Confronting Fear

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I love the way that your heart breaks
With every injustice and deadly fate
Praying it all will be new
And living like it all depends on you

Again - Flyleaf

Rey collapsed against Finn as the ramp closed behind them, wrapping her arms around his neck. He held her close as she shook with cold and shock. Once the ship was safely in lightspeed Poe and Chewy joined them, Poe carrying a blanket. He carefully extracted her from Finn, wrapping her up as he did so before handing her off to Chewy who carried her to the couch in the lounge.

Poe and Chewy sat on either side of her as Finn dug through drawers, finally pulling out a well-worn brown tunic and leggings. He knelt before her taking one shaking hand in his, concern in his voice as her teeth chattered behind her blue lips. "Rey, you need to dry off and change. You're freezing and it's a long flight to Crait." She didn't answer. He silently wished that Rose was here.

Poe stood, half lifting Rey up with him. "C'mon Rey. We're going to take care of you."

Finn glared but didn't stop Poe as he led Rey into the smaller of the two cabins, gently depositing her on the bunk. Poe left briefly, returning with a stack of towels and blankets and a mug containing some steaming liquid.

Rey was trying unbutton the front of her tunic but her hands were shaking too much. Poe sat carefully down beside her. "Let me help, I promise I won't look."

Rey nodded, unable to speak with her chattering teeth. True to his word, Poe carefully and impersonally unhooked her belt from around her tunic and unbuttoned it to reveal a soaked undershirt. "Can you turn around?"

She nodded and turned as best she could to face away from him, taking a blanket to cover her front as best she could.

He kept his eyes respectfully downcast as he peeled the soaked shirt away from her skin but was still unable to stifle a gasp as he saw what lay underneath. For as long as he had known Rey, she had kept every inch of her upper body covered, even in the sticky heat of Ajan Kloss when every other woman in the Resistance had donned cropped tops or shirts held up by a piece of string over the shoulders. He had always chalked it up to her being modest by nature or so used to the heat that it didn't bother her. Now he understood. Criss-crossing Rey's back, the edges licking her front were over a dozen long, thin scars from wounds that had healed over years ago... Lash marks.

Rey hung her head in shame as Poe quickly patted her as dry as best he could with the towel, pulled the sizes too big tunic down over her head, helping her thread her arms through. He proceeded to wrap her torso in a blanket. Warming her core was the most important thing. She was already shaking less. He knelt down at her feet, carefully removing her boots, dumping an inch of water out of each one onto the floor.

"Rey, can I?"

"Yyyyyes. Iiits ooookaaaay." The tunic was long enough that it covered her lap as he slid the leggings off. He decided against helping her into the dry ones, opting instead to wrap her legs in another blanket. Of all the times he'd thought about undressing her, none of them went like this.

"You look like a mummy." hoping the humor would help diffuse the awkwardness of the situation. He helped her into a sitting position, leaning against the wall of the bunk for support before laying the last blanket over her lap. He placed the mug of tea into her hands, the blue tinge starting to recede from her fingertips. He longed to crawl into the bunk with her, to share in her pain. Instead, he stood. "Rest up, it will be a few hours before we reach Crait. Dry leggings are over there. Call if you need anything."

Poe closed the door behind him to find Chewy and Finn staring him down. "What? Someone had to do it. Do you really think I was going to take advantage? I kept my eyes down the whole time and barely touched her, ask her."