Note: Since apparently I have zero patience whatsoever, have another chapter!

Set just a little over a year before present events, to... well, you'll figure it out. ;)

Past

Everyone had their roles. Their intelligence to gather, supplies to prepare, attacks to formulate. They would take their time, make sure their tracks were covered, and be safe in what they were attempting to do.

Ben didn't wish to lose anyone else, and neither did Rey, especially since they'd all become so close. The knights were like family, and Rey had never had family before.

They meant the world to her, immediately below Ben, the twins, and her best friends.

So Ben and Rey made sure everyone was careful, laying false leads elsewhere while the knights prepared to attack across the fleet, across the home bases and outposts, all at once.

They could figure out when, later. For the moment, however, they refused to rush it.

The idea was still young, and still needed some fleshing out.

And it was the best hope they had.

Ben ran into her on the battlefield once again. It was one neither of them could avoid, Leia and Luke and the other Resistance commanders agreeing, even with advanced warning.

The Resistance had slowed down in its victories, especially with the eyes of Snoke and its generals now tuned towards finding spies—spies they were sure could be found within the political core of the old imperial powers.

There had perhaps been a bit of a… misuse of the Force to further cement that façade. To make it more real. To make them believe that they truly were spies for the Resistance, with enough knowledge to tighten the noose around their necks.

There was enough horror ascribed to their names already that none of the knights felt even a twinge of guilt over it.

But here they were, Rey and Ben, following the magnetic pull of each other to a place where they could meet in private—at least for a short while before they must make their presence known elsewhere. Before they had to be seen.

"I wish we had more time—I miss you," Ben gasped out as he swept her into his arms.

"So much," Rey was able to get out before his lips crashed against hers, feeling the aching chasm of Ben in heart being filled once again.

They had seen each other far too little, a handful of stolen nights in person, the rest made up for with near-constant connection between their souls until they were nearly one.

But it would never be enough. Not until they could hold each other every single day, every single night.

They lost themselves in each other for long minutes, frantically pushing and pulling, giving and taking, breaths mingling with breaths, skin sliding against skin, words whispered, words heard—

Rey suddenly threw herself from Ben, pushing him to the side and sending him a soundless command to duck. He obeyed, quickly, trusting her in a way that made her heart nearly stutter with emotion, dodging the blaster shot that had been aimed for them both.

As they rolled to their feet, lightsabers blazing to life, Rey had a single moment to take in the hate-filled and betrayed eyes of one of the knights—but one she was unfamiliar with, one who wasn't family like the others they had saved—before she made her decision.

A decision that was proven right as she ran him through the heart and he uttered the word "Traitor," never once taking his eyes from off of Ben.

Alarms blared through the base as Rey slammed her hand on the switch.

She was on the comm within seconds, announcing to all: "Evacuation protocol. Threat imminent. This is Rey. I repeat, threat imminent. This is not a drill. Evacuate immediately following plan tango-alpha. I repeat, tango-alpha."

She slouched as she turned off her comm, the alarms still blaring around her. They would continue until the base blew, or until they and the charges were deactivated by two concurrent Level Six codes—and only she, Luke, Leia, two admirals, and three commanders had those codes.

"Thank you," she sent to Ben. "Thank you, so much."

"We have uncovered the traitors, Supreme Leader," Ben announced as he strode into the audience chamber.

The holo-projection of Snoke flickered, and then steadied as he leaned forward onto his knees. "Good," he hissed, malice dripping from the word—but also satisfaction. "You will bring them to me."

Ben dropped to one knee, bending his mask towards the floor beneath him. "They are dead, Supreme Leader. They killed themselves before we could extract all of the information but we were able to recover enough to—"

"I want every stone unturned, boy. I want their families, I want their coworkers, I want their servants—I want it all. You shall not rest until you have cured this cancer from amongst us."

And with that, the feed cut out.

Ben just breathed, taking long moments to compose himself again.

It had worked.

Not everyone survived.

And still more wouldn't.

He had lost four knights since they had been saved, but their sacrifices had not been in vain—as trite as that may sound.

He made sure to tend to their bodies himself, flying to each location when he received the call, and making sure that he accompanied their remains to any family they had left. He would allow no one else to assist, except for Rey's ever-comforting presence in the back of her mind.

She was there for him.

Always.

Poe held Rey in his lap with one hand, the other at the controls of the ship, piloting them with precision from out of the bowels of the star destroyer they'd been held on.

She was unconscious, head lolling against his shoulder, and he was worried. She had been out for hours now, her too-thin frame having shuddered to a stop in the middle of their capture, and not even their captors had been able to revive their great prize.

They had even allowed him, their enemy, to attempt to pull her back into awareness when their efforts had failed.

She had been wanted alive and in one piece so that they could torture her for whatever information that not even he had.

He had thought all hope was lost, that she had been lost to him—and she still might be, he reminded himself—when a woman wearing a half mask and a mane of red hair piled atop her head had walked in, taken one look at them, and then left the same way she had come.

Moments later the doors had swished back open, and two medics and an officer were tossed inside unceremoniously—and just as unconscious as Rey.

"There are no recording devices in here at the moment, and the ones outside have been turned off, I promise. These three did not see me… and neither did you. They will believe that she woke and was able to overcome the guards along the way—the ones I will clear for you—as well as turn off the holo-feeds." She had tilted her head to the side, her brown eyes wide and oh so vulnerable and caring in that moment that he had nearly choked. "Do you understand?"

"I do," he had replied almost immediately, and had chosen in that very moment to trust the woman who was so obviously risking her life for them.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he engaged the hyperdrive, programming in the latest base's coordinates, before he stepped away, Rey in his arms. "Come on, Rey. Come on. You have to be okay, so that you can tell me about what just happened. She knew you. She had to."

He held her against him, soothing her hair back from off of her face, and prayed to the Maker that she would be okay.

She'd been absent for too long.

The last things he had sensed from her had been panic, then anger, and then resolution. He had stayed quiet, knowing that he would only be a distraction. But he could offer her strength, and so he did. As much as he'd been able to.

But it hadn't been enough.

Suddenly, her presence had disappeared into a fog of unconsciousness and he had slammed his fist into the wall of his lonely chambers, above his lonely bed.

He was scared.

And he didn't like it.

But he hadn't been able to do anything. Not at that moment. He didn't know where she was, except that she had been taken to a star destroyer for interrogation, along with Poe Dameron, the pilot. Rey's friend. She had an ally, at least, and even if the man couldn't do much…

It was better than what he'd been able to do.

Sometimes he hated all of this so much that he just wished it would end. That he could throw in the towel, take Rey far away, and keep running if they had to. Forever, if necessary.

But at least they would be together.

Ben paced for another five minutes, and then threw himself towards his data consoles, opening his maps and intel and seeing which of the ships had been near to or in the area where Rey had been before she was taken.

But Savat contacted him first, before he could make much headway. There was so little he could do without tipping his hand, but he had been ready to throw it all away.

Ready to abandon it all to save Rey.

He practically slammed his fist into the screen to accept the call, and sobbed—literally sobbed—out loud when his second, his friend, announced, "Your treasure is safely on its way, Lord Ren. It will arrive soon and I expect it to be whole."

"Thank you," was all he could utter. She offered him a small smile but said nothing as she took pity on him and ended the transmission, knowing that her message had been received and understood.

She was okay.

His Rey was safe. She would wake up and be alright again.

He had only to wait.

And he had everything to repay to his knight—everything.

Rey was his everything.

His all.

Hours later, she woke, and the haziness lifted between them.

She spent the next few hours wrapped tight within him, against him, intertwined with his mind, his soul, his life force.

Until suddenly she was startled, and she pulled away for a few minutes. He held himself back from calling out to her, desperately controlling his instinct to hold onto her, knowing that she would—trusting that she would—come back to him.

And she did.

"Ben…" Even her mental voice sounded hesitant.

Why… why did she sound like that? What happened? "What's wrong? Rey, are you okay? Tell me, please, what's wrong so I—"

"I'm pregnant," she cut in.

His mind stuttered to a halt. "What?"

"You heard me," she grouched at him.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Ben said.

Nothing could stop him.

Nothing.

Note: I'll be visiting my grandparents from Tuesday to the following Tuesday. While I don't expect to have much time to write, I'll likely have a Mitzvah update or two ready to go ahead of time. Hopefully one for my Marvel fic, Cross, as well. At the very least one Mitzvah update, though! I'm really looking forward to that.

As usual, with events of late... be safe, please. I care a lot for you all.