Chapter Text
As they came out of the office, where they’d left Ren tied up under the supervision of Jess and Bastian, there were police everywhere.
Finn’s first instinct was to slip out the back, but Poe grabbed his arm. “No,” he said gently. “Trust me.”
They walked downstairs. Rey yelled out, “Luke,” and ran towards a small man with a grey beard.
“Uncle Luke,” Poe explained. “Well, her father, so Ben’s uncle. Not mine. But we all call him…” Finn felt Poe straighten up. He followed Poe’s line of sight and saw a rather stern-looking woman, her hair piled high in an elaborate braid, marching over to them. “General Organa,” Poe said. “This is Finn.”
She smiled. “Poe’s guardian angel?”
“Well, I…” Finn had heard stories about Leia Organa, of course. She was legendary in spy circles.
“Not much of a talker,” she asked Poe.
“I think he’s a bit flummoxed,” Poe said. He bumped Finn’s shoulder with his own.
“Sorry, ma’am, just still trying to process everything.”
Leia nodded. “Poe, I’d like to debrief with Finn here. Do you think you could handle the locals?”
Poe nodded and smiled. “Of course. Um, Ben is upstairs with some of our people.”
Leia nodded. “I think I’ll send Han up there first. Really irritate him,” she said with a smile.
Poe chuckled. He spared one last look at Finn and then jogged off into the crowd.
“Now, Finn,” Leia said, taking his arm and directing him towards a quiet corner of the warehouse, “I’d like to hear everything you can tell me about yourself and about the First Order.”
# # # #
Finn stretched his neck as he walked back into the bunker. He’d been on his feet for hours and all he wanted was a glass of water and some sleep. As he padded down the hall, he saw that the door to Poe’s room was open. Poe’s room. He reached up and stretched his arms over his head, smiling as he thought about the other man.
He paused.
Poe.
He hadn’t seen Poe since Leia had taken him aside. He hoped Poe had made it out okay, that he wasn’t still at Starkiller dealing with the police.
Finn wandered into the kitchen. What am I going to do about that? He frowned.
There was a note on the kitchen counter. Finn picked it up.
Sally’s Diner. Old Mill Road. Saturday. 8am.
Finn smiled. Guess this isn’t over yet.
# # # #
Finn walked into the coffee shop and spied Poe in a booth in the back. He slid in across from the other man. A waitress came over. Finn looked at Poe, coffee cup in his hands. “You eating?”
Poe smiled. “Ordered us both the breakfast special.”
Finn smiled. “And a coffee please, ma’am.”
The waitress nodded, returning a moment later with a full mug and a fresh pot, which she put on the table.
“Thanks, Christina,” Poe said.
For a few moments, neither spoke. Finn drummed his fingers on the table. Poe slowly turned his mug around.
Finally, Poe looked up. “Who talks first? You talk first? I talk first?”
Finn leaned back. “I think you should start. Maybe tell me the truth about you.”
“Well, my parents were both spies. They quit a few years after I was born, but…” Poe looked out the window, watching traffic. “When I was eight, an operative from an opposing agency decided to get a little revenge and…” He picked up his mug and took a big gulp of coffee. “Officially, my mother died in a car accident.” He looked at Finn. “But they put a hit on her, and basically, I spent every waking moment from then on training. Leia recruited me in—”
“So you’ve known her…?”
“All my life,” Poe said. “She and Han worked with my parents for a time. She recruited me in high school.” He picked his cup up again, staring into it. “Dad wasn’t happy. He thought it was too dangerous, but I signed up whole-heartedly. Any chance to get back at the kind of people who hit my mom.”
Finn nodded.
“So, I joined the Air Force, but that was a front. I was really working for the Resistance.”
Finn shook his head. “Whoever did the paperwork on you was thorough.” His eyes flicked up to Poe’s. “My people are good and they never once suspected…” He chuckled. “Freaking Resistance,” he mumbled before taking a drink.
“Anyway, about ten years ago, I had an op go wrong, like really wrong.” Poe’s voice got quiet. “I was…” He sighed. “You dug up the information on Muran, but what you didn’t know was that…” Poe shook his head. “He was just a pilot. He wasn’t a spy, and…you have to know, I tried to keep him out of all of this, but…but he got caught in the middle and…” Poe’s voice was barely a whisper, “and he died trying to protect me.” Poe squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them and staring at his coffee. “I wanted out.” He wiped his eyes. “Leia made me a deal instead. She wanted to start a company as a front to help us get our foot in certain doors. She asked me to become the head of it.” He shrugged. “I still did the occasional op, but more and more, I became the public face of Alliance Energy.”
“Why’d you leave?”
“Rey,” Poe said. He picked up his coffee and took a sip. “You remind me of her a bit.” He put his cup down. “Similar story. She ended up with some bad elements when she was a kid. Thankfully, Leia’s brother, Luke, found her and took her in. He was never the conventional sort, and he started bringing her in on assignments. By the time she was in her twenties, she’d logged more time for the agency than I had.” Poe shook his head. “She wanted out, and I knew a way, so I went to Leia with an offer: let Rey take my place. I’ll pretend to retire, and I can start funneling money to good causes while still playing the part of philanthropist playboy extraordinaire.”
Finn laughed. “Playboy?”
“Let a guy dream,” Poe said. “I officially retired from the spy game, but I could still fund Leia’s pet projects.”
Finn was thoughtful for a moment. “Ben must’ve suspected something was up.”
“That’s my guess,” Poe said. “And as you might have guessed, I think he always had a soft spot for Rey. She is his cousin, and they’ve always had this…”
“Antagonistic?”
Poe laughed. “Yeah, antagonistic but loving relationship.” He shook his head. “They’ve always been like that.” He sighed. “So yeah, I think him putting the hit out on me was more about his mother than anything else.”
“And you were okay being in the middle of their feud?”
“Well, okay is a strong word,” Poe said. “But there was no way to get out without messing up everything we’d done.” He looked up at Finn. “Besides, I had a guardian angel looking out for me.”
“A guardian angel who at any time could’ve stopped protecting you or gotten killed or…” Finn shrugged, taking another drink of his coffee. “You took a big risk.”
“Like I said, I tried to get you to come out into the open.” He laughed. “Geez, Finn, how many times did I go wandering off into situations by myself just to set up a scenario where you might contact me?”
“Kriff, Poe, you are so damn lucky that the Order didn’t send Hux to begin with. Or even Ben. Something tells me he wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot you.” His blood ran cold.
“I’m lucky that they let their best agent get away,” Poe said, looking into Finn’s eyes.
Finn broke contact first, staring down into his coffee cup. “You know this still isn’t over, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that with Hux dead and Ren…Ben in jail, that cripples the Order, but Snoke is still out there.”
“Snoke,” Poe said. “I always thought he was a myth.”
“No, he’s real.” Finn shuddered. “Very real and very scary. And I’ve got to guess that now, he’s going to double his efforts to hurt the Resistance.”
“The Resistance is not going to be intimidated by Snoke,” Poe said thoughtfully. He then smiled. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Leia wants to recruit you. And your friends. She was impressed with the work you did.”
Finn threw back his head and laughed. “Bastian would love that. He has a thing for Leia Organa.”
“What about you?”
Finn shrugged. He poured himself another cup of coffee.
The waitress brought their breakfasts. Finn whistled. “That is a lot of food.”
“I was hungry,” Poe said.
“I can tell.”
The two started eating in silence.
# # # #
“That was good,” Finn said, leaning back and patting his belly.
“They do a decent breakfast here,” Poe said with a smile. “Not as good as mine, but close.”
“Ehhh,” Finn said, playfully shrugging.
“Hey!”
Finn laughed.
And then the table fell into an awkward silence. The one thing they hadn’t talked about—the thing they’d most needed to talk about—was still there, hanging over them.
Finn looked down at the table, picking up his coffee spoon and tapping it on the table top.
Poe bit his lip, watching the spoon. His eyes flicked up to Finn’s.
Finn said, “If I took the job with Leia, chances would be good I’d go back undercover.”
“Yeah,” Poe said. He’d thought about that. It killed his very soul, but at the same time, it meant he’d be able to keep tabs on Finn. That might be the best I can hope for.
Finn looked up at Poe. “What about you? You going back to being her front?”
Poe shook his head. “Technically, Poe Dameron died a few weeks ago.”
“Yeah, but…”
“No,” Poe said firmly. “I have a little money saved. Figured I’d go up north, maybe buy a plane and fly charters or teach lessons.” He shrugged. “I think it’s time to do something else with my life.” He picked up his empty cup and rolled it between his hands.
Finn nodded. Not what I wanted but it’s probably for the best.
Poe was petrified but he had to ask, “What about you?”
Finn stared at his coffee cup. “I don’t know.”
Poe nodded. He’d hoped for something different. There were so many things he wanted to say to Finn, to ask him. After a few beats, he said, “You’re a good man, Finn.” It sounded stupid the second it left his mouth.
Finn smiled.
Poe reached a hand across the table.
Finn looked from it up to Poe, who nodded to his hand. Finn tentatively reached his hand out. Poe took it. “I was thinking about coming here next Saturday for breakfast.” He gave Finn’s hand a little squeeze.
“Yeah?” Finn sounded nervous.
“Yeah,” Poe said. “I like to eat around eight.”
“Eight,” Finn nodded, “Good to know.”
# # # #
Poe arrived the next Saturday at seven to find Finn already sitting in a booth at the back. Poe smiled as he walked up. “I thought I said eight.”
“Seems neither one of us is good with clocks, then, huh?”
For the next four Saturdays, Poe and Finn met at the diner.
# # # #
Bastian called out, “Knock, knock?”
“Bedroom,” came Finn’s reply.
Bastian walked in and raised an eyebrow. “You got an op?”
“Something like that,” Finn said, stuffing clothes into a duffle.
Bastian frowned. He knew that Finn still hadn’t accepted Leia Organa’s offer to join the Resistance, so there was no reason he’d have an op. He looked at his watch. “Aren’t you supposed to meet Poe soon?”
Finn stopped. “How do you know—”
“That you have a crush on that boy? I’ve known since the first time I saw you together. And Jess told me you two have been having breakfast together every Saturday.”
“Right,” Finn said, moving back to his packing.
“So?”
“So?”
“You headed out to breakfast soon?”
“Not gonna make it this week,” Finn said.
“Because of the op,” Bastian said.
“Yeah, because of the op.”
You’re lying. Bastian turned. “Well, I won’t keep you. Just wanted to drop off the taser you loaned me.” He placed it on Finn’s bed and started to the door, then hesitated. “You know, Finn, if you wanted to talk—”
“I’m fine. Just got to get ready for this op,” Finn said.
“Yeah,” Bastian said. “The op.” He walked away.
# # # #
As he walked into the diner, Poe was surprised to find Bastian, not Finn, waiting for him.
He frowned, walking up to the table.
“Well, it’s great to see you too, sweetheart.”
“Sorry,” Poe said, sliding into the booth. “I just…” He closed his eyes. Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead. “Where’s Finn?”
Bastian said, “He’s fine.”
Poe opened his eyes. “Yeah?”
Bastian nodded. “He’s just…” Bastian picked up a spoon and started slowly stirring his coffee. “I’ve known Finn a long time, and…” He looked up at Poe. “He’s getting ready to run.”
“Run?”
“He thinks he’s putting you in danger, thinks he’d be a drain on the Resistance if he joined up. What with Snoke still out there somewhere and all…”
“But Snoke isn’t just after him! Snoke is going after the Resistance! Finn isn’t a drain, he’s—”
Bastian held up a hand. “Preaching to the choir here.” He lowered his hand. “I’m just telling you. Finn has always had this thing about other people getting hurt because of him, and he thinks he’s protecting us when he goes deep underground.”
“He’s done this before?”
Bastian nodded. “A few years ago. A kid who used to work with us named Slip got killed during a job. Finn took it hard, decided that he was putting all of us in danger. He only came back because Iolo and Karé tracked him down and forced him to.” He sighed. “If you want my read on things, he was raised in an environment where you weren’t supposed to love anyone else or care about them and when he feels those feelings, he gets scared. Like, rationally, Finn knows it’s a good thing to care about people, but,” he shook his head, “it scares him.”
Poe nodded.
“And seeing as he has all these feelings for you…”
Poe choked on his breath. “For me?”
Bastian rolled his eyes. “Don’t even pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“But—”
“Poe, I just said don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
Poe looked down. “So, his feelings for me?
“Mean I’m pretty sure he’s getting ready to run.”
“But he hasn’t yet?”
Bastian shook his head and took a sip of his coffee. “Not yet, but within the next few hours or so, I’d guess.”
Poe leaned back with a smile. “Then we still have time.”
Bastian put down his coffee cup and smiled. “That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear.”
# # # #
Finn awoke, tied to a chair in a dim room. What the kriff, he thought. He slowly raised his head, his neck stiff. He stretched it, letting out a groan. He looked around. In my own damn bunker, he thought.
There was movement nearby. Someone opened the door and came in. They walked to the far side of the room, grabbed a chair and drug it over.
Finn locked eyes on his captor, who threw him a charming smile.
“Morning,” Poe said.
“Morning,” Finn said. He pulled on the ties binding his hands behind the chair. They were fairly loose. He immediately started working on them.
Poe turned his chair backwards and sat down, putting his arms across the back. “A little birdy told me we needed to have a talk.”
“Bastian?”
“Yep.”
Finn snorted.
“He said you were going to run.”
“What if I was?”
Poe rolled his eyes, ignoring the question. “Why?”
Finn shot Poe a look.
“No,” Poe said. “The whole Snoke-is-still-out-there crap might work for someone else, but not for me. Snoke isn’t just after you, either.”
“Poe, I’m…” Finn took a breath. He really didn’t know how he wanted to finish that sentence.
“If you really don’t want to be a part of the Resistance, fine. Great. Wherever you want to go, tell me and I’m there.”
Finn looked up at that.
“But just so you know,” Poe said, getting up and pushing the chair out of the way, “you have people here who care about you. People who will have your back. They want to see First Order fall as much as you do.”
“What about you,” Finn asked.
“What about me?”
“I thought you were out. Gonna go up north to fly charters or something.”
Poe sighed, stepping forward. He cupped Finn’s cheek. “If they’re coming after you, I don’t think I can be out, can I?”
Finn leaned into Poe’s hand for a moment and then pulled away. “Poe, I don’t want to drag you back into this.”
“Man, it sounds like last month all over again. Just in reverse.” Poe leaned in until he was nearly nose to nose with Finn. “I’m in love with you, you idiot. I think I get drug back in whether you want it or not.”
“You’re in love with me?”
“Finn, you are not this dense.”
“No, I’m not,” Finn said, the ropes binding him falling to the ground as his hands moved, quickly grabbing Poe and pulling him in for a kiss.
# # # #
Bastian looked at Jess. “It’s been awful quiet in there.”
Jess rolled her eyes, pushing off the wall and walking over to Finn’s “interrogation” room. “I swear, if those two haven’t figured out how to talk about their kriffing feelings, then…” She threw open the door to find Poe in Finn’s lap, his hands on Finn’s face. Finn’s hands were under Poe’s shirt and the two of them were making absolutely obscene noises as they kissed.
“Oh, ew,” Jess shrieked. “We didn’t need to see that!”
Bastian stuck his head in, smiling. “Speak for yourself, sweetie,” he laughed. Then, he said a bit louder, “So I guess this means you two won’t be coming to lunch with us?”
Poe pulled out of the kiss long enough for Finn to say, “Go away, Bastian.”
“You too, Jess,” Poe said. As he tried to move back into the kiss, he somehow managed to fall out of Finn’s lap.
Jess and Bastian both started laughing.
Finn smiled down at Poe. “Seriously, how are you a spy?”
Poe chuckled. “I really don’t know.”
Finn moved off the chair and crawled over, pushing Poe to the floor. Just before he began kissing Poe again, he turned to the door. “You guys are probably gonna want to leave now.”
Poe made a happy little noise as Finn turned his attention back to him.
Jess moved to close the door as Bastian said, “I think this means Poe and Finn are going to be sticking around for a while.”
“Looks like it,” Jess said, wrapping an arm around Bastian as they walked down the hall. “Now, the question is, where do we want to go eat?” She smiled as she pulled a wallet out of her pocket. “Poe’s treat.”