Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Notes: I thought that when I finished writing "The Shape of You" that the characters would stop speaking to me. They didn't. This is a follow-up piece to that story, but hopefully it can stand alone. And there will be more coming. I very much hope you enjoy.

Little Star

by Kristen Elizabeth

"Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold."

― Zelda Fitzgerald

The shift in the Force was so small at first that Rey didn't even notice it for days.

Life went on as usual-she trained, sometimes with Poe, sometimes on her own, she helped work on the house they would soon move into together, she and Poe visited their friends, had dinner with his father, and fell into bed every night, wrapped up in each other.

But one morning, two months after she and Poe were married, Rey woke from a deep sleep with the strangest feeling that something had changed.

Her first instinct was to look at her husband. Lying next to her in the dark, he was fast asleep, his face peaceful and his chest rising and falling with even breaths.

Rey smiled softly. Watching Poe sleep was one of the best ways to cope with her nightmares, her moments of anxiety, and the memories of the war that still haunted her. Often, he was so deeply asleep that he didn't even realize when Rey lifted his arm and crawled next to his body. Barely conscious, Poe would just pull her closer; she would rest her head on his shoulder and try to relax.

But that night, Rey sat up in bed and the covers pooled around her waist. As the evening air had been warm, she'd worn a sheer, white shift to bed; but now she found herself shivering. Looking over at Poe, she contemplated seeking out the heat of his body, but she didn't want to disturb him. Building their new house with his father left him exhausted at the end of the day. She wanted him to get all the rest he could.

Carefully sliding out of bed, Rey wrapped herself in short robe made of soft material. Tying it at her slender waist, she left the bedroom and headed for the kitchen.

After pouring herself a glass of iced fruit tea from the pitcher in the stasis unit, she walked into the small living area and sat on the plush divan, tucking her bare legs up underneath her.

She took a sip of her tea, but it tasted wrong. Making a face, Rey spat it back into the glass and frowned. How could it have gone bad? She had just brewed it the day before.

As Rey started to stand up to take the glass back to kitchen, the strange feeling that had woken her suddenly returned. Something was wrong. She lowered herself back down and pressed her hand to her stomach. Was she coming down with an illness? She couldn't tell, but her energy was...off. Different.

Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate, to see if she could sense the problem.

"When it was my time, I felt it, too."

Rey's eyes slowly opened. She knew that voice anywhere. Feminine, but slightly rough after a lifetime of battles and struggles. Kind without being soft.

A smile turned up the corners of her lips. "Master," she whispered.

It should have shocked her to see the ethereal blue echo of Leia Organa standing across from her, but Rey had always felt that her last glimpse of her Jedi masters on Tatooine wouldn't be the last time she saw them. Still, she had always thought that moment would come during a future fight or a moment of crisis.

With her hand still on her stomach, Rey blinked and clutched her robe. "Why are you...?" She swallowed. "Your time...? Am I..." Unable to say the word "dying," she just shook her head. "What's wrong with me?"

The older woman just smiled again. "Absolutely nothing."

"No, there is something," Rey insisted. "I can feel it. The Force within me...it's shifted."

Leia nodded. "Yes. And if you look deep within yourself, you'll understand why."

At her former master's bidding, Rey closed her eyes again, focusing even harder. The Force was in everything. She knew how to use it, how to bend it to her will, and she knew the way it flowed through her. But as she concentrated, she could feel another presence within her. Another life force.

When Rey gasped out loud, Leia moved sat down next to her and covered her pupil's hand with her ghostly one. "I know. This is a moment you will never forget."

Her lashes dark with unshed tears, Rey opened her eyes. "A baby..."

"You weren't expecting this?" Leia asked.

"Poe and I...we've talked about children...we said we would wait until it was...it was the right time."

"The right time can sometimes find you, not the other way around." She paused. "Ben wasn't planned."

"He wasn't?"

Leia shook her head. "I had just started training with Luke. Han and I were newlyweds; we had never discussed children at all. I had obligations and responsibilities...it was not the right time. But then I felt him. Ben...already such a strong presence, growing stronger every day," she continued. "And everything else in my life suddenly had to fit around a new reality."

Rey's chin quivered just slightly upon hearing his name. The wound that his death had left upon her was healed, but still sensitive.

"Rey," Leia said softly. "What's troubling you?"

Standing up, Rey paced a couple of steps, her arms crossed over her stomach. "Master..." She hesitated. "You had a mother."

"Two. One who gave birth to me and one who raised me."

Rey nodded at the wall, her back to Leia. "I barely remember mine. Ben told me once...that she was a junk trader. That she'd sold me to pay a drinking debt."

Leia lowered her eyes. "My son was capable of great cruelty."

"I think he might have been protecting me," Rey said, turning back around. "From knowing something about my family that I wasn't ready to know yet-something he sensed about who I am. My mother was killed trying to protect me."

"Yes," Leia said. "From your grandfather."

"But whatever her reasons...she left me alone. She left me behind."

"Rey..."

Still holding her stomach, Rey cut her off. "I don't know how to be a mother. The closest I have ever had was you."

Leia stood up. "Rey, my mother was loving and kind and patient...the sort of role model for motherhood that everyone should have." She paused. "Even so, I still raised a son who turned his back on the light, who did unspeakable things, who wielded his power to hurt and destroy, who killed..." She stopped.

"Ben was manipulated," Rey said softly after a moment.

"Ben made terrible choices," Leia reminded her. "Even though you helped him find his way back to the light, that doesn't change what he became. Nor the fact that I failed him."

"Master, you didn't..."

Leia held up her hand. "Ben is at peace. That's all I ever wanted."

Rey let out a breath she'd been holding in. She had only seen Ben once since he gave his life for hers. True to his word at the time, he'd never appeared to her again. "Did you know that he and I were connected?"

"From the moment I met you." Her former master stood up and walked to her. "Thank you for saving him from himself. For loving him." Leia smiled. "That is how I know you will be a a wonderful mother, Rey. You saw the good in my son when his own family...when I had given up on him."

Lowering her arms, Rey looked down at her flat belly. She hesitantly touched it. There was no curve, no firmness, nothing to indicate the incredible change that had happened, save for the feeling that she was no longer alone in her own body.

And something else. A warmth that started in her heart, but gradually radiated out to every part of her body. Love. An intense, protective, all-consuming love for the child she and Poe had created.

She looked up at Leia. "How did you tell Han about Ben?"

Leia laughed. "Han wasn't good at subtlety, so I just told him out right. 'You're going to be a father'. I always wished I could have taken a picture of his face."

"But he was happy?"

"Once the shock wore off." She sighed. "Han wasn't a perfect father, but he loved Ben. He taught him to fly; he showed him how to shave." Leia was quiet for a moment. "I hope Ben remembered that in the end." Shaking out of her thoughts, she looked at Rey. "Poe will be an amazing father."

Rey's eyes were shiny with tears. "He will be."

"Go. Wake him up." Leia held out her hand. Although Rey couldn't take it, she reached for it, letting her fingers passed through the older woman's palm. "Savor every moment of this with him."

"Thank you," Rey whispered. "I miss you."

Leia inclined her chin. "The Force will be with you, Rey. As am I." With a final smile, she faded away, leaving only the lingering memory of her presence behind.

Back in the bedroom, Poe had rolled onto his stomach. One hand lay across Rey's pillow, as if he had reached out to hold her in his dreams.

Shrugging out of her robe, Rey approached the bed and knelt down on the mattress next to his body. She gently brushed his dark hair back from his forehead. "Poe?" she whispered.

He made a grunting noise, but didn't move. Rey shifted her body so she could lie next to him. "Wake up?"

Poe frowned, but cracked an eye open. "Rey?" When he realized she was watching him, he lifted his head from his pillow. "What's wrong?" Still half asleep, he pushed himself up, blinking rapidly to clear away the haze. "Are you okay?"

Rey nodded as she sat up again. "I'm fine."

He frowned again, rubbing his stubbled cheek. "Is it my dad?"

"No, I..."

"Finn?" Poe guessed.

"Poe, it's not..."

"Chewie?"

"I'm pregnant," Rey blurted out.

Poe blinked. "Chewie is pregnant?"

"What?" Rey shook her head. "No, Poe, no. I'm pregnant! Me."

She could understand now why Leia had wanted a picture of Han's face. As Poe stared at her, she could actually see the color draining away. Shocked didn't even begin to describe it.

"Rey." He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "How do you..."

"I can feel him. Or her." Rey watched him closely, searching for any signs of panic. "I'm still trying to process it, too."

Poe's gaze slipped down to her stomach. "You're pregnant..."

She nodded. "And I know we didn't plan this, but..."

He cut her off by grabbing her up and squeezing her tightly. Almost immediately, he thought better of it and released her. "I didn't hurt you, did I? Or the baby?"

"We're fine. Poe..."

"We..." he repeated. A wide grin light up his face. "Rey, we're having a baby!"

Her smile was slower, but no less bright. "We are."

Poe reached for her again, gentler this time, capturing her lips in a long kiss as he carefully guided her back to the mattress. Breaking the kiss, he looked down at his wife. "Thank you."

She reached up, touching the hair at his temple. "I haven't done anything yet."

"For everything you will do," he said. Scooting down a bit, Poe kissed her belly and laid his head directly over where their child grew. She ran her fingers through his hair. "Thank you for making me a dad."

After a long moment, Rey urged him up until she could see his face again. "I love you," she whispered.

He didn't need to say it back. The urgency of his kiss said it for him.

Later, as Poe held his wife in his arms, their hearts pounding in time as the pleasure faded and sleep loomed over them both, he closed his eyes and concentrated on Rey's body.

She had taught him much about the Force in the time they had been together, how to sense it, how to use it. He wasn't the greatest of students, but he had never had motivation like this before.

He was about to give up when he felt it. A small bit of Rey that wasn't entirely Rey. His child, safe and thriving inside her.

Opening his eyes, Poe looked at his sleeping wife. "I love you both."

TBC