Statura's fist were clenched, "Does he know exactly where our base is?"

"No, but this move has forced our hand. We must be ready to act and retrieve him when he arrives. It will not be very long. An hour or two at most."

The silence stretched in the chilly room, and Serela hugged her arms over her stomach, wishing she could sink into the floor. Once again, she had caused this. On Takodana she had made poor choices which had led to all of this, but now she was responsible for leading Kylo dangerously close to their base.

Luke sensed her contrition and tried to allay her fears, "It was only a matter of time before they found us," he offered, "This doesn't change anything except it speeds up our plans by a day or two."

She nodded that she understood but the fear in Leia's and Statura's eyes did nothing to help quell her guilt. She had caused this - she hadn't kept control, hadn't exercised sound judgement and now once again she was leading people into harms way.

Within an hour the room was full- Finn, Rey, Snap, and all the others who would usually be present for their end-of-the-day meetings had gathered hastily- the Mon Calamari they called Admiral Ackbar was still in his striped pyjamas.

Serela stayed close to the wall, ignoring Rey's attempts to get her attention, even when she resorted to Force-speak, but all met with the same reluctance to answer. Soon she would know. Soon they would all know what she had done and what a dangerous position she had placed them in.

The urge to flee was so strong. To escape this room and this base and get out as fast as she could, but her swollen stomach and feeble legs reminded her that she could barely waddle from this room right now, much less run.

When Leia started speaking, Serela closed her ears, trying to drown out the inevitable gasps and murmurs that would come with the announcement. Dr. Kalonia was there, and Serela weakly tried to listen to what she was saying

"The timing here is far from disastrous. In fact we've been hard at work for days and now believe we have perfected as much as we can without having tested it on a human subject."

"But you've tested it on animal subjects?" Finn asked skeptically.

"Well-no. I haven't met too many animals being injected and brainwashed by the First Order, have you?" Kalonia asked testily.

Finn threw up his hands in a gesture that indicated he was merely asking, and Leia spoke, "What are the things that could possibly happen if the serum you've developed is unsuccessful?"

"It's a mixed bag really. The treatment could work perfectly, turn Kylo Ren back to the Light and make him into a model citizen. It could also kill him with its potency after so much Dark power swimming through his system for so long," Leia could be seen noticeably swallowing a large lump in her throat at the suggestion, "Or he could wake up, be completely unaffected and lead the First Order directly to our base here, killing us all."

The room let that last option sink in as people shifted uncomfortably where they stood, fully contemplating the possibilities that had just been lain out before them.

"So what happens now?" Poe asked Kalonia, but his eyes were trained on Serela.

"Now we continue with the plan," Admiral Statura spoke, his tone sounding like a warning for Poe, "Serela will meet Kylo Ren in the place they agreed upon in her vision, flanked at a distance by our reconnaissance team. She will distract him by any means necessary and we will attempt to sedate him, then bring him back here."

Poe's eyes glinted hard under the fluorescent lighting and it occurred to Serela that she had never questioned why he was in the room with three high-ranking officials less than 12 hours after publicly butting heads with a senior official.

Why was Poe in here this morning? she asked Luke rashly, noting how his head turned just enough for her to notice he heard her.

He was pacing the hallway outside Leia's room when I came down to wake her and tell her what I saw. He wanted to apologise and ask her to let him take your place. To somehow allow him to try and trap Kylo, or distract him long enough that we could subdue him.

Serela's heart ached, even after she had crushed him last night, Poe was still looking out for her.

Of course there was no question of it and we told him so as soon as he asked. It wasn't long after that you came in and here we are now.

What can I do? How can I help him to let go of me?

That is not what you need to concern yourself with right now. You are already too overwhelmed for a woman in your condition. Poe knows that and he is trying to help, even if he can't control his feelings towards you.

He told me Kylo is a monster beyond redemption. Poe thinks there is no way to rehabilitate him and I am wasting my time and risking the life of my son. It's just that... I saw a different person on Takodana. Kylo never would have been the father of my son if he hadn't shown himself to be a different person than who he is now. I want so much to believe there is a way to bring him back...

But don't you see Serela? If Kylo could even fake being that kind, that good, it means there is still the capacity for that inside of him, in spite of all Snoke's attempts to stamp it out.

"Serela?" Leia was addressing her now, interrupting their silent conversation.

"Yes?" she answered, embarrassed that she hadn't heard the question.

"Are you ready?"

What? Now? They wanted her to go right now?

"I need to say goodbye to my mother and then yes."

Her heart was drumming and the baby was bouncing up and down, careening from side to side as though he sensed something big was coming. She winced in pain as he gave a particularly painful lurch and she patted her stomach, trying to calm him.

Those who were not taking part in this mission began to disband, and the remaining members, Kalonia, Luke, Leia, Statura, Rey, Finn, and of course, Poe, all stepped forward to stand around her.

"We'll come with you to your room," Finn offered, and she nodded her head, trying to dispel the lump in her throat and the blood rushing to her head. She still felt weak from the blood donation these past two days, but she still had a month to go into the pregnancy and Dr. Kalonia had already told her they would likely need more blood after the transfusion had begun.

They set off as a group towards Serela and Reha's room. Along the way they passed other members of the Resistance who seemed to look on curiously at such a large group of powerful people travelling together, but Serela paid them no mind. It was her mother she needed to see.

When they arrived Serela slipped in quietly, shutting the door behind her the afford them some privacy. She found Reha setting on the edge of her daughter's bed, fumbling with the corners of the blanket; her eyes red and watery. After Serela sat next to her and took her hand the two women cried into each other's shoulders, trying to muffle the sounds of their weeping with their hands as they did.

"I woke up and knew something was different," Reha sobbed, "I felt it the moment my eyes opened. I knew today was the day."

"It's all my fault Mother, all of this. Everything. I've put the lives of so many people in jeopardy and now I have to do it again just for the chance to save them all!"

Reha's fingers wiped the tears from her daughter's cheeks and she forced a smile, "You have already been so brave dear one. You must be brave for a little longer. I do not like this plan, and if there were any other way that seemed remotely possible I would pursue it with everything in me, but I see the wisdom in Luke's words. You have been the key to this all along, and in spite of all my aversion to it, I doubt this could have been stopped one way or another. This-all of this, was meant to happen. Luke has shown me the vision he and Kylo had of you when he was very young. You were always meant to meet him love, and you were meant to carry his child, this little one-" her hand rubbed the top of her stomach, "Was destined to be born long before anyone on this base has ever drawn a breath. I may not be as powerful in the Force as you and Luke, but I have seen it myself. If we can keep him away from the First Order, your son will be the most powerful Jedi this galaxy has ever seen, and he will restore the balance the universe has sought to achieve for so long."

Serela's face was covered in her tears as she listened to her mother tell her all the things she had been waiting to get off of her chest for months now. When Reha was finished, she cradled Serela's face against her chest and kissed the top of her head, "You are a good daughter, my little one, and you will be a great mother. Do not be afraid to do what you must to protect your son and your family. Allow the Force to guide you."

A knock on the door reminded Serela that there were people waiting outside, people depending on her to right this situation and help them obtain the means of ensuring the First Order's downfall. She only hoped she had the strength to see it through...

"I love you Mother."

"And I you, my sweet girl."

The door opened and Luke stepped inside, followed by Poe and Rey- the rest opted to wait in the hallway.

Time to go, Luke spoke to only her, and Rey smiled at Serela reassuringly.

"It will be alright," she assured her, "I've got a really good feeling about this."

Serela gave a weak smile. She wanted to say that she wished the feeling was mutual, but instead she kept her mouth and her thoughts to herself.

"We won't be far behind you," Luke promised her with a pointed look.

Serela nodded and used the bars of the bunk bed to hoist herself to her feet, almost losing her balance and tumbling back onto the mattress with the weight of the baby. Strong, warm hands on her back held her steady and she saw with dismay that it was Poe holding her up. The poor, sweet man whose heart she had effectively broken. With one last, lingering stare at her mother's crestfallen face on the bed, Serela turned and made for the door, Poe and the others in her wake.

She said nothing to him as he accompanied her down the hallway with Luke and Rey, the remainder of the crew waiting behind outside the door to the room. Rey and Finn gave meaningful looks at each other as she passed by them. Along the way, Luke explained that the plan was for Serela to go alone to meet Kylo, but with the rest of the reconnaissance crew trailing not far behind her. Hopefully, if Kylo was focusing most of his attention on finding her, he would not notice the nearby presence of others in the Resistance, or might merely think them run-of-the-mill soldiers.

It was a big gamble, Serela thought, to put all their hopes on her presence being enough to distract him, and she remembered Statura's words at the meeting, She will distract him by any means necessary. What had he meant by that? It sounded ominous and explicit somehow, as though she would have to subdue him by means that should not be viewed publicly.

They reached the end of the long hallway that led out to their former meditation grounds. The glow of sunlight around the edges of the rusty metal door promised freedom and warmth outside - Serela could smell the faint traces of fresh air in here through the cracks.

Poe heaved open the door and Luke held back the curtain of leaves for the ladies to pass through first. The first smell of freedom and fresh air hit her like a ton of bricks and she reveled in the scent, fantasizing about lying down right here in the grass and rolling in it.

"Alright," Luke began once the door had been closed again behind them, "Serela will head for the tree in the field, the rest of our group will meet here in 10-15 minutes time and follow after."

Serela thought to herself that seemed like an inordinately long head start for them to give her, but a kick in the ribs from the baby reminded her that she was not going to be keeping a very brisk pace.

"Poe," Luke was addressing him directly, "You'll be in the back of the group, heading up the rear with Finn."

"No, I'm going with Serela."

The remaining 3 paused, "That's not part of the plan Poe," Rey reproved him, and Poe shrugged. "I don't trust him alone with her, not even for a minute."

Serela spoke up for herself, "No! Leia did not approve this and you know she never would!"

"Exactly! Because Leia is more concerned about retrieving and rehabilitating her son than your safety. We're all worried that Kylo is going to sense us coming, and hoping that Serela will be able to distract him. Well, here's my best effort. If I go along with her he'll be more likely to think that she only brought one person, as opposed to her coming completely alone which he would never be stupid enough to think we would allow. If I'm there, he'll think he only has one person to get through, and we're much more likely to catch him off guard."

Luke opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, considering carefully. "He's right," he finally admitted, "It's a better version of our plan, and Kylo will be more likely to let his guard down if he thinks he knows what he's up against."

"Good. Then there's no need to keep arguing about it. You know it's the best option we have and right now we're wasting precious time," Poe's voice had a hard edge to it that made Serela feel uneasy. She wanted Luke to say no, to use the Force and stop Poe from following her and potentially getting himself killed, but instead she was met with Luke's affirmation that Poe's dangerous intentions were valid.

Inside her head felt like it was a pot beginning to boil over, and she felt sure her face was as red and steam was emitting from her ears. With no words to any of them, she turned on her heel and began to trek away from the base and into the treacherous brush on her way to an uncertain future.

Poe wasted no time in following, his steady footsteps plodding just behind her as she struggled to walk faster than she should, breathing heavily and cupping the bottom of her rounded belly with both hands.

"Stop trying to walk so fast! You're straining yourself! " he called out from behind her, and she ignored him.

The next half hour passed in silence save for the sound of the forest around them as both traipsed through the undergrowth, feet looking for purchase amongst the myriad of bushes and brambles mixed with fallen leaves, roots and low-hanging vines. Her brain was firing in a million different directions, from fear to anger to disgust to regret... it was if her body was running the full gamut of emotions all within the space of time it took them to walk in fretful silence from the base to the tree. They were just nearing the shimmering field of gold when Poe spoke again.

"Look, I know you're angry with me for changing the plans without Leia's approval, but I won't let you do this alone," Poe said, and she stopped, turning around to face him. He held out his hands in front of him as if to prove that he was unarmed.

"You can't stop me," Serela shot back, wincing her face in pain as she struggled not to cry. The hot tears surfaced as she hastened to wipe them away with the back of her sleeve, Poe still approaching warily.

"He could hurt you," his soothing voice was trying to calm her, but she was terrified.

"Yes, he could hurt me, but he'll definitely hurt you if you try to come with me. He's expecting me to come alone!" Her eyes darted around frantically, already scanning the area for signs of him.

"This is beyond foolish Serela, you're weeks away from giving birth, you're being hunted like an animal by people who only want you for the baby growing inside you, and now you're elevating your past relationship with some guy over your personal safety now!"

Serela wanted to retort back that her past relationship with 'some guy' was the entire reason she had this baby to begin with, but then she considered that he would find some way to turn that around on her and instead she stormed onward to the field, the spidery branches of the tree's shadow coming into view.

They had just cleared through a particularly dense patch of trees when Serela stopped just short of the forest's edge. Closing her eyes, she searched the Force for Kylo's presence, seeking it out to know if he was here. She thought she would feel him already, but there was nothing. Just the sound of birds above and the rustle of the grain. Then there was the sudden pull of Poe's hand on her wrist, imploring her to turn around and listen to him.

"Serela! Please! Don't be like this!" his fingers were caressing her wrist in comfort and she felt the baby begin to hiccup.

"You shouldn't be here," she reproached him, and his other hand came up to caress her other wrist. "I couldn't let you come out here and face this alone," he whispered.

More tears clouded her eyes and the baby's hiccups left her stomach twitching as she scrunched up her face against the wave of grief and fear threatening to wash over her and drown her in it's depths. Poe's hand crept further up her arm and he stepped in closer, "Let me help you."

There was no warning, no indication that Kylo was close. His arrival felt like a freight train in her head-when she felt it, he was already so close that his presence could be felt, seen, heard- it was potent in every possible sense as it assaulted her mind.

Poe was suddenly writhing on the ground, his hands trying to pry away unseen fingers squeezing his throat. A look over her shoulder revealed Kylo, clothed head to toe in black with that menacing mask over his face, his arm and fingers outstretched pointing at the choking pilot on the ground.

"WHAT. MAKES. YOU. THINK. YOU. CAN. TOUCH. HER?" his voice shook like thunder and she felt the entirety of the forest quaking with his possessive rage. Without thinking twice she knelt next to Poe's thrashing form as the air was slowly being forced out of his lungs.

"KYLO STOP!" she screamed and looked at him with frantic pleading eyes. Her fingers trying to cloy at the invisible hands around Poe's throat- his face beginning to turn blue. Summoning all her power at once, she held out her hand to Kylo and expelled the power within her, sending Kylo stumbling backwards only a few meager steps before he collapsed on the forest floor with a thud, but the sound of Poe's resumed breathing told her it had been enough.

Kylo was on his feet in a moment, brushing himself off and making straight for them. Serela stood up, wobbling, and held out her hand as a threat. "LEAVE HIM," she demanded, and her voice sounded powerful, as though it were not really her speaking. It was enough to stop Kylo in his tracks, his mask cocked to the side and he tried to decipher whether it was worth it to try and kill this man again.

Serela stepped forward to him, and when she spoke her voice was its usual tone, "Leave him alone Kylo, he's not the one you came here for."

"True, but he had his hands on what's mine. That's not something I take lightly."

"Kylo..." she started, shoulders slumping in frustration, "Please let's not start like this."

"This started a long time ago Serela, I'm just here to finish it." His hands clamped around her wrists and she tried to yank them away but he held fast, "You're coming back with me—you better lay back down pretty boy before I finish what I was doing to you!" he called over Serela's shoulder and she heard Poe's raspy voice, "S-Serela."

Kylo bumped her shoulder as he stepped forward to confront him, "This doesn't concern you pilot, you're lucky I'm letting you live after the spectacle I just witnessed. What makes you think you can touch a woman pregnant with a child that isn't yours?" his mechanical voice sounded almost hysterical, hissing on almost every syllable as he spoke through the mouthpiece. Kylo released one of her hands so he could stoop down and pull Poe up by the front of his jumpsuit, shaking him. "What makes you think she wanted your hands on her?"

Poe was dazed from his near-suffocation and now it was Serela's turn to tug at Kylo, "Stop it Kylo, let him go. It's me you're here for, me and our son. Please release him." Her words sounded calm but through their bond in the Force he could hear how fast her heart was beating.

Wordlessly, Kylo released him and Poe's body felt back onto the mossy knoll, head thumping against the ground.

"KYLO!" she remonstrated him, yanking his sleeve harder as she tried to pull him away from Poe.

When he turned back to her his arms reached around and pulled her to his body, his hold on her felt desperate. They stood there like that- the sound of his mechanical breathing mixed with Serela's anxious heartbeat and her body crushed to his. Even though she couldn't see his face, she could feel the intangible pull between them, the excited motions of the baby at the feel of his father next to him at last, and the palpable fear emanating from Kylo at the thought of losing her again.

Serela reached up both hands and Kylo let her; his hold on her was too solid for her to get away from him even if that was her desire. Instead she placed her palms on either side of his helmet and lifted it up, revealing Kylo's sickly pale, sweaty face underneath. His eyes stared at her hungrily, and she was vaguely aware of the sight of Poe just behind Kylo. He was sitting up watching the situation unfurl, a dumbfounded look of horror on his face. Although it pained her to think of what she had to say to him, Serela managed to find the words.

"Go back Poe, I'm staying here."

Kylo stiffened but relaxed when he understood the weight of her words. Poe shook his head as Kylo's turned towards him, ready to ensure that his chief competition really did follow through on Serela's directive.

"You don't mean that Serela," he sputtered, his face reddening as he clambered to his feet.

"I do. I've made my choice. You need to go back."

"There has to be another way."

"There isn't. This is the path I choose. I choose Kylo."

"B-but..."

"YOU HEARD HER!" Kylo shouted at him, and Serela cupped his face softly with her hands, turning it back to face her. "Shh," she soothed him, "I'm still here, you don't need to worry."

Mollified, Kylo's hands rubbed her back, gliding up and down her spine in graceful strokes, distracting her from the scene with Poe. She quivered under his touch and closed her eyes as he brought up a hand to her cheek, his favourite form of chaste affection. When she looked back at Poe his wounded expression told her this would be something that haunted him for a long time to come.

"Please go," she quietly implored him once more, and this time he did. Poe turned around and trooped through the dense patch of trees like it was a prison trying to hold him in. Arms thrashing wildly he ripped at every branch he could reach, rending them from their trunks as he passed and paying no heed to the scrapes he sustained. It took only minutes for the noise of his exertions to fade in the distance, and Serela felt Kylo's other hand on her face drawing her back to the present.

"You'll stay with me?" he asked, and she saw in his eyes the same candle she had thought long extinguished, inside him she felt the same flicker she had seen briefly after his reconditioning, and her heart leapt in hope that what Kalonia had proposed was true, that they could bring him back to her, to all of them.

"Yes," she promised, and reached up to take his hands, placing them on her belly, "He needs both of us." The golden field lay behind her while the sun glowing through the trees warmed her body and her heart as she stood here with him, and she knew deep down that her words were true, both those spoken and left unsaid. She would stay with him, now and forever. There would never be another for her, even if she had wanted it to be so. Her life, her love, her fate all rested on the shoulders of this man in her arms, and the proof of their shared love growing inside of her.

The moisture appeared in both of their eyes simultaneously. Kylo gazed down at her rounded stomach, the evidence of their connection for life. He needed her, oh how he needed her more than he could have ever realized. She was his sun in the midst of so much darkness, his lighthouse in a storm.

Before she could react his hands were on her cheeks again pulling her face to his. Their lips met and it was like the ground quaked with the energy of it. Her body was singing as he wrapped his arms around her and she fisted her hands into his hair, trying to draw him in even more. The familiar, painful ache between her legs she had been waking up to for weeks returned with a vengeance and she clenched her thighs together, trying to resist the urge to let him take her here on the forest floor.

If she hadn't kissed him, Kylo told himself later, he never would have allowed himself to be snuck up on. As it happened, with Poe's departure Luke, Finn and Rey had approached, followed closely by Dr. Kalonia and two more medics, the physician's finger flicking the syringe in her hand. Serela and Kylo were so caught up in the heat of the moment that they never heard Rey's tentative footsteps, tiptoeing up behind Kylo's back. In her mind, Serela could hear Luke speaking only to her, Keep him distracted a little bit longer and she pulled out the greatest weapon she could think of.

Suddenly Kylo's mind was assaulted with images. Memories of their past liaisons, his sweaty, muscular body pounding into hers as he took her from on top, behind, and every way in between. Some of it was memory, others were dreams that she'd had over the weeks, fantasies which played out in her mind every night as she dreamed of him taking her and claiming her body once more. He growled into her mouth with the onslaught of images she was giving him, there was no room for any other cognitive thought. His hands groped her wildly and he moaned into her mouth, the hardness of his body straining against hers.

It wasn't until a second before Rey struck that Kylo broke his face away from Serela for air and heard the sound of a twig snapping behind him.

He turned around too late and Rey had already stabbed him in the neck with the needle, dispensing the powerful serum directly into his bloodstream. He had the sentience to blast her backward, but only a few feet before he slumped to his knees, looking up at Serela in confusion and fear, his hand reaching up to cup her cheek.

"I'm sorry Kylo," she sobbed, bending down to kiss his forehead, "It was the only way."

As the darkness in the corners of his mind began to close in with the effects of the serum, he slipped into unconsciousness with his last thought being that the serum had been lethal, and she had allowed the Resistance to kill him.

Author's Note: Holyyyyyy crap. You guys. Seriously. 25,000 views? 90 reviews? Whoa.

Okay, so here's the deal. I've got another 6-7 ish (poss 8) chapters left to go. 6 of those are already drafted and in various stages of completion. I hope you were satisfied with how the 'reunion' went between the two of them. Don't worry I won't drag it out too much between when they're reunited again, but it is going to take some time to filter that stuff out of him and who knows what the result will be? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, for those holding out here mostly for the smut, there will be at least one more smut scene coming (not saying with whom) but if you're reading this exclusively waiting for more smut... hang in there, it will come (no pun intended) eventually. LOL.

Lastly, I need advice. I'm already at 105,000 words which based on my online research is way too long for a novel, especially if I was to ever try and get published (not saying I would publish this for obvious reasons but if I try to write my own original work after this I'm concerned I would run into the same problem of not being able to condense.) Do YOU as the readers feel like the story is too long or there were/are things that could have been cut? I've tried my best to only put in those things which serve to advance the plot but if I try to write my own book after this (I can't emphasize enough that I've never written this much of anything before) I'm worried I'll run into the same problem of being too long-winded. Anyhow, thoughts and opinions are most welcome! Also, if and when I try to write my own original stuff, would anyone be interested in reading that, or are you mostly interested in the Star Wars aspect? I'll be honest I don't think I have another one of these in me since this one has taken so much of my time, although there's no telling what inspiration I'll get from the next movie ;)