Funny Finding You Here

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He smiled, kissing her forehead.

There was a sweetness in that act, one that usually didn't come from him. The Courier felt slightly more at ease, though not by much. Unburdening himself of that secret was never easy, always difficult and the one time he had done it before...dangerous. His parents were the only others to really know, and they...well their past experiences with men of questionable morals had made that admission especially difficult for him. They had comforted him of course, loved him and accepted him despite what he had done.

That's what parents did after all. He smiled at the memory, and at Jamie. Perhaps admitting it would be easier now, perhaps he could tell those close to him, perhaps he would tell Kaile. She was the only other person close to him besides his parents and now Jamie, she deserved to know.

His thumb stroked gently across her cheek again, his eyes closing as she rested against him. "What do you want to do?"

It was a whisper, half a pained question that he feared the answer of.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The question posed was mildly confusing. Was he asking her what she wanted to do right then? If she wanted to leave on the freighter she was headed for? Or go back to Sif with him? Or something more? Was he asking her what she wanted? Or just what was supposed to happen now? Her mind ran through these questions at the speed of light, each one drawing up an almost blank answer that she hadn't the faintest idea of how to respond to.Her head dropped back down, looking at the ground beneath them after he had kissed her, trying to search for an answer to the question.

"I..." Her chest rose and fell a few times, losing herself once more in thought. What do I want? Her free hand rubbed her forehead, before running up and back through her hair, pushing it away from her face.

"I want...To get to Cartao. I want to learn what I can of the Force." Her eyes again looked up into his soft baby blues. "I want you." Well...There goes that admission of guilt.

"I don't need you to change who you are. I just want you to stop pushing me away, unless I'm not what you want, then I beg you to just tell me the truth." There was absolutely nothing worse to her than being lied to about one's feelings. Even if he cared about her, it didn't necessarily mean he wanted her. There were subtle differences between caring for someone and caring about them. If what she felt for Kurt wasn't the same as what he felt for her, she didn't want to try and force his hand. That would only make him resent her for it.

"But don't tell me what you think I need or want. I just want to know what's here." She touched his chest, just above his heart, with two fingers. "If it's not me, then it's not me."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

The trouble was, Kurt didn't know what he wanted. He liked Jamie, he liked her a lot in fact. She knew more about him than anyone in the galaxy, she knew his fears, why he ran, how he ran, and what he ran from. It was more than most. His parents had some of the puzzle pieces, Kaile had others, Jamie had them all. There was something to that, something to be said about it. He frowned, his eyes casting down for a moment as he tried to think of what he said, as he tried to find what he felt.

He wanted her.

That realization struck him hard.

He didn't just want her physically, but emotionally. He wanted her to run with him, to be with him, to see the galaxy with him. Yet that was his being selfish again, that was him wanting what he wanted, not taking her into account. His hand tightened for a second, fingers gently curling and pressing into her neck in a gentle squeeze. "I want you."

Kurt bit his lip, that nervous tick.

Could he change? Could he stop being himself? Stop running and distracting himself? He doubted it, but she had told him to be honest, she had told him that she didn't need him to change. So he told her the truth, he told her how he felt, and he immediately realized the hypocrisy in it.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Three words. Three words were apparently the only thing standing between her and tears. Almost as soon as her head registered what he'd said she felt the water behind her eyes begin to seep out. There wasn't much reason for it, simply an emotional reaction to what he said, what she thought he might say, and what she had asked. She looked away, a labored breath escaped her lungs as she wiped her eyes free of the watery substance that had begun its' assault on her composure.

So what did that mean then? Obviously she still had to get to Cartao. Kurt still had to go and pick up Kaile. Those were absolutes. Courses in their future that couldn't be changed regardless of the here and now.

Jamie struggled for a minute to find the right words to say. What was appropriate to say right then? It was clear that they weren't just going to up and hop back on to the Messa and fly off into the sunset like some romance novel. They still had obligations and lives. For a second she wondered if putting him on the spot like that was wrong. True, he'd asked her what she wanted, but she practically demanded an answer from him in exchange.

The blonde haired girl lowered her head again, resting her forehead in her hands, fingers intertwined in locks of hair while she thought for a moment.

"Then we just have to work with what we have for now." That was hardly graceful. But it was true. They could still likely see one another when time would permit, but Jamie truly wanted to become something resembling a Jedi, and Kurt still had to find Kaile, continue working his job and exploring the galaxy. That led to a great deal of trust that the two would have to find some way of coping with. Jamie wasn't exactly a seasoned traveler, and Kurt wasn't exactly the monogamous type.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

What did that even mean?

Did she know?

Somehow Kurt doubted that.

Part of him wanted to scream at the top of his lungs in frustration. He didn't know what any of this meant, what would happen, what was supposed to happen. In many ways Kurt was still a child, he was still immature. He wasn't ready for love, wasn't ready for...any of this. He knew that he wanted Jamie, and he knew that it wasn't fair to her. His eyes close for half a second, his thumb still stroking across her cheek even as he let out a long, heavy breath.

"Come here." His words were half whispered, his other arm sliding around her.

Kurt would pull Jamie towards himself, dragging her into his lap to simply hold her.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Kurt didn't quite give her much of an option. At his behest she was moved into his lap, arms around her waist. Her hands would navigate to rest on top of his, her thumbs gently rubbing the backs of his palms.

"I do still have to make that freighter, if I'm gonna make it to Cartao. I think it's leaving in just under an hour." There was hesitation in her voice, almost like she wanted to miss the ship as an excuse to stay with him for just a bit longer, though she knew she might not get another chance to reach the planet for days to come, and she had precious few credits.

"Besides, don't you have to pick up your roommate still? Isn't she waiting for you?"

Jamie still wondered about the two of them, why they'd never been involved, yet lived together. It was a strange idea to her, but not something she would pry into. Kurt had told her the most important thing she could hear, or so she felt. Well, two of the most important things rather. Both were equally important in their own way, both were things she needed to hear from him. She was happy he'd chased her, that she didn't leave angry or upset.

She leaned her head back, between his neck and shoulder before kissing his neck.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt squeezed her gently. "Right."

There was regret in his tone, but he knew that she had to go. Cartao was where her master would be waiting, where she would find her training in the force. That was something he hadn't really thought about, what it would mean for the future. He frowned slightly, his eyes wandering down her body and towards her hands. He wondered what she would be capable of the next time he saw her. His teeth sunk into his lower lip for a second, then he sighed.

"Right." He repeated. "Then let's see you off."

What else could he do?

Despite what he wanted, despite what they both wanted Kurt knew that she had to go. She had originally left Naboo to learn the force, not to travel with some scummy spacer, and that's what he was in the end. He frowned slightly, then slowly stood, taking her off the ground with him and pulling Jamie to her feet.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The moment Jamie was standing she turned around, wrapping her arms around him and kissed him with vigorous passion, nearly pushing him into the wall. It was there she would hold him for as long as her single breath lasted, before releasing him.

"Right?" She said, fixing her flustered self. "Are you okay?" His tone sounded a bit stressed out, not his normal self. That worried her a bit as to what was going on in his head.

"You don't sound happy."

The last thing Jamie wanted to do was to leave him unhappy, or anything other than satisfied. He had shared a lot of really personal information with her, and she'd expressed a real desire to be with him, even if they couldn't be together immediately. There had to be some way of making something work in the interim.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He smiled down at her. It was nice. To have someone thinking about you like that. For a long time Kurt had gone without that in his life, nearly two years he had been alone. There had always been his parents, but that wasn't the same, not the same as having someone else truly worry about you. Now within the span of a few months he had something else, something more. Both Kaile and Jamie had now come into his life, both of them cared, both of them wanted the best for him.

Kurt wanted nothing more than to take her with him, but he knew she wouldn't, couldn't do that. They had their own paths to follow, but that didn't meant those paths couldn't intersect, he did after all have the fastest ship in the galaxy. What use was it if he didn't put it to it's full potential.

"I'll be alright." Kurt said. "Sad to see you go."

His hands came up to settle on her neck again. His thumbs stroked across her cheeks, his fingers gently massaging. A smile pulled at his lips. "It'll be fine. I'll come sneak into the Jedi Temple one night."

He pressed his lips against hers, some confidence restored.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jedi Temp.....Oh gods. She hadn't told him that she wasn't going to a Jedi Temple...There was no Jedi Temple on Cartao. It was just Keira...

If she told him, he might get the wrong idea, or worry more than he'd needed to. Then again, she also wouldn't want to be lied to, so lying to him would make her a dubious hypocrite. Breaking Kurt's trust like that wasn't in her to do, so she simply had to tell him.

"I...Should probably elaborate a little bit on where I am going so that you don't get the wrong idea." Well, that was one way to say it.

Jamie bit the inside of her lip, nerves slightly on edge as to how he might take this, or if it would even matter at all. It really depended entirely on how much he knew about Jedi and their training versus less formal methods.

"There's not exactly a Jedi Temple on Cartao. In fact, there aren't any Jedi on the planet. At least, not to my knowledge." Boy was this story sounding worse the more she spoke.

"Keira, the girl who offered to train me, she's not quite a Jedi. She works with, or for, the Republic, but she's not a Jedi. I met her on Naboo during my championship fencing match." She sighed, knowing full well this would require some further explanation. Her eyes looked to Kurt for reassurance that he wasn't going to get mad at her.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Oh." Kurt said quietly. Not that he was judging, what did he know about Jedi and...not Jedi. This person, Keira was apparently affiliated with the Republic and that meant to him that she couldn't be all bad, right? Still, he frowned slightly. "What do you know about this person exactly?"

The Courier but on his suspicious face.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Jamie's judgement, but...well it was safe to say that he was invested in her now. It was exactly like her concern for him. He worried for her, and he knew exactly what Force Users who weren't exactly Jedi could do. He was wary of that, very much so. If Jamie got involved with Sith on accident?

Kurt would never forgive himself for letting her.

"I mean...what color are her eyes?" That was something they had always been told to check for, the eyes. Apparently Sith had yellow ones.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Well..." She started, "During the finals match, I was against a rather big kid. He had a foot on me height-wise, and weight? Let's just say he was probably double my weight and then some. He was big."

The blonde rubbed the side of her face, remembering the fight all too fondly. "We exchanged a few parries, a bit of back and forth. I caught him off guard. He..." Her neck muscles flared, lips pulling back as if nervous. "He got angry. Instead of a fencing match it became...." Her eyes rolled, "A beat the living hell out of Jamie match. He knocked me down, sat on me. He started punching me with both fists, hard, across the face. He got me a few times real good."

Her hand shifted to her shoulder, holding her upper arm. "The refs tried to intervene, but they really didn't have much of a chance. Keira jumped in and helped, one thing led to another and when he charged at me again after I'd gotten to my feet, I somehow Force pushed him like a sack of rocks. Knocked the wind out of him and ended the fight."

She sighed, that was the quick and dirty version of the story. Some small details here and there had been omitted, but the jist of it was all there, the important bits.

"We talked for a while after that, she offered to train me if I wanted it. I took her up on her offer. That's why I need to get to Cartao."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

That was quite a story, and it made this woman appear to be the good guy, or at least one of the good guys. Still, he found himself feeling a bit suspicious. There was a protectiveness over Jamie now, a feeling that he had to watch out for her, just like he had to watch out for Kaile. His eyes set on her, his thumbs gently stroking across her cheek until he pressed his lips against her own. It was a way of showing her that while he might have been suspicious, he wouldn't stop her from going.

"Okay." He said quietly.

Kurt thought that he was alright with this.

For a few seconds he thought, then he slipped one hand away from Jamie's face. He dug around in his back pocket for a moment, then pulled out a small metallic device. It wasn't anything that looked too fancy or expensive, no ring or necklace, but instead a circlet that could fold in on itself. The device was Kurt's MP3 player, a music playing device as well as communicator. He offered it to Jamie with a rather earnest face.

"Take this." Kurt sounded insistent. "It has a communicator in it, has The Messa's comm-number on it. If you ever need to reach me, just use it."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Every time Kurt kissed her the woman's heart melted. It made her feel weak, like she could barely stand. Jamie's eyes fluttered the moment their lips collided, lifting herself up on the tips of her toes, hands together against his chest. Once he pulled away she would return to her normal, slightly less tall posture. Each breath drawn became slow and long, Kurt's smell intoxicating her senses to something resembling euphoria. Every aspect of him she would miss when she left Byblos, so now was the time to savor the moment.

When he handed her the device and explained it to Jamie, telling her to take it, she wrapped her fingers around the small electronic and slid it on to her wrist. She held a small shimmer in her eyes, looking into his. Gifts weren't really something she ever much received back home. For a moment there was a look of embarrassment that she had nothing really to give him in return that had any kind of sentimental or otherwise value to it.

There was little else to say besides a sweet and genuine "Thank you." She hugged him tightly, one leg lifting back, bending at the knee behind her. "I will."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

His arms wrapped around her, giving her a gentle squeeze and even half lifting her off the ground.

Time had flown by. It seemed odd that it was only a day or so ago that they had been arguing on that space station, it seemed like forever ago. He frowned slightly, his eyes closing as his fingers slid beneath her top and traced for half a second on the small of her back. A sigh escaped him, and slowly he pulled away from her, his fingers trailing over her hips and eventually away from her completely. The echo of a final call for a freighter rang out, Kurt not quite hearing it but guessing that it was the one Jamie was headed for.

"You better get going." He offered her a sad, but encouraging smile.

They would see each other again.

He was more than confident of that fact, if only because he intended on making it happen.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

There was a moment of quiet deliberation, as if now was her last chance to cast aside everything and simply leave with him. She couldn't do it, just give up the opportunity like that. She'd made a promise to Keira that she'd taken her offer to study under her, to learn what she could for the better of the galaxy. Jamie never broke her promises, even if it meant temporarily losing Kurt. So long as she could still see him, talk to him, and know he was there she would be okay. That would have to be enough for now.

"Right." The nervousness in her voice was clear as day. She was afraid of leaving him, afraid of the journey alone and what might happen. She'd wonder what he might tell Kaile when he spoke to her, if anything. So many things ran through her mind that Kurt would have noticed her standing with a rather empty expression on her face for almost a minute before she finally snapped out of it.

"Right! The ship! I haven't even checked if they were taking passengers! My plan was just to sneak on board if not!" Her plans rarely ever involved much thought. Hence the idea to stowaway.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt covered his face with his palm.

"You mean you haven't bought a ticket?" Granted she didn't have a lot of money, but a ticket to Cartao wouldn't cost more than a hundred credits or so. "Jamie..."

He trailed off, reaching and grasping her hand.

Once again The Courier began to tug her along with him, this time a little bit faster than before. They would have to move quickly if they were to actually reach the Freighter in time. Most transports ships were located in Terminal C, which luckily they were currently in Terminal B. It also helped that they were on the second story, where they could take a bit of a short cut to the actual hangars where the transports were located. Kurt ran as fast as he could, rushing forward and pulling Jamie along.

"Come on!" Kurt urged.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Almost immediately Jamie's cheeks felt warm. That is, until she'd realized it was pretty much his fault she hadn't got a ticket yet!

"How could I have bought a ticket? You kinda stopped me before I got past the lobby, remember?"

With hardly any time to protest the words she was speaking she was being tugged along through the port by her hand. "O--Okay then!"

Her legs picked up the pace to keep up with Kurt as he nearly ran with her in tow through the building towards the terminal. "I'm coming! I don't exactly have much choice, lest you pull my arm off!"

There was a bit of laughter that trailed off behind her while they moved along towards where the freighter was still hopefully docked.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Luckily in starports like Byblos one could buy a ticket for the transport at the gate, at least, usually. At one point and time security would have been a problem, but with the introduction of more advanced scanning systems as well as on-board security measure there wasn't really a need for body searches or any of that more primitive sort of thing. It was something that Kurt was rather glad for, though the last time he had used public transportation it hadn't ended well, mostly due to pirates though.

"Well it's either your arm or you stay here!" Kurt yelled at her with a grin, eventually slowing down just a little as they reached the edge of the second story.

It was a balcony that overlooked the larger part of the spaceport. In front of them were about a dozen or so large transport craft, each one docked against a huge pylon with long lines extending down and away from them. He looked for a few seconds, trying to find the one that was going to Cartao. His eyes eventually locked on the final one, seeing that the ship was just now boarding. A sigh of relief pulled from his lips, and slowly he pulled Jamie too him.

They had a few seconds.

"I don't think you'll need to sneak on board." The intercomm announced secondary boarding to Cartao, First class only. "If you leave now that is."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Well the ship was still there. That was good. At least she wasn't back to scrambling to find a way to Cartao. Kurt pulled her close to him, the blonde turned her head, hair bouncing to the side as she spun around to face him. A hand lifted and brushed away the golden locks back behind her ear. She knew she had to leave. The clock kept ticking closer to that moment.

"Yea..." There was sadness mixed with fear buried in her voice. Her hands slid around his back, intertwining together as she pulled herself closer to him, resting her head against his chest in a tight hug. "I'll see you soon, yea?" That knot in the back of her throat started to grow again. Trying her best she forced it down, not wanting to cry again right there, not when she had to go stand in a huge crowd of people in public.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]