Title: I Do, Promise

Genre: Angst, Romance, AU

Timeline: After Vision of the Future but Luke and Mara didn't get married

Characters: Luke, Mara, OC

Hello all!

This is a story that was inspired by a promise a friend of mine and I made in high school. I will be posting a chapter probably every week (though maybe faster if you beg! j/k) until we get through chapter six which is as far as I currently have written! University takes up a bunch of my time and I don't get to write as much as I would like so I'm sorry if it gets a little slow after that! But rest assured, the entire thing is plotted out in my head (though it does keep changing slightly... aggravating muse!) so this will not just drop off the face of the earth!

I will go ahead and say a few things that seem to have upset a few readers other places. I say this is a L/M story, and it is... but it won't seem that way for a little while! Good things come to those who wait:wink:

-- mav

Prologue

We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears. Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld

Luke and Mara were on their way back from Nirauan after Luke had gone after Mara to rescue her, which was a reversal of the normal routine the two friends usually preformed. Perhaps it was the change of the usual that set the tone, or perhaps it was the events that took place on the strange planet in the outer-rim. Either way, they found themselves in the strange ship with the Caamas document in tow when Mara started a peculiar conversation.

"I want you to promise me something."

Luke looked at Mara with a sincere smile, but said nothing. Mara seemed to be in a reflective and open mood, which was something he didn't want to disrupt by opening his mouth.

"I don't want to be alone for the rest of my life." Mara continued as she gazed out among the stars.

Luke was slightly confused, as--to his way of thinking, at least--this statement had nothing to do with a promise, but he let her continue at her own pace.

"I just lost something that was very important to me. The Fire was everything I have, but ..." she hesitated, debating if she could actually ask Luke the question she had in her mind. She wondered if it would change their relationship; if it would hurt the friendship they had worked so hard and so long to create.

Deciding that he was the only one of whom she could ask such a thing, she continued. "If neither of us is married by the time we are 50, I want you to marry me." There it was, out in the open. A small part of her wished she could take it back--she was merely having a moment of weakness--but things that are said could not be unsaid. After a few moments she dared to turn her head to look at Luke, slightly afraid of the reaction she would see crossing his face. She could tell he was bewildered and slightly concerned at her strange request, but there was a smile on his face. She shouldn't have expected anything less, but this was Luke, after all.

"Alright."

She was perplexed. There were simply none of the questions or lectures she had anticipated. However, she took his answer and continued gazing at the stars as they passed.

Luke, who was confused, spent the next few minutes wondering where such a thought came from and how she came up with that solution. He knew that losing the Jade's Fire had hit her very hard; in fact, it was the only time he had ever seen her cry. He knew that the ship represented everything she had after her escape from Palpatine's wrath, but it was only a ship: something he planned on helping her replace as soon as they got back to the core and resolved the issues they had discovered.

Thinking on it a little harder, he could see what she had said: she didn't always want to be alone. Neither did he.

After this few minutes of pondering, Luke reached over and placed his hand over Mara's. He figured she would jerk it back and wonder what he was doing, perhaps even leave the cockpit altogether, but to his surprise, she looked at him with a thankful glance and squeezed his hand in return.

The rest of the journey was slightly awkward. Neither of them knew what to say after such a conversation, but it did not hurt their friendship as Mara had feared. In fact, it strengthened it. They were closer now than they were before; closer than either of them could have ever imagined.