Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. Just writing fan fiction for fun.

Chapter Twenty: Heart

Elle walked into the second hangar. She noticed the pilots were at their posts, but had some pretty grim looks on their faces as she crossed the sleek floor of the Raddus. She chewed her bottom lip, and spotted Snap and the others, huddled together, but no Poe.

Snap was really nice and one of the best fighter pilots in the fleet. He was on the Black squadron team with Poe. Snap looked up at her when she came towards them and fell to a step.

"Hey, Snap. Have you seen Poe?" she asked curiously.

He shook his head. "No, I thought he was with you."

Elle let out a sigh, and shook her head.

"Hey, you have any idea what's going on, and why we haven't been called to action? Some of us are…getting a little antsy," he said, eyeing the rest of the pilots that were on standby, and waiting by their x-wings.

"Haven't the foggiest," she replied. "I'm sorry, Snap. I wish I knew more."

Snap nodded, and she gave him a small smile.

"Hey go easy on him, okay? Holdo gave him quite a bit of a show."

She patted him gently on the arm and nodded her thanks. Then she proceeded in the other direction, and started to walk down the long corridors, passing by a few crewmembers. Finn was nowhere in sight. D'Arcy and Kaydel were probably in the control room with Admiral Holdo. So that left her back to med bay.

She went back to her Aunt's I.C.U. room, which was now empty, and moved into a quieter room, which is where she finally found Poe. He was leaning over the encased protective glass around her. His hair was a little bit messy, his clothes a tad wrinkly, and he leant over with his right hand, tight in a fist, resting against the side of his hip.

"There you are," Elle said softly, walking inside the room.

Poe leant off of the glass, and eyed the young Solo. "Here I am," he said, swallowing hard.

"I was looking for you," she said slowly. He should have been at his post, but he was here, looking after her aunt. Her heart flip-flopped, and she couldn't help but feel for him. So much has happened. It was hard to process it all.

"Must've just missed each other," Poe said. Elle grimaced. Something was wrong. He was holding back. She wondered how much of a show Holdo had given the poor man. Between loosing the fleet, and getting demoted for it, Poe was not in a good mood. She didn't blame him either. Everyone on the Raddus was on edge.

Hmm. Elle wondered if now would be a good time to really tell him that she was pregnant. Hell, she wondered if she should tell him what Holdo told her about her true lineage. Baby steps, Elle, baby steps. She thought. Maybe she should tell him about whom she really is first.

"So, um," she began, and stepped further inside from the threshold.

"There's something I have to tell you. A couple of things, actually, but I need to tell you who I am first," she said.

Poe gave her a quizzical look, eyebrows furrowed. "What's that mean?"

"You might want to sit down for this one," she said.

Poe crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll bite. What's going on?"

"Okay," she drew in a deep breath, and then let it out. "So, it turns out that I'm not Leia's daughter. My identity's been concealed this entire time to fool the Sith and the Dark Side from trying to figure out who I really am."

Poe narrowed his eyes at her. "The Sith? I though they were extinct?"

Elle shrugged. "Supposedly, they are. But, they never found my mother's killer. Kinda makes you wonder about our mysterious Snoke now doesn't it?"

Poe nodded slowly. "Yeah," he stepped forward, and let out an exhale of emotions that he held within him. "Okay. So, who are you really?"

She thought about how she wanted to word this. There was really no easy way to put this, so she just ripped off the band-aid, and hoped it didn't bleed all over the floor. "I'm Elle Skywalker. Luke and Mara Jade are my parents."

He blinked several times. Elle bit her bottom lip worriedly as she watched his expression tight on his face. Ugh. There must've been a million questions running in that dome of his.

"You're Mara Jade's daughter?" he asked, almost in awe.

Elle nodded. "And Luke's too."

"Huh," he said, letting it sink in.

"And um, if you don't want me anymore, I'd totally understand. I mean I'm not the easiest person to work with…"

Poe looked up from the floor to her, and he strode over to her. She was trembling, and freaking out about him not wanting her because of a name change? He quickly stopped her, and held her animated hands to get her to stop.

"Elle," he said tenderly.

"Hmm?" she looked at him, trying to read his brown eyes that roamed her own.

He lifted her chin gently. "If you think a silly little name change is going to stop me from loving you, then what has this galaxy really come to?"

Elle chewed her bottom lip in a bit of chagrin. Yeah, he had a good point there. She blushed sheepishly.

"I don't care where you come from, because that little boy in me will always remember that little girl who'd given me something I can hold onto for the rest of my life. I'll always remember, your kind and gracious heart that reminded me it isn't the end of the world. That's why I called out to you when I was in that cell. I knew she had to be in there somewhere, and that she totally hadn't given up on me. On us. I had to try. And you came through. You have a good heart, Elle. That's what matters in the end," he said softly, and gently pointed his finger upon her heart, which was beating faster than a speeding laser against her chest.

Elle inhaled shortly, her breath hitching in her throat. "It is?"

Poe ran a hand over her dark wispy locks. "It is. You're my best friend. My angel. My everything. I love you, you know that right?"

Elle closed her eyes, and swallowed hard. She nodded. "I know now," she said. She knew now, of course, she knew. He leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips. She kissed back, feeling the corners of her lips curl into a smile. She wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him tight, not wanting to let go of him. She felt safe with him. Even if he was a little reckless at times, she'd still put her trust in him any day. She trusted him with all of her heart. But, her mind had gotten lost on the way to this moment. She had thought that maybe when she went dark, he'd lost all hope for her. Clearly, she was wrong. Maybe she had a few people in the Resistance to thank later if they ever got out of this.

After he kissed her a couple of times, he pulled apart. He cradled her elbows within his hands, keeping her close. "Now, what was the other thing you wanted to tell me?"

"Uh…"

"Poe? We got to talk to you!" Finn cried, rushing into the room with a girl right beside him.

Elle glanced sideways to see them in view with anxious looks on their faces.

Poe looked at Elle and Elle grinned. "It can wait. What's up?"

~*TLJ*~

A/n: ((grin)) I know, such bad timing for Finn and Rose to run in, lol. But I couldn't resist. Anyway, thank you all so much for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing! I love you all so much. And thank you for the recents, you guys rock! More updates soon!