Force Dyad
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to their respective owners.
A/N-thank you very much to everyone who kindly read and reviewed the last chapter.
Chapter Fifty-Six-Evolving Bond and Telepathy
Stretching her muscles became as much a part of Rey's daily exercise routine as stretching her perceptions. As she warmed up beside Ben in preparation for their daily sparring session, she allowed herself a discreet glance in his direction. Just looking at him working out left her feeling breathless. He was divinely handsome. Ben had both empathy and a very masculine form of strength that most men would die for. For such a large man he was so graceful in his movements. The sweat coating his skin made it appear more beautiful, more glowing, then her heart could have imagined.
"He really is something…." Rey thought to herself as she reluctantly forced her gaze to travel in another direction before he caught her admiring him.
'He really is something…' - Ben startled in surprise when Rey's voice unexpectedly popped into his head. He paused in his workout and looked over at her. "Did you say something?" He asked cautiously.
"No." Rey puffed as she carried on with her stretches.
"Oh." Ben murmured. "My mistake."
Now that he had looked directly at her, he found he couldn't look away. She was stunning. The energetic workout had brought a deeper hue to her clothing. The beads of perspiration settled upon her soft dewy skin like newly melted snow crystals. As she moved, it seemed like she was floating more than anything. She looked like a dancer transformed by music that only she could hear, her body flowing in graceful arcs, limbs in constant motion.
"Why is he staring at me like that? I must look weird or something."
Rey's voice resounded inside his head again, though this time it had an anxious tinge to it. Ben jumped, his face heating up in shame like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I wasn't." He protested out loud.
"What?" Rey questioned as her eyes clouded with confusion. She stopped exercising and turned to face him. Immediately his gaze slid guiltily to one side as he focused on something over her shoulder. He mumbled something non-committal under his breath. "Ben, are you feeling alright? You look flushed."
Ben reached up and rubbed his forehead. He was going crazy. He had to be. It wasn't the first time he had heard voices inside his head. But this wasn't just any voice-it was Rey's. At least it sounded very much like her. It wasn't real though. Somehow, he was conjuring her voice inside his head for whatever bizarre reason he couldn't immediately think of. Maybe it was his own guilty conscience impersonating her voice in order to call him out for having such unchaste thoughts about her.
"Ben, you really don't look well." Rey said, breaking through his chaotic thoughts. "You've gone really pale now."
When had she moved so close to him?
Ben breathed in her heady scent as he stared down at her. She made his head literally spin. He was attracted to her with the kind of heady trance that brings a butterfly to nectar. She was just the right mix of shy and sweet, and the way she was looking up at him, if it was anybody else, he would have thought they were trying to be coquettish.
But this was Rey.
She didn't feel that way about him.
Ben fervently wished he had never seen what was on that datapad. Ever since then he had been overanalysing his every interaction with Rey and secretly torturing himself about what her every look and glance might mean. It was getting ridiculous. The rational part of him knew it. Unfortunately, the lovesick part of him refused to listen. And right now, that was the side that was winning.
"Ben, are you ever going to speak?" Rey persisted, her tone turning impatient.
Ben made the mistake of glancing down at her mouth. That beautiful, beautiful mouth. Her lips were so pretty. Just the sight of them sent his mind into a sensual state of intoxication. Before he was aware of what he was doing, one hand reached toward Rey's face to touch them lightly as the urge to kiss her took over.
"Oh my, it's happening. It's really happening. Ben is really going to kiss – "
Rey's voice was like an excited squeal inside his head. It was so loud and defined that it shocked the life out of Ben. His hand dropped back to his side and he quickly retreated, ashamed that he had come so close to giving in to his urge to kiss her. His subconscious was doing such a good job of impersonating Rey that it had saved him from crossing a line.
"I'm going to freshen up." Ben said hoarsely as he practically ran from her.
"Damn." Rey's hazel eyes glistened with frustrated tears as she watched him go.
Being closeted on the Falcon with the object of her desire so close but painfully out of reach was doing Rey's mental health no favours. After the latest fiasco she had retreated to her quarters, leaving Ben to pilot the ship alone as she spent time ranting to BB-8 about him. The faithful little droid listened in silent commiseration as she complained about men in general and their complete stupidity.
"I feel so defeated, BB-8." Rey's shoulders drooped as she fiddled with the wonky aerial on the little astromech's dome head. "I'm beginning to think there's no point in trying anymore."
BB-8 didn't really have any idea what she was going on about but that didn't stop him beeping at her in sympathy in his binary language. "There is always hope."
"You think?" Rey looked at BB-8 pleadingly.
Instead of the expected response from the sympathetic little droid, Ben's voice answered her instead. "I'm such a jerk!"
"You said it." Rey answered automatically out loud. She expected to see Ben standing in the doorway but found the doors still sealed shut. She froze, glancing down at BB-8 in confusion. "Did you hear someone say something?" She asked him worriedly.
BB-8's dome head swivelled back and forth in denial.
"I swore I just heard Ben say – "
"She's going to hate me forever if I don't get my act together."
Ben's mournful voice resounded so crystal clear inside her head that Rey jerked in surprise. Once she could have put down to her overactive imagination, but twice….
"Oh, BB-8, it's finally happened. I've gone crazy." She moaned in despair as she clutched the sides of her head.
BB-8, ever the wise counsellor, emitted a series of beeps and whistles as he gave her the benefit of his immense wisdom. "Crazy doesn't equal mad." He had stored this phrase in his databanks for years and had been waiting for a suitable time to utilise it.
"And that's a good thing?" Rey asked dubiously.
BB-8 had no idea whether it was a good thing or not, but he thought it sounded reassuring. "Yes." He finally agreed.
It had been hours since Rey had hidden away in her quarters and she still hadn't resurfaced. Ben was getting concerned. He knew he had been an idiot but couldn't think of a plausible excuse to give her about why he was acting so oddly. His strange behaviour was beginning to impact on their relationship and he realised if he didn't get a grip, he was in danger of testing her patience so much that it would cause a permanent rift between them. He knew he needed to apologise before things got too out of hand.
With that thought in mind, Ben adjusted the co-ordinates, making sure that the Falcon was still headed on the right path to Ahch-to, before letting the autopilot take over. Climbing out of the cockpit the first thing he did was head straight down the walkway and took the first entrance to the right which housed the small galley kitchen that Han Solo had added to the Falcon as a wedding present for his new bride. Ben didn't think his mother would have been very impressed with this gift. As far as his memory served him, Leia Organa was never much of a cook. Her few attempts had been dismal and she was too impatient to mess around with food preparation, preferring quick and easy meals when on the go. When hosting visiting dignitaries, Leia left the task of preparing elaborate meals to the kitchen droids, the very same ones who were often also tasked with watching over her son when he was very young.
Ben dismissed those depressing thoughts from his mind and focused on the task at hand. One thing Rey loved more than anything was food. If anything was going to tempt her to come out of her cave, it would be this. Ben knew he was going to have to get creative if he wanted to impress her, they had brought only the most basic food supplies with them, but he was nothing if not determined. Ben quickly became absorbed in working his culinary magic as he whipped up something tempting for Rey.
Ben enjoyed making the pizza. From forming the dough, to rolling it out, to layering it with toppings, to the fragrance that came from its baking. He knew Rey wouldn't be able to resist it, either. Back when they were living on Trask with Magda and her family when she had been a young girl it had been one of her favourite meals. Magda could put anything on a pizza and make it taste fabulous, Ben recalled as he became lost in memories. There were the days she pulled a plain cheese from the oven just to make them laugh, but most days it was an edible form of her crazy wonderful imagination. Ben missed Magda and her loving advice. He could do with some of that now. Maybe it was time he considered opening up to someone else about his pent-up feelings for Rey. He knew Magda would be brutally honest as always, but perhaps he needed a dose of that right now.
"Ben, are you making pizza?"
Ben flinched at the sound of Rey's voice coming from behind him. At first, he thought his subconscious was messing with him again and mimicking her voice inside his head like earlier. But as he glanced over his shoulder, he realised she was actually standing in the doorway of the galley kitchen. She looked cute dressed in a simple white tunic dress with her long brunette hair all mussed up from sleeping. That explained why she had been quiet for so long; she must have fallen asleep.
"Its ready. You're just in time. Sit down." He urged her.
Rey walked over and settled on one of the stools near the counter. Her mouth was already watering in anticipation. "It smells delicious, Ben. What's the occasion?"
"Its my way of saying sorry." Ben apologised. "I know I've been acting weird. Its just the closer we get to Ahch-to and Skywalker…." He paused, hating that he was covering up the truth.
Rey gave him an understanding smile. "It's okay to feel jittery, Ben. I feel exactly the same about seeing Master Skywalker again."
"Yeah." Ben murmured in agreement as he began carving up the pizza to distract himself from her pretty face. She was going to be the death of him if she kept taking his breath away by smiling at him like that, he thought to himself. He was blissfully unaware that he had inadvertently transmitted that intermittent thought to Rey – and she didn't comment on it - as the strength of their mutual feelings and attraction to each other made their deep bond continue to evolve in ways neither of them could ever have imagined.
From space, Ahch-To appeared to be a world of nothing but deep blue oceans orbiting twin stars. Dotting the oceans, however, were rocky island archipelagos covered with green trees and grass, where birds, such as Porgs would congregate. Moss, grass, and ferns also grew across the islands' rugged cliffs. The first Jedi Temple was built on one such island, known as Temple island.
As they pulled out of hyperspace, the Falcon shuddered and the alarms went off. The systems were overloading. Fire and smoke erupted, causing them both to choke. Fumbling around in the thick smoke for their oxygen masks, Ben and Rey mutually cursed Han and his shoddy repairs, while simultaneously preparing for an emergency landing. They had hoped to sneak onto the island without warning Skywalker of their presence but there was little chance of that now, the Falcon was like a burning beacon in the sky.
"Here goes nothing!" Ben yelled to Rey as he watched her strap herself in, in preparation for a rough landing.
A/N-thanks for reading! Please review. I searched the internet to see if Pizza exhisted in the SW universe and surprisingly it does, LOL ;)