I finally got an idea where this story is going and it only took me a couple of months to figure it out. Sorry for the long time in between posts but my life has been so busy and out of control. Hopefully you enjoy it.

__Westerncowgirl

Chapter 2

Eventually Mara stopped hitting Luke with her flowers because she was laughing so hard and was having problems staying upright.

"See you are stubborn," Luke said as he continued laughing. "You always get your way, one way or another." Mara was still laughing, but was starting to get control back over herself.

"Fine," Mara finally admitted to Luke. "I'm stubborn. Nothing wrong with always getting my own way. I like it."

"Remind me never to argue with you. I'll never win." Luke said mock seriously.

"Sure," Mara said in a good humor. "And don't you forget it. Nobody ever wins an argument against me."

Mara looked down at her bouquet of flowers, or what was left of it, which wasn't much. There were only a few of the Naboo roses that still had partial petals left on mostly green stems. She knew that Leia was going to kill her for ruining her flowers because she hadn't posed for her holos yet. As if on cue, Leia and Han started walking towards them. Mara tried to gather the petals that were on the ground to put back in the bouquet, but each time she put them in they fell out once again.

Leia walked over to her brother and Mara. Han was right at his bride's side holding her hand and enjoying the feeling that his princess was finally his after everything that they had gone through in the last couple of years.

Leia was on a mission to track down her wedding party so they could finish taking all of the holos. She walked up to Luke and Mara and before she could say a word to either of them she was engulfed in Luke's arms being hugged by him. "Congratulations, little sister," Luke said warmly. "I know you'll be happy with Han."

"Thanks, Luke," Leia said affectionately as she pulled back from her brother's hug. "I'm so happy that I can't put my feelings into words."

"I know what you mean," Luke told her. He couldn't believe how happy his sister was and couldn't be happier for her. He just hoped that someday that he would be as happy as his sister was today.

While Luke was congratulating his sister, Han was being congratulated by Mara. "Congratulations, Solo," Mara said with a grin on her face. "You two finally got married."

"Yup," Han said with his trademark grin on his face. "We finally did it."

"It's about time," Mara said in a teasing voice. "I was wondering if you two were ever going to get married."

"Well, we're finally married," Han repeated.

"I can see that," Mara said laughing at how happy Han was for a change.

"So when is it going to be your turn to tie the knot, Jade?"

Mara was caught off guard by Han's question. Why would he ask her such a question? Did this have something to do with the way Luke had been looking at her lately, with that earnest look? No of course not, Mara thought to herself. She was once again over analyzing the situation. Han was just trying to irritate her probably.

Mara decided to play it cool. "Solo, you know I'm not the marrying type."

"Come on," Han said. "You're telling me that if some guy comes along and sweeps you off your feet and you're madly in love with him that you wouldn't marry him?"

"First of all, Solo I'm not a damsel in distress who is going to be swept off of her feet by some dashing guy in shining armor. And if by some miracle, that guy does make me fall madly in love with him, I still wouldn't marry him."

Mara said all of this confidently and without thinking twice about it. No guy was going to fall madly in love with her and she didn't have anything to worry about. The thought was absurd and not realistic to her.

"Care to bet on that, Jade?" Solo asked her wickedly.

"Sure, why not?" Mara said in a voice that implied that it would be the easiest bet for her to win.

"I bet you 50 credit chips that some guy will make you fall in love with him and that you marry him within the next three years."

"You're on Solo." Mara said excitedly. "This will be the easiest money I've made in some time. Hope you enjoy losing your money to me."

"I have a feeling, Jade that you're going to be the one paying up in the end." Han said with that evil glint in his eye.

Mara was starting to get irritated with Han, so before she said or did anything that she would regret later she turned towards Leia and gave her a hug and offered her her congratulations and happiness in her new life.

"So, what happened to your bouquet of roses?" Leia asked Mara as she pointed to petals on the ground at their feet.

"Oh, I was just defending myself against your brother, who thinks he knows me so well."

Leia chuckled and Mara noticed a certain glint in Leia's eyes. That was the glint that Leia usually got when she wanted to play matchmaker between people.

"Leia," Mara said in a warning voice. "It's not what you're thinking it was. He was teasing me about how stubborn I am and to prove my point I decided to whack him with my flowers. Oh and by the way I'm really sorry about ruining the flowers."

"It's all right. I had extra bouquets made up just in case." Leia said laughing softly. "Would it be too much if I said that I would love to see you and brother together?"

"Yes," Mara said in a stern voice that booked no room for argument. "Don't even think about it Leia, because it's never going to happen." Leia looked at Mara again and still had that glint in her eye that was making Mara feel uneasy. "You know what; you read too many romance stories."

The change of topic had the desired effect that Mara was hoping it would have. "I do not," Leia said defensively. "Besides it's my wedding day and as my maid of honor you're supposed to be nice to me and tell me that I'm perfect."

"Fine," Mara said trying hard not to laugh out loud. "Since it's your wedding day I'll be nice." At that both Mara and Leia bursted out laughing at Mara being nice all day and Leia being perfect.

After they had stopped laughing, Leia remembered why she had come over here in the first place. "We're supposed to be over in the garden for our holos with the entire wedding party."

"Do I need my replacement bouquet for the holos or not?" Mara asked in an apologetic voice, sorry that she had killed her bouquet of flowers in such a fashion as she had.

"Yes," Leia said smiling, recalling Mara hitting Luke with her flowers. "Like I said before, I planned for every weird scenario I could think of. There are extra bouquets in the garden for you."

Mara smiled her thanks as Leia started walking away to gather up the rest of her wayward wedding party. Leia turned back to Mara and smiled and said "By the way the holographer got a picture of you whacking my brother with your flowers. I thought it was funny and cute." Without another word Leia walked away before Mara could get a word in.

Mara wasn't content on standing there looking confounded, so she caught up to Leia.

"You mean you saw me hitting Luke with my bouquet?" Mara demanded once she caught up to Leia. "Oh, me and Han saw it all right. It looked like the two of you were having fun." Leia said smugly.

"Leia, we've been through this. Luke and I are just friends." Mara finished in a stern voice that held a warning that Leia decided to ignore.

"Are you sure there's nothing going on between my brother and you?"

"Leia, there is nothing going on between the two of us."

"Too bad," Leia replied sadly. "Today was the first time I've seen him truly happy since Gaeriel left him last year."

"Can we please stop talking about me and your brother? I'm sick and tired of people implying that we belong together. We're just good friends and that's where it ends."

"Fine," Leia said because Mara had that look in her eye that she used to get when she was ready to kill someone for looking at her the wrong way. Leia couldn't understand why Mara was getting so worked up over this. She just wanted her brother and best friend to be happy and she didn't even do anything yet.

The two women continued towards the garden in silence after they had found the rest of the wedding party. Mara was thinking over what Leia had told her. She couldn't help but think about what Han had told her earlier as well. Mix in her own confused feelings and she didn't know how to feel about anything anymore. She knew that Leia had meant well, but she was only making it harder for her. She couldn't figure out how she felt about Luke anymore and that stupid vision from earlier kept popping up in front of Mara's eyes making everything twice as confusing.

Well maybe Mara did know how she felt, but didn't want to admit it herself yet. She took a calming breath and pushed all of these thoughts to the back of her mind and focused on the task at hand. She could ignore her feelings for now and be happy to be oblivious to them.

Once the entire wedding party was gathered at the south end of the garden, the holographer, Alana started taking the holos. First she took many different holos of the wedding party from different angles. Then to Han's horror Alana wanted more pictures of the bride and groom. Alana didn't seem satisfied until she had what seemed like a million different holos. Finally she finished with the happy newly weds and focused her attention on the rest of the wedding party. A holo of the bride and her brother, the happy newly weds with their best man and maid of honor, one with all the girls, one with all of the guys, and so many other combinations that nobody could keep them straight anymore.

Alana promised the wedding party that she just needed one more holo and that was just the best man and maid of honor. The rest of the wedding party cheered to be freed from having to stand still and take any more holos while Luke and Mara were forced to take one last holo.

Luke and Mara stood next to each other awkwardly. Each was wondering what the other one was thinking. They both had their shields firmly in place, so neither could see into the other's minds.

Alana didn't like the way they were posing for their holo. There was a gap between them and they were both leaning away from each other. So Alana made them change their pose. She made Luke stand very close to Mara, so there wasn't any space in between them anymore. Alana, still not happy with the pose had Luke put his arm around Mara's slender waist and made Mara put her head on Luke's shoulder. While they held the pose for Alana to take several different holos, many frantic thoughts were running through Luke and Mara's minds.

Luke had felt embarrassed at first when he had to hold Mara by the waist. But as soon as he placed his arm there the embarrassment disappeared. In its place he felt like his arm belonged there and surprisingly, he felt calm and comfortable. The other thing that surprised Luke was that Mara had actually laid her head on his shoulder without saying a word. He would've have expected her to protest and tell Alana exactly what she thought of her skills as a holographer. He wondered to himself, what did this mean? He didn't know and would think of it later when he had the time to think. For now he would just enjoy himself.

Mara did what Alana asked her to do, without a complaint. She didn't mind that Luke was holding her by the waist. If she was being honest with herself it felt right and she felt like she belonged there in Luke's arms. It felt wonderful having her head on Luke's shoulder. She was so comfortable and at ease that she could've easily fallen asleep if she wished.

She had to stop thinking like that she scolded herself. With that thought came back her thoughts she had put out of mind earlier. She was scared at how right and comfortable this was. She shouldn't be feeling this way for her best friend. Her thoughts could ruin their friendship and then what would she do? All of a sudden the vision from earlier surfaced before her eyes once again. She jerked her head off of Luke's shoulder quickly and was thankful that Alana had finished taking the last holo of them together.

Mara tried walking away, but realized that Luke was still holding her firmly. Mara was desperate to escape; she did the only thing she could think of. Mara stepped on Luke's right foot really hard making sure the pointy part of her heel was the part that landed on Luke's foot. She quickly apologized to Luke and then made an excuse that she had to call and make sure the reception hall was ready. Mara hurried away from Luke and didn't look back to see his reaction. If she had looked back she would've have seen the confusion and hurt expression in his blue eyes.

Mara knew she should have handled that better, but she couldn't help herself. Her thoughts were driving her crazy and she wished she could make them go away. She didn't like feeling this vulnerable and out of control. She was always in control of her feelings, and being this out of control was scaring her. Surely she couldn't like her best friend in such a way could she? She was afraid of the answer and kept walking.

She walked nowhere in particular, just as long as she was far away from a certain blue eyed farm boy who was making her feel things she wasn't ready to admit to herself just yet. When she was out of sight of Luke, she started mingling with the guests. She needed to distract herself from her wayward thoughts about Luke. Talking with the guests about the wedding ceremony, how beautiful Leia had looked in her bridal glory and the other intricate details that go with any given wedding had the effect that Mara was looking for. She kept her thoughts focused on the conversations and that was the only thing she focused on and didn't think about a certain blue eyed farm boy who was in fact thinking about her and her reaction.

As always let me know what you think. Like it, hate it, want to see something happen? Let me know.

Thanks

__Westerncowgirl