"Well, shit this is good," Poe said after he finished his first bite.

Kat chuckled, before tucking into her own sandwich. She smiled as the flavor hit her tongue and the warmth from the sandwich spread through her body. "These sandwiches were a special treat. Sure it's just cheese on toasted bread but I swear they use either special cheeses or butter because I could never recreate it at home."

Poe shook his head in disbelief. "You've been doing all of this since you were a kid. I'm surprised you're not a higher rank."

She just shrugged, mouth full from her latest bite. "I'm where I'm supposed to be."

Not too far from Ruby's, there was a square for people to gather. It was one of the bigger squares in the main hub of Coruscant. It held press conferences, festivals, and a fountain with the names of the fallen rebels. Rebellion Square was the official name but the locals called it Hope Park. It was believed that if one would toss a coin into the fountain, hope would be restored or a wish would come true. Kat was unsure if she and Poe really should be making their way towards the square but she had to see what had become of it.

She stumbled slightly when they arrived, seeing how run down it had become. The fountain wasn't running and people were climbing and sitting on it. No one was supposed to be doing that out of respect. Poe caught her arm, helping her regain her balance. "You, okay?"

Kat nodded before maneuvering herself against his side, resting her head on his shoulder. "Don't hate me," she whispered, "this is called Hope Park, well, technically it's Rebellion Square. I had to come see what it looked like now and if my parents' names were ever added to the fountain."

Poe let out a sigh. He couldn't fault her for wanting to know. He would have done the same thing if he was in her shoes. He led them over to the edge of the fountain so they could start looking for the names of her parents.

Kat took a deep breath to keep the tears at bay. They may have started to tolerate the other more but she was nowhere near comfortable enough to cry in front of him. She gave his side a squeeze as a silent thank you when they silently made their way towards the fountain.

They didn't have to travel far or anywhere near where the majority of people sat before they found where her family name was carved. There was Corla, her grandmother who was on the Tantive IV. Then underneath were Devyn and Lili, her parents. Next to the Metonaes was Raymus Antilles, Corla's uncle. A small smile tugged at her lips as she briefly touched the stone. Kat then lowered herself to the ground, tugging Poe with her.

He draped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side so they could look like a couple just enjoying a nice day. He hadn't quite expected her to snuggle in so close. He wasn't sure about her but ever since they landed, he had been thinking of small gestures that played into their cover. Well, maybe she had if her small kiss in the restaurant was anything to go by. He was just unprepared for how easy and natural it all felt. They had both spent so much time fighting each other that he had forgotten his thoughts about her when he saw her entering the base for the first time.

He just returned from a routine flight when Leia and another woman were walking through the hangar. The new face was taller than the general but then again so was he and he wasn't that tall of a man. She was beautiful and he knew he would be in trouble when he heard her laugh at something Leia had said. BB-8 had let out a low whistle, snapping the pilot out of it. "Shall we go say hello?" He asked his droid before getting out of the cockpit.

Hello didn't actually go as well as he had hoped. She seemed immune to his charms and he soon put his foot in his mouth. After Leia had introduced the two, he realized where he had heard the name before. She was the girl that Leia raised as her own daughter and who had gone on wild benders while in Naboo. They called her the party princess if his memory served correctly. "So what are you doing here, princess?" It was a simple enough question but one she did not appreciate.

"Whatever it is, it's not to waste my time on cocky pilots like you." She quipped back before walking away.

Leia just gave him a look and a pat on his shoulder as if to say, way to go before following after her daughter.

Thus started their constant back and forth. He didn't see her again for two weeks when she was named colonel over the navy. No one seemed happy about that because apparently in those two weeks she slept and then trained when she wasn't seen with Leia.

Now they were in the middle of a square that was supposed to honor those who had fallen in the Galactic War thirty years prior, cuddled up as if this was absolutely normal for them. He placed his head on top of hers and started to watch the people around them. This was something he could definitely get used to and that scared him a bit because it was Kat who he pictured curled up like this on a couch with him in a home enjoying the peace they had helped bring back to the galaxy.

"Wait, so does this mean you're related to Wedge Antilles?" Poe whispered as something else clicked in his head. Besides he didn't want to think anymore about how nice this was.

Kat started laughing. The question had broken her out of her own reverie. She really couldn't believe that the cocky pilot that she met on her first day arriving on base was the one providing her comfort right now. Silent comfort at that. He wasn't trying to fill the silence with words, he was just holding her and running his thumb across her arm. It was all very much like it was meant to be this way.

"Yeah, it does. I don't know if he knows I exist though since I've never met him." She finally answered after she calmed down from her shock.

"Well, again, I don't understand how you're not a higher rank."

"Well, again, I'm right where I'm meant to be." They locked eyes then, her words taking on a whole new meaning. It would be easy to just close the small gap between them. They were so close as it was. Poe just about took the leap, they could talk through things later when they weren't in any danger of blowing their cover until he noticed two men approaching. "Would there be a reason why two men are coming over here?"

Kat's eyes widened in fear as she stiffened next to him. It happened for the briefest of moments before the look she got on her face when she ran a mission took over, void of any emotions. "They probably just want to stir up some trouble."

She looked up as the men stopped in front of them. She locked eyes with the man closest to her feet and froze. Only Poe could tell something happened for just as soon as it did, she adjusted herself to sit up a little straighter. Kat came face to face with the man whose eyes still haunted her dreams.

The two men sneered down at the pair. "Do you know whose names you're sitting in front of?"

Kat shook her head. "No, but I'm sorry for your loss if you knew them."

The men started laughing and then Poe realized. These were the men that killed Kat's parents. They needed to leave, now.

"We always said that if we saw people sitting near the Metonae name, we'd tell the story of how they were traitors but there's something about you that says you might know that story. You see people usually just sit on the ledge but you two are sitting on the ground in front of it." The man closest to Kat said.

"Listen, we're just tourists. We thought it was a better backrest to sit on the ground than the actual ledge since we didn't really have a set time for how long we were going to stay. We didn't even realize there were names or that this fountain meant anything especially since it's not running." Poe spoke up, getting their attention off of Kat.

"If you're just tourists then why did you give condolences?" Well, that lasted long, Poe thought as the men returned their focus on Kat.

"I just assumed. That's usually why names are on things, to honor their memory but they could have also been donors."

The man who had eyes as dark as the night, the one that Kat remembered the most, snickered. "Oh, they were donors alright, just to the wrong cause." He then looked to his companion and motioned towards Kat. "Doesn't she look a bit like Lili Metonae?"

"Hey! Leave the tourists alone. When will you drop the whole Metonae thing? Their daughter would never come back so stop scaring them or we're never gonna get people to come here." Another man called out to the two men, who grumbled and walked away.

Both Poe and Kat gave their savior a grateful smile and a wave. Kat stood first, helping Poe up before dragging him away from the square, trying her best to look as casual as possible. When they were far enough away, she let go of his hand and just ran. Her heart felt like it was going to burst and her lungs weren't taking in the air she needed but she pushed and she ran because she had to get away.

Poe tried to catch her, keep her close but she broke free. "Shit." He mumbled under his breath before taking off after her. "Pip! Babe!" He shouted, hoping she'd stop. That didn't work. So here he was, chasing her through the streets.

They were coming up to a crosswalk when he noticed her slowing down. He thanked whatever gods there were that she wasn't going to try and dodge traffic. He pushed himself to run faster so she wouldn't get away or decide to turn instead of keeping with her straight path. He reached out a hand, taking hold of her arm to turn her around. "What is going on?" He asked before he even registered that tears were falling down her cheeks and her breathing was far more labored than it should have been.

She tried to pull away, not wanting to have a meltdown in front of him but he just held on tighter and pulled her into his arms. The more she struggled against him the tighter he held on. "Kat, stop. You don't have to be this put together leader. I'm not going to use this against you in any way."

She finally relaxed in his hold at those words. He would analyze that little piece of information later. "Let's get back to the room, huh? And we can work out everything there."

She nodded against his chest. Despite their similar heights she had managed to get consumed in his embrace. He hailed a cab, rattling off the hotel name and what floor they were on. Poe helped her out onto the balcony after he paid for the fare. He helped her sit and crouched down in front of her. "What can I do?"

"Did I just mess this up? The mission?" She clarified, wanting to focus on anything else besides her breakdown.

Poe shook his head, reaching up and wiping the remaining tears away. "No. In fact, I'm glad it happened today so the rest of the week we know to avoid that area."

"I shouldn't have taken us there." She sniffled.

He took her hands in his and gave them a small squeeze. "I would have done the same thing. Do you want to talk about it?"

Kat let out a sound that was a mixture of laughter and a sob. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell the full thing. We haven't reached the level of friendship where we share our tragic backstories." She tried to joke.

Poe chuckled. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

She shook her head. "No, no, you should know." She let out a small sigh. "Thank you for trying to distract them from me, by the way."

He brought her hands up to his lips and pressed a kiss to her fingers. "You weren't quite as defiant. I knew something was up." He tried to get her to smile while brushing off her thanks.

It worked. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips for the briefest of moments before she took a deep breath and started her story.

They were shopping, grocery shopping to be exact when the small family was approached by two men. They looked hungry like they could use some help. Her parents being who they were, offered it. They didn't get a chance.

Her parents weren't senators. Her parents weren't a part of the Rebellion. Her father was a businessman and her mother was a teacher. They sent aid to the Rebellion though and offered up information when they found something out. They were doing what was right and teaching their young daughter to do the same.

After Coruscant was liberated, they were celebrated as members who contributed. They were also honored because of who they lost in the war. She was sure that's how people found out who they were.

Despite the Empire no longer having control, sympathizers still lurked throughout the galaxy. They believed that the Empire was the best way, the right way to live. Most stayed silent, waiting for the day that they could come out of their holes while others did what they could to still be vocal within the laws of the New Republic. It was two of the latter that changed Katerina Metonae's life, forever.

The men stepped forward, placing blasters on her parents' stomach while they went on and on about how her parents took their family away. How they wanted Kat to know how they felt. Her parents couldn't even get the word run out before the blasters went off. Her parents dropped to their knees, still holding onto Kat's hands, doing their best not to show their daughter how much pain they were in.

The man who shot her father crouched down to Kat's level. All that was visible was his eyes, dark as the night. "It would be wise if you don't follow in your parents' footsteps." With that, the two ran off.

Kat was confused. What did that man even mean? Why were her parents now on the ground? That's when she saw the blood and how pale her parents had gotten. She dropped to her knees and grabbed the comlink out of her mother's pocket and began calling out to the authorities, trying to hold it together.

Her father patted her knee and smiled at her, growing more tired by the second. His head lulled to the side, not a second later, eyes drifting close. Her mom took Kat's hand and smiled. "It's going to be okay, sweet pea."

Despite the warm, wet feeling, Kat clutched her mom's hand tight. Not worried in the least bit that her hand was now covered in her mother's blood. "Don't go, mom. They're almost here." Kat said through her tears.

With her clean hand, she wiped away her daughter's tears. "Don't cry, Katerina. We'll always be with you. I love you so much." Her hand went slack as she took her last breath.

Sobs wracked Kat's small frame as she laid down in the street, holding both of her parents' hands. The bad thing about living on a planet that was a giant city was that hardly anyone walked on the actual street. The only noise that mixed with Kat's cries were those of the air speeders above her.

Kat leaned forward, resting her forehead against his after telling her story as if it took everything out of her. Poe removed his hands from hers and placed them on her arms, caressing them to try and give her some form of comfort. No wonder she reacted the way she did.

"I really hoped that I would never see them again." She whispered after a few moments of silence. "They took everything from me, you know? My life here was all that I knew and they took it from me because they thought the rebellion took something from them. They left me so I could feel like they did and for a while I did.

"I was suddenly in a life where my actions affected more than just my family and maker, I was such a little hellion. I'm surprised Leia even brought me under her wing. I was angry, so angry and I mean no wonder Ben thought he could bring me with him when he turned." She started laughing at what came to mind next, pulling back from Poe.

"They even told me to not follow in their footsteps! And you know what I did? I became a kriffing colonel for the kriffing resistance." It seemed that after she opened up she couldn't stop. She had even glossed over her betrayal with Ben, something she had promised herself to never speak of unless it was with Leia.

Poe was surprised, to say the least. He knew she had to have a story. Sure he also knew that sometimes things were as they were presented but she acted differently around Leia and then around Paige and Rose, especially Rose. She wasn't as guarded around them and now it seemed that she deemed him worthy enough to let him behind the steel walls she kept around herself. "Well, I'm glad to know that you not listening started out young." He teased her.

She shoved at his shoulder, smiling as she feigned being indignant. "Me? Look who's talking."

He smirked up at her, bringing his hands to rest on either side of her thighs. "Guess that just means we have more in common than we thought."

She rolled her eyes before watching as he stood. She half expected some kind of kiss and the way he was looking at her lips, it seemed like they were on the same page. He then turned away and she moved up to the headboard to do something other than think of how disappointed she was that twice now they didn't kiss.

It was silent between the two as he flipped through the room service menu. She didn't know why she felt like she needed to fill the space with noise but she apparently wasn't done with being vulnerable with him. "Thanks for not getting mad or anything."

How soft her voice sounded and the way she looked so nervous in the reflection of the mirror made his heart stutter. He wanted nothing more than to just wrap her up and tell her that everything was going to be okay. Instead, he just smiled at her. "Thanks for trusting me."

She returned his smile with one of her own. He thought he was in trouble before when hearing her laugh but seeing that smile that made her seem finally at ease and knowing that he put that there put him far deeper into trouble than he thought possible.

"Is there anything good in there?" She motioned towards the menu.

"Yeah, it's not too bad." He answered as he came over and joined her on the bed, sitting the menu between them.

They wound up with an entire spread in front of them. They may have fibbed a little and said that they were on their honeymoon so the hotel put in for a special. When the droid had rolled the cart in, Kat had gripped Poe's arm as she stared in disbelief. What had they just done? As soon as the door closed the pair burst out into laughter.

"Look at all this food!" Kat exclaimed.

"I mean, we might want to rethink the reason why we're here." Poe chuckled.

"You've seen it now. Is this somewhere you would really want to honeymoon?" Kat said as she started to make herself a plate.

"That's probably why they said it was free," Poe smirked over at her which resulted in a sweetberry being thrown at him. He chuckled as he picked the berry up and popped it into his mouth. "Do you want to open the champagne?"

Kat shrugged. "Might as well."

It should be known that Kat is not a lightweight. In fact, she earned Snap's respect by keeping up with him when the team had some hullstripper to share. But by the time that she and Poe finished the bottle of champagne, she was a giggling mess. "No! But you have to understand, he's like grumpy, really grumpy." Kat tried to showcase, mimicking the senator she was currently talking about but bursting into giggles each time she tried to make a grumpy face.

It was the most animated Poe had ever seen her. In his drunk state, he wondered if she could ever get this way without the alcohol buzzing through her veins. He couldn't help but laugh along with her each time she failed at looking like the senator she was telling him about. "Okay, so he's grumpy, then what happened?"

"Well, no progress was being made and he was just shutting everything down so I was just done with it, ya know?" She continued her story about her latest trip to Hosnian Prime to try and get some more resources and support since the First Order provided a very real threat. "So I," she paused for more giggling as she remembered the look of horror on the senators' faces, "stood on top of the table and let them have it." Her giggling turned into laughter.

"Their faces, Poe!" She laughed. "I've never seen faces so utterly shocked. But they had to know about how them just sitting on their asses was going to do more harm than good. And that meeting was going nowhere so I stood on a table, told them off, and sat right back down."

Poe joined in with her laughter easily. He could picture it clear as day because it wasn't too far off from something she did in a meeting with his squadron in the beginning. Then she had only stood on her chair but oh did she let them have a piece of her mind. He was sure it was then when his team started taking bets on how long it would take for them to get together. She probably let out a small groan underneath her breath, maybe even rolled her eyes before she climbed up on the table to look down on the senators that sat around it, letting them know how dire their situation was and how they needed to act. "How pissed was Leia?"

"Oh, I got a lecture on how to be more diplomatic." She giggled, shaking her head at the thought.

"I'm sure you did." He chuckled, moving over on the bed when he noticed her ready to flop back down on it.

Her head found a place on his shoulder, a yawn escaping her lips. "I'm tired. Are you tired?"

He chuckled, tucking some hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear. "Is that your way of saying it's time for bed?"

She nodded, eyes already drooping shut.

"Hey, hey, don't fall asleep on me now. At least come up to the pillows." He slowly sat up, pulling her along with him.

She let out a soft groan of annoyance before moving up towards the pillows on her own. She pulled back the covers and tossed away the pillows she didn't want, sending them to his side of the bed. Once she was situated, she nestled down into the blankets, eyes already closing. "Night, night, Poe."

He chuckled, working through all the extra pillows so he could climb into bed himself. "Good night, Kat."