𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙠𝙮𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨

• looking back •

another one from my tumblr <3 angst + fluff x
             
                  

•
           
         

Ever since your own, you've hated weddings. In your eyes, it's about two people making the biggest mistake of their lives, and all of their bitter loved ones celebrating the death of their happiness.

You can't exactly put on a sour face today, though. While it is a wedding, it's also your daughter's wedding, and you have to play the role of ecstatic mother and besotted mother-in-law.

It's late in the evening and the reception is dulling down. You take the opportunity to have a break from all the people you barely know pulling you into conversation, and sit at the bar before ordering a whiskey and lime juice.

"You got that from me," An all-too-familiar voice says from behind you, making your eyes roll. Anakin sits a stool away from you, an arrogant smirk on his face. "Remember how much you used to hate whiskey?"

With a sigh, you decide to humor him. You're too tired to argue right now. "When it was the only thing that took my mind off the fact that we were married, it grew on me."

Anakin snorts before asking the bartender for the same drink. A few moments of silence pass by, loud with your inner thoughts.

"He's a good guy, Dallo," Anakin comments casually, resting his arms on the bar. "He'll make her happy."

"That's what Dad thought about you," You mumble with a snort.

"Come on now; you were happy," He insists. "At least for a little while."

He's right, but you can't grant him the satisfaction of admitting that.

"Dallo's a better man than me," Anakin says quietly. "The only reason I like him for our El so much is because he's so different to me."

"That's probably the reason she likes him so much, too," You joke, shooting him a smirk. He chuckles in response, while you take a long sip. You shake your head and can't help but vocalize the thing that's been on your mind all year. "I just don't get it."

"You don't get what?" He asks, looking over at you with a frown.

"Elara grew up watching her parents' marriage slowly and messily fall apart," You say, staring off into space. "She's a child of divorce - an incredibly ugly divorce, at that. I always carried so much guilt that she'd have a negative view of marriage and relationships, but she was so excited to marry Dallo. Like she completely forgot those horrible times our failed marriage put her through."

"Or like she remembered the good times," Anakin suggests. "If you taught her one thing, it's that everyone's path is different. When she kept losing pod races to that girl in her class, you told her it was because coming second was driving her to improve. All those times she was upset that she wasn't Force-sensitive, you told her it was because life demanded more from her than just to follow in her father's footsteps."

You look at him as he stands up and moves to sit on the stool next to you, a small smile on his face.

"And with everything her mom taught her, our little girl learnt that just because her parents screwed things up, it didn't mean she would," He finishes softly, making your chest ache.

He hasn't spoken so gently to you since before the divorce, and it feels nice to sink into his comfort like you were once so used to. "I'm so proud of her," You whisper. "We might have screwed up our marriage, but we did pretty damn well at raising such a star."

"Well, we didn't totally screw it up," He argues, nudging your shoulder. "We had a lot of fun, bunny."

You freeze at the nickname. Having not heard it in over a decade, you almost implode at the sudden nostalgia that hits you like a brick in the head. You finish off the rest of your whiskey before relaxing. "I guess we did, fluffy."