After the team broke off into two groups, Poe had a small rush of confidence that this will work. He and Karé sneak around back and wait for Snap's signal before they land their ships inside the Star Destroyer. Whatever Snap and Jess did, it worked as a bunch of stormtroopers quickly left in a bunch of TIE fighters and emptied out the hangar bay for them. Poe practically leaps out of his X-Wing with BB-8 and Karé in tow, the latter holding onto her blaster and constantly looking over her shoulder as she brings up the rear of their small train when sneaking down the cold, dark hallways.

"Alright, Beebee," Poe beckons his droid over, "Do your magic."

The small droid beeps a sarcastic comment back to his pilot before rolling over and entering one of his extractable digits into the access panel. Before long, he's in the ship's system and quickly navigates to where Elara's holding cell might be. He lets out a celebratory shrill and informs Poe of the good news.

"Cell Block 221-B," Poe whispers, and Karé nods in confirmation.

"It's a long way, Poe. And I hate to break it to you, but the color orange kinda sticks out like a sore thumb here."

He sets his jaw while thinking because she's right. Orange wasn't exactly the best color to be sneaking around in while inside a Star Destroyer that only consists of a few shades of greys, whites, and blacks for color schemes, "We'll need a disguise. Beebee-Ate?"

The droid is already way ahead of him and beeps when he discovers a uniform closet nearby.

"As long as it's not stormtrooper armor," Karé growls under her breath, "I'd rather die. Besides, I'm too short to be a stormtrooper."

But it somehow was even worse than she originally thought. When they snuck over there, the closet was full of officer uniforms. Fitting themselves into the tight and stiff boots and crested command caps, Karé finds herself complaining under her breath the entire time as the jacket she fit herself into was tight and constricting around the chest.

Poe wasn't exactly thrilled with the outfits either as he tries desperately to stretch out and loosen the high collar choking his neck, "This is definitely itchier than stormtrooper armor."

"How would you know?"

He only grins in response and out of the corner of his eye, he notices BB-8. It takes him a long second before he curses under his breath and looks around, "We need to hide Beebee."

BB-8 appears affronted as he beeps angrily and rolls out of Poe's reach, his master shaking his head, "There isn't a First Order disguise for you, buddy. I'd feel better if you stayed hidden and kept a look-out for us."

Karé kneels down to hand BB-8 a small communicator and then stands back up to join Poe's side, "He's right, Beebee-Ate. Sorry."

If that droid could mutter swear words under his breath, he would as he rolls into the closet and the two humans close him in. Once the droid was hidden, Poe and Karé take off down the hallway while constantly checking their corners. They find an elevator and hop in, heading down lower to the holding cells of the ship. They exit the elevator while trying not to appear antsy or out of place, being sure to look discreet and lower their heads if they walk by an officer or stormtrooper. They march stiffly together until they know the coast is clear and the hallways are empty. Then they break out into a run while inwardly counting down the time.

"Poe, I think we only have an hour left."

"I know, I know."

"And I don' think the others could hold off those TIE fighters forever."

"I know, Karé!" He whispers under his breath, "Just run faster!"

She does so without question and without protest. Once they get to the control room for the holding cells, they pass by the doorway as quietly as possible so as no one who could possibly be inside would hear. They try avoiding the cameras at all costs, and if unable to, Karé takes them out with her blaster.

"We gotta hurry," Poe reminds her, "They'll notice their cameras are damaged."

"There! I see the cell block."

"Great," they both stop just around the corner to the holding cell and Poe turns back to his partner, "Stay here and keep watch. I'll be right back."

He spins around and sprints down the hallway, finding the right cell before practically punching the control panel to open the door. His breathing was erratic as his heart was beating rapidly from lack of oxygen and the constant anxiety running through his head. Poe felt as though the cell doors took forever to open when it was only a few seconds, the metal doors sliding open without much of a sound, leading into a dark room. He rushed in without thinking, without checking for danger or anything besides the body in the middle of the room he immediately slid down to his knees to reach. His breathing is the only thing he hears as he pulls the body towards him, finally recognizing the face of Elara when he turned her over. Her face was ashen and cold and her skin almost appeared translucent as Poe could spot several veins lining her body that he was pretty sure wasn't normal.

Hurriedly, he rips open the front of the constricting officer jacket and reaches for the vial nestled right next to his mother's ring underneath his shirt and breaking it off the chain. His hands shook as he reached for a syringe in his first aid kit hidden in the pocket of his pants, and he growls in response to his body betraying him. Once he was finally able to slide the needle into the small vial without missing, he extracts the liquid and tosses the now-empty vial against the wall, watching it shatter and destroy further evidence. He then takes the syringe in his hand and tries to find a good vein in the side of Elara's neck, trying not to notice how he couldn't feel a pulse when he injected the cure.

Throwing the empty syringe across the room, Poe could only feel his heartbeat rushing in his ears like a TIE fighter as he anxiously waits to feel or hear a response to Elara's body accepting the cure. Holding her cold form close to him for warmth, his hands on either side of her face, Poe begins whispering to himself in hopes she could hear him, "Come on, come on..."

Nothing changes. Her skin was still paper-white and cold, her eyelids shut and unmoving. The small frown her lips formed was beginning to lose color. Poe can hear footsteps in the distance, looking up at the cell door and feeling trapped knowing that the enemy was probably coming here.

"Skywalker," he looked back down and shook her gently, "Come on now. Don't you dare quit on me."

The footsteps were closer now, marching in rhythm as Poe counted maybe half a dozen stormtroopers on their way. The panic has now settled in and the hope was draining from his eyes. Determined to see the General and her niece reunite, Poe continues to shake the body in his arms with a little more force than intended.

"Come on!" He snapped, "Elara!"

And just like a match to a flame, all color rushed back to the young woman's cheeks as her eyes shot open. Poe nearly startles in fright as the once-quiet cell is disturbed by the one, solid gasp inhaled from Elara. She starts to cough out her breaths, choking until Poe finally reacted and helped her sit up, patting her back roughly while trying to encourage her to breathe properly.

"That's it, that's it," he mutters, unable to stop the splitting grin on his face and the spark in his eye, "Atta girl."

"Dameron?" She managed to wheeze out, looking at him then around at the cell, "Where are we?"

"You would know if you hadn't dosed yourself with poison right after you were captured," Poe eyes her with a knowing look before standing up and checking the door. It slides open as he calls BB-8 through the communicator to warm up the engines to their ships as he checks both sides of the hall before walking back to Elara, "We're getting out of here. Let's go."

He crouches down to help Elara to her feet. It takes a moment for her to regain her thoughts before frowning, "The cure was only meant to be used if I were brought back to the Resistance, not before. Otherwise, I could just get captured all over again."

"Not with this, you're not," he shoves something into her hands, and looking down she's shocked to see her lightsaber, "And FYI, it had already been 24 hours by the time I found you so if I had waited, you would for sure be dead."

She only glares up at him in response but the moment was cut short when a blaster shot rings out from down the hallway and Karé yells out in warning, "POE! We've got company!"

Poe turns back to Elara and fixes her a hard look, "Ready for a fight?"

Her skin still looked slightly pale as she stares down at her lightsaber and her hair falls over her eyes in shame, "I... I haven't used my lightsaber since I was a teenager."

Poe's eyes widen, the confession nearly taking the air from his lungs, "Wait, what? Why?"

The next glare is much deadlier than the last one as Poe came to terms with the possibility of dying today, "That's the one thing I never want to share with you, Dameron."

For a moment, he pauses his initial thoughts while drawing his blaster. He stares down at Elara and slowly grins with excitement, "But there are other things...?"

She snorts in amusement and pockets her lightsaber, "Just follow my lead, Flyboy."

"What, so you want me to go weaponless, too?"

"No, just have my back and I'll take point," Elara is quick to spring into action for someone who was just revived by a small dose of elixir, but Poe brushes it off to be part of her training as she steps out into the hallway and looks down the corridor from where Karé was taking heavy fire, "KUN! Get out of the way!"

Karé looks back and her eyes widen at the sight of Elara. Without so much as asking why Karé side-steps out of range of the stormtroopers firing back at her and Elara raises her arm. A second later, the stormtroopers are pushed back with an unforeseeable force and hit the opposite wall at the very end of the hallway, clearing a path for the Resistance pilots.

Poe steps out of the cell and looks between the knocked out soldiers and Elara before beckoning Karé over, "Let's go!"

The three of them sprint down the opposite hall of the stormtroopers and find the closest elevator. Heading up, the alarms begin to go off and it only pushes them to run faster once the elevator doors open. They are able to find the closet they left BB-8 in and bring the droid along, although he was much faster than them as he quickly caught up and even rolled ahead.

"Beebee-Ate, those ships better be ready!" Poe calls ahead as they're suddenly surrounded by blaster fire, but they don't waste their time with stopping and firing back. They just keep running and pray they don't get hit.

They thankfully make it to the hangar without any accidents and Karé turns around to start firing back, covering Poe and Elara as they climb up and squeeze into his X-Wing while BB-8 is manually brought up from beneath the ship. Dameron didn't think this part through as Elara had to practically sit in his lap and now he couldn't see much of the controls.

"I won't be able to fly like this," he comments out loud.

"Luckily for you, I'm the better pilot anyway," Elara confidently announces as she takes control of the X-Wing and activated the gun placed below the belly of the ship. The gun turns and aims at the stormtroopers firing at Karé and Elara pulls the trigger, raining down blaster fire in order to cover Karé while the other woman climbs into her own ship. Once she's safely inside, Karé also fires at the stormtroopers until both X-Wings lift into the air and fly out of the Star Destroyer.

"Snap, Jess, where are you?" Poe comms them through his helmet.

"A little busy right now, Poe!"

"Did you get Skywalker?"

"Yeah, I got her," Poe quickly retracts that statement when Karé clears her throat, "We got her. You think you can get away from the fun long enough to jump into lightspeed?"

"I think we can manage that," Jess offers almost playfully, and Snap laughs.

"You should have seen it! We even took out some of their guns!"

Poe was able to look over Elara's shoulder enough to see Snap and Jessika's ships in the distance, currently avoiding the TIE fighters to the best of their ability. As Elara and Karé try to fly over and provide their friends some cover, a separate ship suddenly appears from out of hyperspace and everyone looks on in confusion.

Poe noticed Elara's form went entirely stiff at the sight of a dark Upsilon-class command shuttle slowly flying towards them and he tried looking at the side of her face to see her reaction, "What is that?"

"Not what. Who," Elara grits out from clenching her teeth too tightly, "It's Kylo Ren. We need to leave... now."

Poe nods in understanding and speaks into his helmet, "Black Squadron, fall back and set coordinates for D'Qar. Let's get the Hell out of here!"

"Copy that, Black Leader."

Before long, all of Poe's teammates surround him and Elara and they set their course before it was too late. They don't even hesitate to jump into lightspeed before Kylo Ren's ship even had a chance to realize they were there and it was only when they were in lightspeed did Elara finally relax.

"Woo hoo!" Jess cheers over the radio.

"Yes! That was awesome!" Snap laughs obnoxiously, "Hey, babe! Did you see me?"

"I saw you, old man," Karé chuckles in amusement while BB-8 beeps to echo laughter.

The bright, flashing lights passing by the window ignited Elara's fair skin and dark hair as Poe tries not to notice how she leans back a little into him while taking a deep breath. He doesn't have to find anything to say, however, as BB-8 seems keen to ask Elara how she's feeling.

Poe could see the corner of her lips tug up gently while staring out the window, "I'm okay. Thanks, buddy."

"Why are you thanking him?" Poe grins with amusement, "All he did was locate your cell. Karé and I did most of the dirty work."

"Excuse me!" Jess playfully snaps back, "Did you have to agitate and avoid TIE fighters without firing back?!"

Elara laughs quietly, "Thanks, Black Squadron."

"Hey, you've had our backs in the past," Karé replies with a genuine tone, "You led us to help save Poe and you even shielded me from harm when my X-Wing was nearly shot out of the sky."

"Consider us even," Snap says light-heartedly while adding a wink sent Elara's way through their separate windows as he flew beside her and Poe. Elara couldn't deny the smile that grew on her face from the encouragement of the Black Squadron members.

~~~~~~~~~

Before long, they were jumping out of lightspeed again and D'Qar was just beneath them. Poe lets Elara take the controls and land the X-Wing without a single problem. Although she did complain the entire time she was landing his ship, saying something about how Poe keeps the controls too tight to the console or something or other. He wasn't fully paying attention as he smiles, just being glad she was back home now.

As she climbs off his lap and down the ladder of the X-Wing, Poe was finally able to fully see out the window and noticed that General Leia was standing alone several yards away from where the Black Squadron's ships have parked, in the middle of the landing strip outside of base.

Poe climbs out and jumps down from his ship, following Elara closely once she had noticed Leia was waiting for them. Elara slowly approached her aunt, appearing cautious as she kept her hands folded in front of her and refusing to make eye contact with Leia. She looked ashamed as Poe watched Elara stand in front of the shorter woman, looking as though a child had just been caught breaking their mother's vase.

The young woman licks her lips and blinks quickly before straightening her posture and clearing her voice, although hesitant, "General."

Leia rolls her eyes, shaking her head in amusement before letting a tight breath escape her lips in relief. Stepping closer, the General reaches up and pulls Elara down into a tight hug, who immediately responds by hugging her back. Poe folds his arms and smiles at the sight of an aunt reuniting with her niece instead of a General with her consort.

"Don't ever do that again," Leia whispered just barely loud enough for Poe to hear, her eyelashes wet even when she pulls away.

That's not to say Elara didn't get a lecture in the war room after she was fully examined by a medic droid. Leia was more than happy to fulfill the role of a mother by telling her brother's child how extremely dangerous that was of her and how incredibly stupid it was to get captured, leading Poe to come and rescue her and so on and so forth.

But at least Elara wasn't alone in the lecture. Poe got an earful as well for disobeying Leia's direct orders and stealing her vial of the cure to bring to Elara.

"With all due respect, General. She was barely alive when I found her," Poe's voice was grim and his frown stoic when reporting this to Leia, "I couldn't wait to bring her back only for you to give her the cure here. I would have been bringing you back a body bag."

Leia visibly shivers, putting her hand to her mouth while in deep thought. She then turns to Elara, softly speaking, "I could only imagine what your mother's ghost would do to me if that happened."

"Who cares?" Elara suddenly snaps, snarling in irritation, "You all treat me like I'm still a kid. I'm almost thirty years old for Kriff sake! You always mention my mother and what she would have done or how much she'd be proud of me, but she's gone now and there's only me left behind. You and me," Elara points at the General, "And we made a promise. We had that fail-safe put there for a reason and you went and let Dameron break it!"

"I didn't let him do anything, Elara," Leia's eye narrowed, "He disobeyed a direct order."

"You know, I'm really starting to think that you recruited him because he reminds you of Han, not Luke," the young Skywalker rolled her eyes, "Because if you did, then you should have expected him to do reckless shit and break the rules."

"Uh, hello? I'm right here," Poe muttered.

"Poe Dameron saved your life, Elara," Leia grumbled a warning at her niece, "You can blame me for breaking our fail-safe all you want, but don't blame him for saving my family."

Elara deflates, casting a glance at Poe who also slouches his shoulders when the tension left the air and locked eyes with her. They stood like that for several moments, before Elara sighs and walked up to him, "You're going to have to tell me how you managed to steal something right out from under her nose," she tells him while pointing back at Leia.

Poe chuckles, "It wasn't that hard. I was motivated."

That's the only answer she needs before she leans up and kisses him on the cheek, "Thank you, Poe."

Poe's muscles involuntarily stiffened at the sound of his name pouring from her lips, so smooth and new. He wasn't sure if he ever heard her say his first name before and didn't intend for his eyes to follow her out the door, and once she had disappeared, he was still staring as the door slid closed. He reached up to touch his face where the touch of her lips still lingered but quickly straightened himself when he hears someone clear their throat behind him. He blinks out of whatever world he was living in and turned back around. General Leia quirks an eyebrow at him before sighing.

"I've known that girl her whole life, from the moment she was born. I had the privilege to watch her grow into a radiant, unmoveable woman," Leia looks out the window, watching the stars outside with a painful expression, "It's sad to think that I've had her by my side more years than her own mother did. Nora will never know how independent and strong her daughter has become. All because Snoke created a monster that killed her. And I helped him do it. I helped him create Kylo Ren. He killed Elara's mother..."

Poe's eyes widen at the confession, thinking back to how high-strung Elara appeared to be at the sight of Kylo Ren's ship. When Karé mentioned that Nora Tade was murdered by one of Luke Skywalker's students, he didn't put two and two together to realize Kylo Ren would have had to get his training from somewhere besides Snoke. He just didn't want to imagine one of Luke's students murdering his godmother and then living on to help the First Order.

Leia continues without noticing the conflicted look on Poe's face, "Yet she still looks me in the eyes and calls me her family. There has never been anyone in the entire Galaxy as forgiving as her. And I'd like to think that even though Nora was already gone, she stayed with her daughter until I was able to come and get her. Once she realized her child would be safe, Nora's body vanished from Elara's arms, like the story I told you about Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Poe doesn't ask how she could have possibly helped Snoke create Kylo Ren, knowing that might be a question too out of line to ask, even for him. But it still bugged him though, to picture Leia being too hard on herself and Elara without a perfectly good reason.

"I hate to say it, General, but I think Elara was right when she said you mention her mother too much," Leia raised a dangerous eyebrow in his direction and he quickly tries to explain his out-of-turn comment, "You might just be casting a larger shadow she won't be able to crawl out of. She needs to know that you'll treat her the same way you treat the memory of her mother, with respect and adoration."

Leia watches him carefully, analyzing his face and posture before rolling her thin lips and nodding, "...So have you told Elara how you knew her mother?" Poe's eyes widen and ducks his head in shame while the General continues to berate him, even with a small smile, "I'm not an idiot, Poe. Nora was my sister-in-law and the closest thing I ever had to an actual sister. I knew your parents made her your godmother."

"Elara doesn't need to know," he quickly answers, "I don't want her to think I'm comparing or even competing with her as to how I knew her mom. I don't want her to add me to the list of people who cast the shadow of Nora onto her."

The General appeared to approve of his answer and smiled fully, "Well... at least someone is treating her with respect and adoration."

Poe smiles to himself.

~~~~~~~~~

It isn't until the fourth day after bringing Elara home that Poe realized she was avoiding him.

Technically, he noticed right away. Originally, he thought it was because Leia ordered her niece to rest for the first two days, but after that Poe couldn't even find her. Snap was right when he said that Elara goes to Poe directly whenever it comes to any future missions, debriefs, or even ship maintenance. And now, Poe only ever gets a message from her through his datapad whenever Leia asks her to confide in him. Even when Poe goes to seek her out, she's nowhere to be found. He felt like he might be overthinking it and knew he couldn't go to the General to ask about it. To ask Leia why her niece was avoiding him was to tread in very dangerous waters. Poe was almost certain he would never come back alive from that mission.

But the ache of wanting to see Elara almost deafened any common sense he could possibly have running through his head. If he went through another day of being unable to see her, Poe might as well dive at the chance to talk to Leia. So, to avoid catastrophe, Poe decided to confide in his very best friend for help.

All Poe can say is never underestimate a droid.

The pilot had to remind himself to never get on BB-8's bad side. The astromech droid may be small, but he's well-respected among all droids of the Resistance-- especially after their little mission in Jhosh. When R2-D2 powered down after the disappearance of Luke Skywalker, BB-8, in a way, became a beacon of hope among droids, like Leia is among the Resistance. So, Poe had complete faith in his little friend.

What BB-8 ended up doing was finding a way to lure Elara out. With the help of a Class Two maintenance droid, who told the young Skywalker that her X-Wing had been damaged by a Resistance rookie, BB-8 was able to lead her down a vacant hallway that led towards the hangar without raising any suspicion from the female Jedi. She followed the two droids without question, only realizing she had fallen into a trap one second too late when Poe rounded the corner and leaned against the wall, eyeing her expectedly.

She froze in her footsteps and didn't even notice the two droids disappearing, leaving her alone with Poe in the corridor. For a few long moments, neither of them spoke, until Poe tried to lighten the mood by flashing her a smile, "So, something tells me you're mad at me."

"Since when were you so connected to the Force?" Elara huffs while turning to leave, "I need to get back to the General."

"Did I do something wrong?" He quickly asks, causing her to stop in her tracks, "If I did, I'm sorry. But I hate whenever a friend is mad at me."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

Elara whips her head around to fix her glare at him, "Why do you do reckless things and then turn around and talk with common sense?"

Poe's eyebrows nearly hurt from furrowing together in deep confusion, "...I don't do that."

"You do! You're always doing stupid, reckless things and then you open your mouth and suddenly people start thinking that all the stupid, reckless things you do actually make sense!"

"Do I get an example?"

"Saving my life."

He frowns, "Saving your life was stupid and reckless?"

"Yes!" She yells back, "I had a mission and I had to finish it!"

"Finishing your mission?" He repeats slowly, "By dying?"

"Do you even realize how extremely dangerous it was to use the cure on me before I was even fully rescued?" She steps closer with her face growing red as she rambles, "If we hadn't escaped, the First Order would have gotten ahold of every piece of information they could possibly use against the Resistance. And between the two of us, that would be a lot of information, including access codes, battle plans, the General herself, your squadron! All of it would have been for nothing if they had managed to capture us and drill holes into our heads!"

A bunch of twisted emotions flashes over Poe's face as he tries rummaging around in his brain to say something that wouldn't sound so compromising. He knew what he did was reckless, but he knew it was also the right thing. Stealing from Leia, bringing his friends into danger, saving Elara's life... in hindsight he had no excuse why he ran in headfirst without so much as second-guessing himself. He didn't have any real reasons besides the fact he couldn't picture himself finding Elara dead. He couldn't picture the look on the General's face if he had brought back a body bag. He didn't want to imagine what failing Leia would be like. He didn't want to imagine ever failing Elara--

Oh... maybe he did have a real reason.

The back of his head suddenly hurts with the realization that maybe Snap was onto something when he pulled Poe off to the side to talk about his feelings towards the young Skywalker. All this conflict and denial in his mind was throbbing with the idea of feeling something for her and it was locking down his entire body as he stares at Elara with what could only be shock and a dawning realization. She patiently waits for a response, not entirely understanding everything that was going on in his head at that moment as she crosses her arms unconsciously.

Watching her irritated expression as she waited for him to say something brought Poe to remember other times where he forgot how to talk in front of her. He remembers making an idiot out of himself when he was surprised she spoke Binary. He remembers the first time he saw her flying or when she Force-healed his hand. He remembers feeling proud when he got her to laugh and honored when he witnessed her using her Jedi training. He remembers being impressed by her many fighting skills that never once involved a lightsaber as she had easily been able to kick him to the ground or the time she used her mind tricks to bewitch Captain Roice. Every time Poe saw her, she continued to amaze and confuse him. And he had been missing that feeling he gets in his chest when he sees her since she had been avoiding him the past several days.

Suddenly, the words that spill out of his mouth make more sense to him now than ever before.

"I couldn't let you die."

She huffs in annoyance, "You can and you should the next time my life is threatened. Leia and I knew the risks and that's why we had the fail-safe--"

"No, you don't understand," Poe grabs her shoulders and pulls her over to the side of the hallway, trying to express everything he was feeling with his eyes, "I couldn't let you die."

Elara's eyes watch his expression soften into something pure, gentle, warm, his desperate gaze and along with his small, breathless gasps made him appear to be drowning. She knew that look. She remembered a time when her mother was still alive, and every time Nora looked away, Luke Skywalker wore a similar, passionate expression. She remembered a time where Han Solo had never left and whenever Leia glared at him for being an idiot, he only looked at her with those same, adored eyes and lopsided smile.

Oh, yes. Elara knew that look all too well.

"I thought I told you not to fall in love with me," she tried to sound intimidating, but her voice faltered into a whisper that sounded way too intimate and weak for her liking.

She crosses her arms as some form of shield to defend herself. Maybe she got that expression all wrong and it meant something else. And maybe she did or didn't want to be wrong. She wasn't sure yet. But Poe's expression didn't falter as his lips turn up just ever so slightly as to not scare her off, taking his hands off her shoulders when she curled further into herself while watching him.

"This may come as a shock to you, but I don't always do as I'm told."

Elara's gaze lowered to their feet, trying to force down that smile threatening to form, "It was a simple task. You've handled far worse missions easy enough."

"It wasn't easy at all, Elara," he doesn't say her first name much, but by the stars did she want him to do it more, "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And in the end, I still couldn't succeed. And part of me didn't want to. Part of me wanted to fail. And even though it damaged my pride and reputation, it was very much rewarding; failing a mission such as that. Because who in their right mind wouldn't want to love someone like you?"

"Because if it meant getting themselves killed, they know better than to stick around."

"Sweetheart, I may not be a Jedi, but danger is just as attracted to me as I am to you."

She snorts, still tightened around herself while staring up at Poe in disbelief. He inches closer into her personal space -as if he wasn't standing in it before- and dips his head down to her eyesight, his gaze questionable.

"Did you know that I'm in love with you?"

She knew what to say next without her heart ever having to skip a beat, "I know."

This is the part where she should be hearing her uncle laughing somewhere in the distant parts of the galaxy. Maybe this is the part where Leia is somewhere in the base, feeling some sort of disturbance in the Force. Elara has heard that line before, spoken only between her aunt and uncle. But it was a long time ago when she was a child, where she had last heard them say it.

And maybe before she once thought that 'I know' was a terrible response to someone saying 'I love you'. But right now, it felt oh so right.

He was close enough now that she could only see his eyes and didn't even know he was smiling until she felt it on her lips. The kiss was soft, barely even there as Poe had given her a little bit of space to pull away if she wanted to, but by then she was already leaning into it, kissing him fully as the tension practically bleeds from her body. Her hands unwind around herself and reach up to wrap around his shoulders and neck, drawing him closer. He takes the hint and embraces her torso and the back of her neck, finding the leverage to deepen the kiss.

Eventually, they had to pull away for air but didn't want to break away just yet, settling with their foreheads pressed together while sharing the same bit of air. Elara rolls her lips to wet them and didn't catch Poe watching as she tried busying herself by staring at his collar. She finally looked up and caught that lustful expression that physically looked as though it was dumbing down his brain and she laughed.

"Do you want to know the truth?" Poe only nodded in response as he tried catching his breath, blooming a small bit of pride in Elara's chest as she continued, "I'm glad you were the one who saved me. I don't know why... but somehow I trust you more than anyone else in the galaxy. It's like... someone keeps pushing me towards you. No matter what I do, I always somehow find you. It's like--"

"Some force brought us together."

Elara's eyes widen in disbelief before an abrupt laugh escapes her lips, Poe grinning triumphantly for pulling a reaction like that out of her. She continues to laugh into his chest and stays that way for several moments, playing with a loose strand of his shirt before softly saying, "If we're going to do this then I want to lay down a few ground rules."

"I thought you said Skywalkers love breaking rules?" Poe smirked.

"The first rule, we NEVER promise each other we'll come back alive after each mission. That never ends well and we would be living a lie considering that we're at war. So no more repeats on what happened earlier this week," Poe's jaw tightens slightly but when Elara finally looks up at him, he only nods as she continues, "The second rule, we are going to be strictly professional on the battlefield and never worry about one another's safety. The Resistance comes first."

"Whatever you say, Princess," when Poe receives a devilish grin in response to that, he can't help but wiggle his eyebrows, "Oh, so you like that nickname?"

"No, I'm just thinking about what method I should use to kill you the moment you decide to call me that again."

((There was a Sherlock reference in there. Did you spot it???))