A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get you an update! I was writing a fic for the RFFA and it got WAY more involved and longer than expected. But I'm back working on this! Updates should, I hope, come a little faster after this!

She's in her dressing room, carefully putting her violin away, when there's a knock. Her back stiffens. It can't be him…it can't be Snoke. She needs to redo her makeup, fix her hair, go to the after party.

Where she'll watch Ben fawn all over some gorgeous model that Snoke had picked out for him. She'd seen her already. Not someone she recognizes, but she was sitting next to Snoke in the audience, a predatory look on her too-thin face, as she watched them interact on stage.

It had really only been a moment, that look the woman had given her, just as Ben had wrapped his arm around her waist and led her off stage. And Rey hates her. What a silly thing, that, but she feels strangely protective of Ben…her Ben. And she hates that Kylo Ren is supposed to take his leave of her and spend the rest of the evening taking some woman with no understanding of music, of his heart, into his bed.

She supposes it is what it is. Snoke is only the setup for these things. It's Ben's choice to leave with them.

The knock comes again, and she sighs, carefully closing the violin case before turning to the door. She tosses her head back, tilts her chin up, and throws the door open.

It's not Snoke.

It's Ben.

"Hey," he says, and he looks back and forth quickly before leaning forward. "Can I…uh…"

"Come in?" she finishes for him.

"Yeah."

She steps back and lets him enter the small dressing room, and suddenly the room seems so much smaller.

He moves around the room, touching things, straightening her violin case on the table, with Rey watching on. She smiles at his restlessness, but after another minute of it she finally sighs. "Did you need something?"

He turns on his heel to face her. "Sorry," he mutters. "The after party," he says, letting the words hang in the air. His fist clenches and unclenches.

"Yes, I know," she says. "I'll be fine on my own."

"On your…" he starts to say and then – "Oh. No. I don't want to go with her."

"Ben?"

"Kylo," he says quickly. "You still have to call me Kylo. Out there at least."

"And in here?"

He steps closer, and one hand raises, almost touches her. "Here I'm Ben. Just Ben."

"I don't think there's anything just Ben about you."

He shrugs at that. "I suppose not." He holds out an arm then. "Well, Miss Kenobi, I do believe we have an after party to attend."

Her eyes widen at that. "An…I'm confused," she admits. Snoke has his date lined up. She knows how it ends, how it always ends.

His arms fall to his side. "I'm not going with…whatever her name was. I can't remember. I sent her home."

"Home?"

"Yes. She wasn't happy. I'm sure I'll hear about it tomorrow." He lets out a small huff of laughter. "But I want to go with you."

"That seems…"

"The right thing to do. You're my new musical partner. We should be there together. Snoke doesn't understand how these things are done."

"I think Snoke invented how these things are done," she points out.

"Well, it doesn't much matter. We're going. Are you ready?" He holds out his arm again and she just stares at it. This is stupid. This is dangerous. She knows Snoke will have his head. And probably hers. But then she looks up, meets his eyes. He looks so earnest, so honest. He wants to go with her. And damn Snoke and everything he stands for. She's going to go with him.

"Give me a moment to freshen up?"

He smiles then, and she can't help but smile back. "Of course," he says, and with a nod, she retreats to the small bathroom to make herself look a little more presentable for the party.

They walk into the room arm-in-arm, walking close enough that with every step, he feels her body brush against his. It thrills him, feeling her there. It's the first party he can remember actually wanting to be at, the first time he's felt so relaxed.

No, that's not quite true. He remembers a balcony, and a young violinist waxing poetic about her time at school, catching his breath while basking in her loveliness. He hasn't thought of that night since she first stepped into the auditorium for her audition and he recognized her, but he supposes even then he must have felt drawn to her. She's the sun, the light to his darkness.

Here in the room, surrounded by so many people, she just shines. And he stands close enough to be burned by the rays of her light.

They traverse the room, Rey never straying far from his side. Sometimes he walks near her, sometimes he wraps his arm around her and draws her closer. There are people who want to meet her, who adore her already. It's easy to adore her. East to love her, and that scares him right down to his toes.

He's in trouble.

Serious trouble.

They're chatting with one elderly couple, long-time supporters of the art programs Snoke Enterprises endorsed. "My dear, I never thought I'd see the day Kylo Ren would perform with someone else," the woman says. She's still holding onto Rey's hand as she speaks, and Ben really would like to pull her back away from the woman. He can see that she's feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Yes," the woman's husband says. "And such a beautiful and talented young thing." There's almost a leer behind the word and so Ben does the only thing he can think of. He puts his arm around Rey's shoulders and draws her a little further away.

"I think she's getting a little overwhelmed, Mr. Pryde."

"Of course," he says, piercing eyes watching them both.

"The balcony, dear?" Ben says as he leans down closer to Rey.

She just nods, but it's enough for him to pull her away from Pryde and his insufferable wife. He always has to talk to them, always has to deal with her hands pawing at him and Pryde's arrogance. It's enough to put anyone off, but he knows this is all out of the realm of Rey's experiences and so he steers her away.

"Thank you," she whispers as they make their way to the balcony.

"I know those two all too well," he comments. He glances back as they slip out the door. Snoke is watching them and that sends a shiver down his spine.

Rey pauses and looks back at him. "Are you okay?"

He shakes the feeling off. "Yeah…let's..." He clears his throat. "Let's just get a little fresh air before we return to the fray?" He tries to smile, but it's like his lips are somehow frozen.

But she doesn't notice, there in the darkness that their eyes have yet to adjust to. And he's thankful for that much at least. "Yes," she finally says, and he leads her out to the railing to look over the city below.

She likes him close, likes him standing with his arm wrapped around her. She had been sure it was all for show, but out there alone on the balcony, he pulls her in tight to his side.

"Ben?" she asks.

He doesn't say anything for a moment and she almost calls him by his stage name before he does finally respond. "Yes?"

"What are we doing?"

"It's the after party…"

"Ben." She pulls herself away from him and turns to face him. "You know what I mean. Why aren't you out there seducing that model? That's what you do, isn't it? So why not this time? Why go with me?"

She can't quite make out his eyes in the dark, but she sees him go somewhat rigid. "I wanted to go with you," he says in response, every word a little clipped.

"But why?"

"Why not? You're my new musical partner. You're talented and beautiful. Why wouldn't I want to go with you instead of some vapid woman Snoke insists I take?"

"You think I'm beautiful?" she asks, the words slipping out before she can stop them. She's always been the tomboy, the girl who climbed higher on the monkey bars than others at the playground, the one who likes to run, get muddy, play soccer and basketball when she wasn't spending most of her time perfecting her instrument.

She's not beautiful.

Cute, maybe…if she's really being generous. And she usually isn't.

He reaches out for her, pulls his hand back, but then steps forward a moment later and seems to have made up his mind. His hand comes up and cups her cheek. "You really have no idea," he murmurs. "I don't know how you don't. You dazzled the entire audience."

"I think that was you," she says, the words a mere whisper.

"No. Definitely not. There was this electricity in the air, and it was all you. People couldn't stop watching you. You were magnificent." His thumb moves, brushes across her chin and then across her bottom lip. She wants to nip at it, draw it into her mouth like she did the last time, but she stops herself. The last time scared him off, the last time made him draw back and pull into himself.

No. She won't make that mistake again.

And so she says nothing as he leans a little closer to her. She can almost make out his eyes in the dark, can see them meet hers, flit down to her lips, and back up again.

She nods. Just once. Slowly.

He dips his head. His lips are a hair's breadth from hers.

"Well, isn't this sweet?" comes the harsh voice from somewhere near the balcony entrance.

Rey jumps back, and Ben is left standing, slightly bent over, as he seems to come back to himself slowly.

Snoke.

"Imagine my surprise when I find out that the very lovely woman who was to accompany Kylo to this party was sent packing without so much as a by your leave"

"Snoke…" Ben starts to say, but Snoke just holds up one hand.

"And now I find you out here, about to do what with your violinist?"

"I'm not his violinist," Rey shoots back with.

"Yes, well, you're hardly a violinist at all, are you my dear?" Snoke says, every word sending a frisson of fear and loathing up her spine. He takes a step toward her and she's surprised to see Ben position himself half in between them. His body doesn't block her view of Snoke's movement, but it would be easy enough to slip behind him, hide.

Run.

She's not the type to run and so she puts a hand on Ben, just a brief touch. He turns to look at her for a moment and she nods, stepping to the side and facing Snoke full on.

"I suppose," Snoke goes on with, "that now is as good as any time to discuss your performance." He presses his hands together and all Rey can think of is some evil villain from a superhero movie. He's enjoying this far too much.

"It went very well," Rey says.

"Did it?" Snoke asks.

"Yes," Rey responds with, and crosses her arms over her chest. "Did you hear the audience?"

Snoke scoffs. "The vast majority of the audience are a bunch of know nothings. They'd happily drink a three-dollar wine and proclaim it high class. You can't listen to them."

"We were not three-dollar wine," Rey starts to say when Snoke cuts her off.

"No? You were awfully close. Oh, sure your performance was adequate, perhaps even slightly more than adequate." He holds up one bony hand. "But there's more to a performance than just the music. There's fire and passion and glamor."

"Glamor?" Ben asks.

"Kylo Ren," Snoke says. "He's not just some sniveling brat who minces out onto stage and plays his music with his head buried in the piano. No!" His hand forms into a fist and he thrusts it toward them. "He's alluring. Everyone wants to know him." He whirls on Ben then and there's this strange light in his eyes. "Everyone wants to be him."

And she wonders…does Snoke?

The disdain is back as his eyes fall on Rey again. "You," he says, pointing one finger at her. "You are not glamorous enough. You think we didn't all see you tromp out onto the stage wearing those flat clunkers as shoes. Your posture is terrible. There's nothing elegant about you."

Rey thinks about interrupting him, but she can't quite seem to find the words. She can feel the heat on her cheeks, can feel her stomach starting to churn. She wants to find the nearest trashcan and hurl the little appetizers she'd eaten right into it. But instead she stiffens her spine and faces him.

He narrows his eyes. "You think you're better than that?" He smiles then and it sends a shiver up her spine. Ben moves a little closer to her when she does, and she glances up at him. He's not watching her. He's watching Snoke, his eyes wide. She has no sense of what he's thinking at that moment, but she's pretty sure his face is paler than usual. "You do," Snoke says. "Of course you do. And look at you, at the after party with the greatest pianist to grace the stage in more than a decade. You must be so proud of yourself."

He pauses then.

"I…" she starts to say, but he holds a hand up.

"I need nothing more from you." He turns from her as if she's nothing, as if she's still just that kid who was found digging through a dumpster in the hopes of finding a meal, left on the street by parents who no longer cared. "You," he says and points a hand toward Ben.

Ben says nothing. Rey glances up at him, and it looks like he wants to say something. But then he presses his lips together and gives Snoke a small nod.

"The great Kylo Ren," Snoke continues on with. "What do you think they think of you now? Showing up to this party with her on your arm. You have an image, boy. And she is not it. Let her flounder on her own. She's nothing but a little bit of decoration on the stage, and not a very pretty one at that."

She gasps at his words. She's never thought much about her looks. It's just not been something that matters to her, but here she feels the hair stand up on the back of her neck and she wants to fight back. She wants to scream at him and push him and my God, but there is a part of her that wants to draw her fist back and punch him in his hideously twisted face.

"I think Rey looks fine on stage with me," Ben says, every word a little stiff, like they've been dragged out of him without his ever meaning to utter them.

"Do you now?" He scoffs. "Of course you do. You've been thinking with what's between your legs ever since you met her." Here his voice turns almost conversational, as if he's commenting on the weather and not her. "What a strange thing, really. I send you to these parties with the most beautiful of women, women the world would give anything to take to their bed. And yet time after time they come to me with complaints about how you've sent them home wanting. For a little while I thought you might actually be gay, but then I saw no interest in men either. And so I assumed that perhaps things just…" He waves a hand at Ben and steps a little closer. "…didn't work. Perhaps they don't. I'd have to ask her." The last is said with a vicious finger pointing at Rey.

She draws her hand back.

She's going to strike him. She can't even stop herself as she starts to swing her hand toward his face.

But a hand grasps her wrist, wraps around it and stops her from being able to make that final blow. "Rey," she hears Ben's soft voice in her ear. "It's not worth it."

She takes a deep breath.

Then another.

"Yes," Snoke says. "Go ahead and strike me. I'd love nothing more than to have you arrested for assault."

Another deep breath.

"No," she finally manages to say. "He's right. It's not worth it." She glances over at Ben before looking back at Snoke. "You are not worth it."

"Hmm…" He doesn't even look at her as he addresses Ben. "You can keep your little plaything for the stage. But at the next party, you will not be seen with her. You will take who I tell you to, and this child can go on her own. Or bring some equally uncouth young man. Maybe one of those boys she was seen with at the last one."

"How dare you?" Rey mutters.

Ben says nothing, and so she turns to look at him. He's not looking at Snoke. He's not looking at her. He's staring at his feet, and he looks so…cowed. "Ben?"

His eyes meet hers for a moment, slide away.

"Fuck," she mutters. And then she turns and storms off.

She hears Ben call her name.

She hears Snoke say something to Ben.

No one comes after her, though a few people try to stop her on the way through. She doesn't want to talk to them, and she knows they'll be talking about how rude she was, how Kylo Ren's new partner is so standoffish, but she can feel the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

She will not cry.

She will not let him get the better of her.

Fuck.

"The worst night of your life?" Finn is asking. He and Rose look so concerned, and she has no idea what to tell them. They'd been there at the concert, had seen her triumph. But then they'd gone home, and she'd gone to the after party.

As soon as she left the party, she'd called them and then she couldn't stop the tears. Now she sits at their favorite coffee shop and she looks around at her friends. Finn, Rose, and Poe as well. They'd all shown up even though it was the bloody middle of the night.

She loves them.

She really does.

"Yes," she finally says, picking up her tea and taking a sip. It's hot. Too hot. But it somehow feels good, real when nothing else does. She shivers. "Snoke…you don't know what…"

"What about Kylo?" Finn asks.

"What about him?" Rey asks.

"What did he do?"

Nothing comes to mind. But it was more than that, she realizes. It was like he was frozen in place, like he couldn't manage to move beyond some sort of fear. She can't pretend to know exactly what was going through his mind, but she can understand. There's something off about Snoke and it's not just in the way he wields power.

"Fear," she mutters. She watches as the other three lean forward. "He said nothing. He was…he's afraid of Snoke."

"You're not," Rose points out. Rey's head shoots up. "Don't tell me you are. We know how you stood up to him. We saw the look you gave him when you walked on stage."

"I'm not scared of him. But he…there's something wrong there. I just know it."

Finn leans forward. "You think he did Kylo dirty. Don't you?"

"I do. I don't think he just fell down the stairs. I think Snoke was involved somehow."

"You need to quit," Rose says, and she's surprised by the dark look on her face. "Even an orchestra job would be better than this."

"And leave B…Kylo…alone? I can't do that."

"Rey," Finn says. "You don't need to protect him. You have no investment there."

She sighs. That's not true and she knows that. There's…something there. Something that draws her to him. She remembers their kiss. She can still see the look of horror in his eyes as he listened to Snoke berate her, can hear him calling after her before she disappeared into the crowd at the after party.

"I do," she finally says. "There's…more there." She glances over at Rose and sees her nod. "Rose knows."

"Rose?" Finn asks.

"This is dangerous," she whispers. "Rey, you both need to get out."

"I know." She nods. "I know. And…I don't know how to."

But she will. She'll walk away from Snoke, and she'll take Ben with her when she does. She has to. Because it's the only thing she can do.