Aria could feel the ship landing in her bones. She felt every shake of the transport as if someone where reaching into her skin and forcibly rattling her insides. Her body moved with one giant pulse. Each beat of her heart spread over her entire body until she felt like the waves of a raging ocean. Even as she laid still along the lounge, she could feel herself moving to her own rhythm.
"We're landing." Kare told Aria's unconscious form. She wasn't sure why she did, but she wanted Aria to be kept in the loop. "Also, for the record, I think it was incredibly stupid for you to do what you did. I mean... why would you willingly sacrifice yourself to the First Order? That's so-" Kare stopped herself as she looked down at Aria's pale face. There was no smirk curving on her lips, no beautiful eyes that gleamed with mischief, no sarcastic comment on the tip of her tongue. Kare looked down at Aria and realized she didn't recognize the girl before her.
Whoever Aria was- whatever happened to her back on the Star Destroyer- it made her into someone that Kare would never understand.
"Kare? Check the ship for repairs when we land." Poe came into the lounge to relieve Kare of her babysitting duties. When he stepped in and saw Aria's still unconscious form, his heart tightened. "Still nothing?"
"She mumbled something when we were still in lightspeed, but I didn't catch it." Kare told her Captain. Poe nodded his thanks as Kare left the two of them alone.
He slowly stepped up to her side, then bent to his knees by the couch. When he was level with her sleeping form, he reached up and gently removed a stray piece of hair that had attached to her lip.
"Aria," He whispered to try and wake her. He knew she would want to be awake when they landed, he just hated the idea of having to disrupt her sleep. "Ariavanna-" He ran his knuckles lightly over her clammy cheek. "Ariavanna Leia Solo." He never once used her full name, but it seemed to work as Aria turned her head towards him.
"Poe?" Her voice caught on his name, but the soft sound was still enough to give Poe life.
"It's me." He ran his fingers back through her hair as he moved closer to her. She leaned into his touch almost unconsciously. Her eyes barely opened and yet she moved towards him like a child to its mother.
Then, Aria's mind came back to her and she sprung to life, clutching Poe's shirt in one fist and the back of the couch in the other. "Where is he- did I- what happened?" She looked around with wild, terrified eyes.
Poe reached up to try and wrench her fist from his shirt, but it was like steel. He couldn't understand how such a petite girl could be so powerful. "He's okay. You didn't kill him." He consoled her.
Her chest heaved as she looked around them. In her head she was still in her cell, she had just forced her brother- her only living family member- back against a wall so hard he lost consciousness.
"No, I-" Aria shook her head, as she did a pain struck from the back of her skull. Lack of water and sleep hit her with the force of a jump to lightspeed. "I don't remember-" She squeezed her eyes shut to try and will the pain away.
Poe finally loosened her grip just enough to free his wrinkled shirt, then he immediately laced his fingers through her to ground her. "I came into the cell." He recounted the events for her. "You asked me to check his pulse. I did. He was breathing." He spoke slowly and in short sentences so she understood. "He was alive when we left."
Aria slowly turned her head to meet his sincere gaze. Her chest still heaved dangerously under her orange jumpsuit and her cheeks reddened with a crazed dizziness.
"He was?" Her voice shook with uncertainty.
Poe nodded as he rubbed his thumb along the fatty side of her palm.
As they looked into one another's eyes, the ship landed. It rocked to one side before leveling out. The second the landing gear struck the ground, the entire transport rumbled before it settled into its spot.
Aria gulped as she knew what that feeling meant... they were back at base, where she would have to face Leia after everything.
"Aria?" Poe's eyebrows furrowed as he watched the pink drain from her cheeks and lips. She had gone clammy so fast he was nervous she was going to get sick. "Aria-" he lifted a hand to feel her forehead. She flinched as the hand touched her and pulled away from Poe. She blinked as she tried to- once again- remember where she was.
"I have to... I have to tell Leia that I hurt her son." The words felt foreign for Aria. Never in her life did she think she would have to speak those string of words aloud. "That I... I let him get to me and I could have killed him." Aria tried to look through the fog of her head to see Poe. She desperately wanted to see him to help clear her head. She didn't know how or why, but Poe always had the ability to calm her thoughts.
Just as she thought, looking into his dark, calming eyes she found her peace.
At least until the ramp of the transport lowered.
Aria pulled her hand from Poe's grasp and pushed herself up to her feet so fast she swayed back as her vision transitioned to black.
"Woah, woah, woah-" Poe stood and grabbed her forearms to stabilize her. "Careful. Whatever they did to you- it really took it out of you."
"They didn't do anything." Aria defended them. She didn't know why she did it, but for some reason her guilt made her come to the realization that Kylo Ren- Ben- wouldn't let anyone hurt her, and yet she hurt him. "I'm just hungry, I think." She lifted her hand up to press the butt of her palm to her forehead. She rubbed a small circle to try and ease the building headache, though she didn't think it would do much.
A soft chatter from outside the transport alerted Aria that people knew of their arrival. And if the people knew- Leia did too.
"I can come with-"
"No." Aria stopped Poe as she dropped her hand by her side. She let out a long sigh as she looked between his eyes. "You can't hold my hand this time, Poe."
She didn't mean to, but she hurt his feelings.
He wanted to be able to protect her from everything, even though he knew he couldn't.
"Okay." Poe nodded as he took a step back. He let his hands drop from her arms so she held herself up. "I'll... I'll just see you around then."
Aria's confusion grew as Poe moved away from her. She didn't know what she said to offend him, but she had so many other things on her mind that she couldn't be concerned with him right now.
Instead she shook her head and pulled her shoulders back. Her head started to spin from a lack of nutrients, and she knew she couldn't just shake that off.
Still, she moved towards the exit of the transports. As she stood at the top of the ramp, she looked down to see Poe, Kare, L'ulo and Temmin become entrapped by other members of the Resistance. They were swarmed with celebration of their success.
Then, when they all realized Aria had emerged, they turned towards her.
Poe turned back to look up at her. Somehow, through the blood crusted on her lip and the sweat-soaked hair, she looked like a true leader of the Resistance as she stood on the ramp looking them all over. Her fists were clenched by her sides and shoulders pulled back proudly. She had purple swollen bags under her eyes and the glint to her eyes was dulled, but neither took away from her stark beauty.
Looking at her was like watching a Super Nova. It was horrifying and beautiful- and Poe couldn't look away.
He watched her walk down the ramp. A line cut through the officers to make way for her. No one dared reach out to pat her- they all knew better than that. But they still stared. They looked on at her like she were some kind of oddity.
Poe found her ability to steal the voice of an entire Rebellion remarkable. He knew they were silent not from fear- but from respect. They all knew what she had just been through, and they praised her silently for her struggle, but gave her the needed peace to walk through them in solace.
Aria walked through the quiet base. It gave her the room she needed to think of what she was going to say. By the time she reached the door to Leia's office, she still had no idea what to tell her. Regardless of that, she raised her hand to press the button.
The doors opened to reveal Leia in the chair behind her desk. As the General lifted her head to Aria, the terrified girl knew she couldn't back down now.
"Aria," Leia stood and moved from her desk to meet Aria halfway.
Immediately the two girls wrapped their arms around one another.
Aria closed her eyes as she let herself become consumed with the scent of lilac and soap. All her life Leia had smelled of flowers and soap. It was such a soft, feminine scent that Aria grew to love. Now, more than ever, she found comfort in the simple smell.
"Tell me-" Leia pulled Aria away with her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Tell me what happened."
Aria shook her head as Leia looked from the old cut along her temple, to the new slit on her bottom lip.
"Nothing." She told her truthfully. "He didn't do anything to me. He wanted me to join him. When I refused he left me alone. He made sure I couldn't sleep though. He kept me locked up in one of those detention cells. I was stuck in that standing torture device." Aria shuttered thinking about the tight clamps around her wrists and ankles.
Leia seemed to know exactly what she was talking about as her lips pulled into a sour scowl. The thought of her son doing something so atrocious to her beloved Aria- it ticked her off.
Leia squeezed Aria's shoulders before she lowered her hold to Aria's forearms, then to her hands.
They both looked down at Aria's shaking hands. The knuckles on her right hand were painted bruise-purple while the knuckles of her left hand were littered with nicks from slipped tools. There was oil and rust under her fingernails and bright red wristlets worn into her slim wrists from the binds.
Her hands were a mess, which was the perfect representation for the rest of her.
Leia looked back up to Aria's face, she found the cuts and bruising concerning, but what worried her most was the guarded, glazed look in Aria's eyes. "There's more." Leia felt it in her bones as she looked between the blue and gold orbs. "You want to tell me.... but you're scared." Leia didn't press anymore, she knew Aria wasn't good with words, so she was patient with her.
"He called me weak." Aria thought that would explain it, but as she said it she realized it didn't. Nothing would explain it, or excuse it. Already the tears built in her eyes at the thought of letting down the only mother figure she's ever had. "I-I-I- hurt him-" Aria's legs gave out and she fell to her knees in front of Leia. Her knees exploded with a pulsing pain from the harsh ground. Her toes immediately went numb from the sudden lack of blow flow. "He called me weak. He- he was mad that I wouldn't join him and he called me weak and I-I snapped." The tears were flowing now. More than they had ever since she was four and cried for the last time. More than Leia's seen in decades. "I didn't mean too. Before I even knew what I was doing he flew back and hit the hall. I couldn't tell if he was breathing. I kept yelling at him but he didn't move. " She looked up through her tears to see the woman she had always looked up to. She expected to see anger or disappointment on her face, but the look of surprise didn't do anything to calm her insides. "I was so angry and scared. Poe came in and checked to see if he was breathing... He was, thankfully." Aria squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered her brother's calm face after he hit the wall. "I'm the reason he left us." While Aria nodded, Leia shook her head.
"No, my sweet girl." Leia put her hands on Aria's shoulders and pulled her into her stomach.
Aria closed her eyes as she clung to the fabric of Leia's dress. The silky material dried her tears but quickly turned cold. "What Ben chose to do had nothing to do with you. You loved him as much as you could. We all did. His decisions were of his own." Leia gently ran her nails through Aria's hair as the girl clung to her.
"But it was my job to protect him from the universe." Aria shook her head as she buried her face further into Leia's stomach.
She never did anything so child-like, at least not to Leia. It astounded her, and showed her just how upset Aria was.
"You're only job was to love him as much as you possibly could." Leia cooed as she continued to push Aria's hair back. "And you did it beautifully. Never in my life have I seen a sister love a brother as much as you loved him." Leia kept her eyes on Aria's hairline, and as she pushed Aria's s
"But it wasn't enough." Aria's voice cracked.
Leia sighed as she sat her hand softly on top of Aria's head. "We may never know what ultimately drove Ben to the dark side, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that your love for him was not it." Leia run her nails soothing back along Aria's skull, then she dropped her hand and tucked the crusty hair behind Aria's ear. "I believe your love kept him in the light for so long."
Aria couldn't believe it.
She couldn't understand it.
She had failed her brother, her father, Leia, the entire Resistance. She failed all of them.
The door to Leia's office opened, and the General looked to see who would be brave enough to interrupt her right now.
Of course, only one person aside from Aria would be brave enough- Poe.
"General-" Poe paused as he looked down to see Aria's body rock with sobs. She refused to look at him, but she didn't have to for him to realize that something was very wrong.
"Not now, Poe." Leia lifted her hand and force-closed the door to give them privacy.
Aria felt a sudden heart-wrenching realization that her lashing out at Ben when she was angry was strikingly similiar to his own anger issues. He was infamous for his temper tantrums. And apparently, so was she.
Aria sniffled as she pulled back and looked up at her General. "How am I any different from him if I act out whenever I'm angry?" Aria asked Leia, desperately wanting an actual answer- or anything that would make her feel better. "I hurt him, Leia. I could have easily killed him." Aria shook her head as more tears built up. "I'm just like him."
"No, no, no, my love." Leia palmed Aria's wet cheeks with both of her warm hands. She slightly squished her cheeks to keep her steady gaze. "How did you feel when you pushed Ben back?" Leia asked softly but with a hard, persistent look.
Aria sniffled as she thought about it. "Worried." She blinked to clear the tears from her eyes. "Instant remorse." She added as an after thought.
"Exactly." Leia nodded as she rubbed her thumbs along the apples of Aria's cheeks. "You hold the grief of your actions inside. You weep for their pain as if it were your own. That will always set you apart from your brother." With clear eyes, Aria looked to Leia to try and see if she meant it. "Ben killed your father because it was a mission to him." Aria wanted to look away from Leia then, but Leia wouldn't let her. "After seeing him kill your father, you still didn't kill him."
"I wanted too." Aria admitted.
"But you didn't." Leia squeezed her cheeks. "There are many things that make you different from Kylo Ren." She loosened her grip when Aria stopped resisting. "I know that you are so hurt by what you did to him that you won't dare let your anger hurt anyone else you care about."
Aria nodded. She knew it too. She would make sure of it.
"Is... did it happen because I haven't trained?" Aria blinked as the realized the tears had finally dried. She had done more crying in the past week than she had in her entire life, and she hated it. "If I went with Luke to train like he wanted... would I be more in control?"
Leia took in a long, slow breath as she thought of how to answer. "Yes."
Aria closed her eyes at the answer. She knew it was true, but she didn't want to admit it.
"But training only gives you so much control... the rest comes from within you." Leia put her hand under Aria's chin and lifted her head like she usually did when she was trying to mask her fears. Aria lifted it the rest of the way as she opened her eyes. She looked up to Leia for her to finish her thoughts. "The best Jedi in the past still fell to the dark side. They still hurt others without a thought. Training only gets you so far in life... spirit, soul, hope... those things are what give you control, and you have those in abundance." Leia gave a wistful, knowing smile as she looked down at the girl who was so filled with sorrow for a brother who turned against her.
When Aria got her strength back, she pulled herself up to her feet. Leia kept her hands on Aria's cheeks as she stood.
Aria lifted her own hands to Leia's wrist and rubbed along them lovingly.
"Do you forgive me?" She asked for her apology.
Leia's smile fell as she looked between Aria's red, tired eyes. "My dear, I was never angry with you."
"You weren't?" Aria asked. Leia shook her head.
Aria didn't know why, but that took away some of her sorrow. If the woman she idolized more than anyone else wasn't angry at her, then maybe she didn't have to be angry with herself.
"Now, go to the med bay and get your cuts looked at." Leia looked over the dried blood along her face. Aria nodded as she pulled away from Leia's hold, but she didn't get very far before Leia had something else to add. "Oh, and Poe... he didn't sleep a wink the entire time you were gone." Aria froze before she slowly turned back to face Leia. She couldn't discern the look on her face, from the giddy glint to her eyes and the small, knowing smile. "That tells a lot about a person, doesn't it? And how they feel for others?"
Aria blinked, but decided it was best not to say anything. Instead, she turned around and slowly left Leia's office.
She was quiet the entire way to the med bay. She had her own things going on in her head, things that kept her so busy she didn't even think about what her capture meant to the people around her- to Poe. She thought he would listen to whatever Leia told him- stay put and let her figure it out on her own. She didn't think that he would be distraught- he always told her how irritated she made him. She just figured he would like the peace and quiet for a few days.
She was wrong.
And she didn't like to be wrong.
"Reason for your visit?"
Aria was pulled from her head by a voice, but it wasn't a robotic voice like usual. No, this time there was a real human in the med bay.
"General Leia wants my scrapes checked out." Aria motioned to her face. "So... just give me some ointment to put on them and we'll call it good." Aria flopped down on a clean, white bed.
The material was stiff under her, as if it wasn't used much- which she believed.
The Doctor, a young tan man with bleached hair and dark, bushy eyebrows, stepped in front of her and gave her a quizzical once over. "If General Leia wants them looked at... I have to look at them." He told her as he moved closer.
Aria sighed at the man's instance. "Fine, but be quick. I am in desperate need of a shower and-" The door to the med bay opened, and Leia walked in with a smoothie in hand. "Food." Aria finished as she eyed the smoothie.
"This has an entire day's worth of protein and nutrients, and it will be easy on your stomach. Drink it slowly." Leia warned as she handed it to Aria.
Aria nodded as she brought the smoothie to her lips and sucked a long, big gulp through the wide straw.
Leia rolled her eyes as the girl didn't listen. In two gulps, half the smoothie was drained.
Leia patted the doctor's shoulder before she left the two alone.
"Alright, let's start with this one-" The Doctor pressed his gloved hand to the scrape by her eyebrow. Aria hissed at the pressure and pulled back away from his touch. "Sorry, it's still tender?"
"Everything is tender." Aria told him.
The Doc dropped his hands from her face before he moved to the medical cabinet in the far corner.
As she was alone, she finished off the rest of her smoothie, then set it down on the medical tray next to her.
The drink had the lasting taste of mint and berries. It was refreshing and filled her stomach comfortably.
She looked around the large medical bay as she waited for her doctor to come back. She saw a closed door to the right, and through the small rectangular window she noticed a hibernation chamber. They were used for serious injuries when a person had to be kept unconscious in order to heal.
They were horrid machines, Aria would hate to be confined and hooked up to machines that kept her alive. If she was going to die, she would want to die- not stay alive by a bunch of tubes.
Still, Aria was intrigued by the machine, and the fact that it was currently being used. She stood from her bed and left the main part of the med bay in order to see which one of the Resistance Officers was hurt so bad they required the containment unit. As she pushed her way through the door, she caught the sight of Finn's serene face.
"Finn?" Aria whispered as she slowly stepped up to his side. She looked over all the tubes and wires that attached to him. She had no idea he was hurt so bad. She couldn't even remember what happened to him. She was so preoccupied by what happened to her she didn't even realize that something happened to him.
How could she be so self-centered. How could she be so self involved she didn't realize that someone so close to her almost died.
Aria stiffened as she heard footsteps behind her. They were slow and guarded, almost unsure whether they should approach her turned back or not. "What happened to him?" She asked the doctor.
"He was struck in the back by a light saber."
Aria closed her eyes as she realized that her brother did this. Her brother almost killed Finn, and she had no idea.
"Will he be okay?" She asked as she opened her eyes to look down at his calm face. Sure, she wasn't very fond of him, but she didn't want him to die. He was brave enough to face her brother, anyone who did that was good in her eyes.
"He should be fine, though he will have a scar."
That made Aria give a small, warm smile.
"Good." She turned away from Finn to face her doctor. The furrowed, bushy brows and thin lips widened Aria's smile. "A scar is a reminder that he faced something that should have killed him, and he lived." Aria lifted a finger to point at the white, thin scar at the peak of her cheek. "See this?" The doctor nodded. "I got this from a renowned First Order assassin. One of us is still alive to tell the tale, the other..." Aria shook her head.
The doctor gave a slow nod. In his entire medical career, he's dealt with people who hated their scars. Now, he had a new way of helping them cope with them, and maybe even love them.
"Here," He handed her a pain killer and a small blue pill. "One will help with pain, the other will clot the blood in the areas so they won't continue to bleed, even if they open up again."
Aria gave a smile of appreciation as she took both pills and immediately popped them in her mouth. She swallowed them dry which made her feel the two large lumps the entire way down her throat. "Anything else?" she asked. Now that she had her meds, she wanted nothing more than a shower.
"If you experience any dizziness, shortness of breath, confusion or loss of memory, come back." He instructed her. "I'm worried about any possible head trauma, so just be aware. In the most ideal situation I would instruct you to be around someone for the next forty-eight hours in case anything happens." Aria raised an eyebrow as she looked at her doctor. He gave a charming laugh as he raised his hands. "I know, I know, so just be aware, okay? Come back if something feels wrong."
"Will do." Aria gave an extravagant salute before she turned on her heels to look back at Finn. His all white attire made him look more like a Storm Trooper than she's ever seen him before. She knew he would hate it when he woke up. He revolted against his old self just as much as she revolted against her parents' shadow. "Wake up soon, Finn." She reached out and patted his hand, which was the only part of him that didn't have a tube attached.
When he didn't respond, Aria gave a sad sigh and walked away from him.
She realized how incredibly selfish she was, and it created a pit in the center of her gut. The more she thought of Finn, the harder it became.
Then she thought of Poe, and how she tossed him aside the second she got back to base.
That tightened the hold of the pit.
It didn't give as she made her way to her chambers. Nor did it give as she undressed and stepped under the steaming hot water of her shower. But, the pressure and the scent of her mint shampoo somehow broke through the hard exterior of the pit, loosening it into tiny, more easily manageable pieces. It was still there, still eating away at her. She figured it wouldn't go away until she addressed it.
So, after her shower, when she dressed in a pair of black pants and a tight, white shirt that clung to her sides and showed off her arms and shoulders, she made her way to Poe's.
If she talked to him about it, then maybe the feeling in her stomach would go away. Or at least it would be a start.
But, when she stood outside of Poe's door, she realized she didn't know what she was about to do or say. She wasn't even entirely sure what the issue was, all she knew is she did something and it hurt him and now she has to apologize. Or... do the closest thing she has ever done to apologize. Despite not knowing what she was going to say, she raised her hand and knocked on his door. "Poe?" Aria leaned towards the thick, white metal door to speak through it. "It's Aria."
The door opened, making Aria jump back in fright.
"Yeah," Poe looked between her two eyes slowly. "I know it's you." His hair stuck on one side and both eyes were red with sleep. Though it was incredibly obvious she had just woken him up, he stepped to the side and motioned for her to come in.
She stepped through the threshold of his room to see it barely lit. Only his closet light was on, which she thought he had turned on to make his way to the front entrance.
When he closed the door behind her it grew even darker, surrounding both of them in the warm darkness.
"Poe-" Aria spun around to face him. She clung onto her hands in front of her as she looked between his tired, dark eyes. She was so use to seeing the softness in them that it startled her to see a lack of. "I don't know what I did wrong, but I know there's something." She admitted. She hated to admit what she didn't know, but it seemed the only reasonable thing for her to do. And she was willing to do it, for Poe.
"You... don't know?" Poe raised his hand to rub at the throbbing point on his temple. It had to be a new record for them. Only two seconds and he already had a headache.
Aria gave a soft shrug of her shoulders as she watched his features twist into agony.
"What happened to you after you turned off your commlink?" Poe asked as he continued to rub his temple.
Aria let out a breath as she looked away from him. "Well, I crashed into the hangar. I opened my door and stood up and told them I came to talk to Kylo Ren." She paused to see what he had to say, but he kept his mouth shut. So she kept going. "The guards grabbed me from my fighter and dragged me to the cells. I fought, one hit me with the butt of his blaster so I complied. They hooked me up and left me there. Every five minutes a guard would come in, check that I was still locked up, then left. That continued for almost the whole day, until Kylo Ren finally came in." She wanted to know if she said enough, but Poe just dropped his hand from his face and gave her an expectant look. "He said he was my only family. I disagreed, he left. A while later he came back and called me weak. He looked into my memories, he saw Leia, my dad... you."
Poe perked up at that. He didn't even think that he would be part of it. Sure, she was part of his memories when Kylo Ren looked into his head, but he saw her differently.
"He called me weak, I disagreed. He kept going. I got angry... and you know the rest." Aria shrugged as she didn't know what else to say.
Poe took a step around her, and she turned to keep her eyes on him. She watched him closer than she had ever watched anything before. He looked down at his bare feet as he let out a breath. He put his hands on his hips and slowly lifted his head to meet her concerned gaze. "I fought for you." Poe told her. For once, Aria saw a hardness to his eyes. "I fought to bring you back and the second we landed, you didn't need me anymore."
Aria's eyes widened as she finally realized how he felt.
She was selfish. She was so incredibly selfish and she hated it. She never hated it more than at that exact second.
"I-" She shook her head as she tried to think of a way to explain. "I need you all the time." Her voice was the softest it had ever been, but she knew this moment was important. "My dad just died and my brother is trying to get me to join the dark side and-" Aria licked her lips and simultaneously swallowed to give herself just a few more seconds to think everything through. "I don't feel good." She decided. She knew they weren't the right words, but they were all she had. "But you-" Aria stepped up to Poe and gently grabbed his hand. She lifted it up between them to put her palm flat against his. "This feels good." Her eyes were on their hands. His was so much tanner than hers, with less bruising but just as many scars from accidents in the hangar. "This has always felt good." She looked back to his eyes to find them soft- just how she liked them. "I still need you. I will always need you, Poe Dameron."
Poe laced his fingers through Aria's hand to pull her towards him.
He didn't even think as he wrapped his other hand around her back to pull her flush against him. With her admission still at the front of his mind, he bent down and eagerly captured her mouth with his.
Aria's surprise only lasted a second before the heat from his lips spread through her.
She rested her free hand flat on his chest as she let him hold her close. She's kissed before, but none had ever stolen her breath as fast as Poe Dameron just did. She pulled away a few seconds later and looked into his brown, soft, galaxy-encapsulating eyes. Her eyes went cross-eyed as she looked up at him, creating two perfect images of Poe.
Poe wanted to tell her that he needed her too, and just as much, but Aria reached up and pressed her lips against his before he even got a peep out.
Her kiss was more aggressive, more wanting, more controlling. Whereas Poe was gentle and giving, hers wasted no time.
Aria's free hand slowly started to rumple his shirt as she lost herself in the kiss. Poe's hand burned into her lower back and he dropped her other hand in order to tangle his fingers in her wet hair.
Aria and Poe opened their mouths to deepen the kiss at the same time, and their tongues met in the middle for a glorious dance of dominance. Aria thought she would win- like she always did- but somehow Poe's fingers at the base of her skull weakened her resolve, and she let him win. She never let anyone win.
Aria was so focused on the taste of Poe's mouth she didn't even feel her legs moving until something hit the back of her legs. The next second she fell back on Poe's bed with him pressed on top of her. "Poe-" Aria moaned against his mouth. The word vibrated her chest and caused Poe to hum in harmony.
He was too distracted by her lips and tongue to recognize his own name. He could feel every part of her and now that he had, he never wanted to be without her.
"Poe-" Aria tried again when his hands gripped onto her thighs. His nails dug in, giving Aria the thrilling sensation of wanting.
"Hm?" Poe mumbled into her mouth. He tilted his head the opposite way as he picked her knees up to lock him in place.
"Don't stop-" She pleaded as she wove her hands under his arm pits then clamped on to his shoulders.
Her plea pushed Poe over into pure ecstasy. His grip on her hardened as he grounded himself into her. If it were up to him, he would never, never stop.
Aria arched her back off the bed to get even closer to Poe. No matter what they did, she still wanted to be closer to him. Even their clothes were too much of a barrier for her. She began to claw at his shirt, then she unwrapped her arms and grabbed the bottom of his shirt.
Poe pulled away and lifted one hand to pull at the back of his shirt to help her lift it over his head. He discarded it messily before he eagerly reached down for Aria's shirt.
She arched her back so he could wiggle it up her midsection, then lifted her hands above her head for him to pull it over, then he threw it down next to his already forgotten shirt.
Poe's eyes fell to her chest, her white lace bra was enough to feed his fantasies for the next millennia. His hands crept up her bare side, his fingertips barely grazed her sides which caused goosebumps to break out along her midsection. His fingers curved up and fell into the dip at the top of her stomach. He hesitated then, with his fingers barely scraping the bridge on her bra. His eyes lifted ever so slowly from her chest to meet her hooded eyes.
"Don't stop," She whispered her same plea. Her voice rasped as it filled with emotion. Poe looked down at her in a way that made everything else fall away. He looked at her like she was all he ever saw.
Poe dropped his two hands to both sides of Aria's head and hovered over her. His soft eyes scanned every inch of her face as he tried to engrain her in his memory. "You can't do that- ever again." His voice was just as thick with emotion, and it stirred a desire inside of Aria. She nodded subserviently at his command. "You can't go running towards danger. Not without me." He slowly lowered himself until his lips were mere centimeters apart from her. "Don't ever do that again." He reprimanded her.
Aria nodded as she went cross-eyed to look at him.
"Never." She promised as she lifted her head to nuzzle her nose against his. "I won't leave you again."
A.N
Well? How was that? Please tell me what you guys think, I LOVE reading your comments.