Poe sat across from Kylo on the floor by the bed, as close as Kylo would allow him to be, which was pretty far—Poe had to reach way forward to just grab a card and even then he had to be careful, unexpected movements caused Kylo to flinch. Probably because he could only see out of his right eye, his left eye remained cloudy and unseeing. Poe had made a note to talk to a doctor about it, surely it could easily be fixed.

They were both engrossed in their game of cards that stretched between the two. Kylo grabbed a nine and went to put it underneath the ten, but hesitated and looked up at Poe.

"That's right." Poe assured him. Kylo confidently put the card down. Poe laughed,

"That leaves me to do this"

And he put his line of straight cards underneath the 9, claiming the pile.

Kylo snorted and put his hands up in the air.

"Winning is all about confidence, ya know?"

Kylo shook his head, putting his hands underneath his chin, he examined the cards, plotting his next move.

So far today had been good, with the exception of the one break down that morning. As long as they kept it on a light note, and Poe didn't touch him, Kylo seemed to be alright.

He watched as Kylo picked up a red four, and tried to stick it underneath a red five.

"Hey! That's cheating." He warned him, and Kylo gave him a confused look.

"It has to go red, black, red. Two of the same can't go next to each other. Remember?"

Kylo scoffed noiselessly, then pointed to the card that Poe had played earlier; a red queen, next to a…

Red King.

Oops.

"Well, uh that rule doesn't apply to the face cards." Poe bluffed.

Kylo rolled his eyes as if to say liar.

Poe laughed, "It was an honest mistake, make your move it you want. Even though it is technically wrong." he commented.

When they finished the game (Kylo had won, even thought he cheated just a little) Poe reshuffled the cards.

"So what do you want to do now? Are you tired? Hungry?"

Kylo still had a hard time communicating with them about what he wanted, not because he couldn't but because he was too proud to ask from help. Poe found it was best just to flat out ask him, 80% of the time Kylo would give him an honest answer, and that was good enough for Poe.

Kylo shrugged, and then pointed to the small window.

"What?"

Kylo repeated the motion, pointing at the window again.

"You want to clean the windows?"

Kylo shook his head. He pointed to the window again, and then mouthed go out.

Poe hesitated. He had been under strict instructions from Leia to watch her son closely and make sure no one hurt him, but she never said anything about keeping him in this small room.

"I don't see any harm in that, if that's what you want to do. But let me check in with my superior—your mother—she has the final say."

Kylo nodded and stared at the cards as Poe pulled out his tablet and taped a message out to Leia:

Poe: Ben is getting a little stir crazy and wants to know if we can take a walk.

Leia: He'll have to stay confined to a wheelchair. If that's okay, I'll have a chair sent to the room. You can take him to the gardens on 5th deck, I'll be sure to clear it out for you. We can meet you there.

Leia's reply was clinical, but also had a note of a mother missing her son, and wanting what's best for him.

"We can go to the gardens, but only if you agree to a wheelchair." Poe said

Kylo nodded his head, but did not seem pleased with this agreement.

Poe stood, and then offered a hand up. Kylo flinched a little bit and froze. Poe sighed, he had forgotten again that Kylo didn't like to be touched. And was once again reminded that there was a lot to Kylo's story that he did not know.

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot, I didn't mean to scare you." Poe whispered softly. Kylo shrugged without looking him in the eye. He pushed himself up to standing by himself, and then motioned with his hand to the door.

"We have to wait for them to come get us. High security and all that." Poe explained.

Twenty minutes later Poe was pushing a slightly undignified Kylo down the hallway and to the garden on the 5th floor where Leia had agreed to meet them. It was completely silent, except for the click of Poe's boots and the quiet squeaking of the wheelchair.

Kylo remained stiff and quiet throughout the journey; he picked a hangnail on his left thumb and refused to look anyone in the eye.

When they reached the garden, Poe rolled the chair up to the largest koi pond and breathed in deeply. He had to admit that he liked being out of that tiny room, even if was just for a little bit.

"So today has been a better day?"

Poe jumped at the voice behind, he turned to see Leia standing behind him with Chewie standing behind her.

"Yes. I suppose so. As good as it can get." Poe answered.

"That's good."

"Yeah."

Kylo remained still while they talked, as if he were determined to become a statue. He stared straight forward and ignored Leia's greetings.

"Ben?" Leia asked, and then she put a hand on her shoulder. He flinched, but still refused to look at him.

Leia straightened, and Poe could see that she was battling for composure.

"Chewie, can you watch Ben for a moment, I want to talk to Poe." She said and Poe felt his heart sink. Was he in trouble? Was this not a good idea?

Leia looked at Poe, "Walk with me, for a minute. No one should see their mother cry." She confessed and then she strode off towards one of the paths. Poe jogged to keep up with her.

"General—Leia—wait. It's going to be okay." Poe said, reaching her side.

Leia sighed, "How can you say that? How can say that everything will be fine when my own son won't even look me in the eye? I thought he was getting better, I thought that him wanting to come outside meant that something had changed. But he hasn't. He's still Kylo Ren." Leia whispered in a brittle voice.

"With time, and effort that will change. I've come to learn that people change into two different ways; constant pushing and pressure or a near death experience. Hopefully Ben won't have the latter, but I think we are doing the best we can for him. He'll come around, I promise." Poe reassured her.

Leia just nodded.

"He and I played cards today. Double solitaire. Remember that game?" he asked

Leia nodded and smiled, "Han and I would play it for hours on long flights. I remember teaching you and Ben when you were little."

"It was fun, reminded me of old times." Poe said

"Yeah."

"He still wont let me touch him though." Poe whispered after a beat of silence.

"There's so much we don't know, he's changed so much and I don't know how to fix him. I miss my son, Poe."

Poe was silent for a minute, "There is a lot we don't know. Who knows what the First Order was doing behind closed doors. But we have to be grateful we didn't loose him completely. He's still here, and that's all the matters." he finally said, hoping that his words would reassure her.

Leia nodded, "It's-shhh did you hear that?"

She stopped mid sentence, she held up her hand and they looked at each other. Then somewhere from down the hallway they heard a scream.

888

Thanks for reading!