"You're all dismissed, except Blue Squadron," Leia called. "Please stay behind."

Dameron exchanged a curious look with the seven other pilots. Once the other officers had left the briefing room, Leia approached them and spoke softly.

"I have a mission for you, but it's nonstandard, so you're all absolutely free to decline." She took a breath. "The Guavian Death Gang has gone from being just a dangerous organized crime syndicate to being an unofficial arm of the First Order. They've twice betrayed our people to Snoke, and that's twice too many times. Chewbacca has placed a tracker on their leader's ship. I want you to intercept them and take them out."

"Warn them or disable them?" innocently asked Brigitte Danae, the newest recruit to the squadron.

"Destroy them," Organa said coldly.

Poe caught her eye, and smiled humorlessly. "Copy that." Hell yes, he copied that. He was beyond ready for action. He'd sat in a medical center for two and a half days, trying to act cheerful for Rey while seesawing between tenderness and seething anger. He looked at the other pilots. "Are we all in?"

"Hooyah," "yes, ma'am," and nods of acknowledgement followed.

Snap Wexley, a veteran of Blue Squadron, raised a finger. "A question about, uh, organized crime, General?"

"Go ahead."

"Is it true that you once killed a crime lord with your bare hands? I heard that somewhere."

Leia raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember doing that."

Poe snorted. "I heard that one, too, except in the version I got, it was a Hutt she killed." He glanced at the General's diminutive frame doubtfully.

Leia's lips curled up. "Oh, that crime lord. Yeah, that's true."

The pilots stilled, stopped breathing, and stared at her, waiting for elaboration.

"Jabba the Hutt. He'd captured me and dressed me as a slave girl, you know, with a collar and a chain leash. So I threw the chain around his neck and pulled." She demonstrated with her hands as she spoke.

Jess Pava, awestruck, asked softly, "You killed him because he made you dress skimpily?"

"No," Leia clarified, "I enjoyed it because he made me dress skimpily. I killed him because he was cruel to Han Solo, who was my boyfriend." She eyed Poe as she continued. "I'm very protective towards those close to me."

"Boss," Wexley whispered.

"Any other questions?" Leia said innocently.

"No, ma'am," said Poe, the only pilot who could find his voice.

She looked straight at him and smiled tightly. "Don't miss."

A day later, Poe returned—mission accomplished, targets neutralized, mood improved—and went to the medical center to check in with Breha. He stopped short at her empty cot.

"Looking for Rey?" asked the ever-patient Doctor Kalonia.

"Yes, Major." Of course he was looking for Rey. He'd spent every possible minute at her bedside since they'd arrived back from Naboo. He had promised not to leave her, and he was a man of his word. He'd even slept on the floor next to her gurney, just in case she woke up scared in the middle of the night.

"She was released this morning," said the doctor with a smile. "She was restless; she needed to move around. But Commander, please make sure she lets those rib fractures heal. Don't overdo it."

Poe wondered what she was implying, but just gave her a polite "Yes, doctor," on the way out.

He finally found Rey in the mess hall, sipping something hot out of a large mug. He was relieved to see her vertical, dressed, and looking pretty normal except for the bruises on her face. They were fading, but still noticeable. Her shoulders were slumped, making her look slightly defeated. But at least she had good company.

"Hey, pilot!" Finn greeted him, pushing an empty chair out for him. "Where've you been?"

Poe crossed the room with an easy grace. He smiled at his friend and caressed Rey's cheek with the back of his hand as he sat down. She flinched from his touch, then caught herself and smiled slightly at him.

"Hi yourselves." Poe helped himself to the half-empty bowl of snacks on the table. To answer Finn's question, he said, "Blue squadron had a mission." He looked meaningfully at Rey, and lowered his voice. "The Guavian Death Gang is no more."

Finn shook his head in confusion. "You were fighting pirates?"

"Yeah, something like that. How about you two? Anything going on?"

"Not much," Finn answered in his usual bubbly way. "I have my level 3 flying proficiency test tomorrow, and if I pass it, which is pretty doubtful, I'll be able to pilot the transport ships. But my last practice with the simulator went so bad, Poe, I flew right through a flock of ducks, then lost control and crashed the ship into a tree. So I'd put my chances of passing at about 10,000 to 1. I think Nien Nunb started a betting pool—not whether I'll pass, but how low my score will be. And it's—"

While Finn chattered on, Poe looked at the mute woman across from him, trying to gauge her mood. 'What's wrong?' he thought at her.

Rey finished her hot chocolate and interrupted softly. "Sorry, Finn. Could I borrow Poe for a while? You really should be re-running the sim. About ten more times."

Finn nodded amiably. "Sure, take him. Do either of you have any parting advice about piloting transport ships?"

Standing, the two exchanged a look. "Avoid ducks," Poe offered.

"Avoid trees," Rey echoed, finally showing a little pep.

Finn smirked. "You guys are a huge help, thanks."

Rey led Poe through the command center and out to the landing strip. Once they were away from the curious stares of X-Wing technicians, she took his hand. "Could we take a walk? I haven't been outside for days."

He nodded. "Since Naboo, probably." He smiled at her. "How about a hike through a jungle? Maybe this time without the thunderstorm?"

"Good plan. Have you got a tent?"

Poe stopped in his tracks. Now that was a great idea. "No, but I can go back and get one."

"No," she demurred. "I don't think we're allowed to leave base like that. And I need a soft bed for a few more days."

"Wimp."

"I've got three broken ribs," she argued good-naturedly.

"Yeah, that's a pretty lame excuse. Though the doctor told me to not overdo it with you. What d'you think that meant?"

She looked at him innocently, with big round doe eyes. "I've no idea. But it probably means no sex in a tent for a while."

They walked through the humid forest for a little while more, chatting casually while avoiding the real topic on their minds. Finally Rey saw a suitable downed tree, and motioned Poe over. They sat facing each other on the moss-covered log.

"I've been avoiding you," Rey confessed.

"Oh. Why? Something I did?" She shook her head. "Something I didn't do?"

"No, no," she assured him. "You've been great. Very thoughtful, really." She paused. "I'm really glad you were with me on that ship. I felt much stronger with you there."

"I was tied up. I didn't help you at all," he protested. "I so wanted to."

"You yelled at them for me. That was you, wasn't it? Yelling at the pirates while they…hit me?" She looked away from Poe, focusing on the heavy green leaves of the trees above. They swayed gently in the breeze. "I didn't need to scream, because you were doing that for me. But I've been avoiding you," she went on, "because I don't want you to see my back." She swallowed a lump. "I want you to think of me as…pretty. Not with all the bruises and marks I've got now."

Poe moved closer to her, took her face in her hands, kissed her deeply on the mouth. She kissed him back, hopeful. "That doesn't matter," he soothed. "Your back was a bloody mess on the way back to D'Qar; do you remember me taking care of you? I saw it. But it doesn't matter. The scars'll fade. You'll be fine." He punctuated each sentence with a kiss—her eyes, cheek, nose, forehead. His hands continued to hold her face close.

"Also, I can't sleep for more than an hour at a time. I can't get comfortable; every part of me aches. And I keep having bad dreams."

"Okay," Poe mulled that one over. "So you don't want to sleep next to me, because you think you'd wake me up?"

"I'd definitely wake you up."

"But I could help you when you have nightmares. What if you slept in my bed, and I just slept on the couch?"

"Our couch?" she said, remembering the night of the party. She shook her head. "It's too small for you."

"So I'll sleep on the floor." She looked doubtful. "I just want to be near you," he pleaded in a whisper. "Let me take care of you."

Rey pulled away from his gentle hands, and leaned back on the log. "I don't want you to see me like this. Like I am now. I'd rather be alone…except that…Pamich and Kaydel, they said you don't go very long without.…" She trailed off.

"Without what?"

"Without, you know. A woman. And I don't want you to…get tired of waiting for me…and move on," she finished brokenly.

Poe wasn't sure whether to be indignant or reassuring. "Look, Pamich and Kaydel don't even know me. And they certainly don't know how I feel about you."

"Didn't you sleep with Pamich once?" She sounded more curious than accusatory, but it still irked Poe.

"Yeah, once, ten parsecs away and two years ago. It was just, you know, casual. We were bored on a mission, stuck on a freighter. It was nothing. She's nice, but…." He shook his head. "It was nothing." She was still leaning away from him. He moved forward to take her hands in his, gently but firmly. "I don't know how to explain this to you again any differently. This isn't like that, okay? You and I, this, what we…for me, this is not that. You know?"

Rey knit her brow. "Maybe you could explain it differently in a different way?"

"Yeah," he laughed shortly at his incoherence. Be direct, Poe told himself. He took a deep breath and launched. "I want to be near you because I like being with you, and I miss you when you're not around, and because you need someone to take care of you right now and I want to be that person. I don't want to sleep with you. I mean, I do, but not to have sex. Definitely not if you're in pain. And I don't care how long it takes you to get better, I'm not gonna get bored, and I'm certainly not going to move on to someone else. I don't want anyone else.

"When I was fifteen, I had my first girlfriend. After a while, things, uh, progressed, and I told my dad I'd made love with a girl. And he just laughed at me and said, 'No, you didn't.' He told me that there was a difference between sex and love. Having sex, he said, is using someone else's body to please yourself, and making love is using your body to please someone else. And by that definition, Breha, I've made love to nobody but you. And I really, truly don't want anyone else." He stopped, out of breath and ideas.

For the entirety of the speech, Rey had been staring at him, slack-jawed. Now she nodded slowly. "I see. So this isn't that."

He blinked. "Yeah, that's what I said before."

She laughed, and dropped his hands in order to move into his lap. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on her favorite part of his shoulder. "Okay, then," she murmured.

Poe instinctively started to embrace her, then thought better of touching her back, so he just placed his hands on the outside of her thighs and buried his face in her hair. After a few minutes of breathing in the intoxicating smell of her shampoo, he broke the silence. "Should we go back before Chewbacca starts panicking?"

"Oh, yes," Rey belatedly remembered. Poor Chewie must be beside himself. He'd sat in the medical bay for the entire three days she was there, guarding his cub. She'd felt guilt and self-condemnation radiating from her Wookiee friend; on Naboo, he'd failed to protect her. Again.

"And you can sleep anywhere you want," Poe assured her.

"And you can tell me about that fifteen year-old girl," she replied in kind.

He grinned. "Jealous?"

"Of course."

He bit his lower lip and looked her up and down. "You shouldn't be." He patted her leg as he rose. "Let's go back. I'll tell you about her on the way."