Sparks

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Chapter Two

Self-control was a finite resource, considering all the trauma she'd already endured, Rey was surprised she had any left at all. She still had no idea how she and Ben had made it off Exegol. Her last conscious thought had been of him as she lay dying, until she had awoken here at the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss. There was no way she was going to allow Finn and Poe to chuck him in a dank cell to appease their righteous anger.

"I want Ben to have the same quarters as anyone else on the base." Rey ordered succinctly, her tone brooking no argument.

"What?!" Poe exploded, his hands finding their way to his hips in an indignant pose. "That blow to your head really knocked all sense out of it." He shot a glare in Solo's direction, only to find the guy fighting back a grin as he looked at Rey with something akin to pride. This was unbelievable! "Finn, tell her!"

Finn tried the diplomatic approach. He was in agreement with Poe. Rey clearly wasn't thinking straight. "He may have brought you back here, but that one act doesn't absolve him of everything he's done, Rey." He said quietly.

Rey blinked in surprise at this little titbit of information. She tuned her head to focus on Ben. "How?" She could only ask.

"It took a lot of ingenuity, I guess I have my Solo genes to thank for that." Ben blessed her with a weary smile, using wry humour to hide the enormity of his achievement at getting them both safely off the planet's surface and back to the base unscathed. And the fact that he was referencing his relationship to Han without the usual pain and sadness in his eyes was everything.

"We had Luke's patched up X-Wing and your damaged Tie Fighter." Rey said incredulously. "And you were injured. So how?"

Ben's intense gaze caught and held hers. It was like nobody else was in the room but the two of them. His eyes were so different in moments like these, softer than she knew eyes could be. "You gave me more of yourself than you should have done, Rey. You took a big risk…"

"You gave ME everything!" Rey interrupted him hoarsely. "I'm only alive because of you. I died, Ben. I died. And you brought me back to life."

"What?" Poe exclaimed in disbelief. "You died? That's impossible…. you wouldn't be…"

"I felt it." Finn cut in sharply. His dark eyes reflected his anguish. "I felt you go and I felt you come back to yourself." His expression softened when he saw the tears forming in Rey's eyes.

"Am I the only sane one here?" Poe questioned irritably.

"You're Force sensitive." Ben said, completely ignoring Dameron and focusing on the former stormtrooper. "I suspected as much on Jakku…."

Finn glowered at Ben, his brows drawing down into a deep frown. "If you knew, then why didn't you do anything about it?"

"I don't know." Ben admitted honestly.

"You believe this?" Poe demanded Finn's attention again. "You believe that he brought Rey back to life?"

"He did!" Rey insisted.

"Finn?" Poe stared at his friend, waiting for his acknowledgement.

"Yes." Finn sighed. He was still looking at Rey, his expression troubled. "I was trying to find the right time to tell you." He admitted to her.

"So that's what you were trying to say the whole time we were searching for the way finder." Rey reached out to her friend and Finn took her hand. She squeezed his gently in understanding, before letting go.

Poe felt like he was being excluded from some private club and it made him even more irritable. He couldn't reconcile the calm individual standing next to him, to the hot-headed, conflicted, and erratic man who had interrogated him on the Finalizer.

"We're getting off topic. You're just lucky we didn't blow the X-Wing out of the sky when we saw him piloting it." Poe snapped.

Rey stared at Ben, a small smile tugging at her lips. "That must have been some feat, fitting both of us in the cockpit." She studied his tall form appreciatively. He was a clear head higher than most people, there was bulk on him; his loose black tunic barely hiding the muscles underneath.

"I managed." Ben responded with a hint of the smug Solo smile pulling at his mouth. "Its not the first time I've had you in my lap."

"Ben!" Rey admonished him. She felt the heat rise in her face and she ducked her head in mortification.

Rey's blushing was catnip to Ben's soul. He was sorry that he had made her feel uncomfortable, but he felt so carefree in that moment, he couldn't find the will to feel guilty about embarrassing her in front of her friends. Since their kiss and efforts to revive each other, he had been in a state of constant euphoria. Nothing could dampen it.

Poe eyed him critically. He was struggling to maintain control of the situation. Rey and her suitor seemed intent on undermining his authority. Outside everyone was still hugging, rejoicing at being alive. He should be doing the same, but instead he was being forced to deal with the former Supreme Leader of the First Order- a criminal. But Rey was treating Solo like a hero or something. She even seemed to be swaying Finn's opinion about the situation with all this talk of Force sensitivity. He had to admit it hurt that Finn hadn't shared that vital piece of information with him.

"You're just lucky that very few people know your real identity." Poe said curtly to Ben. "And you're also lucky that I hold your mother in such high regard. If the General were here – "

That elicited a reaction. Ben's face became rigid, the muscles along his jaw working overtime as he tried to rein in his emotions. Rey sensed his internal struggle. She reached out, working her fingers around his, though it was difficult when his hands were still cuffed.

"Maybe you can dispense with these now." She said to Finn.

Finn glanced at Poe. Poe shook his head and he sighed again. "Not just yet, Rey."

Rey frowned but didn't argue her point further. She knew Ben could easily rid himself of the cuffs if he really wanted to. So could she. He was humouring Poe and Finn by keeping them on. "They're not necessary and you have no need to worry. Ben isn't a…."

"A threat?" Poe cut in before she had a chance to defend him again. "After everything he's done, you can't expect us to…"

"None of you would be here if it weren't for the sacrifices Ben and I made!" Rey interrupted him angrily. "We killed Palpatine…. together!"

"And that's supposed to negate everything he's done?" Poe argued.

"No." Ben said gravely. "It doesn't. I own what I've done and all the mistakes I've made."

"At least you admit it." Poe responded grudgingly.

"Poe." Finn cautioned him, before returning his attention to Rey. "What is it you want, Rey? What do you expect us to do here?"

Rey's gaze travelled from Finn and back to Ben. In his eyes shone his humanity, the person he always had been under the yoke of Kylo Ren. His true self had been lost, hidden away beneath the mantle of his former namesake, when life and circumstances forced him to become the man the galaxy demanded of him. But she had seen the real him that day in the hut on Ahch-to, when he'd reached out across the galaxy to comfort a lonely scavenger girl from Jakku. She saw the love that burned there too, the sort that goes for an eternity.

There was something in Ben's spirit that danced in his rare moments of happiness, like a fire giving just the right amount of warmth. Rey had seen it die too, the flames almost extinguished, when he was under the gun of guilt, shame and fear. She had always known that wasn't him, not the real version, the person she loved with every fibre of her being. Every time she looked into his eyes, into the depths of his soul. she could see the real Ben. He saw her too, the girl who messes up, but would do anything in her power to keep him safe, to keep him emotionally healthy and happy.

"I want clemency, Finn. I want you to give Ben a chance to atone." Rey turned the full force of her pleading gaze back onto both him and Poe. "I need you to do it for my sake. And for Leia's. It was her one remaining wish that he come home. And you see…I need him. I love him. If you take him away and put him on trial, you know what his sentence will be. You said it yourself-no one apart from a select few knew who Kylo Ren was, or would even recognise him without the mask. What would sacrificing him even achieve? If Leia were here, I know what she would choose to do. I'm asking you to honour her wishes and let her son go and live the life he was always supposed to."

A/N-thanks for reading!