We are entering that one year gap between TLJ and TROS. I always loved imagining the things that happened during that time, just like I used to imagine all that happened in the three years between A New Hope and Empire. Now that I have Han and Luke as well as Leia to play with, it's even more fun!

Anyway, something big is about to be revealed. Anyone want to make a guess what?

XXXXXX

It took another seven weeks for the Resistance to finally find someplace to hunker down. They had settled twice on quiet worlds where the residents seemed sympathetic and mostly trusting, but the First Order always seemed to appear close by, never really threatening as if they knew the Resistance survivors were hiding nearby, but too close for comfort.

That's when Leia remembered Ajan Kloss.

"I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner," she griped to herself when they arrived at the almost completely uninhabited world. Uninhabited by sentients, anyway. A moon of the gas planet Ajara, Ajan Kloss itself was teeming with life, both plant and animal, and Poe found himself absolutely enraptured by it almost immediately.

It reminded him of home.

There were a handful of small settlements in the southern hemisphere of the moon, but Leia led them to an area that had very obviously not been used by anything but wildlife for years. Luke had nodded his head sagely as he stepped off the Falcon into the humid, oxygen rich air. He looked at Leia, quirking an eyebrow at his sister.

"I wonder if the training course still exists?"

Leia scoffed. "I wouldn't trust most of it if it did." She looked at Poe, who was by her side, as he often was these days. "Maybe Poe can help Rey fix it up."

"Training course?" Poe asked.

Leia nodded. "This is where Luke trained me. Now, it's time for him to get down to training Rey."

"Well, if she gives me even half of the grief you did," Luke said, frowning. "I'm not sure I'll survive this time."

"Very funny," Leia snapped back. The expression on her face was severe, but Poe recognized the humor glinting in her eye.

The small group of fighters and other ships the Resistance had acquired eventually made their way to the surface, finding whatever open areas they could to land. The large trees and huge rock formations would hide them. They were a long way off from finding and putting together a planetary shield, so keeping everything as concealed as possible was currently their only defense.

For two days the group, whose number had only grown slightly since Crait, worked at creating not only a working base, but a place they could live and relax and feel safe for however long it lasted.

Tents were set up throughout the small valley to protect them from the frequent rain. The sides could be pulled up to allow air movement as they had no way to artificially cool the hot, humid air. A few people, including Leia and Luke, found caverns large enough to settle in comfortably. While the caves were cooler, there were none large enough for a command center, so that was still located under a large canvas tent.

The remaining Resistance pilots set up tents of their own in a clearing off to the side of where most of their ships were docked. Poe helped them, laughing and teasing and feeling more comfortable than he had in a long, long time. He was far from over the trauma of the past few months, but he felt that he was slowly getting back to his old self.

Eventually, he noticed Rey watching them. She was leaning against a tree off to the side, a small smile on her face. After a teasing shove from Snap, he made his way over to her. "So, where's Luke making you put your tent?" he asked. He already knew from Leia that Rey would be working with the Jedi more than the flight team from here on out.

She shook her head. "He's not. I got to choose where I'm going to stay." He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "Where's Leia making you put yours?" she asked.

Poe laughed softly. He had officially been declared Leia's second-in-command at their morning meeting, and while he was proud of the promotion, he was also nervous about it. "She's not," he told her. "I get to choose where I'm going to put my bed down, too."

"And have you?" she asked softly.

"No," he replied in kind. "Have you?"

Rey gave him a sly smile and motioned for him to follow her, then headed through the base. He followed, eventually jogging up to walk next to her as they maneuvered around trees and roots and ships and tents. They passed the cliffside where the other caverns were and continued past them. Poe was openly curious now. They passed a beautiful lake with waterfalls and Poe immediately wanted to jump in for nice, long bath. They came upon another area of rocky outcroppings. Rey led him to a lone cavern and walked inside. Her belongings were already there, her bedding along the back wall where she had put down a bed of rushes that she must have found next to the lake.

Poe nodded in appreciation, then looked at her. She was looking back at him intently. "It's big enough for two," she said simply.

Poe felt his heart start to beat a little bit faster than normal. He leaned out of the cavern entrance and looked back toward the base, which was a good 200 meters away. "The radios work out here?" he asked, looking back at Rey.

"Yes, I made sure." she nodded. "I know it's a bit of a distance from command, but I'll need to be away from the others to meditate. And I think it will do you good to be able to get away from all that activity, too. When you need to."

He stared at her earnest face for a long moment. "Did you talk to Leia about this?" he finally asked.

"I told her I was going to ask you," Rey said. "She agreed that it might be good for you as well, but she wanted to make sure you weren't pressured." Rey looked away quickly, her cheeks taking on a rosy hue. "If you'd be more comfortable closer to Leia or the squadron, I understand."

"I actually love the idea," Poe told her quickly.

"But?"

He glanced around the cavern. "It's still really small. We'd have to sleep awfully close together." He had to work to keep his face serious.

Rey looked at him, her brows furrowed. "That's… that's kind of the point."

Poe couldn't help but laugh at her confused expression.

She opened her mouth in astonishment, then reached over and smacked him on the arm. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

He moved into her, wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug. She didn't resist, falling against him and bringing her arms around him in return.

"I would love to stay here with you," Poe told her, serious once again. "But are you really sure you want it? Are you sure we won't get on each other's nerves?"

"I think we'll both be so busy we'll hardly ever be here, and probably not always at the same time." She looked at him, her eyes large and sincere. "But I think when we can be together, even if only for a few hours of quiet and rest, we'll heal each other's nerves."

Poe smiled. "I agree," he whispered. Then he nodded. "I'll get my stuff out here before nightfall."

XXXXXX

Rey's prediction that she and Poe would hardly be in their shared quarters at the same time unfortunately came true. For the next six weeks, as word of Snoke's death and the news of the return of Luke Skywalker spread, more and more people began to join the Resistance. Poe spent the great majority of his waking hours either transporting new recruits to Ajan Kloss (after serious vetting) or working to establish a larger spy network than what they already had. When he was on-world he was training with the new pilots or helping Leia plan.

Rey spent most of her time with Luke. He was impressed by what she had already learned from Leia, but he also got frustrated easily by her stubbornness and her refusal to take whatever he said for granted, always wanting to know the 'why' more than the 'how.' She also continued to spend time with Leia, meeting with her early in the morning to meditate in the meadow beside the lake and often sharing meals with her.

Whenever Poe was done with whatever task he had been busy with, he would find his way to the little cave on the far side of the lake, clean up as best he could, then wrap himself around an already sleeping Rey, as it was inevitably the middle of the night when his work was done for the day. She would wake early and regretfully slide out of their bed (which eventually became a cot rather than a makeshift pallet on the floor), leaving him to sleep as long as he could. Other than a few shared meals of their own, they rarely saw each other while they were both awake.

It was disappointing, but Rey admitted to Leia that at least knowing the other would eventually come 'home' was a comforting feeling.

Despite their rough start, Rey eventually learned to enjoy being with Luke, and she learned to appreciate his dry sense of humor. He spoke to her about the history of the Jedi, things he had learned in the years following the war with the Empire, and stories he had gathered from other survivors. He talked about the Bokken Jedi, Force sensitives that had been trained after the destruction of the Jedi order by survivors of the purge. Unfortunately, most of those survivors had been padawans, whose training had been incomplete, making their own training inadequate.

"Including yours?" Rey had asked.

"Especially mine," he had told her. "I only learned the basics from Obi-wan and Yoda. But at least I had two Masters training me. And there's my heritage, of course, which is either something to take pride in or something to try and rise above, depending on your point of view."

During quiet moments, she often caught him watching her with more focus than normal, his ice blue eyes intense and a frown on his face. She always became slightly unnerved by his expression, wondering what he was thinking and remembering how he had told her she reminded him of someone he used to know. Finally, during one of those moments, she decided to pressure him into talking about whatever he was thinking.

"Why do you look at me like that?"

His eyes widened, startled. "Like what?"

"Like you're angry at me, but not really me."

He winced, then muttered, "Sorry." He took a deep breath. "What was your mother's name?"

Rey shrugged. "I don't know. I don't remember much about her."

"Do you remember what she looks like?"

She bit her lower lip, then shook her head. "In my dreams, I can still see her face, but I couldn't describe it to you. I think if I saw her again, I would recognize her. Although I guess she would be much older now." She frowned. "Why?"

"Your eyes are very distinct, Rey," Luke answered. "I knew someone with eyes like yours. And your mannerisms often remind me of her, too."

"A student?"

He shook his head. "No. She initially came to me to learn, but she already had training."

"She was a Bokken, then?"

"Of a sort," he said softly. He stood from where he was sitting. "Come with me."

Rey also stood and followed him out of the clearing and back toward the main part of the base. They often trained in this clearing, which gave them privacy from the activity going on in the encampment, but kept them close by if they were needed. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the cave Luke called home. He went over to the small satchel he had brought with him from Ach-To and reached inside. To Rey, it looked like he was reaching into a hidden pocket in the lining of the bag. He pulled out a flimsy with an image on it. He looked at it for a moment, then handed it to Rey.

Rey took the image carefully, knowing how fragile such things were, and studied it. Immediate recognition flowed through her. A young woman was smiling at her from the flimsy and it was as if she had appeared straight from Rey's dreams. Dark hair, hazel eyes, a confident bearing. "That's her," Rey whispered. She looked at Luke. "You knew my mother."

He nodded, though it hadn't really been a question.

"What was her name?"

"Mara."

"Do you know where she is?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions."

"How long ago? Did you know me?"

He looked away for a moment, then back at her. "Rey, you weren't born yet when I knew her. She…" he stopped and looked away again, frowning.

Rey studied him, realization dawning. "Are you my father?" she whispered.

He looked at her again. "I don't know." He paused. "It's possible."

Rey took in a shuddering breath. "She told me when she left, she was going to find my father and they would both come back for me. Do you think something bad happened to her?"

Luke laughed suddenly, but there was no humor in it. "I can almost guarantee it."

"What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath. "Rey, when Mara came to me on Ossus, everything she told me was a lie. She wasn't there to learn more about Jedi teachings. She was there to spy on me. And on Ben, who had arrived shortly before her for training."

"To spy on you? For who?"

"She belonged to the Knights of Ren," Luke continued, his voice hard. "Who do you think?"

Rey stepped back, stunned.

"When I learned about her deception, I had already fallen in love with her. I don't think she intended that, to be fair. She said she loved me, but I couldn't trust her, so I banished her." He bit his lower lip and looked as if he was holding back tears. "If you are mine, she probably didn't even know she was pregnant yet. But I think we both know who she was hiding you from on Jakku."

"Snoke," Rey whispered. "Do you think they found her? Killed her?"

Luke shook his head. "I know she's still alive, Rey."

"What?"

"Or at least, she was before I found Ach-To," he continued. "She was back with the Knights of Ren. I saw her on more than one occasion whenever they caught up to me." He gave her a sad smile. "Leia wasn't the only reason I closed myself off from the Force."

Rey turned and sat on the chair by Luke's desk. "If she went back to them, why did she leave me in hiding? If she was protecting me from them, why didn't she just send me to you?"

"I don't know, Rey," Luke told her. "I don't know her reasons for anything." He moved to sit on the bed, reaching forward to grasp her hands in his. "But I do believe she loved you and that she is still protecting you. I believe Snoke knew nothing about you until Ben – Kylo Ren," he corrected himself, "sensed you in the Force for the first time." He squeezed her fingers softly. "Kalonia can test us, if you want?"

Rey focused on him. To think, she might be a Skywalker, part of that lineage Luke had just been talking about. She nodded.

"Not that it matters," Luke said as he let her go and stood. "You're already part of a family here. Your bloodline won't change that." He smiled down at her.

Feeling her heart swell, Rey smiled back.

XXXXXX