"REYYYYY! REY! REY" Finn screamed, thrashing against the tubes and wires connecting him to the hospital machines.
"Finn!" Poe rushed to the bed and tightly held the other man's hand, while trying to calm him and hold him steady against the bed. "It's okay, Finn. It's Poe. You're safe." A medic rushed in and injected a sedative and Finn instantly fell back asleep. The medic ignored Poe while he checked the machines and replaced some of the wires which had been yanked out of their sockets.
"Why are you making him sleep?" Poe asked flustered, still holding tightly to the rough hand of a former storm trooper. "He's finally conscious!"
"We need him to wake in a controlled environment," the medic answered cooly. "Otherwise he could rip his stitches or risk a seizure. His body is very weak." Poe felt nothing but strength in his friend. The medic injected another serum into the IV and soon Poe felt a squeeze on his hand.
"Finn?" He asked softly, as the other man began to blink open his eyes.
"Poe?" He spoke, his voice strained and scratchy. The medic removed the ventilator mask.
"Hey buddy." Poe said, beaming.
"Sir," the medic interrupted. "You are in the medical infirmary at Resistance Base, on the planet D'Qar, under the command of General Leia Organa. You have suffered severe head trauma, several broken ribs, and a broken leg, among other ailments. You have been unconscious for 16 days, 5 hours, and 29 minutes. Do not try to leave your bed. I will return later to examine you." And just like that the medic was gone again.
"What?" Finn said, confused as he glanced around the hospital room, at the contraption securing his leg, at the wires connected to his arm and lastly to his friend grasping his hand.
Poe couldn't help but to laugh. "Man you got your butt kicked."
Finn started to laugh until pain shot through his chest and he resigned to just a smile. He looked down at himself, his dark, bruised skin contrasting with the sterile white of the hospital sheets. He was naked except for a pair of tight gray shorts. Poe had to keep himself from staring.
"Where are my clothes? It's freezing."
"You've been running a fever." Poe hurried to grab a blanket and tuck it around the other man. "You keep thrashing in your sleep."
"Where's Rey?" Finn asked, as if suddenly remembering.
"She's okay," Poe answered, without missing a beat. "She's gone to meet Luke Skywalker."
"Luke Skywalker?" Finn's memory was still returning, but he thought that the Jedi was missing.
"After you guys defeated Kylo Ren, we destroyed Starkiller Base and when we got back here, General Organa's old R2 unit woke up and revealed the missing portion of the map to where Skywalker was hiding."
"We defeated Kylo Ren?" Finn asked. He must've missed that part.
"Well, Rey did," Poe laughed. "Sort of. You just got your butt kicked from the way she tells it."
"I was protecting her!" Finn got defensive. "That evil monster slammed her into a tree and she was unconscious."
"Hey, hey," Poe calmed him, still laughing. "I'm just teasing. I'm sure you were very brave."
"Man, I'm never gonna live this down." He couldn't help thinking of her smile and imagined her teasing him. "How'd she beat him?"
"She's a Jedi, Finn." There was a certain excitement in Poe's voice.
"Nah," Finn brushed it off. "She's just a scavenger. I mean a really good one. And definitely a good fighter. But the Jedi were destroyed. Skywalker is the last living Jedi." As he said it, he realized it was starting to make sense. "Really? A Jedi? Damn."
"There's a lot they aren't telling me." Poe said, remembering the hushed conversations Leia and Rey kept having before her departure. "I'm sure we'll figure it all out in time."
"But the important thing is everyone is safe and Ren is dead," Finn said as if stating it would make it the reality.
"Well…" That was all Poe needed to say.
"I knew it was too good to be true."
"Kylo Ren isn't dead," Poe explained. "General Organa says she would've felt it if he died when Starkiller Base exploded. A few First Order ships made it off the planet, and we're in the process of tracking them down. Also, it turns out Ren is serving a higher master, a dark lord they call Supreme Leader Snoke, who was never on the planet in the first place. Stupid name if you ask me."
"Damn. So what comes next?"
"For now you just worry about getting better," Poe smiled. "The resistance is going to need you healthy."
"That sounds good," Finn said. He started to close his eyes and then opened them again. "Poe. Thanks for being here man."
"I wouldn't be anywhere else." They both smiled as Finn closed his eyes to rest. They were still holding hands.
