The cockpit was frigid. Or maybe it was just Rey.
Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, the stress on her spirit, and her anger beside it, still roiling beneath her outer calm. No, not calm. Exhaustion. Exhaustion and pure disappointment.
Arms wrapped around herself, holding onto something, anything, she sunk into the pilot's chair and stared out at the mottled blue-white of hyperspace.
In all her years on Jakku, not a single day had felt as long as this one had, nor as fruitless. Not the days where she went without food, or water, or kept herself holed up in her AT-AT or some other wreck while she waited for a storm to pass. Even with nothing else to pass the time than count the grains of sand or guess at just how many waking breaths she had left, nothing had prepared her for the past day… or was it a week? She didn't know any more. And what did it matter?
The room was empty, and she wasn't surprised. Hardly any of the Resistance had made it out of Crait alive. She had only seen the Resistance up close once, and even then she was far too worried about Finn to take stock of what and who else was in the galaxy, and whose side she was on.
Finn.
She last spied Finn bringing one of the Falcon's sorry excuses for a blanket up around a fallen soldier, careful to tuck it around her shoulders, the flip of her hair spilling out over its frayed edge. Chewbacca had exited the cockpit, setting the ship on autopilot before embracing General Organa in a hug, a wealth of loss shared between them as they held one another, stoic and silent. Rey thought it best to leave them be while the others took stock, and sought to be by herself again. For once.
But she craved him, here, like they had been once, before Takodana, before Starkiller Base, before… all this.
She ached for the kindness in his eyes, his gentle hand, the one thing she found she missed in her time away, met only with the empty eyes of the lost Luke Skywalker and the dark, deceiving ones of Kylo Ren, who she now regretted calling Ben as if she could bring him back from the brink.
But Finn had grown up at the brink. He was brought up at the edge of the abyss, familiar with its darkness. It was all he knew. And still, he had the heart to step away from the precipice and steel himself against its pull, defiant despite it.
"Mind if I join you?" a voice pierced the quiet, deep but gentle and probing.
Rey turned, her face blushing.
"Finn," she said, almost shrinking, afraid he'd heard her thoughts but knowing she was silly for thinking so.
"Are you…?" his question hung in the air as he hovered in the threshold, unsure. "Are you okay?"
Rey nodded, words failing her, though the look on her face must have said otherwise. Finn slumped into the copilots chair, his arm twitching slightly, as if deciding whether or not to reach out for her again.
"I'll be alright," she resigned, watching him struggle and wishing he would stop worrying, that they would all stop worrying - not that they had any reason to do otherwise.
Finn watched her, raising a brow.
"You look cold," he said, almost sad, his voice wilting.
"Well, maybe a little, but-"
She was used to Jakku and its relentless days, noontime being the worst outdoors but the evenings even worse for the trapped heat. But the nights were unforgiving, the sands grown bitter cold once the suns sunk below the horizon, and now she didn't feel quite different. She hadn't the proper clothing then, and she didn't now, but what she wore was familiar, comfortable. Wearing anything else would feel… strange, alien. But the shivering? Perhaps that was more than just the cold.
A wealth of thought played over her face as Rey struggled to express her inner thoughts, and Finn inched closer, extending a hand this time.
"C'mon," he coaxed, his hand - sprawling and warm - gently probing at her elbow. "We'll find something."
Rey didn't want to leave, but she also wanted to stay with Finn this time, not leave him like she had before.
After a moment, she nodded, allowing Finn to lead her from the cockpit to…
They paused at the end of the hall, Finn's eyes darting left and right, unsure of where to go next.
"There's a supply closet that way," Rey said quietly, leaning into Finn's hand still at her arm, guiding her.
Finn flushed, his eyes looking at her sidelong before looking left.
"Right," he said, clearing his throat, "This way, then."
Rey couldn't help but laugh at Finn's mock expertise, clearly putting on a face for her benefit, or perhaps for his as well. She saw how he had comforted the sleeping girl back in the main hold earlier, the way he exchanged looks with Poe and with Leia. She could tell there was more stirring inside - worry, fear… but also hope. She smiled shyly, just out of sight as Finn meandered the hall, waiting for Rey to tell him just where the closet they were looking for was.
She pointed again when they came upon it, mouthing the word there as if she were a sprite guiding him despite his teasing (yet somehow still genuine) chivalry.
"Ah yes, of course," Finn said again with mock severity, feigning a knowledge of the ship he spent less than a day with Rey on, mainly keeping to the hold and the cockpit, and nothing else.
Finn rummaged around, unsure of what he was looking for and unsure of what he was moving around, while Rey watched him, smiling all the while. He finally came upon a cloth, perhaps meant as a towel or a rag to dredge up oil while doing repairs, but he held it up for her inspection, his expression hopeful but hesitant.
"That will do," she found herself laughing. Finn smiled, still shy, still unsure of how to act around her after all that had happened and all that remained unsaid. But when he draped the cloth around her shoulders, it felt as it did back on Crait, when the rocks parted and suddenly Finn was there, and a moment after he was in her arms again, the second part of a half finally whole again.
"This'll keep you warm," he said, tugging at the corners so the fabric barely covered her forearms. Rey stifled a laugh, smiling at him despite it. "Or maybe… I'll keep you warm."
Finn blushed, his skin growing hot to the touch. Rey's arms prickled, suddenly alight with his bashfulness, though he did not shy away.
Warm indeed, she thought, nodding in agreement as they found a quiet corner of the ship, and got to talking, Finn's presence at her side like the heat of the sun at midday, warm and steady all the while.