"How did it go?" Rey asked when Rose and Ben arrived at his quarters.

"It is going to take some time for sure," Rose said. Rey could tell she was preoccupied.

"What is it?" Rey asked.

"I'm not sure," Rose admitted. "I need to think." Rose shook her head. "He doesn't trust me, and he knows I don't trust him but there is something there that I can't put my finger on but it gives me hope."

"I also hope for him. I think there is a chance. It is small right now but I'm sure we can make it grow." Ben added.

"Excuse me, where am I staying?" Rose wondered.

"I have a guest room in my quarters right through that door," he pointed. "It is basically your own apartment."

"Thank you." Rose walked into her new quarters and shut the door behind her.

"She's normally not that quiet." Rey scrunched up her face in concern.

"Hux does that to people."

"Do you think he hurt her in some way?"

"No, Hux is an ass but he isn't a physically violent man. Snoke literally beat that out of him."

"I wish we could know what happen in that room, so we knew how to help."

"I'll access the security video." Ben sat down next to his computer terminal. "After Snoke died I placed video and audio feed throughout the ship. I didn't take for granted that I could rule on fear. I needed to know what was going on. Hux doesn't know about them." Ben put in a code and brought up his office feed.

"That was intense," Rey said when the video was over.

Ben smiled. "He likes her."

"How can you know that?" Rey asked. "All I see is anger."

"He turned away from her at the end to hide a boner." Ben rewound the footage and played it back slowly for Rey and pointed out the bulge is Hux's pants.

"We can use that."

"But will Rose be willing?"

"She likes him too. You see how she flexes her hands at the end. She only does that when she is trying not to touch someone."

"I think we have ourselves a plan." Ben pulled Rey onto his lap and kissed her.

She giggled. "I think we do too."

XxXxX

Rose enjoyed the quiet of her room. It was spacious with its own bathroom, kitchen, and office. It was more than she had ever had in the resistance. She didn't care about that right now. She itched from her meeting with Hux. She wasn't entirely sure why or rather she didn't want to admit to herself why. She had wanted to touch his face. She had wanted for a moment to kiss him. She couldn't understand why she wanted to. He was appalling to her. But he had admitted that he didn't like needless death. He had admitted he had changed. She didn't think he had but she felt like she should believe him. Logically she should keep her distance but emotionally she wanted to get close. She caught a glimpse of the man behind his façade, and she wanted to see more. She didn't know if she could consciously make the choice to get to know him yet, but she definitely made it subconsciously.

XxXxX

Hux paced in his office. How could he have wanted to kiss that woman? How could his body have betrayed him like that? He was hoping that she didn't notice his boner at the end. He was disgusted with himself. He didn't have time in his life for romantic or sexual inclinations. Snoke had always laughed at him when he showed interest in a person. He said love was a fool's emotion. Hux in time had agreed. It only caused problems. If he had needed sex at any point in time, he when down to the surface of the nearest planet and found a brothel. He was always discrete. He never told anyone where he was going and after a while people stopped asking. He didn't need to get involved with anyone. He didn't even have flings with the stormtroopers as most of the officers had. He needed to be an island of perfection or rather he needed people to think that. If he was flawed, how could people follow him?

His mind went back to Rose. He liked her name. It felt good on his tongue when he said it softly to himself. Her tongue would feel good in his mouth. He lost himself for a moment, imagining what he could do with her. He came back to the present when he realized he had a boner again. He needed a trip to a planet. He could take care of this boner, but he would need the feel of another person if he were to completely rid himself of his imaginings. Unfortunately, they weren't near a planet. Kylo had set the rendezvous in the middle of space. He needed to redirect the ship to a planet. They were near one that he enjoyed, and they did need some supplies. He walked to the bridge and redirected the ship to his intended planet.

It was evening on the ship and the planet when they reached it. Hux slipped off the ship quietly with the ease of practice. It was nice to be out of his uniform. At times he found it restricting. As he stepped off his shuttle, he pulled the hood of his cloak over his head. His face would be too easily recognized here on the streets. He walked down back alleys and side streets on his way to the brothel. He knew this planet well. It was a common stop for First Order ships.

He slipped into a side door of the brothel. Without lowering his hood, he walked to the madame on the first floor.

"Talia, please," he spoke softly and kept his head turned away from her. He knew she knew who he was, but she understood his need for discretion.

"She's available," was all the madame said in reply.

Hux walked up the stairs slowly. He never liked his desire to purchase sex. There was still a part of Snoke in the back or his mind yelling at him, making him feel ashamed of wanting sex. It was hard to ignore as he walked down the hallway to Talia's room. He had to remind himself that wanting sex wasn't a bad thing and neither was the act if purchasing it. He always made sure to choose the cleaner and better brothels. Those ones where you know the girls aren't being coerced into the trade. He knew how it felt to be coerced into things that one didn't want to do. He wouldn't wish that on anyone.

He knocked on her door when he reached it. The door cracked open, and he saw a sliver of her golden brown face.

"Arma!" she swung the door open. Her dark brown curls bouncing in the wake of her movement. "Come in, I haven't seen you in forever." she let him pass then shut the door him. She studied his face carefully. "You have that look on your face. What is it?"

"It's a long story."

"I'll listen while I make you comfortable."

And so, he told her. As she removed his outer layers, he told her about Kylo's 'week away'. How he has come back with Rose as she took off his shoes. She started massaging his feet as he told her his conflicted emotions about everyone involved. How he didn't know where the First Order was going to go. She knew he wanted it to be different than it was. She knew so much. He told her everything when he came. She was one person he could trust. He had always made sure her planet was protected and that he paid her far more than he needed to. He didn't want to breed any resentment in her. He knew if even he didn't do those things, she would still keep his secrets. He didn't know why he knew but he did.

Once he was done with his story, she pulled him to his feet. She pulled him close and kissed him. He melted into her embrace. She finished taking of his clothes and pushed him onto the bed. This was the once place he didn't have to make decisions and he reveled in it. He tried to stay still, and she tickled and tease but the sensations made him wiggle nonetheless. And he smiled, he smiled in the first time in what seemed like forever. When she placed her mouth on his cock he was lost. He closed his eyes and took in as much of the sensation as he could. But when he closed his eyes, Rose appeared before him and how he imagined she would look naked. It made his dick pulse and his desire increase. He tried to banish he from his mind, but he only succeeded in imagining that it was her mouth on his cock. Once that image raced through his mind, he found him some moaning out an orgasm.

He didn't know how she did it but fifteen minutes later he was hard again. She straddled him and eased him inside of her. He greatly enjoyed looking up at her as she rocked her hips back and forth. She closed her eyes in what seemed to Hux genuine enjoyment. He never knew if it was. She was after all payed to please. He wanted to actually give pleasure to a person. He never had. He always paid for his pleasure so he could never be sure if he gave pleasure in return. He wanted to see what Rose looked like when she was lost in pleasure. He wanted to see her face as she rode out an orgasm on his cock. He wanted her and in these small moments of pleasure he allowed himself to want her. He allowed himself to give into to his imaginings. It increased his pleasure and sent him over the edge once more.

He grumbled to himself as he left the brothel, his hood back over his head. Although, his boner was now definitely gone, his imaginings of Rose were not. They seemed to be glued to the inside of his skull. He had wanted anything but that. His excursion had cemented his imaginings. He slipped back on the ship just as silently as he left it. When he got to his room his flung himself on to his bed and into a fitful, irritating sleep.