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[restoresbalance]

He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed tinkering on ships until he'd gone some time here without doing anything like it.  Growing up, Luke had always been up to his elbows in some project or another, fixing droids for his uncle or modifying the speeder he used; later on, the tinkering turned into working on real ships like his X-Wing, the

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[hunters_luck]

"You kiss your wife with that mouth?"

Mara walked up to the ship, smiling. Even if it's a sign of his loss of focus, the glimpses of the man behind the famous name were always endearing to her. A little boost from the Force, something she was getting more comfortable with using around him, and she was next to him on the ship. She knelt down to rest her hand on him.

"Ships respond better to Verpian curses. I thought everyone knew that."

[restoresbalance]

"I usually wash it out beforehand," he said, a grin splitting his grease-streaked face as he wiggled up and turned so he was looking up at Mara--and, not to miss an opportunity, he leaned up on his elbows, kissing her. Not touching her with his hands though. He might kiss her with a filthy mouth, but Luke knew better than to touch her face with a hand that had been elbow-deep in greased starfighter innards.

It was a mark of how comfortable she'd become that she referred to herself as his wife, and it was one of those little things Luke had come to appreciate and bolster himself with since these nightmares started coming.

"Verpian, huh? I'll have to try it out sometime. Huttese is so much more satisfying though."

[hunters_luck]

She leaned down to meet him halfway, smiling even as she kissed him. It was hard to think of herself in any other way. Mara slept in his bed, his niece and nephew called her Aunt Mara. Almost everyone referred to Luke as her husband. The change had been so gradual, she still wasn't sure when she started to think of herself the same way.

"Huttese has a certain, guttural edge to it that's perfect for cursing. How bad is it, if you're insulting it's mother like that?" Mara leaned over to look in the access panel, trying to see what he'd been working on.

[restoresbalance]

"Not bad," Luke said, rolling onto his side again to peer in at the component he'd been working on. "Frustrating, though. I've been trying to improve the shielding, and for some reason, even though I've done this same modification before, it's not working this time." He sat back, passing a hand over his eyes.

"I think I'm overthinking," Luke said, blinking his eyes open again and smiling. "Either way I'm not able to concentrate as well as I ought."

[hunters_luck]

Mara sighed softly. "Of course you can't concentrate. No one can, not really." She pushed herself up so she could watch him. Lack of sleep had shattered the focus for both of them.

"I might know the modification. I can take a look, see what you're missing. If you're interested."

[restoresbalance]

"Sure." Luke scooted aside, handing her the hydrospanner he'd been dangling loosely in a hand. Working shoulder to shoulder with Mara on some part of a ship, comprised many happy memories for him. And that was what both of them--what everyone on the ship, really--needed right now. Happy memories.

Still, he took the time while they were poking at the shielding apparatus to look Mara over, brush against her in the Force and make sure things were as all right as they could be, given the circumstances. And then he made sure. "How are you holding up?"

[hunters_luck]

Mara lowered herself down into the access panel, disappearing almost to her waist. Not that her concentration was much better than Luke's, but a fresh pair of eyes might help. She gave her mind a sharp reminder to stay on task as she started to check over his work.

"About as well as anyone. I think I'm more concerned about you." She reciprocated the careful brush, not at all surprised to feel exhaustion weighing heavy on him.

[restoresbalance]

When he felt her searching him, trying to see how he was doing, Luke had to smile. When she'd first gotten here, this probably never would have happened.

"I'm tired," he said softly, watching her work. "But then that's not really anything new." It was getting to the point where not even healing trances were helping much anymore. They all needed real, dreamless sleep--or at least sleep with dreams that didn't have him waking up with lightsaber in hand, ready to slice open his wife because he thought she was an impostor. He'd been hallucinating, too--walking through doors into war rooms, into the battle at Dantooine in the early stages of the war, into dark alleyways where a fake Mara would come at him from the shadows, spitting Yuuzhan Vong curses at him.

"I"ll be all right," Luke continued after a moment. I hope.