I looked at the glass in my hand, the pilot's weird, bright smile still burning in my retinas, and then back at him sauntering onto my ship like he owned it. I almost chucked the glass out in the desert but the thought of leaving it here on this awful planet was too sad, even for an inanimate object. Instead I just scoffed and followed him, the loading ramp lifting as I did so, and promised to be rid of this Pilot as soon as possible.

"So," he drawled as I met him at the top, the fact that I was just a hair shorter than him not diminishing his smug expression. "How did you get your hands on a J-type 327 Nubian Royal starship?"

For half a second I was impressed he recognized it, till I remembered, duh, of course he would since he's a pilot. I chose the route of strategic incompetence, it always works well when men ask questions I don't want to answer.

"Is that what this is?" I asked, looking around as if seeing it for the first time. "Huh, I just thought it was pretty."

He scoffed, trailing after me as I led him to my modified Throne room.

"Make yourself comfortable, I'm sure you're tired. There's more water and some food in the storage beneath that bench there," I pointed out to him as I backed my way out to get to the control room but he wasn't letting me go that easy.

"Woah, woah, wait a second," he tried to catch up to me, his obvious fatigue almost making me feel sorry for him for a second.

"We can't go yet, I have to find my droid," he adamantly stated.

His thick brows drew together and wiped any trace of smugness off his dusty face.

"Please," he added.

I softened my expression and took a step closer.

"Don't worry about BB-8, he found a few rebels who are taking good care of him and getting him back to the base," I assured him with my best case scenario prediction of future events, some minor details omitted for his comfort.

"Really?" He asked happily, those eye mustaches going up in relief now. "Way to go BB-8, I knew you had it in you."

Who talks about a droid like that? This guy was losing it, I had to get him to lie down and get some more fluids in him.

"Yeah, see? Nothing to worry about now but yourself," I said, placing a hand on his arm and gently trying to lead him back to the throne room. "Just go lay down and I'll get you some water and food."

"Ok, thanks," he finally relented as the exhaustion over took him. He settle his aching body down on one of the bench seats. "Sorry for getting your nice ship all dirty, your highness."

I glanced over at him with a raised brow as I knelt by the cool box of water and stash of snacks. He must have been making a joke about my "Royal" Star ship.

"It's ok," I told him, choosing to ignore his remark as I handed over the water and food.

"Thank you," he repeated in a weary voice before passing out all together.

I stared at him in bewilderment as he began to snore. This is exactly why I had be rid of him, he was too unpredictable. His personality had done a complete 180 already.

I stood over him for a moment longer than I was comfortable with, faltering before giving in to something that was bothering me. I went past the control room to the royal chambers which was my bedroom, and retrieved a special balm. Returning to the throne room I knelt by his face and applied some to his incredibly chapped lips.

"I'm not doing this because I like you," I sighed. "I just know I hate having chapped lips."

He continued to snore and I found myself staring at him

"Okay, you've officially gone into creep mode," I chastised myself, pulling my hand away and straightening up. I cleared my throat and walked briskly into the control room, sitting down and setting a course for a nearby planet where I knew he could get a ride.

The jump would only take half an hour or so, not much time for him to rest after all he'd been through. I looked over my shoulder at him laying there, snoring away, a puddle of sand forming on the floor under him.

"No one is gonna pick him up looking like a desert hobo," I thought out loud.

I got up and went to the lower level of the ship to my storage. I dug around in a trunk of clothes until I found some that looked like they'd fit him. I came back to the throne room and placed them on the bench at his feet before returning to the control room.

I sat there, not much to do piloting wise since it was on auto. And we were in hyperdrive. I drummed my fingers on my arm rests as I tried to ignore the gentle snores coming from the other room.

"Mm no," I stayed as I hit the button to close the control room doors.

But he's not well, what if something happened? I tapped the door button gently with my finger nail a few dozen times before finally opening it again and taking one quick glance at him.

"Ok, he's fine," I told myself before facing forward again and checking how long till we arrived at Phu.

25 minutes. Only 5 minutes had passed.

"This is going to take forever," I moaned as I rubbed my face, pulling it down dramatically.

It had been a really long time since I'd carried a passenger in Lola, which is what I called my Nubian starship, and it served as a reminder why I don't. His very presence was disrupting my ... everything. I got up, deciding to go to my room and take a nap until we got there. Out of sight out of mind was good but unconsciousness was a better way to deal with it. I closed my door and threw myself onto my bed, getting cozy in my blankets and pillows, smiling and let out a sigh of relief. But instead of falling into blissful sleep, I was hit with an unwanted thought.

That guy out there had been tortured by the first order, crashed into a planet and roam around in a nasty desert for the good part of a day. Half an hour was not much rest for him at all, how would he be able to make it back to DQar like this? Why did I care? I buried my face in a pillow and groaned.

"Fine!" I barked as I bolted up and marched back to the snoring derelict on my couch.

"We're in hyperdrive, he won't be able to find me if I use the force in hyper drive," I tried to convince myself as I placed my hand on the Pilot's sticky, dirty forehead.

Poe Dameron.

"I don't care what his name is," I reminded myself aloud as I closed my eyes and focused on healing him. When I was satisfied that he'd be ok but stay asleep till we got to Phu, I pulled my hand away and sighed at him for the 10th or so time I'm sure.

"I've been more than nice to you now," I pointed out to him. "So the least you can do in return is stay out of my plans, mkay?"

He just snored in response.

Now satisfied that I'd done everything possible for this Poe Dameron, I went back to my seat and checked the time left. A mere 10 minutes to go, I leaned back and propped my feet up on the console. A 10 minute nap will do.

As I was on the delicious verge of slipping into sleep, a sharp snort from the other room startled me back from the edge. Now what?

I sat up straight as I put my feet down when I heard Poe hit the floor in the other room.

"You alright?" I asked as jogged into the room and fell to my knees beside him, one hand falling on his shoulder.

"What's goin on?" He groaned.

"We're almost to Phu, just a few more minutes. Are you ok? Did you hurt yourself?"

"Nah, I'm ok," he said, sitting up and resting his back against the seat. "Wait, did you say Phu?"

I nodded as I knelt in front of him.

He rubbed his bleary eyes.

"But with your T-14 hyperdrive we should have made that jump in like half an hour."

"We did," I confirmed.

He looked quizzically up at me for a little too long.

"What's the matter?" I prompted.

"Just feel more rested than I thought I would," he remarked quietly. "But, why didn't you just take me back to DQar?"

"Sorry, I got my own schedule to keep," I (fake) apologized.

"Alright," he nodded and sand fell from his hair into his lap.

"Um, do you want to use the shower?" The words were out before I could stop myself.

"If you don't mind," he grinned, probably thinking he was so charming.

I reached past his face and grabbed the clothes off the seat behind him, placing them in his lap. I noticed his dark eyes went a little wide when I'd leaned in.

"This way," I said, standing up and leading him toward my room and to the bathroom.

I went in and got our towels for him to use before slipping back out. Without any idea what I'd say anyway I just walked out of my room and went to prepare for landing.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I came out of hyperdrive and approached the planet. I was so much closer to being rid of Poe Dameron and free to get back to my mission. I'm sure I could catch up with the girl and the droid, and the first order was definitely easy to get the attention of. I could still do this.

"That," came Poe's voice, startling me out of my thoughts as I was setting Lola down in an open landing area. "Was one good shower."

He clapped a hand on the back of my seat and smiled down at me. I had to do a double take, he looked so different now that he was clean.

"Can I ask a dumb question?" He leaned in with a grin.

"Almost professionally," I remarked under my breath remembering him asking if I was a mirage.

"Didn't I have a split lip when I got on board?" He asked, either not hearing my remark or choosing to ignore it.

'Busted,' I thought as I cautiously looked back up to see him thoughtfully stroking his bottom lip. He glanced my way and I quickly diverted my eyes.

"Guess that medicine I gave you while you were asleep actually works," I tried to come off nonchalant.

"Huh," he grunted while still fiddling with his lip. "Well, thanks."

"No problem," I remarked quietly as I released the boarding ramp.

Poe: Until We Meet Again

She walked me to end of the boarding ramp and I turned to face her one last time.

"So, you're just gonna leave me here?" I asked with a bit of a pathetic expression as I gestured to the bustling port around us.

She glanced around and finally shrugged.

"Yeah, pretty much."

I couldn't help but chuckle. This girl was a trip. She acted all cool and sarcastic but still made an effort to take care of me. I glanced back up at her, a small smile tugging the corner of her petite lips. I tried to memorize her face in case I ever ran into her again. I guess I stared a little too long because she broke eye contact and regarded the ships around us.

"You better get going, you have to find some more of your rebel buddies to get you back," she reminded me.

I gave her a defeated smile.

"You're really not gonna help me huh?"

"No," she shook her head with a patronizing smile of her own.

"Not even a kiss for luck?" I pressed just to tease her.

She actually reached out and put a hand on my shoulder which I wasn't expecting, but the bigger surprise came when she pushed me lightly off the ramp.

I caught my footing and chuckled again.

"Well, until next time your highness!" I saluted her as the ramp began lifting her away from me.

She wiggled her fingers, very unimpressed with me, and I almost thought I heard her mutter 'Not if I'm lucky.'

Still grinning I turned away and began my wandering when I felt something in the pocket of the jacket she'd given me. I reached inside and found a small tin of lip balm. My grin got wider as I tossed it up and caught it again. I had a feeling I'd be seeing her again.

Hope:

I breathed a sigh of relief as the ramp closed. He was finally gone for good.

"Kiss for luck? What's wrong with him?" I remarked as I made my way to the control room feeling warm all of a sudden. Geez, did I carry some of Jakku along with me? I turned down the temperature as soon as I could and pressed a hand to my warm face.

"What ever, it's over with," I stated as I prepared for take off again.

While leaving the atmosphere I tuned into the Jakku frequencies to see if there was any news about BB8- I mean, the droid- and the girl. I came across a channel with a familiar frequency clicking along, TIE fighters. My brows met in confusion.

"They're chasing the What?"