When Luke finally came to, he tried to sit up. Soon enough, he found out that that was a bad idea. Pain swiftly blossomed all over his body, overwhelming his senses. He tentatively forced himself to lay back down, then he rolled over onto his side with a wince. He was quite startled to find Mara Jade sitting on the bunk in front of him, her piercing green eyes boring into his brilliant blue ones.

She had been studying him while he was asleep, and she couldn't stop thinking about his farmboyish face and soft features. She tried to keep telling herself that he was a murderous Jedi Knight, but she wasn't quite succeeding in believing it. He looked too...innocent.

"So, you're finally awake," Mara said, seeming annoyed. What Luke didn't know was that she was annoyed at herself.

"How long have I been out?" Luke's stomach growled in a reminder that he hadn't had a good meal in quite a while, and he gave Mara a sheepish look.

"Three days," she told him, ignoring his vocal belly.

Luke looked surprised. "And you didn't wake me?"

"It's not like I haven't tried." Mara shrugged her shoulders, "I told them I couldn't wake you, so they decided to let you rest up. I guess they were in one of their very rare generous moods...But you're not to be fed for a few more days." Mara gave an evil grin, taking her mind off her uncomfortable thoughts concerning her master's right hand's son.

"So they're trying to wear me down physically." It wasn't a question.

"That's their plan—though it would all stop if you gave up," Mara offered, an inquiring gleam in her eyes.

Luke shook his head, trying to ignore the giant headache he was getting, but he only succeeded in making it worse. "No."

Mara shrugged again. "Suit yourself." She paused. "I have to admit, your stamina is greater than I anticipated. Especially seeing as how you're just a farmboy from some loser planet in the Outer Rim..." She smirked at him. "I thought you would break within a day."

Luke gave her a sarcastic glance. "Glad your opinion of me was so great."

"It wasn't that—I just didn't expect your stubbornness."

Luke gazed at her, amused, and, surprisingly, he was able to control most of the pain, as the drug's effects were slowly flooding from his system. "Ah, is that what you're calling it?"

"That's what it is...Or maybe that pitiful thing know as the Light Side is holding you back because it knows you are perfect for it: weak." Mara Jade's eyes sparked.

"Is that a challenge? During our lightsaber battle, it seemed my skill outweighed yours tenfold," Luke wasn't about to be outdone by his enemy's "pet."

If looks could kill, then Luke would have been a flaming corpse. If even that much had been left of him...

"I haven't had much training in that area, Skywalker, and, if I recall, near the end of our duel, I was stomping you flat! ...I would have finished you off if your father hadn't stepped in to save your helpless little butt." Mara gave him another poisonous glare.

"Only because I lost the will to fight."

It then became a battle of looks, a battle that was broken reluctantly by Mara Jade. "I have to go tell them that you're conscious now."

"Go. I'm not stopping you."

Luke noticed, with some satisfaction, that Mara gave an angry hmph as she stormed out.

When she was gone, Luke chuckled at her temper, then he hissed as he could no longer stop his headache and it began to painfully grow into a migraine. Since he couldn't use the Force to stop the pain, he tried to remain as still as humanly possible.