The great Poe Dameron, dashing and heroic, never had his feet on the ground for more than a second. He was swift, with his heart in the clouds. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect himself to settle down. Sure he had seen her many times before, but he never interacted with her - never did he once had a chance to speak with her. It amazes him that he was married to her.

She attaches too easily.

Too grounded.

Too down to earth.

She was homely and to herself.

He knew of her through parallels. They interacted with the same people, been to the same places, had the same interests but were in parallels. They followed the same direction but never the same path. They were parallels, destined to never meet.

They've been in the same room before dozen of times but at great distances from each other. He would be giving orders while she would be there, stealing glances of him. Poe would always catch those deep eyes of hers and would stare with the same intensity but with weary. Say something. Speak. Talk to her - but he never did. She's beautiful but she's not his type. She's not confident or seductive. Strong as she was, she was broken. Poe could tell by her eyes of hers - eyes that looked at him as if he was the whole world.

She needed someone who could be there for her.

And so Poe never spoke to her.

He knew that she was trouble from the beginning.

Poe would have spent his whole life never speaking to her if it wasn't for BB-8.

It was BB-8 that kept insisting for Poe to speak to her. Rey. A child. It was BB-8 that orchestrated them to finally and formally meet. BB-8 would purposely go to Rey without Poe's knowledge and Poe would spend the rest of the time finding his droid.

Poe had caught her many times staring at his jawline, saw her bite her lip and over time he grew accustomed to the sight, pleased.

For him, a girl being enamored by him wasn't anything new. He was charming, charismatic. Poe didn't need to wonder if she was attracted to him. He just knew. He had relations with many girls her age, some were broken ones for that matter. But Rey was different. She was broken in a different way, in a damaging way. He could have her if he had wanted but she was too precious to hurt.

Getting her pregnant was the last thing he had wanted to do.

"Didn't you take a contraceptive?" he asked when it had happened. He was disappointed, stunned. Upset mostly because he constantly reminded her to take the contraceptive after every time. It was an effective contraceptive that's been used for centuries, a mixed up drink of some sort that consisted tonics, herbs, and such.

"I did," she blurted sheepishly. She's pale, trembling slightly. She's terrified, consumed with guilt while Poe was upset about the news. "I always do but - I'm still pregnant."

There was a silence between them.

"I didn't want this to happen either," she exhaled.

He stared at her for a long time and sighed. He should have known better than to date her. She was young, fertile except he didn't know how fertile she was. "It's okay. I'm here."

That was one of many memories Poe had repressed. He didn't like the person he was before marrying Rey. He was selfish. He was reckless. The man he was didn't deserve her.

Rey had made him a better man.

Marrying her had made him humble.

And being a father had made him selfless. Before her, he thought of only of himself and his droid but now he thinks of her safety, of their family -

Their daughter was gone.

He stares at her. Stares at Rey, stares at her now. He dips his head to her, his hand to her back. He didn't know what she had been going through since he had been away.

He touches her and feels her pain. He sees memories of her crying every night, being haunted of memories of when she carried their child in her arms and in her belly. The scars on her body were constant reminders, constant reminders that her body had made a child that was gone. Poe kissed her face and held her.

"How was she like?" he asks. His memory was slowly returning to him but he wasn't all there yet.

"Perfect," she mouths into his skin. "She kept us together. She made us a family."

"She was advanced," he recalls. He remembers how amazed he was with Ava's development. Ava developed faster than the other children. They had took her to Luke early on and were told that Ava was destined for great things with the force. "She was...perfect," he breathed fondly. There was no other word to describe her. That was their baby, the baby that they made together. "She was the best of us." Poe remembered the first time he had met Rey - how enchanted he was with her features.

"I want to have a baby," she said again.

His eyebrows furrowed. "It's not the right time -

"I don't want another child to replace Ava - I don't want that. I love her - I'll always love her. I'll never forget her." Our daughter's life was stolen, Rey wanted to say. We will never see her grow up. We will never see what she'll be. Tears streamed from Rey's eyes. These past months had been the worst months of her life. Her husband was in a coma and her daughter was gone and Rey, she was alone. "I'm a mother without a child - I'm not a mother anymore."

Poe winced. He understood her pain but he knew that right now, it wasn't the right time. They had to finish this war before anything else. "You're so much more than that."

"I'm no one."

"Don't talk to yourself like that. You are Rey. You are a fighter. You are a jedi in training. You are a leader. You are an inventor - a pilot - a scavenger - you are my wife - a pilot's wife."