AJ Balance Point Challenge Fic

It's after midnight here, which makes it ... the 4th of December! Woohoo! Hit that 'send' button! :-)
And don't forget that spoiler space! You may want to avoid putting your title in the subject line, too...
Enough waffling. Here - have a fic...
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The challenge - write about one day in the pregnancy of Mara Jade.

"Get Me Out of Here"
by Angela Jade
Rating - PG
Disclaimer - they were created by George & Tim, and now they belong to LucasArts. I'm making no money from this.
Spoiler - HUGE one for "Balance Point" by Kathy Tyers
Written in reply to my own fanfic challenge on the Mara_and_Luke egroup & the Skywalker-Jade egroup lists. One day in the pregnancy of Mara Jade.

Luke Skywalker sauntered happily through the med-center, smiling and nodding at the staff he encountered and resisting the urge to whistle. Soon, very soon, his beautiful wife would make him a father for the first time and, for once, nothing else in the galaxy seemed to matter to him. The disease that had ravaged her body until a year before still appeared to be in remission, and although she had to have frequent medical tests, so far the baby was also looking healthy. A huge grin lit up his face as he approached the door to her room, and he held the bunch of delicate white flowers he was carrying behind his back as the door zipped open.

He'd managed two steps into the room, when Mara looked up from her bed and spitted him with an angry glare, Force-shoving him back against the wall.

"Ow! Mara! What's wrong?"

"Get me out of here, Skywalker!"

Luke moved towards her, rubbing the shoulder of the arm that had been bent behind him. "But I brought you some..." He glanced down at the mauled plants, squashed beyond all recognition. "...flowers."

Mara covered her face with both hands, her elbows resting on her swollen stomach as she shook her head in frustrated disbelief. When she felt him place a gentle kiss on her forehead, she reached up and grabbed a handful of tunic, pulling his face to hers until they were almost nose to nose. "Get. Me. Out. Of. Here," she growled. "Now."

Swallowing hard at his wife's vicious look, Luke tentatively tried to smile. "I take it the tests aren't going so well."

Her grip on his tunic tightened, her knuckles glowing white. "I have been poked, scanned, prodded, questioned, biopsies taken; I've had every damn healer or medic in the New Republic in here, all of whom have a different opinion, and I have had ENOUGH!"

Luke covered her clenched fist with his own hand. "Mara, you said you'd cooperate, just to make sure the disease doesn't come back. The baby..."

"The baby is fine, Luke. I'm fine. The only problem I have right now is that my blood pressure is sky-high because of all this stress!"

"Relaxation techniques..."

"Don't work!" snapped Mara. "I am seriously considering the benefits of the Dark Side right now..."

"Don't even joke about it, Mara." His hand gently caressed her stomach, but his eyes never left hers. "We have to protect him."

Mara's voice was so low, that Luke struggled to make out her words. "I am protecting him, Luke. I'm the only one that can truly protect him before he's born. And right now, my instincts are saying get him away from all this fuss. It's not doing him or me any good at all."

Serene blue eyes met earnest green ones for a long, long moment as thoughts and emotions passed silently between them. "Are you sure, Mara? What if something happens, what if the baby comes early, what if..."

She stretched up and met his lips with her own, putting the full force of her love into the kiss. "I'm sure, Luke. I've got to get out of here. You know how much I hate med centers, and I'm only pregnant, not dying."

He smiled at her words, a reminder that she no longer succumbed to the Yuuzhan Vong illness that had plagued her for so long. He let out a gentle sigh. "Get dressed, Mrs. Skywalker. I'm taking you home."

Her answering grin lit up her face and warmed his heart. He pressed a firm kiss to her forehead, dropped his mangled flowers on the bed, and strode towards the door and the medics beyond. When the door swished closed behind him, Mara carefully picked up the squashed blooms and cradled them in her arms. Oleariis were plain, white and understated, with a delicate scent that was all the more noticeable now that the flowers had been crushed. "I love you, Luke Skywalker." The little life inside her chose that moment to give her ribs a hearty kick and Mara winced. "I must do, to be going through all this to give you a son."

***************

She lay on her side in the bed she had shared with him for so long, fuming silently. Mara had been convinced that her insomnia would be instantly cured by returning to the familiarity of their Coruscant apartment, but even after a soothing massage and some gentle love-making she was still wide awake and uncomfortable. Could she stand another two weeks of this? She sincerely doubted it.

Her baby wriggled and twisted inside the now cramped confines of her womb, and Mara felt the urge to visit the 'fresher. Again. She decided it wasn't that urgent; she was fed up getting in and out of bed every half hour, and her bladder could just damn well wait. Another practice contraction rippled its way down her abdomen, and Mara grimaced in response. The first time she'd noticed the gentle tightening of this new muscle she'd previously been unaware of, she'd found it quite fascinating, if somewhat disconcerting. But the novelty had rapidly worn off, and as the birth approached, the contractions had become more painful.

"Sith!" She really did need to go to the refresher, and now. Carefully rolling onto her other side, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and slowly stood. "Ow, ow, ow!!" She gritted her teeth through another contraction. If this was what the practice ones felt like, she did not want to experience the real thing. At least, not without a serious amount of drugs. Slowly, she made her way across the bedroom to the 'fresher, and had almost made it to the door when she felt the warmth of liquid trickling down her leg. "Dammit!" she cursed, upset at what she considered the ultimate humiliation of losing control. "I thought I was going to make it."

The truth of the situation dawned on her a moment later when another contraction hit and the baby 'cried' to her through their bond. "LUKE!"

"Huh? What?" He sat bolt upright, sleepily trying to orientate himself towards his wife and the sense of anguish he could feel projecting from her. "Whassup?"

"He's coming. The baby. Now." Mara sank into a nearby chair, her legs shaking, her sleep shift soaked with amniotic fluid.

"What!?" Now he was wide awake. "But he can't be! Cilghal said he wouldn't be born for another two weeks!"

"She obviously didn't consult your son when she made that diagnosis," Mara snapped. "Now, get me to that damnable med center. There is no way I'm giving birth here, with only you for company."

"Yes. Right. Sure." Luke quickly pulled on some clothes, then sprinted to her side when another contraction struck. "Oh, Gods, are you okay?"

"Skywalker..."

"Yes?"

She glared at him malevolently. "If you ever touch me again, I will kill you with my bare hands."

He swallowed hard but wisely decided not to reply.

"And, Skywalker..."

"Yes, Mara?"

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!"