━━ CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR/ locked-out

It had been a few days of BB-8 being back online and Eliana was glad. Poe's complaining had significantly decreased and she felt like she could function on a mission now. Also, Leia seemed to have been working behind the scenes to get some consequences for the Senators that were funding the First Order.

And as Eliana checked the news that morning, she saw an article regarding Relya Grover, Senator Grover, Senator of Naboo. And how she had lost her position as the planet's Senator. It seemed that Leia had some connections with the Queen of Naboo and within only a few short weeks, she had shared all of the concerning information regarding Relya. And the Queen saw that as enough to remove her from office.

It had been a process but she was gone and Eliana didn't know how to feel. Whether relief or worry was the best course of action. Relya would surely know that Eliana had some involvement. That the resistance were responsible. But she knew that it would useless to worry about it. It was simply something that had happened and she had to put it past her.

Yet, Eliana didn't really feel like being awake and so, she promptly fell back asleep despite having scheduled a test flight for her squadron. She hadn't really intended to sleep through the test flight but she was rudely awoken by banging on her door. A soft huff escaped her lips and she blinked her eyes open to realise that she had slept through half of the day. She let her head fall against the pillow briefly before the door was banged on again.

Forcing herself out of bed, she lazily swiped her hand across the sensor to get the door to open before flicking the lights on to dim. Anything brighter than that would burn her retinas off. And she looked up to find that Poe was stood at her door. She gave him a sleepy half-smile and he chuckled at her before he stepped in. The door slid closed behind him and Eliana dropped down onto the edge of her bed.

"Have you been asleep all day?" He asked curiously. Eliana hummed in response, not having the energy to even respond properly. She just wanted to go back to bed frankly which was definitely not the healthy thing to do, "That explains why I had to take your squad out." The teasing tone he had taken made Eliana feel beyond embarrassed. She pushed her head into her hands and yawned against her palms.

"Don't even," She mumbled softly. He chuckled in response and she dropped her head down. Her whole body felt a little too heavy for her to hold up. Her exhaustion weighing heavy on her mind as her eyes fell closed again.

"Are you okay?" He asked curiously. The concern laced his tone as he looked down at her and Eliana nodded her head.

"Sleep just caught up with me," She mumbled in response. He let out a soft 'ah' before he sat down next to her on the bed. His hands rested awkwardly in his lap as Eliana slowly lifted her face back up. Her eyes were droopy. She was clearly still coming to the land of the living.

"Is that a good thing?" He asked. Eliana shrugged. There was silence for a beat or two and Eliana rubbed her face, attempting to bring herself back to life. She took a long deep breath before she settled back,"I assume you saw the news?" It was a question more than as statement and Eliana nodded her head in response.

"Yeah. She's gone, for good," There was a hint of happiness to her tone but it almost seemed to dim when she looked up to meet Poe's gaze, "I'm almost relieved." He looked so pretty in the dim light. His face was half in shadow and the concerned look was attractive on him.

"Why almost?" He asked as he looked into her eyes. Eliana sighed and pushed her messy hair behind her ear. She hadn't even thought about how frizzy her braid looked right about now. It would have been embarrassing if Poe hadn't seen her so much worse.
"What if she tries to get back at us?" Eliana asked. It was a hypothetical. It would never happen but the thought had been weighing on the back of her mind ever since they handed the information over. Even then Relya had a reason to suspect Eliana knew something that she shouldn't. It had all just been a waiting game.

"She has no power," Poe reassured and Eliana nodded. He was right. She knew he was right but that little voice in the back of her mind still niggled. It was like it wouldn't let up, "And you have me. I'll protect you," He added after a beat of silence. There was genuinty to his tone but Eliana didn't know how to react to that so she forced a teasing smile onto her face and looked up at him.

"Please, you can't even protect BB-8. What makes you think you can protect me?" She cocked an eyebrow and he stared at her, disbelieving. His jaw dropped slightly, playing up his reaction in response to her teasing.

"I can protect BB-8 just fine," He retorted, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. Eliana scoffed and shuffled back on the bunk, "And trust me, baby, I could do plenty for you." The sentence was punctuated with a wink and Eliana's jaw dropped. Suddenly, the whole mood seemed to change. Eliana began to realise just what she had gotten herself into. Not even a few weeks ago, Poe had her pinned up against the wall, kissing her. And now, she was here, alone, with him, in her bunk. Fuck.

"You haven't even asked me out and you still call me baby. Audacious," Eliana tried to deflect but it fell flat. Very flat. Poe grinned and met her gaze. His brown eyes were piercing and there was something else in them. Something that Eliana had missed the first time he had looked at her like that but now it was impossible to misinterpret.

"I'm still waiting on that confession," He responded with a playful smirk. Eliana scoffed and pushed her hair behind her ear again, doing anything to distract herself from that look that he was giving her. It was doing things to her that she wasn't sure if she liked.

"Oh, please. Get me in bed first," It was another terrible response and she only realised after they had already left her lips that it was a mistake. She awkwardly cleared her throat and Poe shuffled towards her. His hand moved to her cheek, turning her face towards him.

"I already have," He whispered softly. Their lips inches apart. Eliana looked up into his eyes, trying desperately not to be pulled in by them. She knew that if they went past this point, there would be no returning. All cards on the table. They were done, forever changed.

"We're sitting down," She retorted, awkwardly. The covers of Poe's lips turned up into a teasing smile and he gently lifted her chin with his finger. Their lips were practically touching.

"But we could be doing other things," He whispered. His lips brushed against hers and she let out a soft sigh.
"Poe," She mumbled softly. Part of her wanted to resist but the bigger half of her was so tired of resisting. It was exhausting and she wanted him. She had no reason to resist anymore. She was what she wanted and she needed him. There was no excuse anymore.

"Yeah?" He asked. Eliana pressed a soft kiss to his lips, pulling away just before he could kiss back. Her hand moved up to his hair, pushing it out of the way.

"We can't do this on Maymie's bunk," She said. Poe chuckled and pecked her lips a few times in response before he said.

"So, get onto yours." It was over for her. Eliana knew it and she had no other reason to resist. So, she pulled him into a kiss. A proper kiss and this time, nobody walked in.

-

"And why was I locked out of the bunk earlier?" Maymie asked as she returned to the common room. She dropped to the right of Eliana on the sofa, interrupting the conversation at hand. Eliana's face instantly flushed red and Dow and Nettie let out a teasing 'ooooo'. They all knew exactly why Maymie would be locked out but they wanted to hear Eliana say it.

"Me and Poe finally..." Eliana didn't finish her sentence, almost not wanting to admit it. Nettie cheered loudly which quickly drew the attention of Poe and his squad. He gave Eliana a questioning look and she smiled awkwardly in response. He chuckled and turned back to the group, not wanting to embarrass the other woman any more than he had to.

"You better have done it on your own bunk," Maymie said simply and Eliana chuckled before nodding her head. She went to take a sip of her glass but realised it was empty. And on that note, she wanted to get as far away from the rest of them as possible. She knew that there would be a bombardment of questions and she was - just about - ready for that but she almost felt bad for Poe having to deal with it too, "You better get me a drink too," Maymie called as Eliana walked back over to the bar. Eliana gave her a look but they both knew she would get her a drink.

An apology drink because they did nearly shag on her bunk which was far from professional. Eliana walked over and ordered Maymie's favourite before getting herself another drink. And while she was waiting, Poe walked over, his arm wrapped around her waist and she grinned as she looked up at him. He pressed a kiss to her lips, letting everyone see it.

"You can talk to them about. I don't mind," He said softly as he ran his finger through the ends of her hair. Eliana grinned and pressed another kiss to his lips."

"Good because we're not hearing the end of this for another few weeks at least." Poe shrugged and glanced back at the group sat talking amongst themselves on the sofa. He gave them all a charming smile before he looked back down at Eliana.

"I think it's worth it," He admitted. Eliana grinned and rested her head against his chest.

"It definitely is."

THE END.

NOTE
okay, it's done, it's here, the end is here <3 i really do love eliana and poe and i really hope all of you enjoyed their journey! i know for a fact that i will be coming back to them one day and they will hopefully appear in other sw fics that i have planned for the sequel era but for now, this is them and i'm really thankful for all the support, i love you all!! <3