"I'm not going there!"
Tas rolled his eyes. "You're not helping yourself by staying inside here," Tas told him as he grabbed Poe's IV and stuck it on a moving pole. "Besides, I'm bringing this IV there, so your arm is going there one way or another."
"I don't want to be seen barely able to walk," Poe complained as he sat up to face Tas since his arm was being slightly dragged in the other direction.
"I'll at least get you to get changed into whatever you want to wear and then we'll go. Either that or you don't eat," Tas told him in a no nonsense voice. It was clear that he wouldn't cave on this.
Poe gripped the flannel pants tightly in his fists. "And why does this bother you so much? Why do I have to walk to the mess hall just to eat?"
"One, why does it bother you that much. Two, you can't just hide here forever and the sooner you get used to really walking and getting yourself ready so that you can be back before you know it. You're going to need to do that eventually," pointed out Tas shortly.
Poe looked over at Tas with an anger expression on his face. Tas suddenly grabbed a pile of Poe's clothing that he wore around base and threw them at Poe. Poe struggled to catch it as he looked at it in dismay.
"Look, I'll wait as long as it takes for you to get changed. I can go a while without eating or sleeping," Tas pointed out as he sat down at one of the chairs and crossed his arms over his chest, sighing heavily.
Poe sat for what seemed like forever before his stomach growled loudly. Poe grasped his stomach before he rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. I'll go, but don't expect me to talk to anyone."
"I knew that it wouldn't take long. Now, get changed. The longer that you wait the more people that are going to be there," Tas explained as he rose to his feet, giving Poe some much needed privacy.
Poe muttered to himself as he gingerly thread his arm through the jacket gingerly. He had tried to convince Tas to let him leave it behind, but he apparently couldn't. So, he tried to disguise it as much as possible so that it didn't get in his way. Once he was finished dressing he looked over to Tas. "Ready," he croaked.
The healer spun around and nodded to Poe. "Alright. Take it slow. There's no rush. Everyone will want to talk to you, so at least try to be civil."
Poe snorted. "I can't make any promises," he sighed as he took a few controlled steps forward as he leaned against the pole for support when he needed it. Tas stayed a few paces beside him for support, just in case. Poe had been practicing walking and hadn't fallen in two days. It that didn't mean that mistakes didn't happen, but Tas didn't want Poe to think that he was hovering either.
Poe and Tas shuffled forward slowly. It took them a lot longer than normal to actually get to the mess hall and once they did Poe was exhausted. He panted heavily as he leaned against his IV pole. He looked over to Tas and coughed heavily.
"You alright," Tas asked gently.
Poe nodded slowly. "I'm okay," he rasped as he looked up. He straightened and walked forward with his legs shaking just a bit. Tas followed a little closer as they opened the door into the mess hall.
It wasn't very busy since they were just cleaning up lunch, but the few people who were in there looked up. Poe noticed that Xander was sitting there with another man. Poe thought that his name was Jax, but he didn't know him exceptionally well.
