Brodey woke to the sound of boots clicking on the plasteel tile floor outside his room and the soft hovering of stretchers going by. He slowly opened his eyes, surprised at how much they hurt from the light. Through the force he could sense that he wasn't alone in the room and he turned his stiff neck to look at his visitors.

Anja and Jaina were both asleep at the side of his bed. The two girls were leaning against each other for support and Jaina snored loudly, her head lolling on Anja's shoulder.

"You're awake!" Kyp cried, spilling his caffe on himself in shock as he entered the room. The two girls awoke quickly. A little too quickly, Brodey realized, as they accidentally butted heads with each other.

"Sweetie, you're okay!" Anja gushed with delight, bounding up from her seat to pull Brodey into a warm embrace. He kissed her gently on the forehead and then moved down her nose to her waiting lips, his nostrils taking in her sweet scent. It felt like a million fireworks going off all at once and Brodey entertained the idea that he might just be falling in love.

"Ewwwww, gross!" Jaina cried in protest. "I hope Jag and I aren't that nauseating to other people."

"You're every bit as nauseating and more, Solo," Brodey grinned as Jaina gave him a small hug.

"You're up," Jag observed, looking at Brodey with bright eyes and a small smile. The colonel had just entered, carrying a cup of caffe and a pastry. "We were worried you weren't going to pull through for a while."

"Have you guys been here since I got here?" Brodey asked, casting a look of shock at all of the faces surrounding him. "How long have I been out?"

"Just about three days," Kyp replied, sitting himself down in a hover chair at the side of Brodey's bed. "And we haven't left your side, except to get food."

"That reminds me," Jaina muttered, looking intently at Jag's pastry. "I don't think I've eaten anything in about sixteen hours. Do you want to get something to eat, Anja?"

The young woman nodded, giving Brodey a quick kiss before following Jaina out the door. Brodey heard their footsteps echo down the hall and get progressively softer.

"Brodey," Jag said softly, clearing his throat a bit. "I can't even express my gratitude toward you for saving Jaina's life. When I saw she was about to be killed, and then you saved her and got hurt yourself," He paused, blinking a little more than usual. "Well, let me just say what you did was one of the most honorable things I've ever seen. I seriously owe you and I take back all that I said about you being a no-good scoundrel. Hopefully you can forgive me for being so boorish."

Jag extended his hand to his former adversary and Brodey accepted, smiling at Jag as he shook his hand firmly.

"No hard feelings, Fel," Brodey confirmed. "You just make sure that I don't have to save Jaina's life ever again."

"I'll try not to," Jag muttered, jumping a bit when his comlink started beeping. "Fel here. Yes, Uncle, he's awake and going to be fine. Yes, I'll be right there."

"The General needs your help?" Brodey asked.

"Just for now," Jag said as he grabbed his jacket off of a chair in the corner. "I'll be back later to check up on you."

"Guess that just leaves you and me, Durron," Brodey laughed after Jag had left.

"I guess so," Kyp said, raising his eyebrows at his apprentice. "I wanted to talk to you about something anyway."

"What's that?"

"Well, while you were still on the ship and we were healing you I heard you call out Anja's name a couple of times. It looked like you were having some sort of dream so I wanted to know what that was all about," Kyp explained, pacing around Brodey's bed as he told the story.

Brodey thought back to the dream he'd had, thought about Anja sitting next Jag and smiling proudly at him as he married some woman he still didn't know, and his face fell considerably.

"Anja was the girl sitting on the other side of Jag," Brodey mumbled sadly. "She's not the one behind the veil."

"Really," Kyp stated, rubbing a hand over the stubble on his chin. "Interesting. Do you think she was with Jag?"

"I'm not sure," Brodey said, shaking his head as he grew more flustered. "All I know is that I wasn't marrying her."

"Well," Kyp began. "Think about it this way. You're nineteen years old. You've got a little bit of time before you have to make any decisions that influence the rest of your life. A lot can happen in four years."

"Yeah, I know," Brodey sighed. "I just got this feeling like I'm falling in love with her but I don't know if I should."

"Just because you're not going to marry her?" Kyp asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest and raising an eyebrow at Brodey.

"Well, it seems a bit pointless to me if it's not going to work out," Brodey muttered defiantly. "Why should I get involved when I know my heart is going to be broken?"

"Look, you're a rookie so I'll let you in on a little secret," Kyp proclaimed, sitting back down in the chair beside Brodey's bed. "Sometimes the end result isn't what's important. What really matters in love is the journey that you go through and the learning experiences you have along the way."

"You're right," Brodey said, nodding his head and smiling at his master. "And I'm sure Master Skywalker would have paid a lot of credits to hear you say that just now."

"Smart ass," Kyp chuckled with a smirk.

"So, how come you arrived so late?" Brodey taunted. "You weren't busy with anything, were you?"

"Kid, if you want to see your twentieth birthday then I'd suggest another line of discussion," Kyp growled forebodingly.

Brodey just laughed, feeling quite happy to still be alive.

Return to Jaina's Hung-Over Morning main page