DISCLAIMERS: All items and characters owned and operated by LFL. All
usual disclaimers apply. I'm just playing here.

FLIP

by Catzpyjamas. Cats don't wear pajamas. And they've got great night
vision. Enjoy

Mara Jade swept out her right leg low and brought her opponent onto his
back. They weren't using lightsabers, with which he had a slight
advantage over her, but had been practicing with batons and other
fighting styles. Mara knew smugness could give an opponent the
advantage, and worked to keep the pleased smile from her lips, but
inwardly chuckled for a second as she landed her feet on either side of
his hips, looking down into his eyes.

"Skywalker, you do that every time, leave yourself open by leaning too
far forward," she kept a careful eye on his movements. She had bested
him again.

Luke looked up at his beautiful opposition, flushed and eyes alert, her
hair pulled back into a braid that ran down her back. He grinned up at
her.

"Mara," replied Master Luke Skywalker as he imperceptibly moved his
artificial hand closer to her ankle, knowing she was completely aware
of this, "you always fall for that one. Are you saying this round is
over?" He asked with a promising glint in his eyes. Mara was too quick
for the grab he tried, jumping back. She hadn't read his thoughts, as
they were both shielding themselves, but her instincts and experience
as a dancer gave her an advantage. If he'd gotten hold, he would not
have let go until he had pulled her feet out from under her and she was
lying on top of him.

Luke bounded to his feet and they faced one another, knees apart and
bent. Mara came at him with her left arm raised.

"If you'd spent your youth learning something useful, you'd know better
- uff!"

Mara suddenly found Luke's elbow in her chin as he grabbed her left
forearm with his left hand, turning his back into her. Although they
were shielding each other from their thoughts, they were still so
finely attuned to one another that they could pull some real punches
without hurting each other. Luke pulled Mara's left arm down and
flipped her down in a shoulder throw. She had fallen for such a simple
classic throw that no one had tried on her in years, leave it to her
husband to use it.

To Mara's extreme annoyance, he used the Force to slow her fall. She
hated when he did that, she thought as she glared at him while he
crouched over her, holding her left arm in an armbar. Then he let go of
her arm and moved to crouch over her prone body on his hands and knees,
grinning triumphantly.

"Relax," he grinned at her, "I'm a Jedi, I won't hurt you. I'm here to
protect you."

Mara sniffed at that, shifting her weight to her left side and turning
slightly.

"Even if I never learned formal Fandu fighting style, I've picked up a
few hints from an expert" he assured her.

"Like most boys you just play-wrestled with your friends, never
learning anything serious."

"It's true," Luke admitted, "Depending on the season, I spent as much
time as I could working on speeders and racers." He didn't miss the
place, but he had good memories of his friends and his aunt and uncle.
"We raced them so hard."

"And crashed?"

Luke chuckled. "A few times.

"I can just imagine." She pictured him as a boy racing across the sand,
eyes focused, hair bleached lighter by the suns and the wind sweeping
behind him.

"Some of those things were barely held together with bantha
hairstring."

"And I suppose you won most of those races?" She wriggled her arms and
true to form, Luke eased up on his grip. Perhaps it was unfair to know
him so well that she often knew how he'd react to what she did, but she
wanted to win this one.

"A few," admitted Luke. Mara knew he was being modest.

"Beggars Canyon, Naudle's Eye, Nolat, we raced around those places like
we owned them."

Mara took this opportunity of Luke's nostalgic reverie to bring her
right knee slowly up and worm it so that his left leg was between her
legs.

"I'll bet you gave your Aunt Beru a few frights"

"Uh, well, I didn't always tell her about them," he admitted, with some
embarassment. There was still a ghost in Luke's eyes when he talked
about the couple who had taken him in and raised him with love and
caring.

"Uncle Owen bought me my first speeder when I was 12. My birthday
present. It was a wreck and took me a long time to save money for parts
and fix it up, but when I did - I was in heaven."

"Your first love," commented Mara with a raised eyebrow.

"Definitely," he answered with a gleam in his eye, thinking how glad he
was to have found this beautiful woman as his love. "She was so
responsive."

He had sat upright, still straddling her, leaving himself open and
vulnerable to Mara easily flipping him over. Mara knew he was aware of
this. Luke would have answered her query by saying he liked the view.

Mara snorted. She kept her left knee touching the floor while she
lightly put her right foot on the back of Luke's right thigh, near his
buttocks, getting into position.

"Uncle Owen could fix anything. He taught me everything and I worked on
hundreds of droids, speeders, transports, you name it - whoa!"

Mara flipped him using the Fa-girc, maybe he knew she couldn't resist
that opening. In a flash Mara was on top of him, her knee lightly on
his lower abdomen and a triumphant feline smile. She adjusted her legs
and straddled him, pinning his arms out from his sides. Luke was not
completely displeased to have been put in such a position.

"You're very good at that," Luke complimented her, smiling up from view
beneath his wife. "Though it wasn't really fair."

"How?" Mara narrowed her eyes and eased up on his arms, placing her
hands softly on his chest, watching how beautiful his lashes were as he
blinked his soft blue eyes. His chest rose and fell with his breathing.

"I've never faced such a beautiful opponent, you're far too
distracting"

Mara humphed, raised her chin a bit, but couldn't keep the sparkle out
her eye and her lips twisted in an almost coquettish smile.

"That is the worst excuse! Are you saying you've just discovered the
power of feminine wiles?" Mara asked innocently. He could pretty
distracting himself, but she hated to admit to any professional
weakness.

"Only with you," Luke assured her.

"You know by now," she claimed. "that flattery won't work on me."

Luke brougnt his hand up her arm to the back of her neck, rubbing the
nape of her neck in soft circles. Maybe other means of persuasion would
work. She leaned over and kissed his chin, moving her lips down his
throat to the soft spot at the base. She sat up, knowing no more
serious practice would happen, not with him looking at her like that.
Maybe he would reciprocate the flip, which if she were brutally honest
with herself she kind of enjoyed with Luke.

Mara moved to get off him, but he grabbed her waist and held her atop
his hips.

"Where are you going? " He smiled mischieviously. If she thought she
was the winner, she was quite mistaken.

"To the victor go the spoils," Luke declared a his fingers flirted with
the bottom of her shirt, running lightly along her soft skin under the
bottom edge. Mara tightened her legs, squeezing his hips and moved down
to kiss him and claim her reward. "I'm going to have to lose like this
more often."

Mara stiffened and halted her kiss. Uh oh. She sat up abruptly and
looked at him sharply.

"Are you saying you took it easy on me?"

"No! No. I would never do that with you," assured Luke. He opened up
his mind to her, and she saw once again how much he respected and loved
her. That seemed to convince her. Luke reached up and pulled her head
down to his so he could kiss her.

Just as the kiss was deepening, C3PO and R2D2 entered the training
hall.

"I *told* you they were in here, R2D2. Just because your data circuits
are old fashioned... Master Luke! There you are. And Mistress Mara!" Mara
broke off, slumping onto Luke as she groaned into his shoulder.

"Later," Luke said to her, chuckling and smoothing her hair. Mara got
up off him.

THE END