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a.
As soon as he was out of his pilot socket, he charged at full-speed, almost mowing everything in the path. Finn saw him from a mile away, the shadow of Poe’s bewildered face at the distance—and he missed being bowled over by a mere heartbeat.
He should have known better.
Rey was amused, a smile on her face because it’s BB-8, and BB-8 was her first friend—and always will be.
“What’s the rush?” she asked, kneeling in front of him. “You’re draining your power.”
He wobbled slightly, excitement bubbling at his careless, discordant beeps, and Rey had to shake her head.
A tiny compartment from BB-8’s body pushed out, and the droid held himself steady as if waiting for Rey to realize what was inside it. BB-8 looked at her with curiosity and tilted his head, as if to ask.
Do you like it? Do you like it?
She had to look real close, but it was worth the effort. There it was, a tiny stem with tiny white petals—she counted six—surrounding it. A flower. Her first ever.
It didn’t take so much for her to stifle a sudden gasp of delight. Instead, she used that hard pull on her heart to stop herself from crying. The Resistance fleet might be busy as always as they had been in the hangar, but she knew Poe and Finn were watching.
“Thank you,” she whispered to the small astromech, and lightly patted his head in gratitude. He let out a sweet, soft beeping, grateful for her as well.
b.
The weather in D’Qar had finally gotten into her. It was a harsh contrast from the constant dry season in Jakku, and she had expected it, having seen all the plants and the trees that inhabited the planet.
Medical was boring. But she was under strict orders to rest authorized by the General herself, and she must admit it wasn’t that bad.
She missed her friends though.
There was Finn, whom she was really happy to see back in his full shape, training with the rest of the fleet. Jessika and Snap and the other pilots who patiently answered all her questions—Jessika all the more, because the woman told her stories of their galactic adventures, and Poe’s ability to become a human disaster whenever he was not in the cockpit. Rey found herself laughing at all of them with her whole heart.
It was so good to finally have someone else and not be alone.
Whether it may be the General (though Rey feared the older woman), or Poe—because he still has to pay her for losing their bet, she missed them. There were also the two old, yet wise droids, and oh...Oh.
Of course. Beebee-Ate.
She covered her eyes with her hand as she found herself being slowly lulled to sleep, content with the memory of her first flower flashing in her mind. BB-8 and her first flower, she reminded herself, and the ache in her head mellowed a bit—
Then there was a sudden thump and the door revolving with such force, she had to smile despite her grogginess.
“He insisted we come and visit you.”
Beep beep?
Finn stood by the side of her bed, sharing a smile of his own, tilting his head to the observing machinery beside him.
Small as he was, he almost didn’t reach the height of the bed, but it was unmistakable—the way he held his tiny claw out, clutching three yellow buds with utmost care.
BB-8 was a droid so easily scared; Rey knew he worried himself, seeing her weary and tired form in the Medical.
“I’ll be alright,” she assured him, but the treatments were kicking in. Groggy, almost close to sleep, she laid back in the bed, exhausted but happy.
She never let go of her friend’s little claw, her flower buds pressed in between their touch.
c.
The stronger she got into the Force, the harder it was to fight the battles inside her mind. Force Bond, Master Skywalker had said; and it was painfully real how connected her mind was to Kylo Ren. Many times she wished she could instantly shut her thoughts out.
Rey ran into the night, screaming, but there wasn’t anything coming out—no voice, no tears, only ghosts. She may have defeated him the last time they had an encounter, but her victory was a double-edged sword—a connection she could not place, now could not erase.
Her eyes darted up and up, towards the dark night sky. Stars flooded her vision—big ones, small ones, twinkling bright lights and she thought they were falling right into her eyes until she knew what it was.
Rain. Small droplets of rain.
Suddenly, it wasn’t so hard to stop the tears from falling too.
Hugging herself into the night, her hair loosely dripping on her back, she allowed herself that moment to remind herself of Jakku. Her solitary life, her scavenging hunts—the hopeful days, the old and gruesome routine, the waiting. And she wondered what was better, now that her world was changed forever.
Rey felt a nudge from her back and she knew who it was without turning. The last time he saw her cry, she had to explain herself and the world and it being nothing but a grit—
“Beebee-Ate!”
The droid moved with his domed head, left and right, left and right--and in between his hologram projector and his eye socket laid a sole purple flower, the stem curving along its circular edges.
She wasn’t feeling happy or silly, no, not at all. But she was; she was feeling happy and silly and BB-8 continued to sway his domed head left and right, left and right, obviously committed into the act of cheering her up.
Her laughter came into full bloom, “you look ridiculous!” and BB-8 had to shake his head, beeping sadly. He was not at all sad, of course, because if Rey was happy, then he was too.
The person lurking behind the nearby tree sighed to himself. If his nightmares wouldn’t go away, then he might as well help hers be gone. He stood up to leave—BB-8 would always find his way back to his quarters to power down, anyway—and he didn’t need to chance another look at the happy scenery.
Somehow he knew, he’d find his way back to sleep in peace.
Little did he know, Rey felt him right there with her in the expanse of the field, over the broad starry sky. Two souls sharing the same pain, healing at the same time.
Then, she realized, the name Poe Dameron meant something else to her altogether—more than being the Resistance ace pilot, more than being a loyal comrade and friend. More than being BB-8’s master; said astromech looking at her closely as she got lost in her own thoughts.
“It’s nothing,” the young woman said, plucking away the flower from in between the droid’s eye pieces. “It was Poe’s idea, wasn’t it?”
BB-8 said nothing, so as not to betray his master, and Rey conceded, pretending she still hadn’t figured it out. “Whoever it was, please say thank you for me.” She was awarded with a positive beep.
“Come on, Beebee-Ate,” Rey said invitingly, standing up to embrace the rest of the night. She jumped in place a few beats then turned to look at her small friend, “Race you!”
No, the galaxy can be forgotten for now. No dreams of torture, no nightmares of being ever alone again. The universe can take care of itself—for the moment, it was her and BB-8 her friend and the lonely pilot.
For all the running she was doing, she hoped she chased his nightmares away.
d.
“Oh, Dameron. Dameron, Dameron, Dameron.”
“Shut up, Pava.”
It was light and friendly, harmless at best—but Poe was more than ready to strip off Jessika Pava from her rank.
If only he could.
“You? Scheming over a girl?”
“Little louder? I don’t think the general heard you,” he snapped right back. That earned him a cheeky laugh from the female pilot. “Don’t do it, BB-8.”
BB-8 found himself nodding slowly and Poe was appalled that his co-pilot, his ONCE most loyal astromech, was now at odds against him.
“Please?”
Beep boop boop. The small droid nodded more forcefully this time, perhaps warring against his logic circuits and his loyalty subprogram. Then again, Jessika presented a much more logical argument and BB-8 was not Poe’s most accountable, STILL loyal friend if he allowed all of the pilot’s stupid decisions to come to fruition.
Such was the case this time.
Finn, Snap, the other pilots and even General Organa agreeing with Jessika didn’t help Poe’s case either. Now his droid was fully turned against him and his ONCE most reliable accomplice had turned to the dark side of the force (Jessika being the Sith lord of all lords).
“Look, Beebee-Ate—“
Then there was no time as Rey approached the table, smiling as she always did. “Food!”
Jessika eyed the commander, what are you gonna do, flyboy, and with practiced stealth carefully took away that thing that should never have been there in the first place. “You owe me one,” she mouthed.
“Fwhy ar fwee haffing sho mfuchh fwood?”
“Kriffing, woman, chow down,” Jessika remarked, amusement on her face. “Life is short. We celebrate whatever and whenever we wanna.”
It didn’t take a lot to convince Rey of that, as she bit down a rather large chunk of green bread.
Sensing that Poe was going to stay there doing absolutely nothing, Jessika only rolled her eyes. “There’s this thing,” she began, subtly eyeing the other pilot in the table.
“An old tradition, they say, that on a specific day of the year, you can make someone feel appreciated or whatever by giving them flowers,” Jessika shrugged as she recounted. “That’s today.”
Rey chugged down her drink. “That’s the celebration?”
“That’s the celebration.”
The female Jedi remained disbelieving, but who was she to know—all her days spent in Jakku were the same. Food was barely existing, how much more of an old traditional celebration?
“I think it’s stupid.”
Jessika looked at Rey to see if she was somewhat affected by the quip and when she sensed none, she added, “you don’t need a whole tradition to that. Just do it. Anytime. Who cares?”
“Do people actually do it?”
Poe kicked his friend under the table and Jessika only cleared her throat. “People actually do it. They have their reasons.”
Sensing no help forthcoming that would get him out of the tight situation, Poe relied on himself. BB-8 was still in no mood to budge.
Fine. He was resourceful. He could do this.
“Rey, the Black One got overhauled on the last mission—have you seen it?”
He started, pointing to the Black One being maintained by the mech droids in the hangar, and Rey followed the direction he was pointing at.
As fast as he could, he took one apologetic look at his REALLY loyal droid, plucked out his antenna and inserted a flower in the once-occupied outlet.
“Where?”
“There!”
It happened all at once—Jessika closing her eyes, contemplating what the hell just happened, and poor BB-8, his signals in a sudden mess at the loss of his receptor. Then, of course, Rey turned back to her companions (to Poe) in question.
The smile that appeared on her face at the sight was instantaneous, Poe felt proud of himself there for a moment.
Eyeing Poe, her smile becoming more skeptical as each moment passed, Rey turned to Jessika, “I suppose droids celebrate, too?”
Jessika only sighed. “Damn right, they do.”
Rey turned to BB-8. “Your antenna’s…missing,” she said, and picking it from where it was on the table (not even asking how it got there), she put it back, the red fluffy flower now in her hands. “But, thank you.”
Beebee-Ate only stared at her, but when Rey turned her attention elsewhere, he slowly turned to his SO-CALLED master, giving him the look.
It was mostly a look of pain and betrayal. Poe winced.
“I owe you one! You’re the best!”
The droid only shook his head, silently questioning the faults of his loyalty subprogram.
e.
BB-8 was more than happy to know that Rey understood binary, especially the first time they met. Had she not learned droid speak, he would have been sold for parts in the vast, sad planet of Jakku.
All those times he gave her flowers, he had learned to pick the beautiful ones that was surely going to make her happy—
“Do you think she’d like this? She probably never saw one before, and it’s a tiny white flower. Keep it in your compartment and go in for a surprise.”
Three. It’s from me, you and BB-8 here. But I won’t come, I have to go and report to the General. Yellow suits her best, what do you think?”
“You look silly? Of course, you look silly! That’s the whole point, BB-8, you have to make her laugh! Don’t you want to make her laugh?”
--this time, he knew what to pick, what to do.
BB-8 beeped at Rey to catch her attention, and when Rey turned to him, there was no surprise to be had. The young woman can clearly see what it was all supposed to be—BB-8 held a bunch of colorful flowers in his claw.
Her hands clutched right by her chest.
The droid moved forward towards her direction, taking his time, so unlike that time he wanted to mow everything down because he was that excited to give his precious friend Rey a gift.
In a few more rolls, he’d reach her--almost there--but Beebee-Ate swiftly turned on a right to nudge the oblivious man who was currently tinkering with his fighter ship.
“Beebee-Ate! What—“
His droid only kept on nudging and nudging and beeping and Poe suddenly remembered that Rey understood binary. He knelt down to BB-8 as if to chastise him, before his co-pilot would tell all his secrets, but Rey was having none of it.
“Well, aren’t you going to give it to me?”
Ha.
Caught with no chance to escape, Poe scratched his head. “Well, you caught me,” and turned to look at his droid, “no thanks to you.”
“It was you.”
“Mostly Beebee-Ate, but,” at this, Rey raised an eyebrow at him, “yeah. It was mostly my idea.”
Rey smiled at him, warmly, so warmly, he couldn’t find himself looking away.
“Thank you. They’re beautiful.”
He looked at her, then his droid, at the bunch of flowers on her hand, at the ships on the hangar, at the sky in an afternoon orange overcast.
He looked at everything – and then her.
“So are you.”
(It was rather interesting to see if it wasn’t all kinds of adorable and awkward and more awkward, like two people learning how to dance the first time, but still—Beebee-ate was happy. As long as both of his two favorite people in the world were, he was too.)
END.