Rating: G

Notes: I wanted to explore what was going through Rey's head after rescuing the unique BB unit and what made her want to help him. Please note that the dialogue is from memory – it will not be verbatim.

¼ portion, she thought as she poked at the expanding roll, sitting in the mug of hot water. Well, it could have been worse. Sometimes Unkar used to turn her away without handing out rations for her insignificant discoveries of the day as a rookie scavenger. She learned quickly that it was better to bring back a big haul with a variety of parts – one was more likely to walk away with more rations for a handful of small, but desired parts versus gambling on a single large one.

She tore into her dinner, carrying her plate outside. It had once been an impressive combat vehicle, but Rebel forces brought it down years ago, leaving it to rust in the harsh Jakku desert. To her, it was her home.

She glanced around the expanse, seeing she was alone, as usual. Unkar told her she was being stupid – always looking off into the distance, telling herself that her family was coming back any time soon. But she held out hope – they had to have left her for a good reason. She had overheard Unkar and the other scavengers talk about the past, saying that it was paved in war between Rebels and the remains of the Empire, now called the First Order. Many died, once functioning vehicles were destroyed, and the heroes of the past faded into legends.

She dusted her hands off and paused, straining her ear as she heard something whir. Wait, was it…

She sprung to her feet, grabbing her staff as she headed in the direction of the whirring sound. She spotted one of the other scavengers, cackling as it caught up a droid in its net. The droid struggled, protesting in beeps as it twisted in the net.

Rey began yelling at him, her staff pointed at him. The scavenger tried to shoo her away but she jabbed her staff at him, eyeing him warily before untangling the droid from the net. The droid beeped some complaints, plus the beginnings of an insult about the short, creepy appearance of the scavenger that captured him.

"Shhh!" Rey hissed at the droid. She watched as the other scavenger ambled away on his transport before pulling the netting caught on his knobs. "He just wants you for scrap parts."

She frowned as she knelt down to get a better look at the droid. It was a BB unit, fairly clean for its surroundings, and colored in white and orange with a black lens for an eye – an unusual droid to find in a place like Jakku to say the least. No wonder the other scavenger wanted him – while he was a rare, functioning droid in these parts, he was probably filled with hundreds of usable parts worth several days of rations. Still, it seemed cruel to just disassemble him if he was working just fine.

"Your antennae's bent – here," Rey said as she unscrewed it and began to fix it. "Where do you come from?"

The droid beeped back and she nodded with an amused look on her face. "Classified, really?"

When it beeped a yes, she allowed a faint smile to cross her lips. "Me too," she replied before reattaching the antennae to its head. She sighed before straightening up and glancing off in the direction of town. She pointed in that direction and explained that if he continued to travel that way, he'd reach town in a day or two and would probably be able to find whatever or whomever he was looking for.

She picked her staff up from where she planted it on the ground and began to head back to her little abode. The droid tilted its head before starting to follow, which made her stop abruptly.

"Don't follow me! Town's that way!" she ordered as she pointed in the opposite direction.

The droid rolled closer to her and tilted its head up. She shook her head, trying to convince it to just go. Maybe I should have just let him be taken, Rey thought as she tried to hide her irritation. This was no place for a pristine, functioning droid, especially with her. Besides, someone else was bound to be looking for this unit – someone with a lot of money and someplace better to be than Jakku.

The BB unit beeped in a hopeful manner and Rey frowned as she looked at the droid for a few moments. I'm going to regret this.

"Oh all right, come on!" she groaned as she began leading the way back to her place.

She rolled her eyes as the droid rolled, beeping its thanks as it tried to keep up. "Until the morning. Then you go."

"It's how I live," she explained to the droid. She wiped a bit of sweat off her forehead and sighed as she emerged from the abandoned AT-AT she scavenged today.

Contrary to its original promise, the droid did not leave in the morning. Instead, it rolled alongside her as she speeded off to an unexplored AT-AT unit to scavenge for parts. Try as she might, it refused to head off to town, explaining that it was looking for someone, his master who was a pilot.

"You're sure he's coming back for you?" Rey asked the droid during a break.

The droid, who was called BB-8, beeped back that he was told that his owner was coming back for him.

Rey hummed as she threw some scraps into the net on her speeder. She found herself admitting to the BB unit that she too was waiting for someone.

BB-8 looked up at her and asked whom.

She smiled faintly before securing her goggles over her eyes again. "My family."

"You should have just left," Rey grumbled under her breath. She could feel everyone's eyes on her as she dragged today's haul over to a free space at the polishing station, BB-8 rolling close behind. She could see the other scavengers taking a break from their wheeling and dealing and they turned towards her, eyes falling on the droid.

She hunched her shoulders before throwing her load down beside her and taking at seat at the table. She grabbed a scrubbing brush and reached for one of the parts, keeping her eyes glued to it as she scrubbed.

BB-8 watched her work and asked her why she was doing this if she knew someone was looking for her.

"It's what I'm good at," she said. "Besides, one has to find some way to survive here."

One of Unkar's supervisors walked over to her station and barked at her to get back to work. She winced and scrubbed harder at the part, wishing that everyone would stop looking at her and the droid. She grabbed another one and cleaned it thoroughly, eventually reaching the end of her haul for the day. She put down the brush and collected the parts, heading over to the little shack where Unkar handed out rations.

BB-8 followed her, staying close by. He looked around as the other scavengers shuffled into the line behind Rey, all of them eyeing him and whispering bets about his worth. The scavenger in front of Rey scooped up his portion of rations and stepped to the side as she approached the counter.

"What do you have?" Unkar growled.

Rey passed over the pieces and watched as he scanned them, turning them over in his hand. She held her breath as he checked every surface for remaining rust, damage, or flaws.

Unkar hummed as he looked underneath the parts before concluding, "These are worth…one ½ portion." He grabbed a half portion packet and placed it on the counter in front of Rey.

She stared back in disbelief. "But last week, these were worth one ½ portion each!"

"Don't try to deal with me!" Unkar snapped back. "It's one ½ portion this week!" He leaned over and glanced down at BB-8, a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

"But the droid," he began as he nodded at BB-8.

Rey straightened up, her fingers gripping the counter. "What about him?"

Unkar studied BB, which made the droid shrink behind Rey's legs. He thought for a moment before grabbing several packets of rations, spilling them onto the counter in front of Rey. "He's worth 60."

Rey gasped, her arms reaching out to wrap around the mountain of rations. Behind her, the other scavengers grumbled about her being lucky, saying that 60 was unheard from, especially from Unkar. She couldn't believe it – the most she ever got in a day was 12 and that was from an excellent haul from a Star Destroyer. It was more food than she ever had – why, she could eat better for a couple days. Scratch that, weeks!

But then she felt BB-8 press against her leg and she looked down at him. He tilted his head up at her and she glanced over her shoulder at the others. The droid beeped mournfully at her and she swallowed a lump in her throat.

It was too good to be true – while 60 portions would make up for the numerous times Unkar cheated her of what she earned, it felt wrong to sell out BB-8. She'd be hard pressed to call him a friend, but…

She raised her chin and slowly moved her arms away from the mountain of portions. She met Unkar's eyes and uttered, "Actually…the droid's not for sale."

Unkar did a double take and the others began criticizing her for making such a poor choice. What fool would turn down such a deal? Besides, everyone knew that Unkar treated Rey better than the rest. BB-8 looked up at her in surprise but she ignored their stares as she reached for her ½ portion and beckoned for the droid to follow her.

BB-8 waited until they got away from the trading post before beeping his thanks. Rey sighed and shot him a worn smile.

"Don't thank me yet – first we need to find your master and get you home safely. Now, what does he look like?"