Notes: I'm sure that once the next NJO book comes out, this'll end up being AU. But for now, it's not, it's a guess as to what's going to happen in the future. And it begged to be written. Takes place IMMEDIATELY after Rebel Dream.

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Jaina Solo, Jedi Knight, Rogue Squadron pilot, and faux Yuuzhan Vong goddess, was being stared at. Some stares were critical, some questioning, some curious, but most were surprised.

I don't doubt it, Jaina thought to herself. Here she was, arm-in-arm with Jag Fel, standing just inside Lando Calrissian's quarters, where a party had been in full swing. Apparently, Jaina showing her face was quite unexpected. She then did something else quite unexpected. Instead of glaring at all of the stares that she was getting, she smiled, and gestured, encouraging everyone to get back to the party. Almost immediately, everyone began talking again and ignored the two pilots just inside the door. Everyone but one man.

Lando wound his way through the crowd, moving steadily towards Jaina and Jag. He stopped a few feet away from them and spread his arms wide. Jaina freed her arm from Jag's and embraced Lando fiercely. After a moment, Lando pulled away and held Jaina at arm's length.

"You seem to get more beautiful every time I see," Lando said, his dazzling smile in place. He turned to regard Jag. "Can't say the same for your boyfriend though."

Jaina blushed furiously, and was about to correct Lando when a thought hit her. She and Jag had shared that kiss in the conference room and had been spending an awful lot of time together. More time than was necessary for commander and pilot. So what were she and Jag? They obviously couldn't date. Even if they both weren't pilots, the war certainly put a hamper on romantic relationships. She would definitely have to look into this matter more later.

All of this went through Jaina's mind in less than a second. She smiled at Lando. "I don't think his mug'll ever improve," she said. She sensed Jag's annoyance at being the butt of a joke, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

They chit-chatted for a few more minutes, until Lando said that he had other guests to entertain, and excused himself. Jaina grabbed Jag's hand and led him to a keg in one corner of the room. She got herself some pre-invasion brandy, then sat down in a chair not far from the liquor. Jag got himself a drink and sat next to Jaina.

Jaina regarded him out of the corner of her eye. When she had told Lando that his looks would probably never improve, she hadn't been lying. He was roguishly handsome, with deep green eyes and hair a shade lighter than black. The scar leading from his right eyebrow into his hair only made him seem more attractive. The fact that he was tall and mysterious didn't detract from his looks at all. And the fact that he was a great kisser was a total non-issue.

Jaina took a sip of her brandy, hoping that her thoughts weren't reflected on her face. She rested her glass on her knee and turned to her companion. She found his gaze already on her, and it unnerved her. She wondered what he was thinking about her.

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking?" he asked, amusement evident in his voice and eyes. "Legal drinking age is twenty."

"So?" Jaina retorted. "I've been with Rogue Squadron since the beginning of this war. I've had my fair share, probably more, or liquor, after a victory. Besides, when have you ever known me to follow the rules?"

Instead of answering, Jag laughed. It was a deep chuckle that Jaina immediately loved. Right then and there, she made it her goal, for the foreseeable future, to try and get Jag to laugh more often.

"True," Jag was saying, his small smile in place. "Of course, a goddess can do whatever she pleases, without having to worry about punishment or repercussions."

"I'm not a goddess," she said, for Jag's ears only. "At least not tonight. Tonight, I'm just Jaina Solo, no titles attached. Just plain, old Jaina."

"I guess I could live with that," Jag said, some strange emotion in his voice. He downed his liquor and got up to get a refill. "Do you want some more brandy?" he asked Jaina. She looked down at her glass. Apparently, during their conversation, she had finished her drink without realizing it. She nodded, and handed her cup to Jag.

And so the night progressed. The two pilots kept mostly to themselves, and their drink of choice. Every time they ran out, Jag would go and get them more. By the time most of the revelers started to head back to their quarters, Jaina was so drunk that she could hardly walk.

Jag, apparently, could hold his liquor better. He had had just as much to drink as Jaina had, but hardly seemed to be effected by it.

"Jag, get me some more brandy," Jaina slurred, holding out her glass to her companion. He plucked it from her grasp, but set it on the floor, next to his own. "Now why'd ya go and do that?"

"You are drunk Jaina," he told her. "It's time for you to go to bed." He stood and pulled her up to stand beside him, but she fell back into her chair.

"Whoops!! Seems like the ground isn't quite stable in this part of the base," she said, giggling like a school-girl.

"C'mon," Jag said, pulling Jaina to her feet again. Before she could fall, he put an arm around her waist. "Let's get you to bed." Jag maneuvered them around fallen partiers and through the door, out into the corridor. He headed towards the living quarters, fairly dragging Jaina beside him. At one point, she slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor, asleep.

The young Chiss/Corellian pilot sighed, then stooped down on his haunches. He pulled Jaina close and stood up, cradling her to his chest. She was very light, and Jag had no trouble carrying her.

Since she was probably out for the night, Jag decided to take Jaina to his quarters. There was no way he could get into hers without the access code, and the unconscious woman in his arms was the only one who knew it. So it looked like Jaina would spend the night with Jag.

I sure hope her parents don't find out, Jag thought. He remembered the brawl that Han Solo had gotten into on Hapes, so he knew what kind of damage the overprotective father could inflict on him before he knew the truth.

He reached his quarters with no incident. He set Jaina down on the floor beside his door, entered the access code, and opened the door. He then stooped down to retrieve Jaina and entered his quarters, the door shutting behind him.

Jag moved to his bedside and laid Jaina down on top of the covers. Through trial and error, he got her boots off, and managed to get the blankets out from beneath her to on top of her. Jag gazed down at the sleeping young woman. She looked so peaceful in sleep, even if it was caused by too much alcohol. He sighed as he turned away from the beauty who currently occupied his bed.

He kicked off his boots and took off his jacket, throwing it on the back of a chair. Standing in the middle of the room, with just black trousers, a white undershirt, and socks on, Jag tried to figure out where he was going to sleep.

The safest options were an uncomfortable chair or the cold floor, neither of which appealed to the pilot. That left only one other option: the bed. The only problem with that was Jaina herself. If she woke up before he did, she might jump to conclusions, leaving Jag in a tight spot. He would just have to make sure that he was awake before she was.

Jag quietly shut off the lights and climbed under the covers next to Jaina. The bed was quite narrow, so he had to wrap his arm around her to keep them both on the bed. Jaina surprised him by snuggling into the embrace. She sighed in her sleep, sounding quite content. Jag smiled his small, secret smile, the one that he reserved for Jaina alone. If she didn't seem to mind the sleeping arrangements, then Jag didn't need to worry. He closed his eyes and was almost immediately enveloped in sleep's comforting embrace.

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Jaina awoke to a glaring headache and the worst hangover of her life. She half moaned, half sighed, not wanting to get up. She rolled over and, out of habit, squeezed her eyes shut against the glare of the sun. After a minute, Jaina noticed that she couldn't feel the warmth of the sunlight on her face.

Her eyes shot open to be greeted by a bare, window-less wall. Hangover forgotten, Jaina sat bolt upright in bed, alertness returning in a flash. She heard a very familiar laugh to one side and turned to look that way.

Jag was standing in the door to the 'fresher, laughing at Jaina. He looked like he had just gotten out of the shower. The only thing that he was wearing was his black military trousers and a towel around his neck. His hair was still slightly damp and more disheveled than normal. Jaina found herself staring and looked away quickly, a blush coloring her cheeks a faint pink.

Jag seemed to notice this and laughed again. He walked over to a small dresser next to the bed, pulled out a shirt, and pulled it over his head. Jaina didn't seem to notice, as her eyes were still fixed on an indiscernible spot on the wall.

"Is this better?" he asked, nothing but mild curiosity in his voice. Jaina turned to look at him and nodded her head.

"Why am I here, and did anything happen between us last night?" she asked quietly and rather quickly.

Jag related to her the events of the previous night. "And, no, nothing happened between us," he added. "Unless you consider sleeping in the same bed as 'something happening.'"

Jaina flopped back on the bed, her arms above her head. "Thank the Force," she said. "I was so wasted, I don't remember anything after the fifth drink. I could have given you a lap dance and not remembered." She looked sternly at Jag. "Not that I'm offering."

"Of course not," he replied. "I wouldn't dream of it." He pulled a pair of socks out of the dresser and moved to sit on the chair where he had thrown his jack the night before. He pulled on his socks and was lacing up his right boot when he looked up at Jaina, still laying in his bed. "You want some caf?" he asked of her. When he got no response, he asked, "Jaina? Are you awake?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I just realized how comfortable I am. I don't want to get up. I just want to lay here for a few more hours."

"If you want to get out of here unnoticed, now's the time to do it," Jag told her. "Not a lot of people are up and about at this hour. Imagine the rumors if someone saw her leave here, fairly early in the morning. If your father heard, he would shoot first, ask questions later."

Jaina laughed. "Yeah, that he would," she said. She sat up and swung her legs around so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. She started to pull on her own boots. "Okay, I'll leave, but you need to promise me something first."

"What's that?"

"That we make some time to sit down and talk about us," she told him. "I'm really confused, and I want to know what the scoop is before the rest of the base does."

Jag, who now had both boots on, moved to sit next to Jaina on the edge of the bed. He gently grabbed her chin and turned her head so they were facing one another. "You want to know what we are?" he asked, his face centimeters from Jaina's. She nodded. "Here's what we are." Jag leaned forward and closed the gap between them, their lips gently meeting. Jaina snaked her arms around his neck and his hand's made their way around her waist as they kissed tenderly.

When they had to break for air, Jaina hugged Jag tightly and buried her face in his chest. "You know," she said, her voice slightly muffled by Jag's shirt, "if you were anybody else, I would have slapped you."

Jag laughed and Jaina heard it rumble through his chest. "I'm lucky then, aren't I?" he said, his face buried in her hair.

Jaina pulled away from Jag's embrace with a sigh. "I'd better get going. Don't was rumors to start flying," she said with a smile. She stood up, walked to the door, and had a hand on the handle when she turned around. "Thanks for being there for me, Jag," she told him quietly.

"That's what friends are for," he told her, just as quietly.

"I thought we were more than that," Jaina said.

"We were friends first," he explained. "And we'll always be friends. Nothing will change that."

Jaina smiled at him again. "See you at breakfast?" Jag nodded the affirmative.

Jaina turned and left his quarters. Her mood was considerably lighter than it had been for some time as she headed to her own room. She and Jag were more than friends, but not quite lovers. She could live with that. At least for the time being.

End 1/1

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Notes: Another sappy romance by yours truly. Please remember to review. I live off of them. Thanks!!!