monumentnmelodi: Thank you. Yeah I don't think the First Order itself (the generals and such) is changing so much, Ben is changing it's course mostly.
Let's see to where this leads...

Giovanna Bays: You want jealousy? You'll get some jealousy ;)

Thank you for reviewing everyone!

"So he came from some kind of mission? With several troopers and generals? From which battleship?"

Finn asked as Poe, him, Rose and Rey sat together outside of the base while she told them about her last meeting with Ben.
Finally being able to talk freely about everything with all her friends, which took a huge burden from her shoulders after keeping it secret all this time.
"I guess he came from his own command shuttle. The black one." Rey answered as she tried to remember the short moment she saw parts of it.
"Did he tell them something? Gave orders or anything else?" Poe asked too.

"No. Uhm he just left the ship I guess." She knitted her eyebrows together as she thought back to the funny moment he was unable to give out any constructive orders to his general.
"So he just left the ship, without saying anything at all?" Rose asked now a little suspicious.
"No. I mean. He said something. He...Stars. He told his general to do general things. He was a little surprised to see me I guess." She answered truthfully while suppressing a grin, without telling why exactly he was so surprised.

"...General...things?" Poe asked in disbelief as he dragged out these words. "He told his general to do general things?"
"Yeah. I think he didn't want me to hear anything about their conversation or mission before." Rey answered and looked at the floor, to avoid the others from seeing her grin like an idiot.
"He sounds like the worst leader in history." Poe snorted out now and leaned back against the wall of the hangar where they all sat together to talk.
"Which would be good for us, as he is by chance the leader of the First Order, which means if he leads bad and also tells Rey secrets she shouldn't know of,
the First Order is doing bad too." Rose grinned in triumph.

Rey laughed out loud at that as Rose was making fun of Ben. He might really be a bad leader. Actually, she didn't know exactly how he leads and if it benefits the goals of the First Order as well as it did before he murdered Snoke. She just hoped not and that he indeed was a bad leader, at least if it was about fulfilling the direction the First Order was originally taking before he took over.

"So what else did he tell you about this mission? Any other clues?" Finn asked now while he crossed his arms a little unnerved from praising Ben for his supposedly bad leading skills. "No, unfortunately not. He just begged me to not ask about it, as he wasn't able to tell me anything. Also, he told me in some kind of serious way to take care. I don't know. Like he worried about something happening soon." Rey explained.
"Didn't you like question him the whole time? Surely you could have asked for more detail. I don't know, unnerve him about it or something. It's not like he can just walk away when you are connected." Poe questioned her.

"Yes, he can't walk away. We have to wait until the connection is over. I...uhm yeah I tried to get information out of him. He didn't tell anything at all."
Rey lied while she thought about how she didn't bother the slightest bit to ask him about anything but was rather glued nearly naked to his body at the moment, while he was teasing her into otherworldy dimensions.
"So the whole time you met, he didn't let anything slip? He did it these last times. Why not now? I mean what else did you do? What did you talk about?"
Rose asked innocently now as she didn't understand why he was kind of warning her, but not telling anything about what exactly if he wanted her to be safe.

Rey's face went red when Rose asked what they did apart from not talking about this mission, while she thought about how he'd pressed her against the dresser while his hand oh so delicately glided over her naked, wet skin and how he'd made her moan just from these few touches and his mesmerizing voice. "Uh. We. We talked about the force. And about... About the time he got shot by Chewbacca. Yeah. About this and that actually."
She tried to evade the topic but realised she was really bad at it and kept on babbling nonsense.

Rose knitted her eyebrows together in suspicion but didn't press any further. "Uh-huh. Next time you'd see each other...maybe you ask him again.
Obviously, he doesn't want you to die, so it should be in his interest to warn you better about any upcoming danger than this."

Several days later Poe, Rose, Rey and Finn decided to go on a mission together to buy a shipment of blasters for the Resistance members, as the number of people joining them was steadily growing and they were really short on weapons for everyone.
The contact they were supposed to meet resided on Kirdo III and their rendezvous point was at a nice tavern mostly visited by shady people and space pirates with a live performance by a big band, where they'd discuss the price and amount. They seated themselves at the wooden tables and it was a little hard to hear each other talking, as the music was quite loud but at least had a really nice rhythm.
They ordered several drinks for themselves and waited for the merchant to arrive. Finn was really excited, as he wasn't able to sit around in bars and drink beverages while he was a stormtrooper, so after being in Maz's castle on Takodana, this was just the second time he was in some kind of tavern.

Finn excitedly looked around the bar the whole time and commented everything, like these weird instruments the band was using and the funny looking, colourful cocktails which were served to the guests. Poe was really self-confident and didn't look at all impressed as he probably was in hundreds of bars before, but just ordered his drink and talked with Rose about the model specifications they are going to order. Rey was nearly as well exited as Finn about the tavern and watched all these people chattering, dancing and playing card games, while she also enjoyed this jazzy ambience and dim light.
Back on Jakku they didn't have taverns like that. They had places to meet and drink, but they were small, dirty and stuffed with people she didn't want to meet in a dark alley at night alone. So this was quite nice and she was pointing out things to Finn she saw here and there and they wondered together which drink they should order.

Finally, their affiliate showed up pretty late and they greeted him to immediately start the negotiations. Luckily he was a Resistance sympathizer because he heard of the return of Luke Skywalker and also his passing. In his opinion, the return of this legend meant something, was a sign, a spark of hope for things throughout the galaxy to change. He didn't know that Rey had the force too, but babbled the whole time about Jedi, balance, a return of the light and thus bringing peace by using the force for good. It was a very nice, easy going conversation and they made a great deal, as the merchant sold them his weapons for a ridiculously low price as he wanted to support their uprising.

After the deal was cut and dried, the affiliate wished them luck, waved them a hopeful "May the force be with you" and the four friends were alone again at their table. The moment the merchant left through the door, they started cheering and clinked their glasses together in festive cheer, as they never thought they would cut such a good deal.
"Guys! Guys! This is awesome! People are getting their hopes up again, the Resistance is growing, we are getting support from all sides and people are starting to believe in us again! This is a special day and we have every right to celebrate it! Who's with me? Getting insanely drunk and pass out in our spaceship this night?
I'm buying the first round!" Poe announced and grinned with a big smirk, while he hugged Finn and Rey, who sat next to him with one arm each while he winked at Rose.

"I'm totally in for it! Stormtroopers were never allowed to drink. Today shall be the day!" Finn declared with excitement as he gave Rose a kiss on the cheek while they high fived each other. Everybody looked at Rey and she groaned in annoyance, as she didn't know if this was a good idea, because they had to head back tomorrow morning and she had to fly the ship together with Poe. After some time she rolled her eyes and answered: "Okay - okay I'm in guys! But seriously,
if I have a headache tomorrow morning, I'm not going to fly the ship."

"We'll take care of that Rey! I'm really good at drinking and flying!" Poe yelled out while he motioned a crashing ship with his hand.
Rose hissed at him in anger: "Whoa, this is not funny Poe! I'm gonna stun you with my shock-prod if you just so much as think about flying drunk again.
No flying and drinking! And Finn - if you ever go on a mission with him and he is not sober while flying, I'll punch..." She was interrupted by Poe who pulled up his hands in defence: "Hey chill Rose! It was a joke! I'm not endangering your boyfriend. I'm a totally trustworthy, responsible pilot!" He grinned widely at her.

Rey snorted out at that and muttered sarcastically: "Yeah...sure you are. Most responsible pilot in the galaxy" While she sipped on her drink in amusement.
"Oh, I totally am! On my last birthday party, I put the ship on autopilot when I had to fly back to the base. I didn't fly by myself. I was too drunk.
But I managed to put the wrong planet into the system and landed on Naboo instead. Which was nice anyway. Stars they have the best drinks there." Poe defended himself.

"Your last birthday party?" Finn asked a little perplex. "Why weren't we invited?"
"Duh! 'Cause we didn't know each other yet! You were still a Buckethead at the First Order when I had this awesome party!" Poe grinned at him and punched his arm jokingly. "Oh okay. So your birthday is coming soon then?" Rey asked him doing the math, while she wondered when Finn's and Rose's birthdays are due.
"Yeah, about two-month standard time from now. I'll invite you all this time and it will be awesome!" Poe proclaimed and laughed.

Then the pilot turned to her, eyed her for a second and acted like he was totally serious, which he wasn't: "When is your birthday actually? And - wait how old are you exactly? Rey, you have to be honest now! Did you reach your legal drinking age by now my young lady? I don't want to give out alcohol to younglings!
That would be so illegal!"

Rey rolled her eyes and gulped down her whole drink in protest, while she grimaced at him. "Fuck legal drinking age. If I am old enough to fight an intergalactic war I am certainly old enough to drink a cocktail, Mr Poe Dameron! And because you asked so nicely: I am about nineteen and I don't know when my birthday is exactly."

"About nineteen? What kind of age is this?" Finn asked with a raised eyebrow. Rey shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know when I was born. Or at least I can't remember. Nobody told me. But I know I was about four when I was left alone on Jakku. Since then it was fifteen years." She explained with a somehow sad face as she thought back to the moment she was abandoned.
"Oh no, Rey! That's really sad. You don't know your birthday? So you actually never celebrated it too?" Rose asked with a sad expression.
"No. With whom? And when?" Rey asked as if it wasn't totally obvious while she drew patterns on the table with one finger.

"I got an idea! We just make up a date! Your birthday. You need a birthday, Rey! And then we celebrate it each year from now on." Finn explained as he shook Rey's arm with anticipation. "Yeah! Let's do this! When's your birthday going to be? You can pick any day you want! Isn't this pretty cool?" Poe grinned at her widely while he gulped down his drink.
"Uhm. Uh. I don't know. My birthday? Which day? Is this important which day it is? Is there a special day I should pick? Stars. Which one? I don't know, really. Who has to pick his own birthday day? That's a hard decision." Rey pondered while she looked into the faces of her friends as she hoped somebody would help.
"Why not today? We are already celebrating! Why not also celebrate your birthday?" Rose asked as she smiled wildly at Rey and took her hand in hers.

"Yeah! Let's celebrate it today Rey!" Finn exclaimed as he pointed at her with his index finger, then he leaned over to Rose and whispered: "That was a good idea sweety!" Rose grinned and kissed him, then looked back at Rey expectantly, waiting for her answer.
Rey sipped at her second drink now and pondered a moment about it. Finally, she looked up again and answered: "Ok. So today marks my birthday.
For the rest of my life! Decided together with my friends. Or to be true, decided by them. I didn't really have a word in it." She grinned widely at the others.

"So it's decided! To Rey's birthday! We wish you all the best, lot's of luck, good health, a new lightsaber, more drinks, just the best sex, tons of money, a better ship which doesn't break down all the time and totally responsible loving friends!" Poe spoke out with a wide grin and held up his glass into the air.
"Yay! Happy birthday, Rey!" Finn hugged her and clinked his glasses together with everyone, Rose and Poe did too and Rose even started to sing a little birthday song for her with the most beautiful voice she didn't expect at all.

Rey was a little tipsy already and had to laugh at Poe's declaration, especially the 'just the best sex' part while her eyes started to tear from this moment which will forever burn into her memory.
She finally had a birthday and her friends were with there, celebrating it all together. She never did this before and it felt so new, so heartwarming, like a blessing to her. She wasn't alone anymore but had people who cared and celebrated Rey life, because they loved her and wanted to make this day so special.
"Aww guys! This is heartbreaking. Hahaha Especially your song Rose, this was so beautiful!" She sobbed out, while brushing away a tear, which had escaped the corner of her eye. "You all don't know how much that means to me."
Finn laid his hand on hers and looked at her with a serious glance. "Rey. We do know how much this means to you. You are our best friend. Of course,
we celebrate your birthday with you - and get to decide on which day it is." He grinned at her.

Rey clutched the drink between her hands and pulled it to towards her chest. "Seriously. I love you all. You are the best!"
"You know what we are also really good at?" Poe asked with a wide grin and mischief in his eyes.
She raised an eyebrow and answered hesitantly: "No...Having extremely stupid ideas I guess?"
"Yes, that too. Bu no - I meant dancing!" Poe stated with nearly all his teeth showing as he smiled widely and reached out a hand to her.
Rey looked from his hand to his face then to the space where people were already dancing, then back to his hand, to her glass and again to his hand until she understood what he was getting at. Then she suddenly shook her head from left to right and stared at the table. "Oh - no - no - no Poe. No! I don't dance. Seriously. No! I can't!"

"Oh, I bet you can! You can levitate fucking boulders. So dancing is certainly something you'd be able to do. You just don't dare to!" Poe pointed out.
"I...I...uhm. I don't. I...I never danced. So certainly I can't." She stumbled out and looked at her drink in shame, trying to sink under the table.
"We can all dance together. I can't dance too." Rose smiled at her.
"Oh no! I do not dance!" Finn yelled out suddenly with panic in his eyes, now also trying to slide under the table.
"Oh, you'll do!" Rose punched him in his arm.
"No! No chance!" He crossed his hands and slashed them apart, while he shook his head in refusal.
"Finn, do you really want to disappoint Rey on her birthday today? Look at her. The dancing is strong with her, she just didn't drink enough yet." Poe joked at him.
"Stars Poe, did you just rephrase this sentence about the force into a bad joke?" Rey laughed out near tears as this was just too stupid even for his accounts.

"Yup I did! I think it was pretty good. May the drinks be with us tonight!" He proclaimed and held out his glass into the air.
Finn smacked a hand against his forehead in annoyance, while Rey giggled at Poe's dumb word creations as she sipped on her drink.
The music got even louder at this point and it was more difficult to hear each other talk. After some time, Poe stood up, placed his drink on the table and pointed with two fingers on Rey, then on himself as he stated: "You - me - dance - now!" Then he nodded over to the other dancing people and pulled Rey away from her chair.

Rey looked a little helpless to Finn and Rose and yelped out at them, so Rose instantly jumped up and dragged Finn behind her too.
All of them now stood between all these moving people, with loud jazz music playing in the background and Rey stood there like she was glued to the spot and didn't know what to do at all. Poe was already moving with the beat of the music, while he laughed the whole time and started to pull Finn's arms up and tried to dance with him, while the former stormtrooper stood as stupidly as Rey there, not knowing what to do. Rose was swirling around, giggling like crazy and pulled at Rey's hands motioning her to dance with her too. Rey now had to laugh at this whole awkward situation and tried to mimic Rose a little as she stepped from one foot to the other and pulled Rose's arms forward and backwards and above their heads.

They stood in a circle and everyone started dancing with each other, taking turns with whom to dance. Rey thought they probably looked like dorks they way they danced, but for some reason, it suddenly started to make fun anyway and she didn't care anymore how it looked. She darted over to Finn, who also kind of started to move to the music now and they acted like they were doing some classical dancing as if they were a king and a queen attending a ball, but nearly tripped over their own feet laughing while doing so.

Poe snitched Rey away from Finn and swirled her around with one arm, while his other hand pointed with an index finger on her head, as he turned her around several times until she got dizzy. They were both laughing like crazy and she felt a tingling sensation flowing through her body as she still kept swirling around until he caught her in his arms and ruffled through her hair while he yelled out into her ear: "See! You can dance!"

Just the moment he had said it, she saw something some feet in front of her. It was Ben, sitting in a cross-legged position on his bed, book in his hand, his eyes widened as he stared at them both. She blinked several times and just then realized why she had these tingling feelings seconds before, it was their force being connected and he had seen her dance around with Poe right now.
His face distorted from a surprised expression to an extremely dark frown, then he angrily snorted and shifted his position to just turn around on his bed so his back would show into her direction and he didn't have to look at her anymore.
He kept this position and seemed to continue reading his book. Rey gulped down as she saw him, but was instantly swirled around by Poe again as he just kept on dancing with her. Of course, her friend couldn't see or know, what she was seeing right now through her connection. She tried to keep on having fun but had to look at Ben every now an then. He looked really tense and his head was bowed down as he glanced concentrated on his book.

Poe let go of her and yelled into her ear because the music was still so loud: "What is it? Already ran out of breath?"
She looked one more time to Ben, then yelled back: "No. No Everything is alright. I think I just need some fresh air. I'm coming back in a minute."
Poe nodded and waved at her, then turned around and continued dancing with Rose and Finn.
She went back to the table with their drinks and took the glass in her hand, Poe just ordered for her before they stood up to dance.
Rey left this loud tavern and went outside, it was already dark and a little chilly but not too cold.
She looked around to find a quiet spot where she knew she would be alone and then took some step forward to Ben's bed, as she looked over his shoulder.

"What are you reading?" She asked him with a smile, as she found it sweet to see him like that, like a normal human being sitting on his bed, just reading something else which didn't have anything to do with the First Order."
He didn't answer for some time, then just stated shortly with an annoyed voice: "A book."
Rey knitted her eyebrows together at this short answer and said: "Yes. I am aware of that."
"Good." He answered again and turned over the page without looking at her.
Rey took a step forward to see the text better, which he was reading. Her stomach was nearly touching his back now and she felt his body heat radiating from him as always, which made her shiver.

She saw that he wasn't reading something with normal letters like she was used to, but something which exactly resembled the signs she saw in these sacred Jedi texts she stole from Luke.
"You are reading some secret Jedi texts!" She gasped out in surprise.
"No." He murmured out and turned a little bit more away from her.
Rey was getting annoyed with his behaviour right now. Why was he acting like that? Last time he was so gentle and caring, now he's showing her the cold shoulder, trying to ignore her and didn't seem to bother forming whole sentences anymore.
"I don't know what got into you, but I had fun just moments ago and you are kind of ruining it with your mood right now. I just asked what you are doing."
She frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest with the glass still in her hand.

"Yes. I saw you having fun!" He hissed out suddenly emphasizing the word fun like it was something disgusting.
"Do you have a problem with me having fun?" Rey questioned him, still not understanding what his problem was exactly.
"No. You can always go back to having fun with this flyboy again!" He snarled out with sarcasm in his voice.
Just now it clicked and Rey totally understood what was going on. She had to hold back a giggle at that as she walked a step forward again to be closer to Ben's back.
Then she leaned forward and embraced him from behind, holding the glass with one hand in front of his chest now, as the other one curled around his arm.
He flinched at her touch and grabbed his book hard, nearly ripping its pages with his fingers from it. Then she laid her chin on his shoulder and whispered:
"Ben Solo, are you seriously jealous right now?"

Before she even finished her sentence, he shot out a sudden: "NO!" And crossed his arms in front of him, while the book dropped down onto his bed.
She embraced him even more and nuzzled her head in the crook of his neck with a smile. "Oh, Oh Ben. I can feel your anger radiating out right now.
You should protect your mind better when you are trying to lie to me. I can feel everything."

He didn't say anything for a long time, but instantly raised defending walls in his mind and was incredibly tense under her touch until he asked:
"Why were you even dancing?...with him?"
She looked up from his neck and answered: "We were celebrating my birthday."
"You don't know even know the day of your birth. I saw it." He muttered out.
"Yeah but we all decided it is today." She smiled at him.

He turned his head around to look at her the first time since their conversation and just stated plainly: "This is ridiculous."
"Why?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Because you were probably born on another day, which is not today. You can't just choose it." He explained a little annoyed.
"I don't care. I don't know who my parents were and I don't know when I was born. So I choose my own life and my own birthday how I want it to be."
Ben went quiet now. She didn't know if he was trying to end this conversation because he found it to be stupid, or if he pondered about what she just said.

Rey pulled away from him slightly and raised her arm to take a sip of her drink. She immediately regretted doing so as she had to cough several times because it was too strong and burned her throat all the way to her stomach and mostly just tasted like bantha shit. "Stars! What poodoo is this?"
Ben looked at her coughing fit now as her face went red and she brushed the sleeve against her mouth to get the taste off her lips.
"You have a drink without knowing what it is?" He asked with knitted eyebrows.

"Yeah. I don't know. Poe gave it to me, saying it's really good stuff and I should totally taste it." She mimicked the pilot while gesturing quotation marks.
"Oh, I wonder what else he was giving to you!" Ben snapped at her suddenly again.
Rey had to hold back a laugh at his outburst once again and sat on his bed, next to him while she took his hand. He looked at her with an angry frown until she said:
"Stars Ben, I don't know if I find this sweet, ridiculous or slightly horrifying when you are jealous. But to reassure you: There is nothing between me and Poe. Seriously. Nothing at all. We are friends as I am with several other people. Like I am with Finn. And yes, I know you hate him too which you gracefully showed last time you two met." She added the last sentence sarcastically but also with seriousness.

He pulled his lips to a thin line and squinted his eyes together, then he looked at her glass and just snatched it into his hand. Both wondered for a second if this would work at all, but the glass certainly stayed in his hand and he examined it for a short time before standing up and walking over to a bathroom which was connected to his room, where he just drained the liquor in the sink. "Ben! Why did you do that?" Rey yelled out agitated.

He didn't answer but walked over to a cabinet and opened one door to pull out a bottle, which he untwisted and then poured a brown liquid into her glass.
When it was full, he stowed the bottle away again and walked back to her as he held out the glass for her to take it.
"Oh..." She just mumbled and reached out her hand, but hesitated before taking it, because she wasn't sure if she'd be able to hold it through their connection again.
When she took it, it felt like before and she looked at the dark liquid he poured in it and swayed the glass around a little to examine it.
"I didn't know this would work. I mean, taking objects from me to you and back again. This is pretty interesting." She smiled at him.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and answered: "Yes it is. I didn't know if I'd be able to take the glass or even use it. But obviously, it works for now."

She grinned as she thought about their new discovery and pulled the drink up to her nose to smell it, while she asked a little flirtingly: "So you invited me on a drink now?" He stared at her intensely and was still a bit tense, but then shifted his weight a little to stand more comfortable and answered: "Yes."
"So...I guess I'm gonna taste it now. I hope it's better than the last one." Rey giggled as she brushed the glass against her bottom lip to take a sip.
She closed her eyes afterwards and licked her lips while letting out a small groan. "Wow...Oh, Maker! What is this? This is so fucking good!"

Ben still stared at her, but his lips were pressed together a bit like he was suppressing a grin. "Hazelnut liquor." He simply stated.
Then he walked back to his bed, where she still was and sat back down again next to her.
"You didn't get a glass Ben! You've got to celebrate my birthday with me too you know!" She teased and punched him jokingly into his arm as she was already a bit drunk.
He rolled his eyes at that and took the glass out of her hand again, then took some gulps too and gave it back. "Here you go." He smiled just the slightest bit at her,
which made her inside tickle with excitement as it was something intimate for her to share a glass with him like that. She was absolutely sure he would never do this with anybody else in the whole galaxy.

Oh, how she would like to just grab him and plant a kiss on these sweet grinning lips right now, especially when they tasted like hazelnut liquor right now.
How'd he even know she would like it that much? Was he even aware how sweet he sometimes was? In his own twisted way.
But she didn't feel like right now was the right time to just jump him and devour him completely, even if there was pretty much nothing else she would love to do more than this right now.
So she asked once more with a grin on her lips, hoping his mood was a bit more positive after their small talk: "So I'll ask again, hopefully, the alcohol will loosen your tongue. What were you reading right now, which looks exactly like my sacred Jedi texts?"

He indeed didn't look so tense anymore, but she doubted it was because of the alcohol, as a man of his size would have to drink a lot to just feel dizzy at all she thought.
"Sacred Sith texts. The ones I showed you in my vision." He answered and she was happy, he was talking in whole sentences again.
Rey was a little worried right now why he was studying these sith texts all of sudden, as she didn't want him to reach any further into the dark side anymore.
"Why did you start reading these again? Wasn't it enough how Snoke tortured you with them?" She asked and took another sip from her extremely tasty liquor.

"I worked something out and had to re-read some of these texts to be able to do so." Ben explained as he stood up and walked to a table in the back of his room.
From there he took a scroll of paper which laid on the metallic surface and went back to the bed to sit down again with the object in his palm.
"Consider it as your 'birthday present' then if you want to give a bantha tick about it. If it worked with the glass, it should work with this too so you can already take it with you now." He handed over the scroll to Rey and she put the glass down between her legs to hold it steady and pulled her arms up to take the paper with both hands in awe.

She carefully unrolled it and saw several inked signs all over it in some kind of spreadsheet design. There were all these signs she saw in the Jedi books, as well as the normal letters she was able to read too right under them. "Oh, stars...Ben...Is this a translation chart?" Rey asked and her eyes widened in disbelief, while she let the scroll sink down a bit to look at Ben's face.

"Yes. But they won't help you understand these texts you've stolen. You can just translate the letters now. You still need to be able to understand the language and the meaning behind the sentences as they are really metaphorical written mostly. But it's a start."

"Are we even allowed to have a translation chart? I mean there surely was a reason why this knowledge was passed down from master to apprentice and not being written down in some database." Rey asked sceptically while brushing her fingers over these beautifully written signs in his handwriting.
Ben tipped his chin a little down and raised his eyebrows in a questioning way as he rhetorically asked: "Is there anybody in the whole galaxy left alive with fanatical beliefs who'd forbid it? Who tells us what is right or wrong? I don't think so. So we could..." He stopped himself suddenly as if he was about to say something, he didn't want to confess.

"...We could translate them together." She finished his sentence. "Is this what you wanted to say?"
He stared at her for some time and nodded slowly, then looked down at his hands which he balled into fists as if he tried to deny his thoughts and feelings.
"Ben. I promise. As soon as I am back on the base, I'm gonna start translating all these texts from the books with this chart. And whenever the force connects us we can work together to understand their meaning. This is something I would love to do with you and I am not scared to give to have this knowledge. I...I think I might trust you about this. I hope I can. This is actually the best and most important birthday present I could ever have imagined. And the first one I ever received by the way.
Thank you so much." She smiled fully at him now and took his hand in hers.

Ben's eyes were fixed on hers again and he squeezed her hand gently, while he ran his thumb along her palm, slowly caressing her.
"Do you stay on the base for some time now?" He asked suddenly.
Rey was a little bewildered from him changing this topic so fast, but she answered: "I don't know. I might go on missions if there is something to do.
You know I can't tell you which ones." Rey answered truthfully with hurt in her eyes as she hated having these secrets to each other.
"I know you can't. But...Is there any mission in the upcoming weeks for you? In...in the Outer Rim for example? You don't need to tell me which." He nearly pleaded now with his lip pressed together as if he wanted to say something important.

Rey huffed out in desperation. "Okay, Ben. I know this is hard. I hate this too, I hate that we have to hide things from each other. But: First: I can't tell you, mostly I get my missions with just a short time to prepare, so I might not know which kind of mission I'll get next week. Second: If I'd know right now, I wouldn't tell you as it would endanger us. I am sorry. But what is going to happen in the Outer Rim? Are you planning an attack? Something...I don't know...something I would be mad about?
Which would pose a danger to us or civilians? Please tell me...anything at all!"

Ben hung his head down in defeat and pressed his palm against his face and she could see he was troubled by all these secrets they needed to hide from each other and that something else was bugging him intensely.
"I can't tell you either. It would expose my link with you immediately. I...just hope you don't go on any mission right now. Or better not at all." He mumbled out beneath his palm with a raspy voice.

"Okay. I...I don't know how to cope with all this. Whatever you are trying to tell me, without telling me, I'll consider this, but I won't make any promises. I don't want you to get exposed, as I think the First Order would not just put you into the Millenium Falcon for three days while friends bring you cake and beer. Unless you finally want to join me, then you can totally get exposed afterwards in my opinion." She grinned at him with a sad smile.

"You are not taking this seriously at all, don't you? You can die. Every time you fight against the First Order, you could be killed at the hands of my men.
I will not be able to prevent this forever." He hissed out between gritted teeth and anger in his eyes.

"Oh yes, I am taking this seriously Ben. But the same could happen to you. You could also get killed or at least hurt by our side. I would also not be able to prevent it."
She answered with vigour in her voice.

"No, they wouldn't be able to do so. The Resistance is weak." He snarled with disgust.
"If you allow me to remind you, you got shot my Chewbacca, stabbed by Finn, nearly killed twice by me and was just a second away from being blown to bits by us destroying Starkiller base and we destroyed a Dreadnaught and Snoke's ship. So tell me again about us being weak."
Ben instantly shut up and looked at her with wide eyes, while he pressed his lips together stubbornly, which looked quite cute, as she just realized.

They stared at each other for several seconds until he moved forward to her and reached out his arms to pull her into him.
Suddenly he embraced her just like that, while they were sitting on his bed as she still held the scroll he gave her before in one hand and pulled the other around his back to press her body against his too.
They never embraced this way and she could feel his heart beating against hers, while she could swear they were beating exactly in the same rhythm again, as it was hard to distinguish which heartbeat belonged to whom. She had so many emotions running through her right now, as well as some of his which bled just right through their body contact right now, her breath started to grow heavier while she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck and pulled even tighter into his embrace.

After some seconds and an overwhelming feeling of closeness, she started to plant small kisses on his neck, without moving her lips away from his skin, making quiet smacking noises while doing so. She needed to feel him, be closer and taste him, get more of his wonderful smell, touch his skin.
Ben instantly drew in a sharp breath the first time she did it and sunk his fingertips into her flesh so much it nearly started to hurt but was still pleasant.
Rey brushed a thick black strand of hair to the side, to have better access to his skin and she could feel him shiver under her touch.
Then she kissed a slow, wet way up his neck and wandered up to his jawline just under his ear. When she looked up, without stopping his eyes were closed, but his mouth opened a little and he slightly panted while still having an iron grip on her.

"Rey..." Finally, he moaned out her name from the back of his throat in some warning manner as she was nearing the corner of his lip right now.
He opened his eyes again to look at her and they trembled slightly with so many emotions and want she could get lost in them in an instant.

Just when she was about to take the last inch and finally brush her lips against his wonderful puffy ones, he was gone. With him vanished the bed she sat on before,
which meant she just rolled down on all fours as if she fell from the sky.
"Fuck NO! Not again!" She cried out loud and stood up angrily to kick the wall of the house next to her.
Then she remembered the scroll which was luckily still in her hand. So objects don't disappear when the connection breaks off. Good to know, she thought.
Rey looked around to search for the liquor he gave her and realized the glass was gone. Great, it was still with him and she didn't get to drink any more of it.
She huffed out but then had to smile a bit. At least he had something from her too right now.

Man so close again. Damn the force!
Rey finally has a birthday and danced for the first time. She deserved a birthday in my opinion.
May the drinks be with you!