Poe chewed his lip - practically to the point of savagery - and leered at his communicator, which sat before him on rumpled bedclothes. Stubble was evident on his chin and it pushed the threshold of ruggedness, veering dangerously close to pure dishevelment.

BB-8 tittered curiously from across the bunk where he sat.

"I know, I know," he said. "Just give me a tick, I'm just- I gotta psych myself up for this so-"

The droid replied, doubtfully. Even tilting a little.

"Don't gimme that," Poe replied, knowing that BB was right but refusing to acknowledge it. "Alright, look I'm doing it, see?"

He pretended to be totally unphased as he called Rey, picking up the communicator and dialing her up.

"Poe?"

His mouth went completely dry. There was something about crossing this threshold. The slow normalization of just talking. Just them. Outside of their duty to the rebellion.

The rebel starpilot wondered when the butterflies would subside.

"Hey there," he managed, sounding a little strained after swallowing his nerves. "Not busy are you?"

"I'm hardly ever busy," came her unexpectedly disheartened admission. He heard a faint but persistent jostling in the background. "One second." Rey growled and the sounds intensified. "I hate this stupid piece of..."

"Well, you sound busy," he remarked, bemused.

"I have an itch in my cast," she snapped. The frantic sound continued. "Past the knee - haven't been able to find anything long enough to kill it."

"Yikes," he said, both out of empathy and a little bit of fear.

"I've already broken two transmitter antennae and I'm starting to consider drastic measures."

"Should I tell security to keep you out of the armory?"

"Like they could," she muttered, in a rare show of petulance. Not that she wasn't right. Poe doubted if anyone could stop her from doing what she was determined to do.

"Didn't Doc say- what was it? Week and a half longer?"

Rey just groaned, completely demoralized. He thought he might have heard her forehead thump onto her console.

"I'm starting to hate the inside of this room," she grumbled. He imagined she must've meant the comms room.

"Would you cheer up if I told you I had very good news?"

"Maybe. What is it?" She asked, perking up. Then she gasped. "Is it about the mission?"

"It is."

"You got approval?" She asked, excitement pouring out of her every syllable.

BB-8 answered for him with a keen whistle of pride. Poe chuckled and patted his spherical friend.

"Opsec gave the okay this morning. Couldn't have done it without you," he said, making sure to keep himself from sounding overly fond. "Seriously. The only reason Engineering is on board is because of your idea to offer them first salvage rights. That was all you Rey."

"I am sitting, useless, in a chair, four-hundred thousand kilometers away, Poe. This is your victory."

"Our victory," he said, shaking his head. One of these days he would get Rey to come to terms with her greatness, even if he had to remind her of it every day, himself. "Anyway, despite what you say, I'm still not sure I have a head for this- the politics, y'know?"

"You will. It will come with time, just like General Organa said," Rey reassured him.

"Well, if it never does, I'll be glad to have you in my corner." Poe's fingers played at the trinket suspended from a chain around his neck. He couldn't remember reaching for it in the first place.

"Wait, I think I hear-" Rey said in a distracted tone before gasping: "Finn! Are those for me? Oh, that smells incredible."

Poe wanted to chuckle but instead a pang of longing gripped his heart. The weeks wore on at Dendri and he missed his friends. He missed moments like these.

"Finn brought me lunch!" She said, catching Poe up.

"How's being relegated to the dust ball treating you, buddy?" Now, that made Poe smile. Finn was definitely in the background but speaking loud enough for his voice to transmit.

"It'll be over soon, thank the stars," he replied. Finn whistled.

"Talk about a shit detail," he joked, making an unwitting callback. "What? What's so funny?"

Rey seemed to be having trouble swallowing her caf, as he could hear her chiding Finn for making her laugh while she was drinking something.

"Have a good lunch, you two," he said, shaking his head at his hopelessly goofy cohorts.

The three of them exchanged goodbyes and Poe daydreamed about something saccharine but simple. Something like sharing a meal with people for whom he felt a great deal of affection.


Poe rolled over, his stolen afternoon nap coming to an abrupt halt as his communicator sounded off. His dark hair had been upset to a comedic degree, curling and peaking unpredictably. He scrabbled for the source of the tinkling noise, nearly falling out of his bunk.

Brow furrowed by confusion, he snatched the communicator and set it on his pillow, all the while refusing to leave the warmth of his blankets.

"Poe Dameron," he mumbled, voice hoarse from sleep. "Hello."

"Poe."

He could hear it now. The sound of her breathing came quick, like a trapped prey animal. Her voice was far away and fragile.

"Rey, what's happening?" He shot up and began pawing beneath his bunk for his boots. "Where are you?"

"Poe, I think- I think I have to leave."

"Leave?"

"Leave Evit. He saw me. Looked into me. I have to go-"

"Slow down and talk to me. What's happening?" He began a frenzied sprint down the corridors towards the hangar, receiving concerned looks as he went.

Rey's breathing deepened and the extra oxygen must have afforded her some sort of new clarity because he soon heard her snarl and the sound of something delicate smashing into pieces in the background. Then, silence.

When she finally spoke, it was to curse.

"It was a dream, wasn't it?" She marveled as she tried to iron the quiver out of her voice.

She was not talking to him, that much he could tell.

"Rey, are you in danger?" He asked slowly, evenly, letting her have a chance to regain her bearings.

"Not from anything but myself," she muttered, sounding so bereft of hope. "I shouldn't have called. I-I wasn't lucid."

"No. No, I'm glad you did," he said, just as he looked down at himself. Poe was clad only in a sleeping shirt with a stretched collar, his underwear, and his boots.

He was still glad.

"Can I-" she paused, perhaps to steel herself, "can I tell you something?"

"Please," he encouraged, still standing dumbly in the corridor.

"I lied to you. It isn't my leg keeping me up at night."

"I see." The pieces fell into place for Poe.

"I know General Organa said the connection is irreparable, that it was severed when he made his choice but," she sighed, resigned, "I just get confused. A nightmare can feel so convincing..."

Poe wouldn't tell her he would save her; shield her from the jagged, ugly things that pursued her. Rey was not in need of his protection, nor would she ever be. What she needed was a reprieve from constantly being the rock, the guiding light for the Resistance. What she needed was a good listener.

"It's okay. Tell me," he said, dulling every possible edge in his voice as he made the trek back to his quarters. He took her silence as acquiescence and waited.

"Firstly, I know it isn't real."

Rey's voice quietly crackled through his communicator. He could imagine her, looking far away, her brow troubled. Dark eyes out of focus. Perhaps there would be that bleak, duned and dusted landscape reflecting back in them if he could see her face.

"But in the moment it feels like- It feels real. Real and surreal. I can't explain it."

"I'm listening," he said, hoping to steady her. Poe could hear her take a breath.

"It started when I broke my leg. Only happens once or twice a week, and then only when I try to close my eyes."

Poe grimaced, screwing his eyes shut, feeling shame well up in him for not knowing all this time how she suffered.

"At night, in the dark, I'll see him in the shadows in the corners of my room. He hates me. He hates us. He wants to erase us from the galaxy and I can feel his rage in me and it burns."

He swallowed thickly. Poe refused to believe that Rey's presence among them was a danger, but the possessed manner in which she spoke was enough to make his pulse pound.

"It's the same as any dream." She said it as if she were in one. All wonder with a hint of trepidation. "Everything is completely upside-down, but I don't realize how mad it is until after I've already called someone up and made a complete fool of myself."

Poe didn't fully understand but he desperately wanted to reach out. True to his reckless nature he spoke without thinking.

"This is real," he said. Another long silence. The more it went on the stranger the words sounded, hanging in the air. He cleared his throat.

"If you're a pilot, when things are upside-down, you only have to find a horizon to set you right. Unless you're in deep space but- but for the purposes of this metaphor we'll say it's not deep space-"

He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, defeated by his own ill-begun attempt at consolation.

"What I'm trying to say is: I will always answer if you call, and we can sort out what's real and what isn't," he said, setting his jaw and making it a promise. "Together."

Rey sheepishly agreed, promising he'd regret saying that. As far as Poe was concerned, this wouldn't be an issue. She could have as much of his time as she wanted.

He stayed with her until the sun rose on Evit and cast Dendri into shadow. Rey had been careful never to reveal very much of her heart to Poe. That evening was the closest she had let him come. He only hoped that, if she needed to, she could allow herself to rely on the people that cared for her.