Concatenation

It's a little late for polite company to come knocking, Han Solo thought as he shuffled through his quarters. He opened the door to find Poe Dameron standing sheepishly in the corridor. "Evening, kid," Han rumbled. "Got nothing better to do than loiter?"

Poe straightened his jacket when he saw the older man. "Uh, yeah, I'm kinda loitering. Good evening, General. I was wondering if Rey is still up."

Han rubbed his stubbled jaw thoughtfully. "Yeah, she's awake. You know, Poe, I resigned my commission a long time ago. Decades ago. You can stop calling me general now."

Poe grinned and shrugged. "I grew up with my parents' stories about the Rebellion, and you were always 'General Solo.' So it'd seem…disrespectful to stop calling you that now."

Han nodded, remembering Kes. "We did have some fun in the Alliance, your dad and me. Okay, kid, you get to call me General. Just don't let anyone else hear you say it."

"Oh, no, sir."

Han winked conspiratorially at the pilot, then half-turned as he sensed Breha behind him. He saw his daughter's face explode in a broad, beaming smile. "Hi, there," she greeted Poe with a disturbing combination of enthusiasm and lust in her voice. What the hell is this? Han thought. She was looking at Dameron like he was a freshwater oasis in the middle of the Jakku desert. Luke had hinted that maybe the two of them had something going on, but Han hadn't believed it until now.

"Hi," Poe said back at her, just as breathlessly. He stared at her face.

"Hi," Rey murmured again, still smiling.

Han rolled his eyes. "Is this going somewhere?"

Breha threw him a look. "Dad, go away." She managed to sound more affectionate than bossy, but her tone still didn't work on Han. He was an expert at ignoring the orders of despotic brunettes.

"Why?" he said, feigning innocence.

Han caught the exasperated glance she exchanged with Poe. "I'd like to talk to Poe," she said patiently.

"Go ahead." Han was aware he was scowling at Dameron, but didn't change his expression.

Poe decided Solo wasn't going to budge from the doorway, so he plunged ahead. "Finn's been asking me to teach him how to cook, so we're gonna have a little grilling party tomorrow night. Probably just Snap, Finn, Jessika and me, and I'd—we'd—like you to join us."

"Sure, of course. What are we making?"

"Nerf steak strips and grilled vegetables, wrapped in a flat corn bread that Snap managed to steal from the mess."
"Corn?" Rey squealed. "Like bang-corn?" She loved that snack; she and Poe had shared several bags of it.

It was Poe's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, same stuff, just flattened out. Anyway, eighteen hundred, outside?" She nodded happily. "And we'll eat in my quarters."

"Great," she whispered at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Poe smiled and gave her a quick little bow. "Good night, then."

"Good night," Breha echoed.

Han didn't miss the come-hither tone in her voice. "Good night," he said brusquely, closing the door in Dameron's face before he could say anything else. Otherwise, they'd be here for hours.

"That was rude," Breha exclaimed as soon as the door was closed.

Han was still frowning. This girl was going to give his forehead permanent worry lines. "I'm going to go talk to your mother," he announced abruptly, and left Rey standing there in the hallway.

Maybe I should build a table, Poe thought. His friends were sitting cross-legged on the floor, plates with the remains of dinner on their laps and wine glasses scattered around. Only one glass had spilled so far.

Finn had wanted to sit on the loveseat, but had been dissuaded by an uncertain look from Poe.

"Can't I sit on the couch?" he'd asked Poe.

Chewing on a piece of meat, Poe tried to look innocent. "Sure, of course."

"Why shouldn't I sit here?"

"No, no, go ahead."

Finn wasn't buying it. "Is it going to fall apart on me or something?"

Poe shot Rey a quick look. "No, it's perfectly stable. It's a good couch."

Finn looked from Poe to Rey and back again. "Rey, what's wrong with the couch?"

"Uh, nothing," she stammered. "It's perfectly clean."

"Why wouldn't it be clean?" Finn asked her. She shrugged. Finn, not convinced, had sat on the floor. Rey was the only one on the loveseat.

"I still think," Rey grumbled good-naturedly, "that I could have cooked the meat quicker with a lightsaber."

"It would've been raw on the edges, and burnt in the middle," Jessika observed.

"With a smoky aroma," Finn added like a food critic. He gulped down the rest of his wine. "And a faint plasma aftertaste."

"What time are we on duty tomorrow, boss?" Snap asked Poe, though he knew the answer.

"Noses up at eight sharp."

"Is that open for negotiation?" Snap wasn't drunk, not nearly so, but he did hope to get a little extra sleep.

Poe gave him his best pompous-admiral look. "Not even a little."

"Well, then, squadron," Snap said, rising, "let's away." He gestured to Jessika and Finn. "We should go to bed."

"I'm not going to bed with you, Wexley," Jess said indignantly.

He wagged a finger at her. "One day, my pet, one day." She snorted at him. Snap ignored that, and instead gave Poe and Rey a casual salute. "G'night, Black Leader, Master Jedi. Thanks for dinner."

Poe walked everyone to the door. "Good night, all."

As Finn was leaving, he whispered to Poe, "Did you and Rey do something on that couch?" Correctly reading Dameron's sudden blank look, he added with mirth, "You're disgusting."

Poe smirked. Before shutting the door, he called out, "It's called a loveseat for a reason." He laughed at Finn's grimace. Then he sauntered back to the sofa and sat down, drawing Rey onto his lap. He kissed her cheek. "Are you leaving, too?"

She snuggled closer, burying her face against his shoulder. "No way," she purred.

Poe had anticipated that answer, but it still pleased him. He loosened her ponytails until her hair swung free. He loved the idea that nobody got to see Breha Solo with her hair down except him. "It was a fun dinner, hm?"

She nodded and sighed contentedly. "You smell nice."

"Do I?"

"Earthy. Like fire and wood."

"I guess that's better than meat and oil." He paused, changing subjects. "Do you think your parents know about us?"

She glanced up at him. "I don't think my dad's figured it out. My mother definitely has, though."

"Master Skywalker told me we felt like fireworks exploding in the Force."

Rey smiled at that image. "Yeah, something like that. I don't think she could possibly miss it. But I don't know why she hasn't told my father. Seems like something you'd want to discuss."

Poe shifted slightly, wrapping one arm around her shoulders. "She's probably waiting for me to man up and tell him myself."

"Tell him what?"

"Well, you know. That I'm in love with his daughter." Then he yawned.

Rey looked incredulous. "You can't say something that sweet and then yawn at me!"

He smiled. "Apologies. I'm pretty tired."

"How tired?" She tilted her head meaningfully.

"Well, not that tired." He winked at her, then gestured to the little orange-and-white ball at his feet. "Come on, BB-8, bedtime." Since the droid had once caught him in a very compromising position with Rey, Poe now insisted on personally plugging him in to his power cable every night.

"I'll be in the 'fresher," Rey said, rolling off Poe's lap.

After getting his droid squared away and stacking the dinner dishes in the galley, he came into his tiny sleeping quarters to find Breha sprawled above the covers of his neatly-made bed. She wore nothing but a dark blue satin bra and matching unders. She lay on her side, leaning on one elbow and smiling at his dumbfounded expression.

After a moment, Poe realized his jaw had dropped open, and consciously shut it. He swallowed. "You look good in blue."

She batted her eyelashes at him playfully. "You say that about every color you see me in."

"Yeah, well, I'll let you know when I find a color that doesn't suit you." His eyes drank her in. "You're…breathtaking."

He moved to stand next to the bed, while Rey scooted forward to kneel in front of him. She put her arms around his shoulders and scrutinized his handsome face.

"You know, when I was little," she commented, "I only had one toy. A doll I made myself. She was an X-wing pilot."

"Hey, what a coincidence! I'm an X-wing pilot." Poe's fingertips ran up and down her sides, making her skin tingle.

"Dolly had an orange jumpsuit," she continued.

"I've got one of those, too."

"Yeah, except I couldn't take Dolly's clothes off." She untucked his beige shirt from his pants. He lifted his arms amenably so that she could pull the shirt up and away.

"Mine come off." His teasing tone had switched into a sultry whisper.

"Lucky for me." Her nose wrinkled as she smiled. "And you're bigger than Dolly."

He nodded at her lasciviously. "Much bigger."

She unbuckled his belt. "More moving parts, too."

"Much bigger parts," he emphasized slowly, "which move in all sorts of ways."

Rey giggled at that. She let herself fall backwards onto the bed, holding onto his waist to bring him with her.