A medical history, as Rey found out, took a long time to collect if you'd never seen a doctor before.
A droid had come by mid-morning and performed all manners of scans and tests on her, mostly unobtrusively until it had directed her to sit up with her legs hanging off the side of her bed and struck her below her kneecap before she knew to expect it. Her lower leg had jerked forward and kicked the droid's metal body.
"Sorry," she mumbled, but her biggest toe stung where it had connected with the solid object.
"No apologies necessary, and your reflexes are within tolerances," the droid replied. "Please recline for a routine blood sample withdrawal."
She cautiously leaned back and yelped in surprise when the droid pricked her inner elbow with a tiny needle. A droplet of blood welled to the surface, and the young attendant beside the droid reached in to collect it in a miniature glass vial before pressing a bacta-aid to the spot. "That'll heal in no time," he winked at her.
"Thanks," she replied. He had nice eyes, she noticed.
Eventually they left her to her own devices, assuring her Dr. Ixx would be back to discuss the results of her examination and to gather more information in a bit. The sun shone brightly outside, and she could just make out the tops of dense foliage past the outermost buildings of the base's footprint. D'Qar was in the Outer Rim, she distantly recalled from her maps that she'd pilfered over the years.
Her mood was just beginning to darken slightly as she recalled how Ren had seen her pathetic home, Imperial maps included, when the door swung wide and Dr. Ixx stepped in, looking quickly at a holopad.
"Good morning, Miss Rey," Dr. Ixx's eyes shone in the morning light. "Did you eat something earlier?"
Rey nodded earnestly. "Yes, there was a bunch of things, and I ate them all."
The doctor chuckled lightly, "That's not surprising, you've barely had time to eat in the last couple days with all this excitement, and your tests show you're somewhat underweight for your height. Nice change from what we normally see around here, though," she assessed briskly. "You're very fit, if a bit growth-stunted, no doubt due to extreme hardship." The doctor looked her over quickly, felt her head again with her firm hand, worked her hands gently down Rey's arms and legs then, squeezing firmly. "Tell me if this hurts anywhere," she ordered.
She hadn't been touched this much in years, Rey thought. She barely knew what human contact felt like. "No, it's fine," she replied.
"Good," the doctor confirmed. "That's very good, the scans only picked up a few old fractures that probably healed a long time ago, and you don't have any new bone or deep tissue injuries from the attack yesterday."
"Attack?" Rey asked. She wasn't sure which bit the doctor was talking about at all, or how she'd even characterize what had happened on Starkiller.
The doctor carefully avoided eye contact now as she finished brushing her hands over Rey's ticklish feet. "Yes, the encounter with Kylo Ren," she clarified.
"Oh," Rey said, still not sure exactly what encounter was in question. She had attacked him almost as much as he had her, or that's how it seemed. Honestly, it already felt like something from a dream, or a nightmare depending on perspective.
Dr. Ixx took a seat on the rolling stool again, and crossed her legs. Her posture was ramrod straight, like someone who'd served in the military. "Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions now?"
Rey shrugged, feeling uneasy for the first time in the doctor's presence. "I guess?" She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them with her arms. "There's not really much to tell."
The doctor swiped the holopad to a new screen, ready to take notes. Rey spied what looked like questions with spaces for text input. "Your medical history is private, Rey, no one sees it except you, and authorized medical service staff here on the base, or within the Resistance. Okay?" she raised one eyebrow, expecting a reply.
"Uh huh," Rey swallowed. Who would even be interested in her?
"Of course, stop me with any questions you have along the way, too. Let's start with your parents," the doctor threw out the question easily. "What do you know about their health?"
Rey shrugged. "Nothing, I never knew my father, and barely knew my mother. I've been on Jakku by myself for over a decade."
"Mmmmhmmm," the doctor typed as she talked. "Do you know approximately how old you are?"
"Perhaps 19, or maybe 20?" she offered. She didn't really consider her age often.
"Good," Dr. Ixx encouraged her, "That's a good age to be - lots of time left ahead of you. And do you know how old you were when your menses started?"
Rey looked quizzically at the doctor. "My menses?" She had never heard the word.
The doctor typed a short phrase in her notes before answering her without looking her in the eye. "Yes, do you regularly experience a discharge of blood and small tissue matter from your body?"
Oh, Rey blushed. They had to talk about that? "Um, mmmhmmm." Words failed her in her embarrassment. So it was something that happened to other humans, then.
"That's good," Dr. Ixx nodded confidently. "Means everything's working in your body. And for how long now? Are the occurrences at regular intervals?"
Rey looked away, down at her feet under the blanket as she thought back to the hashes on the wall, combined with her alternate timeline that she'd begun as the bleedings has started plaguing her. "Well," she calculated slowly, picturing one wall, then the other in turn. "Every 29th or so day cycles, for maybe 2.5 planetary revolutions?"
Doctor Ixx looked at her expectantly, then added, "Ok, so quite recently then if you're correct about your age. Not unexpected though, given food scarcity in your situation." She made another note before diving directly to the next question. "Have you had any sexual partners, and if so, how many?"
Rey stared at her feet further to avoid eye contact. It was embarrassing how she felt like she was failing the doctor with every question. She had no idea what this question meant, either. It was compounded by the fact that she could feel Dr. Ixx's slight confusion at her ignorance through the Force. It wasn't frustration, so much as a curious disbelief. Was she such a curiosity? "Sorry?" she offered.
Doctor Ixx tapped her index finger against the holopad in the blank spot. "Right," she clarified, "Do you feel you have a preference for men or women as partners? Or both?"
"I'm sorry," Rey said again, "I really don't know what you mean."
"That's alright," Dr. Ixx look bemused and chuckled a little, "You're what we'd call a late bloomer. You just have a little… catching up to do. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you," she reassured. "I can give you some reading material, if you like."
She nodded quickly. Reading. She liked reading.
"So Rey," Dr. Ixx sounded slightly hesitant now, "Do you feel like talking about what happened while you begin held on Starkiller base? If not, I can come bac-"
"Now's fine," she said curtly. "It's as good a time as any."
Dr. Ixx closed her eyes gently in agreement. "That's great. Would you like to give me an account in your own words? I'm just going to take some notes as you talk."
Rey's stomach dropped, and she straightened her spine against the feeling as she hugged her knees more tightly to her chest. "Um, I ran into the forest after the air attack began on Takodana, and then he-Kylo Ren- caught up with me," she was acutely aware of how dumb it sounded in this condensed version. "He knocked me unconscious somehow, and when I woke up, he was there to…. interrogate me?" Why did she say it like a question? "He wants the map to Luke Skywalker's location, the one that's in BB-8's memory bank, and I'd seen it, but I was able to fight him off-"
"Ok, good," Dr. Ixx gracefully interrupted her. "Let's back up just a second. You said you became unconscious on Takodana. How did that happen?"
Rey shook her head vigorously, but silently. "I don't know," she admitted. "One second I was standing there, but he'd bound me in place somehow, and then the next thing I knew, I was on the base. Although, I don't know it, I didn't know where I was at all," she could feel the tide of panic beginning to well in her again.
As if she could sense it in Rey, Dr. Ixx put her free hand on Rey's back then and rubbed it soothingly. The sensation was completely foreign but it settled the flighty feeling that was twisting her core. "That's fine, traumatic situations are frequently confusing. It's our body's way of telling us something's wrong and keeping us safe. So you fought Kylo Ren off during interrogation how, exactly?"
How had it been, exactly? In her mind, that word applied to mechanical objects, metal and glass and transistors and things she knew like her own hands, not the slippery mess of emotions and feelings she'd experienced when they had been together. She supposed it was with the Force, everyone around her was suddenly talking about it like it really was a real thing. "I…. I can't explain it," she finally looked at Dr. Ixx's kind, weathered face. "With my mind, somehow. He was going through my memories with his mind, and I was able to turn it back on him, do the reverse? He wasn't expecting it at all, I don't think, and it made him….. angry," she assessed.
Dr. Ixx nodded at this, tapped on the holopad. "That was very brave of you, Rey," her voice was low. "You could've been injured much worse."
Rey could feel Dr. Ixx's relief through her energy, and wondered at what that comment meant, exactly. "I guess so," she said. "So then they moved me to a cell, and brought me something to eat, and he came to visit me in there again." Her stomach dropped when Dr. Ixx's eyebrows shot up as she processed Rey's comment. "But, he just sat there with me, watching me eat, and it was really weird but, I was just so…. hungry," Rey felt silly at the confession, "It wasn't until he left that he read my mind again."
"And what happened that time," Dr. Ixx asked cautiously. She seemed like she already knew the answer to her own question, and regretted having to ask it.
Rey considered carefully how to describe the second incident. She had a sinking feeling, knew from the doctor's previous line of questioning, that the things he'd seen in her head were of interest to the doctor too, her private things, and now she was struck by the devious sensation of feeling like she had to defend this knowledge of his knowing it from the doctor. The fewer people who knew about that, the better. "Well," she said at last, "I wasn't... able to defend myself the second time."
Her admission hung in the air lamely as Dr. Ixx made notes for what felt like an entire baking day under Jakku's burning sun.
"Rey," Dr. Ixx finally cleared her throat authoritatively, "The Resistance leadership may have more questions for you about your captivity, since this was a military encounter and these… incidents are formally reported to Senate governance bodies. It's a formal nod at the Order following a code of conduct that we know they don't," she explained, a hint of exasperation creeping into her voice, "But we have to play by their rules."
Rey nodded silently. So more uncomfortable questioning, she supposed. "Okay."
"I'm going to recommend you speak with my colleague," Dr. Ixx went on, "She's a psychologist and you might find talking about this incident to be helpful. When you're ready, of course- no need to overwhelm you with that just yet. Before I make my report final, I just have to ask one more question, and I'm sorry, I know it's uncomfortable."
Rey just stared at her. "Uh huh," she swallowed hard.
"Thanks," Dr. Ixx said. "Rey, at any point during your captivity, did Kylo Ren, or any other First Order personnel, physically assault you? We know about your fight immediately before Chewbacca rescued you, he saw the very end of that," she quickly assured Rey, "But while you were alone, I mean?"
Rey blushed, and blushed hard, realizing how the insane mind reading story might sound like some kind of cover up to someone who hadn't been there. And again, she thought of his strange comment to her: You know I can take anything I want. Why did she feel so ashamed all of a sudden? It was the truth, as crazy as it sounded to her own ears. "No," she whispered forcefully, finding her vocal cords suddenly useless as a hot ball of anguish froze them. "It wasn't like that, I'm fine."
Dr. Ixx nodded once more, "Ok, that's what I thought, I just have to ask these things- I know it's awkward. That's very good, the scans our droid took confirmed you're unscathed. Maybe a little shaken up, but physically in good shape," she concluded.
Rey nodded wordlessly and smoothed her palms up and down her shins through the blanket. She gave a wan smile to Dr. Ixx, trying to convey how alright she really was.
Dr. Ixx continued typing silently on her holopad for several more seconds before adding, "Alright, I'm going to put you on a course of vitamins, some mild painkillers until your muscles can heal completely, and I'll have the droid come back and administer the standard contraceptive implant. Sound alright?"
"What does a…. an implant….do?" She felt stupid having to ask, that she had no idea there were still so many words she didn't know.
"It protects you from communicable diseases- ones spread through contact- and from pregnancy, if you do choose to become sexually active," Dr. Ixx stated matter-of-factly. "You'll be able to read up on it in the holo that we'll prepare for you, and again- let me know if you have questions, okay?" Dr. Ixx smiled then. "Rey, you're going to be fine. Really."
She stood without further comment and made her way to the door. "Try to get more sleep if you can."
The door latched closed behind her, and Rey felt more alone than she had in years.