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Rey hates Wednesday morning shifts.
The rush hour seems to die off earlier than usual, and nobody sticks around to chat. It's even worse towards the end of a month, when everybody is broke. They all seem to decide freshly ground coffee is a treat they can only stretch to on a Friday.
After dealing with a small, eccentric old lady who told her she had a strong aura, the shops been left empty. Plutt is off today, some reason Rey only half listened to. She assumes it's something to do with his lost penis. She's already text Finn to tell him so.
Finn hasn’t text back yet, so her attention has been taken up with a coffee stirrer rocket ship sculpture. She’s about to add a very important wind flap, when the bell over the door rings.
Looking up she sees a frazzled looking man, holding a crying little girl. He rushes up to the counter, “I'm so sorry, but my daughter is sick and I wouldn't ask otherwise, but can we use your bathroom to clean up?”
Rey looks to the little girl. Her eyes are bright red, and there’s a faint green tinge to her.
“Go on.” Rey nods to the bathroom, “Can I get you some water or something?”
“Water would be great. Thank you, thank you!”
“Thank you.” The little girl whimpers into Dad's shoulder, which Rey can now see is covered in something she'd rather not think about.
Dad smiles, kisses her bright red curls, “Polite to the end, aren't you baby?”
He carries her off into the bathroom. Rey gets a glass of water for the little girl, along with a few napkins and a to-go Americano made for the Dad. She'll deal with Plutt's literal bean counting later.
She disinfects her hands and peers back at her phone. Finn’s replied, asks if Plutt has taken his magnifying glass out of the shop. Rey can't help but look, finds the old antique missing from wall. She's in the middle of a giggle fit, texting Finn, when Dad and daughter come out of the bathroom.
“I'm glad our pain is funny to you.” Dad says, with a smile.
The little girl is clinging to his leg, hiding her face. Rey’s heart melts.
“Is she okay?”
Dad nods, “She'll be fine. Just a little stomach bug, right baby? They can't hurt a Dameron.”
(Really, Rey thinks later, that should have tipped her off.)
“Good. Well, I've got some napkins here, a water for you, and a coffee for your Dad. It's black, so you can do whatever you want to it. Stay here as long as you need to feel better.”
“Thank you.” Dad pulls his wallet from his back pocket.
Rey holds up her hands, “No, it's on the house.”
Dad shakes his head, pulls out a ten and drops it into the tip jar on the counter. God, this guy is too nice.
Handsome too now she thinks about it. He’s not too tall, only a little taller than Rey, tan skin, with dark brown eyes, thick curly black hair. His little girl is almost the polar opposite, big green eyes, a shock of bright ginger curls, pale freckled skin. Adopted, maybe?
It's as he's carrying the little mite across to the big sofa in the corner of the shop that Rey clicks.
Oh, oh!
She hops the counter, grabs the drinks and rushes over to them.
“You’re Poe!” Rey chirps.
Dad, Poe's eyes widen. The little girl, Bea, Rey seems to remember, lifts up her head, scrutinizes Rey before looking to Poe.
“Papa Poe, who is she?” She stage whispers.
“Sorry, I'm Rey. I'm Finn's friend.” Rey holds out a hand, with a big grin, “I've heard a lot about you.”
She looks down at Bea, who’s laid across Poe’s knees, “Both of you!”
Poe still looks slightly disturbed, but politely shakes her hand, “It's nice to finally put a face to the name. Bea Bea, she's the girl Finn told us about, the one who knows all about the stars?”
“All the stars?”
“Well, nearly all of them. I bet there's some new ones you could tell me about!” Rey says, crouching down by her.
“Like Mommy’s star!” Bea sounds excited to tell this story. Poe’s face is sad, his hand comes to stroke through her ginger curls. There's obviously a sad story there, but whatever it is doesn't seem to dampen Bea's spirit. “It's called Cassie Beth, and it's the brightest star in the sky! Except the North Star, obviously!”
“Obviously,” Rey agrees, “You know, Finn named a star after me for Christmas?”
“There's a Rey star?” Bea sounds awestruck, “Can you show me her sometime? Then when I'm an astronaut I can go and see her too!”
“Deal!”
Just as Rey is thinking Bea looks brighter, her smile drops suddenly, and she looks up at Poe, “'m gonna be sick again!”
“Okay baby girl.”
With a practiced display of skill, Poe has her swept up in his arms, and reassured in a matter of seconds before rushing off to the bathroom with her again.
Rey feels bad for the poor little thing, tummy bugs were one of her biggest fears as a kid. (Which lead to a crippling phobia of actual bugs). Rey hops back behind the counter, grabs her phone and taps out a quick text to Finn.
Your boyfriend’s daughter is adorable, and I'm stealing her. He's pretty okay too I guess.
She grabs what she’d originally gone to get, and heads back to the couch. She can hear her phone buzzing maniacally behind the counter, Finn probably having a full blown panic attack. What did you tell him, Rey? Did you show him my parachute pants? HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND.
The door to the bathroom opens again, and Poe comes out, holding Bea in his arms. She's sniffling, head buried in his neck. His hand is stroking her hair, whispering I know, baby girl, I know.
“Thanks for everything, Rey, but I'm going to try and get her home now. I think she needs to tuck up with Yub Nub, and Merida.”
Rey smiles, “No problem. Hey, Bea?”
She lifts her little head up, wet eyes and a sullen expression.
Rey pulls the rocket ship out from behind her back, “I’ve been making this for a little while, but it looks very plain. Maybe you’d like to decorate it?”
Bea smiles, “Really?”
Rey nods, “I bet it’ll look awesome.”
Bea takes the rocket from her, “Thank you, Rey!”
“Thanks Rey.” Poe smiles, “Come on baby girl, time to go home.”
“Bye bye, Rey.” Bea says, offering her a watery smile.
Poe smiles as well, “It was nice putting a face to the name.”
“Same.” Rey agrees, “Feel better sweetie.”
Bea nuzzles her head into Poe’s neck. He carries her out of the café, and Rey thinks it’s probably time to pay a little attention to her buzzing phone.
There are four missed calls, and six texts, all of which are basically yelling the same thing.
REY NO, REY DON’T TALK TO HIM, DON’T SAY MY NAME, SAY YOU’RE A PSYCHIC OR A MUTE OR A MUTE PSYCHIC, REYYYYYYYY!!!
The shop is still empty. Plutt’s not here, Finn will understand if she hangs up the second someone comes in. She quickly dials his number.
“REY SKYWALKER, WHAT THE HELL?”
Rey doesn’t say anything, just lets him rant on and on about how he really likes this guy, and he’s something special and God, Rey, I swear if you ruin this then I will never speak to you again, and you can forget being my best woman at our wedding, Rey, what the hell?
“Are you done, Finn?”
“Fuck, Rey.”
“So no?”
“What happened? Why was Poe there? Rey, what the hell?”
Rey hops up on the counter, swings her legs as she sits and talks to him, “Bea was sick, he rushed in to use the loo. It was nothing sinister, just a spooky coincidence.”
“Bea was sick? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, a little stomach bug. Kids get them all the time.” Rey smiles, “She’s so cute, Finn!”
“Right?” Finn sounds fond, “She’s a great kid.”
“And Poe is so pretty!” Rey says, with a little giggle. If Poe weren’t gay, she’d probably have been awkward flirting with him herself.
“Dibs, Rey! I already called dibs on him!”
“Oh, I dunno, there was definitely something there.” She can’t resist teasing him. If Finn’s going to rise to the bait, how can she not?
“You’re not funny.”
“I’m hilarious.”
“So you like him?” Finn asks, sounding a little nervous. As if Rey’s opinion of this gorgeous, perfect, incredible, Spanish speaking, Rey he speaks SPANISH, would stop him in any way. Finn's always been stubborn.
“From what I saw, yeah. You’ve finally got yourself a good one, Finn!”
She can just picture the look on Finn’s face right now. One of his small, happiest smiles. It makes her smile just thinking about it.
“I did, didn’t I?”
The bell rings over the door, and a group of giggling, happy looking young girls walk in. It’s definitely a day without Plutt, nobody smiles that much in the shop when he’s around.
“Hey, I’ve got to get back to work, but I’ll call you later?”
“Go, Plutt’s not going to be able to afford a high powered telescope without your help!”
---x
A few days later, Rey receives a picture message from Finn. She’s a little hesitant to open it to begin with – there was an incident when he was dating a Ray that she would much rather forget. Curiosity gets the better of her though, and she pulls it up, eyes half covered.
The picture is of Finn and Poe with Bea sandwiched between them. She’s holding up a bright orange and green rocket, with the word REY written on the side in glittery blue. Everyone is grinning, and they look like the happiest little family Rey has ever seen.
I can totally photoshop myself over you, right? probably isn’t the most mature reply she could have sent back, but is totally worth it for the ridiculous Finn rage rant she receives in return.