Work Text:
They were idiots. Both of them were the stupidest, least self aware people she had ever met. And she was a former politician. She knew they weren’t actually foolish people but they must have realized something by now. She wasn’t her brother but even she could see it, they way they both lit up when they were together. Rey had one of the strongest Force signatures she had ever felt, the only other person who even compared ... well, it was best not to think of him. And Poe had always had something she couldn’t describe, some intuitive sense, but the first time she’d seen him with Rey, she almost wanted to kick herself for missing the obvious.
So she couldn’t understand how something so insanely obvious to her was completely ignored by the two in question. And she definitely couldn’t understand why she kept thinking about it, she had a war to win. Okay she could understand, they reminded her of her own youth. It was different than her and Han, their fights were far more playful but once Chewy had pointed it out, she couldn’t unsee it. It didn’t have any of the bite her and Han’s fights were known for but they teased each other constantly. She felt sorry for Finn. And Luke. The former stormtrooper looked ready to shoot them both. She could only imagine what her brother had been forced to deal with over the years with her and Han’s bickering.
So the question was, what did she do about the situation?
It wasn’t a problem, not yet. She couldn’t feel any jealousy or anger coming from either of them but who knew how long that would last. They were in a war, emotions ran high, people did things when they were scared or angry that they later regretted. They were still building up their army, new faces slowly trickling in. How long would their bubble last? She should have been signing off on requisitions not worried about other people’s love lives. But Poe was important to her, and Rey was ... Rey was a fresh start in a way. They deserved to be happy, she of all people knew how fast happiness could be snatched away when you didn’t expect it.
She was a General, so it was time to do what she would normally do: plan.
In any war, you needed to know your enemy, so she invited them to dinner. Intelligence gathering so to speak, she had been a spy once. She didn’t make it obvious of course, she invited others. The others being in on the plan, Finn wasn’t the only other person annoyed with their behaviour. It didn’t take much to arrange seating so the two were forced to sit beside each other. She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
This wasn’t teasing, this was flirting. The first half of the night they tried to talk to the others around them but the two seemed to just naturally be pulled together. It was almost like she could see a physical tie between them, something almost elastic snapping them back together. So they went from talking to friends to ignoring everyone, Poe’s teasing banter and Rey’s sarcastic replies left them in a bubble of their own. It was almost a physical thing, she wasn’t sure how everyone couldn’t feel it screaming at them. Particularly the two in question. A quick look around the table confirmed it, they were idiots. But at the end of the night, they went their separate ways.
She had some planning to do. And from the looks of it, a lot of planning.
She couldn’t be too obvious, they were both stubborn. But they’d had former fleet pilots trickle in over the last several months, it was time to add some new squadrons. Rey was a lot like Luke, he’d done well in charge of his own squad even with his Jedi training taking up part of his time. So she was given her own command and a few pilots of her own. The fact that she chose to call them green squadron was enough to make her smile. Mostly at Poe’s reaction.
She was a genius. Too bad they didn’t cooperate.
She did have other things to do, it’s not like she watched them constantly. But she couldn’t help noticing the rolled eyes, exasperated stares and huffs of annoyance from their friends. History was repeating itself and she didn’t have three years for this. At least Poe didn’t have a bounty on his head, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t be frozen in carbonite and delivered to one of the Hutts. But whatever was going on between them hadn’t disappeared, the glow she was certain only she could feel was still there. If she had to consider it, she’d say it was stronger now.
She really should have trained more with her brother.
It was time to do something desperate. Rey needed a lightsaber and backup while she built it. Maybe some time alone would give them the chance to figure things out themselves. It had sort of worked for her. They were gone a month, that was plenty of time. Instead they came back more awkward than before. She wanted to scream, this shouldn’t be this difficult. She could still feel whatever it was between them. It was just more confused now than it had ever been.
They were hopeless, she gave up. She had a half moment of thinking she could just lock them up in a storage room when the alarms sounded, it would have to wait.
She had always hated this part. Sending others out to fight battles never got easier, no matter who they were. Every time they all came home was always a win, even if her fellow generals didn’t agree. Sitting there listening to their yells whether good or bad was always nerve racking. It hadn’t been easy when it had been Luke and Han, it certainly wasn’t better when it was Rey and Poe. Especially when things went wrong.
She would know if Rey was dead, she was certain of that. The group of X-wings arrived, one smoking heavily but flying under its own power thankfully. And if a recently repainted Black One was sticking very close the the wing, she wasn’t going to comment. Poe landed first, jumping out of the cockpit as soon as it was opened, yelling orders. The second ship landed a little shaky but Rey opened the cockpit alive and coughing. She watched as Poe helped her out gently, giving her a hand so she could climb out herself. He wrapped her in a hug the second she had both feet on the ground, kissing her forehead repeatedly in between whispered words.
Those little shavits.
The med team arrived, taking Rey for what had to be a nasty case of smoke inhalation. She would be fine, she was sure. She had other things to see to. Namely yelling at her lead pilot. He was so distracted, watching as Rey was helped along to medical, he never noticed her approach. He looked a little stunned to see her standing directly in front of him. “A word Commander?”
She got the full story, she shouldn’t have been surprised. She had too many self sacrificing idiots on her hands. She hoped this meant they would finally get their heads on straight. Even she was starting to lose hope at this point. She gave it a few days but they seemed to go back to avoiding each other. Her temple was throbbing, the inevitable headache was on its way.
It was time to call in the big guns, she needed to give Lando a call anyways.