Poe watched as Ren collapsed, his heart racing, his body tingling with the awareness of the Force flowing around him. He immediately started climbing down the tree he was perched in, his eyes on Rey as she stumbled back away from Ren, extinguishing her lightsaber.
The roar of engines caught his attention as his feet hit the ground and he looked up to see two shuttlecraft flying low overhead, heading toward the clearing around the Dameron house. A brief moment of panic hit him, thinking the First Order had sent troops to follow Ren, but then he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized they were Resistance shuttles. He turned toward Rey, who had dropped to her knees next to Ren's prone body.
As he got closer, he realized Ren was still alive. He was panting and his dark eyes were still open, blinking rapidly. They focused on Poe for a moment, then he looked at Rey. Poe took note of the fallen lightsaber. Though Ren appeared to be immobile, Poe didn't trust him and grabbed up the weapon. As he stood straight, he saw a group of people heading toward them from the direction of the house, Leia leading the way.
As she surveyed the scene before her, she rushed forward, dropping to her knees next to her son, opposite Rey. She took the man's left hand in her own. Ren focused on her.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"I know," Leia whispered back. "I know." She reached up to stroke her son's hair off of his forehead.
Ren closed his eyes, took one last deep breath, then stilled.
Poe could swear he felt the man's death through the Force. Maybe he was just feeling it through Rey, he thought. Maybe they were still connected, as they had been during the last part of the fight.
Rey looked up at him, then she looked back at Leia before standing and turning away. She gently grasped Poe's hand and pulled him along with her, giving Leia her time alone with her fallen son. Finn separated himself from the group that Leia had arrived with, rushing toward Rey. He hugged her tight, then he stepped back and turned to Poe.
"Are you both okay?" he asked.
Poe nodded as Finn moved in to embrace him. Poe was still holding Rey's hand and he didn't want to let go, so he gave his friend a strong one-armed hug in return.
Exhausted, Poe glanced back toward his General. He looked at Finn and the others. "We've got work to do," he said, giving Rey's hand a squeeze before letting her go. "What's the status on the First Order?" he asked.
Kaydell stepped forward. "Donni was checking when we landed," she said. "I'll find out." She stepped away with her commlink to her mouth.
Poe grabbed up his own commlink and contacted his father, letting him know it was okay to come back to the house, just before Kaydell assured him that Yavin IV was most likely safe; they were already intercepting panicked sounding comms from First Order officers asking where the Supreme Leader was; this indicated Ren had not told anyone where he was going.
It was almost an hour before Leia left her son's side. She requested a funeral pyre and one was quickly built on the far side of the orchard. At noon Kylo Ren… no… Ben Solo's body was cremated while his mother and her current family looked on.
Shortly afterwards, Kes arrived back at the farm with an interesting addition to the drama of the day. He had spent the morning at The Lotus, and while there both Saramia and her newly hired pilot Lun Hilt had walked in. Kes had seen the man around in recent weeks, but did not know him well. He did, however, recall Rey and Poe talking about him, wondering if he was a First Order spy. Hilt had seemed very surprised to see Kes and had acted very nervous, constantly shooting glances at him. When Poe commed him, letting him know it was safe to come back, Hilt had seemed to react to Kes' smile. He had gotten up and moved to a corner, talking madly into his own commlink, then after shooting another terrified glance toward Kes, had left in a hurry.
"Sorry, Saramia," Kes had told the woman before he, too, left. "I think you're going to have to find another pilot."
"After what Rey told me yesterday, I wasn't keen on him anyway," she had shrugged.
Hilt was never seen again.
That evening, with Yavin low on the horizon, Poe helped Kes make a modest meal to feed the few members of the Resistance that had remained behind with Leia after she sent the rest back to Ajan Kloss on one of the two shuttles. While it was far from a celebration, it wasn't a somber affair, either, as they ate outside surrounding the firepit. After the meal, Kes and Poe shared memories of a young Ben and his parents from the time they used to visit the Damerons years ago. Even Leia laughed several times, adding little bits to some of the stories. The name Kylo Ren was never mentioned.
Late in the evening, knowing his general was as exhausted as he was, Poe suggested she stay the night in the house rather than head back to the shuttle with the others. He offered her his bed.
"Oh, I couldn't take your bed, Poe," she argued. "You look as drained as I feel."
"No worries there," Kes told her. "Poe hasn't been sleeping in his bed these last several nights."
With eyebrows raised high, the older woman looked at Poe, then at Rey, who had her eyes cast downward and was biting her lower lip. Though Poe knew she still wore his ring, she had once more tucked it under her tunic.
"Well, in that case…" Leia stood. "Kes?"
Kes also stood, a smile on his face. He moved next to Leia and proffered his arm. With a smile of her own, she took it, and the two started walking toward the house. Leia leaned against his father, and he in turn tilted his head toward her.
Poe watched them until they disappeared inside, then he looked at Rey, his eyebrows raised high.
She huffed a laugh, then stood. "Shall we?"
"Hey?" Finn grumbled. "Is there something I should know about?"
Poe stood and walked up to Rey, looking at Finn. "Yeah, actually. The guest bed isn't big enough for three." He winked at his friend as Rey laughed merrily.
"We'll see you in the morning, Finn," Rey said as she took Poe's arm. He led her toward the house, smiling as he heard Finn grumbling good-naturedly behind them. Rose giggled and when Poe glanced back, the spritely technician was leading Finn toward the shuttle.
He looked over at Rey, who already had her eyes closed even as she walked along. He knew how she felt.
Tomorrow, a new day would begin, and new plans would be made on where the Resistance would go from here. With Ren gone, the First Order would be in chaos, but that didn't mean defeating them would be easy. With no Force user at the helm, the Resistance's chance of victory had increased, however, and Poe was anxious to get started.
But tonight, there was time for rest. Time to heal. Time to recover.
One more night for Poe to sleep in peace with the woman he loved in his arms.
As they curled up together in the little bed in the guest room, Rey's head pillowed on Poe's shoulder, she whispered, "Thank you."
"For what?" Poe asked, confused.
"If you hadn't been there this morning, Ren would have killed me," she told him softly. "So, I guess it is sometimes a good thing that you don't always do as I ask."
Poe chuckled. "I'll try not to make a habit of it."
"Good," Rey said, and he could hear the smile in her voice.
Poe took a deep breath, then asked the question that had been playing in his mind since the battle this morning. "This connection we have, this bond," he started. "Is it because we had sex?"
Rey was silent for a moment, and Poe wondered briefly if she had fallen asleep. Then she tilted her head to look up at him. "I'm still not sure I understand the how or the why," she said. "But I do know it's not because we had sex." She paused. "It's emotional, not physical. The sex just heightened it, I think. But what we shared this morning, the extra power your Force essence gave me, that wasn't because we had sex."
"So, what you're saying is..?"
Rey smiled, then pulled the chain with the ring out from under her tunic. "I'm saying I love you, Poe Dameron. I have for a while. The first time we made love under the tree only confirmed it."
"I love you, Rey," he told her, his eyes welling with tears. "You've given me more reason than ever to win this war. And to survive it."
Rey nodded. "We will," she said as she laid her head back down on his shoulder. "We will."
XXXXXX
I'll see you next week for the epilogue!
