╔══════ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎
'𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬' ════════════╝
the wedding, pt. II
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
...D'QAR, ILEENIUM SYSTEM
𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐀 smiled out at the crowd from her spot at their makeshift altar. Her hands were clasped together, a deep purple dress with a shimmering gold, fitted cloak adorned her like a Senator. She looked twenty years younger, the worry lines in her face eased by a soft smile. Still the princess of Alderaan even after all these years.
Poe stood at Snap's side as his best man, and Jess was up there next to Karé. From where Lyra was sitting next to Reeve in the back, she could see the heads of almost all the guests. Reeve had been staring ahead for the duration of the ceremony, but her gaze wasn't focused on Snap and Karé.
Lyra leaned over and whispered, "Who are you staring at?"
Without looking away, Reeve drawled, "I'm just watching a wedding, don't be stupid."
"Okay," Lyra relented. "But you're staring at the wrong person. This isn't Jess's wedding."
Reeve slammed her heel onto Lyra's foot.
"Ouch," she hissed lowly. Rey, who was sitting in front of them, whipped her head around with a questioning look. Lyra just gave her a tight smile and waved off her concern.
"Let's not pretend that you haven't been staring at Mr. Dameron this entire time," Reeve muttered under her breath. "You worry about your crush, I'll handle mine."
Lyra raised a brow. "So you're admitting that it's a crush?"
"Only if you are."
Lyra settled with staring forward and saying nothing further.
All things considered, the wedding was unorthodox. This was a Resistance wedding, one where the bride and groom had walked hand-in-hand up the aisle to the altar where General Leia Organa was waiting to officiate. Snap was dressed to the nines in the nicest suit they could find for him, and Karé was wearing head to toe in white, right down to her boots.
They exchanged their vows, and before Leia could even say the words, Snap had pulled Karé into a kiss. Snap was in a state of happy disbelief, still misty-eyed as he looked at Karé standing in front of him.
"And may the Force be with you, for all of your days," Leia finished.
Cheers and whistles erupted from every corner of the clearing. It was amazing how hopeful everyone was. Snap and Karé were living proof that there was a reason for fighting in this war.
"Congratulations, pal!" Poe exclaimed, laughing as he clapped Snap on the shoulder. Lyra could easily hear him from all the way in the back of the crowd.
It was nice to see him so happy. And she had been staring at him. She barely felt guilty for not watching the wedding. It was like there was a magnetic pull tied to her line of sight. The crisp lines of his dress shirt, the sharpness of his freshly-shaved jaw, those dark curls and easy smile that continued to remind her how lucky she was to continue to exist at the same time he did.
The chairs were almost immediately moved to the sides to clear way for the dance floor. As soon as the first strains of a melody slipped through the air, the dancing started. Lyra had been to nightclubs and parties on lavish planets, most of the time forced to pretend to be someone else to maintain cover. For once, she was allowed to exist as herself.
Leia was dancing with Chewie to some forgotten dance that ebbed and flowed with missed steps and laughter. Georgie and Ellis were manning the bar, but the rest of the Phoenix Squadron was scattered around the dance floor. Lyra kept an eye on Rey, but the younger girl was having the time of her life.
She had forgotten what it felt like to be this young. Almost twenty six and some days it felt like her life was burning her blind. This was a languid ease that was unmatched by victory or conquest. These were the dreams of a girl named Lyra Jai.
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐀𝐃 Prime only produced their alcohol for export, and it normally only circulated on the black market. Hard, illegally distilled whisky, it wasn't cheap. In his time with the Spice Runners, they had only come across a few bottles of it. Poe had been allowed one singular sip and told that a drop was as good as gold.
Somehow, Georgie and Ellis had pulled out a whole case of it.
They had taken charge of mixing drinks, and Poe had to admit that Georgie Bera was an extremely good bartender. Ellis was taking more advantage of drinking the drinks than serving them, but at this point, Poe recognized that neither of the pilots were going to listen to him.
In between dancing, a group of them had migrated to stand talking with Karé and Snap. Talking, laughing, more talking, another laugh. It was the most passive, pointless conversation that he might have ever had on base.
Snap and Karé stood right next to each other like they couldn't stand to be apart for more than a second. Even though they had been together for years, they were acting like they had just met, just fallen into the easy happiness of being in love. Thinking that no one was paying attention, Karé kept threading her fingers into Snap's free hand.
"So are you guys gonna go on a honeymoon or something?" Jess asked, tipping her head to the side.
Snap shrugged. Standing at Poe's right, he held a glass of whiskey in his calloused hand. "Dunno, Jess. It's kind of hard to get off this base."
"I think you should," Eleni said resolutely, looking up from her and Lyra's side conversation. "Go home, visit Akiva. Go somewhere that isn't here, we all know you could use it."
"Maybe," Karé said, more wistful than he had ever seen her.
A camera had been almost permanently attached to Jess's hand, second only to her glass of the hard whiskey. Even as she drained the glass, Poe knew she was nowhere near inebriated. The first and last time he had ever played a drinking game with Jess, he had lost by a parsec. She could hold her liquor better than anyone else he knew. Eleni–-a total lightweight by comparison-–was still drinking a fizzy, non-alcoholic glass of phattro.
"I could use a vacation," Poe said. "Sounds fun."
Eleni rolled her eyes. "Sure, Poe. What is it you do around here again?"
"I work very hard," Poe defended. He closed one eye skeptically. "I just gave a speech, for crying out loud."
"You love to talk, a speech isn't exactly an accomplishment for someone who doesn't know how to keep their mouth shut," Lyra said.
"I take that as a compliment," Poe grinned. He took a drink, and the stiff alcohol burned as it went down his throat.
The conversation moved on, but Poe's gaze remained fixed on Lyra. A stray hair had come loose from the braids and brushed gently over her flushed cheeks when she laughed. It was like every time he saw her he was looking at her for the first time, seeing and understanding and realizing she could tell him to do anything and he would, no questions asked.
A sharp elbow collided with his ribs.
"What the hell was that?" Poe said.
Snap leaned closer. "Just letting you know that you're staring. Again."
Next to him, Karé stifled a laugh.
"Thanks for letting me know," Poe muttered.
His focus drifted out onto the dance floor. It was a section of grass outlined in yellow lanterns that winked like the fireflies on Yavin IV. He didn't want to be nostalgic on a night like this when it was so easy, but still he wanted to ask Eleni if she too was reminded of home. Somewhere in between that past afternoon and now, the trees of D'Qar had morphed into some scene plucked from a green-eyed spring on Yavin IV.
It felt like half of the Resistance was outside. BeeBee was rolling around the grass, currently trying to keep up with Rey's bare feet as she moved with wild abandon.
"I have to say," Jess said. It was just the three of them standing together now, Poe, Eleni, and Jess. "You did a good job with the music, Eleni."
"Yeah," Poe agreed. The tall bronze AG-90 droid had yet to play a bad song. "How did you find all of these songs?"
"I just calibrated the droid," Eleni clarified, pointing out ahead of her. "Lyra and Reeve helped me pick out the actual music."
Lyra danced next to Reeve, moving with less restraint than he had seen from her in weeks. Confidently, her feet shifted in time with every single beat of the music. He had never seen her dance, but somehow this was just as spectacular as watching her fight. She laughed, and he could have sworn she looked right at him for a split second. But then Eden, who was a hilariously terrible dancer, grabbed her by the arms and pulled her attention away.
"I swear, I don't know how Lyra has room for so many songs in her head," Jess said. "She's always been a good dancer, too. Reeve, Lyra and I went out dancing a lot that year her Squadron was stationed near Lianna with half of Blue Squadron. At least until Reeve and I got a lifetime ban from that nightclub."
Eleni let out a loud laugh. "I remember hearing about this."
"Hold on." Poe held out a hand to stop her. "Why did I never hear about this? I was stationed on the Anodyne for a little while there too."
Jess shrugged. "Must've forgot to tell you."
"Conveniently," he scoffed.
"Eh, it wasn't really that big of a deal. We managed to talk the bouncer down before he decided we needed to spend the night in a jail cell to think about our choices," Jess told them while taking another sip of her drink.
All at once, Poe saw the same girl that he thought was long lost underneath layers of war and loss. The Jessika Pava that he had recruited because she was a well-meaning clutz on the ground but graceful in the sky, the hopeless romantic who never gave up on a happy ending.
"This is way nicer than any of those clubs though," Jess told him, gesturing out to the scene in front of them. "Especially considering this all happened in less than forty-eight hours."
"I'll say it. You did good," Eleni said to Poe.
He leaned forward and shifted his weight. "They deserve it. We all made fun of Karé when she started talking to Snap, it was just so funny to see Karé fly like no one's business and then get nervous about a crush. And now they're married."
He had known Karé for years. Within the New Republic Defense Fleet, they had both flown with the Rapier Squadron. Back then, they were stationed out in the Mirren System and tasked with the job of keeping the trade lanes open. That was how he had come to know the gangs like the Guavians and Kanjiklub, and it was day after day of aerial combat. There was rarely a ground mission, and he thrived as a Commander of a small naval squadron.
The dream team. That was what Karé had laughed about when Leia extended her hand and recruited a handful of them into the Resistance. She was like his second older sister, and he would have gone through the work of setting up five weddings if it meant seeing her as happy as she was tonight.
"The food is shitty, though," Jess relented. "Very bad."
"Oh come on," Poe whined, tipping his head back to the sky. "I made sure we had sweet rolls and only slightly dried out fruit. What more could you want?"
He ducked out of the way right before her hand could cuff him on the shoulder.
Jess grabbed her holocamera off the table behind them, an old silver thing that she almost always had in her bag on missions. It was unsurprising that she was using it tonight. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go take more pictures."
Once Jess had moved on, it was Eleni's turn to stage an intervention. He had been waiting on it for awhile; she had that look on her face that always came when she was determined to remember something.
"I need to ask you something."
"No good conversation ever started with those words," Poe told her. "Is this about the favor thing again? I promise I won't ask you to help with anything else. Tonight, at least."
"No, this isn't about Snap and Karé."
"Really?" He said with a shit-eating grin. Hell bent on avoiding this conversation as long as possible, he continued to say, "Who's wedding is this if it's not theirs–ouch!" Poe sat up straight after Eleni punched him in the arm. "Seriously, Eleni?"
She just rolled her eyes. "I only ask this as an older sister who's concerned. What is going on between you and Lyra?"
His throat ran dry. "Nothing," he told her. "And that's the problem."
Eleni gave a short sigh. She had known this already. "Listen, I think you just need to talk to her. Go ask her to dance, do something. This is literally your perfect opportunity."
"I was already dancing with her," he defended.
"That was next to her, not with her," Eleni sighed. "Don't pretend like you don't understand what I'm saying.
"I don't wanna mess it up, Len," he confessed, fiddling with the rolled-up sleeve of his dress shirt. He was supposed to be confident, a trigger happy flyboy who was unfazed by anything thrown his way. "I've flirted my way through every other vapid relationship I've ever had, and it was fun, easy. But this isn't something fleeting. It's different."
"I know what this is about," Eleni said quietly. "It's because you can't tell her the truth, isn't it?"
Poe kept his focus on the trees. With his jaw set, he said, "I almost told her, Eleni. Out on the tarmac when she came back with Finn and Han Solo, I messed up and I almost just blurted it out. Anytime I'm too close to her, it's like there's no line between us. I just want to tell her everything, I want to share everything with her." He glanced over to see Eleni looking at him like she had tasted a lemon. "It's stupid, I know," he countinued.
"No, it's not that, I just don't think I really realized it until just now. I mean, I knew that you liked her and everything, but I didn't notice how bad it was," Eleni said with a light shake of her wavy hair. "Shit, Poe. Why are you still standing here with me?"
He drained the rest of his glass. "Because I love you and it's just really, really fun for me to sit here and wallow in self-pity."
"You're a piece of shit," Eleni said as she smoothed out the creases of her green linen dress.
"Thanks," Poe said. "Means a lot."
He roamed around the clearing for a while, talking briefly to friends as he walked past. Ellis was getting drunker by the second, and Georgie was helpfully ignoring it. Some people had already turned in for the night, but the ones that were left outside had turned the music up to a deafening volume and showed no signs of stopping.
It was slowly catching up to him, and the toll of Starkiller was beginning to come into sharper focus. Conversations toward him were all congratulatory, but he didn't want to hear another word about the First Order. Everything else had been a worthy distraction, but still, he was exhausted. If it came down to it, he might just have to find a nice patch of grass and take a nap.
That could wait, though. He finally caught Lyra's eye, and when he waved, she surprised him by stepping away from Reeve and walking over to him. Like a dream that got better every time she looked at him.
Her cheeks were pink from adrenaline. "Why are you just standing here? Don't tell me you're bored."
He ignored the fact that he could see Eleni watching them from the corner of his eye. "Just taking a break."
"A break?" she said with disbelief. Silhouetted against the lights, she was a ghost again. So far out of his reach. "This whole wedding is supposed to be a break."
"I was dancing," he defended himself. "I'm sure Jess has a picture if you want proof."
"But now you aren't, and that's my point," She said, languidly stretching her arms in front of her. "I thought you were supposed to be the life of the party."
He looked over at her, comfortable and completely at ease. The feeling came so easily, he didn't want it to stop. "Are you flirting with me?"
"If you're asking that question now, I'd say you're more oblivious than I thought you were." She shrugged coyly, and when she looked him in the eye he knew better than to keep stalling.
He sat down his empty glass and offered her a hand. "Come dance with me," he requested.
"I thought you wouldn't ask." She was trying to keep a straight face, but he saw her start to smile.
She put her hand in his, and the same warm feeling bloomed in his chest. But with what had to be the worst timing in the whole galaxy, Eden Feng ran over to them frantically calling out, "Lyra! Lyra!"
Lyra flinched and let go, quickly moving her hand towards her waist where her weapons usually were. It took only a second to understand the muscle memory of the action. Lyra was still fidgety, looking around at everything with calculating eyes as if she were watching for a disaster.
She turned to face the dark haired girl who was pushing her way over the crowd to get to them. "What's wrong?"
"Ellis is incapacitated," Eden said with a rueful smile, looking between Poe and Lyra like she was honestly sorry to have interrupted. Giddy on alcohol herself, she said, "Georgie and I are trying to drag him away from the bar, but it's not going too well. He keeps trying to make a break for the microphone and saying that it's karaoke time."
Poe laughed loudly. "I think we should let him go. Just make sure someone's recording it."
Lyra elbowed him in the ribs. "Not helpful."
"Wasn't trying to be." Poe's brow furrowed and crossed his arms across his chest. He was beginning to wonder if the galaxy itself was working against them. "Why can't Georgie just drag him back inside?"
"Tried that already, didn't work," Eden explained. "We need someone with more authority."
"I'll help you get him back inside, that should keep him away from the drinks," Lyra sighed. To Poe she said, "It'll be quick, I promise."
"Thank you!" Eden told her gleefully, already grabbing Lyra by the wrists and dragging her away through the crowd.
Which left Poe, standing all by himself and still choked by words unsaid.
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 until almost o'three hundred hours that the last of the party-goers cleared out and headed off to get some rest. BeeBee, absolutely exhausted after foolishly attempting to keep up with Rey for half the night, had rolled back inside two hours prior. Lyra had run off a while ago, helping Jess carry a half-asleep Reeve back to her room before she completely passed out on a table. He waited just in case, but it was painfully clear that she wasn't coming back outside.
Alone with nothing but the remnants of a party, Poe allowed himself a chance to breathe. The lights were still strung up and shining, and it was his responsibility to unplug them. Still, he didn't want to. It seemed wrong to end a night like this, frustrated and knowing that it was undoubtedly his fault. Overthinking had never agreed with him.
He heard footsteps behind him. A technician was coming to tell him to get his ass inside so they could all call it a night.
But it wasn't a technician, it was Lyra.
She had taken her hair out of the braids, and what little breeze was left tugged at the loose, long waves. Her feet were still bare, and the dim light caught on the soft, flowing fabric of her dress as it brushed across her knees. And for all the things that had pushed them apart, she still managed to find a way to come back to him.
"I left my shoes out here," she explained to him, crossing her arms over her chest to keep out the chill. It sounded like an excuse. "It's cold, why are you still outside?"
"I'm not tired," he lied. "I won't sleep if I go back in, so I figured I'd just stay out here instead."
"Personally, I'm tired," she yawned.
"How much did you sleep last night?" He asked her softly, lightly bumping into her shoulder.
Immediately, her posture straightened and she wouldn't meet his eyes. Short and clipped, she told him, "I slept enough."
He scoffed, knowing she had slept just as few hours as he had. "Enough? After everything you went through, I wouldn't be surprised if you slept through the next week."
She gave a hollow laugh, like maybe there was something she knew that he still didn't. Then the corners of her gray eyes crinkled with the hint of a smile. "Then consider yourself lucky. I'm out here with you when I could be sleeping."
He cocked his head to the side. "That's probably the biggest compliment you've ever given me."
She laughed. "I've said some very nice things to you, Poe Dameron."
"Mhm," he teased, pulling her closer to him. It was getting more difficult to stop smiling. "I'm having trouble remembering. Care to remind me?"
She looked at him straight in the eyes, a painfully gorgeous smile playing on the corner of her lips. "I do believe I once said you were one hell of a pilot."
His heart flipped the same way it had the first time she had said it just before they had left for Naboo.
"What would you say," he began, lips pursed like he was deep in thought. "If the best pilot in the Resistance asked you to dance?" He asked, lacing his fingers between hers with practiced ease. "I owe you one."
She grinned and wrapped her fingers tightly around his as if they had done this a hundred times before. "There's no music anymore."
"Don't need any."
He spun her around in a slow twirl and her hair fanned out around her like a halo of reflected golden light. She let herself be led in a slow dance, one hand clasped in his and the other resting on his shoulder. Nothing about her was delicate and yet he was still afraid she might slip through his fingers like water. For a moment, there was no war. It was just the two of them standing under a thousand tiny lights, all alone with the company of the stars moving across the sky above.
"This is nice," she said. "I feel like I've barely seen you since everything happened."
"I know," he agreed, adjusting his hand on her waist. "I missed you."
"You know I missed you too." She sighed, and he felt her body relax like the weight of the last week was finally gone.
He brushed the piece of hair away from her cheek and looked at her. Really looked, not just the half-glances he had given her all night. "Have I told you you're beautiful?" Poe told her.
She blinked once like she was shaking herself out of a daze. "No, you haven't."
And then he grinned, gaining his usual confidence back. "Well, I should have told you sooner. I've been waiting to say that for weeks."
"Weeks, huh?" Her smile became strained. The easy, soft expression on her face twisted into a bitter frown. Mostly to herself, she said, "This has to stop."
The ground gave way and his stomach plummeted. "What do you mean? What has to stop?"
"I can't play this game of push and pull." She shook her head like she could barely make up her mind herself. "Earlier, when I came back with Finn, you pushed me away, and I thought that was the end of it. But then right before I left with Han–" she shook her head and the loose hair fell back in front of her eyes. "And now you're doing it again, the thing where you say things to me like that and then we'll both walk away from this like nothing even happened."
He narrowed his eyes, trying to read between the lines of what she wasn't saying. "That isn't fair. You haven't exactly been very clear about what you wanted either."
"Because I didn't know if it mattered to you! I can't tell if it's that you don't feel the same way, which is fine, or that you're confused!" Lyra said, almost yelling. "I just don't understand–"
The words raced to his mouth in defense. "I don't think I've ever cared about anything as much as I care about you!"
An audible noise of shock came from her open mouth. She just looked at him, half upset and half looking like she was glad she had come back outside. He hadn't expected the admission to finally come out of his mouth.
"What?" she breathed.
He took a bold step forward and let the tidal wave of emotion break free. "I said, I care about you more than anything else, Lyra. I have for a while, I just didn't say it until, well, now." The words hung in the air between them. For a terrifying moment, neither of them moved.
Lyra closed the remaining distance and pressed her lips against his.
After the shock and realization that Lyra Endellion was kissing him, he tilted his head and moved his hand to her arm. He could tell she had only meant for it to be quick. But she lingered, soft and slow, hand pressed against his jaw. When she finally pulled away, it was hard to form any coherent thought with the taste of her on his lips.
"This is what I want." She met his eyes and the world stopped moving. "You."
He couldn't believe this was all happening again, a fourth chance that hadn't been wasted. Now that it had happened once and he knew this wasn't just an impossible fever dream, he wanted to relive it again and again and again.
He pressed his hand to the back of her head, tangling his fingers in the soft waves of her hair and showing her that this was what he wanted, too. He let his eyes fall shut and kissed her deeply, pulling her close with the intense desire that had been burning for weeks. Now it reached its fever pitch, and every inch of his body was going to catch fire. Her mouth parted against his, and he wanted more. He wanted every part of her as he tilted his head and felt the edge of her tongue brush over his lips. It was like living in the best dream, one where she was real and tangible and warm.
He had imagined this happening a hundred times over, but he'd never imagined how good it would feel to have her kiss him back.
"Do you remember when we were up on the northern tower?" He told her, finally pulling away only for the sake of catching his breath.
"Very clearly," Lyra told him, moving her hand to rest on his collarbone. Her touch was the most comfortable thing he had ever felt, and it was going to bring him to his knees.
"I was going to kiss you. I wanted to, really badly."
She gave a soft, easy laugh, lips full and red. "You should have." Her expression shifted, and she narrowed her gray eyes. "You also should have on Jakku, and then when I got back to D'Qar, and then maybe instead of kissing me on the cheek–"
"Okay, okay," he laughed, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "I understand, Ly."
And then Lyra tipped her head back and laughed. The pure sound of it carried up all the way to the trees and then straight back down. He knew the noise by heart and yet everytime it surprised him.
He laughed, too. "What?"
"We're both so stupid," she said, still laughing. Her cheeks were flushed pink and she was perfect, in this moment and in every other second he had seen her. "We wasted so much time."
The laugh died in her throat when he roughly pulled her back to him with the arm that was wrapped around her lower back. He cupped his free hand to her cheek again, running his thumb across her skin. "I've learned from my mistakes."
In the yellow glow of the lights, he could see that her cheeks were turning red. "How do you always know the right thing to say?"
"It's easy." He tilted his head as he brushed a stray hair off of her cheek. "You make it easy."
Lyra shivered beneath his touch, and when she exhaled, he could feel the expectant heat of her breath. She was so close, he could see the way the light caught on her gray eyes like a kaleidoscope, bringing out a blue he didn't think he had seen before. The color of an infinite ocean, danger and solace all at once.
"We wasted so much time," she repeated, this time more like an unfurling promise of change than an admission of regret. So much time, and yet here they were.
He grinned, teasing her. He was hardly an inch away, and crushing the infinitely small distance would have been easy. His nose brushed against hers, and there was barely anything holding him back. "You said that already."
Her lips twitched up into the faintest, impatient grin. When she spoke again, her voice was barely a whisper. "Don't make me say it again."
He didn't.
He kissed her again. And again and again, across her jaw and over her neck. The feeling of his lips on her skin was something he would never get tired of. It was like liquid starlight, equally tantalizing. Greedily, her hands grasped at the back of his neck, moved against his jaw, tugged at his hair. She was no ghost; this was the present and future made real.
No more missed chances.
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
a/n screaming crying right now because this chapter has been SO long in the making.
The first concrete 'reason' why I decided to rewrite this story was because in the first version, this chapter had no real chemistry. There was only empty connections that were haphazard and random, and this time I'm happy with how true-to-character it is. It's been a very long journey with my writing and myself to get here and I'm so happy you lovelies have been along for the ride 😌
long story short I hope the wait was worth it!! because I know!! I've been mean about withholding the kiss!!!
there's gonna be ONE more chapter in this act!! and then it's time for TLJ!! fair warning: act three isn't going to immediately start with the events of TLJ. I'm going to set up a few 'Resistance Reborn' plotlines that will be important in act four, and also just give pyra some time to breathe (so kind of me 🤩).
--nat