Rating: PG
Setting: Somewhere after TPM and my own version of AOTC
Disclaimers:Don't own 'em. Not mine. Never will be.
Notes: I don't know where this came from, although I blame the "Monster Ballads" CD I just bought. Somehow, I feel a series of fics with titles off that CD coming on. For all the various fandoms I write. Lord help us all. It's rather angsty and solemn, but hey, when the muse speaks I listen. Please let me know what you think!
"When I look into your eyes,
I can see how much I love you and it makes me realize.
When I look into your eyes,
I see all my dreams come true,
When I look into your eyes."
-Firehouse (When I Look Into Your Eyes)He watched silently as she walked down the aisle, a vision in white. The beaded dress outlined her slim figure to perfection, for once her shoulders left bare by the strapless bodice.
She walked alone, her father long having passed away. Still, she stood tall and proud, breathtakingly beautiful.
She literally was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen.
A veil covered her face, blocking her eyes from his, but he knew from the slight tilt of her head that her eyes, beneath the old-fashioned lace, were locked on him.
He swallowed hard as he sensed her gaze, his own riveted to the lace covering the face he knew all too well.
The face he loved all too well.
It had been such a long, hard road they'd traveled. Ever since she'd entered his life nearly 12 years ago, he'd felt a connection to her. A connection that time, distance and even the Force itself could not sever.
He'd protected her with his own life, with everything in him. He'd held her as she'd cried over hurts and disappointments, talked her through the trials and tribulations she'd suffered in the turbulent senate and her life over the past year.
It hadn't been easy, falling in love with her every minute of every hour, each moment bringing something more to love about her.
It was made harder by the fact that being a Jedi, he'd convinced himself he could never be more than just her best friend and trusted confidant.
She'd convinced him otherwise.
With her laughter and smiles, her kisses and whispered words on the night breeze. She'd seduced him with her innocence and her passion. Her desire to right so many wrongs that had been done to her people, her friends, her family.
She'd broken down all his barriers, forced him to admit to the love he'd been keeping inside for so long. She'd worked her way deep inside his heart, his mind, his soul.
She was so much a part of him that he could not imagine life without her.
He swallowed hard as she reached the front of the church and handed her small bouquet of flowers to her bridesmaid.
She turned her head just slightly as she lifted her veil, her eyes for one, brilliant moment, locking on his, expressing all the love she felt for him.
He knew in that moment, even though his heart was breaking, that he was the luckiest man in the galaxy.
She loved him as deeply as he loved her.
But they could never be together.
The thought broke his heart as he looked into her eyes.
***
She felt her heart start fluttering the instant she laid eyes on him at the other end of the aisle.
He was dressed in black pants, silky black shirt and sash, lightsaber hanging proudly at his side.
His eyes were the deepest bluish-green she'd ever seen them, filled with awe as he caught sight of her white-clad figure. She knew he couldn't see her eyes through the lace veil, but she knew he knew hers were locked on him.
She could feel the love emanating from his being, the joy of it wrapping around her tightly wound body.
She closed her eyes a moment as she walked, remembering how long and hard they'd fought together over the past year. Through the upheaval the Sith and other Dark Lords had wrought on the galaxy, on the Jedi, on her people and people on every planet.
He'd always been there for her, to guide and comfort, to protect and defend. She felt her heart swell as she thought of how many times he'd put his life on the line for her, protecting her from an evil she only felt growing each day.
She'd loved him from the first moment she'd set eyes on him, although she hadn't realized it until years later. But knowing him, being with him, was the only time she felt complete, whole, safe, loved.
He'd won her heart, trying to be noble, thinking he was doing the right thing by fighting his feelings for her.
But she'd been determined to make him admit them, and admit them he had.
She shivered slightly as she remembered his passionate kisses and whispered words of love in those stolen moments. Moments that were all too few and far between, but moments she would not give up for the world.
Moments she was going to have to live on for the rest of her life.
She swallowed hard as she reached the front of the church, handing her bouquet of flowers to Sabe. Bracing herself, she lifted her veil, determined to focus on the man in front of her.
But his eyes caught hers.
Unable to help herself, she turned her head slightly, feeling her breath catch as she locked gazes with him.
The love she saw in those beautiful eyes almost brought her to her knees. The pain she knew was reflected in those eyes and in hers was nearly unbearable.
She knew she must break this gaze, or everyone would know how she really felt.
He would know how she felt, and that must be avoided at all costs.
Lives depended on it.
She was giving up the only man she would ever truly love because the Force had decreed it be that way, or else an even greater darkness would befall the galaxy.
She loved her soon-to-be husband.
But she would always be in love with his Master.
She felt her eyes fill with tears as she tried, in that one glance, to convey to him everything she felt, would always feel for him.
She saw the understanding register as his beautiful orbs filled with tears and he acknowledged her with a very slight, sad smile.
Smiling sadly into his eyes for one last time, she turned away from him and took Anakin's outstretched hand.
