FREE FALLING ━━ p. dameron ✓

twenty one

Poe and I grab Connix on her way to the bridge. We inform her of our plan and she nods along as if she already understands where we're coming from.

"What do you need me to do?" She asks.

"Finn and Rose are taking an escape pod to Canto Bight. It's going to show up on our radar. We need you to lie to Holdo. Say it's...passing debris or something." Poe explains.

Connix nods.

"Poe and I will alert you when it's time." I say. I wrap Poe's jacket around myself tighter.

"Got it." She says. She turns and walks back to the bridge and Poe and I watch her leave.

"Should we head down to the pods?" Poe asks. BB-8 beeps out our feet.

"Yeah." I say. We both turn.

"You said you had a story for me."

I grin. "I did, didn't I?"

Poe nods.

"Ok. Just...don't get mad."

"That's what I said to you before I told you I beat up Braiden."

I let out a laugh. It echoes down the hallway.

"Fair enough. Alright, so I went to Coruscant to get medical supplies for Finn right? And I had to meet with someone confidential. Turns out he was a Togruta. Anyways, he gave me the stuff then started rambling about payment. He wanted to uh...have me as payment."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Poe clench his fist. I swallow and continue on.

"So I threatened him, BB-12 called my mom, and I left."

"Did he-did he say anything to you?"

"'The Solo's have always been so pretty.' And he touched my hair which was weird thinking back now." I say, tapping my chin.

"Thank you for telling me." Poe says. He sounds level headed.

I turn to him. "You're not mad?"

"I'm beyond mad. But I need to keep my cool. Another reason for Holdo not to trust me is bad."

I laugh. "Aren't we doing something like that now?"

"Yes, but the Resistance depends on this. Me flying to Coruscant to blast a Togruta is not important. Well...not that important." Poe says, a smile creeping onto his face.

I stop in front of a door, realizing we've reached the area where the escape pods are. They're hidden behind pipes, and if you don't know where they are you could never find them. It was made like that for the express reason of deserters. Although I was never quite sure why you would desert. The First Order would know and you'd be dead within days.

I push open the door and walk through the maze of tunnels, finally reaching our destination.

In front of one of the pods is Rose and Finn. They're whispering to each other.
I clear my throat loudly and they both glance to me.

"You ready to go?" I ask. They both nod.

"Alright. Here, take this." Poe hands Finn a hand held comlink. "We'll use these to keep in touch. They're untraceable by the First Order."

Finn accepts it gratefully. Now we are all standing around looking at each other. Finally, I step forward and give Finn a hug. He holds me tightly.

I pull back after a second. "Come back safe." I say. In response, Finn slips of the cloaked binary beacon from his wrist.

"Where did you get this?" I ask breathlessly.

Finn shrugs. "It fell off your mother's wrist when...you know." He hands it to me,

I gratefully accept it and nod. Finn turns away from me.

Finn and Poe hug longer, their connection running deeper than Finn and I's. I give Rose a nod and take hold of her hand. I slip the ring, from ages ago that Lula gave me, out of my pocket and place it into Rose's palm.

"To bring you good luck." I say to her. Rose nods and offers me a small smile. I return it and watch her and Finn clamber into the escape pod. Poe takes out a comlink to Connix.

"It's time. Finn and Rose are about to leave. Remember, passing debris." He says. He puts the comlink back into his pocket. "Wait. Take BB-8." Poe says. The droid rolls out from behind Poe's legs and into the escape pod.

"Poe? That's your droid." Finn says, shock in his voice.

Poe nods. "I know. You need him more than we do. Besides, we have BB-12." He shrugs. A place a hand on Poe's shoulder and nod at Finn as if saying take him.

Finn sighs and closes the pod hatch. Finn and Rose both give Poe and I one last smile before they press the button and the escape pod drops away from the main ship.

I stand and watch them before they disappear and mix in with the stars. Tears prick my eyes and I'm confused as to why.

Poe gently places a hand on my arm.

"They'll be ok." He says softly, pulling me out of my trance. I nod my head and try to discreetly wipe my tears away.

It either worked or Poe decided not to ask me about it.

The two of us leave, trying not look suspicious. Nobody is going to know about our plan until we let them. We begin to wander over to the medbay.

I reach down for Poe's hand and he gives it to me, not even glancing at me in surprise. I guess this has become a regular thing for us.

As he did yesterday, Poe squeezes my hand three times. I grin at him playfully and watch the corner of his mouth turn up.

"This will work Poe." I say.

"It has to." He replies.

The rest of the walk to the medbay is silent.

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This chapter is kinda shot, im sorry :(

word count: 972