Beyond - Legends Little Goodbyes (Luke/Mara, Lando) Thanks and Replies

Title: Little Goodbyes
Author: ginchy
Category: AU, romance, humor (I hope)
Genre: Vignette
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine, though I would love to "own" Luke.
Summary: Mara holds a press conference to tell the GFFA the truth about her relationship with Lando.

EDIT 2/3/14: Fixing my old fics. Tempted to edit them for quality, but have decided to let them stand unless there's something that just plain drives me nuts.

Well, here is a "bunny" I adopted from the SJRS. I enjoyed writing this story so much, and Lando just took over! He was a riot to write. I know that the press conference probably is stretching it a bit (especially for Mara) but what news that would make in the GFFA! I?d like to thank Jedi-Liz for looking over this for me! I hope everyone enjoys.

Bunny Description:
Mara and Lando's assingment (whatever that was, don't remember) is finally over. They decide to let "the public" know that their "relationship" is over. Because Lando had always pushed things a little farther than Mara liked, Mara decides to do it VERY publicly. And quite dramatically. Luke, who has been intensely jealous up until then, is quite surprised--though not unpleasantly so- when Mara jumps in his lap.

Little Goodbyes


The wait was killing her.

Too long she had been forced to endure this charade. If any proof was still required from anyone, anywhere, that she was no longer an assassin, the fact that Lando Calrissian still lived ought to prove it to them. And if Karrde ever dared to mention that she may not be quite the friend she espoused to be, she would surely throw this whole debacle in his face.

She obviously adored Karrde after what she had been through for him.

As Mara sorted through her travel bag, extracting too-large, overly ostentatious shirts, she cataloged the years of humiliation she had lived through...all in the name of friendship. How many times had she had to hold Calrissian’s hand, follow in his wake, wear one of his horrible shirts, or kiss him–all in the name of holding cover?

And worse, how many beings in how many sectors of the galaxy now thought of her, Mara Jade, as a dim-witted, hormone idled, hero-monger?

Gathering up the shirts Mara moved from her small bunk out into the main hold of her ship. She was finally back on the Jade’s Fire, thank the gods, and back on her way to Coruscant. Mara counted herself lucky that she had finagled a promise from Karrde to hold a press conference at the end of the mission, in order for her to set the record straight to the galaxy–Mara Jade was not some hero’s trophy–she was her own woman, and by the gods, everyone would soon know it.

And, too, the one person whom she wanted to know that she was a free woman–not a woman entangled with Lando Calrissian of all people, would soon know–thanks to her foresight in holding this conference.

Skywalker would say it was the Force at work. And Mara was inclined, this one time, to agree.

She was only just sure about Skywalker, and his feelings for her. A shiver went down her spine to think of Skywalker having “feelings” for her–but he did, and they were true. And she knew about these feelings, ironically enough, thanks to Calrissian himself.
Four standard months previous she and Calrissian had made a trip past Yavin IV and decided to stop in to bunk and reload. While there Lando had thought it would be humorous to keep up appearances, and had stretched Mara’s patience to the limit. He insisted on calling her pet-names and on holding her hand at every given opportunity. Mara had been very close to telling him where to stick his hand when she had felt a ripple in the Force...a very unusual ripple coming straight from the lowered shields of the Jedi Master himself, Luke Skywalker.

It was jealousy. Pure, simple, and unabated jealousy. As Mara lifted her eyes to meet Luke’s from across the walkway where she and Lando stood, she felt as he took the emotion and released it into the Force before strongly replacing the barriers to his mind. She also noted the blush that has risen to Skywalker’s cheeks and knew that he hadn’t meant for his shields to be lowered.

But in that moment she had felt what Luke felt and she knew that he held feelings for her. And that was all she needed to know. After that Mara had held Lando’s hand in delight, hoping that Skywalker would let his shields down again. He didn’t, but Mara enjoyed the heated looks Skywalker kept throwing in her and Lando’s direction.

Smiling at the thought, Mara continued to the cockpit of her ship, to find Calrissian dozing in the co-pilot’s chair. Sending a Force nudge in his direction she unceremoniously dumped his shirts over his head and felt no small thrill of satisfaction at finally being rid of the ridiculously colored wardrobe.

“Huh?” Lando looked up, blinking through the shirt that dangled precariously over his nose. “What’s going on?”

Mara snorted. “Wake up, Calrissian. It’s almost show time.”

Lando removed the shirts and began meticulously folding them. “Does this mean I have to give your panties back?”

“Don’t make me kill you,” Mara growled, fiercely, “you know I’m still capable.”

Lando chuckled. “Ah, my dear, I’d never be so callous with my own life. You should know that by now–after all we’ve been through.”

Mara appraised him frankly, ignoring Lando’s attempt at a winning grin in her direction. “Yeah, well,” she finally conceded, “you’re not so bad, I suppose, for a hero.”

Lando laughed and smacked his leg. “Only you, Mara Jade, would say “hero” like it was a bad thing.” He stopped laughing and held up a bright purple, satin shirt. “What was I thinking and where in the galaxy did I buy this?”

Mara shook her head. “I have an incinerator on board, if you’d like...”

Lando nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”

Mara glanced at the chrono and felt her stomach seize up. “2 hours until we reach Coruscant. What did Karrde say about the conference when you spoke with him?”

“It’s set and ready to go. All the press you could hope for, my lady. Although, I must say, I’m rather hurt. I thought we had become...close...on this assignment.” Lando reached over, and grabbed Mara’s hand, trying to raise it to his lips, “Do you find my company so repulsive?”

Mara snatched back her hand as if it had been scalded. “You’re still alive, Calrissian. Don’t press your luck any further.”

Lando nodded, sagely, then grinned. “Will Luke be at this conference?”

Had she not been trained for years to not show outward reactions, Mara may have jumped out of her seat in surprise at that moment. “What in the name of Alderaan made you think of Skywalker?”

Lando shrugged. “Maybe the fact that I heard you on the comm last night talking with Yavin IV and asking, in your own round about way, if he were on Coruscant.”

Mara looked at Lando, dumbfounded. “I swear, Calrissian...I’ll be glad to be rid of you. In fact, I should just boot you out into space right now.”

Lando stood, apparently unconcerned with her threat. “Ah, but you need me in order to convince Luke that we’re not a couple.” He grinned, “And besides...you like me in your own, twisted sort of way. As you said...the fact that I’m still alive must confirm it.”

Mara shook her head at him, surprised to find that she was suppressing a smile.

Lando turned to leave the cockpit, before turning and holding up the purple satin shirt he had previously ridiculed. “Are you sure you don’t want a souvenir of our time together?”

Mara shook her head in the universal “no” signal, emphatically.

Lando nodded, sighing. “I just though you’d like it....I remember how hot those Yavin nights were and I thought you’d like something lightweight to sleep in...”

Mara jumped from her seat, rethinking the fact that she’d left Lando alive for so long, and Lando turned to flee, conscious of the fact that he was skirting a dangerous line. It didn’t stop him from laughing, however.

**


Mara sat at the table that had been set up on a dais in the center of the press room, trying not to contemplate what was going to happen within a few moments time. The conference was set to begin at 1200, and they were really only waiting for people to begin to show up.

Mara took a small nail-file from one of the pockets of her flight-suit and set about filing her nails. It was her one and only nervous habit, and she marveled at the fact that she even had any fingernails left after all the filing she had been doing to them over the last few weeks.

Lando, sitting next to her, leaned in conspiratorially as the first holo-journalist began to filter in the doorway opposite them. “How about I open with a joke? Maybe tell the journalists that you and I are engaged to be married? That ought to be worth a laugh.”

Mara’s eyes narrowed as she turned and looked at Lando. Knowing that he was just testing her calm, and perhaps even trying to ease her fears by taking her mind off of them, she favored him with a half-smile. She casually raised her nail-file and tapped him on the nose with it, trailing it down and off his face and onto his chest, stopping the dull point right over his heart. She leaned in even closer to him than she had been before, ignoring the murmurs of the holo-journalist who were witnessing what they no doubt though of as a romantic moment. “If you so much as even joke for one moment that you and I are more than acquaintances or friends, I will take this nail-file and dig out your beating heart. Do I make myself clear?”

Lando, looking remarkably calm for someone who had just been threatened by an ex-assassin, grinned unabashedly and sat back comfortably in his seat. “Clear as transparisteel, my lady. Clear as transparisteel.”

Calrissian no longer held Mara’s attention however, as the black-cloaked figure of Luke Skywalker entered the conference room, preceded by his sister and her husband. Mara tried not to stare directly at Skywalker, but found that she failed at it miserably. She noted that he looked calm, but that his shields were held tightly in place–a sure sign to her mind that he was unsure of what was happening and why this conference was being held, and didn’t wish to give away any of those thoughts indirectly.

Right behind the Skywalker/Solo clan Mara saw Talon Karrde slip in just as the large chrono built into the wall over the door changed over to 1200. The holo-journalists turned on their cameras and aimed their listening devices expectantly and Lando rose from his seat. Mara had decided it would be best for Lando to deliver the news of their operation–she felt it would feel more genuine coming from him, than her. Besides, Mara had smirked to Calrissian, she didn’t feel that she could trust herself to not say some of the choicer thoughts she held in her mind regarding the last few years.

“First,” Lando began, “Mara Jade and I would like to thank all of you for coming here to listen to what we have to say today. Having said that, Mara and I are here to admit to a duplicity on our part. For several years now you may have been under the impression that the fair Ms. Jade and I are more than friends. We are here today to repute that “fact”. Mara Jade and I are not, nor have we ever been, romantically involved with one another. Our entire “entanglement” was a cover for an assignment we were involved with for...a mutual acquaintance. That assignment is now complete, and as such our duplicity is now coming to an end. During the term of this assignment Ms. Jade and I were required to often act out of our own characters, so we would ask that anyone who may be been surprised or appalled by any of our actions to please take these facts into consideration.”

Mara sat staring at Skywalker as she watched him take in Lando’s words. She barely noticed as Lando began to field questions, giving out the bare minimum of facts dealing with their assignment in order to please the public. After a few moments Luke’s blue eyes rose to meet Mara’s and she felt his shields lower, just enough for her to feel the jubilation and relief that he felt at her and Lando’s announcement. And finally, the opening she had been waiting for had arrived.

A droid reporter, representing a large entertainment group, moved to the front of the room and asked, “Why have you held a conference in order to tell of something so...trivial...and meaningful to only a few select people?”

Mara moved from her chair and raised her hand to stay Calrissian’s comments. Ignoring the droid, and her companion, she stalked down from the dais she was seated upon and moved out into the crowd, coming to a stop in front of Luke Skywalker. Through her lowered shields she could feel the anticipation of the crowds around her and she surprised them, and Luke most of all, by settling herself comfortably astride his lap with her arms linked around his neck and her forehead pressed against his. She allowed all her emotion to pass through her into Luke and closed her eyes in wonder as she felt his answering emotion.

Pulling back she smiled at him, delighting in the sight of the huge grin that was now plastered upon his face. The crowds around them still hadn’t moved and not a sound was heard as Mara said, “I was under-cover with Lando for years. But now, the only man I want to be under-cover with...is you.” Bright splotches of color rose to Luke’s cheeks seconds before Mara swooped in and covered his mouth with hers. Luke seemed to be frozen in shock for a moment, before he snapped out of it and began to kiss her back, raising his arms to tangle his hands in her hair. They kissed endlessly, ignoring the gasp that came from Leia, who was seated next to Luke, the sudden explosion of talk, the holo-photographs, and the insufferable sound of Calrissian’s raucous laughter behind them.

Not pulling away from the amazing kiss for a moment Mara nonetheless knew there was much to talk about with Luke, and they still had this conference to finish. But at the moment she only wished to revel in the feel of Luke’s lips upon hers, the warmth of his embrace, and the overwhelming emotion that they were now sharing with one another through the Force. She felt that she deserved this after what she had been through, and the gods knew that she had been through plenty. But there was time ahead for all that and more.

For she had said her little goodbyes to Lando Calrissian and to her past, and was only now just beginning to say hello to Luke Skywalker and the bright future they would share together.

 

And worse, how many beings in how many sectors of the galaxy now thought of her, Mara Jade, as a dim-witted, hormone idled, hero-monger?



What a great little viggie, ginchy! Love the story, very well written.

I enjoyed that immensely.

oldj

 

I like this. You kept making me laugh.

 

She leaned in even closer to him than she had been before, ignoring the murmurs of the holo-journalist who were witnessing what they no doubt though of as a romantic moment. ?If you so much as even joke for one moment that you and I are more than acquaintances or friends, I will take this nail-file and dig out your beating heart. Do I make myself clear??

Great vig, ginchy!

I like the imgae of Mara gathering up all of the horribly coloured shirts she'd had to wear over the years. And your Lando is great

I really enjoyed this.

 

Lando Calrissian = funny

Nice job, ginchy.

 

tee hee hee

 

This is priceless, great vig Ginchy!

 

Bravo! This was wonderful! I loved it!

 

That's great, ginchy!! Wonderful job with the bunny/challenge!

 

That was hilarious! I loved it ginchy!!

 

Awesome vig!

I loved it!

Fantastic job.

 

Great little viggie.

AG88

 

Haha! Good for Mara, settings things completely and utterly straight.

Loved the exchange about the purple satin shirt.

 

?I was under-cover with Lando for years. But now, the only man I want to be under-cover with...is you.?



Pure fun! Enjoyable vig ginchy. I love the banter between Lando and Mara...the nail file part *sighs*....perfect!

 

oldjedinurse: Thank you! I?m so glad you enjoyed it!

ccp: I?m so glad you laughed! I was hoping I wasn?t the only one. Thanks for reading!

JadeLotus: I like the image of Mara gathering up all of the horribly coloured shirts she'd had to wear over the years. And your Lando is great. Thanks! I was interested in adopting this piece for awhile, and your interpretation of Lando inspired me to go ahead with the story! The image of the shirts is what came to me first...I seem to remember Han seeing Mara wearing one of Lando?s shirts. I can only imagine...

Stormtrooper_TK-421: Thanks, TK! I?m glad you found Lando to be funny as I always love your humor pieces!

RedGold: I?m glad you giggled! Thanks!

rhonderoo: Thanks! I?m so glad you enjoyed it!

VaderLVR64: Thank you so much!

Jedi Trace: Thank you! I had so much fun writing the piece. I?m glad you enjoyed!

cheersweetie27: Thank you, ?sweetie?! I love your siggy?from Steel Magnolia?s, right?

Jadie: Thanks, Jadie! I?m so glad you read it!

academygrad88: Thank you!

JadeSolo: Haha! Good for Mara, settings things completely and utterly straight.
Yeah, I think the ?press conference? part is a bit much, but I do think Mara would want a way to set everyone straight! Thank you for reading; I?m glad you enjoyed it!

MirandaFair: I love the banter between Lando and Mara.
Oh, thanks! That was my favorite part of writing the piece?Lando really took over and he and Mara just seemed to enjoy the verbal sparring. I?m so glad you liked the story?thanks for reading!

And to everyone:

 

LOL! Having the news conference was an interesting twist--but oooh, loved the photo shoot the press got at the end!!! Front page full page, in living color!

 

Thanks, Jade_eyes! I'd love to have a picture of that moment, too! LOL And I know I've told you before...but I love your signature line. I couldn't agree more!

 

This is my bunny, and I never replied to it...

Bad Emmi.

So cute! My favorite part was Mara's little nail-file threat--so very in-character for Mara. Lovely, dearest!