My poor husband, all Ive been doing lately is writing! It's a deep dark hole and I never want to crawl out of it haha. More of Rey and Ben, I am looking forward to getting some other characters involved though. Enjoy lovelies! xo

After pulling the cover off the hot tub and getting it started up, Rey had left Ben to think about her offer as she wandered back into the main house to wash her hands. She hated rolling the arms of her sweaters up over her elbows and was mentally cursing herself for not changing shirts before she gave Ben his massage when her phone vibrated again against her hip. Making short work of drying her hands and arms off Rey extracted the mobile device and swiped the screen open with minimal effort.

It wasn't all from Snap thankfully, but it all seemed to spiral from his new found need for drama. Finn was the most recent addition to the list, coming up as Finn with a heart emoji and then a peanut emoji next to it.

-Hey Peanut, You got company? Snap just called Poe flippin out-
-Girl, I hope you're being smart about this-

Finn, the closest thing she had to a family was the brother she always wanted. They had met when she was working for Falcon Industries as a receptionist and all around go-fer girl on one of her summer vacations. The companies owner, a gruff man by the name of Han Solo had taken a liking to her and decided to give her a chance despite her age. It had worked well because Rey found herself back there every summer, filling in positions throughout her two year school program as well. Finn was a mechanic, just a few years older then but still very low on the totem pole. He and his partner Poe had been working for Solo for a few years when Rey had come along and sort of fallen into the crew. Poe was better with the plains aspect of things, he thrived on aeronautics while Finn just loved getting his hands on cars.

The two were an odd pairing but worked so well no one ever questioned it. They just sort of happened one day and no one ever looked back.

Snap's text messages were a little less friendly, almost hostile in nature. She could feel as the hair on the back of her arms and neck started to bristle, a need to respond and put him in his place mounting. She had just given what she considered one of the best treatments of her life and she was letting him ruin it with his stupid male stupidness.

-What the hell?-
-really?-
-I was just talking to Poe, do you have some guy out there?-
-I'm coming out-

Rey sighed as her phone started to buzz again. She was fired up and preparing to scream at Snap when she noticed not his but Finn's name on the screen along with the time. When had it become nine-o-clock?

Swiping at the screen Rey forced her voice into a cheery lilt answering the phone with a, "Hey Peanut,"

Finn's voice came sounding rushed and breathless like he was running, "Hey pumpkin," the concern in his voice was thick, "What are you up to?"

Rey settled against the her counter crossing her ankles as she held the phone loosely against her face, "Just getting ready to hop in the hot tub. You and Poe make it to that play tonight?" A quick detour away from his real reason for calling wouldn't hurt.

Finn mumbled something, it sounded like he was moving quickly, as he fired back, "Yeah, not Poe's thing but he went. Leia gave us tickets after all, how could we say no?"

"When the bosses wife insists," Rey toned in understanding.

"Right," Finn agreed reluctantly, "Listen P, Snap called Poe in a snit, what's going on."

Snap Wexley was not one of Finn's favourite people. In fact he loathed the idea that Rey had been wasting so much time on him as of late and was not afraid to voice his concern to whoever would listen. Poe in particular.

"He didn't show," Rey told him simply, looking up as Ben entered the room with BB in tow. Her faithful companion wandered to her side, sitting with a slouch as he leaned into her legs. Ben was shirtless but wearing his glorious dark denim, noticeably undone. He quirked an eye, mouthing 'do you want me to go?' clearly questioning whether he should actually take her up on her offer.

Rey shook her head as Finns voice chimed into the phone, "I don't know why you bother with him."

"Me either," was her response as she covered the mouth piece with her hand and smiled at Ben. "Uhm, first door on the right is a spare bedroom, there's a dresser in there. Top drawer has swim trunks, just pick whatever you think will fit. Towels are in the hall closet beside the bathroom. I'll be with you in a minute"

"Uh… who you talking to there darling?" Finn asked suggestively, she clearly hadn't been as sneaky as she had thought. His tone was edged with hopeful curiosity, she knew he was rooting for her to find someone who wasn't an over fluffed arrogant flyboy to spend her time with but how would he feel about Ben? How did she feel about Ben?

Rey let out a soft laughing exhalation as she idly pet BB's head. His ears were soft under her touch as he pressed himself into her embrace. "A friend of Hux's" she replied enigmatically casting a look over her shoulder to watch as Ben slowly made his way down the hallway. She wasn't sure if he were listening, or if she even really cared.

"Male friend?" he crooned curiously.

Rey grinned, "Very." she told him surely, "But, it's not like that. He couldn't get into me at work so Hux gave him my address,"

Finn was chuckling as a bell chimed somewhere in the distance on his end of the phone, "Sounds like the arrogant prat, you ok?"

"Oh yeah, no, great," she said confidently. Trying to assure her friend that she was indeed very much ok out in the middle of the woods with this new acquaintance who just happened to be very tall, dark, incredibly handsome.

"Hold on a second," and suddenly Finn was mumbling something to Poe now as BB shifted and wandered into the living room. She stood quietly a moment, trying to discern what it was Finn and his partner were talking so heatedly about when she turned groping for her glass of wine in the process.

As she found her glass was empty she worked at pouring herself another, managing to pull the loose cork from the neck with one hand. She was helping herself to another substantial helping when Ben emerged from the backroom. He looked adorably uncomfortable as he walked towards her with a large blue towel in hand. He was still topless but now wore a pair of dark blue swim short decorated at random with small bright red lobsters. BB danced excitedly at his side as he came around the raised kitchen countertop giving her the full view of his rather exposed legs.

She let out a loud laugh, moving her hand to cover the mouth piece of her phone, "Im so sorry, are those really the biggest I have?"

Ben simply shrugged, "They're not bad," he told her, taking a moment to look down his body to his legs where the shorts cut off a few inches above his knees. "Listen I really appreciate all of this. I left cash on your shelf, I hope thats ok, for the massage I mean."

Rey nodded as Finn's voice grew louder in the ear piece, "That's great," she told him, "I'll be out in a minute. There's lights…" she started but Ben gave her an easy wave of his hand.

"Take your time, I'll figure it out," he told her as he disappeared through the sunporch again with BB at his heel.

"Peanut?" Finn must have said her name a few times because when she finally clued in that he was speaking to her his voice was laced with concerned. "Listen, Poe's trying to talk Snap down here. I think he's been drinking,"

Joy.

"Just tell him I had a client come out to the house when he decided to stand me up. That should calm him down. I'm not dealing with him tonight." she told him in a tone that brokered no more discussion on the matter. She was getting tired of the childishness and wanted to enjoy the rest of her evening in peace.

"Will do. Breakfast tomorrow?"

"Only if we go to Akbar's I want to go to yoga in the morning," she told him with a grin, it wasn't hard to convince Finn to go to Akbar's, Junior served the best coffee in the area and Finn didn't function well without his coffee.

"Not going to be a late night then?" Finn asked teasingly as Poe hollered Snap's name in the background.

Rey let out a soft breathy laugh, "Naw, it's not like that. Don't get me wrong he's gorgeous but…"

"Right you're thing with clients," Finn finished.

Rey tucked her phone against her cheek as she hoisted her backside up onto her counter letting her legs hang off easily, "It's not my thing, it's kind of a professional thing,"

Finn was quiet a moment before he said, "Don't take his money then…" a little more flippantly then Rey liked the sound of.

"Just stop, he's an interesting guy. Im going to have a glass of wine, soak in the hot tub and then he'll head home…" Her voice dropped a note as she said that.

"Oh…?" Finn of course picked up on the hesitation right away.

Shaking her head Rey said, "Oh no no, he drives a motor bike, I was just thinking these roads up here aren't great in the day let alone at night."

Laughing to himself Finn groaned against the phone as Poe's voice erupted over the speaker, "Please text the asshole, he's ready to drive up there and he's been drinking!"

There was a struggle, Finn sounded like he was laughing as Poe let out a loud cry of indignation, "Ok Im done now, Im going to enjoy the rest of my evening." she sang into the phone, "Love you both"

As she hit end she was sure she heard the loud demand of "Send pics!" from Poe and Finn both. She had to laugh, her friends really did seem to make everything better.

Three more text messages from Snap, all as obnoxiously drunk as the last. She struggled with whether or not she should answer him setting her phone down, picking it up before setting it back down again. Why was it she was meant to care when he was acting like such a dick!

Finally she opened the screen one last time and fired off a simple text

-Had a client, going to rest with BB and a book. Will talk tmrw-

Ok, she was done with that for the night. Shaking herself off she took a deep drink of her wine, slid off the counter and then hurried upstairs to change into a bathing suit. Deciding on something a little more modest then her sun bathing two pieces Rey skipped down the stairs in a simple one piece of deep mauve. It banded around her neck but was laced up between the breasts and left only her upper back exposed.

After grabbing her wine and her phone she pulled a freshly dried towel out of her dryer and padded her way out to the hot tub and her awaiting guest. He'd gathered up the sheets off the table and loosely folded them for her she noticed as she made her way through the sunroom. Taking a quick moment to check on the fire before she burst through the door and into the cold air. She made short work of hanging her towel up on a hook Finn had built into the side of her house before holding her phone a loft. "You ok if I put on some music?" she asked. When Ben didn't respond Rey pulled up one of her many music playlists. Turning on her bluetooth speakers set she had forgotten to take in the night before she was pleasantly surprised to find they still worked. As the mellow voice of Norah Jones fluttered around them Rey ascended the steps and sunk into the bubbling water.

It felt glorious to simply sink in and exist. Setting her glass of wine and her phone down on a shelf behind her she found herself parallel to Ben. His dark stare was deep and still as he watched the world around them. The sky was alight now in a brilliant wash of distant stars. It wasn't a sight one was use to if they lived in the city. Ben watched with the appreciation of one who missed the view, savouring the way the sky lit up the world around them in a glow like fairy light.

After a few minutes of silence, Ben finally turned to her, concern etched on his stoic face, "Everything ok?" He asked calmly. His long limbs reached out through the water resting against the seat next to Rey. He had his arms emerged too sinking back so that his shoulders and part of his neck were swallowed by the water and its heady warmth.

Offering him a kind sort of smile Rey said, "Oh yes, Finn was just checking in. I've lived up here going on two years now and they still feel the need to baby me." she added a sigh of contentment as she relaxed her head back against the slope of the seat the whips of her loose hairs getting damp in the process. She always loved the way the warmth of the water seeped into her core while the chill of the night are licked at her flesh leaving it in goose pimples. There was something about the heat that comforted her, a reminder of a past life maybe, or something deeper.

"You are quite a ways out," Ben seemed to agree, "It's amazing though," he said almost wistfully as he rose a wet hand to drag it through his hair puling it back in an arching wave of body. "It's so busy in the city, people forget the simple things. They consume themselves with a need to fill some vacancy that they have no idea what to do with."

Rey allowed herself to be carried away by his words. He was a deep thinker, complex and mindful. She watched as his lips moved, the way he smiled softly or how his eyes crinkled as he spoke of different topics. There was no rhyme or reason to the conversation, it was easy and flowed smoothly. Their hallows filled with pointed silence where each seemed to simply bask in the others company. Ben was smart, he studied a lot in his free time but never kept any books of his own. When he was deployed it was hard to keep possessions on hand. He had to be a minimalist and in some ways that washed over into his personal life as well. He loved the library he had admitted. He loved the search for something beyond his own understanding. He had learned his way around engines at an early age, admitting to stealing his dads bikes and then cars on more then one occasion. It was deviant and yet Rey loved to hear the telling of it.

She too shared bits of her story, how her parents died when she was young and her uncle raised her in hopes of gaining access to a small trust that had been left in her name. She spoke of her love for her job, her friends and when there was nothing left to say, filled the time with stories of BB and his many misadventures. She talked about finding herself and didn't mind so much, it didn't feel like bragging when when Ben watched her like that. He asked questions and she answered, thinking on the answers carefully as he watched her as though he truly saw her.

As the evening drew on and their skin became a prune-y and wrinkled they moved the conversation indoors without a second thought. It was nice to find herself at ease with someone who didn't seem to really want anything from her. He shut the hot tub down for her while she dried her hair and brought in her speakers. They worked together in simple harmony, moving around one another as though they had always known the others quirks and idiosyncrasies.

After a quick rinse off in separate showers Rey finished her wine and set to making them hot chocolate. Ben was towering his hair dry when he entered the kitchen clad in his dark jeans and a black t-shirt. He was barefoot she noticed, his feet leaving warm, damp foot prints across her floor as he held up the towel questioningly.

"Through the door at the bottom of the stairs," she told him, nodding behind her as she pulled her blanket shawl tightly around her chest. She hadn't bothered to get properly dressed, instead picking out a pair of blue, purple and white plaid sleep pants and a simple beige t-shirt that had the words 'namastay in bed' scrawled across the front.

When she turned, both mugs of hot coco in hand, a heaping number of marshmallows in her own Ben was standing behind her. "Thanks for everything," he said softly, his eyes kind and warm as they caught hers. They looked grateful and curious like he wanted to say more, or maybe move but thought better of it. He wet his lips before saying, "I really should get going soon. It's later then I thought."

Some how they'd managed to spend an entire evening together and have it feel like no time at all had passed. Rey exhaled softly holding out the second cup of sweetly scented hot coco. "I made hot chocolate," she offered weakly. Her insides fluttered as Ben smiled at her, an easy laugh on his lips as he took the cup and held it to his nose.

"You're…" He started to say but his words died away, settling instead on a sweet, "Thank you." Following her as she led him into the sunporch, her favourite room in the house. BB was settled onto the couch snoozing happily as Rey opened the wood stove and poked at the logs a few times with her iron poker. The fire crackled and snapped with pleasant warmth, the embers glowing a deep dark red as it's heat seeped out into the room. Ben sat on the couch leaving ample space she noticed should she decide to join him.

Through her wine addled consciousness she desperately wanted to. How easy it would be to sit down in the space allotted next to him, folding up against the warmth of his strong body. Hesitating a moment Rey took the creaky old papasan chair instead, folding herself into it with cautious ease as the old wicker creaked beneath her. BB, lifting his head to notice he was no longer along, rose to his feet and ungracefully adjusted his position so that his head now lie against Ben's lap. "You've made a friend," Rey offered lightly, sipping on the warm chocolaty liquid in slow tentative bursts.

Ben simply rubbed the large beasts head, his long fingers dipping behind BB's ears to give him loving scritches which the canine soaked up eagerly. After a few minutes of silence, Ben's focus on his task at hand slipped and he looked up to ask, "Why BB?"

Rey laughed softly, "Benjamin Button," she told him with an embarrassed grin, "I went through a Brad Pitt stage, it's weird I know. BB is far less embarrassing."

Nodding sagely Ben allowed his hand to run the length of the furry monstrosities back. He sipped his coco and quietly watched out the window as he had before. His features were still and calm but there was a forlorn sort of pain etched against the set of his brow. Rey found herself wanting to run her fingers along the length of his nose, over his cheeks, down his neck. She wanted to lose herself in his whisky coloured stare and know him. Truly know him.

"Doing ok over there?" she asked softly, Ben's hands stilling as he drew his gaze from the forest and brightly lit sky beyond back to Rey. She was sitting on her hip, her legs folded beneath her as her fingers idly played against her pinky toe. There was a nervousness that settled into her making her feel like she was a teenager again. That frightened sophomore who didn't know how to talk to boys let alone the captain of the lacrosse team.

Ben in this case was the captain of the lacrosse team, "Yeah, sorry," he mused, "It's just nice to feel this peaceful. I don't remember the last time being with someone was this easy." He stilled suddenly as if he had said something he regretted, "Sorry that sounded…" He pursed his lips together and exhaled.

Rey however was quick to rescue him from his thoughts, "I get it," she said softly and she really did.