Chapter 5: Uncles Argue
The Chandrila night was still in Poe Dameron's main office as he set about polishing the many picture frames hanging on the walls - a cooldown from an exhausting day. Pausing the dish rag over one image, he smiled at it fondly, despite the tired lines in his face. It was a still from his and Zorii's wedding day, his wife beaming and the picture of a blushing bride while he puffed out his chest, proud as a peacock with one arm stolen around her.
The turn of the doorknob made Poe turn and descend from the small stepladder on which he had been perched. Finn dragged himself across the entryway, sinking into Poe's desk chair and propping his feet up on the Ajan Klossian mahogany.
"John in bed?" Poe grunted.
"Mmm-hmm," Finn mumbled, pinching his thumb and forefinger along the bridge of his nose. "Rey got him down round a half hour ago."
Poe nodded absently, mind taking him back through a replay of the explosive argument this afternoon. The silence hung thick, as Finn twiddled his fingers expectantly, waiting. When no further mention of Rey was forthwith on the part of the pilot, the ex-trooper huffed, swinging his feet off the desk to amble to his buddy's side. "In the morning, you go and apologize," he prompted.
Poe just snorted. "What's the kriffing point? Rey and I have argued like an old married couple ever since Crait."
"If that's how you describe bickering with your practically-sister, I don't even wanna know what your spats with Zorii are like," Finn side-eyed him, leaning away a bit.
Poe smirked. "It usually ends in stress-fucking with me on top..."
"I said I didn't wanna know!" Finn clamped his hands over his ears. "OK, smart ass, let me rephrase that: you are apologizing to Rey and to John - that's an order."
His Co-General laughed, waiting for Finn's expression to soften. It didn't, remaining placidly serious. Poe stuttered for a minute dazedly.
"I... I, uh... Oh, come on, Finn! I didn't say anything that wasn't true!"
"True or not, it was still uncouth and presumptuous!" Finn scolded. "Political incorrectness doesn't suit you, Poe."
"Oh, darn, I forgot my holodictionary," Poe jeered sarcastically.
"You know kriffing damn well what I mean!" Finn frowned hard. "We've never held anything against Rey regarding her parentage, so why should we act any differently in the case of the boy?"
"She's too blind to see it - there's too much Vader in him! And Sidious! But most of all, he's... he's him," Poe shuddered. "In every single direction, he's Kylo everywhere!"
"That is how genetics work," Finn quipped dryly.
"Can you skip to the end of the lecture where you make your point?"
"My point is, you expect Rey to be leery of her own son? Poe, she's his mother! He could have come out of her clad in Vader's mask and she would still be hopelessly in love with the kid! And no matter whether you or I or anyone else accepts it or not, Rey loved his father." The darker-skinned man stuck a finger in Poe's face. "You fix this - tomorrow. Rey told me that John was really upset, and even though she was doing a fine job of hiding it, I could tell she still is, too!" He sighed. "But you're not going to be any use to me sitting there stewing while you work up the humility to apologize to our best friend. So, for tonight... I don't know, I thought we'd hit the town and do something together."
"What, drinking and shooting ion blasters in the firing range all night? - GYAHH!" Poe made a frustrated noise. Eyes flicking to his right, he pointed sharply at something beside them, mounted on the filing cabinet. "Do you know what that is?"
"It's... a bucket?"
"Yes, and do you know why I have this bucket?"
"Because the roof is leaking?"
"No - that's the bucket for the leak," Poe shifted his index finger to a similar bucket on the first one's immediate right, which was catching the steady drip, drop from a blaster-sized hole in the drywall. "I have this one... because it belonged to my father." He held it up, stroking it reverently, almost in awe. "Every day, for thirty years, he worked his tail off washing X Wings just so I could make something of myself... every day, Finny - just for me."
"Wow." Finn sat back. "Sounds like a great dad." Thinking for a minute, he laid a hand on Poe's shoulder.
"You didn't squander the opportunities that your dad gave you - well, except for that phase where you were getting high off of running spice, but you met your wife doing that, so I suppose it was worth something. In any case, John won't squander the opportunities that Rey gives him. She's given everything for that little boy. And if he were here right now... Ben would have, too. Rey's always said how it wasn't fair for Ben's family to expect him to become like Vader - and it's not fair to John if we always walk around fearing he'll become like Kylo Ren. Rey fell in love and had a child with Ben - not Kylo. John is Ben's son. Just like you are your father's son." And Finn left Poe standing there and pondering an empty bucket.