Common Ground, Chapter 8: Tug of War (Part One)

'Get your hands off my girlfriend!'

The furious bellow pulled Carth out of the hot haze of desire and back into cold, harsh reality. Carth broke off the kiss and looked up, to see a red-faced, scowling Brell standing in the middle of Morgana's bedroom, inconveniently right in front of the bed they had just been planning to use. He was shocked, not only to find Morgana's absentee boyfriend glowering at them, but also because Brell didn't look anything like the slight bookworm Carth had imagined him to be. Instead, Brell was tall, athletic, and rugged-looking; he would have been right at home with the cocky pilots of Carth's squadron. Worse, Carth realized in a moment of cold, brutal honesty, that Brell was actually better looking than him.

He hated Brell immediately.

Carth pulled Morgana tighter against his chest and looked down into her wide-eyed, shocked and ghost-white face. After a few stunned seconds, she spoke. 'It might be a good idea if you put me down.'

But Carth didn't want to put her down. All of his instincts -- the ones that weren't screaming at him to beat the hell out of this punk-- told him to carry Morgana down the stairs and back to his speeder, so that they could go to his apartment and finish what they'd started before she could change her mind.

'Please, Carth,' she said softly, but there was durasteel underneath her quiet words.

Reluctantly, he put her down. He consoled himself with the idea that since his hands were now free, he could kick Brell's ass at will.

Brell's handsome face twisted as he stared at both Carth and Morgana. 'I can't believe it. Renie was right!' The next thing Brell said sent a nasty shock through Carth. 'Why didn't you tell me, Ana?'

'You didn't tell him about me?' Carth blurted out, hurt that she hadn't even bothered to tell her boyfriend.

Morgana stood between Carth and Brell looking like a gizka caught in the headlights as she explained herself to both of them. 'I... I didn't know what to say, or how to say it. And I could never reach you because you were never home. It just didn't seem like something that ought to be left on a message.'

That mollified Carth somewhat. He glared at Brell, jerked his thumb towards the door, and said, 'Well, you know now, so get lost.'

'Hey! I'm her boyfriend. You leave!'

Carth smirked. 'Not anymore you're not.' But as he said it, he realized that he and Morgana had never actually discussed it. Brell hadn't been due back for another month or so, and they had both been having such a good time that Carth hadn't wanted to mess it up by talking about her quasi-boyfriend. Still, he was sure that Morgana wasn't going to go back to this arrogant asshole.

'Is that true, Ana?' Brell demanded.

Morgana wrung her hands, and it was clear that she didn't have any idea of what to say or do. 'Well, I -'

'You're going to dump me for some hot-shot fighter jock who's just going to use you until he ships out?'

She shook her head. 'It's not like that, Brell.'

Carth turned crimson at the accusation. 'I'm not using her!'

'Yeah, right.' Brell ignored Carth and turned back to Morgana. 'Look, I know that I screwed up. When I found out from Renie that you were seeing someone else, I was furious, but then I realized I deserved it.'

Brell stepped forward, took her hands and pulled her away from Carth. Carth's jaw locked in a hard line and his hands itched to jerk her back. 'I'm sorry. I've been a jerk, and I was too stupid to realize it until I got that call from Renie. That's why I rushed back early, because I don't want to lose you.'

Brell touched her cheek, and Carth's blood boiled at the familiar intimacy of that gesture. He tried not to think about where else Brell had touched her. 'You know how much I love you.'

Morgana's face softened, and Carth watched her resolve begin to crumble. Desperate to remind her what a bastard Brell had been, Carth's sneering voice slashed across Brell's pretty sentiment. 'Yeah, you love her so much you were chasing tail off planet for the last four months.'

It worked. Morgana blinked and stepped back from Brell; the murderous look on Brell's face was extremely satisfying. The Corellian clenched his fists and looked as eager for a fistfight as Carth felt.

'Stay out of this,' Brell snarled through clenched teeth.

Carth stepped forward and placed his hands on Morgana's shoulders in an intentionally protective gesture. 'I'm not going to let you walk in here and spout off this bantha crap to her. You were stupid, and it's too late. She's with me now.'

'Hey, I'm not talking to you, chumani! I'm talking to her!' Brell turned back to Morgana. 'Ana, just give me another chance. Please? It will be better this time, I swear.'

Morgana hesitated, and Carth's guts churned.

'No! Kitten, you can't believe this clown. He treated you like dirt. Are you going to let this guy just walk back into your life after ignoring you for months and months?'

From the bits and pieces of gossip mined from a very willing Nabat, Carth knew that Morgana had rarely heard from Brell in his several-month absence. He'd also learned that when Morgana would try to call, Brell was almost never there, and when he was, he made excuses and rushed off. Morgana herself never said anything bad about Brell, and most of the time she defended him against Nabat's and Dox's offhand remarks. It drove him crazy the way she defended someone who treated her so shabbily.

'He was out tomcatting with who knows how many women, while you were here, waiting for him to come home.'

Pain flickered across her face, and Carth felt guilty, but he reassured himself that he was doing the right thing for her in the long run by making her face the truth about Brell.

But once again, she defended Brell. 'That's not fair, Carth. We both agreed that we could see other people.'

'But I know you. You only agreed because you wanted to make him happy,' Carth insisted stubbornly.

'That's because she loves me,' Brell spat back.

'Is that true?' Carth asked, terrified that she might say 'yes'.

Morgana looked from Brell to Carth and admitted, 'I don't know anymore.'

While that wasn't quite the 'no' he'd been hoping for, it was better than the 'yes' that he truly feared.

Brell took her answer badly. 'How can you say that? Ana, we've been together for two years. You must still have some feelings for me.' Brell looked truly wounded, and even Carth couldn't deny that, although Carth didn't feel sorry for him at all.

'I do. I just don't know what to do. I... I need some time to think about this.'

Afraid that he was going to lose the best thing that he'd ever found, and hurt more than he wanted to admit, Carth completely lost his temper. 'What is there to think about? He's an asshole!'

'Carth, it's not that simple-'

'Yes it is! Don't you care about me at all?'

'Of course I do!' She looked at both of them. 'I care about both of you.'

Carth desperately wanted to make an ultimatum, either him or Brell, but he wasn't sure he'd win, and he didn't want to take that chance.

'I just need some time to figure this out.' She swallowed and stepped away from both of them. 'I think it would be best if both of you left.'

Both men shouted simultaneously, 'No!'

'Yes,' she said. Her voice was quiet but implacable.

'But, Ana,-' Brell began.

She held up her small hand to cut him off. 'I need time. Please.'

Carth swallowed his bitterness, and allowed Morgana to herd him and Brell to the door. After both men were out in the hallway, she gave them one last miserable and conflicted look, and closed the door before either one of them could say another word.

For a few seconds, they glared at each other in silence. Then Carth cracked his knuckles and said, 'I think we should take this outside and settle it ourselves.'

Brell immediately caught his meaning and nodded. 'Oh yeah.'

They walked down the hallway and found an extremely pleased-looking Renie at the top of the stairs. It didn't take long for her to start gloating.

'Carth! I see you've met Brell.' She smirked, stepping in front of him, blocking the path.

Carth, angry with Renie for sticking her nose into something that was none of her business, didn't have the patience to be nice. 'Get out of the way, Renie. Brell and I have some things to discuss...'

...with our fists.

'Hey, there's no need to get testy with me. I'm not the two-timing schutta.'

'Don't call her that!' Carth snapped.

To Brell's credit, he was looking at Renie just as contemptuously as Carth. 'Shut your mouth about her, and get out of our way.'

'I was just trying to help,' she protested, a faux innocent look plastered on her beautiful face.

Carth didn't believe that for a second, and he called her on it. 'No, you weren't. You were just trying to hurt her, because you're still angry that I chose her over you.'

Renie's furious glare raked over the two men, and her lip curled in contempt. 'She's got the two of you wrapped so tightly around her manipulative little fingers that you can't see straight. But hey, if you two want to be led around by the short hairs, that's fine by me.'

Carth shook his head as she flounced up the stairs and dismissed her as irrelevant, focusing all of his attention and energy on Brell. They stepped outside into the cold night. It was so chilly that they could see their breath hanging in the air.

'Where do you want to do this?' Carth asked.

'Wherever you want, chumani.'

Ignoring the cold, Carth gave him a curt nod, pulled off his jacket, and unhooked his pistol holster. He tossed both to the ground. Brell did the same thing with his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves.

Carth rubbed his hands together as he sized up the Corellian. Brell was almost as tall as Carth, and in excellent condition, and Carth wondered how much experience the Corellian had with actual fighting. He decided that he'd better go easy on the guy, at least until he was sure that Brell could hold his own. While he wanted to teach Brell a lesson, he didn't want to injure him too badly since that wouldn't win him any points with Morgana. He was in the middle of trying to figure out how to achieve this when Dustil and Cait strolled up the sidewalk.

'What's going on here?' Dustil asked. Carth noticed Cait holding his friend's hand; Dustil must have just brought her back.

'This is Brell. He's Morgana's ex-boyfriend. I'm going to kick his ass.'

'She's my girlfriend. And she loves me. Within a week, you'll be history,' Brell barked back.

'Okay.' Dustil didn't stop the show; he just shrugged, grinned, draped his arm around Cait, and settled in. 'Try not to kill him.'

'You have to stop them!' Cait said, shooting worried looks at Brell and Carth.

'Why? What for?' Dustil asked, genuinely puzzled.

'Because they'll hurt each other!' she said, as though it were perfectly obvious.

Dustil's brows knit together. 'That's the point!'

She made a disgusted sound and stomped into the house.

'Women,' Dustil muttered. 'They don't understand anything important.'

Free from the intrusion of non-appreciative women, Brell and Carth circled each other warily on the front lawn. Carth was about to make his move when he heard another commotion in the doorway. People spilled out onto the lawn: a half-dressed Nabat and some blonde guy grinning from ear to ear, a worried Cait, an angry-looking Renie, a Zabrak, and another human girl he didn't recognize. Morgana appeared last, pushing her way through the growing crowd.

Morgana stood between them, horrified. 'Stop this. Stop this right now.'

'Aww... come on, Ana. Let them fight,' Nabat wheedled. 'I want to see Brell's ass get kicked.'

'No. Stop this. Go home, both of you.'

'Ana, step aside,' Brell said, his eagerness showing on his ruggedly handsome face.

'If you two do this, I am never speaking to either one of you again.'

The quiet, calm, and immovably stubborn way she spoke convinced Carth that she was completely serious. He winced, realizing that underneath her soft-spoken words, she was absolutely livid. Her quiet disapproval and disappointment settled like a wet blanket over everyone on the lawn.

Brell backed off, and Carth, disappointed that he wasn't going to administer the ass beating that he'd planned, snatched up his blaster belt and jacket off the ground, still glaring at Brell.

She crossed her arms under her breasts and frowned at them like they were unruly schoolboys. 'Now, go home. Both of you.'

Leaving her standing in the middle of the lawn furious with him was the last thing he wanted to do, but he knew that he wasn't going to accomplish anything tonight. Morgana didn't make the same mistake of leaving them alone together again. His anger at Brell and worry about Morgana curled in his guts as he walked over to his speeder under Morgana's disapproving eye, while Brell stalked off down the darkened street. As he sped away, he saw her shoulders slump in relief.

Morgana was having the worst week of her entire life.

Back when she'd been a confused and painfully shy teenager that boys wouldn't look twice at, she would have thought having two men fight over her was hopelessly romantic. Now that she was a confused and conflicted adult, the reality of the situation was anything but romantic. That they had almost come to blows over her horrified her. Not only was she still angry that they were both immature to think that a fistfight would somehow solve this situation, she also felt terribly guilty knowing that if it weren't for her indecision, they wouldn't have been so ready to fight each other on her front lawn. But since Morgana had no idea of what to do about the situation, she hid in her lab and focused on getting her project completed -- or at least she tried to.

Brell constantly tracked her down whenever he got the chance. It was easy for him, since he lived right down the street and they were both in the engineering program; he often cornered her at school, pushing her and pressuring her constantly. On the other hand, Carth was on duty for most of the week, and between both of their busy schedules, she barely saw him, and when she did, they were almost always interrupted by Brell.

In the midst of all the drama, she desperately scrambled to put the finishing touches on her engine project. Even though it was nearly complete, there was a ton of cleanup and polishing that needed to be done. The engine that she had slaved over so much in the garage had to be moved to the university, and her report with all of her data had to be finished up. She had worked for almost two years on this project, pouring her heart and soul into it, and she wanted it to be absolutely perfect, but it was difficult to concentrate when her personal life kept getting in the way.

In addition, the announcement for the winner of the Vanush grant -- the grant that Morgana had her heart set on -- was coming up in only a few days, and while she knew that her work practically guaranteed her a spot, waiting for the announcement to be made was still stressful. Her theories and innovations spoke for themselves, and she knew that there wasn't anyone else who was as groundbreaking as she had been. Two years of toiling twelve to eighteen hours a day over her engine was about to pay off in a grant that would give her the freedom and money to fund her dream projects-- if she could make it through the rest of the week without Carth and Brell messing everything up for her. Somehow, she managed to get the project completed by the end of the week.

Morgana simply didn't know what to do. Her time with Carth had shown her how dysfunctional her relationship with Brell had become, and she had been so certain that she was going to end everything with Brell when he returned. But she hadn't been prepared for all of the old feelings that had surfaced again, and she certainly hadn't expected, of all things, an earnest apology.

And now Brell was acting like the attentive boyfriend that she'd always wanted him to be -- at the moment that was probably the most inconvenient time of her life. Suddenly he was sending her flowers, which filled her tiny bedroom, buying her obscenely expensive gifts that she tried to refuse, and pleading with her to abandon Carth, which she simply couldn't bring herself to do. But she couldn't bring herself to get rid of Brell either, because there was a part of her that still cared for him and wanted to believe that he had changed. Morgana knew that she had to do something soon, because her indecision was unfair to both men.

Carth finally managed to catch up with her alone when she was cleaning up her garage lab. Moving the engine to the university had created a huge mess that her tidy soul just couldn't stand to let sit for more than a day. The familiar smell of dust and grease soothed her frayed nerves, and she lost herself in the mindless busywork, happy to be distracted from her personal problems for a little while.

Morgana was so preoccupied by untangling and sorting the huge ball of wires on her workbench that she didn't even realize that Carth was there until he wrapped his arms around her. She took the large bouquet of red and yellow Jewba blossoms out of his hand as he leaned down and kissed the sensitive skin underneath her ear. Between the brush of his lips against her skin and the heat of his body pressing up against her, she just about turned into a blissful, molten puddle. Morgana dropped the flowers and clutched the bench to steady her wobbly knees.

'So I figure that we have some celebrating to do now that your project is finished,' he purred into her ear. 'I swapped duty rosters so that I have the next few days free. I thought that maybe you and I could take off and spend some time together, just the two of us. We could jump in the speeder and head down the coast...'

She turned around, and she realized that he must have just gotten off duty, because he was still wearing his flight jumpsuit. The hopeful look on his face made her guilt triple. It didn't help that she really, really wanted to go with him. 'It sounds wonderful, Carth -'

'Great! Let's grab your stuff and we can leave.'

He smiled so brilliantly that she almost gave in.

'I can't. I have classes and responsibilities, and the announcement for my grant will come in the next couple of days. Final exams are coming up soon, and...' She steeled herself to tell him what she knew was going to make him angry.

But he didn't give her the chance. 'Okay, then we can just have dinner tonight.'

'I can't. I'm already having dinner with Brell.'

Carth stared at her like she'd just ripped his heart out, threw it on the ground and stomped on it. He let go of her and stepped backwards, and she watched his jaw tighten into a hard, unyielding line.

'You're mad at me, aren't you?' she asked, even though she already knew.

He didn't answer her question, but she could tell that he was desperately trying to control his temper.

'I've barely gotten to see you all week long, and now you're going out with him? What does this mean, Ana? Does this mean you don't want to be with me anymore?'

'No!' Morgana reached out and touched Carth's arm, grateful when he didn't jerk away.

'Then why did you agree to go with him?' He almost succeeded in not yelling.

Morgana sighed and tried to explain. 'He went to a lot of trouble to set up this special dinner, and it just seemed too cruel to turn him down. He's been trying really hard, and I feel like I owe him one more chance.'

'Ana, you don't owe him anything. He's a jerk!'

'We were together for two years, and I loved him.' He actually flinched at that, but she felt that it was important to be honest with him. 'He wasn't the best boyfriend, but it wasn't all bad.'

Morgana looked down at the floor, because she couldn't meet his eyes-- his naked hurt was too painful to see. She tried to make him understand, but it was difficult because she felt so incredibly guilty. 'I'm confused and I just need to figure this out. That's why I'm going with him tonight.'

'I see,' he bit out. 'What about us? What do we do?'

'I don't know.' She wrung her hands in distress. 'I know I'm being selfish and asking a lot, Carth. I wouldn't blame you if you just walked out the door and never talked to me again.' The very idea of made her sick to her stomach.

'I'm not going to do that, kitten.' Her relief was so intense that she actually started to tremble. 'I knew you had a boyfriend when we started going out, and I know you're mixed up because that bastard is playing on your guilt and tying you in knots, but I'm not going to give up on us.'

She almost automatically defended Brell, but the words died on her lips as she realized that it would just inflame his temper even more. So she said instead, 'Thank you for being understanding.'

Carth's hands clenched and he let out an exasperated breath. 'I'm not being understanding. I hate this. I hate that I have to share you with him, that I can't be with you the way I want to be.' He moved closer, and the heat that always seemed to spark between them flared to life as he caressed her cheek. 'I know you feel this, kitten. I feel it, too. Just promise me that you'll give us a chance.'

Morgana didn't get the chance to answer because Carth kissed her fiercely and possessively, and she melted against him and kissed him back. In the part of her mind that wasn't completely consumed by heat, she realized that she'd missed him terribly this week. When they broke apart, the lack of contact was almost physically painful.

'Don't go tonight,' he rasped.

She flushed because her frustrated desire screamed silently for her to say to hell with Brell, and ask Carth to take her upstairs so that they could finish what they'd started a week ago.

'I have to. I already promised,' Morgana said softly, trying to convince herself that she had to go, that giving Brell one last chance was something she ought to do.

He groaned and stepped back. 'I'd better go then.' He didn't look like he wanted to leave. He looked like he wanted to push her up onto the workbench and have his way with her, and she almost let him, but her guilt and sense of obligation to Brell stopped her.

Silence stretched between them, and when she didn't say anything to stop him from leaving, he nodded slowly. She winced inwardly at the hurt and frustration in his voice. 'I'll...uh... I'll talk to you later, okay?'

'All right.'

He left her standing in the middle of her empty garage, even more torn up and confused than before.

Carth's restraint on his raging temper lasted only until he got into his speeder. Letting out a frustrated growl, he punched the dashboard so hard that he put a hole right through it. Sharp pain lanced through his hand, cooling his temper slightly.

Great, Onasi. Real smooth.

Ignoring the blood trickling from his knuckles, he clutched the steering wheel with both hands to stop himself from marching back into her garage, throwing her over his shoulder, and forcing her to come with him. While the plan to kidnap her, take her to bed and make love to her until neither one of them could remember their names was amazingly appealing at the moment, he knew that if he actually tried it, it would be about as successful as his backup plan, which was to find that punk of a boyfriend of hers and kick the shit out of him. But either of those things would simply earn her contempt.

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

Left with nothing else to do, he started the speeder and pulled away from the curb, just in time to see Brell stroll up to the house. The bastard had the nerve to give him a cocky smirk and a contemptuous salute before he headed behind the house to the garage. It took all of his self-control not to charge in there and put his backup plan into action.

When Carth got back to the base, the first thing he did was head straight to the officers' lounge, and order an entire bottle of Corellian brandy from the Zeltron bartender. As he stalked off to his apartment, all he could think about was Morgana going out with Brell tonight, and the more he obsessed about it, the angrier he got.

He couldn't stop the scenarios from playing out very vividly through his mind. Morgana laughing at Brell's jokes, Morgana holding Brell's hand, Morgana kissing Brell, Morgana going up to Brell's room and spending the night with the arrogant engineer.

The idea of Brell's hands all over Morgana, his Morgana, was too much to take. Carth nearly choked on the bitter bile rising at the back of his throat, and white-hot anger blinded him. He felt like the biggest fool in the galaxy. Of course she was going to sleep with him tonight, especially if everything went well. They had been dating for two years, and he knew that she was hardly virginal, so it would make perfect sense that the two of them would pick up where they had left off.

The thought of her in bed with Brell was too much for Carth to take. He stormed into his apartment and slammed the bottle on the kitchen counter, deciding that he was going to find out where Brell would take her tonight and stop her from sleeping with her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. If that lead to Brell getting his ass kicked-- and he really, really hoped that it did-- then so be it.

Pain shot up his arm; Carth's right hand, which he'd cut on the dash, was bleeding profusely. Realizing that if he was going to take Brell apart piece by piece, he was going to need his hand functional, he stalked into the 'fresher and grabbed the kolto kit out of the medicine cabinet. He was in the middle of patching up his hand when Jordo sauntered into his apartment, carrying a six pack of Corellian ale. As usual, Dustil wasn't far behind.

Carth cursed under his breath; he had forgotten that he'd given Jordo and Dustil permission to use his holovid player for the next few days, since he'd figured he'd be gone with Morgana. The last thing he wanted to do was to talk about his humiliation and failure with the two of them, but it looked like he wasn't going to have much of a choice, because Jordo was looking at his bloody hand curiously.

'Hey, I thought you were taking off with Morgana this weekend?' Jordo put the ale down on the counter, took a kolto patch out of the first aid kit, and handed it to Carth.

The coolness of the kolto against his hot skin did nothing to calm his raging temper, but the painkillers laced throughout the patch helped kill the ache in his hand.

'She's busy. She's going out to dinner with her asshole boyfriend,' Carth ground out. For some reason, saying the words out loud made it even worse.

Jordo winced, and Carth knew it wasn't because of his bleeding knuckles. 'Oh, ouch. That's rough.'

Dustil's trouble-making grin spread across his face. 'So you must have finally kicked that punk's ass. Why didn't you tell us? I wanted to watch!'

'No. I haven't kicked his ass,' Carth admitted grudgingly.

At least not yet.

'Well, let's go do it then!' Dustil jerked his head towards the door. 'What the hell are we waiting for?'

Carth wiped the blood off his hand and stood, ready to finally indulge his desire to punch Brell's smug face in. 'Nothing. Let's go.'

Jordo rolled his eyes and sighed. 'Okay, guys. I think we need to relax here.'

Carth snapped, unable to rein his temper in any more, and decided that Jordo was as good a target as any.

'Relax? You want me to relax? He's out there with her' -- he was so angry he had to stammer the word out -- 'touching her! I haven't even gotten to touch her like that yet, dammit!'

Jordo held his hands up in front of him. 'Carth, she chose to go with him.'

'But that's because that bastard is manipulating her!'

'Or it could be because she actually wants to go with him.' Carth's expression darkened, but Jordo didn't back down. 'Look, you're not going to do anything by interrupting her dinner and beating the hell out of her boyfriend except make her mad at you. You need to cool off and come up with a better plan.'

Carth just glared at him, hating the fact that Jordo sounded so damned reasonable. He knew that Jordo was right, but it just made him feel even more frustrated than ever.

Jordo clapped his shoulder and led Carth to the door. 'Come on. We need to work some of this frustration out of your system before you go and do something stupid.'

'Wait a sec.' Dustil grabbed the unopened bottle of brandy and the six-pack off the counter. 'I think we're going to need this.'