such a state.
"Why don't we go to my place? I have a better med-kit anyway." Mara nudged him gently.
He glanced at her, still unsure, before he nodded. "If you don't mind…"
Mara grabbed his elbow and led him away, silently reassuring him that she was fine with it. He allowed her to lead, but used the Force to conceal their faces from passerby. When they finally arrived at Mara's door, she shot him a wry look.
"Would you like to break in again?"
He cracked a smile before he winced and merely winked. He winced again at that movement, and settled for a simple head shake.
Mara let them in and Luke sat gingerly on the edge her sofa cushions. Mara retrieved the med-kit and returned to the sitting room. She paused when she saw him tugging off his shirt. Shaking herself into action, Mara moved around to join him and saw why he had removed his tunic.
Mara breathed in sharply and their gazes met; his laced with pain, hers with disbelief.
"What happened to your chest?" Mara demanded, snapping out of her haze and whipping open the med-kit.
"Cigar threw me into a table." Luke murmured, his attention on the splinters embedded in his skin.
When he tried to pull one out with his fingers, Mara swatted his hand away. He gazed at her in surprise.
"No hands. Tweezers will do the job much more efficiently." Mara explained.
"Oh, yeah, thanks." Luke replied, watching calmly as Mara leaned forward and began to systematically remove the wooden splinters.
He winced occasionally when some of them were discovered to run deeper than others, but he held still otherwise. Mara worked quietly and quickly and soon, much to his relief, she finished.
Setting the napkin laden with bloody slivers aside, Mara grabbed some antiseptic spray and spritzed his chest. Luke sissed through his teeth as it stung, and he clenched his hand subconsciously.
"Sorry." Mara murmured. "I don't think there's much I can do about your eye being swollen save a cold compress. The cuts on your eye and lip, yes: but let me at least clean up your face."
"Thank you." Luke replied quietly.
Mara placed a clean bandage over the chest wound before she grabbed a moist cloth to clean the dried blood off of his face with. Luke gazed at her while she dabbed at his visage. He could see something was on her mind, but couldn't tell what.
She noticed his scrutiny, and peeked at him before quickly glancing away.
"So, uh… what happened?" Mara asked in her best neutral voice: the last thing she wanted was for Luke to think she was patronizing him.
"You heard the bar lady." Luke said gingerly.
How would Mara react to hear he was fighting for her? Would she be angry at him?
"I did. But she also sounded like she was finishing a conversation." Mara said wisely.
At Luke's sigh, she knew she had him.
"I… met the customer you were supposed to dress for." He said softly. "And believe me; you should be thanking your lucky stars you didn't do as he asked."
"Wait, what?" Mara paused with the rag pressed to his face.
"He was awful Mara!" Luke told her passionately. "They were talking about you like you were their prostitute!"
He suddenly slammed his mouth shut, his eyes fearful as he waited for her reaction. Mara was dumbfounded, unable to vocalize even as the situation sank in. He'd been in a bar fight, a rare occurrence for the ever-serene Jedi Master. And apparently he'd done it for her.
"So let me get this straight." Mara finally managed as she resumed her work. "You heard them talking trash about me, and decided to defend my honor?"
"Yes." Luke replied firmly. "And I would do it again."
"Oh." Was all she could manage to say.
Mara used the task of cleaning his face as a stalling tactic, fully aware that Luke knew what she was doing. After she finished the cleansing Mara then gathered more antiseptic for his lip and the cuts on his eye. He closed his injured eye when she pressed a q-tip of antiseptic to the cut, following up with two small bandages meant to keep the wound closed.
"Well…" Mara bit her lip. "Thank you."
Luke nodded. "Anything for you."
"I know." She whispered.
Mara's hand trembled as she moved to doctor his lip, and Luke gently wrapped his fingers around her wrist.
"Mara?" he asked worriedly. "Are you alright? Did you get injured as well?"
"Hm?" Mara wrenched her eyes away from their joined limbs. "Oh, no. Sorry, let me get this last cut."
"Okay."
Mara steadied herself as Luke released her, and she touched the antiseptic to his lips.
"Ow!" Luke hissed quietly.
"Well, what'd you expect to happen when you took on that bantha of a man?" Mara remarked.
"Hey, I was… ow!... just trying to… OW!" Luke finally pulled away, and his eyes were bright with unintentional moisture.
"I'm sorry!" Mara felt slightly helpless. "I'm trying to be gentle."
Luke shook his head. "It's not you. I never realized how much more sensitive the lips are than the rest of the body."
Mara snickered before she could stop herself, earning a raised brow from her companion.
"What?" he asked curiously.
"I'm sorry." She chortled. "I just find it funny that the great Jedi Master: frequent flier in the med ward and king of injuries can't handle a simple split lip."
Luke offered up his best hurt look before he too began to smile. Unable to help it, he was soon laughing right along with her, but still babying his lip. They sobered, and Mara tried to bring the medicine back to his lips, only to have him pull away warily.
Mara gave up and set the medicine down; a crazy notion hitting her. It was a memory of something she'd heard once a long time ago on one of her missions for the Emperor.
While she'd traveled in the guise of a normal trekker, a child had injured his knee, and the mother had "kissed it better". At the time she'd thought it preposterous, but with Luke's more humble upbringing, she imagined it might receive a more warm welcome.
"Maybe…" she cleared her suddenly dry throat, unable to believe she was about to attempt this.
He cocked his head, clearly intrigued.
"Maybe you need a different kind of medicine." Mara finished.
Trembling, and with a thudding heart, Mara leaned in and gently pressed her lips against his.
She felt his surprise, followed by his own sense of disbelief. But when she didn't immediately pull back, Luke's inhibitions melted away, and he brought his hand to the back of her head. Mara felt him kiss her gently in return, and they shared a few more loving embraces of their lips before they pulled back.
"Mara… I." he paused, clearly not wanting a repeat of the explosion from earlier.
"I know, Luke." She whispered, still leaning in close to him.
Mara wrapped her arms around him and held tight.
"I love you too." she finally admitted. "I was just too afraid to tell you."
Luke's intake of breath was followed by his tightening embrace.
"I just couldn't get past my own vision of myself." Mara explained, pulling back. "I never saw myself as your… equal I guess. You are so very handsome, and I was afraid you didn't like the way I look."
Luke cupped her face tenderly in his hands.
"Mara," he breathed. "You are the most breath-taking woman I have ever laid eyes on. I have always thought so. I love your looks; you're beautiful from the outside in… but not only that. I love everything about you; the good and the bad." He kissed her now-moistened cheeks. "And I readily accept your past and present… and I would be honored to be part of your future."
He gazed into her eyes as she looked to him.
"Would you like to go on a date?" he asked.
A smile snuck onto Mara's lips. "A date?"
"I happen to know this wonderful dance club." Luke winked. "You know, one of the ones where you make love on the dance floor?"
Mara rose to the bait. "Well, I can certainly handle that, but can you?"
Luke blushed. "Touché. So… was that a yes, then?"
"Well, I'd really prefer a more one-on-one setting." Mara replied.
Luke smiled hugely. "I'm glad you said that, because I have something in mind already."
"Oh?" Mara inquired.
"But you'll have to wait till I take you there." Luke decided.
"Hm… I'm not big on surprises." Mara told him.
"You'll like this one." Luke pursed his lips. "I hope."