The Bonding

Author: Jedi Amoira

Okay--the usual disclaimer applies folks. Luke belongs to Uncle George. Callista is the creation of Barbra Hambly and belongs to the profic universe. I'm not making anything off them, so please don't sue me. Please don't print this off without notifying me first.

This story probably won't make a lot of sense without a little bit of background. I have my own personal timeline, and this takes place the evening of Tycho and Winter's wedding, which I have placed in the events of Darksaber. For the record, I'm a Mara fan, but I don't think validating Luke's relationship with Callista lessens his bond to Mara in the least...it strengthens it. Anyhow, enjoy.

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"So," Leia demanded as Han and Callie spun around the dance floor. "Why the late arrival? Hovercar get lost again?"

Luke elbowed her gently. "No," he sneered playfully. "Callie and I were just sightseeing and we cut things a little close."

"Sightseeing?," Leia repeated, looking into his eyes as if trying to figure out what he wasn't telling her.

"Yes, sightseeing," he repeated with a grin. "We went to a nearly abandoned cantina that used to be the hotspot for the Jedi Apprentices."

"Really?," Leia asked in surprise.

"Yeah. We drank Quelev and Callie told me stories about the different things they'd done there. I even had them play her favorite song by Pekkie Blue and the Starboys," Luke returned.

"Wow," Leia responded. "This is a whole new side of you."

"Is it?," he asked, his eyes following Callie on the dance floor. "Yeah, I suppose it is."

A tap on his shoulder drew his attention reluctantly away. "Corran!," he said, clasping his hand warmly, surprisingly unecumbered by the brown robe he wore whenever he was in the public eye as a symbol of the Jedi Order more visible than his lightsaber. It fell open, revealing the same black leggings and tunic he always seemed to wear. "How's life?"

"Good; quiet compared to the war, at least." the other man returned with a smile. "How about you?"

"Good, but never quiet," Luke said cheerfully. "It's been a while."

"Yes. Corran was just complaining about how much he missed you and Mara the
other day," Mirax said. "I keep teasing him about being homesick for Jedi school."

Luke laughed. "Feel free to come and visit any time," he offered.

"Thanks. I just might. Have you heard from Mara lately?," Corran asked.

"She stopped by the Academy last week," an impossibly beautiful woman in an elegant gown that looked like poured gold said, sliding a possessive arm around Luke's waist.

Corran's face never changed, but he wasn't quite quick enough to stop the sudden disturbed flicker in his sense. "Who's this?," he asked with a joviality that sounded only a little strained. "I don't believe we've met."

"Corran Horn, this is Callista Ming," Luke said. "Callie and I met a little less than six months ago. Callie, not many people know it, but Corran is a former student of mine. And the beautiful woman standing beside him is his much-better half, Mirax."

Callie smiled and inclined her head in Corran's direction. "Nice to meet you both. You're very lucky to have learned from a Master like Luke, Captain Horn."

Corran's green eyes flicked to Luke's face. "Luke is a good friend to have," he returned mildly.

"Of course," Callie returned. "I don't get to hear many stories about Luke. Perhaps you'd do me the honor of telling me a few while he dances with your wife?"

Corran looked over at Mirax, who laughed and seized Luke's hand. "Don't look at me. It's not every day I get the chance to flirt with another man. My husband doesn't normally approve."

"I'll try to make it worth your while," Luke said and grinned at Corran, "but I'm hopeless as a flirt."

"In that case," Corran returned, taking Callie's hand, "I don't mind."

Leia grinned at her husband and said, "I guess now you'll have to dance with me, nerf-herder."

He leaned over her with a wicked grin. "I can think of several things I'd rather do with you, Highness-ness."

She laughed and cuffed him playfully. "We're in public, Captain."

He wiggled his eyebrows at her and swept her onto the dance floor.
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"It was a beautiful wedding," Mirax said happily. "I've always wondered why they waited so long to get married."

"I asked Tycho that once," Corran said. "Back when Winter was playing quartermaster for our independent war against Isard."

"Really?," Mirax said, surprised. "What'd he say?"

Corran smiled. "That he knew he'd do it someday, but he didn't want to marry her until he could offer her a more secure world."

Mirax laughed. "I suppose I should be glad you didn't wait for that."

"Yeah," Corran admitted ruefully, "I suppose you should."

"Look," Mirax said, pointing at the holonet console in their living room. "We have a message. I thought everyone we knew was at the wedding."

"They were," Corran agreed, stepping forward to hit the button. A short, whip-thin woman wearing a bodysuit of shiny pale green fabric and leather ankle boots, her bare shoulders set off by the stiff leather straps of a back holster, her waist hung round with a low-riding leather belt that held a lightsaber, blaster and several cartridges, stepped into range. "Who is that?," Mirax asked, hitting pause, the dangerous edge of jealousy in her tone making Corran grin. "She's even more gorgeous than the Bacta Queen."

"Maybe so, but she's not half as beautiful as you," Corran returned, looking over the short, strappy green gown highlighting hazel eyes, the shining olive skin and short, silky black hair, and kissing her playfully.

"Mmm...good answer," she said, pushing away. "Seriously, though. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Already told you about her, my love," he returned, the grin broadening.

"Oh, really?"

"Yup. Mirax Terrik, meet Mara Jade," Corran returned, hitting play.

"Hey, CorSec," the image said carelessly. "Long time no see, but if you'd like to rectify the situation, I'll be in town a couple of days. Tell that famous wife of yours I'm looking forward to meeting the woman capable of putting up with you on a day to day basis."

Mirax began to laugh. "So that's the infamous Mara Jade. I like her."

"Um, yeah. I knew you would," Corran said, rubbing the back of his neck a little sheepishly.

"What's that look about?," she asked suspisciously.

"Well...Luke and I sort of agreed that you and Mara should never meet."

"Didn't you--Oh, I see. You're afraid we'd get along too well."

"Yeah, I love you, Mirax, but a man's gotta have a sense of self-preservation."

She laughed and kissed his forehead. "Alright, you can go and meet Mara without me. But if you really have a sense of self-preservation, you won't mention that little agreement to her."

"You said it!," Corran agreed strenuously.

"So," Mirax said, running one hand leisurely along his back to squeeze his buttock. "Why does Luke care who Mara Jade hangs out with?"

Corran frowned. "I don't know. I thought I did, but then..."

"He showed up tonight with Callista Ming?," his wife suggested.

"I guess Jedi Masters never make sense," Corran finished. "Mirax, did I ever mention how glad I am you decided to love me?"

"Yeah, you are pretty lucky, flyboy," she returned with a smile, "you really don't deserve me."
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Disclaimer--the characters and the universe aren't mine. I'm a HUGE Mara fan, and this is part of a larger story that is subtly pro-Mara.
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"Did you have a good time today?," Luke asked as he and Callie walked through the deserted palace to his more-often-than-not empty apartment.

"Are you kidding? I haven't had that much fun in...well, decades," Callista said, amusement bubbling in her husky voice.

"Good. You deserve to have more fun," Luke said as they went into the small kitchenette.

He pulled a teapot off the shelf as Callie said, "The ceremony was beautiful, wasn't it?"

"Not as beautiful as seeing two people so happy, knowing they're going to spend their lives together," Luke said over the sound of running water as he filled the teapot. "Watching them...I knew..." He stopped, set the teapot on the heater range and captured Callie's hands in both of his. "I knew I wanted that to be us someday, Callie."

"So do I," she whispered.

He started to kneel. "No!," she shouted, reaching out to stop him. "No, don't."

The blue-grey eyes looked up at her, hurt and confused in a way that wrenched her heart. "But--"

"Luke," she said softly. "If we get married...you're stuck with me forever. Whether I can touch the Force or not."

"Good," he retorted. "That's what I want. To be with you. Every day of my life. To wake up to your smile, to hold your hand and hear your laughter...to be the father of your children. The Force brought us together, and we belong together. "

She put her hand over his mouth and shook her head, her gray eyes wide and pained. "I want your children, too. More than anything...I can see them when I close my eyes.."

Grey eyes met blue; the phantom images of two brown-haired girls, one with blue eyes and one with gray in perfectly pressed pinafores having a tea party as a blonde-haired boy with gray eyes raced around them with a toy speeder seemed to reflect in the surfaces of each.

"What if we had children while I couldn't access the Force, and I somehow transmitted that to them? They'd be shunned by the Jedi...and they'd feel shunned by you because they couldn't be the heirs you'd want and need. I can't do that to them or to us, Luke. I can't. Don't ask."

"Callie," Luke said softly, pulling her close, "Jedi marry non-Jedi without ill-effects all the time. Look at Leia and Han."

She shook her head with a sad sigh, and pushed away to turn on the heat range. "I'm not Han, Luke. And Leia's not a Jedi Master."

He frowned darkly, anger starting to gather for the first time since he'd known her. "So?"

"So," she said painfully, "Han is still part of the Force...we aren't sure I am..., and you're a Jedi Master. You have a responsibility to the Order. I know it, you know it, and your students know it. You've already lost respect being with me, because I'm not one of you, not right now."

Luke's voice shook, and Callista knew he was dangerously close to losing his hold on the Force. "I don't care. You're part of me, and I'm part of you. That's all I care about, that's all I want."

"Other people won't see it that way," she said as calmly as she could. "Remember how people reacted to me at the Praxeum? I won't have children to see them put through that, I won't. Even if I knew they'd be fine, it wouldn't change the fact that you should marry someone strong in the Force. "

Luke snorted and started to speak.

She held up a hand, adding the tea to the pot with the other. "Luke, please. We had such a pleasant, happy time today. Let's not spoil it by arguing."

He sighed, and she could tell that he was forcibly releasing anger. "You're right," he said. "You're right. I love you, Callie."

"I love you, too, Luke," she whispered, stepping into his arms, resting her forehead against his. "Which is why I can't let you marry me until I'm sure you won't regret it, don't you understand that?"

//No, I don't understand how you can think I would regret the companion who makes me smile, makes me laugh, keeps me company and helps me face my fears. Do you regret me?// He looked deep into the wordless pleading of her eyes and kissed the tip of her nose. "I may not understand, but I will always be here with love and respect."

"Thank you," she whispered, burying her face in his hair. For the first time, he suddenly wondered if Callie understood how he felt.

The loneliness of his life before he had met her seemed to stalk the back of his mind."Time for tea," he said.

Disclaimer--the characters and their universe aren't mine. Please don't post this elsewhere without my permission. Part 3.

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The chiming at the door surprised them both. They looked at each other in wide-eyed silence for a moment as the real world fell into place around them. "It's Leia," Luke whispered with the faint trace of a disbelieving frown. Callie, a similar doubt gathering her brows ever-so-slightly-together, nodded as Luke rolled out of the bed and began pulling on his trousers. She allowed herself one final instant of regret that their rare moment to simply be together without any outside concerns--or any concerns--had ended so soon before slidding out of the bed herself and wrapping his robe around her. Luke was answering the
door as Callie trailed into the main room.

"Oh, I didn't mean to wake you," Leia said, her cheeks pinkening slightly as she took in their disheleved appearance.

"It's okay," Luke assured her. "Is something wrong?"

"For once, no," Leia said with a crooked smile. "Though if you ask my office, they'll tell you it's wrong that I decided to take the day off."

Luke's mouth nearly dropped open. "You did?"

"Um-hmm," his sister replied, her dark eyes warm on Callie's face. "Han's taking
the kids to the boloball game today, and I thought you might like to join him so
Callie and I can bond."

Callie's face lit up like a glow rod. "Really?," she asked in amazement.

"Of course. Aside from Winter, I don't have any close female friends. Since you're dating my brother, you're required to hang with me and gossip," Leia retorted, pushing away the memories of her laughing makeover sessions with Cray on Ithor, hoping Luke hadn't noticed them.

"Required?," Callista repeated with a laughter in her voice Luke hadn't heard since they'd discussed foo-twitters. "I'd be thrilled."

"Great," Leia returned. "It's settled, then."

Ten minutes later, Luke kissed Callista lightly on the lips, then turned to hug his sister on the way out the door. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear. She smiled and squeezed his hand as he moved away in answer.

"I've never really had a girls' day out," Leia said as the door closed behind him. "What do we do?"

Callie looked at her and began to laugh. "Do you know, neither have I."

Leia grinned. "That gives me an idea... Let's spend the day doing things we've never done before."

"Um, okay...I've never gone skiing before. Have you?"

"No," Leia said, a dangerous smile spreading across her face as she remembered Han's stories about skiing with Kyp. "I haven't."
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"Yeah, let the princess have her little tea party," Han said over the roar of the crowd. "I'm telling you kid, women have no sense of fun."

Luke grinned and hiked his shoulders higher for the twins. "If it makes Callie happy, I don't care if it makes sense."

"And that, kid, is the number one rule to dealing with women," Han agreed with a crooked grin.

"What's number two?," Luke asked, amused, wondering if Han would know how to convince Callie to give her up fears and just enjoy being with him. Why not?

//It should be easy after convincing Leia to marry him//, Luke thought, snickering.

"If I figure that out, I promise you'll be the second to know," Han replied.

"Who'll be the first?," Luke asked, surprised.

"Me!"
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Rushing down the nearly perpendicular slopes at breakneck speeds made Leia feel oddly invigorated. She looked over at Callie and shouted, "So, have you ever been in love before?"

Callie had been wondering when that subject was going to come up. "Once," she shouted back, wondering how she could explain. "His name was Garic...he was nothing like your brother."

"What was he like?," Leia asked, her face curious.

"He could be very romantic," she said softly, seeing starlit nights and walks along quiet streets imposed over the snow that blinded her. "Once he sent me a dozen roses and each one had a tag with a different thing he loved about me written on it." Leia sighed jealously, and Callista nodded.

"But mostly he was...angry, I guess. He was sensitive to the Force, but he wasn't strong enough to be trained as a Jedi...I think he both loved and hated me for being what he couldn't," Callie explained, feeling unexpected tears well up. //Does this still bother me? That was a different lifetime ago...a different Callista. //

She could feel Leia's eyes nearly burning into her skin, making her want to writhe with discomfort. "Is that how you feel about my brother?"

The words were like a punch in the stomach. Leia had always been quiet, polite, refined. Diplomatic. This was as direct and bloodthirsty as something Mara Jade would say. It was not a comforting parallel. Does Leia wish he was with her? Callista stared at the smaller brunette, tempted to tell her to go to the nine sith hells. But how could she resent her for being protective of the man they
both loved?

"I was dead and he brought me back ," she said softly. "He isn't a symbol of what I can't be, he's everything that makes me strong."

Leia nodded, apparently satisfied, blind to the sudden maelstorm of doubt and disatisfaction that roared in Callie's ears. Callie handed her skis to the attendant and climbed into the landspeeder. "Have you ever been to Imperial Museum?" Leia stiffened and shook her head. "Neither have I. So," she added as she steered the speeder in the appropriate direction, "were you in love before Han?"

"No," Leia said. Images of a golden-haired man beautiful enough to be sculpture rose in front of her eyes. "Only enamoured of a dream that wasn't real."
Callista looked at her questioningly, and she explained, "He had a lot of power that he offered me...I think I was in love with all the things I wanted to do with that power."

"That isn't love," Callie protested with a frown, "that's greed."

"Maybe," Leia admitted as they wandered into the museum. She pointed to a huge model of Darth Vader in his black armor, ignoring the angry cold chills it sent down her skin. "Maybe that's what he wanted...to have enough power he could make the world better for everyone. It's what the Emperor claimed he wanted, in fact. But at the time, I didn't understand that evil isn't always intentional...My world was still simple enough I thought selflessness had to be good."

"And Mara Jade? What does she claim she wanted when she served him?" //When she served the person who wiped out my people, and the people that were probably hers as well.//

Leia looked at Callista with an odd expression in her eyes, and Callie found herself wishing once again that she could sense the thoughts of the person who was actually touching her, resting her fingers lightly on her arm.

"The Emperor's Hand is dead," Leia said at last, her soft voice as inscrutable as those steady brown eyes. "Mara Jade is just Mara Jade. She's saved Luke's life--and my children--more than once, Callie."

Callie said nothing. She didn't know what to say. They toured the rest of the museum in silence.

Disclaimer--the characters aren't mine. Please don't post this elsewhere without my permission.

Notes--I know Corran Horn is short...the reference to him being tall is from Mara's point of view. In my little universe, she's only about 5'1" or 5'2". This story ends kind of abruptly, but I have plans to expand on it in the future.
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He wore brown leggings, an open-throated white shirt, knee-high boots, and a leather jacket like any other man in the city. The tall man leaned casually against the pillar in the hotel lobby, arms crossed, brown hair falling boyishly into green eyes that roamed the room with misleading aimlessness; Mara Jade thought she had never seen a man who stuck out more. The casual stance had a trifle too much emphasis in it, the eyes were too sharp, taking everything in, and the clothes seemed to suit him, drawing attention.

She siddled up to him, expecting him to look up and smile. Instead, he grabbed her, pulling her off balance. "Mara! How are you?"

"Being crushed," she murmured faintly into his chest.

"Oh," he said sheepishly. "Sorry." He stepped back, not letting go, and looked her carefully up and down. She had had the same training to blend in. She wore a pair of close-fitting slacks made of a heavy all-purpose blue material common on hundreds of worlds, frayed and faded from use, a plain yellow knit t-shirt, and a cropped cream-colored nerfhide jacket. The utility belt and back holster were nowhere in sight, and her customary ankle boots had been replaced by plain rubber-soled shoes. Her fiery hair had been pulled tightly into a neat plait, pulled straight up against the back of her head and pinned in place with a plain silver bar. The ends of the braid spilled over the pin in shameless glory,
emphasizing the clear, rosy glow in her face. "I never thought I'd see Mara Jade without a weapon, but you look fantastic."
Mara smirked slightly and pulled up the left sleeve of her jacket, revealing the butt of a deadly little blaster. She dropped the sleeve as Corran began to grin, and pulled up the right sleeve, revealing the faint sparkle of a silver lightsabre handle. "I should have known."

"Yeah, but in spite of being slow, you aren't looking bad yourself, CorSec. Where's the wife?"

"She couldn't come," Corran said, hoping the half-truth would slip by her.

"Oh," said Mara, her eyes sharp on his face. "What a shame. I guess I'll have to meet her next time."

Corran wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he settled for starting for the street. "Do you want to take a hovercar?"

"What's the matter, CorSec? Afraid you can't keep up with me if we walk?"

Corran grinned. "Same old Jade."

Mara elbowed him. "Watch who you're calling old!"

"Ooomph," he said. "Sorry."

"At least you can admit it."

"Speaking of admitting things...you wouldn't believe the rumors I've heard about you and Lando," Corran said playfully.
Mara's step faltered ever-so-slightly, her back tensing beneath his hand. "What have you heard?," she asked guardedly.

He stopped and turned to look at her. Her eyes avoided his. "You don't mean to tell me they're true?"

She sighed and raised her chin with the determined steel that had left everyone else at the Praxeum in the dust. "Look, CorSec," she said, "it's complicated. But it's not what it looks like. Or sounds like."

"I figured it wasn't," Corran said. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged. "He's not your type."

She half-laughed, half-sighed explosively. "Thank the stars someone understands that!"

"Does Luke?"

The green eyes froze tundra hard. "What does he have to do with it?"

"I take it that means no," Corran said.

She shrugged. "I didn't volunteer and he's never asked."

"Like you've never asked about Callista?," Corran suggested.

Her hand flashed out and cracked heavily against his cheek. They stared each other in dormant shock, neither knowing who was more surprised, and both aware of the other's incredulity. "Mara," Corran said at last, more hesitant than he had been since before he'd joined CorSec. "Say something."

"All right," she said, her voice fatally calm. "What do you want me to say?"

He swallowed slightly. "I don't know?"

"I do. You want to know why I never asked Luke about Callista? I don't own him, CorSec. He doesn't owe me any explainations."

Corran raised an eyebrow and waited.

"I didn't have to ask him because I already knew. I was there."

Whatever Corran had been expecting, it wasn't this. "You were there?," he repeated carefully as if she were speaking in a foreign language.
She took a deep breath and nodded, starting along the walkway again. Corran trailed after her. "You ever hear about that little incident off Pletwell?"

Corran frowned. "Just that Luke and some students ended up blowing a Super Star Destroyer to smithereens, and the students died."
Mara gave a strangled breath he took to mean she didn't know how to explain from there. He reached around her to open the door to the club and she flashed him a quick smile of acknowledgment. "Right. But not entirely right."

The frown deepened. Mara held up a hand to forestall comment. "The students' names were Nichos --- and Cray Mingla."

"Mingla? but Callista--"

She nodded. "I don't know exactly how that came about, but I assume she took the name to honor the woman who gave her life."

"But how--"

"Callista was a Jedi Knight before the fall of the Republic," Mara recited in a weary sing-song voice. "She gave her life to stop the "Eye" the first time, and stayed behind in the computer to guard it from repair crews." She motioned to the bartender.

The bartender brought them two glasses of Whyren's Reserve on the rocks. She nodded and tossed a credit at him. He palmed it and moved off. She sighed deeply, and Corran felt hints of something deep and surging within her. "Somehow an old aid of the Emperor's managed to jumpstart it...which is how Luke managed to end up on board. The "Eye" mistook them for troops. Luke wanted to blow the
ship himself, but Cray and Nichos knocked him out and jetisoned him. I picked him up."

"I never heard that you were there," Corran said.

Mara shrugged. "I don't think anyone outside of Luke's family and my crew knew. It wasn't important." Corran just looked at her. She kicked back the entire contents of her glass, and slid it across the bar to the bartender. She never ceased to amaze him; he had seen men that couldn't drink Whyren's Reserve like that. She gestured with the refilled glass. "He was a mess, Corran. I've never seen anyone in such bad shape. Physically, a Gamorrean had gotten to his leg with an axe, and he'd insisted on walking around on it anyway."

Corran winced and pushed his drink away, suddenly sick.

"Yeah," she agreed. "And that was nothing to his state emotionally. He was dead. He just didn't care. It scared me. And then we brought the message pod on board..." she shook her head aggressively, trying to clear the image out of her head. "He was laughing and crying all at the same time, and she was all over him like she couldn't bear to be separate from him even a little a bit." She turned, her green eyes burning into his own like a lightsabre. "And he turned to introduce her to us...I've never seen a face light up like that..." The dark depths of her sense surged again. She looked hurriedly away and kicked back her second whiskey. "He's happy," she said dismissively, and pushed her stool away
from the bar. "Are you up for some snooker?"

He nodded and leaned across the bar to take the long narrow cues and the triangular frame of balls. Mara was already at the felt-covered table, waiting.

She took the frame and expertly lined it up, tucking the balls into tight formation with swift, easy jerks, then slid the frame under the table.

"Aren't you going to ask me what I think of her?," Corran said as he lined up the cue ball.

"Break," she ordered. He complied. "Nice," she said over the resulting crack.

"One of the Rogues got married yesterday," Corran persisted, taking his next shot. He missed and moved out of the way, standing the cue up on its end beside him.

Mara grunted noncomittally and neatly knocked two balls into the far right pocket. "Luke and Callista Ming were there." She shot another ball, knocking it off the side rail and into two more, splitting them neatly. One fell into the middle pocket.

"So you know," she said perfunctorily.

"I wouldn't say that," Corran returned as she missed her shot and stepped aside.

She leaned back against the wall and propped one foot up on a nearby chair, cue at attention in front of her. "And what would you say, CorSec?"

"That I'm worried about our friend, Luke," he said simply.

Mara leaned in, bringing her head in line with the pool cue. "And why is that?," she asked sharply.

"Because he seems really happy...but I think it's built on the fact that he's in love with Callista Ming."

Mara snorted. "Oh, yeah, really worrisome."

"I don't think Callista Ming's in love with him," Corran finished.

Mara blinked. She frowned and blinked again. "The woman comes back from the dead to be with him, but she's not in love with him? I've definitely got to meet the woman you think is in love with you."

"Shut up, Jade," Corran retorted with a shadow of grin. "I'm being serious." She glanced back over her shoulder at him as she lined up her shot. "So, shoot."

"It's simple. She asked lots of questions about him, and gave him lots of compliments--" Mara snorted again as the balls rapped sharply together, boucing off the rails and moved around the table, the ends of her hair swinging--"but they all related back to his life as a Jedi."

"The woman is Jedi-obsessed," Mara admitted, shooting again.

"Good shot," Corran said. She inclined her head and smirked.

"But I suppose it's only natural. The Jedi are the only thing that tie her to
her old life," she added a trifle ironically. "And they can't even do that fully since she's cut off from the Force."

"That explains why I couldn't sense her," Corran said as they traded places. "That was eerie." Mara nodded definite agreement. "But my point is that she never worries about Luke the man." //Unlike you, who would prefer it if he gave
up the Jedi image altogether.// "I think she's more in love with Luke as a symbol than Luke as himself."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe a little of both," Mara said. Her sense gave nothing away, but her voice was slightly too acidic. "Skywalker's a big boy. I don't think he'd thank us for interfering, so he's just going to have to take care of himself until she decides."

"You're right," Corran said as she rested one hip against the table and threaded the cue behind her back.
The shot went home and Mara jumped off the table, her face alight with a satisfied smile.

"Damage control?"

"Yeah," Corran agreed, one corner of his mouth lifting ironically. "Something like that."

"Eight ball, left corner pocket," Mara said. "Alright, CorSec, you have a point. Even if nothing happens, it gives us an excuse to keep in touch." The eight ball disappeared.

Corran laughed. "Jade, you may be a smuggler, but you think like a Security Agent."

She snorted. "Corran Horn, that's the worst thing you've ever said to me." Her eyes twinkled slightly as she added, "Rack 'em."