Rey woke up fairly early the next morning. It was a bit chilly and she quickly dressed and wrapped a blanket around herself as she left the hut to pee and get some water to wash with. As she was returning from getting her pail of water, she saw Rose coming out of her hut.
"Morning!" Rose called out to her.
"Morning...sleep well?" Rey said panting and struggling to drag the water to the fire pit.
"Pretty good yeah. Got pretty chilly last night huh? Where's Poe?"
"Oh, I um...think he left really early," Rey said setting her bucket down and walking over to the fire to get it going. The two of them chatted for awhile while Rey got her water nice and hot and Rose began preparing breakfast. Ben finally came out of his hut and jogged over to the girls, leaning down and kissing Rey on her head, then stretching his arms and back out.
"You're in a good mood," Rose said, "also why don't you have a shirt on?"
"I've been stuck on hot planets too long. I'm not wasting this weather, I'm going for a run."
"Please don't break your ankle, Ben," Rey said looking up at him, "it's not exactly great running terrain..."
"I'll be fine...besides. I wanna feel the island out. See what resources are available and stuff."
"Stay away from the cave, Ben."
"I will."
"No listen to me," Rey said firmly staring him in the eyes, "don't go down there. That place is dark and you won't find any answers there. I've told you once before."
"Rey, I promise I won't go near it, you have my word." He kissed her cheek and rubbed her belly.
"I'll be back in a bit."
With that he took off jogging. They watched him for a moment and then turned back to their tasks. Rose looked a bit confused.
"What's wrong?" Rey asked her.
"I don't know it's just...strange seeing him act so human."
"Why? He's not some alien creature, he's Leia's son. He was normal before Snoke got ahold of him. I think it's good he's getting more comfortable around us."
"Oh, yeah, no, it's totally good he's acting normal, trust me. It's just weird to see I guess. You always picture him with these long black robes, and that sinister mask, with that deep creepy voice...and out he walks in loose pants without a shirt on and his hair all messy."
Rey laughed, "I guess it does have to be strange for you."
"Yes, thank you!" Rose said putting food on a plate for her. The girls ate and Rey poured some of her hot water into a smaller basin and walked to her hut to wash. The sun was starting to get higher in the sky now so it was a few degrees warmer. Still, she washed quickly and changed her clothes as it was still a bit cool. She felt much better afterwards and dumped her water out behind her hut.
"Hey Rose?" She called putting to her friend.
"Yeah?"
"Will you wash my hair for me if I get everything ready?"
"Of course!"
So Rey set up her basin filled with more hot water from the bucket, sat on the lower part of the stone pit, and dipped her head back so Rose could wash her hair in the water. It felt amazing to have someone else scrub her head for her, she was leaned back enjoying the hot water when they heard the sound of aircraft near by. They both looked up and saw the Falcon coming in to land on the beach. By the time Poe had walked up to the huts, Rey's hair was done and back in her normal three bun fashion. Rey stayed quiet and busied herself dumping the water out and rinsing the breakfast plates off.
"Hey! Back so soon?" Rose greeted him cheerfully, unaware of the fight between her two friends last night.
"Hey Rose, yeah I had to come back for just a few minutes. I left a few things in Luke's hut and I have to give Rey something."
Rey looked behind her and saw Poe holding something in his hand. Something very familiar she never thought she would see again.
"That's...that's my doll," she said quietly, tears stinging at her eyes.
"Yeah, I had a hell of a time finding it, you were right, all your stuff had been gone through but I guess no one thought this was useful enough to steal."
Rey walked over to him in shock and he handed the doll to her. She looked it over incredulously, then hugged Poe so closely and tightly it nearly knocked him over. She felt tears running down her cheeks and wetting his shirt collar but she didn't care.
"Well I...I just thought that maybe you would want to...pass it on, you know...to your child," Poe said sheepishly, obviously not really understanding her emotions right now.
"Thank you so much Poe...I'm so sorry I said those things to you last night," Rey cried quietly into his shoulder.
"It's fine...I know I was coming across as kind of a jerk but I just worry about you."
Rey pulled back and wiped her eyes, looking at her doll again. She just couldn't believe someone had done something so nice for her.
"I brought some other stuff too," he said putting a rucksack Rey hadn't even noticed down in front of them. Rose opened it up and started going through it.
"Is this for making clothes?" She asked holding up a long length of brown material.
"Yes! Thought you guys may get bored and need some new looks so...managed to snag you some fabric while I was on Jakku. It was super cheap."
"Oh my gosh this is going to be so fun!" Rose said pulling the different colors out to examine them. Rey smiled at Poe.
"I can't thank you enough," she said to him.
"It's nothing...I just wanted you to know I really do care about you and the baby. It's not that I want to smother you at all I just worry..."
"It's fine, honestly. I appreciate it."
"You think Ben would like this color? I could probably make him some pants out of this," Rose said holding up a shade of dark blue, "or a shirt since apparently he needs some of those..." she said under her breath. Rey laughed.
"Yeah I think he would actually. He's only got all black right now so any color is an improvement honestly."
"Where is he by the way?" Poe asked looking around.
"He went for a run. Can't have a body like that sitting around doing nothing I guess," Rey said sitting down on the stone again.
"I mean just look at me," she grinned.
"You look fine, Rey," Poe reassured her.
"I guess I should go. There's a few small things in there besides material you guys may need. I grabbed what I could. I'll try to come back in a week and check on you. If you need me sooner PLEASE contact me Rey, seriously. I will come right back no matter the time. And if you start having contractions tell me immediately! There's a data pad in that bag that only makes calls directly to the resistance ship so no one can track you here. So stay in touch, okay?"
"I will, we'll be fine Poe, seriously. I think Rose will be busy for the rest of the week so I'll just help her with that and we'll lay low. I promise if anything happens with the baby I'll call you first thing."
"Thank you," Poe said in relief. He grabbed his bag out of Luke's hut then began walking back to the ship, "bye Rose!"
"Bye Poe, Rey what about this color?" She said not even looking up at him as he left. Rey smiled, oh well at least they had something to occupy their time now.
Ben came jogging back about half an hour later, sweaty, skin red from exercise, and out of breath. He slowed to a walk as he got close to the huts and came to sit beside the two girls who were separating fabric and going through buttons and snaps.
"What's all this?" He asked breathlessly.
"Poe came and dropped some stuff off, we're going to make some clothes," Rey smiled at him then continued button sorting.
"Actually I'm glad you're here, I need to get some measurements from you," Rose said standing and pulling a measuring tape from the pile of assorted stuff.
"Me? Why do you need mine?" He asked pushing his sweaty hair from his face.
"Because you need new clothes, stand up," Rose demanded. Ben gave a questioning look to Rey but she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
Ben stood and let Rose measure him.
"My god, I don't know if we have enough fabric to make this man clothes..." she said to herself. Rey laughed. Ben looked uncomfortable.
"Lighten up, Ben. She's joking." Rey said coming to stand by the two of them.
"I don't like this," Ben said.
"Oh hush, I'm almost done, now lean down a bit," Rose scolded him.
"No...I mean, I don't like you wasting supplies on me. I have clothes already, you should be making stuff for the baby," Ben said.
"We have plenty, don't worry," Rose said.
"Yeah plus we want to wait and see what it is before we make too much."
"What do you mean 'what it is' it's a baby."
"Ben, you know what I mean."
"I don't think a newborn baby is gonna care what color it's pajamas are..." he said bitterly. Rose spoke up this time.
"Ben, you're getting at least one new pair of clothes and that's final now stop giving us a hard time!"
Ben pursed his lips together but remained quiet and still while Rose finished.
"There, done," Rose said a minute later.
"Ben I brought some water up you can use to wash with if you want," Rey said nodding her head towards the half empty container.
"It's fine, I'll go down and wash and in ocean. I'm too hot right now anyway so it will help cool me down."
So he grabbed some stuff from his hut and jogged down the hill towards the water.
The girls stayed busy preparing the fabric to begin making clothes. Rose got up at some point to stretch and looked out into the horizon.
"Oh my God," she said suddenly and turned back around quickly, her face turning pink.
"What?" Rey asked quickly, worried something might be wrong.
"I just saw your boyfriends whole naked body. Please give me soap, I need to wash my eyes out," she teased. Rey stood and looked down to the beach. Ben was indeed standing there stark naked, drying his body off after apparently getting done washing.
"Stop watching him you peeping Tom!" Rose scolded her laughing.
"It's nothing I haven't seen before..." Rey teased.
"Oh my God, please stop," Rose's face was bright red and she was nervous laughing now.
"Are you jealous?" Rey laughed, jokingly pushing her friend.
"No, if anything I'm scared! Like I figured it was above average because he's so damn massive but Jesus Rey!"
The two of them joked and laughed for a few more minutes as Ben came walking up over the hill with clean pants on.
"What's so funny?" He asked, hanging his towel and other pants up by the fire to dry.
Rose and Rey made eye contact and broke into laughter once again. Rey got up and put an arm around his side.
"Next time you wash, maybe you should pick somewhere a bit more private," she said quietly and patted his back. He seemed to think for a moment, an embarrassed half grin on his face as he realized what had happened.
"I saw more of you than I ever wanted to," Rose laughed. Ben shot a wink to Rey and walked over to Rose, leaning down close to her face staring her in the eyes.
"Don't worry, I know how to use it too."
Rose seemed to be in a state of shock as she stared right back at him, mouth agape, no longer laughing. Ben walked away and Rey began laughing.
Rose looked at Rey holding her chest.
"What...what just happened? Did he just...joke?" She looked at Ben, "was that a joke?" She asked loudly.
Ben just shrugged and went back to his hut to put his soap away.
"Holy shit, does he actually have a sense of humor?" Rose seemed stunned and paused for a moment.
"Also was that like...really hot or was it just me?"
"Why do you think I keep him around?" Rey raised her eyebrows. They both started laughing again. The three of them enjoyed the rest of the day, laughing and joking and just being three normal humans enjoying each others company. Rey had never felt so happy in her life as she did that day. To see the man she loved and cared for be able to relax and be a normal person again...it was more than she could have ever asked for in her wildest dreams. The more she watched him, the more she saw his father in him. It was really quite sad as she knew Han must have been such a fun father figure to grow up around. And obviously Ben had looked up to him if he had taken on some of his mannerisms. It's just a shame Ben had been so wrapped up in impressing Snoke that he did what he did. Rey couldn't think about that scene too much, she had seen it many times over in her nightmares and didn't wish to see it more than that. She pushed it to the back of her mind and pulled herself back into the moment with her friends.
