Whisper Your Weakness

RK and Abby, Thanks so much for your kind ews!ews! It's much appreciated!


Luke was still saddened by the previous night’s poor ending when he awoke the next morning. Not that he had slept very well. Sometimes, it seemed he was fighting a losing battle in trying to gain Mara’s love. But it was a battle that he couldn’t give up on. He had faith, although he wasn’t sure what he was basing it on, that he could break through her many barriers and when that happened…well, he knew that the many struggles and lonely nights would be in the past.

Mara was leaving with Talon Karrde at 1900 today and Force only knew when they’d be able to see one another again. He had to make up some lost ground from last night. Frowning as he stepped out of the shower to get dressed, he considered just how he was going to do that. Apologizing for what he’d done might appease her, but it would also be a major move backwards in his campaign to get closer to her heart. No, Luke had to make her see that what had happened last night had been safe, that it was okay and that it was just one step in a deeper relationship for the two of them.

“Yeah, and while I’m at it, I may as well make it rain on Tatooine,” he muttered to himself.

Sighing, he reminded himself again that if he’d wanted an easy, quiet relationship, there were dozens of other women he could have chosen. But he’d chosen Mara Jade, knowing that any kind of relationship with her would be fiery and difficult. Hell, his friendship with Mara was difficult. Throw sex into the mix and Luke had known he would be asking for trouble. But Force, how he loved that woman! As prickly and hard-headed as she was, Mara was the only one who’d ever touched his heart and soul so completely.

Taking a deep breath, he walked over to his comm station and put in the frequency to Mara’s apartment. When she answered, Luke tried not to let the guarded expression on her face affect his hopes.

“Skywalker,” she said coolly.

“Hello, Mara. I hope you slept well?”

“Yes. I slept fine, thanks.”

“I didn’t,” he said softly.

A flicker of something like doubt appeared in her eyes and she said, “Why?”

“I missed you. I missed holding you and feeling your warmth next to me. I missed waking up with you.”

“Skywalker-” she said warningly and again he could see her fears on her face.

“Mara, I don’t want to talk about this over the comm. Will you meet me later?”

“Look, Jedi, I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about ‘this’ at all.”

“Okay, we don’t have to talk. How about some lightsaber practice? We haven’t sparred in a long time,” he asked.

“I don’t know. I have a lot of things to do before I leave this evening.”

She was wavering, he could tell. He knew she was not completely unaffected by him, so he decided to play a little dirty. Giving her a certain look, one that he normally only gave her when they were involved in bedroom activities, he said in a low voice, “Please, Mara.”

A tiny little hitch of breath, one that he might have missed if he didn’t know her so intimately by this time, and she looked at him for a long moment. “Okay, I’ll meet you in the gym on the fourth floor at 1100.”

“Good. I’ll see you then,” he said with a smile. He tried not to be discouraged by the fact that she didn’t return the smile before she signed off.

“I love you,” he whispered to the blank screen.

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Luke arrived at the fourth floor gym at 1030. He wanted to be certain she couldn’t accuse him of being late and he needed to stretch before what he somehow knew was going to be a very intense workout. After talking to Mara earlier, he had called down to the gym and reserved the room nor normally held for him when he wanted to practice with his lightsaber. It was a spacious room, big enough for the two of them to move around comfortably in, and completely private so they wouldn’t have to worry about curious spectators.

Walking up to the front desk, Luke was well aware of the stares that he received but he did his best to ignore them. Even though the Imperial Palace was home to some of the most prominent people of Coruscant society and several important former Alliance members, there simply were no others who were as notorious as the Jedi Master.

“Master Skywalker. Wonderful to see you again, sir,” the young man at the front desk said with a beaming smile.

Luke sighed inwardly, not allowing his discomfort with the title to show on his face. “Thanks, Jek. Is the room ready?”

“Certainly, sir!” Jek replied, his smile shining even brighter, if that was possible, at the great Jedi Master remembering his name. Luke thanked him politely and headed towards the room that had, for all intents and purposes, become his own private workout space. He hated the idea of taking advantage of his fame in that way, but he hated the idea of people ogling him curiously during his exercises even more.

Once in the large room, Luke silently searched with the Force for hidden holocams or sound devices. He had learned that lesson the hard way when a vid of one of his workouts had suddenly become available for an outrageous sum of credits on the holonet. It had taken a visit from Chewie and Han, strongly suggesting the creep cease and desist distributing copies of the vid and destroying the original, to put a stop to it, but they could do nothing about the thousands of copies that were already out there.

Satisfied that nothing had changed since the last time he was here, Luke began his stretching routine, keeping one eye on the wall chrono. Feeling like he was as limber as he was going to get after about ten minutes, Luke decided to try and meditate for a few moments. Force knew, he would need to be as calm and centered as he could be when he talked with Mara.

Settling down in the middle of the gym floor, Luke took a deep breath and slowly released it, closing his eyes and opening himself up completely to the Force. The familiar sense of strength and peace washed over him and he smiled to himself. Images flashed through his mind, visions of Han and Leia, of the twins and Anakin, of his students on Yavin IV…and then he saw himself and Mara, entwined on a bed and surrounded by a feeling of utter joy and happiness.

Luke’s smile grew wider and he couldn’t help the feeling of elation that bubbled up inside his heart. Surely this was their future, if he could only convince her of it. The vision gave him hope, almost as though the Force was giving them its blessing.

He was startled by a sudden feeling of darkness that pierced the lovely scene, a sense of evil so profound that it caused him to begin to tremble. A chill raced up his spine and he gasped. He could not narrow down what the evil was, all he could feel was incredible pain and anguish, both his own and Mara’s…and then Leia’s and Han’s as well. The darkness coursed over and around his senses, surrounding him and drowning him in its depths.

A sharp slap against his face abruptly brought him back to his present surroundings and he looked up at Mara’s worried face with surprise. She was kneeling in front of him, one hand gripping his shoulder and the other caressing his cheek where she had just hit him.

“Thank the stars! What were you doing?! I’ve been yelling your name for almost five minutes!” she cried.

“I…I was meditating,” Luke mumbled, still confused and unnerved by what he had seen and felt in the vision.

“I’ve seen you meditate many times, Jedi, and I’ve never seen you shaking and sweating like this. What did you see?”

Luke looked down and realized that she was right. His workout clothes were already drenched with his own perspiration and he hadn’t even had a workout yet. His mind reeled away from thinking about the vision, much less talking about it, and he got to his feet unsteadily. Mara stood with him, still eyeing him uncertainly.

“Always in motion is the future,” he said softly, half to himself, and he fervently hoped that this future would not come to pass. He was still unsettled by the vividness of the vision’s pain and hurt.

Looking at Mara, he was both amazed and pleased by the worry in her expression. Determinedly, he pushed the vision away from him, not wanting to dwell on it a moment longer.

He grinned at his lover and - with a spark of mischief in his eyes - said, “Why, Jade, I might almost think you cared.”

Exasperated, she smacked him in the arm, giving him a push while she was at it. “I don’t, Skywalker. I was just looking forward to stomping you in a lightsaber duel and I want you at your best so you cawhinwhine that I took advantage of you.”

Luke’s grin became even more devilish. “You can take advantage of me all you want.”

She glared at him, but he could tell she wasn’t truly angry. In fact, she paused and gave him a searching look and Luke suddenly knew she was about to bring the vision up again. As much as his heart soared at the thought that she really did care, that was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

He took a couple of steps backwards, extended his arm and called his lightsaber to his hand, igniting it and bringing it up to a ready position. Mara gave him a look of uncharacteristic uncertainty, as though she still might want to push the vision issue. Luke did the one thing he knew would take her mind off that completely. Well, hopefully the one thing other than kissing her senseless, but I can’t do that right now, he mused regretfully. Instead, he prodded her competitive instincts.

“Well, c’mon, Jade. Think you might be able to finally defeat me?”

Giving him a snarl that was almost serious, Mara’s lightsaber flew into her hand and she surged towards him, the sparks flying as the blades met. Luke knew that he was unbeatable with a lightsaber by any other Jedi alive in the galaxy. He acknowledged this truth without any concet wat was simply a fact. It was also a fact that all the Jedi in the Academy - including the other Masters - dearly longed to be the one to say they had finally beaten Master Skywalker.

As much as Luke loved to meditate and find a closeness with the Force, there was another part of him that thrilled at having a lightsaber in his hand. It was an extension of his body, of his will, and - although he knew it wasn’t the truth in its purest sense - he never felt more like a Jedi than when he was handling the ancient weapon.

Mara was certainly no slouch with the lightsaber herself, having had some experience with it in her service to the Emperor. In fact, Luke would place her at the level of Kam or Corran in pure ability. Her moves tended to be sharper and more aggressive and Luke made a mental note to warn her about that.

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