To See You Again

A gift fic for kanshisha-akira

The third time Rey's fingers fiddled over the controls, checking to see that the exhausted hyperdrive coolant was properly flushed, Luke reached over from the copilot's chair and stilled her hands. The Falcon hummed along smoothly without her fussing, hurtling them towards their rendezvous with the Resistance.

Their rendezvous with—

She resisted the urge to jerk away as a creeping flush—of mixed eagerness and embarrassment—burned from her cheeks down her throat. Even if Luke couldn't feel her emotions through their bond, he could just as easily see her face was as patched red as a sand salamander's.

"It will be all right, Rey," the gentle smile he always wore did not waver, but there was a spark in her Master's eye that teased her all the same. His touch sent a calming flow of the Force from his heart to hers, intermixed with his kind humor.

Despite herself, Rey chuckled and looked away, ashamed. It would have been nice to keep just a few secrets to herself.

"It's just...it's been so long," she managed at last. "Do you think...I mean, we didn't know each other all that well. He probably doesn't even care that I'm coming," she pulled away and flipped a few useless switches on the console.

Surely it was too warm in the cockpit; was the reactor overheating? And how long had it been since she'd verified that the nav systems were properly calibrated?

Luke sat back in his chair, stroking his beard. "I don't know this Finn," he spoke to Rey's flushed ear, "But I know that a boy who braves death to rescue a girl isn't likely to forget her."

"Oh?" It was impossible to be casual when her voice shrilled like steam from a kettle.

"I'm certain. Call it...personal experience."

()()()

Several hours later, they landed on a quiet airfield in the midst of a squadron of blaster-burned X-wings. The worn-out planes matched the grim surroundings of the mountains of Kashref; everything about was hard, cheerless, and cold. The Falcon fought through rough gusting currents on the approach, and despite Rey's best efforts, came down with a crunching thud in the middle of the fleet.

"Kriffing hell," she muttered. She'd flown perfectly when she and Finn had first met, and that was in the middle of a dogfight! And now—

She wanted to go back to Ahch-To. There she had nothing to worry her save the gulls who insisted on stealing their laundry. Although the first time a bird had flown by their meditation grounds with her under-wrappings fluttering in a stained white tail behind it, she'd wanted to tie a stone to her ankle and throw herself into the ocean.

"Here they come," Luke, untroubled neither by their jerky landing nor his padawan's mental hurricane, nodded towards the bunker's slowly-opening doors. A gushing crowd came pouring out, arms waving in a silent pantomime of joy at the two figures that sat—one silent, the other terrified—in the Falcon's cockpit.

Finn was almost first through the doors. But a few steps robbed him of all momentum; he stopped and stared, meeting her eyes across all that distance, as others pushed and dodged around him. Rey's heart swelled until it was hard to catch her breath. His upright figure blurred through eyes that filled with irrepressible tears.

"Come, Rey," Luke stood, resting one hand on her shoulder. "There is no fear, remember?"

()()()

They met on the ramp of the Falcon, after Rey had been patted and jostled by what felt like half the Resistance. Dizzy and bewildered, his sudden, solid presence was an anchor. Before she could even manage to stammer a word, his arms were around her. She could bury her nose in the soft, exposed skin of his neck and as they pressed so close together, it was as though they shared only one heartbeat between them.

"I—" ordering her thoughts was like trying to put together a working carbon scrubber from scraps. "I brought you something. From Ahch-To. It's...I found a rock."

"You..." his smile was so bright it birthed a star in Rey's stomach. "You got me a rock."

"It was pretty," she said. Suddenly the treasure she'd hoarded all those weeks seemed silly and small. She was such an idiot. "It reminded me of you."

"I love it."

"You haven't even seen it yet."

"Doesn't matter."

She tugged him forward and they went up together into the living area. But when Rey tried to let go and get his present, he wouldn't have it. Instead, he tugged her down onto the bench beside the dejarik table.

They sat there in silence, smiling awkwardly at their linked fingers, shoulder-to-shoulder and hip-to-hip. Rey felt him, not just as a physical presence but as a spiritual warmth in the Force. Something in his energy was intertwined deeply with hers; that tie seemed to pull them inexorably closer. Binary stars forever bound.

Closer and closer he came, familiar features suddenly strange with proximity. His eyes were so large, so luminous, so deep... Rey felt she could tip off solid ground and fall right into them. Like standing on the edge of a pit of sinking sand, but without fear.

Finn could never make her feel afraid; only peaceful and happy.

Then their lips met and everything in Rey froze.

His nose was pressing against her cheek, his breath was warm and gentle on her skin, and there was something wet probing the seam of her lips. Was that—it was. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation and Rey wondered...

When she opened her mouth Finn seemed to lose his nerve. Curious and determined, Rey chased his tongue with her own. When they touched, Rey was so startled by the sudden rush of heat that she gasped, shaking from head to toe.

"Are you all right?" he pulled back immediately, "I didn't mean—"

She dragged him forward and swallowed the rest of his apology.