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[ His forehead against her own makes her feel safer than it should, than she has any right to feel. Is that a hold over from her memories from before or is that something new? Something real?

He speaks reason to her, gives her a rational explanation. ]

Then why are they gone? [ Had they been up to something she didn't know about? Could be. After all, she hadn't clued them in on what Poe and Steve had planned until the last minute.]

We'll find out. After you get some food and some rest. [ And that's final. ]

[ It isn't the answer she wants to hear but she's honestly almost too exhausted to fight him on this. She looks at him for a moment before pressing her lips together and nodding.] I'm not giving up on them, Poe.

I would never ask you to.

[ Not when there's any chance her people are still around, somewhere, waiting for help or having their minds or bodies turned against them.

He won't leave anyone to a fate like that, not if there's any chance to save them. ] Go lay down, all right? I'll bring you a sandwich, or... I'll bring you something edible. No promises what it'll look like.

[ She nods for a moment before... Oh, right. she needs a blood bag, not food. Food might curb the cravings but it doesn't do anything to energize her.] Um. I better get it myself, actually.

I can make a sandwich. I'm not that hopeless.

[ Poe gives her elbows a gentle squeeze before letting her go to inspect the kitchen. He stays close to her, though, with one hand hovering close to her arm. ] You relax.

It's not that. [ She reassures him, moving to towards the pantry instead.] I need something more than a sandwich. [ She opens the door of the mini fridge, taking in a breath before she pulls out a blood bag. Her back is to him before she turns around slowly, clutching it to her chest even if there's no hiding what it is is. And there's no hiding the exhausted shame in her eyes.]

This is what... I have to have.

[ He follows her to the pantry, confused until she turns around holding what's very clearly a bag of blood. Three thoughts occur to him at once:

That makes sense with the teeth.

Convenient packaging, it must be in demand.

She's ashamed, even of what she needs to live.

So he just nods. Stays steady and unafraid. ]

Does any kind of blood work? Do you have enough?

Yeah, animal blood can tide me over but... [ Human stuff is the best for her. At his question, she nods.] I take it from the hospital. I have enough.

[ He glances toward the nearest camera, hoping that she doesn't take it without someone there knowing. Regardless--] If you ever run short--how does it is work, you bite someone and then...?

[ She knows they have to know. But unless they want a hungry vampire going on a rampage, she figures they look the other way. As it is, she shakes her head.] No. If I ever ran short I'd... just find animals. I don't... I never want to bite someone. I only ever did it when I was new, when I first turned and didn't know what was happening to me.

Okay. [ He's not going to argue with her, not about that, not right now. He's not even going to ask what that was like, because it sounds like another trauma on top of dozens.

What he is going to do, though-- ] You mind if I stay here tonight?

[ For one thing, she shouldn't be alone. Not when she's lost people, when she's this upset and worried.

For another, if someone else tries coming for her he's going to do his damndest to stop it. ]

[ She blinks at him despite the sudden swell she feels in her heart and the flush that somehow manages to find her cheeks.] You want to? [ And if he's listening, he should be able to hear that it doesn't sound like she wants him to leave at all.]

[ Does it mean something? Does it change things, if he stays?

In the middle of all of this does it really matter if it changes things?

It wouldn't be so bad to love someone, he thinks, and the thought itself is strange feels wrong for the moment somehow. Like he shouldn't be allowed to have it when she's in so much pain.

Poe touches her wrist lightly. ] I don't want you to be alone.

[ Which... that's not an answer to her question, he realizes. It's true, but it's not an answer. He's not sure when he started dodging direct replies to those kinds of questions. ] Yeah, I want to.

[ He takes everything she throws at him with such... grace. There's no horror in his expression, there's not disgust, he doesn't beg her to be... someone else, something else, to make him forget. He sees her and he doesn't need her to be anything other than who she is, she thinks.

It gives her hope. Hope that maybe someone can love her, no strings attached.

And she, too, thinks that maybe this isn't the right moment for such thoughts, not when she's lost people she cares about, when she's lost Stefan, someone she was starting to feel things for.

But Poe was wonderful.]

I want you to, too.

All right then.

[ ....And his face says: now what. ] So I'll. Make up a bed on the couch.

[ For all his charisma, friendliness, and steadiness in the face of crises, Poe is still a dork. ]

I live alone in a three bedroom house, Poe. [ She smiles at him.] You can sleep in one of those.

[ A scapegrace grin. ] Or that.

[ The reality is that he's going to end up on the floor outside of her door and stay up through the night. He already knows it. Minimize any chance that someone can get at her without having to go through him. But he doesn't want to scare her, even though he knows by now how capable she is. Even though he knows how likely it is that they'll just knock him out and...

No, he won't let that happen. ] But you, eat. [ A beat. ] Do you need a cup or a bowl or something?

No, I can just...[ She wiggles the little tube at the top of the bag. Yes, it's better warmed up but she'd rather drink it cold then risk him feeling anymore weird than he might already feel.

And if she finds him outside her door, she's going to tell him to come in and sleep with her. It's not like they hadn't done it before.

She smiles softly before turning slightly to take a sip.]

[ Poe reaches out at once, putting a hand lightly against her shoulder and turning her back toward him.

He's not sure what to say--he just knows he doesn't want her to be ashamed, or shy, or... any of the thousand negative feelings she seems to have about herself and what she is.

Finally, he says: ]

Not with me, all right?

[ She looks at him for a moment, lips still wrapped slightly around the tube before she nods a little and takes a sip. She has enough control over herself now that the veins beneath her eyes don't lift and darken and shift, they stay hidden and she moves to lean against the counter and take a few long pulls before speaking.]

There's leftovers in the fridge, if you get hungry... now or later.

Okay.

[ He touches her arm lightly, then makes his way to the phone. ] I'm just going to let Cassian know BB-8 will be coming his way.

[ Just to make sure the droid makes it all right.

Is this kind of paranoia the way spies view the world?

He's definitely not a fan. ]

Thank you Poe, for... everything. [ She offers him a closed lipped smile before she takes another sip.] If you want BB-8 to be here, he's always welcome.

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