"Ellie, I have to go." Poe murmurs into her hair, but his hands don't loosen their grip on her hips at all. Around them, everything is chaos as pilots and droids rush to their a-wings and x-wings, but she clings to his shoulders, and takes in every detail of his face, the slope of his nose, his strong jaw, the way one of his eyes droops just a tiny bit more than the other.

"I know." She says softly, fighting to keep tears unspilled.

"Hey, I'll come back to you. I always have before, haven't I?" He asks, dragging his hands up to cup her cheeks.

"Those were all recon missions, supply runs. You haven't been out on a major battle since I've been here. It's different." She shakes her head. He kisses her to silence, and then strokes away her tears with his thumbs. "I should go- I should go to the medical frigate and offer my services."

"Ellie-"

"If I stay here, I'm not going to hear any news- if I'm with the medics, I'll at least hear something!" She insists. He opens his mouth to protest but she shakes her head. "I'm a capable Medic, Poe. they need medics. I'm going."

"Fine." He grumbles. "You just be careful."

"I'll be safer than you." She scoffs, and BB-8 chirps in affirmative.

"BB-8, you're not helping!" Poe huffs. "Eloriah, I love you, but I'd rather you stayed here. "

"Look, I know I'm not a fighter or a pilot, but I'll be far enough away from the battle that I won't be in danger." She assures him.

"Tell that to the med frigate that blew up during our last battle!"

"That was one frigate, do you know how many x-wings blow up every time your squadron goes out on a mission!" She scoffs. "I love you. I'm going." He kisses her again and she starts to move to the med officer.

"Nurse Murphy!" Her head whips around. She sees a somewhat familiar a-wing pilot running towards her.

"Oh- Captain Bambin, I was just-"

"My wife's water just broke- but I have to go, they need all hands-" The man stammers, red in the face. Eloriah's heart sinks, and she closes her eyes. "She's so worried, she's panicking, she keeps asking for you!"

"Right. I'll head to the med unit right away." She assures him, and he lets out a long breath.

"Thank you! Thank you!" He kisses her cheek as he runs to his a-wing. She feel's Poe's warm hand on her lower back, and she turns to face him.

"If you do anything stupid, I am going to kill you!" She says as she throws her arms around his neck. "I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you- I'll see you when I get back, alright? Everything is going to go fine, you'll see."

"It had better!" She commands, pulling his lips to hers. "And that is an order, Commander Dameron. But not one of the orders that you just defy and then do whatever the hell you want. You listen to me, okay?"

"Yes Ma'am." He smiles and kisses her forehead. "I really do have to go."

"Go on then." She gently pushes him back towards his x-wing. He keeps hold of her hand until the last second, and she stands frozen in place as he hops into the pit, and takes off. She brushes a tear out of her eye as she watches his ship reach the sky, and then make the jump to lightspeed. She presses her fingers to her lips, and waves them after him, letting out a quiet whisper. "May the force be with you."

….

"Good job Aya, good!" Eloriah says as she checks the woman's progress. "You're nearly ready to start pushing."

"Oh- do you think Mal is alright?" the woman gasps, gripping at Eloriah's hand. "He has to be alright!"

"I'm sure he's doing his best. he's a good pilot, Aya, you know that." Eloriah says gently. She brushes a few strands of dark hair away from the woman's eyes.

"Well, he's no Poe Dameron." Aya smiles. Eloriah tries to smile back, but she can't help the small well of panic from rising up in her chest. "You are scared for him, just like I am for my Mal."

"Yes." Eloriah clears her throat and blinks back tears. She had worked under much more stressful conditions than this- she had delivered her first baby on her own with her mother's body on the floor fifteen feet away from her. She could, and she would deliver a baby while her boyfriend flew into battle. She can't help but frown when she thinks the word boyfriend. Poe felt like so much more than that to her. He was safe, he was warm, he was her home. He was the love of her life, she had no doubt in this. If he didn't come home...no, she wouldn't let herself think about that. She had a job to do here.

"Alright Aya, it's time!"

She holds the new baby boy in her arms while Aya sleeps. The baby had been abnormally large, weighing almost fourteen pounds, easily the biggest baby Eloriah had ever delivered, and his mother was rightfully exhausted as painkillers dripped from the IV in her arm. Eloriah herself is exhausted- it had been a long labor and delivery. But she couldn't sleep, not when there had been no news from the battle.

It didn't help that everyone she had come to consider family was acting in some capacity during the battle. Finn was in the ground crew, while Rose was working tech on one of the transports. Rey and Ben...she shuddered to think of them going against the ghostly figure she had seen only once in a hologram. And then there was Poe...her darling Poe. He was a risk taker, she knew that, and he was so brave- so brave, but she can't help but wish that he would just be one of those pilots who followed orders and came straight back. No thinking, no improvising.

But then he wouldn't be the cockpit sure slightly smug pilot she'd fallen so madly in love with.

"Hey, Eloriah, we're ready to do baby Bambin's hearing test." One of the nurses says as she pokes her head in. "I can take him. You should go take a shower and get some shut eye- or at least grab some food. You've been hard at work since dawn."

"I could probably use some caff." Eloriah admits as she passes the baby off. "Thanks Vara."

"Caff...or some sleep, Eloriah." Vara smiles as she picks up the baby. "Oh wow- you weren't kidding when you said he was a chunk!"

"I know." Eloriah yawns. "I'll see you later." She walks through the base to the mess hall and grabs the largest mug of caff that she can. She makes small talk with a few people, but no one knows what's going on on Jakku. There's no word. When she finishes her caff she doesn't linger, she heads to her compartment, startlingly empty without Rose's cheery voice to greet her, and she strips as she heads for the fresher. The hot water is soothing and wipes away the stale medical smell that always lingers to her after a day at work. She hums quietly to herself, and finally turns off the water. She's half way through dressing when she hears the door of her compartment open. She drops the shirt she'd been holding to put on over her crisp white undergarments, and she opens the door. "Rose?!"

"Oh- sorry-" Poe averts his eyes when he sees her standing there in just her med uniform pants and her bra, but she lets out a loud breath, and leaps into his arms, wet hair splattering across his dirty flight suit, dripping onto his shoulders as she kisses him.

"You're back- you're okay- are you hurt? Oh my love!" She kisses him everywhere she can reach between words. His arms are resting under her thighs, holding her up against him as he claims her mouth.

"I'm fine." he assures her, and she can't tell if the water hitting his cheek comes from her hair or her eyes. "I had to check in with command before I came to see you, but I came as quickly as I could."

"I was so worried about you, all day- no one knew what was going on- at least, no one outside of command, and they were all so busy in command. No one knew if we were winning, or if it was a disaster!" She sighs as she leans her face down to kiss his neck.

"We won. That bastard is dead, Eloriah. He's dead- the First Order is on the run. We did it." He says, and she wiggles out of his arms. "They did it."

"They- Rey and Ben, are they okay?" She sees a shadow pass over his face. "Poe?"

"They're in bad shape. Ben especially. The medics on the frigate don't think…" Poe chokes, and Eloriah's hand flies to her mouth. "Rey has some burns, a concussion, flesh wounds, abrasions...but she's set to recover."

"But will she recover if Ben doesn't?" Eloriah asks.

"No one is sure. Master Luke says that they don't know anything about a force bond like this. It could kill them both." Poe admits, and Eloriah feels more hot tears in her eyes.

"But Gemma-"

"I know." Poe sighs. "But Finn and Rose are okay. They're in the med bay- Finn broke his hand and needs some stitches, so Rose is staying with him. She said she'd see you in the morning."

"I should go see if they need any help with the casualties."

"I knew you'd say that. But the med bay supervisor told me you worked a full day today already, and I was under no circumstances to let you back in until you've slept." Poe says softly, brushing a thumb over her lips. "You've got to take care of yourself Ellie."

"Don't lecture me about that. Look at the bags under your eyes. Come on. Let's get you into bed." She says, undoing his flight suit.

"You want me to stay the night?" He asks, mildly surprised.

"Don't get too excited. We're just sleeping." Eloriah says, suddenly remembering that she wasn't wearing a shirt. "I just don't want to let you out of my arms. Not even when we're sleeping."

"I understand." He kisses her forehead as he slips out of the orange flight suit and his boots, and she pops into the fresher to grab her shirt. She grabs his hand, and leads him to her bed before she climbs in beside him. He wraps his arms around her, pulling her in until her chest rests against his side, and she places her head on his chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart.

"You came back." She sighs dreamily against his neck. "I was so scared."

"I know. I kept thinking of you the whole time." He kisses her forehead. "I knew I had to come back to you. I love you, more than I thought I'd ever love anyone."

"I love you so much." She kisses his chest and settles in more comfortably. "Don't ever scare me like this again."

"I'll do my best."

"Oh- Aya's husband, Mal, did he make it back?" She asks suddenly.

"He did. He was running to the med bay to check on his wife when I left. Was she-"

"It's a healthy boy. A huge boy. And she's doing alright too. She just needed some stitches." Eloriah nods.

"Well, at least there's a happy ending for one family." Poe sighs.

"Do you really think Ben's going to die?" She asks quietly.

"I don't know Ellie. I really don't know."

"Oh maker, I'm so glad you're alright. I can't imagine what I would feel like if you had been injured." She frowns, and he tilts her chin up to kiss her lips.

"I'm fine. I promise you." He breathes. She can already feel him falling into a dreamy stupor. She can't blame him- he's already had such a taxing day. She holds him a little tighter, and just listens to his heartbeat for a while before she falls asleep too.