Varykino
3 months later
"It is beautiful," Mara Jade Skywalker breathed, stepping out onto the balcony of the guest suite."
"It is," Luke replied, his eyes on the lake which stretched out in front of his mother's family home. The still waters were reflecting the sunset, bathing the newlyweds in a purple and pink glow. "I love water."
"Of course you do," his new wife said with amusement. "I mean, anyone unfortunate enough to touch foot on Tatooine should love water."
"It is weird, really," Luke mused, pulling his bride closer. "I mean, so much water here; indeed, there are worlds that are entirely water, and then poor Tatooine."
"And her people," Mara agreed. "I have had some pretty hard times in life, but worrying about having enough water to survive is not one of them."
"Yes," Luke agreed soberly and then shook his head. "I'm sorry. We were just married a few hours ago, and here I am being all melancholy."
Mara turned and lifted one slender hand, which she ran down her husband's cheek. "It's Ok, Luke. We have both had traumatic lives. Still, I wonder if I might be able to find a good way to distract you…?"
A moment later, they were in each other's arms, lips locked, and after a minute they staggered with Jedi elegance into the adjacent bedroom. Luke, at least, had the sense to close the curtains with the Force before they collapsed into the bed.
Three balconies over and around the corner of the building, Han and Leia were enjoying their own private snuggle time. Leia, now seven months pregnant with their son, lay on a couch with her head in her husband's lap.
"Are you all right, Leia?" Han asked, running his fingers through her long, dark tresses.
"Mmmm, yes. Tired, of course, but the wedding was lovely, along with being short and simple."
Han grinned and leaned back against the seat of the couch. "I gotta give the Kid credit; he checked out the girl, fell in the love with the girl, got married to the girl, all in three months. Impressive."
Leia reached up a lazy hand to poke her husband gently in the chest. "Her name is Mara, Han. Not 'the girl'."
"I know. I don't think anyone has asked me, by the way, but I approve of her."
Leia tilted her head and grinned into her husband's face. "Luke will be delighted to hear that."
"Hey, I am the oldest, most mature one of the four of us, after all. Yeah, Mara's smart, and she's no shaak. She'll keep the Kid in line, not to mention she's beautiful. Not as beautiful as you are, of course…"
Leia groaned and heaved herself up to a sitting position using the Force.
"Thank you, dear love of my life, but right now I feel like a Cartusian whale. I can't believe this child has two more months of growing before he deigns to grace us with a face to face meeting."
Han snaked his arm around her bulbous form and gave her a kiss. "Do you want to go to bed?"
"Yes."
He rose to his feet and held out a hand. Leia could, of course, use the Force to stand up but she knew Han liked to feel helpful, so she let him pull her to her feet. Together, they strode/waddled side by side into their bedroom.
The minutes passed by, the sun sank beneath the horizon, the paddy frogs began singing enthusiastically, and a small Imperial spy droid, which had been hiding in a tree (the same tree, in fact, under which Padme and Anakin had been married many years previously) floated upwards and began transmitting a report into the sky.
/
Holonet Studio
Coruscant
"Cray!" Relinka Spetzv shrieked, "You would not believe what we've got to lead off the broadcast today!?"
Cray Shifton stared at his cohost with bewilderment. Relinka was prone to over excitement, but he had never seen her quite this bonkers. "What's going on?"
"Come here!" she yelped. "Come, come, come, come!"
Cray allowed himself to be dragged into a small meeting room and Relinka nodded at one of their techs, whose own expression was one of profound unease. The tech pushed the appropriate buttons, and Shifton watched with growing astonishment at the image of…of…
"That is Skywalker?" he demanded.
"Yes!" Relinka squealed. "One of our sources told me that Skywalker, Solo, and Organa were going to Varykino on Naboo – it's the country home of the Naberries, so close relations…anyway, I thought we might be lucky enough to get some footage of Solo and Organa, but this, this! It's the news story of the year! I just wish I knew who the redhead is, but maybe someone will know her, probably someone will, and they'll send us a message…"
"Relinka!" Cray interrupted. "Do not even tell me that you are thinking about putting this footage on the holonet today!"
Relinka's beaming expression shifted to one of ludicrous confusion. "Of course I am! Why wouldn't we? The whole galaxy is focused on Skywalker and who he is going to marry, and he's been hiding from his hordes of female fans, and now we actually have images of him kissing some woman, and…"
"And he is the son of Darth Vader!" Cray bellowed. "Darth. Vader. The two meter cyborg in the mask and cape, who went around choking people to death. We can't just…just spy on the man and broadcast it! He'll kill us."
"Oh, Cray," Relinka said, rolling her currently violet eyes dramatically, "don't be ridiculous. Skywalker won't kill us."
"What makes you think that? The man is a powerful Jedi and Darth Vader's son!"
"Because he is, as you said, a Jedi," Relinka said, her expression and tone reverting to irritating insouciance. "Vader was all mean and evil, everyone knows that. His kids acknowledge it. Maybe they'll be a little annoyed, but given the ratings, I am prepared to irritate Princess Leia Organa and Commander Luke Skywalker. It'll be worth it."
"No," Cray said. "No."
"Yes," Relinka answered, and smiled sweetly. "I do believe that I outrank you, Cray. It's my call, and I say it goes on in the next hour!"
/
Varykino
The Next Morning
"You're joking, right?" Luke asked piteously.
Han Solo released an evil laugh and said, "Nope, you and Mara are front and center on every Holonet gossip program in the galaxy. Congratulations."
"No, no, no, no, no...," Luke exclaimed, clutching his dark blond locks frantically.
"It's all right, Farmboy," Mara said, giving her new husband a rousing kiss on the lips. "It's all right."
/
Ryloth
A few weeks later
"Surrender, or die!" Luke Skywalker declared from his position above the slave arena, currently full of slaves, traders, and other scum and villainy.
A moment later, numerous sentients began shooting at him. He leaped off the ledge in a dramatic double twisting somersault, his lightsaber coming to life as he did. Once he was on the ground, he began slicing and cutting and reflecting blaster bolts, and his precious Mara was fighting beside him, and the slavers and scum were falling and dying around them, and...
"Why don't they ever just surrender?" Luke asked his wife through the Force Bond.
"Because they are idiots?" Mara asked.
"I guess."
/
Coruscant
A few weeks later
"With all due respect, Princess Leia," the Bothan ambassador said courteously, "the New Republic is too fragile to allow for us to focus on the struggles in the Outer Rim and Unknown regions. Perhaps in a few years, when we have better consolidated our position..."
"No," Leia Organa Solo interrupted imperiously, her brown eyes flashing fervently. "No, for hundreds, even thousands of years, the Core and Mid Rim worlds have neglected the suffering of the peoples of the Outer Rim. My brother and I are determined to champion the rights of those living in faraway places. We will not concentrate on Coruscant and those planets relatively nearby."
"You do understand, sir," Mon Mothma said courteously, "that according to the time travelers, the New Republic fell because the Outer Rim and Unknown territories were neglected."
"With even more due respect, Madame Mothma, the idea of time travelers seems quite ludicrous. Nor can I possibly countenance our own people directing their energies on distant worlds when Bothawai is still recovering from its struggles."
"Not everyone is called to assist the Outer Rim worlds," Leia said impatiently. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a baby right now."
Mothma's grave face gave way to ecstatic joy. "Now, Leia?"
Leia grimaced as a contraction smacked her. "Yes, now."
/
The next day
"Leia, he is beautiful," Mara cooed, looking down into the small bundle in her arms. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you," Leia said, leaning wearily back in her bed. "He is actually kind of funny looking with that red, squashed look, but I guess he'll improve in time?"
"What are you and Han naming him?" Luke asked, brushing his artificial hand over the baby's bald head.
Leia looked at her husband and said, "Tell them, sweetheart. I'm too tired to be sure I get it right."
"His name," Han said importantly, "is Bail Qui-Gon Owen Carlist Cassian Organa Solo."
His brother and sister in law stared at him incredulously, then shifted their gazes to Leia.
"Are you serious?" Luke demanded.
Leia waved a random, exhausted hand. "The time travelers said not to call him Ben. We wanted to give him plenty of names so if he doesn't like Bail, or Qui-Gon, or Owen, or..."
"I get the idea," Luke said with a grin. "I'm just going to call him Bail, if that's Ok."
/
Varykino
Naboo
1 year later
"Welcome to the world, little Padme," Luke Skywalker cooed, kissing his newborn daughter on the head. Mara lay back in her bed and smiled mistily up at her husband and child. Labor was, she decided, no fun at all, but the baby made it worth it all.
"Does she have red hair?" Mara asked wearily.
Luke ran his fingers through the baby's short curls. "Yes, she does."
/
Coruscant
1 year later
"Han!"
"Yes?"
"I'm pregnant and I think it is twins!"
"Awesome!"
/
Three Years Later
It was born in Naboo, long ago, when the great swamps were yet young. It doubled, quadrupled, octupled until it was a vast…something. Many, yet one. One, yet many.
Then it spread. It clung to the fur of the ancient beasts and to the talons of the birds of the air. It settled in cities and towns, in rivers and on mountains.
When the first wanderers left for the stars, it/they left with them.
Now They were everywhere. It was everywhere. It was Moss. It was small, yet big. Weak alone, powerful together. It thought, it sang, it loved. It felt the great Force which spread throughout the galaxy, a part of every living thing, and even some dead things as well.
On Exegol, in the Unknown Regions, darkness spread.
And Moss, which loved the Light side of the Force, was sad. By clinging to the very clothing of those who worshiped darkness, it made its way to Exegol, and multiplied.
Time passed. The Darkness, which had overcome most of the galaxy, was beaten back by the actions of Luke and Anakin Skywalker, and Leia Organa, twin to one, daughter of the other.
Still, Exegol remained cloaked in misery and gloom.
But the Light advanced throughout the galaxy, bringing freedom to the slaves, bringing democracy to the peoples of the Outer Rim.
Moss grew stronger, and stronger. And finally, one day, Moss attacked the forces of evil on Exegol. All that remained of Emperor Palpatine, Darth Sidious, was destroyed within the hour.
Exegol was scrubbed clean of the taint of the last great Sith Lord.
And Moss was at peace.
/
Varykino
Naboo
"What was that?!" Luke demanded, his eyes squinty with concentration. He had been drowsing away in a very comfortable bed but something galactically important had just happened.
"I have no idea," Mara exclaimed, pulling her two month old boy twins a little closer. "It was strong and powerful and…"
"And good. Something very good just happened," Skywalker said gravely.
Mara leaned over and kissed her husband on the lips. "I agree."
"I think the galaxy just turned firmly toward the Light," Luke said, and smiled.
Author Note: I haven't seen Rise of Skywalker because … reasons. I know vaguely about Exegol and I was like, Ok, how can I explain Exegol not being an issue in my altered timeline? The answer, of course, is Force Sensitive, Light Loving, Sentient mosses. They have no use for evil, deranged Sith Lords. Give them enough time, and enough Light to work with, and they will kill all the First Order idiots dead.