Chapter 1: A Child of Our Own

The last few moments before dawn are always Ben Solo's favorite part of the day. The morning mist is still clinging to the grassy hills of the island of Ahch-To, filling his nostrils with an intoxicating smell as the first rays of light break through its haze. Mixed in with the Force emanating around him, and the sensation is downright soothing.

Sitting around Ben in a small circle are five of his six students. Three boys and three girls. Cora, the eldest girl, currently has a face void of emotions or tension of any kind. Beside her, Chrissy is furrowing her brow in concentration, her Force essence straining. Ben reaches out with the Force in an attempt to calm her. The boys - Temiri, Ronan and Sebastian (from oldest to youngest) are in various stages of distraction. Ronan is trying to ignore the blade of grass tickling his feet.

In Ben's lap is his sixth student - the youngest girl, Stella, just five years old. She is more catching up on sleep than meditating; nestling herself into the crook of his chest. Ben doesn't mind. Softly, he calls out instructions to the others:

"Ronan, let nature's distractions become a part of you. Acknowledge it, and then let it go. Chrissy, calm your mind... Find inner peace."

The call of the Ahch-Toian anteater naturally signals that meditation is over. Ben sighs and rises, nudging Stella out of his lap. "Come, children. Time for our morning meal."

Ben and the six students depart what has been dubbed Shaved Rock Ridge (marking where a lightsaber once sliced stone in half) descending the mountainside until they reach the ring of huts maintained by the Caretakers. Ben leads the way into one of them that primarily serves as a kitchen, the children scattering around him as he gently hands out orders.

"Sebastian, ready the bowls. Temiri, the cups. Chrissy, chalk. Cora, help me by the stove."

"Why do we need chalk for breakfast, Master?" Chrissy asks.

"We don't. It's for after, to mark our footwork for lightsaber combat. You know that," Ben smiles down at her.

Upon being handed an egg by Cora, Ben cracks it before slipping in a slab of butter on the skillet. Omelets are fairly simple to make here, as the green milk from the Ahch-Toian anteaters is readily available. Once the omelets have cooked, Cora helps pass them out to the smaller younglings. At 14, she is mature and level-headed. One day soon, she will be officially taken on as a Padawan apprentice. Whether or not Ben will teach her is unclear. She might be paired with...

"Master Solo?" Temiri interrupts.

"Yes, my boy?"

"How can I find inner peace when I always know there is something stressful always waiting for me?"

"You must find inner peace in the moment. Shelve life's worries for the moment, but never repress it. It will be waiting for you once peace is achieved, and then you can better confront it. Then move on."

"I will!"

"There's a good lad," Ben ruffles his hair. And he turns back to the stove to cook the pancakes.

He senses her entering without having to turn around. Can feel her Force essence rustling off the vestiges of sleep. He can see her in his mind's eye: nightgown rumpled, her hair a mess. Nevertheless, she looks a vision. And she still manages to surprise him when she throws her arms around his neck, and he feels her lips suddenly nibbling on his earlobe.

"Good morning, my love," she purrs.

Ben spins around and captures her lips with his before she can object. She whimpers before breaking the kiss, swatting at him.

"Ben!" she hisses, turning a faint shade of pink. "The children!"

"Let 'em look," Ben smirks.

Rey frowns, amused by his cavalier attitude, but lets the moment pass, turning to address her pupils. "Good morning, children."

"Good morning, Master Solo!" they chorus.

He watches, by the light of their dying fire, as his wife combs her fingers through her hair, checking herself in the faded mirror before they retire to bed. Sometimes, he is left breathless with the realization that she is his. When he first asked her to marry him, not long after the First Order was disbanded and he had returned to the Light, he had been shocked when she had actually said Yes. They held their wedding in secret right here on the cliffs of Ahch-To; only Finn and Poe and Rose were present. Being a former war criminal, there was fear that former Resistance fighters would protest the marriage of their Jedi hero to such a scurvy knave. Former scurvy knave, but still.

Silently, Ben approaches, wrapping his arms about Rey from behind and kissing down along her neck. He feels her Force presence sigh, but there is a sadness to it, matching the turmoil that is the thoughts in her head.

"What's wrong, my love?"

There is a long pause before Rey turns to face him. "Have you ever wanted a baby?" She almost whispers the question, as if she is afraid of his answer. "A child of our very own."

Ben blinks and then smiles gently down at her. "Of course. And only with you. But, we have the younglings to look after. Caring for them, getting them used to being away from their home worlds."

Rey only shakes her head. "It's not the same," she murmurs sadly.

"I know it's not the same," he commiserates gently.

It is not as if they have not tried for a baby. Oh, they have. But with every failure to conceive, Ben has become more and more convinced that it is the Force's way of telling him and his wife that their mission for now should be to raise the next generation of Grey Jedi before concentrating on having a family of their own.

Even so, he can feel Rey's pain at not being able to give him this. He wishes she could see that it does not bother him as much as she believes it does. Rey is perfect, just the way she is. They are perfect, together. Still, that does not stop him from wanting to make her feel better, so he kisses her until she is gasping for air. Reverently, he undresses her and eases her back onto their bed, before beginning to tenderly make love to her...