Disclaimer: everything belongs to Disney and Lucasfilm.

AN: So this is my first fanfic, so please, be gentle and give concrit only! I'm also in need of a beta, so I apologize for any errors/grammar mistakes. Please message me if you would be willing to help me out as a beta! I would be forever grateful!

I have to admit I don't mind Reylo, but I couldn't help but becoming Damerey trash after TLJ. That meet-cute! I can't get over it! And there's just not enough fanfic love for this ship, hence my attempt here. As the tag in the summary indicates, this is Rey/Poe endgame all the way, though there will be a dash of Rey/Kylo. I hope you enjoy! Another chapter will be posted soon.

Chapter 1

Never in his life had he felt such shame, such defeat as he did now. Poe Dameron was not a man used to failure; all his life he had excelled through his own hard work and innate talent. First in his prodigy-like affinity for flying when his mother first took him up in her old A-wing on their home moon of Yavin 4, handing him the controls as he sat on her lap, her hands hovering over his, just in case. Later in his record-setting tenure at the New Republic Flight Academy, known as the fastest, most acrobatic pilot, "flyboy", amongst all past and present cadets. "Force Sensitive", they had whispered; how else could he have pulled off such feats, the hair trigger turns and just-in-time maneuvers? Finally, he had become one of the youngest and most effective commanders in first the New Republic, and then in the Resistance.

But there was a reason the leadership kept getting younger and younger; it was people like him, his fault. The more seasoned members were killed, and killed, and killed, and eventually only the less tenured remained to begin to take the reins of leadership. Your fault! He mentally flogs himself again and again. It's people like him that keep getting valuable team members killed. With his ill-conceived notions of grand battle victories that cost too many resources and provided too few lasting, strategic results other than the initial spectacular explosion.

General Organa's previous words on the cruiser to him about his mistakes echo in his head, playing on a continuous, torturous loop.

He sat on the floor of the Millennium Falcon with his head in his hands, tangling his fingers through his unruly waves of coffee-colored hair, elbows resting on knees folded towards his chest. They were currently hurtling through hyperspace with no specific destination in mind other than escape. With the quiet hum of the engines enfolding him, and the immediate threat of annihilation left behind on Crait, the events of the past few days are finally catching up. Without constant physical threat, he was left to navigate the battlefield of his own mind, wrestling with his conscience and his own expectations for himself.

Poe gave his hair one last tug of frustration, and lifted his head out of his hands. Eyes still closed, he allowed it to drop back with a thud against the side of the Falcon's dejarik table seats, permitting himself a small sigh that belies how much turmoil his thoughts contain. Actual seats and comfortable lodgings were scarce on a freighter of this size, and he doesn't want to take up such valuable passenger space as someone who was comparatively uninjured.

Well, it's Captain now, he thought. He now believes General Organa completely justified in his demotion; his disobedience of her orders had decimated both the bombing team and his own squadron. His squadron trusted him to make the best decision for the entire team, believing he would bring back more alive than dead. He doesn't know how Rose could even look at him. Her only sister, Paige, was killed because of his insubordination. How he had been so arrogant as to protest the General's demotion? So blind not to recognize the unaffordable cost of his teammates' lives? Looking back, he barely understood his own behavior; it couldn't be reconciled with the kind of leader he constantly aimed to be. It felt like each of his combat decisions since fleeing D'Qar had been riddled with mistakes, short-sightedness, and recklessness. He was made to confront his own mistakes by one of the bravest women he had ever met, for all her faults—Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. And she was dead too.

It had taken so much for him to realize his own weaknesses, he wondered if he even still deserved to be in the Resistance. Shouldn't they have just left him on Crait, where he couldn't lose more Resistance lives? He had almost sentenced them all to death there, too. Except…Rey.

He had despaired in the caves, and it had been total and soul crushing. The small crystal fox-like creature had wriggled through a hole that couldn't have been bigger than his fist, and he thought they were done for. And then she saved them all for the second time that day, after arriving on the battle scene at Crait like one of the legends from the first Rebellion, like the stories the old veterans used to tell. A Jedi, swooping through the sky on the infamous Millennium Falcon, first drawing off the tie fighters, and then using the Force to lift the tons of boulders blocking their only exit, showing barely any outward sign of strain. In that moment, he understood why his parents and other veterans of the first Galactic Civil War spoke of the Jedi like they were the sole reason the Empire was defeated, why the tide of victory turned in their favor. In that moment, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Of course, he had heard so much about her already from both Finn and BeeBee-Ate, but he hadn't expected-

"Poe."

He was jerked out of his grim reflection by General Organa. She lowered herself with the assistance of her cane to sit on the old shipping crate in front of him, and he quickly opened his eyes and pasted on a crooked smile, attempting to project the positive, upbeat pilot that the Resistance is so used to seeing.

"I noticed you've been keeping to yourself for a lot of the flight so far. I would have expected you to be asking Chewie hundreds of questions about the Falcon by now. How are you holding up?"

Poe sighed, and the smile worn as a mask slowly dissolves. He owed it to General Organa to give at least a semblance of an honest answer.

"I'm having a hard time reconciling myself to how much damage I have caused the Resistance," he answered. "I don't know why everyone doesn't hate me right now, or at the very least why they aren't giving me the cold shoulder."

It was true. For some reason everyone still looked at him like he is their greatest inspiration to soldier on, like he was going to lead them out of the darkness.

Leia's mouth turned downward at the edges, and her eyes crumpled in regret and grief. "Poe, this is a hard lesson every leader has to learn and sometimes re-learn. That there is an end goal beyond the current mission, and resources shouldn't be sacrificed in the present if it compromises the future."

"But all our people, killed, we lost so much, and I…" Poe stopped and drew in a harsh breath, unable to raise his eyes to Leia's.

She reached out, her hand grasping his shoulder with a small shake of emphasis to get him to look at her.

"I've made the same mistake myself, Poe, so has every captain, commander, admiral, general, and any other leader. What matters is that you learn from it." She took her hand from his shoulder, her eyes holding his.

"You did not kill our brave Resistance men and women. The First Order did, and each of them went into the mission knowing what was at stake, knowing full well the risk. And the Resistance itself is not dead, which is something we have you to thank for."

Poe shook his head, "But I failed on Crait too, if it weren't for Rey we would be slaughtered by the First Order, bloody on the ground of that salt mine right now."

"No, Poe, if not for you, we would never have had a chance on Crait in the first place. Who else could have led us into that battle, and then gave us the courage and the hope that there was another way out of the mine? I know you ordered the pilots to turn back from the initial offensive on Crait against that battering ram. You have realized your weaknesses, and next time when faced with a similar situation, I know you will hold these lessons in your mind."

She stood slowly, giving him a pat on the shoulder once more, and offering a reassuring grin before walking past with some final words. "Now get up, go find that wookie and ask your questions, leave these thoughts behind. That way is folly and only leads to sleepless nights with slow insanity. Trust me, I've been there."

Poe stretched his legs out straight from their cramped position, considering Leia's words as she walked away. He wasn't sure if he would ever be able to forgive himself for the loss of life he considers his fault, but it wouldn't do to continue to wallow, useless to his friends around him.

With that, he mustered himself up off the common area floor, realizing that he had not seen Beebee-Ate since boarding the Falcon almost eight hours ago, when he had finally had the chance to introduce himself to Rey. Not finding him in the common area with the rest of the Resistance, Poe decided to take the General's advice and explore the famous ship while looking for his erstwhile droid companion. He didn't want to bother Chewie, but that didn't mean he couldn't poke around.

Walking along the worse for wear corridor to the pilot cockpit, he rapped his fingers on the cockpit door, hearing the familiar cheerful chirps of his droid inside in response.

"Come on in", a human voice called out.

He pushed open the cockpit door. "I hope I'm not disrupting you, I was just looking for Beebee-Ate and hoping to learn a bit more about this infamous freighter. I thought I might find Chewie up here."

Rey turned from the cockpit console, swiveling the pilot's chair to face him. Poe couldn't help but notice she looked as exhausted and beaten as he felt. He wondered how long she had been manning the ship, how much rest she had gotten since take-off. She had a nasty looking wound on her right shoulder that was untreated and unbandaged, and there were dark smudges beneath her red rimmed eyes. He had never seen her hair as mussed as it was now, with strands pushed out of the single small ponytail she had taken to wearing, and the loose bottom half of her hair sporting a rumple as if it had been pressed against the pilot's chair for too long. He hadn't seen it out of the three-bun style she wore prior to going to Ahch-To, and he couldn't help but think it suited her, despite its current disheveled state.

"I told him he could take the first 10 hours of flight to rest, and then we could switch pilot duty. He's been keeping this thing in the air since we left Ahch-To, he deserved a break." She explained. "As for Beebee-Ate, while I can claim that I have no intention of kidnapping your droid, I have to admit I appreciate his company," she said, smiling affectionately down at the little BB- unit as he beeped in agreement.

Poe stepped further into the cockpit, sinking into the co-pilot's chair next to her, absentmindedly patting Beebee-Ate's small domed head as the droid rolled toward him and settled in between the two seats.

"You have no idea how much he talked about you after you left, I think I should worry less about the prospect of you kidnapping him and more about his defecting and running away with you," he teased.

Beebee-Ate shrilled, affronted, and Rey scoffed. "There's definitely no chance of that, your little droid here has some of the most complex loyalty programming I've ever seen. Since meeting him on Jakku, returning to you has been his highest priority. I'm just lucky enough to be someone he's decided is a friend, I think."

Beebee-Ate chimed in agreement. [Favorite Friend Rey is right! I would never leave Favorite Master Friend Poe! Who would make sure his coordinates for each mission has been entered correctly? His flight suit would never get cleaned and I would not get to see him.]

The faint hint of a blush peeked out the collar of Poe's shirt, and he rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "Oh come on Beebee, you know the coordinate thing was just one time, and that was because I had bad intel. And I would have clean flight suits! They're scheduled for cleaning every week!"

[That's because I schedule it, Master Friend Poe!]

"Ok, ok, fine, I know I would be a mess without you around, I know I'm lucky to have you." Poe conceded very solemnly. The droid beeped once, satisfied, before nuzzling his domed head against Poe's leg.

Rey let out a small giggle at the exchange, and Poe was glad his embarrassment at least succeeded in lifting her spirits, even if it does make him look like an incompetent nerf herder.

"So how has does this old bucket of bolts handle after all these years? Is she as fast and slick as all the old stories say?" Poe inquired.

"Well first of all, don't let Chewie hear you call her a 'bucket of bolts'. Wookies have been known to tear limbs off, or so I've heard. But yeah, she's certainly gotten us out of a few tight spots since Finn and I flew her off of Jakku with Beebee-Ate."

Rey gestured to the console in front of her. "As you can see, she has had a lot of customized modifications, but they have been mostly to her advantage, in my opinion, but Chewie could probably tell you more about why exactly each customization was added on."

Poe nodded in agreement; from what he can see, while the modifications aren't necessarily what he would have chosen, he can't deny that whichever cunning trader or smuggler had the idea definitely knew their way around this particular starship. But there was something there, that she said, that peaked his interest-

He did a quick scan of her form while she was still turned toward the console. Her lithe form, with compact, wiry muscle conveyed a strength under control, and he had no doubt that such a small build translated into agility and speed during a fight that was likely to be unmatched. He can't help but be surprised that she possesses such beauty as well, that it had not been stamped out during her time on Jakku, planet of hopelessness that it was.

With all that Finn and Beebee-Ate told him about her, they had never mentioned this, and never had he pictured a Jedi that was, well...pretty. And so clearly feminine. Dusky eyelashes curling away from her cheeks, framing eyes of a shade that sometimes seemed like the deepest, richest caf, and other times seemed a particular shade of mossy green that reminded him of a curling fern that was native to his home planet of Yavin 4. She held such beauty in spite of, or perhaps made even more apparent by, her current state of physical and mental exhaustion, and this made her appearance seem all the more honest.

Not just outward beauty; he had to imagine it is obvious to anyone that came in contact with her that she possesses a singular inner beauty as well, a kindness towards everyone, especially those who might be easily overlooked or taken for granted, like his beloved Beebee-Ate. Rey. It was such an appropriate name, because she radiated warmth, kindness, and an openness for anyone who bothered to take the time to gain her trust.

Poe mentally gave himself a shake. Yes, Poe, and I'm sure she would be so pleased to know you deem her acceptable and pleasing to the eye, he thought to himself sarcastically. Get your head out of your ass and come back to reality. Not like there's a war going on or anything, or that we're currently fleeing for our lives, he thought, rolling his eyes at himself.

He realized she's looking at him questioningly, likely wondering why his eyes have glazed over as he stared blankly at a spot just over her head.

He cleared his throat, realizing she was looking at him questioningly because of his glazed over stare, and fought back another slight blush that he could feel creeping up his neck. Kriff, what's wrong with him, he felt like a bumbling idiot with a bad case of hero worship around her.

"Finn had mentioned he met you on Jakku. How long did you spend there before flying off in this thing?" He asked, trying to recapture his normal ease and confidence by leaning back in the chair, propping one ankle up on the opposite knee, and folding his hands behind his head.

She shifted restlessly from one side of the chair to another, glancing down at the beat up floor of the cockpit, and it struck him suddenly that maybe he's asked too personal a question.

"There's never a time that I can remember not being on Jakku. There's no other place I can claim that I'm from." She said this bitterly, with an despondent twist to her mouth. "I know you all think I'm some mythical hero who will save the whole galaxy, but I'm from nowhere, and I came from nothing. Just Jakku. That's something I know now, and there's no use in trying to pretend otherwise."

Beebee-Ate trilled sadly, disagreeing with her view of herself and rolling over to nudge her leg in consolation.

"I'm not sure who tried to convince you that's true, but it seems to me they are missing the most important part of being alive, and I almost want to sucker-punch them for causing you to think that. You are who you make yourself to be, not what others make you into. And for what it's worth, at the risk of contradicting myself, no one on this ship thinks that about you. You're one of us, no matter where you came from or who you are. I just met you, but even I can see as clear as day that you're one of the most amazing people I know, and not because you're a Jedi."

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, mussing it and causing it to drape across his forehead. He almost reached out to put a hand on her knee in front of him, but drew back, thinking better of it. "I hope you know that you can count on me if you need anything. I'll do whatever I can to help you out. No one should feel alone with times being what they are."

Rey was silent for a moment, her gaze fixed on her hands twisting in her lap, before finally dragging it up to lock with his. "I guess I've never thought of it like that." She swallowed thickly, blinking back suddenly glassy eyes. "And no one's ever explained it to me that way, or offered to be there before."

Her hazel eyes held his brown ones, sincerity in their depths. "Thank you, truly. That's just what I needed right now."

He smiled warmly, still holding her gaze. "Anytime, and I know I can speak for Beebee-Ate and Finn too. You were the first thing Finn asked about after he woke up, you know, running around basically naked on the cruiser leaking bacta."

A sharp rap on the cockpit door startled them out of the conversation, and Finn poked his head through the door.

"Did I just hear my name mentioned? The bacta incident again, Poe, really? Do you have to tell everyone about that?" Finn rolled his eyes good naturedly as he stepped further in.

"Anyway, I came to find you guys to let you know General Organa has called a conference in the common area for all of us. I think she may have finally received a response to our distress signal." He finished.

Poe and Rey both stood, and Poe gestured for her to proceed before him through the door, and she followed Finn to the common area.

The trio joined the rest of the remaining Resistance in the room, focusing on General Organa who leaned on front of the dejarik table waiting until everyone was present. Finn immediately went back to stand next to Rose's place on one of the few bunks on the ship, and took her hand once more. Poe stood off to his side, with Rey taking a place near the foot of the bunk. Rose remained in an unconscious state, and while stable, Finn and the rest of the Resistance were anxious for her to wake up and make a full recovery.

Leia began to speak to the room. "I have good news for everyone; I know flying at hyperspeed without a particular destination is never a comfortable feeling for anyone, so I am happy to report that we finally have a safe destination where we can lie low and re-group."

There were relieved smiles and even a chuckle here or there at the good news, and Poe exchanged a questioning look with Finn, who shrugged as if to say 'you know as much as I do', and they both directed their attention back to the General.

Leia waited for the group to settle back down before continuing, relief and happiness at the turn of fortune reflected in her voice. "In response to our repeated distress calls with my personal signal, I have received word from an old ally on Naboo, the former Queen Sosha Soruna. She is willing to shelter us in one of the former royal military outposts that is no longer in use in a remote area, near her family home. She has also managed to get in contact with some of my own family on the planet from my mother's side, the Naberries. My cousin, Pooja, has also expressed willingness to provide what aid and supplies she can."

With that, the group erupted into chatter, some faces excited, others filled with more trepidation, directing questions at each other and the General, who spoke once more over the din.

"I know there are lots of questions, I have many of the same- but I trust Sosha Soruna, she would not shelter us in unfriendly or in an exposed area. There is much I do not yet know of the location or what sort of aid we will find there, so we are all just going to have to accept that some things are unknown until arrival." She turned to face Rey directly, who stood a bit straighter at the attention from where she was leaning against the wall near the bunk.

"Rey, once you and Chewie have entered the destination coordinates, it will be about 2 days until we reach the planet on the outside of the Mid-Rim. Soruna has provided me with the exact location of the landing strip where we are to arrive. Everyone-" She addressed the room again, "get some rest and recovery while you can, it's going to be all hands on deck once we land to get the semblance of a base set up."

The rebels began to disperse, quiet conversations beginning all over the ship. Well, Poe considered, there were worse places to hide out than Naboo, although he would have preferred a less populated and politically charged planet. As the former Emperor's homeplanet, he knew it used to house pockets of imperial sympathizers after their defeat, although it was said they had pretty much all been wiped out. They were lucky General Organa still had ties to her mother's home planet. He shuffled closer to Finn and Rey, who stood talking quietly as they both looked down at Rose.

"Naboo. I guess we'll see what is waiting for us there. At least it's not a planet like Hoth, I always heard that base was miserable," Poe said, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"I'm just glad someone finally answered our distress call. It's nice to know there's someone in the galaxy that's still willing to support the Resistance," Finn answered. "It's nice to know that last stand on Crait wasn't a waste." He grasped Rose's unresponsive hand and cradled it to his chest.

Poe exchanged a worried glance with Rey, both of them hearing the words Finn didn't say. That Rose's sacrifice to save him wasn't a waste. She gave Finn a reassuring smile, and placed her hand on his forearm briefly.

"Well, I'm going to go find Chewie so we can get the ship programmed for Naboo. You should get some rest Finn, you've been at her side since we left. Chewie will be taking over the flight shift for me soon, I'll come get you after and we can find some rations, there might even be some tea left. And maybe we can take another look for any medical supplies that could help Rose."

Finn nodded appreciatively, seemingly relieved at the prospect of someone to keep him company while he worries over Rose, but after she turned to leave for the cockpit, he shook his head at Poe and gestured towards her back in a low voice.

"She's the one who needs some rest, she's been piloting this ship since take-off. I know she doesn't need anyone to take care of her, but I just wish she would take a bit better care of herself."

Poe nodded, and hummed in agreement, seemingly already lost in his own thoughts as he pulled up an empty shipping crate to sit near Finn. He was beginning to see what Finn meant; Rey might be able to take care of herself, but that didn't mean she didn't need someone to care, starting with him finding a med-pack for that untreated wound on her shoulder. It was something he would start paying attention to as they settled on Naboo.