He worked at the control tower. He'd decided because of the kids, he could no longer be a pilot. It was a decision he'd made after Zori had died and he was left to raise two young children on his own. He mostly checked papers and gave commands to the planes taking off, but man he'd missed it. His phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a text from Finn, he was his oldest friend and the one person who had introduced him to Zorii. Almost ten years before, fresh out of the Academy. Another text from Finn, he'd glanced to his phone and realized the time. He had to run if he wanted to be on time and not disappoint Kes. Again.

He grabbed his bike, put on a helmet and raced to the primary school. His son was only six but he knew better than anyone that was the most formative time of a young boy's life.

He had made it just in time. He wondered how he had forgotten that that was today. No, he didn't have to wonder. He knew. He knew just how immersed he'd been in his work for the last 18 months of his life. That was just how long it had been since he'd lost her. But he'd promised himself and the kids to try harder because that's all he could do at that point.

Hey guys! This is my first try at Star Wars fanfiction. Let me know what you think!

"Hey man, you made it, I was getting worried." Finn said quietly as he moved along a seat with Rose.

"Yeah, I almost didn't." Poe admitted. He looked over at the stage. The kids in Kes's class were dressed up in costumes, he was a sheppard, his costume shone over the rest, if he could say selfishly proud even though it had been confectioned by Rose who had been more of a parent to his children than he had in the last two years. She didn't say anything though because she understood what loss was. Or so Poe thought. She'd lost her sister long ago as a young girl and so Rose understood him better than most, he spotted Kes, easily, after all, he was his carbon copy, ever since he was a baby Zorii had never failed to point that out. And then he saw his little girl who scooted over far away on Finn's side to reach for him, Lulu was just shy of being 3, he was glad both kids were close in age as they could look after each other. Poe had never had that, not until he'd met Finn at school. He also saw his little goddaughter. Paige was the same age as Lulu and they were the best of friends. Lulu nuzzled into him as she sat on his lap with a wide smile and Poe felt his heart sink in his chest. She reminded him so much of Zorii it hurt.

"So, we're still on for tomorrow, right? You said you'd come to the center with us?" Rose said as the show was over and they headed to collect the kids.

"Sure yeah, I think I managed to get most of the kid's old clothes." Poe said.

"Great. It will be fun, and who knows? Maybe you'll meet new people. The kids too."

That was Rose, she was always trying to push him into doing new things. Meet new people and move on. She was not a psychology expert or anything but she insisted he needed to meet someone new. But Poe was good as he was. Things in his life had been working okay so far. He'd promised Zorii to care for the kids, to provide for them and he had.

The house wasn't far from the school and it was still early so he walked, pushing his bike slowly with the kids chatting away just how much fun the show had been. He locked the bike away in the apartment garage and then picked up Lulu in his arms as Kes led the way upstairs. The place was nowhere as neat as it had been when Zori had been in charge, but they did their best to keep it as homely as possible. "Alright you two, go and put your PJ's on while I make dinner, alright?" He'd trusted Lulu to try and dress herself only recently so he put a pot on the stove and headed over to help his little girl. She refused of course, to receive any help because she was a big girl. Poe couldn't help but chuckle though as she had her shirt the wrong way, he carried her to the living room and helped her finish getting dressed and then focused on making dinner. He was more tired than he cared to admit after a long week. Thank god it was Friday and he got to have two days to just rest even if it was barely. Well, tomorrow didn't count though because he had promised Rose he'd go to the Center and help out. Damn him and his morals. He just for once, wished he could sleep in and not have anyone depend on him, but that was hard to do when you had two small children to care for. Dinner was quieter. He was sure the kids were as washed out as he was, so as soon as they were done, he helped them brush their teeth and took each child to their respective rooms. Lulu was out like a light by the second page of her book and Kes, Poe was sure, only pretended to be sleep at first, so he waited by the door for a little while to make sure. When he was certain he wouldn't get out of bed, he left the door ajar with the little star lamp that made the room have a dim light and headed back to the kitchen to clean up. He picked up dishes and scattered toys and shoes and went back to the hallway to check on the kids again, it was almost like he didn't want to open the door to the room at the end. He did though, weary as he was and pushed it open. It was just as he'd left it that morning, with the boxes he had arranged for Rose on the side. He, Finn and Rose had been working on getting it ready for that Saturday for almost two weeks now, going through the kid's old clothes and toys to give away. It made him so uneasy, the idea of his kids growing up, even though giving back to those less fortunate was something, his parents and L'ulo had always insisted he'd do, that he'd help people when he could. Not that with Rose or Finn, would be something he could easily ignore. Not really.

By the time he'd made it out the house with Lulu and Kes, he had regretted not taking the Speeder, in truth, he hated that old thing so much, it had belonged to his former guardian but he somehow refused to get rid of it. They walked over to the Center with Poe pulling the small cart with the boxes as his left hand was occupied by holding Kes's hand who held onto Lulu on the other side.

"Oh good, you're here!" Rose said with a smile as they entered the main room. It seemed to be filling up with people already. "Kids, why don't you help out Uncle Finn with the toys..."

"Okay aunt Rose. Come on Lulu." kes held on still to his little sister's hand as he pulled her away, Poe still kept an eye out as the room began to get crowded. "Would you relax? Finn and Paige are around too, they're safe."

"Right, because a room full of strangers is totally safe for kids." Poe sighed, grabbing the boxes and piling them up on the counter beside him.

"Kes knows how to take care of himself, doesn't he? And he'd never let Lulu out of his sight. Now, go find Kayla, she's got a job for you in the back." Poe sighed and threw a glance back at the kids as Finn waved at him.

"You actually showed up. I can't believe it." Kayla was another friend of theirs who was also putting him out for still not being interested in anyone. "You actually lost me some money Poe."

"You made a bet on me?" He raised an eyebrow up.

"Oh, when do we not?" Kayla wavered. "In the good sense of course."

"And what sense is that?" He inquired getting slightly annoyed.

"Well, for once, we all think it would be good for you to go out. Date. Mingle."

"Mingle?"

"Yes, lord knows we loved Zorii, but your moping around doesn't do those kids any good and well, you being happy might help them to..."

"I'm fine Kayla, I don't need you or Rose to meddle in my love life if you can call it that. My kids need me to focus on them, not on finding someone to be their new mommy."

"No one is saying that, we're just worried about you is all." Kayla sighed, labeling yet another box. "Here, would you take those over there?"

"Sure." Poe sighed. He turned around to grab the boxes and headed to the far side of the room, careful not to drop anything on the people that were conglomerating to the side.

"Poe, isn't it?" Another voice said. "Oh you are a sweetheart come over here." The woman who had identified earlier as Maz said. He smiled slightly as he followed the woman further inside the room. "You can settle them here honey." The older woman said with a smile. Poe gave a nod and dropped the boxes on the floor. "Now, would you mind, we have a few more boxes over here." Poe moved from an old storage room to the main entrance a couple more times before Rose called him over again. It was almost time to go.

"Do we have to?" Lulu asked. She was terribly articulate for a 2 and a half year old.

"Yes, how about we get pizza before getting home?" Poe tried. It was clear his kids enjoyed being with little people their own age and this was proving to be an actual good idea to have them out.

"Five more minutes?" Kes begged as well, showing up his hand as to make a silent deal with his father. "Please?"

"Okay, five more minutes." Poe smiled. It was hard to say no when they had that light in their face that he had not seen in quite a while. Rose stood beside him.

"You okay?"

"I'm not sure. What does that say about me?" Poe sighed into his hands as he sat on a chair.

"It seems to tell me you are a good man who just wants to see his kids happy." Finn added in, beat to from doing work for the good half of the day, the three of them sat, watching the kids enjoy a muppet show by some of the volunteers. "Listen, there's this workshop at the Center every Saturday at four, it's just a couple hours but we think it would the kids good." Finn said to him, he'd clearly chosen that exact moment to tell him just as he saw Kes, let out a belly laugh.

"You can sign them up for free." Rose added in.

Poe gave this a thought. It was good that they'd be involved in this environment for a while. Being cooked up in the apartment every weekend wasn't doing them any good anyhow and he could, well, he could work on his bike more. Focus on one of the few things in his mundane life that still made him happy.

"I think they'd like that. I'll talk to them about it later, okay?"

"That's all we ask." Rose smiled at him.

By the time they had made it home after pizza, which was a few streets down below from their home. The idea of seeing their friends of the center again, made both kids look forward to next weekend with brand new eyes. Both of them had been incredibly outgoing kids since birth, but loosing Zorii had definitely cast a shadow over their moods, so the idea of seeing them laugh and enjoy themselves as they had that afternoon made Poe approve of Rose's nagging once more. She had been right. Just as she had been when she had insisted on going on a date with a certain pilot a decade before.

The week passed slower to Poe than it had in the last few months. The kids were on a playdate with Paige that friday so he returned home alone. His bike acting up just the few yards before reaching his street, so he hopped off and dragged it up the rest of the way. Just a few steps before the door of the building though, Poe heard a sound. Some trashing, a loud clash and... was it whimpering? His neighborhood wasn't a bad one by any means, but there were fairly enough teenagers to make it loud. He parked his bike to the side and moved slowly to where the sound was coming from. He did it so cautiously, but soon realized he was alone in the alley, he was about to turn around when he heard it again. He was sure it was a whimper. He moved further along and picked up a few trash bags and the sound was only made louder. Then he spotted it. Or him, a small mixed breed puppy who was clearly trying to get someone's attention. "Hey there buddy, you hurt?" Poe knelt down to grab the puppy, the poor animal had flinched at first but then, just as Poe reached for him again, he sniffed his hand and gave it a gentle lick. "It's okay, I'm not going to harm you, come here." He grabbed the little guy and pressed him into his chest. His heart rate had clearly increased from being that upset from loneliness but he quickly figured wasn't going to hurt him. It reminded Poe of his time in the system as a child.

To say that his kids were excited to come home to a new puppy was an understatement. If he was being honest, when Kes had asked him if they could keep him, he didn't have the heart to say no. He made them promise though that everyone would help care for him, specially given that they lived in a small apartment.

"Have you thought of a name yet?" He asked Kes and Lulu later that night. The little guy was nuzzled against both kids on the couch as to make his place known in the family.

BB was a strange name for a dog, but he decided against crushing his kids dreams. Kes wanted to name him Balto, like that dog that had saved Alaska in 1925 and Lulu Barney, which made Poe cringe a little bit to be honest, but he proposed they both used their imagination to come up with something they both liked, so that seemed to be the only solution to save Poe a few tantrums.

He honestly didn't know how exactly he'd keep the little dog, which he figured would grow up mid size, from destroying the loft, but by the time he took him to the vet the next day, it was hard to deny BB to be a part of the Dameron family for good.

Monday came and Poe had to figure a way for BB to be content over his living arrangements so he took the kids to school and daycare, which took a little longer because neither child wanted to say goodbye to the dog. Poe promised to bring him back at pick up so it wasn't hard to figure out, he now had to convince the people at the tower, this pup was well behaved so he could have him with him at work.

"One mess Poe and he's out, you'll need to chain him outside." Ben Kenobi said with a stern but kind tone. His boss had retired just recently, he was a general who Zorii had worked under and he and Poe went way back who had now taken a career on teaching. He was a stern but kind man, who could see that maybe a dog was what Poe needed to keep his spirits up at work as lately, he'd been struggling. BB had honestly proven to be better behaved than he hadexpected, he'd bought him a few toys and a harness while he could be trained and he remained by Poe's feet almost all morning.

Just as he'd promised, by the time he'd gone to pick up the kids, on the speeder, because he couldn't possibly get BB on the bike, Kes and Lulu's face had lighted up.

BB was proving to be just what the family happened to need, Poe thought.

Another week went by and Lulu's birthday was quickly approaching, Poe's heart was heavy as it was just another milestone that Zorrii would miss on the kid's lives and it didn't get easier with time. Lulu didn't remember her, although Poe would talk about her if she asked. Kes was a bit more cautious but now Lulu was growing up and she wanted to know more about her Mom.

"It was bound to happen man. Have you thought maybe getting Zorii's parents involved?"

"Yeah, I'm talking to them tomorrow, maybe they can help me get the party ready, they do have a pool and a huge yard."

"That they do." Finn sighed. "How's BB doing?"

"Like he's always belonged. Even old Kenobi likes to have him around."

Finn smiled. He'd always known the old general to be a softie when it came to Poe and Zorii, not that he'd admit that to his best friend. "You sure you don't want me to come with?" Finn asked after a moment. It was that time of the year that Poe dreaded and looked forward the most, the moment he'd make himself visit Zorii by alone, well, almost by himself, as BB was now in tow as he headed over to the cemetery.

"Hey Z, it's me. I know it's been a while..." He said kneeling down and cleaning the top of the headstone with his hand as he placed a small rock over it and arranged fresh flowers on the vase on the side. "The kids miss you, I miss you." He said. He'd asked Zorii's parents to meet him there with Kes and Lulu. It was some sort of tradition they'd come up with. "I... I honestly don't even know if I'm doing a good job anymore babe..." Poe admitted, he was now sitting legs crossed on the grass, he patted BB's back softly as he tried to lick his face for comfort. "I don't want to be sad anymore, I don't want the kids to either Zorii but I just don't know what to do anymore." He felt his eyes get cloudy as BB once again tried to get his attention. "I feel like I'm screwing everything up." He kind of expected her to answer back, he always did, although he knew it wasn't possible. "This little guy though, it seems he was sent to us, the kids love him and I think you would too." Poe said, settling BB in between his legs as the little dog played with his fingers. "Finn and Rose keep insisting I need to meet new people, go on a date..." He chuckled bitterly at the idea and then looked down at his wedding band. He hadn't been on a date in 10 years. He and Rose had joined the academy freshly out of school and he'd met Zorii that first year. They had dated for 5 years, work keeping them from taking most steps they were supposed to in the long term. By the time they got married and had had Kes, Poe had been deployed over the Outer Rim and Zorii who was on leave at that time had began working on her parent's company. Until she would be called in again. Even though they both had wanted a family, given the fact that they were both from military families and only children, the idea of a house full of kids was something they had both wanted for a long time. Poe wondered constantly, if they had gotten married right away, just how many kids he'd be raising on his own now. He hadn't noticed footsteps approaching until Bee, stirred on his lap, clearly he had spotted someone familiar. He cleaned his eyes as quickly as he could and jumped to his feet. Zorii's Mom Kari held onto Lulu's hand while Kes hurried ahead to him. Kes was older so it was clear to him that he couldn't hide as good as he thought the sadness in his eyes. He didn't say anything though and simply offered his father his hand, Poe took it and pulled the boy into a hug. Zack walked over to them and offered Poe a solemn smile, the two men acknowledging each other. It was all that needed to be said at the moment.