Confused wasn't a strong enough word for how Poe felt when he walked into the hold of the Millennium Falcon and saw Chewbacca carrying an unconscious Luke Skywalker to one of the bunks. He had just seen the Jedi speaking with Leia not so long ago, then they had watched as he walked out to face Kylo Ren and the rest of the First Order.

Poe had been the first to realize what the Jedi was doing, and he had pushed everyone to look for a way out. It had been the disappearance of the crystal foxes that had alerted him to a possible exit, and Leia's encouraging expression had strengthened his resolve to save what was left of the Resistance. Finding a dead-end had not been in his plans, but he hadn't had much time to be discouraged before the large boulders blocking their escape had moved all on their own. Or so it appeared.

He hadn't been one bit surprised to see Rey on the other side, but the awe he felt was as strong as ever. This woman would never cease to amaze him. He rushed to her, barely aware of the rocks tumbling safely to the ground around him, and then she was in his arms once more.

Their reunion, though passionate, was brief, as both of them immediately turned their attention to the people around them. Rey began to direct everyone up the short but steep hill where Chewie was waiting to usher them all into the Falcon. Poe had taken the Wookiee's place so he could get the ship ready to go, and he hurried everyone along as fast as the injured could go. Finn and Petty carried a still unconscious Rose by him, and Poe looked at her too still face, worry filling him. He couldn't lose both Tico sisters in this mess; Rose had to live!

Finally, everyone was on board, and though the Falcon was packed full, it was still too few, Poe thought.

As he watched Chewie carry Luke to the bunk, his heartache turned to utter bewilderment. He looked at Leia, who was making her way through the crowd in the hold to her brother. Rey, who had given BB-8 a swift hug and kiss (which made Poe smile), rushed toward the cockpit to help Han take off. Poe moved through the crowd as he felt the ship lift off, giving hugs of gratitude to all of his friends that were still alive. C'ai, Kaydel, Nev, Jess.

He finally reached the bunk where Luke lay. Leia was sitting on a barrel of some sort holding her brother's hand. He looked down at the older man, noting that Luke's chest was rising and falling ever so slightly. He looked at Leia. "How?"

Leia gave him a sad smile. "The man you saw was a projection through the Force," she said quietly. "I remember he and I talked about it, once, long ago. About how impossible it would be." She gave a soft laugh.

"Did you know?" Poe asked. "Did you know it wasn't really him when he arrived?"

Leia shook her head. "Not until he touched me."

Poe looked back at the unconscious man, his awe towards Rey and her ability to move the boulders combining now with what he had witness Luke Skywalker do. "I don't suppose Kylo Ren knew Luke wasn't really there either, huh?"

Leia's smile broadened. "That was the point."

Poe was silent for a while. "Will he be okay?"

Leia's smile faded. "I don't know," she whispered.

Poe reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

Leia took a deep breath. "Commander, I'm going to need your help more than ever now," she told him, her voice firm. "I gave Han coordinates to Berlina, where I know we can take a break and gather our wits. I'll need you to contact the rest of your team and let them know what happened." Leia and Poe were the only survivors that knew how to contact Snap and the others. "Then we need to figure out where we're going to go. Who we can trust."

He nodded. "I have ideas, but I need to talk to Snap first before I seriously consider them."

Leia gave him a grateful look. "I knew I could count on you."

Poe gave a soft snort. "I've got a lot to make up for," he told her.

She tilted her head at him. "I know you'll manage." Her chin rose and she looked past him. "Why don't you go check in with Rey. She needs to be updated on all that happened while she was gone." As Poe looked over his shoulder at Rey standing on the other side of the hold watching them, Leia squinted at him. "Don't leave anything out, but don't be too hard on yourself. Even I will admit that Amilyn should have told you more."

He felt his face heat, feeling both shame and gratitude at her words. He turned and made his way through the crowded hold. Everyone was starting to settle down now that they were safely in hyperspace, any immediate danger behind them. Since there weren't nearly enough seats for the amount of people on board, they were finding places to 'camp out' on the floor; some were already curling up to sleep.

Poe felt an overwhelming exhaustion of his own hit him as he reached Rey, her concerned and compassionate gaze giving him immediate comfort. "We need to talk," he told her softly.

She glanced around at the people behind him. "Are you going to tell me what happened that so few of us are left?" There was pain in her expression now.

He nodded. "You mean how it was my fault?" Leia's words about not being hard on himself were already being forgotten.

Rey gave him a disapproving frown. "I know you think you're important Dameron, but I have a feeling there's a whole lot more to this story than 'it's my fault'."

Poe brought his hand up to rub his aching temple, closing his eyes. He felt Rey reach up and grab that hand, then she tugged on it, turning away and pulling him along with her. "Come on."

He followed her without question as she led him down the bending corridor and into the cockpit. Han Solo was just getting up from the pilot's chair.

He saw them and paused. "We've got more than two standard hours until we reach this Berlina," he said. "Might as well make yourselves comfortable." He looked back at Chewie. "I'll be with Leia." He nodded at them, then passed them and left the cockpit.

Chewie acknowledged his friend's statement, then his blue eyes focused on Poe and Rey. He grumbled something Poe didn't understand, but Rey just nodded and smiled softly. "Thank you." The Wookiee got up and slid past them, leaving them alone in the cockpit of the legendary ship.

Rey moved to sit in the navigator's chair, motioning to the chair next to it. Poe slid gratefully into the seat, feeling only slightly guilty that he wasn't sitting on the deck like the others in the hold.

"So, where do you want to start?" Rey asked him softly. Once more, the look in her eyes was one of compassion and understanding. He only hoped she would still be looking at him that way after he told her everything. He took a breath, ready to start telling her about the dreadnaught, but then he stopped. Rey tilted her head questioningly.

Poe felt his throat thicken and his eyes started burning. Kriff, he couldn't cry. Not now.

"Poe?" Rey whispered, and he could hear the concern in her voice.

He licked his lips. "I feel like I'm going to fall apart," he mumbled, suddenly unable to look into her eyes.

Immediately, she moved across the space between them, sliding onto his lap. She brought one arm around his shoulders and cupped his face with her other hand. "No, you won't," she told him. "I'll hold you together."

He looked at her, then closed his eyes and nuzzled the palm of her hand. Her arm tightened around his shoulders pulling him closer, and he let himself fall into her, burying his face in the hollow of her throat. Her other arm came around him and her fingers threaded through his hair, gently massaging his scalp as he let the tears come. She lowered her head, whispering into his hair, as she held him tight. "I'm here," she said on a breath. "I've got you."

Trusting that her words were true, Poe Dameron let himself go and wept.

XXXXXX

The next several weeks were spent on the move.

The small group of survivors never stayed in one place for more than a day or two, and the places they stopped were carefully considered. Leia continued to push for the continuation of the Resistance and begged for support with the people they sheltered with, but their fear was obvious and it wasn't easy convincing anyone to join them when the story of their destruction was being spread far and wide by the First Order.

The Resistance's near demise wasn't the biggest story in the galaxy. News spread quickly that Supreme Leader Snoke was dead, and Kylo Ren had taken his place as leader of the First Order. Rumors ran rampant that a Jedi had somehow snuck onto the Supremacy and assassinated Snoke, but Leia was quite sure the real assassin was her son; his turn to the Dark Side was complete.

Snap and the others joined with the survivors about a week after they left Crait. Rey could tell Poe was very nervous about reuniting with his friends and fellow pilots, afraid of what they may think about his actions while they were away, but he had nothing to worry about. The hugs that were shared among the pilots were genuine, and Rey overheard Karè whisper, "I wish we'd been with you."

"I am so glad you weren't," Poe said firmly. "You'd probably all be dead. No one in that hanger survived."

Rose woke within a few hours after they left Crait. She had a concussion and a few bruised ribs from her deliberate crash. When Rey learned just why she had rammed into Finn, she thanked the woman. "Poe said there was no way what Finn was planning to do would have worked. He would have died for nothing. I hope he realizes that now."

Her roommate and friend smiled at her. "He does. He can't stop apologizing."

Rey also spent a great deal of time with Rose listening to her talk about her sister, mourning with her.

Luke took much longer to awaken.

He was kept on the Falcon so that if they needed to evacuate quickly, they wouldn't have to worry about moving him. Harter managed to scrounge up enough medical equipment when they reached Berlina to ensure they could keep him monitored and comfortable, and someone was at his side at all times. Artoo never left him.

Rey and Poe were almost always separate during the day, with Poe working extensively with Leia planning and organizing missions to find supplies, ships, and recruits. Rey could tell that Leia was watching her protégé closely, worried about his mental state and his physical well-being. He wasn't the only one to suffer from nightmares, emotional breakdowns, and uncharacteristic behaviors; every survivor from Crait was dealing with trauma. But Rey recognized that Leia looked at Poe as more than just her new second-in-command; Leia worried about him as if he was her son.

Rey's Jedi training was put on hold for the time being. Not only did Leia not have time to train her, but her abilities as a pilot were needed more, as so many had died on the Raddus. Snap had led two raids on private docking platforms, both of them supporters of the First Order, and stole five Y-Wings and seven X-Wings. One of the X-Wings immediately became Poe's and another was claimed by Rey. One of those raids included liberating a handful of astromech droids. Rey also claimed one of them, but as she set about wiping its memory and introducing it to her X-Wing, she mourned the loss of Sandy, who had been destroyed in the same attack that had killed most of the Command staff, pilots, and had almost taken Leia away from them.

Though most of their 'nights' were on the Falcon, usually in hyperspace, Rey and Poe always managed to find each other, no matter what other tasks they had been working on. They would settle into a corner of the hold, curling up together on whatever blankets and pillows they had scrounged and gifted each other with. The few nights they had to sleep separate for one reason or another were nights that one or both of them had nightmares. Poe's involved fire and explosions and death. Rey's always consisted of a dark figure in a mask, a red lightsaber, and her mother screaming at her to run.

They had been on the move for over five weeks when Luke finally woke. Rey just happened to be the one by his side when his eyes opened.

Rey felt a slight surge in the Force around her just before she realized his ice blue eyes were looking at her. She sat up from her slumped position and focused on him. "Hi," she whispered.

"Did it work?" His voice was ragged and weak.

Rey immediately reached for the water container on the floor next to the bunk. Artoo realized his master was awake and rolled over, softly beeping as Rey began to help Luke sit upright. He pushed himself back so he could lean against the bulkhead and accepted the water when she offered it to him, but his eyes remained on her. He was waiting for an answer.

Rey nodded. "Yes, it worked. We found the survivors. A lot of them are still here on the Falcon." She sighed as Luke finally began to drink. When he focused on her again, she continued. "There weren't many left."

He frowned, then took a deep breath of his own. "Leia's here."

"Yes," Rey confirmed unnecessarily. She was actually surprised Leia hadn't already shown up, having felt her brother's revival.

Luke looked around the hold. A few people were playing dejarik, and another group were gathered on the floor having their mid-day meal. They all watched Luke with expressions of curiosity mixed with awe. Luke looked back at her. "And your Poe?"

Rey couldn't help but smile at his use of the 'your.' "He made it, though he's currently flying with his team right now and not here on the ship."

There was a flurry of movement from the passage that led to the cockpit and Rey turned her head to see both Leia and Harter walking quickly toward them.

"Luke!" The relief in the General's voice made Rey smile even more. She stood and stepped away from the bed as Leia moved in to hug her brother. Luke's arms wrapped around his sister tightly, and they held each other for a long moment. When they pulled away, Leia looked over at Rey, grinning. "It's really him this time."

Rey laughed softly, knowing Leia was referring to Luke's Force projection on Crait, then moved even further back, allowing Harter into the confined space around the bunk.

"All right, Master Skywalker. Let's have a look at you," the doctor said.

"And you are?" Luke's voice was dry and sarcastic, just as Rey had gotten used to it being.

"Currently, I'm your doctor," Harter snipped. "Now lay back and let me examine you."

As the two women fussed over Luke, Rey wandered away, her job done. It would take time for Luke to get his strength back, she assumed, and she was quite sure they wouldn't start any real training until the Resistance found a place to hide planetside. It would be a long road back to becoming the finely tuned army they had been before they had evacuated D'Qar. But with Leia Organa, Han Solo, and now Luke Skywalker on their team, Rey was convinced they would get there again.

XXXXXX