The Other Solo

Chapter 15

Jaina sits on the floor in Ben's room trying to piece together the fragments of the photos and drawings he slashed earlier that day. She comes across a photo of the twins when they were toddlers playing in the garden. That day was the first time they used the force. Leia was watching them and couldn't believe they were using the force to levitate their soccer ball.

She picks up another photo, this one was her and Ben holding Anakin when he was an infant. The memory of that day floods her mind, Anakin was the cutest baby she had ever seen. He cooed and giggled any time one of the twins held him. Ben loved playing hide and seek with the infant and talked about all the things he was going to teach Ani. Tears slide down her cheeks, how far they've come since those simple days.

She jumps at the touch of a hand on her shoulder. She looks up to see Poe standing above her.

"Poe!" She exclaims jumping to her feet. "I'm so glad you're alright!"

He pulls her into his arms and holds her tight. She breathes in his scent making her feel whole again.

"How are you?" He asks still clinging to her.

"I'm fine." She sighs.

He pulls away slightly reaching up to brush hair from her face. She blushes as her skin tingles to his caress.

"Ben was here..." She motions to the slashed up wall and mess on the floor.

"I heard." Poe frowns. He kneels down to pick up some burnt pages.

She kneels beside him to see what he picked up.

"Oh thats a good one." She smiles looping her arm through his. "That was the first time Papa let us fly the Millenium Falcon. Ben almost crashed it into the North tower."

Poe lets out a slight chuckle and picks up a drawing. "What's this?"

"That's the drawing I drew of Ben crashing the Falcon into the forest on the North side of the palace." Jaina giggles taking the drawing from his hand.

He sits on the floor pulling her into his lap. His lips softly graze her ear as he speaks. "What's your favorite picture?"

"Um..." She clumsily picks up another drawing. "Ben drew this one...You may recognize it."

Poe takes the drawing from her and smiles. The picture is of the force tree on Yavin 4. "It's so colorful."

"Yea, Ben always said he saw colors radiating from the tree. To him the force was like a kaleidoscope."

"Is that what the force is like?" Poe asks tenderly rubbing her arm.

Her heartbeat quickens with each stroke.

"Well... it's different for everyone..." Jaina's voice quivers. "My mother says it's like heartbeats... To me it feels like vibrations."

"Really? That's interesting." He replies examining the picture further.

Jaina tilts her head back to look at him. "Poe, you didn't finish your story about the force tree."

"What do you mean?" He asks glancing down at her.

"The story about visiting the tree before you left for flight school."

"Oh, there wasn't more to it." 

Jaina could feel he was holding back again.

"Why didn't you talk to me?"

"I told you..." He began.

"I can tell when you're lying." She teases nudging him gently.

She notices his cheeks become a pink hue as he closes his eyes. After a few seconds he lets out a long sigh.

"It's because... I had a crush on you. I wasn't going to the tree to say goodbye, well I was... but I was going to say goodbye to you. I watched you go there almost everyday, we hadn't talked since we were small children and I was afraid you wouldn't remember me. I regretted it everyday and I promised myself if I ever saw you again I would talk to you, no matter what."

Jaina twists so she is face to face with him. He opens his eyes as she takes his face in both her hands.

"I'm really glad you did." She whispers before closing her eyes and pressing her lips to his.

To her delight Poe kisses back. He embraces her hooking one arm around her waist while his other hand cradles her neck.  With every kiss she feels as though they are floating on a cloud. 

"So this is what falling in love feels like..." she thinks to herself. "I can't imagine why the Jedi suppress this."