Kylo felt consciousness pulling him back from the darkness. The last thing he remembered was saving Rey from the militia. They had been walking towards his speeder when they were attacked. One of the militia men had not been dead, and in his hand he had had a blaster. It was pointed towards Rey and Kylo had reacted without even thinking about it. He remembered pushing her out of the way and being shot in the side. After that, he did not remember a thing.

Two things became very apparent in that moment he awoke. One, his right side hurt bad. Two, his left side was warm with some sort of pressure laying on him. He opened his eyes to a dimly lit room. His room. His hand touched his wounded side and he sucked in a breath at the pain. When he turned to his left he froze.

Rey lay asleep beside him. She was curled up in a fetal position against his side, her hand resting on his. He did not move a muscle, did not take one breath. All he could think about was the girl so close to him. It felt…nice.

"She's been by your side the entire time," Maz whispered.

Kylo tore his eyes from Rey to look at the teapot at the foot of the bed. She looked between him and the girl, a smile playing on her lips.

"How long have I been out?" He asked, his voice like rough sandpaper.

"About six hours. You lost a lot of blood, but the doctor said you will be fine."

"She has been here the whole time?" He asked, surprised.

Maz laughed lightly, looking at Rey. "We tried to get her to leave several times, but she would not budge. I went to get her something to drink and came back to find her sleeping beside you. I did not have the heart to wake her."

Kylo laid his head back on the pillow and rubbed his hand across his face. He froze, realizing his face was exposed. "Maz?" he said, his words barely audible.

"She removed your helmet. We had to, Ben," she answered.

"Do not call me that!" He said, harshly.

Kylo slowly sat up, untangling Rey from his side without waking her. Moving caused a wave of pain throughout his body, but he fought against it. His shirt was gone, his scars exposed. She had seen his face and his scars, yet she was still here.

He turned towards the bed, watching her as she slept. She saved his life. "She could have taken the speeder and left me," he whispered.

"What?" Maz asked.

"Nothing," he said, moving away from the bed.

He grabbed a new shirt, gently putting it on as his wound objected. He hissed in pain. The mask lay on the floor beside his feet. He wanted so badly to be free of it, to see the world with his own eyes. He had grown too dependent on the cover it gave him to throw it away. Instead, he slowly bent down and took it in his hands.

"Please." He stopped his movements as Rey spoke behind him. He kept his back to her, not yet ready to knowingly face her. "Do not put it back on."

"Why?" He asked, allowing her to hear his true voice for the first time. "So, you can make fun of my appearance?"

Kylo waited on her to laugh at his scars, but it never came. He felt angry again for reasons he did not understand.

"I would not do that," she whispered.

He swallowed the words on his tongue, words that spoke of how much he wanted to believe her. The words spoke of how just once he wanted to be face to face with another. Instead, he bent his head forward and slid the mask back into place.

"Meet me down stairs. We need to talk," he said, the robotic sound back in his voice. He grabbed his side as he left the room. The pain almost forced him to sit back down, but he allowed it course through him. It made his anger soar, and he needed his anger to face Rey.

He entered his study and lit the candle sitting on his desk. As he waited he thought about what all had happened. The girl had found the rose. He had sensed her presence as he was coming out of the darkness that haunted him at midnight. He had known where she was, and the darkness within him had not quite disappeared. She had no idea what she could have done if she would have touched the rose. He had lost control and she had run. When he realized she was gone he panicked. He had gone after her, finding her with the militia. The thought of them touching her caused him to massacre the entire campsite. Then, he was shot. Rey could have left him there. She could have taken his speeder and left him to die, but she did not. She had gotten him back to the castle and to help. How did he even begin to process that?

"You wanted to see me?"

Kylo turned to meet her stare, noticing the way her eyes kept going to his side.

"Sit," he ordered.

He pointed to a chair across from the one he was going to sit in. Rey slowly walked towards the chair, a look of uncertainty on her face. She did not trust him, which was not a surprise. It was one thing for him to be unconscious. It was another for him to be awake. He sat across from her, the silence choking them both.

"I told you under no circumstances were you to go to the East wing, yet you disobeyed me."

"I just wanted to look around."

"And then you run away from the castle. That is two of my rules broken in one night!"

"You tried to kill me," she shot back. He was surprised at her outburst.

"I did not," he said, but his voice did not sound too convincing. The truth was she has been in danger in his presence. Kylo had not thought of the girl's wellbeing. Nothing matter when the darkness had him.

"You swung a light saber at me!" she said, exasperated.

"I swung the light saber at everything in the room but you," he corrected.

Rey threw her hands up, her frustrations at him growing. "I guess you will blame me for you getting hurt."

"No," he answered. He did not blame her.

This seemed to catch her off guard. He did not blame her for getting hurt. It was either him or Rey, and he did not want her death on his conscious. He had enough blood on his hands.

"Oh," she said, surprised.

Silence settled between them. Several times Kylo tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. It was in the silence he realized his anger was gone. He had started off the conversation with it flowing in his blood, but now it had disappeared.

"T—," he started, but cleared his throat. The words he wanted to say were ones he was not sure he had ever said before. He tried again. "Thank you for saving my life."

Rey's eyes grew wide, but she recovered immediately. "You're welcome. Thank you as well. I can only imagine what would have happened if you had not…"

She did not finish, but the words she did not say hung in the air between them. Kylo felt something stir within him, something possessive.

"Well, see to it that you do not run away again. I may not be able to save you next time."

He did not mean for his words to sound so harsh, but he was not used to having conversations with people. Maz had been his only companion for years, and he even pushed her away most of the time.

"You do not have to be so mean!" she shot back. "It would not hurt you to be polite, you know."

"I do not do polite," Kylo said.

"And, would you please remove that mask," she huffed.

"The mask is not up for discussion."

She scowled at him, which made his lips twitch. "It's a stupid looking mask, anyway," she mumbled.

What happened next had both he and Rey staring wide-eyed at each other. Kylo did something he had not done in years...he laughed. He stood to his feet, needing something to distract him. He did not like what he was feeling, for it would just cause him to be let down in the end.

"Come," he said.

Kylo left the room without seeing if Rey followed him, but he heard her hurrying to catch up with his long strides. He walked through the hallway, passing his servants as he went. He ignored their curious stares and headed for the door.

The sun was high above their heads as he led her around to the side of the castle. He had not realized the lawn had gotten so untidy. There was really no reason for him to care, so why did he care now? They came to a large barren area of the lawn where the soil looked different from the rest of the ground. Kylo stared down at his mother's garden, a sting of guilt assaulting him. The garden had been neglected and looked in bad shape, but maybe Rey could fix it up again.

"This used to be a thriving garden. Perhaps if you want something to do around here you can tend to it once more."

"Really?" she asked, excited.

Again, he felt a stirring deep within him, making him feel odd again. He stole a glance at Rey. She was smiling. Kylo liked it when she smiled, though he would not admit it to anyone.

"Yes, well, we have an extra mouth to feed." The smile fell from her lips and he cursed himself for not thinking before he spoke. "I did not mean it like that."

"No, it's not that. I—I was just thinking about my grandfather." Her eyes grew distant, sad. "We barely made ends meet with our food supply, but as long as he had me I did not let him go hungry. Now…"

Rey did not finish what she was about to say, but she did not have to. Her grandfather would starve to death without her. Kylo turned away from the sadness on her face, yet he could not deny the truth in her words.

"Thank you, Kylo. I would like very much to fix the garden. I—I am quite tired, so I think I w—will go lay down."

She was not fast enough to hide the tears in her eyes. He saw them just as she turned and left him in the garden. For the rest of the day he paced in his study, until finally he could not stand it any longer.

He climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked towards her room. He was about to knock when he heard her crying. His gloved hand dropped to his side as his eyes stared at the door, as if he could look into the room and see her. It affected him more than he wanted to admit.

"Damn," he breathed, for he know what he had to do.

Kylo left instructions with his servants to watch the girl, that he had to take care of some business in town. He had no idea where he was going, but he would find his way. Sure enough, after scaring about three people in town he had directions to his destination. He made one more quick stop before heading off.

The cave was small and nothing special. If it were not for Rey he would never have noticed it's existence. But, here he was in front of her home. He got out of the speeder and walked towards the entrance. Should he just walk in? There was no need to ask that, for the old man was standing in the door staring at him. He looked both angry and shocked.

"You!" He breathed.

"We need to talk," Kylo responded.

Suddenly, Obi-Wan's face grew pale as his eyes closed. "Is she—she…"

"She is fine," he answered.

Relief flooded the old man's face as he turned back inside. He stumbled to his chair, sitting down heavily.

"Thank the gods," Obi-Wan whispered.

Kylo entered behind him, not planning to stay very long. In his hands was a box that he sat at the old man's feet.

"This should be enough for three month. When it runs out I will be back with more."

Obi-Wan reached down and opened the box, his eyes growing wide at what he saw. Kylo heard him take a breath and let it out in shuddered waves. What he had given the man most people in Jakku could only dream of. A three month supply of rations, three meals a day, now belonged to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Kylo turned to leave, for there was nothing that needed to be said. He did not do it for gratitude.

"How is she?" Obi-Wan asked, his voice shaking with emotion.

"She misses you," Kylo answered, his back turned to the man.

Obi-Wan started to cry. "I miss her too," he whispered.

"I have changed the deal. You will have her back in three months."

A pain shot through his chest, but it was not from his wound. It grew exactly where his dead heart sat. He heard Obi-Wan gasp in surprise. The rations were for three months, to tie him over until Rey came home, yet Kylo knew he would never let them starve. He would see to it that they always had enough, both of them.

"Why?" Obi-Wan asked.

Kylo half turned to the old man, watching him. "Why what?" He asked.

"Why give me the rations?"

He could have answered Obi-Wan with several different reasons. He knew what it was like to lose his family. Rey had saved his life when she could have taken his speeder and left him to die. He felt guilty for keeping them apart. None of these reasons were what he gave, though.

"She made me laugh," he said. His words were so soft he was not sure the old man heard him. He did not stick around to find out.

With that, he left Obi-Wan to his rations and headed home.