This takes place pre-ANH and is AU. Anakin doesn't
turn to the darkside. Usual disclaimers apply - I ain't making a cent.
//text// is for italics. Rated G

Wake Up Little Padawan
By RebelMom

"Daddy!" sixteen-year-old Mara Jade shouted as she entered the apartment.

Obi-Wan Kenobi sighed as he stood to greet her. It didn't matter that
he wasn't really her father. She insisted on giving him the
designation. Ever since she had heard Luke Skywalker call Anakin
"father", she began to call him father instead of Master. When he
tried to correct her, she refused to consider it. If Luke had a
father, then she would too. Mara was of the mind that anything Luke
could do (or have) she could do better (and have as well).

Mara embraced him quickly, then backed off suddenly to bow formally.
"Daddy. I need your help to prepare for the lightsaber competition."

"That's not for several months. You'll have plenty of time to prepare."

Biting her lip, Mara thought for a moment, then said, "I still want to
practice as much as possible as soon as possible."

Obi-Wan crossed his arms. "Did you challenge Luke again?"

Mara avoided looking into his eyes. She'd been chastised many times
about her over-competitiveness and didn't want to hear it again.

As soon as she averted her eyes, Obi-Wan had his answer. "Young lady,
how many times must I go over this with you?"

"You don't need to go over it again. I understand. I'm not going to
the dark side just because I like a little harmless competition." It
was really hard for her to keep from rolling her eyes.

//Don't roll your eyes at me.// Fortunately, he refrained for saying
it out loud. Such a remark would make things worse. Slightly
exasperated, Obi-Wan continued. "I realize that, but your challenges
have hardly been harmless. Remember that incident with Luke when you
were four?"

Mara cringed. She remembered the incident and was even proud of
herself at the time, but it was embarrassing and she certainly didn't
want to hear it again from Obi-Wan. Even at four, she wanted to do
everything Luke could do, including standing up to use the toilet.
After much practice, she managed to find a way to do it. She showed
both Luke and Leia. Leia told Mara she was weird and left the
refresher. Luke thought it was great and then proceeded to show her
that he could hit targets.

"I was four! What did you expect? Besides Padm?asn't too mad about
the mess," Mara exclaimed.

Obi-Wan held one finger up. "Then there was the sand sculpture when
you were eight." Another finger. "The speeder bikes when you were
nine." A third finger. "The lightsabers at ten." He started to put up
his last finger when Mara grabbed his hand.

"I get the holo." She sighed. "I know I've made mistakes in the past,
but I'm older now. I'm not going to get carried away."

"That's what you said the last time." Obi-Wan placed his hand on her
shoulder. "Mara, I know you've matured. I'm pleased with your
achievements, but you need to be careful. Be mindful of what you're
doing."

"I know what I'm doing. I'm...oh, kreth! I'm late for class." She kissed
Obi-Wan's cheek. "You can lecture me some more later. Bye!" and she
was out the door.

Running his fingers through his hair, Obi-Wan paced the floor. He had
just gotten to the most important part of his conversation when she
left. Her over-competitive nature was only part of his concern.
Figuring greatly on his mind was her continual breaking of the curfew.
More disturbing was the fact that she had been seen coming out of Luke
Skywalker's room at all hours of the night. He needed to confront her
about it and stop its re-occurrence before the Council acted on it.
Even though relationships were no longer forbidden, there were still
strict rules regarding fraternization.

And Mara and Luke were breaking them.

**
Padm?kywalker sighed as she turned off the communicator. Her son had
gotten into trouble again. Shaking her head, she walked to the kitchen
to relay the message to her husband. "Anakin?" she asked looking
around the room.

Anakin Skywalker came up behind her and pulled her into a hug, kissing
her neck. "Yes, Angel?"

Relaxing into his embrace, she said, "Mace called. Luke's broken
another rule."

He sat down, bringing her with him so she was sitting in his lap. "And
this surprises you? He is a Skywalker after all."

"He still needs to obey the rules, Ani." She twisted around so that
she was sitting sideways.

Anakin smirked. "I didn't."

He leaned in to kiss her and she playfully pushed him away from her.
"You're incorrigible."

"You wouldn't want me any other way," he replied, taking her back into
his arms and covering her mouth with his.

Enjoying the kiss, Padm?idn't pull away for a while. "I know. But
we're talking about Luke, not you."

"What about Luke?" asked Leia as she came into the kitchen and headed
straight for the cooling unit. Before either of her parents could
reply, Leia said in a matter of fact voice, "Oh, I know. He broke the
fraternization rule again." She yanked a container of blue milk out
and poured a glass. "Everybody knows."

"Everybody knows what?" Luke asked as he came into the kitchen. He
grabbed the blue milk jug from his sister.

His mother stood up. "Master Windu called."

Luke dropped the milk container which almost hit the floor, saved from
spilling by Anakin's quick Force grip. It took a moment for Luke to
get his mouth to work. "About what?"

Padm?rossed her arms and looked at him sternly. "From your reaction,
I can tell you know perfectly well what he called about."

"It's all a big misunderstanding," Luke began.

Leia rolled her eyes. "How can a girl coming out of your room at 0200
be a misunderstanding?"

"You had a girl in your room in the middle of the night!" his mother
exclaimed.

Seeking to pacify his mother, Luke said, "It wasn't a girl. It was Mara."

"Real smooth, bantha brains," Leia said, shaking her head.

The previously silent Anakin entered the discussion. "Last time I
looked Mara was not only a girl but fully on her way to becoming a woman."

"Luke, you are both too young. Don't you realize the consequences of
your actions?" Padm? expression was concerned.

Everything was getting to be a bit much for Luke. He ran both of his
hands through his hair. "It's not like that at all. We haven't done
anything."

Luke slumped against the counter. It seemed that nothing was going his
way. His father came and stood by him.

"Luke. You may not have done anything yet, but something could happen.
Even though relationships are not forbidden, it only applies to
Knights, not padawans." Anakin threw his arm around Luke's shoulder.
"You've got good taste, but your mother is right - you're too young."

Luke didn't bother to repeat his innocence. The truth was odd and he
didn't want to go into it. "I know," he said, his eyes downcast.

"Master Windu wants to see us all tomorrow," announced Padm?

"Did he say anything about the council?" Luke asked. When his mother
shook her head, he almost collapsed in relief. "Can I go now?"

"Yes," she said and Luke rushed from the kitchen. "And don't break the
curfew again!" she called after him.

"I won't," she heard him say. Looking at her husband, she asked, "Why
did he ask about the council?"

His hands on the counter, Anakin leaned back. "He's worried that the
council will delay his trials because of this. I'm sure it won't
happen again. He knows what's at stake."

"I hope so," she said with a bit of uncertainty.

"Besides, it's Mara. She wants to be a Jedi as much as he does. She'll
make sure they adhere to the rules."

Leia, who had been observing everything from the comfort of the
kitchen table, shook her head. "He's doomed."

**
After leaving his parents' home, Luke returned to his quarters at the
Temple. He tidied up the room by sweeping everything on the floor
under his bed. Checking the chrono, he noticed there was still time to
shower. Not long after he finished, his door buzzed. Luke toweled his
hair dry while calling, "Come in, Mara!"

The front door slid open and Mara entered. She walked over to the
small holovid unit and placed a stack of disks on top of it. To the
left was a student desk, with a miniature refrigeration unit
underneath. Kneeling down, she opened it and grabbed out a couple of
fizzy drinks and a bag of Gart's Frozen Fruit Snacks.

"What'd you get?" Luke asked as he came up behind her.

She handed him a drink, then pointed to the disks. "All the
Chancellor's Men, Theed Palace and Holonet Rebooted."

"Holonet Rebooted? I've been wanting to see that." He put the disk in
the player, then pulled the form-chair out from under the desk and
placed it next to the end of the bed.

Mara set up a small tray at the end of the bed, placing her snacks
upon it, then flopped down stomach first, propping herself up on a
couple of pillows. "The only reason I got it was because you wanted to
see it. The reviews have been horrible."

Settling into the chair, Luke activated the player. "I'll be the
judge. I've seen a few holos that the critics have raved about, only
to be totally bored."

**

One hour and two fizzy drinks later, Luke turned off the player in
disgust. "I can't believe they made a holo that looks like a game.
Can't they get actors to do these stunts? I was doing stuff like that
two years ago."

Mara shook her head. "Luke, we're Jedi. Those actors aren't. Still,
I've seen some really old Clone Wars stuff that used sentients and not
machines, and actually developed characters you'd care about. I don't
think real actors could have saved this one."

"Here's an idea. Why don't we act in holos and do our own stunts? I'd
love to have some extra credits."

Mara rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Master Windu would love to hear you
ask permission."

"Spoil my fun, Jade." Luke stuck his tongue out at her, and began to
read the summary of the other holos. "This one is a political drama.
Why'd you get that?"

Fluffing her pillows, Mara replied, "Leia suggested it. She really
liked it."

"She would. Mom, too, I'm sure. It's about a couple of holoshills
exposing government corruption." Luke cringed. "It reminds me too much
of history class."

"Then put the other one in. We've got enough time to watch before
curfew, if you start it now," she said. "Get me another fizzy while
you're up, too."

Luke read the holo summary. "This one might be okay. It's set at a
highbrow manor in Theed. There's even a murder."

"That's better than the ultra high body count of that last one. We
don't have much time. Just play the krething thing," Mara said in
exasperation. It wouldn't do to miss curfew again. She was already in
trouble with Obi-Wan.

**

After starting the player, Luke grabbed another fizzy for Mara and
nutribar for himself. As soon as the first scene came up, he groaned.
"It's a period piece!"

"So? Give it a chance, it just started." Mara shifted into a more
comfortable position.

Stretching his muscles, Luke relaxed back into the form-chair. "They
sure have a lot of servants in the Palace."

Mara didn't respond. Suppressing a yawn, he said, "Mom should have
kept her old job. It'd be great to have somebody to change my bed and
do my laundry."

"Sh, Luke. I'm trying to follow this."

"It's just a bunch of people talking. I can't even understand them and
I think they're speaking Basic."

Mara hit her pillow. "They are. It's supposed to be more realistic
with the mumbling."

"What?" Luke turned his head to her. "How am I supposed to follow it
if I can't understand what they're saying?"

"Try listening!"

Luke took a bite of his nutribar and tried to concentrate on the
scene. There were so many things happening at once and it was getting
harder for him to follow. He was about to complain to Mara when he
found himself ducking a pillow that was thrown at him. His eyes wide
and mouth gapping, he turned to face her.

Glaring at him, she gritted out, "Don't say another word."

Over the years, Luke had learned that when Mara spoke in that tone of
voice it was best to heed her words. He relaxed back into the chair
and focused on the holo. Everything was blending together - the words,
the visuals. Right after the dead body was discovered, Luke had dozed off.

**

Once Luke stopped chattering, Mara was able to concentrate on the
holo. She'd had no trouble following and actually had some ideas as to
who was the murderer. Stretching, she shifted her position again.
There was a slight chill in the room, so she pulled the bed spread
over her body. It was calm and peaceful. She continued to watch the
holo. No interruptions, no physical exertion. It felt really good to
just relax. She'd been pushing herself extremely hard lately, wanting
to prepare for the trials as soon as possible. A quick glance at the
chrono showed that she still had another hour and a half until curfew.
No problem. In comfort and quiet, she continued watching the holo.
When a slow scene occurred a while later, Mara was completely relaxed.
Hugging her pillow, she automatically curled up and fell asleep.
**
Feedback is appreciated.