Sharr was pleasantly surprised to find that the kitchen on base was currently empty. He had no idea why. The fact that is was the middle of the night did not really occur to him; and even if it had, he would have ignored it. After all, he and Jaina were baking at this hour; surely this happened all the time! Cookies were good all the time, after all!

Glancing around, he made sure the room contained all the necessary tools needed for cookies, such as an oven; that was very important.

Satisfied that it met all of his very high and professional standards for baking he grinned in approval, glancing at Jaina to make sure she was doing likewise. Which she was not, of course. Apparently, goddesses were not big fans of smiling. How boring.

"Alright," He said thoughtfully, recalling the correct steps for cookie baking. "First, I believe we need to find a recipe. That is generally rather useful when baking, after all."

Locating a stack of datapads that looked like they containted cooking intructions he passed some to Jaina, and began flipping through them.

Jaina was about to bite out something about how he should be lucky that she had even agreed to do this stupid baking thing with him and that he was pushing it by asking her to actually help him (she had somewhat hoped that Sharr, in his unparalleled excitement, would just do it all himself while she sat around and drank or slept or thought or did anything but pay attention to him), but stopped herself. The faster they found a recipie, the faster they could get to baking the cookies, and the faster they got to baking the cookies, the faster she could get out of here.

Who the kriff baked cookies in the middle of a Galactic Alliance Military base kitchen, anyway?

Grabbing the datapads rather agitatedly out of the other pilot's hands, Jaina glanced at each uninterestedly and then proceeded to throw the non-cookie recipies haphazardly to wherever they deemed to fall. Finally, second to the last in her stack, there was a datapad displaying on its screen what looked to be a relatively simple recipie for chocolate chip cookies.

Tossing it at Sharr without warning, Jaina said, "Here. Here's one. Now let's get this over with."

Unparalleled intellect and genius were Sharr's strong points, not reflexes. He was, of course, caught completely off guard when Jaina tossed the datapad to him. He juggled it frantically between his hands, attempting to catch it but succeeding only in dropping it and tripping over his own feet in the process, sprawling spectacularly at Jaina's feet.

Grabbing the datapad, he bounced back up lightly, and brushed himself off cheerfully. It was not like he had any dignity to loose, after all. "I suggest you don't do that with the eggs." He informed her matter-of-factly before turning his attention to the datapad.

"Alright, now we have to find everything we need to make the cookies!" He declared with excitement. "It'll be fun! Like a treasure hunt or something! Come on!"

He glanced up making sure none of the items they were looking for were, say, hiding on the ceiling. Satisfied that they were not, he began to scour the kitchen for them in earnest.

Jaina narrowed her eyes in Sharr's direction.

"It's not a treasure hunt," she told him seriously. Her right arm and index finger extended in one straight line towards the refridgerator. "You don't have to be a damn moron about everything, you know. Save us all some time and look in the fridge, will you?"

Force, if he was going to be like a two-year-old the whole time, this thing was going to last a lot longer than she had originally hoped. Going over to the counter, she hoisted herself up and sat there, leaning against the wall of the kitchen. Maybe if she stayed out of the way, then he'd have an easier time with leaving her, for the most part, out of this.

"And bring out the Whyren's Reserve while you're at it," she instructed him. Even if it was a military kitchen, with the way pilots drank, Jaina figured there had to be some Whyren's somewhere in this place. "I was promised a drink."

Well well, apparently someone was going to be a poor sport about baking cookies. Well, no matter; Sharr would just have to make up for her bad mood by being doubly peppy.

He glanced from his unwilling assistant towards the refrigerator and back again, his eyes lighting with an idea. "Alright." He agreed, passing her the datapad. "But you have to tell me what you get, missy." Jaina was not going to get out of this, not if Sharr had anything to say about it.

Skipping over to the refrigerator he pulled it open, glancing around inside before deducing that wherever the Whyren's Reserve was, it was not here. "You'll have to find it yourself, Miss I-Don't-Want-To-Have-Fun-And-Do-A-Treasure-Hunt." He informed her primly. "Now what do I need to get out of here?"

"You know what to get," Jaina told him exasperatedly. Force, even her aunt Mara, who was possibly one of the worst chefs in the galaxy, knew what it took to make chocolate chip cookies.

Oh, I hope Sharr isn't that bad, Jaina suddenly imagined, even more distressed than before now that she had to think of wether Sharr could actually cook or not. Wedge is going to murder us if he burns down the kitchen tonight.

Suddenly, she felt as if she was going to need a lot more than just a single glass of Whyren's.

"And you get me the alcohol. You're lucky I'm even here in the first place when we both know there's about a thousand places I'd rather be," she said. "If you intend on my staying here, you're going to be doing your very best to keep me either very entertained or very drunk. As the first of those is rather impossible given the current situation and goings-on of tonight, you'd better get to work on that second one."

Apparently, his assistant’s mood was not improving. Sharr was getting a bit tired of her prickly attitude.

"True." He agreed cheerfully. "A photographic memory can be useful for things like this. I was just worried you might feel left out over there." He informed her as he began pulling various items out of the refrigerator and balancing them haphazardly in his arms. He even managed to get them over to the counter Jaina was perched on with out tripping or dropping any of them. A new record!

"And, like I said, Goddess, I have no idea where they hid the alcohol around here. Face says I'm not allowed to drink because I'm bad enough without it. He says the same thing about caf." He informed her brightly. "If I were you I'd comm Wes and ask him, as I'm sure he has some hidden away around here. Or," He added, "You can just settle for me as a source of entertainment!"

Setting down the last item he beamed cheerfully. "Alright, now what?"

Jaina groaned. Gods, the alcohol was hidden? And if one of the Wraiths had hidden it, it meant that it was probably hidden somewhere very good. Seeing as Jaina was not in the mood to get up and start a full-fledged up-and-down of the kitchen, she settled back against the wall and closed her eyes, wallowing in her bad luck. Today was getting worse and worse... What next? Would the Vong proclaim another war? Coruscant's moon come crashing down on their heads?

"The day that I feel left out of your cookie baking is the day I'm crowned Queen Mother of Hapes," Jaina said. "Seeing as I didn't want to come here in the first place, you leaving me out is probably the nicest possible thing you could do. I wouldn't even shed a tear over it."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Jaina watched Sharr position the ingredients on the counter in front of her. "I'd say you throw the stuff into a bowl and mix it," she suggested, sounding bored. "Then put it in the oven and finish it before I get impatient enough to decide to play a game of targets with your limbs and my lightsaber."

Sharr really did not understand how anyone could be so unenthusiastic about baking. It was quite a puzzle to him.

"Well, considering how close you actually came to becoming the Queen Mother back during the war, I'd say that's probably not the best turn of phrase for you to use." He replied cheerfully, hoping she would not, say, smash the bowl over his head for that comment.

"Oh, you wouldn't use your lightsaber on me," He replied cheerfully. "You like me too much to do that. And you promised you were going to be involved in this baking process." He added, glaring at her. "So you are not leaving until you get down off that counter and come help me, missy." He informed her with a curt nod that seemed to say, so there.

Jaina narrowed her eyes at the comment about having nearly become Queen. How was it that he seemed to know everything about her? It was annoying and it was frustrating and argh just--why had she agreed to even be here in the first place? Now to get out and avoid having Sharr after her about this for the rest of eternity, she'd have to help out.

I hate today, she thought miserably. Any reason she had originally had for being here was now lost on her.

Resigned, Jaina slid off the counter and went over to where the ingredients were set up. "I wouldn't be so certain about not using my lightsaber," she commented seriously. "I'm more my father than my mother, you know.

"Now tell me what to do so I can get out of here."

Sharr smiled smugly. Jaina had clearly forgotten how much boring research he had been forced to do about her while turning her into a Goddess. Who would have guessed it would come in so handy now?

"Well for the record, your father has always had a very good relationship with the Wraiths." He informed her. "They worked with him on a campaign back before I was born." So there.

Pleased that Jaina had finally given in and decided to be helpful, he handed her a spoon and pointed imperiously at the bowl. "You can stir, and I'll add things? Does that sound alright to you, Goddess?"

Not waiting for an answer, he began haphazardly dumping in ingredients, sending up a large, dusty cloud of flour as he did.

Jaina coughed and sputtered and dropped the spoon back to the counter as she attempted to wave the airborne flour away from her face. "Sharr!" she exclaimed through the cloud. "You--I think--aren't you supposed to add them--" she paused to have a bit of a coughing fit "--slowly and carefully and--not make a mess?"

It took a few minutes, but once the ingredients had settled down out of the air, Jaina could see nothing within a two-meter radius of them but white. White on the floors, white on the counter, white on the cabinets, and white on them. Looking down at herself, the Jedi could see that her shirt was covered, her pants were covered, and the way the flour was stacked on her arms reminded her of tree branches after a winter snowstorm... Putting a hand up to her face (and in the process causing a waterfall of the white powder to stream from her forearm), Jaina realized that the flour was all over her face, too. Almost hesitantly, as if afraid of what she would find, the same hand ventured slowly up towards her hair... and brushed away even more white power. She imagined that she looked something like Jag now.

Shaking--just a little--Jaina closed her eyes and attempted to count to ten to calm herself down... the Solo girl only got to three before her eyes shot open again and her hands, clenched into fists, looked as if they were searching for a proper target somewhere on Sharr's body.

"Sharr... Latt..." Jaina began, her voice quivering with rage, "Please tell me you did not just do that to me.. after agreeing to help you.. tell me you did not just cover me in flour..."

Well, that was unexpected, Sharr reflected, blinking flour out of his eyes as he looked around at the mess he had inadvertently created. Who knew a little flour could go so far? Glancing at Jaina he just barely managed not to burst into laughter. Sure, he knew he probably looked as funny as she did, but then again, he was used to looking silly. However, a short, furious, flour-covered Jedi was a much more unusual and comical sight. He did not, however, think she would appreciate the humor of the situation.

He shook his head back and forth, dislodging a small avalanche of flour from his hair. He broke into a violent fit of sneezing, waving his hands frantically in front of his face as he tried to dispel the cloud, but only succeeded in stirring up more of the stuff.

When the air had finally cleared and he was able to breath again he finally met Jaina's gaze solemnly, then slowly surveyed the damage before saying, in a serious tone, "Oops."

Okay, now Sharr was just mocking her. A heavy and warning grip around the hilt of her lightsaber, she began to advance on the pilot, though she was sure that she probably didn't look very menacing covered in flour. That's okay, she thought. I can make myself look menacing in many other ways. Ways like cutting his arms off. Yes, that sounded good. Excellent, even.

"You better hope the Force is with you right now, Latt, because I am very, very close to flaying you with this," she said, making a motion with the lightsaber still connected to her belt. While talking, she was sure that there was a very large flour intake going on in her lungs and Jaina was trying very hard not to cough. "Now I'm going to say this once again, very clearly so that you understand me... Let me out of here or die."

Sharr had to wait a few seconds before he replied, biting his lip to keep from bursting into laughter. The fact that he took her threats seriously was a real testament to how angry Jaina was because, after all, she did look pretty silly.

Once he was sure he could reply without laughing in her face, he rolled his eyes expressivly. "Put that thing away," He instructed, waiving airily at the lightsaber she seemed so obsessed with brandishing. "You know you're never actually going to use it on me." At least he hoped she would not. He could never be quite sure; Jaina could be awfully hard to predict when she was in one of her moods.

"Oh, certainly, you can go." He added lightly, stepping aside to give her a clear view of the door. "I'm not stopping you. Yes, you can just head on back out there to all your problems, missy. Although keep in mind that if you leave you're going to have to deal with your kidnapped boyfriend and your friend who took off with him, as well as all the pressures of leading a squadron and being a Jedi and having to live up to your family's reputation as well as your own." He was in full psychological analysis mode by this point, but his voice was still light, his expression cheerful, as he continued. "You're going to have to be serious and stressed and never really smile. Or," He added brightly. "You can stay here and actually have fun for the first time in Force knows how many years, Goddess."

"And, personally," He added, "I think you need some serious practice at this whole 'having fun' thing. See, most people would find this," He gestured at their surroundings, flour flying off of his hand as he did, "Really funny. But it's your choice. If you want to go back to your boring, stressful life, I'm not going to stop you." He finished, trying not to look too smug, and feeling very clever about his whole speech.

Jaina stared at Sharr for a good few long moments after he was done, for the first time in... well, quite a while, to say the least... actually listening to what the pilot was saying to her. Normally she just threw off what he told her (and normally that wasn't such a bad idea; some of the things he'd said in the past had been downright idiotic), but as hard as she tried to, she couldn't bring herself to not hear what he was saying. The words had permeated that thick Solo skull of hers and were caught there in her mind, bouncing around, Force forbid... making an impact on her thoughts.

The inner struggle Jaina was fighting with the severe truth of his words wasn't showing on her outer features, but if it was, she supposed that her features would be twisted two different ways--reluctant acceptance and rebellious denial.

Growing up an extremely independent person, she liked to do everything for herself, take responsibility for her own actions... keep her emotions locked tight away; anyone who wanted to get in had to dig deep, deep down and go through a thousand durasteel vestiges to do it. She had tried to open up to people more after her brief brush with the dark side, but old habits died hard... without really noticing that she was doing it, she had been closing up again. And that was a bad thing, as much as she would like to tuck herself away into a corner of herself and never admit it.

Sharr was right. She hated to say it, but Sharr was totally and completely right. If she didn't let her defenses fall down for even little things like this and kept everything to herself, the pressure would weigh down on her until she couldn't take it anymore and she did something rash... again. She needed to unwind, especially when she was as strung up as she had been lately with Zekk and the kidnappers and Ben and all of the things that had been happening. If she didn't do it now, when was she going to?

The hand gripping Jaina's lightsaber shook a little, the sane part of her mind still telling her to smack Sharr upside the head with the hilt and walk out. But with some effort, the metal handle dropped out of her hand and back to her side and it was possible--if one looked hard enough--to see a slight softening in her brandy brown eyes. The side of her lips twitched upwards into a slight version of that famous Solo smirk for a short moment and she almost bit down to stop it before she halted herself. No, she had to do this, didn't she?

The score - for anyone who cared - was now officially Sharr: 3, Jaina: 0. And she had not chopped his head off with her lightsaber yet, which was a big plus!

Even though he had had a pretty good suspicion that Jaina was going to take his advice and stick around, Sharr still breathed a tiny sigh of relief when it became apparent he had been right. Not that he was some crazy obsessed stalker who devoted his whole life to Jaina Solo or something. It was just that the research he'd been forced to do (by Face. At gunpoint.) on her combined with the whole high pressure situation thing on Borleias meant that he knew the girl fairly well, considering how little time they had actually spent together. And one of the things that had always bugged him was her apparent inability to comprehend the concept of 'fun'. This was practically blasphemy to a Wraith, and to Sharr in particular, and he had the sneaking suspicion that she had not gotten any better about enjoying herself since the war.

As a result, since he had no intention of failing at his life's mission of making the galaxy a more cheerful place, he was not about to let her walk out of here and go be miserable. Unless, of course, she used her lightsaber. Then he might consider letting her leave. But she hadn't, so life was good.

He couldn't help returning the infectious, if small, smile, wondering why she didn't use it more often. It was kind of cute. He gave her shoulder a friendly, slightly awkward pat, sending up a little puff of flour as he did. He let his hand rest there for a moment, trying to think of something to say to break the silence, and, for once, failing.

Then, almost without realizing what he was doing, he bent down and kissed her. He pulled away almost as quickly, not really sure why he had just done that, or what to say, only that, strangely, he wasn't sorry.

He had done it so fast that she hadn't even had time to think about it until it was over, the warmth from his lips gone before she'd had time to bask in it. The resulting sudden feeling of emptiness left Jaina staring dumbly at Sharr, so shocked that her mind was devoid of any thoughts of comprehension or coherence. Near-silence reigned in the small kitchen, the only sound the shallow breathing of each occupant... if there was ever a stunned silence before, it was now.

Jaina stayed stunned, too, and the feeling followed her all the way back to his lips. Her body seemingly moving of its own accord, she was initiating a second kiss even before she knew she was doing it. A hand went behind his head as she leaned forward into him and the other kept her balanced as she braced herself against the countertop.

With conscious thought gradually beginning to return to her mind, she realized that Sharr tasted slightly sweet--and a little like flour, but that couldn't really be helped--and salty and... a million other tastes she couldn't describe, all at one time. She couldn't quite tell what it all was or find proper words to interpret it fully, but what she did know that it was an expreience quite unlike ones she had had with any other man she had kissed before. And as much as she had liked kissing Jag, as much as she liked kissing Zekk, it wasn't different in a bad way.

In fact, she liked it. She liked a lot.

This was possibly the best rash, impulsive, downright impetuous thing she had ever done. And Jaina Solo had done a lot of rash, impulsive, and downright impetuous things in her lifetime.

Oh, good! Jaina hadn't cut his head off with her lightsaber, like he had worried! And why the hell was he thinking about escaping death at a time like this, when he should be focusing on more important thing, such as, say, that fact that he was kissing Jaina Solo?

Which, he had to admit, was really quite an enjoyable experience. Even if she did taste like flour. There was also a good deal of it in her hair, he noted absently as he buried his fingers in it. Not that he was complaining or anything. After all, he had quite a few things to distract him from it.

Such as the taste of Jaina's lips, or the way her body was pressed up against his, to name just a few. In the back of his mind he could not help but wondering how he had suddenly gotten lucky enough to have this happen. After all, Jaina Solo was, well, Jaina Solo. She was the big, famous Jedi/pilot who every guy in the galaxy seemed to fall for despite the fact that she was pretty darn good at ignoring them when she wanted to. And yet here he was, standing in a small, flour-covered kitchen kissing her.

And really, really enjoying it.

((OOC: In the words of Emily: HHAHAHA YOU GUYS THOUGHT THAT WAS REAL, DIDN'T YOU?

Cause guess what? It wasn't. XD. BUT JAINA/SHARR 4EVA, AMIRITE? Anyway, now here's the real shit.))

Jaina rolled her eyes. "I don't need help at learning to have fun, Sharr," she told him seriously. It was a strange thing, a bit of the threat falling out of her voice for reasons she didn't know. She sounded more resigned now than anything. "I don't want to be here because I'm not having a good night and this is not making it any better, alright? Zekk just got kidnapped by these guys for a second time and for a second time I was totally useless. I don't feel like I'm a real Jedi and I need something that makes me feel strong and capable, not" --she motioned around-- "flour in my hair and chocolate chip cookies."

She shook her head and the lightsaber fell away from her hand as she leaned against the counter. It seemed like suddenly all the rage had dissipated from her, like she had lost her energy to be mad again. "...Look, I know what you're trying to do and I appreciate it and all, but, hell, this isn't something that's going to help me. I just want to be alone, not have to talk to anyone about this and--kriff, and now I'm actually talking to you about it and...how do you do that?"

((HAHA, YOU ALL GOT SERVED! The last "real" post was the very last one on page 1! Just FYI!

But OMG Jaina/Sharr = OTP!!1 Their luv is so pure!))


Sharr was, for once, serious. Or, rather, as close serious as he ever got. “Alright, let me rephrase that.” He suggested dryly. “You don’t need help learning to have fun, Goddess, you need opportunities to have fun. How’s that?” He suggested. “You’re always so busy putting the entire galaxy first, what with being a Jedi and a pilot and whatnot. You never take a break, which you should.”

“Now, as for Zekk,” He said, moving on, “May I simply point out that he is also a Jedi, and, from what I know, a relatively decent one. He’s a big boy; he can take care of himself. Sure, your help would probably be appreciated, but who knows? Maybe he’ll do okay on his own.” He mentally winced, hoping she didn’t get all prickly over that statement.

“And as for how I ‘do that’,” He added cheerfully, glad she was finally acknowledging his greatness. “Quite frankly, it’s because I get paid lots of money to be good at it.” He explained brightly.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked increduously. "Zekk, take care of himself? Sharr, he's under the influence of a kriffing Gun of Command. He hasn't been able to do anything to escape them or save himself in the last day since they've had him and--Corellian hells, you saw how they made him act at the party!--and... I don't know, but I know he's in danger and he's being controlled and he doesn't have a way out and I've done nothing to help him each time that I could have."

She shook her head. "And the thing is, that's all what I am--I am a Jedi and I am a pilot and that's all I know how to be because those two things have defined my life up until this point. Now I feel like I've totally lost it, like I'm not doing my duty and I can't take a break now because I've been being a horrible Jedi lately... I lost track of my little cousin, for Force's sake. Jedi don't have an excuse for being that off their game."

“You really don’t seem to give your boytoy much credit, do you?” Sharr asked, his voice amused. “Sure, they have the Gun of Command, but he has the Force, doesn’t he? And,” He added, “If your twi’lek friend is with them, I suspect there’s a pretty good chance his kidnappers are going to get, shall we say, distracted at some point. They can’t keep shooting him every five minutes, Goddess. He’ll be alright.”

“Besides, how do you know where to look for them?” He added. “You can’t just go rushing off without any information. Trust me on this, it’s my specialty. However,” He continued, holding up a hand to stall the insult or objection he was pretty sure was coming at any minute, “I think I have an idea that might solve all our problems. How about this; you stay and finish baking with me, and, in return, I, along with the many resources of Wraith Squadron, will help you track down your buddy. I’m sure Face won’t mind; Intel’s been keeping him cooped up here for a while, and I’m sure he’d love the chance to help.” Unless, he suspected, it involved traveling with Sharr in any ship smaller than a Star Destroyer. But no matter.

“And, missy, you are not a horrible Jedi.” He reprimanded her in an overly serious voice. “Unless you forget, you’ve managed to stop more crises and win more battles than people twice your age. So you made some mistakes. So what? Everyone does. Get over it and move on. Getting hug up on them isn’t going to change anything.” He informed her with a cheerful shrug.

Jaina considered Sharr's offer for a moment. Oblige him by baking cookies for one night, get help in finding Zekk from one of the best groups of Intelligence workers that she knew, meaning increasing the chance of him being found and rescued exponentially. With the Wraiths helping her out, it was almost a sure thing that she would be able to find those two kriffheads and Zekk and get him out of there... and then, at least, she would be doing something instead of just sitting around and trying to go off of no leads.

Slowly, she looked up at Sharr and nodded. "Alright. I swear, if you promise to help me find him, I will, without a complaint, finish baking cookies with you."

The score was now officially Sharr – 3, Jaina – 0. But, of course, Sharr had known his argument would win her over. After all, it was not like she was going to refuse help from the Wraiths!

“Well, that’s better!” He declared happily. “Of course I agree.” And he would just run it by Face later and use his amazing powers of persuasion to convince him that this was really a good idea. Maybe if he brought him some of the cookies they were going to bake it would go over better.

“And now,” He suggested, “I say we get back to work on these cookies.” Glancing around that the flour that covered the room, he added, “We can let the cleaning droids deal with that.”

Shaking her head furiously in hopes of getting more of the flour off of her, Jaina found herself engulfed in a cloud of the baking ingredient. She coughed a couple times and waved the white powder away from her face, but ended up coming out at least looking not so much like a human/taun taun crossbreed.

Hoisting herself back off the counter, she took the bowl they had been mixing in and threw it in the sink with a loud clang. They were going to have to start over after the chaos that Sharr had caused with their first attempt. If they were going to have to make cookies that were edible, then she definitely was not leaving the adding of ingredient control up to the nutcase beside her.

"Okay, one more time," she said, taking out a new bowl and spoon. She handed him the spoon and gave him a pointed look. "What do we need to put in first?"

Deciding that his assistant’s new attitude was much better than the surly one she had adopted before, Sharr cheerfully dug through the flour until he located the datapad that listed the ingredients. He blew on it a few times, sending up a thin cloud of white dust until he was able to see the screen and read it.

“It would appear we need some eggs and sugar, which I know I had around here just a minute ago.” He declared, resuming his search through the flour for the missing items. After a few moments he finally located them and passed them over, along with several measuring cups.

“I think you should be in charge of pouring things in this time,” He suggested dryly, plucking the spoon out of her grasp, “And I’ll stir. Sound good?”

((And that's a wrap!))