Title: Causatum
Fandom: Star Wars
Pairing: Rose/Rey, Finn/Poe
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Star Wars. It's not my toy box and I'm merely playing.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Rose wakes up to Rey holding her hand.
A/N: Written for smaragdbird for the screen exchange. I've been trying to write this fic from Rey's pov for awhile, so thank you for the amazing prompts. It works so much better from Rose's pov. I borrowed two things from Cobalt Squadron by Elizabeth Wein.


Causatum:

Rose wakes up sore. Her whole body is a deep ache and it stings to breath, but she’s alive. She has one brief moment before it sinks in that she’s lost Paige. She’s alone. A hand squeezes hers, slender fingers are wrapped around her palm. Rose blinks awake, trying to quell the fear that she didn’t save Finn. Her sister and her friend, both of them…

“Finn’s okay, he was barely hurt,” a woman reassures her. Rose tilts her head, takes in the woman holding her hand. Dark hair is pulled back loosely from a pale face. She has a smudge of grease just to left of her nose. Rose feels herself smiling. It usually takes her a moment to warm up to new people, but she feels at ease.

She should ask how they got out alive, if they’ve won. She should ask where they are now, clearly a ship, an older model. Rose feels as if she should recognize it, should know, but her head is foggy and she’s already drowsy again.

“What are we fixing?” she manages to whisper as the fingers of her free hand shift up to reassure herself that her Otomok medallion is still around her neck. She presses her hand against it. She still has a piece of home with her.

“What?” the young woman asks.

“You have grease, your nose. What are we fixing?” She asks, because that too is familiar, something solid that she can hold onto.

Her words cause the woman to grin and Rose feels her breath catch for reasons that have nothing to do with aching ribs. She’s beautiful.

“I’m Rose,” she manages. “What happened to Finn?”

“There were questions about First Order bases, so we can get some place safe. He didn’t want you to wake up alone. I’m Rey.”

Rose suddenly knows who she’s talking to, who’s holding her hand. She can feel the babbling excitement under the drifting drowsiness of the painkillers they’ve given her. She manages to squeeze Rey’s hand and say, “Hi Rey.”

Then she drifts back to sleep.

She wakes up against slowly, takes in the concern on Finn’s face. He’s clutching her hands, his brows knitted together, even as he struggles to keep his eyes open.

“So serious,” she teases in a whispered croak.

His head pops up to take her in, eyes widening. She squeezes his hand and reassures him that she’s okay. He helps her sit up and drink some water. He helps her ease back down onto the bedding when she’s done. Finn scrubs at his face.

“Water, you too,” she encourages.

“It’s yours,” he protests.

“I’m going back to sleep and it shouldn’t go to waste,” she manages. She blinks slowly, so many words have worn her out. She has so many questions, but talking feels like so much effort. Instead she watches him finish the water, then scrub the back of his neck while looking at his boots. He’s about to sit down with her again, she can tell from the way he’s eyeing the overturned crate they’re using as a chair near her nook of a bed. She tells him she thinks there’s room for two in her nook, that as long as he’s careful not to jostle her ribs, that it’d be a waste of space if they didn’t share. He nods slowly, glances around at the other surviving members of the resistance that have taken up sleeping in any available space they can find. He takes off his boots, carefully crawls over her legs and settles against the wall and around her. They only have to shift minutely and there’s enough room. He’s careful not to settle too much weight on her, even as his head rests on her shoulder and his arm slings around her waist. She mummers a reassurance, content to drift back towards sleep a moment. His shoulder is a reassuring presence under her hand. She’s not alone. She lost Paige, her sister is dead, but she’s not as alone as she’d feared she would be.

“What?” Finn asks.

Rose wets her lips, then realizes what she’d been trying to tell Finn. “We had to evacuate quickly. I’m sorry no one was with you when you woke up, but you weren’t alone. Every spare moment he had Poe was there and if he couldn’t be he found someone else.”

“I didn’t know that,” Finn admits.

“You wouldn’t have,” she reassures.

They lapse into silence for several moment before Finn shifts his head and she knows he’s studying her. Rose sighs, “Paige always said that man enjoyed flirting with anyone he’d thought would flirt back, but the moment he got feelings he’d stop flirting with words and flirt with deeds instead.”

“He sewed up his jacket, the one he gave me and then made sure I had it again,” Finn murmurs.

“Yeah that,” Rose agrees.

“What was,” Finn starts. “After you crashed into me, before you fainted, with your lips, what was that?”

Rose frowns a moment, shifting through her memories is slow, she’s still so tired. She thinks she knows what he’s asking. “When I kissed you?”

“Kissed?”

“Yes. When I pressed my lips against yours,” she clarifies.

“Kissed,” Finn says slowly, as if he’s trying on the word for size and it suddenly hits her how much he’s never experienced, doesn’t even know exists.

“Was that okay?” She thinks she means to ask if he was okay that she kissed him.

“I don’t…I thought I was going to die and then you crashed into me and it happened so fast I don’t know,” he figures out slowly.

She thinks to offer him one, another kiss, but she’s still hazy. She’d probably pass out again after. She laughs weakly at the thought.

“Sleep,” he tells her.

She hums her agreement and is about to close her eyes when Rey shifts into focus, telling her to get sleep, that a medic will check on her in a few hours. Rey tucks the blanket around both her and Finn. Rose wets her lips. “I think we have room for one more.”

Rey meets her eyes and smiles. She reaches up and brushes the hair from Rose’s face.

“Not enough sleeping space, be a shame to waste one,” Rose tempts. Rey’s gaze shifts to Finn and Rose isn’t sure what look passes between them, but it causes Rey to nod and then tuck in on the outside of the bed. She curls around Rose, taking her hand and threading their fingers together. Rose drifts back into sleep cocooned in their warmth.

She wakes up still warm, but a bit clearer. Poe is using the overturned crate. His head is pillowed on his arms, which are resting just on the bed.

“There’s not room for four on here, sorry,” Rose tells him.

His head shifts up as he blinks the sleep out of his eyes. He runs a hand down his face. “How are you doing?”

There’s guilt on his face and she can’t take his guilt, not now, maybe not ever. Rose sighs, pushing at the aching sense of loss in her chest. “I’m here. You’re here. So is Finn and so is Rey.”

“Yeah,” Poe agrees, voice thick.

“We didn’t win, but we didn’t lose either,” she tries.

“The resistance lives on, despite all my horrible planning and timing?”

“We knew the risks,” she reminds. “When we took our jobs we knew the risks.”

The words taste hollow and bitter and his face shows he feels the same. It would’ve been better not to lose anyone to the First Order, but here they are. Rose sucks in a slow breath cataloging how her ribs ache less. She breaths out just as slowly in an effort to keep the tears from her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Poe whispers as his hand rests against the top of her head. “You shouldn’t be reassuring me. I…”

He leaning over to look at her and she manages to meet his eyes when she tells him. “Stop. I can’t right now.”

If she starts grieving she won’t stop and she doesn’t think sobbing is going to do anything but hurt her more and pain the medics. They might even sedate her again. Her ribs are well on their way to healing, but they still need more time.

“I’m going to be made to get up and walk around this ship. Someone is going to demand I get moving today and it’s going to suck,” she reminds to distract both of them.

Poe nods tightly.

Finn wakes up enough to greet them both, reaching out to take Poe’s free hand.

“So I think instead of worrying about how much being made to get up and move is going to hurt I think we should figure out things we need to introduce Finn to. He’s probably never even had a snowgrape,” Rose distracts.

“I haven’t,” Finn confirms.

Before Poe can protest that they don’t have any snowgrapes Rose stops him with a meaningful look. Poe’s eyebrows arch in question. Rose continues, “And he doesn’t know about kissing. You should probably help him with that.”

“Yeah?” Poe asks, voice low and full of want, before he turns his head to look at Finn. “I think that’s up to him. He might not even like men.”

Rey makes a considering noise. “He’s right, we don’t know. I like women and wouldn’t want to kiss you.”

“Sometimes kissing can be friendly,” Rose smiles.

“Or just for fun,” Poe adds.

Rey laughs, pressing her smile against Rose’s shoulder. Rose grins down at her, then realize Finn is giving her a questioning look. He shifts against her, moving to look down at her. She cups his cheek and tells him. “I like both men and women, but I think we’re friendly. I think this is friendship.”

Finn smiles is agreement. She tilts her face towards his and smiles at him.

“Friendly kiss?” he asks.

“Friendly kiss,” she confirms. He leans in and they share a firm brief press of lips. It’s a reassurance that he’s there, alive, and so is she. When he pulls back to blink at her she pats his cheek and advises, “Now if you find that man the least bit attracted you should get up and let him show you what a more than friendly kiss is like.”

“You want a show,” Poe teases with a laugh.

“Depends on what Finn wants,” she reminds.

Finn grins at her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she grins back.

Finn leans in again, gives her lips one more friendly brush with his before he carefully crawls over her and Rey to stand in front of Poe.

Poe rubs the back of his neck, eyes taking in Finn slowly. “You don’t…”

Finn wets his lips. “I want to.”

“Yeah?” Poe asks.

“Yeah,” Finn confirms.

Poe steps closer, his hands coming up to cup Finn’s face as he leans in and their lips meet in several slow mouth kisses. Poe’s thumbs trace circles over Finn’s cheeks, till one of his hands shift lower, pausing to squeeze Finn’s hip and then wrap around his back to pull him closer as he begins to kiss into Finn’s mouth. Finn’s hand grip onto Poe’s shirt tightly as he leans in. He groans, hands moving upwards to circle around Poe’s neck.

Someone behind whistles from the other side of the room and tells them to get a room. The two part panting, eyes not leaving one another’s. They stare at each other briefly, just breathing in the same space, before Finn leans in to press a kiss at the corner of Poe’s mouth. Poe shifts to capture his lips again.

“They’re not going to stop doing that any time soon,” Rey whisper to her.

“I’ll take the blame for that,” Rose whispers back.

They smile at each other.

“It’s kinda pretty,” Rey admits.

Rose agrees. It really is.

“What about you?” Rey asks slowly. “What would be my chances if I asked for a kiss from you?”

Rose blinks, finds herself smiling at the thought. It’s too soon, she barely knows Rey. Rose wets her lips. “Ask me again when I’m not half asleep on painkillers?”

Rey bites her lower lip and offers, “After the medic checks you over I have a power converter we could fix.”

“Oh,” Rose breathes. “Ask me again after we fix it.”

Rey grins, nods, then cuddles into her side again. Rose wraps an arm around her, then shifts her focus to where Finn and Poe are still making out. Her body is still sore from her injuries and she aches with loss, but Rose knows she's not alone.
.

Profile

rivulet027: (Default)
rivulet027

Most Popular Tags

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags