Chapter 22-

Rose Tico loved to tinker. Working with her hands, doing anything mechanical, was her preferred way to spend her time...apart from being with Finn, that was. Fortunately, she was lucky enough to be doing both at this very moment.

"Hand me the #3 hydrospanner, please," she instructed. She held the loose compressor in place with one hand and stretched out the other one in anticipation of the requested tool.

"Um, which one is that again?" Finn asked. "The really big one or the little one?"

Rose peeked around the engine to glare at him. "It's the baby one," she explained teasingly. He quickly grabbed the correct one and placed it into her palm. She smiled and shook her head. "You're hopeless, you know that? You'd never make it as a mechanic."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I was in First Order sanitation."

Rose laughed at this self-deprecation. "As long as you know your limits." She maneuvered the hydrospanner into the tight workspace and was just finishing up when the beacon bracelet on her wrist lit up and started pulsating. She slammed the engine panel shut and exclaimed, "I've gotta go!"

"What do you mean you've gotta go? Go where?" Finn questioned, taken aback by her sudden sense of urgency.

She quickly gathered up all her tools and headed out of the hangar, talking as she walked. "Gotta tell Leia...gotta find Artoo...get the Falcon…"

Finn realized she wasn't really talking to him- just rattling off a cryptic to-do list. He sped up, grabbed her arm and forced her to stop. "Rose, what in the world are you talking about? Where are you going? Why do you need to tell Leia?"

She seemed slightly perturbed that he was delaying her departure and pulled her arm out of his loose grasp. "It's Rey." She held up her wrist so he could see the flashing bracelet. "She activated her beacon which means she needs me to pick her up. I need to go now." She took off again and Finn followed.

"Ok, ok. Then I'll go with you."

Rose paused and stared at him curiously as if making a decision. Finally, she said, "Yeah, I don't know that you'd really want to go, Finn. But It's okay. I'll be fine with Artoo."

Finn frowned. "No, I want to go. What if you run into some trouble? Artoo can only help so much. And Rey is my friend, too," he added.

She considered his explanation and then relented. "All right. But just...just...don't…"

"Don't what?"

She sighed. "Just don't freak out when we get there." With tha,t she took off again. Over her shoulder, she yelled, "Go find Artoo and get the Falcon ready for take off. I'm going to tell Leia."

"Freak out?" Finn said to himself. "Why would I freak out?"

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Rose found Leia instructing a group of young officers in the command center. She looked up when Rose entered the room and offered a smile. The way this woman could remain so optimistic in the midst of all they were up against never ceased to amaze Rose. Leia knew from the look on Rose's face what she had to say and dismissed the others.

"It's time then," she stated when Rose got close enough. Rose nodded and showed the beacon bracelet. "So you're leaving now to go get...them?" Leia asked, unable to even say the name of her son out loud for fear her hopes would be dashed.

"Yes, and Finn insisted on coming with me."

Leia nodded and sighed. "That's probably a good thing. The First Order has been ramping up patrols all over, likely searching for...Ben."

Rose touched Leia's hand in support. "I don't know what to expect, but I do know that Rey will do everything she possibly can to bring your son back. She can be really stubborn, you know," she finished with a little smile.

Leia put her other hand over Rose's and patted it twice. "I know. She is a very determined young woman. Thank you, Rose." She gave her a quick hug and then said, "And may the Force be with you."

As Rose walked out of the room and headed to the Falcon, she realized that her day was about to get very interesting.

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Ben finally released Rey from his grip...and his lips. Their kiss of triumph over the Knights of Ren left them both a little dizzy.

"Just for the record," he started breathlessly, "that's what I really wanted to do after we beat Snoke's guards."

She grinned. "Just for the record, that's what I really wanted you to do after we beat Snoke's guards."

He laughed out loud, and she loved the sound of it. It was new to her and she wanted to hear it more. They slowly became aware of the villagers who had circled around them. Ben's little friend, held tightly by her mother, broke free and ran over to wrap her arms around Ben's leg. He leaned down and picked her up, and she threw her little arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

Rey watched in amazement and with a hint of amusement. Who would have ever thought the former Supreme Leader would be such a natural with children?

A yell from outside the circle drew everyone's attention away from the heroes. One of the Lanai was crouching over the villager who had been hit by Ushar's killer war club. She was begging for help, telling them she could still feel a faint pulse in her friend. Rey and Ben ran over and immediately knew what they needed to do. Squatting down on either side of the unconscious Caretaker, they laid their hands together on top of her chest and concentrated the Force and its healing powers upon her. Once again, they felt the warm tingle spread throughout their bodies, down their arms and out their fingertips. The onlookers watched, and in a few moments, the wounded villager's eyes fluttered open and she pushed herself up to a seated position. There were cheers and hugs all around as they celebrated the return of their friend.

Ben and Rey spent the next couple of hours helping the Lanai do their best to put their village back to rights. They even dragged the bodies of the fallen knights into a pile and started a fire. Leaving dead bodies lying around was not a good idea. Suddenly, a familiar sound broke through the night. Another ship was arriving. It passed in front of the moon and Rey was relieved to see the welcome shape of the Millennium Falcon.

"She's here," she said excitedly to Ben who was just finishing up throwing a final log on the flames.

Instantly he felt a bit of trepidation, but it wouldn't keep him from doing what he needed to do. Now that he had made his decision to leave the Dark Side and all its empty promises behind, he was all in for plunging ahead into his new life...whatever it might hold.

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Rose set the Falcon down skillfully onto the rather primitive landing pad. It was really just a flat, rocky ledge- the only place for landing a ship this size.

"So this is where Rey's been?" Finn asked, as she switched buttons and secured the landing gear.

"Yes… and Finn," she paused to look at him, "she's not alone." She hadn't told him that Kylo Ren was there, too. She figured it was Leia's prerogative to reveal his involvement up to this point. Plus, she wasn't sure how Finn would react. It was pretty inconceivable that Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader, was also Ben Solo, son of General Leia and currently hanging out with Rey on a hidden island planet.

"What do you mean, she's not alone?" Finn questioned. "Who is she with?" He was already starting to freak out. She could tell by the way his voice was growing increasingly more high-pitched and the words were spilling out faster and faster.

"Just...you'll just have to see for yourself. Just...just don't freak out."

"You keep saying that, and it's making me freak out!" he said.

Rose walked past him out of the cockpit. "Come on," she said, shaking her head.

They exited the Falcon, Artoo remaining on board because of the rocky landscape and to keep the ship ready to go as soon as they returned. Finn kept talking the whole trek to the village, his nervousness causing him to chatter incessantly. Rose kept her responses short and sweet, not sure what to expect when he finally found out who was with Rey. Fortunately, it didn't take too long and the fires of the Caretaker village were in sight. As they got closer, she could see Rey standing ready to welcome them, but she didn't see her companion.

Finn saw her too, and ran to pull her into a big bear hug. "Rey!" he exclaimed, happy to see his friend. "You're okay!" He let her go to see her smiling face.

"Of course, I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

Finn tried to explain himself. "I don't know, but Leia and Rose wouldn't tell anybody what was going on, like it was some big secret, and-"

As he was talking, a tall figure emerged from one of the village huts and Finn saw him out of the corner of his eye. His voice drifted off, his sentence left incomplete as the figure approached. It took a moment for him to recognize the man in front of him without his typical black attire and clean shaven face. This person looked more like some kind of space pirate, but his mind knew who it really was. He instinctively drew his blaster and aimed.

"What- what is HE doing here?!" he yelled in angry disbelief.

Rey instantly jumped in front of Ben, holding out her arms to shield him from Finn. "Finn! Nooo!" she exclaimed.

Rose just calmly shook her head then walked over to push Finn's blaster to point at the ground. "I told you not to freak out, remember?" she said.

"But-but," he sputtered, looking at Rose and then back to Rey and Ben. "That's KYLO REN! Rey, he tried to kill us! Kill. Us!"

Finn tried to raise his blaster again, but Rose pushed it back down again and looked apologetically at Rey. "He insisted on coming with me."

"Rose, you don't understand," Finn continued, "that's Kylo Ren. He is the leader of the First Order!...our ENEMY, remember?"

"Yeah, Finn, I know who he is. Now put your blaster away and calm down."

He looked pleadingly at Rose, then to Rey, then at Ben and back to Rose who was glaring at him with her hand held out. Finally, he conceded with a resigned sigh and placed his blaster into Rose's custody.

"Hmm. That wasn't as bad as I thought," Ben said with a nonchalant shrug. All eyes turned to him, the three surprised to hear him speak. Rey relaxed her stance and dropped her arms back to her sides. Rose studied him.

"You look in a lot better shape than when I last saw you," she said to Ben.

"Must be the salt air," he replied. "It does wonders."

Rose and Finn both froze and looked questioningly at each other, not sure whether he was joking or not. Rose then glanced at Rey who shook her head. "I'll tell you what happened when we're on the ship," she explained. "For now, let's get going." She picked up a bag from the ground and slung it over her shoulder.

"He's coming with us?" Finn asked, dismayed.

"Yes," Rey answered simply before brushing past him, headed toward the Falcon.

Finn looked over at Ben who just raised his eyebrows and gave another little shrug. He adjusted his bag ready to start walking, when a Caretaker came running after them. The little youngling stopped in front of Ben and said something to him in her language. He crouched down, now on her level, and the tiny girl threw her arms around the big, fierce, former leader of the First Order.

Finn couldn't believe it. He stood dumbfounded. "What...what is happening?" he said to no one in particular, unable to move.

Ben stood. As he passed by Finn, he patted him on the back. "I've been asking myself that same question." Then he took off after Rey.

Rose couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of the whole situation. "Come on, Finn. Let's go."

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Finn kept a wary eye on the fourth member of their group as they entered the Falcon. He paused at the bottom of the ramp to be the last to board. Rey and Rose were far too trusting, in his opinion, and he would have to stay on alert for the good of all of them.

Rose and Rey quickly made their way to the cockpit and fired up the ship for take off. Ben, however, walked past the cockpit access corridor and made his way toward the main hold. Finn observed him closely. He seemed to be surveying every inch of the old ship from floor to ceiling as he walked. Ben entered the hold and stood in the middle of the room looking all over as he turned in place. He noticed Finn watching him from the door and stopped, their eyes locking, sizing each other up.

"I don't know what game you're playing," Finn finally said, breaking the silence.

Ben shook his head and said simply, "No game."

Finn continued to eye him skeptically. "Yeah, well...we'll see."

"Fair enough." Ben moved casually over to the bench near the dejarik table and plopped down, stretching his long arms comfortably along the back of the couch. He was clearly not intimidated in the least.

"If you do anything to hurt Rey...or Leia…" Finn started, but he didn't finish.

Ben stared at him intently for a moment. He had to admit, he admired the man's attempt at playing the protective hero. "You know, you got a second chance when you left the Order. That's all I want, too." Then he leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees." I'm not your enemy," he explained. "Not anymore."

Finn furrowed his brow in sudden confusion. This was not the conversation he had been expecting. Not knowing what else to say, he turned and left. As he entered the cockpit, Rose and Rey were just lifting off. He slid into one of the passenger seats behind the two pilots and waited until they cleared the planet's orbit to commence his interrogation.

"Okay, Rey, what is going on?! Explain to me how in the world we have Kylo Ren lounging around in the hold on his way back to our headquarters!"

"Ben," Rey said shortly.

"Wh-what?" Finn questioned.

"His name is Ben," she explained. "He's not Kylo Ren anymore. And don't forget, he's also Leia's son," she added, looking back at him.

"Do you think he's just magically NOT evil anymore because we all call him something different? He was just fighting against us weeks ago!" Distress was apparent in his voice.

"Oh, I don't know, FN2187. That whole name change thing seemed to work out okay for you," Rose chimed in unexpectedly. Finn stared at her, speechless. "Rey trusts him, and that's enough for me." Rey smiled gratefully at Rose in the co-pilot's chair. "Everyone deserves a second chance."

'Thank you,' Rey mouthed to her friend who smiled in return.

Finn gave up his protest for now. Time would tell, and he would keep watching...very, very carefully.

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Once they jumped into their first stretch in hyperspace, Rey left Finn and Rose to go check on Ben. She found him with Artoo in the main hold. He was seated at the engineering console studying something in his hand. He sensed her approach and turned to offer a tiny, tight-lipped smile. She saw that the gold dice were what he was holding. He stood up as she came near, and she leaned back on the console station.

"We're in our first jump," she informed him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," he nodded, slipping the dice back into his pocket. "Your buddy, Finn...he doesn't really trust me much."

"Can you blame him? I mean, you did try to kill him," she teased.

"No, if I had really tried to kill him, he wouldn't be here now threatening me against hurting you," he teased back, even though they both knew it was true.

"Finn is a good friend," she said in his defense.

Ben moved to stand directly in front of her. "Is that all he is?" He sounded a little uncertain, she noticed, suddenly realizing he probably had good reason to doubt people truly cared about him. Snoke had surely filled his head with years of poisonous, twisted emotions. He needed something steady and true.

She took a gentle hold on his shirt front and pulled him closer. Without saying a word, she kissed him slowly and softly, trying to reassure him in a way that would leave little doubt. When she finally pulled away, she gazed into his eyes and said, "Yes, he's just my friend."

Ben smiled widely, revealing his dimple, and moved in for another kiss. Abruptly, the ship lurched out of hyperspace, causing them to stumble and fall to the ground. Rey landed sprawled on top of him, and before she could manage to get off, another jolt sent her right back down. Ben's arms went instinctively around her in protection.

"That felt like a blast hit," he said.

In the next instant, a frantic Rose appeared in the doorway, and upon seeing Ben and Rey on the ground, her eyes widened in shock. "Oh!...oh, okay...um, we have a problem," she said, looking away discreetly while the two scrambled up off the floor. "First Order fighters."

It was all she needed to say. Rey and Ben dashed off toward the cockpit. Finn was doing his best to navigate, but he was an average pilot at best. Another shot blasted the Falcon, and they could see several other fighters swarming outside of the viewport.

"Good thing Chewie and I just upgraded those shields," Rose exclaimed.

"Finn, you and Rose go man the guns," Rey instructed, as she slid into the empty co-pilot's seat and took over flying. The two took off, leaving Ben standing awkwardly at the back of the cockpit. He was looking strangely at the pilot's chair Finn had just vacated. Rey steered the Falcon sharply to the right to avoid another blast and then glanced back over her shoulder at him.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help?" she yelled.

It seemed to do the trick. He sat down into his father's former chair, took a deep breath and grabbed the controls.

Rey smiled reassuringly at him. "You told me you always wanted to be a pilot like your father," she said. "Well, now's your chance!"

The feel of the controls in his hands sent him straight back to his childhood- sitting on his father's lap as they flew off to all kinds of places...places sanctioned as 'safe' by his mother, of course.

'I'm gonna be captain of the Miwinnium Fowcan someday, Dad!" he remembered declaring confidently as a very self-assured five-year old.

Han patted his head and replied proudly, 'You bet, little buddy!"

And that was all Ben had wanted...before…

He forced his focus back to the incoming fighters. Odd how he was now fighting against the very organization he helped to build. Two were headed at them from the starboard side, so he jerked the Falcon on a hard right and aimed straight for them instead of away from them. It caught the pilots off guard just long enough for him to speed high over them, giving Rose, who was in the lower gun turret, a clear shot. Luckily, she was paying attention and landed a direct hit on one of the enemy fighters.

One down.

He circled back around to face the others- four that they could see. "Their command ship can't be too far away," he explained. "They wouldn't be able to be out here all alone for long."

Rey agreed. "We need to get rid of them and make our next jump." She started plugging in the next hyperspace coordinates while Ben kept flying.

He lined up another good shot, this time for Finn, and that left only three more. For several minutes the fighters pursued in a wild game of chase, Ben deftly evading most of their blasts. One was coming in hot on the port side and another from starboard, hoping to catch the Falcon in their crossfire. Realizing their intent, he yelled, "Hold on!", and then sharply pulled back on the controls before jamming them quickly forward and then down. The Falcon suddenly dropped from their enemy's sights, and the two ships destroyed each other in their own crossfire blasts.

"Yes!" Rey exclaimed triumphantly. But Ben was still intently focused on the last fighter, who must have just realized he was on his own. Instead of continuing the attack, the fighter disappeared into hyperspace, leaving the Falcon flying solo.

"Dammit!" Ben said under his breath.

Finn and Rose's whoops of joy sounded from the quad laser turrets. In no time, they were bursting into the cockpit, excited about their win.

"That was awesome flying, Rey!" Finn exclaimed.

"It was Ben," she replied. "He was the one flying."

Finn instantly sobered, unsure how to respond to that information. However, Rose had no problem.

"That was amazing!" she said to Ben. "You lined up those shots perfectly for us!"

Surprisingly, he didn't look very pleased. "One got away," he said in disappointment. "He'll report back about us and it will get to Hux. No, I should have finished him off."

Rey reached over and placed a hand on his arm. "We're alive and in one piece," she interjected. "I say we call that a win. Now let's make this last jump and get back to base. I have the feeling someone is anxious to see us." She looked at Ben with a comforting smile, before punching them into hyperspace.