Fourteen

She had said yes and he felt the Light swell in him. If he could possibly be glowing from the amount of hope that filled his soul it could have lit the room. But doubt soon came. Rey did not know what she was fully committing to. Once she knew his plan would she reject him again? His heart started to ache now as the Darkness took root.

"Ben," Rey said a little too loudly. "Stay here with me." Her hands were on either side of his face, forcing him to focus back on her.

He knew that she wasn't referring to this place, but rather this moment. She had started to see him…feel him drift. "I'm right here," he reassured and kissed her again.

The worry from Rey's face melted as they joined again. She had just agreed to be with him, in whatever way fate and the Force had already laid out for them. Ben Solo will turn, I've seen it, her words to Luke echoed in her mind, he's our only hope.

Being here, in his arms was a testament to those words. Even though Ben would say that it was all Rey's doing, the entire reason he turned and that she was the hope that the galaxy needed.

A fire was alight within them and they pulled at each other, in a mutual battle for closeness. Ben bit at her bottom lip and she groaned out and grinned herself further into his lap.

Her tunic was peeled from her body and just a cropped off tight undershirt separated the skin to skin contacted of their chests.

He kissed down her her neck and ran his tongue along her newly exposed collar bone. She gripped the hair at the back of his head as he also pulled her hips into his. A whimpering moan came from deep in her chest as her body continued to come alive under his touch.

They hardly noticed the sound of the door opening and the clanking metal feet of the protocol droid. "Master Ben," C-3PO announced. Once he realized what he had walked in on, the droid jumped slightly, "Oh! Apologies Master Ben, Mistress Rey," and he waddled side to side until his back was turned to the couple.

Rey at first had hunched herself into Ben's chest as he protectively wrapped his arms around her back, trying to block the intruder from seeing too much of her exposed torso. Once the droid was turned, she scurried off his lap and reached for her discarded shirt, quickly slipping it back on.

"What is it, 3PO?" Ben almost hissed.

Still with his back turned, C-3PO answered, "Salk…I mean Arinlo…I mean the Queen's ship approaches."

"The Queen?" Rey questioned trying to smooth out her hair.

Ben cursed under his breath, "I forgot that she was coming for a meal tonight."

"I will notify the rest of the house," C-3PO said before quickly walking from the room, closing the door behind him.

Rey rushed to the fresher to take in her appearance in the mirror to make sure that she looked presentable and not like she had just had a roll with Ben.

Still sitting on the bed, Ben had a very painful reminder of where their actions were leading them. He stood and adjusted his pants and also walked into the fresher. His hair stuck out in the back where Rey had her hands tangled just minutes before.

"We both look a mess," Rey commented and reached up to attempt to tame Ben's hair.

Once she was satisfied that they both were decent, she started to walk to the door. Ben caught her by the wrist and pulled her back, gripping her face and planting one more searing kiss on her lip.

"What are you doing to me?" Rey asked breathlessly once they parted.

Ben chuckled lowly and then took her hand and they exited the room. Down a few corridors was the entry hall where the others had already gathered.

A moment later the doors opened and Arinlo walked in with only two guards this time. She was also dresses more causally and was stripped of the traditional makeup.

"Your Majesty," Ben addressed her and bowed. The rest of the group took his lead and also bowed. Rose even offered an off balanced curtsey like she had seen in some old holofilms.

Arinlo waved her hand, "None of that. Without those pesky holocams around I can finally welcome you like family should." She walked to Ben and wrapped her arms around his shoulders bring him in to a hug.

In a surprising move, Ben grabbed her around the waist and then spun her around in the air, much like they did when they were younger. Arinlo let out a shriek of laughter.

"Family?" Finn asked, leaning in towards Rey, looking very confused by Ren's playful reaction to the Queen.

"They are cousins from Amidala's blood line." Rey whispered back.

Finn just nodded his head as if he understood the reference, but truly he did not.

Once the Queen was back on her feet, she next went to hug her old friend Kaydel. "So what's for dinner? I'm starved."

Ben looked around sheepishly.

"Predictable," Arinlo said rolling her eyes. She turned to her guards and snapped her fingers.

The doors to the home opened again and about ten more people poured in, each carrying some sort of food or drink items.

The grand dining room of the estate was massive and meant to entertain large groups. Arinlo's staff set out everything and filed back out of the home just as quickly and quietly as they had entered. "Shall we?" The Queen motioned with her hand.

Ben allowed his cousin to take the seat at the head of the table, they were on her world after all. He sat to her right and Rey sat next to him. Poe sat at the Queen's left and the rest of the group found seats around the table. Resistance and First Order mingled as they all started to plate food from the large serving bowls that lined the center of the table.

"Your world is beautiful," Rey commented to Arinlo. "What I've seen of it that is…which isn't much." She was bumbling and her cheeks flared pink. She scoffed at the thought of her, a scavenger from Jakku, sharing a meal with royalty. Sure, Leia was a princess and by that thought, Ben was a prince, but they did not hold current thrones.

"Well then you must remedy that. I will arrange a shuttle for tomorrow and Ben can show you around Theed."

"That is very kind of you," Rey answered and then tucked back into her food.

"We are holding a private service for Leia tomorrow morning. You are all invite to come and pay your respects to our Princess and your General," Arinlo offered.

The table to quiet for a moment, each Resistance fighter thinking of the real reason they were on Naboo.

Finally it was Finn who broke the silence. He was sitting next to Rey and nudged her with his elbow, "You have to try the red stuff! I've never tasted anything like it."

She wasn't sure what a trooper's diet was like, but with being on a ship for so long, Rey guessed it was similar to her portions from Jakku. On his advice, she scooped some of the mashed red food onto her plate. It's taste was sweet and savory at the same time and an unlady-like groan escaped her when she put the second fork full into her mouth.

Ben's complete attention was on Rey. He knew only some of her experiences on Jakku and when they had first met she was bordering on too thin. Carrying her the distance back to his shuttle on Takodana was made easy by her frail frame. Now that she had consistence food, she had filled out in a lean and athletic way.

But the sounds she was making while trying some of the other dishes that Finn was pointing out to her made Ben think of their time alone early. His hands were gripped around his fork and knife, trying his best to not throw that beautiful woman over his shoulder and finish what they had started.

"So how long are you planning to stay on Naboo?" Arinlo asked, drawing Ben's attention away from his companion.

"Just a few days."

"And after that?"

Ben knew what she was doing, pushing him to talk about his plans. He had hoped to talk with Rey in private about this but he knew that she would never leave her friends without telling them the whole story. He still narrowed his eyes at his cousin, letting her know that he was not pleased.

"I will continue on with my tour. There are other worlds that are not as welcoming as yours."

Rey attention was now shifted to the conversation between Ben and the Queen. They had not talked about what was going to happen after they laid Leia to rest. Just hours before she had agreed to be with him, but was that in a physical sense or was that forever.

Both, Rey thought to herself.

"What about Rey?" Poe asked stabbing at a piece of something that looked like potatoes.

Ben turned to what was now the highest ranking officer in the Resistance and tilted his head with a calm but questioning expression on his face. What did this pilot care what happened to Rey? Ben already knew that Rey would want for nothing and always be safe. He would bet his life on it.

"Look," Poe started again, mouth full of food. "I can't even start to try and understand this whole Force-thing you two have going on, but if you think that you can just fly in for a couple days, have your way with her, and then leave...you will have me to answer to."

"Poe!" Rey exclaimed, both embarrassed and angered by his words, but also comforted that someone cared so much about her wellbeing.

"What? You were a shell of a person after Crait and that was when you didn't even like the guy!" Poe tired to reason, "If he just ditches you now, I would hate to see what it would do to you."

"I'm not going to do any of the things you have assumed are within my character." Ben defended.

"Then you will have no problem telling us what is going on," Finn stated as he stood and reached for another helping of food.

Arinlo smirked as she watched Ben's eyes move from Finn to Poe to Rey. Even as a young girl she had enjoyed watching him squirm.

"I was going to do this in private," Ben first whispered to Rey.

"It's fine," she answered. While she too would have much rather known what the plan was ahead of time, she knew that the rest of her friends would have wanted to know.

"When I was younger and spent a lot of time in the palace and around the court, it wasn't uncommon for a maiden of the Queen's to catch the eye of a visiting dignitary. Since the Queen's staff are not slaves, but rather carefully selected free-borns, it wasn't unheard of for a woman to leave the service of the Queen."

"Yes," Arinlo agreed. "Many advantageous marriages have come from such circumstances."

"Marriages?" Finn muffled in surprise, his mouth full of food.

Rey's eyes were large, "Marriages?" She repeated Finn's question.

Ben panicked and his expression showed it, "That is not what I am proposing…right now at least." The last part was said under his breath, but Rey was close enough to hear.

"So what are you proposing?" Poe's tone was suspicious.

"No one in the First Order beyond those in this room know what Rey looks like. The troopers who saw her on the Supremacy all perished. She could walk onto the Finalize with me and no one would bat an eye."

"So I would just be one of the Queen's servants that caught your eye?" Rey asked.

"Yes, and the Queen would gift you to me as a sign of ongoing trust and loyalty."

"Gift her? As if she is a thing to be given?" Finn sounded angry at the idea. Not only was Rey leaving with Kylo Ren, but also the way he thought she could be traded like a piece of property.

"Unfortunately, that is how she will be viewed by the Generals of the First Order." Ben clarified. "I know that Rey is free to make her own decisions. This was just one of the less complicated ways for her to be with me."

"You know, you could just leave the First Order and join up with us. Not put Rey in any other danger." Poe shot in.

"Cut off one head and two will grow in it's place," Ben replied. "Rey and I are the only ones who can take down the First Order from the inside. If I leave, they will just place someone else in my role, some one who, believe it or not, is capable of doing far worse things than those that are on my conscience."

Rey's breathing had picked up and she pushed her chair back, "I need some air."

The whole table watched as Rey practically ran from the room.

"Nice one Ren," Poe quipped, stabbing at another potato on his plate.

Ben pushed his chair back as well and threw his cloth napkin onto the table before following after Rey.

The veranda was shaded by large climbing trees with fragrant purple blooms that hung under the canopy. Purple petals covered the stone deck and Rey was leaning on the craved railing looking out over the water as the sun set behind the mountains.

He came to stand next to her, their hands almost touching. "I should have told you about the plan earlier."

"I can understand why you were scared to share it with me considering how I reacted to your last…proposal."

"Yes well…"

Rey turned towards him, "I get it Ben. Your whole life you have felt undeserving. You have felt less than. You have felt worthless. Thrown away by your parents." The words rang in her mind, words that he has spoke to her on the Supremacy.

Ben was looking down at her feet, feeling very open and vulnerable.

"You once told me that I was nothing, but not to you." Rey put her fingers under his chin and tilted his head up, "Look at me Ben Solo." His pleading brown eyes met hers. "You are something to me. You are everything to me."

He bent down and immediately captured her lips to his. When he had first asked her to join him on the Supremacy and he told her that she was nothing, he was trying to show her how much they were alined. That he too was nothing. He had uttered a single Please, begging her to not only join him but also to tell him that he was worth something to her as well.

But she had rejected him. Attempted to draw the saber on him. Left him there, unknowing if he was dead. The darkness of those thoughts came creeping up into his heart and he pulled her tighter, trying to keep the doubt at bay.

They parted and she rested her forehead against his. "What ever your plan is. I will do it. I have seen our future and I want it to start right now."

Ben tilted his head and kissed her forehead. "What did you see of our future?"

"It wasn't so much a vision, but more of a feeling." She had turned from him and was again looking out over the water. He settled in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on the top of her head. "I was walking to you and you were happy. I was happy. I felt love and acceptance. I felt freedom and peace. I felt balance. It felt like coming home."

Ben hummed and kissed the crown of her head.

"What did you see?" Rey asked.

He became stiff behind her and he stammered, "I uh…I saw…"

"It can't be that bad can it?" Rey joked and turned in his arms.

"I also saw you walking towards me…"

"And?" Rey probed.

"You were veiled in white."

Rey looked at him blankly, thinking about to her own vision. Ben had been dressed in black, much like it always was so nothing had seemed out of the ordinary. "Oh," she finally said realizing what exactly the Force had been trying to tell them.

Thinking quickly to change the subject, Rey put some distance between them and went to sit on a stone bench, "So tell me more about how your plan is going to work."

Ben followed her and needing some part of him to be touching her, he angled his knees to be in contact with hers. "When I leave here in a few days time, I will have only twenty-one days left on my tour. I will need to visit fifteen other worlds before returning to the Finalizer and that includes coming back to Naboo for you."

"So I won't be going with you?"

"Not to the other worlds. There are some places that are becoming hostile after Snoke's death and I may need to act in a manner that you might find unbecoming."

"Meaning you may have to kill people."

"If it comes to that, yes. Though I hope it does not."

"And what am I to do while you are gone?"

"Spend time with your friends, train, and also be integrated into the Queen's staff. I have no doubt that Hux will investigate into your past once you are presented to the First Order as my companion."

"And when you return?"

Ben smiled, still thinking of his mother's ring that was stowed away on his shuttle, "I will make a public offer to you and the Queen will grant you leave of your position at court."

"This seems all very complicated." Rey worried her lip.

"It would be even more so if I was to tell Hux and the High Command that I just picked you up while refueling on Jakku." Ben laughed to himself for a moment, "Even though stranger things have happened…Luke was a Prince and he grew up on Tatooine."

"We both know that I am not royalty. My parents were drunk junk traders, remember." Rey looked down at her hands, still trying to come to terms with her parentage.

"Hey," Ben spoke, tilting her head to his. "You know that means nothing to me. You are so much more than the sins of your parents."

"So are you," Rey replied, reaching up to run her hand along his cheek and then up into his hair.

In a swift movement, Ben grabs her waist and pulls her to him. He is standing and shifts his grip to the back of her thighs. He smirks when she lets out a squeak in surprise before she starts to laugh.

Rey wraps her legs around his waist, hooking her ankles together to hold her self in place. She weaves her arms around his neck and her fingers are in the hair at the back of his neck.

They kiss as he moved them through the house, just occasionally glazing over her shoulder to make sure he is headed down the correct hall and also to avoid running into walls and corners.

He gets to his room as quickly as possible and wraps one strong arm around her waist and frees his other one to twist the doorknob before kicking the door open with his foot. Entering the room he pauses long enough the kick the door back shut and uses the Force and a twitch of his fingers to engage the lock.

When his shins hit the side of the bed he places her down on her back. She is still latched on to him, not wanting to release her legs and she pulls into him, rubbing against him.

Back in the dinning room, the group had lulled into conversation and when they heard the shriek from Rey, Poe and Finn jumped to their feet to offer aid, but then laughter had filled the halls and Arinlo motioned with her hands for the men to retake their seats.

"I don't think we will be seeing them for the rest of the night," the Queen made the comment with a knowing smile. "Who is ready for desert?"

AN: I picture Rey's under clothes to be something like the ones Bea Miller wears in her Yes Girl video. BTW, that song is Cannon for Rey's play list as well, if you care to take a listen.

As always I love to hear your thoughts so leave me a comment/review! 3