"General Organa!" Lieutenant Connix calls out urgently.

Leia moves to the young officer's console as Connix removes her headset. "What is it, Lieutenant?"

"Well … ma'am, apparently your son and Rey are making a scene in the corridors. People are reporting yelling."

Rolling her eyes, Leia just barely keeps from snapping. "And? Does it typically require a general's response when a couple fights?"

Connix looks away furtively. "It's just that … people are afraid. For her. He's Ky-" Leia looks at her sharply. "He's, well, you know!" she finishes in a loud whisper.

Of course she's dismayed to hear that they're fighting, but she's not particularly surprised. Her boy comes by verbal sparring honestly and she suspects both he and Rey will come to almost enjoy it. She certainly did. But the lieutenant is right, Ben angry in public will not help him find his way within the Resistance.

Leia pinches the bridge of her nose. "Alright, fine. Where are they?"

"Outside of Kyl-" Connix stops herself before continuing, "I mean your son's quarters."

Feeling a stabbing pang, Leia softly corrects, "Ben, his name is Ben Solo."

Connix's brown eyes soften, "Yes, ma'am."

As Leia walks, she thinks the corridors of the mine look a bit like they had on Hoth, carved out of crystal instead of ice. She can just imagine Ben and Rey sniping at each other like she and Han had. She was always mortified when she would later remember how Rebellion personnel had had to step around them as they screamed at each other.

No man has ever made her blood boil or sing like Han Solo had. Oh, there had been men who'd caught her eye. She'd even fancied herself in love once. But once she had met Han, she'd realized what true love was.

True love was threatening to blow up an entire room full of bounty hunters and Hutts and meaning it because a life without her heart just wasn't possible.

It was having a worthy opponent and knowing she could let all of herself show because he accepted every single bit of her, and she him.

It was knowing the difference between what Han said and what Han meant because she knew him.

She has to stop a moment and lean against the uneven, amber wall and breathe through the sudden abyss that opens in her chest as she remembers Han's last words to her.

Some things never change.

Just as the first time he had told her he loved her, the last was without the actual words. He rarely said them, but she felt them every day in his eyes, his hands … across the light years. And now from beyond the void.

Pressing her palm to her chest, trying to hold her aching spirit together, memory pulls her down to one of her worst and best memories.

Her heart had been breaking when he'd held her eyes, looking only at her as they'd lowered him into the carbonite freezing chamber. Steadfast and true, piercing blue eyes showing her his soul. A soul shaped to fit with hers.

"Oh, Han," she whispers.

I know.

After taking a few minutes to pull herself together, she continues on, expecting to hear raised voices any moment. But as she nears their rooms, she's confused by the silence.

Then she's decidedly not.

Her son looks like he's attempting to swallow Rey whole, pushing her back against the corridor. His giant body dwarfs hers and Rey is clearly quite happy with the situation. Leia only just manages to keep from laughing out loud. They really are so like her and Han.

She waits for them to come to their senses; surely they'll realize they're in a public hallway soon. Her eyebrows rise when Rey makes a particularly filthy moan. When her only child's hands wander to grasp Rey's backside and begin to lift her, Leia clears her throat loudly.

Yes, she wants their relationship to progress, but she finds she doesn't wish to have front-row seats. Of course they didn't hear her and Rey's legs go around her son.

Time to put an end to this little display. Using her sternest mother voice, she admonishes, "Ben Solo!"

That sensation is building again, the pressure, the tension, the need. She just wants him closer. His hands, those wonderfully strong, yet gentle hands make her burn everywhere he touches her.

She really, really wants to wrap her legs around him again, like she had in the park on Eshara. His hardness against her is hot and throbbing and oh, gods! For the first time she realizes it's meant to go inside her and the formerly repellent idea of being with a man sounds absolutely wonderful; she groans as she tries to get even closer.

Yes! His hands trail down and clasp her by her bottom; now she's being lifted. Soon, soon she'll have him just where she wants him. Well, almost.

Then she hears Leia's voice and Ben nearly drops her, but he manages to keep his hold and swiftly puts her down and they both spring away from each other.

Leia looks like she's attempting to be stern, but her lips are twitching and Rey glances over to Ben. His cheeks are positively flaming and he actually has his hands in front of his groin, hiding his arousal. He looks ridiculous, impossibly young and embarrassed, his mouth opening and closing.

"When I heard there was a commotion, this is not what I expected. You both have perfectly adequate rooms not ten steps away. Please consider using them in the future."

Now Rey's blushing too, finally realizing how inappropriately they were behaving, and in front of her child's grandmother! How will she ever look Leia in the eyes again?

"Leia, I'm so sor-"

"None of that. I was young once, too." Her eyes focus on Ben and her lips are twitching even more now. "Though I do suggest you be a bit more circumspect in the future, Ben."

Now Rey is the one trying not to smile when the 30-year-old father of her child hangs his head and obediently says, "Yes, Mother."

"Well, now that that's sorted, I'll leave you two to get back to it. Enjoy!" she says airily, already walking away.

"Mom!" Ben exclaims, horrified.

"Oh, don't sound so scandalized, where do you think you came from?" Leia teases as she turns the corner.

Ben thought his father taking him to the pleasure bar would be the most humiliating moment of his life. He had absolutely no idea.

Standing in front of his highly amused mother while hiding his very prominent erection after being caught thrusting against Rey is in a whole different universe. His face burns with embarrassment, all the way to the tips of his ears.

At least her allusion to his conception had helped somewhat with the situation in his trousers.

He's not quite sure how to face Rey after exposing her to such an awkward situation. He should have taken her to his room, gone to hers, anything but—once again—losing his head out in public. Hearing that she loves him had completely derailed his brain and he'd needed to claim her, ensure she was real.

He's attempting to steel himself for looking up when Rey bursts into slightly hysterical laughter. Now he does glance over at her. She's doubled over, laughing so hard tears are forming in the corner of her eyes.

When she stands, she looks over at him and begins to laugh harder. "Your face!" she howls.

"What about my face?" he asks, offended.

She takes in a few gasping breaths. "Oh, don't be like that. You should have seen your face when your Mom caught us!"

"I feel 15," he grumbles.

"Well, Ben, you looked it too, hanging your head like that!" she cackles.

He shifts uncomfortably. He doesn't … he doesn't like Rey teasing him. It reminds him too much of when the girls in school would call him names and make sure he knew they'd never, ever want someone so ugly. But he knows she doesn't mean to bring those feelings up so he just looks away.

Her laughter fades and she comes to stand next to him. She places her hand on his cheek and turns his face so that he would be looking at her if he could bring himself to meet her eyes.

"Hey, hey … what's wrong?" she asks with such genuine concern he finds he's able to hold her gaze.

"I … I just don't like being teased, that's all."

"I didn't mean-"

"I know you didn't." He takes in a shuddering breath. "Let's just go in, alright?"

"Uhm, okay," she agrees worriedly.

She takes his hand and leads him to her room, as it's the closest. Once inside, Rey pulls him to the bed and gently nudges him to sit down, joining him. She angles her body so that she may see his face and tries again.

"Ben … something's wrong, you went from embarrassed to hurt so quickly and I … I only want to understand."

His posture is guarded and he's obviously lost somewhere in the past. She has a moment of insecurity, wondering if he'd been caught before with a girl but she realizes that can't be it. He said she was his first kiss.

"Please?" she encourages.

He lets out a long breath. Sitting with his knees apart, he leans forward, placing his elbows on his thighs, hunched over protectively. He's looking at his hands when he begins to speak.

"I was mocked a great deal in school, before the temple. I … I never fit. I was too tall, my features too large, my interests too eclectic … The only friends I had were likely simply following their parents' demand that they get close to me because of who my mother is."

"Oh." Rey isn't sure what to say. She never had many friends either, but she'd also never been to school. He's describing a world she doesn't understand, but she can see so much pain in the stiff lines of his posture.

"Earlier … you said, you said you think I'm … handsome."

"You are, Ben. I'd never known what desire even was until I saw you without your mask."

His eyes fly to hers. "Even then? When I … when I'd taken you?"

She smiles ruefully. "Yes. It was pretty confusing."

He nods and she's relieved to see a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth, but then he grows serious again. "You're the first person aside from my mother to ever say that to me. The other students … they were quite vicious. Particularly about how I look."

Rey begins to understand. She knows how deep those wounds go. Plutt's sneering voice forms in her head.

Scrawny little sand rat, even your own parents didn't want you.

I'd have sold you to the pleasure tent by now if you'd ever grown tits.

Good thing you're my best scavenger, not good for anything else.

Well, if she can't do anything about the voice in her head, she can do something about the voice in his.

"Looked," she corrects.

"What?" he asks, his expression perplexed.

"I don't know what you looked like when you were younger, but I'm sure you were adorab-"

"No, I promise you I was not. I was gangly and none of my features went together."

Rey huffs out a frustrated breath. "Well they certainly do now. I wasn't kidding when I said I think you're gorgeous. And that red-headed bint certainly thought so too. She also thought you were looking at her breasts, and she made a point to wink at me."

Ben blinks for a moment, looking a bit pleased, but then his expression darkens. "Are you saying she taunted you?"

The pain is still fresh, even if it was a misunderstanding, so she only nods.

There's a flash of something terrifying in his eyes, but it's gone in a moment. Then he finally seems to be coming back to himself as he turns to her, taking her hands. "Please tell me you know that I only have eyes for you? That you're so exquisite no woman could ever turn my head? No one but you?"

His praise warms her whole body, reminding her of what they'd been up to earlier. She scoots closer then has an idea. He begins to protest as she stands but his mouth snaps shut when she sits across his thighs.

"Do you know I feel the same way?" she asks, running her hands through his hair.

Still seeming a bit stunned that he has her in his lap, he dazedly asks, "You do?"

Smiling, she tries to push how she sees him through the Force and his eyes widen. "You do," he proclaims with awe.

Shaking his head, he cups her face, "How, how are you even possible?"

"I'm just me, Ben."

"And I love you, I love you so much," he declares before he's pulling her face to his and kissing her hungrily. It doesn't take much time before she feels him, hot and thick beneath her thigh. She wriggles a bit against him and he gasps into her mouth before kissing her even more deeply.

Primed from earlier, it's not long before her body is crying out for his, that same aching want taking her over. She needs … she needs … she needs him. Swiftly, she turns in his arms until she's straddling him and she groans in relief as she finally, finally has him between her legs again.

But this is even better than when they'd been standing. She has far more control with the bed to brace against as she grinds down on his hardness. There's this one place that when she manages to catch it just right, his erection makes the tension in her core grow taut, even as it sends little shocks of ecstasy through her.

He can't quite believe he's here with Rey like this. Every time she slides along his length he thinks his eyes will roll back in his head. She's so hot against him, and there's something about knowing precisely where he's rubbing his cock that sends his mind spinning. Only layers of cloth separates them and it's so easy to imagine thrusting up into her.

Her whole body is writhing against his and he wants … he wants to touch her skin but he doesn't want to press her so he settles for tasting more of her, pulling his lips from hers and latching on to the silken skin of her neck, nibbling and sucking, lathing his tongue along her. Anywhere he can reach, he tastes and inhales her.

"Please, Ben … I need more. Touch me," she begs through her moans.

Touch her? Touch her where? He'll gladly touch her everywhere, but he doesn't know what's allowed. He'd give anything, anything at all to finally be able to cup her beautiful breasts in his hands.

"Tell me what you want," he breathes out raggedly.

"I don't know! Just more!" she whines.

Hesitantly, he slides his hands up her thighs, under her tunic until he finds the bare skin of her back. They both jolt at the feeling of his fingers gliding up her smooth flesh and she arches against him, pushing down at a particularly wonderful angle. Low in his throat, he growls, the sensations so new, so perfect.

"Rey, you feel so good," he rumbles.

But she makes a frustrated noise and sits back on his thighs. The sudden absence of her against him makes him cry out in loss. But then he can't think, unwilling to believe that she's actually pulling her tunic from her body.

He blinks dumbly as he takes in the small scrap of fabric supporting her breasts, and oh, Force, they're phenomenal. So pert, straining against the cloth. When her hands go to remove it, too, he shakes his head, trying to think clearly, raising his hands to stop her.

"Rey, is this what you want? I don't want to rush you."

She smiles down on him; it's a warm, trusting smile. "Just be gentle, they're sore."

His brow furrows. "Did something happen to you?"

"No, it's just from the pregnancy."

The pregnancy. Oh gods, what if his daughter is aware right now? Panic wells up in him but she kisses him soundly for a moment before whispering against his lips, "She's asleep, it's alright."

When she pulls back he realizes she'd bared her breasts while kissing him and he gasps, "Oh, my gods, Rey, they're perfect."

He's never seen anything more beautiful than her rosy nipples, jutting out proudly from her chest. They look like they'd fit in his mouth like they were made for him.

Hesitantly, he lifts a shaking hand, reaching out, then stops, looking up to find her face almost nervous.

"Are they … are they okay?" she asks in a small voice.

"I meant what I said. They're perfect. May I … may I touch them?"

She nods shyly and his trembling hands move up her body until he cups her gorgeous, amazing breasts in his hands and he groans. They fill his palms and, Maker, they feel so good. Remembering her request he be gentle, he begins to squeeze them just a little.

"Is this alright?" he asks, not wanting to hurt her.

"Uh huh," she moans as she again starts to grind against him.

Her nipples are hard beneath his palms and he wants to touch those too, so he swipes his thumbs along the taut flesh and she cries out.

Swiftly, he pulls his hands away and asks in a panicked voice, "Did I hurt you?"

"Gods, no. Do that again. Please, Ben, do that again. Don't stop."

There's a gorgeous flush that goes from her pinked cheeks to her beautiful breasts and he quickly complies, stroking her nipples as she keens, rubbing against him faster.

Oh, oh, that feels amazing. If she keeps grinding down on him like that he's going to come in his underthings. But right now that seems like a fine idea with the noises she's making.

Something about the way it feels when he fondles her breasts goes straight to her core, like there's a sublime thread between her nipples and that spot that just keeps feeling better the faster she presses down on his hardness. It's like the sensation from her dreams, but so much more intense. It's building, and building and it feels like she's going to fly apart if she doesn't find out.

He's meeting her halfway, pushing himself against her frantically, deep, guttural moans vibrating against her lips as he kisses her. His tongue is in her mouth and he feels like heaven, his strong shoulders under her hands and his muscular thighs flexing beneath her with each thrust.

And then everything comes undone as the tension breaks and she feels waves of pleasure crashing over her, something so much larger than relief moving through her body. She shudders and grasps his shoulders more tightly, looking into his eyes, trying to keep herself from being swept away by this indescribable feeling. His eyes are wide with amazement and he croons, "Rey," just as this ancient, foreign, completely familiar feeling begins to recede, leaving her throbbing.

Only just coming back into herself, Ben's eyes go even wider as his hands leave her breasts and clamp down on her hips. He bucks up against her with such force she has to hold on for dear life.

He bellows out her name as he thrusts against her one, two, three more times then he actually growls and she thinks whatever it was that just moved through her body is now moving through his. All she can do is keep herself as steady as she can, trying to move where he seems to want her. Soon, she thinks it's stopped and he swiftly holds her to his chest, his arms like a vice.

"Rey, Rey, Maker, Rey," he babbles before finding her lips.

She'd expected him to kiss her fiercely, but instead it's infinitely tender. He pulls back slightly and presses his forehead against hers.

"I hope that was alright … we hadn't talked about … that," he says with a hint of trepidation.

"Oh that was more than alright. What was that?" she exclaims.

He moves his head back so that he may see her and smiles at her so fondly that she smiles back, not knowing why.

"We should probably talk about that, but later. I just, I need to hold you. Let me hold you." His voice is plaintive and a touch needy.

That sounds absolutely perfect because she's suddenly very tired. It's a bit awkward as they untangle themselves and pull back the covers, but soon they're nestled in her bed and she's nestled against him."

Just before she falls asleep she breathes out, "I love you, Ben."

The last thing she knows is him murmuring, "I love you, I love you, I love you," against her temple.

A/N: Thank you ArtemisBare! You are steadfast and simply amazing.

Thank you readers! You keep me writing, you absolutely do. I always miss your enthusiasm and humor on the non-Powerless writing days. You're all superstars!