The finale! Get ready to dance...

Music/lyrics by Barry White.

(Coruscant. Four months later)

"Nervous?" Padmé asked, meeting her friend's gaze in the bedroom mirror.

"Me? Of course not," Sabé replied with a smile, wincing a little as Padmé tightened the ribbons lacing her gown. "All I have to do is look pretty and not fall over. How about you?"

"No. Just excited," Padmé said with a grin, helping her friend to her feet. "Although I'm still slightly concerned about this," she said, patting the thick cream fabric covering her stomach.

"Nonsense," Sabé said, adjusting her dress. "You're hardly showing at all. No one will be able to tell a thing."

Padmé smiled at her friend. "Thank you, Sabé darling," she said kissing her on the cheek. "For everything." Then she suddenly frowned, noticing the other girl's expression. "Oh no, what's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing," Sabé said, with a sniff. "I am so happy for you, but it's still a little sad, that this day has finally come."

"But nothing will change," Padmé said softly, "at least, nothing that really matters."

"Just make sure you visit me everyday," Sabé said with a smile. "I already miss you. You must still consider this place your home."

"Thank you, and I will," Padmé replied. "Although once the baby is here, I think you might have to be the one visiting us."

"Have you decided what you will do if…?" Sabé's voice trailed off.

"Oh, Anakin had decided he will just persuade the Council to change the rules and let us live as a family no matter what," Padmé said, "because what's two thousand years of tradition in the face of one fiercely determined, protective, newly knighted Jedi who just so happens to be the Republic's latest hero?"

Sabé laughed. "Well, if anyone can convince them it will be you two."

"I hope so." Padmé said, a little wistfully.

"Anyway, let's not worry about that now." Sabé said, walking over to the dresser and picking up the elegant blue, cream and purple bouquet that was lying on layers of tissue paper. "So Miss Naberrie. Ready to become Mrs Skywalker?" She held out the flowers.

Padmé smiled, stepping over to her friend and taking the bouquet, lifting them to inhale the scent. "You still haven't told me how long it's going to be before you're following me up the aisle."

Sabé tried to look innocent. "I told you, I have no idea. He hasn't even asked me yet."

"Hmm, but the yet implies you have thought about it…"

"Oh stop it with your clever-clever talk, Senator Amidala."

"I'm just thinking what beautiful children you will make. And anyway, I want legal proof that my own matchmaking instinct turned out to be superior to yours."

Sabé smiled, eyes twinkling through the tears that were still pooled there. "I'm never going to live that one down, am I?"

"No," Padmé replied with a grin, linking her arm with her friend's as they walked to the door. "You're not."

The party that followed Padmé and Anakin's wedding ceremony was, as befitting the biggest society wedding of the decade, sumptuous and grand, and held, to their great honour, in the grounds of the Supreme Chancellors imposing residence. After the toasts and speeches had been made and the multiple courses of the banquet had been consumed, the wine began to flow and as evening fell the elegant music turned to something much more relaxed.

Sabé had helped Padmé choose the music for the party, one afteroon several weeks back, as they went through their record collection, giggling and reminiscing. In the largest marquee a dance floor had been set up, and, as the sun began to set on the smoky early autumn day, the music throbbed out as a band began to play. And there was one song in particular that Sabé knew she wouldn't be able to resist dancing to, especially after downing three glasses of finest Nabooian champagne in relatively quick succession.

So when the she heard those familiar notes striking out she knew she had to find Padmé, before the lyrics started, because this was their song. She raced to the dance floor giddily, searching for her friend, who had been patiently acting her part as the perfect hostess all day. And miraculously, across the enormous dance floor, with star-shaped confetti falling around them, they spotted each other, just as the words began.

The first, the last, my everything,
And the answer to all my dreams,
You're my sun, my moon, my guiding star,
My kind of wonderful, that's what you are.

They managed to reach each other in time for the second verse, and twirled, giddily around, singing and dancing to the music, as they had many times before, as teenagers at Padmé's family lakehouse on Naboo, at college in Theed, and in their little apartment by the edge of the park here on Coruscant.

I know there's only, only one like you,
There's no way they could have made two,
You're all I'm living for,
Your love I'll keep for evermore,
You're the first, your the last, my everything.

Then, to Sabé's surprise, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around to see Obi-Wan behind her. Now Obi-Wan, she had grown to understand, did not like to dance in situations like this, preferring to lurk, frowning, at the side of the dance floor. So Sabé was a little surprised to feel his arms slip around her waist, pulling her close so they could sway gently together to the music, her cheek against his robe. And as they turned, she noticed Anakin was there right too, although of course, he was dancing his heart out, fantastically well, and Padmé was dancing with him, perfectly in time, and now she was flashing Sabé a smile, that said, more than any words could, just how in love she was with her husband.

In you I've found so many things,
A love so new only you could bring,
Can't you see it's you,
You make me feel this way,
You're like a fresh morning dew on a brand new day.

And although Sabé still did not understand why Padmé could possibly ever prefer Anakin to Obi-Wan, she was finally resigned to think that, as someone famous once said, the Force moves in mysterious ways, and of course, that if Padmé had fallen for Obi-Wan that night, maybe he would not be here, right now, with her. So Sabé turned her attention back to the man in her arms, and looked up into his eyes, smiling just for him as he cupped her face in her hands. And although the music went on, it seemed to fade into the background, as, in his typically gentle, loving way that she could not live without, he kissed her.

You're my reality, yet I'm lost in a dream
You're the first, the last, my everything.

And if Sabé's life so far had been a movie, at that point the camera would have panned out, over the heads of the party-goers, out of the marquee, higher and higher, showing the Chancellor's residence lit up against the background of fields and gardens, streets and other buildings, then higher, until the park where she and Obi-Wan had fallen in love came into view, the Jedi temple rising at the far side, and then higher still, until clouds flitted past, the rest of the cityscape of Coruscant stretching out, old mixing with new, the horizon starting to curve, until the blackness of space became visible, and finally the screen faded to black, pausing for a moment before the credits began to roll.

I know there's only, only one like you,
There's no way they could have made two,
Girl you're my reality,
But I'm lost in a dream,
You're the first, you're the last, my everything…

But since this was not a movie, and time did not, at that point, stand still, the kiss eventually ended. And then Sabé turned in Obi-Wan's arms, watching in amusement as Anakin mouthed the corny words at the end of the song to his new wife, waggling his eyebrows, while Padmé giggled up at him.

You and me baby. Just you. And me.

And when Sabé felt Obi-Wan's warm lips kissing her temple, she turned to look at him again, thinking that, on the whole real life wasn't too bad.

Because, in those ridiculous novels she still read, good always triumphed over evil, the heroine always found her hero and the love story always ended with a wedding.

But, in real life, this story, their story, had only just begun.