Okay, boys and girls, I'm finally delivering as promised -- a tale of
what might be if Luke and Mara visited Ben while he's in hiding.
This was originally inspired by the book reviewer at theforce.net who
said that readers don't want to read about changing diapers and
teaching Ben to walk and talk. I say YES WE DO!

There are major spoilers in this story for Destiny's Way, so you may
want to hold off reading this until after you read that. I'll put it
in the files here in a few days.

This story has not been betaed at all, so if anyone spots any typos
or storyline errors, PLEASE let me know. There could be a gold star
in it for you.

And, proving once more how hard it is for me to write short, this
shows up in Word as a whopping 33 pages long. So I'm going to split
it into three emails. The breaks may not come at good spots, so just
keep clicking to the next post.

Finally, thanks to all of you who encouraged me to write this. It
was fun, and I hope you enjoy it.

Michele

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Being A Family"

by Michele

Rated PG

Summary: A short story set a few weeks after the conclusion
of 'Destiny's Way,' for those of us who missed seeing Luke and Mara
interact with their son.

Spoilers for Destiny's Way and the New Jedi Order series.

Disclaimer: This story is for fan enjoyment only, and no credits are
being made from it. All characters belong to Lucasfilm.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It had been more than two weeks since the great victory at Ebaq 9
-
weeks filled with celebrations, meetings, reunions, and more
meetings. The High Council of the new administration once again had
all members present for roll-call, and the tableau of topics on its
agenda seemed never-ending. It was from one such assemblage that
Luke wearily returned home to the small apartment he and Mara shared
on Mon Calamari.

"That you, Luke?" Mara called from the kitchen area as Luke sank onto
their couch.

The Jedi Master smiled to himself. As if she had to ask. He'd felt
Mara reach out to stroke his presence as soon as he entered the
building. This was merely a little game they played on occasion
-
pretending to be a 'normal' family, where the husband comes home from
a long day at work and is greeted by his dutiful wife as she prepares
the evening meal. Though if their family were normal, Luke reflected
with a touch of sadness, Ben would be toddling out to meet him.

"Yes, dear," he called, putting a teasing tone to his voice. "What's
for dinner? I'm starved."

Mara slipped noiselessly into the common room, settling herself onto
her husband's lap. "Seaweed salad with toasted plankton, followed by
saut? seaweed, roast sea fronds, stewed sea orls, and jellied
ebfish eggs for dessert."

Luke let his head loll back in only partially feigned
resignation. "I hope you're kidding."

Leaning forward to give him a welcoming kiss, Mara chuckled
lightly. "Why? Getting picky in your old age?"

"Only when I finally got around to picking out a wife." He grinned
lazily at her.

"Good answer." She rose smoothly and tugged him toward the eating
nook. "But to answer your question, I managed to appropriate some
freeze-dried military fare off the Guardian."

"Thank the Force." Luke poked experimentally at the grayish lump of
unidentifiable meat on his plate. "I think."

Mara couldn't hold back the burst of laughter at the expression on
Luke's face. "We still have a few cans of baby cereal, if you get
desperate. I'm sure Ben would be happy to share."

"Ben would probably enjoy the stewed seaweed every night." As soon
as the comment passed his lips, another wave of melancholy passed
through Luke. He laid down his fork and gave Mara a doleful
grimace. "Wish he were here to try it."

"Me, too." Mara reached across the small table and grasped Luke's
hand tightly. "I miss him more than ever. Now that there's a lull
in the war, I can't stop thinking about him. Those latest holos from
Kam and Tionne made it that much worse."

Luke pressed his lips into a straight line, remembering his son's
giggle in one of the holos as he waved a chubby hand at his absent
parents. "Let's go see him," he blurted out suddenly.

Mara's eyes widened warily. "Are you serious?"

"A short visit." Luke scooted his chair closer to his wife. "As you
just pointed out, there's a break in the action right now. The
galaxy can do without us for a week or so."

A hundred reasons flew through Mara's mind why such a sojourn
wouldn't be possible - followed by a thousand reasons why she
desperately wanted to hop in the Jade Shadow and take off
immediately. She expelled a rueful breath.

"Luke, we can't."

"Yes, we can." His voice had the persuasive earnestness reminiscent
of a young Tatooine farmboy.

"You have a full slate of meetings with both the High Council and the
Advisory Council."

"That's why they invented proxies."

"Nylykerka is expecting me to do some more sweeps with the mouse
droids, just to make sure we have all the infiltrators."

"He has a entire staff of people who could handle that."

Mara dared to meet Luke's pleading gaze. "When do we leave?" she
whispered.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mara skirted the edge of the cluster of black holes with an almost
reckless abandon before delving into the Maw's enormous gravity
wells.

"Uh..." Luke shot her a cautious, sideways glance. "Trying to break
Han's Kessel Run record?"

"Making you nervous, Skywalker?" she said with a smirk. It felt good
to be piloting again, especially since this time she was headed to
see her precious son. She flipped a control to send more power to
the Shadow's already impressive shields. "I'm using the safe route.
What more do you want?"

"I want us to get there in one piece."

"We will." Mara decreased her speed only fractionally, letting the
Force guide her through the perilous twists and turns. "You're
enjoying this; don't try to deny it. You're wearing the same
expression that you had when I came to visit the academy one time and
took you for a ride."

Luke gave her a quizzical look.

"You know, when what's-her-name was there."

"Ah, yes." Luke grinned knowingly. "That was when you admitted that
you came by because you missed me."

"I was there to deliver a message."

"If you say so." With a lingering smile, Luke shrugged and looked
out the darkened viewport, dimmed to protect their eyes. Even then,
riotous colors splayed out in a dizzying array of swirls and shadows
inside the cockpit.

"You know Leia was probably right about why this trip isn't a good
idea," Mara commented.

"I know." Luke nodded, absentmindedly pulling at his crash webbing
as the ship was buffeted by the turbulence of hot gases. "We won't
want to leave him."

Cilghal had agreed to be Luke's proxy on the High Council, and had
graciously refrained from offering any opinion of her master's
sudden 'vacation.' Leia was not so reserved. She pointed out that
Yuuzhan Vong operatives could follow their flight path. Mara
declared that no one was going to be able to follow her. Luke stated
he'd personally check the Shadow for tracking devices. Leia then
changed tactics, saying that the fragile new administration needed
Luke's guidance. He pointed out he wouldn't be gone any longer than
when he'd sought Bel Iblis's cooperation for the latest battle. She
finally admitted the real reason for her reluctance to see them
leave - she remembered how hard it had been on her and Han to
return
home from a visit when their own babies had been in hiding.

"Weren't you the one who talked her and Han into hiding her kids?"
Mara continued. "I thought she'd consider this your payback."

"Leia's not like that."

"Oh, no? Who was it that said she owed you a punch for putting Han
in charge of the smugglers' squadron?"

Luke smiled to himself at the recent memory. "Point taken." He
relaxed back in his co-pilot seat, allowing himself the luxury of
anticipation of seeing his son, holding his son, watching him walk,
hearing him talk ...

"Do you think he'll remember us?"

Luke's head jerked up at Mara's unexpected question.

"Of course he'll remember us. It's only been a little over three
months."

"That's nearly a fourth of his life, Luke," Mara reminded him, her
outward concentration totally focused on her piloting. "We even
missed his first birthday."

He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "All the more reason to
make the most of every moment of this visit."

Mara smiled to herself. By the Force, she loved this man, and she
loved their son. The gods help the Vong or anyone else who would
stand in the way of their happiness as a family.

At last they burst into the gravitational oasis that harbored
Shelter, a motley collection of cargo modules, space station
segments, and hollow planetoids that, ironically, once housed an
Imperial research installation. Shelter was the haven specifically
riveted together to be a safe house for Jedi, and now being utilized
as a sanctuary for the younger children of the Jedi Academy.

Mara signaled ahead to Tionne and Kam Solusar, current guardians of
the future generation of Knights. Luke had participated in the
initial set-up of the station, but this was his and Mara's first trip
since it had become home to the Jedi students, including their only
son, Ben.

Swooping into the domelike module that served as a landing pad, the
Jade Shadow settled onto its assigned berth with barely a sound.
When Luke and Mara anxiously looked out the cockpit window, they
could see all the children standing at attention, lined up in a row
with Tionne at one end and Kam - holding Ben - at the other.

"Looks like a dress review out there," Mara commented as she rushed
through the shutdown sequence. "Don't they know we're only here to
see one person?"

"Mara," Luke chastised lightly. "We have an obligation to check on
all the students."

"You can obligate all you want," she returned, rising out of her
seat. "I'm going."

Before Luke could reply, the landing ramp was lowering and Mara was
halfway down it.

Kam set Ben down, and the child immediately began trotting to his
mother as fast as his chubby legs could carry him.

And promptly tripped and fell down.

Her heart in her throat, Mara bolted for him, barely pausing when
Tionne's voice called to her.

"Wait, Mara. He can get up by himself."

Mara bit back a retort, reaching Ben just as he rose shakily to his
feet. Falling to her knees, she swept the toddler into a tight hug
and blanketed him with kisses. How wonderful it felt to hold her
precious little boy!

Eventually Mara realized Ben was jabbering. Swelling with maternal
pride, she pulled back slightly and listened, eager for the first
real words she'd hear him speak in person, the first time he would
call her-

"Da-da!"

Ben wriggled one arm free of Mara's embrace and extended it to his
father, now crouching at Mara's shoulder. Luke could sense Mara
fighting down a spasm of disappointment.

"No, Ben," he soothed, grasping the flailing fist. "Say 'ma-ma.'"

"Nah-nah," Ben mimicked, still holding Luke's gaze.

"Ma-ma," Luke repeated, enunciating carefully.

"Nah-nah," came the return burble.

"He has trouble pronouncing m's," Tionne put in, offering an
apologetic smile.

Ben swiveled his attention back to Mara. "Da-da!"

"I think he's confused."

Luke and Mara both recognized the last voice as belonging to Valin
Horn. They looked around to find their family surrounded by all the
Jedi children, plus the Antilles girls.

"He doesn't know who's who," Valin went on, snickering.

Mara gave the adolescent boy a barely restrained glower. "He does,
too."

Clutching Mara's elbow, Luke the peacemaker tugged her upright as she
continued to clutch Ben. "Of course he does." He looked to Kam and
Tionne as the other children pressed closer. "Maybe we should all go
inside and sit down."

Everyone began stirring into motion, and Luke held out his arms
hopefully. "I can carry him, if you'd like."

Mara shot him her best 'If you think I'm giving him up already you're
crazy' glare. "I've got him. You get the luggage."

"I'll help you," Kam offered. The two men retrieved an assortment of
satchels from the ship, then trailed behind the staggered
conglomerate of beings filing into Shelter's common area.

"How are the students doing?" Luke asked distractedly, his gaze
fixated on the two red-gold heads in the middle of the pack. "In
general, that is. I can get a full update from you later."

"In general, they're doing fine," Kam replied. "They all seem to be
adjusting well to the new surroundings. Though I'm not sure life
here can compare to the hustle bustle of living on a star destroyer."

"No, guess not," Luke murmured as they entered the comfortable
lounge. He dropped to a seat next to Mara and acknowledged each
youngster in turn, promising them all he would appraise their
progress while he was there.

"How long are you planning to stay?" Tionne asked as she passed out
refreshments.

"About a week, hopefully, if we're not called back." Luke
smiled. "We figure the galaxy can survive without us that long."

"Oh." Tionne cast a concerned glance at her husband. "I see."

"Something wrong with a week?" Mara asked, picking up on the
sensation of apprehension that passed between the Solusars.

Tionne faced her without blinking. "It's just that when other
parents come, such as Mirax or Iella, they stay no more than two
days. It seems best for the children that way."

"But Ben is only a baby," Mara objected.

"Exactly. The other children are all older. They understand that
it's necessary for their parents to be away now." Tionne gazed
somberly at the circle of Jedi students. "Sadly, some of their
parents haven't survived the Yuuzhan Vong invasion." She extended a
delicate hand for Ben to grasp. "But Ben is too young to understand
that this is only a visit. You'll be here just long enough for him
to get used to having you back, and then you'll leave."

'Leaving you and Kam to deal with the backlash.'

The thought echoed between Luke and Mara's minds. Neither had a
reply, however, for their friends. They both were looking forward to
spending as much time as possible with their son.

Tionne lightly touched Mara's arm in a conciliatory gesture. "Ben is
such a special child, though, that I'm sure he will be able to cope."

"I imagine you're tired from your trip, and ready to spend some time
alone with Ben," Kam put in, attempting to diffuse the tension in the
air. "Let me show you to your quarters."

"Thanks, Kam." Luke watched as Mara rose from her seat and hoisted
Ben onto her hip. "Are you sure you don't want me to carry him?"

"Quite sure." 'So quit asking' she added through the Force, causing
Luke to shake his head in resignation.

Once again Kam and Luke shouldered the luggage, and Kam led them to a
moderate-sized chamber with a bed, a glider chair, storage
compartments, and a small adjoining refresher.

"I'm sorry we don't have a regular suite here," he apologized. "The
larger rooms are being used as training areas and classrooms."

"No, this is fine," Luke assured him, setting his bags down.

Mara surveyed the room critically. "Of course, we'll need his crib
in here."

"Oh, yes," Kam answered hesitantly. "I'll speak to Tionne about
it." He gave them a wan smile, then retreated down the hallway.

"I'll lay odds Tionne won't like that either," Mara grated out. "She
may as well have just come out and said 'Please leave in two days.'"

"She had a point." Luke pulled off his outer robe and sat down on
the edge of the bed.

Mara gave him a sharp glare, then jerked as Ben yanked a handful of
her hair. "Ow!" She extricated the red-gold strands from Ben's
fist, then held him out to her husband. "Here, now you can hold him."

Luke eagerly hugged Ben close to him on his lap. "How 'bout it,
Ben? Would you cause trouble for Tionne and Kam after we left?"

"Ti ...ti ...," the child gurgled happily.

"You're asking his opinion?"

"I was just- Ow!" Luke's head dipped to one side suddenly as
Ben
found his earlobe. "Ben, no." Luke narrowed his eyes at his
wife. "You told him to do that, didn't you?"

Mara laughingly shook her head, her mood lightening. "We're staying
the whole week," she stated emphatically. "We'll send holos more
often after we leave, and just hope he adjusts."

Luke paused to make a funny face at Ben before answering. "It's a
bit of a dilemma, isn't it? Do we want him to miss us terribly when
we're not here, or not miss us at all?"

Mara shrugged, not having an easy answer. Kam returned just then,
pushing a toddler-sized bed with clear plastique sides.

"Here you go," he said. "But keep in mind that he's used to sleeping
in the same room with the younger children. I think they connect to
each other through the Force, and all fall asleep about the same
time."

"We can connect with him," Mara countered. Her patience had
disappeared upon touchdown at what she perceived to be a constant
stream of objections from Ben's caregivers.

"I know." Kam smiled and gave the Skywalker family a wink as he
headed for the door. "But remember, his bedtime is twenty-hundred,
plus he takes a nap in the afternoon."

After Kam left, Luke began bouncing his son on his knee, much to
Ben's squealing delight. "Well, Ben, you and mommy can go to bed at
twenty-hundred. That's a little early for me."

"Nah-nee," was the garbled response.

"Mah-mee," Luke said carefully.

"Nah-nee," Ben repeated.

"Mah-mee."

"Give it up, daddy," Mara interjected. "I don't care if he calls me
mommy or nonny or nah-nah. I'm just thrilled to be here with him."

"You and me both."

Both parents watched happily as Ben squirmed off Luke's lap and began
toddling about the room. He spied their travel bags and immediately
began investigating.

"You want to help mommy unpack, Ben?" Mara slid to her knees and
pulled open a lower drawer from the wall's built-in storage
compartment, then laid two articles of clothing inside the space in a
neat stack. Handing Ben a folded tunic, the boy clasped the material
and haphazardly dropped it into the drawer. "Very good, Ben," Mara
praised.

The hand-off continued more or less smoothly for a half dozen pieces
of clothing. Mara turned and rummaged in the bottom of the satchel
for her next choice to put away. She stopped and twisted back around
as soon as Luke's peals of laughter reached her. Ben was
systematically plucking every piece of clothing out of the drawer and
letting them fall to the floor in a heap.

"Oh, Ben." Mare sat back on her haunches, stifling her own amused
laughter. She gave Luke a mock-stern look. "You're only encouraging
him."

"And I intend to keep doing so." Luke knelt next to Ben. "Okay,
Ben, now we go in reverse." He picked up a sock and placed it back
in the drawer, then pointed to the remaining pile. "Your turn."

Ben clutched at a pair of Mara's underpants and pulled it on top of
his head." "Nah-nee."

Neither parent could hold back this time. Luke was nearly rolling on
the floor, cackling in amusement.

"Very becoming, son," he managed to spit out. "But that looks better
on your mommy."

Mara floated the undergarment off Ben and dropped it onto Luke's
head. "Oh, I don't know." She pulled Ben onto her lap. "What do
you think, Ben? Daddy looks pretty cute, too."

Ben squealed shrilly as Luke comically repositioned the panties so
that he was peering out through the leg holes. Mara was laughing so
hard that tears were glistening in her eyes.

"Da-da-da," Ben jabbered, clapping his hands loudly.

"Da-da funny," Mara choked out, swiping at her eyes.

Luke continued his animation, wiggling his fingers out from the sides
of his face like writhing tentacles.

"You ... you look like Pwoe," Mara remarked in a high-pitched voice,
referring to the stuffy Quarren who was a thorn in the Jedi Order's
side.

"I agree," a velvety voice added from the open doorway.

Luke jerked the garment off his head with lightening speed, and his
face began turning a bright shade of red.

"We ... we were just ...," he stammered.

"You were being a family." Tionne favored all of them with a gentle
smile, her large mother-of-pearl eyes shimmering with geniality. "As
it should be."

"You didn't see that, Tionne," Luke instructed, unsuccessfully trying
to put a touch of sternness in his voice.

"See what? I only came to tell you dinner will be ready in a half
hour." Just before exiting, Tionne paused and turned back. "Where's
Kam with his holorecorder when I need him?" Laughing lightly, the
graceful Jedi swept out into the corridor.

With a loud sigh, Luke fell back onto the carpet. "I am never going
to live this down."

"Oh, I don't know." Mara snorted with her own brand of affectionate
sarcasm. "Seemed like typical Jedi Master behavior to me." She
turned loose of her wiggling son, and he zoomed to pounce on his
prone father.

"You gonna hit me when I'm down, too, Ben?" Luke whined in mock
despair. He grasped the tot around the waist and lifted him as high
as he could reach.

"Nee! Nee!" Ben shrieked happily as Luke maneuvered his outstretched
arms through the air to simulate flying. "Da-da nee!"

"Have you figured out what 'knee' means?" Mara asked as she finished
putting their clothes into the drawers. "He's been saying that on
the last two or three holos Kam sent."

"Nope, not a clue."

Luke started making starfighter engine noises as he effortlessly rose
from the floor, still whisking Ben aloft through the air. Finished
with her task, Mara sat back and grinned as she watched her
two 'boys' at play.

"Much as I hate to break up the new formation of Midget Squadron,"
Mara finally spoke up, "but we need to be leaving for dinner."

Luke reluctantly set Ben down on the floor, then sat once again on
the edge of the bed. His sparkling blue eyes held Mara's shining
emerald ones in their gaze. "This parenting thing is getting more
fun all the time," he commented happily. "We should have done this
years ago."

Mara chuckled, then she and Luke both glanced down at their darling
son.

"Ben, NO!" they screamed simultaneously.

Mara lunged, but Luke was faster, yanking his dangling lightsaber out
of Ben's exploring hands.

"How could you be so careless!" Mara screeched, scooping her child
into the safety of her arms.

"I ... I ..." Luke stammered, his face drained of color.

Mara was trembling, and Ben was wailing at the top of his lungs. "He
could've killed himself!"

"He's never bothered it before." Luke wasn't trying to make excuses;
he was frantically reviewing in his mind all the times he'd worn his
lightsaber around Ben in the past.

"He's never done lots of things before that he's doing now." Mara
began swaying Ben in a vain effort to hush his sobs. "You've scared
him to death."

"He's crying because he feels your fear." Luke slowly approached his
wife and son, and Ben held out his arms. "It's all right, Ben," he
soothed. "We're not upset at you. It's all right."

Mara looked warily at Luke, then reluctantly relinquished Ben to his
grasp. She knew Luke was correct about one thing - she needed to
calm down if Ben were ever going to be pacified.

"At least put that thing away where he can't get to it," she muttered.

"Mara, that won't solve the problem. You're wearing yours. Mine
just happened to be the one he got to first."

Ben's crying had diminished to a lingering whimper, and his blue-gray
gaze alternated between his parents.

Luke narrowed his eyes in thought. "At the temple, one of the first
things the children were taught when they arrived was to respect
lightsabers. Kam and Tionne were both wearing theirs just now. I
just assumed ..."

"Never assume anything where Ben is concerned," Mara bit out, having
somewhat regained her composure. "He's too precious to us. If
anything happened to him, I don't ... don't know if I ..."

"Me, either," Luke admitted quietly. By now Ben was squirming in his
arms, wanting to get down. He set the toddler back on his feet, and
he and Mara both kept a close watch on him. "But the fact remains,
he's a Jedi child and he's going to be constantly exposed to dangers
such as lightsabers and blasters and even the occasional vibroblade,
which a certain Jedi I know still tucks in her left boot. So he has
to be trained to not touch those types of things."

"I didn't think we should let him cut teeth chewing on your saber,"
Mara said, her familiar wisecracking slowly returning. "And your
suggestion on how to accomplish this feat is?"

"Ask Kam and Tionne, of course." Luke grinned. Taking one of Ben's
hands, he gestured toward the doorway. "By the time I remember from
the schematics where the dining hall is, I believe dinner should be
ready."

"Just follow your nose, farmboy," she said, shaking her head. She
reached down and took Ben's other hand as the trio went through the
doorway. "Ready to eat, Ben?"

"Eat!" Ben said happily. "Eat nee."

"Guess we're having knees for dinner," Luke joked. "At least now
we'll know what they look like."

(continued in next post)

On to part two:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The family easily found the dining hall by following the increasing
din of noise. As they entered, Tionne immediately approached them
with an anxious expression on her face. "Is everything all right?
We sensed distress coming from all three of you."

"Oh, simply your typical Skywalker calamity," Mara replied. "Ben
decided he wanted an up close and personal look at Luke's lightsaber."

"Oh, my." Tionne looked apologetic. "We forgot to tell you what a
fascination he's developed for anything that looks remotely
mechanical."

"Well, he gets it honestly," Mara admitted.

"From both of us," Luke added. "But, Tionne, we've never had any
serious problems with the trainees toying with lightsabers, and I
fully realize that I have you and Kam to thank for that. Now,
however, I regret not paying more attention to how you were able to
cultivate such discipline."

Tionne let an amused chuckle escape. "Ah, so now I get to be the
teacher, Master? Come get a tray, and I'll try to explain over
dinner."

"Try not, Tionne," Mara put in. "We need you to DO."

The group got into the serving line, where Syal Antilles and Kam were
dishing out portions of the evening meal to the queue of hungry
students. Ben pulled out of Mara's grasp and followed Jysella Horn
to a nearby table. Keeping a careful eye on her son, Mara accepted
the tray of food from Kam.

"What's this?" she asked the older Jedi, pointing to a bowl of dark
red vegetables. "Why is no one else getting this?"

"That's Ben's dish," he replied with a chuckle. "Neebo beans -
one
of the few things lately that he'll eat well."

"Ah, so that's why everything is labeled 'knee,'" Luke said.

"Probably. His vocabulary seems to center on whatever his favorite
food is at the moment."

When Luke and Mara reached the dining table, the Melodie student
Sannah had already strapped Ben into a step-up seat. The young teen
was settling into what appeared to be her customary seat to Ben's
right. Jysella was perched on the other side of Sannah, delighting
Ben with her repertoire of silly faces.

Mara claimed the chair to the left of Ben, and Luke and Tionne took
places next to her. Ben was already reaching for the bowl of beans
as Mara set it in front of him.

"Nee! Nee!" Ben said, delving into the dish with his fingers.

"Ben, spoon," Tionne called, passing a small utensil to Mara.

Ben adamantly shook his head. "No. No spoo."

Tionne cast a glance at Mara that clearly indicated she would leave
the matter to the stubborn boy's mother. Mara wasn't about to pass
up this opportunity to practice her mothering skills.

"Here, Ben, use the spoon."

"No." The toddler plucked a slippery red bean out of the bowl and
crammed it into his mouth.

"Look, Ben, see how I'm doing it." Mara scooped up a single bean
with the spoon and popped it into her own mouth. She struggled not
to make a face at the vegetable's bland flavor.

"They taste like fiberboard," Tionne whispered to Luke, giving him a
surreptitious smile. "But Ben loves them, and they are rather
nutritious."

Mara pressed the utensil into her son's hand, then smirked over her
shoulder at her adult companions as Ben balanced a pair of beans in
the spoon and shoveled them into his mouth. Apparently this was as
far as he was willing to go in appeasing his mother, as he promptly
dropped the spoon to the floor with a clatter while simultaneously
grabbing a fistful of his dinner with his other hand.

Sannah extended an open palm toward the spoon, and it flew into her
webbed fingers. "He's just playing, Master. I can help feed him, if
you like."

Mara looked into the lively yellow eyes of the petite girl, sensing
her eagerness to assist. "I suppose that would be all right," she
replied, her reluctance somewhat tempered by the smeared red stain
now covering Ben's face.

Just as Mara turned toward her husband, Tionne was nodding in the
young Melodie's direction. "Sannah has been a tremendous help with
the younger children," Tionne said, "as has Syal. The two have
become fast friends, which is a relief to me. I know Sannah misses
having Tahiri around."

"So Syal and Myri have been able to fit in with the others?" Luke
asked. He was glad that the academy was able to provide a temporary
safe haven for Wedge and Iella's daughters, but was concerned over
how the two girls would acclimate to being surrounded by Force-users.

"Oh, yes," Tionne assured him. "They consider it their duty to
demonstrate to the trainees how to be normal."

"Sounds like Han's philosophy," Mara remarked, and Luke agreed with a
laugh. Mara glanced behind her to see Sannah handing Ben his
spillproof cup, then turned her attention to Tionne. "Now, you were
going to share with us your approach to keeping Ben away from
sabers," she brought up as she finally took a bite of her own dinner.

Tionne laid her fork down. "Children Ben's age are very
inquisitive," she began, "especially when they're finally able to
walk around and get into things on their own."

"Yes, we know that," Mara said, drawing a silent plea for patience
from Luke.

"They're also easily distracted," Tionne continued. "We've found the
key is to be firm when telling them 'No, you can't touch that,' while
at the same time giving them something else that's more interesting
to play with." She gave a small smile. "And of course, don't draw
attention to your saber by sitting so it dangles right at their eye
level."

Mara gave Luke a pointed glare at that advice.

"Also, when letting them loose to play, don't point out that they can
play with anything in the room except the lightsaber lying on the
table. They probably wouldn't have even noticed it if you hadn't
mentioned it specifically."

"Therefore inadvertently prompting them to go directly for the
saber," Luke reasoned.

"Exactly."

"So if Ben knows to leave your and Kam's lightsabers alone, why did
he reach for Luke's?"

"His looks slightly different than ours," Tionne said with a small
shrug, then cast a warm glance at Mara. "As does yours. He doesn't
realize they're really all the same thing, and that the same warning
applies."

Tionne picked up her fork and speared a piece of nerf steak. "Oh,
and we've been careful not to let Ben watch us or the older children
practice dueling. It might look like too much fun to him."

Guilty expressions suddenly crossed the faces of both Luke and
Mara. "We used to strap him in his baby seat to watch when we
sparred," Luke muttered.

"Ahh..." The silver-haired Jedi wore a humorous smirk. "Perhaps Ben
wanted to spar with you, Mara, just like his daddy does."

Kam soon joined the group of adults, and the conversation turned to a
mixture of academy news, political news, and war news. By the time
their meals were finished, most of the children had already put up
their trays and were engaged in various games on the cleared
tabletops.

Luke looked around and spotted Ben watching in fascination as a pair
of young female students-a Wookiee and a Bothan-carefully
stacked
blocks in a slightly askance tower using the Force. He got up and
made his way in their direction after depositing his own tray in the
kitchen cleaning unit.

"Very good, girls," he complimented, and the youngsters beamed at his
praise. "But I need to steal Ben away now. His mother and I want to
spend some time with him." He held out one hand encouragingly, and
Ben extended his fingers into Luke's grasp.

"You'd better hurry," Luke called to Mara. "He's raring to go."

As soon as the family entered the open corridor, Ben broke free and
darted ahead of his parents. Scampering around a corner, he paused
until he was sure they were following, then took flight once more.

"Ben, wait for us," Luke called.

Ben eyed his father with an air of speculative consideration. "Da-
da, no," he prattled before resuming his pace.

"Ben!" Mara made her own futile attempt at stalling their tottering
runaway. "Why doesn't he obey us?" she groused under her breath as
she and Luke quickened their pace to keep Ben in sight.

"He wants to be independent," Luke reasoned. "He wants to make his
own decisions. They just don't always coincide with our decisions."

Mara reached over and squeezed Luke's hand. He was probably right,
but that didn't make her feel any better. Her son was no longer a
helpless infant, and she found herself constantly second-guessing how
to straddle the fine line between indulging him and disciplining him.

"I don't know what to do," Mara grated out when the Skywalkers
finally made it back to their room. "How can we have been surrounded
by children all those years at the academy, and still be the galaxy's
worst parents?"

"We are not," Luke countered. "He's just developed a lot since we
last saw him."

"Tionne and Kam don't even have children of their own," Mara
continued, ignoring Luke's protests, "and they know more about child-
rearing than we do."

"We've only had that one incident with the lightsaber, Mara, and
nothing bad resulted. We would've figured out how to keep him away
from sabers on our own, without asking them."

"Maybe," she conceded, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I can
just imagine the holoreporters' headlines, though - 'The Jedi
Masters
Skywalker, in an effort to keep their son safe from Yuuzhan Vong,
Peace Brigaders, and the Calamarian flu, have hidden the child in an
undisclosed location. However, following in the Skywalker tradition,
they allowed him to cut off his right hand with a lightsaber.'"

"Mara, that is not a bit funny."

"Nah-nee," Ben put in, tugging on his mother's pants leg.

"Ben, your mother is just plain scary sometimes. Any rumors you hear
to that effect are true."

Ben looked at Luke with curiosity in his eyes, then looked up at his
mother. "Nah-nee," he said, raising his arms. "Up."

"Yes, you're a brave little Jedi," Mara cooed, lifting up the boy
onto her lap.

Sitting down next to Mara, Luke began stroking the top of Ben's
head. "Yuck!" he exclaimed, picking at a gooey substance in the
child's hair. "What is this, mashed neebo beans?"

"Uck, nee," Ben jabbered, poking his own fingers in his hair and then
sticking them in his mouth. "Nee ... nee ..."

Mara took a closer survey of the rest of her son. "He's a mess all
over." She touched the tip of Ben's nose with her
fingertip. "Somebody needs a bath."

"Yeee ...!" was the chattered reply. "Baa ..."

Luke wrinkled his nose. "And quickly. He smells worse than the
inside of a tauntaun."

Mara gazed coolly at her husband over the top of Ben's head. "You
strip. I'll gather."

Luke pulled the child onto his own lap and began removing his soft
padded boots. Mara rummaged through the supplies that Kam had left
in the crib and pulled out a diaper and a nightshirt. Freed from the
constrictions of his miniature Jedi tunic and leggings, Ben slipped
to the floor and darted around the room that much faster -
running,
climbing, examining everything.

"You know, this sink isn't very big," Mara called from the
refresher. "He's barely going to fit into it.

Picking up his squirming boy, Luke peered over her shoulder. "We'll
make do," he said. Laying Ben on a towel spread out on the floor, he
hurriedly removed the soiled diaper. "Whew!" he exclaimed. "I think
those beans went straight through. The least Tionne could have done
is 'fresher train him before we got here."

Filling the basin with tepid water, Mara stood back smirking as Luke
finished the disposal duties. "Aren't fathers supposed to train boy
babies?"

"I always thought you just find someone like Winter, and let her take
care of it."

"Well, no matter how much of an undertaking it is, I hope we're with
him full time when he's ready," Mara replied wistfully, stepping
aside so Luke could lower the kicking boy into the water. The
kicking, unfortunately, didn't end when Ben's feet hit the water. He
loved splashing water everywhere; it soon became obvious that by the
end of the bath nothing in the refresher would remain dry, including
his two parents.

"Whoa, kiddo! Mommy and I didn't need a bath. Hold him a second,
Mara," Luke said, as he slipped off his tunic. "Now then, let's get
you clean, boy."

"Da-da-da. Baa-baa," Ben jabbered continuously.

With Luke's help, Mara first lathered and rinsed the wriggling body,
then rubbed cleanser into Ben's sticky hair. "You hold him out over
the basin while I rinse his hair," she directed her husband.

Luke wrapped him in a towel, then held him out as instructed. "Gee,
I nearly forgot how this can be a two-person operation."

They finally got him clean, dried, and into a new diaper and
sleepshirt.

"Now, if we can just get him to go to sleep." Mara rested her hands
on her hips, not anticipating their next chore. "It's nearly his
usual bedtime."

"No!" Ben squealed, running to the corner of the room farthest from
his bed.

Luke bit his lip in thought as Ben danced in little circles. "Uh, I
need to go talk to Kam and Tionne about administrative business." He
slipped his partially wet tunic back on then edged toward the door,
raising his eyebrows imploringly at his grimacing wife. "So ..."

"Coward," Mara snapped.

"It'll probably be easier to get him asleep without me here anyway.
Less temptation to play with daddy."

With a sigh, Mara waved him toward the door and turned her attention
to her cavorting son.

After Luke was gone, Mara let Ben play awhile, then dimmed the lights
and did her best to get him to go to sleep. She sat in the gliding
chair, rocking him back and forth; she put him in the crib and rubbed
his back; she sent him relaxing feelings through the Force, hoping to
duplicate what he had grown accustomed to from his nighttime
roommates.

By the time Luke returned, Ben had finally dropped off from sheer
exhaustion, and Mara was sitting up in a chair, ready to do the
same. "I almost gave up and put him in a sleeping trance," she
murmured quietly. "I never saw so much energy in one little person.

"Did you really expect a child of ours to be lacking in energy?" Luke
said wryly.

"I guess not."

As Luke pulled off his clothes for the night, he paused, rolling his
lightsaber in his hand and glancing around the room. Even though Ben
was asleep in his crib, Luke still didn't feel comfortable leaving
their weapons lying out in the open while he and Mara slept. Making
his decision, he pulled out one of their travel bags that had a lock
and placed the saber into the bottom. Looking up, he found Mara
watching him curiously.

"I don't want to take any chances," he mumbled with a shrug.

Wordlessly, Mara handed him her own lightsaber, then reached down and
did the same with the vibroblade that Luke had correctly deduced was
in her boot. Snapping the bag shut and locking it securely, he
stuffed it into the top drawer of the storage compartment.

"The station has sensors," he said. "If trouble arrives, we can get
them in time."

"You don't have to explain." Mara patted him on the arm. "I was
contemplating doing the same thing." She began putting on her
nightgown. "We can undertake conditioning him on our next visit."

Luke wasn't sure he liked the term 'conditioning'-Ben was not a
housepet to be trained to avoid a certain object-but he didn't
object
to delaying the inevitable lesson. This trip was meant to be a
relaxing reunion for his small family, not a nerve-wracking training
week.

Mara and Luke wearily got into bed, and soon they were sound asleep.
It wasn't long, however, before Luke was jerked awake by the feel of
something crawling on him. He waved a glowlamp on with the Force,
and blinked at the sight of a wide-awake Ben endeavoring to squeeze
between his parents, chattering to himself softly. Luke silently
thanked the Force that he hadn't talked himself out of hiding the
lightsabers.

"Mara, wake up," Luke said, rubbing his eyes.

"What's he doing here?" Mara muttered, squinting in the soft
light. "How did he get out of his crib? It's a meter off the floor."

"Where there's a will, there's a way." Luke climbed out of bed,
picking up the fidgety toddler. "Ben, you have to sleep in your own
bed. You can't sleep with us."

"No!" Ben tried to squirm out of Luke's grasp and back into the
inviting bed of his parents. "Da-da. Nah-nee."

"No, Ben, in your bed.

"No, no, no."

"Yes, yes, yes," Luke returned, ignoring Mara's chuckling.

Luke sighed and put Ben into his crib. Ben resisted all the way,
grabbing onto the sides of the crib and immediately hiking one leg
over the side. "No! No! Seep nah-nee."

"Sleeping with mommy is my job. You sleep with Wicky." Luke waved a
stuffed Ewok in Ben's line of sight, but the boy would have none of
it.

"I think you're going to have to get him asleep before you put him in
the crib," Mara advised, "or he's just going to climb back out again."

"I suppose we could let him in with us, just till he's asleep." Luke
yawned, trying to stifle his own overwhelming desire to crawl back
into the warm bed.

"No, we went through this when he was younger." Mara's voice was
adamant. "Then he'll want to be with us every night, and we don't
want to get that started, especially with our leaving in a week."

"So what should we do? Swallow our pride and admit we should have
let him sleep with the other children?"

"I'm not ready to admit defeat." She rolled over, snuggling deeper
under the covers. "But I am ready to let you take your turn putting
him to bed. He's bound to be sleepy - you should have an easier
time
of it than I did."

"His eyes are tired," Luke conceded, "but he's fighting sleep. Maybe
he's afraid we won't be here when he wakes up."

Luke felt Mara's silent agreement, though she didn't speak aloud.
The end of their visit would come soon enough, bringing with it
mornings in which they wouldn't be present to greet their son.

Waving off the glowlamp, Luke clutched Ben to his bare chest and
settled into the gliding chair. Ben seemed to accept this position
as an acceptable alternative to actually being in his parents' bed,
and his earlier agitation diminished. The pair rocked back and forth
for some time, and a stillness settled on the family as Ben listened
to his father's strong heartbeat, just as he had many times as an
infant.

Although Luke sensed that the child was not yet asleep, he took a
chance and rose, heading toward the crib. Ben sent up a wail
immediately, his cries of 'No, no' permeating the room. Relenting,
Luke returned to the chair and once more began gliding to and fro.
Humming quietly, he eventually put words to the melody -

"Hush my little Jedi knight
Now it's time to say goodnight
And dream of princesses to save
And other noble deeds so brave"

"Are you making that up as you go along?" Mara mumbled in a low voice
from her nest among the covers. She had heard him singing to Ben in
the past, when he thought no one was around, but it had always been
some familiar tune.

"Every word," Luke declared. "Don't interrupt, I'm on a roll here.
I think he's starting to get sleepy."

"If you save a great big wookiee
Your reward will be a cookie"

"Oh, brother!" Mara lifted her head to peer at her husband through
the semi-darkness. "It's a good thing you didn't go into the
entertainment business."

"Hush my beautiful Jedi wife
Though you are the love of my life
If you undo the progress I've made
Instead of Skywalker, you'll be back to Jade"

Mara buried her head in her pillow, trying to stifle her laughter.
Her husband may be the personification of a serene, dignified Jedi
Master to strangers, but he could clown around in private better than
anyone she had ever met.

Luke's impromptu lullaby slowly dissolved back into gentle humming,
and soon Ben was deep in the throes of slumber. Laying the boy into
his crib and covering him with a blanket, Luke slipped in next to his
wife and hugged her tightly.

"He really is amazing," Luke whispered. "Bright in mind and
spirit." He kissed Mara softly. "Just like his mother."

"Inquisitive and daring." Mara returned his kiss. "Like his father."

"He glows with the Force. He's going to be a powerful Force-user."

"Of course he will," she replied, rolling onto her other side. "He's
a Skywalker."

Luke fell silent, and Mara could feel a twinge of misgiving run
through him.

"You're not actually worried about what Vergere said, are you -
about
a dynasty of your family upsetting the balance of the Force?"

"No," Luke replied, "but I can see where others may view us in that
light, and may fear our power."

"Palpatine feared you," Mara muttered, her thoughts drifting back
more than two decades.

"I doubt that." Luke snuggled closer behind his wife, wrapping his
arms around her. "He easily overpowered me on the Death Star."

"But he couldn't overcome the power of your family." She turned her
head slightly. "Family is a strength, not a weakness. Don't waste
good brain cells worrying about what others think."

Luke leaned over and kissed his wife's cheek. "I love you, Mara."

"And I love you, farmboy. Forever and always."

(continue on to next post)

And the finale:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buzzzzzz.......

Mara bolted upright and looked around the still-darkened room. She
couldn't tell where the sound had come from, but-

Buzzzzzz.......

"What in blazes...?!" Was the station under attack? She didn't feel
any danger. Luke sat up beside her, and she could sense first his
surprise, then his recognition.

"No, it can't be yet," he muttered.

"Can't be what?" Mara gave him a sideways shove to get his
attention. "What is that racket?"

"Morning alarm." He crawled out of bed with a groan and manually
turned on one of the room's glowlamps. "Time to get up."

Mara squinted in the light and reached for her chrono lying nearby.
It was later in the morning than her body felt it should be. "Does
that thing go off all over the station?"

"Yeah." Still bleary-eyed, Luke walked over to where Ben was
stirring in his crib. "They told me about it last night, but I
forgot to warn you."

"Just because everyone else is getting up doesn't mean we have to,"
Mara countered. "We're on vacation."

"Mara, we can't lay in bed while all the students are beginning the
day's training. It wouldn't look good. Besides, they'd probably
send someone down here if we didn't show up for breakfast."

Mara just shook her head. Leave it to Luke to turn this around to an
issue of duty. She laid back down as he shuffled into the refresher,
glad for the few minutes reprieve that his occupying that room gave
her. Even Ben quieted down, as if hoping it was time to go back to
sleep. All too soon Luke emerged and automatically began pulling on
his clothes.

"Okay, you two lazybones. Time to get up." He reached into the crib
and picked up his fretful son, then threatened to bodily drag Mara
out as well. It was not without a great deal of grumpy complaining
that all three Skywalkers finally made it out the door. During this
trip, Ben was content to let his father carry him instead of running
along on his own.

As all were finishing their morning meal, Luke and Mara relayed to
the students a summary of the latest happenings in the galaxy -
the
election of a new Chief of State, the formation of a council of Jedi,
and the battle at Ebaq 9.

"I don't see why some of us can't go help fight the Vong," Valin Horn
complained, his hazel eyes flashing.

"Valin, you're only thirteen," Luke rationalized patiently.

"Tahiri's only fifteen, and you said she was a squadron commander,"
the boy returned. "I'm bigger than her. I could do things. I could
go around Mon Calamari with mouse droids lookin' for spies." He shot
an accusatory look in Mara's direction.

"So could I," added Ri'zer, a young Twi'lek boy of about twelve.

"It's not that we don't think that you're capable," Luke
replied, "but we need you here, to finish your training."

"Why can't we go out and be apprenticed to a Knight, and finish our
training that way?" Valin argued. "I could go with my dad. He could
teach me everything I needed to know."

"I'm sure he could, but circumstances right now just don't allow-"

"Sannah and Ri'zer and I, we're old enough to be doin' something with
the rest of the Jedi," Valin interrupted. "You only want us here to
be babysitters."

"Valin, you know better than to talk like that to Master Skywalker,"
Kam reprimanded.

Luke held up a hand in a conciliatory gesture. "It's all right,
Master Solusar." He glanced around the room at the sea of youthful,
anxious faces. "Can we go to one of the training halls? I'd like to
sit down and talk to the students."

"Of course," Kam answered. He stood and addressed the group. "Let's
all put our trays away and quietly walk down to the exercise room."

When everyone had entered the assigned chamber, Luke settled into a
cross-legged position on the padded floor and invited the children to
gather around him. Mara sat to one side, holding a fussy Ben in her
lap, and Kam and Tionne sat together at the rear of the group.

"I want to explain the hopes and expectations that I have for every
one of you," Luke began in a quiet voice. "I know you feel like
you're just hiding out here, being useless, but that isn't the case
at all." He smiled warmly at his attentive audience. "To better
relate what I mean, let me begin with a story.

"All of you have learned in your history classes about how Emperor
Palpatine took control of the galaxy long before any of you were
born." Luke shot Mara a 'Boy, does this make me feel old'
grin. "You know of the great war against his reign, in which nearly
all of the Jedi in the galaxy were killed," he continued. "My sister
and I were born at the beginning of that war, and we were hidden
away, to keep us safe. It was so dangerous that the Jedi Knight Obi-
Wan Kenobi, though he watched over me, couldn't take the chance of
training me until I was nearly an adult.

"As I was growing up, I was eager to go out and fight in the war,
just like you are, even though I had no idea that I had the potential
to be a Jedi. I, too, was frustrated to be told that I was too
young, that I was needed to stay where I was and help out at home."

Luke took a deep breath, then continued his recitation. "Eventually
I got the chance to join the fighting, when I was older than any of
you are, and I found out how hard it is to go into battle, to face
enemies that are older and much better trained, and ... to lose
friends. As I learned to be a Jedi, I had the audacity to tell my
own master that I was wasting my time, that I should be out fighting,
and I abandoned his guidance because I thought I knew better than he
did. When the war was finally over, and the Emperor was defeated, I
realized how right the adults in my life had been, to want to keep me
safe while I trained. I was the only Jedi left, and it was up to me,
all by myself, to rebuild the Jedi Order." Luke nodded and smiled at
the Solusars. "As Kam and Tionne can testify, it was a difficult
task, for my own teachers were gone. There wasn't a single moment
that I didn't regret not completing my training with Master Yoda.

"You children are so lucky to have Kam and Tionne, and the other
teachers that you had on Yavin IV, to train you the right way to be
Jedi Knights - not in the rushed, haphazard way that I learned.
And
the Jedi Order is privileged to have all of you. You are our hope
for the future. So many Knights have been killed in this terrible
war with the Yuuzhan Vong, but knowing that there is an entire class
here, ready to take up the banner as the next generation of Jedi, is
a wonderful relief."

Luke directed his attention at Valin and his comrades. "When you
older students are asked to help with the younger ones, you become
teachers yourselves, not glorified babysitters. Everything you do
here is critical to the survival of the Jedi Order. I wish I had had
the opportunity growing up to attend an academy like this. And I'm
sure that Kam and Tionne have times when they wish they could be out
in the thick of things, but I thank the Force everyday that they have
agreed to stay here and undertake the training of all of you.
Keeping this academy going, no matter where it is located, is much
more important than having two more knights fighting in the front
lines.

"So I don't want any of you thinking that you're being cowardly by
staying here. I would give anything if Tahiri and Lowie and Jaina
and Jacen and ... Anakin ..." Luke paused, swallowing the lump in his
throat, "could have remained at the academy to finish their
training, but it didn't work out that way." He looked around the
room, meeting the gaze of every student. "I hope now you understand
your importance both to the Jedi Order and to the entire galaxy."

Valin was the first to speak up as Luke fell silent. "We understand
now, Master Luke," he said in a contrite voice. "And I'm sorry about
how I acted."

"That's all right, Valin," Luke replied. "As I said, I can
sympathize with your position and realize why you felt the way you
did. It was my oversight not to talk to you about this earlier."

As Mara sat near the rear of the room, she once again marveled at how
easily Luke could converse with nearly anyone, adult or child, friend
or stranger. Even during his terse interview with Fyor Rodan on Mon
Calamari, the Jedi Master was able to remain calm and composed. She
probably would have been wringing the exasperating politician's neck.

Mara glanced down at the precious, now slumbering toddler reclining
on her lap. Who would Ben take after? - the gentle optimistic
father
or the volatile pessimistic mother? She ran her fingers through the
boy's silky red-gold locks. Perhaps a combination of both. Only
time would tell.

"I see my speech certainly had a profound impact on one of the
trainees," Luke said, as he knelt next to his wife and sleeping son.
He reached out and smoothed back an errant lock of Ben's hair. "We
need to do better on handling bedtime tonight."

"Is that what the problem is?" Tionne put in as she
approached. "He's usually wide awake and full of energy all morning."

"Yes, his middle-aged, doting parents are wreaking havoc with his
sleep cycle," Mara confessed. "Don't gloat, Tionne."

The silver-haired Jedi laughed merrily. "There are nights that I
have to sing ballads to the children to lull them to sleep."

"So that's why he fell asleep so quickly after ..." Mara trailed
off. Even mild-mannered Luke was not above seeking retribution when
he felt Mara had deliberately embarrassed him. Having Tionne witness
his Quarren impersonation was humiliating enough.

"You sang him to sleep?" Tionne asked Mara innocently.

"It worked quite well," she answered, deftly avoiding giving a
definitive answer. A sensation of gratitude permeated her entire
being from the man whose hand lightly squeezed her shoulder. "I just
wished I'd thought of trying it hours sooner."

"Perhaps you should take him back to our room," Luke suggested, "and
put him back to bed."

"Perhaps all three of you should go catch up on your rest." At
Luke's beginning of a protest, she held up one hand. "You came here
to be together as a family. Don't pass up any opportunity to do so.
Mornings here consist of classroom instruction only; you won't be
missing anything that Ben normally participates in." She pulled a
datapad out of the folds of her robe. "I forgot to tell you, Luke,
this transmission was received during the night. It's from Cilghal,
and wasn't marked 'Urgent,' so I-"

"Quite all right," he interrupted with a smile, taking the pad from
her. "Just a briefing of yesterday's council meetings, no doubt."

"If it's as soporific as the few governmental sessions I've been
exposed to, it could probably be marketed as a sleep-aid."

"I doubt it's that bad, Tionne." Luke wrapped an arm around Mara as
she rose to her feet. "Though for a being from a waterworld,
Cilghal's communiqu?tend to be rather dry."

Mara and Tionne groaned in unison at Luke's attempt at a joke.

"Pathetic, Luke," Mara said, shaking her head. "You do need more
sleep. Come, let's not hold up Tionne any longer from her teaching."

The group parted company, and Luke steered his family toward their
quarters to make up for the sleep they'd missed the night before.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hands clasped behind his back, Luke stood unobtrusively watching as
Ben batted at holographic flitterflies dancing in the air. It was
afternoon at Shelter, when the students delighted in hands-on Jedi
training, and the youngest Skywalker was no exception.

Myri Antilles was the master controller at the toy holoprojector that
Admiral Ackbar had sent Ben as a gift. She adjusted a bright red
knob, changing the pattern in which the tiny insects appeared. Ben's
eyes darted back and forth as he instinctively anticipated where the
next flitterfly would pop up. When his hand connected with a
hologram during its one-second life span, a bell chimed inside the
projector. Ben liked bells.

Luke stoically fought the smile that threatened to appear on his face
as Ben successfully targeted a series of five of the multi-colored
apparitions. He glanced to the side as Mara approached and laid her
head against his shoulder.

"You're not going to succumb to the dark side for demonstrating pride
in your son," she whispered.

Luke sighed in response. "I shouldn't show favoritism during
training sessions."

"What favoritism? You've never shied away from telling any of your
other students that you're proud of them."

"Ben isn't just any other student."

"No, he's OUR student." Mara raised her head and looked her husband
in the eye. "Luke, parents are allowed to take pleasure in their
children's accomplishments." She cocked an eyebrow and tilted her
head encouragingly, then moved to crouch on the floor next to Ben.

"Are you catching lots of pretties, Ben?"

"Purty ... nah-nee ..." Ben reached up and slapped at a flitterfly
that materialized right in front of Mara's face. "Yeee...!"

Luke couldn't hold back a chuckle this time - it was a good thing
Mara had quick reflexes, or Ben would have bopped her in the nose.
Finally giving in, and not wanting to be left out of the fun, Luke
knelt down and enveloped both Ben and Mara in a warm hug. "You're
doing great, Ben," he praised, kissing the child's forehead
softly. "I'm so proud of you."

"Da-da-da," Ben jabbered, his eyes lighting up as he tracked a new
flitterfly within his reach. Luke impulsively raised his hand and
tapped one of the insects overhead, eliciting a round of happy
squealing from his son.

"Hey, who said you could flick flitterflies?" Mara pouted.

"Ben did." Luke pretended to reach for one of the holograms as it
popped up near Ben, letting the youngster just barely beat him to
it. "And I want to hear you say that three times fast," he said,
shooting Mara a wink.

Luke pulled the toddler closer, and whispered in his ear.

"Chaw-wenge ... nah-nee," the boy stuttered.

"I believe Ben just laid down a challenge," Luke translated. "Us
against you. Whoever taps the most flitterflies in a certain amount
of time wins."

"Both of you, against only me?" Mara narrowed her eyes,
considering. Ben would more than likely slow Luke down, giving her
the advantage - a fact that Luke wouldn't have overlooked. She
squinted at her smug-looking husband through the field of fluttering
illusions surrounding them. He was being patronizing again, blast
him.

"Doesn't sound like fair odds to me," she muttered. "I need a
partner too."

"Well, all right." Luke frowned. Why would she want someone getting
in her way? Unless she realized- Of course she realized...
That's
what he got for trying to be nice.

"You hafta get a girl," Myri piped up. "Girls against boys."

"Hmm ... Let's see." Mara's gaze wandered around the group of
students, most of whom were now directing their attention to figuring
out what their usually absent masters were up to. "I pick ...
Jysella," she said, naming the youngest female student she could spot.

The little girl whooped in excitement and skipped over to Mara's side.

It was at that moment that Kam appeared, towering over the circle of
young spectators. "What's going on here?" He then zeroed in on what
everyone was looking at. "Disrupting our class, Masters?" he asked,
crossing his arms and trying to sound stern.

Luke gave the older Jedi a sheepish grin. "Apparently. We may need
you to referee."

Kam hid a grin behind one hand. He'd refereed more than one sparring
match between Luke and Mara in the past. Luke had learned long ago
not to treat Mara as anything but an equal opponent, and their
contests sometimes evolved into grueling grudge matches. Witnessing
how they would handle their competitive natures in a children's game
could prove interesting indeed. "By all means," he agreed.

"Myri, are you ready to crank that thing up full speed?" Mara asked,
and the blonde youth nodded vigorously. It was just too bad, Mara
thought, that 'full speed' on the toy was agonizingly slow to an
adult.

"Ladies first," Luke pronounced, starting to scoot back with Ben.

Mara narrowed her emerald eyes once more. Caving in to gender
partiality was not to her liking, especially when her opponent would
then know what score he had to beat.

"On one condition."

Luke shook his head, but managed to refrain from rolling his eyes.
Only his dear wife would put 'conditions' on a simple courtesy.

"Scores are not revealed until the contest is completed."

"Fine." Luke gestured to Myri to angle the projector to focus on
Mara and Jysella, then once again whispered to Ben.

"Go ... nah-nee!" Ben cried, clapping his hands. He listened to
another instruction from his father, then continued, "Go ... Jys-sa!"

"Benny, you not suppose to cheer for us," Jysella huffed.

A sharp look from Luke restrained Mara from reminding her partner
that she did not care for the nickname 'Benny.' "It's all right,
Jysella," Mara said instead. "He's simply acknowledging the best
team. Are you ready?"

"Ready," the girl replied.

"Very well. Let's give them a run for their credits."

Valin Horn took that as an opening to ask Kam, as serious as could
be, "Can we bet on who wins?"

"Certainly not."

With a grand flourish, Myri began the holoprojector. Mara's hands
leapt into action, immediately swatting at the flickering insects.
Jysella was a bit slower getting started, but she valiantly surged
ahead, focusing her emerging Force senses into predicting the
appearances of all flitterflies within her reach.

Luke suddenly realized that they had not predetermined a set time
limit for each team's turn. Hopefully that was what Kam was speaking
to Myri about. Luke's attention returned to the action just in time
to drag Ben back from aiding, or interrupting, the opposition.

"No, Ben, we'll get our turn just about ..."

A buzzer sounded, and the flitterflies blinked out of existence.

"Now," Luke finished.

Kam glanced over Myri's shoulder to check the accumulated count, then
shared a knowing nod with the girl. He then helped Myri adjust the
holoprojector to center on his master and youngest student.

"Ready?" Kam asked.

Luke shrugged off his outer robe. Carefully considering his
strategy, he stood Ben on his feet facing him. Leaving a half-meter
of space between them, Luke back up on his knees, ignoring Mara's
looks of exasperation.

"Ready," he answered, flexing his fingers and giving Ben a wink. The
toddler sensed his father's contagious enthusiasm and grinned in
response, then squealed in surprised excitement when the air in front
of him was suddenly filled with blinking flitterflies.

"Go, Ben!" Ri'zer shouted.

"Go, Master Luke!" Valin added.

Luke rapidly and systematically tapped every flickering insect that
surrounded him, careful to leave the ones in front of Ben for the
little boy to swat.

As she watched, Mara noted the similar expressions of concentration
on her husband and son's faces. Ben was channeling the Force with an
eager determination that mirrored Luke's precision and intensity,
though the toddler was too young to grasp what he was doing. Most
likely, Mara reflected, Luke used the Force in the same manner
growing up without realizing it.

Myri watched the timer count down to zero, and let out a yelp as the
buzzer sounded, putting an end to the contest. She and Kam silently
compared the two scores.

"Don't keep us in suspense, Master Solusar," Mara said, casually
tucking a strand of red-gold hair behind her ear. "Just announce our
winning score, and you can return your training center to its orderly
setup."

Jysella abandoned Mara's side to try to peer at the scores, and Ben
hurriedly scrambled into his mother's now vacated lap.

"It doesn't really matter who won," Luke said. "We were just having
fun."

"In that case, Master, you won't mind that-" Kam began.

"Girls won! Girls won!" Myri shouted, her expression as happy as if
she'd been competing herself. A celebratory cheer rose from the
female contingent of students.

"By one point," Kam confirmed, sending an apologetic shrug to Luke.

"Well then, Master Solusar, for the honor of the male population of
this academy, I guess you'll have to work a little harder sharpening
Ben's reflexes," Luke said, reversing his nonchalant attitude with a
grin. "We have to be ready for a rematch during our next visit."

"Sharpening Ben's reflexes?" Mara approached the men with a
triumphant smirk. "I think poor Ben's partner is the one who needs
practice." She sent a teasing laugh in Luke's direction. "Maybe I
should ask Ackbar where he got that holoprojector, so I can get one
for Luke to train with at home."

"Keeping up with you keeps me sharp enough," he retorted.

Mara's laughter trailed after her as Ben pulled her toward a new
activity.

"Luke," Kam said, clapping him on the back, "you two will never grow
old."

"We never intend to," Luke replied with a smile, watching his wife
and son playing together across the room. "Never."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The rest of the week passed much too swiftly, in Mara and Luke's
opinion. Before they knew it, the morning of their departure had
arrived. Luke sat on the floor with Ben, playing with the toy A-wing
they'd brought him as a present, while Mara listlessly began packing
their clothes into their satchels.

"This is even harder than I thought it would be," she said, pausing
in her task and listening to Ben's jabbering. "He could be saying
complete sentences by the time we see him again."

"Kam and Tionne promised to send holos more often," Luke responded.

"It's not the same," Mara murmured.

"I know." Luke gazed at his wife's downcast expression, feeling and
sharing the sorrow that filled her heart. "Mara, if you want to stay
here with him, I'll understand," he offered. "I could return to Mon
Cal by myself."

Mara shut her eyes briefly, composing herself. "No. I told you on
Borleias, if my actions can in any way shorten this war by even a few
days, then that is the best thing I can do for Ben. When I decided
to become a Jedi, it was to put the needs of others before my own
selfish desires. Tionne and Kam are capable of taking excellent care
of him. Being jealous of the time they spend with him is not very
Jedi-like." She rose and resettled herself next to Luke. "Besides,"
she said, kissing him softly on the cheek, "who better to watch your
back? You need me with you."

"I do," he agreed, returning her kiss, this time on the lips.

"Da-da," Ben interrupted, pushing his way into his parents' welcome
embrace. "Nah-nee."

"We all need each other. Isn't that right, Ben?" Luke grinned
brightly at his son.

Mara listened to Ben's string of babbling. "I do believe he's
agreeing with you, Skywalker. Though he doesn't think we need to be
wasting valuable time kissing when he wants to play."

"You wouldn't be here, fellah," Luke said with a laugh, "if mommy and
daddy didn't waste time with kissing and such."

Ben gave both his parents a comical, curious stare, then easily drew
them both into his world of carefree play.

The parting scene on the Jade Shadow's landing pad proved as
heartrending as expected. Kam and Tionne had wisely left the other
students inside, Luke and Mara having said their good-byes to them
earlier. Kam stowed the luggage inside the ship, then returned just
as Mara reluctantly handed Ben into Tionne's open arms.

"Farewell, sweetheart," Mara whispered, leaning in for one final
kiss. "I love you." She slowly backed away, grateful for Luke's
strong hands on her shoulders. She could sense Ben's confusion, and
knew the child could feel her anguish.

"Mah-mee," Ben cried out, extending his small hand to his mother.

It was more than Mara could bear, hearing her son finally able to
pronounce 'mommy.' Tears running down her cheeks, she broke free of
Luke's embrace and fled into the ship.

Luke watched his wife's retreating form for a moment, then turned
back to Ben's whimpering figure, straining to escape Tionne's grasp
and follow his mother. His own heart ached to take Ben into his arms
one more time, but he couldn't put his son through a second
separation from a parent's embrace. Doing his best to send warm
feelings of comfort to Ben, he stroked the boy's hair and kissed him
softly on the cheek.

"Be a good boy, Ben," he said soothingly. "We'll come back to see
you as soon as we can, but now mommy and I have to go."

Ben blinked forlornly. "Da-da ... go?"

"Yes, Ben, we have to go," he repeated, kissing Ben's outstretched
fingers before backing away. "We love you." Luke glanced up at
Tionne, who was fighting tears of her own. "Thank you," he said
softly, then turned to shake Kam's hand. "Thank you both."

As Luke retreated toward the ship's ramp, he faced the group and
raised one hand in farewell. "May the Force be with all of you."

Tionne murmured quietly to Ben, then encouraged her charge to wave
good-bye. Luke silently returned the wave, forcing a smile on his
face, then disappeared into the ship.

When Luke entered the cockpit, he was startled to find Mara in the co-
pilot's seat.

"You can pilot," she murmured, her red-rimmed eyes looking away. "I
don't feel like it."

Luke knew better than to interrogate her. He was feeling the same
pangs of despair that she was. He simply squeezed her shoulder
lightly, then slid into the pilot's chair. Running through the start-
up sequence, he looked out the viewport to see that the trio outside
had retreated to the doorway of the building. Luke waved once more
before lifting off, and was relieved when Mara copied his motion.

It was a silent entry into the maelstrom of buffeting gases of the
Maw, each parent lost in their own inconsolable thoughts. Midway
through the journey, Mara was the first to speak up.

"Luke," she said, then waited for him to acknowledge her. "I want to
have another baby."

"Right now?" He risked a wry glance her way. "We need to clear the
Maw before I can put the ship on autopilot."

His wisecracking brought a smile to her face. "As soon as this war
is over, farmboy."

Luke was silent a moment. "Are you sure, Mara?"

"You don't want another child?"

"I do. Of course I do." He glanced down at his instruments as the
ship approached the outer edge of the Maw. "But-"

"I'm not getting any younger," Mara bluntly pointed out.

"I know that, but-"

Mara leaned forward, regarding him in astonishment.

"That's not what I meant," he backpedaled, suddenly realizing how
uncomplimentary his answer sounded. "Hold on." He reached out and
made the final course adjustment necessary before exiting the maze of
gravity wells. Split concentration was all well and good, but this
was a subject to which he intended to devote his full attention.

"Mara, I don't want Ben to be an only child either, but ..." He let
out a breath as he formulated the rest of his reply. "The day Ben
was born was the happiest day of my life. It was also the worst day
of my life. I thought I was going to lose you." He stole a fleeting
look at her impassive expression, then plunged ahead. "Ever since
then, I've tried not to think about having another child. It would
be selfish of me, thinking of children when you nearly died giving
birth to Ben. I couldn't face putting you through that risk again."

Mara listened to both his words and the sincerity in his voice. She
knew he had felt much the same way before Ben's conception, and
yet ... Mara frowned, recalling the day they'd discovered her
pregnancy. "Just a second there, mister. Where's the man who told
me that life is risk, that having a child was the right risk to
take?" She extended a hand toward him, laying it lightly on his
forearm. "Luke, I'm healthier now than I've been in years. The
disease is gone; it's not coming back."

She paused a moment, allowing him a necessary check of the cockpit
readings. "I've been considering this for awhile, and seeing Ben
interact with the other children this week made up my mind. This is
what I want." She gently squeezed his arm. "And this is what you
want. Ben is too young to have a vote, and what anyone else may
think is irrelevant."

Luke's cautious expression dissolved into joyful exultation. "You
talked me into it," he declared, beaming in surrender. "Despite the
fact that I recall you once telling me if I ever got you pregnant
again, you'd vape me where I stood."

"Must've been one of my morning sickness days," she replied with a
snort. "And some people doubt your bravery."

"All joking aside," he continued, "if we're going to do this, I don't
think we should have a big gap between Ben and a younger sibling."

"Go on." She crossed her arms expectantly. "And this better not be
because you don't think a newborn should have a fifty-year-old
mother."

"No!" He shook his head emphatically. "It's about your suggestion
of waiting until the war is over. I don't think our family planning
should be dependent on the actions of the Yuuzhan Vong. We don't
know how much longer the war will last, sweetheart. It could be six
months or six years."

"So you're saying ...?"

"I'm NOT saying we have to be fanatical about trying for a baby. I
just think we could go ahead and discontinue taking precautions
against it."

"Fair enough." Mara nodded in agreement. She sent a Force caress to
brush lightly against him. "So ..."

"So, I'm ready when you are, which translates into now." He gave her
a cocky grin, then held up a finger when she smirked in reply. "On
one condition."

"What?"

"If you do get pregnant before the war is over, I want you to stay at
Shelter, with Ben.

"Without you?"

"I'm sure you could manage without me for a few months at a time.
You went for ten years not wanting to be anywhere near me."

"No I didn't," she muttered under her breath. She leaned back in her
seat, reaching out once more to squeeze his hand fondly. "This war
had better end quickly; I would miss you too much. I already miss
Ben."

"Me too." Luke sighed, already wondering when they could make
another visit.

"Perhaps Leia was right, in a way, about this trip being a mistake,"
Mara said, a pang of bittersweet lamentation filling her.

"No, she wasn't," he disagreed at once. "We had a wonderful time
with Ben, lightsabers notwithstanding. Would another week on Mon
Calamari, missing him, have been better than the joy we experienced
being a family together?"

"Not at all," she conceded, smiling. "You're right. Do you
think it will be hard on him, though, with us gone?"

"He's a year old. By the time our ship was out of sight, the other
children probably had him wrapped up in a game of peek-and-seek or
something." As Mara started to answer, Luke continued, "But that
doesn't mean he's forgotten us already."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you, Mara Jade Skywalker, are unforgettable."

Mara's lilting laughter was a balm to Luke's ears. They held hands
for a long time, fingers tightly intertwined.

"I love you, Luke," she finally murmured into the stillness.

"And I love you, Mara," he returned. "Forever and always."

THE END