To The Rescue

Okay guys, here's my first one...I'd love to hear whatever you've
got to
say, but please be kind ;)

Normal disclaimers apply...not producing for profit, no copyright
infringement is intended, yadda, yadda

Pretty mild rating - only alcohol, and one bad word - but it's all
in good
humor!

Takes place at some ambiguous time before Visions.

Hope you enjoy it!
Tracy
_______________

""

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and Master, closed his eyes to focus on
making
the spinning of the room stop. He pushed the empty glass away. The
smell of
it was almost too much at the moment. "That's it. I'm done. Time to
go
home."

He tried to push away from the table when his friends grabbed
him. "No!"
Wedge slammed his fist onto the table a little harder than he'd
intended.
"It's *my* birthday and I want you to stay."

"Wedge?"

"Com'on Luke, can't your Jedi fortitude take a few drinks." Friend,
Jedi and
fellow Rouge, Corran Horn slurred.

"Me?" Luke laughed, "I'd take a look in the mirror, pilot." The room
spun a
little more when he laughed. "No. Guys, I've gotta go." He wished
Han were
able to come. His brother-in-law would always make some joke about
him being
a light-weight, but it would still give him a way to bow out.

"Stay Luke." Wedge swayed a little. "One more round. That's all."
Corran
nodded his agreement.

"They teach you that in school, don't they?" Luke squinted to focus
on his
friends. "The sayings `It's not my fault' and `Just one more round'
is
taught to Corellian children in school, isn't it?"

Wedge and Corran nearly fell from their chairs laughing. Luke
couldn't help
but laugh along with them. Neither could catch their breath and
Wedge had
tears of mirth running from his eyes. Still, the Jedi took the
opportunity
to stand up.

"Good night, guys. Be safe getting home." Luke straightened his
robes and
did his best to leave his laughing friends behind without weaving
too
terribly.

Once outside the dim tavern, he was hit by the roaring traffic and
bright
lights of the Coruscant night. It made his head spin even
worse. "Focus," he
muttered to himself as he moved down the busy throughway. He was
never much
of a drinker and probably wouldn't have gone at all, except they
showed up
at his door and practically drug him from his suite.

He turned down a less occupied corridor. Luke just knew now would be
the
time he'd be bombarded by paparazzi droids. The idea of using those
annoying flying cameras with flashing bright lights as practice for
his
lightsaber brought him a chuckle. He could just see the
headlines; `Drunken
Jedi Rampage!' or `Sloshed Skywalker Destroys Driods'. Oh, he
thought, Leia
would kill me.

Still, his laughter caused him to lean against the wall unless he
wanted to
fall down. A few pedestrians gave him a wide birth and he realized
what a
sight he must be. That's when his gaze fell upon the bank of com
pay-by-the-minute units. Somberly, he decided driving his speeder
back to
the palace was a really bad idea.

When he sat down, his fingers flew over the input keys without much
conscious thought. So when Mara Jade's sleepy bark answered, he
nearly
jumped off the chair.

"What?" Mara's hand slapped the com panel beside her bed.
Silence. "What,
dammit?!"

"M-Mara?" The tentative voice replied, making her sit up a little
more.

`Did he just slur?' She wondered. "Skywalker. That you?"

"M-hmm, yep."

"You're drunk!" She sat up fully. She wasn't sure whether to be
angry at
being woken up in the middle of the night, or amused at the though
of a
drunk Jedi Master. As the silence stretched out, she hoped he hadn't
been
offended. "Are you okay, Luke?"

"Oh, Mara. You called me Luke." Came his muttered reply. "It's so
nice when
you do that."

She rolled her eyes and threw her legs over the side of the bed.
Mara
reached out to find him with the Force. She felt his touch almost
immediately, like he was reaching for her at the same time. He was
definitely very intoxicated. "Have you been drinking?"

"Oh, yeah. A lot."

"So why are you calling me at 0300?"

"I'm sorry." His voice almost whined. "I woke you up. I know. But I
need
you."

Mara bit back her initial reply, because she was certain he didn't
mean that
the way it sounded.

He apparently didn't notice her lack of answer, because he kept
talking.
"See Wedge and Corran showed up, and it being his birthday and all,
I
couldn't say no. And, you know, it's been a long . . . long time,
dammit,
since I've done that. But now, um, Mara?"

"Yes, Skywalker." She tried her best to sound put-out and bored, but
this
was so amusing.

"Could you come get me?"

"You want me to get up, out of my warm bed, get dressed to come pick
up your
lousy tail because you're too wasted?" She barked. Good thing he
couldn't
see the grin on her face.

"Well, you don't *have* to get dressed." He muttered, but she heard
him
anyway.

"Skywalker!"

"What?!" He turned bright red. "Please."

"Fine." Mara through her legs over the edge of the bed. "Where are
you?"

She finished getting dressed as he gave her directions to his
location. On
the way over she thought of a hundred different ways to make him pay
for
this, all more fun than the last. Mara parked her speeder about a
block from
where he told her he would be. It had been a good thing that she
could sense
his presence so well, because the directions he'd given were
completely
wrong.

Walking closer, she spotted his boots sticking out of the little com
booth.
His ankles were crossed, as if he'd made himself completely
comfortable.
`Hey! Snap out of it!' Mara threw the thought to him as loudly as
she could
and was satisfied to see his feet jump.

Luke was just standing as Mara leaned against the booth. It took a
lot for
her to hide her smile. He'd dozed off, by the look of him. His robes
were in
disarray. His eyes were sleepy and he had a red mark on his cheek
where he'd
rested his head against his hand. Now, Luke just smiled sheepishly
at her.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, whatever. Come on."

Mara turned back towards the speed. He felt awful for dragging her
out of
bed for something so silly. He tried to remind himself to do
something to
make up for it later. That's when he noticed her feet. Mara was
barefoot. He
stopped, staring at her little toes.

"What now?" She spun around, with her hands on her hips, when she
felt him
stop.

A big grin crossed his face when his foggy brain registered the rest
of her
attire. She wore men's pajama bottoms and a small cropped t-shirt.
Her hair
was down, too. She was absolutely beautiful. He wanted to tell her
so, but
all that came out of his mouth was "PJs".

"Yeah, so." Mara retorted. "You said I didn't have to get dressed."

Luke chuckled as he hurried to catch up to her. The floor seemed to
be
moving less, but the pounding in his head had increased. His feet
crossed
and he staggered a bit. Instinctively, Mara reached out to steady
him. His
arm found it's way around her shoulder. For once, a small part of
his brain
realized, she didn't pull away.

When they got to her speeder, she slid out from under his shoulder
and
helped him into the vehicle. She stole a few glances at him as she
drove. He
was thinking hard about something, she could feel it, but his little
grin
made her wonder. `Damn, he's cute when he lets his guard down,' she
had to
admit to herself.

"Hey wait!"

She nearly slammed on the brakes. "What?!"

"This isn't the way to my place." Luke looked around, trying to get
his
barings.

"Geez, farmboy, you startled me to death. Don't do that!" Mara shook
her
head. Again, Luke lost his thought as he watched her golden-red hair
fall
around her shoulders. "I'm not even going to try to get into the
palace with
you all liquored up. The last thing you need is security guards
escorting
you home. I'm taking you back to my place."

He did catch the last of that, very clearly in fact. "Your place?"

"You want out? I can stop right here."

"No, no. Your place is fine." Luke's head rested back against the
seat. He
realized he'd never been to her apartment before. They'd almost met
elsewhere. More often than not, it was in the middle of some
emergency. `We
should socialize more,' he thought. His eyes were getting heavy.

Mara felt his hand rest on her thigh. She almost turned and snapped
at him,
but his eyes where hazy and he had a lazy smile on his
face. "Thanks." He
mumbled before withdrawing his hand.

Luke and Mara both remained silent on the way back to her place.
Even when
she unlocked the door and stepped inside, he just quietly followed
her. It
made her uneasy, because despite his silence, she could feel him
looking at
her. It was like she could tell he wanted to say something but was
afraid to
voice it.

"Let me get you some blankets." Mara vanished down the hall. When
she
returned, he was rummaging through her bar. "Don't you think you've
had
enough?"

"You have Gardula whisky." Luke examined the brownish bottle.

"Yeah, so?"

"It's from Tatooine." He sat on the floor cross-legged, still
looking
closely at the label. "Uncle Owen always kept a bottle in the
kitchen. Oh, I
got in so much trouble when he caught me sipping from it the first
time when
I was thirteen. Boy, he tanned my hide."

Mara leaned against the sofa and watched him, amused by the
story. "You said
`first time'. So I take it you raided your uncle's stash more than
once?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "It's good stuff. Been years since. . ." He
stopped,
opened the bottle and took a long drink., wincing as it burned its
way down.
"Yeah, I only got busted a few times a few years later. Just
restless, I
guess."

Mara slid down to the floor beside him. He wasn't usually this loose
lipped,
unless he was going on about Jedi stuff. She wanted to hear
more. "I've
heard Solo talk about back when you met. He said you were an
annoying kid."
She took the bottle and downed a few swallows herself, then placed
on the
floor between them.

"Me? No!" He squeaked. Then he shrugged. "Okay maybe, a little. I'd
just
never been anywhere, I mean anywhere, other than that dustbowl. I
didn't
really have any friends, not after Biggs left, and then . . .
blam! . . .
I'm in the middle of everything. I was needed, right in the middle
of
things, you know? There was Han, and Leia, and Wedge and the rest of
Rouge
Squadron, and tons of people. I had friends. Better. I belonged
somewhere,
but stars, I had a lot to learn."

Luke took another swallow of the strong drink, before noticing the
look on
Mara's face. She snatched the bottle away from him and turned it end
up,
taking several more swallows. "Mara, did I say something? You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." She attempted a change of subject. "So what got you
out
tonight? You usually guard your sobriety like a Accian Maiden guards
her
virginity."

"No." Luke shook his head, making the room tilt. "You looked sad.
Why?"

"It's nothing." Mara insisted.

Skywalker, in a very un-Jedi like manner, crawled over and put his
head
against her shoulder. "Cm'on, tell me."

"No."

"Tell me. Cm'on, I'm a friend of yours. Tell me."

Mara's jaw clenched. She looked down at the drunken Jedi, seeing his
bright
blue eyes stare up at her. Surprising herself, Mara touched her
cheek to his
forehead and whispered. "You're my only friend."

Without a word, Luke edged closer and wrapped his arms around her
waist,
pulling her into a fierce hug. Not very in tune with his balance,
Luke
toppled them over. Mara laughed, "Ugh! You're gonna break my ribs!
Stop it!"

"Wookie hugs!" Luke laughed, squeezing tighter before letting go. He
brought
himself onto hands and knees and found himself over her. For once,
Mara
didn't look like she was about to rip his head off for it either. In
fact,
Luke could see the pink rise on her cheeks. "Mara, you are and will
always
be my friend. Okay? Not just any friend either. You're special. No
one
pitches me shit like you do."

Just then she jabbed him in the ribs, tickling more than hurting. He
jumped
back, landing hard on his butt, and bumping his head against the
bar. "I'll
pitch you shit, Jedi." She didn't know whether to glare or laugh.

"Ow," Luke laughed. "I surrender. You win."

His laughter died down and an uncomfortable silence filled the room
as the
two looked at each other. He knew he should say something more, but
his
brain wasn't cooperating at the moment. Mara, for her part, wanted
to say
more but didn't know how to form the words.

Despite being thrown together in times of strife, or perhaps because
of
that, they had forged a unique friendship. It was one that most
people
didn't understand. A kinship was found between the two. They trusted
each
other implicitly, perhaps that was why they both felt safe enough to
let a
little of their guarded selves show.

"Thanks for coming to get me tonight." Luke finally smiled.

"You're welcome. Come on," She stood up and began spreading the
blankets on
the sofa. "Let's get you to bed before you pass out on my floor."

After a clumsy attempt, Mara helped him out of his boots. She also
unclipped
his belt and lightsaber, leaving them within arm's reach. He laid
back,
surprised at how comfortable he was. His eyes drifted closed.

"Should I call Leia? Will she worry?" Mara asked as an after thought.

"No," Luke mumbled, half asleep already. "You're the only one I
called."

Mara looked down in wonderment at his sleeping form. He had no
reason to
trust her. Nothing to gain by befriending her, and yet here he was.
She felt
very lucky all of a sudden. Luke saw through everything, all her
walls, and
found someone she barely realized was within herself.

He even let her see a side of him that most never imagined existed.
She was
glad that the Jedi Master had not completely overtaken the real
Skywalker.
She liked this side much better. On a whim, Mara leaned down and
kissed his
forehead.

"Goodnight, Luke."

He mumbled in his sleep, rolling on to his side. She wasn't sure if
she'd
heard him right, but it brought a smile to her face anyway.

THE END