Lonely Together

Rey waved to her friends from inside the truck. It had been fun to catchup with some of her old classmate, but being after midnight and having an over two hour drive home made her almost want to get another hotel for the night. But she wanted to get back to her parents, having already spent forty-eight hours away from her father.

She might be acting a little ridiculous, but she wanted to pack as much time in with her dad as she could, much to his annoyance as he said that she was getting more underfoot than Ryder. Rey also knew that there were many parts of her life that he wouldn't be around for, and she just wished that this was all a bad dream and she would wake up to a very different life.

A life where she would bring Ben home to meet her parents. Her mother would gush over how charming Solo men are and her father would regale him with old war stories. Ben would listen intently, but also steal glances to her from a cross the room. Both of them impossibly happy in the moment.

Her father would be there to walk her down the isle to a tall man with dark hair and darker eyes who loved her more than his living breath. Millie would scream and Obi would cry when they were told in a creative and Facebook worthy way that they would be grandparents. Her father would be there holding his granddaughter at her christening.

They would have Christmas every year at the growing Solo family home, both Rey and Ben agreeing that being an only child would not do. So they would make as many babies as the good Lord gave them, or at least please and exhaust each other trying.

Rey shook her head and scrubbed at her face as she eased the truck onto the interstate, pushing it up to speed and setting the cruse control. Rolling down the windows and turning up the music she was determined to make it home before three in the morning.

With her thoughts working back to her father, Rey was thankful for the use of his truck, but wished it for reasons other than he was too weak up get up in it, or it was not unsafe for him to drive. He had been so proud of this damn truck, having just bought it last fall with the intent to spend more time out at their property on the north end of the county and trying his hand at lumberjack or a farmer…which ever one struck him at the time.

The 2018 Toyota Tundra crewcab was very comfortable and drove like a dream even if the gas milage was shit. It was in the color Quicksand, which reminded Rey of the color of her father's boots when he wasn't in his dress uniform, that desert tan color that military bought in bulk to paint most of their vehicles.

When she drove off it in the day prior, Rey had thought she saw a tear in her father's eye, watching his baby…the truck that is…pull away without him. This brought a smile to Rey's lips and she decided for the rest of the drive to just focus on the music and attempt to have a few hours of carefree bliss before having to face the reality of her father's illness once more in the morning.

The home was dark when she came round the driveway, turning off the head lights and just relying on the running lights to guide her. The rain had stopped about half way from the interstate to her home, which she was thankful because navigating a dark two lane road in the rain could spell disaster.

Instead of waking the whole house by opening the garage and making Ryder bark, she parked in the driveway and walked around the side of the house, using her own back entrance on the lower most floor of the home.

Being too exhausted, Rey just washed her face, brushed her teeth, and slid into an over size tee-shirt and some small pajama shorts. Her bed was too inviting and she was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

The next morning she woke the clanking of dishes from up stairs. Groaning she rolled over in her bed and stretched, taking in a deep breath, the smell of coffee and bacon gave her the strength to get out of bed at…she looked at her phone and groaned again…seven in the morning.

She made a quick detour to the bathroom pulling her sleep rumpled hair up into a high ponytail. The only motivation for her feet to move one in front of the other was the promise of a large cup of coffee and her mother's breakfast.

"See I told you," Millie's voice filtered down the stairs. "All I had to do was brew a new pot to get her up."

Rey smiled at her mother's joking tone, hoping that her father was having a good day today. An almost buzzing excitement had descended upon the house and it set a wire alive within Rey and she smiled even bigger.

At the top of the stairs, she stopped, stretching her arms up above her head and she felt her shirt rise up just to the top of her thighs, trying to get the rest of the stiffness from the drive home out of her muscles. "The bacon help too," Rey said with her body still pulled tight, eyes closed, and a smile still on her lips.

But her face fell as she brought her attention across the open living room and stared into the eating area just off the kitchen. Her heart fell into her stomach and her eyes went large. Her body felt hot and chilled at the same time and goosebumps overtook her arms, causing her to physically shiver.

Ben was sitting next to her father, a cup of coffee floated half way between the table and his lips. He wore a deep gray V-neck shirt and his expression was trapped between awe, guilt, agony, and shame.

He heard her start to stir on the lower level and Millie had made a remark about Rey and coffee. Ben smiled at the joke but couldn't be bothered to pay attention, his was a bundle of nerves, his palms started to sweat and his hands almost shook under the weight of a ceramic mug. When he finally saw her crest the stairs he lost the ability to breathe.

Her hair was pulled up but messy and he remembered how she had looked after he throughly satisfied her. Her face was still full of sleep and he wished to see that every morning for the rest of his life. But what truly arrested him was the fact that she was wearing his gray Marines PT shirt…the one he had left at her apartment on the night that he had walked away from her.

His heart broke and raced at the same time, the bipolar effect that her presences had on him was enough to drive him insane.

Rey made quick glances to her father who was folding his newspaper like any other day and then she looked at her mother, who held a guilty expression. She knows, her's brain hissed to itself.

"Good morning, Peanut," Obi called cheerfully. "Come and meet an old friend of the family."

The instinct to run back down the stairs and hide in her room flashed through her mind for just a moment, but it appeared that her father had no clue of the true relationship between his daughter and the 'old family friend'. It also seemed that Ben's visit had breathed some life into her father, as he sat up straight in his chair and had even polished off most of his breakfast. She would take small miracles.

Not wanting to upset her father, Rey moved across the living room and Ben stood with a scuffing of chair legs on tile as she rounded the kitchen's island. He wiped his hand twice on his jeans before holding it out over the table, looking at her as if to say 'I'm sorry' and 'I can explain'. Her slight narrow glare answered back with a firm, 'You fucking better'.

With the table between them, Rey put her hand in his. The moment their skin met she sucked in a breath of surprise and Ben visibly relaxed, his body almost swayed as if it could melt to the floor just with a simple touch.

Millie cleared her throat from the kitchen, attempting to snap the young people out of their daze.

Giving an uneasy cough, Ben pumped his hand twice in a polite greeting, "I'm Ben," and a soft smile turned the corner of his full lips.

"Rey," she breathed, pupils blown as they wandered over his face. Her body felt warm and light and she hated him and herself for it.

Ben's gaze flickered down for just a fraction of a second as he watched her nipples pebble under the thin cotton of the shirt she had commandeered from him. He wanted to smirk at the thought that just a simple handshake between them could do that to her, but he also didn't want to get slapped across the breakfast table. So he settled for a, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Your father has been telling me about your many accomplishments."

"I'm sure he has," Rey finally snatched her hand back and spoke the words between gritted teeth. She sat down in her usual spot to her father right and her mother set a plate of bacon, eggs, toast, and fruit down in front of her.

"Ben also lives in New York," Obi said as Millie placed a cup of pills and a cup of juice down on the table. "What a coincidence, huh? Maybe you two should hook up sometime when you go home." He reached over and patted the back of his daughter's hand.

Rey almost choked on the sip of coffee that she had taken when hearing her father's words. Ben was trying to hide a smile as he rubbed his hand across his mustache and her mother wasn't even trying to be discrete and flat out laughed from the kitchen.

"I'd like that," Ben said, still hiding his face behind his large hand.

She did not like that they were having such a good time at her expense, so with one last narrow eyed glare to the beautiful but absolute infuriating man across from her, she softened her expression and turned back to her father, "Remember daddy, we talked about this. I'm not going back to New York. I'm staying down here with you and mom."

Millie, ever good with her timing, sat down at the table with her own cup of coffee and decided to help her daughter out and change the subject, "How did your trip go?"

Rey turned to her mother and smiled, "I passed."

"I knew you would." Millie answered lovingly.

"Passed what?" Ben asked, perhaps feeling a familiarity that was not the norm for someone who hadn't been around the Kenobi's for the past twenty-six years.

"My Florida Bar Exam," Rey answered cooly. "So I can practice law down here."

Ben's heart sank even more in that moment. What Rose had told him was true. Rey was giving up her life in New York and part of that might as well be him. She no longer had a home or a job in the city and it seemed that she was trying to rebuilt in her home town. He looked down into his lap, feeling more and more that perhaps it was a mistake for him to come.

"Such a smart girl," Obi cooed as he patted Rey's hand again.

The group at the table was quite for a moment, Rey was doing everything in her power to not look at the man sitting across from her. Ben sipped at his coffee and went to look over his shoulder at the view out of the back of the house when Obi's voice pulled his attention back.

"So what are you kids planning to do today?"

Rey coughed again and wiped her bottom lip. "I was just going to hang around…"

"Why don't you take Ben sight seeing?" Obi interjected. "The Falcon hasn't been started in a while and it could use some miles being put on it."

Swallowing thickly, Rey saw the lightness in her father's eyes, the hopefulness in his expression and she didn't dare deny him. "Make sure to wear jeans and boots," she said to Ben curtly, briefly remembering him making the same request of her before they had take his TIE out.

That time seemed worlds away. That was the weekend that they had decided to give their relationship a real try. That was the time when he had completely opened up to her, where they had showed their scars, and not only the ones skin deep. Rey heart clenched thinking about that weekend, where Jessa had barreled her way into their bliss and had been the end to them.

Afraid that if she spoke again she would start to cry, Rey just stood from the table and put her dishes in the skin before making her way back down to her room to get ready to entertain the man who broke her heart. If it hadn't been for her father, and also her deep desire to know why Ben had come all this way, she would have slapped him across the face and sent him packing.

Standing in front of her bathroom mirror, she let out a steady breath and blinked away the unshed tears before starting the shower.

Back up in the kitchen Obi finished his juice and turned to Ben, "Better do what she says son. My Rey runs a tight ship."

Nodding with a tight lipped smile, Ben went back up to his room on the upper level of the home and checked to see if his brown leather boots were dry from last night's down pour.

As he dressed, Ben tried to comprehend everything that had just happened. Everything that Rey did, every reaction she had, was nothing in the scope of what he expected. She had taken the Bar Exam and intended to start practicing law in Florida. She wasn't coming back, she never had plans to come back. But she was wearing his shirt…it had to be his, but what did that mean? He also wanted to kiss Obi for suggesting that Ben and Rey get some alone time out of the home, but it also pained him to see how uncomfortable Rey was with the whole idea.

As he walked back down to the main level, he tried to process why no one had told Obi about Ben's relationship with Rey. Millie seemed to be up on everything that had happened, and while he was thankful that Rey had such a closeness with her mother, the looked that Ben received at the breakfast table were less than stellar.

When he reached the living room Obi was now seated in a overstuffed leather recliner and watching golf on a very large television. The elder man pointed to the other set of stairs, offhandedly spouting off where Rey's room was.

Ben trudged down the stairs, hoping to create as much noise has he could and make his advancement into Rey's space known to her. Taking Obi's direction, he crossed the small living area and entered the hall at the far end of the lower level. Coming to an open door, he peeked in and then knocked on the casing.

Rey's back was to him and she was wearing dark khaki, anti-rip cargo pants that were tucked into a pair of desert tan military style boots. An olive green skin hugging tank top was tucked into her pants and he couldn't help but take in the form of her slim waist. "Your father says we should get going to avoid the afternoon storms…." His voice died off as she turned towards him, slipping a compact pistol into a built in compartment in her top, just under her bust line. He didn't know whether to be scared or turned on.

Securing the break-away tab that held her firearm in place, Rey grabbed the light blue sweat wicking button up shirt off her bed and swung it around her shoulders, "I'll be right up," Rey said not meeting his eyes.

If Ben had thought that lawyer Rey in her silks and stilettos, or laid back Rey in skinny jeans and Chucks were sexy, tactical Rey was something else entirely to behold. He never messed around with anyone while he was in the Marines, not that he didn't find any of his female counterparts attractive, but he had remained faithful to Jessa, regardless of any fantasies that got him through training and deployments. But if Rey had been part of his unit, there would have been no commitment and no fraternization rules that would have kept him from pressuring her.

After an awkward amount of time lingering in her doorway, Ben nodded and turned from her room, making his way back up to the main level of the home. Mrs. Kenobi was in the kitchen putting the rest of the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and she called out to him.

"Ben…a moment please."

He felt like a man on death row, knowing that this small woman could either end or prolong his suffering where her daughter was concerns. "Yes ma'am," he answered the only way that would be appropriate. He walked to the island that separated the kitchen from the living room and sat down on the stool that she was pointing to.

"You and my daughter have a history and I only know what she has shared with me, but when Rey first got here from New York she was miserable. It was like flashing back all those years to when she first came to us." The boy she had known long ago had grown into a man, a man that had captured and then damaged her daughter's heart.

"I needed to tell her something that would make her hate me…forget me," Ben offered.

"Well jolly well done, you idiot."

He wasn't sure if he should look even more ashamed or laugh along with her at how much he truly was an idiot. But they both heard Rey come up the stairs and pull a set of keys off a hook by the door leading out to the garage.

"Ready?"

It appeared that she was attempting to say as few words to him as possible and he would take it over the straight contempt he felt over the breakfast table. "Yes ma'am," he answered without pause.

"He's a quick learner," Obi laugh from the living room.

They left out the front door as Rey's truck was still parked in the driveway. Ben let out a little snort as he watched her practically have to climb up into the driver seat. "Is there a problem?" Rey asked as Ben easily got in the passengers side.

"No…no…" he said still trying to suppress a laugh. "It's just the boots…the gun…the truck…you really are from the south."

She narrowed her eyes at him and he quickly back stepped, "Not that there is anything wrong with…this…" he waved his hand towards her body. "It's actually kind of hot."

Rey rolled her eyes and scoffed before starting the truck, not even wanting to warrant him a reply. Exiting their driveway, she wove through the neighborhood, with it's old oaks that canopied the roads and the larger than normal lots with home built in the 1960s when the local Air Force base was at it's height.

They only drove for about five minutes before she veered off the paved street and onto a road that consisted of two well worn clay ruts. The land around the narrow road was completely wooded and untouched by recent development.

"Uh…Rey…" Ben's voice was uneasy as he noticed that they had somehow gone from the upper scale neighborhood to an area he feared he would hear the banjos that Hux had warned him about. "About that gun…" they continued down the narrow wooded road. "I know that I fucked up and I'm really sorry for hurting you, but uh…people know that I'm down here…your parents know that I'm with you…"

Confused by his rambling, Rey turned to him as the truck continued to jostle down the dirt road, "What the hell are you talking about Ben?"

His wide eyes went from their surrounding back to her, "You're not driving me out into the middle of nowhere to kill me are you?"

Now it was Rey turn to laugh, a full belly laugh that made her grip the steering wheel and gasp for breath. Her eyes watered and she even slapped her knee, "Oh!" She cried. "That's the best shit I've heard in a while."

Ben's expression was relieved but also sour with being made fun of and this just made Rey laugh further. "Then where are we going if not out to some remote site that no one can hear me scream?"

Just then the trees broke and Rey just pointed out the windshield still with a shit-eating grin on her face. "To get the Falcon."

A knowing look came over his face and he wanted to sulk for a moment, even though he couldn't be entirely sullen, he had broken the tension and made her laugh. Perhaps the day wasn't going to be a complete disaster.


AN: Thank to everyone who let me take some time to get another story idea out of my head. I started a little dribble called The Unspoken Betrayal...and if you went to check it out I would be forever thankful.

I am going to finish up that other story in the upcoming week and hope to go back to FOoB full time. Ben and Rey have their big talk next and I have a feeling it will take a lot out me to write it. Pray for me. :)

As always I love to hear your thoughts. I have the most lovely set of readers.

Chapter Title Song: Avicii - Lonely Together