Title: Unmovable Objects, Unstoppable Forces
Author: JediMara77
Timeframe: ANH-ish
Genre: Action, Romance, AU
Characters: Luke, Mara
Summary: Luke and Mara crash land in a forest and have to work together in order to survive. Sound familiar?
A/N: This fic takes place in an AU where the Empire never came into power and Luke and Mara were raised together as Jedi. This was written as a Christmas and birthday present for the lovely ginchy. It's also a way to appease my angry Night Must Fall readers.

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Luke Skywalker gritted his teeth as he tried to get the Skipray Blastboat under control. He'd dropped out of hyperspace in the closest system when the hyperdrive showed signs of leaking. He didn't worry about being able to fix the problem, not with him and his good friend and fellow Jedi, Mara Jade, on this mission with him.

What he didn't count on was running headfirst into a ring of pirates. At least he assumed it was pirates, judging by the way they immediately started firing at them.

"Shavit, Skywalker, what the hell did you do?" Mara yelled as she frantically pushed buttons and toggled switches on the instrument panel. Several strands of red hair were falling out of her braid. "We're gonna hit the atmosphere if you don't do something soon!"

"I know that," Luke yelled back. He ran a hand through his unruly blond hair as he tried to figure out a plan. He was a good pilot, the best in the Jedi Order—besides his father, of course—and he had no doubt in his ability to outmaneuver these guys. But he didn't feel confident about flying with a leaky hyperdrive. If the hyperdrive broke on the next jump, the pirates would most definitely catch up with them. And Luke most definitely did not want that to happen.

A loud squeal rang out from Artoo Detoo, Luke's astromech, as a direct hit from behind rocked the Skipray. "I know, Artoo, I know!"

"The stabilizers are failing!"

"I know, Mara!" Luke was trying hard not to snap at her but found that very difficult with her constant nagging. "You think you could do better?"

She didn't even bother looking at him. "I know I could do better."

Luke ignored her. "Just concentrate on the weapons, will you? I'm gonna bring us in."

"What?" Mara exclaimed. "Luke, we can't land here! We don't even know where 'here' is!"

"Well you can look that up while I try to land this thing, okay?"

Mara growled low in her throat. "I swear to the gods, Skywalker, if your so-called flying doesn't kill us then I'm going to kill you myself!"

"I'll look forward to it," Luke said drily. "Just hold on."

The next several minutes were some of the hardest piloting of Luke's life. Trying to land a failing ship while evading laserfire from the pirates was a test of his Jedi skills, and once he got in the atmosphere he found it even harder to fly. He went into battle mode and ignored Mara's shouts of dismay as they descended toward the ground of the unknown planet. They were coming in over a forest and he had to watch all the sensors in order to find a safe place to land.

That landing was more of a crash as they thumped into a small clearing. Luke breathed a sigh of relief once he realized they were all in one piece.

Mara was already on her feet and snapped off Luke's crash webbing. "Come on, we gotta get out of here."

"Hold on, we need to send out a distress signal first—"

"Already did that. Besides, if we send a transmission now we'll lead the pirates right to us. Come on, let's go!"

"Okay, fine." He rose from the chair and followed Mara's lead, grabbing his survival kit and medpac. She was already at the ramp, urging him to hurry. Luke turned to address his droid. "Come on, Artoo."

"Skywalker, we can't take that thing!" she said in disbelief. "He'll slow us down and get us killed, or possibly worse."

"I'm not leaving him here," Luke said firmly.

"Skywalker!"

But he would not be swayed on this matter. "Mara, think of how mad my father would be if I left Artoo here."

Now it was Mara's turn to groan. The mere mention of her old master was enough to spur her into obedience. "Fine," she huffed. She took great pleasure in knocking Artoo over, and then she and Luke each picked up one end of the droid and carried him off the ship.

They hurried off the Skipray and dashed through the forest. Luke could hear the distinctive sounds of a ship overhead and began to move even faster. It was hard, burdened as he was with his supplies and the droid, but he had no other choice. They had to get far enough away from the Skipray before the pirates arrived and tracked their movements.

After about a kilometer, Mara called for them to stop. She was panting hard, and Luke realized belatedly that he was, too. He always considered himself in good shape and wondered at why running such a short distance had taken so much out of him. But he pushed aside the thought and sat down on the floor of the forest, mimicking Mara's actions by leaning against the tree.

"Well this is just great," she said. Luke grimaced, preparing himself for her onslaught. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time, don't you?"

"Sure, like it's my fault the hyperdrive was leaking," he defended himself.

"You're the one who was pushing it so hard!"

"I was going just as fast as you were when you had control!"

Mara snorted. "Yeah, well, perhaps I can handle a ship better than you can."

Luke snorted back. "Sure thing, Jade. Did you catch the name of this planet, by the way?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." Mara reached into her pack and pulled out a water bottle. She took a generous sip before answering. "Myrkr, I think. Somewhere in the Rim. You can thank me later."

"Right." Luke took out his own bottle, finding himself parched from their travel. "So what do we do now, oh wise one?"

Mara rolled her eyes at him. "We need to find a settlement, someplace where we can safely send an encrypted transmission."

"You said you sent a distress signal while we were still in space. I'm sure your father will send help if he gets wind of our trouble."

"And if he doesn't?" Mara pointed out. "Besides, we need to keep moving if we want to keep the pirates from trailing us. Not to mention that my father has lots of other things to do besides rescue his daughter and her stupid friend, like command his own cruiser."

Luke flashed her one of his best innocent grins. "Aw, I'm your friend?"

Mara smacked him.

"Fine," Luke pouted. "Artoo, can you pick up any settlements?" The droid beeped. Luke looked at the connected datapad and saw that there were two settlements relatively close by. One looked to be a city, while the other looked like it could be a pirate base.

Mara leaned over his shoulder to peer at the datapad. Luke tensed slightly as she reached her arm around him. "Well, we definitely don't want to go there," she said, pointing at the base.

"Right," Luke agreed. "The city it is, then. It looks like it'll take us a day to get there."

Mara groaned. He knew exactly what she was thinking—that even just a day spent alone together was sure to be rather…explosive. He didn't allow himself to wonder what had happened to the close relationship they'd once had.

But they had no other choice but to walk to the city, and she knew it. "We better get moving, then," she said as she stood. "And we should turn off Artoo." The droid squealed in protest. "The pirates might be able to track him if we keep him powered on."

"She's right," Luke agreed reluctantly. "We'll see you in a bit, buddy." He reached over and powered off the droid. To Mara, he added, "I guess we'll just have to use the Force to sense any potential predators." As he said that, he closed his eyes and reached out into the energy field that was his constant companion.

He felt nothing.

He tried again, wondering if he had suffered some sort of injury in the crash. But again nothing happened. "Um, Mara…?" He opened his eyes and saw Mara staring at him with a mixture of shock, fear, but most of all, anger. Luke involuntarily took a step back.

She advanced on him and snarled, "What the kriff did you do?"

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She was going to kill him. She really was. She wasn't just saying it this time.

He'd gotten her into the biggest trouble of her life. Not only had he crashed their ship—she didn't care what he said, no self-respecting pilot would've called what he did back there a landing—but he'd done so on a planet where they couldn't use the Force. She had no idea why or how that was even possible, but none of that really mattered now. Without the Force, they wouldn't be able to sense any animals or people nearby. They could be attacked, killed even, and it was all his fault.

Not only that, but this would surely cause them to miss the mission the Jedi Council had sent them on. She'd only just recently become a full Jedi Knight and didn't want to get in trouble already. She knew Luke didn't care, as his father was on the Jedi Council and had gotten into his own share of trouble when he was young. Besides, the great Luke Skywalker could do no wrong in the eyes of the Council.

Mara threw Luke another glare. "I'm going to kill you," she growled to emphasize her point. And if she didn't kill him when this was all over with, then her father would surely do the deed. And if not her father, then her mother would perform some elective surgery with her lightsaber.

A few steps in front of her, Luke huffed. He was bogged down with not only his supplies, but also the droid. He'd fashioned a travois to carry his mechanical friend, but Mara refused to have any part in carrying Artoo and was therefore quite comfortable. She could tell by the way Luke was shuffling his feet that he was struggling, but she didn't care. He deserved it, after all.

He wasn't intimidated by her constant threats, and this made her even madder. He spoke calmly. "I don't know how in the galaxy you think that I was the cause of all this."

Mara raised her eyebrows at the back of his head. "I dunno, Skywalker. You seem to think that you can walk on water. Why wouldn't you be responsible for me not being able to use the Force?"

Luke threw her an angry look. "In case you've forgotten, Jade, I'm in just as much as trouble here as you are."

"Whatever." She wouldn't let herself feel sorry for him. He was the one who'd been piloting the Skipray. He'd gotten them into this mess, and so she'd blame him as much as she wanted.

"Can we at least stop for a bit?" Luke whined. "We've been walking for hours."

"It's gonna be dark soon."

"I know, but..."

Even without the Force, Mara could sense his sudden embarrassment. "But what?" she said, not wanting to make things easy for him.

Luke growled in frustration. "I have to go to the bathroom."

Mara stifled a laugh. She could let him suffer...

She heaved a put-upon sigh. "Fine. Go relieve yourself. I'll watch the droid."

Luke nodded gratefully and headed behind a nearby tree. Mara stuck her tongue out at him when he wasn't looking.

She took out a ration bar out while waiting for him to finish, not wanting to waste any more time than necessary. She should probably go to the bathroom as well, she thought when Luke returned. Wordlessly she stood and headed off in another direction. She relieved herself quickly and, when she returned, found Luke happily munching on his own ration bar. She kicked him in the thigh. "Come on. We gotta get moving again."

Luke glared at her. "We can take five minutes to eat, okay?"

"No, we can't," Mara snarled. "We're on some strange planet where we can't use the Force. We need to get to the city as quickly as possible."

"We're going to have to stop once it gets dark," Luke pointed out. "We don't want to be walking around some strange planet on which we can't use the Force at night, do we?"

Mara narrowed her eyes at him. She hated when he was practical. She was supposed to be the practical one. "Fine," she scoffed. "Whatever." She took a seat again and pulled out another bar. She might as well make good use of this little stop.

They chewed in silence for several minutes. Mara had never felt so angry—and so awkward—around her old friend. She and Luke had been friends for as long as she could remember. They grew up together, learned to be Jedi together. At one point in time, Mara had called him her best friend.

But then they became teenagers and things started to get...complicated.

Mara bit a large chunk out of her bar and forced those thoughts from her mind. She couldn't allow herself to be distracted now. There'd be time for brooding later.

She finished her bar and glanced up to find Luke watching her, his bright blue eyes seemingly boring straight into her soul. He looked away and flushed bright red. "What're you looking at?" she snapped.

He looked back at her, an odd expression on his face. "You," he said plainly.

"Yeah, well." Mara stood up and looked away before she started blushing as well. "Stop looking."

Luke rose from the ground, never tearing his eyes away from her. "What if I don't want to?" he asked sincerely.

Mara blinked. For a moment, she wondered why Luke was acting this way...

But then she turned away to collect her belongings. Thinking about Luke, and his feelings about her, had only brought her heartache. She'd sworn to stop thinking about him, and so she would.

"I don't care," she spat, brushing past him to continue their trek across the forest..

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They walked for several more hours until it grew dark. Mara ordered for them to stop and Luke gladly complied. He briefly wondered when exactly she'd taken control of their reluctant stay on Myrkr, but wasn't surprised. Lately, Mara always seemed to take control of things whenever he was around. That, or she ignored him completely.

He sighed as he collapsed to the ground and removed Artoo from his travois. Luke took time to stretch out his sore muscles. Mara disappeared for a moment, probably to go relieve herself again. When she returned she stared at down him, her trademark frown of disapproval on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

She sat down on the ground and placed her lightsaber next to her. "I was just thinking about the sleeping arrangements."

"What? You want to share a sleeping bag with me like we did when we were little kids?"

Mara glared at him. "Cute."

Luke grinned at her. He knew he was pushing his luck, but he didn't really care at the moment. Even though things were awkward between them and she kept threatening to kill him, it was still nice to be around Mara again, just the two of them. They'd grown apart over the past few years. First there was Kyle, and now Corran...not to mention Luke's tryst with Gaeriel Captison on Bakura, which somehow Mara had gotten wind of.

"Anyway," Luke said, pushing aside those thoughts and suddenly very grateful that they didn't have the Force, "what were you thinking?"

Mara rummaged through her medpac and held up a pack of pills. "I think it'd be safer if one of us stayed awake all night. I still don't think it's safe to turn Artoo on."

Luke frowned at her. "Stimpills? I don't know. Those things aren't exactly safe..."

Mara rolled her green eyes as she popped a pill in her mouth and swallowed it dry. "As touching as your concern for my welfare is, I'm well aware of the complications of stimpill use. I'll be fine for one day."

"Okay," Luke agreed reluctantly. He held out a hand. "But if you're gonna stay awake all night, then so am I."

Mara eyed him warily. "How chivalrous of you, but I can take care of myself."

Luke closed his eyes and counted to five. Even without the Force, he could still go through his relaxation exercises. He opened his eyes and found Mara watching him expectantly, almost as if she wanted him to blow up at her. Well, she was going to be sorely disappointed. "Just give me the pill, Mara."

She heaved a put-upon sigh and placed the pill in his palm. Her fingers brushed against him and he had to will himself not to shiver at her touch. "Fine. But I'll be perfectly fine staying awake on my own. After all, you've had a rough day carrying Artoo all by yourself."

Luke gritted his teeth but still refused to snap at her. He leaned up against a nearby tree trunk and tried his best to get comfortable. "I can take care of myself," he threw her words back in her face.

For a moment, Mara merely stared at him. Then she made a derisive noise and turned away. "I'm sure that you can."

The first few hours passed by uneventfully. Mara ignored Luke as best she could, concentrating instead on the noises of the forest around them. Several times she stiffened and grabbed her lightsaber, anticipating an attack, but nothing happened. She tried not to be overly cautious, as that could cause just as many problems as being too relaxed. Mostly, she just wanted the night to be over with.

A few times she caught Luke nearly dozing off and woke him up by throwing twigs at him or kicking his leg. If he wanted to be the big Jedi savior, then she'd make sure he acted like one. Just looking at him made her want to strangle him sometimes. Her mother had once said, with a knowing smirk on her face, that she'd felt the same way about her father when they'd first met. Mara had refused to speak to her mother for days after that comment.

"So," Luke said lightly. Mara raised a brow in his direction, recognizing the tone of voice he used whenever he was about to bring up an awkward subject. When they were little she'd given him the nickname Farmboy, saying that he acted like he'd grown up on the moisture farm with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, as opposed to the Jedi Temple. "I don't think I ever formally congratulated you on your Knighthood."

Mara snorted. "No, you didn't. You were too busy consorting with the natives on Bakura back then."

Luke sighed. "Here we go again."

"What? Have I said anything that's untrue?"

"Forget it," Luke growled. "I don't know what I was thinking, trying to be nice to you."

Mara glared at him. How dare he try to make her feel bad about herself? "Hey, if you really cared so much, you could have taken five minutes to detach yourself from Gaeriel Captison's lips and sent me a comm from Bakura!"

For a moment, it looked as if Luke was going to argue with her. Then he signed again. "You're right. I should have. I'm sorry."

Mara blinked, unbalanced by his apology. But she recovered quickly. "You should be."

The air grew thick around them and Mara thought the conversation was over. But apparently Luke had other ideas. "I'm sorry for not taking the time to comm you, Mara, but I am notsorry about my relationship with Gaeri."

"Oh, she's Gaeri now?" Mara said derisively. "How adorable."

"Hey!" Luke snapped. "I don't have to answer to you about who I do or do not kiss. Besides, why do you care?"

"Because you're my friend and Gaeriel Captison is nothing but a Jedi-hating politician, that's why!"

"She is not! She's a nice woman. And I didn't ask for your approval, so butt out. You don't see me offering my unsolicited advice about all your relationships."

Mara's heart clenched at his words but she forced herself to remain detached. "Like you care."

"Maybe I do!"

Luke's words rang throughout the forest. Mara stared at him, blankly. She couldn't let her hopes rise, only to be dashed again. She forced herself to remember what she'd seen only a week ago... "Sure, Skywalker."

"I do." She could barely hear his words. "I do care, Mara, far more than you know."

"But..." Mara's mind raced as she tried to comprehend what Luke was saying to her. Did he like her? Of course he did, they'd been friends for as long as she could remember. Luke's sister, Leia and her boyfriend, Han, had teased her enough about Luke being interested in her. Not to mention all the smart-ass remarks by her old Master (who just so happened to be Luke's father) and that one comment from her mother, who'd known Luke since he was born.

She was suddenly very glad they couldn't touch the Force right now. She didn't need to appear any more vulnerable than she already was. She tried to formulate her next words, so that they didn't seem completely whiny and needy. "If you care," she said slowly, "then why were you with Gaeriel?"

"I wasn't with Gaeriel," Luke argued. "We made out a few times. That's all."

Mara felt both heartened and sickened by his words. The idea of Luke "making out" with someone else made her want to vomit. "Fine, but then why even do that?"

Luke shrugged. "What was I supposed to do, sit around and wait for you to come around? I figured that Gaeri would get my mind off you...and Kyle..."

"Oh," Mara said as Luke trailed off. "But Kyle and I were done by then."

"Doesn't matter. You'd made your intentions quite clear."

Mara wanted to scream. "Hey, wait a minute—what was I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for you to come around?"

Luke's eyes flashed in disbelief. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Mara threw up her arms in frustration. "It means, Skywalker, that I was throwing you enough signals that my father and Han could have probably seen them from orbit, and yet you still treated me as the same old Mara."

"I...I..." Mara could almost see Luke's mind racing. And other moment, she would have laughed at him. But now, she just wanted to smack him. "You were sending me signals?" he said finally, a confused expression on his face.

"Obviously!" Mara shook her head in disgust. "I practically acted like a vapid little schoolgirl. Leia and Mirax and even your own mother gave me advice. I felt like an idiot! And then I finally sucked it up and mentioned wanting to go to Dex's Diner after class one day, and you just completely blew me off."

Luke's eyes widened. "But…but I had to get in flight time that night," he protested. "It was the only time Wedge and the others were available."

"And you don't think that your best friend would have tried to make other arrangements if you'd told him 'Hey, I need to reschedule, Mara wants me to take her out'?"

"I dunno." Luke grew quiet, tracing a line on the forest floor beside him. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You weren't."

"So you went out with Kyle just to make me jealous?"

"No!" Mara said, sounding offended. "I went out with Kyle because he asked. He was nice, so I said yes. And then we got along really well, so we went out some more. But then it became obvious that we were better off as friends, and then he met Jan." Mara shrugged. "I don't regret it, though. He's a good guy."

"Yeah," Luke said reluctantly. "He is."

"So is that why you 'made out' with Gaeriel, to make me jealous?"

"No," Luke said firmly. "I kissed Gaeri because she was nice and pretty and I liked her. And I wanted to see what it was like to kiss someone, since you were busy kissing Kyle and all."

Mara rolled her eyes. "So you used her to get even with me?"

"Not that you'd care, since you're with Corran now," he spat their mutual friend's name like a curse, "but some women might actually find it enjoyable to kiss me."

"Yeah," she said softly, trying her best to forget all those fantasies she'd had over the past few years about kissing Luke. She inadvertently glanced over at him. His lips were glistening in the moonlight. "They must be crazy."

They didn't speak again for the rest of the night.

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They were quiet most of the next morning and afternoon. Their conversation the previous night had thrown him for a complete loop. Did Mara have feelings for him? No—she couldn't. Perhaps she had at one time, and was still angry about his apparent snubbing of her, but she was obviously over it by now. She'd been with Kyle, and now Corran…

When had things gotten so complicated? Why couldn't he just hang out with his friend, like in the old days?

The answer was simple. He didn't want to hang out with her like they did in the old days. He wanted their relationship to grow, to evolve.

But that would never happen.

"Hurry up," Mara barked from behind him. "We want to reach the city before nightfall."

Luke glared at her over his shoulder. "I'm walking as fast as I can. Maybe if you'd help me carry Artoo…"

"Forget it," Mara said. "It's your droid. You carry him."

"That's not very Jedi-like, Mara."

"Well why don't you go tell your father what a bad girl I've been?" Mara said sarcastically as she moved in step with Luke.

Luke growled low in his throat. She was so good at frustrating him!

"You know," Mara said playfully, moving ahead of Luke, "it's too bad you didn't have your head screwed on right a few months ago. You could've found out for yourself how bad a girl I can be."

Luke glared at the back of her head, unable to believe what he was hearing. Was she…was she flirting with him? No—no, she was pissed at him. She was just trying to give him a hard time. He shook his head. "I don't think we should be talking about such things," he said plainly. "Corran might get jealous."

"You're right," Mara said bitterly. "I wouldn't want to make Winter jealous, either."

Luke paused for a moment, then hurried to draw alongside her. "What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Don't play coy with me," Mara snarled. "I saw you making out with Winter!"

Luke looked indignant. "I've never kissed Winter!"

Mara threw a disgusted glance at him. "Maybe you've forgotten, Skywalker, but I work with Intelligence. I can tell when people are kissing, and I saw you kiss Winter with my own two eyes!"

Luke took a deep breath, blew it out slowly. "Mara, I don't know what you're talking about. I have never kissed Winter. She's with Tycho! Why would I do that to one of my closest friends?"

"That was my same question," Mara said bitterly. "But I saw you kiss her!"

"Okay, where?"

She gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

"Where did you supposedly see me kissing Winter?"

"I most definitely saw you kissing Winter outside of Rogue Squadron headquarters approximately one standard week ago."

Something began to click in Luke's mind... "Was I wearing my flight suit?"

"As a matter of fact, you were," Mara snapped.

"Mara," Luke said patiently, "I have never worn my flight suit outside of Rogue Squadron headquarters."

"So?" she retorted when she'd found her voice. "You could have gone outside to say good-bye to her." Her scorn was obvious, especially since Winter was one of her friends.

Luke wanted to put his hand on her arm, but he resisted. He'd probably get slapped. "Listen to me, Mara. I never wear my flight suit outside of headquarters. Ever. Think about all the times you've come to meet me after I had a flight class. What was I wearing?"

Mara took a moment to run those moments through her mind. "Your Jedi robes..."

Luke nodded knowingly. "Exactly."

"But I saw you!" she protested.

Luke sighed. "Did you see my face?"

"Well…no…I was coming from the other way."

"So all you saw was Winter kissing someone with blond hair who was wearing a Rogue Squadron flight suit?"

Mara's mouth curved into an "O" shape.

Luke nodded. "She was kissing Tycho. Her boyfriend." He paused, reveling in finally proving Mara wrong. That hardly ever happened. "Not that it matters anyway," Luke continued sadly. "You're with Corran and obviously not interested in anything I have to offer."

Mara glared at him, then shook her head in disbelief. "Gods, you are such an idiot."

Luke's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"

"You're an idiot!" she spat. "I'm not with Corran." Her words were barely a mumble.

"What?"

"I'm not with Corran!" she shouted, a red tinge coming to her cheeks. "I wanted to make you jealous, so I forced him to pretend to be my boyfriend. I told him that I'd put in a good word with Mirax if he went along with it, and then I said that if he didn't help me, my father would kill him."

Despite the grave situation they were in, Luke couldn't help but smile. "I can only imagine the expression on his face when you told him that."

"Yeah," Mara smiled back, but quickly sobered. "So there you have it. I got with Corran to make you jealous. Happy now?"

Luke stared at her, unabashed. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes I am."

Mara stared back at him. They stepped closer and closer, staring into each other's eyes the entire time. Their supplies, including Artoo, fell unheeded to the ground. "Luke…" She trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Mara," he said back, reaching up a hand to cup her face. "I've wanted to kiss you for years. I thought you knew."

She shook her head, blinking away tears. "You never seemed interested."

Luke tilted her chin up. "I'm so sorry you felt that way. I was an idiot."

She brushed angrily at a tear that threatened to fall down her cheek. "You were."

He stepped forward, their lips so close together now… "You could've asked me out yourself, you know. I would've said yes."

Mara's breath caught in her throat. "Come now, Skywalker," she said, forcing herself to remain detached. "When have I ever made anything easy for you?"

Luke smiled back. "Not very often," he admitted. Then he placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her close…

She pushed him away. "Luke!"

He blinked, unable to believe what had just happened. "What the hell, Mara—"

She reached for her saber and ignited it, dropping into an attack position. "MOVE!"

He whirled around. His eyes widened and he dodged to the side just in time to evade the large four-legged animal that sprung at them.

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The creature snarled, angry at having its meal taken away. Mara had jumped out of the way, her lightsaber still humming in front of her. She calmed herself and forced all her focus on the animal. It looked strong and agile, and its tail could probably knock them out. It was staring intently at Luke now, its haunches raised as it prepared to attack again.

Luke had his lightsaber in hand now and stared back at the creature, trying to intimidate it, but the animal would not back down. Instead it pounced again. Luke slashed his lightsaber down as he dodged out of the way but missed the animal by several centimeters. As it passed him, the tail smacked loudly against Luke's leg and he gasped in pain. Mara grimaced. Without the Force, they didn't have the advantage of prescience and Jedi reflexes. They had to rely only on their strengths and each other to survive.

Mara glanced around to make sure that there weren't any more creatures lying in wait. Then, since she was closest, she reached over and activated Artoo. It was worth possibly being tracked in order to sense other animals approaching.

The droid whirred to life. In response the animal whipped his head around. Mara froze, but the animal was clearly more interested in Luke.

"Artoo," Mara whispered, "keep an eye out for any more animals."

The droid beeped softly in affirmation.

Mara walked slowly around the animal, so that it was in between the two Jedi. They needed to take out the tail before they could even think of killing the animal. Luke seemed to catch her intentions because he twirled his lightsaber around, creating a loud noise to entice the creature. It charged and Mara moved after it, bringing her lightsaber down on its tail.

But the creature was too fast and she only caught empty air. Mara growled and got her balance back. The creature was now on the other side of Luke. It was obvious that the animal needed to be preoccupied if they wanted to cut off the tail.

"HEY!" Mara yelled loudly. The animal turned around and snarled at her. She stood her ground, refusing to be intimidated. "Why don't you come over here, huh?" she taunted it.

"Mara!" Luke hissed.

"I know what I'm doing!" she hissed back. "Just get ready!"

The animal sprung to attack. Mara braced herself for impact—

It came harder than expected. She gritted her teeth through the pain and held up her arms and legs to stop the animal from biting any vital organs. She kept jabbing with her lightsaber, trying to keep the animal from coming too close to her, but it kept attacking.

Then Luke was there. His blade cut through the tail in a wide arc. The animal yelped and jumped off Mara, both angry and hurt. It charged immediately but Luke was ready, dodging to the left.

And without any tail to worry about, Mara dropped to the ground and rolled, coming up at the back of the creature. She swung her blade and sliced the animal in half.

Luke and Mara stood panting for several moments, trying to clear the adrenaline from their systems. Artoo trilled mournfully but did not alert them to the presence of any more animals. They were safe, for now.

Mara glanced up. Luke was staring at her, lightsaber firmly in hand. His face was flushed and sweat dripped down his forehead. She knew she also looked a mess, with bruises developing on her arms and legs and mussed up hair.

But she didn't care. She had never wanted him more.

They stepped toward each other and kissed, fervently and passionately. His lips were firm and sweet as they moved across hers. It was not the tender kiss she'd imagined a first kiss together might be, but she didn't care. It was perfect.

Somehow they fell to the ground, their arms wrapped firmly around each other. She never wanted to stop kissing him. She didn't care if they stayed in this forest forever. She was so focused on Luke that she didn't even notice Artoo's incessant beeping.

Thankfully, it wasn't because another animal was approaching.

"Hey!" a loud voice yelled. Reluctantly, Mara pulled away from Luke's swollen lips. His eyes were shining with desire in a way she'd never seen before. She forgot all about the voice; it couldn't be nearly as important as kissing Luke. She leaned in to kiss him again—

But was cut off by another loud yell. She whipped her head around, ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind…

It was Captain Han Solo, Leia's boyfriend and her father's second-in-command. Behind him was a man Mara didn't know, with long hair and bushy mustache. He looked highly amused at the situation.

As did Han. "Well. It seems your dad was right to get me to come rescue you two after all. Only I don't think this was the type of trouble he imagined you'd be getting into, Jade."

Mara glanced at Luke. He cringed, shrugged...

And then said "kriff it" and kissed her again.