Rey ducked into the old, fallen AT-AT that she'd called her home for years, enjoying the feeling of the last rays of light on her bare shoulders. It was a relief to be back here, back on the familiar, shifting sands of her home world, but with the added safety of Artoo's scanners. She'd been enjoying the opportunity to wander the desert without wearing her all-weather gear, although she was new to making an effort to avoid sunburning.

And today was perfect. She, Finn, Poe, and… Luke had been here for several days, each minding their own missions. Finn had come back in hopes of minimizing the damage that the First Order had caused when he'd been brought here the first time. Poe was more concerned with finding a couple of springs that had apparently fallen off of BB-8 while he'd rolled through the desert. Rey was less clear what the Jedi had wanted, but somehow, she was fine with that.

The four of them, plus the two droids, had been crammed into her old quarters, which made it extremely difficult not to be learning at least a bit more about one another. For example, Rey clanked around so mechanically that she was likely to step on someone if they failed to seem fully alive. The Jedi was surprisingly calm about being stepped on when meditating. Poe found the whole situation hysterical, and Finn would either desperately try to repair any damage to the calm of the room, or ignore it completely, as he didn't want to laugh at Skywalker.

To Rey's knowledge, everyone's missions were going well, save for her own. Until today, that was. Entering the room proper, she held up her scavenged database with a loud crow of, "I found it!"

Only to be met with silence.

The room was empty, even of Artoo and BB-8, who typically preferred to remain out of the sand. After all, Skywalker claimed that Rey had left some sort of Force-imprint that kept other scavengers away, which he credited for the un-ransacked state of her home, which left the droids feeling quite safe in the little hovel.

But even the droids were missing, and Rey stepped further into the room, looking around once again. Nothing else was missing, nor had anything been moved. Although it wasn't as if a pair of functioning droids wouldn't be enough of a haul.

Rey shook the thought off. Neither of the Resistance droids would meekly allow themselves to be stolen.

"Finn!" she called, "Poe!"

There was no answer. She looked around once more before tucking her database back into her pouch and pulling out a long sleeved shirt, proper wear for a trek in the desert. Finn's. Oh, well, if it fit her, it fit her.

Once she had covered up most of her exposed skin, going so far as to take her old mask, and a pair of gloves, she stepped back out into the desert. She had no idea where they would have all gone, but there was no sense in staying inside, alone. She decided to see if she could find Finn, to help with his mission.

Standing in the shade of the AT-AT, she closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she reached out in the Force, as Luke had been teaching her. Perhaps she should go find him, she thought vaguely, knowing that this was the roundabout way of reaching meditation that he'd found so hard to surpass. They had put her training on hold for this series of missions, and while Rey didn't understand it, she'd been glad to get to return to her friends.

She didn't hate Luke, or even really dislike him. But the fact remained that he wanted, and almost expected, their relationship to be something different from how it was. In a way, she agreed with him. He was the family she had waited so long to have returned to her. But even though he hadn't been the one to leave her here, the fact remained that he had failed to find her.

The Jedi Master had failed to find his daughter, and so she had been left to fend for herself, and prove herself again and again, and finally complete an impossible-seeming task, succeeding in just a few days where his sister had failed for years.

She scowled, and gave up on mediation for the moment. It was the kind of thing his teachers had done to him, something he hesitantly agreed had been cruel. And yet, it had been how he had acted as well.

She let out a breath. It wasn't worth getting angry with him, after all. They were stuck together, for better or for worse. He could tolerate her uncertainness about what to call him (she had yet to call him father), and she would tolerate his past mistakes.

No, Finn was definitely the person she needed at the moment. Thinking of his sunny smile, she smiled a bit herself, and closed her eyes again, reaching out for that smile, his laugh, his fluffy hair, which had grown a bit since she'd met him, and which he hadn't got around to cutting short again.

She found him quickly, and grinned fully when she found that he was happy. His mission had been hard on him, she knew, but he had felt, and Luke had agreed (something she was uncertain was actually affirming) that he had needed to do this. Today, something must have gone right for him as well.

And he was close. Rey was surprised how close, in fact, and pulled off her helmet, tossing it back onto one of the sleeping rolls in the foot, before heading to the belly of the great machine.

Opening a panel, she began a carefully controlled slide into the main area, a space she had chosen to leave to its own devices, as the foot was more than enough room for a single person.

"Finn!" she called, as she suddenly realized that her other boyfriend was present as well. All the better! She had chosen to search for Finn's optimism instead of Poe, who would have likely continued to encourage her to vent her emotions about Luke.

Luke.

Shit. She could sense him, too.

For a moment, she hesitated. Knowing him, and his senses, though, he would already know she was there. If it was only him, she might have ignored that, and walked away again, but there was a chance he had already told Finn and Poe that she was coming.

Deciding instead to attempt to interact only with her boys, she called out playfully, "Finn! Poe! I'd better not find you kissing without me again!"

Immediately, she caught some hastily stifled laughter echoing through the cavernous space, and she laughed back, pulling out her lightsaber and igniting it to light the cool, dark space. Immediately, there was a scuffle, and her lightsaber suddenly went out.

Confused, she tried to reactivate it, only to discover that something was keeping her from turning it on. Suspecting that the Jedi had something to do with it, she shook her head slightly, and replaced it on her belt, stepping into the cockpit as the lights suddenly turned on, and Finn and Poe cheered.

Struggling not to blink in the sudden light, she looked around the tilted room. The space had been decked out in coloured ribbons, and the wall, now the floor, was covered in confetti. Poe was still holding the end of a ribbon (the decoration job had clearly been rushed) and Finn threw his cupped hands' worth of confetti on her, as her eyes found Luke, who was seated on the floor, just as he pulled a string on an object he was holding, which gave a slight bang, and threw yet more confetti in her face.

For a moment, she stood there, a bit stunned, before reaching up to wipe a couple of clinging pieces of paper from her face, just as Finn tried to kiss her cheek. As she accidentally whacked his face, he stepped back, looking hurt for a moment, before Poe gave a snort of laughter, and he realized what had happened, and tried again.

She kissed him in return, before looking around, "What's all this for?"

"You've been off this rock for one month today," Poe explained, grinning at her, "We thought you should have a party."

"I've missed too many of your birthdays to wait for the next one," Luke added, looking up at her, but remaining seated.

"Thanks," Rey said dubiously, seating herself as well, as Finn and Poe disappeared for a moment, only to return with a small plant, growing out of a somewhat misshapen lump, which was painted to resemble Jakku. Eagerly, Finn passed it to her, and she nearly dropped it, before carefully placing it on the floor. She hadn't expected it to be quite so heavy. What was it made of, solid stone?

"Happy One-Month-Off-This-Rock-iversary!" Finn grinned, and Rey returned it, "It was important enough to drag me back here!"

"It was enough for it to be his idea," Poe added, indicating the plant, "He even sculpted the pot."

"Yeah, but you found the seeds, and grew the plant," Finn argued, elbowing his boyfriend in the ribs playfully.

"He helped with the plant," Poe said, waving a hand at Luke, who gave a slight smile, before looking back to Rey.

She turned away from him, heading over to kiss Poe as well.

"It's not the only thing I did, though," Luke said, and she turned back to see him reaching behind himself, and pulling out a bundle from below a console, which he held out to her.

Perplexed, Rey accepted it, and it immediately slipped a bit in her hands, beginning to unravel, "What is this?"

"It's a coat," he said seriously, grabbing a sleeve and tugging on it, unwrapping it all the way, "You're going to be rediscovering winter in a few months, and I don't want to lose you to the cold."

"I think I can take care of myself," Rey argued, somewhat defensively.

"Not if he has you training too much for you to get warm clothes," Poe said, and Rey turned to find that he and Finn were lying on the window of the cockpit, Finn draped over Poe affectionately.

"I'll give her free time," Luke protested, sounding a bit hurt, before reaching back behind the console, and pulling out a few more cold weather items, "I just thought you should be prepared when winter comes, back home."

Accepting the hat, scarf, gloves, and other assorted cold weather gear, Rey nodded hesitantly, "I know."

She did know. She could barely remember winters of her childhood, before she'd been left on Jakku. She remembered loving the weather, the snow, the fact that it made her father into someone she didn't quite know, but loved so much. She remembered his willingness to carry her on his shoulders if the snow was too deep, or she got it in her boots, or just if she was tired. Or when he was happy.

He'd done that too, back then.

Always been ready for a hug, or to toss his toddler in the air and catch her, throwing her higher and higher until it alarmed anyone nearby, who hadn't yet recognized the Jedi Master.

She realized suddenly that she was staring at the scarf he'd passed her.

Was it her imagination, or did it match one she'd owned as a child?

She looped it around her neck in a motion that surprised her by still being familiar. It was cool enough in the nearly-buried cockpit that it wasn't uncomfortable.

"We planned on getting you a cake, too," Poe said, breaking her from her reverie, "But it looks like that'll wait until we get back to base."

Rey tacked on a grin, batting at his head playfully, and scrambling back to her feet, grabbing a handful of confetti off the floor, to dump over the two men, who couldn't scramble up in time to evade it.

She received two handfuls of confetti to the face in very close succession, and leapt up towards the old pilot's seats, scrabbling at the spinning chair she'd caught until she managed to perch on the supports, the only stable part of the chair.

Below her, Finn and Poe were both trying to throw the weightless confetti up at her, and she began to laugh, before Finn suddenly gave a shout as he was lifted off his feet. Rey's eyes immediately darted to Luke as she realized what was happening, and Finn followed her gaze before a look of pure evil came over his face, and he prepared to throw his fistfuls of confetti.

Giving a shout of alarm and laughter, Rey jumped again, striving for a higher post to hide behind, just as Finn threw the confetti, and missed her.

She opened her mouth to gloat, only to discover that the confetti had floated back into Finn's hands, and he was floating up towards her again as Luke called up from below, "Try again!"

"You're supposed to be on my side!" she shouted, before she could stop herself. Was that something she'd used to tell him? She leapt again, and missed her footing, nearly slipping, as she suddenly felt something appear below her foot. She knew there was nothing, though, and she remembered this feeling of being caught from when they'd used to play together.

She scrambled up onto the console at the top of the room, and looked down at her friends, "Aren't you going to come up and get me?"

"I think I've gone high enough!" Finn said quickly, and Luke lowered him back to the floor, turning to look at Poe just in time to see Finn grab him in a headlock, and mash a fistful of confetti into his hair, before releasing him to stumble off, laughing.

Grinning, Rey released her hold on the chair, and dropped down next to the group, "If you've resorted to infighting, I believe I win."

"I think so," Luke agreed, standing up, and pulling some errant confetti out of his hair, "I told Leia we would be heading back towards the Resistance before dark, so we should be going."

"You've certainly never been late before, I would hate to break such a clean record," Rey said, gathering up the cold winter gear he'd given her, and taking the opportunity to grab another handful of confetti to dump on him, before picking up the plant as well, as Finn and Poe both tried to relieve her of a couple of items. She allowed each of them to take a couple of things, getting a better grip on the plant as Luke used the Force to lift the droids out of the cockpit and into the main hold of the ship, before following them.

Behind Rey, Finn surprised Poe with sudden revenge for his confetti infraction, and the pilot took off after him as Finn scrambled after the Jedi. As they disappeared from sight, dodging past the Jedi as Poe suddenly remembered that he still had a roll of tissue paper garland on his belt, Rey hurried to catch up with Luke. As she came alongside him, she considered running after Poe and Finn, to explain it off as just playing with her friends, but she slowed down instead, taking the staff from her back, and slowly beginning to spin it.

Luke looked at her, and gave her the slight smile he got sometimes when she had nearly succeeded at something, "Thank you."

"What do you have to thank me for?" she asked, looking at him oddly.

He shook his head slightly, "I know I'm not your favourite person in the galaxy."

"You're not so bad," she said, giving him a bit of a smirk.

He looked down at the ground, and shook his head slightly, "I'm glad you think so."