The Measure of a Man

by: Luke-Angels

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From her spot, sandwiched comfortably between her husband and the back wall of the elevator, Mara Jade Skywalker had the vague sense that she was forgetting something.

--Luke?-- she sent through their Force bond to her husband, as her lips were otherwise occupied.

--Hmmm?-- he lightly ran his hands down her ribcage, tickling and causing shivers to run over her body.

--Shouldn't we be somewhere?-- It was hard to think with Luke's hands everywhere, seemingly at once.

He didn't answer and Mara didn't really mind, and she let her own hands start to wander over his body. She'd just gotten back that morning from a two-month sojourn with Mirax, and had fervently leapt onto her husband at the landing platform, not giving a damn who happened to be watching. The past few hours had been a blur of welcoming home embraces, and now they were in an elevator going…

--Your sister's!-- Mara spoke up again over the bond, remembering. --Our first anniversary party.--

--Oh, okay,-- but Luke seemed uninterested as he began kissing down her neck and shoulder, bared by the halter-dress she wore.

--Luke,-- she moaned over the bond, before realizing the elevator had stopped, presumably at Han and Leia's floor. --Luke!--

Disgruntled, he pulled back from his exploration of her collar bone. "What?" he asked aloud.

"Our party. Your sister's. Let's go," Mara demanded as she looked towards the elevator doors as they opened.

"What if I don't want to?" Luke asked, grinning naughtily at her. He began kissing her neck again, slowly.

Mara moved her hair to give him better access, but still prodded at him, even as the doors closed and they began moving down again. "Your sister has gone to a lot of trouble to plan this party… I think we should at least…" she trailed off, as he reached her ear and nibbled. Suddenly she wondered why they needed anyone else to help them commemorate their anniversary. Surely the celebrations would be far more enjoyable with just the two of them.

"Admit it, you don't really want to go to the party either…" Luke whispered into her ear, setting her whole body aflame.

Mara looked at him impishly. --What party?-- she sent, already kissing him again.

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The door chime rang and Leia ran ahead of Threepio to open it, sensing her brother's presence on the other side. Han reached it first, however, and opened it wide to find a grinning Wedge and Iella Antilles, a blushing Luke Skywalker and a disgruntled Mara Jade Skywalker.

Wedge walked in without prompting and said, "We found them in a clinch in your elevator."

"It's a good thing we left the girls at home with a sitter….they would have witnessed a bit too much in that elevator…" Iella said through laughter, and Luke blushed harder. Mara pushed past them all, leaving her husband to deal with the embarrassment all on his own.

Han leaned in towards his wife. "Remind me to take the stairs from now on."

Leia laughed but hugged her red-faced brother anyway, whispering congratulations to him. Han slapped him on the back and winked, before zeroing in and stalking after Mara who had moved over into a corner and was speaking with Corran and Mirax Horn and Tendra Calrissian.

"So, interesting elevator ride, Mara?" Han asked his sister-in-law genially.

Mara glared at him. "Stow it, Solo."

Mirax smiled knowingly. "You should have seen her, all the way back to Coruscant, all starry-eyed…"

Mara growled and the others laughed. "Okay, okay. You've had your fun…"

"Seems like you have too," Corran interrupted, grinning.

The small group laughed again, and even harder as Leia practically dragged her brother over to join them. Mara took Luke's hand and glared around, daring anyone to comment, and wisely they all kept quiet. Lando Calrissian came over and joined up with the group, planting an arm around his wife's waist. "Congratulations you two," he said to Luke and Mara. "One year married. Who ever would have thought? The lovely Ms. Jade and the Jedi Skywalker… Marital bliss…" he smiled crookedly at them, raising his drink in a shaky, solitary toast.

"How much have you had to drink, Lando?" Mara asked, eyeing the half-empty glass of whiskey he held in his hand.

"What?" he asked. "This? This is something Karrde brought in for you and Luke…" Lando gestured with his head, towards the kitchen. "He, Shada, and Chewie are in there--"

"Karrde and Shada are here?" Luke asked, turning to Leia. "Who else did you invite?"

"A few others, I'm sure they're on their way," she responded. "And the kids, of course. They're here, off in one of their rooms…hopefully not getting in to too much trouble."

Han rolled his eyes, having too much experience with his own children, much less the children of his friends, to have any hope for that being true.

"I'll go check on them," he volunteered, and Luke followed, dodging as Wedge began to tell Lando what he'd seen in the elevator, and Lando reached out to slap him in the back.

"Thanks for the party, Han," he said as they approached the bedrooms.

"No problem, Kid," he answered, listening at Jaina's door and shaking his head. "Not in there…"

The next door was Anakin's and Han swung it open to find the kids all piled on Anakin's bed, staring at the wall. Jaina and Jacen were sitting back to back near the headboard, and Anakin and Valin Horn lay at the bottom of the bed, half-heartedly tossing a small ball to one another. The kids noticed the adults, and perked up.

"We're bored…" Jaina Solo said, drawing out the word 'bored' until it was almost unrecognizable.

Han looked over at his brother-in-law and smirked. "Sounds like you, Kid."

Luke looked affronted. "Well, why don't you all play a game?" he suggested. "I know you have plenty of them. Or perhaps Threepio--"

"We've already played with Threepio! He's boring, anyway!" Valin piped up, and the Solo children nodded in agreement.

Luke sighed, suddenly glad that Mara had told him she'd like to wait a few years before attempting to have children. "Well…. why don't you watch the HoloNet?"

"Really?" Jaina's eyes lit up.

Han groaned. "Uh, Kid," he started, but the children were running past him and down the hall, towards the family room where the Holonet was kept. Han looked at Luke. "Leia doesn't like the kids to watch the HoloNet, says there's nothing but tawdry programming on there."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Tawdry?"

"Her word, not mine."

Luke nodded and the two men headed down the hall to look in on the kids, but were waylaid by the arrival of more guests, Winter and Tycho Celchu, followed by a few of the Rogues, who all immediately made for the whiskey. Luke lost track of the number of times he was slapped on the back in congratulations (probably more so for the elevator ride than the anniversary, he thought), and he was seriously beginning to fear he was going to bruise. Mara was over in a corner with all the party's females and they laughed over something... and as Mara looked over at him and winked, he feared they were laughing at him.

Luke made his way towards the women of the party anyway, hoping that they at least wouldn't smack him on the back. Just as he reached their small group, Mirax spoke up to Leia, asking if she could put Valin down to sleep in the guest room, as it was probably past his bedtime. It was then that Luke remembered the HoloNet, and he looked towards his brother-in-law with a panicked expression.

Both men took off in front of the women towards the family room. They got there just in time to see all four children watching a scantily clad purple Twi'lek fawn all over one of the more famous holo-actors of the moment.

Mirax and Leia came into the room just then, with Leia asking Han sharply, "Just what are the children watching?"

Han turned to Luke. "Kid?"

"Uh..."

Just then, the images of the holo-actor were replaced with an image of Corran Horn who had the number 74 outlined over his body. Valin pointed at the screen and said, "Daddy!"

Mirax looked at the HoloNet. "What in the stars...?"

The purple Twi'lek was speaking while holos of Corran flashed. Mirax called for him to come in and see what was playing on the HoloNet, and practically the whole party came into the family room, eager to see what all the fuss was about.

"...he may be short, but you know what they say about short men..." the Twi'lek simpered, moving sensually around on her stage, in front of a large holo of Corran, running and bare-chested.

Corran, entering the room, was speechless. His Rogue Squadron mates, however, were not.

"What in the... Horn! All right, buddy!" Wes slapped Corran on the back as a holo of him and his ex-girldfriend Siolle Tinta showed on the screen.

"What is this?!" Corran finally asked, avoiding the sparks his wife was shooting at him from her eyes over the holo of him and his old flame.

"101 Sexiest Citizens of the New Republic," Jaina spoke up. "They have these shows on all the time."

"What?" Leia said, looking at her daughter. "How often have you watched shows like these?"

"Oh, tons," Jaina said, sounding bored. "Uncle Luke is on them all the time."

Everyone turned and looked at Luke. "Don't look at me," he said, "I've never heard of this before now, either."

Han looked at his daughter. "What about Daddy, sweetheart? Is he on these shows?"

"Han!" Leia elbowed him.

"Yeah, Dad! You're on some. There was one... 101 Sexiest Pilots."

Han grinned. "And was I on that one?"

"Yeah, but you were only number 25."

"25!" Han looked scandalized.

"Well, Dad, they said "You're only as sexy as the ship you pilot..." " Jaina's voice was lost in the roar of laughter that followed her comment.

Several more holos of Corran flashed on the screen, with the purple Twi'lek keeping up a running monologue of Corran's attributes. Mirax and Corran watched open mouthed as several holos appeared on the screen of them together, apparently in private settings, and Valin shouted when a holo appeared of him and his father at one of Coruscant's indoor swimming pools.

The Twi'lek appeared once more, as the holos of Corran faded away. "That's one pilot who could run my course any day…" she said, preening. Mirax's eyes widened and she picked up her son, storming from the room. Corran looked torn between going after her, or staying to watch and see if he was featured on the show any longer.

The Twi'lek was speaking, again. "…remember you voted NR, and these are your Top 101 choices for the sexiest citizens in the New Republic! I'm Nabrina'vida, your hostess, and when we come back from the advertisements we'll have more of your choices and I'll add a bit more sexiness to your night!" She thrust her chest out and smiled seductively at the holocorder.

Jaina snickered. "Jacen thinks Nabrina'vida is sexy…"

Leia looked at her glazed-eyed son. "Okay, then! Time for you three to go to bed. Han?" she looked towards her husband for help. The wrangled up the protesting children and left the rest of the party in front of the HoloNet.

Luke leaned in to turn it off, tired of the loud advertisements that now blared from the screen. He was stopped by a chorus of "No!"

"What?" he asked, looking up at his wife and friends.

"Uh, well…" Lando said, sipping his drink nervously.

Everyone looked very shifty, and Luke could feel their embarrassment through the Force.

"You all want to see if you're on the list, don't you?" he asked, astonished. He was amazed by the answering nods, and blushes.

Mara came over and took his hand, settling him down beside herself on the sofa facing the Holonet. "Come on, Farmboy, it can't be that bad…" she winked at him. "I'll bet you're on the list…" She smiled at his blush and turned to talk with Iella, and suddenly the din of conversation was very loud as the party-goers began to speculate, and bet. Karrde immediately took change and began dictating names and numbers of credits to Shada, who took them down with an eager smile on her lips.

Luke tamped down his blush and looked around groaning. "I have a bad feeling about this…" he said, but it was lost in the excitement that began as Nabrina'vida once again took to the screen.

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