Chapter 7

News of the pilots being trained up spread quickly amongst the mechanics and Breha had had her team coming up to her all afternoon in disbelief. But once the disbelief subsided the relief on each and every mechanics face was impossible to miss. Every member of her team had worked like a dog to keep the base functioning and finally, the reprieve they sought after was in sight. Breha was sure the pilots didn't fully realise how much of the slack they were going to be picking up, and since there were so many of them they probably never would. But every single mechanic knew, and they were extremely grateful for it.

There was one mechanic left on the base who hadn't heard the news. As Breha entered the med-bay Jak caught sight of her immediately, the knowing smile was hard to miss.

"I'm being let out?" Jak asked hopefully. Breha shook her head with a laugh as she sat on the chair by his bed. Jak was sat up in his own bed, data pads and magazines surrounding him. His eagerness to leave was almost palpable.

"I'm leaving that decision to medic Lohan." Breha said as she jerked her head to the side office the silver eyed medic was sat in.

"Err, I'm sick of being in here. Especially when I know you guys need me out there." He groaned.

"Actually," The grin in her tone caught Jak's attention.

"You're breaking me out?" he asked hopefully, his voice a low whisper so none of the medics heard.

"No! For the love of- you're in the med-bay Jak, not prison." Breha rolled her eyes giving his shoulder and gentle push so that he'd lean back onto his bed.

"You just sounded happy, what else was I to think?" He defended.

"Oh, maybe, that I spent two hours teaching a group of 20 or so pilots the basic mechanics of their T-70s?" She shrugged nonchalantly. Her feigned indifference didn't last long as a gleeful smirk soon claimed her face at Jak's pure look of confusion.

"… What?" He finally managed.

"Commander Dameron has managed to convince the pilots that knowing the mechanics of their own T-70s is a good idea, they're going to start doing the basic servicing of their own fighters." She explained. Breha smiled as she saw relief flash across Jak's eyes.

"How?" Jak finally managed to speak.

"Honestly, I'm not sure I want to know how he did it." Breha chuckled.

"I owe the man a drink," Jak ran his hands over his face.

"At this rate he won't have to buy another drink for the rest of his life." Breha said. The notion of buying Poe a drinks of thanks had been a popular one.

"The man earnt it." Jak replied.

Breha and Jak spoke for a few more moments, mainly Jak giving Breha a list of droids to check up on – the ones that could be temperamental – before they said their goodbyes. Breha was almost out of the med bay when she heard her name.

"Breha." Kit Lohan called. She turned to see the medic taking long strides to meet her. He didn't say another word as he stopped in front of her. The medic went straight to taking her wrists gently and holding her knackered hands up. Silver eyes narrowed as he saw the sorry state of her hands. Her callouses were normally hidden underneath a thin layer of grease and oil that never seemed to leave; but with the amount of work that last few days her hands had taken a beating. Large callouses had been ripped open, tried to reform and been ripped open again.

"Hi Kit, yeah sure it's fine for you to manhandle my arms." Breha frowned up at the medic. Kit's silver eyes snapped to hers.

"We're sorting this out now." He said firmly as he motioned towards her hands.

"Can't it wait I have to meet someone?" She asked.

"No. Now." Kit said simply as he led her over to a bed bay. Breha sat up on the side of the bed and didn't hide her irritation as she waited for Kit to gather his equipment and take a seat facing her. Kit took her right hand and placed it over a bowl of warm blue liquid, gently he began to clean away the dirt. "What do you do? Grind your hands against gears in your spare time?"

"Hmm, it's one of my favourite past times." Breha replied her words laced with sarcasm. Silver eyes glanced up to see an irritated Breha.

"You don't have to be so irate," Kit said as he began applying a clear gel to her hands. To Kit's amusement Breha flinched. She hadn't flinched as he'd been wiping away the grime from the damaged skin, arguably the most uncomfortable part. She'd reacted as he put on a gel that felt pleasant on the skin. "This won't take long." He assured. He moved onto her left hand. "Besides we have to grab you mechanics whilst we can. You're lot make terrible patients." The irritation slowly faded from Breha's face as she eyed the medic delicately caring for her hands.

"We have made your job harder than necessary on a few occasions." She conceded. Kit looked up as she finished applying the gel to her left hand. Silver eyes glinted in amusement as he eyed the young mechanic.

"That, I'll take as an apology." He grinned, pulling off the gloves from his hands. Breha rolled her eyes. "How's your staffing issue coming along?" He asked, leaning back in his chair as the pair waited for the gel to work.

"Hopefully not as much of an issue." Breha replied.

Poe knocked on the door to Breha's workshop at 18:00, despite there being no reply he opened the door. There was no sign of her in the room, or that she'd been in there recently. He moved further into the room as he ran a hand over his hair. He glanced down at his watch he could wait for her in here, she wouldn't be that late. Poe moved around the workshop, his hands brushing over various spare parts and contraptions Breha had put together. With a small slip he accidently knocked a spare part over, the fist sized metal object taking some papers to the floor with it. It was as he was collecting the papers that an image caught his eyes. The sketched was an exploded view of a BB unit, only it had been extensively modified if the sketched was anything to go by. A knowing smirk crossed his face as he rifled through looking for more images and details of the astromech. This BB unit seemed a lot more appropriate than the frustrating R2 unit he currently flew with.

Breha entered her workshop 15 minutes after she'd arranged to meet Poe. She wasn't surprised to see the young pilot already in there. Her eyebrow did raise in curiosity as she caught Poe staring intently at the computer screen.

"Sorry I'm late Poe." Breha apologised as she walked towards the pilot, hands on the pockets of her overalls.

"I kept myself entertained." He said, barely glancing away from the screen. Breha was too curious not to see what had caught the commander's attention so thoroughly. The mechanic stopped by the side of Poe. On the screen was the extensive inventory of all the astromechs used by the base.

"Have you found a droid you'd like to fly with?" She asked.

"Yes, but I can't seem to find it on the data base." Poe sighed in frustration. He stepped back as Breha motioned for him to let her have a go with the computer.

"Do you know its designation?" Breha asked.

"No." Poe replied.

"Of course, that would be too helpful." Breha quipped. Poe's dark eyes narrowed on the back of her head.

"It's a BB unit." He explained as he put the sketches down in front of Breha. "I found the designs for it in here." Breha's eyes dropped to the sketches and she ran her pale fingers over the image. "The designs are dated back 4 years ago so I figured it'd be on the system by now."

"This unit isn't on the system. It's not built." Breha replied simply. Poe watched as she moved away from the computer and towards the dark corner underneath her workbench. Breha bent down and pulled out a blanket covered mass. Poe had taken a few steps to join her and watched with intrigue as she pulled the blanket. Underneath the dusty dark brown blanket was the barely recognisable shell of a BB unit. "This is the droid you're looking for."

"You were building it?" Poe asked. Breha nodded. "Why'd you stop?"

"Didn't have the time. Didn't have the parts." Breha replied. Her fingers traced over the dark metal of the incomplete droid.

"When will you start working on it again?" Poe asked. Breha opened her mouth to claim she wouldn't but Poe spoke first "I can see that you want to. And you have the time now." He reasoned. Breha looked back down at the droid, tempted.

"I still don't have all of the parts. It's made up of improvisations as it is." She motioned towards the droid.

"I can get you the parts." Poe shrugged as if it was simple.

"Oh you can, can you?" She raised a brow.

"I managed to get you 20 stand in mechanics didn't I?" He smirked smugly. Breha frowned, she got the distinct impression he wasn't going to let her forget that any time soon.

"Okay. If you get the parts I need and if I have time to finish it. I will." Breha agreed. Poe grinned widely.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Breha Solo." He said. The charm in his voice was like honey to her ears and to Breha's dismay she could feel the heat pooling in her cheeks. She cleared her throat and nodded, distracted herself with tiding away the sketches. In the periphery of her vision she could make out Poe's figure, arms crossed causing his muscular arms to stretch the material of his shirt.

"I'll have a look back over my work so far and get a list of parts to you as soon as possible." Breha fought to keep her voice level. The more she thought about droids and mechanics the more the heat drained from her cheeks.

"I look forward to it." Poe replied. "See you soon Breha." She made a hum of agreement as she finally turned back around to face him.

"Bye Poe," She smiled and watched as the young pilot turned and left the workshop.

The following morning Poe was sat in the mess hall with a couple of other pilots on the squadron he commanded. Stories of events before they had joined the resistance were being regaled over their breakfast so the table was in high spirits. It had been hard for Poe when he'd first arrived and taken over command of the squadrons. Since he was so young it wasn't uncommon for older pilots to doubt him. It was only after he flew with his squadrons and demonstrated his ability to fly and to lead that he was accepted. The mood at the table sobered suddenly causing Poe to raise his eyes from his breakfast. The other pilots at the table were looking over Poe's shoulder. He followed their gaze and raised a brow as he caught Bree walking towards him, data pad in hand.

"Morning," Breha nodded to the rest of the table, her honey eyes then turned directly to Poe. "My shopping list." She said simply as she handed him the data pad with the list of parts she needed. Her statement earned a few confused glances from the other pilots. Poe smirked as he skimmed over the list. "Still think you can get everything?" Breha asked, hands finding her hips.

"Should be fine." Poe nodded. "The Nubian pears might be hard to find though." He smirked teasingly. Breha rolled her eyes, but Poe caught the twitch of amusement at the corner of her mouth.

"Wise-ass pilot." Breha muttered, loud enough for Poe to hear as she turned and left them to their breakfast.

To .fire: Thank you for reviewing! I'm so glad that you're enjoying each chapter and that you're picking up on the subtle developments! Ben's neglect is actually quite hard to write without making it over the top and unrealistic; so I'm thrilled that you like how it's being portrayed. :D

To JunJunyil: You are more than welcome for the regular updates! And have no fear grumpy Breha has not disappeared, there's just a little more too her than snarky comments :D. Let the adventure continue.

To ShigureAyameHatoriFanClub: *Joins in happy dance* So glad you're enjoying the story so far! I'm so glad that you find the chapters are well written and paced! That is MASSIVE praise for me!

To heroherondaletotherescue: Thank you for your review :D As a writer, hearing praise like 'great character development' are three of THE best words to hear. I will try to continue to do the same!

To the Guest reviewer from Fen 2nd: Thank you and here is more! Enjoy.

To Katerinaki: There is no need to apologise for not reviewing! The fact that you like Breha and have called this the best mechanicOC/Poe story you've read is incredible praise indeed. Breha is formidable indeed! When I was creating her character, I realised there was no way she couldn't be. She has Leia for a mother, Han Solo for a father, Luke Skywalker for an uncle and I guess Chewbacca as an uncle as well! I too know the frustration of reading slow-burn fanfictions but… here is one anyway. It is true what you say, having two well developed characters fall in love is far more satisfying in the end than throwing them together. I hope you enjoyed the most recent chapter!