Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the support and for the comments. I appreciate you all so much, you have no idea!

Demelza1999: There will be more conversations between Ben, Rey, and his parents in the future. Rey still doesn't know what to make of them, but she will grow closer to them as time goes on. And this chapter is the first part of the race! Ourane: And the story is going to get steamier! lol. Ben's sexual awakening is fun to write, cause he isn't even sure what he's into and it's startling to him that he likes to be more domineering in the bedroom. But he'll have a soft side, promise. And Rey finding out about the heart transplant might happen sooner than you think! Thanks for liking the side characters and recognizing that they help bring more depth to the main duo. It's important to show how they interact with other people. Thanks for the review! Feathers: If I can, I'll try to fit in a scene with just Luke and Leia. Hopefully my muse will help me be inspired! Yeah, Ben has no idea about Poe being the donor. Everything is so anonymous to protect privacy. And more Reylo smut to come (pun intended), just not this chapter. lol. This chapter is the first part of the race! I didn't want to gloss over it because I thought what better bonding experience than for the two of them to do a race like this together. I love putting characters in different scenarios. And I've had the race planned out for a while now. You'll see why at the end of the chapter. ;) Paul Lenzen: AYYYYYYYY! I can tell you really don't want Rey to be angry at Ben. I shouldn't give too much away, but I'll just say that everything will work out, I promise! ldsrsc: That thought will cross Rey's mind when the truth comes out, but that specific reason won't make her leave him because she's afraid he'll die while they're together. I'm not doing the whole 'I must protect my heart by breaking up with him because it would be so much worse if he died on me' kind of thing. I personally hate that in a story. And Rey would be such a horrible person if she broke up with him because of that reason. When it comes to Rey being pissed at him for lying to her? Well... we shall see.

Chapter Fourteen: The Race Part 1

Jogging through the forest that surrounded Lake Geneva, Rey could hear her shoes tread against the crack of twigs and leaves underfoot. The sun was bright, radiating heat in double the force whenever Rey no longer had the shadows of the trees to cool her down.

Regret was a bitch, that was for sure. She had very quickly realized she wasn't conditioned for a race such as this. Maybe she shouldn't have skipped that run yesterday. Maybe it could've somehow leveled her up when it came to cardio. But hey, she was trying.

And since yesterday had technically been a holiday – The Fourth of July – Rey had just wanted to relax, snack, and play Fallout with Ben all evening. Fireworks weren't really her thing, and Ben didn't seem to mind.

Peaking at the top of the hill, she stopped off to the side, letting the other competitors go by as she took a breather. With the temperature being in the high 90's and the humidity out in full force, it had been advised in the local weather report to forgo doing any extraneous activity outside. Looking at the runners passing her, there was a certain amount of consolation at knowing she wasn't the only creature dumb enough to be out in this heat wave.

Knowing that, however, didn't make her physically feel any better. It barely even gave her a mental boost.

Rey's loose shirt clung to her back and stomach, and there was a slight sting in her eyes from the mixture of salty sweat and leftover mascara. She was glad she chose to wear her black spandex shorts instead of the leggings; she would've self-combusted in those by now.

Intertwining her fingers behind her head and lifting her elbows, she tried wrangling in her breathing. From this view, she could see a section of Lake Geneva down below, the water as flat as a pane of glass. It was a breathtaking sight, she'd give the race that.

"You're doing great," Ben admonished, unclipping the small water bottle from his running belt. He was sweating just as bad as her, his face flushed red, tendrils of his hair sticking to his cheeks and forehead as if it were a second skin. God forbid he pulled it back, really exposing his ears. She tried offering him the extra hair tie from around her wrist, but he had declined.

At least when he was sweaty with messy hair, he still looked like a snack. Rey was pretty sure she looked like a hot mess not worthy of visual consumption.

"I like the obstacles…" she took a deep breath, "... but the running is not my favorite."

Ben smiled as he took a quick swig, and then handed it to Rey. "I do recall you saying 'fuck cardio' a few times on the way up here. Or a hundred."

Rey downed what was left in the water bottle, she couldn't stop herself. Had water always tasted that good?

Rey let the spare drops of water trickle down her chin and neck. "Look, I'm the type of person... who tries not to breathe too hard walking up a hill... so bystanders don't think I'm fighting for my life."

Ben lifted the bottom of his sleeveless black shirt up to his face, giving it a good wipe. Rey ogled at the deep V trailing down his pelvis, like it was an arrow pointing her in the direction she needed to–

"We're almost done," he told her. "Few more obstacles and maybe a mile left."

"I just can't believe people do this for fun," Rey said as she observed more of the competitors. None of them looked miserable.

"You're not having fun?" Ben questioned, alarmed.

"Oh, no, I am," she assured him quickly. "But that's probably because I'm doing this with you. If I was doing this alone…." She cocked her head to the side, a thought coming to mind. "How have you done these races alone? Doesn't it get boring?"

"It's all about getting in the right headspace. Doing something like this helps to clear my head, and I like the adrenaline I feel when pushing my body to the limit."

"I like pushing myself to the limit by seeing how much I can eat in one sitting." She placed a palm above her growling stomach. "Man, I'm hungry." She pictured the candy stash in her bedroom like it was a long lost relative.

Ben started ushering her back on the path so they could continue. "I'll buy you a huge burger and fries when we're done. Promise."

"Cheeseburger."

The kiss he left on her lips was quick, too quick for Rey to properly respond to it. "You got it."

When Rey made a turn on the dirt trail, she let the push of gravity do the work for her as she jogged downhill, Ben close behind.

Tepidness and a muggy smell mixed in with the woodsy outdoor scent, offering no clues as to what was up ahead. So far, Rey had climbed over walls, pulled herself up ropes, swung on monkey bars, leaped over hurdles, dragged a sled filled with sand, and carried a twenty-pound concrete ball from one post to another. Twenty pounds was no problem for her, but picking up a smooth ball of concrete had been quite difficult. There had been nothing to grip onto. She ended up having to roll it on top of her feet just so she could get underneath it. And holding onto it required her to apply a lot of pressure with her hands. Her fingers ached in away she never knew possible.

The trail stretched along a stream that gradually formed into a small river, it's shining waters offering Rey a little distraction from how tired she was. Voices were coming closer, the chatter heightening the more she moved forward.

Rey slowed to a stop when she came upon a line of people, trying to look past them at what was the hold up.

"This must be the lake part," Ben commented, easily able to gaze over the runners.

"Lake part? What do you mean?"

"There's a section of the lake we have to swim across," he told her.

A jolt ripped through Rey's veins. She went on autopilot, moving with the line, eyes focused on the guy in front of her. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but had painted words onto his back. It read: I Run To Burn The 'Fuck Its'.

She recognized it as being funny.

She didn't laugh.

The next step her body took was to spike up her heartbeat with that adrenaline she'd been praying for only a moment ago, her skin producing more sweat, making her feel like a bin bag had wrapped around her and wouldn't release.

Maybe they were going to stay on shore. Or wade through knee-deep water. Maybe take a kayak across? Surely, the organizers wouldn't have deep-water swimming as an actual obstacle. Wouldn't they be liable if someone drowned?

The thicket of trees opened to a small portion of the shoreline, giving Rey a narrowed view of the lake. Competitors waddled into the water, staying in between the lane of buoys that guided them further out. Some dove right in when the water was waist deep, others slowly sunk down and started swimming, both methods sending ripples in ever widening circles until they disappeared.

Ah. So… it would appear Rey was in deep shit.

Even with the adrenaline, she stopped moving, vomit rising in her throat. Now, she wasn't worried anymore. She was full on panicking – all thoughts pertaining to her rationalizations banished behind a fortified wall of terror. Her brain kept showing her every news headline she'd ever read regarding a grim end for those who were self-purported great swimmers, but had drowned.

Ben touched her arm. "Rey?"

She slowly started to shake her head, gaze unable to tear away from the dark body of water. The people waiting in line behind them went around, heading for the shoreline where a volunteer in an orange vest was giving the swimmers instructions.

Rey's lips were vibrating, her eyelids starting to ache.

Ben guided her off the dirt trail and into the tree line, obstructing the view of the lake as he got in front of her. "Hey, are you okay?"

In a small voice, she said, "You… didn't tell me there would be swimming."

"I, uh…"

"You didn't tell me," she said again, voice shaking, eyes scanning the trees as if she could find a way out of this dense forest.

Ben glanced over his shoulder at the water, momentarily lost for words. "I said the race was by Lake Geneva. I thought–"

"That I would just know there would be swimming just because we're by a lake?" Rey finished for him, breathing becoming more rapid, more shallow.

"Do you… have an aversion to lakes?"

"You should've"– she inhaled, hand going to her chest, covering her speeding heart –"told me."

"I…" Rey bent over, lightheaded. Ben sat her down on the dirt. "Shit, Rey you need to breathe." He had her bend her legs and placed her head between her knees. To top it off, he rubbed her back, slow and rhythmically. "You'll pass out if you keep breathing like this. Inhale and exhale slowly." She squeezed her eyes shut to help with her concentration. It took her a few tries to get the process down. "That's it. Keep trying to do that. I got you."

Ben kept speaking, attempting to soothe her. The dizziness dissipated as the minutes ticked by, her only movements the shaking of her limbs and the expansion of her torso with every slow breath. There they stayed, unaware of the race going on around them.

Though her heart decelerated, it did those girlish little flutters as she focused more on Ben's touch.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the swimming part," Ben said sincerely. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

Feeling that the panic attack had passed, Rey opened her eyes. She focused on an ant trying to make its way onto her shoe. It was easier to look at the insect during the height of her humiliation than it was to look at Ben when she told him the truth.

Her lips barely moved, the words coming out too weak to reach human ears.

"What did you say?" Ben asked.

Rey cleared her throat. "I can't swim."

His hand froze on her shoulder blade. "Really?"

Picking up a stick, she flicked the successful ant off of her shoe. "Go ahead and laugh and point out that I'm in my thirties and have never learned how to swim. Ha ha, so hilarious."

"I would never make fun of you for something like that." He lowered his palm to her waist, scooting closer till they were touching side to side. "We can end the race here, if you want?"

The offer surprised her. "You'd stop for me?"

Ben shrugged with an air of nonchalance. "You're obviously uncomfortable with the idea of going into that lake. And I don't want you to have a panic attack out of fear. The way you feel is more important to me than all of this." He gave her a gentle nudge. "And hey, I'm just glad we got to do some of it together. That's enough for me."

There was the faintest beginning of a smile on Rey's lips. It was endearing how much he wanted to spend time with her.

"Do we just…" she glanced around, "find someone and tell them we don't want to finish?"

"I'll ask one of the volunteers."

She watched Ben go down the trail, bypassing the line and going straight for the petite girl standing near the shoreline. Since Rey didn't have the useful skill of lip reading, she let her head fall back, looking up toward the sky.

Only a few fragments of blue remained through the thick canopy of leaves, like scattered pieces of an impossible jigsaw puzzle. A light breeze snaked through the trees, the sound holding the same hypnotic quality of music. She thought of her and Ben's first date, of seeing the symphony.

Her eyes found him as he was making his way back to her. When he locked onto her gaze, it was as if every ounce of breath was taken from her lungs, escaping into the humid air. It happened so many times, this visceral reaction to him. Every time he touched her, cradling her face between his hands, it felt like he was untying the knots in her soul. Every time they kissed, it was as if time stopped, just the two of them remaining in the world together. She couldn't help feeling this pull towards him. Nothing could stop it. It was like having a gun to her head and being told not to let her heart beat. Of course it would be beat. Because it beat only for him.

This had to be what falling in love was like, a story you never wanted to end.

Wait.

No….

Did she?

A sharp chuckle escaped Rey's nose.

Of course she loved him. Turned out, falling for him had been the easy part, it was admitting to herself that it had happened that was difficult. She'd had extremely secure defenses for so long, that she just assumed they were impossible to tear down.

But it wasn't impossible for Ben, apparently. He walked his way right into that muscle beating within her chest without even noticing the security surrounding it. Quite rude, really, to bypass those defenses she'd worked so hard to construct. It had to have been fate who had snuck in a failsafe while Rey was unaware. Like a door only Ben could open.

For so long, she'd feared it, loving someone. She wanted it, sure… dreamed about it even. But fantasizing about it and having it right in front of her were two different things. And now that it happened, she couldn't bare the possibility of losing it, this thing that made her feel so complete.

Ben knelt down in front of her, a confession on the tip of her tongue as she looked at this beautiful man.

"So the good news is we totally don't have to finish if we don't want to." He paused, working his jaw. "Bad news is... because the course is on a specific trail and the forest is so thick, we have to go back the way we came."

Rey stared at him, waiting for the punch line. There wasn't one. "I'm not going up that fucking mountain again."

"Unfortunately, it's the only option. We can walk, take our time. And I can give you a piggyback ride up the hill, if that helps. I know you're tired."

"You're not?"

"I'm good. I mean, before you said you wanted to do this with me, I was training to do the one that's the half marathon."

If someone had told her a month ago she would fall for a fitness fanatic, she would've told them to fuck off and find someone else to try their jokes on. But here she was, working on her 'fitness'. At least Fergie would be proud.

Still, no matter how fit and strong Ben appeared to be, she wasn't going to let him carry her back the way they came. But her lactic acid levels were dangerously high, legs liquefied, and she mentally couldn't traverse that trail again. There was only one option left.

Rey took in all the air her lungs could hold and expelled it slowly.

"How good of a swimmer are you?" she asked him.

"Pretty good. Why?"

"What if…" God, she couldn't believe what she was about to propose. "What if I held onto you as you swam across?"

His gaze swung to the lake, and she could see by his pensive expression and drawn in brows that he was thinking it over. "That could work. I could put you on my back and do all the swimming. Just make sure you don't choke me with your arms," he said with a tinge of humor. Ben stood and helped Rey back to her feet, her legs protesting against her weight. "Are you sure you want to do this?" The answer to that would be a big fat no. But it wasn't like she could rewind today. So. "Like, once you're in the water, are you going to panic?"

Rey brushed the dirt from her bum, feeling the way her saliva was thickening in her throat. "You can't let go of me," she said sternly. "Not even a fake out where you pretend like you're about to let go in an attempt to be funny."

Ben frowned. "That would be a dick move. Do I look like a dick to you?"

She shook her head in the negative. Rey could've turned that into a dirty joke, but her fear stopped her from doing so.

Placing gentle hands on her shoulders, Ben commanded all her attention in the singularity of his all-encompassing stare, those twin black holes made only for her. "Rey, I won't let anything happen to you. I swear."

In that moment, Rey figured that every person in existence needed a harbor, a secure attachment to someone who cared for them. Some would argue that attachment lead to being stripped of freedom, and once upon a time, Rey had believed in such. But fuck freedom. Ben was the epitome of safety and love, an anchor she could hold onto, that she tethered herself to because she wanted to.

The freedom to not be 'linked' to another person was akin to the freedom of wandering a desert without water.

And shit, she trusted Ben with everything she had and everything she was.

Her jaw tightened, resolve set in place. "Okay. Let's get me wet."

Ben arched a brow. Rey gave him a wink. If she didn't inject some kind of humor into this situation, she wouldn't be able to get herself to that shoreline.

Gold star for using a double entendre as a coping strategy.

()()()()()

In the blinding light of the July afternoon sun, the lake was like a semi-molten mirror – reflective, but not quite pristine.

Ben moved with robotic precision but organic fluidity, stroke after stroke keeping both Rey and him above water. He kept close to the buoys on the left side of the lane, just making it to the halfway point where it started to curve back to shore further down. Thankfully, the wind was light and the swells were small.

Settling on a front crawl arm stroke with a scissor kick, the method made it easier for Rey to be on his back. She at least had the skill to float on top of the water, which allowed him to not hold as much of her weight while keeping his movements well below the surface. The one drawback was that her fingernails were digging into his shoulders through his thin shirt, but Ben didn't say anything. He didn't want to risk her freaking out if he asked her to adjust her grip.

She had just gotten comfortable enough to start talking to him.

"Do you think centaurs could slap their own ass to make themselves go faster?" she queried.

….Maybe she was getting a little too comfortable.

"I tell you to ask me something to get your mind off the whole swimming thing, and you ask me that?" Water sloshed into Ben's mouth as someone passed him, the guy not even being courteous enough not to kick water in his face.

Rey yelled a few obscenities at the swimmer before saying, "I mean, you are a veterinarian. Who else am I going to ask? The guy who services my truck?"

Ben strained his neck, keeping his chin above water. "You do know centaurs aren't real, right?"

"Says who?"

"Science."

"Maybe 'science' just hasn't discovered them yet."

He snorted amusedly. "You gonna tell me you believe in mermaids, too?"

"Fishermen have seen them, Ben!" she purported passionately. He wished he could see her face, the way her nose did that little scrunch when she was gearing up for a debate.

"And no one has ever caught one? Kinda hard to believe."

"Because they're magical and smart. They know how to evade humans. And we're getting off topic."

"Oh, yes. The centaurs." Ben took his time with each stroke and kick. "If you really want me to answer, then I'll have to say no."

"Why?"

"I don't know." But he did. His mind was already forming a theory that was backed up with scientific data. "I guess I would compare it to the scenario of if a person slapped their own ass…" Ben took a deep breath, talking slowly so he wouldn't get winded or accidentally inhale water,"... would that make them run faster? It wouldn't."

"But centaurs are half horse, half man."

"Doesn't matter. Both halves are controlled... by the same brain. The centaur knows it will smack it's own backside... before he actually does it, and in turn... it won't have any effect."

There was a beat of silence. "Really?"

Ben delved deeper into his hypothesis to satiate his own curiosity. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume centaurs... are like other mammals when it comes to the nervous system. When performing an action... our brain produces an efference copy of that action. Like copying a document on a computer." Ben paused so he could breathe, his lungs burning slightly from the effort of swimming and talking at the same time.

"Our brains," he continued, "take this copy of the action being performed... and uses it to predict the effect of that action. When the predicated action is different from the actual action... our brain knows it's coming from an outside source. When our predicted action matches... the actual action... we know it comes from an inside source... and the sensory effect is reduced. It's why we can't tickle ourselves... or giving a self-massage just isn't as good."

"Huh," Rey said, going quiet for a moment. He worried for a second that his explanation had been too complicated. "It's like how when someone else makes you a sandwich, it tastes so much better than if you were to make that exact same sandwich yourself."

Ben rolled his eyes, swimming just a bit faster the closer he got to shore. "Of course you'd find... a way to bring food into this. But yes, it's along those same lines."

"But what if an outside source smacks the centaur's ass?"

"How would you react if someone... just unexpectedly slapped your butt?"

She took a moment to give the question some serious thought. "I'd probably be so shocked, I'd punch 'em. So I guess the centaur would react in a similar way, probably by kicking them."

"I can't believe we are actually having a serious discussion about centaurs," Ben said with a lilt of amusement.

"I'll save the subject on dragons for later, then."

Ben gave out a light laugh.

The tip of his sneakers finally hit the bottom, allowing him to find purchase on the lake floor and begin the lazy process of walking through the water. Rey let go of his shoulders, but held onto his hand as she walked beside him.

As they sloshed onto shore, they picked up their knees so their shoes didn't sink too far in the sand. The trail they needed to traverse was up ahead, a volunteer directing all the swimmers to the area.

Ben took a deep breath, Rey's hand still in his. "Look," he gestured to the lake behind them. "You officially did it. You swam across."

Rey was shaking out her shoes, trying to get the extra water out. "Let's be real: You swam us across and did all the work. What I did doesn't even constitute as swimming."

"But you faced your fear and got in the water. I'd say you achieved way more than I did."

Her smile was shy, but her gaze was straightforward. "Thanks... for taking care of me."

He leaned in and kissed her forehead, relishing the feel of her skin against his lips. "I'll never do anything less."

()()()()()

There was only a hundred yards left until the race was over, the finish line in big bold letters between two red columns in the distance. They just had to get through one last obstacle; the one Ben had been dreading the whole race.

Pressing his body against the compacted dirt, Ben did an army crawl with his arms, trying to flatten himself as much as possible below the barbed wire. Whoever was in charge of setting up this particular obstacle did not take people more than six feet tall with a broad build into account.

Fitting into tight spaces hadn't been Ben's forte since he was six.

"I hope you're getting a good view of my ass from back there," Rey said from up ahead, her sneakers close to his face.

Ben glanced up. It was a good view, indeed. "Why do you think I insisted on you going first?"

He heard Rey give out a loud chuckle. Ben smiled, crawled forward, and somehow caught his shirt on the barbed wire above him.

He stopped and tried to swivel and move, but the people to his left and right didn't allow him much room for wiggling. With a strong push forward, he heard the telltale sound of fabric ripping. He froze, shirt still snagged.

"Shit," he breathed out.

Rey paused and tried to glance behind her. "You okay?"

"Shirt's caught on the wire."

"Do you need help?"

"No, just keep going. I'll figure it out."

He could see Rey hesitate before she started moving again. Both of them knew there was nothing she could actually do to help him since all the racers were too tightly crammed together. There was no way to turn around in this sardine can.

He tried speaking to someone next to him, but the guy passed him without even acknowledging his existence.

With not many options, Ben finished moving forward. The shirt was finally freed, but he didn't know the extent of the damage.

Frustrated, he basically dragged his body across the dirt the last fifty feet, Rey waiting for him at the end. Standing, he wiped off the front of his shorts and shirt, a plume of dirt dispersing into the air.

"Did it get your skin?" Rey asked as they both moved to the side of the trail, not wanting to get in the way of the other competitors.

"I don't think so."

She was quiet for a moment as she inspected his back. "Your skin's fine, but your shirt is holding on by a thread. Let me just–." Rey yanked the fabric apart with ease from the middle, tearing all the way up and down.

Ben jumped away from her, holding the shirt to his chest. "What the fuck did you just do?"

Rey was caught off guard by his visceral reaction. "I–"

He felt a sudden chill, but it wasn't from having his back exposed. "Did you rip it completely?" he asked incredulously, already knowing the answer.

Her mouth floundered. "It was literally useless. You're better off just finishing the race shirtless."

Ben was so startled by such a suggestion, his cognitive functioning seized up, leaving him unable to speak for a long duration of seconds. "I didn't tell you to rip it," he was able to get out, tone defensive.

"It would just get in your way. All the other guys here are running shirtless; it's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal," he argued back.

Rey drew her brows together. "But… why? You're built like a fucking brick house. You're fit enough to be running around shirtless, trust me. No need to feel self-conscious."

"That's not…." Ben winced, not able to continue with that sentence.

A crisis was coming.

No. It was already here.

A/N

Yes, this chapter was short. I had to split it into two because it got so long. But the next chapter is mostly finished! Hoping to get it out by the end of the week. Maybe even a couple days!

The race is based off of the Spartan Race, which I've done a couple times. I even had a hard time with the barbed wire crawl (I'm 5'2'') and I can only imagine Ben having a go at it. I got my shirt ripped and my back scratched from the damn wire and it was no fun! Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the update!