They didn't talk much about the state of their relationship that day. It just didn't seem like the right time, Ben had just woken up after being shot. Rey was just grateful he was okay and not leaving her. Her greatest fear, other than him dying, was that he would wake up and regret backing down from fighting her.

But he didn't leave, he stayed. Still holding his hand, she asked him how he felt, he told her she looked like she hadn't slept for a decade. She didn't have the heart to tell him she wasn't sleeping because of him, she said she stayed up late to study the Jedi texts.

After a day of observation, he was okay to leave the infirmary. Except for one problem. Word spread around that he was here, and very few were in a forgiving mood. Rey talked to Finn and Poe, Organa insisted that he was not to be harmed, and that he wouldn't be hurting anybody. A few close to her were backing her up and insisting they all have faith in their leader, the rest wanted him gone.

So it was decided that he would be kept in a cell that only the general and Rey would be able to access, and know where it was. They did their best to make sure it didn't feel like prison, Ben didn't want to leave it. He knew himself and his temper, the last thing he wanted to do was lose it and end up separated from the two women he cared about.

So this was the routine, Ben would see and interact with his mother every day. They got to know each other all over again, Ben cautiously told her his struggles. He wanted her to understand he never wanted to hurt her, he had been tempted by the dark side, and he had been weak and given in. Slowly they came back together as mother and son.

Rey took time out of her day to see him too. She showed him the Jedi texts, talked about reports coming in about the First Order, but neither of them got around to talking about what was going on between them.

They weren't entirely sure where they stood, and they were both scared to initiate anything. But it still happened naturally. Leaning in closely over a book, Rey leaning on him as they sat next to each other talking and studying, Ben holding her hand as he showed her forms as if she were holding her lightsaber.

Ben's fear of the unknown finally got the best of him, but it didn't come out when he was with Rey.

"Mother, do you talk to Rey very often?" He asked over the meal he and Organa were having together in his room.

"You mean do I talk to her about you?" She answered without looking up from her food.

"No, I just-" he tried to make an excuse.

"Son, whatever you have going with her is clearly a good thing. I don't think I'd have you here otherwise. Just do me a favor and keep it up." She grinned.

"Oh, well I, it's just..." he tried to put together the words. He hadn't ever really ran into this problem before, and certainly hadn't talked to his parents about it.

"You know your father and I had our problems too, took us a while to come to terms with everything. I mean I was a princess, he was a smuggler. I think I actually called him a scoundrel to his face once. Never did I think I would find what I had with him." She blushed just a little bit. "Life doesn't go the way we expect it. Better to accept it now and save yourself a lot of trouble."

She patted his arm and held her hand out for his now empty tray to take back to the kitchen.

"I'll come by and say goodnight." She patted his shoulder and left.

Ben sighed and laid down, she was right. Never, in his wildest dreams, did he expect Rey to crash in and do what she had to him. He had it figured out, there was no room for affection and a relationship. And then they connected through the Force, she got into his head and now here he was. But he had no regrets, there was only moving forward from here.

Rey POV

As Ben sat around doing his best to understand his newfound ability to care so deeply for someone, Rey did the same. She sat on her bed, legs folded up to her chest and chin resting on her knees. She had been alone most of her life, abandoned by her parents. There was no denying it, she sensed the truth when Ben told her. From there she was on her own, never getting close to anyone and never caring for anyone. Until she ran into BB-8, she had just been simply waiting for her family to return for her.

So what did it mean to care for somebody? Hand holding, kissing, maybe marriage one day. She had been doing what came naturally. Before, they had been following their primal instincts, back when she fought any personal feelings of attachment to him. Now that she let them flow freely, she didn't know what to do with them. She wasn't sure he did either, he couldn't be any better at this than he did.

So far she had been just going with what she felt was right. Comforting him when they were reunited, taking his hand in hers and allowing him to do the same, protecting him and watching over him when he was unconscious. But she longed for more. She continuously had the urge to kiss him, but it gave her anxiety. It wasn't like they hadn't kissed before, but this time felt like it would be starting over. They were no longer just sleeping together.

She didn't have a soul to talk to about this. Not Finn, Poe, nobody. She stretched out and let herself flop backwards, huffing. After a few minutes, she decided to do the best she could. This was a learning process, for both of them. They just had to let their feelings guide them.

That afternoon she went to see him. Whatever he was reading, he looked up as soon as the door to his room opened. She smiled slightly and sat down next to him to see what he had and ran her finger along the page. He caught her hand and held it between both of his, looking down at them as he played with her fingers.

This was the first real and concrete intimate contact they'd had since he was in the infirmary, the first time they went beyond the little things here and there. It took her by surprise, this initiative from him.

Then he looked up at her like he was terrified of her. It was the same way he looked at her when he asked her to take his hand and rule the galaxy with him.

"I want to tell you I'm sorry." He managed to say. Rey tried to respond, but he kept going.

"I know I've done a lot, and said some things to you that hurt you. The way I told you what happened to your family, I shouldn't have let it out that way. I should have gone with you that day, none of this would have happened. I was just drawn to power, and I saw a chance to have it when Snoke died. But I lost you in the process. It wasn't worth it."

He let out a deep breath and looked down. Rey took her hand from him and placed it and her other hand on either side of his face, encouraging him to look at her.

"You don't need to apologize. We're here together, you're safe. The second you put your lightsaber away I forgave you. I was falling apart inside when you were recovering. They told me you might not wake up." She admitted.

"Rey, please don't let that be the reason you weren't sleeping well."

She shrugged and looked up a bit sheepishly. He leaned forward and took her in his arms, kissing her forehead. It felt natural, like the easiest thing he had ever done in his life.

"I just needed to tell you all that. I needed you to hear how sorry I am for all of this. It didn't need to happen." He said into her hair.

She relaxed in his arms and wrapped hers around him. This, this right here was the most blissful thing she'd ever felt.

When he pulled away he looked like he had something else to muster up, something far more difficult. Rey scrunched her eyebrows together and rested a hand over his heart, feeling it beat erratically over whatever was on his mind.

"I..." He took a deep breath, "I also, I need you to know how much I care about you."

Rey was thrown for a moment, she knew he wasn't one to talk about his feelings much. She didn't have to know him very well to see he didn't like being vulnerable, and she understood the feeling all too well. She didn't like it either.

"I'm terrified. I'm caught between how much I care about you and want you to be here, and keeping you at arms length because, well I've never had this before."

A tear escaped, he looked her directly in the eyes when he told her all of this. She didn't have to look into his mind to see that he was being honest with her, and with himself.

"I'm scared too." She choked out. "I've never cared so deeply about anyone. This is new to me as well."

"Rey." He spoke her name in a gentle tone and took her hand that was resting on his chest.

They both leaned in, touching foreheads and closing their eyes, enjoying the intimacy and peace of the moment. When he felt it was right, Ben leaned in and kissed her.

Unlike the first time he kissed her, it didn't drive him to get her into bed. It was like something new was waking up in his mind and heart, all he wanted to do was show her how much he cared.

When they stopped, she pulled away to look at him again before leaning in and holding him. Both of them were deeply in love already, they just didn't recognize the feeling yet.