Note: It has come to my attention that this chapter did not upload correctly, so here it is.

Chapter 2: Fix Me

Ben had decided he wanted to take some time before releasing anything. He wanted to find a new band, one that he actually liked and to make music that actually mattered. In the meantime, he also wanted to write and produce. Do something while he was working on rebuilding himself. What surprised Leia was that he didn't want to just to the rock genre and that he was good at writing and producing anything other than rock music. In fact, his songs had been some of her artists' biggest hits, almost always topping the charts when she released them.

The songs were nothing like his songs with Star Killer. It proved that there was a lot more to him than the image Snoke tried to create. That wasn't to say that he didn't piss people off when they first met him. He was still stubborn and rude at times, but it was usually because he was pushing them to be better. After his mother threatened a defamation lawsuit, Snoke had determined it wasn't worth it to spread rumors about Ben Solo. That didn't stop him from saying whatever he wanted about Kylo Ren, the main one being that he had lip-synced his entire career. Nobody seemed to connect Kylo Ren and Ben Solo as one in the same, even though he made no effort to hide it when he left Star Killer, giving one last post on Twitter that he was no longer Kylo Ren, he was Ben Solo. Everyone in the rock community knew, but none of the artists he worked with ever referred to Ben as Kylo and he hadn't released anything that would put him in the spotlight as Ben Solo. He'd cross that bridge eventually, but it wasn't worth the effort for him to defend a name he no longer wanted. He was just happy that he never legally changed his name.

"I want you to work with one of my new, up and coming rock bands," Leia informed him as he walked into her office.

"Hi to you too," he said, pretending to be offended. She knew he wasn't so she just rolled her eyes as he sat across from her. "And what is this band's name?" he asked.

"Jedi," she told him, causing his eyes to go wide before he laughed. His reaction clearly caught her by surprise.

"I can guarantee once they see me they will see me as Kylo Ren and will not want to work with me," he told her. She looked at him for further explanation so he continued, "I met them when I was Kylo Ren, let's just say it wasn't the best first impression. Finn, I think that's his name at least, tried to punch me, which I might add was pretty entertaining. The pretty boy probably would have too if they weren't scared of Rey. That's her name right?" he asked.

Leia sighed, "Leave it to you to have pissed off the one band that you will be working with. That's not a question. What did you do to upset them?"

"I was just being myself," he shrugged. The look on Leia's face made him know that she wasn't buying it. "Fine, me and Rey may have gotten into a bit of a fight when she called me a sexist pig when I tried to hit on her. And I may have referred to myself as a Jedi killer when she rejected me," he looked away, not proud of his actions. "It might have been when I was still using and she might have been underage at the time," he added. "But it wasn't a physical fight, just you know, some not so nice words being thrown around. Plus how was I supposed to know she was only seventeen? She wasn't exactly dressed like a seventeen year old and certainly didn't act like one."

"So let me get this straight, basically you're telling me that she rejected you for being a sexist pig so you acted like a sexist pig and told her you'd kill her chances at her band making it big?" she felt the headache coming on. "Does that sum it up?" she asked, sounding highly annoyed with his actions.

"Yep, sounds about right," he tried to act casual but his mother's disappointed tone killed him on the inside. "I'll try to work with them, but I can't guarantee that they'll agree to do the same," he told her.

"Guess that's really all I can ask for," she said, knowing that Kylo Ren was always going to haunt her son. "Just try to play nice, maybe they won't remember," not even she believed her words, but one could hope. "You realize she's ten years younger than you, right?" she added.

"I know that now," he answered. "And I doubt they've forgot about it, but I'll try," he promised, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to play nice. If he remembered correctly, the woman knew how to push his buttons. "And I promise not to hit on her again. I don't like getting rejected, obviously, and ten years is quite the age gap, plus I'm too old to keep up with someone so young," he added with a smirk, knowing what else his mother wanted to hear. It wasn't as if he wanted some twenty-one-year-old that probably wanted to party, drink, and have fun. That part of his life was behind him; he needed stability.

"Also, please refer to them by their names. It's Rey, Poe, Finn and I don't think you've met Rose, but I'm sure she's heard about you," she informed him. He nodded, but didn't say anything. Rose was relatively new to the group so she was sure that he hadn't met her since it had been more than two years since he'd been Kylo Ren and that was when she joined Jedi. "You'll meet with Rey first, tomorrow at nine. She's the writer of the group, I want you to help her write and if you can get along then produce the record. I know you plan to start working on your own band as well, but you're good at multitasking and you practically live here as it is," she added.

He just let out a small laugh, "Yeah, I'll try." When all Leia did was nod he knew that he was dismissed and that was his cue to leave. "I'll let you know how it goes," he said as he walked out of her office.

"Rey, seriously, you should be excited about this opportunity," her friend Jessika told her. "Working with him gave me my best selling CD ever," she told her, but Rey still looked nervous. "I'm even nominated for a Grammy," she added with a smile.

It was Jedi's first studio album and it worried her that she'd be working with someone that was just as new, if not newer, to the industry as they were. Ben Solo had just popped up about three years earlier, but he was surprisingly good at what he did and had worked with multiple award-winning artists with his songs quickly raising to the top of the charts. While the fans didn't usually know who produced or wrote a song, everyone in the music industry had now heard of Ben Solo. "I just want our first CD to be amazing. You know, something that'll put us on the map and get us noticed," she told her.

"Trust me, the guy is a bit rough around the edges, but if you can deal with that then he's actually good to work with. I was surprised to say the least, but I've never had a song stay on the charts so long," she explained, hoping to calm her friend down. She had heard what had happened between Rey and Kylo Ren so she knew better than to offer up that bit of information, hoping to build him up enough to make her want to work with the man.

"Rough around the edges?" she asked apprehensively.

"Yeah, he acts like an asshole because he doesn't want anyone close, but when you get to know him he's just a softy," she explained. "Like I wanted to walk away when I first met him, but then I realized he was doing it see if I could handle it and in a way preparing me to handle the industry. Then I got to know him and he's pretty cool when he wants to be. Unless he feels attacked then he's like a completely different guy. And don't bring up his dad, Han Solo."

"Wait, he's Leia's son?" she asked, feeling dumb for not putting it together.

"Yeah, don't insult her either. Not that I think you will, but ever since they reconnected he's become pretty protective. Anyway, that's his story to tell, not mine, just wanted to give you the warnings," she told her, realizing that she had just made her more nervous.

Jessika had suggested that Rey arrive early so she could hear him working on his own album. According to her, that was what he did before meeting with other artists. From what she understood, Ben Solo was a workaholic that was always at the record company and had commandeered one of the offices and made it into a writing room where he'd meet with anyone that he was writing with until it was time to get into the studio. It was where Leia had told her to meet him and where he almost always was on any given day. The room was sound proof as to not disturb anyone working nearby and to ensure no content was leaked before it was released.

She looked into the room, thankful that the door was slightly ajar. She supposed that since they were meeting on a Saturday it made sense that there wouldn't be anyone to bother. Even if they weren't it was just one man with an acoustic guitar. She couldn't help but think the voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't figure out where she'd heard it. He would stop every so often with a huff before trying a new melody he liked to go with the lyrics.

Rey couldn't help but be captivated not only by the man's voice but also by the lyrics of the song. It had so much more meaning than most songs that were on the charts. It wasn't some love song. From what she could hear, it was a song about losing your way, but also not needing to be fixed. It was about taking back your life and finding your own way. The song melted away all of her worries that Ben Solo wouldn't be able to help them. That was until she heard him speak, "It's not nice to stare."

It was in that moment that she realized just who Ben Solo was. He was Kylo Ren, one of the few people she truly hated with a passion. For a moment she didn't know what to say, she just stood there, mouth hanging open a little. "You've got to be kidding me," she groaned. He looked at her, as if to dare her to say something else. "So who really wrote that?" she asked, not accepting that the man she met could write a song with any real meaning.

"Excuse me?" he growled, setting his guitar aside, but not getting up from his seated position on one of the chairs. "Are you trying to insinuate I don't write my own shit?" he asked, trying not to let his anger get the best of him. They had hardly spoken and yet she was already pushing all of the right buttons to anger him.

"Come on Kylo, we both know the songs you write," she scoffed, as if the man were clearly one-dimensional. "You expect me to believe that the man that wrote for Stark Killer also wrote that?" she asked.

Ben closed his eyes a moment, letting out a deep breath to calm himself. "I go by Ben now, if you haven't heard," he told her, his voice laced with venom. "And why do you think I left Star Killer? It may not be the only reason, but not being able to make the music I wanted to was a big part of the reason I left the band. So don't you dare even suggest that I don't write my own music," he practically hissed. "I'm not the one here that needs to look for someone the help write their album," he glared at her, trying to get her to just leave so he could tell his mom that he tried and she just walked out.

Rey tried to think about her conversation with Jessika, but all she could see in front of her was Kylo Ren. "People don't change," she challenged. "You'll always be Kylo Ren," she was ready to leave and wasn't entirely sure why she hadn't yet.

Ben sighed, knowing that he had to at least try to get her to work with him or his mother would rip him a new one. "Look I realize that I didn't make the best first impression," he started, but she cut him off.

"Best first impression? That's an understatement. You were a complete ass and lucky that I didn't punch your skinny ass right then and there," she crossed her arms. She wouldn't admit that he did look healthier, with actual muscles, and didn't appear to be drugged out of his mind like the last time she saw him. In fact, his dark eyes had no hint of the redness she'd seen previously.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, already feeling the headache coming. Once again taking deep breaths to try to calm down. "Yeah, know," he told her; he wasn't going to deny the man he was. "I was a monster, at least that's how I think you described me, but I don't remember much from that time of my life I wasn't exactly sober." He leaned back in his chair, "I get if you don't want to work with me, you're more than welcome to leave and I'll tell Leia that we couldn't move passed what happened four years ago."

Rey was silent for a moment, weighing her options. "We can work together," she finally made up her mind, knowing she couldn't pass up the opportunity to work with someone that had brought so many artist success. "But there will be some ground rules," Rey liked the surprised look on his face. "First and foremost, you will treat me like an equal, not some piece of ass."

He just chuckled, "Trust me, I'm not looking for some twenty-one year old to fuck for a night anymore. I'm done with that part of my life, you're safe." Ben could acknowledge that she was hot, but that didn't mean he'd go for her. Rey was just starting her career and would want to have fun and probably party, which was a scene he was trying to stay away from.

"Isn't that all guys like you are looking for?" she asked, rolling her eyes. She wasn't sure why she was acting this way. It was in her nature to believe the best in people, but there was something about him. It was almost fun to piss him off.

"Guys like me?" he asked. "Okay, here's a ground rule, stop referring to me as if I'm still Kylo Ren. I don't care what the fuck you think about me, but we will have to be professional if we are going to work together and that can't happen if you keep acting like I'm the same guy I was when we met." Ben was clenching his fists, reminding himself that he should not punch something, or someone, it would only prove her point and he refused to let her think she was right.

Rey didn't answer for a moment, instead biting her lip while she tried to think about what he said. "Fine," she finally responded, letting out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. "We give this one week," she told him. "If we can't get along at least a little bit after a week then I'll find someone else to work with."

"Shouldn't that be a band decision?" he smirked.

"The band doesn't have to write with you, I do," she wanted to smack him. Maybe punch him in his pouty lips. She wouldn't acknowledge that she found herself checking him out. He wasn't classically handsome, but there was something attractive about him, especially his lips. Rey was just happy that he seemed to be too annoyed with her to realize that she had been staring at said lips multiple times throughout their short conversation.

"You're making it very hard to be civil," he mumbled. There was a moment of awkward silence before Ben said, "Perhaps we should try this again Monday. Give it time to sink in and then you can decide if you actually want to work with me or not." Every fiber of his being wanted to destroy something just by talking to her, but he continued to remind himself of the calming techniques his therapist provided him so that he would think before acting.

"Fine," she said before quickly turning to leave. One thing she was sure of was that she was going to kill Jessika for failing to tell her she was working with Kylo Ren.