It's late one evening when Poe and Finn approach her. The two have been dating for the past year and she knows they're getting serious. There has been talk of moving in together and she's heard the M word come up more than once. From both of them. She thinks it's sweet and she wonders if someday they'll be the viral video where one proposes and the other pulls out a ring and says he was going to propose and they get into a big sappy fight over how ridiculous it all is.

So when they sit her down that evening, she's sure she knows what's coming next. Rey you've been a great roommate, but Poe and I have decided to move in together.

She'll be happy for them.

Of course she will be.

It's just that finding a new roommate after all this time is going to suck.

"So…" Poe says and it's almost adorable the way he's so nervous.

"Look, I know what you're going to say and it's fine." The words come tumbling out of Rey's mouth.

"You do?" Poe says at the same time Finn says "You already know?"

"Of course." Rey shakes her head and smiles at them. "You've been hinting at it for basically forever."

There's a strange furrow to Poe's brow and she's surprised to see him exchange confused glances with Finn. "I'm not sure we're actually on the same page," Poe mutters.

"You mean you're not here to tell me you're moving in together and I need to find another roommate?" She's not sure if she feels relief or not at that. She's been waiting for it, has even contemplated which of their small group of friends might be looking for such a place or maybe knows someone who does.

"No," Poe says at last. "Well, not at the moment. Maybe sometime in the future…" He clears his throat and Rey cringes.

"Sorry. I just assumed."

"It's ok, Peanut," Finn says and pats her hand. "No, it's just…the holidays are coming up…"

"Oh!" she says, and then. "Oh." Of course. Christmas is three weeks away. Poe always goes home to his family in South Carolina. They won't accept Finn, he tells her. They're conservative, good Christian folks who believe that being gay is some sort of sin. He and Finn have argued about his family on more than one occasion and she just feels sad for them both. Finn has no family, just like her. Another foster kid who was never adopted, she knows he longs for that kind of connection.

Right now she is Finn's family and he is hers, the brother she never had. They'd met in the system when they both landed at the same lousy foster home for a time. A year later, they were separated again, but they'd kept in touch and managed to stay close despite it. When they'd been cut loose from the system, they went to the same college and moved into an apartment together. They had been inseparable ever since, spending every holiday together like a real family would.

Except now.

"I understand," Rey says, sounding eminently more mature than she feels. What she wanted to do was scream and punch the wall. But instead, she pulls up her big girl panties and shows her support for what they were about to do. It can't have been easy.

"No," Poe says and Finn just rolls his eyes.

"Just get to the point, sweetheart," Finn says, a grimace on his face.

"Fine, fine," Poe mutters.

"What have you guys done?" Rey finally asks.

"Not me," Finn says, holding his hands up. There's a bit of mischief in his dark eyes. "This one's all on Poe."

"I need you to come home to my family's place for Christmas," the man in question says in a rush.

"Me?" She can't have heard that right.

"So, Peanut," Finn says, reaching out to take her hand. He doesn't do that unless it's something. She pulls her hand back and narrows her eyes at him. "Poe wants me to come home with him, but…"

"They won't accept you."

"Exactly," Poe says.

"And so me?"

"Right, so about that." Poe reaches up to run his fingers through his unruly mop of hair. "I might have told my Mom I was dating someone and I might have told her it was you."

"Me?" Rey squeaks.

"Yeah so…you see the problem?"

"Obviously." She can't help the sarcasm that creeps into her voice. Poe is a good looking guy, certainly, but she's never even thought of him in any way approaching boyfriend material. He's gay. Not bi. Not pan. Gay. And he's her best friend's boyfriend. Poe doesn't say anything else, just stares at her with this expectant look on his face. Finn, for what it's worth, looks a bit mortified. "So…wait. Are you wanting me to come home to meet your parents as your girlfriend?"

He can't possibly mean that.

"Now you get it!" Poe says.

He means it.

Oh bloody Hell.

"No," she says.

"No?"

"No. Definitely not. Tell your mom I dumped you."

"But…" Poe starts to say.

Finn leans forward and takes her hand. "Rey," he starts to say, and she can see that look that Finn gets. Eyes wide, lips set in a slight pout. "If you don't go, I can't spend the holidays with Poe. And if you do this, we can spend the holiday together too." Oh, he's laying it on thick now.

Rey sits back and crosses her arms over her chest and watches their terribly hopeful and expectant faces. "So I have to pretend to be your girlfriend."

"Can it be that hard?" Poe asks and there's just a touch of smugness to his voice.

Rey snorts. "You know you're a handsome guy, Poe…"

"Of course."

Finn smacks him lightly on the arm.

"But you're as gay as a three dollar bill," she finishes with a smirk. "Exactly how am I supposed to pretend to be madly in love with you?"

"Madly in love is not necessary," he says with a smirk. "Just maybe mildly infatuated."

"No fake PDA," Rey says. God, is she really going to do this?

"None," he assures her. "I'm pretty sure my parents would hate that."

"And we're not sharing a room."

"God no," Poe says, holding his hand to his chest. "My parents wouldn't allow it anyway. My older sister? Yeah, so they even had issues with her and her husband staying in one room when they came to visit."

"Wow. That bad?"

"That bad. No, they're totally more likely to make Finn room with me." He gives a lascivious smirk at that.

"Oh my God, your poor parents. They're really that clueless?"

"You have no idea just how naïve people can be," Poe says with a shake of his head. "Finn's my bestie. Just ask my mom. They came out to visit once and took us both out to eat. My dad loved Finn so much that he invited us to a ball game the next time he was near town. Came and picked us up and drove us all the way to Takodana. Treated his poor starving college son and his best buddy to hot dogs and crackerjacks and all that stuff."

Rey's eyes are wide the whole time and then she just laughs. "So this should be easy?"

"Absolutely," Poe says.

"Except…" Finn starts to say and Poe shoots him a look. And Rey knows this can't be a good thing.

"There's nothing," Poe says and gives Finn a look.

"There's something," Rey says. "I want to know it all. Is there some crazy uncle who thinks he's psychic or something? Or some weird skeleton in your parent's closet that's obvious to everyone but no one talks about it?"

"The only thing in the closet is me," Poe mutters.

"Nothing like that," Finn says quickly and there's another look exchanged between the couple.

"It's just…Cousin Ben."

"Cousin Ben? Is this like Cousin It or something?" Cousin Ben…

"No," Poe says with a small laugh. "That's more like Uncle Han's best friend. Chewie they call him. You might meet him. Nearly seven feet tall and mostly hair."

"Why do they call him Chewie?"

"Now that you ask…I have no idea. He's always just been Chewie. Or Uncle Chewie to the kids. He has no kids of his own, so he sort of adopted us all as if he were really our uncle. You'll like him, Rey," he says quickly. "He's one of those gentle giant sorts. He used to play Santa when we were kids."

"It's how they knew there wasn't a real Santa," Finn says. "Yes we've heard this one a thousand times."

"I haven't," Rey points out. "Maybe I should…"

"Plenty of time for that," Finn interrupts with. "We have the whole trip down to regale her with stories about your family."

"Right," Poe responds with.

"So this cousin?"

"Ben, right. So he's not exactly the nicest person on the face of the planet," Poe starts with.

"That's saying something," Finn mutters under his breath and Poe shoots him a look.

"He doesn't talk to his parents. Like at all. I don't even pretend to know the story there and I don't want to. But they've been estranged for years. My parents always invite him over for Christmas. I guess he has nowhere else to go and there's that whole 'Christian charity' thing, so he comes over."

"He's an asshole, Rey," Finn warns. "Your best bet is to just stay out of his way and let him be his grumpy gothic asshole self to everyone else."

"Gothic?"

Poe laughs. "He looks like a fucking vampire, Rey. I'm not lying. He did not get his coloring from the Solo side of things, that's for sure. And I don't think I've ever seen him wear anything that wasn't all black. Just trust me. Stay out of his way. You'll thank me."

Rey takes a deep breath. "This whole thing is crazy. You know that, right?"

Poe reaches out to take her hand and Finn follows suit, taking her other hand. "I'm aware of that," Poe says.

"It would mean the world to me," Finn says and the fervency behind his voice tells her she really has only one choice here.

"Ok, I'll do it" Rey says and Finn lets out a whoop.

"Yes!" Poe says and he immediately pulls Finn into his arms and the two do some ridiculous little dance around the room.

Rey laughs with them. "You know you're not going to be able to do that when we're there, right?" she asks as they share a quick kiss.

"That's right!" And then Poe is grabbing her and dancing her around the room. When he swoops in for a kiss she turns her head to the side.

"No kissing," Rey says primly. "I'm not into PDA."

"Of course, my peach," Poe says with a laugh.

Rey's nose wrinkles at the ridiculous nickname. "We're going to have to discuss that one, Mr. Dameron."

And then they all dissolve into giggles. This is going to be ridiculous and they're going to get caught and it's all going to go to hell. She just knows it.

But she's pretty sure the ride along the way is going to be very amusing.