Anja stared down at the snoozing jedi master and watched as he restlessly curled himself up into a ball. Kyp mumbled something incoherent before shivering slightly and flopping over onto his other side to resume sleeping.

'It is a little cold in here,' She thought to herself, pulling her fatigue-patterned throw closer against her body. It had been her belief that jungles were always warm and steamy. Now, as she peeled damp layers of clothing away from her skin that had been soaked from that night's rain storm, she realized that only the steamy part was correct.

Kyp's teeth chattered, drawing her attention once more. In a fleeting moment of concern she wondered if he could regulate his body temperature under the influence of the extract. It was quickly replaced with spiteful feelings about his previous actions before he was drugged.

"How could you?" She demanded at his sleeping form. "How could you feel it was all right to kiss your own apprentice's girlfriend like that?"

Kyp shivered once more as his teeth resumed their rattling but showed no signs that he'd heard her accusations.

'You were the one that kissed him first,' A nagging voice inside her head kindly reminded. 'What were you thinking when you did that?'

"I wasn't thinking," Anja whispered as she shook her head slowly. "I just acted on impulse."

She frowned as she strained to find an explanation for that feeling she'd experienced earlier while comforting Kyp. It came out of nowhere, just to give her a good surprise. She even wondered if Kyp had been the one to tug on her heart strings using mind control. He'd been able to manipulate Jaina Solo in a similar way so he could get a favor out of her. Could he possibly need a favor from her? Could he?

'Not a chance,' Her mind argued back. 'Look at him. He's not even able to control his body temperature, let alone use the force to control your mind! He's just lying there in a pitiful little ball, slowly shivering away his body heat while you contemplate silly things.'

Anja flinched when she noticed, upon further inspection, that Kyp's skin was cool and clammy to the touch and his lips had a faint bluish tint around the edges. In a few short hours he'd become hypothermic, despite not venturing out into the bad weather, and she'd only really noticed it now.

'I need to get him warmed up again, and fast!' She thought frantically as she searched around the chamber for blankets and spare thermal wraps. 'But how?'

'I think you know the answer,' Anja's mind taunted back in a sing-song voice.

"You've got to be kidding," She muttered incredulously. Anja's stomach lurched faintly at the thought of doing it, even though she supposedly now had "feelings" for the man. Still, there didn't seem to be a better way to warm him up under these circumstances.

Anja stripped off her damp clothes down to the last layers, shivering as a breeze blew through the cracked open hatch. She wished for once that she actually had jedi powers as she had to get up and close it the manual way. With half a dozen blankets tucked under one arm she settled herself down next to him on the mattress and covered them both up with layers of insulation.

"You owe me big time, Durron!" She grumbled, swathing the blankets and her arms around him. Kyp uncoiled gradually as his body responded to the warmth of her touch. He exhaled with contentment and held her even closer, almost tight enough to suffocate.

'This is going to be a LONG night,' Anja moaned dejectedly to herself.

~*~*~

"I've been expecting you," Boomed a voice that shook Brodey from a groggy sleep. The short amount of time that it took to wake up fully and his inexplicable paralysis told him that it hadn't been a natural sleep. Somebody had been powerful enough to induce sleep in him and pin him to the ground. That somebody, who appeared to be the same cloaked figure from the message, was now hovering over him. Brodey strained to get a good glimpse of who he could be but the man's face was hidden under the darkness of his hood.

"Have you now?" Brodey challenged wryly as he looked around the dank room skeptically. It was dark and looked like the holos he'd seen of Coruscant's crime-filled underbelly. "When's the party going to start?"

"There is no party," The man replied threateningly, closing the distance between them. "There's only you and me. We have a lot to discuss, you know," He hissed as he extended five razor-sharp claws and brought his hand closer to the incapacitated young man's face.

~*~*~

Brodey's muscles contracted violently and sent him plummeting to the ground from his precarious perch up in a tree. The fall jarred his already-tender ribs and sent a stab of pain through his side. The sound of his fall was enough to make Jaina and Jag stir in their sleep but the following cussing made sure that they were wide awake.

"Narundi, you need to find a better place to sleep!" Jaina said with a muffled groan as she buried her face into Jag's shoulder.

"That was a perfectly good place to sleep," He snapped harshly. "Of course it would be better if I wasn't woken up by crazy dreams all the time!"

"You had another dream?" Jaina asked as she sat up in alarm. "Was it the same old one?"

"No," He answered quietly, poking at their fire with a moss-covered stick that he found on the ground.

"Well?" She inquired after his prolonged silence. "What happened in it?"

"Do we have to get into this right now?" He sighed before yawning widely. "I'd rather talk about it in the morning, when we're all rested."

"It was bad, wasn't it?" She asked, her voice turning icy.

"Jaina," Brodey admonished firmly, using the force to hurtle himself back up into the tree. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Jaina whispered as she lay back down next to Jag and wrapped her arms around his chest. She was comforted by his warmth but it was still a while before Jaina Solo nodded off again.

~*~*~

Kyp awoke with the strange feeling that he was somewhere he shouldn't be. The last thing he remembered was right before the crash. Everything else after that was just a blur. One big, warm, soft-skinned, sweet-smelling blur.

His olive eyes burst open in shock as his greatest fear suddenly became a reality. Anja Gallandro clung to his bare chest and, because of her lack of a force connection, was still sleeping fitfully in his arms. At some point during the past night he'd ended up half-naked under a blanket with a scantily-clad woman he couldn't stand.

'Forget the Vong,' He thought to himself as she finally woke and sleepily stroked her hand up his chest. 'You've never been a more endangered species than you are right now.'

"Um, Anja?" He asked nervously as her fingers caressed him.

"Mmmm?" She mumbled drowsily, staring up at him with her dark eyes sleep-encrusted and her long caf-colored mane in disarray.

"We need to talk," He stated tightly as the panic inside him started to rise.

"About what?" She asked innocently while still clinging tightly to him.

"Last night," He hissed through clenched teeth, his dark eyes boring into hers. "What happened last night, Anja?"

"Demanding, aren't we?" Anja replied coyly to his outburst as she touched him gently on the chin. "You had a pretty nasty-looking injury. We thought it was best for you to be sedated until it healed."

"Who's we?" Kyp asked harshly, grabbing her wrists tightly and pulling her closer. "Better yet, why are we lying here in nothing but our underwear?"

"You were hypothermic," She explained evenly, undaunted by his threatening stare. "I had to warm you up, that's all."

Kyp shook his head incredulously as he stood up, taking her with him. "I don't believe a word you just said," He growled bitterly, raising his voice again. "You don't stroke the chest of a man you only slept with to keep warm. Especially not a man you supposedly hate! Now answer me, Anja! What happened last night?"

Silence permeated the atmosphere for the next few seconds as the pair stared into each other's eyes blankly. Anja finally broke the uncomfortable silence. "You got a little crazy on the analgesics and we ended up kissing a bit. Nothing else happened!"

"Oh, ok. That's nice to know," Kyp said pleasantly as he gave her a fake smile. "Now tell me, were you also taking the same pain killer that I was?" He asked, his voice gradually changing back to a growl.

Anja felt her face go hot as she struggled to come up with a good answer. "No," She whispered. It was the best she could do.

"I see. So, did you try and stop me, or did you kiss me right back?" He asked angrily as his arousal level shot through the roof.

"I might have. . .kissed you first," She mumbled awkwardly in a low voice that was hard to hear.

"What was that?" He practically shouted. "I didn't hear you right!"

"I kissed you first! There, are you happy? I only did it because I felt sorry for you after hearing you go on about how nobody likes you!" She screamed back at a volume that almost deafened him.

Kyp's face immediately went ashen as his angry expression contorted into one of absolute terror. He slowly lowered himself back down onto the mattress and pulled his knees to his chest.

"I'm a dead man," He croaked, looking up at her with wide, pleading eyes as he shook his head sorrowfully.

"Oh, come on! Don't you think you're overreacting just a little bit? I mean, we kissed a few times but so what? It's not like Brodey's going to be that upset if he finds out! And if this is about me feeling sorry for you then forget I said that. It was just in the heat of the moment and I didn't mean to come across like that," Anja ranted quickly, not letting Kyp get a word in edgewise.

"No, that's not it," He said in an airy voice, thoroughly stunned.

"Then what's wrong?" She asked concernedly while crouching down next to him and putting a tentative arm around his shoulders.

He turned his head to look at her with eyes so full of pain and pity that Anja could almost feel it rolling off of him, even without the force. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. The only sound she heard was the creak of the ship and the snapping of branches as they pitched closer to the ground.

~*~*~

Horrendous pain served as Brodey's alarm clock the following morning, waking him from yet another night of torturous dreams and nightmares. He sucked in sharply as he tried to right himself but discovered that his ribs were worse than before. Now the only trick would be getting down out of that tree.

Brodey levitated himself from the tree limbs down to the mossy ground, being extra careful so he didn't jostle himself the wrong way. Once he stood on semi-firm ground he took to caring for the sudden inflammation. He cautiously pulled his shirt up, holding the bottom of it under his chin, and gazed in awe at the large bruised areas on his abdomen. Poking curiously at one of the tender spots only yielded another twinge of pain and he began to wish, once again, that he'd inherited more healing powers. This was not what they needed at this point in their trip. If he didn't find a way to heal fast then he'd be hindering both the mission, whatever was left of it at this point, and their survival efforts.

"Brodey, what are you up to over there?" Jaina asked from behind.

"Nothing," He lied as he agonizingly stuffed his shirt back into his pants. "Nothing at all. How did you sleep?"

"Not too bad," Jaina said sardonically. "It would have been great if this guy wasn't crowding me so much!" She added, pointing a thumb back at Jag.

"Hey!" Jag protested with what looked like a glare. Coming from a man like Jag, who had only begun to express himself like a true Corellian quite recently, it was hard to tell.

"No disagreeing with the Goddess, Fel!" Brodey ordered, in spite of Jag outranking him by a ridiculous margin.

"Why shouldn't I?" Jag challenged obstinately as he turned his glare on Brodey. "You do it all the time!"

'That's more like it,' Brodey thought to himself as he observed Jag's expression and noted its sudden improvement.

"Both of you are going to follow my orders because this is an occupied world. You never know who might be lurking around the corner. If the enemy hears you countermanding me all over the galaxy then we've just lost another battle," Jaina ordered sternly.

"Yes ma'am, Your Goddess-ship," Brodey replied with a salute. Jaina balked for a second before recognizing that he was serious for once.

"Yes Goddess," Jag Fel answered, stone-faced.

"Now, Brodey, I order you to tell me what it is that's so interesting under your shirt," She said with a touch of arrogance.

"Now hold on!" He whispered coarsely. "Since when was stripping part of the deal?"

"Quit stalling like a jerk and show me!" Jaina barked. "I'm in charge of this unit and I demand to know what's going on with my mortals!"

"Nice three-person unit you've got here!" Brodey chuckled and winced as he found out that wasn't such a hot idea.

"Narundi, don't make me smack you!" She yelled ferociously. "Out with it!"

"I don't see why this is such a big deal," He groaned, reluctantly pulling up his shirt for them to see. Brodey rolled his eyes as they gasped simultaneously.

"Brodey, why didn't you tell me?" Jaina asked, her eyes wide with shock.

~*~*~

"Shavit!" Kyp hissed while steadying himself from the ship's sudden movement. Moments later the movement stopped, leaving his heart in his throat. It also dawned on him, after trying to pull air back into his lungs and failing, that Anja held him in an overpowering hug.

"What now?" She whispered in terror as she looked wildly around the cabin.

"Letting go of me would be a start!" He answered frantically in a strained voice.

"Oops, sorry," Anja said, scolding herself for jumping into his arms at the first sign of danger. What she was doing just didn't seem right to her anymore. She couldn't tell if she wanted to be with her handsome boyfriend or a rogue like Durron, and it was slowly chipping away at her sanity. Right then, as she released her hold on Kyp, she could smell the musky scent of sweat mixed with day-old aftershave on his neck. Once again she was met with the bizarre urge to reach up and softly brush a kiss against his chin.

Kyp must have sensed her feelings, or perhaps just her hesitation, because he tilted his head down to look at her with dark, probing eyes. It occurred to Anja that she'd never really taken the time to study his features and she was surprised to discover that he had remarkably long eyelashes. The old Anja inside wondered smugly how he'd like being called girly but she managed to keep her mouth in check.

"Are you quite done yet?" He asked impatiently. "It's imperative that we get out of here fast and you're busy getting all starry-eyed! There's a time and a place for that, sister!"

"You are so repulsively arrogant!" She hissed in a snit, carefully following him through the hatch and down the ladder. "You know that? I don't know what kind of woman could ever put up with you!"

"One that knows what she's looking for, for a start," Kyp laughed as the corner of his mouth curled up in a sneer.

"That was a low blow!" She mumbled tightly, fury dancing in her eyes.

"Good, we're even," He snorted.

"For what? What have I done to you that made you want revenge?" Anja protested, feeling a little clueless.

"Well, let's see. For starters, you kissed me, among other things, even though you have a perfectly good boyfriend that loves you! You're obviously trying your best to sabotage that relationship and using me as an instrument of betrayal. You took advantage of me when I was in a compromised state. Did I miss anything?" Kyp fumed sarcastically.

"First off, it was just a kiss! Please stop making such a big deal over it! Also, where are you getting this 'among other things' idea from?" She yelled back.

"You are such a horrible liar!" He chuckled cynically. "You know very well where I'm coming from!"

"No Kyp, I don't," She snapped. "Please explain to me what these 'other things' are."

Another knot was added to the collection that was forming in Kyp's stomach as this conversation progressed. He wanted to believe that she was telling him the truth, that the situation hadn't escalated the previous night, but she was just too difficult to read. Knowing that he could never get a straight answer out of her brought him no solace and only augmented his anxiety. She was blissfully unaware of her condition while he was busy counting off the hours he had left to live.

"I'm waiting," She sang, tapping her foot on the squishy ground.

"You want to know what's wrong?" He asked brusquely. "Fine, I'll tell you."

~*~*~

"It's not that bad!" He protested, regretting the increase in volume as a twinge passed along his ribs. Lowering his voice, he added, "Sticks, you're worrying a little too much about me. I didn't survive for this long because somebody was watching me like a hawk-bat."

"Sounds like false bravado to me," Jag observed thoughtfully. "Narundi, I also happen to be a very independent man, but I know when to seek help. Right now your chances of surviving without any help from either of us are miniscule at best. I'd highly recommend a change in agenda."

The small hairs on the back of Brodey's neck bristled as he felt his pride singe along the edges. He hated it when others proved him to be so incredibly wrong but somehow it was worse with Jagged Fel. It had crossed his mind more than once that Jag bore a striking resemblance to the father and brother he had learned to despise. Maybe it was because Jag was ruled by that logic thing for which Brodey had developed distaste. It seemed like a small miracle that they'd become friends at all, but here he was, heeding the advice that Jag had to offer. Perhaps if his father and Ch'aanlei still lived then there was a chance for reconciliation with them as well.

"Brodey, did you hear what I just said?" Jaina asked sweetly, jolting him back into reality.

"Of course not. He was too busy chafing from my suggestions," Jag said in a bell-clear voice as he smiled slightly in Brodey's direction. Something in the older man's eyes made Brodey wonder if Jag really could sense his thoughts through the force.

"Well, I was just saying that you really do need to work with us a little more, like Jag said, or else we'll never leave this rock alive. Allowing me to apply a bacta patch to those ribs would be a good start," She suggested hopefully instead of ordering him to comply. To everyone's surprise, including Brodey's, he shut up and went along with it.

Jaina placed a few strips across Brodey's black-and-blue abdomen, being extra careful to avoid touching any of the most-inflamed spots. He showed no outward signs of pain so she surmised that she'd done her job well.

"There, does that feel any better?" She asked with concern. Brodey answered her question with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "Hey, I'm only trying to be helpful! You have this amazing inclination to look a gift nerf in the mouth, you know that?"

"I appreciate your help," He said gruffly while stooping to stuff his belongings into his pack. "But I've had more than enough mothers for this lifetime. I don't need yet another."

Jaina responded only with a somber nod. She knew from experience that Brodey had a number of open wounds from his past that he kept hidden. Pressing on them was a bad idea under normal conditions. Now was not the time to probe deep into Brodey's psyche.

"So," She said with a clap of her hands. "What chance do we have of you being able to hunt this morning?"

"Well, since I'm in a lot of pain from just walking around I'd say those chances were pretty slim," He replied matter-of-factly. "Although you could wait for a large creature to kill me and then wait to scavenge from the remains."

"Brodey!" Jaina cried in disgust. "I can't believe you would even suggest something like that!"

"I can," Jag muttered flatly. "Haven't you learned by now that his mind is seriously perverted?"

"I'm not being perverted, I'm being realistic!" Brodey hissed in frustration. "Come on Fel, you know what that word "realistic" means."

"I know the meaning of the word," Jag said haughtily. "I fail to see why that matters."

"Well, tell me how realistic it is for a wounded animal to bring home game from the hunt," Brodey demanded, growing impatient again with his concrete companion.

"Not very realistic at all," Jag admitted with a sigh.

"Exactly. So, you should take my lightsaber," Brodey instructed, unclipping his weapon from his belt and handing it to Jag. "And go with Jaina to hunt for breakfast while I stay here and watch the camp."

Jag turned his head to look at Jaina, who shrugged once before igniting her blade and cutting her way into the jungle. He carefully switched on his own weapon and followed in her tracks.

~*~*~

"Something happened last night, between the two of us. I'm not sure how but I know it happened," Kyp said as he exhaled, trying to ward off the dizziness that was plaguing him. Everything was just too much for him to grasp.

Anja crinkled up her nose and squinted in anger as she digested his words. "Cute Kyp, very cute. Except that I don't remember any 'goings on' between now and when you passed out."

"I'd love to believe you, except for one very small detail," Kyp muttered smugly, crossing one arm over his chest and scratching his chin with his other hand.

"Would you just say it?" Anja screamed intolerantly, waving her hands spastically in the air. "I'm so sick of you dangling this piece of information over my head! Please tell me why you think we did something last night!"

"I'm trying to think of the best way to break the news. I don't want you to kill me. That's Brodey's job," Kyp said thoughtfully, nodding his head.

"Ok," Anja answered with a nod, mimicking his expression perfectly. "How about if you don't tell me right now then I kill you anyway?"

"All right. Fine. You're pregnant," Kyp snapped, spinning around and throwing his hands up in futility.

Anja made a strange face, like she was choking on something very large. "Say that again?" She gasped once she managed to swallow.

He turned back to look her in the eye as best he could at the moment and placed a hand on her abdomen. "You're going to have a baby," He croaked, still gazing at her with those sad, dark eyes.

She bit her lower lip as she tried to restrain herself from lashing out at him. It only worked for a millisecond before her palm expertly found the side of his face.

"That's not funny, Kyp!" She cried wrathfully as she continued to lose control of her anger. "Actually, it's downright SICK that you'd lie about something like that!"

"I'm not lying!" Kyp whined, his voice cracking like a teenager's. "Why would I lie about something this serious?"

"I don't know! Why would you?" She interrupted, shoving him backwards into a tree.

Kyp reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her close until their foreheads touched. Anja closed her eyes, too mad at him to look him straight in the eye, but the warmth of his breath on her face was persistent.

"I'm telling the truth. You're pregnant," He whispered in a ragged voice. Finally the tears of disbelief came forth and stung the corners of her closed eyelids. She did believe him and that's what hurt her most of all. She instantly wanted to hurt him, just like he'd hurt her. She wanted to make him feel every bit as vulnerable as she did.

Anja choked wretchedly on a sob as she pounded her fists into his chest as hard as she could muster. She imagined herself finding just the right spot to kill him with a single well-placed punch, and pulled her hand back for the strike. Kyp anticipated her movements in the force, for his hand was right there to neutralize her attack. He used the force from her arm to twist her around and pin her back against his chest. With one last motion he brought her down to the ground, still holding her tightly.

She continued to sob feebly as she thumped her free fist weakly against the arms that embraced her. Through her sounds of anguish she heard an unfamiliar sound that caught her by surprise. Anja looked up to see a rivulet of tears streaking the jedi master's face as he buried his face in her hair. He was upset, hurting from the pain he'd caused her. Or perhaps just feeling sorry for himself. Whatever the reason, she now felt satisfied with his grief.