Chapter 25

Swift Waters

The icy water came crashing around them as they hit the surface and damn it hurt. It had felt as if she had hit a brick wall, the impact causing her to have air knocked from her. Which was bad enough but when they were submerged water started to chock her and causing her to panic. The first thing she thought was this was how she would die, in a churning river attached to a pain in the ass resistance pilot which led her to her second though. The heavy weight attached to her that was dragging her down, Poe. She couldn't see him in the murky water and tried to kick and push her way to the surface. Suddenly something grabbed her from behind pulling her up. When she was finally above water spitting and coughing she realized that it was Poe who had been the one who had pulled her up, his arm tight around her middle. Swiftly they moved down the river with no control on how fast they moved. She couldn't really hear anything over the roar of the water but she did notice movement on the ridge. They must have been spotted and if they didn't get out of these waters soon they would be caught. She tried to get Poe's attention who also narrowed in on their new problem and the two of them tried to make it to the opposite shore. It was proving very difficult even with both of them using their arms as paddles. The river seemed to narrow up ahead and Stormtroopers were starting to gather there. What bothered her even more was how the water seemed to speed up and seemed to just disappear ahead of them. That's when it hit her, waterfall and from the sound of it a big one.

She turned around in Poe's arms wrapping her arms around his neck as the look in his eyes told her he too realized the dangerous situation that was about to take place. He tightened his hold and she wrapped her legs around him hooking her feet together behind him. If they were going over it would be together. There was a shot fired over their head and she flintched ducking her head into Poe's neck. His hold tightened and she could hear shouts as they came closer.

"Hold tight Sweetheart!" He practically yelled in her ear as he tightened his hold even tighter and then ducked underwater just as they went over the side into the cascading waterfall. She lost all sense of direction, feeling and just clung to the person she was literally tied to. She must have blacked out because when she hit the water once more all she saw was nothing. She felt like she was floating. This must be what dying really felt like and endless river going nowhere. She didn't remember much after that.

"Come on sweetheart, open those eyes." She squinted as the bright light filtered through her lashes. She shot up coughing and wheezing out water from the river. "There you go, get it out." She coughed and sputtered some more.

"What...*cough*…in the hell…*cough*…was that?" She looked up into a relieved pair of brown eyes. He smiled down at her in his devilish way.

"That was the ride of a life time baby!" She lay her head back on the muddy river bank not quite ready to move yet.

"You're crazy Dameron. You know that right?" He chuckled as he lay beside her as he too caught his breath.

"Well it was you're idea."

"You didn't have to agree with me." She heard him take a deep breath and felt his hand as it reached over to grasp hers.

"I'm pretty sure at this point I would probably follow you just about anywhere."

"Like I said, you are crazy."

"Uh huh." Was all he said as he suddenly leaned over her capturing her lips in his. When he pulled away after needing to you, know breath he brushed her wet hair from her face. "You look like a drowned rat." She smacked him in the shoulder just then, which caused him to chuckle again with an exaggerated "ow"

"And you look like an asshole." She shot back.

"A charming asshole." He answered back which earned him another smack as she pushed him away.

"Come on fly boy, we need to get back to my ship. I for one am tired of all of this nonsense. I can't believe that actually worked." She said as she got up and tried to move away only to find herself flat on her butt again in the mud. This earned another chuckle from her partner as she stood up and offered her his hand.

"Still tied together, remember?" He questioned as he pulled her to her feet.'

"Right she said as she looked down and went to work on the knot only to find she couldn't get it. "Um, you wanna help me here. You tied this awful tight." He pulled her to him with a teasing wolfish grin that made her blush ever so slightly.

"I wanted to make sure I didn't lose you." She rolled her eyes at his very cheesy line as he tried to work on the knot too. No luck and he stopped and scratched his head slightly. "Well it seems we may have a problem."

"What now?" She asked exasperated.

"We seem to be stuck."

"I'm sorry, stuck?!" Her amusement was fading fast.

"Well it seems that the water has swelled the rope and now…."

"Do you have a knife?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"Aren't you the one who carries everything?" She glared up at him as the chill from the water and air started to make her shiver. Poe approached her seemingly to warm her up but she pushed him away more out of frustration than anger.

"Remi, your shaking like a leaf."

"I'm fine."

"Your lips are blue."

"So is Nixy's hair."

"Yeah but that's not because she is freezing to death. So let make a deal, ship first then we can work on being untied." She huffed out in annoyance as he stepped closer.

"You're sure you don't have a knife?"

"Last time I checked." He answered.

"Okay, fine. Let's just go." She turned to lead the way with him following with very little choice. He couldn't help but find the humor in her spunk but nearly collided with her when she stopped short.

"Um Poe….What's that?" She asked as she pointed a finger to what lay in the path in front of them.

"Nothing good." He answered glancing around to realize that they had just escaped the First Order only to stumble into a nest of a very large, very nasty and very angry creature.

"Are those eggs?!" She asked in absolute horror at the mere size of them.

"Well I'm more concerned about that." He said as he pointed out what she clearly haddnt seen yet. It was one of the biggest things he had ever seen and it seemed to grow by feet as it stood on its hind legs and let out the biggest bellow he had ever heard.

"Well shit." Was her response.