Clark, if there's one lesson I've learned from you ...

TITLE: Lasting Impression
FANDOM: Star Wars
RATING: PG-13
CHARACTERS: Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade
PAIRINGS: Luke Skywalker/Mara Jade
WORDS: 970
SUMMARY: The night before the trip to the Sarlacc Pit, Luke gets a visitor with a hidden agenda. AU
STORY NOTES: Catching up for lost time aren't I? Written for the rambunctious (and fellow Star Wars fan) sephygirl's birthday back in August (31st). A chance to write in this fandom with my favorite pairing in it as well? How could I have not been eagerly anticipating the time when I would actually write it. Hope you enjoy the final result!

Luke Skywalker sat back down on the bench and leaned his back against the cell wall. Things hadn't gone exactly how he had imagined while traveling to Tatooine, but that was why he had made those backup plans and had sent the droids to the palace ahead of him. He just had to hope that things went right in the morning and no one he knew was hurt when the escape attempt happened.

It was perhaps because he started to focus on the Force and forget about his current situation that he first noticed her small, slow, measured footsteps that traveled down the hallway towards the cells. No one without his awareness of the Force would have even noticed the movements or hear it, the steps reached a level of silence that was nearly impossible to achieve yet she was doing it.

When she stepped up to the cell bars and into the light, Luke let out a gasp at the beauty he was beholding. Shining reddish-gold hair down past her shoulders, deep pools of green in her eyes, and an athletically toned body that was revealed by the skimpy dancing girl outfit that she wore.

“Are you really a Jedi?” she asked.

Luke's slouch immediately disappeared and he puffed out his chest instinctively as he took in the girl's face, looking for sincerity. He was still new to the whole Jedi Knight thing, but he knew enough to get by. Enough to defeat Vader? He didn't want to know yet, but he was sure that it was enough to examine the dancing girl in front of him.

Strangely enough, the girl seemed to ripple in the Force around her, maybe not enough to be a Jedi from what Luke could see but she definitely had spirit, he could not deny that.

“I am,” he admitted. “And you shouldn't be here, it's dangerous.”

The dancing girl's eyes sparkled and she merely scoffed at him. “Just being a woman on Tatooine is dangerous. Better to be here in this lively palace surrounded by walls instead of sitting in underground huts waiting for life to end while hiding from sandstorms and Tuskens.”

Luke's heart clenched at the thought of the homestead but he held back from showing it to the dancer, there was no way she could know. “Don't underestimate Jabba. He is sly and deceitful let alone powerful.”

“Yet you walked into his guarded palace unarmed,” she replied. “Who says I am unarmed? Don't underestimate me.”

Luke surprised himself by standing up and coming within inches of the secretive dancing girl, only the bars of the cell between them. “Clearly, there's more to you than just dancing. It takes skill to have passed the numerous guards Jabba has to have a tête-à-tête with me. Why are you here pretending to be a dancer?”

The girl's eyes grew stormy for a moment before the emotions in them disappeared behind a shield of indifference. “You ask too many questions for a prisoner.”

Luke smiled at the girl's bristling. “It's not everyday I'm a captive of a beautiful woman.”

“If you were my captive, you'd already be dead. I take no prisoners.”

Luke started to reply when his Force senses warned him of someone approaching the cells about to interrupt them. The dancer caught his reaction and glanced back towards the dark corridor, seeming to hear the approach as well.

Showing a rare display of emotions again, she exclaimed, “Damn it! You distracted me!”

Luke, while enjoying the dancing girl's discomfort wanted to reassure her that he'd take care of the situation but before he could utter a word, she closed the distance between them and captured his lips in a passionate kiss. Hands tangled in hair, bodies pressed against bars, Luke was losing himself in the sudden kiss when a shout reached his ears.

“Hey! No one is allowed down here!”

It was Bib Fortuna, Jabba's trusted aide and fortunately for Luke and the dancing girl he was also a weak-minded Twi'lek.

“You've found nothing,” replied Luke with a wave of his gloved hand. “It was merely a baby womp rat scurrying around terrorizing the prisoners.”

“It was nothing, only a womp rat,” repeated Bib Fortuna dumbly before walking away from the cell area and back into the dark corridor.

The dancing girl looked impressed for a moment until realizing Luke was looking on and she adopted a more mercurial nature instead while she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Don't get any ideas, Skywalker. This isn't over.”

“I hope not,” Luke whispered wistfully under his breath.

Acting like she heard the quiet remark, the dancing girl gave him a haughty glare ill-suited for her station, before twirling away and stalking off.

Before she disappeared from view, Luke called out, “You know my name but I don't know yours!”

The girl's walk came to a halt in the corridor, half in the shadow of the dark corridor and half in the light from the cells. Luke couldn't see her face clearly and missed the different emotions flashing across her face as she debated whether saying anything at all. The silence grew long and right when Luke was expecting her to just turn away and not reply she gave him an answer.

“Arica.”

One word, her name, and then she was gone into the darkness as quickly as she had appeared earlier that night. Luke mentally attached the name to her face and while it felt off he promised himself he'd look for her tomorrow when he and his friends escaped from Jabba's grasp. Maybe he could help her off this dirt planet too; he couldn't deny there was something there between them, something fiery and explosive. The Force let him know he would meet her again someday. For better or worse.