Rey's heart leaps. This is the day she has waited for and worried over. Kylo has come back for her.

The arrival of the First Order automatically trumps the need to remove Rey from the Resistance base. Quite simply, there are more pressing matters at hand. So Rey watches as the shuttle designated for her is stuffed with noncombatants and wounded from the infirmary. Given Kylo Ren's reputation for no quarter, the Resistance begins evacuation procedures immediately. No one who cannot or will not fight will be left behind to die.

All combat capable fighters take to the skies and suddenly the hangar is mostly empty of ships and troops. Rey can hear blaster fire in the distance, so the First Order must already have entered the base for its ground assault. And that makes her uncomfortably aware that she stands in the hangar by herself in handcuffs wearing the enemy uniform. When the stormtroopers arrive, she will be a sitting duck and surely among the first to die. So frantically Rey attempts to concentrate in the Force to break the lock on her shackles.

The blaster fire sounds closer now and that's unnerving because Rey doesn't have a weapon to defend herself. But she's not sure who she should would shoot at anyway. She needs to find the first officer she can and surrender to him. But that's a tricky thing because stormtroopers shoot first and ask questions later. This might be easier were Rey not wearing grease stained work coveralls and sporting a ponytail. No one is going to recognize her as Lady Rey in her current state. Especially, given her swollen belly.

Finally, one of the cuffs she fiddles with breaks open just as Rey looks up to see a swarm of stormtroopers enter the hangar. They are here to secure all remaining ships, Rey knows. To make sure that there will be no further evacuation. To make sure that everyone left will either die in battle or be executed in its aftermath.

Into the midst of the troopers strides a Knight of Ren in his distinctive black helmet and surcoat uniform. This man is shorter and more powerfully built than Kylo and he wields a wicked looking pike. Peeking from behind a cargo crate, Rey watches as he gives orders to a large group of troopers who fan out quickly into the hangar bay. In seconds, Rey is about to be discovered.

Taking a deep, calming breath Rey summons the Force. Then she readies her mind to begin freezing any blaster bolts that come her way. Kylo had taught her this skill for her escape from the First Order. But now, it seems, she will need this skill to escape from the Resistance. With her hands raised and visible, Rey begins walking fast straight towards Kylo's knight.

"Nestor!" she calls out, making her best guess as to which Knight this is. "Nestor Ren!" As luck would have it, she's right. But before Nestor recognizes her, the troopers pump off a few rounds. Rey freezes them and that gets everyone's attention. Because flashing Kylo's favorite Force trick might possibly be more revealing of Rey's identity to Nestor Ren than any fancy dress ever could be.

"Hold your fire! Lady Rey? It that you?" The knight tears off his black helmet and squints at her. To say he's surprised is an understatement.

"Yes! Yes!" she cries and then shamelessly lies as she jangles the pair of handcuffs that still hang from her left wrist, "I'm a prisoner here. I need help!"

"Disengage!" bellows Nestor Ren to his troops as Rey rushes up to him. "No one fires on her!"

"Where is Kylo?" Rey demands. "Is he here? I need to find Kylo!"

"No, Lady. Kylo was supposed to lead us but he got called away at the last second by the Leader. What are you doing here? Everyone thinks you are dead."

Everyone thinks she's dead? That's news to Rey. How did Kylo manage to pull that off?

Nestor Ren is looking at her expecting an answer. "It's a long story," Rey stalls.

"Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?" Nestor Ren looks Rey over as he speaks. His eyes linger on her obviously pregnant belly. But he says nothing.

"No. I'm fine. I just need to get out of here."

"Good. You're safe now with us," Nestor assures her. Then he turns to a trooper on his right. "Lady Rey is coming with me on the command shuttle. Round up any senior level prisoners that Kylo Ren will want to interrogate himself and put them onboard too."

Rey is filled with relief. She grabs the knight's arm to ask, "Nestor, will you take me to him? Please, take me back to him."

"Yes," the knight nods. "He will be pleased that we have found you, Lady. He was very angry when you . . . uh . . . left us. We're talking blue lightning angry, Lady. A lot of men died that day," he reveals and Rey blanches at this news.

Then Nestor turns to another trooper to issue further orders. "Send a message ahead that we found her. And someone get those handcuffs off her. Once we collect the prisoners for Ren, we are pulling out. Others can finish up here. Tell the pilot to be ready. We leave immediately."

"Come, Lady." Nestor takes her arm and leads her outside the base and into a waiting command shuttle. It's just like Kylo's only it's not black. As they walk, the Second Knight keeps looking over at Rey in disbelief. And glancing at her waistline. "How did the Resistance get you? Do they know you are the Leader's girl?"

Rey is busy thinking up lies to answer those questions when Nestor abruptly turns to confer with an aide. The men talk quietly about some prisoner as a squad of stormtroopers march up the rising shuttle ramp. Rey can hear the sound of ion engines poised for takeoff and, sure enough, when the last trooper steps onboard the ramp is fully raised. Rey feels the repulsor lifts kick in as the shuttle breaks gravity. Then the squad of men in white armor part and they have a prisoner hidden in their midst.

It's General Leia Organa.

The heroine of the Resistance is cuffed and stonefaced and staring daggers right at Rey. But Nestor Rey doesn't seem to notice as he walks over to start dissing her.

"General Organa. Well, today is my lucky day. I rescue the Leader's favorite girl and capture the Resistance general." Nestor grins over his shoulder at Rey. "Kylo owes me a beer for this day's work, Lady Rey." The Second Knight of Ren turns to the trooper squad leader. "Good work. Take her in the back."

Rey jumps in now. She has no idea how Kylo will react to the capture of Leia Organa. This woman might be the top enemy of the First Order but she's also Kylo's mother. And the grandmother of the child Rey is carrying. "Don't hurt her, Nestor! You don't know who she is."

Nestor gives the Resistance matriarch a withering glance. "I know who she is. She's the enemy." He looks pointedly over at Rey now. "I've had a lot of friends die in this war, Lady. A lot of friends."

But Rey isn't ready to back down. "She's more than just the enemy-"

"You knew the whole time, didn't you?" Leia Organa interrupts. She gives Rey a hard look.

"Yes, Princess," Rey answers simply.

"Knew what?" Nestor complains. He's lost in this exchange. "And who's a princess?"

"She is," Rey answers.

"Really?" Nestor Ren looks askance at this.

Leia Organa keeps firing questions. She might be the one in handcuffs but she's every inch the steely commanding officer now. "Did Snoke tell you? Or did Ben?"

"Kylo told me."

The older woman nods. "You were here to draw out my brother, weren't you? That's why you wanted to stay so badly. Ben knew Luke would want to meet you. And then you could contact old Snoke through the Force to tip him off. Too bad the First Order didn't get here fifteen minutes earlier. They might have caught our Jedi then."

"No!" Rey instantly issues a denial. "I didn't tip off Snoke to your base. It was all just a coincidence." And as she says the word, it occurs to her that Kylo would say that there are no coincidences, there is only the Force.

"Ben, who is Ben?" Nestor wants to know but both women ignore him.

"You are a fool to be going back to him," Leia Organa warns Rey. "Snoke will only use you and discard you. Once that baby is born, you are as good as dead, Rey."

Her observations are uncomfortably close to Rey's old fears from her Finalizer days. But Rey reminds herself that Kylo will save her. He will help hide her from Snoke. "We're going to see Kylo Ren, General. Not Snoke. It's your turn to be interrogated."

Nestor stands observing this exchange. He frowns down at Rey. "Lady, we're taking you to the Leader now. Kylo's on his way there too."

"W-What?" Rey half shrieks. "To Snoke? No, you can't! Nestor, you can't!"

The Second Knight looks at her in confusion. "But you asked me to take you to Leader Snoke. And I have to bring you to him. I already sent the message ahead. He's expecting you."

Rey feels the blood drain from her face. "N-No—"

Nestor doesn't see what the problem is. "Look, Lady Rey, the Leader will be glad to get you back. Er . . . " Nestor gestures awkwardly to her swollen waistline. "Especially under the circumstances. He was very angry when you disappeared. I guess I know why. And Kylo will be there. He was summoned there right before we left. You can talk to Kylo when we there."

Rey looks Nestor in the eye and blurts out, "This is Kylo's baby. Not the Leader's baby." There's a squad of stormtroopers looking on, but Rey no longer cares who knows because for certain she will die. Snoke will kill her and the baby. Then Kylo will die too.

After a momentary pause, Nestor responds emphatically like the fighting man he is: "Fuck!" And now the blood drains from his face. "You're lying. Tell me you're lying." Nestor Ren looks down at Rey's belly and looks miserable now. His voice doubles in volume and raises half an octave. "Please tell me you're lying!"

Rey shakes her head. "No, no I'm not. Kylo and I- We—"

"That's Ben's kid?" Leia Organa interrupts. "This isn't a baby created in the Force?" Her face looks angry and incredulous at the same time. "How many times are you going to lie about that baby, Rey? Everything you have told me is a lie. This too, I suppose."

Nestor Ren is shaking his head in disbelief. "Kylo's not that stupid . . . he knew you were the Leader's girl . . . and Kylo has never been much for women . . . "

"It's true!" Rey pleads with the First Order knight. "Snoke will kill me when he learns that I am pregnant. And he'll kill Kylo too!" Rey is scrambling for ideas now. "Drop me off somewhere! Anywhere! You have to hide me like Kylo did!"

"So you and Kylo? Nah . . ." Nestor is still skeptical, as is Leia Organa. "You're not Kylo's type. He likes big blondes. And you're skinny. And . . . er . . . not blonde."

"Big blondes?" Leia Organa rolls her eyes. "How typical."

Nestor looks annoyed. "Lady, I don't know what your issue is with the Leader but that's between you two. My orders are to take you in."

"She's got the Force . . . " says Kylo's mother quietly as the truth of the matter begins to dawn on her. General Organa is looking at Rey with fresh eyes now. "He would be a fool for a girl with the Force."

And now Nestor too is considering it anew. "Yes, she's got the Force and she hates Hux enough to shoot him. Those would be two big come-ons for Kylo Ren." The knight's eyes are wide now. "Oh, fuck! I see it now. You're why he's been so depressed and pissed off lately. Kylo's been killing people left and right since you disappeared."

"Yes! Yes! It's true!" Rey wails. They are wasting precious time.

But Nestor wants the whole story. "So he helped you escape and faked your death. How did he get you off the Finalizer? Tell me the truth—"

"He sent me on the prisoner exchange to the Resistance."

Nestor nods as pieces it all together now. "Where the Leader couldn't find you. Okay, I get it. But Kylo hates the Resistance."

"He sent me there to hide out until he could come back for me." Rey looks to Leia Organa now. "He knew that you would let me stay." Rey pleads with Nestor. "You're his best friend! You have to help us!"

"It's too late!" Nestor shakes his head with regret. Then slams his fist against the shuttle wall. "Fuck!" he hollers. "Why the fuck did Kylo do this? Why did you do this? How could you be so fucking stupid, Lady?" His eyes narrow on Rey now. "Did you seduce him? Because the Kylo I know would never do anything this stupid. And the Leader is basically a father to him. Kylo wouldn't betray him. You fucking bitch, you're gonna get him killed. Did you seduce him? Because if you seduced him, I will kill you myself now-"

And Leia Organa just piles on. "Ben has taken some dumb risks before but this is the worst! How did you two ever think you could get away with this?"

Rey can't speak. She's frozen with fear. Panting as she gulps in air. She had been so elated to see the Ren, thinking Kylo had come for her as promised. But it's all been a terrible mistake and now she has outed herself and condemned both her and Kylo as a result. Yes, this has all gone horribly wrong. She should have taken her chances to escape on her own from the Resistance. But she had waited for Kylo to come back for her. Like once she had waited for her family to return for her. Always, hoping against hope for the happy ending that Rey sees on the holonet but never in her own life.

"Fuck!" Nestor slams the wall again. "Lady, I didn't know. You were supposed to be dead in a TIE from an escape attempt. I thought I was helping you." He sighs and makes a face as more pieces of the puzzle come together. "Kylo hid you with the Resistance. That's why we've had such trouble finding their bases, isn't it? Because Kylo doesn't want you to be found."

Rey tries again. "Turn this ship around, Nestor! Please!"

"I can't!" He roars out his frustration. "This is a short jump and we're about to drop out of hyperspace. The Leader's stronghold is an ultra security sector. We'll get blasted out of the sky if we deviate from the normal landing cycle!"

"Can you warn Kylo at least?" Rey asks. Maybe she can still save Kylo.

"It's too late! For all I know, he's already there! And when we drop out of hyperspace, our coms will be jammed. It's standard procedure here. Any unusual com will only attract attention."

And just then, the shuttle shudders slightly, the telltale sign that they have dropped out of hyperspace.

"Fuck! I never meant for this to happen," Nestor is miserable. "Kylo was my friend." Then he quickly corrects himself. "Is my friend. Kylo is my friend."

Leia Organa steps closer despite the stormtroopers who look on. "Who are you really, Rey? You owe me an explanation! Now, before we all die."

"I'm Kylo's wife. Well . . . sort of."

"You're Ben's wife?"

Nestor frowns at Rey. "Why does she keep calling him Ben?"

"She's his mother."

"Fuck!" A supremely frustrated Nestor Ren swears again. "His mother? Is there anything else I need to know before we land?"

"I fought with the Resistance," Rey confesses.

"I knew that." Nestor nods.

"Yeah, well I didn't until today," snaps Leia Organa.

Again, Nestor scowls at Rey. "How the Hell did Kylo ever get mixed up with girl like you? Did you fuck your way out of a prison cell? Is that what happened?"

"She has the Force!" explains an exasperated Leia Organa. Because, of course, the Force explains everything if you're a Skywalker.

"It's not like that," Rey tells Nestor. "Kylo loves me!"

"Yeah," Nestor decides with a heavy sigh. "He probably thinks he does. He'd have to in order to be this stupid."

The shuttle is landing now at Snoke's secret stronghold. Out of the window behind Nestor, Rey sees the Supreme Leader waiting on the landing pad. Even from above at this distance, the giant Muun is unmistakable in his black Sith cloak.

Once the shuttle sets down, the troopers march a resigned but still defiant looking Leia Organa down the shuttle ramp. Rey stays onboard, stalling for precious seconds until Nestor Ren steps forward to usher her out. "I'm sorry," Kylo's friend whispers simply. Because really there's nothing more to say. Rey takes a deep breath to summon her courage. Then she follows him down the ramp.

Snoke's eyes flit Rey's direction briefly, sweeping over her and then lingering on her prominent belly. But then his attention is all for the Resistance general who stands in handcuffs, dwarfed by the surrounding troopers. "Your highness," the Muun favors his prize prisoner with a perfunctory courtly bow. As if this is a social occasion and not war. Then he looks her over for a long moment. And smiles.

"General Leia Organa." He says the name with distinct relish. Then his ruined face smirks. "You're shorter than I expected. Quite a small woman to have cast such a long shadow over our galaxy." It's a backhanded compliment that's very Darth Plagueis, Rey thinks from experience.

The heroine of first the Rebellion, then the New Republic, and finally the Resistance cocks her head up at the towering Muun. She glares silently. With her lifted chin and raised eyebrow, Leia Organa's face is the picture of dignified contempt. Watching her now, Rey thinks that she is every inch the haughty princess.

The Muun Sith looks very, very pleased. "I have waited a long time to meet you, granddaughter. Welcome home."

"This is not my home," General Organa informs him bluntly. "And you are not my family."

"We shall see . . . we shall see," the Sith Master purrs out. He nods his head and looks satisfied. "You have been a worthy adversary, Princess. Misguided though you are, you have been a credit to the Skywalker name. Your late father was strangely rather proud of you, did you know that?"

Leia Organa's eyes narrow and her face darkens. She leans forward to announce, "My true father was Bail Organa."

"Wrong." The Muun smirks again. "You are rather like your father. He had a hot temper and a smart mouth too. But then again," Snoke's face contorts into a slow, broad smile, "Darth Vader was Sith. And we Sith are like that."

And now Snoke turns to Rey. Instantly, his manner changes. This is not the jovially smug captor who circles his cornered prey. This is a man full of cold anger. The giant Muun with the gargoyle face looms over her, frowning severely. And when he speaks, his slow, gravely sarcasm is pure menace. "Such a miracle this is. For here you stand. Back from the dead. Back from the Resistance."

Rey says nothing. She looks around and then down. Anywhere but at the Muun's dark eyes that regard her with blatant censure.

Snoke steps closer and reaches his long-fingered hand to lift her chin slightly. "You are trembling, my dear. So nervous. So afraid." And now he slips his other hand covetously over her pregnant belly. It's a possessive caress that sweeps up from between the legs of her oversized, ill-fitting jumpsuit to where her belly meets her newly swollen chest. Rey squirms at this public and intimate touch.

"You have strayed," Snoke observes quietly as he steps back.

Rey swallows hard.

"Did someone harm you? Is that why you ran away?" Snoke's voice is a neutral tone, but Rey is not fooled. She can sense in the Force the undercurrent of violence to come. "Were you abused by the Resistance? Or by one of our own?"

Rey looks around, seeing all eyes upon her. They have an audience of Milo, a dozen stormtroopers, Nestor Ren and Leia Organa. This is far too crowded a place for this conversation. Rey feels her face grow hot and she looks away. She knows that she cannot take refuge in a lie. The Force would give her away.

"Well?" Snoke prompts her softly. "Do not look at them, look at me. Rey, there is no shame if you have been preyed upon. I will avenge you, for no one harms what is mine. But tell me now: were you dishonored?"

Rey blinks at this medieval phrasing. "No," she whispers.

And now his voice has a distinct edge to it. "Then you have betrayed me of your own free will?"

And something about this comment gets Rey's hackles up. "I did not betray you. I was never yours in the first place!" Rey snaps back, glaring up at the Muun. If she's going to die, she's not going to go meekly. Rey of Jakku is going to die strong like she has lived.

"You are mine," he responds coldly. "You and your Light belong to me. Now, who is the father?" the Sith demands. And when she hesitates, Snoke leans forward over her. "Shall I guess? I am very good at guessing, my dear."

Rey's eyes dart almost involuntarily over to Leia Organa and he sees this. "You cannot protect this man. Confess or I will look into your head and learn for myself."

Rey mutely stares back at him. Unwilling to say Kylo's name but certain that he will learn it all the same. Finally, she finds her voice. "I came back," she reminds Snoke. "I didn't have to come back."

"Who is he?"

"You said you would f-forgive me if I came back—"

"Who is he?"

The Muun hesitates only a few seconds more before he lifts his hand. And with it, he summons his Dark power.

Darth Plagueis rips into her mind.

The pain is unbearable and immediately Rey is screaming out loud from it. Squeezing shut her eyes and clutching desperately at her skull. Her head is exploding with images and feelings as he rifles through, replaying the past day, the past week, the past month, the prior year. Rey sinks hard to her knees. She is nauseous, dizzy and faint.

In her mind, Snoke watches Kylo steal a kiss under his Master's nose in the training room. Rey herself had been skeptical but Kylo is already smitten though he doesn't know it yet. Then the Apprentice cuts himself once and then twice for her to heal. But the pleasure of Rey's healing is nothing compared to the pleasure of her pleasure. And once Snoke himself inadvertently reveals that secret, there is no turning back.

Snoke sees them together on the Finalizer, reveling in their forbidden passion night after night. She is in his arms and Kylo's body is buried deep within her own and she is loving it, craving it, wanting it. This is all the physical comfort and emotional intimacy Rey has been denied for so long. Together, they binge on the intensity of it all. Sex and the Force, every day. Then Kylo is shoving cuffs on her hands and propelling her into a First Order shuttle to be exchanged with the Resistance. Telling her to take care of herself and the baby, he declares his love and sends her away with the promise that he will return. But first, he backhands her across the mouth for good measure.

Now, Rey is spending long months hiding at the Resistance, fixing ships, dancing around lies, and hiding from droids while she pines for Kylo. It's too much. And it feels like it is going on forever. Make it stop! Make it stop! Rey is on the ground now, writhing. She clutches at her distended belly in a feeble attempt to protect the innocent child she carries.

Finally, it stops. Rey lays there, reaching out to the Force to calm and to heal. She is terrified that her child has been harmed. She is on the ground, gathering her wits until Snoke reaches down with both hands and hauls her to her feet.

"Foolish girl!" he hisses at Rey as he shakes her limp form. "Did you think you had found a champion in Kylo Ren?" He reaches abruptly for her left hand and wrenches it open. He looks at her palm and grunts. Rey is lost at this gesture. "Such an easy slut you are! See how little you mean to him. He didn't even bother to mark you for his own."

Rey's mind is rattled and she has no idea what Snoke is talking about. She feels a trickle on her face and reaches to wipe away a tear but her hand comes back bloody from the twin trails of red that seep from her nostrils.

"Did he tattoo you?" Darth Plagueis demands. "Do you bear the curse on your thigh?"

Huh? Rey squints at him. "What?"

"Good. Then perhaps the situation is salvageable." He eyes her with disdain now. "You might have had the esteem of the Master, but instead you chose the far weaker Apprentice. That was a poor strategic move, my dear."

Rey scowls now at the wrecked face of the Muun, with its cringe-worthy deformities. The futility of her situation makes her reckless. There's no point in begging for mercy. For the best case scenario is that Kylo dies and Rey lives to continue being used and controlled by this zombie Sith. Until he tires of her, that is. "I don't sleep with monsters," Rey jeers. It comes off just as ugly as she means it.

But Snoke merely raises an eyebrow. "Then you don't truly know my Apprentice. For he is Sith the same as I am. We are both monsters."

"He is not you."

And now Darth Plagueis gives an irritating chuckle and shrugs. "Not yet. But he's trying." And this insouciance in the face of the enormity of the situation facing her and Kylo just goads Rey further. She's had enough of this smug, power-mad Sith. Rey of Jakku always fights dirty because she fights to win. So she delivers a low blow in a loud voice certain to be overheard.

"At least he's a whole man who can please a woman."

Darth Plagueis doesn't bother to respond with words. He swats one giant grey hand across her jaw in a stinging blow and down Rey falls into darkness.