"A party?" Rey asks Shara at breakfast the next morning. "Poe didn't tell me there was any sort of party." She gives the man in question a panicked look.

"It's not really a party," Poe says quickly. "More of a gathering."

"Oh yes," Shara says and offers up a small laugh. "Just the family and a few friends. Ben's Aunt Maz will be here, of course."

"Of course," Ben says, and now Rey turns her gaze on him. Maz, who thinks they are the couple. Maz, who laughed at thought of her dating Poe. Maz, who is going to be there with her coke bottle glasses, watching everything.

"Great," Rey mutters.

Ben leans closer to her and there's a small smirk playing about his lips. "She'll be drunk before eight."

Rey's not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. She doesn't know what Maz is like drunk, but she imagines she's mouthy and has little inhibition. There's just something about her that screams danger danger danger. And the way Ben is looking at her, with this strange spark in his eyes says he knows it.

"Wonderful," Rey says and tries to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

It's going to be an unmitigated disaster. She can feel the impending doom even now.

And it is.

It totally is.

A complete and utter unmitigated disaster.

Oh, it didn't start off that way. It started off with Rey sitting in a corner of the room chatting with Poe and Finn. They'd always had an easy camaraderie and even here, amidst all the stress and panic, they were easy to talk to. They keep their hands off each other and Poe even manages to sometimes reach out to touch her. He's, if not completely convincing, at least competent at it.

Rey decides to just be herself. Well, a herself that doesn't touch the alcohol. The last thing she needs to do is have too much to drink and make some outrageous error that will spill everything. So she very carefully stays away from the alcohol that night.

It was easier to play act and drink when there wasn't a Ben to be worried about.

And then there's Ben. He looks like nothing she's ever seen. Dressed in a suit that fits him like it was made for him (come to think of it, it probably was), all black except for the white shirt. His aunt made him wear the white shirt, pointing out that all black was not very Christmassy and can't he at least try to make himself look somewhat into the season.

It's his only concession.

Well, that and the socks she can see peeking out from his shoes every once in awhile. Red with snowflakes if she's not mistaken. A little bit of the Christmas spirit, hidden away from most people. When he catches her looking once, he pulls the pant leg up and gives her little half-smile that makes her heart flip.

Damn him.

But then Uncle Chewie arrives and he's exactly what Poe said he was. He's huge. Even Ben, who has to be at least six foot two, is dwarfed by the man. He wears his hair long, pulled back in a ponytail, and his beard is a massive bushy thing. He engulfs Rey in a huge hug but then gives her this look when Poe calls her his girlfriend. He glances over at Ben and murmurs something like "Yes, Maz told me about you."

And she's not sure if Maz told him about her and Ben or her and Poe or all of it. "It's so nice to meet you," Rey says and tries to keep her voice as neutral as possible. She can feel this tension building in her neck, the sort of ache that tells her she needs to find a good book or go for a run or do something to relax.

Thankfully, he moves off after giving her another pat on the shoulder with one of his huge hands and Rey feels like she can breathe better. For a little bit at least.

"I still can't believe Ben took you all the way out to Maz's yesterday?" Poe says as Chewie heads off.

She just shrugs. It didn't seem like such a big deal at the time.

"I don't really get what the big deal with Maz is anyway," Finn says after looking from one of them to the other.

"Maz is, like, the only 'family' that Ben regularly talks to outside of my parents. He comes down to visit Maz at least a few times a year. She's…I don't know. I can't believe he took you out there." Poe looks a little like a deer caught in the headlights as he stares at her and then Ben. "Maybe…" he starts to muse, but there's no time for that.

Maz is there.

All four feet of her.

She makes a bee-line for Ben and even from a distance she can see how Ben turns red over something she says. Both of their eyes flit to her for a moment and she quickly looks away. Better to not be caught watching them. No, better to not be caught watching him, if she wants to be honest.

She can see Maz break away from Ben and head toward her and she's trying to figure out a way out of whatever is about to happen when she's saved by the bell. Ok, not the bell. She's saved by Chewie rushing forward and lifting Maz in his gigantic arms. The old lady gives a squeak but then hugs him back. "There's my boyfriend," Rey can hear her say into the mass of hair that's Chewie.

She's not sure if there's any truth there.

She's not sure if she wants there to be any truth there. How would it even work? Chewie has to be at least seven feet tall and…

"I need to hit the restroom," Poe says and Rey is thankful for the interruption to the train of her thoughts. She watches as he gives Finn a look and disappears.

Finn stays put. But Rey knows what he wants to do. She can see him practically vibrating. New love. There's something special about it. They've been together for less than a year but they're so in love that it should sicken most people. But deep inside, Rey is a bit of a romantic. She won't admit that one out loud, but when left to her own devices she does have a tendency to watch cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies and sigh over the ridiculous romance of it all.

"Go on then," she says softly to Finn.

He glances over at her. "What, really?"

"Yes. I'll cover for you." He's gone in a flash, giving her a quick hug before sneaking out of the room.

No one seems to notice.

Except one person.

Ben.

Of course. He's watching them like a hawk in between fielding questions from Maz and bear hugs from Chewie. He notices everything and she watches as his eyes follow Finn's departure from the room. It doesn't take him long to make his way over to her after that.

There's a bit of a smirk on his face when he comes to stand at her side. "Where's Poe?"

She sighs. "Bathroom. He's been drinking like a fish." He has, really. There's no lie there. Poe loves his beer and his eggnog and there's plenty of both to go around. She had taken one sip of the eggnog, which she was sure was more Rum than eggnog, and dumped her cup of it out in the kitchen when no one was looking. It's not that she was against drinking. Hardly. She'd had her fair share of drinking way too much. But she's trying to keep her wits about her.

It's hard enough when Ben is so close and in that amazing suit of his.

"And Finn?"

"He wasn't feeling well. Too much eggnog I think." She gives him a rueful grin, but she's sure, from the way he's watching her, that he's not buying it. Not at all.

"I see."

"Yup. I'm sure he'll recover in time. He usually does."

"Finn is known for his drinking?"

She shrugs. "Actually, no. But when he does, he tends to drink to excess." Which is only partially true, really. He's drunk to excess once. And that was when his first boyfriend broke up with him. He'd been despondent, carrying on about soulmates and how he'd never find anyone nearly as perfect. She figures she's safer if she acts like this is pretty much par for the course with him.

"Ah," is all Ben says.

"You don't like them, do you?"

"I never said that." But there's a grimace to the set of his mouth and she knows he's gone after them about her dating Poe.

He doesn't have a chance to say something else, because from across the room, she sees Maz gesturing something at Chewie and then they both are looking at her. No, at her and Ben. She realizes she might be standing just a tad bit too close to him, but he takes up so much damned space and she feels so drawn to him.

Poe might think he's an asshole, but while he's been sarcastic and his humor a little dark and sometimes twisted, he's been beyond kind with her.

She takes a small step away anyway. Nothing too obvious, though when she glances at Ben, he's watching her with one raised eyebrow.

It doesn't matter though. Maz is making her way over toward them, Chewie at her heels. It's like watching a Chihuahua and a big hairy Mastiff trying to push through a crowd. Rey wants to make her excuses, leave too. Oh no, I think I've drunk too much. But she glances down at the water she's currently holding and realizes that no one would buy that.

She starts to consider it though (it's Vodka, you see) when Maz gets close and she watches her oh so carefully look up.

Chewie says something to her that sounds more like a grunt than words, but Maz turns to him and Rey hears her clearly. "It's tradition."

And she looks up again.

With a sigh, Rey glances up and…Oh.

Oh no.

That's not good.

Not good at all.

Fucking Maz. She might be three sheets to the wind, but there's still this shrewdness behind her gaze as she smiles up at Rey and Ben.

"It's tradition, my dears," Maz says kindly. Too kindly. There's a small spark of amusement there behind those coke bottle glasses. "One cannot buck tradition. Not here."

Chewie grunts something else and Maz shoots him a look.

"Aunt Maz," Ben says and there's a warning behind the words.

"Don't you Aunt Maz me, Benjamin." She waggles a finger at him and despite her small stature and his, well, not so small stature, Rey feels like there might be an actual threat there. "Don't forget who makes you those cookies you like so much."

Rey can't help but smirk as Ben holds up both his hands in surrender. "I didn't take you for a cookie guy."

He glances over at her. "I may have a small sweet tooth."

"That explains that giant milkshake you had at Maz's that you wouldn't even let me have a sip of." She'd pouted about that for at least five minutes at their lunch.

"Right."

She glances back at Maz and the woman is smiling and it's frankly pretty frightening. Her teeth are almost bared in her mirth. "You two." She shakes her head and Rey's pretty sure she mutters something about Poe, but she can't quite make out the words. "You do realize where you're standing, right?"

"In the living room?" Rey asks and looks over at Ben.

Ben who's face is strangely red all of a sudden. "Maz, don't."

"But it's tradition, my boy!" She practically cackles with the word and Rey is starting to wonder if she owns a cauldron and a pointy hat.

"Maz."

"Are you a Solo, boy or are you not?"

"I'd like to pretend I'm not," he shoots back with. Rey can't imagine not wanting to be a Solo. Han was, for all she's heard, an amazingly talented driver and mechanic. The things she could have learned from him. But he was equally reckless. Ben seems to not have inherited that trait. He seems…staid, stable. There's an anger and something that points to deep hurt behind his façade, but she's sure that he is not like the father who crashed his Falcon most spectacularly.

"Benjamin Solo, you will follow tradition."

Rey feels her heart fall into her stomach. God, does she want to kiss him. And there they are, standing beneath fucking mistletoe. It's like some mischievous god who has nothing better to do is standing over them, tossing the worst possible thing their way. And to top it off, the entire family is now watching.

Shara laughs. "Well, it is tradition."

"I'm sure Poe won't mind," Poe's father says and then looks around the room. "Where is Poe anyway?"

"Bathroom," Rey and Ben say at the same time.

"Oh that boy," Shara says with a laugh. "He used to spend hours in there with his comics." Rey is pretty sure they weren't comics. She's seen the extensive collection of Playgirl magazines from his teenage years. How he managed to hide them all those years from his parents is beyond her, but he had. And he'd brought them along with him to college and beyond. Nostalgia he insists. Nostalgia and making sure his parents don't stumble onto them. He may be almost 30, but there are some things he still can't imagine ever telling his parents. Maybe on their deathbeds, he admitted once. I can't hurt them that way. They're good people in so many ways. It would kill them, Rey.

"Yeah, those comics of his," Rey offers up rather weakly.

"It's unfair to Poe," Ben says.

"Poe!" Maz is laughing as she says the name. "I don't think Poe will even care. He's too busy doing…" Ben slams a hand over her mouth. She's starting to think this may be a common occurrence with them.

"He's not doing anything," he growls at the older woman. Who is still laughing. Chewie is laughing too. Because he probably knows about Poe, because who the fuck doesn't know about Poe at this point?

Oh fuck.

Fine then.

Rey puts a hand on Ben's arm. "It's not big deal." It's a huge fucking deal. "Maybe they'll shut up if we give them what they want."

Ben doesn't pull away from her. There's that much at least. But he's staring down at her with wide eyes and his mouth half open. "Rey," he starts to say.

"Come on," she says with a half-smirk. "I dare you." Let him think it's nothing. Let him think it's just a stupid kiss between him and his cousin's girlfriend. She can do this, right? It's not like she hasn't kissed someone before. She can do this. One quick kiss and then they can be all embarrassed and everyone can laugh and they can move away from the damned mistletoe.

And it'll all be over.

She hates being the center of attention.

"You're going to dare me?" And now he is smiling. "I can…" He sucks in a breath and she watches the way his Adam's apple bobs and she realizes he's nervous. "I can do this."

Rey turns toward him and puts her hand on his shoulder, going up on her tiptoes because he's a goddamn tree. Even then she can't reach his lips easily, so he dips down toward her.

They're just a few inches apart and she can feel his breath fan out over her face. "Ben?" she whispers as she meets his eyes from far too close. His eyes search hers for a moment, his hand coming up to cup her face. She likes the feel of it there, large and warm and secure against her.

When he finally does lean the rest of the way down to press his lips against hers, it's like something sparks inside her, a fire that's lit. Her lips part beneath his in a small gasp of surprise and for a moment she forgets herself. Forgets Poe. Forgets the room and his parents and Maz and Chewie. Her hand comes up to tangle in his hair and she swipes her tongue across the seam of his lips.

He stiffens, the shoulder that one hand is still balanced on tensing up just a moment before he pushes back from her. She rocks back to her feet, staring at him. His eyes look a little wild, a little haunted.

"What's going on?" she hears Poe's voice come from across the room and she cringes. She turns to look at him and dammit this was not what was supposed to happen.

"Nothing," she says quickly and offers up a small laugh that sounds fake even to her ears. "Mistletoe tradition." She cringes inwardly at that. It was so much more than that. That spark, her pushing the kiss to something real. Fuck fuck fuck.

She turns back to Ben to try to offer up something, anything, she doesn't even know what.

But he's gone.

Well, fuck…