Kylo palmed his phone the second it began to ring. He'd been expecting the call.
"Ren."
"Got your message. What's the, uh, situation?"
"I'm about to go dark. But I've got a package. A very important package. It's a girl. She's here with me. She's a target, but I don't know why yet. I'm going to go deal with it.
"There could be complications. I need you to do something for me."
There was a pause on the other end of the line, then, a less enthusiastic reply, "Let's hear it."
Kylo eased from one foot to the other, uncomfortable with what he was about to say. "I may not make it out alive this time."
There was muffled cursing on the other end of the line.
"I want you to take her someplace safe. Make sure she's okay if I don't come back. See that she has a good life."
"Kid, you really take the cake. If I was there I'd kick your ass all the way to the next solar system. I can't believe I'm hearing this. What the hell am I supposed to tell your mother?"
He heard clanging noises in the background over the line, then a snarling response to someone else. " Get that pilot out of the cockpit. I want to give him a piece of my mind. " Then back to Kylo, "Damn it, Ben…"
"No names," Kylo hissed.
A disgruntled silence. "When do I need to pick up this package?"
"Today."
"That doesn't give me a lot of time, son."
Kylo ground his teeth. "I'll make it worth your while."
"You really are a son of an asshole."
Then he was talking to someone else. "Chewie! Get this bird ready, we've got to make a last minute change to the flight schedule." A pause. "Takodana. Yes, that's what I said. You need to have your hearing checked. Pluck those ear hairs, old man."
Back to Kylo. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do."
"Good." Kylo hesitated. "Sounds like you've got a lot going on. Don't you think it's about time you retired?"
"Is that a hint of worry I detect?"
"No." Kylo scowled. He'd shunned sentiment years ago, cut it out of him, just like he'd done with his own heart
"Keep it quiet when you fly in. Don't turn any heads. She could be in danger. It's too dangerous for her to stay with me anymore. She'll need to assume a new identity. About twenty years old. Brown hair. Hazel eyes. I trust you know how to accomplish that."
"Son," the man began across the line. But Kylo stopped him.
"Thank you," Kylo murmured.
A sigh. "Don't thank me yet. Still thinking about kicking your ass when I see you."
The line went dead.
Kylo tapped the phone against his thigh before tossing it back into the duffle.
He'd never had a good relationship with his father, but he had a fantastic business relationship with Han Solo.
He didn't often think back to his life before he became Kylo Ren. It was too… painful. But unbidden memories flooded his mind. The laughter of a young boy, trusting brown eyes, always looking up to him, eager to do every little thing he tried to do.
He stopped himself short. He had no time for the past. Had no time for the water that leaked from the corner of his eye.
Kylo's gaze shifted to the dawn breaking over the mountains. It would be the last hours he would spend with Rey, and he still had much yet to teach her. He swiped a sleeve over his face, picked up a set of boxes from his bed and went to find her.
She was on the deck, quietly absorbing the morning. He liked her quiet way. He liked so much about her, and he knew how wrong it was for him to form an attachment to her.
But he would never tell her, and she would never know.
Down in the basement, where a single lane firing range had been built into the mountain under the house, Rey learned to shoot.
Firing a gun was as exciting as it was intimidating. The trigger was not her friend. She would need a lot of practice to get the right feel for it.
Rey half remembered all the stuff Kylo explained to her about dominant eye, aiming, squinting, and smooth trigger pull. How to breathe. Don't flinch. Then there was the rest of his talk on stance and arm control and rules.
Always with his rules.
"Treat every gun like it's loaded," he'd said as he unboxed the brand new pistol. "Always point it in a safe direction. Don't put your finger on the trigger unless you're ready to shoot. Don't load this gun until you're ready to shoot it. Only use the proper ammunition."
He began sliding bullets into the magazine. "Never point a gun at anything you don't plan to destroy."
He pulled back the slide at the top and peered down into the barrel. "Make sure the barrel is clear before loading or shooting."
He showed her how to use a proper holster, and had a few variations for her to try. "Whatever you do," he told her, "don't ever stick the barrel of a freshly fired gun down your pants. You'll burn the kriff out of yourself. Idiots don't even do that."
He drilled her on loading a magazine with the bullets her gun used. He drilled her on checking to see if the chamber was loaded. He drilled her on safety. He drilled her on the controls. What to do if it misfired. Maintenance. Cleaning.
Kylo turned pensive as he watched her through her drills. He finally spoke. "We're going to have company soon."
That was a surprising statement to Rey. She didn't think Kylo was the type to entertain guests. "Really? Who?"
"An older man. Has a scar on his chin." Kylo absently drug the side of his thumb along his own chin. "His name is Han Solo."
"I thought that was code." She sent a smirk his way.
He cut her with a lazy look. "Just don't shoot him if you see him. He's… I suppose he's a friend." He stumbled over the word 'friend' like it was foreign language to him.
Rey hoped she never had to shoot anyone. She shrugged anyway. "I'd probably miss if I tried."
Kylo dropped four more boxes of bullets on the table before her. "Practice. I'll be upstairs."
She watched him go, thinking he was acting weird. "Kylo?"
He turned to face her once again. She almost told him to forget it. Sudden embarrassment caused her to redden and go quiet.
He only regarded her, waiting, his expression almost gentle.
Her eyes fell to the floor. "Why didn't you just shoot me when you found out I was supposed to be part of your contract?"
A great exhale left him almost angrily. She looked up again to see his face darken.
"I have a lifetime of regrets. You will not be one of them." His eyes burned into her for a long time. She still felt the effect of those eyes long after he left.
Sniffing back sudden emotion, she put the earmuffs on her head and prepared to fire off all the rounds she could while she had the chance.
Several hours passed before Rey felt competent with her new weapon. All her targets were in tatters and spent bullet casings, which she didn't know what to do with, littered the floor at her feet. She swept it all into a pile and then began to clean her gun the way Kylo had shown her.
She felt a fresh sense of accomplishment with this new skill. She no longer thought of herself as helpless anymore. She knew how to protect herself. But she still hungered for more knowledge and almost looked forward to what Kylo would decide to teach her next.
Rey's heart stopped when she opened the door of the small passage and found someone unfamiliar in the basement with her. The past days of Kylo's caution and training kicked her pulse into high gear.
It took a moment for her to remember that he was expecting a guest.
She looked at the man. Something about the shape of him seemed oddly familiar. He was older, had gray hair, a largish nose, and a scar on his chin. He wore serviceable clothes, tall boots and a vest. He could be considered handsome and probably turned a lot of heads when he was younger.
His face conveyed confusion as he looked her over as well.
"Hello," she said, wondering why Kylo wasn't down here with the man.
"How much time do you need? We've got a hot bird on the runway," the man's deep grumble filled the space.
"I'm sorry?"
"A plane. Down on the airfield. Waiting." He tossed a thumb up and over his shoulder.
A plane waiting? A little thrill worked its way up her spine. "Kylo didn't say we were flying anywhere." She smiled at the man. "Are you Han Solo?"
The side of his mouth tipped up in a slow smile as well. "Yeah. Did he tell you about me?"
Rey's eyebrows came together. "Oh. No. Kylo only said that you were coming. And that I shouldn't shoot you."
He seemed a bit crestfallen, but he also rolled his eyes. "Nice of him."
She shrugged slightly, unsure of how to respond, and started up the stairs. She took all her new shooting supplies to her bedroom and startled when Han Solo followed her in.
"Get packed up, kid. We don't have a lot of time."
"Oh. Right. I only need a few minutes." There wasn't a whole lot to pack, but she did pull out the few things she had on hangers in the closet. Should she wear her gun on the flight? She wasn't sure, so she left it in the box and put it in her suitcase. All her hygiene items went in last.
When she rolled her case out to the open den area, she expected to see Kylo waiting too.
He wasn't there.
Frowning, she ducked inside his bedroom. All was tidy; nothing was out of place and all his stuff was gone. There was no black duffle bag. No large sleek gun case.
Han Solo gave her an expectant look from the front door. He tilted his head, indicating it was time for her to go.
"Is Kylo already outside?" she asked.
Han's hands went to his hips. "He's not here. Come on."
"Not here?" She looked around her once more. But he was here, wasn't he? He wouldn't have left her there. Would he? She ran to the garage entrance off the kitchen and burst inside. The AT was still in the far bay. The pickup in the first. But the middle bay was empty.
The classic sports car was missing.
She stepped back into the house and went to the front door, past Han, and looked out on the driveway. No sports car. Only an idling sedan that she hadn't seen before.
No Kylo.
Han had the house locked up and her suitcase halfway to the car.
"Is Kylo waiting for us at the plane?" she asked. A queasy feeling settled in her belly. She wrapped an arm around her middle.
"Doubt it." He slammed the trunk closed on her case and opened the passenger door for her. "Get in."
She hesitated. What happened? Where did he go?
Tears threatened to fall. "Maybe he's coming back?" she asked tentatively.
"Let's get on the road, kid," Han called from inside the car.
An unwanted sob worked its way up from her chest. She covered her mouth to hold it in. What was this intense emotion? It threatened to choke her. She sat down in the passenger's seat beside Han in a daze. She looked back to the house, sure she'd missed something.
The car began to move and her tears blurred their departure. Another cracking sob forced its way out of her. She stuffed her fist in her mouth. Her hands smelled of gunpowder. She remembered how Kylo had told her to keep her eyes open and to avoid flinching, his big hands warmly cradling hers around the handgun for only a moment before lifting away.
He already had her.
She was already lost to him.
In that frightening moment of realization, her heart broke in two.
She didn't want to leave him.
But he'd left her.
Weren't they becoming a team? Or was that only her wishful thinking?
It had taken many years for her to understand abandonment. As a child, she'd been too young to know that she'd been left behind in an orphanage. But as she aged, she'd seen other children dropped off in Niima. By then, she came to realize that the same thing had happened to her.
Now she felt a brand new sense of loss.
That she was unwanted.
Again.
"Aw, hell. Didn't he tell you he was leaving?"
Rey's head hung low. She shook it. He was gone and she would probably never see him again. She covered her mouth, hating that she was crying in front of this stranger.
Han cursed under his breath.
It was an uncomfortable drive. Rey tried to control her emotions. She couldn't figure out why she thought of Kylo leaving her as a betrayal of sorts. She knew he wasn't hers. She knew that.
Providence, however, had placed him in her life as someone she'd had no choice but to trust with all her being. She had relied on him for her survival. And he had never disappointed her. He had taken care of her. Taught her things. They had formed a bond. The maddening pain in her chest was a reminder that she hadn't imagined his fierce tenderness toward her in the past week.
Kylo Ren had tunneled his way into her heart. His being gone? It left her empty in a horrifying way.
"Where are you from, kid?" Han Solo asked, breaking her free from further introspection.
Rey sniffed and wiped her face. She hated these tears. She hated this feeling. She finally focused on the road in front of her and was able to give him an answer. "Jakku."
Han made a sound of distaste. "Family there?"
She shook her head. "Orphanage there."
"Huh," was all he said for a few minutes. Eventually, he put his hand on a folder that sat between them and he pushed it over. It bumped against her thigh. "This is your new identity."
Startled, Rey eyed the folder of papers. Then she stared at the side of Han's face as she picked the folder up. There was a name on the first page that stopped her short.
"Ursula Kuat?"
Han cringed. "Yeah, sorry about that. Had I known you better, I might have picked out something a little more… suitable."
Rey didn't feel like reading anymore of the pages. She'd never had parents or a family. She'd lost all her belongings. Her friends. She'd lost Kylo. Her heart. She'd already lost herself in more ways than one, what was losing her name?
"You know, I was an orphan, like you," he told her.
"Oh."
Han sighed. "So, uh, what kinds of things are you into? Do you have a trade or hobbies, something like that?"
A small glimmer of remembrance dashed across her mind. The corner of her mouth lifted in a sad smile. She hadn't lost all of herself. "Yeah. I'm a mechanic."
"No foolin'? How about that. Have you ever worked with aircraft?" Han sounded pleasantly surprised.
"I've never had the chance to be around planes, but it's something that I'd definitely like to try."
Han cracked a satisfied laugh. "Kylo never mentioned that you and I would have so much in common."
Her ears perked up at Kylo's name. "You talked to him? About me? What else did he say?"
Han flashed her a quick look, his eyebrows drawing down. "Sorry, kid. He's really not the type for small talk."
"No," she agreed. "But what did he tell you?"
"He said it was too dangerous for the two of you to be together and that you were in need of a new identity. He said," Han stopped short. "Some other things. So tell me," he hedged. "How well do you know him?"
"How well do you know him?" she countered, determined to protect Kylo, even though he'd left her—to protect her? And now it was too dangerous for them to be together?
"I asked you first."
She bit her lip and stared out the window, shoulders slumped again. "I trusted him," she said softly, even though it was more than just an issue of trust for her.
"That well, huh?" He sighed, took in another deep breath. Hesitated. "Are you his girlfriend? Are you pregnant?"
She snapped to attention and her eyes whipped to Han. "What?"
"Well?" he asked, voice rising uncomfortably.
She could feel her neck and chest and her whole face heat up to inferno-like temperatures.
"No," she said. But she sounded bleak. She was ashamed of how bleak her denial sounded. She should have been outraged at such a notion of being Kylo's abandoned, pregnant girlfriend. But she wasn't.
She was gutted.
"Not that it would have been a bad thing," Han raised a hand, palm out, and gave a small shrug.
"For who?" she asked, bewildered and slightly incredulous, wondering at the strange turn the conversation had taken.
"For me," he stated like it was obvious. "I've never been opposed to the idea of grandchildren."
Rey blinked.
Then she blinked some more.
"Am I to understand… that Kylo's children would be… your grandchildren?" she asked with deliberate slowness.
He raised a palm half off the steering wheel and gave her a squint-eyed, lazy smile.
"You and I have a lot to talk about," she murmured.
"You bet your ass we do."