Whisper Your Weakness

They spent the early part of the next morning in the bed, making love, laughing, and whispering their plans for the future. Luke showed her how to block him enough that she could have some privacy in her own thoughts, but still be connected to him. Mara could not believe the comfort the thought of always having him there in that small place in her mind brought to her. The astonishing part was that it didn’t scare her.

They talked about what Leia and Han would think, about how Mara would go about telling Karrde that he was about to lose his second-in-command, and how they would break the news to the Jedi on Yavin IV. They discussed her completing her Jedi training and where they would stay while she was doing that. Since Luke was in the process of setting up the Jedi Temple here on Coruscant, they mutually decided to make it their home base.

Mara couldn’t help but feel a little residual fear at the thought of what the galaxy at large would have to say about their beloved hero becoming involved with a former Imperial and Palpatine’s personal assassin, at that. Before the worries had even come fully to her mind, Luke was right there beside her, kissing her softly and laying her fears to rest. As she sat on the edge of the bed, he plopped down beside her, wrapping her in a one-armed embrace.

“My love, I don’t care what the rest of the galaxy thinks. I’ve given them enough of my blood, sweat and tears over the last few years. If someone has a problem with my finding happiness with you, Force take them. I love you and I’m not ever going to give you up.”

“But it will be difficult. You know that, don’t you, Luke? That there are some people out there who will purposely make things hard for us. Fey’lya, for example?” Mara said with a sardonic smirk.

“Ugh, don’t even mention his name in my presence. If there was ever one being who could make me forget I was a Jedi…” Luke growled. “But it doesn’t matter. Of course it will be hard. But look at who we are. I’m the man who faced Darth Vader and the Emperor,” he said with a wry grin. “You’re the woman who threw off Palpatine’s chains and made a new life for herself. Do you really think there’s anything they can throw at us that we can’t handle?”

“We do make a pretty good team,” Mara said with a small chuckle.

Luke’s face became serious and he reached over to take her hands in his. He slid off the bed to kneel in front of her and Mara’s breath caught in her throat as she got a hint of what he was about to do through their bond. Luke grinned.

“I can see I’m going to have to try really hard to be able to keep any special surprises away from you.” His face took on that earnest expression once more. “Mara, we do make a good team. And I want everyone to know that this is forever. Will you marry me?”

Mara was so emotional, she could barely speak. How like her farmboy…no flowery speeches or overwrought prose. Just a simple question with a simple answer. She couldn’t even form the words, so she merely nodded, the tears blurring her vision. And a tiny part of her was still appalled at that. The Emperor’s Hand habits were hard to break. But Luke understood and the brilliance of his smile made her forget her annoyance with the show of weakness.

As he took her into his arms and kissed her, Mara had the fleeting thought that no one deserved to be this happy.

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It took Mara a full half hour to finally leave Luke’s apartment later that morning, and that was just to get from the living room to the door. It took another fifteen minutes to actually get the door open, simply because they kept getting sidetracked and kissing and laughing. It was that much harder to see her walk away now, Luke realized as the door finally closed behind her.

Luke leaned his forehead against the door, keeping a mental link with her the whole time she walked down the hall and rode down on the turbolift. Eventually, they gently closed off the contact so that Mara could get her ship ready to take off, and go on to complete her trip to Alemir VI to meet Karrde. It was an amazing feeling, knowing that she was always there in that corner of his mind. Luke resisted keeping a stronger connection with her, understanding that Mara needed to concentrate on piloting her ship and he certainly didn’t want to distract her in that, especially since neither of them had gotten much sleep.

Leia tried to finagle the identity of his new heartmate out of him in between senate and budget meetings that day, but Luke was adamant about keeping it as a surprise for Han’s birthday party. The twins had lunch together, a habit they’d started when Luke had begun the process of setting up the Jedi on Coruscant. He looked up at one point to see her staring at him with a soft expression on her face.

“What? Do I have sauce on my chin?” he asked.

“I’ve just never seen you - or sensed you - so happy before. It’s wonderful,” she said with a smile.

Luke blushed and grinned at her. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier, Leia.”

“So, where is Lydia today?” Since Luke wouldn’t give her the identity of his newfound love, Leia had taken to guessing names for the mystery woman.

“Nope, that’s not it either,” he smirked. “She does have a job, you know. I’m not her only responsibility, just the biggest one.”

“And what does Selenia do?”

Luke laughed out loud as he shook his head. “You’ll find out next week.”

The thought had crossed Luke’s mind that Leia was going to be pretty angry when she found out his lover was Mara Jade and that her brother had deliberately deceived her. He hoped that when his twin saw how happy the two of them were, that she’d be able to let it go quickly. Although, with Leia, one never knew.

“Oh, it’s not fair! You’ve never been able to keep a secret from me before,” Leia pouted.

“Only because I never really wanted to before,” Luke said.

Although he smiled as he said it, Leia couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of awe. Sometimes she forgot just how much power her brother held tightly leashed within himself. She remembered with apprehension Luke’s time dwelling within the Dark Side. Leia hoped that this woman, whoever she was, wouldn’t hurt her brother the way Callista had. Another bout with depression might send him to that shadowy place again.

Leia started in surprise when Luke reached out and took her hand in his, looking at her with an intensity that made her blink.

“You don’t ever have to worry about that happening again, sister. I won’t allow it to,” he said.

Leia scowled at him, only semi-seriously, embarrassed at the ease with which he knew her thoughts.

“You shouldn’t eavesdrop, little brother,” she scolded.

“Who says you’re older? You should remember your shielding.”

“Look who’s talking. Which one of us has been leaking more lately, hmm?” she asked with an arched brow.

Luke blushed again and ducked his head in that ‘aw-gee’ farmboy manner he’d never quite been able to shed.

“Well, my emotions have been pretty intense lately. You should be glad you didn’t get bombarded. I managed to keep most of it from you.”

“I’m surprised they couldn’t feel your emotions on Yavin, Luke. Intense is an understatement.” They got up from their table, having finished the meal, and strolled slowly towards the exit, Leia’s hand in the crook of Luke’s elbow.

“They wouldn’t have felt it as strongly as you anyway. The bond makes it more powerful between us than most Force-sensitives.”

“And do you have a bond with Doren?”

Luke laughed again as he handed his credit chip to the cashier at the diner that had become their regular spot. The young twi’lek girl had almost reached the point where she didn’t gawk at seeing the Jedi Master and the Chief of State up close.

“Nice try, Leia,” he said. “But you’re not gonna get it out of me until next week.”

As they stepped out onto the streets to make their way back to the Senate building, Luke automatically sensed the Noghri falling into place around them, out of sight, but still there. He tensed when he suddenly felt hostile eyes on him and paused, looking around. Leia looked up at him with a frown.

“What is it?”

Luke couldn’t pinpoint where the hostility had come from, there were just too many sentient beings on the streets of Coruscant. It had been fleeting and was gone before he could focus in on it.

“Nothing. Just felt something a little weird there for a moment,” he said and smiled at his sister to reassure her. “But this is Coruscant. Everybody’s a little weird here.”

“Especially you,” Leia teased.

“Hey!” Luke protested with a smile.

They were once again strolling down the street when a particular store caught Luke’s eye.

“I want to go in here for a moment.”

Leia looked up at the name of the store and then looked at her brother in astonishment. Or rather, she looked at the back of his head because he was already going inside. She hurried to catch up.

“A jewelry store, Luke? What do you want to get in here?”

Her brother was already perusing the wares displayed under thick transparisteel. The store owner was hovering over him, nearly beside himself with excitement at having two such honored personages in his store.

Luke looked up at her with a wink and said, “A piece of jewelry, of course.”

He straightened up suddenly and pointed his finger at one of the items in the case. “That one. I’d like to see that one.”

“Of course, Master Skywalker. You truly have excellent taste,” the owner gushed as he unlocked the case and brought the piece out to hand to Luke.

The man continued speaking as Luke took the ring, holding it up to the light as he gazed at it.

“This is a rare green halorian gem mined from underneath the oceans of Fresia. There are three color varieties, with the green being slightly rarer than the red and the blue.”

Leia tuned out the man’s voice as he went on describing the cut and clarity of the stone in the ring Luke was holding, staring instead at the rapt expression on her brother’s face. She looked at the ring in his fingers and had to hold back a gasp. It really was an exquisite piece. And it was obviously meant for a special purpose.

“Luke?” she said, a question in her voice. She flicked her eyes over to the owner for a moment and then spoke to her brother over their bond, preferring to ask what she wanted to ask with a bit of privacy.

*Luke, you do know what a ring like that is customarily used for, don’t you?*

She had already figured out that he probably wanted to give it to his lady love, but she wondered if he knew what that meant. He turned to look at her then and the brilliance of his smile caught her off guard. It had been a long time since Leia had seen Luke smile like that.

*Yes, I know.*

*Are you sure about what you’re doing?* she asked, some of her protectiveness for her brother coming to the forefront.

*I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life, Leia. Besides, I already asked her.*

She couldn’t hold back the gasp this time. The store owner looked at her curiously, but Leia ignored him.

*And!?* she demanded when he didn’t say anything else.

Luke grinned at her mischievously and whispered aloud, “She said yes.”

Leia squealed, sounding more like a little girl than the chief of state, and threw herself at her twin, enveloping him in a huge hug. Luke laughed as he hugged her back, and half-turned to the store owner.

“I’ll take it.”

“Wonderful, Master Skywalker! And may I be the first…er, the second…to congratulate you,” the man beamed as he looked at Leia. She had regained some of her composure, but the force of her grin almost rivaled Luke’s by this point.

Luke could almost hear the man planning how he would advertise the fact that the revered Jedi Master had bought his future wife’s engagement ring in his shop, but he didn’t care. The revered Jedi Master was so happy he might have agreed to do a commercial on the holonet for the man if he’d asked.

“Will the ring need to be sized, Master Skywalker?”

“If it does, I can bring it back later, right? I’d really like to give it to her first.”

“Certainly! And of course, there will be no charge for that service.”

Several minutes later, Luke and Leia stepped out onto the busy streets of Coruscant again. He was sorely tempted to duck out of going back to the Senate building and race to his X-Wing to track Mara down at that very moment so he could give her the ring. The stone reminded him so vividly of the green of her eyes. Luke was careful to keep his feelings contained and not let them leak over the bond with Mara as he wanted to be able to surprise her when she got back.

Keeping the same emotions from leaking over his bond to Leia as well was a bit draining. He almost wished he could go home and take a nap, but another part of him rejoiced at the closeness with his two favorite women.

“Oh, please, Luke, give me a hint! I can’t stand it,” Leia begged.

“A man has to keep some things to himself, dear sister,” Luke teased.

Once they got back to her office, Luke turned to her with a serious expression on his face. There was something that he had to make absolutely clear.

“Leia, this woman means everything to me. She’s my life, she’s my very breath. I hope that you will love her just as much as I do, but if you can’t…”

Leia stared at him, her shock very visible on her face.

“What are you saying?” she whispered.

“If you make me choose between you and her…I will choose her,” Luke said, trying to soften the obvious blow of his words by making his voice very calm and gentle.

“How can you say that? We’re twins, Luke! Our bond-”

“Means the galaxy to me,” he interrupted her. “But what would you do if I asked you to choose between me and Han?”

“You would never ask me to do such a thing!”

“No, I wouldn’t. I just want you to remember, even if you get angry, that this is what I want, and it makes me happy.”

“Am I going to be angry?” she asked, her gaze narrowing.

Normally, that look made Luke immediately fess up any and all wrongdoings. Leia had found that it worked fairly well on her husband, too. But this time, Luke continued to gaze at her calmly, the Jedi Master very much in evidence.

“I may have been dishonest with you about a couple of things. But it was necessary and I promise you will understand everything next week.”

Leia stared at her little brother for a long moment, her mind whirling, trying to process what he was telling her. Luke had been like her other half since the moment they had met, even before she knew he was her other half. She thought of the many years they had been separated and knew she could never bear to be separated from him again.

Not my little brother anymore, she realized, but a grown man who deserves to be happy. How could I ever try and take that away from him? Even if she despised the woman he’d given his heart to, she would suppress it, Leia decided. Hell, she faked it in the Senate daily, she could do this. She carefully guarded these thoughts from him, not wanting him to know that she would go to those lengths.

“If she loves you, how could I not love her, Luke?” she said with a warm smile.

Again, the brilliance of his smile nearly blinded her and Leia had the thought that she’d seen Luke smile more today than she had in the last five years. If this woman could do that for Luke Skywalker, Leia might not have to fake it after all.

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