Rey slipped on a sleeveless shirt and tugged at the material as it stretched around her stomach. She frowned, looking up at her reflection in the refresher mirror. She brushed damp hair from her face, staring at the circles under her eyes. Sleep had not come easily before, but now with Kylo's restlessness, what sleep she did get had not seemed to help.

She shut the refresher lights off and padded back into the bedroom, picking up the black jacket sitting at the end of the bed. Kylo sat up against the headboard, holding a datapad against a pillow on his good leg. He looked up at her and sighed softly. "How much sleep did you get?"

Rey shrugged on the jacket and took a seat next to him on the edge of the bed. "Not as much as you."

Kylo raised an eyebrow and set his datapad on the bed next to him. "So not much."

"Not much," Rey agreed with a sigh. Her arms felt heavy as she began tying her hair back. She looked over at Kylo's datapad. "What're you reading?"

Kylo rolled his eyes, and she felt a flash of annoyance through the Force. For a brief moment, she thought he did not like her asking, but he showed her a list of news articles. "Flash Zizz has been busy again."

Rey took the datapad, reading through the article titles.

Not So Indestructible: Kylo Ren Seen Injured at Coruscant Central Medcenter

The Weapon of the Jedi: How the Crystals Power Lightsabers

Jedi Order Falling Apart? Younglings Given Extended Holiday

Ren and Solo Will Be Having Baby Girl. Close Sources Weigh in on How They Plan to Raise Her

Are the Jedi Necessary?

How Much do the Jedi Earn? A Look at the Net Worth of Kylo Ren

Rey's eyes narrowed the further she got down the list. "He's been busy since your injury."

"According to this one, I'm the only Jedi." Kylo pointed to the most recent article.

Rey opened the article entitled How Much do the Jedi Earn? A Look at the Net Worth of Kylo Ren and scanned the first paragraph. "Ah, yes, obviously you're the only Jedi worth poking his beady little eyes into, so why mention anyone else?"

Kylo sighed, and Rey sensed his unease. "But his information is accurate."

She scrolled down further and looked up at Kylo sharply. "He found out about the inheritance from your mother?"

He pressed his lips together and nodded. "You're the only person I ever told about that. I don't know how he found out."

Rey returned to the article, rubbing her hand slowly over Kylo's leg through the blankets. "Of course, he fails to mention we put most of our income back to the school."

"Apparently, having credits to eat and help Poe and Finn house us is also too many words for an invasive article." Kylo's voice was hard, and Rey found herself glad he could not walk on his own yet. Or at least a certain Gungan reporter should be glad.

Rey sighed and closed out of the article. "It's just tabloid nonsense. It's not like we go out in public enough for people to care."

"The Senate cared about the article on my lightsaber." He gave her a dry look. "And apparently the public cares about your pregnancy with my spawn."

Rey smacked Kylo's knee. "Don't you dare call Leia that."

Kylo raked a hand through his hair, his anxiety radiating through the Force. "Stars, she's never going to have a private life, is she?"

Rey leaned forward and kissed Kylo softly. "No. But we'll figure it out." At his small smile, she kissed him again. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Kylo breathed against her lips.

She reluctantly pulled away and stood, sighing at his confused expression. "Finn's taking me to my appointment."

Kylo took a sharp breath, his hand jumping through his hair again. "I forgot that was today."

He made a move to stand, but Rey pushed him back down with a roll of her eyes. "If you refuse a hoverchair, then you can't come." She softened her expression. She would refuse a hoverchair, too. "Maybe try to talk with Jessika, if you can, while we're gone."

Kylo wrapped an arm around Poe's shoulders, and the pilot pulled him to his feet with a small grunt. Kylo hissed as the pain radiated from his weight.

Poe frowned, pressing his hand to Kylo's back more in a gesture of support than actual help. "Take it easy. We can get something to block the pain. Help you move around a bit easier."

Kylo shook his head and let himself lean on Poe with each step on his bad leg. He pulled on the Force, condensing it around the wound. Pain still pulsed, but it dulled slightly. The anti-infection medications were already making his head spin and interfering with his connection to the Force. He did not need pain suppressants to make it worse. "It's only a few days until the infection clears, and I can get into a bacta tank. I can handle it."

"Can Rey?" Poe asked the question softly, and he slowly turned his head to meet Kylo's gaze.

Kylo swallowed and gave a small nod, despite the guilty twist in his stomach. "She's all right."

The pilot helped him limp into the sitting room and helped him down onto a couch. Jessika sat across from him, a datapad on her lap. She watched them in uncharacteristic quiet.

Poe checked the chronometer. "Finn and Rey should be back in a bit. They're picking up some takeout from that Ryloth joint a few blocks over."

Kylo groaned. Rey loved Twi'lek food, which was probably how she had convinced Finn to stop on their way back. "I'll… pass on that."

Poe rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, looking very much like Rey in his expression. "One – just because a particular Rylothian Twi'lek tried to sleep with you and have you possessed, doesn't mean the food from her planet isn't delicious. Two – Rey might hurt you if you don't eat, and I don't wanna take you back to the Medcenter, so suck it up and eat food for energy."

A loud crash from the floor above cut off Kylo's response, and Poe swore under his breath. "Construction droids have been malfunctioning all day."

"Maybe you shouldn't've reprogrammed them," Kylo said as the pilot made his way out of the room.

"I don't have to help you walk, Ren," Poe shot back, his laugh sounding down the hall. Poe's footsteps muted as he climbed a set of stairs to the new level of the house.

Kylo looked over at Jessika, who sat with her knees against her chest, watching him anxiously. He let out a slow breath, chewing on the inside of his mouth for a moment. "We should talk, Jess."

She blinked as if he had interrupted a trance, and Kylo felt her apprehension. "About what?"

"About Rakata Prime." Kylo gestured for her to sit next to him, and when she hesitated, he gave her a reassuring smile. "I'd sit by you, but I need Rey's help to even walk to the refresher."

Jessika stood slowly and took a seat next to Kylo, her muscles tense. She stared at a spot in the carpet, her forearms leaning against her knees. "Why do we need to talk about that planet?"

Kylo leaned forward as much as the painful pull in his hip would allow. "I'm sorry for putting you in that situation."

Jessika looked at him in surprise. "You're… sorry? You didn't do anything. It's not like you asked those rancors to try to take your leg off." She swallowed and looked away. "I took too long to find you. It's my fault you're stuck here."

Kylo took a slow breath and kept his voice as gentle as possible. "Jess. You did everything you could." He tapped his leg, feeling the pain radiate down to his knee. "I might've lost the leg had you not known what to do."

"You wouldn't've needed to worry about that if I'd gone after you right away."

Kylo gave her a dry look. "I was in a rancor's mouth." He shuddered at the memory but continued, "I would've gotten this infection no matter how long I was out there. And Kaydel likely wouldn't be with us if you had abandoned her to find me. But you know that."

When Jessika did not respond, he put a hand on her shoulder. "You can't beat yourself up about this, not when you have so many talents to help the galaxy."

"Except for kriffing engineering." Her voice was so low, he barely caught it.

Kylo raised an eyebrow and pulled her discarded datapad into his hand with the Force. Specifications of comms came up on the screen, detailing the pieces of wrist comms and their differences to those built into ships. He sighed and set the datapad on the floor. "You realize that the Millennium Falcon has been modified so often that the comm system doesn't even resemble anything standard anymore?"

She laughed bitterly and nodded. "That's why I turned to the wrist comms, but I couldn't fix those either."

"Mine was caked in mud, and Kaydel's broke. There was nothing to fix." She knew that information; she had been the one to tell him on the Falcon. But Kylo hoped hearing it from him would help her come to terms that there had not been any more she could have done.

"If I had been able to fix something and contact help, your life wouldn't have been in danger!" Jessika's voice raised so sharply that Kylo flinched. "I couldn't be the one to tell Rey I killed the love of her life!"

Kylo swallowed past a lump in his throat. That was the root of his nightmares. His darkest fear: losing Rey. Losing any member of his strange little family or leaving Rey to raise their daughter on her own. Jessika seemed to harbor similar fears.

"You're having a daughter soon. And… And you're basically another father to us." Her voice became quiet, and she looked down at her hands. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I couldn't watch you die."

A part of Kylo knew she was remembering his blood on her hands. He put a hand over hers, hoping the heat from his body and the color in his skin would help her. "It's all right to be afraid for people you care about, but don't let that fear rule your mind. You know you can talk to me, or Rey, or any of us. We'll help you." She nodded, her eyes still on his hand over hers. "Jess. I'm proud of the Jedi - of the person - you've become."

She met his eyes, and a slight smile pulled at her lips. "Thank you, Master."

The door leading out to the landing pad slid open, and Rey entered, followed closely by Finn, who held Arian in the crook of one arm and a bag in the other.

Rey set another, smaller bag on the table and gave Kylo a tired smile as she rubbed her back. "We got you some of that Chandrilan soup you like." At his surprised look, she grinned and kissed him lightly. "I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it if we got you the Ryloth stuff."

"Dada!" Arian's high-pitched voice sounded from across the room where Finn had set him down. The Tooka doll waved in his hand as he ran over on short legs.

Before Kylo could stop him, Arian clambered onto the couch next to him and crawled onto his lap. A small foot dig into Kylo's wounded hip, and he could not stifle the yell of pain.

"Whoa, little guy!" Finn picked Arian up, causing the youngling to drop the Tooka doll. "No climbing on Ren."

Rey pulled the Tooka doll into her hand with the Force and held it out to Arian. Kylo pressed a hand against his thigh in an attempt to divert the pain. Black spots danced in his vision. His heart thumped faster than usual, and he took several breaths through the pain. The Force did not seem to want to cooperate as he tried pulling it around the screaming wound. "All right." He sucked in a sharp breath. "I might take some pain suppressants."

Finn tweaked Arian's nose. "Little troublemaker. At least you get him to see sense."

Arian squirmed in Finn's grip, reaching a hand out to Kylo. He could sense the youngling's confusion. "Dada? Ow?"

"I'll be okay." Kylo breathed the words through gritted teeth, and he knew Arian did not believe him.

Finn started toward the kitchen with the youngling in his arms. "Let's get your dad something to help."

"Nothing too strong, Finn." Anything more than a basic pain suppressant would mess with his head, and he wanted to be alert.

Arian began crying as Finn left the sitting room with him. "He'll be all right! We'll get some candy, too, how does that sound?"

Finn's shushes faded down the hall. Kylo let out a controlled breath, his pulse throbbing through him. He hoped Rey could not feel much of the pain, but she sat next to him, rubbing her own hip absently. After a few more moments, his heartrate began slowing.

Rey held his hand and ran her other one over his shoulder. "Sorry. I forget he's running around now."

"Especially since neither of us can." Kylo gave a short laugh and then winced, squeezing Rey's hand as the pain rose back up. "How was the appointment?"

"Fine, fine." Rey scowled slightly. "She wants me to rest for at least another week, since she doesn't know how your wound affects our bond and therefore Leia." She swatted his shoulder lightly. "Thanks for that."

"Yeah, thanks for giving us two bedridden Force users, Ren," Finn grumbled as he came back into the room. Arian clutched little pieces of soft candy, happily chewing on them from Finn's arms. The former Stormtrooper handed Kylo a glass of water and small bowl with a few pills. "Pain suppressants and the anti-infection meds."

Kylo thanked him and took the pills one by one, keeping an eye on Arian as Finn sat him on the floor where some of his toys had been left. He started opening the bags of food, separating dishes onto plates he had brought from the kitchen.

Poe wandered back into the room, BB-8 at his heels and a clunky, deactivated construction droid in his arms. The logo of the construction company was printed above the droid's visual sensor. "Hey, Rey, d'you know how to reprogram this model?" His eyes found the food on the table, and he plopped the droid onto the floor. "Oh, finally!"

Kylo stared at the dark ceiling, counting the number of panels for the fourth time that night. His head spun from the medications, and closing his eyes only seemed to make it worse. He wondered briefly if he could use the Force to destroy the infection, but after what seemed like an hour of concentrating, he could not get the Force to so much as shift the blankets.

Rey breathed evenly next to him, already sound asleep. Her feet poked out from her heated blanket, which had started sliding off her shoulder. Kylo pulled the blanket back up slowly.

He looked back up at the ceiling, watching the light from a passing speeder outside pass through the windows. After another few minutes, he sighed and grabbed his datapad, intending to find a holofilm to watch without sound. The news articles came up on the screen as he turned it on. Flash Zizz had written another article with an accompanying image of Rey and Finn walking out of the Ryloth restaurant. The title of Solo with Another Man? made Kylo glad the reporter had not been active when the Twi'lek Kilnetel had been flirting with him.

He closed out of the news and tapped for his collection of holoflims but bumped the button for holobooks instead. Rey's list of fairy tale myths came up under his own saved books. He glanced at his sleeping wife again and then pulled up one he knew she had read multiple times.

He slid down the bed until a few inches of his legs hung off the end. It felt foolish, but the slight stretch in his muscles actually helped relieve some of the dull throbbing in his hip. His hand ghosted over the swell of Rey's stomach, but he did not want to wake her. He wished he could concentrate better on the Force to feel out for the little life within her, but he would have to settle for reading to Leia until he healed.

Taking a deep breath, he began reading aloud.

"A long time ago, in a planet far, far away, there lived a very rich merchant, who had six children; being a man of sense, he spared no cost for their education, but gave them all kinds of masters. His daughters were extremely handsome, especially the youngest. When she was little everybody admired her and called her 'the little Beauty' so that, as she grew up, she still went by the name of Beauty, which made her sisters very jealous."

Rey shifted, and she pulled in a slow breath as her eyes flickered open. "Kylo? What're you doing?"

He looked up at her, wondering if she would be angry for waking her. "I'm… reading. To Leia."

A smile slowly grew on her face, and she closed her eyes again as she curled closer to him. "A fairy tale. Which one?"

"Your favorite."

AN: Ending scene partially based off a little headcanon Tripping55 gave me a few months ago. The story is modified from the Beauty and Beast version by LePrince de Beaumont. Thanks for reading, lovely people.