Chapter Text
Spring was bliss. New love, new friendships—an entire new outlook on life itself. Poe had learned the quickest route to get from Brize Norton to the Rose and Crown, and he practically flew there in record time whenever he could. He discovered sleeping over on work nights was a little too hard on his body and spent most nights in his hotel room. But every weekend, down day, and holiday was spent with Rey. In her bed, in her house, in her life.
In April, he got some news, and he couldn’t wait to tell Rey. He popped by her place during lunch. “Hey, I got some news,” he told her solemnly, trying to play it very serious.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she poured him a glass of lemonade.
“They’re kicking me out of my room,” he said with a shake of his head. She looked concerned for half a second, but then raised an eyebrow at him and waited for the next part of his news. Seems she was used to his antics already. “General Organa worked out a deal with our partners to extend the program to a full two years. They told me I had to get a real place to live; that the government wasn’t going to pay for a hotel anymore.”
“Two years?!” Rey practically shrieked and leapt over the bar to hug him. Thinking better of it, she rushed around the side and threw herself into his arms.
Poe laughed as she squeezed him tightly. Originally, he was set to leave in six weeks and they had already begun to dread it. But now… the whole world seemed open again. “Yeah, and they’re keeping Finn’s unit attached to us, too. So we’ll all be together.”
“That’s amazing!” Rey squealed and kissed him. Poe beamed at how happy she was. He was, too, but her smile meant the world to him.
Though Rey had finally cleared out most of the rooms in the upstairs of her pub, Poe rented the end unit of a terraced house in Faringon, halfway between their two jobs. It was small, but he had essentially no household items and had to buy a bed and a couch and other regular life things. Rey still spent most days at the pub because that was her home, though she had clothes and a toothbrush and a litterbox for Bee at his place, too.
His father came to visit over the summer, brought him his guitar, too. Poe was excited to show him all the great places he’d discovered in England—London, Bath, Stonehenge, all of it. He was especially excited to introduce him to Rey, and they hit it off better than Poe could have hoped.
“You know, when I met Shara,” his father said one warm evening as they sat out on the Rose and Crown’s patio having a beer, “I knew. That very day, that was it. She was the one.”
“Yeah, I know.” Poe grinned as he relaxed in the chair and sipped at his drink.
“She’s the one, mijo. Don’t screw it up.”
Poe laughed and nodded at his father. “I’m trying not to.”
Poe still left on missions he couldn’t talk about. Sometimes for a few days, sometimes longer. After New Years, he was gone for six weeks. He always told her though, as much as he could. Never again just up and leaving. He learned to say “I’ll see you real soon” instead of “goodbye.” And he called from downrange, when he was able. He even wrote her a letter with a pen and paper. Sealed it with a kiss like some old time war romance.
He missed her something terrible when he had to go, but he knew she missed him even more. Even though he had been a boy, he remembered what that anxious waiting felt like. And every time he came home, they wrapped their arms tightly around each other for what felt like days and at the same time not long enough.
~*~
It was four months out from the time they expected the assignment at Brize Norton to end. They still hadn’t really talked about what would happen after. Poe had shown her the list of places he could be sent to—bases that had openings in their F-15 squadrons and needed someone of his rank and experience. There were a few back in the States, and other places around the world, and one at Lakenheath. He wasn’t sure he’d qualify for it, but tried not to let her lose hope. They’d figure something out.
Finn was getting out of the RAF at the end of the tour. He’d done his time and was planning to go back to school and spend time with his parents and sister in London. The last Rey had heard from Rose, they were in the same sort of predicament. Rose wasn’t sure where she’d end up next and had vague hopes of staying somewhere in England. Rose, it seemed, was far less attached to aircraft maintenance than Poe was to flying. She was happy to tinker with anything and had already started looking for civilian jobs. Finn, like Poe, was equally hopeful that everything would work out.
Rey tried not to think about the future when her head was laying in Poe’s lap as they sat out on a picnic blanket on a hill atop the Vale. It was a mild day near the end of summer and they ate the last of the strawberries as they laid out under the sun. They watched as kids and families ran up and down the hill and tourists took pictures of the White Horse.
“I think this is my favorite place,” Rey said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and tossed her strawberry stem out into the grass.
“Better than the Louvre?”
“Oh that was nice, but rather stuffy and they don’t let you touch anything.”
Poe chuckled as his fingers danced up her arm. He had taken her to see so many places. They’d been to Paris and Brussels and Koln. Spain and Italy were next on the list. He’d shown her the clouds, too. Taken her up in a small prop plane. Told her she was a natural. It was the most fun she’d had in her entire life—it was addicting, too. She understood instantly his love of flying.
“Are you all right?” she asked, noticing how he kept glancing at his phone and then his bag and then staring off into the distance. “You’re a bit… fidgety.”
“I’m good. Think maybe some ants, or something.” He flicked an invisible bug off his hand and picked up his phone again to look at whatever it was he kept looking at.
Rey sat up and maneuvered herself so she was sitting in his lap, arms draped over his shoulders. She kissed him, slow and sweet, savoring the sweet taste of the leftover strawberries and cream. “I’ll miss this,” she said as a wave of melancholy overcame her. “Sitting out here in the sun with you. Sitting by the fire. Sitting on the train, in the car, in the cockpit.”
Poe sighed softly and brushed his hands across her hair. He took a long, deep breath, like he was preparing for something. Rey felt her heart stop for just a second before it beat loudly in her ears. Something had been bothering him, she knew it. Was he finally going to tell her?
His fingers reached out and dug into cooler bag and found a white envelope. “Here,” he said, handing it over.
“What’s this?”
“Just read it.”
It was a form, a US Air Force official looking form. It had a his name, rank, a few signatures.
“Right here.” His finger hovered somewhere in the middle of the page.
“Depart: RAF Brize Norton. Arrive: RAF Lakenheath.” Her eyes widened and her entire face lit up as the understanding dawned on her. He wasn’t leaving. Well, he was going almost three hours to the northeast, but he wasn’t going back to the US or Japan or anywhere she’d have to travel a day and spend hundreds of pounds to get to. She laughed and bounced out of his lap, her legs hardly able to contain the excitement. “Report no later than thirty-one December! Christmas here and then we can celebrate New Years at your new place! How long?”
When she glanced back at him, the question on her lips as to how many more months or years they’d get to continue this blissful love affair, he was in a very peculiar position.
Poe had propped himself up on one knee and in his fingers he had a small, black box. He fumbled with it, trying to get it popped open before she could realize what he was doing. Rey nearly dropped the paper in her hands, but realized quickly he probably wouldn’t want it floating away and crinkled it in her fingers tightly.
“Rey—” he started, taking another quick breath. “You are the spark that lights up everything in my life. And sometimes when we talk about how things are going to be over one day and how much we’ll miss each other, I think ‘no, that’s not how this is supposed to go.’ I know that we’ll still have weeks and months where we’ll be apart, but I always want to come home to you.”
She stood there, struck dumb for the moment. Her mouth was dry and she nearly swallowed her tongue trying to get it moist again. Her mind had gone blank looking at him. Rey was overjoyed at the news they could be together for another two or three years, but now, he was offering forever.
He finally got the box open, revealing a tiny band of silver with three, small clear gems inlaid in the band. It was simple and beautiful. The paper cut into her fingers and her teeth bit into her lip as she watched him look up at her. Big brown eyes, hopeful, and full of love.
“Rey, will—”
“Yes, Poe. Yes!” She didn’t even let him get the words out. He leapt to his feet in a rush and they collided together in a laughing embrace. There were tears in her eyes as he pulled the band from the box and both of their hands were shaking as he slipped the ring onto her finger.
Cheers and claps sounded around them. Neither one of them had taken notice of the people that had paused to watch the engagement on the hill. Rey was blushing furiously at being suddenly on the spot, but Poe smiled at her and cupped her cheek with his hand, with the other he was holding onto hers, fingers pressing against the bit of metal, the promise, he had given her. He leaned in and kissed her fiercely and Rey felt it—like the waiting was finally, finally over. And it was the beginning of the rest of her life.
~*~
The next summer, they were married in Devonshire. Poe knew that Rey loved the ocean, but had rarely seen it. (He remembered keenly the glee on her face the first time they’d taken the ferry across the Channel.) It was a small affair with just their dearest friends and his father. They spent a week in Italy eating delicious food and taking in the sites. When they got back, there was a larger reception at the Rose and Crown for all of their friends, co-workers, and the little town that housed her pub. There was dancing and wine and music (Poe even played a little). And at the end of it all, he got to curl up next to his wife.
It was ridiculously hard that first year. Rey split more of the duties of running the pub with Chewie, but they still spent more days apart than they did together. And a small fortune on gas driving back and forth.
The house they gave him was too big for just him. It dwarfed his couch and TV and desk and few boxes of belongings. He spent a lot of time with a pilot from his new squadron, Snap. He made friends as he always did, but he missed her. It was almost a relief when the six month deployment came up. Something besides coordinated their schedules to occupy his thoughts.
“Hey, did you get my package yet?” Rey asked as they video-chatted one evening about halfway through the deployment. It was a large, loud tent—air conditioned, thankfully, but still without much privacy.
“Yep,” he said, holding up the small box wrapped in brown paper. “I like how you put ‘do not open without me, on pain of death’ on there. Must be real special.”
She chuckled as he shook the little box, but nothing jingled back. “Remember that night before you left?”
“Of course.” He gave her a sly smile and a wink. “Can I open it now? Wait—should I open it? There’s not a lot of privacy here if it’s, you know… ‘special’.”
Again, she laughed and shifted slightly in her seat. “It’s nothing like that, I just wanted to see your reaction when you open it.”
His fingers tore into the brown paper and tossed it off to the side. He pulled the top off of the box and pushed aside the tissue paper covering a small cloth item. Poe gasped, eyes wide as he pulled it out and held it in his hands.
“What’s it say!” she practically squealed, her hands clapping. “Put it down though, I want to see your face!”
“’My daddy is a fighter pilot.’” He let the infant onesie with the blocky lettering droop so he could look at his wife, glowing like a brilliant star on her side of the screen. Let her see the shock and the joy and the I can’t fucking wait to get home on his face. “I love you, sweetheart. Daddy? Papá? This is… wow.”
And all of a sudden, it hit him like a truck. Poe jumped up from his chair and started shouting around him. “SNAP! BASTIAN! PAVA!” he hollered for his pilots on their own video calls with loved ones. “I’M GONNA BE A DAD!” He lifted his arms and yelled for the entire tent to hear.
There were cheers and claps and a few “sit down Dameron, I’m talking to my kids.”
When he sat back down, he noticed that though she was still smiling, Rey had sad, anxious sort of look on her face. Likely wondering how they’d manage to raise a kid while basically living apart. “Hey, Rey, my time is almost up, but don’t you worry. We’re gonna figure this out, okay? I love you.”
“I know,” she said quietly, holding back the tears. She kissed her fingers and pressed them against the camera before it blinked out.
~*~
It was an intervention, at least, that’s what it felt like when Finn and Rose sat her down one afternoon. Well, she had to sit down. This child was pressing so hard on her bladder, sitting down managed to shift it just enough so she didn’t constantly feel like she needed to pee.
“I got a job!” Rose announced first, though they both looked like they were planning an ambush so that couldn’t have been the only news.
Nevertheless, Rey was excited for her friend. “That’s wonderful! Is it local? What are you doing?”
“It’s a private airfield, mostly small aircraft, some local crop dusters. Not a whole lot of hours, but—”
“But it’s one of those fancy ones that caters to celebrities and rich folk on holiday,” Finn interjected excitedly. “Less hours, but more money than she was making as an F-15 maintainer, that’s for sure!”
“And you get to stay here!” Rey laughed and hugged her friend. “That’s wonderful, Rose! Congratulations!”
“Finn’s got some news, too!” She said, taking a quick drink from her glass.
Finn rolled his shoulders and grinned through gritted teeth, but dove right into the topic they were apparently nervous to broach. “We want to go into business together.”
“Oh, that sounds lovely!” Rey said. “What sort of business?”
“No, Rey, I mean, we want to go into business with you. Buy a stake in the Rose and Crown.”
“What? Really? You want to work at a pub? Aren’t you going to school?”
“Finn’s actually been taking some culinary classes with his business classes, and he’s not a bad cook,” Rose said. “We know the reason you’re hesitant to leave is because Chewie’s great at running the bar and managing the place, just not…”
“His food is not good, Rey,” Finn said bluntly. “It’s like eating a tire covered in sriracha sauce.”
“And we had some ideas, too, about renting out some of the rooms upstairs like a real inn again. We’ve been looking into the sort of adjustments that would need to be done for those types of permits.” From seemingly nowhere, Rose pulled out a folder with fancy graphs and tables and price points for Rey to look at. Even pictures of new furniture that would fit with the current motif of the pub. Finn looked especially excited when she flipped to the picture of a large flat-screen TV and blokes gathered around watching football.
“You two really put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?”
“Rey,” Finn said taking her hand. “You and Poe deserve to be together—like in the same house, sleeping in the same bed. And we’re not just offering because we’re friends, it’s something Rose and I want to do together. It’s just the added bonus that we’re helping you out.”
“You’re still the owner,” Rose assured her. “You still have final say on any decisions.”
Rey took a slow breath as she looked between the two faces of her friends. Then, she glanced behind them at Chewie who had stopped watching football to listen in on their conversation. When the older man nodded, his long grey-brown shaggy hair shaking from side to side, she knew.
“Yeah. This place—it was always a family pub. And you all are my family. Let’s do it.”
When Poe came home after his six months away, he hugged Finn tighter than any of them. Though they’d all had a hand in this plan, Finn managed to end up with most of the credit. They got all the documents in order to share ownership of the Rose and Crown, and a week later were loading the last of Rey’s belongings into the moving van. Bee’s carrier was placed carefully in between them on the drive up to Lakenheath.
“It’s okay,” she said, laughing at Poe as he bent slightly to try and pick her up. “Please don’t throw out your back trying to carry me across the threshold.”
Instead, he wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her slightly to hop through the doorway. Seven months along and looking every bit of it. He laughed and kissed her and said, “I have something to show you. I put it together last week.”
He made her close her eyes and led her through the house to a room in the back. When she opened them, she gasped and laughed and nearly cried. The room was painted a pale green with grey accents. There was a small, white bassinet with a blanket with an elephant on it hanging off the side. There was a small dresser and changing table with stacks of diapers and all sorts of other baby items ready to go. There was even a gliding chair next to a table stacked with children’s books.
“Wow, Poe, this is… this is perfect.”
“Welcome home,” he said as he pressed a kiss to he temple and rubbed his hand across her stomach.
Little Luke was born in the spring. Loud lungs and proud parents. Rey still took regular trips down to the Rose and Crown, but it was in very good hands. Finn made her traditional recipes along with his own. They’d turned four of the upstairs rooms into a bed and breakfast and were booked solid through the summer. The village even changed a bit while Rey was away. A shop had opened up.
“A real shop! Not just the post office!” Rey told Poe excitedly after Rose had given her the news.
Part of the old farm was sold and a developer built several new row houses and a playground. Her sleepy little town was starting to wake up. Part of her was very proud, but another part was sad that she was missing it. Rey was so happy to be with Poe and Luke and the new friends they’d made, but it seemed no matter where she was, she was always missing something. She had the most important things though, and that’s what mattered.
~*~
When Luke was nearly three and hell on two legs, Poe faced a rather difficult decision. They were consolidating and moving squadrons around. It was about time for his assignment at Lakenheath to be over anyway, and it seemed it was really time to leave this time. There were no pilot positions open for him after this, not here anyway.
There was a command position in the Pacific, or a Pentagon subject matter expert desk job. Neither were what he wanted. Though he was still in peak physical shape, his eyes were as keen as ever, he was getting too old to be that fighter jockey. They wanted his mind more than the rest of him these days. But his heart, his heart was here. He couldn’t take her away from here. His father had been over six times already, the most he had ever traveled in his life. Kept joking about how he was going to sell the farm and move out here permanently.
“I have an idea,” Rey said at dinner one night as she tried to get a piece of chicken into Luke’s mouth. They had been vaguely discussing the future. Poe mostly complained about how he didn’t want to sit at a desk and read reports and offer advice to politicians who wouldn’t listen.
“What’s that?”
“Kenobi’s sheep farm, in the 40’s they had that factory that manufactured bullets, but they also had an emergency landing strip for bombers. He’s selling it all off now in parcels. What if we bought the piece that has the landing strip? Had a little business for hobbyists?”
Poe paused eating and looked over the table at her. That was an interesting proposal. The gears turned his head trying to figure out what exactly that would take. “Buy a couple used prop planes and fix ‘em up.”
“You know Rose would love that. There’s never anything wrong with those fancy Cessnas she has to work on.”
“That’s… it’s gonna be expensive.”
Rey smiled and gave him her own sly wink. “You just let me worry about that, baby.”
Poe chuckled and shook his head. “Finally find that buried treasure?”
“Something like that. I told you I sold all that stuff Plutt had—that was basically digging for buried treasure.”
“I love you, you know that?”
“Yep, I do.”
In front of the sign that declared “Dameron Aero Club,” stood a veritable gaggle of people. There was Poe, of course, Rey, with a baby girl sporting pigtails propped on her hip. Little Luke was chasing a slightly smaller toddler around. Finn and Rose, who was trying to rescue the child. Chewie was hugging Han Solo as his wife, General Organa, had finally gotten him off the no-fly list for this event. Their son, Ben, also came, though he looked less than amused by the shenanigans of what was now his extended family. Bee the cat weaved in between the legs of all the interesting people. Kes, Poe’s father, had flown in again, and no one was sure if he had a return ticket this time. Old Man Kenobi was there, too, and mighty impressed with the fresh state of what used to be his property. The once overgrown landing strip had been cleared and a new coat of paint was on the old metal hangar.
A photographer was shouting at them to stand together and stop moving so he could take the picture already.
Poe stuck his hand out as Luke ran by again and swept him up into his arms, depositing the boy on his shoulder.
“All right everyone!” Rey shouted. “This one’s going on the wall so everyone has to smile!”
Poe wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in close. The four Damerons were in the middle of the photo next to the sign declaring their name. Around them were their friends, their family. Ahead of them: forever.