AN: Thank you weasleyO and guests for the reviews! I've heard another author say that reviews are like oxygen, and she was right. They keep the story alive and give the strength to write more. Speaking of, here's a little more...
I walked carefully out of the infirmary. The savior-turned-evil boot was off, and all their magic potions they injected into me had accelerated the bone healing. Walking out the door I was hit with the heat of the day, a stark contrast to the cool rooms I had just been in. Well, that did absolutely nothing to help the sweat that had been pouring off me from the last evil deed the doctor did. I was pretty sure she had decided I had been inked enough already that I could handle the lack of any kind of pain blocker. My tank top clung to my skin in all the wrong places, and I could feel the tendrils of my hair sticking to my neck as they escaped the rag I had it tied up with.
"Wow. You look like shit." A voice I had come to easily recognize came from behind.
"Thanks. I'll try to do this look all the time." I sneered a little at Poe.
"I thought you were just getting the boot off, what happened?" He pushed himself away from the wall he was casually leaning against and came up beside me. I hadn't seen him since that one night he let me sleep in his bed, which was just frustrating and confusing. Those words that he said about caring for me and wanting to protect me were sounding more like I was a pet animal instead of a potential lover. Better to tamp down my hopes now, and just accept a close friend. That was something I didn't have anyway, so I guess it could be a good thing. Yeah, a sexy, beautiful, swaggering pilot friend. Great.
"Doctor gave me another tattoo. At least that's what it felt like, there was a lot of needle jabbing. It better be a spectacular one for all the poking." I saw his horrified look, and gave an internal eye roll. "It's fine, they missed some shrapnel in my back and it got infected. She decided to give me stitches instead this time. And I'm pretty sure they must have gotten a new shipment of drugs in because she poked me with a couple other things, muttering something about damn mechanics always touching stuff."
"So, where do you have a tattoo?" he asked, eyebrows raised in interest.
"Oh, I guess you wouldn't really notice it, it's actually pretty small." I turned sideways a little and lifted my thick ponytail up. "It's just below my hairline here on the back of my neck." He moved behind me and took my hair from my hand to look for himself. The sudden tingle of his fingers tracing the flowy script of the word "Fly" took my breath away.
"Why did you choose that? Do you fly?"
"I did. A long time ago." I paused to remember the last time, hearing my little sister's giggle as we did a barrel roll in the air. Stopping the memory, I came back to the present and looked back at Poe. "When I said I could feel the air flowing over Black One's wing, and the joy you felt, I wasn't pretending or making it up. I know."
He dragged his fingertips down my spine a couple inches before pulling away. Pretty sure my vagina contracted a little at that. This friend thing was going to be difficult.
"C'mon. I'm supposed to show you where your new workshop space is. When can you go back to work?" Poe started walking in front of me.
"Tomorrow." I followed him slowly, not wanting to immediately stress out my newly healed leg. Finally realizing he was walking too fast, he slowed and continued next to me.
"So tell me a little about what stuff you flew."
I hesitated. Did I really want to dredge up my memories? It was like opening a box that could potentially depress me for who knows how long. "It was a long time ago Poe. I'm not sure I can talk about it without getting sad." I pulled my hands out of my pockets as I started to limp, my leg was getting tired really quickly.
Poe looked down at me. "We're almost there, you can make it."
I barked out a laugh. "Is that how you get all your pilots to follow you? Reckless encouragement despite the risk of injury?"
He smiled, but without humor. "Sometimes it's necessary."
We approached one of the hangars that housed some of the larger aircraft. He led me to a little side door hidden by the drooping fronds of the native plants growing on the roof. As we walked through the door, Poe slyly moved to the side and behind me. Now I understood our purpose for coming here. A small group of pilots and mechanics were gathered around a little desk, their eyes smiling and focused on me. A loud "whoooooo!" came from the group, and I dropped my chin in embarrassment. Poe wordlessly urged me toward the desk and chair by poking his finger into my side.
My boss approached. "We have a couple tiny things for you." He produced a cane from behind his back. It was horribly gaudy, a makeshift pipe taped up with bright yellow tape. "This is from the mech guys. You're supposed to be using one of these, but we talked the doctor out of giving you one so we could make sure you used this exceptionally beautiful work of art." I groaned and smiled, not totally in control of this strange feeling. They really appreciated me, and it was hard to accept that.
I sat down in the chair and held the cane in one hand. One of the pilots came up to the desk. "We got you something too." With a cocky smile, he put a beer mug down that was filled with yellow grease pencils, the ones I used on the parts I fixed. "We didn't want to have to guess who fixed our stuff, so we wanted to make sure you had these."
I put the back of my hand to my mouth. This was beyond sweet, I hadn't known really, that they cared. "Thank you guys. This is amazing." They seemed to want to prevent any weepy tears, and descended on me with hugs and fist bumps.
"OK, back to work slackers," my boss yelled. "And you, get to sleep so you can get here on time tomorrow night. I don't want you getting used to this daylight." He smiled as he said it, but I knew he was right. My sleep schedule was a bit off, and I needed to get back in the swing of things.
Poe remained after everyone had wandered off back to work. He was leaning against a pole, arms crossed in front of his chest. Sexy, sexy, sexy. Stop it, stop it, stop it, I internally scolded myself. Instead I smiled at him, and when he didn't move, I got up and walked over with my new cane.
"He's right, I need to sleep. Got time to walk me back to my bunk?" I asked, tilting my head to the side a bit.
"Sure." We walked out the door, and I could feel his hand just barely touch the small of my back as he held the door open. Maybe I could get used to this kind of familiarity. Just embrace it and let it make me feel good. We walked in silence for a while, and I kept wondering if I should just outright ask him what he was doing. Did I really want to hear him say "What do you mean?"? That would be embarrassing. Devastating. So I'll keep that question to myself until his actions get undeniably beyond the friend zone. That felt safe, and I wasn't running away from him like he was upset about before.
We passed a shady area next to the edge of the woods, and I stopped. "I have to rest, this is really far from my bed. I'll have to remember to leave extra early for work tomorrow." I guess my exhaustion really showed, and Poe sat down on the ground without a word. I leaned back against a large rock and gazed at him, my eyes half closed. I guess if I wasn't going to jump right in and boink the guy, I could get to know him.
"How did you learn to fly?" I started. This was always a good starting point with pilots. They loved telling their stories, and you could really see which ones were serious about it. I already knew this about Poe, that he was one of the dedicated for life ones. But I wanted more personal stories from him.
Poe picked up a long blade of some kind of grass and began playing with it. "My mom started me on it. I would sit in her fighter with her when I was really little. She would take me up and sometimes let me fly. When I got older I would sneak out and take rides by myself." He smiled and looked at the ground. "I was really stupid. But lucky."
"Is she happy with what you're doing now?"
Poe kept playing with the grass. "I would hope she would be. She died when I was eight."
I felt really bad I had brought this up now. That was not the happy story I was trying to get out of him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make this a sad conversation."
His voice became lighter. "No, it's not bad. I was really young. I do wish she was still around, my dad would be happier." He pulled a chain out from underneath his shirt. "I keep her ring though, to remind me."
Wow. That hit me in the gut a little. "Where is your dad?"
"At the moment I'm not sure. He moves around occasionally. He's not in the fight anymore though. As far as I know anyway. But we still keep in touch when we can." He stuffed the ring back under his shirt.
Poe stood and offered me a hand up. I grabbed it and we started walking again. "Still don't want to talk to me about flying?" he asked.
"Nope. I'm having a pretty good cry-free day. I don't want to ruin it." As I said it, a girl started running toward us, waving her hands excitedly. We stopped and she threw her arms around Poe's neck. He smiled and chuckled a little as her momentum spun them around a little.
"Poe! You're back! I'm so happy to see you!" she squealed in a high pitched voice. Considering she was not a teenager, this had to be the usual female response he got from what was probably a fangirl. A little repulsed and slightly jealous, I decided I was close enough to my bunk and quietly kept walking. I could still hear her giggling flirtatiously from across the quad. Internally I gave a deep sigh of resignation. There was no way I was going to act like that to get his attention.