EmeraldEyedJedi: I think you'll find that out in the next few chapters. There was a a couple of definite points that I think set the alternate dimension on a different path. It has to be so strange for Luke to see a place so familiar, yet not. Thank you for reading!

Ellaisintheair: If I've done my math right Luke should be 61 in this story and Mara 59. But the whole aging process is so weird in SW that they might not seem that age in our minds. I guess people in the GFFA age like us until middle age and then they have a longer midlife period... (so that more books can be written about them. LOL!). Yes, that Mara. Trying to kick him out and then watching him sleep. She has to keep him on his toes! Thank you so much-I'm posting on Mondays to make the day more enjoyable for me, too! LOL

Luke Skywalker Fan: I'm glad you're enjoying Mondays, too! I would love to see this as a movie. Heck, I'd love to see a Luke and Mara cartoon movie-anything! I'm not picky! LOL Originally I had decided that Luke and Mara in the alt dimension would have more than one child, and had planned for their daughter to share her birthdate with 'our' Luke and Mara's wedding date. But then I thought it would make for more romantic tension for the two couples to share a wedding date, but I still wanted the daughter to share that date, too... so suddenly she was born on her parents wedding night. You'll find out a bit more about that in this interlude. Thank you for reading!

LynnO.o: You know, I didn't even think of that. She might just look at her nephew differently now, and wonder about him as Ben's Master. She has seen it in Luke's mind, after all. Very interesting... Thank you for reading!

Endor Solo: Excellent username! Thank you so much for peeking in! I hope that the happiness will start to show up more now. It's a bittersweet story overall, but I think there are some real highs to go with the lows.

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Interlude One is two vignettes that detail Luke and Mara's wedding night-in both dimensions. Well, it's not THAT detailed, but still fun. ;) Both couples share a wedding date, but more than just the year of marriage was different, as you'll see in...

Birth

20 ABY

Mara's lips nibbled behind his ear. He struggled to keep her in his arms and continue pressing in the security code to their room.

"Stang it," he muttered as he pressed the wrong button again, while Mara continued her sexy assault.

"You missed the osk." Her breath was hot in his ear and she pushed suggestively against him.

"Now you tell me." He went through the code again, remembering the osk this time, but still the door didn't open. He gave up as Mara's lips trailed down his throat and her nails dug lightly into his shoulder through the fabric of his jacket. "You enter the code." He moved her head to start his own line of kisses along her jawline. "I'm on my honeymoon."

"Cute," Mara returned. She tilted his head to capture his lips in a deep kiss. They stood against the doorway like that, kissing and touching until Luke started to slide the zipper down her back. She broke away from his mouth, panting lightly. "The code, Skywalker!"

"What? Oh, yeah." He stepped back to allow her to drop to her feet. He pressed the first letter in the code and Mara shook her head, moving him aside with her body to enter the code herself.

The door slid open and she gave him a feral grin, turning her back to the room and walking in, beckoning to him with a raised finger. He grinned and stepped over the threshold, a married man.

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ALT 12 ABY

"This is not how I expected to spend our wedding night, Skywalker," Mara grunted. She rose up on her elbows, gasping for breath as the contraction eased.

Luke wiped a damp cloth across her brow, removing the accumulated sweat. "Hey, don't look at me. If I'd had my way we would have been married months ago."

"Don't start with me." Mara pushed his hand away, but there was a half-smile on her lips. "I just didn't want to get married while I was still pregnant." She picked up a cup of ice chips and spooned a few into her mouth.

"Looks like we should have waited until tomorrow…" Luke grinned innocently at her, dodging a barrage of ice as it flew at him.

"Cute, Skywalker," she began, her new last name drawing out into a little scream as the next contraction ripped through her body. She pushed back against the pillows again, placing a hand on her belly and rubbing. She reached out with the Force to the unborn baby, soothing her as she had done in the past. Mara bit her lip against a smile as Luke lent his own love and support to his wife and unborn daughter. "I think," she began, expelling a gasping breath, "that shecouldn't take your constant nagging any longer and decided to come on out so we could get married."

"Nah. She just wanted to celebrate with us." He leaned in and kissed Mara's cheek, his hand resting lightly on the swell of her stomach.

"Yeah." Her voice was thick and she cleared her throat. She grabbed his hand and squeezed. "Any minute now…" She bit off a moan of pain as the MD Droid came into the room.

"Looks like you're ready to push, Mrs. Skywalker…"

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The rhythmic slap of the ocean waves against the beach awakened him sometime during the night. Luke turned in bed to find Mara awake and watching him, a tiny smile on her lips. He stared into her eyes for a moment, just watching her as she watched him. Leaning in, he kissed her smile, grasping her head and threading his fingers into her hair as she opened her lips beneath his and deepened the kiss. "I thought for sure I had worn you out," he said when they finally broke apart.

Mara groaned. "I thought I told you that cheesy lines like those are not allowed in this marriage."

"I'm afraid the cheesy lines come with the package," he said, groaning when she reached down below the sheets.

"Well, if I can't have one without the other…"

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"She's… Stars, Mara, you're amazing! She's almost here!" Luke said, encouraging Mara as she pushed.

"I can feel it, Skywalker," she ground out between her teeth. "Now, shut up and let me…" She trailed off in a screaming moan.

The MD droid uttered a soothing tone. Mara just growled at it, straining forward in her stirrups, hands digging into her own thighs. Luke climbed into the bed and supported her back, allowing her to fall against him as the pain became too much for her. He kissed her temple as she gasped for breath. "You're amazing," he murmured.

The droid counted to ten and Mara reared back up, straining again, Luke's comforting presence behind her spurring her through the pain. She grunted and everything seemed to go silent for a moment as the new life came into the world.

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The sun was just lighting over the horizon as Luke exited the balcony doors and handed a cup of caf to Mara. She pulled his dress shirt closer around her and took an appreciative sip. His heart swelled to see her so carefree and beautiful, her hair blowing around her in wild curls. He had never thought he'd see her like this, Mara Jade so uninhibited and unguarded. He wanted to see her like this every morning for the rest of his life.

He had almost given up the idea of sharing his life with someone. Had almost given up the idea of walking his path beside an equal, a help-mate, a lover. The idea that he could have missed this… He snuck another look at Mara, taking in the full measure of her beauty. The love he felt for her curled tightly in his stomach, a beautiful ache.

His emotions cast out over their bond, his love meeting and melding with hers until they both gasped with the intensity. He reached out a hand and tugged her back against him, wrapping an arm around her waist as they watched the waves hit the beach. It had taken them so long to get to this point, but the journey made the outcome sweeter, their love deeper than he had ever thought possible. He held his wife in his arms and smiled.

He had never been happier.

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"She's beautiful," Luke whispered, looking at the tiny miracle in a pink blanket wrapped in Mara's arms.

Mara smiled, a true smile that revealed the tiny dimple in her left cheek. "She is."

The baby had Luke's hair, fine and baby blonde, curling in tiny wisps about her ears. She was small and delicate and smelled so sweet. She had scratched her own cheek after delivery when she'd been taken by the droid to be weighed and measured. Luke's eyes watered when he saw the mark, so upset to see an injury on his daughter so soon after her birth.

But time in her mother's arms and at her breast had soothed their daughter and now she looked at them sleepily. Her big eyes were still blue, but somehow Luke knew that they would change to the same clear green as her mother's.

"We still need a name," Mara said, also sleepy, her voice thin and quiet in the darkened hospital room.

"Well, I thought of one," he said. "It means gift…and she is a gift to me, Mara, just like you are."

"So sappy, Skywalker," she cut in, but squashed a happy smile. "What is it?"

"Betrys. Betrys Jade Skywalker," he said, running a soft finger over the baby's delicate cheek.

"Yes," Mara agreed, leaning against him, and closing her eyes. "That's her name."

Luke held his new family in his arms and smiled.

He had never been happier.