Chapter 22

Finn glared at Poe after Rey and Kylo Ren left their room. "So is this it? We just trust that Kylo Ren's actually a good guy, let them make out, write a peace treaty, and ignore everything that's already happened?" Finn asked.

"Seems better than our other options," said Poe. "He's given away the First Order's location to us just so we can track Rey, and it's clear she can handle herself around him. Did you see the way she dragged him in here? I really don't think we need to worry about him as a threat anymore. Though we will need to lose the tracker before we head back to the Resistance in case anyone else in the First Order is monitoring them, which means we'll need to find a way to locate it before we head out."

"Tomorrow," Rose said. "Let's save that for tomorrow. I think I'm still in shock that Rey and the Supreme Leader are a couple. They are a couple, right? I mean, they were gazing at each other and that had to be a hickey on his neck."

"You don't have to sound so happy about it, Rose," Finn said, staring at where his hands rested on Rose's injured leg. He wasn't upset that Rey had found someone she liked, but why did she have to pick someone as unstable and dangerous as Kylo Ren?

He felt Rose shift her leg next to him in the bed and immediately turned towards her with a pointed finger. "Don't you kick me again! I thought you liked me!" Rose blushed and set her foot back down on the bed. Finn didn't look away from her. He wanted an apology. He was sick of being treated poorly for having a healthy level of skepticism that their greatest enemy was suddenly lovey-dovey with one of their greatest heroes. "Well?"

"Sorry," Rose said in a small voice. Finn's heart sank as he saw tears pool in her eyes. He wanted her to stop hurting him, not to start crying. Rose pulled herself up from her reclined position, carefully removing her injured ankle from where it had rested on Finn's lap, and then placed both feet on the floor. "I think I'm done for the day. Poe, can you please help me back to my room?"

Finn was surprised that her implied rejection stung, but he didn't let it quiet him. "Rose, I can take you," Finn said. "Don't you want me to take you?" He had been on his way to talk to her earlier when everything happened with the knights.

Rose froze and looked at Finn with the eyes of a Fathier before the whip. His jaw fell open. She shouldn't be looking at him that way. Had he bungled things that badly? "Rose, please. I've been wanting to talk to you anyway." He noticed that Poe was suddenly very interested in his pile of notes.

She pulled back slightly, distrust in her eyes. "Good talk or bad talk?"

Finn shrugged. "Good, I think," he said. "Like, maybe try things out between us good. Assuming you're still interested, that is."

Amazement cleared away the fear in Rose's face, and her eyes crinkled as she smiled. "Really?"

Finn nodded and smiled back at her, relieved that she was no longer frightened. "Yea, really, but no more kicking me, okay?"

Rose nodded. "Yea, okay."

They sat there grinning at each other like idiots. Finn was okay with this.

Across the room, Poe cleared his throat. "I would appreciate it if you two went to her room before you start making out. That is, unless you want me to join you."

Finn and Rose both startled and glanced to Poe, who smiled mischievously at them. "My room's good. That good with you, Finn?" Rose asked in a rattled voice.

"Yea, your room sounds great," Finn said. He scooted closer to Rose, wrapped an arm around her, and helped her stand up. Together, they limped to the door and made their way down the hall to her room.

Finn helped Rose in, shut the door, and helped her get in her bed. Rose winced each time her ankle bumped something or she had to put weight on it, and Finn sighed in relief when Rose was finally in place with her ankle elevated on an extra pillow.

"So, I can kiss you?" Rose asked him after he tucked her in. He grinned, feeling bashful, but nodded. "Will you kiss me?"

Finn chuckled. "You've really been looking forward to this, haven't you?"

Rose blushed. "Yea, kinda. You're sure you're okay with this?"

Finn threw up his hands. What was wrong with her? "Do you think I'd be saying you can kiss me if I weren't okay with it?" he asked in a slightly annoyed voice.

"It was just earlier this afternoon Poe said you had a thing for Rey, and you didn't disagree with him, so yea, I'm checking."

Finn sighed out slowly. Rose had a point. "Yes, I'm okay with kissing you and being with you. Look, Rose, I'm new to this…. All of this," he said, waving his arms in a big circle. "Rey was literally the first girl I met outside the First Order, and she was pretty and amazing and pretty amazing, so yea, I did hope for something there, but Rey's…"

He wasn't sure he had the words for it. "I don't know how to describe it. I felt like I had to protect her. I still feel that way, even though I can't. She's a better fighter than me, a better soldier than me, and a better person than me, but she never looked at me-not really. Her eyes were always on something bigger in the distance. First it was helping BB-8, then it was Luke Skywalker, and now this whole thing with Kylo Ren and saving the Resistance... Her eyes were never on me."

Finn paused and gazed at Rose. "But your eyes were," he said. "From the moment we met, you looked right at me and told me I was a hero and you admired me… right up until you tased me."

Rose giggled, and Finn chuckled too. "You saw me. You saw my flaws. It wasn't that you didn't value the Resistance, I mean, you did tase me, but you forced me to look with you so I would see the world through your eyes. You took the time to show me what things were really like. We saved those fathiers together and helped those kids, and it was an amazing adventure. And then you saved my life, Rose."

"I did, didn't I?" she said.

"Yes, you did," Finn confirmed, smiling at her. "I'm still trying to understand all this, but I like that you look at me and see me. I like knowing I'm someone worth teaching things to in your eyes. You also were absolutely gorgeous in that blue dress earlier. So yea."

Rose smiled up at him and reached a hand out that he cautiously took. She tugged it gently towards her until he was leaning over her. "If you're okay with kissing me, then kiss me," she said.

Finn blushed. For all his talk, he hadn't actually been prepared to make a move like this. Grabbing Rey's hand in their escape had been easy enough, but kissing someone? "Umm…" He saw the disappointment in her eyes and quickly closed the distance, squishing his lips against hers for a long second before pulling back. "Was that okay?"

Rose chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "It was a start."

Finn groaned. "Look, it's not my fault that I-"

His words cut off as Rose put a hand behind his head and yanked him down for another, more thorough kiss. He stared at her, bewildered, when she let go.

"Yea, that was nice. That was very nice," he said.

Rose giggled. "Yea, it was," she said. "Want another lesson on how to kiss?"

Finn answered by kissing her again.


Finn chapter. My sincerest apologies to those who shipped Finn with Poe more than Rose.

When I started this fanfic, I wanted to challenge myself to write a story that does the whole shifting perspective thing between characters like the Star Wars movies and novels do instead of just sticking with one or two characters. I'm doing it. I don't regret it, but I think I'll go back to my usual method of sticking with either the lead character's perspective or alternating between the lead and their romantic interest for future stories.

Please review. I'm honestly a bit nervous that I didn't hear more comments on the reylo kiss scene in the previous chapter.