Summary:
Time jump, nightmare, PHux skinnydipping, and a surprise.

Notes:
Thank you as always to my beta who knows who she is.

I have no clue how the World Series actually works as far as scheduling and pre-game travel, location choosing, etc. Just...suspend belief for this one.

Three Months Later

Three months later

Somehow, Ben thinks, he really should have known it was going to come down to this. Because the way the rest of his year has gone, it's only natural that the final two teams in the World Series would be First Order and Resistance.

Which means he has to face Luke. Again.

It's been in the back of his head since he'd seen Luke earlier in the season, the same day he'd met Rey. Fate had a funny way of doing things, and it's been like a string tugging in his chest since.

The team meeting is just a formality at this point. This close to the end of the season, the entire team knows which two teams will be playing the final games in the Series. The team meeting room is filled with the restless, excited energy of his teammates as they all wait anxiously to find out which stadium will be hosting the Series. Ben throws himself into a seat near the back, fumbling in his bag for gum, before shoving a piece in his mouth.

The past few months with Rey have done wonders for his nervous habits, but being this close to the end of the season and knowing who they'll have to play is just… a lot. So he chews the gum to avoid biting the inside of his cheek to a bloody ruin, snapping and popping bubbles, working his jaw into a rhythm. A hand appears in his face, and Ben hands the pack over to Finn who passes it to Poe, who hands it to Phas, who takes the last piece.

Ben sighs.

He runs his hands through his hair and braces his elbows on his knees in an effort to keep his knees from bouncing. It doesn't work; now his entire body bounces too. It feels like his brain might vibrate out of his skull, and the waiting is like torture. Holdo is taking her sweet time; Ben can see her pacing in the hallway with her phone pressed to her ear. Finally, an eternity later, she puts the phone in her pocket, straightens her suit jacket, and enters the room, walking through the assembled players to be front and center.

"Well," Holdo says, "you all know why we're here. We're going into the final set of the Series, but you know that. We're playing against the Resistance, but you know that too." She pauses for a moment. "It's rather unusual, two teams owned by the same organization playing against each other. But I digress. The reason we're here is to find out where we'll be playing." She opens a small brown envelope in her hand, pulls out the slip of paper inside, reads it, and replaces it. "It looks like we'll be playing in Ajan Kloss."

It seems very anticlimactic.

Around him, his teammates have similar reactions, shrugging and mumbling.

"Right, well we'll have travel details and such soon, so… carry on." Holdo seems distracted, though she's probably already mapping out plays in her head.

Ben is eternally grateful to the gods, and the school board, that the Series just so happens to coincide with Rey's school district's autumn break. Over the past few months, Ben and Rey have rarely spent the nights when he's home apart. Enough so that he has seriously considered buying her a larger bed because his large frame just doesn't fit comfortably in her queen-sized bed. So as soon as he gets a free moment, Ben scours the internet for a rental house large enough for Rey, Rose, Kaydel, and all their kids.

After their weird interrogative dinner, Rose and Kay had accepted him. Rose still called him Sasquatch, and Kay still did her best to make him uncomfortable, but now they had the easy camaraderie of siblings, or at least what he imagined siblings to be like. The same with Finn, though Finn was overly friendly to everyone anyway. And somehow, Ben had finally wrangled Finn into helping him babysit when Rey had invited Rose and Kay to Leia's weekly brunch. Poe had started coming with Finn, and they'd even invited Hux when Phasma had very strongly suggested they should.

So everything had fallen into an easy rhythm, and Ben loved the simple domesticity of their lives now. Rey had even gotten better at cooking - she had surprised him about a month earlier by making him homemade Alfredo sauce and homemade bread. She fretted over the vaguely phallic-looking bread loaves, but he'd praised her and the slightly misshapen bread anyway because it was delicious.

Ben knows that Holdo requires the team to all stay together in a block of rooms at the hotel nearest the stadium, which is normal and expected. But he also knows that he'll sleep better knowing that she's close by, so he texts her links to three houses so she can choose.

Ben: Hey let me know which of these 3 you guys want to stay in.

Rey: Cool! i've never been there! I'll show Rose and Kay but my vote is whichever has the nicest main suite *wink wink*

He chuckles out loud at that and wanders aimlessly throughout the stadium. He notices many of his teammates doing the same, nervous energy rippling off all them.

When Ben encounters Poe, the shorter man is pacing and alternately running his hands through his hair and scrubbing his hands over his face, leaving him looking pretty ragged.

"You okay, man?" Ben asks warily.

Poe grunts, still pacing.

"Poe?"

Poe pauses his pacing, finally looking at Ben.

"We're playing the Resistance," Poe says.

"Yes?" Ben isn't quite certain where this is going.

"We're playing the Resistance ," Poe repeats.

Oh, right. Poe used to play for them. The pitcher has been on the First Order team for at least half the season, and Ben has practically forgotten where he'd come from and who he'd played for.

"Ah." Luke. Ben shifts uncomfortably. "What did he say to you?"

"He said that if I left, I was a traitor and not to ever come back," Poe says through a scowl.

"That sounds familiar," Ben scoffs, shoving his hands into his pockets.

For a while, they're both silent, ruminating on the past.

"Why didn't you play for Resistance," Poe asks, "after college?"

Ben snorts.

"Luke."

Poe quirks a dark eyebrow at him.

"You know I lived with him for a while in junior high and high school," Ben says, and Poe nods. "Han and Leia sent me there when I started getting more attention from scouts. Living with him was like being some kind of monk. He lived and breathed baseball, it was the way for him. It was never like that for me, but I was a kid and didn't know any better, so I followed along with what he taught me." Ben feels his shoulders turn inward. "I thought my parents didn't want me when they shipped me off to him, so I thought I had no other choices. I thought what he said was law. He always wanted to be better, to outshine the Skywalker name after his father had been so horrible." Ben scowls again, shaking off the rising memories. "Luke always pushed me, harder and harder, always breaking down, but never building up. He said he could see how much I was like Anakin, and I think he was trying to keep me from going down that road, the only way he knew how."

Poe frowns.

"What did happen with your grandfather?" Poe asks. "I've heard a lot over the years, but it was before my time."

"It was before mine too, and no one would ever give me a straight answer," Ben replies. "I tried to piece things together, though. He started gaining attention really young. One of his coaches convinced his mom that he'd be better off if he lived with the coach's family, so he could train more. Scouts started watching him in junior high, and at some point all the attention started getting to him. He went to college to study engineering, but he left his senior year to go pro. There had been rumors of partying and drugs, but the college hushed it all up, especially when he did well in the Majors. He married my grandma Padme and got clean for a while, but then more rumors started. Blood doping and cheating, and he started having these…outbursts I guess. Picking fights with teammates and umpires, throwing punches and screaming and getting kicked out of half his games. But he still played too well for them to kick him off the team. He did a lot of gambling in the off-season, and he won really, really big. Big enough to buy out a team even while he was still playing. And I think he got addicted to the power, since he'd been ordered around his whole life and had never made his own choices. He drank and gambled more, and more cheating rumors got started. Padme left him, and it all got worse. And then his car crashed." Ben shrugs. "He really was a good player, I think he was just lost a long time before it all went bad for him.

Poe's dark eyes are wide.

"That's a lot," Poe says. "And Luke thought you'd be…like him?"

"I guess," Ben answers. "I idolized Anakin for a long time, watched his games and analyzed his playing style, but I think Luke misinterpreted that. I guess he thought I wanted the power and notoriety, not the way he played. And then when I started getting angry because he was treating me like shit, his reaction was to kick me out. When I was eighteen he threw me out on the street, and I was so broken down that Snoke finally got to me. He'd been skulking around, scouting me for a while. When Luke kicked me out, Snoke took me in, got me tryouts at colleges. Then once he was sure I was good enough for the majors, he started pressuring me to leave Chandrila U. That was the only time I stood up to him, and I paid for it. Once he signed me on at Eff Oh, he started in with the same shit Luke did. Crazy training, ranting and raving about legacies, always telling me I'd never be good enough to live up to my grandfather's legacy."

"And Han and Leia just let him treat you that way?"

"I don't think they knew. They weren't around much when I was younger, and when I started getting better, I started getting angrier at them. Then Luke offered to coach me, and I was gone. I felt like I didn't have anyone to talk to, so I just did whatever he said to do. And then with Snoke, it was more of the same, but by then, it was all I'd known for so long that I just let it happen."

"Ben," Poe says, not angrily, but not weakly either, "why didn't you tell me? I thought we were friends."

Ben feels his shoulders pull in.

"I didn't think anyone would care."

"If I had known, man…" Poe breaks off.

"Well, it's better now anyway." Ben isn't sure how to feel about this whole conversation, but Poe at least, looks like he feels better.

But Ben is…unsettled, off-kilter.

The team leaves for Ajan Kloss tomorrow, so he heads home to Rey, exhausted. They fall into bed after dinner, and for once they don't even fool around. He wraps himself around Rey and falls into restless sleep.

Fifteen year old Ben waking up at midnight to Luke scowling down at him.

"Up. Get up! NOW!"

Ben didn't groan or complain - he'd learned after the first time that it meant extra laps and pushups and anything else Luke could think of. So he silently followed his grizzled uncle down to the basement gym for another of the old man's grueling random workouts. Ben hoped Luke wouldn't make him stay up all night this time; he had a test first period tomorrow. He ran on Luke's treadmill for what felt like hours - in total silence until out of nowhere Luke started pelting him with baseballs. To teach him how to dodge, supposedly.

Then Ben was eighteen, Luke was yelling in his face, Ben yelling too.

"I can't do this anymore!"

"Then get out." His uncle's tone is harsh.

Luke's face turns to Snoke's, too close in his face, fetid breath gagging Ben.

"I'll help you, boy, get you into a good college program, toughen you up before the Majors."

Snoke, screaming that Ben is ready, ready to leave school to go pro now . Ben standing up for himself for once, and paying for it when he joins the First Order team. Extra running, brutal training with no time for sleeping or eating or anything . Teammates noticing and being tortured too, enough so that after the first year, Ben started scowling and snarling to keep them away, ramming his shoulders into them in the hallways, throwing punches in practices, and Snoke has effectively kept him in isolation until Ben is finally, finally broken. He follows orders, keeps teammates away with snarls and a bad attitude, sometimes still picking fights. No fan interactions, no dates. Nothing . So Snoke lets up with the training and Ben bulks up, silently building up even more walls. He paints his face in a black death-mask to strike fear in opposing teams and keep his teammates away.

Snoke, calling him drunk instead of torturing with training. Bloodlines and legacies and bullshit.

And Ben just takes it.

Takes it, takes it, takes it.

Until.

Ben jerks upright, drenched in sweat, with Rey frantically smoothing her hands over his upper body.

"Ben. Ben? Breathe. It was a nightmare."

Her soft voice is a balm after the rough rawness of the dream.

"I'm here, it's okay." She's still touching him, wrapping her small arms around him as much as she can.

Inhale. Exhale.

Ben curls himself around her, still struggling to breathe and calm himself. Shudders wrack his body, and he buries his face in her hair.

When he can finally pull himself completely from the memories, the tension in his body releases enough that he can fall back against the pillows, pulling Rey against him as he falls. For once, she's the one who is warm while he shivers, and he pulls her closer, needing to touch her, to be sure she's real and still there.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asks, threading her fingers through his where they rest on her shoulder.

"I talked to Poe today." And he tells her all of it, the memories he'd dredged up about Luke and Snoke and everything else.

It's the first time he's said it all out loud. How he'd let himself be used, how he'd treated his teammates.

"I think," she pauses to look him in the eyes and he knows what's coming, "I think you should tell your parents.

His free hand runs through his hair, catching in the knots made by his tossing and turning.

He sighs.

"You're probably right." His eyes squeeze shut at having to deal with it, talk about it all again . "But then I'm done with it, okay? It hasn't bothered me since…" and he trails off.

But she knows.

She presses a kiss into the skin of his chest, and they drift back to sleep, tangled together.

Ben wakes abruptly the next morning, the stark reality that he's going to play in the World Series finally settling over him. It's what he'd dreamed about as a little kid, before he'd even really known what it meant. He drags his free hand over his face and laments the lack of feeling in his other. Rey has wrapped herself around his arm and leg in the night, and he is loathe to move her, particularly since it's unlikely that they'll sleep together again until the series is over. He runs through his mental checklist for what he'll need to bring and groans at the thought of digging out a suit for the press conference. Rey huffs in her sleep, burying her face further in his shoulder at the light peeking through her curtains.

Her left arm stretches across his torso, and he holds her small hand in his, tracing her fingertips with his thumb, pondering-

She sits bolt upright.

"Breakfast!" She yells, throwing off the blankets.

"What?"

"Breakfast! We were going to make you breakfast!"

She's a little bleary-eyed, but she jumps out of bed and races into the kitchen. He chuckles at her enthusiasm, and at the banging sounds and cursing he hears from the kitchen. He also hears a chorus of "swear jar!" from all three kids and pulls himself out of bed to join them.

Jacen has made coffee, and Ben nods gratefully when the boy hands him a cup. The nightmare and lost sleep have left him with something akin to a hangover, and he'd like to be coherent before he leaves for the ride to Ajan Kloss. Rey ushers him to a seat, refusing to let him see what she's cooking, though the smells and number of things cooking on the stove give him a pretty good idea. She's letting the kids help her, and Ben smiles into his coffee mug while they do more singing and dancing than actual cooking.

He is not surprised when Rey plunks a rather enormous bowl of her breakfast spaghetti in front of him and mouths "sorry" and gestures at the kids. It's still kind of odd, having noodles combined with breakfast foods, but it's still delicious, and he says so. Jaina and Alema preen and grin through their noodles, and Jacen tries to pretend he's not proud of himself. As usual, Rey tucks into her food with gusto, praising the kids and asking questions about the upcoming Series.

Ben is once again struck, as he has often been over the past few months, at the simple domesticity they've settled into. Shared smiles with Rey over their coffee mugs, conversations with the girls that he can't quite follow about princesses and knights, talking stats with Jacen. Sometimes he and Rey cook together. Sometimes the kids help. And every time he has to leave, his heart constricts and won't loosen until they're back together.

Eventually, he drags himself out of his seat to help do dishes. Rey's got a distant look in her eyes that Ben knows means she's trying to hide her sadness at him leaving.

"It's only for a few days, sweetheart," he says into her hair.

"It could be a whole week!"

Ben prays to the gods of baseball, if there are such, that it will not be a week. Facing Luke again in his nightmares had been unpleasant enough, and he'd rather not have to do it again for a week straight.

"Can we at least see you? Before or after games?" Her green eyes peer up at him hopefully.

"I don't think Holdo minds," he says, "but it'll probably be pretty limited. We'll have press conferences and practices and meetings and shit."

Her nose scrunches up at him before she stands up on her toes to kiss him.

"Swear jar," she whispers against his lips, and he huffs a laugh against hers.

Once his things are all gathered and in his car, Ben comes back in the house for final goodbyes. Alema and Jaina are racing around, darting around his legs.

"Bye, Daddy!" Jaina screams, kissing him when he leans down.

Ben kisses her back and stands before her words hit him. He looks up into Rey's widened eyes, and watches the tendon in Jacen's jaw tighten in a painfully familiar way.

Well, shit, now he has to fix this.

"Jacen, can we talk?"

Rey watches Ben's back as he and Jacen go into the kitchen. Worry washes over her; Jacen has been doing so much better over the past few months, but she hasn't seen him look quite like this either. She isn't sure if the boy is upset because he thinks his sister thinks Ben is her dad, or if it's because Jacen thinks Jaina has forgotten their parents altogether. And she isn't sure which is worse.

Sighing, Rey rounds up the girls and gathers their things for an impromptu trip to the library with the hope that it will cheer Jacen up a bit. Jaina runs around like a demon with a face somehow covered in peanut butter, though Rey has no idea how it happened, and Rey has nearly forgotten the whole incident when Ben and Jacen return from the kitchen.

They both look considerably happier than when they left for their chat, and Rey is again grateful for Ben's calming influence on both her and her kids. She thanks whatever lucky stars or gods or whoever sent him into her life for what is probably the millionth time as he smiles down at her. They all walk out to his sleek black car for another goodbye.

"I love you," she says into his skin before pressing a kiss into the column of his throat.

"I know." He grins and kisses her forehead before she can swat him. "I love you too," he whispers into her hair as he wraps her in a hug.

Rey sighs into his tight black tee and rubs her face into the fabric to get the scent of his cologne in her hair.

"You need to go."

"I do." He makes no move to leave.

"Ben!" She pokes him in the ribs, earning a grin and a sore finger for her efforts.

"Fine, if you're so eager to have me leave," he says, pretending to scowl, but drops the expression quickly. He waves to the kids, climbs into the car and drives off.

Somehow Rey, Rose, and Kaydel manage to get all of their kids safely to Ajan Kloss despite the four hour drive and an exorbitant amount of potty breaks. Ben has rented an enormous house with enough space for all twelve of them to sleep comfortably, and she hopes that he'll be able to visit them between games because the house is enormous and lovely, right on the beach. Rey can hear the waves through her open window and imagines what it would be like in summer, with a blazing sun and laughing children. She makes a mental note to price out a vacation, now that she can afford something more than their annual trip to the local amusement park.

Once all of their things are unpacked, everyone packs back up and heads to the stadium. Leia, as owner of both teams playing, has an entire skybox and has invited Rey and her cadre to join her and Han for the games. When they arrive, they present their passes to the gate attendant who leads them up a few flights of stairs into an enormous glass-and-chrome box. The view is incredible . Jacen immediately runs over to the bank of windows and peers down at the field and starts spouting off trivia about it, but Rey can only half listen while she corrals Jaina and Alema back away from the glass so they don't leave nose prints on it. Several TV screens line the walls, and Rey points out Ben on one; they can see the whole stadium from the box, but they're so high up it's hard to see the players' faces.

Rey introduces Han to Rose and Kaydel and the other kids, and they all settle down into their fancy reclining chairs to watch as the game starts.

As the game progresses, Ben seems…off. The whole team seems slightly nervous or uncomfortable, even indomitably unshakable Finn, but Ben seems especially so. His usually graceful movements, surprising for such a big man, are tight and jerky and not like himself. Beside her, Jacen hisses through his teeth and clamps his jaw shut every time Ben makes a play, and Rey can only assume it's not going well. The scoreboard would agree with her, it's seven to four at the bottom of the eighth, and the Resistance fans are going wild in the stadium below. Leia and Han share glances in that "we've been married so long we can speak telepathically" kind of way, and Rey wonders what they're thinking. As for Rey, she's worried for Ben. His shoulders round after every failed out, and even from a distance, she can read him well enough to know that he's clenching his fists at his sides. Thankfully, his uncle hasn't been present much on the sidelines, so she can only assume his odd behavior stems from nerves and the pressure of making it to the World Series.

When the game is over, even Jaina is subdued at the loss.

"Cheer up, guys, there are at least three more games left," Han says in a lame attempt to bolster their spirits. Leia glares at him, and he raises his hands in defeat. "I'm just sayin' they could do better tomorrow. The first game is always the worst."

"You're right," Leia says. "Now, who wants a pretzel before the shops close?" That lifts the kids' spirits at least.

It is very late when Ben arrives at the rented beach house, with still-wet hair and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. The girls are asleep, but he quietly kisses them each on the forehead after depositing his bag in Rey's room. Jacen is awake and reading, and Rey can hear him and Ben having a low conversation in the other room. Probably Jacen asking about the game and if Ben is okay. Fidgeting with the hem of her oversized baseball tee, Rey waits on the edge of her bed for him to come back in her room. When Ben finally comes back in, he flips the light switch off and flops down on the bed beside her and throws an arm over his eyes.

The room is dark, lit only by the faint glow of the hallway light outside her door.

"Ben?" Rey asks. He hadn't even kissed her hello.

"Yeah?" His voice is hoarse, but faint, like he's much farther away.

"You okay?" She nudges him with her knee.

He sighs in response.

"Wanna talk about it?" She asks.

Ben sits up.

"You saw the game."

"Yes," she replies, "but there are more-"

"I know that." He cuts her off and slides off the bed, kneeling beside the duffel he'd dropped earlier to unlace his running shoes. "It's just…" he trails off, looking up at her, his face unreadable.

"It's just what?" She's frustrated. Why won't he talk?

His brows crease and the tendon in his jaw flexes like he's practicing the words in his head before saying them aloud. He looks down.

"I don't want to do this anymore."

And Rey's heart sinks to her toes.

XXXXX

Gwendoline Brienne Phasma is well aware of how badly her team played tonight, and the loss stings. They're at the World fucking Series; they should be better .

She walks along the beach, hand in hand with Armie, feeling the tiny, cold waves splash over her ankles. Armie, because he's a delicate ginger flower, chooses to avoid the water, and their arms are stretched out as far as they can reach, just so he won't freeze his little toes off. Phas chuckles quietly, but sobers again quickly to return to that steely mindset she has so carefully cultivated.

A tiny white crab scuttles along the dunes in front of them, and Armie nearly crushes it before she jerks him back. They stand still to let it pass, and a particularly large wave rushes up the sand, this one reaching her knees and passing over Armie's exceptionally pale feet. He screeches like a wounded monkey. Naturally, Gwen pulls him further into the water. He lets her, but he lifts his knees high to his chest as if to avoid stepping on...something. She's not sure what; the beach is pristine and the only wildlife was the tiny crab he'd nearly obliterated.

She rolls her sweats up higher on her thighs and goes deeper into the waves, tugging along a very reluctant Hux. Then she gets an idea and grins evilly. Gwen bolts back out of the water, past the tideline, and quickly strips off her clothes. Hux shrieks at her when she races past him, out to chest-deep water and dives in. She surfaces and dives again into the frigid water, enjoying its freezing burn tingling over her skin. When she surfaces again, a shivering Armie is beside her with his arms crossed over his chest. She cocks a platinum brow at him.

"I'm only out here," he says shivering, "to rescue you if you get swept out to sea."

Gwen snorts.

"If anything, I will be rescuing you ."

Armie grins at her, then his sharp fox's features soften.

"You do rescue me, you know," he says quietly, but not weakly.

For a time, Gwen is silent, listening to the waves crashing, letting her body bob along in the freezing water.

"We should get married," she says suddenly and turns her body in the water to face him.

"Of course we should. I've been waiting ages for you to ask me." He sniffs primly. "Do I get a ring?"

"You bloody wanker, of course you get a ring." She threads their fingers together, and they share a kiss that almost makes them forget about the frigidity of the water.

Until a particularly large wave rolls in to crash over their heads, sending them spluttering and laughing back to shore.

XXXXX

"It's just been too hard lately, and I don't know if it's even what I want anymore." It feels good for Ben to finally say the words out loud. He's been feeling unsettled for a while, and he'd come to the conclusion on the bus to Ajan Kloss. "I feel like this is a good time for it to end, you know?" He places his shoes neatly beside the duffel bag and unzips it. "It's been a good run, but I think it's over." He lets out a breath that feels cleansing, but final.

Rey sniffles above him. Ben raises his eyes to meet hers, and she's…crying?

"What happened?" She whispers. "What did I do?"

"What?" He blinks up at her, confused.

"I said," she growls through her tears, "what did I do ? Why is it over?"

What is she-

Wait.

"Rey, sweetheart, no." Ben edges himself over to where she still sits on the edge of the bed and rests his chin on her knees. He reaches up to brush her tears away with his thumbs. "Rey," he says, "I want to retire ."

"You- what?"

"I think now is a good time for me to retire. I only ever wanted to make it to the Series, and now we're here. Go out on top, you know?"

"I just- what ?"

He appears to have broken her brain.

"Rey. Rey ." He sits back on his heels and runs his hand through his hair. "You didn't think I-"

Now she cuts him off.

"You were being weird!" Her voice is watery. "You didn't even kiss me and you said you couldn't do this anymore! What else was I supposed to think?" She crosses her arms over her chest and inhales shakily.

For a moment, Ben thinks that maybe he shouldn't do this now, he had had plans , dammit, but he wants to reassure her. So he pulls the bag closer, and pulls out the gift he has for her, fiddling with the bottom layer a bit before placing it on her lap. She's confused at the pile of fabric that lands on her lap, and she arches a brow at him. He grins at her, watching her unfold the tiny black First Order jersey.

"That's nice, Ben, but-"

"Turn it around."

He knows what she'll see when she turns it. His number, five, and-

She inhales sharply.

" Solo ? Ben, what does this mean?"

"Tomorrow, at the game, they're honoring Han, and…" he pauses for a breath, "I'm going to be playing under my real name for the first time."

"But this is tiny ," she says, holding up the jersey for inspection.

"Well, yeah," he says like it's obvious. "That one's for Jaina. I got one for each of you."

"You- but- for all of us?" She looks like she might cry again.

"Of course. Jacen's gonna flip his shit." Ben chuckles at the thought. "You should try yours on, though."

She grins and unfolds the other two jerseys before finally getting to hers. Ben's heart is pounding out of his chest, and he's not sure he can breathe.

Because it's Rey, and because she's excited, she flaps her jersey out in front of her rather than unfold it, so naturally she doesn't hear the small thud of the velvet box hitting the carpet. Ben contains his laugh and retrieves the box holding it out in front of her, waiting while she pulls the jersey over her head rather than fiddling with all the buttons.

"It's softer than I imagined," she says, smoothing her hands over the fabric. "I love it!" And then she finally looks back at him after an eternity and gasps.

"Rey?" He'd thought his hands would shake when he proposed to her. He'd thought he'd be nervous and awkward, but it's Rey, so how could he be. "I want the name on that jersey to be your name too."

She does the thing, the both hands over the mouth thing, that all women seem to do when a ring box appears in front of them.

"Rey, will you be my wife?"

Her hands are shaking when he slides the ring over her finger, but then her hands are in his hair and she throws herself on him hard enough that he falls backward on the carpet. She kisses him hard, her hands tugging at the hem of his shirt, then sliding beneath it when he doesn't remove it fast enough. Her hips rock into his, and she moans against his mouth before trailing her lips over his jaw and down his neck. When she finally succeeds in getting them both undressed, she hovers over him, pressing his tip just inside her entrance, and he groans and resists the urge to push her down and split her open. Rey pulls on his hands, threading their fingers together. Ben watches the muscles of her thighs tighten as she holds herself over him, sliding back and forth, using his tip to spread her arousal over them both. Her hands grip his tightly as she sinks down, fully sheathing him inside her. Rey's head tips back as she rides him, flexing her thighs and rolling her hips.

The ring glints on her finger, and the animal part of his brain crows mine forever .

Ben jerks his hips up to meet her, and she pushes his hands over his head and leans down, bringing their chests together. Their skin burns where it meets, and Ben has to fight not to flip her over and pound her into the carpet.

Rey's thighs tighten over his hips, and her cunt grips his cock tighter when she comes, and she's so undone that it sends him over the edge with her. They collapse back to the carpet in a sweaty heap, panting and spent. She kisses the flesh over his heart, then bites and sucks a mark there, looking pleased at having marked him as hers.

"Rey?"

"Hmm?" She sounds like she's already almost asleep.

"You never actually said yes."

Rey lets out an enormous sigh and rolls her eyes theatrically.

"Yes, fine , I'll be your wife." She pulls his head down and kisses his forehead.

"The jerseys weren't just for you, you know." Ben sits up to look at her properly.

"You mean you want to-"

"Of course I do. I know we haven't talked about that, but I know you wanted to adopt them, and they're my family now, too."

And she starts sobbing again as she throws her arms around him.

This time he lowers her to the carpet.

A/N:
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