Its literally 4 in the morning, its a new year, I'm writing fanfiction while the drunk uncles are sharing embarrassing stories, and I'm currently falling asleep. Wrote this in three days, I think I'm dying. Once again, thank you BigBoss insert underscore here 84 for being a huge assist in the muse and in the progress of this fanfic. I am so sorry for all the errors, I am literally dying of exhaustion, but DAMN IT, this fanfic must be shared to the world. Oh yeah, you should read Love is All You Need, also by me, because this is the sequel.
Enjoy!
Although the wedding wasn't close and it had only been a week since the engagement, Poe could finally call Luke suegro, which meant father in law in Spanish. It felt more familiar and proper. Luke didn't mind, encouraging it.
"I would've asked you for his hand in marriage, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise," Poe had said.
"No hard feelings. I'm seeing my kid grow up," he said a few hours after the engagement. "And it's a given...But you have my blessing."
Rey awwd and Finn had grinned, squeezing Poe's hand before giving it a kiss. Han, of course, just had to ruin the moment.
"I'm too old for this."
"Shut up Han, you're drunk," Luke said.
"I'm not even drunk. I'm drinking some of that weird milk cinnamon thing that lover boy here made," Han gestured to Poe. "Junior, though, he would get drunk after one glass of this."
"Lightweight Luke," Leia snickered under her breath.
Luke sighed. "You guys suck."
"This stuff though, it's pretty good," Han said.
"Horchata," Poe said. "The word you're looking for is horchata."
"Thanks Webster, answering the question I never asked."
Leia batted her husband away with her hand. "Don't listen to him. Han is just bitter he lost twenty dollars."
"Damn right I'm bitter. You know what those twenty dollars would've covered?" Han asked. "Gas money. That could've been gas money. But noooo, you just had to propose today. Thanks to your timing, you ruined the economy AND I lost twenty dollars. Couldn't have you waited another six more years or something"
"Nope. Got tired of waiting." Poe grinned.
"You shouldn't have bet twenty dollars on us in the first place," Finn said.
Han grumbled, drinking more of his horchata.
"Papa, can I open a present now?" Zeke asked.
"No, mijo. You know the rules."
"Arghhhhhhh," Zeke groaned. He turned to Finn. "Dad, can I open one?"
"No."
"Aghhhh."
"Just wait until your kid hits the emo phase."
"Papa, what's an emo?" Zeke asked.
"Uh...Your cousin."
"Quit picking on your in law," Leia scolded.
"Speaking of kids, that reminds me, where the hell is Ben?"
"Kylo is taking a nap."
"His name is Ben," Han grumbled. "I swear...If my kid wanted to be called something else, like Lana or Marina, I would gladly oblige. But Kylo? That's just a dumb name. And he's so aggressive about it."
"I can count on both hands the amount of times he says he hates this family on a weekly basis," Leia said. "Then again, I can do that also when he tells me to buy more conditioner."
"Dad, I wanna watch a movie. The one with Snoopy."
"You already saw it today."
"I wanna watch it again. Please"
"Okay."
"I'll join you in a bit," Poe said.
"I'm switching to eggnog, I need to feel festive," Han said.
"They were so entertained by it, I had no idea why. Finally I asked Rey and she said 'We liked seeing what you like to talk about!'"
"What did we as humanity do to that was so good that we deserved children"
"I ask myself that every day. When Rey was little, I would always have her fill the answer key. She was fascinated by the little bubbles, saw it as a game. Seventy two question tests, all multiple choice. She made the answers all A then B then A, then B, so on so forth, then the next one would be D, and the last one would be E. Not a single C except for number 68. It was the most entertaining test I've ever seen my students take."
"I can imagine. So, what are you gonna do for New Years"
"Maybe watch the ball drop. Then go to sleep," Luke said. "Hey, I'm old, I don't party anymore. With the weather acting up, I don't want to risk it."
"Lightweight Luke," his future son in law snickered under his breath.
"Can you not," Luke rolled his eyes.
"I kid, I kid. Rey is gonna host a party or something, but I'm not even sure either."
Luke hummed in agreement and retreated into the kitchen.
"Uh, suegro?" Poe called out into the hallway. "Can you come here for a second?"
"Sure thing."
Poe gestured to the open facebook notification on his phone. "Do you know this guy?" he asked.
On the notification, the name Anakin Skywalker appeared. He had no profile picture, still using the grey default icon that came with making a new account.
Luke glanced down at his prosthetic hand for a few moments, then back to the screen. Sparing no hesitance, he tapped the button to block the user.
"Just ignore him."
"Wait, do you know him?"
"That's my dad."
"Oh..." Poe trailed off. So that was the black sheep Rey always referred to. He never knew his name, just the fact that he was a pain in the ass and Luke and Leia did not talk to him. "He must've found me through the engagement post Rey made."
"Like I said, ignore him. We don't want another hand loss."
Poe self consciously glanced down at his own hands. The mental image of accepting a friend request then getting his hand cut off was not a nice one.
Awkwardly, he cleared his throat and said, "Uh, okay, whatever you say."
"Good."
"New year, new me!"
"I swear to God, Rey, if I hear you say any of that new year bullshit that everyone says, I will smack you."
On the video call, Rey rolled her eyes. "Come on, Dameron, live a little bit! It's New Years eve eve," Rey said. "We're gonna have a good time, even if the stick up your ass kills you."
"I am the least boring person you've ever met."
"If the King insists."
Rey winked. "You know it. You're gonna bring the chips, right?"
"Obviously. And the beer."
"Uh, no. We are not going to be one of those frat parties. We are gonna be classy and have champagne. And I do not trust you with alcohol."
"I am not a light weight!"
"Please! Tell that to all the drunk snapchats I got from you during Spring break."
"We don't talk about that."
"I have screenshots."
"Moving on!" Poe exclaimed cheerfully, ignoring Rey's protests.
"Chicken. Anyways, Jessika will be coming home soon after all."
"Yeah, I got the message from her a while ago."
"Gross, she told you first."
"Well, excuse me for being her coworker."
"Yeah, but I'm her girlfriend. Girlfriend outnumbers coworker at least three times."
Jessika was a co worker that worked alongside Poe in aeronautical engineering.
"Oh shit."
"What?"
"My...My dad just called me."
"Is that a bad thing"
"I….I don't know."
"Okay, take a deep breath, everything's gonna be okay."
"Rey, I think...I think I gotta go."
"Text me when you can, okay?"
He was so thankful that it was nighttime and Zeke was already asleep because he did not want to explain why he was staring at his cell phone and close to crying.
He knew the timezone was different from home and Yavin.
They...They hadn't spoken since the funeral. It didn't help that his mom passed before he left to go to college. It didn't help that the one person he got the most support and spirit from was gone. It had been years, so many years ago. Almost nearing the double digits.
Luke spoke fondly of his mother, having known her before Poe was born. How she was a talented pilot and a great person with so much determination. It wasn't too often when he did talk of her, but he never had a bad memory of her.
He still remembered the last thing his father had said to him after the funeral.
"There's too much of her in you."
Poe felt the guilt. God, of course he felt it. It wasn't his fault that he took after his mom so much. And he knew he wasn't the reason why she died. Cancer, the damn thing, killed her. And he felt so helpless to stop it.
She didn't get to see her son graduate. And then again, neither had his father. He just dropped all contact. She didn't get to meet Zeke, didn't get to meet Finn. Didn't get to be the loving grandmother that knitted so many hats.
In Yavin, one of the main characteristics was family. Everyone was close, with some family ties stretching back to the settlement of the place. It was tradition that his mom would knit a hat whenever a neighbor's baby was born. Even if she wasn't fond of the person, she held no hardships against the child.
"Everyone deserves a little bit of warmth."
Poe still had a handful of them from his childhood, hiding in his closet.
Her mother would never get to knit one for Zeke.
His mother was the one who taught him all about flying. He would sit on her lap as she flew around the city in their tiny airplane. Over the fields, over the mountains. Over the lush and green hills. His mother was the one who made him fall in love with being in the air, where he felt that he truly belonged.
Until he was nineteen.
When Shara Bey Dameron got stricken with cancer, she originally had six months to live. Poe could deal with that. It could give him enough time to process and get mentally ready to see his mother go.
Then came the misdiagnosis.
The six months had turned into three months. Chemotherapy wouldn't work. It was moving too fast for anyone to catch. Shara was done, resigned to the fact that she was going to die and there was no way out of this.
Exactly one month short of Poe going off to college in the US, Shara Bey Dameron died.
The funeral was depressing. To his shock, Poe didn't cry. He had done enough crying at his mother's bedside.
And coincidentally, that was how Poe met Luke, Leia and Han. Old friends of his parents that he never knew.
It was years ago, and man, did he miss her. He has pictures of her around the house, from when she was a pilot, to the last one he took with her when she was still healthy.
It was a reminder to Poe of how utterly cruel and unexpected life can be. Cancer took away his mother from his life, and a wife to his father.
Poe had his life together. Damn it, he had it together. He had a stable job of doing what he loved. He was going to get married with the love of his life. He had a beautiful, healthy and happy son. Life was looking up.
He took a deep breath and looked at the missed call log. His dad's phone number was still the same, so was the notification from half an hour ago.
Poe took a deep breath and tapped the screen to call back.
"Hello?"
"Why didn't you tell me you got engaged?"
This was so not how he expected the conversation to go.
All of his words failed him. He knew multiple languages, could fluently speak and even sing in a handful of said languages. But everything had failed him.
"Uh."
"I saw on Facebook."
"I...Um, en serio?"
"Tu vas a tener una familia y un marido que te ama. And...I'm sorry. For becoming distant."
"Papa, you hurt me."
He couldn't just waltz back into his life, pretending the last nine years didn't hurt him. Pretending that he wasn't hurt. That it felt like he lost both parents.
"I know."
"I...I know? That's all you're going to say? I know? Nine years of not a single bit of communication and all you have to say is I know."
"I know I'm not the best dad there is. And I know I missed out on a lot of important moments in your life because of our distance. And I regret every single bit of it. I am so sorry, mijo, but I don't want to miss anymore. Just...Just give me a shot."
"Can I sleep on it?" Poe asked. "It's a lot to process."
"Of course. Buenas noches, mijo. Duerme bien."
"I….Igualmente."
"Poe?"
Shit, shit.
He lost track of the time during the meltdown. He glanced at his clock and saw that it was two in the morning.
Finn's night shift at the hospital must've been over.
Surely enough, Poe saw his fiancee standing at the closed door, dressed in dark purple scrubs, taking off his coat and scarf.
"Fuck." Poe furiously wiped at his eyes, hoping to god that his breakdown wasn't obvious, but he knew it was useless.
"Poe, what's wrong?" Finn asked. "Poe"
"I'm telling you, it's nothing," Poe repeated again. "Just don't worry about it."
"Now that's an impossible request."
Poe heard the springs in the bed shift next to him as Finn took a seat. He felt Finn's hands on his shoulders, almost asking for permission to be touched.
Poe inched away. "You worked all day," he said. "You need sleep."
"What's wrong?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Poe, what's wrong?"
He knew Finn's tone. He wasn't going to back off from getting to the source of his problem. His love and passion for helping people was natural, coming from childhood. He was the best fit for a nurse.
Poe felt the tears fall down his face and he let out a cry.
Finn wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him in closer. Easily, Poe felt himself fit against his body.
After some time of Finn rubbing his shoulders, Poe croaked out. "It's my dad. He...He called me."
Had it been someone else, they would've questioned why Poe was so distraught about one phone call. But Finn knew the amount of stress and emotional toll it took on Poe even at the slightest mention of his father.
"Oh god," Finn sighed.
"I...I know he's my dad. But it's been nearly nine years since mama died. Nine years. And now, of all days, he chooses to talk to me. It's like I lost two parents."
"He was real understanding."
"Maybe he thought it was the best time."
"I just….I'm scared. What if I turn out to be this bad with Zeke?"
"God no."
"What if I'm not a good enough dad?" Poe asked in a desperate whisper. "What if he hates me because I wasn't good enough?"
"Poe, you are good enough. You're patient, you're loving, you are more than good enough. So many kids would kill to have a parent with so much unconditional love."
"Zeke loves you. You're his world. You're his father. You are doing good."
"What if I lose you?"
"Poe, when our times, it will come. And I'm not planning on leaving you any time soon. Trust me when I say that we will both be very old and crankily throwing peaches at grandkids."
"Peaches?"
"Peaches."
Poe smiled and chuckled a little bit. He frowned and said,"I'm sorry I kept you up."
"It's okay," Finn kissed the top of Poe's head. "I'm gonna get some water then get ready for bed."
"Okay, I'm right behind you."
Poe texted Rey that he felt better and would rather talk about it later. Rey responded with a heart emoji and saying that Jessika was home, that she was going to sleep. Poe wished her a goodnight and plugged in his phone. Following his word, he went to get ready for bed into his restroom.
Finn's embrace didn't erase the overwhelming anxiety of having your father back in your life after nearly ten years, but it sure did help him sleep.
In the morning, Poe woke up to Finn's arms around his waist and a much more clearer mind. Curtains drawn closed to the point of comfortable darkness, yet not enough to be pitch black but enough to still see his surroundings around him.
No matter how many times he saw him, he would never get tired of the absolute peace of Finn's expression in the mornings.
Finn breathed softly with precise gentleness.
The night before had been the only one out of the handful that didn't end in kisses or any form of sexual intimacy since the engagement. Some nights, it was just kisses. Others it was full on love making.
But last night was just pain.
Feeling the slight memory of being overwhelmed, Poe breathed deeply and pulled the blanket closer. He settled back into Finn's arms, pressing a tiny kiss on his interlocked hand and focusing on the warmth.
Zeke was probably awake by now, just lumbering around the house. And surely enough, Zeke gave a tiny knock, and Poe gently called out, "Come in."
Zeke came into Poe's bedroom, rubbing at his eyes.
"Hey mijo."
Zeke gave a tired wave. "Papi, I'm hungry."
"Let me make you something to eat. Go brush your teeth, okay?"
His son nodded and walked back into the hallway.
Convincing himself to leave Finn's embrace, Poe couldn't resist to press a kiss against his fiancee's forehead. He went to brush his teeth and then followed his son into the kitchen.
"Scrambled eggs are okay with you, ace?"
"Yeah."
On mornings when there wasn't school, Zeke would watch some television on the local cartoon channels. Poe felt the familiarity of the routine bring him back to the present, not quite forgetting the fact that his father was back in his life, but still enough to remember that he was his own person, he had his son and fiancee, he's okay.
He set the coffee to brew in the coffee maker, thanking himself again for buying it. Finn can say all he want; "It's a waste of money!", "We could've gone with the regular ot!", "It's too complicated!", but Poe didn't care because the modern coffeemaker was the best damn thing ever invented after the steam engine.
Poe turned on the stove and got the oil. Pulling out the eggs from the fridge, he cracked two on the brim of the black pan and set the raw yolk in.
Sometime later, the eggs were nearly ready.
"PAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Startled, Poe burned himself with the spatula. Uttering a curse, he looked up and called out "Zeke?!"
Oh shit, what if Zeke was hurt? Oh shit shit shit?
Just as Poe was going to turn off the stove and start running, Zeke padded down the kitchen floor in his socks and jumped to reach his dad's hand. "Look! Look!"
"You scared me!"
"Papa, you have to see this!" Zeke tugged on his hand insistently. "You have to see this!"
Poe turned off the stove and resigned, let Zeke lead the way.
"Oh my gosh."
"It snowed!"
Overnight, it had snowed a thick layer of white. The snow covered the driveway,
Rey had sent a message early in the morning.
"Party has been cancelled due to the heavy snowfall. Hope you all have a great new year!"
Surely enough, he had about sixteen snapchats from Rey about the snowfall and Jessika had sent him a wall of snowmen emojis and a selfie of her kissing Rey's cheek in the snow.
"IT'S SNOWING! IT'S SNOWING!"
"Where's dad?"
"Asleep."
"Was. You woke me up, little man."
"Look at all the snow, daddy."
"I saw."
"I wanna go outside!"
"Not yet, mijo, you gotta eat breakfast."
"I think the breakfast is burning."
"Oh shit!" Poe turned around and ran as fast as he could to the kitchen.
"Don't say that word, Zeke."
"Okay!"
Poe could barely get the excited four year old into a coat, much less eat breakfast. He was so excited, itching to go into the snow.
It hit Poe that this was Zeke's first snowfall.
After a few pictures of the snowmen that Finn had artfully made, because it was so cute and this was also the first snowfall of him and Finn as a couple, Zeke pelted his fathers with snowballs.
"Snowball fight!"
"Oh, it's ON!"
Laughs followed the small family as they chased each other around the yard, throwing snowballs of different sizes and intensities at each other.
Zeke called out, "And his name is…"
Oh god, he knew what was going to come, but he wasn't going to stop it.
Poe couldn't stop laughing as Finn pinned him down while yelling "John Cena!" and the both fell into a thick soft bank of cold snow. He laughed until he was red in the face, until his stomach ached from laughter.
"You're such a meme," Poe grinned.
"Yeah, well, you're marrying this meme."
"I'm so glad I am."
Finn smiled and pressed such a warm kiss that Poe was pretty sure could melt the snow.
"I love you."
"I know."
Echoing the mantra Han and Leia had, Finn laughed and went in for another kiss. It went on and on for a few more until Zeke threw snowballs and more snowballs at his fathers.
"The battle may be over, but the war is not!"
Finn jumped up. "You're gonna lose, little man!" he declared.
"Just try!" Zeke stuck out his tongue and ran behind the car in the driveway, presumably to make more snow balls.
Poe opted out and decided to take more pictures of the calm scenery and seeing the two most important people in his life throw more snowballs at each other.
Hours later after they had gone inside, Zeke took a warm bath and went back into his pajamas. There was too much risk going into the city with the roads iced over, but it wasn't like they had anything to do. There was enough food, good internet access, and an ongoing Harry Potter marathon on TV that Poe planned on watching what he could.
After much hesitance, Poe took the picture of the snowy front yard and sent it to his father.
"I can do a video call for a little bit. Is that okay?"
"Yeah."
Holy shit.
His dad did not change.
He had a lot of grey hairs in his short brown hair, but nothing had changed. The stance of going into a mission with full confidence, the bravado that was pure Dameron. His dad had more wrinkles, more grey hair, but it was still him.
Poe couldn't help smiling at the sight of seeing his father looking so much healthier and happier.
"Hey old man."
"Dios mio, you have not changed."
"Look at all the snow."
"That's beautiful."
"Yeah, Zeke had a blast." He sent more pictures of Zeke playing in the snow, one of him proudly holding a snowball that was bigger than his head. "He nearly gave me and Finn hypothermia, though. He assaulted us with snowballs."
He sent one selfie he took of him, Finn and Zeke.
"The other guy, that's your fiancee?"
"Yeah, Finn Skywalker."
"Hold on, Skywalker?"
"Yeah."
"Oh god, Luke is your in law?"
"Yeah."
"No mames."
Poe let out a laugh. "Yeah, he's my suegro."
"Oh mijo, the Skywalker family is a mess."
"Don't think I don't know that. They like to remind me of that every day. Han said I will be joining him in the affiliated Skywalker family curse club."
"Ah Han Solo, the self titled legend. How's the bastard doing?"
"Uh, he's dealing with a teenage son."
"Oh god."
"Teenage emo and possible gothic son, to be exact."
"I wish him luck."
"Was I that bad?" Poe asked.
"No, your mother had the patience of a saint. And you were too busy aiming for the stars to be occupied with those emo shenanigans."
Poe smiled. "I wonder where I get the patience from. Does that just happen, when you have a kid?"
"It's a skill you get over time. Right now, your son is four. You got patience for your son as a four year old. Then you'll have patience for him as a five year old. So on, so forth. The patience will improve over time, hopefully."
"As with Han, it didn't."
Poe saw his father burst into a hearty laugh. "Yeah, the self titled legend never changes."
"Paea, who are you talking to?"
"Zeke, you wanna see your abuelo?"
"Luke?"
"No, hermoso, my dad."
Zeke nodded, excited. "Yeah!"
Poe helped his son sit onto his lap.
"Dile hola."
"Hola abuelo!"
"Hola precioso. Your dad's told me a lot about you."
"Tell him about the snow."
"It's so cool! And I threw a snowball at my dad."
Poe fake grimaced, a small smile on his face. "It wasn't fun."
"Did you build a snowman"
"Three of them!"
"Dios mio, he looks so much like you."
"Coincidence," Poe shrugged. He ruffled Zeke's hair and pressed a kiss into his crownline. "Yeah, este es mi morro." My little brat.
"Are you going to watch the ball drop tonight?" Zeke asked.
"Yes, yes, I'm going to go with a few friends. Do you remember the Garcia family from next door, Poe"
"Yeah."
"I'm going with them. Guadalupe makes some mean tamales."
"Foods ready!" Finn called out.
"Wish your abuelo a happy new year."
"Happy new year, abuelito."
"Happy new year to you too, mijito."
"And dad...Thank you. Thank you for getting back in touch. It's a good way to end and start a new year."
"Anytime, mijo. Have a safe new year."
"Same to you. Don't get too turnt."
"Not possible. I am the life of the party."
Poe laughed. "Okay."
He found himself smiling. His dad was so much more happier than...well, before his mother died. He seemed to genuinely like Zeke.
He hugged Finn from behind and kissed the nape of his neck.
"What's got you in such a good mood?"
"You, as always," he said. "I talked to my dad. He's doing so well. Like...it's physically making me feel a whole lot better knowing that he is okay and not in a world of hurt."
"That's good."
"It's about to drop!"
Poe counted down alongside his fiancee and son, watching as the fluorescent colors decreased by the second until the clock hit 12 AM, the start of a brand new year full of possibilities and closure and more hope.
The ever loving cliche, Finn kissed him and said, "Happy new year, Poe."
"Happy new years to you too."
Zeke hugged him and Finn and grinned, chattering away about the festivities and how it wasn't 12 AM yet in other states and they had somehow traveled into the future.
Poe felt so lucky, so lucky, to have the best people in the world alongside him in his life.
And also in a brand new year.
Edited now, I think I am sleep hungover from the festivities. I think I'm going to sleep into 2k17. Reviews are welcomed!