Author: Useful_Oxymoron
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Well, I don't own Willow or Tara and if I did, I'd set them free.
Feedback: Is cool. It's always nice to know somebody likes the crap I write. Viernadevir@hotmail.com
Summary: The final instalment in these short Star Wars stories. I certainly think a marriage is a proper ending.
Notes: Influences for this story: playing Empire at War late at night until I hear birds starting to sing in the morning.
Note 2: Special thanks go to local Star Wars gurus SithLordWiccan and Darth Pacula.
Note 3: About the title: Again, a play on a John Le Carre novel.
Italics are thoughts.

Willow relaxed in her big queen-sized bed, staring out of the window of the hotel-room. The grassy plains of the recently liberated Naboo stretched before her, on the other side of a picturesque lake just in front of the building.

She smiled, slightly tired but blissfully happy. Willow pressed her cheek against the pillow and nestled her head there, letting out a bit of a purr after closing her eyes.

Her lover... no, wife's hand slid across Willow's arm. A trail of kisses across her back settled on the nape of her neck, where her wife started to softly nip lovebites in her flesh.

"Hm, Tara," Willow gasped when she felt Tara's body pressing against her. She recognized foreplay whenever she experienced it. Tara's warmth... the softness of her skin... those tender kisses... those delicious curves in all the right places... the way Tara told her that she loved her... "Anymore of that and I'll explode."

Tara chuckled slightly. "I think that's the general idea of lovemaking, sweetie."

Willow smiled happily while her beloved wife suckled on her earlobe while her hand drew circles around her bellybutton. "Ticklish," Willow replied with a giggle..

"Suffer," Tara purred naughtily, while continuing to nibble.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Willow giggled briefly.

Tara frowned. "Look who's talkin'," she grinned, bringing a blush to Willow's cheeks.

"We should really get out," Willow said while Tara's hand slipped down to slide down to her thigh. "We've been in this hotel-room for 48 hours, I think. We haven't seen anything of the planet yet."

"To hell with the planet," Tara said while bending over to kiss Willow on the lips. "We're on our honeymoon. We're required to stay inside our room, in bed and wearing nothing but our wedding-rings, " Tara said when she finally broke their kiss. "It's the will of the Force. And who are we to fight the Force?" Tara purred.

Willow closed her eyes and let the sensations take hold of her. She felt like she was living on a fluffy pink cloud, and could not remember ever having been happier. And she knew Tara was happy too. Heck, not even Dawn defacing the Doll's Eye by painting 'Just Married' in pink on the side ruined Tara's good mood... not even when the paint turned out to be not of the water-based removable kind, but rather molecular bonding perma-paint, though she was sure she could see Tara's face twitch for just a second when she found out. Right now, the Doll's Eye was in a local repairshop where the paint was being lasered off molecule by molecule.

Tara's fingertips raced over Willow's skin, making her shudder when she slowly started to circle around Willow's breast, yet coyly avoided them.

"Don't tease," Willow pouted.

"Suffer," Tara grinned again.

"Your cruelty knows no bounds," Willow sighed blissfully.

"I love you," Tara growled and intensified her onslaught on the defenseless Willow.

"I love you too," Willow whispered, giving in to Tara's ministrations and rolled on her back, allowing Tara to embrace her. Willow enjoyed the smell of her wife's hair when she was kissing her neck. Slowly, the trail of kisses led lower, to her chest, where...

Their blissful lovemaking was disturbed when the door flew open, and a bulky looking droid armed with a feather-duster boldly drove inside.

"Mail service," the eight-armed Maidtron 2000 service droid announced cheerfully. Willow yelped in horror and pulled the covers over herself, while an angry Tara turned towards the hapless droid.

"Dammit, you bucket of bolts, that's the third time already!" Tara shouted. "Can't you see I'm trying to ravish my wife here?!"

"It is 9 in the morning," the Maidtron announced. "Time for cleaning. Breakfast is served in the main hall. Excursions are scheduled for 10 o'clock. If you like, you can also sigh up for a hiking trip through the Goran Hills. Motorboats are for rent from 10 o'clock onward."

"Like hell!" Tara replied. "I'm not done making love to Willow yet! Now, get lost before I throw you out the window!"

The Maidtron scoffed slightly. "How rude," she announced in a mechanical voice while leaving towards the door.

"Uh," Willow called from under the sheets. "Could you leave that featherduster?"

"Willow?" Tara asked.

"Hey, it's going to be my turn next," Willow blushed. "I need a bit of an edge."

After putting the featherduster on the nightstand, Tara slid out of bed and went looking for a communicator. "Don't worry, sweetie, I'll be right back to finish what we started. I just have to make sure we won't be disturbed anymore."

Gorak the Long-Eared was enjoying his summer-job. Sure, it was a simple job as a bellhop, but at least it got him out of the city on a great adventure out to see the rest of Naboo and away from that stuffy old Boss Nass. So far, it was fun meeting all these strange new people from across the galaxy, and some of them even took the time to talk to him.

Now, Gorak was ordered to bring up the room service cart to a lovely couple of newlyweds called Willow and Tara. From what he'd seen of them when he'd brought them to their room, was that they couldn't keep their hands of each other... but that was, of course, expected of newlyweds.

But when Gorak rounded about the corner he was startled to find a huge armored battledroid standing in front of the door.

"Hello," greeted the droid merrily. "I are En-Vee. My owner are Tara."

"Uh," Gorak blinked. "Meesa go inside?"

"Sorry," said the droid. "I are not letting you in. Tara are saying to me she are not wanting to be disturbed while she and En-Vee's other owner Willow are interfacing. Right now, my owners are still interfacing. You can return when they are not interfacing. Tara are telling me that will be two weeks from now."

"But, um," Gorak said. "I bring da room-service for da munchen."

"Tara are programming me for people and droids who are not wanting to leave," En-Vee said. Immediately, his eyes flashed red, raised his arm to reveal two blasters, while his voice suddenly sounded a lot deeply mechanical. "Please step away from the door. You are having 15 SECONDS TO COMPLY!"

"Uhmm..."

"You now are having 10 SECONDS TO COMPLY!"

"I'll just be leaving da munchen here, bom-bad droid guy," Gorak said and ran off.

"En-Vee are thanking you," the droid said in his normal pleasant voice and lowered his weapons. "Do are coming again."

"I wonder what's keeping room-service," Tara said while Willow lay sprawled across the bed. "Making love is hungry work."

"I feel exploded," Willow's chest heaved from the tremendous climax she had just experienced.

"You look exploded," Tara smirked. "Do you want to ravish me now," she grinned.

"Uh-huh," Willow said between breaths. "As soon as I regain muscular control. Which should be... by the Force, I can't move!"

Tara blushed slightly. "Uhm, I learned that technique from the girls in Hebbo the Hutt's harem. I, uh, forgot how intense it could be for the un-initiated."

"I've noticed," Willow closed her eyes as sleep was starting to take its hold of her. Whatever energy she had left was now drained completely.

Tara kissed her forehead. "Sssh, sleep now," she whispered. "I'll go see what happened to our breakfast."

"Snuggle," Willow groggily demanded.

Tara offered a half-smile. "Remember our wedding day?"

The first thing Tara noticed when she woke up was the Rancor stamping around in her brain-pan. A strangled, alien groan sounded in the room, and just as Tara wondered what it was, she realized that is was her own voice. Her head felt like it was split on two, then stepped on by a Bantha, then set on fire and put out by dumping a shipload of salt on top of it.

"Ooooooohhhhhhh," Tara exclaimed when the light his her eyes and she buried her head underneath her pillow.

Oh, man... What did I DO last night? Tara wondered, trying to ignore the pain. The final insult came when her own breath hit the pillow and bounced back into her nostrils. Mints... I need Mints... loads of mints.

Flashes of the bachelorette party that Lando had thrown her appeared in front of her eyes. Loud music... many, many, many drinks... Twi'lek dancing girls... The last time I was this drunk, I ended up frolicking with the girls in Hebbo the Hutt's harem.

"Uuuuuuhhhhhhhh," she groaned again. Wait, she thought. There was something I was supposed to do today. Uh, what was it again. Dammit, Tara, think. THINK! Tara tried to think, but her brain flatly refused any kind of cooperation.

She rubbed her temples slightly, trying to remember, but only succeeding in causing herself more pain. There's a thought... Am I alone here? she thought and felt next to her in the bed, thankfully finding it empty. And seeing there was no sounds of showering, it was safe to say there was no twi'lek girl washing herself after a long night of passion. And that was, perhaps for the best, because...

SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP! I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY! Tara screamed inwardly. Slowly and painfully, Tara rose from the bed... only to stagger backwards and land flat on her back. She picked herself up and dragged herself to the wash basin to throw a load of cold water into her face.

Oohhhhhh, Tara groaned when she noticed she was still wearing yesterday's clothes, her own pale complexion and her matted hair. Tara, you look like a walking corpse, you smell of booze and you probably shouldn't get anywhere near open flame. Nice going, idiot.

Images of copious amounts of Lum, Juma Juice and StarShine Surprises flashed before her eyes. Oh, man, I'm so grateful Willow doesn't see me like this, she thought, finally being grateful for the silly tradition that brides shouldn't see each other right for the wedding. Tara slowly staggered to the small kitchen. Lando had provided both her and Willow with excellent suites on Bespin, but she was not happy that this suite was so well-lit. Tara opened the fridge, took out a glass and put in some tomato-juice, mixed in a raw Rikknit egg, added two shots of Lum for the essential hair of the dog and mixed it all with a stick of celery.

She took a few deep breaths to prepare herself and then downed the glass in one long draught, fighting to keep herself from upchucking it again. Tara slammed the glass down and laid down on the bed again. Minutes later, she was already feeling better.

"Shower," Tara whispered. "Long, warm shower. Wash the scum away."

But before she could go to the shower, there was a chime at her door. Tara staggered to the nearest chair and called for the person at the door to enter. A few seconds later, Lando Calrissian, wearing his usual sardonic smile, entered the room.

"Heya, Tara," he started. "Ready for the big day?"

"Not so loud," Tara groaned uncomfortably. "Why did you let me drink so much?"

"I can't tell a room full of smugglers to stop drinking? I'd be tossed out the window!" Lando smirked. "Our kind is a rowdy lot, Tara."

"Please don't tell me I did anything stupid last night," Tara sighed.

"Depends on what you call stupid," Lando shrugged. "Though you did have some fun with the dancing girls. Lapdances and the like."

"How many?" Tara sighed.

"Just one. There were three girls, though."

"Three girls gave me a lapdance at once?" Tara groaned. "Oh, Willow..."

"No," Lando chuckled. "You gave those three girls a lapdance at once. Quite impressive, actually."

"Please tell me I kept my clothes on."

"The essential parts were covered," Lando shrugged.

"Crap."

Lando smiled. "Come on, Tara, let's get you to the bathhouse to clean up and smelling like flowers instead of booze. Oh, and you'll be happy to know that the wedding hall is looking very nice. Only the most exotic of flowers and silk drapes. It pays to have your circle of friends consisting mostly of smugglers, I'd say."

Willow woke up early today, being so very excited as she were. Luckily, he bachelorette party had made her tired otherwise she wouldn't have slept at all. And yawning at your wedding was not exactly a nice thing to do. She still couldn't believe it... it was really happening. Today, she'd become Tara's wife. And Tara would become her wife. Willow the Wallflower getting hitched...

She strolled over to the holonet console to check the news and read any of the congratulatory messages she'd been receiving over the past few days. Both Luke Skywalker and Admiral Ackbar had sent her and Tara a message yesterday, sending their blessings and apologizing for not being able to attend. But she supposed they were too busy helping to liberate planets who were throwing off the Empire's yoke.

But the one message she desperately wanted to see was again, not there.

The door chimed. Willow went to open the door and found a strange blonde woman standing in front of it.

"Hello?" Willow asked.

"Hi," the woman extended her hand, which Willow took. "I'm Beth."

"Beth?" Willow frowned. "I'm not sure I..."

"Oh, come on," Beth chuckled. "Surely Tara must have mentioned me. I'm her beloved cousin and her last living relative."

"Oh? OH!" Willow smiled. "Come in, uh, no I don't think Tara ever mentioned you, actually."

"Really?" Beth smirked. "Must have slipped her mind, then. I must say, I was expecting a bit... more."

Willow knew a bully when she saw one, and she realized this girl's pleasant demeanor seemed as fake as her smile.

"Tara has... certain tastes," Beth smirked. "So I'm really surprised to find that the girl she's going to marry is so... mousey. Geeky. I mean, you hardly have any breasts at all, don't you? Can you dance sexily? Do you make Tara's head spin? I think not."

Willow was flabbergasted at this Beth's statements. "Wh... what are you saying?"

"Seriously," Beth grinned. "How long do you think you can hold Tara's attention? How long do you think this marriage of yours will last? When she's done with you, she's going to leave you. Bye bye, little Willow. Tara bores easily, you know? Especially if her women aren't experienced enough."

"N-no," Willow turned around. "It's not true. Tara loves me. She said so. She asked me to marry her. She told me she loves me."

"Tara said that to a lot of women," Beth grinned wickedly. "And I mean a lot of women? What makes you special."

"BETH" sounded from the still open door. Han Solo walked inside the door and crossed his arms. "What rock did you crawl out from under? I'm sure Tara never invited you."

"Ah, the ever pleasant Han Solo," Beth smirked. "Wussed out on shooting any Rodians lately?"

"Look!" Han glowered. "I don't know who's started that rumor but Greedo never got off a single shot, dammit! Now get the hell out of here before I kick you out."

Beth crossed her arms and glowered at Han.

"Alright," Han nodded and drew his blaster. "I asked you nicely. Now it's a threat. Leave."

Beth shot both Han and Willow a look and skulked out of the room.

"I think I'd better warn Tara about her," Han said. "Beth is bad news."

Willow, still visibly upset from Beth's wicked ways, turned to Han. "W-why'd she say those things?"

"Don't let her get to you," Han said. "Beth's out to ruin Tara's life. Then again, she never did like Tara. Some years ago, they were both smuggling Rakatan Gemstones through Thyferra. Beth got caught, but framed Tara, who was sentenced to two years. Beth visited the prison two months into her sentence to gloat, but Tara managed to jump her at an unguarded moment, switched clothes with her and walked out with the other visitors and leaving Beth to sit out the rest of the two years. I suppose Beth told the guards she wasn't Tara, but I don't think they believed her. Beth's had it in for Tara ever since."

Willow just sat down at her desk and sighed heavily.

"Hey," Han moved next to her and patted her shoulder. "If this is about..."

"No," Willow pouted. "It's about everything. Today. And Beth didn't help much either. And... my parents aren't coming to the wedding, but I knew that already."

Han sighed. "Coruscant is still under blockade. We still don't have enough ships to liberate it."

"It's not that," Willow sighed. "My parents are staunch Imperial supporters. It was them who pushed me to join the Imperial navy all my life. They were so proud of me when I was chosen to be part of the executer's bridge repair crew. So proud. But... when I defected to the Rebellion I sent them a long message explaining why I'd joined the rebels, to tell them why I felt I had to do that."

"They didn't take the news well?"

Willow said nothing, but punched up a few buttons on her console, displaying a message she had kept for so long. It was a message from her parents consisting of only one line : "We have no daughter."

"Harsh," Han replied.

"I sent them more messages," Willow said. "Told them what I was doing, without giving away Rebellion secrets and with a scrambled code relayed across thirty planets. Untrackable. I could see they read all of them, they just... never replied."

Willow started to sob slightly. "I just... hoped now that I'd be getting married, they'd at least... say something."

Han was visibly uncomfortable with a crying woman so close to him. "Uhm, look, maybe I should get Tara to cheer you up."

"I miss them," Willow's tears ran over her cheeks. "They weren't the best of parents, but..."

"I think I REALLY should get Tara to cheer you up..."

"No, no, I'm okay," Willow smiled, wiping away her tears. "I'm getting married today, I'm not supposed to cry."

"Heh, the Empire's finished away. Ready to get married, Willow? Not too drunk to stand, I hope?"

"By the Force, no," Willow replied harshly. "I can't get drunk right before my wedding, so I only had a small Juma Juice and had a small bachelorette party with all my techie friends. It was geek bachelor party with droids and machine assembly contests. It was fun, but someone had already hired all the twi'leks on Bespin to dance, so no girl jumped out of my cake. Actually, it was a tipsy Geonosian in a bikini."

Willow stared at the fork in the road. One path led to the wedding hall. Another to the ships. Is Beth right? Will Tara leave me when she'll get bored with me? God, Tara's been with so many women. How could I ever compare to that? How do I measure up? I'm just... a mousey, small-breasted geek. I'm not exotic, I don't have lekku, I can't dance. I can't even hold my liquor. Maybe it's just better to bail now and spare myself the pain later.

But Willow already was in pain. How can I even think this? Tara... There's more to her than just the physical stuff. How many times did we snuggle in bed and just talked? How many times has she told me she loved me? How many times have we just... been together? She loves me. I know she loves me. Beth is just a big bad poopy-headed liar that should be trampled on by a Rancor. Or better... should be hit on by a Rancor in heat.

"I'm getting married," Willow told herself, and stepped towards the wedding hall.

Beth was enjoying a drink in the local cantina when suddenly Tara plopped down opposite to her in the booth.

"Get out. Leave the cantina, leave Cloud City, leave Bespin," Tara threatened. "Leave the sodding galaxy."

"It's a free planet, thanks to your little crusade," Beth shrugged. "I can go wherever I want."

"If you get anywhere near me or Willow, I'll kill you," Tara added.

"Nice suit," Beth said, referring to the white jacket and matching pants that Tara was wearing, in combination with green eyeshadow and a stylish ponytail. "Be a shame to ruin it in this smokey hole."

"R3 found the thermal detonator you hid in the Doll's Eye's engine block," Tara snarled.

"Damn," Beth lamented. "And here I hoped for the best. The best being you and your little mousey tramp blowing up and becoming part of the great gas giant below. Isn't that romantic?"

"What do you want?" Tara grimaced.

"I want to see you suffer for what you did to me!" Beth slammed her head on the table. "Two years in that filthy prison."

"That was what you'd planned for me, Beth," Tara smirked. "I merely paid the piper."

"You're going to suffer, Tara. You and that little bitch of yours..."

A red flash exploded from below the table, piercing through the thick wood, passing right through Beth's shoulder and finally embedding itself in the wall. Beth grasped her painful shoulder while Tara removed a smoking blaster from the side of her hip and pointed it directly at Beth's head.

"One last chance, Beth. Leave," Tara hissed through clenched teeth. "You will not ruin my wedding. You will not threaten Willow and you will not blow up my ship. The only reason you're still alive is because your family, whatever that's worth. Now GET LOST!"

Tara holstered her weapon and stomped off.

"You'll pay for this, bitch!" Beth called after her.

Thoughts of Beth banished from her mind, Tara found herself at a fork in the road. One path led towards the wedding hall. The other to the ships.

Tara'd be lying if a big part of her hadn't wanted to run off to the Doll's Eye and zoom off into the wide-orange yonder, head for the nearest dive, pick up a girl and don't get out of a sleazy hotel room for the rest of the night. But a bigger part of her realized that wasn't what she wanted at all.

Mental images of Willow waiting at the altar for a Tara that would never come broke her heart. The sadness and betrayal in Willow's eyes...

Do I want to be with Willow? Yes. Do I want to share my live with Willow? Oh, yes. Is Willow the love of my live? I've almost lost her once... I will never lose her again...

"I'm getting married," Tara smiled to herself and headed towards the wedding hall.

The wedding hall was wondrously decorated with only the most colorful of Fellucian flowers and the softest of silk white drapes. To the left sat Tara's friends, a motley collection of smugglers, low-lives, bandits and pirates. To the right sat Willow's friends, a geeky collections of tech crew. Both groups were a colorful collection of humans and aliens, with the members of Blue Squadron thrown in for the mix. In the back, Dawn sat on Chewbacca's shoulders to get a better view.

In the middle of the room, in front of the altar, Willow and Tara stood facing each other, two blushing brides stuttering through their vows, with Lando, as Cloud City's administrator, presiding over the event.

Unaware by them all, Willow was in the scopes of Beth, who was leaning over a balcony with a tiny sniper-rifle in hand. It was a Tenloss rifle, a nasty weapon that was banned in all civilized systems. The Tenloss was a weapon that literally cooked tissue from the inside out. If fired, Willow's brain would be cooked within nano-seconds.

Oh, yes, Tara, Beth grinned. Let's see how you look when you cry your eyes out with your dead bride in your arms. You'll join her soon, Tara, don't...

A flash from the corner of her eyes.

Beth was surprised that her body would no longer respond to her commands. The rifle slipped from her hands when he body slumped to the ground. And there was an odd smell of singed hair coming from the back of her skull.

"Greedo fired first?" sounded the voice of Han behind her. "I don't think so."

A few moments later, Han entered the wedding hall.

"Ah, and there's the best man with the rings," Lando replied. "What kept you, Han?"

Han shrugged while stepping up to the two bemused brides. "Oh, just had to... take care of something. Get rid of some trash."

Han quickly supplied the rings to the two waiting brides, just in time for the two love-birds to kiss and seal their love in the light of the Force for all eternity. There were cheers, there were woots, there were smugglers taking out their blasters and firing in the air in celebration, causing plaster to drop down on top of the guests. Spike and Drusilla had a bit of a dance, while En-Vee proclaimed he now had two owners and R3 complained about the echo in the room wreaking havoc on his actuators.

And when it was time for Willow to throw the bridal bouquet into the crowd, it was Leia that promply caught it and nudged Han in the side. "Thanks a lot," Han grumbled in response.

Tara's bridal bouquet, however, ended up being the bone of contention between an overweight Toydarian and an angry Gammorean which threatened to get out of hand until Lando demanded them to take it outside.

And then the real party started.

"Such a wonderful day," Willow smiled when she lay next to her gasping wife. The featherduster she had commandeered earlier was now grazing Tara's tummy ever so slightly, again and again.

"I'm... having a... wonderful day... right now," Tara closed her eyes and smiled blissfully.

"When we free Coruscant, I'm gonna look up my parents," Willow said and put down the featherduster. "They can't ignore me if I'm in front of their door. And I'm going to introduce the love of my life to them."

Tara propped herself up and laid her hand on Willow's cheek, offering her an encouraging smile.

"It's gonna be weird," Willow shook her head. "I've only ever known Coruscant under Imperial rule. My first memory is looking up at the sky of Coruscant and seeing the Separatists attack the Republic fleet in the stratosphere. I was four. I thought it was so pretty. All those beautiful lights, green and red. And the explosions. It was like the fireworks on Republic Day. I couldn't understand why my parents were so scared. I could see the Invisible Hand crashing from my bedroom. I just didn't know at the time... I was just a kid. Do you think Coruscant will be a better place without the Emperor?"

"I know it will be, sweetie," Tara smiled. "Maybe your parents will see that. Sweetie, if you had stayed on the Executer, you'd be dust now."

Willow pouted. "I think they might have preferred that."

"I don't believe that," Tara shook her head and hugged Willow a little tighter. "Let's not think about this. Let's think happy thoughts and... I'd say Willowhand is thinking happy thoughts," Tara smirked when one of Willow's hand was gently cupping one of her breasts.

"Happy thoughts," Willow grinned. "Ravishing Tara is a happy thought."

"Vixen," Tara chuckled when Willow literally growled and rolled on top of her.