After Kyp had gone he turned back to her, giving her shoulder a playful squeeze.

"How's it going, champ? You all right?" He asked, flashing an encouraging smile.

"Fine," Jaina said simply. "I don't mind the vomiting. It's just that I get this feeling like drinking isn't helping me feel any better."

"You're a real genius when you're drunk!" Brodey exclaimed, bursting into another fit of laughter.

"You! You're making fun of me, aren't you?" Jaina cried, her cheeks flushing a deeper crimson than they'd previously been.

"Me? Make fun of you? Never!" He exclaimed with mock solemnity. "Seriously though, alcohol is never a good way to make the pain stop. Had to learn that the hard way."

"Really? I thought you didn't drink," Jaina slurred, languidly cocking her head to the side.

"I don't anymore, and for a very good reason," Brodey muttered, his expression turning grim. He just stared keenly at her for a period of time, although Jaina couldn't be sure if he was staring at her or straight through her.

Finally he snorted, as if he was waking from a deep sleep, and a smile tugged at one of the corners of his mouth.

"Heh, if you think I'm infuriating now, you haven't even seen the beginning of how bad I can be," He said, his eyes sparking mischievously.

"Oh, come on! I don't think you're infuriating!" Jaina chided, giving him a small shove.

"Admit it. You want to kill me half the time I open my mouth," Brodey argued childishly.

"No, I don't. It's just that you take a lot of getting used to. You've got all these things about yourself that you keep hidden, and each time I stumble upon one it's almost like stepping right onto a seismic charge," She said, shivering a little as she spoke.

"That's precisely why I keep most of them hidden. Some things are safer when kept secret," Brodey said softly, furrowing his brow.

"Ah, but I'm your commanding officer. I could order you to tell me these secrets," Jaina cried eagerly, raising her voice to a level that grated against Brodey's sensitive ears.

"I doubt you'd remember any of it even if I told you," He laughed, shaking his head. "I should have Kyp get you some water and a blanket."

"Thanks. You seem like you've done this before."

"Occasionally. This sort of thing happened when friends thought they could keep up with me. I ended up playing nursemaid to most of them," Brodey explained. He craned his neck to see Kyp enter with a pint glass of water and a blanket from the back of her couch. The young jedi master looked haggard, the increasing lines on his face showing testament of his age. He handed the items over to Brodey and then leaned against the doorframe.

"You should go and get some sleep, Kyp. You look half dead," Brodey said, shaking Kyp from his daze while wrapping the blanket around Jaina's shoulders.

"Wow Kyp! There are two of you!" Jaina shouted, a huge smile strewn across her face.

"Hey, calm down and drink this, slowly," Brodey instructed.

"Are you sure you can handle all this? She still seems pretty tipsy," Kyp observed, looking concerned.

"Yeah, don't worry about it! She'll be fine!" Brodey said, flashing Kyp his most reassuring smile.

Kyp walked slowly from the fresher to the front door. Brodey thought he'd already left until a fleeting thought entered his head.

'She better be, Narundi. If she's not, if ANYTHING happens to her, I don't care if you're the better fighter of the two of us or not. I WILL hurt you.'

The thought abruptly ended with the slamming of the front door. He couldn't help but smile at Kyp's protective remark, but he determined immediately that Kyp wasn't joking about one thing. He wouldn't hesitate in hurting Brodey if anything happened that harmed Jaina.

"Glad to know how much I'm trusted," Brodey whispered.

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