This is my take on Arica bunny plot.
I wrote this in half ahour so please be kind when
relpying to it.
I what to think Jane Jinn for the beta egroup for
betaing this for me and helping me with the very end.
Sw :)

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How could this have happened?
Hadn't they been happy?
Weren't they planning to start a family?
Didn't the vows they shared mean anything to Mara at
all?

Why did Dan Kar have to enter their lives? Couldn't
they have just
grown old together?
Was that too much to ask for?
Hadn't he give enough to the Force, did it have to now
take his wife
as well?

As the blue blade met his green once more Luke was
reminded of the
fight at hand."Give up Skywalker"

Luke looked down at his wife's
jade-green eyes. Mara wasn't about to back down, and
neither was he.
"Never, Jade," Luke replied as he blocked another of
her blows.

Both were surprised as another lightsaber added itself
to
their fight.It was a blood red one.Only one person
Luke knew of had one of
those."Dan, leave. This is our fight"

Mara also nodded her head in agreement with what her
husband had
spoken.
"Luke's right. This has nothing to do with you.
Leave."

Dan's brown eyes looked at the woman he loved, then to
her
husband. He wasn't about to leave her alone with the
son of Vader.
"No, Mara. He might hurt you."

Luke and Mara both laughed as and for a second both
forgot where and
why they were there.
Luke hurt Mara?
That was funny.
"Farmboy here wouldn't hurt a bug." Mara stated,
defending her
husband.

"This is none of your business, Dan."
Luke stated. He didn't need to
defend himself to this boy.

"Yes, it is. I
love Mara and she loves me. I won't let you hurt
her," Dan said as he
pushed Mara back. Now his blade was locked with
Luke's. Mara fell
back, caught off guard, and Luke used the Force to
shut off her
lightsaber before it could hit her.

"Mr.Kar, you may think Mara's in love with you, but
you're
wrong.Mara Jade Skywalker is my wife.Do you now what
that means?" Luke asked the
young man who had just put himself some place he
didn't belong yet
again.

Luke watched as Dan didn't even allow the question
into his
mind.Instead he tried to attack Luke with his blade.

"She loves me, not you," Dan shouted as he once again
locked blades
with Luke.

"Dan," Mara said as she stood up and turned on her
blue blade.Dan
turned to look at his love.

"This has nothing to do with you.Luke and I spar all
the time.Please
leave now."
When Dan shook his head no, Mara took a stand beside
Luke."Fine
then.You fight Luke, you fight me."

Luke was in shock.This whole fight
was about Dan and Mara being lovers, and yet she had
just
joined his
side.

"Mara, I won't fight you." Dan said as he turned off
his
blade."I
don't understand why don't you want me to fight Master
Skywalker?" he
asked.
Mara looked at the young man.His brown hair and eyes
reminded her of
the sand of Luke's home planet.

"Because Luke is my husband.No matter what, I love
him.I'm not
leaving him, Dan, I'm sorry if that hurts you but it's
the
truth."Mara
said as she turned from Dan to Luke.

"No!" was all Mara heard before she
saw Luke fall to the ground as Dan's blade impaled his
chest.

Mara's blue blade flashed, but
as she was about to run the young man through, Luke
yelled out,
"Don't, Mar!"

Mara ran to Luke. His blue eyes locked with her green

ones."Mara, I'm
going to get to see our Baby soon.Please don't kill
Dan, it will
only lead you to the dark side."
Tear ran down Mara's face. She couldn't lose Luke.

"I love you," Luke
whispered.

Luke saw his life flash before his eyes. The last six
months
went by in
slow motion.

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

"Skywalker, do you like Ben or Owen better?"Mara asked
as she rubbed
her stomach.To think in six months they would have a
baby of their
own.

"Mara, stop picking boy's names.It could be a girl you
know,"
Luke said as he placed his hand on top of Mara's.
Mara just smiled. Her world seemed right.

Now if only the Jedi Haters would leave them alone,
everything
would be all right.

Luke had tried to talk her into staying at his Jedi
Academy but Mara
wouldn't hear of it.

"Are you sure, Mar, about going to Leia's
tonight?"Luke asked as
he pulled his wife into a hug. This whole day felt
wrong to Luke somehow.

"Time to go, Luke, we'll be late if we don't hurry,"
Mara said, heading for their front door.

Luke was right behind her as their door open opened.
What happened next
lived in his nightmares.Somehow one of the Jedi Haters
had got into
their building.
He had a blaster, and the second
the door opened, he fired, hitting Mara in the
stomach.

The next few weeks were the hardest of Luke's
life.Mara hung
between life and death.
Luke experienced the pain of losing their only child,
and the guilt of
knowing that if only he'd been quicker, their baby
would still be
alive.

Mara hadn't taken the news they could never have
children
well. Luke himself felt like dying. A wall that day
went up between the
couple. Luke blamed himself and Mara blamed herself,
neither talked
to the other.

When they returned to the Academy Luke could remember
pushing Mara away.Putting his work first, there were
days he didn't speak a word
to his wife.

Three months after their baby and life together died
Dan Kar came
into the picture. He was Mara's new apprentice.
The 25-year-old young man, with brown hair and brown
eyes, had fallen
head over heels in love with Mara at first sight.

Looking back, Luke knew it was as much his fault as
Mara's.
Luke had always pushed Mara away, but Dan had always
given Mara all his time.

It wasn't until Luke walked in on Dan and Mara kissing
a
few days ago
did he feel something other than guilt over his baby's
death.

That day had opened his eyes.Mara would never have
gone to Dan if he
hadn't pushed her into the young man's arms.

"Don't leave me, Luke," Mara sobbed as she as she held
his head on her
lap.If she lost Luke there was nothing left to live
for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luke closed his eyes, expecting
to feel the sweet oneness with the Force--but didn't.

As he turned his head Luke couldn't belive what he was
seeing.He was
in a hospital room.It wasn't on Yavin either.
How had he gotten
here? There was no way Mara would have had time to
get him to
Coruscant.

"Luke," Mara said as she leaned forward in her
chair.Luke could see she had
been crying her face was all puffy and red from it.

"What happened?" Luke asked still trying to remember
having been
moved here.
Mara walked to his bed, then gently laid down on
Luke's good side.

"Luke, you were right. I should have listened to you.

But, no, I had to come to Coruscant, and because of
that, I almost got
you killed," Mara
babbled on but Luke wasn't listening to her.

Coruscant? Could it be? Had he
somehow--no, he had to be dreaming.
Only one way to find out.
Luke reached out and touched Mara's presence. A smile

appeared on his face as he felt the added presence of
their unborn baby.

"Mara, how long have I been here?" Luke asked as he
ran his hand
through Mara's red locks.

"Two days -- the longest two days of my life.I was so
afraid you
would never wake up, Skywalker," Mara whispered as
tears ran
down her face.

"Ssh," Luke said then kissed her forehead."I'm okay
and you and
the baby are okay, so we're all fine."Luke said as
tears ran down
his own
face.Their baby was okay, he or she was going to live.
It had all been a dream, just a very bad dream.
Yet Luke knew somehow that it hadn't been a dream.
He'd seen a vision of what could have happened.

Luke hugged Mara closer.
In his vision, the end of his life had been sad, and
made worse by the
fact that Mara was left alone to mourn for him. That
didn't matter
now. All that mattered was what Luke held in his
arms.

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

"Anakin, I thought it
wasn't the will of the Force for Luke to know of Dan
Kar and his
future actions," Obi-Wan stated.

Watching his son and
daughter-in-law sleeping peacefully, Anakin smiled as
he answered, "I did not show Luke what Dan Kar was up
to."

Obi-wan smiled and shook his head.
"Luke will not trust the boy when he arrives at the
Academy in a few months."

Anakin continued to smile as he answered, "He does not
need to trust Dan. In fact, it would be better if he
did not."

Obi-Wan just nodded his head, and wondered where he
had gone wrong
with Anakin that he always thought differently than
any other person,
alive or dead.

"Your feelings are not necessarily the will of the
Force," Obi-Wan stated,
feeling like the teacher once again.

"True. However, I did not feel the Force
constraining me. Therefore, it must have been the
will of the Force,"
Anakin stated, then walked away, leaving Obi-Wan alone
to think about
what he had just spoken.

A smile appeared on Anakin's face.
The Force had owed him something, and he had just
collected. Luke had
been through enough; it was time for him to be happy.
Now if he could
just get Luke to name the baby after Obi-Wan,
everything would be
wonderful.

~Fin~