"Hey," Ben greets his uncle as he enters Luke's sparse room. Not that he expected much in terms of decorations. His uncle dwells in solitude and simplicity.

"What's wrong?" Luke responds, taking a seat in a bare wooden chair.

Ben sits on the edge of the bed, tracing the coverlet. "How did you—"

"You're not subtle, and when you asked to talk, I knew it wasn't going to be about how happy you are." Luke crosses his arms. "Tell me."

"The other night—when Padmé was crying, I took her out so Rey could get some sleep—I took her for a walk like… like—like my father used to do with me." Ben gulps as he watches Luke's face twist in pain.

It will never stop. The wound you caused will bleed forever.

"What am I going to tell her?" he blurts out. "That's what Ackbar asked me. So many people here—they still think I'm a monster. I was. I admit that. But what am I going to tell my daughter? That I murdered her grandfather? Along with—who knows how many other people, innocent people?" He's clenching his fists, and his knuckles ache.

"Ben," Luke sighs, wincing as he climbs to his feet and puts an arm around his nephew. "You're going to tell her the truth, of course."

He shakes his head, sparks flying inside and burning him. "What kind of burden is that for a child, though?"

"One I wish Rey's grandfather had told me," Luke says softly.

Oh. "What did you think? When you found out?" Ben asks, studying his uncle's face.

"Well, I found out the wrong way. From Darth Vader himself, after he sliced off my hand," Luke quips, holding out his cybernetic hand. "In truth, Ben? I was horrified. And then I knew that I loved him. I spent my entire childhood wondering about him, and now that I knew—I couldn't leave him to that fate, the fate Obi-Wan and Yoda were convinced he couldn't escape. He was my father, and I loved him and I had to believe he loved me, even if there wasn't much evidence for it, because—because the alternative was too damn horrible to think about. It might have been foolish, but it worked out. And in his last moments, he saved me." He grips Ben's hand with his cybernetic one. "When you tell Padmé, she'll have a million questions. She won't like the answers. She'll probably throw it in your face at some point, but you—you love her. Rey loves both of you. And Padmé will love you too, even if she's angry with you, as I'm sure she will be."

Ben bites his lip. He thinks of the conversations he's had with Finn as Finn kneels on the floor, playing with Padmé, the moments Finn's confessed to Rey that he's struggling not to be angry at Luke, even though he knows what happened was not Luke's fault, and finding out Luke is his father is hardly horrifying.

And Rey understands, because abandonment chafes at both of them. And at Ben too, because abandonment comes in more colors and forms that simple absence.

Padmé won't be abandoned. Never. Ben will not send his daughter away, and Rey agrees.

"Should we go to the meeting?" Ben manages at last.

Luke nods, squeezing Ben's shoulder.

The Resistance gathers in a small room with a hologram map—the map of the entire galaxy. BB-8 whirs at Ben as he enters. He glares at the droid, which happily stings him for no good reason.

"Control your droid, cousin," Ben orders Finn as BB-8 slips behind Finn's legs.

"Oh, he's not mine," Finn insists. "He's just my fiancé's."

"Your what?" Rey shrieks, balancing a babbling Padmé on her hip.

Finn winks as Poe flushes, but takes Finn's hand. Ben grins.

"Oh, really?" Luke drawls, leaning his elbow on Poe's shoulder.

"Uh, yes sir," Poe squeaks. "I love him."

Luke studies Poe's face. "Good."

"I totally thought he was going to pull some kind of Jedi mind probe," Poe exhales.

"Mind probes are of the Dark Side," Finn corrects Poe.

"I have seen inside your mind," Ben teases Poe. "It's a scary place."

Poe narrows his eyes. "Why are all you Skywalkers threatening me?"

"Apparently it's what they do," Rey puts in. "Kenobis don't stoop that low."

"Didn't Obi-Wan cut off Anakin's limbs?" Ben asks.

"Self-defense." Rey stands on tip-top to plant a kiss on Ben's cheek, and then one on a sleepy Padmé's. BB-8 purrs.

"Keep her awake if you can," Ben mutters to Rey. "If we want to sleep tonight."

Rey grimaces. "I'll do my best."

"All right," announces Mother as she strides into the room. "Let's get started. Dameron, Wexley, what have you found?"

Poe glances at Finn, who swallows but nods. "We've found a map with several training facilities. For First Order stormtroopers. Some of them are just kids, babies really."

"We can arrange for adoptions, if possible," Leia says, crossing her arms.

"Babies and toddlers, maybe," Ackbar points out. "But what about the older children?"

"It's a legitimate concern," Poe admits. "Some of them—many of them—are still, you know, brainwashed. And even if they weren't, we don't know..."

"Who would want them," Snap finishes, his eyes skittering towards Finn, who stands with his arms crossed and jaw locked.

Luke puts his hand on Finn's shoulder, and Ben copies him. You're not alone. It still baffles him how his cousin was a stormtrooper under him, and he never knew it. I'm so sorry.

"What about you?" Statura asks Ben. "Any ideas? You worked for them long enough—"

Ben shakes his head. "That was Hux's program. I didn't work with it." I hated it. He never went to a training facility, because he never wanted to see the faces of children who were scared, who were being primed for a purpose they couldn't fully comprehend—just like he was when his parents, even with the best of intentions, sent him to Luke's.

"Finn's probably the one who would know best," Rey puts in.

"Didn't Hux try to brainwash you? When you were captured?" quizzes Ematt.

Rey shifts her daughter in her arms. "Yes, but it didn't work."

"I don't think breaking them out of years of conditioning is going to be easy," Finn says softly. "They've been trained not to show compassion. They believe in the cause of the First Order. Hearing that Snoke and Hux are gone—they won't believe that. They think the Republic, and the Resistance—you're all liars to them." He stares at his shoes.

"Maybe if you go to them, Finn—" Jess starts.

"That might be kind of traumatic," Poe snaps.

"I can go," Finn interrupts, smiling at Poe but without any light in his eyes. "I can. To the nearest place. And then we'll see."

"If you're going, I'm going with you," Luke declares.

"That would probably be best," Ackbar acknowledges. "Are these facilities still running?"

"Yeah. The troopers in charge are convinced Snoke and Hux aren't really gone."

Mother turns to him. "What about Kylo Ren?"

"What about Kylo Ren?" Ben clenches his fists again. Rey glances at him and slips Padmé into his arms, whether so he appears less threatening in the face of the unnecessary reminder of who he is, or because her arms are really tired, Ben doesn't know. He clutches his daughter like she's his lifeline. She mews and leans against his shoulder.

"They might believe a transmission from Kylo Ren."

"My guess is they presume Kylo Ren is dead," Poe interjects. "Seeing as they haven't heard of him in over a year. Plus, if he wasn't really involved in the stormtrooper program—"

"Kylo Ren is dead," Ben insists, even as the anger welling inside him whispers liar. Rey puts her hand on his hip.

"We know," Rey tells him.

"I don't think it's even so much about belief," Finn states. "They need to believe the First Order's continuing, because that's been their life. Kylo Ren appearing and telling them it's over won't really help."

"So how can we show them?" Ackbar demands.

"We can't," Finn says. "But we can show them we mean them no harm. That we're—or we could be—friends."


"Anything you need before you depart?" Leia asks.

Poe shakes his head. Finn, Poe, Luke, and BB-8 plan to leave in the morning.

"Well, let me know. You are, I understand, soon to be my nephew-in-law." Leia smiles. "Your parents would be thrilled."

"Where's your father?" Poe jokes. "We can ask him to double-check." He raises his hands. "Not that I have any doubts."

"I didn't think you did."

A group of Resistance members pass by where Finn is crouched on the ground, rolling a ball to a giggling Padmé. Several of them look to the child with less than benevolent expressions.

Poe clears his throat. "Actually, I do have an idea. Not really a need, but a suggestion."

"Shoot." Leia waves her hand. "You've earned the right to speak your mind, Dameron. Long ago."

"Well… I know Chewie's planning on leaving to visit Maz and Lando on Takodana. If you can convince Ben and Rey to go there too—if we do wind up needing something from them, it might be easier if they don't have to deal with the brouhaha—"

"Plus it might be good for them to get away," Leia finishes. "Although, Poe, Ben's promised to stay on D'Qar. He can't just leave."

He's not a prisoner, but he's not quite free. Poe sighs.

"I've an idea, though," Leia says. "We'll ask Chewie to postpone his visit, and Maz and Lando to come visit us." She frowns after he crowd. "We might need them."

Finn tosses Poe a small smile as Padmé starts to cry. Finn rolls the ball back and she stops and giggles.

"Do you ever wish you could just run away from it all?" Poe asks Leia.

"Your parents had that exact wish," Leia says quietly. "They retired to spend time with you." Mist clouds her eyes. "I won't deny that there's a part of me that wonders… what might have happened. If Han and I had done the same." She shakes her head.

Han might still be alive. Or not. Poe remembers how Snoke manipulated Ben from the time he was a child—a child Padmé's size. Bile surges up Poe's throat as he watches Finn sweep the little girl up in his arms. Ben thought he was a murderer by the age of eight.

How many of the stormtroopers in training believe the same thing?

"But now, you don't want to?" Poe chokes out.

"No, you can't put that in your mouth, Padmé," Finn says as the baby starts to wail. Rey darts over.

"I do, but I don't know whether I can. Not yet." Leia blinks. "I feel like I have an obligation to uphold. To the Resistance. Then again, that's what I felt thirty-plus years ago, too." And look where it got me, her words echo.

But she won't leave, Poe knows. Not until the Resistance agrees to let Ben live in peace.

Before, she stayed and lost her son because of it. Now, she stays to save her son.


"Are you going to be okay?" Luke queries, watching as Finn paces the Millennium Falcon.

He nods, rubbing his arms. "Try again?"

BB-8 and R2 both rise in the air. Finn smirks and sets them down.

"Good job," Luke tells him.

Clearly his father can tell he's distracted, though. Finn leans against the bunk, memories storming his brain. Memories he's told Poe, in snippets, and memories he's kept locked away in the dark, memories he's not quite sure he wants his father to know, or even Poe.

What if Snoke did win, in the end? Finn wonders as he stares at his hands. Snoke hadn't thought he had the Force, but now that he does—will confronting this demon of his childhood drive him to the dark or into the light?

He doesn't know. He doesn't want to know.

Maybe Snoke didn't underestimate you after all. You are weak.

"Finn?" Luke questions.

"Hey." Poe emerges from the cockpit as if he somehow sensed that Finn needed him. "Done training?"

"Yeah, for right now," Finn says quickly.

BB-8 bloops.

"He says you're doing well," Poe report, giving the droid a thumbs-up.

"When do we get there?" Finn asks.

"Another day." Poe pulls Finn closer and kisses him. "It'll be all right," he whispers in Finn's ear. "Somehow."

I hope you're right, Poe, Finn wishes.

Was this what you meant, Anakin?


"What if it's not a cold? What if it's an infection? From her teething?"

"It is not an infection," Rey insists. "Dr. Kalonia said so. Relax, Ben." She cradles Padmé. "It'll be all right, sweetheart. Just sleep."

Ben drags his hands through his hair and glares about their room as if he'd like very much to smash some of the walls with his lightsaber.

A knock sounds against the door. Rey jumps.

"I know you're all in there!" Lando's voice comes muffled. "If you need to put clothes on, I'll wait—"

Ben rolls his eyes as he yanks the door open.

"There you are," Lando declares, stepping in and clapping Ben on the back. "Miss me?"

Ben's childish, lopsided grin flashes over his face. Rey smiles to herself. "Yeah."

"How's the princess?"

"A little sick," Rey answers, laying Padmé down in her crib. "Sniffly. And she's teething, so—"

"So neither of you are sleeping." Lando rolls his eyes. "I may not have ever had kids, but I've been around them before. Namely, you." He nods at Ben.

Chewie snuffles as he comes into the room, embracing Lando.

"Maz come with you?" Rey questions.

"Yeah." Lando glances around. "She wants to talk to you, Rey."

"I'll stay with her," Ben assures Rey. Not that she expected him to leave Padmé. His worry's embedded in his face.

"Rey Kenobi!" Maz greets her down the hallway. "Or is it Rey Solo?" She winks.

"Both work." Rey's still just grateful to have a family to call hers. Two families, now.

Maz winks. "How have you been?"

"I've been…" Rey blows her breath out. There's no use concealing it from Maz. "I have nightmares. About Padmé—that I'm working, and I'm old, and then she shows up and I realize I forgot about her and I left her." Tears grab at Rey's voice. "And I dream Snoke has her, Snoke has me—"

"And that Snoke has Kylo Ren," Maz supplies.

She nods. "I know it's all a lie, but when I dream about it—I feel so guilty. For dreaming it. Like it's not fair, because it's not fair to him. I don't have any fears about that when I'm awake; really I don't. He loves me and I know it—I just—I don't know why I keep having these dreams."

"Oh, child," Maz says with a sigh. "You went through—those months Snoke had you—that was terrifying for you. Ben knows it." She clasps Rey's hands. "You should tell him."

"That I dream he's a monster? That would destroy him."

"It's destroying you already," Maz points out. "You don't have to do everything alone."

I can walk! she'd snarled when she realized she was going into labor.

I know. But you don't have to, Ben had answered at the time, sweeping her into his arms.

Rey shrugs. She's used to having to do things on her own—deal with her abandonment, with the nightmares she used to have on Jakku, comforted only by dreams of an ocean, and an island.

But Ben's her husband, and she trusts him. She wants to.

When Rey gets back to her room, she finds Chewie, Lando, and Ben all laughing about something with Padmé sleeps soundly next to Ben. Of course he didn't leave her in her crib, Rey thinks wryly.

"Rey—are you—" Ben can clearly notice her reddened eyes.

"Can I talk to you?" she requests. "Alone?"

"Sure thing." Lando nods to them both as he and Chewie lumber out.

"What's wrong?" Ben grabs her by the arms, leading her back to the bed.

"It's—I was just talking to Maz, and she asked how I was, and I told her about the nightmares." Rey sniffs.

"Oh, Rey." Ben clasps the back of her head, fingers weaving in-between the buns. "I'm sorry." For you, Rey realizes as she sinks into his mind.

Rey withdraws and gulps. "Can you look in my mind?"

"Why?"

She shakes her head, covering her eyes. "I don't want to say it out loud."

Rey can sense his trepidation as he enters. She's not resisting, and it doesn't hurt as he wanders around, as he sees her dreams. Her chest throbs even though her mind is clear, because she knows she's hurting him, and she hates that.

When he pulls away, Rey grabs him in her arms, pressing her face against his shoulder. He wraps her up in his arms, squeezing her against him. She feels his body shuddering, feels his chin press against the top of her head.

"I love you," she chokes out.

"I know," he manages, lifting her chin with his hands to face him. "I do know, Rey."

"But if I'm having dreams—I know they don't mean anything, I do—but you don't deserve that."

Ben leans down so that his forehead presses into hers. "And that's exactly how I know it. You feel badly thinking about me that way." His voice trembles. "Most people are more than happy to."

"You're not mad at me?"

"I'm mad that I did all that," Ben says. "And that I let—that I didn't find you sooner. It still kills me that it was almost too late."

"But it wasn't too late." Rey swallows.

"True." Ben shakes his head. "Rey, you know you can tell me these things. I want to be here for you. I love you."

Rey shrugs. "I know—it's just—I'm so used to doing it all by myself. Keeping myself going. And I can't do that anymore."

"I'm here."

"I know." She presses her lips against his.

Ben moans. "Do you think she'll wake up?"

"Probably," Rey says, pulling his shirt up. "We can try, though."

He seizes her, kissing her with a new intensity.


"Where is the training place?" Finn asks as they disembark into what looks like a steaming forest. It reminds him of King Prana's planet, and he cringes at the memory. Hopefully there aren't any rampaging nexus here.

"This way." Poe glances at him. "You were—never at this one?"

Finn shakes his head. Together, the three of them and two droids tramp through the woods, trekking uphill.

"Stop!" calls out a small, high-pitched voice.

Shit.

A small girl, hair dark and skin tawny, steps out from behind a tree, wielding a blaster as long as her torso. It shakes in her hand. "Who are you?"

"We're—" Poe glances at Finn, at Luke.

It's no use. The girl spots the lightsaber hilt in Luke's hand and shrieks. "A Jedi!"

"Calm down," Finn says, holding out his hand as he steps in front of his father. "We're not going to hurt you."

R2 blips nervously.

The weapon trembles in her grip. She's got to be what, five? Six? Seven, maybe?

"Can you put the blaster down?" Finn requests.

"No." She whirls towards Poe, aiming the weapon, but the movement and the bulky shape prove too much for her. It slips from her grasp, crashing onto a stone.

"Hey—"

The girl throws her hands in front of her face as if terrified that they'll now shoot her. She races through the trees.

"Hey!" Poe turns to them. "I'll go after her. You—get to the center. You have the map, Luke." And then he's gone, BB-8 streaming after him.

"Is that a good idea?" Finn hollers after him.

"She doesn't have a weapon any more," Luke reminds him. "Do you think she can even go back?"

"Not if she doesn't want to get the shit kicked out of her," Finn comments bitterly. He kicks at the blaster. He clears his throat. "If she found us, there are bound to be more. The rest of her division."

R2 bleeps sadly, as if apologizing to Finn.

"How many in a division?" Luke asks as Finn starts climbing up again.

"It depends on how many haven't made it this far. They're young, so probably it's large. But you never know. There were only four who made it from the FN division." Finn gulps as he remembers Slip, and Nines… both dead now.

As for how we made it… Finn doesn't want Luke to ask. He doesn't want his father to know. He has to know, or at least have guessed.

Yes, I was cruel when I had to be.

But I hated it.

Does that count for anything?

He didn't often have to be. He succeeded in other ways. The few moments he remembers convinced Finn that he didn't want to be like that, but no one ever understood.

"Put your hands up," interrupts a brittle voice. Another kid, pale-skinned and fair-haired, points a blaster at both Luke and Finn, and this kid's hands aren't shaking.


"Hey!" Poe cries after the kid. "Hey!"

There she is. A flash between trees. Poe lunges, but the girl trips over a root and screams.

"Are you okay?" Poe exclaims, reaching for her. She tries to kick him, but Poe dodges her foot. "Easy. I'm not—"

"You're with the Resistance, aren't you?" she spits at him.

BB-8 whirs up behind Poe, speeding past him towards the girl. He bleeps at her. She frowns.

"He says hi," Poe offers.

"It's a droid. It just does what you tell it to."

The droid or you? Poe wonders. "Nah, BB-8 does what it wants when it can. It's friendly."

"It's a droid," the girl repeats.

BB-8 chirps and sticks out a fiery thumb. The girl gasps. BB-8 chatters.

"He says not to worry," Poe informs her.

"Why did you come here?" the girl asks, getting to her feet. Poe stays crouching down.

"That guy I was with—the younger one—he's my boyfriend. And he was a stormtrooper too. But he left, and he's—"

"He left? Why? That doesn't make sense." The girl's eyes dart around the trees, the mossy grass, several mauve flowers blooming from a vine cover a tree.

"It's a long story. He'll probably tell you it. His name's Finn."

The girl steps back.

"What's your number?" Poe asks. "His was FN-2187. Now he goes by Finn."

"SN-3237," the girl recites.

Poe wants to give her a name right here, right now. But he knows that would send her running. Instead, he reaches to the tree next to him and plucks a flower, holding it out to her.

"What am I s'pposed to do with that?" she demands.

Um— Poe shrugs. He reaches towards her and she flinches, but lets him put it behind her ear.

"No!" SN yanks it down and stomps on the flower. When she looks at him again, her eyes are overflowing with tears, but she's not running. "We're not s'pposed to—"

"Okay then," Poe says quickly, grabbing another flower. "How 'bout you put it in my hair, then?"

She doesn't quite smile, but her lips curve slightly. She takes the flower and pushes it behind his ear. She giggles.

"Does it look all right?" Poe asks her, winking.

"It looks stupid." But now she's definitely smiling.

"SN-3237!" A shout rings out, and Poe freezes.

"Good work," says an older stormtrooper, a teenager, who aims a blaster at Poe. SN steps back, her eyes wide.

Poe manages to smile at her again, even as his heart sinks and the stormtrooper drags him away.