Chapter 14

Kylo waited until everyone left but Rey before setting a waking Growlie loose in the room, stretching out on her bed, and closing his eyes. The challenge of politeness with her friends had exhausted them, especially with Finn effectively shouting his angry and jealous emotions at him the entire time. Kylo had not had to pretend friendship with more than one person at a time in years. Suddenly enduring three new people, including one who unabashedly hated him, was simply too much.

Still, he would endure them for Rey. He expected he would do anything for her at this point.

Kylo could feel Rey studying him with affection, trust, and confusion. He wondered if she even realized how much her emotions were revealed. He would need to teach her to maintain a mental shield before he exposed her to the knights, and there was no better time to start than now. The sooner she could defend herself, the better.

"Rey, form a mental shield," he said.

He felt her surprise, but she closed her eyes and focused. After a moment, he could feel the force solidify into a small, round shield between them. Not what he had meant, but he was curious to see its potential. He had not considered using the force to create a shield, though it could prove more effective than his usual method of freezing things. He sat up, picked up the pillow from the bed, and tossed it at where he sensed the shield.

"It worked!" Rey exclaimed in delight as the pillow bounced off.

He pulled out his lightsaber and activated it. Rey's shield destabilized as uncertainty flooded her. He lazily swung at the shield with the lightsaber and it shattered. He turned his lightsaber off and put it away. "Not quite combat ready, unfortunately," he said. "Still, it was an interesting interpretation of my request. I hope you will practice it."

"That's not what you were asking for?" she asked. He suppressed a smile at her confusion. He had seen from her mind that she was brilliant with mechanics and a masterful fighter. She was fierce and loving at once, and she seemed always blunt and direct. It was fitting that a subtle art like defending the mind would not even occur to her.

He shook his head. "Do you remember when I entered your mind? I want you to form a shield against that. Last time, you stopped me by invading my mind in turn, but there are ways to put up a wall where others cannot gain access to begin with."

She frowned. "I don't know how."

"You learned how to invade my mind from seeing how I invaded yours. I will put up a shield. Try to invade my mind and learn from my shield."

Kylo Ren prepared his mental defense as Rey frowned at him. He knew she would hesitate, but he also knew that when she struck, she would be beautifully vicious. He gazed at her as he waited. She bit her lip and looked down in thought, and his only warning was a quick glance of determination before she slammed into his mental defenses.

Even knowing what was coming, he was still nearly overwhelmed by her attack at first. He reorganized his thoughts and shield to make it firmer, than decreased his defenses slowly so that she could feel the changes. She decreased the intensity of her own attack to match him until it almost felt like they were embracing against the wall of his mind. He briefly considered dropping his defenses entirely so she could slip inside his mind and see how strongly he admired and loved her, but he neither wanted to frighten her nor distract her from the lesson.

"I think I understand what to do now," she said. She dropped the attack entirely and entered a meditation pose. Kylo Ren sighed in relief as he felt her cut off her emotional broadcast. He would miss knowing how she felt, but her safety came first. The knights would not forever let her hide behind the force bond. He made a mental note to practice combat with her as well over their time together. She was amazing already, but the knights were stronger than the Praetorian Guard, and he did not want her unprepared.

Furthermore, Kylo knew he would eventually need a healthy way of letting off the steam of dealing with her friends. Poe's political suave reminded him entirely too much of his mother, and Finn was about as pleasant as a hungry rancor. He did not think Rey would take kindly to his usual destructive methods.

"I'm ready," Rey said, disrupting his thoughts.

Kylo moved to sit across from her on the floor, closed his eyes, and let his hand hover over her head as he felt the shape of her mental defense through the force. Strictly speaking, he did not need to be physically close to her for this, but he was reluctant not to take advantage of the expected intimacy he had adopted in their prior interrogation. Her defense was brittle with gaps in it, but it was still very impressive for a first attempt. He brushed it gently with the force, and she immediately adjusted her defense accordingly. He smiled. Rey was an excellent student.

"You're going easy on me," Rey complained.

"I am. I'm here to help you, not impress my own ability on you," he said, but he also pushed a little harder. She reacted beautifully, but not before he got a glimpse of what was foremost on her mind. He froze as every nerve in his body tingled, and he opened his eyes to meet her own. "You want to kiss me," he said in wonder. He studied her frozen face. "Why haven't you?" He brought the hand that had been hovering by her head to cup her face.

"I don't know what it's like," she said softly.

He leaned forward slowly and carefully placed a chaste kiss on her lips. Her breath hitched at the contact, and he nudged her bottom lip apart to pull it between his own lips before letting go. She was breathless with rose-tinged cheeks and bright, wide eyes before him, and he savored the sight.

"That's what it's like," he murmured. Her defenses slipped and revealed desire for him. He smiled at the knowledge and went on the offensive again, brushing her mind with the force as she hastily put her wall back up, but not before he saw how much his kiss had shaken her.

Her mental wall began to crumble, and she went on the offensive herself, tackling him back physically as she pressed into his mind with the force. He reinforced his own mental wall to block her and flipped her so he was on top while cradling her head with one hand to protect it from the floor.

They stared at each other breathlessly. Rey had her thoughts shielded again, and Kylo made a point of keeping his own barrier strong as he examined her defense for weaknesses. "You're amazing," he said as he realized she had made a solid barrier this time. He could still break it if he really wanted to, but he was unusually strong in the force. His knights would not find Rey an easy target now.

He rolled off her and helped pull her to a sitting position without once breaking eye contact. "You'll need to learn to maintain that shield at all times," he said.

Rey frowned at him. "Even when sleeping?"

"Especially when sleeping," Kylo confirmed. "The Knights of Ren will strike you when you're most vulnerable. I will do what I can to protect you, but you must also be able to defend yourself."

"You talk like you're certain the knights will come after me," she said.

"They believe you killed Snoke. They won't try to kill you without reason while they believe you under my influence for the dark side, but there's no question they will seek to tear the truth of your ability and what happened from your mind, and they will not wait for my permission to do so."

The color drained from Rey's face. "How will I learn to defend myself in my sleep?"

"I will be at your side, and I will guide you," Kylo said.

"Thank you," she said. Growlie chose that moment to hop on her, and she smiled at the porg and scratched its head briefly. Growlie trilled at her before hopping to Kylo's lap and snuggling against him. "He is cute. Back on Jakku, I knew I would die if I ever spared the rations for a pet, but I always wanted one. Anything, really. I was so lonely."

"You are not alone," he said, repeating the words he had first said to her a lifetime ago when they first joined hands.

"Neither are you," Rey said, smiling, and she held out her hand.

Kylo Ren took her hand and pulled them both up, knocking Growlie into the air. Growlie fussed at him and flew to his shoulder. Kylo ignored him to gaze at Rey. "Thank you for choosing me. We'll get through this together," he said just before knocking announced the end of their privacy.

Rey smiled at him, let go of his hand, and opened the door to reveal Finn, Poe, and Rose, who was now in regular clothes.

"Moment done? Because we're going to miss library hours if we hang around here anymore," Poe said to them.

"Let's go," Rey said, and they filed out the room.

I rewrote the beginning of this chapter at least four times. So many directions it could have gone, but I felt this was the most natural for them, given Ben/Kylo's priorities in coming to her. Please review.