If there was ever a time of year lots of people loved almost as much as the holidays at the end of each year, it was Valentine's Day.

It wasn't Valentine's Day yet, but it would be in just a couple of weeks, and there were plenty of folks getting special surprises ready for a special someone. Boyfriends doing something sweet for their girlfriends, husbands preparing something wonderful for their wives, children doing something nice for their parents, even siblings and best friends doing something special for each other.

And ever since the Jedi Code changed, the Jedi were no exception to this holiday that also served as a good excuse to eat chocolate.

With Valentine's Day coming up, Strawberry Sundae and her rider Mace were stacking quite a pile of orders for their new sweet shop. If there was one thing everyone loved about Valentine's Day, it was all the different kinds of chocolate and treats that bakeries and candy shops sold in heart-shaped boxes.

Chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes with red, white, and pink icing and heart-shaped sprinkles, strawberry cheesecake, chocolate cake with strawberry roses, strawberry tarts, strawberry cupcakes, chocolate covered cherries, and strawberry sundaes with lots of fudge.

Strawberry got right to work making sure every treat was made to perfection, including a special pie she was making for her grandmother. Mace was supposed to be helping her today, but for some reason he was running late to work today. She thought maybe it was Jedi business, so she made a call to the Temple to ask if her rider was there. But, he wasn't there.

"I wonder where he could be." Strawberry wondered aloud.

Back at the palace, the kids were all working on Valentine's Day gifts of their own. Cards for their parents, cards for their friends, and Boba of course was making a special card for his girlfriend Roya.

Lamenta was also making a special card for her new baby brother or sister. As you can probably imagine, she was overjoyed when her parents told her she was going to be a big sister. And Gabby and her older twin siblings were all excited for their cousin. Her side of the family was finally growing as theirs had been doing so quickly.

So much had changed in their once small family. Not too long ago, it used to be just Gabby and her parents. A happy mom and dad and their little girl. And then along came Boba. And for a while it was just Mr. and Mrs. Skywalker and their two children and their two horses. But then along came the Festival of Light, and they found Anakin's long-lost twin brother Carmine, his wife Caroline, and their only daughter Lamenta. The family only continued to grow from there. The kids' grandfather Qui-Gon was revived, the twins' half-sister Kara was brought to light, Padme and Anakin adopted Boba's twin sister Omega, then their adorable twins Luke and Leia were born, and Shmi Skywalker was revived too. And just a few days ago, on a mission to rescue a rancor named Muchi from Zygerrian slavers, Carmine found his long-lost adoptive mother Susy Lamura, who moved in with the royal family after she was rescued and was eager to catch up with her son and her granddaughter. And now, at long last, Lamenta's parents were expecting a second child.

Lamenta had always wanted a baby brother or sister to play with. Being an only child, it could get lonely at times. It wasn't until she met her long-lost cousins that she finally had a taste of what it was like to live with other kids.

"I can't wait to meet my baby sister! Or brother." Lamenta said. "Or twins! Yes! I want twins."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Lamenta." Boba said. "I've babysat Luke and Leia by myself before. They're cute and all, but it's like looking after wild animals."

"Babies will also tend to pull your hair any chance they get." Gabby said. "So, you might wanna keep a few scrunchies handy when you're gonna hold the baby."

Being a big sister was not gonna be an easy task, Lamenta could comprehend that. But nevertheless, she was excited.

Goldie and her parents were prepping for Valentine's Day too.

Garrett, of course, was planning to surprise his wife with a gorgeous gift of flowers as she loved most. And Goldie, with help from her mother, wanted to make origami butterflies decorated with little hearts for everyone.

On Mandalore, Obi-Wan and Peppermint were getting their own valentines ready.

This was Obi-Wan and Satine's first Valentine's Day as a married couple, and Satine would be almost eight months pregnant by the time the holiday came around.

"Do you think this is too much?" Obi-Wan asked Peppermint, looking at a lovely necklace he'd purchased for his wife. It had a lovely silver chain with a single jewel charm as bright and blue as Satine's eyes.

"Satine will love it." Peppermint said. "Along with the pastries you requested."

Peppermint brought out a little box that was filled with blackberry tarts she and Obi-Wan had Strawberry Pie, Strawberry Sundae's grandma, make for Satine's gift. She too was also making something sweet for everyone she wanted to wish Happy Valentine's Day to. Knowing Peppermint, it was definitely going to have mint in it, and without a doubt be candy-striped like her mane.

"So, have you and Satine finally narrowed down names for the new baby?" asked Peppermint.

"Indeed, we have. However, we are keeping the gender a surprise." Obi-Wan replied. "Only eight weeks and four days until the due date. Hopefully it will be enough time to finally finish organizing all the baby's clothes."

Even after the holidays were over, the Kenobi family was still receiving one shipment of gifts after another, and it was taking forever to sort through all of them. Sorting them by size, color, what gender each piece was initially intended for, as well as themes, as some onesies and hats were designed for various holidays.

Even at the Jedi Temple, love was in the air.

Master Fisto was making reservations at a lovely restaurant for Valentine's Day, where he planned to finally ask Master Aayla Secura to marry him.

Masters Plo Koon and Shaak Tii were going on a little romantic getaway, just the two of them this Valentine's Day. Their wedding was just a simple courthouse wedding. Nothing too fancy. But they still dressed nicely and had their daughter and the horses as witnesses, and it was a meaningful day for both of them, which was the most important thing of any wedding.

Ahsoka was planning a romantic movie night with Rex, and Citrus was getting a little help from Sunheart and Hydrangea picking out some nice flowers to give a pretty mare he had a huge crush on.

As crazy as it might sound, Citrus's crush was none other than Magenta Mareheart. As Mistress Majestica, she'd been his first celebrity crush. And after she'd begun to change to her kind self after the Mare-Lody debacle, he started developing feelings for her and hoped she might go on a date with him. He already knew to avoid milk chocolate, as he'd learned she spat it out because she genuinely didn't like it, not because she was being a total drama queen before or after she cut the diva behavior.

Comedia was looking forward to Valentine's Day too. She never got to celebrate with her birth family. To them, Valentine's Day was just a feeble excuse to act all mushy, and a big waste of time. But, Queen Reigna always sent Comedia some chocolate and cherry and strawberry gummy bears, which Comedia always stashed very well. And this year, she finally had a loving dad she could celebrate with. Master Mundi had been such a good dad and Comedia loved him so much she wanted to give him the best valentine ever, and that was no joke.

Master Mundi was also determined to give Comedia a great gift. After her biological family was stripped of their titles, with the exception of Young Comedia, the youngest Evermare was greatly rewarded for saving the royal family from toxic members and potentially all of Equinaro from terrible rulers. For one thing, she got to keep the Evermare house, which she intended to have fixed to her and her new father's liking to have their own special place in Equinaro.

Comedia expected the highest rank she would receive was duchess, and Reigna let her believe it for a while, but Reigna and her family were so grateful to Comedia for her efforts to grow as an individual and inspired by how she found the strength to finally stand up for herself that she decided that Comedia deserved to be a princess like her cousins. Of course, she wanted that to be a surprise, and to allow Comedia to decide whether or not to accept a crown.

But, Master Mundi now was also applying to officially adopt Comedia. He wouldn't receive a royal title for it, he knew that, but he also didn't care. The only crown he wanted and truly needed was the second chance at being a father again, and Comedia was his crown jewel. The only thing was most humanoid species who adopted children did not tend to adopt a four-legged creature as a child rather than a pet. Still, he hoped he could make it official that he wasn't just her rider or her owner, but her family.

"I remember when I was a filly," said Grassi to Kit. "my sisters and I, we would always want to surprise our father with an amazing gift, and so many times we would end up a big mess."

Magenta was concentrating on some papers as she magically folded them into beautiful paper roses to present to everyone she loved, each one tagged with a little card with a Happy Valentine's Day wish from her.

Later, Tech and Hunter were assisting Padme and Caroline on some errands they were running to help Padme's family put together a gathering they were having for Valentine's Day.

Teatra and Indira had no objections to helping with carrying the bags once they found everything they needed.

"Looks like we have just about everything we need on decor." Padme said, looking at the list on her tablet.

"Tech, did we miss anything?" Caroline asked, only to get no answer. "Tech?"

Hunter and the girls looked back and saw Tech was a little distracted at the moment, as he was peering into the window of a jewelry store, where they happened to be holding a special on engagement rings.

The advertisements read A Valentine's Day she will never forget and Diamonds are like your love for her: They last forever.

And as Tech looked at the ads covered with hearts, he immediately thought of Mila. It'd been almost a year since they first met, but they were already madly in love with each other. Even though technically, Tech was younger than her, he knew he had to savor every moment with her. After Gabby and her family cast the spell that removed the inhibitor chips from all the clones, they'd gotten to study a few to check for any side effects it might have caused, and to their surprise, the spell did more than they bargained for, such as slowing down the growth and aging of the clones, and some proving a little more rebellious than others when they were no longer under the chips' control.

No matter how long his lifespan would be, Tech didn't need an exceptional mind to know that a woman like Mila only came once in a lifetime. And when he looked at the engagement rings, he felt his heart beating the same way it had when he first realized he was in love with Mila.

"Do I hear wedding bells ringing, Tech?" Teatra teased.

"Huh? What?" Tech stammered as Teatra started humming 'Here Comes the Bride.'

"Are you planning to propose already?" said Padme.

"No... no. I'm not thinking about... not that I wouldn't... I... uh..." Tech's cheeks turned as red as a tomato as he thought about Mila.

Tech recalled his last date with Mila. Just before Life Day or Navidad, as it was called where Mila lived, they'd gone together to Mila's cousin Dolores's wedding, where they danced and had a good time, and when Dolores tossed the bouquet, it landed in Mila's hands. She already had a boyfriend, and boy was Tech's face red when she looked at him after catching the bouquet, which according to tradition meant she was next to walk down the aisle.

"Mila is a good woman." said Caroline. "You deserve nothing less. And there's no rush."

"It's true. You just need to know what you really need most out of it." Padme said.

"The path of love is often a long one," said Indira. "And oftentimes the longer path leads to a more meaningful journey than that of a short route."

Tech started to think about it, and before he could even begin to debate on how to choose a ring, he decided to do a little research on engagements, marriage, and most importantly, what to look for when looking for a lifelong partner as well as determining if he was ready for it. And to do that, he would need to get some research from a few experts on the subject as well.

Meanwhile...

Strawberry felt exhausted as she finally finished her last order for the day and started to close up shop. And that was when Mace finally arrived.

"I'm so sorry I didn't call," said Mace.

"Where have you been all day?" Strawberry asked sternly. "I had to do all the work today."

Mace sighed like he'd just woken up from a wonderful dream, and he explained to Strawberry that he'd just gotten back from a wonderful time.

"I wasn't going to say anything just yet, but..." Mace smiled. "I've been seeing someone for the past year. A lady."

Suddenly, Strawberry's demeanor changed from upset co-worker to supportive friend.

"Who is she? Do I know her?" She asked.

"I don't think so. But, she is something special."

Apparently, earlier that day, Mace was on his way to the sweet shop, when he bumped into his lady friend as she was walking out of another store. He caught her bags and helped her carry them to her apartment, and the next thing they knew, they were headed out to lunch together and then taking a long walk together. And then, he decided to ask her something very important.

"This Valentine's Day, I'm wanna give her a date she'll never forget." Mace said. "Think I can trouble you to help me bake something that'll sweeten the deal?"

"Just tell me what she likes and we'll get baking." Strawberry said. "But still, you owe me big time for leaving me hanging today."