"I want you to have this…Poe, it was your mother's. Her wedding ring, the symbol of the love she and I shared. From that love, came you. No matter what, always remember she loved you."

For 28 years the ring hung around his neck on a chain. A reminder of hope in a life of war. A reminder of promises, vows made between two individuals. He'd often cling to it when nights got too hard to sleep through, when he wanted to remember why he did this. His mother had done it to liberate the rebellion, so he and others could have a good life – a life where more families could settle and live in peace.

For a short time, this peace was a reality; then the First Order appeared.

Poe had had intimate encounters with females, he was good at smooth talking his way into their hearts. It never lasted more than a night or two. His longest had been with a fellow pilot, who had died on one of her missions. It was after that he had vowed not to get attached to fellow pilots or those he'd gotten too close to.

Perhaps it was because he had feared losing someone like his father had lost his mother. He didn't want to have to endure the pain that his father had gone through, to lose someone so close…Kes and Shara should've had many more years together.

Poe's views were simple, he wanted to win the war and restore peace. Maybe if the time had presented itself he'd find a nice woman, settle down with a few kids..perhaps on Yavin 4 near the force tree his parents planted, where his mother was buried. This was his plan, he was sticking to it. Freedom fighting first – always first.

She had never known love, not in the romantic sense. There weren't many children to meet and there weren't schools to attend. She scavenged and came home – alone. She had an assemblance of love, or an idea of it. Hearing stories from pilots dropping scrap off, or newcomers settling in for an escaped life on Jakku. Sometimes, when she was alone in her AT-AT as a young girl, she would imagine life as an adult, how she pictured being married was. She'd grow up and be a pilot, or her husband would be one. They'd discuss life over a meal and her doll would be her child.

This was all she knew.

An imagination that had now been long forgotten. She was 20 now, and discovering life outside of Jakku – and wrapping her head around the idea of being a Jedi. She had Finn who seemed to have some sort of attraction to her for a short while…but they worked as friends. Rose had come in, and the two had bonded. Her heart was happy for her friends, even if she hadn't known Rose long.

And then – everything changed.

"Uh, Hi…I'm Poe."

That sentence – the one that started it all. Their awkward meeting, where if you were to ask her now, she'd still blush if asked about her admitting to Finn that she liked Poe's face upon that encounter. It happened slowly, chance meetings aboard the Falcon and the hangar bay. She helped him fix a few of the X-wings and he helped her with repairs on the Falcon. He'd let her fly and X-wing and she in return, let him pilot the Falcon with Chewie as co-pilot. Their first kiss exchanged after staying up too late talking about ships and admiring the distant stars over a bottle of jet juice. He was, more experienced of course, given their age difference. It scared her, but he was a comfort. She didn't have to think when it came to being around him.

He didn't know this was what he needed. Their shared talks, working on ships, kisses shared in passing and Rey cuddling in his bed after long nights talking. He'd seen torture, he'd seen death. She'd seen nothing but abandonment and anger from Kylo Ren. He'd wake some nights in screaming terrors and she was still there, holding him and snuggling herself into his arms in the middle of the night until he fell asleep. She was this innocent and beautiful spunk of energy and curiosity. Strong and gentle.

He'd kissed those lips about a dozen times, her skin soft – unexpected for someone who had spent their life on a desert planet – unexpected for someone who was the new light of the Jedi. Poe knew the burden she held, he held his own burden with the resistance. The promise he had made to himself, he had tried to break away from her. He would find himself busy with tasks that were away from her, and was thankful yet terrified when she had gone out to seek ancient Jedi temples for any artifacts she might find. She was always there, in the back of his mind, sometimes slipping her way into the forefront.

She'd come back from one of her trips, he couldn't stand it…that night had been their first time – her first time. Her curves, their bodies joining as one. His thoughts swimming in her, intoxicated. She'd utter the words – the three little words he didn't fear, but had hoped she wouldn't…shortly after their night. Nights spent with her safe in his arms – his angelic light. Her warmth a comfort, her breaths in the night soothing to his terrors. They lessened with her.

A night of passion, her feelings that she had tried to keep so contained, erupted like a volcano. Her uttered words, he had reciprocated. Weeks, months…all passed as they laid in bed, speaking of his mother and Rey's fingers playing with the necklace with his mother's ring around his neck. His eyes fixed on her smiling face, before taking the necklace off, placing the chain and the ring into her hand. "I want you to keep this safe for me…once the war is won and we both survive…and you still feel the same way…I want you to marry me, Rey."

Her eyes searched his face as her fingers closed around the necklace, nodding and promising to keep it safe, before kissing him again. The war – something she hoped now more than anything he survived. Something she now had to work in helping. Jedi's weren't supposed to know love – at least according to the old ways. It was time for that way of thinking to end. Love fueled light, as fear fueled darkness. She nodded again before placing the necklace around her neck, a promise she'd now made to keep it safe – a piece of his heart and the love that Shara and Kes had shared, now safe around her neck until this war was won.