Berry-Bliss Cream

Characters: Luke & Mara Jade Skywalker

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: All this silliness belongs to George Lucas. Lucky him.

Author's Note: This vignette was written in response to the following tf.n challenge:

In a universe with no Vong, where Mara doesn't have that stupid disease (!), write Mara letting Luke know that she's pregnant. Except she can't tell him straight out...it has to be done in some way that Luke realizes it for himself. Can be funny or sweet (even sappy!).

Must include the words:
momentous
fertile
stimulating
abundant
the phrase swollen like a Hutt (bonus points if Luke says it and Mara doesn't kill him!)

Berry-Bliss Cream

Luke Skywalker checked his wrist-chrono for the third time. He was due to preside over the opening of the History of the Jedi Grand Museum that evening, and he and Mara had decided to dine at one of their favorite restaurants before the festivities. But had he known that Mara would order two sweet-and-sour appetizers, ― for which he got his fingers slapped for daring to sample ― grik bisque soup, ty-green salad with drezzle sauce dressing, a platter of toma-spiced ribs, a half-dozen side dishes, and three different desserts, he would've subtly suggested that they leave an hour earlier. Maybe two.

"This museum opening is really going to be a momentous occasion for the Jedi," Luke said casually, stifling any comment as the love of his life snatched his half-eaten serving of pyollian cake.

"You weren't going to finish that, were you?" Mara asked, piling onto the slice an abundant dollop of berry-bliss cream which she'd earlier coerced the waiter into bringing. Most likely anticipating a large tip from the famous couple, the waiter had hurried out with a large bowl of the whipped confection, much to Mara's obvious delight.

"I honestly don't know where you put it all," Luke bravely ventured. "Any other woman would be swollen as a Hutt if she ate all that."

Mara's fork froze halfway to her mouth, and Luke feared his attempt at a compliment was anything but.

"Are you saying I eat a lot?" Mara's eyes flashed indignantly, never a good thing Luke knew from experience.

"No, no, not at all," he backtracked, grateful when a passing dessert cart full of Vagnerian canapés and honeystix distracted her from retaliating. "You haven't had nearly as much as me." In fact, he estimated that she'd devoured at least twice as much as he had.

Luke's rather fertile imagination began to shift into hyperdrive as Mara's tongue flicked out to draw in the sweet cream from her fork, and she moaned in delight as she savored the treat.

"This is soooo good, Luke," Mara murmured around another mouthful of the flaky dessert. "Call the waiter over. See if we can get a whole pyollian cake to take home."

Luke shook his head to clear out all potentially embarrassing daydreams when Mara began motioning for the waiter to get himself to their table pronto.

"Uh, Mara―"

Mara didn't wait for Luke to place the order. "I want a bowl of this berry-bliss cream to take home, too," she added.

"Mara, we really need to be―"

"And throw in a container of chocolate sprinkles with that," Mara called after the harried man. Luke knew that no tip would be adequate to cover this meal.

Scraping the last crumbs off her plate, Mara finally wiped her mouth with her napkin and laid it aside. "What?" she asked, meeting his gaze. Luke hoped his relief wasn't as obvious as he feared. "I think all that exercise I've been doing lately has been stimulating my appetite," Mara said, shrugging her shoulders and patting her stomach lightly.

"Really?" He hadn't seen anyone have such a voracious appetite since Leia was expecting the twins and Anakin. He looked up to see Mara staring at him as if she were waiting for him to do … something.

"No, not really," she said, the corners of her mouth beginning to form a sly smile.

Luke's confused brain made a valiant attempt to decipher what this latest mood swing meant. She'd been having a lot of those lately, too ― mood swings. He suddenly remembered Corran commenting ― complaining, actually ― about Mirax's erratic mood swings when she was carrying Jysella the previous year.

"I don't think I'm as bad as Mirax," Mara said, her smile slowing evolving into a grin.

Luke was all ready to send a good-natured retort to her about staying out of his head when Mara's actual statement finally registered. Surely she didn't mean … He'd be able to sense if … But only if he was specifically looking for …

"Use the Force, Luke," Mara intoned, her emerald eyes shining in unabashed joy.

He did. Then he gasped in astonishment as a tiny presence stirred in response to his Force probe.

"Mara!" Luke was out of his seat in an instant, kneeling by her side and enveloping her in a Wookiee-sized hug. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You're a smart guy." Mara chuckled as Luke realized that everyone in the restaurant was looking their way. "I knew you'd figure it out eventually."

"Excuse me, sir." The flustered waiter stood holding a take-home package full of cake and cream. "Are you ready for the check?"

Luke didn't think he could make a coherent reply, so he simply nodded, rising to his feet but not taking his gaze from Mara's smiling face. A baby! They were going to have a baby! Any concern over being late for the museum opening flew out of his mind as visions of the future filled his thoughts.

That night, the waiter got the biggest tip of his life.

And Luke and Mara found more than one use for berry-bliss cream.

THE END