It wasn't until Rey slumped against him that Ben realized she'd finally drifted off to sleep.
Startled, Ben froze, taking care to breathe deeply and slowly as to not disturb her. Carefully tilting his head so he could gaze upon her face, he felt a warmth exploding through his chest and igniting every fiber of his being. The sun was rising soon on this scenic place and he hadn't slept a wink, but as far as Ben Solo was concerned, everything was right in the universe.
The Force was showing itself to be useful in more incredible ways every day. Just after dinner Ben sought Rey's presence via the Force, needing desperately to vent to her and hear her warm bemused voice smoothing over his issues and making things seem better than they were. When her face appeared, she eagerly listened to his many rants and snarls about the dismal events of the day. Her presence alone brought him a great deal of calm, and her words even more.
As they spoke, neither could be bothered to notice a neutral place materializing around them. It was an entirely new setting, not his own reality or hers. A green planet where birds called out and a soft breeze tousled their hair was around them, bringing the fresh scent of the sea. When Rey tucked her flyaway tendrils back behind her ear for the fourth time she looked into the breeze and gasped at the new place, uncertain whether it was something they created or somewhere the Force determined they should meet.
They spent the entire night sitting side by side on a grassy ledge overlooking an ocean, their arms brushing every so often, staring at the reflections of the stars on the water. Easy conversation ebbed and flowed like the tide; natural as sunshine. Ben and Rey both longed to lean against the other solely to enjoy the physical connection, but didn't dare out of mutual fear of spoiling the thus far perfect evening.
Rey yawned and grew quiet as the first colors of dawn faded into the sky. She peacefully sighed every so often. Ben imagined they'd been there near seven or eight hours, never stumbling into an awkward silence or uncomfortable topic. Even the silence was enjoyable. As often as he could, he stole a glance at her, falling in love with the way the sparkling lights reflected in her eyes.
And now she was asleep, her full weight cast against him.
Ben pulled the cloak from his shoulders, draped it over her, and let his cheek rest against the top of her head. Their Force bond connected plenty of times while one of them was sleeping, but for Rey to fall asleep in his presence was new. The Jakku scavenger nearly split him in two with his grandfather's light saber, but now her guard was not only down with him, but gone entirely.
Vulnerability always qualified as a weakness in Ben's mind. That changed as the Force blazed between them, an open bridge for emotions and thoughts to pass freely. The unprotected nature of the woman wasn't weakness at all, Ben realized as he gently looked into her mind, but utter trust and confidence in him. Time after time she bet in his favor, even after he failed her. He sucked in a breath and felt the Light flash in him at the revelation. Ben squeezed his eyes shut and pressed a kiss to Rey's scalp. In return, she shifted even more into his arms in her slumber.
He swore under his breath, knowing life had just gotten infinitely more complicated.
When the bright sunlight crept into Rey's face, she woke up excitedly, looking for Ben and frowning when she recognized her own room on her base. Ben and the beach had gone, materializing back to where they rightfully belonged in space and time. Closing her eyes and rolling over in her cot, she swore she could still smell him. It was a soothing mix of leather and the slightly minty shampoo he used on those midnight black locks. The smell was as if he was there with her. Squinting an eye back open, she looked down at the blanket covering her. It was Ben's cloak, somehow left behind from its owner. Not caring about the physics of how it returned with her, she buried her face in it and squealed happily.
When she crawled out of bed and headed to breakfast, she fastened the cape around her neck and wore it into camp. Poe studied her for a moment when she sat down next to Leia with an embarrassingly large stack of pancakes drizzled with sauces and scattered with berries. "You gonna eat all that?"
"Yes, do you have something to say about that?" Rey replied, picking up a fork and eagerly tearing apart the fluffy goodness. She closed her eyes and moaned, cheeks full of food. "Delicious."
Leia watched the pair over her coffee mug. They never failed to amuse the general. She loved all of the rebels, but perhaps these two most of all. The pilot and the scavenger bickered more than she and Han had, and it made them all the more interesting to eat with. Interested to see which topic they'd choose to nitpick next, she reached for her roll and silently observed.
"And that cloak's a little bit long, isn't it?" Poe's eyes were narrowed and his voice was challenging. "Did you seriously steal that? I swear I've seen it before, and not on you."
"I didn't steal it," Rey scoffed. "Maybe I'm just a little short and I'll grow into it," she shrugged, doing her best to appear unaffected. She knew Poe was suspicious of her relationship with Ben. So what? For now all she had was a new black cloak and that was hardly damning evidence. If anything, he should have honed in on her giddy inability to focus on anything. That seemed to wave a blatantly obvious flag that Rey was quite smitten. She shoveled in another mouthful of pancake.
"General Organa," a communications lieutenant roared through the rebel base. "General Organa!"
Ruffled to be disturbed over her breakfast, Leia barked back, "What is it? Can't I ever finish a cup of coffee without some sort of hell breaking loose that no one else can manage?"
The lieutenant thrust a datapad into her hands and stood trembling as the general read the memo. After a moment, Leia simply slid the tablet to Poe. "What do you make of this, Commander?" she asked with a sly smile.
Eagerly snatching it and reading the screen, Poe's jaw dropped. He blinked and looked across the table to Rey. Then his eyes grew wide. "Holy shi- is that his cloak? How'd you do it?"
"What?" Rey asked through a mouthful of fruit. Shaking her head furiously at Leia, her eyes grew wide and fearful. "I haven't done anything."
Leia chuckled. "Rey, I think you've done everything."
Poe reread the datapad, his eyes flicking up to her after every other word. "Kylo Ren is defecting to the Rebellion with one condition."
Jubilation exploded in the Force around Rey. She frantically chewed down her food and gulped. "What's the condition?" she breathed, trying desperately to contain her roiling thrill.
Poe cleared his throat and read, "I, Ben Solo, hereby communicate my intention to defect to the Resistance on the condition that Rey of Jakku continues to serve its cause."
"He turned!" Rey burst, exploding up from her bench and nearly tackling Leia with a hug. "He turned. I knew he'd turn!" Words turned to shrieks and tears flowed in joy. The general chuckled and hugged her back, her own tears clinging to her lashes and proudly refusing to fall.
"Aren't we going to consider that this could be a trap?" Poe asked over the cheers. "How do we even know it's him and not Huggsie?"
Leia smiled kindly at him. "Ben is a Solo. It just took a mouthy woman to win him over and that's the end of it." She threw her arms around Rey once more. "I knew there was something special about you."
"It's the Force," Rey laughed hysterically. "I did it with the Force!"
"No," Leia smiled. "Force or no, Ben was destined to find you."
Poe sucked his teeth and nodded. "All right, then. So that's that, huh?" He handed the datapad back to the lieutenant and reluctantly gave the order to send along their coordinates.
Time had slowed to a crawl as Ben awaited the perfect moment to leave the First Order. He wasn't afraid of being found out or captured, but simply eager to see Rey and anxious to see how the rest of her friends reacted to him.
When his ship door opened, he took a deep breath and brushed his hair back. This was his destiny. "Rey?" Ben asked before the crowd of Resistance officers who immediately moved in on him. Their weapons weren't drawn but he sensed they would be if he made a sudden movement.
"Ben!" Rey exclaimed, pushing through the crowd. Several soldiers tried to grab her, but she easily evaded them and launched herself forward. She collided with Ben with a thud and clung to him, her legs wrapped around his waist and arms encircling his neck.
Easily supporting her, Ben spun around, relieved to finally be able to hold her in his arms. For the first time, he laughed a hearty laugh that made Rey join in.
"Listen here, Kylo-" Poe started in. "Here's how things are gonna be."
"Not now," Leia said, pulling him back. "Now yet."
Rey's grip on him was almost comically tight and Ben couldn't stop laughing. Rey was giggling, too, or crying, or both, but it was in absolute joy. "Nice cloak," he murmured into Rey's hair. "That's really why I've come."
Rey laughed and punched him in the bicep. "You came because this is what I saw when we first touched hands. Am I'm keeping the cloak."
"As long as I can keep something of yours," Ben replied. "It's only fair."
Pulling back from him and letting her feet drop back to the ground, she cocked her head. "I don't have anything you would want. Skywalker's saber is destroyed-"
"You." Ben smiled. "I just want you."