Rey walked in to the First Order humming a happy song and greeting the security guards with a bright smile. When Terry told her that Kylo was already here, she paused at the oddity, then shrugged it off. He was probably catching up on work or couldn't sleep.

She certainly hadn't been able to. Not when her mind kept bringing up the intensity of his gaze, the way he leaned towards her, how she leaned towards him, how everything could have been just-

"Morning!" She called cheerfully as she walked into his office, then paused as she saw the back of his chair facing her. "You're here early. Did you already get coffee, or should I-"

"Here to help, you said," he interrupted in a low, almost mocking tone.

Rey tilted her head in confusion. "What?"

"That's what you told me. That you were here to help."

She frowned at the back of his chair. "I am."

"Whether I believed it or not."

"Ben, are you alright? You sound-"

He turned around suddenly, his eyes hard as flint. "I know, Rey."

Trying to ignore the chill down her spine, Rey attempted a normal tone. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"How long have you been working with my mother?" He demanded.

Her blood running cold, she took a small, conciliatory step forward. "Ben-"

"Don't." He commanded, glaring at her through lowered brows. "Don't lie to me. How long have you been spying for her?"

She met his eyes, a whirl of conflicting emotions running through her mind.

Fear.

(Relief)

Shame.

(Hurt)

Regret.

After locking everything away, she relaxed her shoulders, lifted her chin, and met his eyes without flinching. (She knew this day was going to come. No matter how much she didn't want it to. Not matter what dreams, what hopes she might have had. They were just that - dreams. She should have known better. All that was left to do was to live with the consequences.)

"Since I started working here," she answered in an even voice.

Kylo blinked in shock at her honesty; vindication, betrayal, and anger all flickering across his face at the confirmation.

Choosing her words carefully, Rey explained, "When Leia found out I had been assigned here, she asked me to keep an eye out. To report to her once a month with how you were doing."

"And what did she want to know? My failures? My flaws? How everyone hates me?" He spat angrily, a sneer on his lips.

"No! Nothing like that. She just wanted to know if… if you were happy," Rey told him, pausing for the reaction she knew was coming.

"Bullshit."

"Call it what you want, but that's all she ever asked me. All she wanted to know was how you were doing, if you were alright." She waited until he met her gaze. "If you were happy."

As he slowly crushed the rubber ball in his hand, Rey lowered her eyes to the ground and listened to his long, barely-controlled breaths as he tried to process everything.

"What did you tell her?"

Rey's head snapped up. "What?"

His voice was sharp, pointed. "If that's all she asked, then what did you tell her?"

Rey hesitated. "I made my first report when I had only been here a month and I didn't reall-"

"Tell me!" He shouted, knocking his pen cup to the floor.

After letting a few seconds go by, Rey bit her lip and looked up as calmly as she could. "I told her no. You weren't happy. I told her that you didn't have any friends or family in contact with you, no personal hobbies or interests. Your whole life was work. You came early and stayed late. I told her everyone here was scared of you, wanted your job, or wanted to control you. You were angry and short-tempered and thought of no one besides yourself."

Her words hovered between them, true and hurtful and honest and cutting, drawing in all the air in the room until she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"And then…"

Kylo glanced up at her words, the tiniest bit of heart-breaking hope in his eyes.

"Over the next couple months, I told her that you changed. Not overnight, by any means, but I could still see it, little by little. You became… more patient. Less angry. You even sort of smiled, once or twice." A ghost of a grin appeared at the memory, then she sighed. "I told her that I thought that all you needed was someone you could actually-"

"Trust?" He interrupted, an edge of bitterness in his voice.

Rey dug her fingernails into her palm (an old foster kid trick), using the pain to force back the tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.

"Why? Wait - let me guess," he sneered in an acerbic tone, "she asked."

Before Rey could respond, he ran his hands through his hair and growled, "You'd think her being a kriffing Senator and running that damn paper would be enough to occupy her time, but no."

Clenching her jaw, Rey replied, "She cares about you, Ben-"

He gestured angrily at her. "Oh no - I have to take that shit from her, but not from you."

"You cut off all contact with them. I get it. So does she. But she just wanted to know if you were okay."

Kylo looked to the side with a snort. "Like she's ever cared about that before."

"She asked me to tell her how you were. Not to say anything, not to do anything, not to interfere with your life at all, just to let her know." Rey blinked rapidly, fighting back the sting of tears. "She's trying so hard, and she cares so much. Do you know what I would do to have someone give a damn-"

"This is not about you!" He bellowed, throwing the remains of the rubber ball on the floor.

As she set her jaw, Rey cleared her face of all emotion. "You're right," she replied in clipped tones. "It's not."

Meeting his eyes, ablaze with resentment and fury, with as much detachment as she could muster, she let out a long breath and asked, "Now what?"

The air between them filled with unspoken words (wishes, apologies, regrets), and just as Kylo opened his mouth, the office door opened forcefully.

"There you are," Phasma's steely tone sliced through their silence. "Snoke wants to see you."

Kylo immediately turned his frustration on the tall blonde. "I am in the middle of-"

"Not you," Phasma interrupted firmly, then jerked her chin at Rey. "Her."

Rey's blood ran cold. "Me? Wh-why?"

"You'll find that Snoke asks the questions here."

Glancing back at Kylo, who honestly looked as frightened as Rey felt, her hand unconsciously started to reach towards him, his hand rising in response.

"Now." Phasma ordered, narrowing her eyes when Kylo stepped forward. "Not you. Snoke asked for her alone."

"But-"

"No." She cut him off, then spun Rey towards the door. "You, move."

With one last glimpse of Kylo's ashen face, Rey was summarily marched away to the 50th floor.

"Miss Niima," Snoke greeted unctuously from his desk, after Phasma had all but tossed her into his office. "Please, sit."

Swallowing, Rey sat slowly in the plush leather chair, watching the CEO of the First Order as he smiled predatorily.

"Now, how long have you been working here?"

"A-about ten months," Rey told him, resisting the urge to run.

"Such amazing results in such a short time," he complimented with calculating eyes.

Rey furrowed her brows in confusion. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't follow."

"I've heard so much about your… skills. And how well they work on Ren."

Her frown deepened. "I simply do as he tells me, sir."

"Oh come now, you can be honest with me. Ren has always been gifted, but he's immature. Rash. Emotional. Far too much heart for this job." Snoke rose and slowly circled the desk. "But lately, his numbers are climbing, client reviews are glowing, and word is that the reason for all of this…" He came around and sat in the chair next to her, pointing a spindle-like finger towards her, "is you."

"Mr. Ren is very good at his job," Rey told him, a hint of defiance slipping through her voice. "His numbers were already outstanding, and his drive and eye for design placed him at the front of his division years ago."

For some reason, this seemed to amuse Snoke. "Indeed. Ren possesses raw talent, certainly, but your ability to curb his outbursts, to rein in his impulses, is quite remarkable in and of itself. And your loyalty to him is even more… laudable."

He stood again, walking purposefully behind Rey, almost accidentally touching the tips of her hair as Rey's skin crawled. "So, Miss Niima, I have a proposition for you." He leaned close, Rey stifling to urge to flinch, and continued, "One that I believe would be… beneficial to everyone involved."

Snoke circled back to his chair, a victorious smirk already playing across his lips. "I urge you to accept."

…

Kylo paced in his office, peering out the windows every few seconds as he bit his nails (a habit he had kicked as a child, but had now returned with a vengeance) and waited for Rey to return.

He marched back and forth, back and forth, every possible variation of her meeting with Snoke playing out in vicious, vivid detail in his mind's eye.

The things Snoke said, Snoke did, to him were only because he deserved them. When he failed, when he disappointed, when he proved that he was worthless, inadequate, incompetent, everything that Snoke tried to train out of him.

But Rey was different. She didn't deserve any of that - deception or not.

Besides, Snoke couldn't know about her spying for Leia. Kylo worked with her every day and only just found out by accident. There was no way he could know.

Right?

His pacing got faster. Back and forth and back and forth.

After what felt like hours, he peeking out the window and saw Rey nearly stumbling back to her desk. Ducking outside, he grabbed her arm in a frantic grip and yanked her into his office.

"Are you alright? Are you okay? Did anything happened? Did he fire you? I swear to God, Rey, I didn't tell him. What did he say to you?"

Still dazed, and now beleaguered by questions, Rey tried to formulate her thoughts.

"He… he offered me a job."

Kylo froze. "What?"

"Technically a promotion, I think?" She explained, rubbing her face in exhaustion. "He… he wants me to work for him."

A wave of cold fury quickly washed away every concern he had. Of course. It was just his luck, wasn't it? She betrays him, and she gets a raise. He tries to do anything, to want anything, and it blows up in his face.

"Well," He started coldly, taking a step back and crossing his arms. "Congratulations."

Rey glanced up at him, perplexed. "I didn't take the job. I told him I had to think about it, to talk to you about-"

"Of course you're taking the job," he told her, forcing lightness into his tone. "You'd be a fool not to. You get a fancy title and a big paycheck, and I get a receptionist who hasn't stabbed me in the back. It's a win for everyone."

Watching him with something abhorrently close to hurt, Rey reached out to touch his arm. "Ben, if you don't want me to take the job, I won't."

He shook off her hand, stepped back, and nearly shouted, "I want you to take it! Didn't you hear what I said? I'm finally getting someone who listens. Who takes orders. Who isn't so… mouthy."

Rey jerked back, a sign that the barb struck true. Blinking rapidly, she wrapped her arms around herself and stood. "So all that talk on the roof… that's all it was? Talk?"

"Apparently," he bit out, ignoring the distant clamoring of his inner voice, telling him he needed to stop, that he was going to regret this.

She stared at him a moment, then bit her lip. "Guess I was an idiot to believe you."

His throat thickening, he swallowed and spit out, "So was I."

Brightness shining at the corner of her eyes, Rey let out a short breath, then took a half-step towards him. "Ben, I-"

"Have your desk cleared out by the end of the day." He ordered, sitting down and staring fixedly at his computer. "The next PA should be here by tomorrow."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her hesitate, then slowly leave, closing the door behind her. He refused to watch her through the window, betting that she was doing her utmost to look as pitiful and wounded as possible. As if she was the one who was wronged in all this.

Finally, the door creaked open.

"Finished?" He demanded, angrily deleting emails.

"Almost." Rey answered softly, then held out her hand. "This doesn't belong to me. I was wondering if you wanted it."

He glanced up and saw the small golden robot sitting in her palm. The gift his mother had sent. The one that she rescued. The one she tormented him with by placing in sight of the window, waiting until he came to her desk, all growls and scowls until she moved it. The one she always put back in his line of vision a day or so later, so he'd have to go and negotiate with her again.

Nodding brusquely, he stated, "I do want it."

Surprise clear on her face, Rey gently placed the mechanical toy on his desk. The second it touched the glass surface, he snatched it and slammed it into his trash can, feeling petty victory as she let out a pained gasp.

"If that's all?" He asked, a tiny part of him terrified of the anger that flashed across Rey's face. But the anger was soon replaced with guilt, and she turned away after a few moments, hands still curled into fists.

Pausing in the doorway, she half-turned towards him. "Look, Ben… if this is good-bye, I just… I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you are!" He sneered, then went back to his typing, knowing that despite all his rage, all his fury, a single tear from her would destroy every defense he had in place.

The only sound was a ragged breath, as if she might say something else, then the door closed behind her, all life leaving the room with her.

(If he snatched the robot out of the trash as soon as she was gone and shoved it into his drawer, telling himself it was only to destroy it properly later… well, no one was around to see.)

(He was completely alone.)

(As always.)