A/N: Here's the deal folks; despite my best efforts not to expand this into a full story, that's what has happened. I'm currently working on my post-kotor story right now, which will be my first priority. So I'm warning you now: this story will be updated sporadically. If that's a problem, you might want to turn back now. Otherwise, enjoy.

A big thank you to Lord Valentai and xenzen for the beta.

Again thanks for feedback. It is most helpful.

Common Ground

Chapter 2 - Unintended Consequences

Morgana didn't stop working on the engine until the middle of the night. Exhausted from hours of work, she stumbled up to her room, cleaned up quickly in the 'fresher, pulled on her cotton pajamas, and fell gratefully into bed.

She'd only been asleep for a few minutes, when the sound of voices beneath her open window nagged her awake. Morgana rolled over and tried to ignore them, but they grew increasingly louder, until they were impossible to tune out. Slowly, her bleary mind registered that it was Renie, and she was shouting.

Wide-awake now, Morgana shoved the blankets aside and bolted out of bed. She crept over to her open window and looked down, where she had a clear view of the front doorstep almost directly below her. Renie and the Republic pilot were standing on the step. Her roommate had her hands on her hips and was shouting at Carth. Overcome by intense curiosity, Morgana perched on the windowsill and eavesdropped. The cool autumn air chilled her and she drew her knees up under her chin for warmth.

"You don't want to see me again?" Renie wailed.

"Uh, well..." Carth said, his chagrin illuminated by the front porch light. "You're a nice girl, Renie, but I've, um..." He paused, clearly not knowing what to say, and both Renie and Morgana waited with bated breath for his next words. He chose the half-tactful, half-truthful route, "...Already made plans with someone else."

He was serious!

Morgana almost fell off the windowsill in shock. After replaying their conversation over and over in her mind, despite her best efforts to remain focused on her work, she'd come to the conclusion that Carth must have been joking with her, or making fun of her or that someone else must have put him up to it. It was just too outrageous, and she'd angrily resolved to ignore him if he ever showed up again.

Renie's lips trembled in her prettiest and most effective pout. Morgana was almost moved to feel guilt, but Renie could be notoriously insincere at times, so she wasn't certain whether Renie was actually hurt or not. Renie looked up at Carth with her big green eyes and asked, "Did I do anything wrong?"

"No. Renie, I didn't mean for it to be like this. I'm really sorry."

Seeing that her pout didn't have the effect that she'd intended, Renie blasted Carth. "Everything was fine yesterday! Who is this girl anyway?" she demanded.

"Well, actually..."

Oh, no, he isn't!

But he did. "It's your roommate, Morgana."

Blast!

Renie's eyes narrowed as her pretty mouth twisted into a sneer. "Morgana? Now I know you're joking."

The pilot looked confused. "I'm not joking, Renie."

"You're going out with my roommate? You're turning me down because of Morgana?"

Carth rubbed the back of his neck with one hand sheepishly as he said, "Yeah."

Renie exploded, angry and embarrassed. Morgana's shock turned to sympathy and a healthy dose of guilt when Renie shouted, "I can't believe you! You jerk!"

The front door opened and Renie marched into the house, leaving Carth looking very guilty on the front doorstep. After standing there indecisively for another minute, Carth shoved his hands in his pockets and headed to his speeder. Morgana watched him disappear into the dark night.

Morgana shivered, slid off the lonely windowsill and closed the window, still in shock. She still couldn't believe that he hadn't been joking, but even though he had apparently been serious, she still was not going to go.

Sighing, she resolved to find Renie and begin the unpleasant task of explaining and apologizing for what had happened. Morgana wasn't sure how Carth had managed to get her to agree, despite her protests to the contrary, except that he was surprisingly intelligent and he had a truly spectacular smile. A smile that apparently had the effect of completely short-circuiting her common sense, and getting her to agree to something that she otherwise would have never even considered.

She opened her bedroom door and reluctantly padded out into the hallway, her bare feet slapping against the worn wooden floor. Renie's voice echoed through the corridor as she came stomping up the stairs. "Don't tell me to calm down! I'm going to give that snobby little bitch a piece of my mind!" Renie shouted.

For a second, Morgana almost bolted back into her room, but she realized that this confrontation was going to happen sometime, so she resigned herself to the fight that was coming and waited in the hall.

Renie rounded the corner and spotted her. She had a positively feral look on her face as she sputtered, "You, you, backstabbing bitch!" Cait, one of the other university students who shared the house, came up the stairs behind Renie. She was followed by a black-haired, almond-eyed man who was wearing a pilot's dress black uniform.

Morgana held up her hands in a placating gesture and tried to explain, "Renie-"

"How could you do that to me?" she shouted, her red curls bobbing as she trembled in outrage. "How could you betray me like this?" Morgana thought that was putting it a bit melodramatically, especially considering how Renie went through men like tissues, but she kept her mouth shut since she knew she was in the wrong. "I leave him with you for a few minutes and you steal my boyfriend from me?"

"Boyfriend? I thought you'd only known him for a couple of days," Morgana pointed out, forgetting for a minute that she had meant to apologize. As she spoke, two of their other roommates, Dora and Bez, poked their heads out into the hall, apparently curious as to what all the commotion was about. Nabat, a red Twi'lek and Morgana's best friend, came out of her room into the hallway, followed by her half-dressed, longtime human boyfriend, Colin.

"Well, he would have been my boyfriend if it hadn't been for you," Renie spat. Nabat leaned against the wall, coiled her head-tails around her neck and watched the argument with great interest.

Morgana's cheeks started to burn from embarrassment at all of the scrutiny; she hated being the center of attention. Renie, however, seemed to be fueled by the impromptu audience.

"But you had to mess that up for me, didn't you? I knew that you were jealous of me, but I didn't think you'd stoop to anything this petty."

Morgana, surprised at Renie's audacity, crossed her arms and looked her roommate coolly in the eye. She knew it was going to get very nasty if she didn't do something quickly. Taking a steadying breath, she tried to salvage the situation, since they had to live together for at least the next six months.

"Renie, I'm not jealous of you," she stated as calmly as she could under the circumstances, wishing she were more adept at this kind of thing. "I can explain what happened."

"I don't care about your explanation. I know why you did it. You've been jealous of me since we met. You just can't stand that I'm better looking, more interesting and more fun than you are. You think you're so much smarter than everyone else, but you're just a boring, mousy nerd."

Stung by Renie's words, since the last part had hit far too close to home, Morgana's intended apology was now completely forgotten. After three years of putting up with Renie's mercurial moods, short temper and general bitchiness, she'd finally had enough. "Why would I be jealous of you?" she asked in a frosty, clipped voice. "You're vain, mean, shallow, and inconsiderate. You seem to think that school is a place to find a husband."

Cait and Dora gasped in outrage for their friend, while Nabat's eyebrows shot skyward and a smile of supreme satisfaction spread across her face. Both of the men snickered; Colin openly while the pilot tried to hide it behind his hand. Cait threw the pilot an annoyed look, which mostly silenced him.

Renie gaped at Morgana, startled by the usually quiet girl's outburst. Set free at last, Morgana's irritation and annoyance bubbled over as she continued. "This might be a foreign concept to you, but I'm actually here to learn something. All I want is to be left alone in my lab, but you foisted him off on me even though you knew I was busy and I didn't want you to, just like you always do. You know what? I was going to apologize to you--I actually felt guilty. But it's your own fault."

Morgana hated it when Renie sent pilots down to the makeshift lab, and she was sick of tripping over them while she tried to work. Sometimes they assumed she didn't know anything about engines and spouted off some half-baked drivel trying to impress her, when it was obvious they had no idea what they were talking about. Others stood around, pouting, not interested at all, waiting for Renie and complaining the whole time. A few had openly leered at her while she worked.

Renie's lips thinned as her eyes blazed viciously. "Do you know why I send them out there? It's because they appreciate me so much more after spending an hour with you."

Morgana tried to think of something to say, but she was speechless. Nabat leaped to her defense, moving next to Morgana in a show of solidarity, and flicking her head-tails in a manner that Morgana knew was an incredibly rude gesture. She wondered if Renie even realized it.

Nabat snorted. "Good plan. Clearly it worked this time." She looked down at Morgana. "I like this guy already. He has taste."

Snarling, Renie pointed one perfectly manicured finger at the Twi'lek. "Shut it, Nabat! I wasn't talking to you."

Nabat smirked and shot back, "Truth hurts, doesn't it? It must really burn to discover that you're not as irresistible as you thought you were."

Renie's face turned a dangerous shade of red as she turned her attention back to Morgana. "Carth will get bored with you soon enough, and when he does, I'll be waiting." With that parting shot, she sailed past Morgana and Nabat into her own room. Dora followed her, presumably to comfort her friend, while Cait looked at Morgana with disgust and led the amused-looking pilot back down the stairs. As he left, he took one last look at Morgana over his shoulder and chuckled.

Bez, a solitary and intense Zabrak, shook her head and wandered back into her room, leaving Morgana, Nabat and Colin in the hallway. Nabat, waving Colin back to bed, grabbed Morgana's hand and dragged her into Morgana's neat and tidy bedroom.

Nabat's eyes sparkled and her head-tails twitched in amusement as she sprawled across Morgana's bed. "Alright, spill it."

Sighing, Morgana slumped down on the bed, leaned against the hard wooden headboard, and started filling Nabat in on what had happened in the garage. Although she was exhausted and really just wanted to crawl back into bed, she knew that Nabat would pester her until she pried the whole story out of her.

"This is just too good!" Nabat exclaimed in delight. Morgana couldn't help but laugh, because Nabat actually rubbed her hands together in glee. "So where are you two going?"

Morgana stared at her. "I'm not going to go." Shockingly, she felt an unexpected twinge of disappointment. It confused her; she should be angry that Carth had dragged her into this mess, not disappointed that she wasn't going to go.

"What do you mean, you're not going? You have to!"

Morgana rolled her eyes. "Nabat!"

"What?"

"I can't go!"

"Of course you can! Why wouldn't you?"

"Because it's wrong. I might not like Renie, but we really hurt her feelings."

Dismissing Renie's feelings with a wave of her red hand, Nabat declared, "She's a bitch. Who cares about her?" Morgana wasn't surprised by Nabat's attitude, since Nabat hated Renie and had told her off frequently and vigorously. Usually it was Renie and Nabat who fought, while Morgana ran for cover, trying not to get sucked into all the drama. At Morgana's wry look she said, "If your positions were reversed, do you think she'd do the same?"

"No. But-"

"But what? She'll get over it. She'll probably be with someone new tomorrow." Nabat's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You know, I think the problem isn't Renie. I think the problem is you like this guy."

Morgana colored as she focused on picking nonexistent lint off her green bedspread.

A smile crossed Nabat's face. "Ana?" she drawled.

Morgana, unable to fool her best friend, fessed up, although she was unable to meet Nabat's eyes. "I do," she admitted. "He's smart and interesting and he seems like a nice guy--for a pilot, anyway." She wrinkled her nose. "Although I'm not sure about this whole 'kitten' thing."

"Knowing Renie, he's probably very good-looking too."

Only if you count a man with broad shoulders, big brown eyes, and an amazing smile as good-looking.

Morgana had felt like an idiot when she'd finally realized how handsome he actually was. She shook her head. "He's exactly what I don't need."

After years of hard work, she'd finally gotten her life exactly how she wanted it. She was close to graduation and had several offers of lucrative employment. Most importantly, she was first in line to be awarded a grant, which would allow her to pursue the research that she'd always wanted to do. The competition was stiff, but she was a virtual lock for it. All she had to do was finish a few projects, keep her grades up and keep her professors happy. She wasn't about to let one pilot, no matter how good-looking, screw that up for her.

Nabat didn't appear to be very convinced of this. "No. He's exactly what you need. You lock yourself away in that garage, and it's just not healthy."

Indignant, Morgana protested, "I do things."

"Colin and I have to practically kidnap you to get you to leave your lab. You work far too hard. You need to go out and do something fun. Get laid. Do something crazy."

"If you remember, I do actually have a boyfriend."

"He's off-planet for a few more months, and besides, he's the one who wanted to see other people."

Morgana flinched and looked away. She'd been deeply hurt when Brell had declared that he was being smothered by their relationship, and that he wanted to "explore other avenues." Morgana wondered how you could smother someone when you weren't even on the same planet. Although she was sure he was taking full advantage of their decision, she hadn't been able to bring herself to do it.

"You put up with Brell because he's convenient and easy." Nabat rose and headed out the door. "You really should think about going. If you don't go, you'll always wonder. Besides, if you don't go, Renie wins."

She left Morgana deep in thought, trying to decide what to do.

"Onasi, you dog!"

Startled, Carth looked up from the punching bag to see his best friend since grade school and fellow squadron member, Dustil Jarret, smirking at him. Stopping his morning workout, he watched Dustil, who looked far too amused to be up to anything good, swagger up to him.

Wondering why his friend looked so damned entertained, he barked, "What?"

Dustil started taping his hands up, preparing for his own workout. The fluorescent-lit gym was empty, even though it was mid-morning, since most of the officers who used it had partied pretty hard the night before. Until Dustil had appeared, his only company had been the cleaning droids that silently moved through the equipment. They left the cloying, heavy smell of disinfectant in their wake.

Since his night had been unexpectedly cut short, Carth had gotten to bed earlier than he'd expected, but he wondered why Dustil was here. Normally Dustil would have been sleeping off a hangover or in bed with some girl, since they were off duty until tomorrow afternoon. Presumably, that was where Jordo was right now. Carth wondered if Dustil's night had been as rocky as his own.

"You'll never guess what happened last night."

Carth wasn't in the mood for Dustil's amicably cryptic humor, since he was still feeling guilty about what had happened last night. Luckily, Dustil didn't wait for him to answer.

"So I took Cait back to her house last night, and we were on the couch. Things were going very well until Renie came storming through, highly pissed." Dustil pulled the gloves over his hands as he continued. "Cait, being the nice person that she is, had to go find out why her friend was so upset. I, of course, being the nosy bastard that I am, followed her."

Carth winced, having a pretty good idea where this story was going.

"By the time I got upstairs, I saw Renie in a catfight with this cute blonde. Over you."

Damn it!

"What happened last night?" Dustil asked.

Carth filled Dustil in on what had happened yesterday; how he'd met Morgana, how he'd asked her out and what had happened when he'd taken Renie home. By the time he was finished, Dustil was clutching his stomach and laughing so hard that he could barely stand up.

"It's not funny, damn it!"

"Yeah it is!" Dustil's tone was a mixture of mockery and grudging admiration. "Only you, Onasi, would have two women fighting over you. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. It's just that, well, Renie's kind of boring." Which was why, even though he felt guilty for what had happened with Renie, he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about asking Morgana out. As the evening had worn on, he'd come to realize that, while Renie might be good-looking, she had all the depth of a shallow mud puddle. He'd been bored senseless for most of the night, and when it was finally over, he'd been relieved. When he'd taken her home, she had--not so subtly-- invited him in. Renie's shallowness aside, he was honest enough to admit that, had he not met Morgana that night, it was an offer he would have probably taken. But when he'd refused, she'd demanded to know why, and things had escalated from there.

"Who cares? She's hot and she wants you. Since when do you care about whether she's interesting?"

Since I met a pretty blonde engineer.

Flushing, Carth ignored Dustil's question and turned back to the punching bag. In between blows he asked, "So is she angry?"

Dustil looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Yeah, Renie's angry."

"No, not her. Morgana."

"Who? Oh, the blonde." Dustil considered. "I don't know. It was hard to tell. She was too busy getting blasted by Renie. But I have to say, she seemed to be holding her own fairly well."

Carth winced again and mentally kicked himself for his stupidity, realizing that he should have known better than to drag Morgana into this, and wondering whether he'd just blown his chance.

"You owe me, Onasi. Things were going really well, and then Cait has to go comfort her friend. I ended up by myself last night. Just me and my right hand."

Carth snickered at his friend's irritation. "Aw, come on. You should be used to it by now."

Dustil threw him a dirty look and continued, "I don't think you appreciate the weight of my sacrifice. This girl better be worth it."

The predictable trash talking followed as Carth turned back to his punching bag, trying to figure out how to make it up to Morgana.