Timeframe: About three or four years after the Thrawn trilogy.
Summary: It's Han and Leia's wedding day and as their new life together begins, Luke and Mara start to realize that they might be feeling more than friendship towards the other at the wedding. But with Luke and Mara anything can and will happen. This story is very much AU.
Author's Note: For the purpose of this story most of the events that happened in the Thrawn trilogy are accurate. The only things that are different are that Han and Leia weren't married and didn't have twins, and I might add a few things in that never happened.
Also this is my first Star Wars story that I have written and if you review please don't be mean or rude. If you have any good advice I'd love to hear it or if you want me to add something just let me know.
__WesternCowgirl
Love Blossoms at Weddings
Chapter 1
The ceremony was beautiful. The couple standing at the alter showed much love for one another as they clasped their hands together and said their fateful vows to each other. You could see the love shining in the eyes of both lovers standing across from each other. As they finished saying their vows to each other, many in attendance had tears in their eyes.
It seemed that the only person who didn't have tears in their eyes was the maid of honor. Mara Jade noted all of the tears being shed as she stood off to the side of Leia. She didn't have any tears in her eyes because she didn't believe in crying over happy things. She had learned as a young girl that tears were a sign of weakness.
She didn't believe that much anymore, but she also didn't believe in crying over a happy occasion. Why did all of these stuffy diplomatic people have to cry over a wedding? Or worse yet, some of the guests were pretending to cry so that they didn't seem left out.
It infuriated Mara, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Instead she stood off to the side of Leia with the rest of Leia's bride's maids and smiled instead. It didn't matter anyways, thought Mara. Nobody would be looking at her right now anyways. Everyone's eyes were glued on the beautiful bride reciting her fateful vows.
Throughout the rest of the ceremony, Mara continued smiling and kept thinking her own private thoughts. She was happy that her friend was getting married to the man of her dreams. It had taken them long enough to realize that they were perfect for each other and even longer yet for Han to propose to Leia.
She remembered when Leia had told her about her engagement and then showed her the ring that Han had given her. It was a beautiful diamond that seemed to shimmer in the light in a million different ways and show just as many different colors at the same time. Afterwards Leia had asked her to be her maid of honor. Mara had accepted the role in a heartbeat.
As Mara watched Han and Leia say their fateful vows to one another, she started wondering if she would ever get married or have a family of her own someday. The thought seemed absurd to her. Nobody could ever love her in the way that Han clearly loved Leia. Even if somebody could ever love Mara in that way she wasn't sure if she would like it. She wasn't one to show her emotions much and the thought of sharing a life with someone else besides herself was a scary thought.
The only other person that trusted her and didn't annoy her that much was Leia's twin brother Luke. Luke, besides Leia and Han, all thought that Mara Jade was still an Imperial spy sent to kill anyone that was a rebel. Many people feared her and wouldn't even acknowledge her when she was onCoruscant. It didn't matter that she was a changed woman from her days as Emperor's Hand, but people seemed blind to that fact. They chose to ignore the facts and believe every rumor that they heard about her was true.
That's why Mara found it ironic that the one person who did completely trust her was Luke. She remembered finding him in deep space and all she wanted to do was kill him. She wanted to fulfill the Emperor's last command that had been haunting her dreams for the last three years before she had found Luke.
Instead of killing Luke like she had planned on doing, she kept finding excuses to keep him alive. She needed him alive through their trek through Myrkr. She snatched him away from the crazy clone Jedi master Joruus C'baoth in order to rescue Karrde from Admiral Thrawn.
By the time they had rescued Karrde she didn't want to kill him anymore. She just wanted to kill the voice that rang through her head every night when she fell asleep. Luckily they found a convenient way of killing that annoying voice. All she had to do was kill the clone Luuke at Mount Tantiss.
She looked over at Luke who was standing off to the side of Han. He was looking at Leia and seemed happy to see his twin so happy. Then he turned his head and was looking at her. He was giving her that earnest look again. Over the last couple of weeks he had been looking at Mara differently. It unsettled Mara to say the least. She felt uncomfortable at times and it made her feel something she didn't want to admit to herself. She looked away towards Han who was finishing his vows.
"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." With those words Han kissed Leia passionately for the first time as husband and wife. Everyone clapped and stood up for the happy new couple. As the wedding music began to play, Han and Leia walked down the aisle and out the doors leading to the garden outside.
After the newly weds walked down the aisle and out the doors the rest of the wedding party was allowed to follow. Since Luke and Mara were best man and maid of honor they were the last ones to exist of the wedding party.
Finally it was their turn to walk down the aisle. Luke held out his arm and Mara gently took it and let him lead her down the aisle. If it was anyone else who was leading her, she would have been mad and furious, thought Mara. But strangely she didn't feel upset at all that she was being led by Luke. In fact she felt calm and content. It felt right to Mara and scared her at the same time. Without warning a vision passed before her eyes.
She was standing on a balcony and leaning against it. There was a beautiful lake that she could see and seemed to stretch for miles without an end to it. The water was so blue and clear that she could almost see the fish in the water. The wind started to pick up and the dress she was wearing fluttered around her. Without warning someone came up behind her and turned her around. It was Luke and before she could do or say anything he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately.
Mara faltered a step from the vision she had seen. She felt that there were missing parts of the vision she hadn't seen, but the feeling of the vision was complete happiness and joy that she had never felt before. Then after the happy feeling faded, Mara realized that the vision had included her kissing Luke Skywalker. That would never happen and thought that the vision must have been a dream or something else. Because if that had been a vision of the future she was terrified by what it could mean.
She shouldn't be thinking that she and Luke felt right together either. Nothing good could come of it, she thought to herself. She looked up to find that Luke was looking at her with a question in his blue eyes. She smiled at him to reassure him she was fine and continued walking.
She still couldn't believe what she had just seen. She and Luke were just friends, nothing more. But in her heart she feared that she falling in love with her best friend and was terrified that she couldn't stop it.
Luke had enjoyed the ceremony and was happy to see his sister and best friend finally married. They both seemed very happy and radiated much love on their special day. It also made him feel a little sad though. He doubted he would ever fall in love again. It seemed like all of his past relationships had been meant for failure. Gaeriel wouldn't leave her world and life behind for him and Callista had left him.
During the ceremony he couldn't help but notice how beautiful Mara Jade had looked as Leia's maid of honor. In the last couple of months he had realized that he had been feeling different about her. He didn't dare voice his feelings to Mara though. He knew that she hated change and wouldn't like it that her best friend was feeling more than just friendship towards her.
He had kept sneaking glances at her throughout the ceremony. The last time she had noticed and seemed to know what he had been thinking. He knew that it had made her feel uncomfortable, but he couldn't help it. She was mesmerizing to him and all he wanted to do was look at her for the rest of his life. He knew that probably wouldn't happen, but he wished very hard that he was wrong.
Finally the priest announced Han and Leia as husband and wife. Han took Leia in his arms and kissed Leia passionately. The crowd of course cheered and Luke couldn't help but get caught up in the middle of all of it. The newly weds walked down the aisle to the wedding music playing and shortly afterwards the rest of the wedding party followed.
Luke and Mara were the last ones to walk down the aisle. He held out his arm to Mara and she took it without uttering a word. It still surprised Luke that she hadn't complained at all about having to be led down the aisle by him. She had gone along with all of Leia's wishes for her wedding and hadn't complained once about anything. In the last four years that he had known her she seemed to have softened a bit.
They were walking down the long aisle of the church and Luke heard murmurs from the guests in attendance. It sounded like approval and sighs for the beautiful couple walking down the aisle. The only thing wrong with that thought was that he and Mara weren't a couple, thought Luke.
All of a sudden Luke realized that Mara had faltered in her step and turned to him and gave him a weird look. He tried to read her sense in the force and wasn't surprised to find that she had her barriers up. He was concerned that something might be wrong, but then she smiled at him and every other thought in his head vanished at the sight of her smile.
Luke wondered what Mara was thinking about and why she had given him that weird look. He couldn't think of anything and now wasn't the right time to ask her. Later he promised he would ask her why she had looked at him in such a strange way. Mara Jade was a mystery to him and one that he wanted very much to solve.
Finally after what seemed like a long time to Luke and Mara they made it outside of the church and onto the sprawling green lawn that lay before the church. Han and Leia were posing for pictures over in the corner by the flower garden. They looked happy, but after awhile Luke could see Han starting to fidget and getting annoyed with having to stand still for so many pictures. He could see Leia trying to make him stand still and not succeeding at all. Luke softly chuckled to himself.
"What's so funny," asked Mara.
"Han," Luke said trying not to laugh at his new brother-in-law. "Leia's trying to get him to stand still and isn't succeeding."
Mara turned towards Han and realized that Luke was right. He wasn't standing still and Leia was trying to use both hands to keep him still. Mara started laughing along with Luke.
"Those two are perfect for each other," said Luke.
"Of course they are," Mara replied. "I'm just surprised that it took them so long to admit it to each other."
"Well they are two of the most stubborn people that I know, except for you of course." Luke said with a hint of a smile on his face.
"You think that I'm more stubborn than those two? Clearly you don't know me that well. I could never be as stubborn as those two."
"I do know you and you are more stubborn than both of them combined." Luke looked over to see Mara glaring at him with her emerald eyes and decided to add on to his comment before she decided that she really did want to kill him again. "But that's why I like you so much."
Mara stopped glaring at him and wondered at his choice of words. He said he liked her, but what did that mean? Did he like her as a friend or more than just a friend? She didn't know anymore and didn't want to know the answer anyways.
"I'm not that stubborn," Mara said. She knew that wasn't true. She was very stubborn and always got her way no matter what. She saw that Luke was going to start talking again about how 'stubborn' she could be, so before he could get a word out of his mouth she decided to hit him with her bouquet of flowers.
Han and Leia had just finished posing for their wedding photos (at least for the time being) and were enjoying the feeling of being newly weds. They thanked all of the people who came up to them and wished them happiness on their new life together and congratulations. They were strolling along arm in arm to see where the rest of their wedding party had disappeared to. The entire wedding party was supposed to pose for their pictures in the next five minutes and most of them were scattered throughout the garden.
All of a sudden Leia heard a sound that she hadn't heard in a long time, her brother laughing and sounding happy. She turned toward where Luke was and was amazed to find him defending himself against Mara Jade who was hitting him with her maid of honor's flower bouquet. The two of them were oblivious to everyone else in the area.
"What are you looking at Princess?" asked Han as he came up behind his wife and pulled her into a warm embrace.
"Watching my maid of honor hitting the best man with her bouquet of flowers," replied Leia.
"Those two will be the next to get married," said Han in an almost serious voice, but with a wicked grin on his face.
"I don't think so," said Leia uncertainly. "I mean I love both of them, but they're both so different. I don't see how it could work between them."
"You're forgetting one thing sweetheart," said Han.
Leia raised an arched eyebrow towards her new husband. "And what would that be?"
"We're both different and we're doing just fine," Han said in a loving way. "Actually we're doing much better than just fine."
Leia smiled to herself. Yes she and Han were both different and it had taken them forever to admit that they loved each other and even longer yet before they decided to get married. But they were doing fine and would continue doing so.
"Sometimes I just think that it would be hard for Mara to be in a relationship. She's so independent and then there's the fact that she wanted to kill Luke."
Han saw the slight frown on his new bride's face and decided he had to do something to change that. "Don't worry sweetheart. Mara doesn't want to kill your brother anymore. If those two are meant to be they will be."
Leia nodded her head in agreement. She saw her brother ducking from Mara's flowers and noticed that her photographer was taking pictures of them. "Do you think we should tell those two that the photographer is taking pictures of them?"
"Not a chance," replied Han laughing. "I want those pictures to remember part of our wedding day together and how your brother kept getting hit with flowers."
"You're so bad," said Leia laughing. "Must be why I love you so much."
Han didn't answer Leia in words. Instead he leaned into his wife and kissed her soundly on the lips.