Fic: Perfectly Normal 7/7, PG
Title: Perfectly Normal
Rating: PG
Category: humor, romance
Timeframe: New Republic; one week after VotF
Summary: Luke and Mara discover that being a couple includes facing unexpected challenges.
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
Half an hour later, Mara was sitting in a rather greasy booth dubiously eyeing a bowl of blasteroids. Whether the food was named after the restaurant or the restaurant after the food, Mara didn't know, but she thought they matched each other well. She dipped her blasteroid - some sort of deep-fried chili dumpling - in the accompanying purple sauce and nibbled at it.
"Well?" Luke asked, pitching his voice to carry above the sounds of shrieking children, holographic animal calls, simulated starship fire, and the various bells and alarms that accompanied the many games that surrounded them.
Mara chewed thoughtfully for a minute before answering. "Interesting. I could see Aves and Chin and Dankin having these during a sabacc game or something. Karrde wouldn't touch them, though. And I don't think I want to know what's in the sauce."
"Probably a good idea," Luke agreed, biting into his own blasteroid. He chewed and swallowed, then added, "These would have been a hit back in Anchorhead. I wonder when I got too sophisticated to appreciate this sort of food the way I would have when I was younger."
"I hate to break it to you, but you're not sophisticated," Mara told him. "You still like those dustcrepe things."
"Those," Luke said with superb dignity, "are a delicacy."
Mara snorted. "The Imperial court would have disagreed with you."
"So you're telling me I'm marrying a high maintenance woman who's going to drain our financial accounts buying high class wine and such?" Luke took another blasteroid, hesitated over the sauce, then decided against it and ate the blasteroid by itself.
"If I say yes, does that mean we won't be coming back here?" Mara asked, waving back at Jaina as the girl dashed from the TIE simulator to the A-wing one.
"Well, not until we have our own kids," Luke said. "I was thinking that we could have about half a dozen. Or if you were willing to put just a little more effort into it, if we had ten, we could form a Skywalker-only squadron. Doesn't that sound like fun, Mara?"
Mara couldn't quite suppress the shudder that ran through her, and narrowed her eyes at Luke's resulting grin. "And maybe we could relocate to Nal Hutta, too."
"And open our very own franchise of Blasteroids while we're at it," Luke said, still grinning.
"One more word and I will force feed you this mystery sauce," Mara threatened.
Luke laughed. "I think we'll need some time to get used to this marriage thing before we seriously consider having children, don't you?"
"Sounds reasonable," Mara agreed. "Especially since I'm getting the sinking feeling that this is normal family life."
"It kind of is, yeah," Luke said, looking around the noisy restaurant ruefully.
"Then I need a primer course," Mara said firmly. "Normal for a couple first. When I'm used to that, then we can think about adding kids and getting used to this version of normal."
"Fair enough." Luke moved closer to her in the booth, sliding his arm around her waist and surreptitiously stroking her side with his fingertips. "How much longer until we can get back to that couple thing, by the way?"
Mara elbowed him. "Not for more than an hour yet. Behave yourself."
Luke made a face at her, but obediently released her and returned a measure of his attention to the almost-meal before them.
Mara, meanwhile, watched Anakin and Jacen playing some sort of holographic target game together. It was interesting, how each of the Solo children somehow resembled both parents, even Luke in some respects, yet looked so entirely individual. She wondered if she herself looked more like her mother or her father. Were there hints of an aunt or uncle in her, the way Anakin had Luke's cleft chin and blue eyes? How would her own children combine her features and Luke's? How strange, to think of having children at all.
She nudged Luke. "Do you think that just one or two children would be easier to handle than three?"
Luke shrugged and took a sip of his ale. "Probably, but I suspect that it depends on the child. Any child of ours is likely to be a handful, you know."
"Frighteningly true." Mara took a larger sip of her own ale.
"Hey," Luke said softly. "I was going to ask you something tonight, before everything, well -"
"Got shot straight to hell?" Mara asked, hiding a smile behind the rim of her mug.
"Yeah." Luke looked rueful, then shook his head. "All the more reason to ask you, actually. When I was talking with Tionne before I picked you up, I managed to arrange some time off."
"You did?" Mara asked, surprised. "How much time off?"
"Several weeks, starting a week from today."
Mara dropped the blasteroid she was holding. It rolled off the table and into her lap, but Mara barely noticed. "Weeks? Are you serious?"
"Completely," Luke said, looking hopeful. "I was thinking that maybe you could talk Karrde into giving you some time off, too. I'd understand if it couldn't be weeks, but at least something -"
"Transmit those dates to my schedule as soon as we get back to your place," Mara interrupted him. "I'll get those days off even if it means sabotaging the Wild Karrde with my lightsaber."
"What about Shada's training?" Luke asked, a shade of wariness edging the hope. "Are you sure you can get all that time off? It would be all right if you couldn't, you know."
"It would not be all right," Mara said firmly. "We've both given the galaxy enough. The galaxy can give us a few weeks. Shada can spend the time shadowing Chin or Dankin or working on one of the other ships." Mara paused, then felt a wicked grin spreading across her face as a sudden thought occurred to her. "Or she can follow Talon around for a while. In fact, if I add that suggestion to my request for time off, I'll bet he won't say a single word in protest. He'll actually be glad to get rid of me."
Luke's grinned back, wariness gone. "It might be a good idea to get away from Coruscant entirely. Maybe someplace without much real technology, so no one can get ahold of us."
Mara retrieved the fallen blasteroid, whose grease was beginning to soak through her pants and burn her leg. She set it back on the table and propped her chin in her hand, enchanted. "Outer Rim."
"A nature preserve of some sort, maybe?" Luke suggested.
"I hear good things about Garqi," Mara said, surprised to find herself smiling. "Weeks, you said."
"Yeah," Luke said, sliding his arm around her waist again. The man was impossibly stubborn - but Mara found she didn't mind a bit. "We have some lost years to make up for. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Definitely," Mara said. She turned slightly in the booth and slipped her arms around his neck. "You, Luke Skywalker, are a smart man."
"I have to be, to keep up with my promised wife," Luke said, smiling at her.
"You just like saying that word," Mara accused.
"What, 'wife'? I do like saying it. I plan on saying it many more times in my life." He leaned his forehead against hers, his blue eyes very deep. He was close enough that Mara could feel his breath on her face. It smelled of cheap ale and blasteroids, but then, hers probably did too. And she'd tried the secret sauce, so he had more to forgive than she did.
Then his lips met hers, and Mara forgot all about such things. Well, almost, anyway.
A small hand tugging at Mara's sleeve interrupted them, followed by a plaintive voice. "Not again!"
Luke made an exasperated noise as he pulled back. "Jaina, do you do this to your parents, too?"
"Yes," Jaina said, making a face at him. "Kissing is gross. Mara, I set a new record on the A-wing sim! My name is on the high score list now!"
"That's great," Mara said, looking at Luke out of the corner of her eye. "I'll bet your father will be just as happy as your uncle to hear that you're flying A-wings instead of X-wings or a YT-1300, too."
"Oh, I'll fly the Falcon when I get older," Jaina said seriously. "Dad said I could. The Falcon is cool."
Luke released Mara to lean his elbow on the greasy tabletop and cover his eyes with one hand. Mara grinned. "Jaina, why don't you go get your brothers? Your uncle and I need some help to finish these blasteroids."
"Okay," Jaina said, snagging a blasteroid and dunking it thoroughly in the mysterious purple sauce before running off. Luke watched her go through slightly parted fingers.
"The only one of the three of them really interested in flying, and I can't get her to touch an X-wing," he said ruefully. "Where did I go wrong?"
Mara laughed. "She thinks kissing is gross, too. Give her time."
"Hmm," Luke said, the expression in his eyes softening as he lowered his hand. "So. Normal enough night for you?"
Mara looked around them. The restaurant was filled with children, some yelling with glee, some with disappointment; a few tables down, a toddler of a species she didn't recognize began an ear-piercing wail. Across the room, Jaina reached her brothers and smacked Jacen's shoulder, gesturing back toward Luke and Mara when he turned irritatedly on her. A variety of scents wafted on the recirculated air, none of them especially pleasant. The ale was slightly flat, and Mara fully expected a case of indigestion from the blasteroids.
And sitting next to her was Luke, his fingers entwined with hers, his eyes affectionate, his presence in the Force brushing gently against her awareness.
"Yes," Mara said, and smiled at him. "Absolutely perfect."
Rating: PG
Category: humor, romance
Timeframe: New Republic; one week after VotF
Summary: Luke and Mara discover that being a couple includes facing unexpected challenges.
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
Half an hour later, Mara was sitting in a rather greasy booth dubiously eyeing a bowl of blasteroids. Whether the food was named after the restaurant or the restaurant after the food, Mara didn't know, but she thought they matched each other well. She dipped her blasteroid - some sort of deep-fried chili dumpling - in the accompanying purple sauce and nibbled at it.
"Well?" Luke asked, pitching his voice to carry above the sounds of shrieking children, holographic animal calls, simulated starship fire, and the various bells and alarms that accompanied the many games that surrounded them.
Mara chewed thoughtfully for a minute before answering. "Interesting. I could see Aves and Chin and Dankin having these during a sabacc game or something. Karrde wouldn't touch them, though. And I don't think I want to know what's in the sauce."
"Probably a good idea," Luke agreed, biting into his own blasteroid. He chewed and swallowed, then added, "These would have been a hit back in Anchorhead. I wonder when I got too sophisticated to appreciate this sort of food the way I would have when I was younger."
"I hate to break it to you, but you're not sophisticated," Mara told him. "You still like those dustcrepe things."
"Those," Luke said with superb dignity, "are a delicacy."
Mara snorted. "The Imperial court would have disagreed with you."
"So you're telling me I'm marrying a high maintenance woman who's going to drain our financial accounts buying high class wine and such?" Luke took another blasteroid, hesitated over the sauce, then decided against it and ate the blasteroid by itself.
"If I say yes, does that mean we won't be coming back here?" Mara asked, waving back at Jaina as the girl dashed from the TIE simulator to the A-wing one.
"Well, not until we have our own kids," Luke said. "I was thinking that we could have about half a dozen. Or if you were willing to put just a little more effort into it, if we had ten, we could form a Skywalker-only squadron. Doesn't that sound like fun, Mara?"
Mara couldn't quite suppress the shudder that ran through her, and narrowed her eyes at Luke's resulting grin. "And maybe we could relocate to Nal Hutta, too."
"And open our very own franchise of Blasteroids while we're at it," Luke said, still grinning.
"One more word and I will force feed you this mystery sauce," Mara threatened.
Luke laughed. "I think we'll need some time to get used to this marriage thing before we seriously consider having children, don't you?"
"Sounds reasonable," Mara agreed. "Especially since I'm getting the sinking feeling that this is normal family life."
"It kind of is, yeah," Luke said, looking around the noisy restaurant ruefully.
"Then I need a primer course," Mara said firmly. "Normal for a couple first. When I'm used to that, then we can think about adding kids and getting used to this version of normal."
"Fair enough." Luke moved closer to her in the booth, sliding his arm around her waist and surreptitiously stroking her side with his fingertips. "How much longer until we can get back to that couple thing, by the way?"
Mara elbowed him. "Not for more than an hour yet. Behave yourself."
Luke made a face at her, but obediently released her and returned a measure of his attention to the almost-meal before them.
Mara, meanwhile, watched Anakin and Jacen playing some sort of holographic target game together. It was interesting, how each of the Solo children somehow resembled both parents, even Luke in some respects, yet looked so entirely individual. She wondered if she herself looked more like her mother or her father. Were there hints of an aunt or uncle in her, the way Anakin had Luke's cleft chin and blue eyes? How would her own children combine her features and Luke's? How strange, to think of having children at all.
She nudged Luke. "Do you think that just one or two children would be easier to handle than three?"
Luke shrugged and took a sip of his ale. "Probably, but I suspect that it depends on the child. Any child of ours is likely to be a handful, you know."
"Frighteningly true." Mara took a larger sip of her own ale.
"Hey," Luke said softly. "I was going to ask you something tonight, before everything, well -"
"Got shot straight to hell?" Mara asked, hiding a smile behind the rim of her mug.
"Yeah." Luke looked rueful, then shook his head. "All the more reason to ask you, actually. When I was talking with Tionne before I picked you up, I managed to arrange some time off."
"You did?" Mara asked, surprised. "How much time off?"
"Several weeks, starting a week from today."
Mara dropped the blasteroid she was holding. It rolled off the table and into her lap, but Mara barely noticed. "Weeks? Are you serious?"
"Completely," Luke said, looking hopeful. "I was thinking that maybe you could talk Karrde into giving you some time off, too. I'd understand if it couldn't be weeks, but at least something -"
"Transmit those dates to my schedule as soon as we get back to your place," Mara interrupted him. "I'll get those days off even if it means sabotaging the Wild Karrde with my lightsaber."
"What about Shada's training?" Luke asked, a shade of wariness edging the hope. "Are you sure you can get all that time off? It would be all right if you couldn't, you know."
"It would not be all right," Mara said firmly. "We've both given the galaxy enough. The galaxy can give us a few weeks. Shada can spend the time shadowing Chin or Dankin or working on one of the other ships." Mara paused, then felt a wicked grin spreading across her face as a sudden thought occurred to her. "Or she can follow Talon around for a while. In fact, if I add that suggestion to my request for time off, I'll bet he won't say a single word in protest. He'll actually be glad to get rid of me."
Luke's grinned back, wariness gone. "It might be a good idea to get away from Coruscant entirely. Maybe someplace without much real technology, so no one can get ahold of us."
Mara retrieved the fallen blasteroid, whose grease was beginning to soak through her pants and burn her leg. She set it back on the table and propped her chin in her hand, enchanted. "Outer Rim."
"A nature preserve of some sort, maybe?" Luke suggested.
"I hear good things about Garqi," Mara said, surprised to find herself smiling. "Weeks, you said."
"Yeah," Luke said, sliding his arm around her waist again. The man was impossibly stubborn - but Mara found she didn't mind a bit. "We have some lost years to make up for. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Definitely," Mara said. She turned slightly in the booth and slipped her arms around his neck. "You, Luke Skywalker, are a smart man."
"I have to be, to keep up with my promised wife," Luke said, smiling at her.
"You just like saying that word," Mara accused.
"What, 'wife'? I do like saying it. I plan on saying it many more times in my life." He leaned his forehead against hers, his blue eyes very deep. He was close enough that Mara could feel his breath on her face. It smelled of cheap ale and blasteroids, but then, hers probably did too. And she'd tried the secret sauce, so he had more to forgive than she did.
Then his lips met hers, and Mara forgot all about such things. Well, almost, anyway.
A small hand tugging at Mara's sleeve interrupted them, followed by a plaintive voice. "Not again!"
Luke made an exasperated noise as he pulled back. "Jaina, do you do this to your parents, too?"
"Yes," Jaina said, making a face at him. "Kissing is gross. Mara, I set a new record on the A-wing sim! My name is on the high score list now!"
"That's great," Mara said, looking at Luke out of the corner of her eye. "I'll bet your father will be just as happy as your uncle to hear that you're flying A-wings instead of X-wings or a YT-1300, too."
"Oh, I'll fly the Falcon when I get older," Jaina said seriously. "Dad said I could. The Falcon is cool."
Luke released Mara to lean his elbow on the greasy tabletop and cover his eyes with one hand. Mara grinned. "Jaina, why don't you go get your brothers? Your uncle and I need some help to finish these blasteroids."
"Okay," Jaina said, snagging a blasteroid and dunking it thoroughly in the mysterious purple sauce before running off. Luke watched her go through slightly parted fingers.
"The only one of the three of them really interested in flying, and I can't get her to touch an X-wing," he said ruefully. "Where did I go wrong?"
Mara laughed. "She thinks kissing is gross, too. Give her time."
"Hmm," Luke said, the expression in his eyes softening as he lowered his hand. "So. Normal enough night for you?"
Mara looked around them. The restaurant was filled with children, some yelling with glee, some with disappointment; a few tables down, a toddler of a species she didn't recognize began an ear-piercing wail. Across the room, Jaina reached her brothers and smacked Jacen's shoulder, gesturing back toward Luke and Mara when he turned irritatedly on her. A variety of scents wafted on the recirculated air, none of them especially pleasant. The ale was slightly flat, and Mara fully expected a case of indigestion from the blasteroids.
And sitting next to her was Luke, his fingers entwined with hers, his eyes affectionate, his presence in the Force brushing gently against her awareness.
"Yes," Mara said, and smiled at him. "Absolutely perfect."