10. "You're hungover. You're not dying."

The strange thing about a hangover was that waking up was a completely different experience from the average day.

Where you would normally feel refreshed and ready for the day ahead, you now felt drained and immediately ready to sleep again. Where the light would usually be welcoming, it was now blinding. The need to eat was replaced by a need to empty all contents of your stomach and the content feeling of early morning was switched to a feeling of regret and shame.

Jaina Solo had indulged in many a bottle of beer the previous night with her old friends from her days at the military. The group of former pilots had been through a lot together and separately but the one thing that always remained a constant in all of their lives was the memories they shared flying together. Unfortunately, Jaina had forgotten the extent that pilots could drink and she had not properly prepared herself for the night she was in for. This resulted in her not getting home until at least five in the morning, getting sick in the toilet for what felt like forever and passing out on the bathroom floor. She had somehow, with all the strength of the force, managed to hall herself off up and stumble into bed and curl into the ball she was now in.

Although she had felt herself wake up a while ago, she hadn't opened her eyes yet. However, she had heard the banging in her head that had started to feel like a physical throbbing. She could also feel the weight of every single one of her muscles weighing down into the mattress like a ton of bricks and her joints ached, probably from the heels, she thought to herself resentfully. In an attempt to get more comfortable and ease the pain she was in, she turned away from the open blind that was currently pouring light into the room, but as she twisted her body she felt a twinge in her stomach, a threat not to do that again if she wanted to remain in the bed and not on the bathroom floor again.

So, to say that she was not enjoying the waking up experience on this particular day, was an understatement.

Still not opening her eyes, she pushed her pillow under her head and tried to remain as still as she could, trying desperately not to trigger her upset stomach.

A couple of minutes later, she could feel the heaviness in her head slowly turn into the edge of sleep and she swore she had started dreaming when she heard the access code chime and the click of the front door of the apartment open. Hearing movement in the kitchen and the thrashing of cutlery, she secretly prayed that he wasn't making her breakfast as he sometimes he did when she was still in bed.

After a few minutes she could feel a presence, his presence, at the door of the room.

As he laughed lightly, she could practically see him with the stupidly cute grin he usually had on his face when he was relaxed and shake his head as he walked into the room. She all of a sudden found herself needing to see him and cursed herself for how desperate she was.

Peaking one eye open, she saw Jag standing by her locker, with a cup of what appeared to be caf, in his hand. He was dressed in his usual casual wear that he wore when he didn't have to go into the office. His lose combat trousers were held up by a belt and his black t-shirt was tucked into them. The shirt wasn't long sleeved, which was rare for him, and it showed off his arms that look particularly impressive when he reached over to put the cup down and his muscles were strained against his skin. He obviously only recently got out of the shower as his hair was still slightly wet and the light stubble he had yesterday, was gone.

Before he looked back in her direction she quickly closed her eye again, trying to give off the impression that she was still asleep.

However, before she could start her fake snoring, she felt a dip in the mattress and a hand sweeping the hair away from her face.

"Good morning, sleepy." She heard him whisper into her ear and she felt the goosebumps rise along her neck. As he dipped his head down to kiss them away, she let out an involuntary moan, which sounded more like a whimper as her body forced her to suffer the consequences of her actions. "It's almost lunch time."

"That means I haven't been asleep that long then" She said as her voice came out as a croak and she turned her head slightly to meet his gaze. His grin had turned into a full smile as she opened both of her eyes and felt his hand rest on her side.

"What time did you get in at?"

"Late enough to bump into Corran on his morning run." She said filled with regret. "I'm going to have to do some major memory wiping later."

"It's kind scary that you are only half joking."

"You know me so well." She sighed as she leaned into the palm of his hand that was resting on the pillow.

He bent down to kiss her forehead as the rest of his body stood up from the bed.

"Close the blind, will you?" Jaina mumbled while she threw her head into the pillow.

"No way" he said nonchalantly from across the room.

Taken by surprise, Jaina snapped her head up and, immediately regretting it, quickly lowered herself back down onto the comfort of the pillow as she spoke.

"What? Why not?"

"Because we are going to lunch" Jag said in a matter-of-fact tone as he lifted the cup off the locker.

Not in any mood to joke, Jaina gave him her bone chilling scowl, that would intimidate a sith lord on an average day.

"I am not going to lunch Jag. If I leave this bed, I will physically combust. My insides may suddenly become external."

"You're hungover. You're not dying."

"Easy for you to say with your perfectly hydrated organs and non-intoxicated brain."

Even though she could see the humor in his eyes, as he moved towards the bed for the second time, this with the caf, she could tell he was about to become serious. It was the way his eyebrows rose up as the muscles in his face twisted into a serious expression.

Handing her the caf, she finally shifted slightly so that she was slouching against the headboard. Not quite sitting up but also not lying down. It was only then that she had fully registered that she was still wearing the sparkly top she had worn out last night, but when she lifted the covers, she saw she was wearing the sleep shorts she kept under her pillow.

Half way wasn't bad, she thought to herself, considering how drunk she was.

"Come on Jaina, it's the only full day I've had off in forever, and who the hell knows how long it will be till I get the next one? I want to spend it with my girlfriend, not bored and alone."

He was right of course. She couldn't remember the last time he didn't have to go into the office at least once in a day or a time they were together when he wouldn't have to go answer a com call. The stress was literally chipping away at him to the point where he would often come over with dark circles under his eyes, barely able to stay awake through dinner.

She tried not to bug him too much about it, but it was hard seeing someone you love, or rather not seeing someone, under so much pressure. Along with the fact since she officially came back to work with the Jedi after her prolonged leave that she had taken, she had also been busy and their time together was slashed yet again.

"You should have come with me last night!"

"No, because then there would be no one to drag you out of this pit today, now would there?"

She wanted to spend time with him so much, especially when he was giving her that look, which was filled with both guilt and longing, exhaustion yet enthusiasm, but if she moved she may spend the day puking all over him. Which would he enjoy more?

"Look, I'll go out with you, but just let me sleep for like an hour. Then we can go out for dinner, ok? We can even go to that awful cheap place that has the minx soup that you love, if you want."

Accepting that she wasn't in any state to move at this present time and realizing that this was the best deal he was going

to get, he rolled his eyes and nodded his head while turning toward the door. Suddenly her hand caught his wrist before he could move any further and he turned back to see her eyes silently urging him.

"Don't leave. Get in."

"What?"

"Get into bed for a while with me."

In all honesty he didn't want to in to bed. He had been up for many hours now and had even gone for a run, had a shower and made his way over to Jaina's apartment. He wasn't enticed to get back into bed and have to basically start his day again when he woke up the second time. However, he knew it was his turn to compromise as Jaina had just done moments ago and when Jaina saw the look he gave her, she knew she had him. If he was going to have said no, he wouldn't be thinking it over.

After letting out an excepting sigh, he nodded and bent down to unhook his boots.

Jaina, grinning, reached up to put the caf on the headboard of the bed and by the time she had shifted across the bed to make room for Jag, he had stripped himself of his trousers and was reaching behind his neck to pull his shirt over his head.

As he climbed into the bed, they both rearranged themselves until they finally settled into a position that entangled their bodies together with Jaina lying on Jag's chest and his arm around her waist. When they had been still for a couple of moments, Jag felt Jaina turned her head up to look at him and he took the opportunity to look at her face closely.

It was clear that she was exhausted by the black circles under her eyes and there was an obvious color of grey that covered her face. Her hair was disheveled and had curled around the sides of her head like it did after she slept on it. She also looked clammy and had a light layer of sweat covering her face. Yet, her eyes were still shining as they stared up at him and the deep brandy brown color drew him so that he found it hard to look away. Yet, he did look away, but only as far as her lips which were a deep shade of pink, most likely from her chewing on her lip like she did sometimes in her sleep and her tongue came out to lick her lips.

He couldn't help but lean down and kiss her. He felt her lean into the kiss and lift her hand off his chest and move it to his neck to pull him closer. However, he was cautious not to deepen the kiss too much, at least not right now when she could have to vomit at any time.

When he pulled away, she kept her eyes closed and leaned back down to lie on his shoulder, as if the simple action alone had taken all her energy.

"It takes a special type of man to kiss someone after they puked."

Jag smiled at her comment, even though he knew she couldn't see him and moved his hand to rest on her back while simultaneously kissing the top of her head.

"Isn't that the truth?" he mumbled into her hair and he felt her lightly laugh and almost immediately after he felt her breathing change and it was obvious she had fallen asleep again.

Feeling a sense of overwhelming comfort by the whole situation, Jag silently admitted to himself that there was no where he would rather be on a day like this and with that final thought, he closed his eyes and joined Jaina in sleep.