The sun rose and even though the pair were awake, neither of them moved.

"I don't want to get out of this bed…." Normay tilted back her head to take in Ben's heavily scarred face, pity written across her own.

"I know." She sighed quietly. He already had one arm around her waist, the other draped around her neck and down her back. They were both on their sides, facing each other. She often woke like this but Ben usually woke before her and gathered her into that or a similarly protective position. If he slept at all. He'd fall back to sleep, clutching her like something precious and she'd have to detangle herself from him to wake him.

Today was much more than a meeting with his mother or trying to help out around the yard. It was something he had started to do, helping or trying to. More often than not he was ignored but he persevered. She'd rather he didn't do it, to try and brace whatever humility he had rather than asking her to drag him out of bed in the morning because he knew she was ruthless.

She couldn't fathom why he tortured himself like that. It was an attempt to prove he had changed, to prove he was useful and willing to put his time and energy into improving the Resistance. To become one of them. But people were cruel and their impression seemed to have been set in stone. It was disheartening to say the least. His comfort was coming home to Normay.

"I know you're scared. But you have nothin' to worry about. Luke will see you've changed."

"And what about Rey? And Chewie? And everyone else on this fucking base? How will they know? They won't give me a chance!"

"Easy, love." The female soothed, picking up her hand and gently brushing the raven locks out of his face that threatened to fall into his eyes. "We'll leave as soon as we can." "We can't do that until Snoke is dead." Ben reminded her with a taint of irritation but it wasn't directed at her. She'd know that.

"Well, you and Luke have plenty to discuss then, don't you?" She was right. He couldn't move on until this part of his life was well and truly behind him. Which had been the logic behind killing his father and turning his back on the light in his past. And yet, here he was on a Resistance base, curled up in bed with an even brighter light. "I'll be right there with you." Normay promised loyally, pulling herself even closer to his bare chest. "Always."

The landing strip not far from their modest home was thronged. It seemed everyone in the Resistance wanted to get a glimpse of the illusive Luke Skywalker. The Jedi who had gone into hiding after a pupil had become overcome by the Dark side and slaughtered their classmates was about to make his landing with a Wookie, a droid and a protégé. The excitement in the air was palpable, this was finally happening.

Laughter, bright conversation and congratulatory claps on the backs seemed to be the soundtrack of the landing strip that day. For Luke to return was a massive success for the Resistance and any hope of restoring anything of the Republic. There were two among the crowd though that did not feel the same as everyone else. They seemed to feed off each other's dread. They had dressed well, or as well as they could.

Needless to say, he had traded in his black robes and couldn't see himself wearing black for a while. Instead, he wore dark green today though he only put on whatever Normay laid out for him. He also shaved but he didn't give her an answer when she asked why. Normay's hair was back and she had made an effort with make-up but Ben hadn't noticed. After he had gotten out of bed, he seemed to be on autopilot.

After everything that had happened, not only with Luke but the scavenger girl and Chewie, how was he supposed to react? No doubt he would be met with hatred but he needed to make them see that Kylo Ren was gone or almost. The familiar roar of engines made Ben tense and caused Normay's grasp on his hand to tighten. Thunderous applause erupted on the landing strip when the Falcon did appear and touch down. Soon, four forms were starting to descend the ramp, one female, two males and a droid. One of the males, a bearded human dressed in a brown hooded robe seemed to locate the couple in the crowd. As if he could sense them.

He stared at Ben and Ben stared back, eyes locked intently from nearly a hundred metres away.

"We can go if you want." Normay offered quietly, noticing how Ben had managed to tense even more.

"No, he knows I'm here. I've got to stay." Luke appeared unperturbed and continued to watch his nephew as the General approached to hug both Chewie and Rey. Luke too was hugged but it was longer and far more affectionate. They were lead away through the still cheering crowd towards the main building of the base. The crowd started to disperse, leaving Ben and Normay standing there, feeling the anti-climax.

"C'mon, it's gettin' cold." When they returned home, Ben barely ate which concerned his partner immensely nor was he very talkative. Just as she was about to try and encourage him to talk, someone approached their door and knocked. Ben was on his feet and crossing the room to the door before she could even turn around. She had a very bad feeling about this. It was one of the General's staff.

"They want to see you." She heard the murmur from the open door and Ben was about to turn back but he was cut off. "Just you. Not her." Ben's annoyance was obvious when he closed the door and turned back to the silver haired female.

"They want to see me." There was a significant amount of dread in his voice but also when his eyes met hers. "I…. I don't want to go without you but I have to…."

"You'll be fine." She assured him softly, accepting the kiss he pressed down to her from above. "I'll be here waitin' for you. I won't go to bed without you."

When Ben came back, it was late but she kept her promise and waited. He eased himself down into a chair in the living area, rubbing his temples with his fingers. He should have expected everything that was said, should have expected all the vicious asides from Chewie but it all caught him off guard nonetheless. Normay left the bedroom already in her nightdress and watched his stressful display.

Carefully, she lifted herself onto the arm of his chair and rested her head against his, just to let him know she was there. Ben leaned up and pressed his lips against hers, naturally she returned the gesture. He surprised her though when he intensified it. Passion, longing, lust, excitement; it was all there. Even more so when he pulled her down roughly into his lap.

She wasn't quite sure what he was doing but she wasn't going to stop him. His behaviour continued to shock her when his lips moved down to her neck and caressed her there (something he had never really done before), one hand around her waist, the other wandering up her leg. Ben broke away, breathless, after a moment or so to look Normay in the eye. He didn't need to say anything.

"You sure you want to do this?" She asked, short of breath herself.

"I do…." He answered with certainty and a decisive nod. "If you want to…"

"Of course I do, I just want to make sure you think you're ready."

"I've slept beside you for more than two weeks; I've thought about you every day since the day I met you and even before it, thinking about him putting his hands on you in any way is agonizing…."

"Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Bedroom."

Normay led him by the hand into their shared room and with the door closed, they started again. Lips fighting, tongues wrestling, hands wandering, he was a little unsure, a little shy but he was slowly coming out of himself. Ever so gently, Normay eased Ben into sitting down on the bed by placing her hand on his chest. Taking a few paces back, the hem of her nightdress was seized and pulled up over her head to reveal the nakedness Ben had never seen.

Even in the last two weeks, they had showered separately, locked the bathroom door whenever they were using it and changed for bed individually. All that would change tonight. He took her in with awe; her breasts, her stomach, everything. He didn't think she could get more beautiful but she just had. She tinkered with the messy bun her hair was piled up in and unfurled it so the silver came down around her.

"You could at least blink; you're makin' me nervous now." She told him somewhat playfully, tossing aside the hair tie and crossing the room to him.

"I just never…." She raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. He couldn't. Instead, she pushed her lips back to his and resumed the kiss that seemed to get more longing each time. Ben's hands started to roam again, the heat from them ghosting over Normay's almost impossibly pale thighs and up her back.

As often as he'd held her hand or stroked her face, the parts of her that remained covered were like silk. Her own hands went to the chord that held his robes together and pulled it apart before tossing it to the floor. Mid-kiss, Ben decided to join in and shrugged the robes off then broke away just long enough to rip his under shirt over his head and tossed both garments to join the chord and her nightdress.

The silver haired female was pulled up into his lap again, his bare chest rubbing against hers as their joint excitement started to mount. With his boots kicked off, Ben dragged off the last of his clothes so they were both at the same level of exposure.

Normay decided it would probably be easiest and most comfortable for Ben if he was on top. In between kisses, she gave him the basics; what he'd need to do. Ben's length poked her sticky thigh so she took matters into her own hands. Literally. She found herself on her back at the top of the bed with her head on the pillows, lips still firmly locked with Ben's as he hovered over her.

When she first touched him, his lips drew back with something of a strangled groan but kept his lower quarters where they were and just stared at her. She would continue until he told her not to. His breathing just became more ragged and his lips returned to Normay's with a new urgency as she stroked him, light and featherlike but enough to make him squirm.

"Easy…." She murmured lightly in his ear, trying to prevent him from getting too worked up. "I need you to try and push in." He looked at her as if somewhat uncertain.

"I don't want to hurt you….."

"Ben, I promise you won't hurt me."

"But…."

"Just start slow and make your own pace. I swear you won't hurt me. I've been doin' this for a while."

"How long?"

"…..I'll tell you later."

Ben did as instructed. Normay helped him guide his way in and when he finally felt he envelope him to the base, he had to stop and give himself a moment, burying his face in her neck; he was sensitive which was only natural for his first time. She just fitted him so perfectly, like a jigsaw piece.

"Just relax." She told him softly, giving the back of his head a comforting stroke. Patience was built into her with something like this. He could take his time without inconveniencing her; this was about him after all. "Take your time. Move your hips when you're ready."

When that overwhelming feeling had passed him, Ben started to roll his hips and Normay helped him along with some movements of her own. Ben found it difficult not to groan, not to express this new found pleasure and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Hey." She called him quietly and he brought his attention back to her though he kept moving, slow and somewhat gentle even though he had something of a clumsy rhythm. He'd fix it eventually. "You're enjoyin' it; you don't have to be quiet about it." With that encouragement he became a bit more vocal.

The grunts and sighs of both pleasure and effort flowed freely from Ben now as he slowly got more comfortable in the act. He watched Normay's face, looking for any sign that she was in distress; instead her eyes were closed and she was actually smiling. Ben leaned down as close as he could and recaptured Normay's lips, an action she both welcomed and reciprocated. The male's hips continued to roll and his moans of contentment seemed to melt into her soft pleasured whimpers.

Their lips separated again and their foreheads joined in an exceptionally affectionate gesture. This time, they gazed at each other. Not just each other's eyes but seemingly into each other's souls. Despite the collection of bodily fluids, the strange sounds and whatever else made sex appear distasteful, there was an undeniable air of something far stronger than lust in the room that night.

Normay panted lightly and nuzzled in as close to her lover as she could get. Ben's thrusts picked up as did his confidence but he knew he wouldn't last much longer. It hadn't occurred to him just how much of this was actually based on instinct. There were things he just knew. Other things, he had to be told.

"May…. I'm gonna…."

"It's ok. Do it."

"But…"

"It's covered, we're fine."

"What do I do?"

"Just keep goin' until you can't anymore." And he did. Ben rocked his hips into the female, not especially hard but harder than when they'd started. His eyes locked with hers and in some inexplicable way, he could feel her climbing to her climax with him. Normay collided with her orgasm when her eyes snapped shut and her breathing stuttered. She came out of it with a long, guttural moan and ragged breathing.

Her eyes were forced open again as Ben's hands clenched into tight fists, his own breathing laboured and shallow. He could feel her hugging in around him, there was something about it that just gave him a sense of wonderful desperation. Watching her embrace her own climax was enough to send him crumbling to his own.

Ben felt it, he was sure she did too, that little trickle of semen. Spent, he relaxed and did his best to ease himself down rather than collapse and crush her. Instead, he shuffled over to his own side of the bed and gathered her up the way he always did. Before tonight, he didn't think he could feel closer to her or adore her more than before but he'd been wrong. Now, she was everything.

"You awake?"

"Barely." She answered, her voice strained from both moaning and exhaustion but cuddled into Ben just the same, passing him a kiss which he returned. "What happened up there? To say you needed to come back and lose your v-card?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow. I just want to enjoy this."