Sorry about the wait, but I wanted to make sure that this chapter was of decent quality. It went through multiple rewrites and edits.
Big Thanks to Darksidefan5 for being an awesome Beta.
Opening her eyes slowly, Rey blinks rapidly at the harsh light that is hitting her face. Shock floods her system after turning away from the light at the realization that she is able to move again. With eyes wide open she's able to take in her surroundings more clearly.
Somehow, she's ended up in a rather comfortable bed in a lightly colored bedroom. Sitting up in bed, Rey is confused as to how she ended up here. Before she is able to think further on it, her body begins to move without her approval.
'What is going on?' the thought running through her head as her body leaves the bedroom.
As her body continues down the hallway, Rey gets the sensation of familiarity towards this place. Yet, she's never seen this place before. Upon leaving the hallway, she enters the main living space and is surprised by what she sees.
There is a fireplace against an exterior wall, with accordion glass doors on either side of it which leads out to a wooden deck. A pale beige couch sits several feet away from the fireplace with an end table on either side. On one of the end tables sits one of the several pilfered Ancient Jedi Texts. There is also a wall that is completely nothing but a bookshelf. Holo-pictures, books, data-pads, a large storage case for a blaster rifle, and other odd and ends can be found there. At the other end of the living space is a decent sized kitchen area, complete with a four-person peninsula.
Rey isn't able to commit every single detail to memory, but just enough for her mind to bring it up during the daylight hours. Her body keeps moving till she's outside on the deck. In the distance she can see a lush, crop-filled field and beyond that a jungle.
'Where am I?'
A pair of arms wrap around her from behind, yet her body doesn't flinch nor react.
"Was wondering how long you were going to nap?" Poe's voice softly says into her ear before a line of kisses begin to move down the side of her neck. This causes her body to press against the man's chest. She lets out a hum of appreciation which is met by a soft chuckle from Poe.
The sound of children's laughter breaks the idea of any romance, and Poe lets out disgruntled groan.
"Looks like we'll have to wait till later for what I have planned." Poe whispers suggestively into her ear, earning a snort from Rey.
"Why? It isn't like we haven't been interrupted before." Rey replies cheekily.
Slowly, Rey finds herself being turned before engaging in a very passionate kiss with Poe. It doesn't last very long, but it speaks volumes. With their foreheads resting against each other, it's Poe who breaks the silence.
"I wish this kriffing war would end." He sighs out sadly. "I've missed out on so much."
"Poe…"
"Don't tell me I haven't, Rey. I haven't been much of a father for a while now, and an even worse husband to you. And every time we gain a new ally, four more are either wiped out or subjugated by the First Order. Even the Imperial Remnant has been subdued. Ever since Leia's death, the Resistance has been faltering."
"But they still have you and the others in command." Rey states, running a hand through Poe's unruly hair which is longer and has a few more grey strands in it than she remembers.
"Of which there is now only four of us left."
"What's happened? Who die-"
"Calrissian. His adopted daughter was re-conditioned by the First Order and we missed it. We completely missed it." Poe releases her and walks slowly towards the edge of the desk. "Makes me wonder if I'll ever return home once the war is done. And if I don't, what'll happen to you and the kids."
Before Rey is able to say anything, the roar of an approaching ship has both of them looking for the source. As the sound gets closer, Poe takes hold of Rey's arm and just about drags her away from the house. Only several seconds later, a large concussion sound rips through the air and the house explodes violently.
Having dove to the ground several yards away, Rey slowly comes to her senses. There is something heavy lying on her and not even a second later she knows what it is.
"Poe!" She screams as she gently pushes his limp body off of her. "Poe!"
"M'right, Rey. I'm alright." Poe groans out as he slowly regains consciousness and places a hand against his left side. Pulling his hand away, they see it's stained in blood.
"Help!" a child's voice calls out with a scream following right after it.
Without hesitation, Rey starts running towards the where it came from. Poe is slowly following after her, his blaster in one hand while the other presses against his wounded side. They make it across the yard and through the orchard when they see Kylo Ren carrying their child.
"No." Rey and Poe gasp out together.
Rey charges towards the shuttle. As she comes closer, her feet stumble over something which causes her to trip and fall; yet she catches herself. When she turns to see what caused her to trip, she lets out a tortured scream. Rey charges over to the still body of a little girl. Dropping to her knees, Rey reaches down carefully and gently rolls the small body over. Tears stream down Rey's face as a shaking hand reaches out to check for a pulse against the girl's neck. No pulse. Lifting the body up, Rey cradles the child against her chest. She curls her body slightly over while sobbing and begins rocking. It's her child, her daughter.
~~~~~R&P~~~~~~~
Startling awake, the first thing she sees is the door to her cell is wide open. There is a sound and the release of pressure as the manacle on her right wrist falls away.
"What?" Rey slurs out, confused to see Zekk moving to kneel down to release her ankles.
"You need to leave. Now." Zekk softly tells her.
Being cautious, he helps Rey out of the chair and wraps an arm around her upper back. It takes a few seconds for Rey's legs to hold her weight after having spent over a week off her feet.
"Zekk." Danni's voice hisses out from outside of the doorway.
"I know." He growls back at her before looking down at Rey. "We need to move faster if you want Dameron to escape too."
"I can manage." Rey mumbles out, reaching out into the Force for an extra boost of strength. However, her legs buckle as a vicious wave of pain rips through her abdomen.
'Papa. Wake up, Papa.'
Startling awake, Poe opens his right eye and slowly looks around the room for the possible source of where the voice came from. Realizing that he's alone, Poe slowly takes stock of his injuries. His left eye is swollen shut. His nose is broken and has dried blood inside it which is making it even harder to breathe out of. With each painful breath, Poe knows that he possibly has a broken rib or two. He can't hear properly out of his left ear as well; and as of yesterday, probably has a concussion too.
The voice again. 'Papa.'
"Is anyone there?" Poe's voice scratches out, still raw from his own screams from the previous day's torture session.
'Papa. Help me.'
Poe is hit with a massive wave of pain in his abdomen and pelvis. It's so strong that he lets out a loud groan at the intensity of it. He's never felt pain like this before. This pain is something new for him to experience. It's like being held in a body vice grip, with the vices pulsating at odd intervals.
'Help us!''
"Rey?" Poe shutters out through the pain as it intensifies.
'Poe! Help me!'
"Rey!" He screams out as the pain becomes unbearable, but Poe pushes through it. Deep within his soul, he knows that Rey is in horrible pain. "Rey!"
The door to his cell opens, and an unknown person enters his cell.
"Where is Rey? What are you doing to her?" Poe yells out as he fights against all of the restraints holding him down.
"Easy." A woman says while trying to remove his restraints. "I'm here to help you and your partner to escape."
"I don't believe you." Poe growls out as he continues to fight against the remaining restraints. He doesn't know who this woman is, and he doesn't want to stick around to find out.
"Of course you wouldn't, Dameron. You never cared to heed my advice." The woman says, having removed only two of his restraints. "Now, if you'd stop thrashing about, this would go faster."
However, Poe doesn't stop trying to break free and he sure as heck isn't going to listen to the woman.
"Danni, what's taking so long?"
"Dameron isn't cooperating." Danni answers back in a growl as she finishes up removing only the third restraint. "This is taking forever. Zekk, is there anything you can do to calm Dameron down enough for me to finish."
Several hard footsteps march into the room and the remaining restraints slide free, releasing Poe from the torture chair. Yet, when Poe attempts to take a swing at Danni, he drops straight to the floor with a loud thud. Nor does he attempt to get up since he'd passed out.
"Smooth, Dameron." Danni says, bending down to pull one of Poe's arms around her shoulders to lift him up. "Your reputation as a lady's man seems to have been a mistake if you're prone to swooning for your rescuers."
"Enough, Danni." Zekk calls out over his shoulder as he steps back into the hallway. "You can flirt later."
Zekk approaches where Rey is lying on the floor, back against the bulkhead, in the fetal position. Her face has become ashen and Zekk can feel her pain radiating off of her. He carefully kneels down in front of the young woman.
"Hey." He says softly to her. "We've got Poe, so now we need to move. Are you able to get up?"
Rey opens her eyes and looks up at Zekk. "Why are you helping us?"
Zekk doesn't give her an answer and instead helps her slowly get up from the floor. She's halfway up before she doubles over in pain. Strong arms take hold of her to keep her steady and soon the pain diminishes to a dull ache thanks to a powerful surge of the Force.
"You're welcome." Zekk whispers out.
"We'd better get moving." Danni calls out while half dragging, half carrying Poe with her.
Not wasting a second, Zekk begins heading down the corridor. Knowing that the others are trailing behind him, Zekk uses the Force to his advantage as he leads them down towards the hanger bay.
Just they reach the exterior of the hanger bay, the hyperdrive engines release and the ship immediately begins to shudder and quake.
'All fighters to your stations. Repeat. All fighters to your stations. This is not a drill. We have engaged the enemy.' A man's voice yells out from the ships' speakers.
"What's going on?" Danni calls out over the klaxon alarm.
"Looks like the Resistance has intercepted our communiques." Zekk replies. "We'll need to move quickly to reach the shuttle during the chaos and hope we don't get shot down once we're in space."
Using the mass movement of running pilots as cover, Zekk leads them through the numerous supply canisters, towards one of the cargo shuttles. However, when they make a break to reach the shuttle, Alema drops from high above and lands directly in their path.
"Helping the prisoners escape, Zekk? I wonder what our master will do once he learns of the betrayal from his favorite." Alema ignites not just a lightsaber but also an energized whip. "Then again, you should be glad you won't be alive for him to learn of it."
Zekk doesn't answer her taunts but pulls out his lightsaber. "Go now!" he urges before igniting his blade.
Zekk leaps at Alema and the pair engage in a fierce battle which draws some attention from the surrounding pilots, troopers, and officers. Yet this doesn't deter Danni from heading to the shuttle with the other two. Their movements do catch the attention of a few troopers, and soon Danni is having to discharge her small blaster at them. Upon reaching the shuttles' ramp, she allows Poe's limp body to fall to the ground.
"Get his ass on board!" Danni screeches out at Rey.
"What about-"
"Just get on board now!" Danni keeps providing cover fire while Rey drags Poe inside of the ship. "Zekk!"
"Just go!" Zekk shouts as he blocks then parries Alema's assault.
Danni, not needing to be told twice, hurries into the shuttle before closing the hatch shut. Then she proceeds to her towards the front of the shuttle and begins the startup sequence. With her fingers flying over the controls, Danni has to fight back the buildup of tears in her eyes. When Zekk had sprung her out of her accommodations, he'd told her that there was a possibility that he wouldn't be able to go with them. At the time, she didn't think it'd happen. That he'd be there to fly the ship and get them to safety. But now…
"I can fly." Rey says with a groan as she settles into the co-pilot seat from having finished seeing that Poe was secured onto a cargo bench.
Danni looks over at the young woman. Her face has gone ashen and she wonders if Rey will be conscious enough to fly in the next couple of minutes.
"You sure about that?" Danni tells her, watching as Rey begins taking control and has the ship lift off.
"I'm sure." Rey mutters out while trying to hide her discomfort from sitting.
As the shuttle turns under Rey's command Danni catches a glimpse at the fighting below, and what happens next will forever be etched into Danni's mind.
"No!" Danni screams out in horror.
Several troopers fire upon Zekk, giving Alema the ability to shove her lightsaber deep into his chest without him seeing it coming. But she isn't finished. She removed the blade only to swing it up and across, severing Zekk's head from his body.
The shuttle begins to shutter as more weapons fire at the ship, and Rey doesn't waste any time throwing the engines into full power. Doing this causes the shuttle to shoot out of the hanger bay, nearly missing Kylo Ren's black shuttle. Being as quick as she can, Rey begins working on getting the hyperdrive ready for a jump. She remains as focused as she can on getting them to safety, including ignoring the Force Bond starting to bleed open.
Once the jump coordinates are in, Rey begins to send them into hyperspace just as her vision wavers. Then everything goes black.
"Rey?" A familiar, but muffled voice gently calls out.
Slowly coming back into consciousness, Rey can feel a soreness radiating throughout her body. Flexing her fingers, in response to the voice, Rey can't help but notice that they feel stiff. Her head begins pounding, and her eyes are very heavy when she tries to open them.
"That's it, Rey." The muffled voice of General Organa says encouragingly. "Open your eyes next."
It takes Rey a bit before her eyelids open up and the world around her looks fuzzy. A shadow leans over her, which causes her heartrate to accelerate. The sensation of a hand brushing against her brow has feeling very vulnerable.
"It's alright. You're safe now." Leia softly tells her.
It takes a few more seconds before her fuzzy vision turns clearer. Rey tries to talk, but the only sound that comes out is a harsh croaking sound. This only adds more fear which in turn makes her heart race even more.
"Easy. It's okay. Don't try to speak till after you've had some water."
Leia moves away, and Rey has to squint from the harsh lights above her. She turns her head to the side and sees a wall with several monitors. A few of these monitors have moving lines on them, but there is one in particular that draws her eyes to it. Within the pale pink circle there is something shifting around.
"She's a fighter. Takes after her parents I suppose."
Leia comes around the end of the floating medical bed, holding a small cup of water, with a straw, in her hands. She gives Rey a motherly smile. Being as gentle as she can, Leia pushes a button on the side of the bed to have it raise the head of the bed. With Rey no longer lying flat, Leia holds the cup out towards Rey.
"Drink slowly."
Not taking her eyes off of the monitor, Rey removes only one of her hands from her abdomen and carefully tries to take hold of the cup.
Leia shakes her head but covers Rey's hand up with her other hand. "I'll help you hold it."
Rey finally looks away from the monitor and takes a few sips out of the straw. When she pulls back, Leia places the cup on a nearby trolley before turning to face Rey again.
"It's good to have you and Poe back with us." Leia says, with glistening eyes. "I… If I'd had known…"
"No one knew," Rey finally croaks out. She knew that Leia was referencing the First Order and the destruction of Junkfort Station. "Where are we? Where's Poe?"
Leia blinks and a few tears make their way down her cheeks. "Polis Massa, and Poe's still in a Bacta Tank. This was a close call. Not just for him, but for you and the baby as well. You were experiencing a placental abruption. The stress and torture didn't help matters any, but the medics here were able to reattach it. They were surprised that she was still healthy."
Rey gives Leia a confused look. "A girl? I'm… I mean, the baby is a girl?"
Leia simply nods her head. At first Leia hadn't wanted to reveal the gender to Rey, not knowing if the young woman would want to know. Yet, given the fact that Rey had nearly lost the child, Leia felt that perhaps it would be better for her to know.
Rey looks down at the bump which houses her baby. No. Her daughter.
"A baby girl." Rey says gently, starting to cry at the revelation. "My daughter."
Leia carefully wraps her arms around Rey as she cries.
Elsewhere in the facility, Finn is standing in front of the Bacta Tank that has his friend floating inside of it. Watching as Poe's body moves up and down slowly as the face mask gives Poe oxygen, Finn feels helpless.
Only three days ago his two friends were returned to him, both comatose and severely injured. Rey had been whisked away for an emergency operation to save her baby's life. While Poe had been immediately submerged into the tank. The medics here were amazed that the man was still alive, and it'd been touch and go for the first 24 hours. Now, the medics were saying that Poe would survive, but needs rehabilitation.
Finn places his hand against the glass tank. "I promise, Poe, that I'll protect both of them."
Little trivia for you all. The 'All fighters to your stations. Repeat. All fighters to your stations. This is not a drill. We have engaged the enemy.' are actual lines used in Star Wars Battlefront II Game (2005) during the space battles.
Reviews are very welcomed, truly loved, and extremely cherished by this writer. So please leave one.
Selene