He gives Finn's shoulder one more little squeeze before he gets up and heads out of the room. It takes him a few minutes to track down one of the medtechs and get out of them what Finn is and isn't allowed to eat or drink. He has a feeling that one of them will probably be by while he's on his errand, or at the least be stopping in after he gets back. Finn should be okay, though
Finn has to be okay. He's not willing to accept any other option.
Several minutes later he's back with a tray, and there's some kind of soup and crackers and water, which is apparently all that should be Finn's speed at the moment. The man really deserves a better meal than that for all he's done, but that can wait until he's out of medical. Make it a celebration, Poe decides. He sets the tray down near Finn's bed.
"The medtech said you're allowed to sit up if I help you and if you're propped up with pillows and if you lay back down immediately if your back so much as twinges. Ready to give that a try?"
It's a little surprising he hasn't been accosted by the medtechs before now, actually, but perhaps his readouts are good enough that he doesn't need attention? Or maybe Poe's going to give them a full report when he falls back asleep again, because he can feel it hovering on the edge of his vision and knows he could succumb to it with the slightest effort. But for the moment, company and food are much more important.
Especially company.
"Yeah. Yeah, I think I can do that." The soup smells great already, and it's not like he isn't used to plain fare. The urge to help set up the pillows is difficult to resist, though, especially with Poe fussing over him, but Finn reminds himself that this is normal when someone's been injured, and if their positions were reversed he wouldn't want Poe risking himself.
Sitting up makes him feel better, more awake, and he pats the bed to invite Poe to sit next to him as he grabs the tray and starts sipping the soup. This feels a lot more natural, being able to talk to him on his own level instead of while he's laying down. "Thanks, man."
He's careful with Finn, more careful than he'd ever been with anyone before, just helping him sit up. It's because he can still remember way too vividly how Finn looked when they brought him in. He remembers trotting along behind the medtechs. Hopefully Finn doesn't remember any of that at all.
He's about to go back to his chair when Finn pats the bed. Well, he's not going to say no to an invitation like that. Hell, Finn just probably wants someone to lean on a little; he's gotten the impression that Stormtroopers weren't much for hugging, so the poor guy's probably starved for affection even without the almost dying thing. He transfers carefully over to the spot on the bed, shoulder brushing against Finn's.
Finn's memory has fortunately blocked that out, at least from his conscious mind while he's awake and in the brightly lit medbay. What it dredges up while he's asleep may be an entirely different story.
Poe's impression is on the spot; having someone to lean up against physically is almost as comforting as being able to sit upright. And, well, Poe doesn't seem to mind, so Finn gives him a bashful smile.
"We can call it even. I needed out of there as much as you did, and you saved me at Takodana."
That smile. That could warm a guy down to his toes if he wasn't thinking very platonic thoughts at the moment.
"And then you saved all of us at Starkiller Base." Poe grins and leans his head to lightly bump against the side of Finn's head. He doesn't want to rock him too much, not right now. "Sorry, buddy, you're stuck being a hero now. A big damn hero."
"Is that what they're saying?" He looks honestly surprised and, truth to tell, a little confused. "I was just trying to get Rey to the Falcon."
He screws his forehead, thinking. Yeah, Solo and Chewbacca had set some explosives, and he knew there was a bombing run on the oscillator, but he...really hadn't done much, himself, except stand up to Kylo Ren which landed him in medbay to begin with.
"What did happen? The official story, I mean." Since he had been out for the most important part.
He probably should have realized that. He sort of had, a little, in his gut. But at that time, when they'd been coming up with the plan, they'd needed something. Poe had been focused on the task at hand--but more important, he'd trusted Finn. Technically, it had been self-interest that had led Finn to rescue him, but it had been a rescue anyway. Poe had known, looking the man in the eye, that he was worth trusting. That he was a good guy. That he'd figure something out.
So this doesn't change any of what he'd known. And he might as well say so. "I kind of guessed. But I also trusted you to figure it out. You're solid."
That's right, Finn's only just woken up. This isn't old news to him. "The charges General Solo and Chewbacca planted put a big hole in the oscillator. Big enough for me to fly my X-wing in and blow it all to hell while you and Rey were dealing with Kylo Ren. Chewbacca picked the two of you up when the planet started to collapse and we escorted the Falcon home."
That gets his grin to grow, and if his hands weren't full he'd give Poe a shoulder-punch - a nudge will have to do. "Glad you did. I didn't know I was breaking out the best pilot in the Resistance." Because if he's solid, what does that make Poe?
He slurps up as much soup as he can while Poe fills him in, nodding at the points he knows. "So it's gone? The whole base?" That was the idea, yeah, but it's still strange to think of. It had been a whole planet...but so had the target planets when the base fired on them. "And you did the heavy lifting. All I did was paint a target on it."
He nods. "Yeah, the whole base is gone, exploded back into the star it consumed." He nudges Finn back--gently. "Couldn't have gotten to it without you. You told us how to blow it up, you got the shield down so we could attack because you volunteered to go in to a dangerous situation. Sorry, you're not going to escape the whole hero thing, get used to it."
"Maybe we both are." Stranger coincidences have happened. He knows that much from the history of the Rebellion - even the version the First Order teaches its recruits. Not for the first time, he wonders if the Resistance has a very different version of the same events. Maybe he can ask General Organa about it some time, since she was by all accounts there for the most exciting parts.
"But I was--" He catches himself, brings his voice down to a hiss. "Poe, I was doing it to get Rey back. I didn't know it would work!"
But it did. And Rey is okay. He believes it, and not only because Poe an BB-8 both said the same thing. If he got out of there alive, she must have, or Kylo Ren would have just killed him and been done with it.
"I heard you the first time," he says. "But you still did what you did, Finn. You still got us in there. You saved everyone. Deal with it." Another little bump of the head.
Finn could have run. Poe's aware of that. And sure, he did everything for Rey. Just like he'd saved Poe to save himself. That didn't change the outcomes. And the fact that Finn stuck around, that he tried... Poe's pretty sure it's not just him being completely selfish about things. Even if Finn doesn't realize it, himself.
Finn shakes his head again, but this time at least he's smiling. "Okay, okay. As long as you admit you helped." If that's the way Poe wants to think, well, he can't help being flattered. General Organa might tell a different story. She won't. Finn is in for a surprise.
Done with the soup, he takes a few crackers to munch on. His hunger isn't exactly satisfied but he can feel the exhaustion creeping up again despite it. "Poe? Uh." He swallows, as much to buy time as anything. "Thanks. For being here when I woke up."
Of all things, those words bring back to him Rey's expression when she saw them at Starkiller Base. We came back for you, Finn had said, and he knew--knew--that it was exactly the right thing to say to her. Nobody had come back for her before, ever.
Nobody'd ever cared if he was okay before. And with just as much surety, he suddenly knew Rey had been by his bed with the same thought. That she wasn't here now could only be because she had something she couldn't put off any longer.
Poe's here, though. And it feels great to know that.
Finn lets himself sink into the pillows and breathes out. He'd like to say he's okay, but if just eating some soup and crackers makes him this tired it wouldn't exactly be the whole truth. "I'll be all right," he says instead, which is much more accurate. "Cause I've got my friends waiting for me."
"I know you will be," Poe says. He's not sure at all, he's terrified about it, actually. But he puts all the conviction he's got into those words, because he needs it to be true. He's gotten through a lot of situations with sheer grit and determination; it's the only universal answer he's got.
He takes Finn's hand for a moment, just clasping it between his own because that feels like the right thing to do. "That's what friends do."
Finn squeezes back with what little strength he has, noting that he's really going to need some conditioning once he's allowed out of bed. "I've never had friends before," he admits quietly, even though Poe probably already knows that. "But I think I picked some good ones."
Fell into them, deliberately picked them, same difference. Right?
Just that admission breaks his heart. He never really knew how Stormtroopers lived, but it makes sense, he supposes. Horrible, incredibly messed up sense. It hurts, and it makes him angry that Finn's been forced to live like that. The First Order just never stops hurting people.
Being angry right now isn't going to help Finn. Poe just digs it down deep, like he did when he discovered the traitor in the senate. More fuel for the fire. And for now, he can focus on Finn, and the fact that he is going to be okay, and he smiles. "You've got great taste," he says, grinning. "Though you better watch out about pilots. We've got a bad reputation."
Friends are a luxury a Stormtrooper can't afford. If it's a choice between completing an objective and leaving a squadmate behind, the Stormtroopers are conditioned to leave their own to die.
It was why it was so important to Finn not to let that happen to Rey. They could indoctrinate him all they wanted, but he still knew the difference between what was the right thing to do and what was the easy thing to do.
He barely catches Poe's flash of...something. Maybe surprise? It's still hard for him to read expressions, between all the helmets and the persistently linefaced expressions of most officers. Probably surprise.
"Oh yeah? Bunch of thrillseekers always trying to one-up each other, huh?" Or some other kind of bad reputation?
There are all kinds of other reputations pilots have, and Poe hasn't actually earned most of them even if he gets tarred with that brush. So he's not going to get into that, no. But that first one? Yeah, he's earned that. "Yeah, troublemakers all the way, you better watch out. And we drag people into trouble with us which is worse."
He bumps Finn's shoulder lightly. "But hey, guess I got a friend to fish me out of all that trouble."
Luckily for Poe, Finn has yet to hear most of those rumors. As for dragging others in with them, that's easy enough to believe. He grins again, though his face is beginning to show signs of strain as he struggles not to succumb to sleep.
"Yeah. I got your back, Poe." Or he would, if he could get up without hurting himself worse. "Once they give me the all-clear, anyway. Try not to get in too deep until then, okay?" Try being the key word there.
But he notes how tired Finn is looking. The man's still got a lot of healing left to do, and keeping him awake probably isn't going to help. "Let's get you laid back down since you're done with your soup. You need to just focus on getting better for now, okay?"
"I might hold you to that." It sounds like a good trait for a friend to have, doesn't it? Always coming back?
Lying back down sounds appealing, though. Finn nods. "I'll get better, and then maybe you can show me around a little? When you're off duty." He'd assessed the base itself the first time he'd been here: it had a different layout than a First Order base but was in many other ways the same. No, what Poe could give him was an introduction to the people of the Resistance. The idea of introducing himself as the First Order traitor--no. But as Poe's friend? Yeah. He'd like that.
With Poe's help he manages to get back down without anything dire happening, though he begins to feel a few twinges in his back. Even that had been an exertion, apparently. "Poe? I'll see you in the morning."
"You can count on it." On either of those things. Both of them.
Poe slides off the bed and helps Finn get himself situated. That done, he settles back into the chair he'd been in before Finn woke up. "And count on that, too. Get some rest, buddy."
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Finn has to be okay. He's not willing to accept any other option.
Several minutes later he's back with a tray, and there's some kind of soup and crackers and water, which is apparently all that should be Finn's speed at the moment. The man really deserves a better meal than that for all he's done, but that can wait until he's out of medical. Make it a celebration, Poe decides. He sets the tray down near Finn's bed.
"The medtech said you're allowed to sit up if I help you and if you're propped up with pillows and if you lay back down immediately if your back so much as twinges. Ready to give that a try?"
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Especially company.
"Yeah. Yeah, I think I can do that." The soup smells great already, and it's not like he isn't used to plain fare. The urge to help set up the pillows is difficult to resist, though, especially with Poe fussing over him, but Finn reminds himself that this is normal when someone's been injured, and if their positions were reversed he wouldn't want Poe risking himself.
Sitting up makes him feel better, more awake, and he pats the bed to invite Poe to sit next to him as he grabs the tray and starts sipping the soup. This feels a lot more natural, being able to talk to him on his own level instead of while he's laying down. "Thanks, man."
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He's about to go back to his chair when Finn pats the bed. Well, he's not going to say no to an invitation like that. Hell, Finn just probably wants someone to lean on a little; he's gotten the impression that Stormtroopers weren't much for hugging, so the poor guy's probably starved for affection even without the almost dying thing. He transfers carefully over to the spot on the bed, shoulder brushing against Finn's.
"No problem. I owe you big."
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Poe's impression is on the spot; having someone to lean up against physically is almost as comforting as being able to sit upright. And, well, Poe doesn't seem to mind, so Finn gives him a bashful smile.
"We can call it even. I needed out of there as much as you did, and you saved me at Takodana."
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"And then you saved all of us at Starkiller Base." Poe grins and leans his head to lightly bump against the side of Finn's head. He doesn't want to rock him too much, not right now. "Sorry, buddy, you're stuck being a hero now. A big damn hero."
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He screws his forehead, thinking. Yeah, Solo and Chewbacca had set some explosives, and he knew there was a bombing run on the oscillator, but he...really hadn't done much, himself, except stand up to Kylo Ren which landed him in medbay to begin with.
"What did happen? The official story, I mean." Since he had been out for the most important part.
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So this doesn't change any of what he'd known. And he might as well say so. "I kind of guessed. But I also trusted you to figure it out. You're solid."
That's right, Finn's only just woken up. This isn't old news to him. "The charges General Solo and Chewbacca planted put a big hole in the oscillator. Big enough for me to fly my X-wing in and blow it all to hell while you and Rey were dealing with Kylo Ren. Chewbacca picked the two of you up when the planet started to collapse and we escorted the Falcon home."
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He slurps up as much soup as he can while Poe fills him in, nodding at the points he knows. "So it's gone? The whole base?" That was the idea, yeah, but it's still strange to think of. It had been a whole planet...but so had the target planets when the base fired on them. "And you did the heavy lifting. All I did was paint a target on it."
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He nods. "Yeah, the whole base is gone, exploded back into the star it consumed." He nudges Finn back--gently. "Couldn't have gotten to it without you. You told us how to blow it up, you got the shield down so we could attack because you volunteered to go in to a dangerous situation. Sorry, you're not going to escape the whole hero thing, get used to it."
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"But I was--" He catches himself, brings his voice down to a hiss. "Poe, I was doing it to get Rey back. I didn't know it would work!"
But it did. And Rey is okay. He believes it, and not only because Poe an BB-8 both said the same thing. If he got out of there alive, she must have, or Kylo Ren would have just killed him and been done with it.
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Finn could have run. Poe's aware of that. And sure, he did everything for Rey. Just like he'd saved Poe to save himself. That didn't change the outcomes. And the fact that Finn stuck around, that he tried... Poe's pretty sure it's not just him being completely selfish about things. Even if Finn doesn't realize it, himself.
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She won't. Finn is in for a surprise.Done with the soup, he takes a few crackers to munch on. His hunger isn't exactly satisfied but he can feel the exhaustion creeping up again despite it. "Poe? Uh." He swallows, as much to buy time as anything. "Thanks. For being here when I woke up."
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"Wouldn't be anywhere else in the galaxy, buddy. I needed to know you were okay."
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Nobody'd ever cared if he was okay before. And with just as much surety, he suddenly knew Rey had been by his bed with the same thought. That she wasn't here now could only be because she had something she couldn't put off any longer.
Poe's here, though. And it feels great to know that.
Finn lets himself sink into the pillows and breathes out. He'd like to say he's okay, but if just eating some soup and crackers makes him this tired it wouldn't exactly be the whole truth. "I'll be all right," he says instead, which is much more accurate. "Cause I've got my friends waiting for me."
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He takes Finn's hand for a moment, just clasping it between his own because that feels like the right thing to do. "That's what friends do."
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Fell into them, deliberately picked them, same difference. Right?
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Being angry right now isn't going to help Finn. Poe just digs it down deep, like he did when he discovered the traitor in the senate. More fuel for the fire. And for now, he can focus on Finn, and the fact that he is going to be okay, and he smiles. "You've got great taste," he says, grinning. "Though you better watch out about pilots. We've got a bad reputation."
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It was why it was so important to Finn not to let that happen to Rey. They could indoctrinate him all they wanted, but he still knew the difference between what was the right thing to do and what was the easy thing to do.
He barely catches Poe's flash of...something. Maybe surprise? It's still hard for him to read expressions, between all the helmets and the persistently linefaced expressions of most officers. Probably surprise.
"Oh yeah? Bunch of thrillseekers always trying to one-up each other, huh?" Or some other kind of bad reputation?
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He bumps Finn's shoulder lightly. "But hey, guess I got a friend to fish me out of all that trouble."
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"Yeah. I got your back, Poe." Or he would, if he could get up without hurting himself worse. "Once they give me the all-clear, anyway. Try not to get in too deep until then, okay?" Try being the key word there.
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(He always says that.) BB-8 opines.
Poe grins. "And I haven't been wrong yet."
But he notes how tired Finn is looking. The man's still got a lot of healing left to do, and keeping him awake probably isn't going to help. "Let's get you laid back down since you're done with your soup. You need to just focus on getting better for now, okay?"
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Lying back down sounds appealing, though. Finn nods. "I'll get better, and then maybe you can show me around a little? When you're off duty." He'd assessed the base itself the first time he'd been here: it had a different layout than a First Order base but was in many other ways the same. No, what Poe could give him was an introduction to the people of the Resistance. The idea of introducing himself as the First Order traitor--no. But as Poe's friend? Yeah. He'd like that.
With Poe's help he manages to get back down without anything dire happening, though he begins to feel a few twinges in his back. Even that had been an exertion, apparently. "Poe? I'll see you in the morning."
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Poe slides off the bed and helps Finn get himself situated. That done, he settles back into the chair he'd been in before Finn woke up. "And count on that, too. Get some rest, buddy."
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