Ben watched Flesh Rey sleep for a while after he had laid her on the day bed in the green room.
"This is so strange," Rey whispered at his side. "That's me."
"It is." He looked to her beside him. "But she doesn't act the same as you do. She has a southern accent."
"I heard."
"Do you think you'll have your normal accent back?"
She furrowed her eyebrows. "Ben, what if I don't remember?"
His face grew paler. "We'll tackle that when we get to it."
Rey shook her head. "No, we should have a plan for it! What if I don't remember anything? What if I'm not me anymore? What if-"
Ben stopped her and put a hand on her shoulder. "We're doing this to give you your life back, to get you away from Plutt. As long as you're alive and safe, I will be satisfied."
"I want to be with you."
Ben studied her face. He turned to face her, letting his hand run down her arm and bringing his other hand to cup her cheek. "Nothing would make me happier."
She leaned into his touch, looking up at him. "Once this is all done and I'm back in my body, will you make sure I'm still in love with you?"
He leaned to her and pressed his forehead to hers. "I will, if that's what you want."
"I do."
They stayed like that until Rey pushed into his arms, laying her head on his chest.
"We should invite Chewie," Leia mused, searching through her phone.
"That would be good," Ben agreed, adjusting his lesson plans for his larger classes.
They sat at the kitchen table, Leia pausing from julienning vegetables to go through her contacts. Ever the planner, she was already creating a list of people to invite. Ben looked up at her thoughtfully, eyes drifting over her shoulder to his father.
"Han...um, Dad's been hanging around here," he told Leia. "He misses you."
Leia looked up at Ben. "Is he here now?"
Ben nodded.
"I miss him, too."
"He knows."
She smiled and ducked her chin to look back at the vegetables.
Ben looked up to his father whose face was beaming. "What are you smiling about?"
"She can hear me."
"I can do that," Leia nodded.
"You knew he's been hanging around?"
Leia laughed. "I can't see him, but he talks to me."
Ben nodded and rolled his eyes. "Then you can do your flirting on your own, and I'll leave you to it."
Han chuckled. "We've been doing enough of that."
Ben shook his head. "Of course you have."
They smiled and returned to their activities.
The easy silence ended with Leia saying, "I'll invite Luke to Thanksgiving."
Ben tensed, but he was careful with his words. "I was going to go see him on my own time."
"And you need a road trip for you to prepare?"
Ben didn't meet his mother's eyes.
Leia pushed no more. "I'll ask him, but I don't expect an answer."
Han stood behind Leia, and Ben watched his father try to set a hand on her shoulder even though he knew he could not touch her.
"We'll still have Thanksgiving early so you can go up to see him."
"When was the last time he responded to you?" Ben whispered.
"When he let me know you were coming home from your trip with him."
"Mom, that was nearly a decade ago."
"Eleven years. I haven't heard back from Luke for eleven years."
Ben turned his head down to his lesson plans, but he looked through them into his own thoughts.
Ben found himself in the backyard, looking up at the stars, trying to sort out his emotions. He sensed Kenobi appear nearby.
"You knew Luke, didn't you?"
Kenobi nodded. "A bright young man. As talented as his father."
"How much do you know about him, now?"
"I don't even know where he is."
"What do you mean? He told me that you would appear to tutor him."
"He's cloaked himself away from anything supernatural. I cannot reach him."
Ben stood from the steps of the back porch and looked at Kenobi straight on. "The coward," he growled, voice dripping in venom.
"What happened between you?"
Ben winced, noticing that his jaw was clenched and that his nails were digging into his palm. "You don't know? You don't know of the Fall of the Legendary Luke Skywalker? You didn't know he tried to kill his own nephew?"
Kenobi's eyes widened though he kept the rest of his face stony. "Why are you going to him for help?"
Ben felt the sting of his nails breaking skin as his fingers grew wet. "He wouldn't kill me for no reason. I was going to be his own sacrifice for immortality."
"I didn't know."
"You don't believe me."
"I don't know the man he's become, Ben."
"Mom didn't believe me when I told her. I didn't even bother telling Dad."
Kenobi looked up to the porch. Ben turned to look back at his father and Rey listening to the conversation.
"That son of a-." His father blinked out of sight.
"Where did he go?" Rey asked, looking around for Han.
Ben's eyes turned dark. "Most likely where we're headed next week." He left Ben Kenobi in the yard. "I told you I sent my uncles each one of Han's crystals? Luke has one. He loved Han. More than he loved me." He walked past Rey, but she took his arm. "Leave me alone, Rey. You'll meet him soon enough."
"We don't need him."
"If anyone would know how to fix this, it would be him. The only reason he didn't kill me is because I woke up before he could plunge his knife through my heart." He pulled away and punched the door frame, catching a sliver into his already bleeding hand. "And the coward's cut himself off from his powers he loved so much."
"He didn't love the power for power's sake," Kenobi informed softly. "He loved the power because it made him feel close to his father and the same power he held."
"He's dead! Anakin Skywalker is dead. I was there the entire time! And he cared more for the dead than for his living flesh and blood."
"What about you? Do you care more for the dead than for your family?"
Ben looked back to Rey who was tearing up.
"When you bring me back to my body, will you keep looking to the dead?" Rey continued.
"Rey..."
"Think about it, Ben. Would you hate your uncle for something you've become?" Rey disappeared.
Ben swore.
"You're so much like your grandfather," Kenobi noted.
"What do you mean?"
"He was an angry young man like you. When his mother died, he was angrier than I had ever seen him. He tried every way he could to bring her back. In his anger, he could not control his mouth. He hurt the ones he was closest to more than once because he was blinded by it."
"Do I not get to be angry because I was almost murdered?"
"How many lives have you taken, Ben Solo?"
"How many lives have I saved?"
"Was every life you took justified by a life you saved?"
"Screw you," Ben swore, storming inside.