25
Once upon a time, in a town far far away, there were two people who owned shops side by side.
The northernmost shop was owned by a very nice, very strong woman. Her name was Leia, and the shop that she owned—cleverly named "Resist Complacency" and dubbed "The Resistance" by one of her employees—offered travel assistance; help filling out passport applications, tips on how to pack light and prepare for cold climates, secret deals on nice hotels, and other helpful services.
She had two wonderful employees named Poe and Jessika. Poe manned the front desk, handled paperwork, and dazzled incoming customers with his easy warmth and sharp wit as well as his bottomless brown eyes. Jessika handled the photography (for passports) and was a well-traveled expert, brilliant at guessing which destinations suited each customer. She favored orange in her wardrobe and warmth in her smile, which often coaxed smiles out of even the shyest of customers. No one looked bad in a picture when Jess took it.
In the whole situation, the only misfortune was that there was no hookup for a fax machine, which meant that at the end of every day, a rather grumpy-looking man named Kylo Ren had to come from the government passport office to pick up their paperwork, as it had been deemed too sensitive to mail or be trusted to either one of Leia's employees.
The shop next door to The Resistance was owned by a man named Han Solo, who was also very smart and very strong (but in different ways). He owned a thrift shop, a place with endless possibilities for repurposing old things into new ones, called "The Old Falcon". He and his partner Chewie, a gruff, older man with a low, growly voice, took great pride in seeing the merit in things no one else appreciated.
They employed two college students: the first, Rey, was in charge of fixing up the old electronics, car parts, and appliances that came into the shop. She was most often found wearing a faded pair of overalls, her hair up in a series of complicated knots (with the exception of a few traitorous strands) and a look of intense fascination and concentration as she tinkered and fidgeted with the many glorious things brought into the shop. Finn, the other employee, was the one responsible for bringing all those glorious things in. Every day, he took the shop's trusty old van to each of the drop sites around town and gathered the donations for Rey to sort through. Finn had a shy smile but an enthusiastic voice, and he could often be found giving a thrilling speech about the latest book or movie he'd found interesting.
For Han and Chewie, there wasn't really any misfortune in the situation. Not having a phone hookup was not a problem-there was one in the very corner of their shop. They had just never gotten around to hooking it up because Han didn't like taking phone calls. Or dealing with angry customers. Chewie didn't mind; he was honestly just happy whenever Han was. And while it was true that Han didn't much like this Kylo Ren fellow, having separate shops mostly meant that he didn't really come into contact with him very much.
The two shops, wildly different in content and clientele, would most likely have never afforded their employees the chance to meet were it not for a single, fortunate factor (or unfortunate, in Leia's opinion). The two shops opened up in the back to a shared warehouse and bathroom, which meant that clients and employees alike mingled together to use the restroom. It was, frankly, a dismal situation. Especially given the fact that Han and Leia did not have compatible personalities.
However, Leia, being a woman strong of will and facial control, kept herself and her employees polite, if not outrageously kind. Well, most of the time, anyway…
"I don't believe it!" Leia said. She shook her head carefully (ruining her hair wasn't worth the frustration) and allowed herself the satisfaction of a small stomp of her foot. Directly in front of her was a sign that read, in big letters "Why travel?" Underneath those words, it said "The Old Falcon is an adventure at home!" Someone had stuck yellow circles to the sides of the sign that said things like "cheap," "interesting," and "no risk of parasites".
"Are you serious?" Jessika's voice came from behind Leia, who turned to look at her.
"Unfortunately, it's probably as serious as the dead. You know those…." Leia let out a big sigh before continuing, "…that idiot!" Leia shook her head and turned to walk back inside The Resistance.
"Can I….?" Jessika said, trailing off as she walked around the sign a few times, looking at it from every angle.
"Kick it? I wish I could tell you yes, but it wouldn't be mature of us to retaliate so childishly. My official stance is no, on the kicking." Leia pushed the door open and walked inside, though it was tempting to stay outside and see what Jessika decided to do.
Jessika lingered outside for a few minutes, staring thoughtfully at the sign, brainstorming. After a minute, she seemed to make a decision, turning and pushing open the door to The Old Falcon instead of heading back into The Resistance.
"Hello, welcome to…." Finn started, trailing off when he looked up from the cash register and saw Jessika. "Hey Jess!"
"Hi, Finn. Do you think you could—" she said, but before she continued, she was interrupted by a call from the back of the store.
"Jess! Hey! It's been quite a long time since I've seen you around here." The accent was unmistakable, and Jessika stretched up to see Rey in the back of the store.
"Hi Rey! I'm actually not here for a social call, I was actually wondering—"
"Oh." Finn gulped. "The sign."
Rey put down her tools and began to make her way through the shelves to the front.
Finn fidgeted a little, looking down at the cash register where he was filling out some sort of form. "I told Han it wasn't a good idea—in fact, Chewie put up a big fuss. Said Leia wouldn't like it one bit, but…."
"You know Han." Rey finished for him. "We know. It's incredibly rude."
"This rivalry is getting a little out of hand, don't you guys think?" Jessika said. "At this point I'm not sure if we should give them weapons or tickets to the opera!"
Rey giggled. Finn looked confused.
"What do you mean, tickets to the opera?" he said.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't noticed it?" Rey said, a wide, silly grin on her face as she looked over at Finn. "Han has it bad for Leia. That's why he fights so hard!"
Jessika nodded. "It's true."
Finn looked as though he'd taken a bucket of cold water over the head. Rey and Jessika giggled together for a moment, then Jessika's face got serious suddenly.
"Do you guys think there's anything you can do? Leia is trying to hard to be professional and nice, but there's only so much she can take."
Finn shrugged his shoulders, but Rey was thoughtful as she said "I'm sure I can think of something—some way to compromise with him. Maybe some sort of…kinder advertisement?"
"That should be fine. Honestly, Leia understands advertisement. But at her expense? You know business is sort of sketchy anyway. Because of Kylo." Jessika blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, but then frowned, reached up, and inspected it closer.
"You know, I heard a rumor…." Finn said, attempting to glance over at Rey furtively, though Jessika did not miss the movement. She also caught the way Rey shook her head ever-so-slightly.
"No—what rumor?" Jessika demanded, tucking the stray lock of hair back behind her ear and leaning forward over the counter. She eyed Finn steadily, confident in her ability to break his resolve.
"It's nothing, just a rumor," Rey said, shooting Finn a serious look of her own, though it held a warning rather than a threat. He struggled back and forth between the two girls, finally settling on Jessika and holding his arms up.
"I'm sorry, Rey. She should know!"
"Finn! You know she'll tell Leia, and she'll—" Rey gave a frustrated sigh. "Fine. Tell her. But when Leia and Han rip each other in two, you'll only have yourself to blame." She turned again to go back to her earlier task and then, suddenly remembering something she'd meant to ask Jessika, turned back. "Hey—I've been thinking I need to get out. Maybe go somewhere for a while. A holiday? Would you guys have the time to help me sort out the details?"
Jessika nodded. "Oh yes. Of course, Rey!" Rey smiled, small and tentative, and then headed to the back room again.
"Now, tell me what's going on." Jessika said. Once again, Finn found himself trapped in her gaze. He gulped.
"Is there any sense in asking you not to tell Leia?" he said.
"Nope. It clearly affects her. I'm going to tell her." Jessika replied. Finn sighed.
"Chewie said he heard Hux saying something about kicking one of us out of our shop. Knocking out the wall and giving the whole space to the other shop. So he can charge more for rent."
Jessika's mouth dropped open. "You can't be serious."
"I wish, but Chewie doesn't gossip. You know that." Finn gave Jessika a halfhearted smile and bent over the counter to finish with his form. A moment of tense silence ensued.
"I always hated Hux." Jessika said finally.
"Well, he's not our favorite guy here, either." Finn said. "He's never been very fair to any of us, has he?"
Jessika shook her head, her long, dark curls covering her face as she looked down at the floor.
"You know Hux is gonna make Leia leave." she said. "He's a jerk but he doesn't hate your shop. It's—no offense—inconsequential to him. He's never been outright hostile to you. He's always had it out for Leia. Because she works with the government."
"We don't know that, Jess." Finn reached out like he was going to touch her hand, but stopped and let his hand drop onto the counter instead.
"He's got some weird thing against Kylo Ren being able to come and go as he pleases. I think he uses the other shops in this building for something illegal—drugs, maybe?" Jessika's hair seemed to gain volume as she spoke, as if it was echoing the feeling in her voice.
"I don't know, but that's a pretty serious accusation." Finn said. The front door to the shop opened, bell ringing. "Hi, Han!" Finn said as the man in question walked into the store and through his open office door, where he began to set his things down.
"Kid." Han nodded his acknowledgment towards Finn, shucking off his leather jacket and hanging it off the back of the chair behind his desk. "Hey—you work at The Resistance, right?" Han said, looking to Jessika, who was hastily trying to calm her curly hair with her fingers.
"Uh—yeah." she said, looking over at Finn strangely.
"Has the old bat seen the sign yet?" Han said, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
Jessika scoffed. "That was completely uncalled for. Dirty marketing, if you ask me."
"Good thing no one did, then, huh?" Han said, and he grinned, even though what he'd said was incredibly rude.
"Han, don't you think…maybe the yellow parts are a little excessive?" Finn said.
"Nope! Just true." Han said.
Jessika scoffed again. "Well, clearly you're an adult." she said, and then turned to Finn. "I've got to get to work. I'll see you around. We're not too busy around mid-morning, so you should come by with Rey to get her passport started."
Turning, she fluffed her hair once and then pushed the door open and walked out without looking back.
Finn watched her go, an uncomfortable expression on his face. When the door swung back shut, he spoke again. "Han. Don't you think we've left that up long enough?"
"Forever isn't long enough!" Han said. "Isn't it time for you to go pick up your stuff?"
Finn looked at the clock, eyes widening. "Uhh, yeah, actually." He grabbed his coat from under the counter and moved to leave. "I'm just…..gonnathrowthecirclesaway…" he said, almost under his breath, and Han stood up out of his chair.
"Don't you dare, kid! Give me 24 hours!" Finn rolled his eyes, but nodded in agreement.
"See ya Rey!" he yelled to the back.
"Bye Finn!" she yelled. Then, there was a big crash, and her head poked up over the shelf she was behind. "Actually—could you stop next door and have Poe schedule me a time?"
"Of course!"
"Don't you dare go over there, kid! Not on my clock!" Han yelled.
Another roll of Finn's eyes and he finally made it out the door.
He stopped in front of the sign for a few seconds. Was Jessika right? Did Han harbor some sort of secret crush on Leia? Was that the reason for his inanity? Finn wasn't really sure he knew the right technique for flirting, but putting an insanely rude sign in front of the shop belonging to the person you were crushing on was NOT it.
Inside The Resistance, Poe greeted him warmly from his usual perch behind the front desk, though he didn't look up. "Hey buddy! How ya doin'?"
Finn grinned as he watched Poe fiddle with the forms in his hands. The poor guy was always in up to his elbows in paperwork, and the little cell phone rang constantly. The people in this city tended to use The Resistance as a sort of off-the-internet Google for traveling, and more often than not, Poe was the one within reach of the cell phone. And the email inbox (Hux had a wi-fi router set up somewhere else in the building in lieu of a hookup in the office, thank heavens).
Despite what Jessika had said about business being sketchy, Finn had no doubts that they'd be perfectly employed for as long as they'd like to be.
"Good, good. Just stopped in for Rey." Finn said, looking around the little shop.
"For Rey?" Poe hesitated on his paperwork, raising one eyebrow in question.
"Oh, come on. The woman's never taken a vacation in her life! She works right next to a vacation-planning business!" Finn said, and then he laughed a little at the irony of her situation.
"That's true. Is she looking to go somewhere close or will she need a passport?" Poe asked, setting down his papers in favor of other forms, elsewhere on the desk.
"Honestly, she didn't say, but let's get her a passport so she has the option." Finn decided. "She's never really been much of anywhere. Moved here as a little kid and then never left."
Poe made a small noise of sympathy. "That's too bad." He reached across the desk to hand Finn the papers in his hands, but Finn put his hands up.
"Naw, she just wanted me to stop in and see if you guys could fit her in later this morning—like 11 maybe? Jessika suggested it."
"Oh, yeah. We could do that. Anything for a friend! And you know Leia loves her."
"Yeah. She does. I hope the sign doesn't change any of that." Finn grimaced and rubbed a hand over his head.
"Shhhhhh!" Poe said, looking around the corner warily. "Leia just stopped fuming. Don't let her hear you talking about it or she'll come up here and give you a severe tongue-lashing."
Finn looked appropriately apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't think."
There was an awkward silence for a moment, where Poe didn't know if he should resume his paperwork or not, but Finn spoke before he could deliberate too long.
"I've…got to go. Do my pick-ups."
"Oh, of course!" Poe smiled, tentatively. The two were good friends, but the friendship was new enough that Poe wasn't sure if Finn was embarrassed or upset over his remark. Thankfully, Finn smiled back and everything seemed to be okay.
"You should come in with Rey." Poe said, smiling wider now. "I mean, everyone could use a passport, right?" There's no harm in it." Finn nodded and returned the smile.
"If I'm back by then, I will."
He left, and Poe went back to his paperwork; there was always so much to do. It wasn't like they had too many clients, but each client required a fair amount of paperwork to be done: passport information, travel plans, schedules, credit card information, etc. And because Leia insisted, all of it had to be filed electronically and physically. The tiny filing cabinet under the corner of Poe's desk almost couldn't handle it all.
While Poe was musing and filing, a very angry Leia stomped out of the back room, followed by an apologetic-looking Jessika.
"Poe! Did you know anything about this?" Leia barked. Poe's eyes widened in panic, and he looked at Jessika. She looked doubly apologetic, but offered no help.
"No….what?" Poe said, finally.
"You're sure? You didn't hear about it from your little Falcon friend or something and then keep it from me?" Leia narrowed her eyes but kept her gaze steady.
"I'm not even—I don't even know what you're talking about!" he said.
"I told you!" Jessika cried, reaching out to touch Leia's arm. "I told you as soon as I heard, and Poe would have done the same thing."
"Well, I'll tell you what," Leia began, looking at both Jessika and Poe for a long moment before she finally continued, "I know we've been promising them discounts for travel stuff, but you two are hereby instructed to charge them double. Or at least 50% extra."
And with that, she turned and walked back through the doorway, probably to her office to make a phone call to Hux.
"What was THAT about?" Poe whispered, leaning across the desk to get closer to Jessika.
"Um." Jessika bit her lip and looked nervously towards the back where Leia had disappeared. "Finn told me…that Hux is planning on evicting us or the Falcon. To merge the buildings. So he can charge more rent."
Poe's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding me!" he said, his voice a loud whisper.
"I wish I was," she said. "Rey confirmed it. You know she doesn't like to start stuff if she's not sure it's for real."
"It can't be true."
"It is. Think about it—there's only one bathroom and phone hookup between the two shops. We share the bathroom but not having a phone jack? That knocks our rent down a lot. If he merges us, he could finally charge the full amount for rent."
"Wait. Say that again."
"If he merges us…he could finally charge the full amount for rent?" Jessika quirked her eyebrow at him.
Poe stared at her. "If he merges us?"
"I meant the building—oh. Oh no way, Poe! There's no way Leia or Han will go for that."
"You don't know that."
Jessika jerked her thumb back behind her. "Yeah. Yeah I do."
A thoughtful expression fell over Poe's face. "Luke?" he said finally.
Jessika rolled her eyes. "Maybe? I'm not going over there. I have actual work to do, you know."
A scoff from Poe. "Fine! I'll think of something."
The door slammed open, the combination of a gust of wind and the gloved fist of an irritated-looking man.
Jessika looked up at the ceiling and then back at the hallway behind her, as if to be sure Leia wasn't going to emerge.
"Kylo. How can I help you?" Poe said cautiously. Jessika seemed to hesitate, looking behind her, back at Poe, and then she mouthed 'Luke,' and gestured behind her to where Luke happened to be passing by on the sidewalk. Poe frowned and screwed his face up, and then he understood and nodded excitedly. She waved it away, and left out the door behind Kylo.
"The paperwork you gave me last night. One of the passport applications is missing a page." Kylo said.
A wad of papers held together by a small paperclip flopped down onto the desk in front of Poe, who scowled, picked them up, and began to thumb through the pages, sneaking a glance at Kylo every few seconds. His gaze never wavered, eyes steady on Poe.
"It's the very last page." he said, waving his hand in Poe's direction as Poe idly flipped through the pages.
"I assumed as much, but I was looking to see if I recognized the application. It's likely I helped the person file it."
"And? Do you recognize it?"
"Whoa, buddy. Let me finish looking."
Kylo leaned back a few inches, crossing his hands together in front of him, arms rigid. Poe nodded absently, acknowledging the gesture.
"Oh! Yeah. I remember this lady. She needed run out to her car to take a phone call and hadn't filled out that last page yet. I filed them all together first so I wouldn't forget and…it must have—"
As Poe leaned down under the desk there was a startling noise, and Kylo leaned over to see what was going on. Because of this, when Poe brought his head back up from under the cabinet, he almost head-butted Kylo.
"I got it—whoa!" he held up the paper, slightly crumpled, and ducked away from Kylo, who was suddenly too close once again. Poe gave a small frown as Kylo took the paper out of his hands. He held it up, close to his face and then back a ways so that the ceiling light would show through it.
"Do you have any way to press it or something?" Kylo asked. "I'm not filing this wrinkled piece of garbage." Turning the paper over, he scoffed and looked back down at Poe. "I can't even see the watermark. This'll never get cleared. It doesn't look like an official document."
"Maybe I could run it through Jess's photo printer? I bet that'd do it. Smooth it out." Kylo looked skeptical, but handed the paper back and followed Poe into Jessika's photo area.
"Use my printer?" Jessika said, appearing suddenly behind the two. Poe shot her a questioning look, and she nodded.
"Where did you go?" Kylo said, turning to face her.
"Uh. I was just—" she started, but Poe shook his head and she stopped.
"It's fine, Jess. Rey's coming soon, and we just need to use your photo printer." She looked puzzled and Poe sighed. "Mr. Big-Time-Government-Guy over here needs to smooth out this piece of 'garbage' because it looks like a forgery."
"And…you thought a photo printer would do it?" Jessika asked. There was a narrowing of eyes from Kylo's direction, and Jessika threw up her hands. "Hey! I'm just wondering what exactly you thought would happen. And Rey's coming? When?"
"11 am."
Jessika looked up at the clock, which read 10:30, and her eyes widened.
"Print a blank document. The paper should run through and smooth itself out." Kylo said. "It just needs to look a little less like someone stepped all over it."
"Is that…what happened?" Jessika asked. Poe gave a hesitant, guilty grin.
The three of them worked to figure out how to ensure that the page would come out undamaged, testing on blank sheets of paper. Somehow, the first five test sheets came out with random, inexplicable blotches of ink across them.
"I don't have time for this! Just call her back and tell her to come in and redo the paperwork. We'll file it tomorrow." Kylo ran a hand through his hair, ruffling the neat waves into his usual disarray. Poe had never seen him in the morning, with his hair still done. He usually came at the very end of the day.
"No! Wait. What if we run it through stuck to a piece of photo paper?" Jessika said.
Poe frowned. "How will that stop the printer from putting ink on it?"
"I can't stay. I'll be back tonight to pick up the rest of the paperwork." Kylo turned to leave, but Poe and Jessika continued to bicker over the printer.
On his way out, distracted by the time he'd already wasted here, Kylo ran straight into a rather distracted Rey coming through the door. She was hurrying and hit his chest right on, falling backwards.
She let out a small shriek as she neared the floor, but before she made contact, she was cradled in long, wiry arms. Kylo had caught her, sweeping his arm under her knees and wrapping the other around her waist.
Their faces were unnaturally close, and Rey suddenly couldn't catch her breath. His eyes were so brown, his lips were so full, and pieces of his dark hair brushed her forehead. He swallowed as they looked at each other, the muscles in his throat moving in a sort of slow motion as Rey's gaze flickered from his eyes to his mouth down to his neck and then back up in a frantic circuit.
"B-Ren as I live and breathe! What are you doing in here—now—this morning?" Leia said from behind them, and Kylo snapped into motion immediately, setting Rey down, brushing his hair out of his face, and straightening his suit coat. His face settled into an expression somewhere between uncomfortable and upset.
Rey looked between them, a puzzled look on her face, but Kylo wouldn't look at her. "I was here for a document that Poe misplaced. He's still got to…figure things out. I'll be back at my regular time in the evening." He put his hand on the door, but Leia spoke before he could leave.
"I see you've met Rey?" her smile as she spoke was sly.
Kylo turned his head, meeting Rey's eyes for a moment before the tips of his ears, just visible through the thick waves, turned a lovely shade of red. He nodded.
"Kylo…" Leia dragged the word out unnaturally, "is the government official assigned to our building. Since we don't have a fax machine hookup close, you know. A secure one, at least." Leia scoffed. "He handles, verifies, and transports our sensitive documents." Rey looked up at him, trying to catch his eye, but Kylo refused to look at her. His ears still burned red.
"I really need to be going," Kylo said, his grip on the door tightening.
"It was nice to meet you, Kylo Ren. I hope to see you again?" Rey smiled hesitantly, her brown eyes wide and friendly.
"Yes…Rey." Kylo said, finally meeting her eyes for a long, charged moment. Then he pushed the door open and was gone with a swish of his black coat.
"Quite a character, isn't he?" Leia said, leaning out as far as she could to watch Kylo walk to his sleek, silver, most-likely-government-issued car, get in, and drive away. "And handsome, too!"
"He seems…" Rey blushed and furrowed her brow, looking out the window, too.
Leia laughed. "Oh, you can't put that one in a box, can you?"
Rey smiled briefly. "Well, I can't say I've gotten to know him very well."
"Well. I know his face, and if I had to guess I'd say you'll probably get an opportunity to know him better if you'd really like." Leia quirked her head towards Rey, gaze steady.
"What do you mean?" Rey said, looking from Leia to the door, though Kylo had long gone.
"I watched that boy grow up, and he's not very good at…veiling his feelings."
"You raised him?" Rey said, her head jerking towards Leia.
"No—" Leia laughed, a short bark. "My brother did. He was his foster parent. Kylo came to Luke at 14, from a pretty terrible home, very poisonous. Very troubled. Turned out really well, actually. He just comes off as a little dark."
"Luke raised him?" Rey asked, looking out across the street towards the small yoga studio that Luke owned. Rey had been to a few of his classes since she started working for Han, but had ultimately decided that yoga was a little too low-key and physically restrictive for her. He was a nice man, though, if a little eccentric and isolated.
"Yes. After his wife died he worked really hard to fill all the requirements so that he could continue to be a foster parent without her." Leia's voice seemed sad.
Rey looked thoughtful for a moment. "I didn't know he'd been married."
"It was a long time ago. Anyway, Kylo turned 18, went off to college and changed his name from Ben to Kylo Ren as a sort of way to officially shed his past." Leia said, and she turned from the door, leaning over Poe's desk to fiddle one of the cabinet drawers open. "Did I hear Poe right when he said you were coming in to plan your own vacation this morning?" she said between grunts as she dug farther and farther into the drawer.
"Yes! I think it's more than time. I can't ever remember being outside of this city." Rey frowned and walked over to Leia, who was still struggling. "Can I help you reach?" she asked.
"Naw, I got it!" Leia pulled her arm out and straightened up, holding up a small bottle of white-out. "Why don't you come back with me, and we'll get you started."
She led Rey past the front desk and back into the photo room, where Poe and Jessika were crouched over the paper from earlier. The wrinkles had all been smoothed out, but there was a giant blotch of ink over the top where the title of the page was supposed to be.
"I found the white out—see what you can do with that," Leia said, holding the small bottle towards Poe, who handed it off to Jessika. "I'd hate to have to call that woman back in."
"We had two test runs that turned out fine! I don't understand what happened." Poe said.
Jessika gathered her mass of curly hair in her hands, securing it up in a loose knot with a pen from the table, and opened the bottle, leaning over the paper. "I'll get it. Just give me a minute and some space so I can keep my hand steady."
Poe backed up, turning to Rey. "Should we start on some paperwork for you?" he said, gesturing to the table along the other wall.
"Yeah, I'll likely need a passport." Rey said.
"Well, we can fix you up with one of those, no problem. Do you have all of your important documents?"
"Um. I have my birth certificate and my social security card? Is that all I need?" Rey dug in the wide front pocket of her overalls, producing a thick manila envelope.
"We actually just need your driver's license. You were born here, right?" Poe asked, pulling out a few forms from several different folders.
"No, actually." she said.
"But you're a citizen?"
"Yes."
"Do you have your proof of citizenship?" Poe asked, reaching for one more form.
"Yes. It's in here." she said.
"Alright. We'll just get started then."
Rey and Poe went through the process of filling out paperwork while Leia and Jessika bent over the table together, working on carefully covering up the ink splotch. After watching Jessika for a while, Leia headed up to the front desk to make sure they hadn't missed any customers.
It turned out, that they had.
Finn was sitting in one of the chairs in the front, and when Leia cleared her throat, he jumped up, shaking his head a little.
"I uhh, I finished my pick-ups and didn't see Rey next door, so I thought I'd come see if she was here."
"They're in the back…" Leia trailed off, staring at something behind Finn. "Why don't you head that way without me?"
Finn looked behind him, eyebrows raised. Han was walking by, on his way to his car from the Falcon. His eyes widened as he looked back to Leia. Her eyes were steely, determined.
"Uh. Yeah. Okay."
Leia didn't even notice him walking away; she just kept her eyes on Han and began to move towards the door.
The squeak as Leia emerged made Han jerk and turn away from his car. She began yelling immediately.
"What were you thinking!? Putting that sign up for all of our customers to see! You are the most selfish, ignorant, classless idiot I have ever had the misfortune of meeting!"
Han threw his hands up, real panic flashing in his face before his trademark smirk replaced it. "Ah, come on, princess. You know you think it's clever—don't they say something like 'the quality of the marketing indicates the quality of the company'? I'm just saying."
"Well, if high-quality marketing involves putting others down, then I'd rather stay a low-quality company, thank you." Leia scowled at him, putting her hands on her hips and fixing him with her narrowed eyes.
"Who said anything about putting others down?" Han said, throwing his hands up again and shrugging nonchalantly.
"Oh! You—you jerk wad!" she huffed, letting her hands fall from her hips. She stepped towards him, slow and careful. "I bet you're doing this to put our business down so that Hux keeps you in the building instead of us."
Han's eyes went wide. "How did you hear about that?"
Leia's frown deepened. "So you did know. Jessika was right."
"Hey—how did she find out?" Han closed his eyes and shook his head. "Ahh. Finn."
"You were going to KEEP IT FROM ME?" Tendrils of hair were working themselves out of her tight up-do.
"No—I—I would have…" Han said, but didn't bother finishing.
"Sometimes I think that I might be misjudging you, being too harsh, but then you go and PROVE that you're an insufferable, ARROGANT MORON!"
"Ah. I see the two of you are still getting along just wonderfully." Luke said as he looked both ways before crossing the street. True to form, he took his time, ambling with a sort of serene, fond smile on his face.
Han and Leia breathed heavy, looking from Luke to each other as he neared.
"What's the problem, guys?" Luke said, standing with his feet planted shoulder-width apart, hands on his hips. He somehow managed to look intimidating and bemused at the same time.
"Come on, Luke. It's not like we need you to mediate with all your 'in-touch-with-your-feelings' crap." Han rolled his eyes and chanced a side glance at Leia.
"Really? Because I could hear you two yelling from inside my studio."
"We were handling it." Leia said.
"Oh, it sure sounds like you were." Luke raised his eyebrows at her. Leia ducked her head in response.
"Haven't you heard?" she said. Han huffed a sigh and looked up with an exaggerated eye-roll. "Hux is gonna kick one of us out to merge the two shops into one and everybody at The Falcon found out before I did."
Luke looked at Han, brow furrowed. "I did hear that. Were you really keeping it from Leia?"
"No! Well…yeah." Luke looked surprised, but Han continued. "He told us last night right before we closed up. Finn telling Jessika this morning before I even got in this morning was…"
"And you putting that ridiculous sign had nothing to do with wanting to steal our business so he'll pick you?" Leia fumed, looking at Luke with her eyes flashing.
"That…was a poorly timed joke. I made it yesterday morning. Before I knew."
"At least you have the decency finally to look ashamed." Leia's voice was quiet as she looked up at Han.
"I—I swear I didn't mean—you're doing—you're doing just fine over there at your travel shop. We're...well, we're just barely breaking even. We could probably afford the higher rent if we stayed, but we couldn't lose our clientele. All the little old ladies who come in looking for parts for their sewing machines, or the guys who want to fix up their old AM radios. Most of them have been coming here for years and years. If we move we'll lose them."
Leia's face hardened. "Don't you dare try to sway me with your sob story. If you can afford rent in a bigger place you can afford to move and build up a new client base!"
"Oh yeah? And you think you deserve to stay, princess?" Han stepped closer to her, leaning down with his shoulders squared back.
"Ha! I certainly deserve to stay just as much as you do!" Leia stepped into him, lifting her face until it was inches away from Han's.
Luke stood to the side, watching with one eyebrow quirked. He shifted his weight and put his hands on his hips.
For a moment, Han forgot to breathe; Leia's face was so close. Her brown eyes softened as she looked at him and his shoulders relaxed ever-so-slightly into the upward curve of her body. Leia's gaze was so disarmed that Han knit his eyebrows before moving his face, hesitantly, towards hers. He could feel her breath on his face.
Luke cleared his throat, eyebrows still raised, and the effect was immediate. Leia stepped away from Han, ducking her head and running her hands over her hair, smoothing back the wayward strands and sighing heavily.
"Well, it's probable that Hux won't let you guys have any say in choosing which of you gets evicted…if any of you." Luke said, pursing his lips.
"If any of us…?" Leia said.
"There's got to be a solution," Han said, looking at Leia. His cheeks reddened as she returned his gaze thoughtfully. She looked from him to Luke, thinking about what he'd just said.
"Actually," she said, "I think that there might be."
Luke's face brightened with pride and he stood up straighter, but Han looked wary.
"This twin thing is so freaky sometimes." Han said.
"I'm going to need to call Kylo and get him back over here. We'll need his opinion." Leia said.
Luke nodded. "We could always use more of his face around here, anyway."
"What is going on here?" Han said.
"We're going to beat the system. Hux can't kick one of us out if we don't let him." Leia looked at each of them before turning to walk back into the office.
They followed.
"Poe!" Leia shouted, and he scrambled to the front desk, Rey, Finn, and Jessika in tow, with varying expressions of alarm on their faces. "Find me Kylo's number."
"Yeah—of course. Can I—can I ask why?" Poe said, moving around the little desk to flip through the pages of a book he had sitting next to the phone. He stopped on one of the pages, tracing a number with his index finger before picking the cellphone up and dialing.
"We're not letting Hux kick either of us out. We're going to merge, and I need to know if the government will have any issue with that." Leia said, grabbing the phone from Poe and holding it up to her ear.
Han's mouth dropped open. "We're—what? I'm going to get Chewie." He left the shop.
"Yes!" Rey said, pumping her fist. "What a brilliant solution! And we'll all get to work together!"
Finn grinned, first at her and then at Poe, and last at Jess. "You guys can use our fax hookup!"
"And that means Kylo won't have to 'waste his time' coming here every day." Poe said, a soft smile on his face. Rey looked slightly worried.
Jessika, however, scoffed, and said, "Having him around less won't be any sort of hardship for me."
Leia, on hold for Kylo, noticed Rey's face and gave her a wink before pulling the phone away from her face and mouthing "don't worry we'll keep him around" at her. Rey flushed and looked away.
Han came back in the door just as Leia got through to Kylo, and everyone got quiet. Luke moved to where Han and Chewie were standing and began a whispered conversation with them.
"Yeah—Kylo, I think you need to come back down here. We're—we have a situation to discuss and I think you should be involved while we do." Leia said, twirling a loose strand of hair around her finger. Her face was intent on whatever it was that Kylo was saying to her on the other end. Rey, standing closest to the Leia, could hear the low hum of his voice, but could not make out any of the words.
"Yeah. As soon as possible, please." she said. The phone made an audible click as she hung it up and turned to look towards Luke, Han and Chewie. "He's clearing up his schedule and then he'll be here."
"Are we really going to merge?" said Poe. Leia nodded.
"How…is that going to work?" Jessika said.
"I imagine the government will have some sort of protocol for how we're going to be allowed to do it, but I will jump through whatever hoops I have to."
"Are…are you sure we shouldn't just kick the losers out?" Poe said, shooting Finn and Rey a sideways grin.
"Well, if I'm being honest, I did think of that." Leia said. Han's mouth dropped open and Chewie offered a comforting hand on his shoulder. Jessika's eyebrows shot up, a wide, disbelieving smile stretching across her face.
"What made you change your mind?" said Han, shrugging Chewie's hand off his shoulder.
Leia turned to face him full on, squaring her shoulders and fixing him with her serious gaze.
"Even if you're a complete douche-canoe," she said. Han jerked backwards an inch or two, clearly taken aback. Leia continued, "no one deserves to have their livelihood ripped out from under them."
"Well hold up a minute, princess!" Han said, and Chewie growled quietly, low in his throat. Han ignored the look Chewie gave him and continued, "What if we don't want to merge with you?"
Leia pursed her lips as if she were trying not to laugh.
"You don't? I'm sure that we can just call Kylo and go back to competing with each other for Hux's approval. I'd bet you have a good chance of convincing him that your business will be consistently profitable enough for an investment."
Stunned into silence, Han huffed and looked away.
They all continued talking amongst themselves for a few minutes, waiting for Kylo to arrive, when Finn looked at his watch and asked "Whoa—does anyone need lunch?"
Luke raised a hand, "Since I'm not economically invested in this…merge…I can go grab food for everyone."
"Since this is technically a work meeting, I can reimburse you through the company. Thanks, Luke." Leia said.
He left out the front door, headed towards the small sandwich shop down by his yoga studio, the door swinging in a wide arc as he pushed it.
Rey didn't realize she had been half-listening for the sound of the door banging shut until the sound never came. She looked up, a confused look on her face, and her eyes widened in a flustered panic when Kylo Ren's gloved fingers wrapped around the metal of the door.
Funny enough, his eyes scanned the room before settling on hers, and she blushed before bringing her hands up to fiddle with the stray hairs on the back of her neck. There was a heat in his eyes that she didn't quite understand, but it made the inside of her skin itch.
"Kylo! Alright, let's all go sit at the table in the back room—Poe could you—the door?" Leia said, turning her hand to mime locking the door and guiding everyone back to the table Poe, Rey and Finn had been sitting at earlier.
While they were all settling, Poe leaned over, assembling the paperwork they'd done, and handed the collection of papers to Kylo.
"What are these? Is one of these the missing page to the application from this morning?" Kylo asked.
"No…that one—we're still working on it. These are for Rey's passport. And Finn's. I figured I'd give you one last chance to do your job before…it's gone." Poe whispered, eyes mirthful in his otherwise serious face. Rey settled into the chair next to him, Kylo on her other side.
Kylo frowned, "Rey doesn't—you don't have a passport?" he looked at her for a moment, and then at Poe, his frown deepening. "What do you mean 'one last chance to do my job'…what's going on?"
Rey nudged Poe, tutting at him, and Finn leaned over from Poe's other side.
"Hux is gonna kick one of us out, so Leia's going to beat the system. We're merging with The Falcon!" Finn's voice was very loud in the suddenly quiet room.
Kylo tilted his head to the side, turning to look at Leia. "Is this true?" he said.
"It's…" Leia sighed. "We'd better just sit down and get into it then." She sat down, Han at her left, Jessika at her right.
When everyone was seated, Leia looked at Kylo.
"I don't know if you've met our landlord, Hux." she said.
"I have." Kylo said, a slight grimace twisting his face.
"Then you'll understand what I'm about to explain a little better." she said. Han snorted, and Chewie elbowed him.
Kylo sat in tense silence.
"Hux has decided that he's going to knock out the wall between us and The Falcon." Leia said.
"What?" Kylo said, leaning forward and tilting his head to the side as if he hadn't heard her correctly.
"He wants to make it one space, because of the phone hookup and the bathroom. He's going to evict one of us and then charge the other higher rent."
Kylo nodded, gesturing for her to continue.
"If at all possible, I'd like for that not to happen. So we're merging."
Kylo made a face. "You're—what?"
"We're gonna be one shop, then. Both of us are staying, we'll split the rent, rearrange some things, and everything will be fine. We can even keep both entrances. There just won't be a wall between us." Leia looked at Han, who had a half-terrified, mostly-glazed look on his face.
Kylo frowned. "I'm…I'm unsure about the ethicality of that."
"That's what we're here to discuss. Along with a new floor plan, a way to split the rent, and the payroll, among other things." Leia folded her hands together on top of the table, and Poe leaned back, reached into one of the filing cabinets behind them, and pulled out a small notebook. Uncapping a pen, he made a quick note about the agenda on the top of the first page.
"I'm going to have to speak with my higher-ups. My assignment here was based on the lack of faxing capabilities, and this will clear that up. However, handling private government documents in the same place where old microwaves are sold...will be a different sort of complication, I'm sure." Kylo said, folding his hands in a pose that mirrored Leia's.
"If we could, I would like to approve that before we make any other decisions or contact Hux. Is there someone you could step out and call?" Leia said.
Rey looked at the two, Leia and Kylo, sitting across each other at the table, looking so alike. Though there were no shared genetics, it was clear that Kylo had grown up watching Leia perform these movements; the mimicry was impeccable.
Kylo nodded. "I'll be back shortly."
"Of course. Please take your time." Leia said, and Kylo pushed his chair back before rising out of his seat. As he pushed himself up and out of his chair, he let the fingers of his right hand trail across the back of Rey's chair, just barely brushing the edge of her bare shoulder before he was gone, around the table and through the doorway.
She shivered with the weight of his gentle touch, and Poe raised his eyebrows at her.
Through the doorway, the sound of murmured conversation could be heard, ending in a short laugh before Luke emerged, bearing two paper bags full of sandwiches.
Leia continued on with the meeting while sandwiches were passed around.
"So obviously we're going to need to move things around if we're going to merge." she said.
Chewie and Han nodded together. "We'll probably need to knock out all the walls and do a complete redesign." Chewie said, looking around the room before finally settling his gaze back on Leia.
"Except my office." said Han. Leia scoffed.
"Oh, you think you get to be special and keep your office?" she said.
"As a matter of fact, I think I do. It's very important to the way I get work done." Han said, leaning in close to point his finger at Leia.
She swatted his finger away, barking a short laugh and shaking her head. "I agree with Chewie, I think we can reformat everything and look at including private office space for each of us, but there is some merit in working with a clean, open space."
"I happen to like the window in the front of my office very much, princess. I'll just end up choosing the same spot for my office again, so why even bother knocking out the walls?" he said, leaning in too close again.
Leia stood her ground, allowing his childish nearness with a hard swallow.
Poe, Finn, Rey and Jessika looked around at each other awkwardly, and Chewie coughed, hoping to dispel some of the tension.
Luke just grinned and continued to take small bites of his sandwich.
"There are windows at the back of the building, too. And that way I won't have to look at your face every time I walk past the front of the shop." Leia said, blinking a few times and turning to Poe.
"Give me a piece of that paper, will you?" she said, and Poe ripped a page out of the back of the notebook and passed it to Finn, who passed it to Jessika, who put it into Leia's waiting hands. She reached her fingers into the mass of complicated braids and buns on the top of her head and closed one eye, searching and feeling, and then pulled a pen out of the middle.
She used the end of the pen to tap Han's shoulder without looking, pulling the piece of paper close to her and drawing a big, wide rectangle.
"See—if this is the whole shop now, then look what happens if we put your office right where it is now." She paused, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth, and drew a square in the middle of the bottom side of the rectangle. "Then we've got to move the travel desk over here," another square on the left side, "and the cash register..." she thought for a minute, and Chewie reached over Han's shoulder to point to the space on the other side of Han's office. "Yes!" she said, drawing it in.
Han looked at what she'd drawn, frowning. He pulled the paper out of her grasp and held it up for the others to see.
"What do you guys think? I don't see any problems with that." Han said.
"Yeah, except you forgot to have Leia draw the sign you're going to need to direct all of your little old lady customers around that massive office sticking out of the middle of the store to the cash register. Or whatever shelves you decide to put on the other side of it." Jessika said, shrugging. "Leia's right, I think."
Poe looked at Jessika with something akin to admiration in his eyes. Jess blushed when she saw it and shrugged. Leia just looked at Han with a satisfied smirk.
"Fine!" Han said, throwing up his hands. "We'll move my office. To the back. I know you just want an excuse to be closer to me all day. But you better not be lying about those windows, sweetheart."
Leia made an irritated noise in the back of her throat and jerked her hand backwards. "You're welcome to go look, marshmallow brain."
Han shrugged. "Nah, I believe you."
Chewie took a big bite of sandwich, eyes wide, but Leia just rolled her eyes (though there was a hint of a smile chasing the corners of her lips). Everyone turned to the door as Kylo came back through.
"What did they say?" Leia asked. Kylo had a strange expression on his face as he combed his fingers through his hair and sat next to Rey again. She handed him a wrapped sandwich, which he simply held on top of the passport papers.
"They said…that yours is a very successful branch and we can't afford to lose the business and service you provide to those wishing to file passport applications and such." He frowned, looking down at the sandwich and unwrapping it slowly.
"So we're good?" Leia said, looking at Luke with a big grin on her face. Luke smiled at her through a mouthful of sandwich.
"Yes. With one…condition." Rey and nearly everyone else turned sharply to look at him.
"Condition?" Rey said, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear.
"There must be room for an…. additional desk in your floor plan. For me. I'll be located here, permanently. So that I can officially file all the applications without having to go to the government building every day."
Luke put down his sandwich, smiling wide through the bite he was chewing. "You're going to work here, now?"
Kylo nodded, sneaking a glance at Rey, the tips of his ears a light pink. She returned his gaze, equally as shy.
"Alright. So our floor plan needs to include a space for Kylo, too. Do you need an office or just a desk?" Leia said, turning her paper over to make notes. Poe did the same. When things picked up in the meeting, she would likely forget to write anything down—it was just better to have two copies anyway.
"I need walls. So that they can designate it as a sort of independent government facility." Kylo said, looking away from Rey and down at his sandwich. He took a bite, and nudged Luke with his elbow while he chewed. "This is really good," he said, and Luke shrugged.
"Maybe if you came to visit me more often…" Luke said with a smile, and Kylo hunched his shoulders, burying his face in his sandwich again.
"I don't do yoga, you know that."
"I never asked you to! I just want to see your face at lunch sometimes. Anyway—now you can come for lunch every day because you're so close." Luke smiled, looking so much like a dad in that moment that Rey felt her heart clench.
"Okay," Leia said, looking up from her paper, towards Han and Chewie. "Let's talk floor plans."
Crumpling up the sandwich wrapper and pushing it away from him, Kylo whispered to Rey, "Why don't you have a passport already?"
He was leaning so close that his breath stirred up the wisps of hair that had escaped the knot of hair on top of her head; they tickled the back of her neck and made her fidget.
"I've never been anywhere but here. My parents brought me and left me. I grew up in an orphanage just across town and when I aged out, Han offered me a job." she whispered back, fingers reaching out to trace the edges of her passport application.
Kylo nodded, a serious expression on his face. "Where are you planning to go?"
"I don't know. I've always sort of wanted to go back to where I'm from—see if I recognize anything. Or maybe the jungle? Somewhere wet." she grinned, flushing a little. "I've been looking at travel catalogues."
Kylo smiled. "I'd say the jungle is a good choice."
"Have you been?" Rey leaned closer, whispering a little louder.
"Yes. A couple times."
"What was it like?"
By this point they were almost forehead to forehead, and everyone at the table had noticed. Leia cleared her throat quietly, and the two jumped, facing forwards.
"We were just wondering exactly how much space you need for your tools and things, Rey?" Leia said, stern, but with barely concealed laughter.
The discussion continued into the evening. Decisions were made concerning the floor plan, the payroll, and even who's name would go on the combined official title (Leia argued that there was no reason they should have all three names on the title, and Han said that he and Chewie were backing out if they didn't.). Luke left about an hour in for a class he had scheduled, but all the others stayed sitting around the table together, deep in negotiations.
The last item up for discussion was the name of the newly combined business.
"The Resistant…Falcon?" Rey said, and Finn wrinkled his nose.
"Well, if you have any better ideas, you can pipe up any time." she said, reaching over Poe to jab Finn in the shoulder.
"The Old Resistance?" said Kylo, and when Rey laughed and offered him a high five, his ears went pink.
"Stay-cay or Vay-cay!" said Jessika.
"No, no no—guys, I've got it!" Poe said. "Republic Travel and Trash!"
Leia looked confused. Rey tilted her head to the side, mouthing Republic Travel and Trash to herself. Kylo just stared at Poe with a blank look on his face before sighing.
However, Han and Chewie exchanged an excited look before they started laughing together.
"That's perfect!" Han said, and Chewie gave an excited noise of agreement, still laughing too hard to talk.
"Absolutely not," Leia said. "We cannot have the word 'trash' on the front of our shop! We'll never gain any new customers!"
"We've got plenty of customers as it is!" Han said. "I think it's brilliant. Certainly better than some cheesy combination of the two old names—no offense kids." he said, with a look towards Rey, Finn, Poe, Jessika and Kylo. All but Kylo, who scowled slightly, looked unaffected.
"Absolutely not." said Leia.
Han opened up his mouth to shoot back, but Finn, who had a view out the doorway and down the hall to the front door of the Resistance sat up straighter and said, "Uh, here comes Hux."
Leia stood up. "What perfect timing!" she said, her tone bright and false. Han reached out and caught her hand (Rey let out a soft gasp).
"I'll come with you," he said, "see if we can't get that stuffy ginger to agree to our terms."
Leia smiled, soft and genuine, and the two walked out together to meet Hux.
Rey sighed and lay her head on her arms, a soft look on her face. Jessika caught her eye and flashed a smile as unruly as her hair.
"I knew it—see, Finn?" Jessika said. "They're totally into each other."
Finn wrinkled his nose. "I don't care if you're right. It's so weird."
Poe laughed.
"What do you think about it?" Rey whispered to Kylo, looking up at him through from where her head rested.
"I must admit—I'm not all that fond of Han Solo." he said.
She sat up. "Why?"
"I guess he's nice enough, but…I just don't see what Leia sees in him."
"I suppose that's fair." Rey said. She dropped her head back down onto her arms.
In the silence that followed between them, Kylo breathed in carefully, as if about to speak. Rey waited, but then he closed his mouth and huffed the breath out his nose instead. Jess, Finn, and Poe were talking in quiet murmurs beside them.
"Would…would you maybe want to have dinner with me sometime?" Kylo said, his voice quiet and lower than usual.
Rey lifted her head, blinking a few times. "What?"
"Dinner?" Kylo said.
"Yeah. I could—I'm free tonight." she said, and her head felt light and warm as she looked at him.
Kylo looked up at the clock. "I need to go back to the office. Take back this paperwork for them. Do you—do you need to go home?"
"Yes. I'd like to change—unless—where did you want to go?"
"Somewhere nice." he said firmly, and Rey felt even warmer. Kylo looked at the clock again. "Can I give you my number so you can text me your address?"
Rey nodded and he wrote the number down, holding it out to her between two fingers, and as she took it, they brushed against hers.
He could feel her eyes on him as he walked away, through the doorway into the front room.
Hux, Leia, and Han were standing in front of the door, deep in discussion.
"Honestly, Hux? I don't understand why you even care. You're still going to get your increased rent, and you don't have to worry about finding new tenants—because if you think that one of us is going to stay without the other—" Leia held up a hand as Han opened his mouth, "Then you've got another thing coming."
Hux grimaced, and Kylo chose that moment to make his escape. The clank of the door hitting the frame was very loud in the silence.
"Well—IF you combine, what would you even call a travel shop that sells junk?" Hux said, standing a little straighter above Leia and clenching his fists.
Leia grinned, glancing sideways at Han as she said, "I'm glad you asked that. We're going to call it Republic Travel and Trash."
Hux squawked as Han turned to Leia, wrapped both arms around her waist, and kissed her full on the mouth.