In which Rey meets another one of her heroes, and Ben gets too close for comfort.
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It's a very awkward Saturday, because when Ben first arrives and claims the chair next to Rey's, no one dares talk about anything. Finn and him exchange a curt nod.
"So," Rey says, that is the only word spoken for a full five minutes. "You know Finn." Rey caves in. "And this is Rose."
"We've met," says Rose. "My uncle is that sports coach you punched a few years ago."
"Right."
Then, when Rey goes to get Ben a coffee, one of the waiters comes to tell her that Ben is banned, and they would very much appreciate it if she told him to leave. She doesn't bother asking why they don't go over and tell him themselves.
The rest of the afternoon goes just as stiffly, coffee now cancelled and replaced with an aimless wander around the park. Rey focuses her attention on Rose, asking question after question and trying hard to spark a conversation. Finn just glares at Ben, who just looks constipated.
When Finn proposes to go on a jog, Rey thinks that surely this means the other two are going to leave, but Rose immediately accepts and Ben nods too. He's even wearing his running shoes, like he's planned on joining all along.
Without needing to explicitly agree on the plan, Finn and Rey start a very long run, hoping to tire Ben into going home. This however completely backfires when Rose tires out first and Finn feels obligated to remain behind with her, thus leaving Rey in charge of outrunning Ben. Unfortunately, she's underestimated his physical abilities, and eventually she is the one to slow down and end up hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath, whilst he towers over her, having barely broken a sweat. By then, Rey is just struggling not to show how cross she is. She's pretty sure Rose pretended to be tired just so she could escape this circus show of an afternoon.
"Right, well, I guess I'll see you at home," she says.
"I'll walk with you."
"Of course you will," mutters Rey.
He's even slowing his pace to match hers, she can tell. She says nothing to him all the way home.
Luke Skywalker arrives on a Tuesday night. Rey is in Alderaan House when he arrives, in the kitchen, prepping then stewing rhubarb stalks. Ben is sitting at the table, reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Why he's got to be reading in the kitchen of all places, she's got no idea, but his presence irks her and she finds that her shoulders remain tense, despite the warms rays of sunshine filtering through the windows. It's late afternoon.
She hears the tell-tale crunching of gravel as Luke's car comes up the drive.
"He's here!" Yells Leia from her study. Rey hears her run to the dining room window. "He's here! Oh my god, he looks ancient! ... Oh my god, he's with a woman!"
Han appears briefly in the kitchen, startled to see Rey there. He recovers quickly and asks Ben:
"You ok, son?"
Ben nods imperceptibly then stands.
"Should I go, or...?"
"No," say both Ben and Han Solo. "Stay," adds Ben.
"We need some youngsters in this house," says Han, before gesturing for them to follow him.
In the hall, Leia is gushing over her brother.
"Luke!" She laughs, hugging him like there's no tomorrow. "What is that on your face?"
Luke Skywalker scratches his beard. "You don't like it?"
"It ages you!"
"You've changed too, I'll have you know!"
"It's the hair, isn't it? I changed my hair, it makes me look younger."
Han Solo and Luke exchange a hug, clapping each other's backs loudly. Rey has followed into the room with Ben following close. She takes in the sight of yet another one of her heroes, and searches for Luke Skywalker's wide blue eyes, full of hope and ideals, on this older man's tired face.
"This is Rey," introduces Leia. "She does the gardens, and, well, we like her so much we've forced her to move into the cottage."
"Rey," says Luke, raising a finger a her. "Are you the Rey who crashed the Falcon?"
"And fixed it," babbles Rey, "I did fix it, too. I also washed it for years."
"It was the least she could do after stealing it from me, and crashing it into a ditch." Jokes Han Solo.
"I did not steal it! I had no idea it was yours," Rey pretends to argue.
Luke chuckles at their good hearted banter, then notices the tall, scarred man standing behind Rey.
"Oh, and, surprise!" Says Leia. "Our Ben has come home."
There is an obvious warmth to her voice as she says this, and Luke smiles, though his eyes remain wary. A tense silence befalls the hall for a moment, until Luke breaks it by stepping to the side, revealing the woman Leia had caught a glimpse of earlier.
"Well, I have a surprise of my own," he says. "This is Mara, Mara Jade. My fiancée."
The woman has white creamy skin, red hair and green eyes. She has a voluptuous figure, and exudes confidence.
"Hello," she says, "I'm Mara. It's nice to finally meet you all."
Damn, thinks Rey. Even her voice is hot.
"Oh Luke," says Leia at dinner. "You could have given me a warning! If I'd known Mara was coming... Hell, if I'd known there even was a Mara...!"
"That would have ruined the surprise," replies Luke. Rey has noticed that Ben and him are carefully avoiding to look at each other. She briefly wonders if they made her sit next to Ben, with Chewbacca opposite, so they could act as human shields should he have one of his outbursts.
"Well?" Presses Leia. "How did you two meet?"
Luke and Mara smile at each other and gesture for the other to talk.
"I was a lawyer," says Mara. "I worked for a man called Palpatine. I represented Empire, his company."
"Yeah, I've heard about them," says Leia, suddenly much less cheerful.
Rey remembers from her magazines that Empire was one of the many companies Leia used to fight against in her youth. It was a weapons selling company known for providing arms and ammunition to various factions around the world, thus contributing to the deaths of thousands of civilians. Mara gives a dry smile.
"Yes, I thought you might. I met Luke in the forests of Naboo. I was charged with intimidating him into leaving Empire alone. And...how should I put it? Let's just say he showed me the errors of my ways." She raised her glass to her lips. "Haven't looked back since!"
Rey lets out a breath. How romantic! The corporate lawyer and the philanthropist... Almost as romantic as the activist and the smuggler.
"Do you remember Lando, Han?" Luke asks Mr Solo.
"Do I remember Lando?" Scoffs Han Solo. "I was his friend before you were, kid."
"Well, turns out Lando already knew Mara. Before becoming a corporate lawyer, she'd represented him on a few occasions!"
"He always had a bit of a thing for me," says Mara, rolling her eyes towards Rey, who smiles, pretending to know what that feels like, flattered that Mara would think that Rey would relate to that.
"Eventually I worked up the nerve to ask her to marry me," says Luke. "And here we are!"
"And here you are!" Says Leia. "Full of surprises! Have you decided on a date yet?"
"We have, and it's Saturday As Soon As Possible," says Luke.
"Neither of us sees the point in waiting," says Mara. "So, as soon as we find the right place, we're good to go!" She turns to Rey. "But enough about us. How long have you two been together?" She asks, wriggling her finger at Rey and Ben.
"Oh! We're not," says Rey. "I work here."
"Oh," says Mara, surprised, though something tells Rey this is more of an act. "Yes, of course, Leia mentioned it. My bad, I thought, with you being here, and the looks..."
Rey is speechless. The looks? What looks? Mara raises an eyebrow at her.
"No, I work here. I just have a tendency to crash the family dinners."
"We love Rey," says Leia.
"My bad," repeats Mara, raising her hands in apology. "Are you British, Rey?"
"Yes I am."
"It's the accent," says Mara, tapping her nose with her finger. She leans in, winks at Rey. "I bet the boys love it. You'll be driving them crazy, with that accent and that smile." To everyone's great horror, she winks at Ben too. "Ben knows what I'm on about."
"Ok," says Luke. "Embarrassing the youngsters, tick. Antagonising my nephew, tick."
"I'm not embarrassing them, Luke, and I'm sure Rey will tell me if I'm annoying her. She seems like someone who can take care of herself."
Rey is both flattered at the flood of compliments coming out of Mara's mouth and irritated at being put on the spot so much.
"Oh, she can," says Han Solo. "She grew up on a scrapyard surrounded by tough guys. She's got a baseball bat and she knows how to use it."
"By playing baseball, that is?" Teases Luke without humour.
Chewbacca says something in Norwegian, and all Rey catches is "fuck boys." At first, she thinks she's misheard, but then Mr Solo translates for his friend.
"Chewie says she uses it to crush fuck boys." Declares Han, startling everyone. "Is that what girls call them now, Rey? Fuck boys?"
"I don't know."
"How many drinks have you had, Han? Chewie, I won't ask."
"So you can fight, huh?" Asks Luke.
"A bit." Says Rey. "But it's all self taught, really. I lack technique."
She remembers Ben's words, as he held her against the wall, all those years ago. "You need technique". She remembers her magazines.
"You are a Krav Maga expert, aren't you?" She asks Luke. "Any chance you could teach me a few moves?"
She'd expected a polite refusal, or a chuckle, or even a yes, perhaps, but Luke Skywalker shakes his head vehemently, setting his glass down on the table, all signs of mirth having abruptly deserted him.
"No." He says. "No, no, no. I don't teach that stuff anymore."
"...why not?"
"Let's just say the last person I taught ended up using what I taught him to purposefully hurt others."
"What else is a martial art for?" Asks Ben. His deep voice humming next to her sends a shiver down Rey's back, and she hopes Mara Jade hasn't noticed.
"Exercise. Discipline." Luke says.
"That's exactly what Rey is after," intervenes Leia. "Plus, Luke, in this day and age, don't you think all women should know how to defend themselves?"
"I don't teach it anymore. I'll teach you medidation, though, if you like. And yoga. Same results, in terms of exercise and discipline."
"Thank you, that's very kind of you." Rey hopes no one can hear how disappointed she is.
"I'll teach you," says Ben. "If you like."
Finding no good enough reason to refuse in public, especially after she's literally just asked Luke to teach her, Rey accepts.
At the end of dinner, determined to be helpful, and eager to escape for a little while, Rey picks up a few plates and insists on taking them to the kitchen. She rinses them, then starts piling them in the dishwasher. She almost feels Ben arrive before she hears him speak.
"You don't have to try and impress him, you know," he says. "Or any of them. Especially not her."
"I don't even know what you're talking about," Rey replies.
She keeps looking at her plates, wanting to hide the blush she feels creeping along her cheeks and over her nose. She knows she's been rambling about her mechanical abilities, from entree to dessert.
"Right," says Ben, and she can hear the smirk in his voice.
It's all quiet, and Rey starts getting hopeful. Maybe he's gone back to the dining room?
"Do you wish he was your uncle?"
Damn.
"Pardon?" She faces him.
"Luke. Do you wish he was your uncle?"
Rey just frowns at him, confused at the question.
"I remember when you used to come wash my father's car. Did you wish he was your dad? And now, do you wish Luke was your uncle?"
Rey just shakes her head slightly, too shocked to respond.
"Because you shouldn't." He continues, tone harsh. "He would have disappointed you. They all would have."
"Ok," Rey says, before she can stop herself. "Well, forgive me for that. We're not all blessed with the luxury of being arseholes to our family." As soon as the words leave her mouth, she regrets them, but apologising is out of the question.
He blinks. They stare each other down for a moment, until the dining room erupts in cheers, and Leia comes running in.
"Guess what?"
Neither Rey nor Ben make a guess.
"Han just had the best idea. Luke and Mara are gonna get married here!"
"Here?" Repeats Ben, confused. "Here, where?"
"Here, at Alderaan House! In the gardens! Isn't that a good idea? We've got the space!"
"Is that even legal?" Ben, ever the buzzkill.
"Well we'll figure it out, but we can have the party here, no curfew!"
"Sounds great!" Rey says, jumping on the chance to move on from her conversation with Ben. "When?"
"This summer. Rey, you're invited, of course. And please bring friends. At least 10, otherwise this will look like a pensioners' do." She grabs her son's arm. "Come on, you two, we're having champagne!"
Rey's got to admit, she had vaguely hoped that Ben would either forget that he'd offered to train her, or that he'd realise he just couldn't be bothered to go through with it.
Unfortunately, neither happen, and Ben shows up the very next day with a schedule, an actual schedule, of Krav Maga training sessions. They are to train every two days: start the morning with a jog, then train for at least an hour.
Good job I wake up early, thinks Rey. Great.
A few days go on like this, waking early, joining Ben for a silent run, then spending a good hour sparring. He starts by checking she knows the basic stuff: how to form a fist, how to place your feet, how to fall. Then, he teaches her a few moves, and makes her practise them until they become second nature. If she's started the lessons somewhat reluctantly, she now gives herself fully to it, eager to learn. Rey is not one to remain angry long, and she craves knowledge.
"You learn very fast," he comments one day, and she knows it shouldn't affect her this much.
In the meantime, Luke does do a little bit of medidation with her, and yoga, but Rey is disappointed to realise that he is a rather distracted teacher. Where Ben is focused, patient and consistent, Luke is distant, preoccupied and lax. Not that she'd ever want to admit this to Ben, not even when she cancels a session with him at the last minute because Luke had offered to train her that morning, only to come back to him after Luke cancels on her. As if he'd known what was going to happen, Ben had not even changed out of his sports clothes.
After a couple of weeks, Ben moves on to actual hand to hand combat. They start by practising dodging punches and hitting sensitive areas, then go for a couple of 'real life' situations, where someone grabs you from behind, or tries to push you against a wall. It's exciting, and new, and interesting, and challenging, and...overwhelming. Rey finds herself spending an alarming amount of time pressed against Ben, or holding his arm or fist, getting herself out of increasingly close situations.
"You've got to put this foot on my hip," he says, "twist your hips, yep, like that, then... Nope, see, this way first, then..."
Today, he's got her on her back, on the grass, with him kneeling between her legs, and he's teaching her how to strangle him with her thighs.
"From here, you're powerless. I can take whatever I want. Phone, wallet,..." His eyes trail down to her neck and her chest, then snap back up, as if he'd not meant to let them do that.
Rey feels the air get knocked out of her lungs. Everywhere their bodies touch is burning. His eyes are boring into hers. What would he want to take? His breath is coming out in short puffs, it tickles her face. She knows her chest is heaving. His hands are holding her wrists down, it's part of the scenario. She's got no idea what's happening to her, why she's suddenly really affected by this. Her legs are tingling. A part of her really wants to know what he'd take, and suddenly she is terrified. This hot fog in her brain, is that...? Does this mean she...?
"Don't be scared," he murmurs, voice gentle, soothing... coaxing. "I feel it, too."
Rey remembers her training and snaps back to reality. In a few moves and turns, she's got her thighs around his neck and squeezes until he goes red and taps her leg. She lets go and he falls back, holding his throat and catching his breath.
"Good," he says in a raspy voice. "Well done. Now if we-"
"That's enough for today."
She stands up, looks away from him. She knows she's blushing. Her heart is still beating furiously in her chest, and her body still feels hot everywhere it came into contact with his.
"I'll see you Monday then, yeah? I'm out on Saturday. Gotta find an outfit for the wedding."
"Rey-"
"I'll see you Monday. Thank you."
She all but runs away. He doesn't come after her.
She's relieved.
She's disappointed.