Oh. My. Goodness. I cannot BELIEVE how many amazing fans this story has...! There are so many of you guys commenting with such great things, and I can't thank you enough for the support! I hope you all enjoyed that little scene at the end of the last chapter. (: Obviously, I'm always nervous about reactions lol.

Tempest358: You read it 5 TIMES? In that case, this chapter is dedicated to you my friend!

I Stare Sometimes: Your response made me actually LOL. Also, to answer your question as to why she kissed him... UM WHY WOULDN'T SHE? :D No, but I see what you mean. There's some back story to that, which I will not be addressing this chapter. :P

RosieCG: Thank you! I also don't really enjoy smut, or rather very quick loves. I want it to be authentic, and the BEST part of love stories is the build up... Amma right?! OR AMMA RIGHT?!

Whatsername: Oooo, I'm very curious about your theories!

That's all the time I have for comments - keep 'em comin'!

P.S. BB-8 is fine. He's just chillin'. He's underage, so he can't go to the bar.

ALSO, IMPORTANT! The first part of this story has a lot of dialogue from the Poe Dameron Comics (issue 3). I have inserted my own lines inbetween. I do not own those lines at all, or the comics, or the characters. Thank you for understanding!

~Mistro

~.~.~.~.~.~

Whenever Agent Terex got a moment alone in his office, his mind tended to drift back towards his time as a Stormtrooper. It was somewhat the pride of his life, and he always made sure not to leave it hanging when he struck up a conversation. His aging fingers reached up to touch the mark on the left side of his forehead, feeling the bumps where his skin lifted to form the triangular appearance. Granted, his time as a Stormtrooper hadn't always been perfect, but he had learned many things and eventually made his way out of the program. Now, he was available at the First Order's beck and call when they needed someone taken down.

Oddly enough, someone seemed to need his help at that very moment.

"Agent Terex," a Mon Calamari woman spoke to him as she refilled his cup of water. "Captain Phasma is on the holoprojector. She would like to speak with you immediately."

Agent Terex groaned like a child, unable to hide his annoyance. Even Agents just wanted days off. "No rest for the beautiful, eh?" He waved away the woman and turned on the machine sitting on his desk. Leaning back in his chair, he waited for the cold, silver mask of the female Captain to appear before him.

Like static, Phasma's blue body flickered into the room. Servants and workers for Terex glanced up from the couches in the back of the room with curiosity before turning their heads away with disinterest.

Phasma's eyes also caught sight of them. "I do not understand why you keep these… people, Agent Terex." The words came out of her mask like a spit.

Terex's black brows came together in his forehead, annoyed that she was getting on his case so early into their conversation. "Each of these folks is particularly, specifically useful to me. I wouldn't expect you to understand, since you're usually only worrying about yourself." Phasma made no response, but he could practically see the grimace behind the sharp black lines of her mask. "Besides," Terex continued. "The Empire had plenty of slaves. Every last Wookie on Kashyyyk, for example." He took a long gulp of his water. "Stupid furballs."

Phasma jumped in with her words immediately, unimpressed by his boyish nature. "The First Order is not The Empire. We are purer. We have been through the crucible and emerged stronger."

"A real poet you are." He raised his glass to her in a mocking salute. "I agree. The First Order is not The Empire. But perhaps, one day, if we all work very hard and do our very best, it could be." He could sense that Phasma was another sly comment away from taking back her request from him and making him lose out on a wad of cash. She wasn't a woman that you could sweet talk your way back into her trust. Sometimes Terex wondered what she looked like under that shiny armour. Not wanting to infuriate her even more, he waved his servants out of the room. "Away now, my friends! Captain Phasma and I need to speak in private."

As soon as the last body left the room, Phasma began again. There was no time for small talk. Not that he wanted to hear about her day anyway. "This is about a man named Poe Dameron. He's-"

"A young pilot in the Republic Navy. Extremely skilled, by all accounts." Terex had already heard his name getting passed around the grapevine. In his opinion, the man sounded like a teenage punk just looking for some adrenaline. "Recently he's been recruited into Organa's Resistance, which is working to thwart the First Order's noble efforts to tidy up the galaxy." Terex learned forward with a smirk, pulling a glass of brandy out from underneath his desk. He filled up his cup leisurely, almost feeling the angry heat coming off of Phasma. "History does like a full circle, eh?"

"Your sources are impressive," Phasma said with little admiration.

"Of course they are. That's why I have a place in the First Order. Hux and the rest of them can barely hide their distaste for me. You too, gorgeous." Phasma audibly scoffed. "But they're all more than happy to use the information I provide for them." Terex took a long whiff of his brandy before shooting the Captain an annoyed look. "Can we get on with this, Phasma? I have brandy to drink."

"Dameron recently led a mission that intercepted key information being passed to us by a New Republic Senator. We need to know what he got and what the Resistance intends to do with it." Phasma barely moved her body as she spoke. She was all order, all focus, and all cash. Terex could practically hear the dinging of the cash register in his head with every word that she spoke. This Dameron kid was important. Too important to lose. "You've been assigned significant resources to complete this mission. The true offensive will begin soon, but only if there are no loose ends."

Kill Poe Dameron. That was his mission.

"Really?" Terex laughed, unable to believe that he was finally getting orders after years of small jobs and one too many cups of booze. "We're finally going to start fighting? Starkiller's ready?"

Phasma's helmet moved an inch, which read as a gesture of shock for the gargoyle woman. "Where did you hear that term?"

"It's my job to know everything. I thought that was what you hired me for." He couldn't help but smirk. They needed him more than they thought if their own secrets were getting out. "Don't fret, my dear Captain. It's also my job to keep secrets."

With a slow raising of her arm, she pointed her heavy finger in his direction. Terex would never show it on the outside, but his stomach flopped somewhat. He would occasionally big himself up, but he also had enemies out in the galaxy who would have been happy to see his head come clean off. "Poe Dameron must be found and we need the information he stole. That is your mission, Agent Terex. Do not fail."

Terex collapsed back into his chair, his arms outstretched. "How many times do I need to succeed before all of you stop telling me not to fail? I've been doing this work since before you were born, Phasma."

Phasma paused for a moment before she spoke. "Yes, Terex. Every office in the First Order knows exactly where you came from, as you never seem to stop talking about it."

Terex couldn't argue with that. His history may have been blurry, but it made him a valuable asset. His blue eyes flickered up to Phasma, who spoke her final words before leaving him alone in the dimly lit room.

"Do not fail, Terex. Find Poe Dameron."

~.~.~.~.~.~

Mara hauled herself out of bed just before the sun came up. She was eager to get the day started, particularly because Poe was going to teach her how to shoot. She had to wait on her special morning sunrise spot, where he said he would find her.

As soon as she had gotten dressed and made herself decent, even daring to use the rogue that her mother had given her, she made her way across the hangar's main room. She could spot Ady doing some early morning repairs near the main entrance. With a glowing smile, she made her way up to him.

"Good morning!" He chuckled in his usually cheery voice. "You're practically glowing today, Mara. That's certainly a change from yesterday."

Yesterday morning, Leo had been in the woods. Mara's stomach sank as the memory of him came back. She had hoped that it was all a dream.

"Ady, do you know what's happened to the man we found? I didn't see or hear anyone speak about him after we came back to the base."

"That's because you ran off," Ady snickered, pulling the screw on the wing tighter with his wrench. "We all wondered if you knew each other." Mara didn't grace him with an answer, but she knew that her tight smile was more than an unfitting gesture. Ady could see right through her. So could everyone else. "I won't ask about it, but I do think I should tell you that him and General Organa spoke for a very long time. He's still in a holding cell, but from what I've heard, he has-"

"Extensive training," Mara sighed. "Yes, he does. He's an excellent pilot and an even more excellent speaker. I'm sure he convinced the General that he was worthy of a position before she could blink." Ady's face turned sour. "I don't say that as an offence to the General. That's just how he is. He can be extremely manipulative."

Ady set down his wrench to give the girl his full attention. "Mara, if there's something about this guy that upsets you, then you should speak to Leia. If you don't think he's right for the Resistance, or that he could cause trouble, then we can't risk our safety."

"Unfortunately, it's only to me that he will cause trouble." Mara gave Ady a friendly pat on the shoulder, trying her best to smile. "He's not particularly dangerous. Truthfully, he'll be beneficial to the pilots if they approve of him. I just don't want to give him that much credit."

Ady nodded and began to get back to his work. "Nothing is set in stone. You should push it out of your mind and just focus on your training." Mara shot him a curious glance. Ady couldn't help but smile and jerk his head towards the direction of the hills. "Dameron's already waiting for you. Anyway, I'm relieved that I don't have to be near you and a gun any longer."

~.~.~.~.~.~

Mara could start to see Poe's bushy, dark hair as she began to ascend the hill. The sun was just beginning to rise, and Poe's back was turned from her to watch it.

"Morning, Dameron. I just-"

Poe spun around, his arm lifted with a blaster at the end. He fired it at her immediately, the blue bolt whizzing past her just as she turned her body away from it. With a sharp gasp, Mara's head redirected from the dissolving blast to Poe's smiling face.

"Are you insane?"

"Don't worry. It's set to stun."

Mara left her jaw hanging open. "Oh, that's somehow okay?"

"You would have woken up in thirty minutes time." Poe flapped his hand at her as if she were making a big deal about things, before polishing the nozzle of his gun on his jacket. "I just needed to make sure that you were on your toes."

Mara's brow lifted somewhat sarcastically, somewhat flirtatiously. "With you? I'm always on my toes."

"That's some cheek, Crescent." He outstretched another blaster towards her, thinner and sleeker and with a narrower nozzle. "You'll be using this today. It's one of the strongest ones we have, so be careful to keep a steady ground. It could send you flying backwards." He made his way over to her side. "Don't worry. If you fall, I'll catch you."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary." She plucked the blaster from his hands. Straight ahead of her was a small wooden bench with three bottles resting atop it. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of the empty glass. "How's your hangover, by the way?"

Poe shot her a warning look. "Intoxicated. Not drunk. Not the same thing."

"Whatever you say," Mara whistled with a smile. Knowing that she was supposed to hit the bottles, she raised her blaster with ease.

Poe's hand quickly wrapped itself around her waist. "That won't do. I've seen how you shoot with Ady, and you can barely shoot well enough on solid ground. You need to go to the curve of the hill and try it from there."

"What? Why?"

"If you happen to be on the downward slope of a hill and an enemy is coming at you from above, are you going to stop and ask yourself 'why'?" Mara said nothing, her pale lips pressed together in a straight line. "Exactly."

As Mara trudged back down the hill, she kept the table in her view. "You're making me shoot from a planned position with the strongest gun that you have. Doesn't this all seem a bit too advanced?"

Poe followed her down, his boots fumbling over the damp grass in an attempt not to fall. He may have been a good pilot, but he wasn't necessarily graceful. "Everyone teaches this backwards. They always say to start out small and work your way up, but that just wastes time. It traps you into a zone of comfort. You tell yourself that you can't shoot the strongest gun, but you can shoot the second strongest and that's okay for now. But, it isn't." His almond coloured eyes glazed over her with… was it admiration? She wasn't sure. She could barely allow herself that compliment. "I know that you can do this, Crescent. I think you're bad at the simple stuff because it's almost too easy for you."

"That just doesn't make any sense."

"You can fix a T-85 in 10 minutes."

"Ships make sense to me. Not blasters."

"More shooting, less talking." Poe circled his hand in the air, signalling for her to move on.

Mara squared her back, making sure not to be too straight. Beneath her waist, her muscular legs were spread out at the same width as her shoulders. Her right arm was raised, the blaster comfortable at the end of her hand. She kept her left palm on the side of her thigh, if only to wipe the sweat off. Taking in a deep breath, Mara locked in on her target. A memory of the morning before struck her in that moment. She had shot Leo square in the chest.

Leo.

Her hand slipped just as the thought came, her beam shooting straight between the targets. Poe shot her a look of confusion, surprised to see her slip so suddenly. "Something on your mind?"

"I'm fine." Her voice was sharp. He knew not to test her.

Raising her hand again, she let her anger flood over her. Anger could be a good thing. It could bring about distraction, but also focus. She pretended the bottle was Leo, with his perfectly straight, white teeth somehow unfitting against his tan skin. Closing her right eye, she was able to get a clear shot. She sucked in another breath and released, still pretending the bottle was the infamously charming blonde.

Shring!

The glass shattered everywhere, its green exterior blending in with the surrounding grass. Poe smiled at her before offering a pat on the back. "Smooth shooting. Try the second one."

And so she did. Mara had some troubles again as her mind wandered far from the Resistance base. The second distraction was the memory of Poe's lips on hers, the sound of his unexpected gentle moan something that she knew she wasn't supposed to hear. The third distraction was the memory of her parents, probably still sitting in silence at their dinner table.

"It's not because we hate each other, but because we already know what the other wants to say."

Yeah right, Mara thought.

Poe then led her into the woods, where he placed the bench behind some thin trees. It would be harder to steer her way around the tree trunks, but Poe was a good enough teacher to extinguish any flames of doubt. When she would lose focus, he snapped her out of it. When her position faltered, his hands were there to square back her shoulders and kick her feet further apart. And sometimes, he was just there with a smile. She wanted to impress him in those moments more than anything, and it took her entire willpower not to grab him by the jacket and push him against a tree.

Scandalous. What would my parents think?

The third location was certainly going to be the hardest. Mara could see that from a mile away. Poe was setting up the table on one side of the stream while she waited on the other side. It wasn't difficult shooting from a long distance. Oh no. That wasn't what Poe wanted her to do, however.

She had to stand in the water.

"The current is too strong." Mara's eyes flickered across the water that bumped over large rocks and carried pebbles away to their doom. "If I go in, I won't be able to stand."

"You're not going to get washed away, Crescent." Poe wagged his finger at her, as if she were a puppy. "Just get in the water. You're twenty-seven now. You're a big girl."

It annoyed her how he was constantly upbeat and mocking, but she was somewhat grateful for his faith in her. Poe had a list of tasks to do, but he was taking time out of his early morning to train her. That was never asked of him, as far as she knew, and yet he did it entirely for her sake. He gained nothing from her training. Except maybe some time with her. Not that he wants that, Mara thought in her head alongside a nervous chuckle.

"I'm coming..." Her words were hesitant as she stepped into the water. Luckily, her trusty boots kept the water out from her socks, but the hems of her pants were doomed. She stared ahead at Poe, who wore no look of concern for her beloved uniform. "So… Just shoot?"

Poe nodded firmly. "Just shoot."

The sun had come up completely by now, and the glare coming from the bottles was shining back into her eyes. The current was also pulling her slightly to the right, so getting balance was more difficult than she had realized. If she were to tell Poe any of that, however, he would go off into another rant about how convenience was never offered on the battlefield.

She raised her gun, only this time both of her eyes were squinted to keep out the glare. She could barely focus on its form when she pulled back the trigger, the strong force unable to keep her balanced in the already bumbling water. With a loud cry, Mara fell backwards, her entire body sinking under the icy blue water. Her head lifted out with a sputter, and she was unsurprised to see Poe, soaking wet up to his waist, at her side.

"Are you alright?" He cupped his warm hands around the back of her damp head, pulling her in an upright position. "Did your head hit a rock?" His fingers began to pull back her hair, checking for any signs of bleeding. Mara couldn't help but laugh at the situation, like they were monkeys checking for bugs.

"I don't think I'm quite ready for this step."

"I shouldn't have made you do it." Poe was still at her level, their legs beneath the frigid water. She could feel the tip of his boots on hers, keeping her balanced. "That was stupid of me."

Mara paused. "Yes. It was."

If it weren't for her smile, Poe would have broken off into another string of apologies. Instead, he scooped his hand beneath the water, sending it straight back up into her face. She gasped audibly, slowly dragging the droplets off her nose with the palm of her hand.

"So that's how it's going to be?" She giggled. Poe's hair was wet just at the tips. It flew out in all directions, and Mara's hand instinctively reached up to touch a loose strand. "I won't splash you. You've won this round, Poe Dameron."

"It seems to me that neither of you have won."

The voice came from behind them at the top of the hill. Poe's head shot up first, his eyes growing wide at the sight of their visitor. His body shot up instantly, his hand outstretched to help Mara. She knew without even looking that it would be Leia, as she was the only person he reacted so formally to.

Mara turned around after a quick shake of her damp hair. She gave her boss a smile of apology, but raised her blaster in defence of their actions. "Commander Dameron was teaching me how to shoot a blaster, General."

"Inefficiently, it would seem." She smiled nonetheless. "You should go and dry off, Miss Crescent. I need to have a word with the Commander."

Mara did as she was ordered and began making her way up the hill. Just as she passed Leia's sight, she gave one last glance to Poe. Playfully, she lifted her blaster and pretended to shoot him. He smiled back at her, raising his hand gently to his chest as if he had been hit. After she was gone, Poe lost any sense of childish affection that he was feeling in favour of a more serious tone.

"You may have heard that we caught someone in the woods yesterday," Leia said slowly, her tone more serious. "I've interrogated him for quite some time now. I've also looked up his history. He's harmless. A few fights here and there in the Colonies, but he's a damn good pilot. Good enough to be in the Resistance."

"If he's going to work for me, I need to meet him personally."

"Ady says that he has history." She paused, trying to see any traces of emotion on the young pilot's face. "With Mara."

"She mentioned it." Poe let a long sigh pass his lips. He tried to hide any expression of concern for the woman.

"Apparently she shot him square in the chest without a second for explanation. That kind of brash behaviour could have gotten her a mark on her record, but it seems as if there was a reason. I won't write anything about it."

"I don't know what's happened between them," Poe admitted. "Even if the guy is an amazing pilot who wants to work with us, I don't think he would be good for team morale."

Leia couldn't help but smile. "You mean for Mara's morale."

"Anyone cocky enough to land on D'Qar without a warning can't be modest."

Leia turned her back to him as she began to head up the hill. Poe followed her obediently, sensing where this conversation was going. "Before you make any final judgements, you're going to have to meet him."

"I can sort out an arrangement after the mission."

"No. You're going to have to meet him now."