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.
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