Ben finished his last class on Friday afternoon with a lightness in his step. The early Thanksgiving at Maz's was happening that evening, and he was already feeling the holiday buzz. Things were a little quiet between him and Rey, but she continued to follow him to school, keeping her crystal under the UV lights Ben had put over the new permanent plants he kept in his office and classrooms. He was hoping that after the holiday break, they wouldn't need the UV lights anymore. He didn't know how to prove to Rey that she was the most important thing in his life, alive or dead, without saying something stupid, so he just let her be, glad she continued to stay close to him.

He was packing up his messenger back from his last lecture when Molly and Jon-Boy came up to him, both holding well-worn tupperwares.

"We didn't know what you were doing for Thanksgiving," Molly explained, setting her tupperware on the desk. "We just wanted to say thank you and make sure you had something nice." She pulled the lid up to show several slices of pie haphazardly fitted into the square tupperware. "Some of it's pumpkin and some is sweet potato. I can't tell the difference," she said with a shrug, "but they're both great with whip cream."

Ben took the tupperware to examine the pies and chuckled. "Thanks, Molly."

Jon-Boy fidgeted with his own tupperware, with his family name scrawled in permanent marker on the bottom of the plastic container. "Mom's been cooking like crazy, and has already been making me take the extras. She says it's green bean casserole."

Molly laughed. "It's green bean casserole, I promise. It's the best I've had."

"Why're you telling ProSo that?" Jon-Boy asked. "My mom'd love to hear it. I really don't think he cares."

Ben laughed again and took the tupperware from Jon-Boy. "Thank you both. That's really very kind. I'll make sure you get your dishes back."

"Happy Thanksgiving, ProSo!" Molly chirped, saluting him like an army general. "No devil worship over the holidays, 'kay?"

Ben snorted and waved her away, distracted by Rey doubling over with giggles behind him.

"She is serious," Jon-Boy said with a roll of his eyes as he followed Molly out into the hallway. "We worry you're going to end up in the paper. Happy holidays."

When the door finally closed behind him, leaving Ben and Rey alone in the classroom, Ben spun to look at Rey proper, pulling her into his arms.

"You can't laugh like that when other's are around, and I can't just listen to you," he teased.

Rey let her laughter subside, keeping a tight hold around her little violet crystal so she could keep a tight hold around him. "I will distract you as much as I want."

Ben rested his chin on the top of her head. This was the most they had talked that day, and he was taking advantage of it. "I'm sorry about last night."

Rey kept her cheek against his chest, feeling safe in his arms, but not wanting to look up at his face while she said what she thought. "I don't want you to hate yourself. I don't want you to hate someone for doing the same things you've done. You hate Luke, but what you say you hate about him are all things you've done."

She felt his entire body tense, but he was careful not to hurt her in his embrace.

"Luke may have tried to kill you, but you succeeded in killing your own father."

Anger surged through him, but it was from the realization that she was right.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down," Rey ordered, pushing back and setting her hands on his chest.

The door behind them opened, and a student that Ben could never remember the name of peaked inside. "Professor Solo, your car is being towed!"

"Plutt," Rey whispered, though Ben was already dashing after the student, passing him, vaulting rather spectacularly for a thirty-something year old man over a set of stairs, and pummeling through the front doors where his repaired car was already on the back of a Putt Putt Automotive tow truck. Ben paused though because the person driving was Rey.

Ben dug into his pocket for his phone and called his mother. He didn't even say hello when the phone clicked. "Is Flesh Rey still in the green room?"

"Yes, she is, still unconscious. She'll have to wake up soon, Ben. She's still alive. You have to feed her."

"We will, Thanksgiving dinner tonight," he said absentmindedly as he watched the illusion of Rey he had conjured up drive away with his car. "Plutt's towed my car. Can you give me a ride home?"

"You should call the cops!"

"I'd rather not. I think I'm going to just let him have the car. It's paid off anyways."

"And you're going to do a road trip in a rental?"

"Yeah, Mom, I'll be fine. Just come get me? You might even get to see Holdo. Did you invite her to Thanksgiving?"

As Ben got his mother talking, he made his way back inside, made sure he turned off the UV lamps and locked his office door and collected Rey from the classroom he had left her in. He listened to his mother on the other end, collecting her keys, starting her car, driving through the small town streets, scolding a jaywalking college student, and turning into the parking lot. He met her in front of the building. She ended the call once he was in the car, and started into the preparations still left to do for their holiday.

Ben let her talk, nodding when appropriate.

"Ben? You aren't listening."

Ben looked to her. "Sorry."

"I asked about why you're letting Plutt have your car."

"Because I have Rey."

Leia smiled. "I really hope everything works out as you're planning. You know I just want you to be happy, and seeing you build a family of your own is comforting." She laughed. "That's including everyone at Maz's. They're all your family. You've made them so. I'm glad you did." She glanced down at the time on the dashboard. "Actually, I do need to run to the grocery store. Mind coming with me?"

"Not at all."

"It really does make me happy that you're finding a place for yourself. It reminds me of how I did that."

"You create a community where ever you go, Mom."

"That doesn't mean it matters any less." She gave him a mischievous side-eye. "It sounds like you need to hear it again."

"I don't know if now's the time for it."

"Of course it is. It's Thanksgiving. You're creating your own family, people you'll fight for. It's what matters most. Why I got into politics."

Ben started connecting the dots. "Besides your innate genetics to be in the center of it all?"

"I didn't know who my mother was when I started into it. I told you about Breha and Bail? They were in the thick of it themselves. I was destined to be in the middle of it. But they taught me why. People need community and kindness and compassion. I was on a diplomatic trip," she gave him a wink, "on my way to call for the removal of Palpatine. I learned recently the story of those brave kids who found out that information! A Cassian Andor and a Jyn Erso and a collection of Rebels. Kids. I shouldn't call them kids. They were older than I was. But they were just 20 when they died getting those weapons plans. I told you that, didn't I? Palpatine was contracting out of country for nuclear weapons?"

"I think you told me that."

"That's what got me involved with Palpatine, getting stuck at his private estate for weeks on end. It's even worse now that I know it was my father who kept me under lock and key and tried to get me to reveal who I got those plans from."

Ben looked at Leia with curiosity. She must have made a lot of progress in her therapy sessions she started after her husband died. She had never taken kindly to the revelation that the terrifying militaristic muscle who had done unspeakable things was her father. He was dead by the time she learned the truth. She had never had the proper closure that Luke had. She had never really talked about him.

"It really does feel like the universe brought all of us together. I would have never met any of the boys otherwise."

The boys. They were the boys to her: Luke, Han, Chewie, and Lando.

He was about to ask if she had invited Lando to Thanksgiving. He decided he wanted to hear what she was thinking more.

"But everything we went through brought us together. It hurts to see us now. Han gone. Chewie on the road all the time. Lando off doing whatever Lando's doing. I lost track of his cons after the mining venture up north in Bespin. It feels empty without all of them close by."

Ben nodded. "I was always there though."

"Oh, Honey, you know what I mean."

"I didn't. I didn't for a long time, Mom." He took a deep breath, looking down at his fists, trying to force them out into relaxed hands.

The silence was tense, but it was Leia who broke it. "You're my son. You'll always be my son. I love you as much as I could love anyone. Being in politics, though, it's not exactly the best job for a mother. I do regret not spending more time with you and showing you how much you actually mean to me. I know it's not an excuse, but it was the best way I knew to show how much I cared, trying to make the world a better place for you." She glanced at him again and back at the road. "And sending you off to do that whole soul-searching trip with Luke was the worst decision I ever made in my life."

Ben actually laughed at that. "You've been listening to ghosts, haven't you?"

"Actually, they've been fairly quiet. Your father didn't wish me good night, last night."

"He found out about what happened with Luke."

"He didn't know already?"

"You didn't believe me. Why would Dad? He'd just say something about too many drugs, and it not being real camping anyways. If he said anything at all." He paused. "Or I thought that it's what he would have done. The moment he heard, he took off."

"You thought I didn't believe you?"

"You said 'he couldn't have.' Pretty sure that that's disbelief."

Leia flipped on her blinker and turned into the local grocery store. "I'm glad you didn't stop talking to me. Even with how much I wasn't there for you."

"You were there for me more than anyone else."

"And I worked 16 hour days."

Ben nodded. "You've done a lot for me. Thank you."

Leia parked and turned off the car. "I just want the best for you. You've done the best you've ever done since you came here."

"Thanks for putting a good word in with Holdo."

"Thanks for creating a scandal."

"Did you just thank me for..."

"Being dead has been good for Han," she said with a soft smile. "He's finally allowed himself to be true to his heart. He's been able to be a better father now than he was when he was alive. He's trying to make up for all our arguments because he misses me so much. So, yes, Ben, thank you." She laughed again. "Happy Thanksgiving."