A/N: Sorry about the delay! It was an interesting weekend...anyways, here's chapter 9! I think you guys will like this one. As usual, I only own Vara, and Disney owns all the other bits.

Chapter 9

Hands

Returning from Takodana

The black X-wing pulled into the airstrip at the Resistance base, landing as smooth as ever. The little droid at Vara's side squealed with excitement. R9 had been sent to the workshop for repairs, waiting patiently for Vara to come fix him like she always did, but BB-8 had been following Vara since they landed.

"Buddy, we should let him get out first," she said, but he had already started rolling that way. She started after him, jogging to keep up, trying to move her right arm as little as possible. The sling helped, but until she could get it reset in the infirmary, it was constantly reminding her of her run-in. She was willing to wait through it, though, to greet Poe out in the beautiful open-air hangar.

The cockpit of the X-wing opened and Poe began to climb out, and then Vara couldn't contain herself either. She ran just behind the BB unit, who was rolling as fast as he could. Poe pulled off his helmet and his eyes lit up when he saw his astromech. "BB-8, little buddy! It's so good to see you!" He knelt and took the droid in his hands, trying to listen to the constant stream of Binary coming from him.

"I know, I know, she helped save you. She saved us both," Poe said, looking up at Vara. He stood and stepped around BB-8, taking her uninjured hand in his own, a concerned look on his face. "What happened to you? Was it the crash?"

Vara held his hand tightly. This was new for them. His skin was warm, mostly soft with a few calluses where he held the controls for his ship, the same place Vara had them on the underside of her knuckles. "I was coming back to the castle from where I landed when I literally ran into him. Into Ren," she said with a shiver. "I think I startled him, and he tried to rip my blaster arm off while he carried this girl they've been talking about. Gave up on that and just Force threw me. Hit a tree," she said, turning her head to show him. A bruise covered her temple and crept towards her eye. It wasn't as swollen as she thought it would be, which was a blessing, but there was a cut behind her hairline and the bruise would take weeks to fade. "He scared me. I froze up."

Poe stared at her. "Vara, he could have killed you!"

"I know that. They'll have me patched up in ten minutes, though, and I'll be able to fly fine. I -"

Suddenly Poe was kissing her, his other hand gently resting at the back of her neck. The kiss was urgent, even excited, but slow and experimental. Vara was momentarily stunned, and then she caught up with herself and relaxed, kissing him back. It was as if there was a rope around their waists and someone was taking up the slack, drawing them together. Vara was unaware that they were squeezing each other's hands until they gently separated, remembering there was still a world around them.

"The thought of you getting hurt out there, much less killed by that monster…I never would have been able to tell you that I want this. That I want to explore this," he said, gesturing between them. He seemed a little lost for words, something that didn't happen to Poe Dameron very often.

Vara smiled slyly. With her hand in his, she wrapped his arm around her waist. "Well, why didn't you just say so?"

A string of beeps and chirps erupted from beside them.

"BB-8!" both pilots shouted in unison. The Binary translation came out as "get a room, guys."

Poe turned back to her, examining the bruise on the side of her face. Vara sighed. "Looks awful, doesn't it?"

"You look great," he said with a grin. "All the same, you need to get to the infirmary," he said.

"You're right." Vara paused for a second. "You're gonna have to let me go, though," she murmured, her cheeks pink.

"Right," he said, clearing his throat and taking his arm from her waist. "I'll find you as soon as I check in with the General, okay?"

"Holding you to that," she said, turning to jog away. She could have skipped back to the infirmary, dislocated arm and all.

Finn saw the two figures, a sphere and a female pilot, running towards the black X-wing. Why was BB-8 going so fast? Who was that important to the droid? Slowly it dawned on him. That was the flying ace he'd seen earlier, the one that had led the charge on Takodana and taken down so many TIEs. He couldn't believe who he was seeing, crouching in front of the droid and then standing to talk to the woman. The man who had given him his name and who had helped him start on the right path was alive.

Finn started towards them, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Poe kiss the other pilot.

"Damn, Poe," he said to himself. "Better give them a minute." He waited impatiently, moving again when Poe released his grip on the woman's waist. The woman turned and took a few steps towards Finn before she saw him. She was just in between the two men, a few yards away from each.

"Are you Finn?" she said, examining his jacket. "You must be." She strode up to him and wrapped him in a hug with her good arm. "Thank you for saving him. I don't know what we would have done without you." She stepped back. "I can't even imagine what it took to do what you did."

Poe ran up behind them. "Don't get too excited, Vara. My turn!"

"I'll see you guys later," Vara called, trotting back towards the base.

Poe and Finn babbled over each other about how they had gotten there for a moment, and then Finn nodded behind them. "Who's she?"

Poe grinned. "That's, uh, that's Vara. She's the one who was sent to rescue me on Jakku. We've been flying together a long time. You saw all that, didn't you?"

Finn nodded. "She's pretty, huh?"

"Oh, don't even go there, pal."

After Poe had talked to General Organa with Finn, he raced down into the infirmary. They were going to be called for a meeting in half an hour for all of the officers, and they only had a few hours before something had to be done about Starkiller Base.

"Vara?" he called, brushing past the Wookiee in the corner telling the nurse how brave he was. He had taken off his white flight vest but was still in his jumpsuit, wrinkled and a little dirty. Vara knew she didn't look much different.

"Over here, Poe."

He was at her bedside in a second, alarmed at the scanner attached to her head. "What is that doing?"

She laughed. "The look on your face right now," she giggled.

"That's...it's weird! I've seen those before, but not on you."

"It's just checking to see if I have a concussion," Vara said, waving her hand. "Which I don't think I do."

The nurse next to her sighed. "We'll let the scanner see about that."

"Of course," Vara said, relinquishing. "I don't though. Because if I do, I can't fly."

Poe nodded. "I know. Something tells me you're clear, though."

Vara's head felt anything but clear, mostly because of that kiss and what Poe had said, but she didn't mention that with everyone around them. "Any word from the General on what comes next?"

"There's an officer's meeting in about fifteen minutes. Maybe a little longer."

"Good, that means I can hit the cantina before then. I didn't get to eat before we left for Takodana." She leaned back in the medical bed, which was propped up in a sitting position. "Poe, I have to apologize for how I flew today. It was awful. I let it get to me."

Poe tried to say something, but Vara put up her hand. "There's no excuse. I should have either backed out or put it away until later. Instead I let myself get shot down and thrown all over the place. A Captain can't set that example."

"You did what you could," Poe said. "You let it get out of hand, but you've already learned not to make that mistake again. I know you don't think you did well, but those guys on the ground may have been able to get Han and Chewie and Finn back on the shuttle and taken them if you didn't clear those troopers out. I'll admit, it was the most reckless I've ever seen you, but it almost worked for you. They were cleared out in about two minutes. You know no one else can shoot like you, under duress or not." He took her hand again, and Vara's stomach flipped. "Plus, there was nothing you could do against Ren. He scared the hell out of me, too."

"You've never worried about me this much," she said, looking into his eyes herself this time.

"I actually have," Poe said, quieter now. "I just kind of repressed it. I know you can take care of yourself so I kept it to myself. I didn't get to say anything before Saber Strike, but I thought about it. We were working," he said with a shrug. "Though you made your worry pretty clear at times," he teased.

"Well, yeah. I'm not the one who ran off to try and take on the whole First Order by himself looking for a stolen freighter. Of course I was worried."

"Hey, Kilo-Nine," called a voice from the door.

"Hello, General," Vara said, sitting up a little straighter. That was only the second time General Organa had called her by that name, and it was only when she was feeling generous. She made her way over to them, the people in the infirmary parting for her like an ocean. "So you're turning into a mech yourself now?"

"Trying not to." The scanner beeped, signaling that it was finished. A nurse stepped between the officers and lifted it off.

"You're lucky," she said with a skeptical look. "No concussion. But be careful. I would normally say don't fly, but you seem pretty important. If I didn't know that these results can't be faked…"

"Good," Leia said. "We do need you. Actually, I came to tell you that you have ten minutes until the meeting."

"Great!" Vara said, hopping out of the bed. "Only takes two to get to the cantina. I'm starved."

"I also wanted tell you that R9 is fine and ready to fly, just got something disconnected."

"It was the battery storage casing, wasn't it? I knew it was a little loose, didn't have time in between Jakku and this flight to fix it. Man, I really have to reposition -"

"Yes, yes. And this?" Leia said, pointing to Vara and Poe's hands, which had not been disconnected. "It's about time. I could feel it a long time ago," she said, and Vara knew she was talking about the Force. Vara was a little Force-sensitive, and she had talked about it with the General before, but Leia had powers that Vara's mind couldn't even grasp.

"You couldn't!" Vara yelped. She slapped her free hand over her mouth, realizing what she had just said to her General.

Leia looked at them with a smirk. "Relax, Hesh. I could feel it a little bit. But seeing you two, I knew. Surprised it took you guys this long."

Vara could feel herself blushing madly. Nevertheless, she didn't let go of Poe's hand as they strode quickly to the cantina to see if there was anything left. She knew what came next: some deadly mission that was a last resort against the Order. She was more than willing to go for it; she had committed her life to fighting the good fight. While she was here, however, she wasn't wasting a second.