"You've never been kissed?" Jess nearly choked on her caf. She wiped the back of her mouth and leaned over a little. Dameron was talking to Rey at another table in the mess and while it was rude to eavesdrop, Jess couldn't quite squash a sudden urge to volunteer.

Rey was shaking her head. "Do you really think I had any opportunities on Jakku? The only one interested was that old creep Unkar Plutt . You should have seen the way he looked at me sometimes." An involuntary shiver ran through her. "No thank you." She rested her elbows on the table and leaned towards Poe. "Why are you asking? Are you volunteering? You're cute but you're not really my type."

Poe feigned injury. "Not your type? Rey, you're breaking my heart." He smiled at her. "What's your type, then?"

Rey's eyes darted to the table where Jessika sat amongst several other pilots. It was a quick, fleeting movement but Poe caught it and his grin went wide and toothy. "Oh I get it."

Get what? Jess thought Rey might have looked at her but she wasn't sure, and she didn't want to look like an idiot. She lowered her head and pretended like she was focusing on her meal when in fact her stomach had so many butterflies she'd lost her appetite.

A loud laugh brought her attention back to Rey and Poe. They'd been joined by Finn, who was looking at his two friends with a confused expression on his face. The man shouldn't even be standing, but he was propped up on a pair of crutches. He'd been tired of being cooped up in the medical bay.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Have you ever been kissed?" Rey asked, looking suspiciously smug, even as she helped Finn sit down. Under her breath, she added. "You really shouldn't be up."

"Of course. I've been kissed. I've kissed a lot of people. Normal people do that. I'm a normal people. I've kissed so many people." He looked at Rey's dubious expression and sighed. "No, I've never been kissed."

"Poe volunteers. He thinks your jacket would look really good on his bedroom floor." Rey pushed Poe towards Finn and cackled at the expressions on their faces. This interaction this normal people interaction had been missing from her whole life and now that she had it she was reveling in it and the sound of the pilots and other resistencia members joining in on the laughter.

It might have been some form of revenge, Rey mused, that she found herself in the hangar the next day. Poe, who's hair had looked unusually rumpled that morning, had assigned her to assist one of the X-Wing pilots for the day. It was a task that she was excited about, so if it was punishment for teasing him she didn't really mind.

"Hello?" She called out as she circled around Blue Three. There was a thudding sound, then a curse and Jess dropped out from an access hatch beneath her fighter.

She looked at Rey, stared a moment, then cleared her throat. "Uh. Hey. Can I help you?"

"Poe said I should assist you today," Rey replied. She had a stray strand of hair on her cheek and Jess suppressed the mental image of brushing it aside. Rey bounced on her heels, unable to restrain her eagerness. It was adorable and Jess thought that wasn't fair.

"I'm running some diagnostics, then I'm going to take her up and make sure everything feels right, you know?" She put her hand on Rey's shoulder. "Everything goes well, I'll take you up with me. I promised you I would."

"Whatever you want, Jess!"

Rey's excitement washed over Jess like a wave. She walked Rey through the diagnostics, showing her what to look for and how to inspect and X-Wing. Rey picked up on it quickly - in many ways a ship was a ship and it was just a matter of adapting to each ship's unique quirks and learning where the common stress fracture points were.

Jess climbed up onto one of the S-foils, reaching down to help Rey up. "Pop open that panel there."

Nodding, Rey leaned over to do that. She felt Jess lean over as well. Close, almost too close but she didn't really mind. She liked the presence at her back, and counted Jess among her new friends. While she plugged in a reader, she asked, "Some of the other pilots say you know a lot of stories about the Rebellion. About Luke Skywalker."

"I'm pretty sure they get tired of me talking about it." She flushed a little, and realized she was creeping in too close to Rey. She reluctantly put a few more inches between them. "I don't know every story, but I know a few. I heard a new one from 3PO just a month ago."

There was a strange look in Rey's eyes, when she looked at her. "Can you tell me one?"

Jess stared, transfixed. "Yeah, sure. What do you want to hear?"

"Which one is your favorite?" She held out the reader, and Jess looked it over while considering the question.

"You'd think it would be one of the big stories. Blowing up the death star. Killing the Emperor. But I like some of the little ones. Risking everything to save his friends. How he always looked for the good in people." She handed the reader back, only then noticing that she had Rey's full, undivided attention. "How about I tell you about the time Luke Skywalker risked everything for Han Solo."

A shadow crossed Rey's eyes.

"Rey?"

"No, it's okay." She squeezed her hands around a spanner as fresh grief welled up inside of her. "Go ahead."

Wetting her lips, Jess leaned in. "Captain Solo had been captured by some bounty hunter, and the trail led to Tatooine…"

With Rey watching so intently, Jess found herself stumbling here and there over her words. She didn't think she was the best storyteller, but Rey seemed impressed, encouraging her and reacting with surprise or delight or shock depending on what she was hearing. And maybe it was her imagination or wishful thinking, but she swore up and down that Rey kept looking at her lips.

"He must have really cared for Han and Leia…" Rey rubbed her palms against her knees. "And you know. I can tell that they cared about him too. When Luke came up, there was so much sadness in Han's eyes. And when he looked at me… I don't know." It had almost been like he was looking at Luke, and not her. Hindsight and all that and maybe it meant something but Rey was firmly in denial about that possibility. "And the General wants to find her brother so badly."

"Well we have the map and I'm sure it won't be much longer before it's time to find him." She flashed a wide grin at Rey. The idea of meeting Luke Skywalker was both terrifying and exhilarating. She hoped she'd get the chance to shake his hand. Just once.

She pushed herself to her feet and held her hand out to Rey. "Okay, lets do another check and then we'll go up."

Rey clasped Jess's hand and let herself get pulled up. "I finally have an excuse to wear your lucky helmet. Not that I've ever needed a reason. I'm sure Finn told you how he caught me dancing around wearing just the helmet?"

"No," Jess said roughly, her face coloring as her imagination flared vividly to life. "He never said anything about that. Just..just the helmet? You had clothing on right?"

"Oh." Rey smiled brightly. "Well. Our little secret then." She winked at Jess, then slid off the S-foil. Jess stared after her, unsure if Rey was flirting with her or completely innocent. Either way, that girl was trouble.

"You coming or what?"

"Yeah." Jess ruffled her fingers through her hair before hopping down to join Rey. "Lets get this bird into the air."