Close to Me {Poe Dameron}

sixteen

"All fighters are now in working order. The airfield is officially cleared and the Jedi training course is cleaned up so Rey starts tomorrow and Finn will start when Rey thinks he's ready." Rose answered.

Kat looked down at the newest member of their group and smiled. "Well, you're certainly learning from the best. Don't let her be too hard on you. She's just wanting you to be your best."

"Thanks but if I survived Luke's teaching, I think I can handle Leia," Rey said, a small smirk on her face.

"Fair point." Kat chuckled before turning to Finn. "Same goes for you."

Finn chuckled. "I just gotta hone in on the feelings. Now that everything's set up I should be able to focus on my training."

Kat nodded. "Good. You were able to hold your own against Kylo Ren there for a while without any training so I'm sure you'll be even better afterwards."

"And that also means we can now settle and focus on getting resources and intel on what the First Order is up to," Poe said, giving a pointed look to Kat.

"Okay, okay. I promise not to overdo it anymore. There was just too much to be done at the start." She held her hands up in surrender briefly.

Rose smiled, placing her hand on her friend's. "Good 'cause we got worried when Poe told us how he found you."

Kat turned her hand over and gave Rose's a squeeze. "Only small, covert missions are happening now so we can personally reach out to some of our allies. I swear I'll get back to how I was on D'Qar."

"The first one is soon, isn't it?" Finn asked, causing both commanding officers to nod their heads.

"Leia should be announcing who's going tomorrow," Poe answered.

"Well, if it's not you two, I'll be shocked," Rose said, motioning towards Kat and Poe.

Kat shook her head. "Not me. I'm still waiting to hear back from my contacts. The assignments will be based on who's contact it is. It'll also more likely be solo missions since they're supposed to be more low profile."

The group nodded before they went back to eating. They ate in silence for a bit, still trying to figure out the dynamic between them when Poe spoke up and started telling a story which then launched others to share stories, and soon the group was laughing and getting to know each other a little better. Even Kat shared some of her more wilder stories from her days on Naboo.

She hadn't even noticed that she had started eating off of Poe's tray or the fact that he slid it more between them until Rose gave her a look while glancing towards the tray. She had begun to steal the berries that were on his tray and when it had been pointed out, she stopped, a blush covering her cheeks.

While she was laughing at a story Finn was telling, she felt something bump into her elbow. She glanced down and saw the tray, so she looked towards Poe who just bumped her elbow once again. Kat cautiously reached out to take another berry and seeing the small smile on his face, she knew that it was all right.

After she finished her tea, Kat stood which caused all eyes to look towards her. "I should probably do rounds before going back to bed. See you all for breakfast?"

"Go back to bed, Kat. I'll take care of rounds. I'll report anything to you if I find anything." Poe said in a tone that he hoped she wouldn't argue against. He was honestly surprised she hadn't given him a 'you don't need to take care of me' speech.

She let out a sigh before turning to Finn. "Walk me to my room, Finn? I know you've been trying to speak with me about something for a while so I apparently have time now if you do."