An Unfamiliar Ache

Disclaimer: I do not own or have anything to do with Star Wars.

A/N: So this chapter leads into the events of The Rise of Skywalker. From here on the story will tie in with the events of the movie to a point. I will be changing some things to move my story along.

It had been a few days since they last talked and Poe wasn't doing too well. He hadn't been able to eat or sleep right. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her face and whenever he tried to eat his stomach would start to ache.

"You look like crap buddy." Finn said sitting down next to him. They were waiting for a briefing to start and they were some of the first to arrive.

"Thanks." Poe huffed.

"You still haven't tried to talk to her, have you?" His friend inquired.

"No, we agreed on two weeks so I am going to wait two weeks." He said with determination. Finn stared at him in disbelieve. He loved Rey and Poe. They were his best friends but he didn't understand why the two felt like not talking about what was going on was the best idea.

"Look at yourself! You are not doing okay, and Rey is probably not much better. Why couldn't you guys just talk it out?" Finn tried to get Poe to see reason but his tries were mute.

"It's hard to see the one you love go to someone else when they have troubles or doubts. I am right here and I would do anything for her. If this thing is really that bad that she felt like she had to runaway to protect us she should have come to me. I would have been there for her." Poe noticed more people filing in and attempted to keep him voice down. "I am hoping that the two weeks will help me think of what to say to her when I see her next and it will help her understand that I will always be there for her, no matter what."

"Are you sure that this is how you want to do that? I mean wouldn't actually being there with her prove your point and cut out unwanted conflict between you too?" Finn leaned in closer and gave his friend a nudge.

"Maybe your right but the briefing is starting so let's table this for some other time shall we?" They sat up strait and brought their attention to General Organa.

"One of our contacts has evidence that suggest that there is an informant in the First Order. Poe you are going to take a crew to get this evidence before our contact is caught. Stay after and I will go over the details with you." Poe nodded and silently said thanks for the distraction. Maybe this will help the two weeks go by faster.

"I feel like I am going insane. All I have been doing is training and meditating and even though the dreams have slowed they haven't stopped." Time was moving slowly for Rey. She was working hard every day, doing her best to become stronger. It had been a little over two weeks since she had come to the new base, but it felt like a year. She was doing all she could to keep her mind off of a certain pilot but it just made her long for him even more.

"You have to be patient Rey. It can take years to master your abilities and for some it can take their whole lives." Leia said. Everyone started to arrive the past few days and Leia was one of the first to come. She was worried about her student and wanted to make sure that she was keeping up with her training. "And we now know that Kylo hasn't been able to sense were you are, you can go out on missions."

Rey didn't know how to tell Leia that she didn't want to go out on any missions. During her training she started to notice that she was becoming more violent. The part that scared her the most is that she liked the feeling. It was fast and fleeting but the feeling was there and it was dark. She knew that until she learned to control her power it was not safe for anyone that was with her, especially if they were on a mission and she lost control.

"I think it would be better if I stayed and trained more. I have so much more to learn and I have to become stronger than Kylo Ren." Rey sat down opening one of the Jedi scripts she had. They were looking for a mediation technique that Luke had learned from an old Jedi master.

"Okay if that is what you think is best. Have you talked to Poe yet?" Leia asked changing the subject.

"Um..no. He was here briefly but left for that mission to retrieve that last piece of information from a contact. Although He did try to find me but I kind of avoided him. I don't know how talk to him. After what happened I feel like he hates me. I just didn't want him to tell me that he doesn't want to be with me anymore." Rey said quietly. She had imagined a conversation with him over and over again but it never ended the way she had hoped. She just couldn't bear to have the talk with him.

"Rey you need to trust in yourself and follow your heart. You love him, so go talk to him. He needs to know how you feel." As always Leia was right. She just needed to get over herself.

"What would I do without you master?" Rey laughed and Leia smiled.

"You don't need me for advice Rey, you just need to trust yourself." Leia said standing up and walking toward the door. "There is a little droid sitting out here waiting for you, I suggest that you take a break and go pay some attention to it." She laughed as she walked out.

Rey giggled knowing full well BB-8 was waiting for her. He insisted on coming over and staying with her while Poe, Finn and Chewy took the Falcon on a mission. They hadn't seen each other in weeks and he was super happy to spend time with her. She missed him too of course and enjoyed talking to him.

"All right BB, why don't we go for a walk? I need to stretch my legs for the training course this afternoon." Rey started on their walk with a gleeful droid behind her.

"You should have been out there with us." Poe stated bitterly.

"I want to but you know I can't right now." Rey countered.

"Why can't you? You're here training. For what? You're the best fighter we have. We need you. Out there, not here." He said and then sighed and walked away. Rey turned to Finn.

"It's true." Finn said not really wanting to upset his friend. "We need you. He needs you." Rey's shoulders slumped a little and she closed her eyes and hung her head.

"Is he doing okay?" She asked. The guys just came back from their mission. From what Finn had told her it was somewhat of a success but one look at the Millennium Falcon would have said differently. Poe and Rey had gotten into a brief argument about the fact that she should have been out there with them. She knew that what he said had more than one meaning.

"He will be better once you talk to him." Finn gave her a hug. "Come on we got a message from the spy."

Rey had let Finn lead her to the meeting. Everyone was gathering in a circle, waiting for information from Poe. When he said that somehow Palpatine was alive everything in Rey started to shake. Words of cloning and the sith were making their way around the growing group, everyone wanted to know what was going on. It was when a planet named Exegol was mentioned that Rey bolted to one of the books Luke had been writing in.

She asked to talk to Leia and informed her that Luke had been looking for Exegol. The only thing stopping him was that he needed a sith way finder. After some persistence on Rey's end, they had agreed that she would go to the forbidden desert of Pasaana. It was the last place Luke had looked for it and it was the best chance she had to finding the object.

Rey was getting ready to leave when Poe came up to her. He informed her that he, Finn, and Chewy were coming with her. BB-8 and C3PO decided to join them as well. She tried her best to get them to stay but they had all refused.

Rey said goodbye to Leia. She didn't want to let go of her, there was a feeling yelling at her to stay but Rey knew what she had to do.

Now she was walking through the crowd at the festival being held in the desert. Poe had suggested that they split up but he stayed by her side, never straying too far. "So, how have you been?" He tried.

"It's been fine." She kept her answer short. Things were still very awkward between them and Rey didn't know how to approach things with him.

There was laughter in the air and children squealing in delight. She started to tap her fingers on her thigh as they walked. Poe caught her hand and stopped her. "Rey, can we talk please?" He asked, making sure he was in her line of view.

Rey looked down at their hands but didn't pull away. "Aren't we talking now?" She asked quietly.

"I want to talk about us. I'm sorry I got upset with you when I got back from the last mission. I didn't mean to get upset." He slowly started their walk again, tugging her along until she followed on her own.

"It's okay, I get it. Trust me I do." Rey swallowed in understanding.

"I tried to find you before I left." Poe turned to her. He desperately wanted to see what she was thinking.

"I know." She bit her lip. Rey decided that she needed to tell him the truth. It wasn't fair to him and even though it might break them at least he would know. She started with something little. "I was avoiding you."

Poe's eyes widened but he didn't seem shocked. "I had a feeling, but why?"

"I-I was afraid." She mumbled.

"Of what?"

"I was afraid that you had realized that you don't want me anymore. That you wanted to end us permanently." Rey let out a silent breath. That was one confession down.

"What! I may have been mad but I don't think I could ever do that. Especially because of one fight. You might not fully realize it now but I love you and I am not going to take that back easily." He leaned down to her ear. "I'm never going to stop loving you Rey."

She blushed and opened her mouth to say something when a small female alien walked up to her. Finn called over to Poe and he politely excused himself. The girl placed a beaded necklace around her neck and introduced herself as Nambi Ghima.

A/N: Hey Everyone! Sorry it's been a while. I have had a major case of writer's block when it comes to this story, but fear not I am back and I have new chapters for you. I know this one is short and there is not much Rey and Poe moments but there will be plenty more in the next chapter and it will be longer too. As always, thank you so much for your support and understanding. If you are enjoying the story please leave a review. Feedback is always welcome.