Poe has been gone for ages and it's killing Finn. Instead of walking next to Poe in the halls, bumping into his side, he walks alone, hands stuffed in his pocket instead of stuffed in Poe's. He sleeps in a cold empty bed, not a delightfully cramped one squeezed next to his boyfriend in a tangle of arms and legs. He wakes to the sharp beeping of an alarm, not soft kisses peppered on his neck and face. He still sits with Rey and Jessika at meals, silence occasionally falling where Poe would naturally fill in the conversation with a witty remark and their laughter sounds too quiet.

Poe's not stupid. He's not weak in any capacity. But when what's supposed to only be days turns into weeks and then into a full month, Finn can't help but worry about him. It was only supposed to be a short and simple mission. Get in, get the information from the source, get out, try not to tangle with the First Order. And Finn knows Poe is capable of handling (almost) anything. That doesn't discourage him from worrying about Poe every minute of the day, however, or from wearing Poe's jacket whenever possible or from constantly searching the room for a head of curly black hair.

.-oOo-.

"Finn."

"General? Can I help you?" Finn asks. He can hear his heart pounding in his ears and his hands unconsciously clench into tight fists.

"Poe...he…" General Organa falters and Finn nearly falls into the wall behind him. General Organa does not falter. She takes a slow, deep breath and looks Finn squarely in the eye. "Finn, we've lost communication with him."

Now is when Finn's heart stops and he really does fall back into the wall. He sags to the floor and draws his knees to his chest.

"No," he croaks. He looks up at General Organa to be met with eyes equally as helpless as his own. "No."

He's not aware of when he starts crying, only that he is and General Organa is kneeling in front of him and oh God, Poe…

"Finn. We'll find him. I'll find him." General Organa's voice is a distant thing, but he slowly lifts his head up. There's a maternal kind of fire glazing them and even his endless tears cannot dim it.

"I know, I just…" Finn shakes his head and ducks his head back down, unable to find the words to express his fear, his hopelessness, and this new emptiness where his heart used to be.

"Finn," General Organa says, tilting his head up with two fingers. "I swear to you I will bring Poe home."

Finn takes a shuddering breath before slowly rising from the floor. "I want to help," he says flatly.

General Organa merely motions for him to follow her to the control room. He spends the rest of the day checking in with spies and allies around the galaxy, trying to locate the best pilot in the Resistance.

.-oOo-.

Almost two months after losing communication with him, they finally find Poe, bruised, battered, and beaten to shit in the First Order-controlled city of Palatia. He was shaking when they found him, sitting in a booth, hands clasped around a glass of something strong. The owner of the restaurant said that she'd just let him stay - he wouldn't tell her anything except his name and "I need to get back to him." Who "him" was, she had no idea. He'd been there for three days.

Poe trembles all the way back, unable to fly the ship or do anything but shiver. Finn almost dies when he sees Poe limping down the ramp with purple and blue marks marring his golden skin and a black splotch around his left eye. His shirt doesn't completely hide the lines on his arms that Finn easily identifies as badly healed scars. Poe...

"F-Finn," Poe whispers hoarsely when he catches sight of the darker-skinned man waiting for him. "H-h-hey."

Tears are making their way down Poe's cheek and Finn chokes back a sob. He harshly realizes that he's never seen Poe cry before.

"Poe…" Finn murmurs, taking his hand. "C'mere. Let's get you fixed up, okay?"

Poe nods, slowly and meekly and the sight breaks Finn's heart. Poe is a whirlwind, doing everything quickly, with confidence. He never backs down or shrinks away from a challenge; rather, he runs full speed at it and tackles it head on. The broken man next to Finn, however, looks like he couldn't take on a damn Porg if he wanted to.

"Poe?"

Poe lifts his head at General Organa's worried voice and gives her what is only a shadow of his signature smirk.

"G-General."

General Organa gasped softly as the two men walked closer, Poe's injuries becoming more obvious. She opens her mouth but then closes it, as if unsure what to say.

"Finn, take him to the hospice, please?" she finally says, discreetly wiping at her eyes as she walks away.

Poe flinches at the sudden bright lights in the hospice before a doctor whisks him away to be treated. Finn waits for thirty excruciating minutes, biting his knuckles until he sees Poe walking out. He's silent, Finn notices, and that just succeeds in splintering his heart a little more. Poe's never silent, always humming or talking or laughing.

"C'mon," Finn reaches a hand out to Poe who squeezes it tightly before letting Finn lead him back to their room. It's late, and they encounter a mercifully small number of people. Finn opens the door and gently propels Poe into the bed.

"Hey." Finn takes a seat next to Poe who immediately leans into him. "What...happened?"

Poe looks up at Finn and shakes his head. Finn recognizes the look in his eyes - pure, undiluted terror.

"Okay. Okay, you wanna sleep?" Finn says, laying Poe down. "Go to sleep."

Poe curls into a ball but doesn't shut his eyes. They take on a slightly haunted look to accompany the terror. Finn eases down on the bed next to Poe and holds him closer to his chest. He can feel Poe's breath rattling and then settling into a rhythm.

"What happened to you?" Finn says softly, looking down at Poe's sleeping form.

.-oOo-.

A week after Poe returned, Finn can see him slowly edging back to his old self. He laughs more and his easy smile has began to return. In public, he's all grins and chuckles, but back in their room he lapses into extended silences. It's one such time when Finn walks in, exhausted and ready to sleep, that he finds Poe sitting on the bed, eyes unfocused. His shirt is off and Finn can see the extent of what happened.

Large bruises stretch across his back, clashing with scars of varying thickness and length. Burns are spattered here and there. There's barely any of Poe's original coloring left on his back, and Finn suspects it's the same on his torso.

"Admiring the view?" Poe's voice jars Finn out of his thoughts. "Not that...there's much left," he amends, shifting slightly to look back at Finn.

"Poe...what did they do?" Finn asks, a crack in the last word.

Poe sighs softly and shrugs. "Torture droid. 'Parently they still use those."

Finn's breath catches in his throat as he settles next to Poe who rests his head on Finn's shoulder.

"They caught me, and I'm thinking that I'm screwed this time, 'cause now there's no you to help me escape. And I figured that they were just gonna kill me, you know? And honestly, I ki-kinda think I rather would've died," Poe blurted before aiming his eyes to the floor. A minute's silence follows. Finn lets an arm creep around Poe's shoulders and pulls him closer. Poe looks up to find Finn's eyes filled with grief and a grim understanding.

"It's okay. You're okay," Finn soothes, cupping Poe's face in his hand and brushing his cheek with a thumb.

"It...I just stopped feeling anymore. And then I got out." Poe's body shakes with a sob. "And it all came crashing down on me. I realized that it had been three months since I saw you and three months holy shit you must have been worried and...all I could think of was getting back."

Finn brings Poe down to the mattress with him and lets Poe bury his face in his neck. He pulls Poe in for a kiss.

"I'm here," Finn promises. "Forever."