All because of you guys! Feeling better and all of you comments got my creative mind going. I paused for a moment wondering if I should write this, but them decided it wanted to be written. I hope you like this cause there is some seriously good stuff coming up in my plan.

Eleve Osirian...Thank you...from the bottom of my heart!

As usual, I could be much richer if this was mine, but all rights to Disney.

Chapter 16

It only took a couple of weeks to hear back from Poe that, indeed, Ben's intel and the direction as to how to attack had been turning out exactly as he had said it would. The counsel was very pleased at the progress and the desire for further information was slowly winning out over some of the harshest of Ben's critics.

After the incident of the baby getting free, Ben and Rey had worked diligently on not losing their focus, to prevent further chasing of the bird around their hut. They continued their training, working on sparing and focus, Tsaro guiding them closely as she drilled them with military strictness.

The afternoon was getting late as she made her way down the hill to where Ben and Rey were sparing, dancing around each other, covered in sweat from the effort of trying to best the other. She paused, watching them face off, in an intricate display, sabers arcing and moving at blazing speed, clashing and cracking with power. Tsaro appreciated the effort it had taken both of them to make it look so effortless and she had stopped to watch many master's honing their skills over the years.

Ben pressed an advantage and Rey grunted with the effort to catch herself, while she spun, slightly off balance as he brought his mother's saber around for what would have been a deadly blow, stopping just short of the strike, a satisfied grin spreading across his face.

Rey frowned and switched off her saber in defeat, Ben quickly following her lead while offering her his hand up, the triumphant grin still lighting up his eyes.

"You made me work for that." He said, gloating a little while trying to offer a bit of praise.

Rey scowled, but secretly enjoyed when he was so light after winning a hard-fought sparing session as his eyes would brighten to a soft hazel, and the gold would practically shine with light. They both looked up as Tsaro approached them with a nod of admiration for their sparing.

"Closely matched." She said as acknowledgment to their finish, then pointed to the sabers they carried, "Not made for you I don't think."

Ben took a long drink of water before answering her, his mood dampening a little bit, "No. They aren't. Mine was my mother's, Rey weald's Master Luke's."

Rey sat on a rock, wiping her face with a towel and having some water as well as Tsaro reached into her apron tentatively, "Will not do, I don't think." And she stretched out her small hands, two twin crystals in each palm, "These call to me since you arrive." She added quietly.

Ben coughed on his water as he saw the Kyber crystals, shocked that she had one, let alone two. "Tsaro! How do you have these?" He said in awe as he reached out to the one she held towards him. It practically vibrated with power as he reached forward, the vibration sounding like a low hum in the back of his mind.

Rey reach forward as well, the hum of the crystal calling to her like the draw of a magnet. Both crystals were a nearly clear, white, almost three inches in length and as thick as one of Ben's thumbs. Both a perfect mirror of the other as if it was prophecy they should come to a dyad pair.

Tsaro looked at them almost lovingly as they were held by the Masters, "Stones been in family longer than memory. They not sing till you come. It's right they go to you." She said, sadness coloring her tone.

Rey looked up from the stone in shock, "Tsaro, I….I can't." She said, a huge part of her desperate to keep the precious stone in her hand.

Tsaro frowned, "I keep for reason. They meant for you. Build what you need and they serve." She said with a firm and resolute nod of her head.

Ben crouched down to meet the old matron eye to eye, "I am honored. Thank you." He said and reached out to grasp the tiny hand in his with tenderness.

Rey knelt by his side as well, "I am as well. Thank you." She said, taking her other hand.

Tsaro blinked a few times and cleared her throat, swallowing her emotions, "Yes, well, come young Masters. Food getting cold." She muttered gruffly and turned to shuffle back up the hill.

Ben could feel the cool stone in his warm hand remaining the same temperature regardless of the heat he gave off and it felt right, complete somehow. His mind was already working on a design as he held the stone, something that fit who he had become.

He looked over at Rey who was marveling at her own stone and he reached out, taking her small hand in his, "Come on. Let's go eat. Then I will show you how to build your saber." He said with a radiant grin.

Rey smiled back, an image already in her mind as to how she wanted it to work, but stood with Ben and made their way up after Tsaro.

They all had just crested the hill as shots cut through the air. Ben grabbed Rey and spun with a grunt moving with lightning speed as a blaster bolt sizzled past where Rey had just been. They hit the ground and rolled down the hill a little way before coming to a stop, Ben laying protectively on top of Rey.

Rey felt the stones biting into her shoulders as Ben's weight pressed her down, his one arm cradling her head while he propped himself up on the other arm. Saber out and ignited. She glanced up at his face as he looked down quickly at her.

"You okay?" He asked quickly, and she gave him a quick nod, dismissing the stinging that continued in her shoulder and he rolled off her so she could ignite her saber and roll on her stomach.

"What was that?" she asked shaken and looked up to see a small lump at the top of the hill. "Oh, stars! Tsaro!" She breathed and immediately scrambled up the rocks to the heap.

"Rey!" Ben spat and scrambled after her in a defensive position as she gathered the caretaker in her arms and slid back down the stones away from the crest of the ridge.

"Tsaro?!" Rey said, rolling the small heap over to find her eyes closed and a scorch mark to her midsection.

"No!" Ben growled looking to the top of the hill and back at Rey, his mind working desperately and the fury gathering like a dark and malicious storm.

Tsaro's eyes fluttered for a moment and she groaned a little, to both of their relief, "Save yourselves, young Masters." She whispered, a dark liquid seeping out of the corner of her mouth.

"No, Tsaro, you are going to be okay." Rey sobbed out, tears blurring her vision as she tried to calm the panic she felt not just from her but from Ben as well.

She glanced desperately at Ben who was scanning the ridge, then looked back at her, meeting her look, "Do it. I will cover you." He said with a firm nod and almost a wild desperation in his eyes as they flicked to Tsaro cradled in her arms.

Rey took a shuddering breath in, sniffing her tears away and focused, her hand gently hovering over Tsaro's wound as she drew on the force. The island seemed to respond in its entirety to help her, channeling the force to move and heal the caretaker's wounds.

Tsaro took in a choppy breath, her eyes opening wide in surprise as Rey's final tears, fell, landing on the now closed area. "Oh..." She breathed out.

Rey opened her eyes to check her work, "Are you okay?" She asked quietly, concern coloring her tone, eyes still watery.

Tsaro sat up a little, touching her middle in amazement, "Oh, child..." And she looked up at the pair in utter awe.

"We good?" Ben said curtly, his stance defensive, but the sense of panic now gone as the concern was only reflected in how his eyes took in Tsaro.

"I okay. I go down, hide. You find who did this." She said, wiggling out from under Rey's protection after giving her hand a quick squeeze.

Rey ignited her saber, her features hardening to match Ben's serious look, "What do we do?" She asked feeling Ben's mind work through the options.

He calculated their choices before turning to her, "You head up and around the back of the hut, I will come around this way. This could only be an assassin." He said flatly, his face reflecting the seriousness of the situation.

Rey took a breath and steeled her resolve, shifting to stay low and move towards the back of the hut when she felt a momentary panic off Ben and she turned back as he placed a hand on her arm.

"Please, be careful." He said, voice strained with the worry of scenarios flitting through his mind and moved quickly, brushing a kiss on her forehead.

Rey hesitated at his tender gesture as she felt him put aside his fear and move towards the ridge carefully, staying low. She moved with a last look down the hill to where Tsaro had hidden herself and scrambled her way up the hill so she was blocked by their hut.

Ben skirted the edge of the low wall separating the caretaker's areas and the rest of the huts, creeping silently around the low structures till he could see over the ledge. There was a water skimmer tied up to the rocks far below and Ben frowned as he assessed the best way for someone to get up the cliff before he edged his way around in a circle back to where he estimated the shots came from.

Rey inched towards the far edge of the hut, her saber and the gentle breeze the only sound that she could hear. She could feel Ben making his way slowly towards her position, checking as he went and she focused on the area ahead of her when a movement by her old hut caught her eye.

Ben, by the wash hut, cliff side. She warned him as she slipped down to crouch behind the low wall that ran just in front of the cliff edge between the two huts.

Stay there. I'm coming around. He said and she could feel him moving so that he would come out between two other smaller huts.

Ben crept out as the assassin moved to fire, his saber at his side, and off to seem unaware. The shot blasted, and in a fluid movement, he brought up the saber, igniting it and deflecting the shot back as Rey hopped the wall and approached.

The armoured figure continued to fire, both blasters, one at Ben and one at Rey as they closed in, deflecting the shots back until Ben lunged, closing the final gap, arching his saber up, and taking out the assassin.

Rey signed and left her saber on as Ben crouched over the downed assassin. She watched him search for information, stripping the weapons from the body, placing them off to the side before pulling the helmet off to reveal the face.

"One of Hux's favorites. I should have figured." Ben said and stood, dropping the helmet on the ground beside the body, face full of disgust.

Rey stood and extinguished her saber as Ben shifted, scanning the rest of the area and she finally noticed the scorched burn across his left shoulder blade, blood darkening his shirt under the hole, the pain in her own shoulder finally making sense.

"Ben! You're hurt!" Rey said, touching his arm gently as he glanced back at her.

"It's nothing." He said and moved forward to where other caretakers were starting to come out of the huts and from behind the short stone walls. He bent down and picked up the weapons he had removed from the body and headed to the hut, finally turning his saber off.

Rey trotted after him quickly, as he made it to the top of the hill just as Tsaro crested the ridge, her burnt clothes ruffling in the wind from where she had been hit by the blaster.

"Someone help her, now." He bellowed at the other caretakers who scurried quickly to her aid, fussing over her in Lanai as she batted their hands away and frowned at Ben's ordering the others around.

"I fine young Master." She huffed as the others hovered and brought the wheeled chair to where she had sat on a small boulder as Ben crouched beside her.

Ben felt his heart rate finally start to pick up as the adrenaline eased away and his fear started to creep into the edges of his mind and he reached out, gently touching the scorched apron that she had untied and was holding in her lap.

Rey moved forward as the group shifted Tsaro into the chair and started to wheel her off to be attended to and addressed Ben as he stood, "Your turn. We need to deal with your shoulder." She said gently as he watched the group move off to the other huts.

Ben barely heard what Rey said, but felt her steer him by the elbow in the direction of their hut and inside by the fire, taking his saber and setting it off to the side with hers before he truly registered how hurt his shoulder was, let alone how close he came to losing Rey.

As she set some bandages on the table beside him he grabbed her hand, pulling her to stand in front of him, slightly between his legs. Once there, he leaned in and wrapped his arms around her waist in a vice grip, shoving the pain to the back of his mind as he buried his face in the front of her shirt just below her chest, taking slow deep breaths to calm his chaotic thoughts.

Ben's actions gave Rey pause as she felt his fear bubble to the surface. Fear from the thought that he could have lost her, fear from the fact that Tsaro had been hurt, fear that meant he cared deeply for her and Tsaro, and most of all fear of what that could mean as a whole. Rey closed her eyes against the intensity of the fear coursing through him as he clung tightly to her and she reached up, and slowly stroked his hair.

"Its okay." She said softly, as the fear began to bleed away while she ran her hands through his hair. In all his fear, Rey realized that never once had he been scared that his life would end if hers did, that it came from losing her.

Ben clung to Rey and focused on her hands in his hair, smoothing the strands in long strokes, calming his thoughts until the pain of his shoulder slowly began to push it's way to the front of his mind. Loosening his grip he slid back in the chair a little, while keeping his hands on her waist, the thought flitting though his mind of how far his hands wrapped themselves around her frame.

Rey could feel his mind easing, the tension draining as the pain began to throb in her shoulder and she looked down, her hands still threaded through his black waves. She slid her fingers around to the base of his skull, the heals of her palms gently cupping behind each ear and she tilted his head up to meet his dark eyes.

"I'm safe. Here. With you." She said, emphasizing her words carefully as she stared in his eyes so he could sense the truth in what she spoke to him.

It was such a simple thing for her to say, but with those words, his fear vanished and all he could see was her hazel eyes. "How can you be so patient with me?" He found himself thinking out loud in wonder.

"I won't be much longer if you don't let me take care of that shoulder." She said with a quirk of her mouth in grin and she gave his hair a little playful tug.

"Ouch….okay." He said, not really hurting from her gesture, but playing along as he felt her humor flow through to him.

Rey moved her hands and peaked over his should with a grimace, "Here, let's get you shirt off and then I can get a better look." She said and began to help him unstick the charred fabric from the edges of the wound as he sucked in his breath with the fresh pain.

Ben managed to keep to much of the fiery pain from ebbing through the bond as he grit his teeth while Rey helped him remove his shirt, causing the area to start bleeding again as she carefully picked out bits of the burnt shirt.

Before long she had the area cleaned and dressed with burn cream and was securing the bandage in place with tape. "There, that should do it. The cream should have it healed up nicely by morning." She mumbled absentmindedly as she secured the final piece of tape.

Ben held stone still as he felt her finger slide the tape down his back alongside his spine causing a small shiver to work it's way down to the pit of his stomach.

"Thank you." Was all he could manage in a low rumbling tone that seemed softer than he thought he could be.

Rey edged back, her head tilting thoughtfully at his tone for a moment, "I'll grab you a shirt." She breathed out as his eyes caught hers and there was fire there she had never seen before.

Ben cleared his throat and shifted in his chair, suddenly much warmer than he had been a couple of minutes before, "Um, are you hungry?" He fumbled as he glanced at the window, noticing it had started to get dark.

Rey walked back and handed him his shirt, "Not overly, but how about I put on some tea?" She offered, trying to keep herself busy.

Ben slipped the shirt over his head carefully trying to not lift his arm up and move the bandage to much as she moved around the fire, getting the coals set to heat the kettle full of water. Suddenly, a thought struck him.

"The crystals!" He said with a groan, realizing he didn't have his anymore.

Rey turned, her face dawning with remembrance, "I have them both! I grabbed them right after I healed Tsaro." She said and reached into a hidden pocket on the leg of her pants pulling out the crystals.

She handed the slightly wider one to Ben, somehow sure the one she kept was meant to be for her, and held it up to the firelight. It wasn't quite clear, but the light of the fire seemed to reflect inside of it some how, a golden hue throughout the stone.

"You've built a saber before, I assume?" She said sitting beside him as he rolled the crystal across his palm.

"Yes, but this feels different somehow." He said marveling at the small stone in his palm. He already had a design in his mind as soon as he saw the stone.

Rey set the crystal down on the table between them and moved to get them both some tea. Handing him a cup she sat and picked the stone up, rolling it in her hand as she stared at the crackling fire. The weather had seemed to be getting cooler in the last week, with the evenings being so cold you could see your breath outside, so she had built up the fire to keep the cold at bay.

They sat in comfortable silence for quite a while as they had their tea and got lost in their own thoughts. Ben enjoyed the quiet with her, as she didn't seem to feel the need to fill that time with useless chatter. It wasn't that they didn't have good conversations too, but after a day like they had, it seemed they both needed a little break.

After a little while longer Rey found herself yawning and got up to set her cup by the supplies, scaring the Porg in the force cage accidently causing it to squawk a few times before settling again to sleep. "Oops." Rey whispered and rubbed a gentle finger over it's head as its eyes closed.

Ben watched her stroke the bird before she tidied up a few items carefully, yawning again as she did and he felt a desire surface and invade his thoughts. She moved around the fire, in the usual evening routine he had gotten used to but the thought nagged at him.

"Rey?" He finally said, feeling as if he was choking out her name. He was fighting with himself about whether to ask her or just leave it, when her name had slipped passed his lips without thinking.

Rey turned, his tone off and a wave of uncertainty washing over her all of a sudden, "What's wrong?" She ask moving over to him, suddenly concerned.

Ben felt warm again, the tips of his ears getting hot as she neared and he just blurt out the question that was eating at his brain, "Will you sleep with me tonight?" He stammered out, voice almost cracking on the words.

Rey froze, "Um….I'm sorry?" She asked utterly shocked at what had come out of his mouth, as if it were an entirely new language.

Ben fumbled with his crystal and then set it on the table, unable to look at her all of a sudden with embarrassment at his wording, "I mean sleep, like, in the same bed, with….me. Just to sleep." He stammered completely flushed, sweat now dotting his for head as he nervously raked his hand through his hair while avoiding her dumbfounded gaze.

This man in front of her was NOT the Ben Solo she was used to, not to mention she was almost positive he had asked to share a bed with her tonight. She couldn't tell if the sense of discomfort and rising heat was from her or him, but she was suddenly just as hot as he looked and her mouth was as dry as the hottest day on Jakku.

"Ah…I….okay?" She heard her self say. Wait, what did she just tell him?! She thought in a moment of panic.

Ben's head popped up and he looked at her in surprise, "Okay?" He asked doubtful he actually heard her correctly, feeling like it was suddenly even hotter in the hut than before.

Rey paused again, unsure but unable to help herself, "Okay." She said quietly, feeling herself blush furiously.

Ben was at a loss. He hadn't really thought about if she would say yes, well, he hadn't really thought at all, and now, he wasn't sure what he should do next. He stood and moved to head to his bed, but stopped, "Ah, okay. Um, were you wanting to go to bed now? I mean are you tired?" He fumbled. Stars, he never had a problem with words before!

Rey shuffled her feet for a moment, "Well, um, sure. I was getting ready for bed already, I guess." She said turning to her bed for a moment and getting her pillow awkwardly.

Ben moved to his bed and slipped off his boots, flipping the pillow to the opposite side it had been before and catching her questioning look, "I can see the door better, and I won't be laying on my hurt side." He said with a small shrug.

Rey nodded and walked over and he moved to the back of the bed, stretching out, lifting the blanket back for her. She slipped her boots off too and sat tentatively on the mattress, turning to lay with her back to him like she had the last time and tucked her pillow over his arm as he pulled the blanket over her.

Ben shifted a little until they were both covered and then paused, unsure of where to put his arm until hesitantly deciding to tuck it around her waist, his elbow resting just above her hip. "Is that okay?" He whispered, inches from her ear.

Rey shivered with his breath tickling her ear, "Yeah, that's fine." She said and let her body relax a little into the solid frame behind her. It was warm and secure, while being comforting all at the same time and she was surprised at how fast her eyes became heavy, drooping slowly in her comfort.

"Rey?" Ben murmured again in her ear as he felt her body slowly getting heavier against his, as her breathing evened out.

"Hmmm?" Rey mumbled in reply, sleep starting to take her over as he tightened his arm around her middle, pulling her in close.

"I needed you close." He admitted in a whisper, revealing the last of his lingering fear from the events of the day.

Rey smiled with her eyes closed and leaned her head back under his chin, "I needed this too." She admitted in a whisper in her half sleep state before she finally drifted off.

Ben smoothed her hair under his chin and just lay in the dimming fire light for a little listening to her breathing and the quiet sleepy hum of her mind. She was there, safe and that's the way he was going to keep her, at least for the night.