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But she said, where'd you wanna go?
How much you wanna risk?
I'm not looking for somebody
With some superhuman gifts
Some superhero
Some fairytale bliss
Just something I can turn to
Somebody I can kiss
- Something Just Like This, The Chainsmokers
If anyone had told Jyn Erso that four years ago she’d join up with the Rebellion and actually fight with them for years, alongside the Pathfinders, and made friends and family, she wouldn’t have believed them.
Now, as cheers and music filled the night air of Endor, Jyn reflected on the events that had brought her to this point.
Over the past few years there’d always been the chance of death during a mission, for her or any of the members of the Rogue One crew. Even now, the possibility of a failed mission, of death, remained. They’d destroyed the second Death Star, but Imperial Forces were still out there, and with everything Jyn knew about the Empire, they would put up a fight.
But now victory seemed possible. They might very well defeat the Empire; they might actually be able to carve out a future. The thought of having more than just a few stolen hours here and there, of having a future with her friends and her Rogue One family made her happy. She felt a strange sense of joy bubbling up in her heart.
Her commander, Kes Dameron, had already vanished an hour ago with his wife Shara Bey. Those two could be downright sickeningly in love when they got together, but now, Jyn understood why. Four years ago she would have complained about their public displays of affection, but now she understood exactly why they did it.
Stolen moments, so precious and so often too far between.
She wanted that kind of happiness.
“Jyn!”
She turned to see Bodhi Rook jogging across a bridge towards her, grinning broadly as he pulled her into an affectionate, brotherly hug. “You survived!”
“I certainly hope I’m still alive,” she said with a laugh as Bodhi set her back on the ground. “It wasn’t easy, but we didn’t suffer as many casualties as we could have.”
Bodhi’s eyes flickered upwards for a moment, in the direction where the Death Star had been. “No, none of it was easy,” he agreed. He’d flown with the other X-Wing pilots against that monstrosity. “But it was worth it.”
“Completely,” Jyn agreed. “We’ve got a chance now. I really think we do.”
“Well, Rebellions are built on Hope,” a warm, familiar voice said from behind her.
She shot a glance at Bodhi and then turned around to see Cassian just feet from her, whole and alive. They approached each other slowly at first, Cassian reaching out to take her hands in his own. She smiled up at him, she couldn’t stop smiling, and leaned up to kiss him.
Cassian wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a fierce embrace, as if he would never let go, and kissed her thoroughly.
They only broke apart when they heard Bodhi whistle behind them.
“Soo…I’m going to go find Baze and Chirrut, I’ll see you two in the morning,” Bodhi said with good humor. He gave them a knowing smile before he wandered off.
“Want to find some place a bit more private?” Cassian whispered in her ear, and Jyn felt heat shoot through her body. She nodded, and let him lead her away from the celebration. It took them a little while, but they found a quiet clearing. Then Cassian took her in his arms again, and two melted into one.
~~
She came awake to the feeling of his bare skin against her own, her head on his chest, and a blanket wrapped around them, a bedroll beneath them. She lifted herself up to look down at her lover. Her eyes scanned over his scarred body, mentally recounting the stories behind each one.
She felt a renewed sense of hope, like she had the night before, that the Empire could really be defeated. Jyn Erso knew exactly what she wanted now. She hadn’t run in four years, and she wasn’t about to start now.
She and Cassian had danced around each other for the past four years. First it had just been conversation, then brief kisses when they met up in between missions, exchanging stories, the comfort of a friend’s touch. Those quiet moments bled into more though. She wasn’t entirely sure if she’d first fallen in love with Cassian Andor on the beach of Scarif, or if it had grown on her over the past few years.
Cassian stirred beneath her touch, opening his brown eyes to meet her green, and a smile flickered over his lips. Last night wasn’t the first time they’d made love, nor would it be the last. As the years of the Civil War had wound on and they’d caught what moments they could together, they’d grown closer, until one night they’d ended up doing more than just sleeping beside one another for the comfort of the other’s touch.
She knew how she felt, and she suspected she knew how he felt…she knew he cared for her, and he knew she cared for him, they’d said as much.
But they’d never used that one word before.
“I love you, you know,” Jyn finally let herself say it as she leaned over him, running her fingers along the line of his jaw.
Cassian’s gaze softened, and she swore she saw tears welling in his eyes as he caught her hand in his. He sat up, pulling her firmly into his lap.
“I love you too, Jyn,” he replied.
That forestalled works for another while. In the aftermath, lying in his arms again, staring up at the trees above them, she voiced her thoughts from the day before. “What do you want, after all this?” she asked.
“A home somewhere,” Cassian replied, nuzzling her hair. “Some place quiet, some place to remind me that peace is real…somewhere with you, if you’ll have me. I’m not quite the hero from stories, not like Skywalker, or kriff, Solo.”
Jyn turned her eyes to his and she smiled. “I don’t want a Jedi, Cassian, and I certainly don’t want to put up with Han Solo’s kriffing attitude all the time.” She sighed contently. “I want someone who I know is human, and who I can be human with. I’m not looking for a hero from bedtime tales, Cassian. I’m looking for someone I can trust and can lean on. Someone who will kiss me and who I can kiss back.”
“Is that a yes then, Jyn Erso?” he asked her, his voice soft against her ear.
She poked him lightly. “Are you actually asking me to marry you?” she asked. “I want to hear the words.”
He laughed. “Then Jyn Erso, will you marry me?”
“I will,” Jyn replied.