Chapter Text
The set lights are bright on his face as he enters the studio to the raucous applause of a packed audience. He waves with his right hand, his left tucked casually in his pants pocket, and smiles at them as he makes his way to the elevated dais in the middle of the stage. He warmly shakes Luke Skywalker's hand and sits on the loveseat across from Luke's plush chair.
"Cassian, how are you?" Luke begins with a smile.
Cassian adjusts to a more comfortable position on the plush seat as he replies pleasantly, "Good. I'm doing really well."
"Great! Last we saw you, you were a bit heartbroken and letting Lauren D. down on a beach. What's happened in the last six months?" Luke settles into his expected line of questioning.
Cassian bites the inside of his cheek and swallows before replying, "A lot actually."
…………………..
Cassian bounces nervously on the Spanish tile landing in front of the door. Her front door. He exhales and lowers his gaze to shake out some of the energy and to bolster his resolve. His eyes fall on her doormat. "Beware of the attack cat" it says in menacing Halloween script. His mouth quirks up inadvertently as he thinks that that sounds like her. He loves her. She's stubborn, sarcastic, a little messy around the edges, and probably going to rip his heart out and stomp all over it again for showing up like this. But he's never going to get over her. Not for the rest of his life.
One more deep breath in and out and he jumps off the cliff, presses his finger to the doorbell.
One second. Two seconds. Three-
The door opens and he sees the second she recognizes him, her eyes going wide with shock. Her hair is in a messy bun and she's wearing a giant cardigan over a faded t-shirt with black leggings and bare feet. She's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.
"Cassian-" her voice is breathy and surprised and he realizes just how much he missed it, "What-what are you doing here? Did Leia-"
"It wasn't Leia," he interjects quickly. Leia had kept her silence and he doesn't want her to be blamed if this goes south.
He can see Jyn think for a moment before swearing and leaning her forehead on the half ajar door, "Goddamnit, Shara!"
He waits patiently until she rolls her head on the door to look at him. He's pleased to see that her expression has somewhat softened. "Hey," he says with an unassuming smile.
"Hello," she says appraisingly.
"I-I just-" he begins but his mouth and brain don't seem to be on the same plane, "I have things to say. To you. Can I come in?"
She continues to stare at him, making a decision that will definitely effect the trajectory of the rest of his life. He is not at all confident that she will chose the one he wants.
A rush of movement breaks the tense moment as something rushes past Jyn's legs. Cassian looks down to see a gray cat now weaving between his own. He bends down to greet the inquisitive rogue. He is pleased when the cat lets him pick it up, nestling in his arms with a deep purr. Cassian looks up at its owner with a pleading look on his face. It's a cheap trick but Cassian needs all the help he can get.
Jyn rolls her eyes and says directly to the cat, "Traitor. Fine, come in."
She turns and Cassian slips past the door to follow before she changes her mind.
……………….
"Do you regret your decision? To leave The Bachelor without finding love?" Luke asks and Cassian can feel the tension of the audience, awaiting his reply.
"Well I did find love and I lost it, " he starts, "But I don't regret how it all turned out."
"You don't regret letting Jyn go, her decision to leave before you could propose?" there's a glint to Luke's eye as he says it and Cassian's mouth quirks up at the nudge.
"No," Cassian can hear the audience rumble, confused and possibly a bit scandalized, "No because that was never how it was supposed to end up. Not like that anyway."
………………….
Jyn leads him to her small dining room table, tucked in front of her patio doors, and attempts to be hospitable to mask the confusion and conflicted emotions swirling in her at the moment, "Tea? Coffee? Wine? I think Bodhi left some vodka in the freezer?"
He stares at her as he sits, his voice incredulous, "Jyn, it's 10:30 in the morning."
She turns her back to him, pouring herself a cup of coffee to do something with her hands and to distract from his face. "Well I don't know what's so important for you to say to me. Shouldn't you be with your fiancée at this point?" she knows it's petty but she's in shock that he's here and the wounds that she's been slowly trying to seal shut over the last few months are ripping back open, bloodshed seeping out. Despite that, she is unsurprised that she is secretly excited that he came to her.
He's quiet when he says, "There's no fiancée. You know there's not."
She turns back to him now and sees the abject distraught look on his face. Maybe her heart wasn't the only casualty in this after all. She doesn't know what to say so she lets him talk.
"You left. I was going to choose you, you know I was, and you left. Without a word," her heart drops as she hears the hurt in his voice.
"I-" she starts but has trouble finding the words so she gets defensive again, "You kissed Lauren."
"She kissed me-" he starts.
"You hid it from me!" she interrupts, the feeling still raw.
He nods looking away from her before exhaling, "I know. I should have told you."
They just stare at each other for a minute across the table before he begins again, his voice on the edge of pleading, "I was trying to protect you. I should have been honest and trusted that you would understand. I didn’t think that that would be enough to make you run away, though? Was there something else? I keep going over it in my head but I just can't figure it out."
Jyn closes her eyes with a sigh and sees a flash of the ring on her hand, green and vibrant and perfect. His voice brings her back, "There was something else, wasn't there?"
Jyn opens her eyes and can't figure out the look on his face but she knows that she at least owes him this explanation. Her voice is small but she forces herself to look him in the eye when she says, "Your grandmother, she showed me a ring. Your mother's ring. Her ring."
She gives him a second to process and sees realization in his eyes so she continues, "I just- it just made me realize that that was not how it was supposed to happen. I had JUST found out about the kiss and was emotional and jealous and it was all just too much. It's such a perfect ring and she showed it to me like she wanted me to have it. That- this whole thing, it was just too much."
He's looking at her with an emotion she still can't place but it's so very intense. He slips his hand into his jacket and pulls out a familiar box, faded emerald velvet, opens it and pushes it across the table towards her. There it is again. The ring. She feels like she's going to combust or maybe just cry so she closes her eyes and collapses to cover her face with her hands.
……………
"Cassian, we hear that there is a surprise guest with you this evening." Luke's smile is smug as the audience twitters in anticipation, "Should we bring her out?"
Cassian fiddles nervously with the gold band on his left hand, previously hidden from the camera as he nods, tongue licking his lips in nervous anticipation.
"Bachelor Nation, please welcome Cassian's wife," Luke says waving his hand to the offstage as the crowd gasps.
………………………..
She's so lost in the flurry of emotions in her head and her chest that she misses when he stands up from the table and moves to crouch down next to her, his hand tentatively going to her knee. She feels his other hand tug gently on her arm in an attempt to make her look at him. When she does meet his eyes, they are glassy because he's about to cry too. "If you want me to leave, I will do so and you'll never hear from me again and I'll spend the rest of my life missing you but I will do it if you ask. I will do anything you ask. But goddamn it, Jyn, I love you. So much," his voice is a sincere, cracking whisper and the hand on her knee squeezes with pleasant pressure.
Tears are tracking down her face as she croaks out, "What- what are you asking me, Cassian?" And she thinks she knows but she's too afraid of the consequences to assume, hope fluttering in her chest.
He's crying now too but his voice is so steady when he asks, "Marry me? I wanted to know if you would marry me?"
She looks at the ring on the table next to her and then back at his teary face and she nearly sobs it when she says, "Yes. Of course, you idiot!"
He's pulling her face towards him but it's an easy fight as their lips meet, smiles mixed with the saltiness of their tears.
……………….
Cassian watches as Jyn, his beautiful wife of one month, floats to the stage. Chirrut had dressed her in a green dress to match the ring and her eyes and the full, knee-length skirt of it bobs as she walks towards him. He's once again struck by just how lovely she is, how perfect, and after a confident wave to the audience she holds his gaze, a sly smile on her lips, until she is right next to him. He can't help but wrap his hand around her lower back and gently pull her into him, his lips meeting her own, because he's allowed to do that now.
……………..
Her lips taste like black coffee as he pulls her to her feet, lifting her up as her legs wrap around his waist. "My bedroom is back that way," she breathes between kisses, heady and deep.
Cassian nearly chokes as he pulls away from her, her mouth chasing his own. His voice is raspy as he says, "Do you think…maybe we're moving too fast?"
Jyn's eyebrows are raised and the look on her face is unimpressed but the corner of her mouth lifts as she says, "We just decided to get married. After having a dramatic secret courtship on a terrible reality show. And now you want to be cautious?"
He huffs a light laugh as he places another small kiss to her lips, closing his eyes as she tugs pleasantly on his hair, "Yes, I suppose that is an accurate assessment of the situation."
He contests no more as he carries her into her room, nearly tripping over Tooka on the way, and throws her laughing form onto the bed, falling swiftly to follow her.
………………
The click of the lock of Jyn's front door causes Cassian to freeze in panic on her couch. Jyn was at a meeting with the head producers of the network because they had indeed given her show to run on her own and were discussing the terms. He didn't expect her back until later that afternoon. His stomach sinks further into the cushions as he hears Bodhi's voice, "I really think she's been doing ok lately. She actually seems downright chipper which is not a normal look for her under normal circumstances. But, you're right, we should leave her this stuff for the premier just in case."
"I know, right? She went from just straight wallowing to seriously the best mood," Cassian panics even more with the addition of Leia's voice, "She's either heavily medicated or she's getting laid. Is she getting laid?"
Cassian involuntarily coughs because yes, she is, very regularly. This morning in fact.
"What was that?" Leia and Bodhi stop in their tracks in the hall.
"I thought you said she wasn't here!" Bodhi whispers frantically.
Leia's whisper is cautious but grows slowly closer to Cassian's position, "She's not. I'm positive that she's at the studio office working out her contract."
At that moment, Leia and Bodhi jump out from behind the wall to the living room, Bodhi holding a bottle of wine above his head like an impromptu club.
"Surprise?" Cassian says with a cautious smile, not sure how else to salvage this situation.
He sees Leia take in his state: sweatpants and a t-shirt, unbrushed hair, laptop just pushed to the side on Jyn's couch, and emits the deepest of groans. "Are you fucking SERIOUS?!" she points at him but a smile is starting to creep across her face, "How LONG?!"
Cassian rubs the back of his neck and scrunches his face, "Ah, about two months?"
Bodhi lowers the wine bottle, "I knew it! I knew she could not possibly be that happy without, without THAT-" he points at Cassian as he looks at Leia.
"Hey, Bodhi," Cassian greets.
"Hey, Cassian," Bodhi replies, turning to face him more fully, "You better be treating her well. Are you?"
Cassian raises his hands and looks around, "If I wasn't, would I be here in this state right now?"
Bodhi just shrugs as Leia places the chocolate cake she has been holding on the dining room table, "Were you ever going to tell us?"
"You were going to come to that party at my place this Saturday, weren't you? The plan was to announce it then," Cassian says.
"Ok, good, good. This is good," Cassian sees Leia's brain working and watches as she types frantically into her phone as she makes her way back to the entrance, "See you Saturday. And, Cassian?"
Cassian hums in acknowledgement.
"This is all going in the reunion show. All of it," and with a wink, she is out the door, Bodhi behind her with a quick wave.
Cassian blows the air out of his lungs and slumps back into the couch.
Jyn walks through the door of her house close to dinner time and is met with the smell of something delicious cooking. She walks through the hall and smiles, leaning on the wall when she spots Cassian moving through the kitchen with practiced ease, stirring a pot and adding salt to a saucepan. She's about to address him, greet him with something witty and suggestive, when an object on the table catches her eye. "Um, babe?" she questions, "I told you that I was getting wine," she puts the bottle she is carrying on the table next to the one in question and a delicious looking chocolate cake.
"I know. Leia stopped by," he says cautiously, meeting her eye, "And Bodhi. They were trying to surprise you in case you were feeling down with the premier tonight."
She smiles fondly, "That's very sweet of them. So they know?"
He nods at her as he brings a spoonful of the sauce he's making to his lips, tasting it before adding more pepper. She comes up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist, pressing her face into the firm plane of his shoulder. She starts to laugh into his shirt and he puts his hand over hers and she can feel his head turn back to look at her, "What's so funny, dear?"
Jyn continues to chuckle but turns her eyes up to look at him, "Well, they're still going to be very surprised when they find out we're getting married on Saturday. Surpriiiise!"
Cassian turns around in her arms and gazes down at her, nodding and smiling, and says, "Yes, I do believe they will be," before pressing his lips to hers.
…………………
Jyn's anxiety at being the center of attention on this brightly lit stage in front of a packed studio audience (and millions at home) is only kept at bay by the warmth of Cassian's thigh pressed firmly into hers on the plush couch they sit upon and the weight of his fingers wrapped around her own. Leia promised that her segment would be short, ten minutes tops, but time seems to drag on infinitely. A few more minutes and she'll be drinking champagne with Bodhi and in an hour or so she can go home and ravish her handsome husband from the comfort (and seclusion) of their own bed.
She takes a deep breath and looks to her side. The bright lights reflect on the sharp angles of Cassian's face and catch in his dark eyes. The hand not holding her own is animated as he answers another of Luke's questions and she is instantly struck by the gravity of this crazy situation. She's had to go way out of her comfort zone, put a lot of herself on the line, and open herself up to a ton of public vulnerability. In this moment though, knowing that the result is that she gets him for the rest of her life, Jyn would do it all again in a heartbeat.
Cassian catches her looking at him and tilts his head slightly, the contented, sly smirk that she usually sees in the morning when they first wake up wrapped around each other settling on his face.
Jyn vaguely hears the sound of Luke Skywalker wrapping up the show, the crescendo of cheers from the audience, this part, the beginning of their story, finished. She takes Cassian's hand and leads him off stage, looking back with a smirk, and turning around once they're hidden to pull him to her.
As she weaves her fingers through his hair and his lips touch her own, his fingers digging pleasantly into her waist, she distantly thinks that maybe this Bachelor show isn't that bad after all.