The next morning, Poe stirred as something tickled his nose. Eyes still closed, his brow furrowed in confusion. He felt the dull ache of a hangover in his skull and why did his right arm feel like there were pins and needles in it? Then there was the question of the added weight on his chest, not enough to where he was pinned down but enough that he could feel a difference.

The tickle came again and this time he opened his eyes, figuring that whatever was happening he didn't have to continue to be asleep. He came face to face with a head full of brunette hair that was attached to a body that was curled up against his side, using his chest as a pillow. He didn't remember taking anyone back to his room last night and typically they were gone by the time he got up. Then again if that was the case, why were they both fully clothed?

He then remembered where he was. This wasn't just some one night stand. He was on a mission in Coruscant and lying next to him was his colonel, the woman who gave him a headache more times than not, the woman that was starting to grow on him. He slowly moved out from underneath her, not wanting to deal with her temper so early in the morning even if it was he who had reservations about sharing the bed. They'd have to do better and actually put up that pillow barrier because waking up like that was something he could not get used to.

She looked so peaceful. An expression he had never seen on her face when she was awake. The walls she had built around herself usually up but yesterday she had let him in. He pulled the blankets back up around her shoulders, letting her sleep for a while longer. She deserved it after everything she faced the day before.

Poe made his way down to the lobby where breakfast was currently being served. There was quite the spread laid out and he tried to remember what he had seen her eat on base. Seeing the various teas, he started there first, picking one that he had seen her drink before. As he poured himself a cup of caf, someone walked by with a yogurt parfait, his eyes lit up. He had definitely seen her eating one of those before with an ungodly amount of granola.

By the time he returned to their room, Kat had woken up. She sat in the middle of the bed, arms stretched above her head as she tried to work out the kinks she had picked up in her sleep. "I see you finally decided to wake up." Poe teased her.

"It is too early in the morning to deal with your shit, Dameron." She replied, walls firmly back into place.

He mentally sighed. He had hoped things would start to be different but it seemed like that was not going to be the case. "Well, then good thing I brought presents." He sat his cup and plate down on the dresser before handing her the bowl full of yogurt, granola, and fruit, and her cup of tea.

That earned him a smile and a soft thank you before setting her cup to the side and mixing her meal together. They ate in silence, both hiding smiles behind their cups. Hers because she was pleasantly surprised he had gotten her one of her favorite breakfasts. His, because he noticed that she realized he had made her meal exactly how she liked it. Maybe there was hope after all.

"So I thought we could go to Monument Plaza today before going to the Uscru District," Kat said after she had finished eating.

Poe nodded. "Do you want the shower first?"

Kat smiled. "Yes, please." She climbed out of bed and went to her bag, grabbing everything that she would need.

They claimed a table off to the side of the plaza. When they first arrived, they walked around the mountain peak, even reaching out to touch the rock that was protruding from the ground. Poe didn't understand the novelty behind it but he kept his mouth shut for once as he watched Kat reach out with a nostalgic look on her face. She touched it for barely a second before pulling her hand away and shaking her head. "I could use some caf, how 'bout you?" She turned to ask him.

"Yeah, sounds good." He motioned for her to lead the way.

Once they had settled, Poe looked at her thoughtfully. "You okay?" He finally asked. There was something off.

She turned to look at him from where she was watching those in the plaza. "Hmm?" She said as if he had pulled her out of her thoughts. Before he could reiterate his question it seemed to click for her. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She took a sip of her caf, hoping he would drop it. She had shared plenty with him yesterday, she didn't exactly want to bare her soul once again. She would have a few words with Leia when they got back to base.

Poe wasn't buying it. She seemed far too distant and it felt like she was trying to ice him out. He wasn't going to let that happen. He reached across the table and placed his hand on top of hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Talk to me."

They soon entered into a staring match, neither of them willing to budge. As the silence stretched on, Poe kept giving her various pleading and imploring looks to try and get her to crack. She just kept her steady glare but never pulled her hand away from his. He soon rolled his eyes, making Kat think she had won when he leaned forward on the table and gave her his best puppy eyes.

That made her finally crack. She let out a heavy sigh, looking down at her cup as she pulled back. "I guess I just never realized how much I repressed. This plaza turns into quite the spectacle for Life Day if my memory is correct."

"I can only imagine." He replied with a small smile. "You know if things get to be too much, all you have to do is say the word and we can go."

Her reaction was not what he had been expecting. Frustration covered her features. She was making one last effort to push him away, to keep him outside of her walls because she was so scared of what he could do to her heart if she let him in. "Why are you being so nice to me? We haven't gotten along since the day we met and now you act as though we've been friends for years. I nearly ruined everything the first day we were here and you haven't said a word about it."

"Is that what you want, Kat? To have our interactions to only be arguments?" He enjoyed a good banter and the two of them even had moments here and there, more so lately than in the beginning. He even enjoyed teasing her and ruffling her feathers a bit but the constant arguing was beginning to weigh on him a bit.

"It's safer that way." She stood, fully planning on walking away to gather herself so they could pretend to be Pip and Kit, a happily married couple so in love with each other. Of course, things didn't go as planned.

Poe reached out and grabbed her wrist. She spun back around, glaring at him but she didn't move to take her hand away and he didn't let her go. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I have suffered too many losses and been hurt by too many people. You cause such a stir in me already, I'm scared of what might happen if I let you in completely."

His hand went slack as he stared at her in awe. That had been the most honest she had ever been with him and he became utterly floored. He needed to talk to his father or maybe even Leia. Someone to help him wrap his mind around everything and how to maybe win Kat over.

She took that as her moment to make her getaway. She had surprised herself with how honest her answer had been and in true Kat fashion, she wanted to run far, far away from it. So she walked away with no real destination in mind.

Poe hurried after her once he realized she had left. He slid his hand into hers once he was close enough. She turned with a furious gaze to the person who interrupted her solitude. When she realized it was him, she let out a small sigh, relaxing a bit as she returned her gaze forward. He decided then, he would take whatever he could get.

That night they were seated in a booth at one of the clubs in the Uscru District. It was the perfect vantage point to keep an eye on the whole club. According to their intel, it was one of the few places that their contact hung around. Tension still hung between the two from their previous conversation. They played the part well though, sitting side by side, Poe's arm draped around her shoulders as they sipped on their drinks.

When Kat spotted their contact she smacked Poe's chest as she sat up straighter so she could see a little better. "There she is!" She whispered.

"I see her. I see her." He rubbed at the spot that she hit, chuckling softly.

She rolled her eyes, patting his hand as she kept watch, silently telling him that he'd live. She grew wary though when the man with the dark as night eyes approached her. It seemed like the two knew each other and that made her freeze up. Their contact was talking to one of the men who killed her parents. "I don't have a good feeling about the end of the week anymore." She said, looking up to Poe.

"You said he was just a sympathizer, right? He's not dressed in any sort of uniform and it seemed like he was in some sort of theft ring yesterday." Poe tried to ease her fears.

"Doesn't mean that he can't sell intelligence to the First Order. He could be a middle man for all we know."

"Touche. Let's just -" He stopped speaking when he saw their contact slide something across the bar to the man. "Okay, yeah, I don't have a good feeling about the end of the week either."

"We need to go. Contact base and make a plan from there. Ruby's people might know something too."

Poe nodded and led them outside of the club. He kept Kat close, blocking her from view and keeping his head turned slightly so it would be difficult to see his face. Once outside, Kat pulled away so she could hail a taxi but she only went as far as an arm's length away, keeping her hand in his.

When they got back to their ship, Kat dialed the number they used to scramble their communications before putting in the command center's number. "This is Navy Leader to base. Can you hear me base?"

"We read you loud and clear, Navy Leader." Leia's voice came through the comm speakers, causing Kat's face to light up. She had thought she was going to have to request for Leia to come over.

"Our fears were correct. Black Leader and I just saw our contact with a known consort of the First Order. How would you like us to proceed?"

There was silence for a few tense moments. Kat and Poe looked towards each other as they waited for a response. "Proceed as planned but make sure you are ready for any threat that may come your way."

"Copy that."

"May the force be with you both," Leia said before the comm clicked off.

Kat let out a deep breath before working to turn everything off. "You can go back to the room. I need to think through things."

"Then I'll just go check on things in the cockpit, make sure she's ready for a speedy getaway," Poe smirked as he walked past her.

She gave him an exasperated look as he passed causing him to chuckle. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was unaware that was an order, colonel."

Kat groaned and focused back on pulling her batons out of her bag. "I don't care what you do, just don't distract me." She then started to pace, twirling her batons at her side.

Their contact had turned on them. They had no clue what was on that drive and now they had to wait three more days until they met with her. Ruby was putting feelers out in her network and they would get an answer tomorrow. They of course were already planning on concealing weapons on their meet just in case but this just turned into a very real possibility that they'd have to use them. They would have to watch their backs without setting the contact off and then have to make a speedy, clean getaway so their base location would remain unknown to the First Order.

She needed a map of their meeting point or at least to go there so she could visualize all exit points they could use. Not to mention they'll have to check whatever they're given doesn't have a tracking device on it. She needed more information that she currently didn't have and it was driving her crazy.

The next thing she knew her batons were being taken from her and being replaced by a hand and a shoulder. She barely even registered Poe's quip of, 'okay, give me these.'

"I said don't distract me." She looked to him as he began to sway them around in a circle. When did the music start playing?

"You've been pacing this ship for the past five minutes. I'm surprised you haven't worn out the floor. Now talk to me. What have you been thinking?"

"What are you doing?" She asked instead.

"We're dancing. It's something my parents used to do. It keeps you moving like your pacing and then it allows you to talk through whatever is going through that head of yours." He said with a small shrug.

Kat let out a small sigh. He truly made it so difficult to keep her distance when he did something like this. "I don't think we have to change too much but the changes are big ones. We need to make sure we know our available exits like the back of our own hands. We'll more than likely have to use our weapons. Then of course we have to make sure that the drive or whatever it is that she gives us isn't a tracker."

"You did all that pacing for…" He trailed off before he realized. He chuckled softly, shaking his head as she lightly smacked his shoulder. "You were trying to plan out our escape, weren't you?"

Her cheeks became a rosy pink at how nonchalant he had asked his question as if he had known how she operated for years. Then again they had known each other for two but he never seemed to catch on before. Telling her all the time that she planned too much, that she took the fun out of it all.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." To tease her a little further he twirled her around before bringing her back into his arms again. When she still didn't retaliate, he smirked. "You act as though I've not seen you work for the past two years. You can plan out every worst-case scenario in your head but nothing you come up with is ever going to be what actually happens. I've teased you about that for years. We'll go tomorrow after seeing Ruby so we can walk the perimeter of the plaza so we can know our exits. Then we go about things as originally planned and use that instinct I know you have."

His smirk turned into a cheeky grin as he looked at her. "See, I can make plans too."

Kat rolled her eyes and pulled away. Picking up her batons, she gave his arm a slight tap before walking away. He leaned against the paneling as he watched her go. "I'm going to take that as a great plan, Dameron. Don't know why I didn't think of that."

"You are so obnoxious. Make sure you clean up before coming back inside." And with that, she was gone.