It had been 3 months. 3 months since Poe had been able to see Rey, they had spent time talking of course, way too much time for the liking of his family and friends, and Poe honestly felt like he was 16 and courting a girl he liked, sneaking in the middle of the night to visit her near the farm again. They had agreed, after Hux had come back into her life that he'd give her some time to figure out what was best for her and Jax and he'd had way more on his hands than usual as well, with going with Leia to her doctor's appointments and his children, he'd barely had any time for anything else, but he missed her, It might sound silly but he did.

And then his mind would play tricks on him, he'd imagine what it would be to see her again, to finally man up and ask her if they could go on an actual date.

He'd wake up and just stay in bed for a few minutes thinking on just how exactly Zorii would feel about him reverting to his teenage self. He'd met her as a kid, almost 18 and married her at 23. He'd practically been with her his entire adult life.

But they had made this agreement, specially when they had had the kids that if something were to happen to either of them, they would try and move on with their lives, try and love again.

Problem was, Poe wasn't sure if he could love someone as much as he loved Zorii but he would try and keep his promise, for himself and his children.

Lulu and Kes kept asking about Rey and he would try and explain that she had to take care of Jax now and they would ask him why they couldn't go see her and help.

And Poe would say they would be able to soon, although he didn't know just how long that would be.

"You need to get out Poe." Snap had said. "Plus, it's our annual barbecue man, you can't leave me hanging like that. I know you have a lot going on, but it will do you good, and the kids too, to just relax…"

He hadn't missed Snap's annual barbecue's even after Zorii's death and he knew he wouldn't forgive him if he didn't show up.

"Fine, fine. I'll be there."

"Yes!" Snap patted him on the shoulder. That was that, they kept working as usual, the days passed by pretty quickly now, they were returning to a dull normalcy. Normal before Rey.

"There's this thing Saturday…" Poe said. He was on the couch, glass of wine in one hand and a plate leftover pasta in the other. "It's Snap's annual barbecue thing."

"Thing?"

"It's kind of a big deal for the team. Back when we were kids…" Poe stopped himself. "We celebrated that we were still all alive...Or honor the ones that weren't." He felt a lump on his throat. He remembered the year Zorii and her team had died. Casualties to a mission gone wrong.

"Oh, that sounds lovely." Rey said. She sounded tired, but Jax had finally gone to sleep and she was reading something for the online course she was taking. She had been looking for a job ever since she had quit Unkar's shop. Thankfully, she had enough saved up to keep her to being a hurry but like everything, it was running thin and she needed to be ready to get back out there.

"I wish you could come." Poe found himself saying.

"Are you asking me to?" She said and Poe smiled and Rey find herself biting her lip as she stared at him on the screen.

"Yeah, that's... but we agreed."

"We agreed to take it slow and we agreed to allow ourselves to work everything we were dealing with… until we were comfortable enough…"

"We did." Poe said. "Has something changed?"

"Hux's been seeing someone." Rey said and Poe waited. "He said, he's moving on and I'm… I'm not in any way reeling from that, I no longer have feelings for him not like before, but he's always going to be there. He's Jax's father."

"Of course." Poe held his breath. "He's always going to be part of your life and that's okay."

"Yeah, I know." Rey said. "I'm happy really that's he's decided to be there for Jax, be part of his life. I don't ever want him to feel the way that I did as a child."

"He's got me and the kids too, as you do. You don't have to worry about being alone ever again Rey." Poe admitted and there was a moment of silence, so he took a leap of faith. "So, uh, do you want to go with me, to the barbecue?"

"I'd love to if you are okay with it?" She said after a moment. "I mean of me meeting all of your friends?" Poe gave this a thought, if he was honest, they'd patt him in the back for getting back out there. He knew his friends and they'd be genuinely happy about him taking that step.

"I want you to." He said, a little bit hesitant. "It's a big step and I think you are just the right person I want to take it with."

"Okay, I want to." She replied and he beamed at her.

"Listen but, can we not tell the kids? I want them to be surprised." Poe said.

"Deal. Can't wait to see you, and them. I miss them."

"They miss you too." Poe admitted. "I'll text you the address?"

And for the first time in months, Poe was actually excited about something.

"Oh goodness, look how big you two have gotten, are you kidding me?" Snap smirked as he picked both kids up in his arms and squeezed them into a hug. "Go, go, there's kids and…"

"I hope it's okay we brought the dog…" Poe said as he and Snap hugged each other as well.

"Of course man, it's okay. How's that going?"

"He's great man. Seems like I found him just when the kids needed him the most, you know?"

"Sometimes that happens." Snap smiled. "It's one of life's mysteries, I guess." Poe was one of the first to arrive, but soon the yard started to fill up with familiar faces, and the sound of laughter and chatting and somehow he found himself feeling as if nothing had changed.

"You alright Poe? You keep staring at your phone..." Jessika asked, he hadn't seen Pava in a while. She had recently gotten engaged and seemed in a really good place in her life. Like most of his squad, actually, all of the friends he'd made that were now his family.

"Oh, yeah I'm sorry…" Rose and Finn shot him a look, they were the only ones aside from Snap who knew about Rey coming over. "I'm... "

"Are you dating someone…" Jessika said, her eyes shined. "Oh my God, when did this happen and why didn't I know about it?"

"It's not..." Poe had turned scarlet red. "It's a little more complicated than that Jess, but yeah, you'll meet her today."

Jess practically squealed. "Oh, is this the girl everyone but me has met?"

"No, well, Snap hasn't officially…"

"Right, well. Doesn't matter. Poe, I'm so happy for you man. You deserve it."

"Thanks." He said warmly. "But like I said, it's a little complicated so we are taking it slow." His phone chimed in that moment to let him know that Rey had arrived.

"Go, go get her!" Jess said when he excused himself to get Snap and get to the door.

"Oh, man, she texted me about bringing a friend, hope that's okay? It's mostly because of the baby."

"Of course, it's fine. Anyone who's got your stomach in a flutter deserves the world in my eyes." Snap joked as they reached the door. And there stood Rey and her friend Karé, who'd Poe had already met. Snap seemed to be frozen in the spot as he laid eyes on Karé as Rey and Poe greeted each other. "And you must be Snap, sorry about just showing up with a baby and friend in tow." Rey said with a hand out for him to shake. "It's really good to meet you, I've heard so much about you."

"Same here, uh, same here Rey." Snap said, dazzling out but his eyes not leaving Karé's.

"Thank you for having us." Karé said. "Gods know we needed to get out." And Snap found himself smiling as he led them all inside.

"I'll go get the kids." Snap said, offering Karé a place to leave Jax's diaper bag and took the baby from her.

Rey found herself admiring the size of the yard. "When we left the service, we all took different paths, Snap's was investing in Real Estate." Poe said as they walked further in. "It's definitely different from living in an apartment."

"It is." Rey said. "It is for sure." They hadn't reached all of their friends when Lulu and Kes had come running at the sight of Rey. To say they were excited to see her was an understatement. "We missed you Rey!"

"I've missed you guys too, and so has Jax." Rey said as she knelt down Lulu's level. "You two are his favorites."

"He's ours too." Lulu said with a toothy grin. "Where is he?"

"He's with Rey's friend and Uncle Snap, why don't you go find them?" Poe offered.

The kids said their goodbyes to Rey and broke into a run in search Snap.

"Are you okay?" Rey asked, giving him a little nudge on the shoulder as he had finally fallen quiet.

"Yeah, I'm fine, the question is, are you?"

"Of course. I'm really glad I'm here, even if it took a little convincing for you to invite me." She joked.

"Hey, in my defense, my friends can be a lot. I just don't want to scare you off this early."

"Trust me, I've dealt with worse." Rey mused. "Don't worry so much about me."

"No, I worry about me." Poe muttered to himself. "I don't…"

"Good."

Thank the gods that the first person they found on the way was someone Rey already knew.

"It's good to see you Rey, how are you?"

"Tired but doing good thank you and thank you for all the late night advice." Poe shot Rose a look.

"Of course, are you kidding, you are only a first time Mom once and it can be very overwhelming. I'm here for all you need, come on, let's go get something to eat."

"Should I go find Karé?"

"No, Snap is a great host, she'll be fine. I'm sure we'll see her around." Poe said. "There's someone you should meet though." Poe smiled as he led the way, urging the need to take her unoccupied hand. "Jess…"

A girl turned around as soon as she heard Poe's voice. Her eyes widening, as if taking her in. "This is Rey, Rey this is Jess."

"Rey, it's great to meet you." Jess said kindly, hugging her. Jessika was a hugger. "We're so glad you could make it." And it was then that Jessika fell into a nice chat with her Rey and Poe since she had been the one he had not seen a while. It was a good 20 minutes before Karé had come looking for Rey, baby in tow.

"Jess, this is Karé, she's one of Rey's roommates." Poe said.

"Oh, you have a baby, that's adorable, you know, me and Henri have been talking about babies but it's a little early since we just got engaged and…"

"I think he's hungry." Karé said, handing the baby off to Rey. Jess froze on the spot for a second upon realizing who the mother actually was.

"Oh, you have a baby…"

"Yeah, uh, I'll be right back…" Rey told Poe as she and Karé headed back in search of the stroller they had brought.

"She's the one with the baby?" Jess said after moment, with Rey out of earshot. "That's not…"

"He's not mine."

"No, of course I didn't think that…" Jess said. "That's what you mean when you said it was complicated." Poe nodded.

Well, the hardest part was over. For now.

"That was interesting…" Rey said as they stood outside her apartment door. Karè had already gone in with Jax a moment before and the kids were helping her put the baby down.

He chuckled. "It was…"

She smiled. "I hope I didn't make too much of a fool of myself in front of all of your friends…."

"Rey, you could never, are you kidding? I'm sorry if this was a lot for you to handle in one day."

"No, I didn't mind, everyone was lovely. I had a good time" Yeah, those were his friends, lovely.

"Good, I'm glad." He reached out to put a strand of hair behind her ear and she suddenly felt herself blush. She took a step forward. "I wanted it to be good for you and not too much."

"It wasn't." She told him, finally reaching for his hand, after 3 months, after feeling a sense of boldness wash over her. "I told you, you don't have to worry about me."

"Is it wrong that maybe I can't help it because I care too much about you?" He was closer now, and he had said that to her almost in a whisper. Their foreheads were touching and they were about the same height. It was like they fitted with each other without too much effort.

"Poe?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it okay if I kiss you now?" He nodded after his eyes had searched hers. "Close your eyes."

He did.

Her lips brushed his and he moved them accordingly, his mouth parting a bit to allow her access, the kiss was slow and deep and wonderful.

And for the time being, it seemed to be leading them on the right path.