Author's Notes: My first Star Wars fic ever! That's pretty exciting. Obviously I love The Force Awakens, so expect there to be more of these, but probably only whenever I get fic prompts. Side note - I'm so OT3 with this new series.

Disclaimer: Hella not mine!

The Gallant Protector

The noisiness of the small cantina still managed to jar Rey after all this time. She had been nearly her entire life on a desolate planet with little more company than her own mind and daydreams to occupy her. It was true that she had never known there was so much green and water on other planets, but she also hadn't expect there to be so much noise too.

Still, Rey wasn't going to let anything keep her from celebrating Finn's birthday – his first birthday ever.

With a rather uncomfortable smile on her face, Rey wound her way through the crowded cantina. Everyone was so cheerful and exuberant, raising their glasses, cheering for the man of the hour, talking to their friends, telling old tales. A few of them clapped her on the back or squeezed her shoulder as she passes by them. She smiled and nodded her head at them, but none of them were who she wanted to see.

Of course there was some occupants that she didn't know. A group of people hung in the corner of the bar, darkly eyeing the happier patrons. They certainly weren't the friendly type or enjoying the extra noise, but none of them complained exactly.

They could have stayed on base to celebrate, but Poe had wanted to do this right. He wanted to give Finn a proper celebration and took him to the place he had had his last birthday celebration. Even Rey had had a birthday party at least once in her life. She couldn't remember it, not really, but she could recall some sort of sweet and a ruffle of her hair.

Sure, it meant that things were a little shadier, but apparently that was what made things fun. Or so Poe said. He had a strange idea of fun sometimes. Like pulling some wild ass stunts in his X-Wing while getting shot at that made people gasp in shock, his flying companions whoop in excitement, and his General shake her head in dismay.

"There's my girl!"

Rey stopped and looked around until she spotted Poe waving a hand at her. He wore a bright grin on his face, his dark hair a handsome wave as usual. Relief seeped into her body as she made her way to him, only to be caught off guard by the man throwing an arm around her and pulling her against him.

"The birthday boy has been jittery waiting for you to arrive," Poe told her. He held up a drink for her with his free hand, but she waved it away. With a shrug of his shoulders, he took a sip from the mug and set it back down. Even though he'd been the first person to give her a taste of alcohol, he never once pressured her to drink any time she turned it down or looked down on her when she did.

Looking around, Rey asked, "Where is he anyways?"

"The toilet." Poe chuckled. "Poor boy drank too fast."

The sound of men arguing came from behind, but Rey didn't pay it any attention until she heard a familiar voice. There was Jess Testor, a pilot alongside Poe, standing toe to toe with a large red alien that was almost two times her size and with four more eyes. At her side was Finn, blinking and looking more confused than anything else.

"It was an accident!" Jess snapped at the alien. "No need to be rude."

Poe didn't hesitate to set his drink down and push his way through the crowd towards the arguing group. Rey followed him silently, catching eyes with Finn to make sure that he was okay. Once the two of them reached the others, Poe jumped in. "What's going on?"

"Finn tripped over that loose bit of tile and bumped into this guy, spilling his drink," Jess explained, no less heatedly now that she was talking with her team leader. "This asshole thought it was okay to wallop Finn over the head in retaliation!"

"I think we can settle this like gentleman," Poe reasoned, pulling on what was most likely his most charming and pleasant smile. When it didn't appear to have an affect on the alien or his friends, he dropped the smile and pulled at his jacket, effectively showing a glimpse of his holstered blaster at his side. "Or not."

The red alien grumbled loudly and began to swell up. Behind him, his friends started to look equally menacing. Finn tried to speak up, but his words of, "Listen, everything is fine! We can just leave! We don't need to fight!" went unheard. Not as Jess and Poe prepared to defend him and the aliens gave a few threats of their own.

Rey considered her options and made her decision very quickly. She had learned to trust her gut instinct more often than not these days. With the type of speed gained from years of running on her own, Rey picked up a bottle from one of the barkeeps as he walked by and chucked it as hard as she could. The bottom of the bottle hit the red alien dead center in the forehead, somehow without the glass even breaking, and the alien collapsed to the ground in an unmoving heap.

Everyone went still and silent. Both Poe and Jess raised their eyebrows and straightened up. Finn blinked rapidly and gaped. The other aliens hung about nervously, glancing at their fallen friend and each other, until finally they looked at Rey. She merely looked back at them and smiled faintly. In response, they gathered the red alien as he mumbled and left the cantina. Not surprisingly, no one else seemed to notice the fight and were still having a grand time. That was the kind of establishment after all.

"What in the hell was that?" Jess asked, running a hand through her hair.

"A lucky shot," Rey simply said.

"I'll say," Poe responded, but the knowing smile on his face told her that he didn't exactly believe her. Then again, he was one of three people that knew about her secret mission to find Luke Skywalker and he probably had a good idea about what had happened once she had. He also knew, thanks to Finn's excited reenactments, about all the times she'd found herself in a fight and ended them on her own. "A toast to our gallant defender and the birthday boy!"

Everyone in the cantina cheered and despite her blush, Rey didn't mind the noise this time.