"Kriffing, karking, bantha shit!"
Poe startles awake at the sound of his wife shouting. He looks around wildly for a moment, briefly disoriented from the rude awakening. Blinking a little stupidly, Poe reaches for the chrono on his nightside table and squints at the display, frowning when he realises just how late he's actually slept.
"Might as well get up," he mumbles tiredly, swinging his legs out from under the covers and padding to the 'fresher to shave and tame his wild nest of bed-head curls. Scratching a hand over his scalp, Poe muses that maybe it's time for a haircut.
He lingers a little at the sink, until, "Oh kark me! Kriff, kriff, kriffing..." and the cursing fades off, much to his amusement.
Poe follows the string of curses to the kitchen, yawning and ruffling at his hair. The ends of his curls tickle at the back of his neck. Definitely time for a haircut.
"Hey, what's with the smuggler language?" he asks, leaning against the doorframe casually. He takes in the scene - the smoke coming from the stove, the mess of flour and broken eggs on the counter - and then his gaze lands on the four people huddled around the stove.
Rey and their children all look up at him with matching expressions of guilt. Well, Rey looks guilty, the kids all have varying expressions of shock and anticipation on their adorable faces.
"Mama burned the eggs," Maddix reports cheerfully, dropping off of her step stool and running into Poe's arms. He catches the four-year-old easily and holds her on his hip. Maddix loops her arms around his neck and nuzzles close, petting his hair like he's a Loth-cat. She's affectionate, their youngest. Until her little fingers start tangling in his hair instead of stroking it. Poe winces against the slight pull.
"That so?" Poe asks, a lazy grin spreading across his face. His eyes twinkle with mischief as he looks at Rey. She rolls her eyes and pouts.
"They're not burned," she corrects forcefully, if not a little playfully. "They're just..."
"Burned", Bey supplies, laughing. He ducks out of the way of Rey's hand as she reaches out to pinch his ear. "Mom!"
"Don't 'mom' me, you little traitor," Rey laughs. "You said you could watch the eggs." She darts around the kitchen island, grabbing Bey around the middle and tickling him. Their son shrieks with laughter.
"Mom! Stop! I'm seven, I can't watch eggs!" he laughs, defending himself, squirming in Rey's arms. Poe and the girls watch in amusement as mother and son battle - a fairly common occurrence in the Dameron household, especially now that Bey's learning more and more how to hone his Force abilities. Luna munches on a piece of koyo melon and Poe reaches out to wipe the juice from her face with the sleeve of his shirt. The purple juice stains Luna's cheeks and leaves a splotchy pattern on his sleeve. She grins at him, the conspiratorial look in her eye ruined somewhat by the slight purple tint to her teeth. Poe winces - they're definitely going to have to make sure she brushes well after breakfast.
Rey tickles Bey more, "Tell everyone the eggs weren't burned," she says, grinning.
"Fine!" Bey throws his hands up, "the eggs were fine!" Rey finally relents, releasing Bey and ruffling his hair before dropping a kiss to his dark curls.
"Good boy," she teases, ignoring the semi-annoyed scowl he shoots at her back. "Told you," she says to Poe, smugly, "the eggs are fine."
He grins back just as smugly and points at the stove. "But the moon cakes aren't."
Sure enough, there's a steady plume of black smoke rising from the pan that holds what was presumably supposed to be another part of their breakfast.
"Kriff!" Rey curses, jumping to flip off the burner. Luna gets up from the table and waves a towel at the smoke, laughter threatening at her lips. The kids are used to smoke whenever Rey cooks and sometimes make a game of who can get the smoke to dissipate the fastest. Rey narrows her eyes at the charred batter and waves her hand - the pan jumps into the air and dumps its contents into the trash bin. She points at Poe and each of the children in turn and growls, "don't say a word, any of you."
Poe holds up his free hand in the Basic gesture for surrender, Maddix giggling into his neck. "Wasn't gonna say a thing, Sunshine." His smile is too smug for Rey's liking and she 'humphs' before snatching a mug off of the counter and taking a long, fortifying gulp from it.
"So," Poe finally asks, "what was up with this breakfast display?" He settles Maddix on her seat at the table and begins cutting up some star fruit for her.
Luna and Bey look at him with wide eyes. Luna pipes up, incredulously, "Papá, it's your birthday!"
Poe looks up from the fruit he's cutting, a little startled. "It is?" he asks and his shock is genuine. He'd spent much of the past week travelling and hasn't quite gotten back on schedule. It was easy to lose track of the days while in hyperspace.
Rey giggles and confirms the date. "It is, my love. A whole forty-five years old today," she leans forward and kisses him sweetly. "Didn't you notice that we let you sleep in?"
Laughing at his own obliviousness, Poe replies, "I thought you were just taking pity on a poor tired General on his day off."
"Nope," Rey confirms. "Just keeping the birthday boy out of the kitchen while we make him breakfast."
Luna pouts sadly, "But mama burned breakfast."
Rey rolls her eyes and Poe squats in front of their middle child, cupping her cheeks in his hands. "It's okay Lunita, it's the thought that counts."
The little girl looks cheered by Poe's smile and sincere words and she throws her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. "Me an' Mama an' Bey thought you'd like breakfast. But not Maddix because she's still little," her voice is serious, and Poe bites down on a laugh.
"Well, I love the thought. How about you share some koyo with your old papá and we'll forget all about burned eggs?" he suggests, opening and closing his mouth teasingly. Luna nods and squeals with delight when Poe pretends to bite her fingers when she offers him a piece of melon.
Bey cuts in, "Can we give you your presents, papá?"
"Presents?" Poe's enthusiasm is genuine. Forty-five Standard years old and he's still excited for presents.
Bey and Luna yelp excitedly, darting out of the kitchen, and Maddix shouts from her chair, "I wanna get my present!" Rey lifts her out of the seat and she runs off too, finally leaving husband and wife alone in the kitchen. Poe stands and pulls Rey close, kissing her gently. "This is the best birthday," he tells her, resting his lips gently against her forehead.
"Even with the burnt food," she asks, laughing quietly.
"Especially with the burnt food," Poe returns, dipping his head to kiss her again. She grins into the kiss, her fingers slipping into his hair and tugging, a promise for later.
Rey pulls back, sensing the kids' return, and teases, "You haven't even gotten presents yet. So let's see how the birthday tides turn."
Poe's forehead crinkles in confusion. "Why would they turn?"
With an evil little laugh, Rey informs him that the kids had each picked out their own present for him. Oh, Poe thinks, this could be interesting.
The kids reappear in the kitchen - a commotion of sound and brightly wrapped packages - swarming around Poe. He laughs delightedly, sitting down on the floor and leaning his back against a cabinet, "Okay, okay you little womp-rats. One at a time."
"Me!" Maddix flings herself into Poe's lap and as the baby, her older siblings roll their eyes, but let her go first. Poe takes the gift bag she offers and makes a big show of ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the figurine from Maddix's favorite holo-toon. She beams in his arms, explaining all about the character and Poe looks up at Rey, enjoying the way she's smothering laughter.
"Aw, enough already," Bey complains, nudging at his baby sister's thigh with a socked foot "Let the rest of us have a turn."
Maddix's face turns red and she opens her mouth to start fighting back, clearly not ready to give up Poe's undivided attention - Maker, the little one is sometimes more scavenger than Rey had been, always ready for a fight - when she's interrupted by a chime at the door. Poe looks up and silently asks Rey a question. She shrugs, purposefully blocking him mentally because she knows exactly who's at the door.
BB-8 wakes from his corner in the living room and whirrs excitedly, punching the code to open the door. Poe can't actually see the door from his angle on the floor and wonders who would be coming over this early on his day off.
It slides open and a familiar voice says, "Did I miss the cake?"
"Abuelo!" Three little voices mingle together and Poe's suddenly alone on the floor as they abandon him to stampede Kes. Poe stands up just in time to see Kes kneel down and catch the kids in a tight embrace. His father's greying hair stands out in stark contrast against the three heads of dark curls he's pressing kisses against.
"My dad?" he asks Rey, her arms slipping around his waist. Poe's eyes are wide with excitement and awe for his wife.
Rey beams. "Couldn't let you celebrate another birthday without him, flyboy."
"Thank you, mi amor," he kisses her cheek sweetly, before running off to join the Dameron Tooka-pile happening in the living room. Rey watches, happily sipping on her tea, as Kes draws Poe in for a back-slapping hug and an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek.
The love in the room warms her right to the core. And still, there are surprises for Poe yet to come.
Much later - after the kids had crashed from a sugar high and too much excitement and Kes had begged off to the guest room after tight, affectionate hugs for his son and daughter-in-law - Poe's resting prone in their bed, one arm draped dramatically over his eyes.
"Sunshine," he calls in the direction of the 'fresher, "I've never had such a good birthday. Or such an exhausting one." The smile on his face is evident in his voice when he continues, "I'm glad my dad's staying for a bit. Thank you for getting him out here."
Her answering giggle fills the room and still, even after all these years, it remains Poe's favorite sound. "The birthday surprises aren't over yet, my love," she calls back and Poe thinks he hears nerves in her tone. He shakes the thought away, too tired to analyze it too much. He feels her enter the bedroom, a hazy sort of anxiety humming around her. Poe's never going to be as strong in the Force as Rey or their kids, but he's spent enough time with Rey to recognise when her signature changes - and thank the Maker, because that ability's spared him from night's sleeping on the couch a few times in their relationship.
Now, Poe lifts his arm and raises his head to look at her. "Sunshine?"
Rey's standing at the foot of their bed, cheeks pink and hands hidden behind her back. "General," she giggles and there are the nerves again, more obvious in her signature now that she's right in front of him. Gently, she rests a small-ish box on top of their covers, by his feet.
"What's that?" Poe asks curiously, sitting up and leaning forward on his knees, wincing a bit - kriff, that crack was loud - and snatching up the box. He shakes it a bit, holding it to his ear.
"Your final birthday present," Rey responds simply, hovering at the foot of the bed, her fingers twisting together. "Go on, open it," she nods her chin at the box in his hands.
Poe unwraps it suspiciously. "Is it that lingerie we saw on Iloh? Because that would be the best final birthday present." His grin is a little feral and Rey shakes her head at the dirty thoughts crowding the forefront of his mind.
Rey doesn't answer, only looks at his face, waiting for his reaction. The laughter still twinkles in his eyes as Poe lifts the lid off of the box and brushes aside the packing paper. He's clearly expecting lace and silk because his eyebrows draw together in confusion at the knitted object in the box. His gaze draws up to Rey's face, takes in the way she's biting at her lower lip, dips back to the tiny articles of clothing.
"Rey?" he questions, cautious and curious and hopeful. Is this? the question is unspoken and pushed through the air.
She nods.
Poe drops the box to the bed, the tiny knitted sweaters falling out onto the covers. Poe lets out a whoop of excitement and lunges forward, pulling Rey into a tight hug. He kisses every inch of her face and neck as she laughs, a musical sound.
"Kriff!" Poe curses excitedly, his grin wide and childlike. "A baby?"
"Well, two babies," his wife confirms and clarifies, smiling and crying happy tears. Poe wipes at the tears with the pads of his thumbs and Rey kisses his palm. "I know it's a surprise - we weren't planning - "
"Twins?" Poe's voice cracks a bit and his eyes are wide. Holy bantha shit! Twins! That's - that's a lot of baby at once. Something like panic spreads in his chest and Rey cups his cheeks.
"Poe?" she sounds worried.
He blinks a little dazedly. "We're gonna be so outnumbered, sweetheart."
Not expecting that, Rey bursts into giggles. "We already are, love," she reminds him. Poe just shakes his head and pulls Rey back into a tight hug, burying his face in her neck and sliding one hand over her stomach. His hand is warm and heavy and reassuring. Rey scratches at the back of his neck.
"Are you happy, Poe?" her voice is soft and just a little nervous.
Poe kisses the side of her neck. "Best kriffing birthday present ever, Sunshine."
a/n: happy birthday oscar isaac and happy birthday poe dameron! i'm gonna go out on a limb and assume oscar's birthday was less eventful than poe's ;)
let me know what you think! i love getting reviews and chatting all things damerey :)