Author's Note: See my author page for more notes!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Star Wars related, I just do this for fun!

########

Rey leaned against the reception desk and wished she could disappear. Or had a time machine, so that this day would have been over yesterday. She smiled awkwardly at Finn, who was glaring at the elevator as though he could summon Kylo with the intensity of his rage.

"He's here," said Finn. "I saw his car in the garage." His boyfriend snorted, tapping his foot against the metal cart they had borrowed from said garage.

"That's not a car," said Poe. "That's a wheelbarrow with delusions of grandeur."

"Well, it's fifteen past," said Rey. "Think I should call him?"

"No!" said Finn.

"Hell no!" said Poe.

"Excuse me?" said the receptionist.

They all turned.

"Are you Ms. Rey Smith?"

Rey nodded.

"Then I have a message for you from Mr. Ren in 14-C."

The receptionist slid a large manila envelope across the counter, marked 'Rey' in huge red letters.

"Mr. Ren wishes me to inform Ms. Smith that he is currently unavailable, and that – " The receptionist cleared his throat awkwardly. "That most of her 'stuff' has been forwarded to this address…" He slid a piece of paper across the desk. "I have the rest here."

The receptionist pushed a large green duffel bag out from behind the desk. Rey stared at it numbly. She did some vague math in her head. If my jeans, t-shirts, socks, and maybe my khakis and the boring underwear are in there, what the hell did he do to my shoes?

"Who the hell does he – "

Finn clasped Poe's shoulder, and shook his head, looking pointedly at Rey.

Rey couldn't make herself lift the bag. She was barely holding onto the envelope.

Finn stepped around her and slung the bag over his shoulder.

"Leave the cart," he said.

Poe wrapped his arm around Rey and steered her out the door.

"Looks like he's keeping the chair," she said shakily.

"We'll be back," Finn growled.

######

They sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking Niima Cove, passing a bottle of rum between them, until the sun went down. When the fog rolled in and the bone-deep cold seeped in from the bay, they climbed into the back of Poe's pickup truck and bundled themselves up in old fleece blankets, with Rey in the middle. The blankets were old and ratty, and smelled strongly of wet dog.

"I'm going to be digging hair out of my nose for a week," huffed Rey as she snuggled in between the two men. BB, Poe's yellow Labrador retriever, was a frequent fellow traveler. Rey usually wound up with a lapful of squirming dog when she squeezed in between Finn and Poe in the front seat, especially on camping trips.

Poe rolled his eyes and elbowed her in the ribs. They lay in silence as the foghorn sounded, long and mournful, and the wind moaned in the crags and caves, rolling in with the crash of the waves. Rey felt the sob that had been building all day rise to the surface. Her shoulders shook as tears ran silently down her face. Finn squeezed her hand, and pulled her close, just holding her. Poe slid in and tucked her head under his chin as Finn rocked her.

Rey fell asleep as the pain drained away, leaving a raw, empty ache, shielded, for now, in the arms of her friends.

######

"So I found a place," Rey said casually, filling her travel thermos with coffee.

Poe narrowed his eyes.

"Where?" he asked, setting down his mug. Rey smiled sadly. She'd been living with Finn and Poe for a month.

More like they've been taking care of me for a month, she thought.

The first AK ('After Kylo', as Poe had dubbed them) week had been a vague, dull blur. She woke up, went to work, ate, and went to sleep on their couch.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Finn and Poe had given her as much space as they could, considering that she was living out of their living room. She came out of her shell bit by bit. She started to laugh with them in the morning, joining in with Poe's good-natured teasing as Finn's (very necessary) coffee pushed him into the land of the living, and with Finn ribbing Poe for his utterly appalling taste in breakfast cereal - Lucky Charms, seriously? You think you know a person…

Soon she took over 'dog duty', and started to wake up early to take BB out for her morning constitutional. Her friends were quite appreciative – Finn was a junior accounts executive at the First Order Incorporated, and tended to keep very uncivilized hours. Luckily for their relationship, Poe slept like a rock after a day in his auto shop, so Finn never woke him when he slid in next to him at 3AM. This meant that, no matter how much they loved BB, neither were especially enthused about taking her out in the morning.

It was good timing, for Rey. There weren't many people up and about at 6, so she had space to lose herself in the pleasant burn of physical activity. No one else who was out bothered her either, thanks to the large Lab at her side.

She felt like she was helping, like she was becoming part of something. That helped more than anything. But it had reached the point where she just couldn't impose any longer. She needed to strike out on her own, just…be for awhile.

"It's a few blocks from work. It's not much," she said, holding up a hand at Poe's alarmed expression. "But it's pretty clean, there's an elevator, and the street is well lit."

"Is it safe?" Poe asked, his voice serious.

"…Yes," she said. As much as that part of town can be, anyway.

"Does the fact that it's on almost the opposite side of the city as Kylo have anything to do with it?"

"Maybe. Looks nothing like our - his - place, anyway." Not ours anymore. Stop thinking ours.

Poe got up and walked over to her, radiating worry.

"…Rey, just know that you can stay here as long as you need. Really," he said.

"I know," said Rey, smiling sadly. "But I think it's time you got your living room back."

Poe pulled her in for a hug.

"Really," he said quietly. "We've loved having you here."

Rey smiled into his shoulder, her chest tight. A part of her really did want to stay.

"I – Oh crap - I've got to go – It's almost 8," she said, glancing at the clock with alarm. "I'm signing the lease this evening, too, so I might be a little late. Oh," she paused on the way out the door. "I'm moving in this weekend. See you!"

She left before she could catch Poe's reaction.

#####

Thank God it's Friday, Rey thought. She could have sworn the clock started moving backwards halfway through that last design meeting.

You have a job. You have a job. You have a job.

Rey had been drawing on that mantra quite a lot lately. And she really was glad she had it – it wasn't bad all the time, and she actually thought that she and her co-workers made a pretty good team. She just didn't want it to be her whole life.

But maybe it will be, she thought. Would that be so bad?

She decided to table that thought for now. One thing at a time.

At least I remembered my umbrella, she thought, standing just inside the sliding glass doors of Unkarr Industrial Consultants, referred to by the locals as UIC. The morning's light drizzle had turned into a downpour during lunch, and showed no signs of stopping. She still wrecked her loafers on the way to her car.

UIC was located a few blocks from the oldest part of the city – the Industrial District. It was crammed with old factory buildings, some refurbished as apartments, most abandoned. There were far more of the latter than there had been when Rey was a child - The economy had not been kind to Jakku, half the local businesses pulling out after an earthquake had all but destroyed Empire Steel Works, a manufacturing company whose factories and R+D firm had employed over half the city.

There had been several attempts to revive the company. Currently the largest working factory was run by First Order Incorporated, but Rey wasn't sure how long that would last. Rumor had it that they had some major financial backing, but they were having a lot of problems keeping workers. The union wouldn't touch them, and the CEO was under fire for 'allegedly' hiring undocumented immigrants under the table, paying them off the books, and so little that it was almost indentured servitude.

They had yet to hire UIC for consulting work.

Rey knew why. She just hoped that her boss never figured it out.

Not that they'd let me on the contract anyway…

She sighed and drove towards the long line of steel and cement buildings that she was about to call home. The Industrial District had become home to the less fortunate residents, and had filled up with cheap housing in the habitable buildings, and squatters in the not-so-livable ones. It actually wasn't all that different from the rest of the city.

Frankly, Rey figured it could've been worse. She could be back with Kylo.

The leasing office was about 10 minutes from her job – she had plenty of time for her appointment, so she stopped at the run-down hardware store (housed in a repurposed mill) and bought a 'bug bomb' – After the spider infestation in her first apartment, she'd always made a point of pre-emptively dousing anyplace she was going to live in with bug poison before she brought in her furniture.

Not that that's going to be a problem this time...

Rey gripped the steering wheel and took a deep breath, pushing down the ache welling up inside.

Never again.

######

Technically, she hadn't lied to Poe. 15 Ach-To Avenue had an elevator. Kind of. From a certain point of view. It was a freight lift with a rusty, treaded metal floor, and metal struts on the sides that you could see around, right into the pitch-black shaft. It emitted a metallic screech that belonged in a disaster movie every time it moved, and rocked alarmingly whenever someone stepped in and pulled the cage door shut.

Rey didn't mind it, not really. She'd worked in a coal power plant in her undergrad years – as long as the OSHA signoff was current, she was cool with it.

It definitely set the tone for the building, though. It had been one of the smaller Empire manufacturing buildings, and the smell of cutting fluid and metal shavings still drifted through the halls. Not that Rey minded – she rather liked it. It reminded her of better times.

The hallway on floor 7, though, was all refurbished wood and cinder blocks. The ceilings were high and lined with caged fluorescent lights. However, the floor-to-ceiling windows filled the space with natural light, giving it an open, floating appearance during the day.

It was, essentially, the total opposite of the apartment she'd shared with Kylo Ren. She'd had enough Ralph Lauren wallpaper, fine-grained, cream carpet, and tastefully muted, artificial light - display case light - to last her a lifetime.

Rey's room was around the corner from the elevator – a corner suite next to one of the hallway windows. The rent was cheap enough for her to afford two bedrooms and a sizable common space, so there was only one other apartment in this part of the hallway – 710, directly across from her.

She eyed the door curiously. The hallway was broad enough for there to not be too much chance of awkwardly bumping shoulders if they both entered and exited at the same time, so that was a plus. A small chalkboard hung on the door, with a piece of chalk and an eraser tied to the top. The board was slightly dusty – it had probably just been wiped clean. Rey squinted – she could make out a piece of whatever had been written last -Shy…Sky-something? Huh.

A pair of well-worn, slightly damp running shoes sat on the plain brown doormat. They must have just gotten back, Rey thought. The storm outside had just started to die down. Who would go running in that?

Rey grimaced as her own soggy loafers squelched out water. I'd better leave these outside, too. She unlocked her door, balancing her computer bag, bug poison, and purse precariously on her arms, and kicked off her ruined shoes. Ergh…

She propped the door open to let the place air out and walked slowly in, taking in the space.

The common area was split between the kitchen – which looked like a failed design student had given up halfway – and the living room. The master bedroom was up in the loft, accessible by an iron-railed staircase to the left of the door. The splintery wood floor creaked under her feet, sending up little clouds of dust every time she stepped. The brick and concrete walls were chipped and stained, and she'd probably need a power washer to get all the grime out of the windows. But the main space was flooded with light – almost the entire far wall was taken up by the same floor-to-ceiling windows as in the hallway. Not even the scuffed, dirty glass could hide the soft, rosy colors of the sunset.

And it was hers.

She headed to the window, grinning from ear to ear. Uncontrollable giggles bubbled up inside her.

Hers.

She raised her arms up and twirled, laughing. She all but danced across the room, wanting to take in everything. Then wet pantyhose met linoleum.

She went down hard, fortunately managing to take the impact on the side of her thigh.

"Crap!" she yelped. Well, that's going to bruise...

"Are you all right?"

Rey's heart jumped into her mouth.

A man in a t-shirt and sweatpants was standing in her doorway. He looked like he'd been caught in the rain, or had a close encounter with an angry firehose – his graying hair was dripping into his collar, though the shirt was so soaked that it barely mattered. He was holding a mostly-dry towel – clearly he'd been trying to dry off.

"Yeah," she said, grabbing the counter and getting to her feet. "I'm fine. Just a little slip."

"Ok, great," he said awkwardly. "I heard someone yell, so I figured I'd…Check." He smiled sheepishly, patted at the water beading in his neatly trimmed beard. "Sorry, I got soaked outside, so this is – "

"No shoes?" It was out of her mouth before Rey could stop it.

He looked down at his bare (and wet) feet.

"Ah, no," he said, slightly red. "I just came out here when I heard you yell. I just got back from a run and - "

"Oh, are those yours?" Rey asked, heading over and pointing at the running shoes on the mat. She could see the door to apartment 710 open over his shoulder.

The man looked behind him and grimaced.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm used to being the only one in this hallway, so I sometimes leave stuff out here." The wet t-shirt clung to his lean form as he leaned over to pick them up. Rey hastily looked away, wrenching her thoughts away from the thin material stretching across unexpectedly strong shoulders when he rose. He held the shoes at arm's length, a look of exaggerated disgust on his face. "These are definitely coming inside."

"No, it's ok," said Rey, pointing at her own shoes. "I sure can't say anything." They stood awkwardly for a moment. Then they both spoke at the same time.

"I'm Rey – "

"Luke – "

They both laughed.

"Ladies first," said Luke. Rey smiled, her cheeks flaming.

"Rey Smith," she said, and held out her hand. "I'm moving in this weekend."

"Luke Skywalker," he said, taking it. "It's great to meet you."

"You too," she said, turning red. Bright blue eyes smiled at her. "I really think I'm going to like it here."