It was rare that he got to just watch her.
Whenever they were by themselves, all of his attention was on her as it usually was, but she knew, and she'd have little tells that she knew it was, even when she wasn't looking at him. Occasionally, like when he snuck up on her in the garage working on her car, or when she'd wake up before him and not hear him get out of bed, he'd get the honor, but it was like she could sense him before he even came up behind her. Without even turning around, she'd tell him over her shoulder that he needed to be quieter if he wanted to surprise her, something he'd taken as a challenge but still hadn't been able to fool him.
But as he sat at the VIP table he'd reserved them without her knowing, on the balcony on the upper level of one of the city's most exclusive clubs, he had a perfect view of her dancing. And even though she had no way of knowing, considering she hadn't looked his way once and he'd threatened to kill her friends if they ruined the surprise, it was like she still knew. And she was driving him crazy.
A few months ago, when he'd asked her what she wanted to do for her twenty-second birthday, it had been like pulling teeth. "I don't want to do anything, Ben, I just want to, like... I don't know, go to dinner with you and Finn and Poe? That'd be fine." Rey wasn't used to celebrating her birthday, and he knew it, but that didn't mean that he'd let her settle for that too easily. Growing up in different foster homes, it had rarely even been noticed that it was her birthday; it had even taken her some thinking when he'd asked her on one of their first dates when it was.
Ben was a different story.
His parents made a huge deal out of his birthdays when he'd been growing up, and even though as a teenager, and through most of his early twenties if he was being honest with himself, he'd made a spectacle of hating it, he'd continued the tradition once things in his family smoothed down. His parents were known for constantly fighting and making up, a pattern reinforced by his Air Force father constantly leaving for months at a time, but when he'd finally turned eighteen, he'd just up and left, saying he was going on a 'deployment' for a few years, but that he'd be back, he always was. And he came back, true, but it had been three years later, when Ben had gotten involved in some pretty shady stuff.
While Rey was just about to graduate college that year, Ben was twenty-eight and had been out for several, graduated with honors in a prestigious political science program that led him right to a career fresh out of college. It had seemed too good to be true, but he'd taken it anyway without doing any research into the company. At first, he'd been blinded, completely naive as to the underhanded dealings of the First Order law offices, but when he'd finally been handed his first big case, defending a mob boss that had committed innumerable murders, drug deals, and assaults, he'd known that he couldn't do it forever.
Han had still been out of the country when Ben had realized he was in too deep, so he'd had to reach out to his mother Leia, a senator fast on the track to becoming president in the next race, and though she'd spent the first half hour of their phone call either crying or choking back tears, in the end, she'd been able to direct him out of the situation and even testifying against the First Order and its boss, known only by an alias, Snoke. It had been the first time they'd spoken in nearly ten years.
He and Rey had met only a few years after that, completely by chance. She constantly claimed that it was him that ran into her on the street, but he'd tell it the opposite way until his dying day. Either way, the collision had forced him to spill his coffee on her, and by way of apology, he'd practically begged her to let him take her to dinner. With his new position at Skywalker Cithri, he'd directed her to meet him at one of the most expensive restaurants in town. She'd almost turned him down, citing that she couldn't possibly pay for a meal there and she insisted on going dutch, but he'd waved it off as payment for the clothes he'd surely ruined. One date had turned into two, two turned into ten, and the rest was history; they'd been together for almost a year now.
So when the heads of the firm had told him he'd be going on a business trip the week of her birthday, his heart had sunk. Rey was going to hate him.
When he'd told her, she'd acted like it didn't bother her, like she knew that he had to go, especially to keep making the kind of money he was. Material things were the last thing on her mind, having grown up with next to nothing, but he liked being able to surprise her with presents when she was least expecting it. And, he couldn't lie, having a high-rise apartment in the middle of the city, driving a car that made heads turn, and dressing to impress at all times wasn't bad. She'd insisted that he go, that he make sure that he impressed them like she knew he would, and had ended the conversation then and there. Still, he'd pushed it, stressing that he was going to give her the best celebration of her life when he got back.
As soon as the flight had taken off, he'd known he'd made a mistake.
The next five hours sitting in first class had been spent furiously iMessaging her two best friends Poe and Finn on his computer, fingers flying across the keyboard as he masterminded a birthday celebration for the ages. Rey deserved the best; he'd been telling her so ever since she'd felt guilty about making him spend as much as he did on their first date, and he planned on showing her for the rest of their lives. It was emway/em too early to propose, according to her – once they'd started getting serious, she'd made it clear that more than two years had to pass before that. Then again, she'd said that it would be more than a year and a half before they'd move in together, and she spent more time in his top-level loft than she did at the tiny little two-bedroom she shared with Finn and Poe, so he didn't doubt that it was too soon to at least start looking.
When he'd touched down, the table and the VIP room at the club had been booked and paid for, Finn and Poe had convinced Rey to come out with them that night – she'd texted him to make sure it was okay, the doll, she knew he had jealousy issues about her going out without him and he'd had to play it off like it slightly bothered him to make sure she didn't think something was up – and his return flight was taking off in a few hours. To hell with the meeting. When he'd told Luke, his boss, the reason he wasn't going to be able to make it, he'd put one of the other partners on the next plane out and told him to, in no uncertain terms, 'get his ass home and make his girl the luckiest one on the planet'.
No one would have to tell him twice.
Apparently, Finn and Poe had done their part well, as he studied her – well, more specifically, what she was wearing. It was one of the dresses he'd bought her, costing more than a few months' rent at their apartment, and he could tell she'd thought of him when she'd gotten ready. It was skintight, and if he wasn't going to be there that night he might have been a little irked that the boys had let her out of the house wearing it, but the black, one-sleeved number looked delicious on her. She'd paired it with the one pair of heels she owned, also purchased by him; he'd covered as buying them for when she accompanied him to business functions, but really, she could wear them every day around the house and he wouldn't complain. The things they did to her already perfect appearance... he had to force his eyes back up, or he'd be blowing his cover and the surprise much too soon. Red lipstick painted her lips, something she rarely did, though he could tell it was slightly smudged – the straw on her drink was nearly covered in it. It obviously wasn't her first, either, judging by how she was dancing, but he couldn't do anything but grin as he watched her let loose. With how hard she'd been cramming for her finals in a few weeks, it was good to see her finally have some fun.
The DJ was set to blast their song through the speakers, some cheesy pop bit that she'd fallen so in love with she'd taken to singing it under her breath when she thought he wasn't listening. Pop music usually grated on his nerves, but hearing her sing it had made him fall in love with it, and since it would fit well with the vibes of the club, it hadn't been hard to convince him to play it for them. The hundred he'd slipped the guy had probably had something to do with it, but she was worth it. She was worth that and so much more.
With just a few more minutes until midnight, her actual birthday, he stood, readying himself to descend the stairs and surprise her, but just as he set his empty glass down on the table they'd be moving to once he found her, some guy decided she was the girl he was going to approach. The look of confusion on her face was slowly morphing to one of anger, and he could see that she'd already told him to fuck right off, but the guy wasn't listening and she was looking around for Finn or Poe to emmake/em the guy get lost. Why had they left her alone? Once he'd made this situation right, he was going to have to make sure they knew they were in the wrong.
It was only seconds later that he was pushing through the crowd on the ground floor, ducking slightly to make sure he didn't stick out above everyone's head. That would be a sure giveaway, and he approached the two of them from behind Rey so she wouldn't see him first.
The music was loud, so he raised his voice to be heard, though it still sounded deadly calm. "I'd suggest you find another girl to incessantly bother. This one, as I'm sure she's already told you multiple times, isn't interested."
Rey couldn't make out the voice over her shoulder, so she started to turn around and tell the guy that she could fight her own battles, thank you very much, but the feisty look on her face soon changed as her jaw dropped. With a shriek, she threw her arms around his neck and jumped up. He easily caught her and lifted her up with one arm, holding her waist to his as she held herself there. Raising an eyebrow over her shoulder at the guy that had been bothering her, he seemed to be daring the moron to make a move. Deciding it was best not to make a scene, the meathead slunk off into the crowd, and he finally set her down in front of him.
"How did you – wait – aren't you supposed to be – ?" she questioned, her voice a bit fuzzy as she tried to form a complete sentence. She must have had emmuch/em more than her usual two drinks, and he grinned again as he realized that she was taking full advantage of the open tab he'd instructed the club to give them. Finally, he sighted Finn and Poe on the dance floor, security eying them cautiously as they tried to decide if their dancing was getting a little emtoo/em hot and heavy. Thankfully, they weren't getting kicked out yet, so they'd be able to get to them before it got to that point. At least Ben had had some sense in him and only had one drink; it looked like he was going to be the only sensible one of the night.
"Right here. I'm supposed to be right here," he cut her off and answered for her, one arm on her waist as the other cupped her cheek. "Now, c'mon, if you can manage to make it upstairs, I've got your present waiting."
With him half-carrying her – she probably should have been cut off, but she'd loudly announced to the shot girls upstairs that it was her birthday, and he'd just shrugged and let her have another – they made it to their table, Ben using his other hand to beckon to Finn and Poe, who soon joined them. As they sat, he pulled out a long box from the inside of his jacket's pocket, and Rey's eyes lit up like the sun. 'Didn't care about material possessions', his ass. The gold letters embossed on red leather spelling out Cartier were recognizable from a mile; she'd gotten a box much the same for their six month anniversary. Jewelry was such a typical gift, but so treasured by her. She took better care of the diamond studs he'd bought her than she did of herself sometimes.
It was gold, matching the set of the earrings – she was wearing them that night, he noticed – with a diamond pendant hanging from the center of it. Rey opened her mouth to protest the cost, but he saw it coming and held his hand up. "You already know what I'm going to say. Don't bother," he told her with a chuckle, hand over hers as she brushed over it with a delicacy he couldn't rival. Wordlessly, he pulled it out of the box and fastened it around her neck, but he didn't even have time to admire it before she was nearly on top of him in the booth, kissing him wherever she could access from her vantage point and soon trying to pull down his collar to access even more.
Yup. He'd totally nailed it.