Rey had a pretty good life. She had a nice house and quite a lot of money. As a rather successful physician, of course, she had these things. Being very friendly and kind, Rey also had quite a few friends. But despite all this, she had much sadness and sorrow in her heart. This was because her husband, Ben Solo, was out in battle as a sergeant and she could never be too sure if he would ever return home.

One night, after Rey had finished dinner and she was reading a book about permanence, there was a knock at the door. When she answered it, she was surprised to see a soldier from the army standing there. It only took Rey a second to assume what was going on.

The soldier standing on the porch looked up sadly. She was short, and her voice was rather grave as she asked, "Are you Rey Solo?"

Slowly, Rey nodded yes. Her mind was racing with all of the possibilities as to why she was there, most of them were not good. "Yes, that's me."

Sighing, the woman said, "I regret to inform you that your husband, Ben Solo, has died in battle."

Rey felt her heart stop. Ben was...dead? No. He couldn't be. Tears began to well up in her eyes. This was what she had been afraid of. For the past three years, Rey had assured herself that he would be fine, that soon he would come home again. But now...now he was dead.

Distantly, Rey heard the soldier talking about courage and hope, and something else...but she wasn't listening. Ben was gone from the world. And there was nothing Rey could do about it. Time seemed to stop as Rey silently cried over the loss of her husband while the soldier continued on about things that didn't really matter to Rey. Eventually, the soldier left her some papers and her condolences so that Rey could grieve in peace. Closing the door slowly, she collapsed on the floor in a heap, papers flying everywhere. Sobs racked her body as she curled up on the floor. Nothing would ever be the same now. Ben was gone, he wasn't coming back.

No. A part of her mind whispered. Ben is coming for you. He always will. He promised. He is NOT gone.

But he was, he was dead, caught in an explosion during battle. Rey hugged her knees and let the tears run down her face and drip onto the floor. And as she lay there, memories of Ben came back to her. The first time they met. All the time that they had spent together until the dummy had finally proposed to her. The wedding. The terrible day when he had to go away for the war and he had assured her that he would be back, and with a souvenir, too. But all that was in the past, it was gone. The happiness along with it. All gone.

Rey lost track of time as she lay there, staring up at the ceiling with tears endlessly pouring out of her eyes and onto the rug below her. She didn't know how long it was until her dog, Lily, finally found her and nuzzled her arm, seeming to understand that her master was very sad.

Rey didn't speak as she stroked the dogs muzzle softly. Lily flopped down next to her owner and rested her head on Rey's chest, looking at her with the most hopeful eyes Rey had ever seen on a dog.

Sighing, Rey stood and began to pick up all the papers that were strewn across the floor. Slowly, she made her way to her bedroom and soon found herself laying in bed with Lily sleeping in the crook of her arm. It felt too normal to Rey, to just go to sleep after what had happened. It almost made Rey angry, the
fact that the world was going on just as it always had even though Ben was dead. But the world never waited for anyone. It would always carry on, no matter what happened.

Eventually, Rey fell into a sleep of some kind and had wonderful dreams about if the war never happened.

…

The next morning, Rey woke up to a sunny day and birds were chirping. She almost smiled but then she remembered. Ben was gone. He wasn't coming back. She tried to hold it in and not break down but it was too late. Hot tears began to form in her eyes and pour down her face, unable to be stopped. After a few minutes of attempting to stop the tears, Rey gave up and let them come. She hated this feeling. Hated crying without hardly realizing it. Hated everything. All she felt was pain, sadness, and a little bit of anger, although she wasn't quite sure why. But all that really mattered right then was the fact that Ben was gone and he wouldn't be coming home. He wouldn't surprise her at the front door with open arms and the souvenir he had promised her. He'd never cook with her again. There would be no more opportunities to make more happy memories together because of the war. The war had taken everything from Rey, and she hated it because of that. Ben had been everything to her, and she had dreamt of the day that he could finally return home, victorious or defeated, Rey didn't care. All she wanted was him to be alive and with her, even if that meant losing the war. But now the war had taken her Ben, and it would never return him.

Sighing miserably, Rey got up from her bed to start the day, But her heart wasn't in it. She barely tasted breakfast. Didn't hear all of the greetings her friends gave her on the way to work. Worked like a robot all day at the hospital. Never really absorbed anything that she read in her book later that day.

In fact, it wasn't until Lily barked very loudly at her for the first time in a long time when she wanted to go on a walk. It startled Rey back into existence for the first time that day. When she saw Lily with the leash, she gave the smallest twitch of a smile to her dog and led her outside on a walk.

Together, they walked to the park, which was about two blocks away from their house. Once there, Rey let Lily off the leash and watched her run around for a little bit. Taking a deep breath, Rey strode over to a nearby bench and tried to take in her surroundings and enjoy life again, even though it was rather hard.

Everything was so at peace here. From the smallest insect buzzing around the flowers to the largest dogs romping around with Lily, the world was still the same, even if Ben wasn't around to enjoy it with her. Smiling slightly, Rey began to look at other things. The houses with the families living inside. The children frolicking in their backyards with a pet or two. The pets themselves, who didn't have a care in the world. Even the things that Rey couldn't see, she thought about. The buzzing of bees from a nearby bush of flowers. The snuffling of some kind of small mammal from beneath the ground somewhere. And the wheezing gasps of someone from behind some bushes, Rey also thought about. Yes, it was all so-

Rey sat straight up. Hesitantly, she turned around to face the bushes where the wheezing gasps that definitely sounded human were coming from. Were they in trouble? Were they hurt? Did they need help? Rey shook her head. Of course they needed help! What was she doing? She had to go see what the matter was!

Still slightly nervous, Rey stood up and stepped over to the bushes. There was definitely someone over there. Holding her breath, Rey plunged into the bushes and came out to find…

"Ben?" She gasped.

In the center of the clearing of the bushes sat none other than Ben Solo, her husband, curled up on the ground. He was filthy and wheezing pretty hard. When Rey looked closer, she could see cuts and bruises all over his face and his arms, too. At the sound of her voice, he looked up and smiled faintly. "Rey." He croaked.

Rey rushed over to him and kneeled down to get a better look at his face. "How… I thought...they said…"

"That I was dead?" He gave her a lopsided grin. "It'd take more than that to bring me down." he attempted at a chuckle but instead doubled over as he began to cough. Rey grabbed his shoulders.

"Are you hurt? Internally? Sick? How sick?" A flow of questions started cascading out of her mouth without her realizing it, but being a physician meant that she knew what she was doing. But the fact that this was basically her husband back from the dead, Rey was panicking a bit more than necessary.

"Eh...I'm fine...just a couple of broken ribs...I think." Ben stopped coughing and looked up at Rey. He tried for another smile at the sight of her expression. "Hey...it's okay."

Suddenly Rey couldn't stop herself. She flung herself into his arms and started sobbing. Ben seemed faintly surprised, but he wrapped his arms around her just the same. "I thought...you were dead...how are you not...thought I'd never see you again...terrible" Rey started to ramble as she buried her face in his shoulder. He held her as she continued to cry, and at some point, Rey could tell that he was crying, too.

After a while, they both finally collected themselves and started laughing nervously. "But seriously," Rey said as she dried her eyes. "How are you alive?"

Ben hesitated. "Well...I was thrown from the explosion, really far away. I had no idea where I was and so I started walking aimlessly until I found a dock with some ships about to head back to America, so I stowed away on them. I got off, figured out where I was, and stowed away some more on some trucks 'till I got here."

Rey stared at him. "Ben! You did all of that after being in an explosion?"

He shrugged. "I guess so, yeah."

"Well…" Rey spluttered on her words. She couldn't believe him. "Why didn't you just go to a hospital or something to get help? They would have helped you...you're part of the army…"

"Marines." Ben corrected. "Besides, the injuries didn't feel too bad. And also, I wanted to see you again." He looked into her eyes and gave her a smile.

She just shook her head. "Ben, you could've killed yourself! Why am I even wasting time right now? We have to get you to the hospital!" Standing suddenly, Rey pulled Ben to his feet and he grimaced. "Come on, let's go!" She grunted as he leaned against her. Man, he was heavy. But they drove off and Rey knew that they were both going to be okay. She was still worried for Ben, but he was going to be okay. At least he wasn't dead.