Rey had thought of absolutely nothing but escape since the meeting. Her arms and legs were drawn up tight against the chill of the cell as she sat with her back to the wall, as far away from Ben's bed as she could get.
They had spoken briefly of the vaguest outline of a plan - essentially, that they needed one. But Ben had no rush to it, and soon drifted back to sleep. Rey couldn't understand how he was so untroubled by their situation. As though his death hadn't just been scheduled.
Rey glanced at the clock. 3am. A large wheeze of breath from across the room, and then a shift, and the breathing stabilized.
Rey wondered if his casualness was a schooled response or if he already had his own plan.
Much as they shared through the bond - intentionally and otherwise - she could not take what he did not want to give.
A dark corner of her mind delighted at the uncertainty of it all. Taunted her with the suggestion that she had been manipulated every step of the way. That it had all been some elaborate plot to murder his mother, locate the Resistance base, and steal her to his cause all in one fell swoop.
Rey sat with the train of thought for a while.
Maybe the reason he was so at ease was because his real fleet was on its way to collect them at that exact moment.
She hated herself more the longer she considered it.
Ben's expression shifted, told her that he felt it even in his sleep. She was too open, too afraid, too raw to keep any of it to herself.
A sob fought its way from her lips as she bowed her head to her knees. Her body shook uncontrollably. She felt watched.
"The only thing you can trust is yourself," the words were spoken softly as he observed her, "and your own judgement."
Rey's head jerked up from its resting place. Tears spilled freely. She could feel that her state pained him, but he refused to patronize her with empty comforts.
"Why did you shut me out after that night?" She had to know. It was the blank spot of time that could reframe their entire relationship. Turn her from a simple optimistic child to a destructively lovesick fool.
Love…love?
"Because I'm weak." Matter-of-fact. Practiced. "And your light is blinding."
Rey wondered how much it had dimmed over the last two weeks.
"You're not such a wretched thing as you believe," she muttered, no matter how much she wished she didn't believe it.
Ben gestured around them to the cell. The place she had rescued him to. Because she thought him worthy. "I believe you've already made your point."
Rey bit her lip to fight back a laugh.
"You're strong in every way I am weak," he finally admitted. Demanded their eyes meet. "And as it was all coming down around me I thought you would use that to expedite my fall."
He thought she was manipulating him that night?
Rey covered her face with her hands. Laughed. Really, truly laughed - a nervous, hysterical thing that rocked her body in a way she couldn't control.
It didn't take long before he'd joined in with his own wheezed panting.
"I'm going to re-open the wound because of you," he muttered before coughing into his pillow.
"I genuinely believe we're the stupidest people the galaxy has ever seen," she said as she settled. Finally withdrew her hands from her face and looked at him.
His hair was mussed. Smile still on his face. It suited him.
"Maybe," he trailed off as he watched her. She could sense him thinking something similar. A blush crept up her cheeks.
"So," she started, arms crossed over her chest. 'How are we getting out of here?'
'So glad you asked,' he replied as he mustered enough strength to stand. She just watched as he padded over and crouched in front of her. Something was in his hand.
A key card. With a familiar pilot's face featured prominently.
Rey smiled.
"I hope he doesn't mind too terribly."