"Skywalker..."

Only Jade could put such meaning into a single word - the impatient growl of exasperation, a subtle hint of passion too long withheld, breathy sensual desire now rising on that last ringing syllable. Oh, but she was good.

Luke's throaty "Hummmm?" sounded lazy in the darkened room. After all, he was concentrating on more important things at the moment, like nibbling at the soft spot behind her left ear - the one that could always drive her crazy with longing, the one that made her forget where she was, the one that?

"Skywalker, ah... could you go a little faster?"

Yes, the impatience was rising quickly but Luke just chuckled into her warm skin. "I thought you wanted me to take it slowly tonight, Jade."

The passionate growl that followed let him know that he had misjudged her in that regard. "You should know that I've been waiting for this for a very long time." As he whispered kisses down the column of her throat, she sighed with pleasure. "Ah, that's good. Hummm? yes, there."

He snickered at her instructions. Mara was never shy about what she wanted. Their entire relationship had been one of intensity and passion, even when they had first met so many years ago. And yet he couldn't believe that they were here, just married and about to make love for the first time. Oh, he was very much looking forward to that.

She nuzzled into his hair, her warmth making him shiver with desire. "Perhaps, Master Skywalker, I'll keep you after all."

Thoroughly enjoying her attention, he let out a low chuckle, and whispered into her ear, "Call me Luke."

He pulled away, his eyes, blue depths aglow in mischief and hunger, watching her even as her own passions began to rise. The back of his hand skimmed her face, his sly smile promising of things yet to come. "If you want something, I'm just Luke."

And then his hand moved elsewhere, and she began to protest, "Skywalker, please.... oh, yes, there. Ah..." -

"Say my name... say it."

Mara's protest changed to one of longing - he was very talented - and suddenly she breathed defeat. "Luke."

"Now was that so difficult, Mrs. Skywalker?"

Her jade eyes flared bright with fervent protest. "Very! So damn difficult that I need to be rewarded for my efforts. More than once." And then she grabbed him, pulling him close. "Come here, Luke."

"My pleasure."

With that, the amorous sounds of the couple began to fill the intimate space, joyous echoes of newly-married life that seemed to go on and on. Until?.

Suddenly, a deep masculine voice rang out. "Luke."

Luke had never seen Mara move so fast. One moment he had been passionately kissing his wife of five hours, his hard body half covering hers; the next, he had been flung back, the sheets shoved aside and Mara was sitting up, pointing a small blaster straight at the shimmering blue visitor. Startled, Luke looked up to see a long-dead spirit, one he had not seen in many years - one he thought he would never see again.

A wide smile started to blossom on his face, joy swelling within him at seeing the old man. It had been far too long. But as he turned toward Mara to share in the exuberance of the moment, to explain that his old Master had returned at long last, he realized something quite extraordinary and completely unexpected.

Kriff, she had taken a blaster to bed with her! On their wedding night!

"Are you planning on shooting me, Mistress Jade?" The ghost's voice was filled with dry wit and just a hint of sarcasm.

But her eyes hardened into stone at his amusement. She had been married only a few hours and it was obvious that exchanging retorts with a dead man was not high on her list of things to do right now. Brandishing the blaster in his direction, she glared at him, growling, "Depends on who you are and why you're in our bedroom. Are you here on business or are you just nosy?"

Luke's horrified "Mara!" brought her up fast. "This is my old Master, Ben Kenobi."

Even as he spoke, Luke was gently draping sheets around his blaster-wielding wife, hoping to cover her up in a vain attempt at bringing some propriety into the embarrassing situation. But she just sent a deadly glare toward her husband, daring him to continue at the peril of his life. Knowing that look, Luke let go and the fabric fell, puddling about her legs.

He had to admit that she was incredibly enticing, her shimmersilk nightgown gleaming in the soft light, fiery hair tousled and loose, one hand fanning across her hip. And then he pulled in his thoughts - now was not the time for amorous fantasies, not when her other hand held a blaster that was aiming straight at Ben. Besides, he was lucky that the weapon wasn't pointed at him and he wasn't about to have that change any time soon.

While Luke was trying to come to grips with the ridiculous situation, Mara was still glaring at the apparition, her eyes flattened in annoyance. "As in long-dead Obi-Wan Kenobi?"

"The same." He bowed slightly, smiling at her audacity.

Angered by the rapid change in events, Mara demanded, "So, what brings you into our bedroom at midnight, Master Kenobi? Some urgent Jedi business that couldn't wait until morning?"

His smile disappeared as he looked toward the couple. "You could say that."

A huff of exasperation escaped her. "Luke and I are on our honeymoon, Kenobi. And there are other Jedi just as able to deal with galactic crises. Many other Jedi. I would have thought that we could have had one peaceful night before returning to duty."

The old Jedi Master shrugged. He looked away for a moment, seeming to gather strength before plowing on with the reason he had returned. "Ah, well... as to that. I'm here to explain to Luke about one aspect of Jedi life that I had neglected to mention previously."

"And you want to tell him now?" The annoyance in her voice was rising fast.

"Now is best, Mistress Jade."

"Kriff, this is absurd." She swung around, glaring at her husband, her face sharp with disapproval and pique. "Skywalker, is he going to show up every night of our married life?"

"I hope not." Luke's eyes widened at the thought. "You aren't, are you Ben?"

Gazing thoughtfully at his old student for just a moment, Kenobi shook his head. "Certainly not. Because you can't be married."

"Yes, I can." He didn't understand why Ben was being so obtuse. Perhaps living in the Force that long had addled his mind.

The old Master just sighed, rubbing at the little frown that had gathered above his eyes. "Jedi can't have attachments."

Luke sat back, one hand catching at the sheets on the rumpled bed. Astonished at the absurd statement, he realized he was more than a little angry that Ben had waited until now to tell him. It was his wedding night, after all, and he was anxious to explore new territory. With Mara.

"Attachments? Since when? You never mentioned..."

"I am now." Obi-Wan seemed thoroughly embarrassed.

Luke tamped down on his frustration and tried to be reasonable. Perhaps Ben should have mentioned it a little sooner but getting killed and passing into the Force might have been a bit jarring. The old man had always tried to do his best, after all. And, with the events that followed, the subject just never came up.

But Luke wasn't about to change his mind about Mara, not even for his old Master. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Ben would have to realize that he was married and would continue to remain so. And no matter what, a wry smile and the little wave of one hand would never be enough to change that fact.

"Now is a little late, Ben. Mara and I love each other. We are married and I personally intend to stay that way. It is, after all, our wedding night."

Obi-Wan looked horrified. "But it is forbidden by the Jedi Code."

Luke couldn't believe what he was hearing. Dazed, he said, "What? The Code says... are you telling me that I can't make love to my wife? Ever?"

Kenobi tried to reassure him. "No, no, you can have sex with others. You just can't be married."

But it was no reassurance. If anything, it just made Luke more astonished and, frankly, a little appalled. "And you are suggesting that this is a good thing? Ben, I can't believe that the Jedi would have such a stupid rule."

Before Ben could protest further, there was a sharp whoosh, and a second blue ghost materialized in the room. With tousled hair and a lop-sided grin, the apparition was much younger than the first glowing form, but Luke recognized him right away. "Father..."

A quick nod toward Luke and then Anakin Skywalker turned toward Kenobi with a determined look and insistent air of healthy discussion to come. "My son is right, Obi-Wan. That part of the Code was ridiculous and should never have been enforced."

"You would think that, Anakin. And look at what happened to the Jedi Order." Obi-Wan folded his arms across his chest, glaring at his young apprentice.

But the former Darth Vader only protested, "If they had just allowed me to marry Padm?, none of it would have happened."

Ben shot back, "You don't know that."

Another whoosh and a third blue apparition wavered into the room. Luke didn't recognize this one but apparently Ben did. Tall, with dark hair and a broken nose, the man was dressed in the brown robes of the old Jedi Order. After a slight, gracious bow toward Luke and Mara, he turned away and frowned at the quarreling ghosts. "Anakin has a point, Padawan. The Code needed to be changed a long time ago."

Obi-Wan threw up his hands in disgust and glared at the tall specter. "Of course, you'd agree with him, Qui-Gon. You loved Tahl and then you almost went insane when she died. I think that my point is better made. Besides..."

But Qui-Gon interrupted Ben's tirade, pointing out, "Padawan, the rules on attachment no longer work. Surely you must see this." But when Obi-Wan shook his head sharply, the tall Master said, "You didn't love Siri?"

"That's different," Obi-Wan snapped back and the three ghosts began to argue intently among themselves.

On the bed, Luke could tell that Mara was beginning to get angrier with every passing minute. After all, there were now three of those blue apparitions in the room, they were getting louder, and they didn't appear that they were going to be leaving any time soon.

Moving the blaster in the direction of the tall spirit, Mara whispered to her husband, "Who's the broken-nose one?" but Luke just shrugged his ignorance.

The honeymoon couple was not surprised when yet another glimmering being popped into the room. This one was old and small and had very large ears. Mara's eyebrow went up in question and Luke whispered, "That one's Master Yoda."

She just shook her head in disgust. Making sure that her blaster was still pointed straight at the ghosts, and apparently exasperated by the whole debacle, she growled, "Skywalker, only you would have a committee meeting of dead Jedi in our bedroom on our wedding night."

"Hey, it's not my idea, Mara."

Luke tried to look innocent. Heck, he was innocent; this was not what he had planned for his honeymoon - but how could he get the ghosts to leave? It wasn't as if he could just wave his hand and make them go.

She sent him a withering look, one that spoke of lonely nights and cold comfort if this wasn't resolved and soon. "Skywalker?"

Frowning at the intently-arguing spirits and unable to think of how to stop this, he muttered, "I'm open to suggestions."

But even as Luke was speaking, Yoda hobbled over to the bed, stopping right in front of them and looking long and hard at the couple. Luke recognized that stare, those bulbous eyes glaring at him, eye-ridges scrunching in distaste, long ears pointing downward as though disappointed in his old student.

So he was not surprised when Yoda said, "Married you cannot be."

Pointing her blaster down at the little troll, Mara spat back, "Married we are and there is nothing you can do about it."

"So certain are you, Mistress Jade?"

"It's Mrs. Skywalker and, yes, I am." Her blaster never wavered.

It was obvious that Yoda was not happy with that answer. With one stabbing glance at the young pair on the bed, the old Jedi grunted out, "The Code is clear. Forbidden is attachment."

Whoosh - and another of the little blue-lit Yoda-types, somewhat younger and female, boomed into the room. "Forbidden it may be but left me with hatchlings you did."

Yoda turned toward the new ghost, his mouth flattened in annoyance. "Yaddle, know you that..."

With another noisy whoosh, a pair of darker-skinned beings showed up, a tall, bald man in antique Jedi robes and a smaller female with a tentacled headdress. They immediately marched over to the now-large gathering of glowing apparitions and began to add their voices to the noisy din.

Then another whoosh, and another, and before Luke's eyes, the room was suddenly filled with luminescent dead people. The sounds of discussion swiftly grew to a tumult of such discord that he could not think. Mara seemed to be having the worst of it, looking as if she were trying to decide where to point the blaster, waving it this way and that, and with no clear target.

And now, as Luke looked back towards the horde of Force ghosts, he was getting seriously irritated at the whole situation.

The specters were standing around in the far corner, arguing excitedly, ignoring the honeymoon couple as they fought over the future of the new Jedi Order - a future that would be molded according to the old rules or the new, rules about attachment and love and hate. And normally Luke would have waded in and joined them.

But not tonight, blast them. Tonight was supposed to be special, a wondrous night of love and passion. Instead, he was in bed with his beautiful, incredibly sexy wife and he was listening to dead people tell him what to do. Well, he wouldn't have it. Dark side or no, he had finally had enough.

"Out, all of you. OUT!"

One and all turned toward him, astonished and silent. The old Jedi Master started to speak but Luke sent him such a glare that Yoda shut up and just stood there, staring back.

"I mean it. Out! This is our wedding night and we are going to enjoy it. Without a gaggle of dead Jedi arguing about things that don't concern them any longer." Although half-dressed, still kneeling on the bed, Luke brought up one hand and pointed to the door. "Go! Don't come back tomorrow either."

A few of them shifted nervously, clearly intent on arguing with him, but Luke would have none of it. "Out! NOW!"

With that, the glows began to fade as one by one the ghosts disappeared from view. Master Yoda gave Luke a final displeased glare and popped out quickly, annoyance clear in the sound. Ben was the last to leave, but Luke frowned at him and shook his head, disgusted with the ruination of his wedding night.

And then Luke and Mara were alone at last.

Luke let out a very long sigh of relief and sat back down, exhausted from the night's events. But Jade was not exhausted - she was astounded at her new husband. Lowering the blaster, she turned to him, her green eyes wide in incredulity.

"Luke, you were so.... forceful."

He began to laugh then, so hard that he fell back onto the bed, pulling her down with him. "I can't believe you said that." And then he began to pick up where he had left off, nuzzling her skin, enjoying her warmth, humor and sheer audacity.

She snorted at the ridiculousness of the whole situation and then relaxed, her body melting into him. Burying her hand in his hair, she whispered, "You should do that more often...."

As his lips hovered over hers, he breathed, "Mara, you called me Luke."

She pulled back and smiled slyly. "Why so I did, Master Skywalker."

"I liked it. Now come here and get your reward..." And just before he began to kiss her with passion and the promise of a lifetime of love, he growled, "One thing, Jade."

He looked into her wide eyes and said, "Lose the blaster."

Original cover by Mistress Eden. HTML formatting copyright 2006 TheForce.Net LLC.