The following days seemed to run into each other, as Rey pushed through them with something akin to tunnel vision. She remembered seeing Poe's X-Wing take off the morning after their conversation in the mess hall, with one of their shuttles, the Shaman Trance, following. Inside that ship had been D'Acy and Aftab "Junior" Ackbar, who had also been invited to this meeting on Naboo. Poe had been confident they would not agree to being reinstated to the New Republic, either, but he wasn't about to tell them what to do.
Rey continued with her routine, such as it was. Up early to run the training course, shower, breakfast, then the rest of the day devoted to her students. A quick dinner before settling down to read through the texts or write up a plan for the children in the days ahead, another shower, and bed.
Shortly after her class had ended on the fourth day, she saw the Trance coming in for a landing. She hurried toward the landing field, searching the skies for the X-Wing she really wanted to see. She met D'Acy as the older woman was making her way back to the base. "How did it go?" she asked, trying to sound casual.
"Well, as we expected, Berreth offered both Junior and I high ranking positions in the New Republic fleet," D'Acy told her. "We both refused, of course, but the good news is that we both made some contacts while we were on Naboo that may just give us the backing we need to keep the Resistance strong for a long while."
Rey smiled. "That's wonderful!" she exclaimed. "And I'm glad both of you are staying. Not just because you're irreplaceable, but because I would miss you if you were gone."
D'Acy reached out and gave Rey a quick hug. "Thank you, Rey! The same goes for you and your students!" She paused. "We were all thinking that the reason they didn't ask you to come to this meeting was because they want to make sure you're successful in raising and training new Jedi first. Then they'll probably ask you to make your 'temple' an official New Republic entity." She cocked her head questioningly.
"That's not going to happen," Rey told her firmly. "Luke understood the faults of the Jedi of the past, and he made sure I recognized them, too. It's my hope this new generation of Jedi will be under their own control and not be beholden to any government."
"I like that answer," D'Acy said with a smile. She glanced behind her as Junior had finished locking up the shuttle and was heading their way. She looked back at Rey, saying, "Poe was planning on leaving right after us, so he should be here soon." The roar of a ship entering atmosphere startled them both. "Never mind," D'Acy said. "There he is."
Rey nodded and moved on past her and Junior, heading toward where she could see the X-Wing setting down. She was half-way there when BB-8 rushed toward her, chirping happily. She grinned at him, always delighted by the good-natured droid who had essentially adopted her as his 'mother' after her rescue of him on Jakku. "I'm glad you're home, too!" Rey answered him. "I was missing you both terribly," she told him as she squatted down in front of him, unconsciously checking his antennae and sensors. BB-8 bubbled more at her, and she frowned. "He didn't tell you anything?" she asked. BB-8 replied in the negative. She looked up and toward the X-Wing, surprised to see that Poe had yet to disembark. "I'll talk to him," she reassured the droid. He beeped in relief and rolled on past her, toward the base.
Rey stood and started walking toward the X-Wing, trying not to let worry take over. Her steps got faster the closer she got. She could see his canopy was up, his helmet and gloves off, but he was staring down at the control panel without really seeing it. He must have caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye, because his head jerked up and a huge smile lit up his face. Her racing pulse settled a bit. If just seeing her could cause that much joy, then whatever had happened couldn't have been too serious, right?
Poe got up and pulled himself from the cockpit. There was no scaffolding for him to climb on to get down, but he was used to that. He swung over the side and using an indentation on the body of the ship to step onto, he let himself jump gracefully to the ground when both feet were clear. He turned toward her and without hesitation gathered her up into a full-on hug. Rey wrapped her arms around him tightly, letting her chin rest on his shoulder. "Miss me?" she heard him mumble softly with just a hint of sarcasm.
She just nodded, knowing he could feel the movement easily as they embraced. They stood like this for quite some time, neither really caring to move. Finally, Poe pulled back just enough to look at her. His expression was worried. "Everything go okay while I was gone?"
"Shouldn't that be my question?" Rey countered. "What happened? You seemed down when I first saw you."
He shook his head. "Not down, really. Just thinking." He let go of her with one arm and started walking toward the base, keeping his other arm around her shoulders. She followed, leaving her arm around his waist as she walked with him. She waited for him to continue.
"They didn't bother asking me back," he told her. "They knew I had no desire to become a simple pilot in their new fleet when I controlled my own, now."
"Did they offer you a job like you thought?" Rey asked.
He nodded. "Yep," he told her with a smug look on his handsome face. "Apparently, they have no one in their new fleet that has any experience in battle," he told her. "They're all either kids just getting their feet wet in a cockpit or older pilots that haven't done anything but dodge First Order fire."
Rey lifted her head in understanding. "So, they want you to train them, am I right?"
"That's right," Poe answered.
They were silent for a while as they walked along, leaving the landing field and entering the main part of the base.
"When do you leave?" Rey asked softly.
"I have a couple of weeks before I have to report," he told her. "The pay will be very good, and better yet, I'll have a few days off every two to three weeks to come home." He stopped and turned toward her. "And it's only temporary. I only signed up for six months for now. I can renew the contract after that or not."
Rey nodded. "That's a good deal. They must have really wanted you." It was a good arrangement, and she couldn't have asked for anything better from the situation. Then why did she feel so unsettled by the news?
Poe seemed to sense her disquiet. "It might be good to not be in each other's pockets right now, don't you think?" he asked gently. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that?"
She gave him a glare. "Yeah, right."
"It'll be fine, Rey." He moved in closer to her, caressing her hips in a way that was becoming happily familiar. "I'm not ready to give up on us now that we've just begun. It just might take a little longer to confirm what I think we both know."
"And what's that?" Rey asked quietly.
"That you want my ring as much as I want to give it to you."
Rey sighed, still glaring at him, but not really meaning it. "You sound awful sure of yourself, Dameron."
He shrugged. "Overconfidence is my specialty," he said with a grin.
She grinned back, unable to help herself.
He turned again, keeping one arm around her waist this time, and continued walking. As he did so, it started to rain. Not hard, yet, but they both knew that was coming. Ajan Kloss was a tropical rainforest, after all.
"So, I was thinking," Poe continued, walking faster toward the mess hall, where they would find protection from the coming downpour. "Since I won't be getting any 'vacation' time for a while, we should go some place fun together before I leave."
Rey looked over at him. "What do you mean?"
"They have this huge annual festival on Sorgan," he continued. "I remember how much you enjoyed the one on Pasaana, even though we weren't there for fun, so I thought maybe you'd like to experience something like that without being pursued by the First Order or looking for some obscure Imperial artifact."
Rey smiled at him. "Yeah, I think I'd like that," she said. Then the two began to run as the skies opened up above them.