A/N: This chapter is absolutely nothing but fluff and happiness—the rest of the chapters I've been working on (and the ones already posted) are…not. I hope that you enjoy a nice lengthy (fourteen pages…not sure if I should say I'm sorry or you're welcome?) look at these two and part of their beginning!
She was eighteen when he cupped her face in his hands and pressed his forehead up against hers and swore that he loved her, and she could have melted right there into her boots.
Her mother should be elated, she thinks. They had fought, so many times, despite her mother's own service, over Aviya's decision to join the Republic Navy instead of staying home and getting married and raising a family like her sisters.
And here Aviya is, just a year later, barely eighteen, back on Naboo, with Poe Dameron in tow.
Poe Dameron, twenty-one, Republic Navy pilot, who splits his time between flying among the stars and wrapping his warm, strong arms around Aviya when they come back to base at night.
The whole family is waiting for them as soon as they step off of the transport, and Aviya is grateful that she and Poe had changed—he had whistled in appreciation as she stepped out in her green dress, so used to seeing her day in and day out in her military fatigues.
They greet Aviya enthusiastically, and Poe politely. He greets her parents as "Lady and Captain Rimaro" and there's a sort of gravity behind Iva and Tua Rimaro that makes Poe feel like he needs to stand at attention before them.
Aviya had been expecting—or, hoping—that her niece, Yanna, would run to her with shouts of "Tia!" but the toddler girl does not recognize her after a year away, and Aviya has never met baby Ro, son of her middle sister.
Laiyla and Rylan and Safiya and Zidan are pleasant and smiling, as sisters and brothers-in-law always are, and Zidan looks particularly excited to meet a man who is newer to the Rimaro family than he is, even after several years of marriage to Safiya, and now, a baby.
"He is handsome," Laiyla says as the sisters huddle together.
"Devilishly handsome," Safiya winks. "That flyboy is going to get you in trouble, little bird."
(Sneaking into his room in the middle of the night is definitely going to get her in trouble with Mamá and Papá, but she sleepily presses her face into his chest and Poe sighs and quietly says, "Force, that's good" in a voice rough with drowsiness and there is nothing Mamá and Papá could ever do that is bad enough to make her sleep without him.)
At dinner, Aviya nudges Poe quietly to direct him to which silverware to use. He's never seen so much at one meal before, and he's grateful when one of the sisters starts to giggle and Aviya glares at her across the table.
"Your parents served the Rebellion?" Tua, Aviya's father, asks.
Poe nods. "Dad was a Pathfinder; Mom was a pilot. And the two of you as well? Did you ever know them?" he asks, hope tinging his voice.
"They were spies," Safiya says teasingly. "And now so is our sneaky little bird."
Tua gives a single, solemn nod. "We didn't cross paths with many others in the Rebellion, sadly," he explains. "We worked out of Naboo—things were a little more lax on Naboo during the Empire, since it was—since this was the Emperor's home world. I do not think we knew any Damerons," he says, looking to his wife for confirmation.
"My mother went by her maiden name," Poe offers. "Shara Bey."
Tua and Iva both stiffen at the name, looking like they've seen a ghost.
"Shara…Bey?" Iva asks.
"Yeah, she was a pilot," Poe says.
Iva puts a hand over her mouth, gathering herself. "Lieutenant Bey saved Naboo."
"What?" Aviya asks, incredulous.
"After the Empire," Tua begins, "the Emperor had some kind of contingency plan. He had installed satellites above Naboo, disrupting the climate. There were all kinds of natural disasters. Senator Organa came here, to aid Queen Soruna—and Lieutenant Bey came with her."
"Lieutenant Bey destroyed the satellites," Iva finishes, Poe's eyes impossibly wide. "And then met up with us in Theed, to finish taking out the surviving Imperials who were hiding there." She smiles at Poe. "Lieutenant Bey was so brave, and so kind. We talked about how we both had children, and we were fighting for them. I'll never forget her. How is she nowadays?"
Poe swallows hard. "She died when I was eight, ma'am."
Aviya puts her hand on Poe's thigh under the table, rubbing it soothingly.
"Oh, my," Iva says. "I am so sorry."
"Yeah, I—excuse me." Poe gets up, jostling the table in the process, and leaves the room, Aviya immediately standing up, worry evident on her face, to follow behind.
"I'm okay," Poe says as soon as she enters the living room—he's standing behind an armchair, holding on to the back of it, his head bowed.
Aviya moves next to him, rubbing circles into his back. "I know."
He blinks back tears. "I just—I've never heard that story before."
She smiles. "Me either."
"And just—fuck, I miss her. Even now."
"Of course you do, my love."
"I'm okay," he repeats, and he sniffs, and Aviya pushes herself in front of him, and he lets her in between his arms. She reaches up and tenderly wipes his tears away with her thumbs, then strokes the stubble on his jaw.
"I'm glad you got to hear that story," she says gently.
"Yeah, me too."
"I wish I was going to meet her in a few days, too," she adds.
Poe moves his hands to her waist, dipping down to kiss her forehead. "Me too, sweetheart," he whispers against her temple. "Me, too."
"Ugh." Aviya turns her face away from him. "Bantha breath," she teases.
In response, Poe pushes his face into the back of her head, kissing her hair.
"We have to get ready for breakfast," Aviya says, trying to wriggle out of his grip.
"Get…ready…for breakfast?" Poe asks, drowsy and confused.
"Yeah, we have to get dressed, I have to do my hair—though I'm sure Mamá will just redo it later. You should wear that green shirt," she suggests. "And put some of that good smelling stuff in your hair."
"For…breakfast?" Poe repeats stupidly. At home, he rarely even put a shirt on to eat breakfast with his dad.
"I warned you," she explained, "that they take decorum very seriously. I guess that's what happens when you serve the queen for so many years." She rolls her eyes.
"Wow," Aviya says, taking in Poe. "You look so handsome in Naboo clothes."
"I know." She rolls her eyes, and he gestures at her. "Look who's talking."
She spins, the light fabric of her dress fanning out around her.
"Wow. So pretty. I'm not used to seeing you like this."
"Pretty?" she asks, eyebrows raised, and Poe splutters.
"What? No. I meant—I meant, in a dress like—you are always beautiful," he says, which feels like a drastic understatement, but she's laughing, and he knows she was teasing him—relentlessly, as always.
"You swear like a pilot, little bird," Iva scolds, and Aviya and Poe both blush.
Aviya emerges from another room with her mother, and Poe cocks his head, analyzing her new hairstyle.
She had explained once that her mother was a queen's handmaiden, and always did the queen's hair and that of the other handmaidens, and so she enjoyed styling her daughters' hair in elaborate, traditional ways.
"How am I supposed to undo that tonight?" he wonders aloud, and Zidan fixes his eyes on Poe.
"You undo her hair at night?" he asks, brow raised.
Poe nods. He's been undoing her simple, utilitarian braids for months in the dark of his quarters.
"That's… that's a big deal," Zidan says.
Poe then understands why Aviya had trembled the first several times he had done it, but he knows that he wants to do it every night for the rest of his life.
"Little bird," he muses, repeating the nickname he's heard from her family, untangling one of her many braids and ribbons, his hands so gentle, the moment so intimate.
He puts one his hands on her shoulder, unsure about the much more complicated hairstyle, rubbing the back of her neck with his thumb.
"Are you okay? Am I hurting you?"
"No, I'm okay." He can feel the smile in her voice, and she relaxes.
This day at the lake is going to finish him, Poe is sure of it.
Sure, he's seen all of Aviya's skin before. Memorized it.
But not here, glowing in the sun, splashing in the water, her head tilted back in laughter. He has never seen anyone so radiant, anyone so beautiful.
What's going to finish Aviya is Poe standing in the water across from Rylan, each of them taking turns throwing Yanna into the water, the little girl giggling with complete glee as she swims up to a bare-chested Poe, begging "again, again!"
A while later, Poe walks up the beach, and Ro, crawling unsteadily on the sand, loses his balance and rolls onto his back. Before the baby can even cry at the realization that he's no longer upright, Poe scoops him up and holds him close, cooing softly at the infant.
A few feet away, Aviya, sunbathing with her sisters, throws her arm over her eyes with a groan.
"That too much for you, little bird?" Laiyla teases.
"I think our children have found their Tio," Safiya says. "If their Tia doesn't self-combust from lust."
"Oh, Poe, yes, yes!" Laiyla mimics.
Aviya reaches out with her foot and kicks at whoever she can reach, and up the beach, Poe grins at her, brilliantly, his skin shining from the sun and the lake water.
Fuck, she thinks.
Laiyla stands at the counter, cutting up melon, and Aviya reaches over to grab a piece.
Without warning, Laiyla spins, and presses her knife against Aviya's throat.
With a shout, Poe jumps up from his chair, knocking it over in the process. Aviya and Laiyla are a flurry of brightly colored skirts, and before Poe can interfere, Aviya is sitting on Laiyla's chest, the knife now pressed against her oldest sister's throat.
"You thought I would get worse after joining the Navy?" Aviya asks.
"I hoped you would have something new to show me," Laiyla shrugs as Aviya moves off of her and helps her up.
Poe looks between them, open-mouthed, and then collapses back into his chair. "Kriff."
(It suddenly makes sense, now, the first time they met—they were set to spar against each other, and Aviya took him down in a matter of seconds. As he laid underneath her, he could only look up at her—much smaller and much newer than him—and ask "how?" to which she had replied, with the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, "I have two older sisters.")
"This family keeps you on your toes," Rylan commiserates, patting Poe on the shoulder.
"She was always the best at hand-to-hand combat," Tua says proudly.
"Yeah, Papá, that's why she joined the Navy of the whole Republic," Laiyla says.
"Best with a blaster, too," Aviya points out, and Laiyla rolls her eyes.
"That is contested."
"Want to contest it now?" Aviya asks, eyebrows raised.
"I think that's enough for today," Tua says. "We don't want Mr. Dameron here to have a heart attack."
"How old is Poe?" Zidan asks curiously.
"Twenty-one," Aviya answers. "And already one of the best pilots in Navy."
"In the whole Republic Navy?" Zidan asks, cynical.
"Yes. You should see him in an x-wing," she says dreamily.
"Ugh," he says, looking at her mooning. "No thank you."
After lunch, Poe and Zidan disappear for a few hours, and when they come back, Poe stands in front of Aviya, looking awfully nervous.
"I, um." He rubs the back of his head. "I have something to show you."
"Yeah?"
He looks sheepish, and she cocks her head to look at him with intent curiosity.
"They call you 'little bird'," he says matter-of-factly, and she nods in confirmation. "And there's… Avi Birds. Here."
She nods again, and he blushes, embarrassed to be reduced to monosyllables and stupidity, but she turns him to jelly.
"I, uh. I did something?" he says, sounding unsure.
She furrows her brow a little, almost afraid to ask, knowing him. "What…what did you do?"
He reaches for the neck of his shirt, pulling it down to reveal a black tattoo over his heart.
"It's—"
"An Avi Bird," she says, hushed and incredulous, reaching out to lightly touch it, and the brush of her fingertips makes his heart skip a beat or seven.
"Yeah. Yeah, it is. Um. Do you like it?"
"Poe?" she asks.
"It's for you," he whispers, and it feels obvious, but she seems—overwhelmed.
"It—yeah?"
"Yeah."
He drops his hand from his collar, and a glimmer of disappointment shoots through Aviya's stomach now that she can no longer see the tattoo. She wanted to look at for the rest of her life. For her! He got a tattoo! Over his heart! Permanent! For her!
She's giddy and lightheaded as he steps closer to her. And closer, until they're toe-to-toe and she has to force her eyes up, to look up at him, and his eyes—they're too much. There's too much tenderness in them, too much intensity in the way he's looking at her, and she can't stand it.
"Aviya," he says quietly, reverently like a prayer, reaching up to cup her face in his hands.
"P-Poe."
She can't help the tears in her eyes, and he smooths his thumbs over her cheeks, and leans in to kiss her, sweet and gentle and delicate, finding all of the familiar contours of her mouth.
They pull apart, breathless, foreheads still pressed against each other.
"I love you," Poe says, and even those all-important words somehow don't seem deep enough. "Do you know that?"
"I know," she breathes, lightheaded. "I know."
Poe leans back a little, looking out, shielding his eyes from the sun.
"You weren't wrong about the sunsets over the lake," he says.
"I am not wrong about many things."
When he looks over at her, her eyes are closed, her head leaning back against the wall of the transport, and something twinges in Poe's chest.
"Avi?" he asks, unsure. "You okay? Did you—you could have stayed with your family," he says, reaching for her hand, to stroke her thumb with his own.
(It was so selfish of him, to give her only four days with her family on her first furlough in a year—her first year, just because he wanted to drag her to spend three days with Kes Dameron.)
"No, no," she says, shaking her head. "I am so excited to meet your father. I'm just…" she shrugs. "Just tired. We've done a lot of traveling."
He exhales, relieved that he hasn't caused her sadness.
"Come here," he says, wrapping his arm around her, curling her into his chest, almost protectively. "We still have a few hours," he tells her, kissing the top of her head. "Sleep, my love."
Kes Dameron and his son embrace enthusiastically, clapping each other on the back. Aviya is a bit worried that they might topple over from the force of their greeting.
"Aviya!" Kes shouts as he pulls away from Poe, his arms outstretched. Aviya can't help but to run into them, giggling, and Kes squeezes her tight, fatherly, making her feel safe and warm and right at home. His eyes and smile are the same as Poe's, and she grins so wide her cheeks hurt.
Poe could explode with happiness at watching his two favorite people in the universe embrace.
He doesn't have words for how she makes him feel on Yavin.
He thought he was seeing her—the real Aviya—on Naboo, in flowing dresses and elaborate hairstyles, with her parents and sisters. But here, on Yavin, she's wearing leggings and one of his shirts as a tunic, sleeves rolled up, her hair only half tied up with a ribbon, loose around her shoulders, her skin is tan from the Naboo sun and glowing from the Yavinese humidity, and she's just sitting outside, talking with Kes and smiling and he is undone.
"So, what's going on in the world of Republic espionage?" Kes asks Aviya.
"Not much, for a first year," she sighs. "I did track down some spice runners last week," she says, looking pointedly at Poe, who kicks her shin under the table.
"Her parents knew Mom," Poe says suddenly, whether to distract attention from the 'spice runner' comment or because it's been at the forefront of his mind since before their arrival.
"Really?" Kes asks.
"She saved Naboo. She saved my whole planet," Aviya says, in awe.
Kes smiles. "Shara was like that."
"Mom and Aviya's parents got the Imps out of Naboo," Poe continues. "And they remembered her. Remembered her talking about me."
Kes looks far away. "That's…that's amazing. She was amazing." He seems to come back, a little. "And your parents, Aviya? They're well?"
"Oh, yes."
"And you have sisters?"
She nods. "Two, and two brothers-in-law, and a niece and a nephew."
"Wow." Kes smiles. "Big family. And they served the queen of Naboo and the Rebellion? Impressive."
"I ate with more silverware at one meal than we own," Poe says, "but I also watched Aves and her sister get into a knife fight, so." He shrugs, looking at Aviya with mischief in his eyes. "Weird. Explains a lot about this one."
Aviya sticks her tongue out at Poe. "Nerfherder."
He lets them share a room because, well, Kes Dameron has never worked for a queen.
"No braids," Poe muses, disappointed, as he sits behind her on the bed.
She shakes her head, reaching up to untie the ribbon holding part of her hair back, but Poe's hands on her wrists stop her.
"Let me. Please," he says, untying it himself. Her dark hair falls around her shoulders, down to her waist, impossibly soft and gently curly, and Poe can't help but run his fingers through it, careful of any tangles.
"Doesn't mean you can't do that," she says, eyes closed in pleasure.
He nods, carefully working his hands through the knots, occasionally rubbing her scalp or her neck or her back, and she honest-to-gods purrs under his hands, and, kriff, his dad is sleeping one room over.
So, instead, he wraps his arms around her, smoothing her hair out of the way so that he can press his face into her neck, pressing hot, open mouth kisses he hopes are comforting into her skin.
She can feel the heat from his bare chest through her thin tank top, and she sighs, leaning up against him, moving her small hands to hold his large, calloused ones.
"Don't let go," she whispers, and he glides his nose over her ear in response.
"Never."
Aviya walks with Kes, learning about all of the farmland and the life he keeps up on Yavin IV.
"Are you lonely?" she blurts out suddenly, then covers her mouth in embarrassment.
He smiles fondly at her. "Lonely?"
"I'm sorry, I just—"
"It's okay, Aviya."
"It's just that my parents never wanted me to leave, and they have each other and my sisters and their families, and I—it was just you and Poe, and now it's just you."
"I do miss him," Kes says. "But I always knew he would only be happy in a cockpit."
Aviya nods. "That's true. He was made for it."
"It can be lonely, a life like that." Kes smiles. "I'm glad that his is not."
Aviya sitting under the Force Tree is somehow everything Poe could have ever imagined and also so much more.
"What are you thinking about?" he asks quietly, sitting next to her.
"I love it here," she shrugs. "Thank you for bringing me."
He takes her wrist in reply, feeling her pulse under his fingers, insistent and alive.
"This is a Force Tree," he explains after a moment. "It was a gift to my parents, from Luke Skywalker."
Her eyes widen at the mention of the legendary name. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Wow. Your parents…they did so much for this galaxy."
"It's a lot to live up to."
"You're doing a fine job so far, sir." She leans her head on his shoulder. "You make it so easy to love you."
"There's something I want—something I need to show you," Poe tells her, sliding his fingers down to tangle with hers.
She follows, the tight grip he has on her hand communicating that whatever this is, it is deeply important.
He opens the barn doors to reveal an old A-wing, one that looks like it's been gathering dust—probably since Poe was last home.
"This was my mom's," he says, putting his hand on the cool metal of the ship. "She taught me how to fly in this thing—I would sit in her lap, and we would—" He bows his head, emotion choking at his voice, unable to continue.
Aviya closes the few steps of distance between them, putting a hand on Poe's waist, rubbing his side soothingly.
"I'm okay," he says.
"My whole planet," Aviya says, still juggling with the story she'd been told of Shara Bey. "She saved my whole kriffing planet."
"She was the best pilot ever," Poe says, leaving no room for argument. "And the best Mom."
Poe puts his hand on her upper arm, pushing her sideways so that she stands in front of him, pinned between his body and the A-wing. Aviya reaches out and puts her hands on his chest, then slides them up to his face, wiping away a tear sliding down his cheek.
"Thank you for showing me this," she says, "for telling me about her." He nods, and she tangles a hand in his hair, weaving her fingers into his curls, tugging gently. "I love you, you know. I love you."
"You have no idea, little bird."
She scrunches her nose. "Don't call me that. My parents call me that."
He smiles, chuckling softly. "I love you— my darling, my heart, my life."
She scrunches her nose again, and it's so adorable that all he can do is kiss it.
"Dramatic," she scolds.
"Most people would call that sweet."
"Dad, I, um." Poe clears his throat. "I want to give her mom's ring."
"Here, son."
Kes immediately pulls the ring out of his pocket and presses it into Poe's hand, and Poe is a speechless for a moment.
"How—"
Kes shakes his head. "I was getting afraid you weren't going to ask for it before you left. I was going to give it to you anyway, because that girl—that girl is the one."
"Marry me. Please."
He was supposed to wait—he was going to get the ring while they were on Yavin, take it back to Hosnian Prime, and propose there. He was going to make sure it was special, magical. The right moment.
He was going to give some grand speech, about how wonderful she is, how much she means to him, the life he wants to live, her always by his side.
But he can't wait anymore, and the words just come tumbling out as they make breakfast in his dad's kitchen, hours before a transport will take them back to base.
She freezes, looking at him like maybe she hadn't heard him correctly.
"Aves?" he asks, voice small, and she turns to him with wide dark eyes.
"You're—really?" She's trying very, very hard not to cry until she knows that he really meant to ask her, but tears are evident in her voice and he moves slowly, unsure.
He pulls his mother's ring from his pocket and shows it to her.
"It was Mom's," he explains.
"You want to marry me?" she whispers, and he closes the distance between them, pins them up against the counter, takes her chin in his fingers and looks into her eyes, the terrified feeling that had been in his stomach moments before replaced by a steady sureness.
"More than I could ever want anything in the galaxy," he says. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Aviya Rimaro. I—gods, I love you."
She is crying now, earnestly, and he pulls her to his chest.
"Will you please marry me?" he asks softly, gently.
"Yes, Poe. Oh, gods, yes!"
"Oh, good," he says, relieved.
A/N: This was fun (I hope for you also!) but I am very ready to get back to to all of the angst!