Stitches | Poe Dameron

xiv

I slept so much better with Esma there with me, it definitely made me feel safer. And I didn't have nightmares.

"You want me to stay with you again tonight?" Esma slipped on her coat and tied her hair in a bun.

I rummage through my locker, looking to see if I left anything. I turn towards Esma.

"That's okay, I need to learn to sleep by myself." I chuckle a bit.

Esma puts on her shoe covers. A few ships came back from a mission - not Poe unfortunately - and some people needed minor stitchings today. I guess that would be called a 'successful mission.'

"I'll always be here, Stitches, just call me." Esma shuts her locker.

"Thanks, Essie." I used the nickname I called her back when I was 16. Esma smiles wider than I've seen her smile in a long time. She takes three long strides towards me and wraps her arms around me tightly. I hug her back.

"We both abandoned Grenene, remember that." She tells me. "We're in this together - we're family."

I nod and we pull apart.

"If you're having a hard time, I'm always here." She says and I nod again.

"And I'm here for you." I remind her. We both smile.

"Now let's go stitch some people up."

~*~

"Well look at that," my patient says as I enter the room. "Seems we meet again."

I look up from my clipboard and laugh.

"Hey, Mage." I shut the door and place my clipboard on the counter.

Mage laid down on the bed in the center of the room. She stared at the ceiling and tapped a rhythm with her fingers. A screen was placed over her stomach to prevent her from seeing her legs.

"I just need to stitch up a cut on your shin right?" I question and place the mask over my face. "The nurses cleaned your other cuts?"

"Affirmative, Doctor." Mage smiled.

I laugh slightly and bring the tools that the nurses prepared me.

"Aright Mage, you don't need to be put under for this so I'm just going to freeze your leg. It's a 15 minute procedure." I sit on the side of the screen she couldn't see.

"Okie doke, ready when you are." Mage gave me the okay.

"Alright, I'm freezing your leg now." I clean a space on her leg and grab my needle. "Don't freak out because you won't be able to move it."

"Go ahead, I'm ready to leave."

I laugh again and inject her. I wait a minute before starting the stitching.

"So how was the mission?" I initiate conversation. "And be careful how you answer because I don't know anything about mission stuff."

Mage laughs, although I can't see her.

"It was one of the most successful missions, no one died and we rescued the necessary people."

"You're in Poe's squadron, right?" I hope I sound nonchalant.

"If you just wanted to ask about Poe you could've." Mage responds.

I blush a little as I make another loop with the thread.

"Well if you're in his squadron and you're here then he should be too."

"Yea, about that." Mage says. "He was coming back but he stopped at another planet and told us to go without him."

"You let him go alone?" I concentrated on the procedure.

"He made it a direct order, none of us wanted to leave him but we had to." Mage sighed. "It wasn't for anything bad, he just went to Naboo to get something."

I nod my head in understanding, then remember that she can't see me.

"Oh, alright." I say.

"He should be back soon, although General Organa is going to be really mad at him."

"Why?"

Mage laughed.

"If you haven't noticed, Poe has this thing where he thinks rules and commands are optional." She tells me.

I laugh a little as I'm almost finished.

"I might have noticed."

I work for another five minutes before finishing and calling in the nurses. Damien and Fu enter and I stay quiet in the corner, waiting for them to finish.

"Dr. Coven is Captain Mage allowed to leave?" Damien asks me with an expressionless face.

I nod.

"If she can feel her leg and is able to walk then yes." I respond.

Mage happily jumps off the bed and walks a couple feet.

"I feel fine." She says and I get up.

"Then you're free to go, please don't rip the stitching." I say as she hugs me, thanks me and leaves.

I dismiss the nurses and Fu leaves, but Damien stays.

"So, Lyla," Damien walks towards me. I walk backwards to match him and keep distance between us, but I hit the wall. "What are you doing on Friday?"

Déjà vu. But bad, bad déjà vu.

"Uhh..." I try and slide away from Damien but he walks closer to me and places both his hands on either side of me. I let out a small whimper as our eyes lock and he leans closer.

"I asked you a question." He says quietly, not breaking eye contact.

I feel my body begin to shake, my heart beating in ears. Flashes of him start going through my mind.

"I-"

"She's going to be with me Friday." A voice cuts in.

Both our heads snap towards the door. There stood Esma with her arms crossed and a glare on her face.

"Now if you don't mind, Damien," Esma said dangerously carefully. "Dr. Coven and I have some things to do."

Damien glared at Esma before lifting his hands off the wall, to which I scurried to Esma and grabbed her hand. She slyly pushed me behind her.

"Now if you ever disrespected either of us again, don't think I won't hesitate to ruin you."

Damien didn't say another word, he just crossed his arms, grinded his teeth and nodded so small I could have missed it.

"Dismissed." Esma spat and pulled me away.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." I kept whispering to her as we walked through the hallways to our lockers.

Once we reached our lockers she cupped my face in her hands.

"You are so, so lucky that you were up against the intercom." She said.