Poe was awoken by BB-8 beeping next to his head. He felt groggy and had little to no idea where he was. He rolled out of bed, and nearly fell onto the floor. He managed to sit up.

"What are… What are you saying? Someone at the door?" True enough there was a hurried knocking on the door of his hotel room. He tried his best to wake himself up as he struggled into a pair of sweat pants. He couldn't find a shirt so he just stumbled over to the door. On the other side stood a woman in a black and red patterned shawl and black pants and boots. Her white hair was tied back in an elaborately braided bun.

"Dara…" He saw her eyes flicker down to his bare chest. "Come in." The memories from last night came back to him. For a brief, beautiful moment, he had forgotten his absolute embarrassment at being taken in and seduced by a beautiful woman only to be nearly shot. He closed the door behind her. "Well. You look… different." BB-8 was twittering away like always. The droid could always sense the tension in the room. In short, it knew its master had been spurned, and it didn't much like this woman.

"Does your droid always insult your guests?" She was trying her best to hide a smug smile. Poe didn't feel embarrassed at all.

"Only the ones who try to shoot me." She spun around looking insulted.

"I never tried to shoot you!" She blushed a little when she caught his smile. "Could you put some clothes on… You're… Making me cold to look at you." She turned away again. Despite the confused frown on his face he was smiling. Maybe she did find him attractive. He threw on a shirt, slipped out of his sweatpants, and threw on some proper pants. As he laced up his boots, she spoke again.

"I'm sorry… For everything that happened last night. I know I probably gave you some really mixed signals." He almost laughed at that.

"You kissed me twice. All so you could get me alone and potentially kill me." He knew she wouldn't have killed him, but he enjoyed winding her up a little.

"I may have kissed you, but I was NOT going to kill you." He threw the last of his possessions into a duffel bag, stripped down the bed (it was just polite) and made for the door.

"Got all your stuff, Princess?" BB-8 rolled over to his heels. The droid had been decidedly silent since the discovery that Dara could understand it.

"I'm not a Princess. And I don't have stuff. I travel light." True to her word the pile of bags he had been expecting weren't piled up outside his door.

"My ship isn't docked far from here, we should be at base tonight. It's a fast little vessel." BB-8 and Dara followed him. He would be glad to have this mission over and done with. He was worried about Finn. He had been away for several days. Anything could have happened.

"I'm glad you didn't lie about being a pilot. I really do think that that's incredible." They were out in the bright sunshine amongst the hustle and bustle of upper-class residents of Coruscant.

"Well you're not wrong." He realised he was being a bit cold, a bit churlish. He was hurt. More hurt by what had happened than he had realised.

"Look, Poe, I'm sorry. But this is the job." He stopped suddenly and turned to look at her. She walked right into him. To be so close to her wasn't fair.

"Everything you said to me last night was a lie. I get it. Part of your cover. It's fine." He stormed off towards the Hangar their ship was in. He didn't hear Dara say; "It wasn't a lie…"

Things on the journey back were awkward. They spent half the journey in silence, with BB-8 occasionally chirping something to Poe up in the cockpit. Dara sat like a beautiful ice-queen behind him in the small vessel's passenger hold. He was tempted on several occasions to look back at her. To admire her. She was heartbreakingly beautiful, and when they had talked last night… She had appeared to be the sort of person Poe would have wanted to get to know better. Like he had thought many times last night, she knew what she was doing. He felt guilty for keeping up this rude silence.

"Are you hungry, Princess?" His voice cracked a little. It had been a while since he'd spoken. He glanced back at her. The ship was cruising at hyperspeed. He didn't need to pay attention anymore.

"Sure." Her voice was quiet. She really did look regal as she sat with a perfectly straight back and a statuesque face. He grabbed one of the ready-made meals out of a cupboard and set about heating it up. He rooted around in his duffel bag for a small box of spice. Once the meal was heated up he sprinkled a little bit of the powder over the food. He filled up a glass with water and brought it over to her, setting it down on the small table in front of her.

"The meals they pack in these things can be really bland. Better to spice them up a little." He sat across from her. BB-8 stayed up in the cockpit to give them some privacy.

"I'm sorry I-"

"Thank you for the-" They had both spoken at the same time. They smiled shyly at each other.

"How about you and I start over. Poe Dameron, Resistance pilot." He offered her his hand over the table. She laughed a little; that breathy laugh again.

"Dara Varana, charmed to meet you." She took his hand and gave him a firm handshake. She stuck a fork into the food and ate it eagerly. "You were right about the spice. This is great!" As she ate, she looked more like that girl he had met in the bar last night.

"So tell me. Why are the First Order out to get you?" Dara stopped eating. He was genuinely curious. He was desperate to know what Dara did, but he knew it was probably confidential.

"Kylo-Ren hates me." she said quietly. Her face look guarded again. And she seemed sad.

"He's a piece of work alright. He tortured me a while back there…" Poe murmured. Dara closed her eyes.

"We're not going to talk about him anymore." she said, clenching her fists. Poe agreed. There was no point talking about him. He had probably tortured them both. It was a dark place he didn't like to think about.

"We won't talk about him." BB-8 rolled in a beeped excitedly at them. They were coming into base. Dara ate the last of her food as Poe went up to cockpit for landing.

His landing was flawless as always. Poe was the best pilot after all. Poe opened the door and walked down the ramp, BB-8 ever at his heels. General Organa was awaiting them. She looked crestfallen when she saw only Poe leaving the carrier. He looked back Dara was still sitting in the passenger hold, looking nervous. She got up and walked slowly down the ramp. The General's eyes glistened when she saw her.

"Dara." Dara came to the bottom of the ramp and threw her arms around the General. Poe did a double take. She shouldn't be doing that!

"Mom." Poe felt the need to lie down.