Title: The Sadder but Wiser Girl for Me

By: redtenko

Rating: PGish

Pairings: Luke/Mara with appearances by our favorite married friends.

Summary: The secret of Luke's crush on Mara comes out in a disastrous way, and suddenly everyone's making it their business. .

--

"You know, I can't help but feel a little responsible for this mess," Wedge mused, looking around the room.

Corran nodded. "I know what you mean," he said. "Guy's got three married Corellian friends to help him out. If he hasn't won the girl yet, the problem is obviously with us."

"It's not my fault," groused Han from the sofa. He looked over his shoulder at the dark lump occupying the far chair by the window. "How ya doin' there, kid?"

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, sat sunk impossibly far into the cushions, his chin molded to his collarbone. The only reply Han received was a very muffled, pitiful groan.

"See? He's fine," Han winced, turning back to the Rogues in his living room. "But this is definitely a delicate situation. Possibly dangerous, depending on how your wife's handling things on her end," he looked toward Corran, who was checking his chrono for the umpteenth time.

Wedge was about ready to slap the chrono from his wrist, Horn had him so agitated. "I'm sure Mirax will call if Jade decides to renew her vow to kill Luke," he assured the group.

Corran grunted and moved to refill his drink, nerves reacting in a way his friends usually associated with a visit from Booster Terrik.

Wedge rolled his eyes and exchanged a look with Chewbacca. "Anyway," he began, having every indication of bringing the men back to the subject at hand: Luke's disastrously public blunder with Mara Jade. As far as he was concerned, the women were in charge of calming the former Emperor's Hand, and Luke was the responsibility of his brothers in arms. "Luke's obviously got to act fast before she jumps planet," he reminded them. "But he needs some means of approaching her without getting his ass kicked straight to—"

"I'm sitting right here!" Luke moaned from his chair.

"Just trying to help, buddy," Han assured the despairing Jedi while biting back a smirk. He hadn't heard Luke whine like that in a long time. "We're on your side."

"Horn's on Mara's," Luke muttered.

The other men turned their gaze back to Corran, who was again checking his chrono. The Force strong pilot looked up when he felt eyes on him, and glared back defiantly. "Okay, first of all: there aren't really any sides; we all agree Luke messed up," he said, pausing to sip his brandy. "Secondly, yeah, I feel for Mara more in this. She's emotionally confused enough, now the poor woman probably doesn't know what to think. What with the way he blindsided her and all."

"Well, hopefully Mirax is keeping her calm," Tycho offered. He'd been sitting peaceably, trying to mind his own business as much as he could without being rude.

"Drinking with Mirax is not calming," Corran retorted, checking his chrono once again.

"Stop that," Wedge growled. "Tycho's right. The women get along. They'll have their 'girl talk'; it'll be a good thing. Mara can rant, blow off her steam ahead of time and Luke can move in when she's calmed down."

"Again, I'm still here," Luke called from the cushions. He was getting pretty sick of hearing about himself.

"Luke, I wasn't talking about you and Mara," Han raised his palms, trying to clarify. "I mean, I was—but I was just saying we're on your side when it comes to Lando. He's my friend and all, but him and Mara? I just don't see it."

Luke's fingers, which had been futilely rubbing his temples, moved to pinch the bridge of his nose as he grimaced. "I don't want to fight with Lando," he groaned miserably, the stress of the evening visible in his features. "I wonder how many more friendships I can ruin tonight. Maybe I'll go call the academy and insult Streen's mother."

"Don't worry about Lando," Han eased, again fighting to hold his amusement from the now downright snippy Jedi. "I fought with him over plenty of women—no hard feelings in the end. I'm sure he's more surprised than mad. Never occurred to him he'd be competing with you."

Luke gave a miserable moan and actually managed to sink further into the chair, his head now close to the seat cushion. "I…it's not a contest!" he exclaimed, purely exhausted with the room. "It's not like Lando and I are the only options Mara has. It's probably going to be neither of us."

The men were all silent for a moment, save Chewie's sympathetic rumbling. This thought hadn't occurred to anyone else until Luke voiced it.

"Well you certainly won't win her over with that attitude," Wedge pointed out.

Corran agreed, and opened his mouth to remind Luke how much Mara hated his moping, but decided now was not the time. Again he checked his chrono, wishing Mirax would call and tell them just what would win Mara over, or if there was any hope at all.

"I am going to take that from you, I swear," Wedge threatened, eyeing the timepiece with irritation. His friend's abnormally anxious attitude was not what the room needed right now.

Corran glared at his commanding officer, as unwilling to calm down as he was unable. His worries about what trouble Mara and Mirax were causing together had mixed with the sadness and humiliation leaking through Luke's Force barriers. Feeling over sensitized, he took another aggressive sip of his drink.

"Come on, Kid," Han urged, his voice calling the others back to attention. "He's right, about your attitude—you're over thinking all this."

"I'm over thinking?" Luke echoed flatly.

"You are! This is not the attitude that got your sister out of the Death Star," the former smuggler reminded him. His gut told him he'd hooked onto a good analogy, and he went with it. "If you'd given up the rescue idea before you even started, none of us would be here today."

There was a thoughtful pause, then, "If you recall, my impulsiveness got us walled into the detention block by squads of storm troopers," Luke said. He was determined not to be cheered up. "Leia had to save us with her garbage-shoot idea."

Han's nose involuntarily cringed at the memory, and Chewie laughed.

"Then some creature tried to choke me, and we nearly got flattened when Threepio turned off the comlink," Luke listed. "Over-thinking is sounding pretty good from here. I think I've been impulsive enough for a lifetime—if I didn't prove it back then I certainly did tonight."

Corran glared over the rim of his now empty glass. "I think what tonight proves is you shouldn't bottle up your emotions."

"There is no emotion, there—" The entire room, including Tycho, groaned loudly with enough exasperation to drown out the rest of the Jedi code. Luke's shoulders hunched peevishly at the interruption. He grabbed the arms of the chair and at last pushed himself upright.

"Come on, Luke," entreated Wedge. "The Force can't possibly have a problem with people being happy. Seems to me happy people function better, and what's the Force gonna do with Jedi who don't function right?"

"What? That doesn't make—I function!" Luke felt a surge of indignance, but wasn't sure where to aim it.

Han sighed. "I think…I think what Wedge is trying to say is that people who don't feel the Force have just as many problems, and you're just using that Jedi code as an excuse not to deal with your own troubles like anyone else would."

"Exactly!" Wedge gave the back of the couch a hearty slap. "Now, about Jade. Maybe I can get a block on the Fire's clearance and—"

"Oooh no," Corran shook his head. "You mess with Mara Jade's ship, or even her ship's clearance codes…I'd sooner kiss Booster's feet than be near you when she finds out."

"But what if we—"

Luke stood up quickly. "Listen, I think I'm just gonna head home," he announced, calling his wrinkled cloak to his hand and pulling it on.

"Luke—" Han began, but stopped, recognizing the man's unfortunate mood. His bother-in-law's shoulders were slumped in a combination of forced calm and premature defeat.

"Thanks for trying to help, but what I really need is some meditation…or some sleep," the Jedi continued, heading for the door. "Could you tell Leia I'll call her tomorrow?"

"Sure, kid, but…"

"Thanks," Luke mumbled. "See you later." And with that, he slipped through the door before anyone could think of a useful reply.

The foyer doors slid shut, and the last thing Luke Skywalker heard before stepping into the hallway was the loud buzz of the apartment's comm station, followed by the even louder "FINALLY!" from Corran Horn.

To be continued in part 2