A Galaxy Quite Close to Home

Chapter 26: A Bitter-Sweet Reunion

"Are you..." Rey stood in front of a man, advanced in age, a beard thickly covering his jaw. He looks ancient. She thought as she searched his eyes, the same warm and wise gaze that Leia always looked at her with.

"Yes... Rey." he said quietly, voice gruff from lack of use. He lived alone in a small cabin that was seemingly covered in a thick layer of dust beside the stove and the bed and here she was barging into his life. I have the right to interrupt his life. He abandoned me from the beginning. She thought but then immediately regretted it. Leia had told her everything Han had been able to pass to her before he had... died.. Luke had stepped beyond the line, gotten in far worse of trouble than he intended and even as a federal agent he didn't feel the government could protect him. So he ran. He ran and he didn't look back and he left Rey to the care of social service and the distance watch of Han. He left because he wanted to keep me safe. Rey reminded herself and took a deep breath.

"Luke Skywalker..." the old man winced at the name and shook his head.

"I'm Samuel Johnson now. Don't call me by that name." she wasn't perplexed by why he had changed his name. It made complete sense. But the name Samuel Johnson just didn't fit him in her mind. From the stories she had heard he was practically legend. A boring name like that just didn't add up.

"But I'm-"

"You're still Rey Skywalker." he said, his chest puffing out with a pride that she didn't quite understand. This is going to be hard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poe's heart lept, three months Finn had been out. Three months. Poe stayed with him as much as possible in the hospital and Amy came in to bring him food but she still had to go to work during the day most of the time. But now, for the first time, he saw Finn's brow furrow. He's waking up. Is he waking up? Something about the balance in the room shifted and as the hours moved on Finn grew more and more conscious. Near midnight though it seemed that it was a false alarm, Amy dragging a disappointed Poe home to bed. The air mattress is still out. It was the last thing Poe thought about before he fell asleep, curled up behind Amy. She laid awake for a while, staring at the baseball bat that Poe had found in the closet. Neither of them knew where it had come from but they kept it none-the-less. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep her phone started to buzz loudly on the bedstand, her heart racing wildly as she picked it up without even checking caller ID.

"Ms. Finch?" the voice of a young man sounded hopeful on the other side. Her heart beat wildly as she reached back to Poe and started to shake him awake, the cat by his feet getting up and looking at her angrily for disturbing both of them. BB had been the only thing to keep them from losing it after Rey left, the little kitten (not so much a kitten now) reminded them of both Finn and Rey. Poe pushed himself up and looked at Amy with drowsy confusion.

"Uhm, yes?"

"I think you should come to the hospital right away. Mr. Scott just woke up." her heart stopped, a grin so wide it hurt her cheeks spreading over her face and she hung up the phone without even thinking.

"Amy what the hell is it?" she spun around and looked at him.

"Finn's awake."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Rey?" Poe questioned from his end of the call, the connection fuzzy and poor because of Rey's cruddy pay-as-you-go phone.

"Poe?"

"You need to come home. Now." Rey looked over at Luke, his brow furrowed. He looked a lot different without the unkempt beard.

"Why do I need to come home?"

"Finn's awake." Rey's heart skipped a beat and then pounded so loudly in her chest that she was sure the whole store could hear it. She laughed, near the edge of hysterics and her eyes welled with tears.

"He's awake. He's awake? Oh GOD PLEASE TELL ME YOU AREN'T KIDDING." she was getting excited, her voice raising an octave and Poe chuckled on the other end, the sound crackling in her ear. She didn't mind. Finn was awake.

"Why the hell would I joke about this?!?! Get your ass back to Saint Louis."

"No argument here." after that she hung up. It was the way her and Poe got along, no stupid goodbyes just simple communication. Only what was needed to be said was said and after that there was nothing. She liked the friendship they had and she did consider it friendship. Now Rey looked at her father with tear-filled eyes.

"Rey what's the matter?"

"He's awake. Samuel, he's awake." she always called him by that. Not father, not Luke. Samuel. She found it difficult to refer to him as her father despite it being biologically the truth. They got along though, much better than she had expected.

"You're leaving?" Rey furrowed her brow at his question and shook her head.

"We're leaving. You need to meet Finn." the old man sighed and shook his head.

"I don't think that's the greatest idea..."

"We won't discuss this here." Rey ended the conversation for the time being, knowingly making him mull over the thought in his head before they went back to the cabin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There seemed to be an entire welcome party: Leia, Poe, Amy, Chewy, Shawn and Jessika all stood there in the terminal waiting to welcome them at the airport. Rey found herself wrapped in more arms than she ever had really cared for or cared to know how it felt to be that squashed. Even so she was glad to be back, surrounded by those people. The one thing missing was Finn. She needed to see him so badly that her feet almost moved without her brain towards the hospital. Everybody was hushed, however, when Luke was greeted by his sister and old friend. It seemed like the most reverent of reunions. Only when every ounce of tension dissipated did Poe speak up.

"Let's get you to the hospital." Rey didn't argue, shoving her bag into the back of the old truck that once belonged to Han and hopping in with Poe who took her to the hospital and let everybody else head in their own directions. Luke went with Leia, having decided to stay with his sister while he looked for his own place. Rey had talked him into moving there permanently. Not just a visit.

The truck was silent, not an uncomfortable silence, but rather, an excited one. The anticipation was so thick that Poe had to put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from literally bouncing. Rey took no time in unbuckling her seat belt when they got to the hospital but Poe tried to keep her in the cab.

"Rey I need to tell you something before we go in the-" she hopped out and ran through the front doors, people watching her with confusion and discomfort as she bypassed the elevator and went straight for the stairs to find room 2187. She calmed herself before entering the room.

There he was, sitting on the bed with his head propped up on pillows, playing with a little hand held puzzle. The young man looked up at her with confusion, to which she responded with hurrying towards him and wrapping her arms tightly around him to the best of her ability. He awkwardly and lightly hugged back.

"Finn..." she whispered and pulled back, cupping his face in both hands and kissing him deeply. Poe appeared at the doorway and felt his heart shatter as he saw her pulling back from it. Finn looked at her with the widest, most confused eyes ever and tilted his head.

"Uhm... excuse me miss but... who are you?"