It could've been hours, or even days, that had passed when she woke again, feeling like she hadn't slept this deeply in her entire life. The lights overhead were so bright she wished groggily for her makeshift goggles, abandoned back on Jakku. Slowly, she turned her head to the side to see Chewbacca seated across the room, dozing in a chair. His head was tilted back, resting on the wall, and a slight snoring sound came from between his pointy teeth. She stared at him for a long time, a ball of hurt welling up in her throat until if felt like it was nearly choking her, but she held back her sobs, not wanting to wake him. Hot tears rose in her eyes, stinging her eyelids and wetting the pillow beneath her cheek where they fell against the sterile, white pillow. She had never felt a cloth so clean in her life. A window in the hallway opposite the room was inky black outside. No wonder Chewie was asleep, it must be the middle of the night or nearly dawn already.

She closed her eyes and tried to rest, but all she could see behind her eyelids was the flare of his saber as it had gone through Han's back. She'd been too far from where the two men had stood on the catwalk to hear their conversation, but Finn had muttered, partly under his breath as much to her, "Oh, man, what is Solo doing?! That's Kylo Ren! We gotta get out of here before they bomb the core!"

"That's Han's son," she'd replied without looking at Finn.

Finn's head had whipped towards her at that. "What?!" he was incredulous. "Are you kriffing with me, how do you know that?" She'd just placed her hand on his forearm and watched uselessly as they'd argued, and then, Han was gone.

Their fight in the forest had taken every last ounce of her strength, and she'd drawn on what she supposed was the Force to give her an advantage in what was a decidedly unfair fight. Kylo Ren was over a head taller than her, broad-shouldered and obviously light years ahead of her when it came to saber fighting skills.

But the saber hilt, the one from Maz's castle, had leapt to her when she'd thought to call it, like it was fit to her. His surprise as it landed squarely in her hand instead had the same delicious taste as when she'd turned his mind probe back on him.

She curled as gently as she could onto one side, careful not to make any noise, trying to ease the ache in her back. As she did, she noticed she was no longer in own her clothes, and instead in a pale green gown made of rough, loosely-woven cloth that was so slack she could look straight down the neck at her smallish breasts, the flat of her stomach, and the small patch of dark, coarse hair between her legs. She pulled the blanket higher up on her shoulder, suddenly very aware of how naked she felt.

She closed her eyes again and tried not to think of the memories Ren had seen against her will.

You need a teacher, he'd said. A teacher for what, she thought? A retort had sprung to her head in the moment, but then he was upon her and she had to fight him off before she had been able reply: I'll never join you. The last blow she'd landed before she'd thrown him back was a vicious slash to the face, slicing his cheek in two. Hurting him physically had felt delicious, too.

A stack of equipment covered with wires and graphical readouts near the head of her bed began chiming, at first softly, then more insistently. She glanced at it, trying to figure out how to stop the sound before it woke Chewbacca, but it was already too late. He was up out of the chair and pushing her delicately back to the bed as he pawed the topmost box with his free hand.

The alarm silenced and he smoothed her hair back with his giant hand, letting out a guttural greeting.

Glad you're OK. I'm going to get your doctor.

"Thank you," she said, squeezing his forearm with what she hoped conveyed her undying thankfulness and condolences at the same time.

Chewie cocked his head to the side and yodeled softly. Thanks, no one expected that. He turned from her then, ducking out of the door to find someone to attend to her.

"Hello, Rey, how're you feeling," asked the kindly-looking older woman, placing her hand gently against Rey's forehead in a gesture that felt well-practiced. Rey immediately liked woman by how she felt in the Force: confident, calm, radiating a positive energy around her. "I'm Dr. Ixx."

"Hi," Rey said shyly. She'd never seen a doctor that she could recall; it was a luxury few on Jakku could afford. "I'm alright, I think. Tired, and kind of confused. Where are we here?"

The doctor pulled over a short, wheeled stool to sit on, nodding briskly. "You're at a Resistance base on D'Qar, in the Ileenium system. Specifically, you're in the med bay. You were in a bit of rough shape after getting off Starkiller, but mostly you check out just fine. You've been asleep for around 6 hours since you passed out on the airstrip."

"Mostly?" Rey asked. She didn't know if that was good or bad.

"Your vitals are very strong," Dr. Ixx said reassuringly. "Heart rate is even, your body temperature is average, blood pressure surprisingly low. You're stronger than you look, and aside from a few deeper scrapes that some bacta should fix up pretty easily, you pulled through just fine." The doctor looked at her cautiously before adding, "We'll wait to take a complete medical history and get a statement about what happened while you were held captive with the First Order until you're feeling more rested."

Rey's eyebrows shot up practically to her hairline. What did taking a medical history entail, she wondered. "Oh," she finally breathed. "Is…. what about Finn?"

The doctor looked down quickly before meeting her eyes again. "Your friend is resting, too. He was already in a coma and we're keeping him unconscious until we can determine it's safe for him to be revived. But-" the doctor pressed her hand to Rey's, projecting strength into her, "He's in good hands here, you both are. You should concentrate on getting some rest. I understand you've had quite an eventful couple days." She smiled then, chuckling softly. "It's a long way from Jakku to here, huh?"

"Did Chewbacca tell you that," Rey finally smiled, slightly ashamed at her origins in front of this obviously learned woman.

Dr. Ixx laughed then and cocked her head at the window, and only then Rey noticed Chewie hovering expectantly outside with the woman he'd hugged as soon as they'd landed. They were both watching her intently. Just then, a young, tan-skinned man with dark, wavy hair walked up beside them and grinned at her through the window, giving a short, hesitant wave.

She smiled shyly back and lifted her hand to return the gesture, then asked the doctor, "And... who is that?"

Dr. Ixx smiled more widely now. "Oh, that's Poe Dameron," she said. "I hear his BB unit caused you some trouble." The doctor smiled and nodded to the trio in the hallway in what Rey interpreted as permission granted. Chewbacca opened the door to her room then, and BB-8 peeked its head in from the side of the door with a low, cautious whistle.

Her heart nearly burst then. "Oh, hey there you," she greeted the droid. "How are you, little one?"

BB-8 rolled swiftly to the edge of her bed then, bobbing and weaving beside the doctor, bleating and chattering its excitement at seeing her, that she was OK, and that Poe had saved the day. The three entered her room behind the droid, and Dameron stepped forward with his hand outstretched in greeting.

"Hey there, I'm Poe," he said as he crushed her smaller hand in a firm handshake. "BB's been telling me all about your adventures, but I gotta thank you myself for saving Finn's traitor ass."

She blushed, waiting for him to release her hand from his grip that was beginning to feel endless. "I think we're all in your debt, if I'm not mistaken."

"Nah," Dameron shrugged modestly, withdrawing his hand and shoving it in his back pants pocket. "We can argue about it later over some drinks, ok? You should get some more rest. It sounds like you had pretty rough time up there. You know what? Next time, aim a little lower down when you're swinging a lightsaber at Kylo Ren's head, huh? You might get him across the neck if you're lucky."

Both Chewie and the older woman looked sharply at Dameron then, and the doctor said gently, "Alright, I think it's time we let Rey get her rest." She stood and nodded curtly at the other woman, "General."

The General inclined her head very slightly in silent reply, then stood with her hands clasped behind her back as the others filed out of her room, BB-8 trailing behind and hovering expectantly in the doorway before the woman closed it gently in front of the droid.

She turned back to Rey, and took a seat on the stool vacated by Dr. Ixx. "Hi, Rey, I'm General Leia Organa."

Rey picked at the edge of the blanket nervously with her dirty fingernails. She suddenly felt very nervous, and didn't know what to say. If this was Kylo Ren's mother, then Han had been her-

"We don't have to talk now," the General said kindly, cutting off her thoughts as though she knew what Rey was thinking. "I just wanted to introduce myself since I didn't get to before you-"

"I'm so sorry," Rey blurted out, an uncontrollable wave of sadness overcoming her as she thought of Han again. "We couldn't save him, he went after Ren and then he-" She broke off as she saw the tears welling in the general's eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered, no longer trusting her voice not to crack.

General Organa reached for her hand then, and just held it gently, stroking her thumb over Rey's knuckles. After a long while she wiped her tears from her own eyes with the back of her other hand and chuckled, "You feel pretty strong in the Force, kid, did you know that?"

Kid. The word tore at Rey's very heart.

Rey laughed a little then, the motion hurting her diaphragm where she'd been unconsciously holding in her breath in an effort not to sob openly in front of this woman whose pain was undoubtedly so much more than her own.

"That's what I keep hearing today," she offered shyly.

The General blinked at her in silent agreement, a smile crinkling the corners of her eyes into deeper lines before she she rose to depart. At the door, she paused and said softly, without turning back to face Rey, "I know I might be the only one, but I'm glad you missed his neck."