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“Fuck,” Poe said as he stabbed himself with the needle again. He quickly brought his finger to his mouth to prevent getting blood on his jacket.
“You’re fixing Finn’s jacket?” Rey asked as she entered the medical bay.
“I’m trying.” Poe said. “And it’s mine.”
Rey laughed. “It looks better on Finn.”
“You’ve never even seen me in it, and you’re missing out,” Poe said. He winked at Rey before continuing to attempt to stitch the jacket.
He wasn’t even sure if he could call it a jacket anymore. The worn red patch on the front was practically gone all together. That he figured he would be easy enough to patch. He was going to take one of the old Resistance patches that were lying around to cover the signed hole. The back was entirely different story. The sand colored jacket was practically two pieces. Poe had no idea how he was going to attempt to make it wearable again, but he’d figure it out.
“Let me help you,” Rey said reaching for the jacket.
“I’ve got it under control,” Poe said.
“Stop being stubborn. I’m going to show you how to properly stitch at least.”
Poe didn’t even attempt to protest as Rey took the jacket out of hands. She sat down on the ground and motioned for him to come next to her. Poe moved next to her.
“Your stitching is terrible. Have you ever sewn before?” Rey asked looking at the patch on the shoulder. She turned the jacket over and looked at the damage on the back.
“No, “ Poe admitted.
“Why is it so important to fix this?” Rey asked him. She put the jacket down her in lap while looking over at the pilot.
Poe swallowed hard. He looked at the jacket and then glanced over at Finn. “He deserves it.”
Rey nodded. “He deserves the world.”
“I can’t give him that, but I can at least give him this,” Poe said pointing to the jacket. He wanted to be able to give Finn the entire world. The moment that he woke up he’d show Finn anything he wanted in the entire galaxy.
“So, when you stitch you want to keep each stitch the same size. See here? They’re all different sizes. Now watch me do this stitch,” Rey said.
Poe watched as her fingers swiftly completed a stitch. He watched the needle go into the fabric and tried to memorize how she moved her fingers. She made this look easy.
“You try.”
Poe attempted to do the stitch exactly as Rey had. It didn’t look as clean as hers, but he at least didn’t stab himself this time. “Okay, I can do this.”
Rey laughed. Poe noted that it was the first time he had seen her laugh. She often had a hardened look on her face as if she was thinking about a thousand things at once. Most likely that was the case.
The two sat there in comfortable silence while Poe continued to stitch the Resistance patch onto the jacket. He cheered as he finished the last stitch.
“Look at this! I did it!” Poe exclaimed excited.
“How are you going to fix the back?” Rey inquired.
“I have no fucking idea,” Poe admitted. The shoulder was the easy part. “I’ll worry about that tomorrow.”
Poe noticed that Rey seemed to tense at the mention of tomorrow. He had heard the rumors circling the base that this mysterious girl was going to be leaving. She was going to use the map to find Luke.
“You’re leaving tomorrow, aren’t you?” Poe asked.
Rey nodded solemnly. “I can’t wait any longer. I need to do this.”
Poe squeezed her hand. “Let me know if you need a pilot.”
“I think he’ll need you more than I will.”
Poe didn’t respond as he looked over at Finn. He watched his chest rise and fall softly as he breathed.
He felt so useless that there was nothing he could do to help Finn. It was worse than assuming he was dead. Part of him hoped that he was alive, and when he saw him again standing there very alive he felt as if he was flying. But now, Finn was just lying there. There was literally nothing that he could do for him.
He looked down at the jacket in his hands. He couldn’t fix Finn, but at least he could fix this jacket. Maybe that would be enough.
“He doesn’t need me,” Poe said.
“He’ll need you. Promise me, you’ll take care of him,” Rey said. There was conviction behind her voice. Poe knew she cared about Finn as much, if not more, than he did.
“I promise.”
The two sat hand in hand in the comfortable silence.
Poe closed his eyes and managed to fall asleep. When he finally opened his eyes he immediately noticed that Rey was no longer there. Instead of Rey there was a small stack of folded fabric and a note.
He picked up the note and quickly read it.
Poe,
You said you don’t need my help, but I figured you’d need some fabric to finish the jacket. There’s also a pattern.
Until we meet again,
Rey
Poe smiled looking at the fabric before heading out of the room. He was hoping that at least he’d be able to watch her leave the base. He wanted to wave off the girl who cared about Finn as much as he did.