Rose looked from Rey to Finn and back to Rey again.
“Wow, ok, so yeah, that was a lot.” Rose turned to Finn finally and asked, “So how do you feel about all of this?”
Finn shrugged, “I feel like I always knew there was something she wasn’t telling me. And when she told us this, it all suddenly made sense, in a weird way. If Rey and Leia trust this, who am I NOT to trust this?”
“Well, for starters, you’re someone who cares about her,” Rose said as if she were stating the obvious.
“I mean, of course... always, but I also don’t know the things that Rey knows. I can’t feel what she feels when it comes to Ben,” he looked to Rey now, “she’s kind of blocked that off. All I know is that if Ben hadn’t been there to save her, Rey would be gone. And I don’t want to live in THAT world. If that’s how she feels without Ben, then I have to help her see this thing through.”
Rey looked over at him. She had to look up at the ceiling to make sure that when she next spoke, it wasn’t with tears in her voice.
“Well, you didn’t have to go all hero on me... just because Rose is here,” she said, gesturing at her friends. They laughed, and for the first time in days, Rey felt the tension lift from her shoulders.
“Ok,” Rose said, pushing herself up from the table, “so just to recap: Rey, you need a way to contact Ben. And you think that thing,” she pointed at the binoc in Rey’s hand, ”can help, but beyond that, no one, including Leia, knows what it does, and no one knows where to start, but you think R2 might have something that could help.”
Finn nodded, and Rey replied, “Yup, you got it.”
“Hey guys, have I ever told you how much I love it when you come to see me? Especially when it’s with problems that seem to have no solution? Next time, promise me, you’ll just come for lunch. Like I want the biggest problem to be dessert or no dessert.” Rose said, walking to the door.
“I’ll go and get Artoo. Just hang tight in here for a minute, unless, of course, you want to cause a scene by having THE Finn and THE Rey interrupt important government proceedings?” she said with a smile on her face.
“No, we’re fine here,” Rey said, smiling. “Hey Rose,” she continued, stopping Rose at the door, “thank you, for listening, for helping... for everything.”
“Hey, don’t thank me until we know what’s really going on... but you’re welcome.”
When Rose had gone, Rey walked over to Finn. She knelt by his chair and put her hand on his thigh. He looked at her.
“Why didn’t you say all of that earlier... the first time we talked?” Rey asked.
“I don’t know,” Finn said, slumping back in his chair. “You know, it’s not easy to talk about. It’s not easy to talk about the secrets you keep, and it’s not easy to talk about you dying. It’s not easy to talk about the thing I fear most...” Finn stood up and walked to the other side of the room.
Rey followed but stopped herself short. She didn’t want to crowd him.
After a few seconds of silence, Rey finally tried to lead him back to the conversation. “And your biggest fear would be...”
He stopped and finally looked at Rey, all seriousness, genuine fear rattling his response.
“That you’ll leave us. That you’ll leave me. That if I help you find Ben, one way or another, I’ll be saying goodbye to you forever.”
Rey walked over to Finn slowly and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled him close and held him tightly until she could feel his arms around her waist, pulling them closer together still.
“Oh, Finn,” she said, and now she could feel the small shudders of his shoulders as he finally seemed to be letting go of the fear he had been holding on to for so long.
“Finn, I don’t know where ANY of this is leading. I honestly don’t even know what’s possible. But I do know I’ll always need you by my side. I know that when we’re together, things are easier. And I know that you were meant to be in my life, always.”
Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, just holding on to each other. It suddenly felt like it had been a very long time since they had really needed each other. Rey realized with a start that she had begun to take her family for granted. She had needed to be reminded that she wasn't alone and would always have someone to count on.
Finn pulled away first. He fixed his gaze on her and just asked, “Promise?”
Rey nodded, “I promise, always.”
D-O had been so silent they had almost forgotten he was there. He wheeled up and quietly echoed “Promise,” and they both looked at him and laughed a little at the earnest droid.
A moment later, Rose opened the door, Artoo practically pushing past her to roll up to Rey.
“Whoa... HEY!” Rose yelled and then looked at both Rey and Finn’s faces. “Oh no, did I miss something?” she asked, genuinely concerned.
“I wouldn’t say you missed something, so much as you helped us realize something,” Rey answered, smiling at Rose and pulling her into a hug.
“Oh, good! Well, I can’t complain when things end in hugs,” she said, squeezing back. “You’d be surprised at how often government negotiations do NOT end in hugs.”
Rey laughed as she pulled back, a questioning look on her face, “Would I?”
“No, you would not, but a girl can dream!” Rose smiled.
Rey finally turned to Artoo, who was, by now, relentlessly beeping his annoyance at being excluded and denied a proper welcome.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, you’re right! Yes, one for you too!” she knelt down and wrapped an arm around the anxious astromech. When she stepped back, Artoo was ready to get down to business, beeping out his first question.
“Yes, actually, we did come to see you. I was hoping you’d be able to help us. I thought maybe you’d be ready to take a little trip? Maybe you need a break from being a boss?”
Artoo spun on his wheels and tilted up towards Rose.
“Don’t look at me!” she said, nearly laughing, but not wanting to offend, “you can go wherever you want! I think you’ve trained up enough of the others that we can manage until you get back,” Rose finished, laying one hand on his silver dome. She absent-mindedly ran her fingers over the rust spots and scorch marks of the loyal droid. Artoo refused to let anyone fix them.
Artoo turned back to Rey, booping quickly as he did so to get caught up.
“Whoa, slow down. Ok, yes, this does have something to do with Leia, and, well, we came because we need your archive too.”
Artoo rolled back, a mock show of offense.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Rey rolled her eyes then continued, “have you ever seen this before?” pulling the Binoc Circuit out of her pocket.
Artoo scanned the small circular instrument and began a search and beeped back at her almost instantly.
“Yes, I did know that. I found that in the books at Maz’s.”
He beeped sharply, this time actually offended, annoyance punctuating the binary spaces in between.
“Well, I thought YOU might have MORE information. That was the only reference I could find.” Rey answered back. “Since you have the most complete database in the galaxy and all, at least until everything is set up here, I was hoping there might be some mentions that you could find, that I couldn’t.” She hoped that a little flattery would help.
Appeased for the moment, Artoo began scanning again.
Moments passed, in held-breath silence.
Rey was starting to worry, “I mean ANYTHING, Artoo. If you can’t find something, I don’t know what else we’ll do,” she said, slumping down against the table. “You’re our only hope,” she said so quietly it was almost to herself.
After a few more minutes, Artoo beeped again.
“EXCUSE me?!” Rey asked, incredulous. She looked at Rose and Finn, and all of them were looking at each other with the same amazed expression.
“Did he just say what I think he said?” Finn asked
“That’s... what I heard,” Rose answered, nodding slowly.
“Artoo, you’re SURE about this?” Rey asked, a little more urgently now. Artoo beeped confidently.
“So... you’re saying that you’ve found only one other reference to THIS,” Rey said, holding up the small circle again, “and that reference was logged from JAKKU?”
… (Meanwhile On Yavin)...
“So, do you have to go now?” Poe asked Leia.
“Soon. But there’s one more thing for us to discuss.”
“Am I gonna like it?” Poe’s tone was apprehensive.
“Probably not right now, but I’m hoping you will eventually.”
“Alright,” he said with a sigh, “Whatcha got for me?” Poe closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Even though he was spending his time with Leia, it had already been an awfully long day.
“Nothing that you haven’t already suspected,” Leia started, “but, you know, it’s not just this tree and this place that are strong in the Force, right? These Crosspoints, they tend to influence all of the living things around them. Including people.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“If you think I’m saying that, if you wanted, you could train with Rey and could hone your Force abilities, then, yes, that’s what I’m saying.” Leia nodded.
“But…I don’t want this! Aren’t there enough people running around wielding the Force? I live with TWO of them! How could this be? I mean, the odds of this have to be…”
A string of beeps interrupted Poe’s response. BB-8 had rolled out of the house and over to Poe without him even noticing. And now he was beeping a string of numbers out to Poe.
“Thanks, BB-8, yeah, I figured the odds were pretty high,” Poe said on a sigh, although the sight of his droid had seemed to calm him a bit.
“Well, Poe, you can either believe that those odds have been defied and that you just happen to be Very, Very Lucky, or you can believe that the Force has pulled the three of you together. That you all need each other and that you’re stronger together. Deep down, you’ve always known this was the way it was meant to be, haven’t you?”
Leia was right. It felt like Poe had always known in his gut that luck had nothing to do with it.
"I guess," he responded, "but I mean, what do I DO with it? I don’t want it,” he said again. Then he followed quietly with, “I don’t... deserve it.”
“Oh, Poe,” Leia walked over and beckoned him up from his seat so that she could look at him. She placed her hands gently on his arms. “Poe, it’s not about deserving it. The Force doesn’t CHOOSE anyone; it simply is. It exists. You can continue to deny it, but it doesn’t rely on your acknowledgment to keep flowing through you. But, denying who you are is a sad existence.”
“I’m not saying you’ll ever be as powerful as Rey or even as receptive as Finn, things may be different for you,” Leia shrugged, “I mean, I don’t know EVERYTHING... at least not yet,” she smiled. “But I thought you deserved to know this for sure.”
“So, what do I do now?” Poe asked, looking serious and little frightened. Leia couldn’t remember the last time she had seen him look this way.
“Well, I think first, talk to Rey and Finn. It always helps to share the things we fear with those we love. For some reason, it always seems to lessen the burden. You’ll figure out where it goes from there.”
Leia’s words of reassurance seemed to flow around Poe and buoy him, a balm on a wound.
“Ok,” he said, looking at her with bright eyes now, “ok, but do I have to tell them that they were right? It somehow seems even WORSE when it’s a Jedi that gets to say, ‘I told you so.’”
Leia laughed, “I think they’ll just be happy that you’re talking to them again. If they seem to be getting too close to saying ‘I told you so’ feel free to pass on some words of wisdom, and tell them they’re from me.”
“And what would that be?”
“Tell them, yes, they were right, but don’t get cocky about it. After all, even a Jawa’s broken clock is right twice a day.”
“Well, I don’t know if I’ll tell them the thing about the Jawa, that’s kinda weird, but I’ll be sure to let them know that you also told me I’m your favorite now,” Poe smiled widely.
“Well, ONE of my favorites.” Leia said, “Always have been.” she kissed his forehead. And with that, she faded from Poe’s sight. He was a little startled, but he sat down, and BB-8 rolled over to him.
“Well, buddy, it looks like we have a lot of things to do, now that everything has changed.”
The ball droid beeped at him.
“You’re right. First, we contact Finn and Rey. Like Leia said, once they’re here, we can figure everything out together.”
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