A/N: Sorry for the insanely long delay in posting part two of this. Took me a bit to get this written and to be happy with it. Hope it was worth the wait.
Lando woke to find the other side of the bed empty. He vaguely remembered talking Mara into bed with him, but they had fallen asleep before he had got much further. Stripping off the dance costume and donning his usual attire he made his way out to the living area to find Mara. The sight he was greeted with made him fight hard to suppress his laugh long enough to snap a quick holo before she alerted to his presence and woke. Passed out face down on the couch, data pads and cards scattered around her with one still half resting in her hand was Mara, with various pittens sleeping on her back, shoulder, even head. Deciding to leave her sleeping, he slipped by to start some caf brewing to help with any hangovers from last night's heavy drinking. As the brew was finishing she stirred and blinked awake, her eyes still bleary and her hair in all directions. After removing the pitten from her head she shook her head to clear it. "How much did we drink last night?" she muttered sleepily. Lando nodded towards a stack of empty bottles.
"Quite a bit it seems." he said.
"That caf?" she grunted, in her typical near monosyllabic morning speech. Lando smiled and brought her a cup, sitting next to her as she shifted to sit upright.
"Just the way you like it." he said.
"Thanks." she said taking the cup and sipping the hot caf while Lando collected up the pittens and returned them to their pen.
"No problem my dear. I missed you this morning. I recall last night started off most promising…" Lando said and Mara snorted, punching him lightly as he settled back down next to her.
"Til you fell asleep on me lover boy." she teased.
"Might work better if it didn't take so much alcohol to convince you to join me there." Lando reminded her. Mara shrugged lightly at that, sipping her caf.
"Perhaps, but it's the only time my judgement is impaired enough to agree." she said. Taking in his hurt expression she sighed "Not like that. You are a great man… and a pretty good lover from what I can remember… but it doesn't feel right when I don't have feelings for you that way… and never will. You are a great friend Lando… but I don't want a relationship with you. Being lovers… complicates that." she explained. "I don't want you getting the wrong idea about things." she added. Lando nodded. He did understand.
"I understand there is someone else… but we are both single. I don't see why we can't-" he started to protest but Mara cut him off shaking her head at him.
"Could you really be ok with that? Be with me knowing it's just physical. I have no feelings for you that way at all?" she asked. "Think long and hard about it Calrissian, because I don't have time to-" she broke off at his smirk and hit him "Get your mind out of the gutter Calrissian! That was not what I meant!" she griped. Tackling her down Lando laughed.
"Really now? That wasn't what you said last night." he teased, taking advantage of the fact she still wore the revealing dance costume and tickled her bare sides. Between laughter as she slipped her hands under his top to get her revenge on him, Lando tried to continue the conversation. "Anyways, I'm serious Mara. Kriff I'll even pretend to be whoever it is you fancy." he said. A mischievous look crossed Mara's face and he was certain he would be regretting his words in a moment.
"Will you now?" she asked playfully intrigued.
"Should I be finding a fake lightsaber?" Lando asked. At her expression for a split second before she masked it, he knew he was right. Skywalker was the one she wanted. So why did she still have that strange smile on her face?
"Mmm… I suppose, though he never used a lightsaber much…" Mara said trailing off. "He could… but I only ever saw him do it once." she said. Lando blanched, hoping he was wrong in where she was going with this. Frantically thinking of anyone else- anyone who might use a lightsaber he started throwing out guesses.
"Uh, Boba Fett."
"Nope"
"Corran?"
"Ew, no he's like a brother to me!"
"Leia?"
"I said he already. Get out of your fantasy mode Calrissian." Mara groused, hitting him with a pillow on the couch.
"Mara surely you can't…" Lando said struggling for words.
"Why not? Force bonds are powerful things." she said casually. Lando gave a resigned sigh.
"Well if it makes you happy… I don't suppose you have some black robes around?" he said. Mara kept her composure for another moment before she lost it and started hooting with laughter, her whole body shaking beneath his with mirth.
"Actually I do. I used his robes to slip out from Isard's nose when I left Coruscant right after his death… but I am just teasing you Calrissian. Your face was priceless!" she laughed. Lando frowned at her for a moment but imagining his expression he began to laugh too. Tilting her head at him she smiled genuinely. "I suppose if you are willing to go that far to make me happy… I guess I can meet you part way." she said, wrapping her arm around his neck to draw him down into a kiss. Sliding his hands beneath her to pull her closer, Lando considered things were going in a most promising direction when the comm link beeped. He gave a groan of frustration as Mara laughed, extracting herself from under him.
"Ignore it." Lando grumbled, trying to pull her back into his arms but she shook her head firmly.
"Business first." she said. Considering her attire she handed Lando the comm. "You'd better answer it. It's either Karrde or Skywalker and either way this outfit raises way too many questions. I'll be back in a minute." she said. Sighing Lando waited til she left the room, then flicked the comm on.
"Calrissian here." he said.
"Oh hey… is this a bad time?" Luke asked slightly flustered at the fact it was Lando answering Mara's comm "I just wanted to apologize to Mara for yesterday. Is she around?" he asked.
"Yeah she's just gone to make herself beautiful for you." he said ducking the brush that was lobbed at him "Kriff Mara have some more caf and recover your sense of humour!" he grumbled at her "She just got up." Lando explained to a confused looking Luke.
"Ah yeah, she isn't much of a morning person is she?" Luke asked, somewhat relieved at the explanation. He had no reason to, he should want Mara happy, but he couldn't help it feel a pang of jealousy at the thought Lando was with her.
"I can still hear you Skywalker!" Mara threatened as she made her way to the comm, now dressed in her usual black suit, her long red hair braided back from her face. Grabbing the comm she made her way to her room to speak with Luke privately.
If the swears and crashing were anything to go by, the conversation between Luke and Mara was not going well. So much for apologizing Skywalker Lando thought to himself as he heard Mara growing increasingly irritated and angry. He wondered what Luke had said to get her so riled up. Finally he heard a very loud and clear "Kriff you Skywalker!" and what he decided was the sound of Mara throwing her comm link at the wall. Cautiously he ventured towards her door.
"Mara, everything ok?" he asked. There was huff followed by a thump that he realized was Mara hitting her head back against the wall behind her bunk as she threw herself down on it.
"What do you think Calrissian?" she asked bitterly. Though her tone was angry he could tell she was hurting. Whatever Skywalker said had clearly upset her on a much deeper level then she cared to let on.
"Can I come in?" he asked. Mara hesitated for a moment before sighing and giving the door release a nudge with the Force, not wanting to move, and cursing herself at the same time. Stepping into the room Lando saw Mara sitting on her bed with her head leaned against the wall, her eyes shut. He had a hunch the latter was the fact she was crying and trying not to let it show. She opened her eyes to regard him and he saw he was correct in that her eyes were indeed red rimmed with unshed tears. "What happened?" Lando asked softly, sitting next to her and pulling her into his arms.
"He's just so…. infuriating." Mara sighed. "He's so sure he's right he won't even listen to my side."
"This about the Jedi thing?" Lando asked and she nodded.
"He can't understand why I don't want to go to his stupid Academy." Mara grumbled.
"Why don't you?" Lando asked. Mara eyed him wearily, but in the end decided maybe it might help to get this off her chest.
"It's… a number of things. I don't like how he's doing things with him being the only Master. Been there… done that. I'm not bowing to anyone else. Course when I try explain that to him he gets all defensive saying he's not like Palpatine… but he is in a way. Not malicious… but it's about control and power and who has it… and the ability to share that." Mara said. She hesitated, unsure if she should say anything further. She was sure Lando knew already, but once she said certain things there was no going back. As she debated Lando solved the issue for her.
"The other is your feelings for a certain farm boy who remains utterly oblivious and ignores you when you are there?" he filled in.
"How did you know?" Mara asked, surprised.
"When you were there and I was doing supply runs, I saw how you looked at him… and the kicked Carosi pup on your face when he would ignore you to go tend to his other students." Lando said and Mara blew out a calming breath.
"That obvious am I? To everyone but the person who matters?" she asked.
"Not totally obvious. It's taken me a while to piece it together. Luke though… it would probably take the subtly of a rancor in a cantina to get him to figure it out. You should tell him how you feel Mara." he advised.
"If only it were so simple." Mara sighed "Much as he drives me crazy… he's my best friend. What happens if I tell him and he doesn't feel the same?" she asked "Anyways.. I'm not his type from what I have seen."
"Yeah and how did those relationships work out for him? Maybe you aren't his usual type, but you are what he needs. You're not afraid to call him out when he's being an idiot. He needs that sometimes." Lando said and Mara laughed. Tilting her head to regard him she asked the inevitable question.
"So now the nexu is out of the bag… where does that leave us?" she asked.
"Same place as before." Lando offered. "I knew from the start your heart belonged to someone else. Lets finish this run, maybe have some fun and unwind. When we get back maybe drop by the Yavin and try talk… or kriff just kiss the man and see where it goes." Mara laughed at that. She tried to imagine just grabbing the farm boy and kissing him passionately. He would probably have a heart attack she concluded. Reflecting on Lando's words she decided he was right. Maybe Luke did need her just to be upfront and honest to figure it out. She would work up the nerve and talk to him… eventually. For now though… she shifted and kissed Lando lightly.
"Thank you." she said.
"For what?" Lando asked.
"For being there and understanding." she said. "And I think it's time I thanked you properly for that." Mara added with a wink.
The remainder of the trip to Kabaira went without further incident. Luke had wisely decided not to try comm Mara again until she had had some time to cool off a little. He had grown closer to her in the past few days now she was finally relaxing and letting her guard down around him more. With her biggest secret out between them, she'd been more willing to talk and share about her past. It gave him a better understanding of why she was the way she was learning about just a fragment of what she had endured under Palpatine, then her years on the run before she met Karrde. That she had survived and thrived through such adversity made him admire her all the more. "Ready to unload these pittens and get paid?" Lando asked.
"I'm gonna miss the little fuzz balls." Mara admitted "But getting paid sounds good." she laughed. Docking the ship they located their buyer.
"You Jost Ferral?" Lando asked the man.
"That's me." he confirmed "I hear you have a litter of pittens for me."
"That we do." Mara confirmed. "Where do you want them?" she asked checking her data pad to see the credit transfer had gone through.
"If you can just bring them to my house just over there." Ferral said pointing "My daughters are going to be thrilled!" Mara smiled at that as Lando ducked into the ship to collect the cage of pittens.
"I'm sure they will be." Mara said.
"Thank you so much for bringing them." Ferral said.
"Don't thank me, thank my boss Karrde. I'm just the messenger." Mara said shrugging.
"None the less, I thank you. Karrde wasn't sure when he could get them out without your assistance.. and well… my daughter's birthday is today, so your timing is perfect." Ferral explained. "Did he tell you that?" he asked. Mara shook her head.
"No he didn't. Guess the Force works in mysterious ways sometimes." she said.
"That is does." agreed Ferral. "I hope it works to bring you as much happiness as you have brought me and my family." he said clasping her hands in his. Mara forced herself to smile at the man, but deep down she wondered if the Force had ever brought her anything good… or ever would. Except there was Skywalker… who was simultaneously the best and worst thing to ever happen to her. Well tomorrow was always another day she thought to herself, another day to figure things out