I've got this, I've got this.

Rey's internal pep talk has been a constant in her head since last week, but now that the day has arrived, her anxiety has kicked up several notches and the words I've got this play a constant loop in her head.

"Hey, today's the day, huh?" Her coworker, Rose Tico leans a hip against her desk with a knowing smile. "Nervous?"

"A bit," Rey concedes with a smile. "I"m worried I'll screw something up and completely embarrass myself."

"I promise you, we've all done that, so if it happens, it happens," Rose shrugs. "There's nothing that can't be fixed and it all falls back on the attorney anyway."

That's what worries Rey though. She hates the thought of screwing up so completely that her boss would get in trouble.

"You can just observe today if you want," Kaydel offers as she loads up the files on the cart. "Amilyn wouldn't expect you to just jump right in on your first day in court."

Rey shakes her head. "No, it's fine. I want to. I feel like I know everything I need to know...it's just I haven't exactly practically applied any of this stuff yet."

"Sure you have," Rose tells her, moving the laptop onto Kaydel's cart. "You've run guidelines, you've written agreements, you seem to know all the rules. You just haven't dealt with the clients yet."

"Bit different, isn't it? Writing agreements for people who obviously agree rather than running back and forth between people to try to make them agree," Rey mumbles as she gathers her things into her court bag.

"Oh, and don't forget the attorneys," Kaydel snickers.

Rey groans, but follows them out of the office and to the elevators.

She's three months into her new job at the district attorney's office, and so far, everything she's done has been behind the scenes. Straight out of college and looking for a job that would give her a little more than barely scraping by, Rey had accepted the first job with benefits that she'd been offered. The salary is nothing impressive, but for once in her life, she's doing better than just making ends meet.

She likes the job and she's found that she excels at the tasks she's been given so far. Though admittedly, when she graduated with a BS in Criminal Justice, her first job choice had not been working in the child support unit of the DA's office.

Honestly, she isn't sure what she wants to do with that degree just yet. She's certain that further schooling is going to be required for anything she's really interested in, such as forensic technician or maybe even lawyer, but for now, she likes her job and it pays the bills.

There's just the small matter of actually working in a court setting now, which she hasn't done yet. Amilyn Holdo, the ADA over the child support unit, has graciously kept her out of court for the last three months, insisting she needed to learn the job before she was thrown into the court setting. Amilyn had been adamant that Rey be given time to acclimate. So she has honed her skills behind the scenes thus far and without the pressure of someone breathing down her neck.

Because she's going to be in the presence of a judge and lawyers and clients, Rey has taken extra care with her appearance today. She's wearing a pretty yellow sundress with a denim jacket thrown over it to keep her arms covered paired with white wedge sandals. She's left her hair down from her usual buns, attempting to go for a more grownup look.

She climbs into the elevator, along with Rose, Kaydel, Jannah, and Jessika, two carts somehow squeezed between the five of them, and travels up to the twelfth floor.

Ben Solo shoulders his way into the elevator along with about five other people. He takes a spot in the back, his broad frame as compact as he can make it. He's more than a little claustrophobic and when his anxiety threatens to choke him, he bangs his head against the back wall to snap himself out of it. It doesn't attract any attention, of course. Everyone else has things to do as well and they're worried about their own stress.

Should've taken the stairs.

He wonders how he let Luke talk him into this.

Eleven weeks. Eleven weeks he's been doing this and it feels like years already. This had not been his plan upon graduating law school, but fate seemed to have its own plan. Ben's plan had been to accept an offer at the big law firm in Coruscant where he had interned. But then his uncle got diagnosed with cancer and had worried his practice would fall apart if he had to hand out his cases to random attorneys to cover for him.

Ben, fresh out of law school, had agreed to take on all his pending cases, as well as any new clients that came looking for legal assistance at his office while he was out. So now Ben is elbows deep in divorce cases, termination of parental rights, and child support. He is not an expert a family law – or at least, he wasn't, until the crash course he's received the last eleven weeks.

Ben knows that he isn't meant to be that kind of lawyer - the kind that can listen to petty disagreement between divorced parties with patience and help them find a solution. So far, all he's wanted to do with those people are throw them both out of his office. He's sent numerous people to mediators, just to get them out of his hair and try to come to agreements on their own. He isn't suited for this type of practice. Ben's strengths are his ability to memorize law and policy. He's excellent at research and excels at understanding the fine print – things he'd been doing at Snoke's firm as an intern.

Ben hopes that there's still an opportunity for him with Snoke when he's done covering for his uncle. The starting salary at Snoke's firm is so impressive that Ben has already figured out that he could retire by the age of fifty, while still driving an expensive car, living in a nice house, and investing in a vacation home. And since Ben is already thirty-two, Snoke's offer is the most attractive option he's come across.

Alternatively, he could work with Luke, have a reasonably nice house, have a timeshare rather than his own second home, and work until he's probably seventy-five. No, Ben knows where his preferences lie.

But the news of Luke's cancer had scared him enough to come home and help out until Luke was back on his feet.

The elevator seems to stop at every floor, letting people off while more people pile on, and Ben practices his calm breathing so as not to let his anxiety get the better of him. He does not likes crowds. Or elevators. When the elevator opens up to the twelfth floor, Ben manages to squeeze out, not missing the startled sounds of the other passengers as he shoulders his way through.

He takes a deep breath as he gets out, thankful to be less constricted, and then heads toward the double doors that lead to Judge Ackbar's courtroom.

The morning passes in a blur, keeping Rey busy enough that she doesn't stress out. There doesn't seem to be enough workers to go around to help everyone coming into court. Before Rey knows it, she's working three cases at once, running back and forth between the parties and Amilyn, and then running into the judge's office to get a signature.

Just as she finally finishes a case that she's been handling for an hour, a man approaches her, not caring that she is elbows deep in calculating guidelines for a new case.

"Miss, excuse me, I've been here for over an hour," he says.

Rey glances up and the twinge of annoyance she initially felt disappears as she sees how nervous he was to approach. He seems to pick up on her harried vibes.

Rey forces a smile. "Have they called your name?"

"Yeah, when they called the docket…."

"We're still working through the ten o'clock docket," Rey tells him apologetically.

He huffs and looks around, clearly antsy, "I'm supposed to be back to work by one…"

With a sigh, Rey sets down her pen and asks, "What's your name then? I'll pull your file and see what's going on."

"David Hall," he answers, relief evident in his voice.

Rey nods as she moves to the pile of untouched cases, picking through until she finds his name along with 'Sara Hall'. She peeks into it and glances up at the client. "Modification?"

He nods. "Reduction. Sara's pissed of course…"

"Is Mrs. Hall here?"

He nods and points to a woman sitting toward the back of the courtroom. "Back there, in the orange dress."

Rey pulls out an Income Affidavit and hands it to Mr. Hall and instructs him to have a seat and complete the form. Then she clips the second affidavit to a clipboard and takes it to the woman at the back.

"Hi, Sara Hall? I'm Rey Niima. I understand you're here for modification…"

Before she can politely request that the lady fill out the form, the woman stands up, hands on her hips. "I am not agreeing to this reduction. I'm not. You can't make me sign…"

Rey takes a deep breath and tries to pull on another smile. "Of course not, Mrs. Hall…"

"It's Mrs. Luttrell now," she snips, rolling her eyes. "I don't know why the court still has me under his name."

Rey nods, the smile she's forcing beginning to hurt her cheeks. "Right, well, I just need you to complete this form regarding your income. It has to be done before anything else can be addressed…"

The woman opens her mouth to say something else, but Rey shoves the clipboard into her hands as politely as she can and scurries away. Once she's back at her seat, she struggles to remember where she was in the guidelines calculations for the other case she'd been working. She manages to clear her head enough to get back on track with her calculations, but as she is finishing up the guidelines, a shadow falls over her and she bites back on her annoyance because she knows it's probably just Mr. Hall bringing back his finished form.

She takes a deep breath and looks up. And up.

Then she cranes her head back to look up a bit more at the absolute mountain currently towering over her.

Thick, wavy, black hair falls to his shoulders and Rey might be struck with fascination at his face - if he weren't scowling at her.

She clears her throat. "Can I help you?"

He quirks a dark eyebrow. "I'm not sure. Did you speak to a David Hall a few minutes ago?"

Rey nods. "I did. Gave him an Income Affidavit to fill out…"

"Why?" He interrupts, a bit too snappish for Rey's liking.

Rey's brows pinch together as she looks up at him. "Because he's here for a modification and the first thing we do is get the income information from both parties…." She trails off, distracted by a tapping sound and her eyes flick down to the table she's working at to see him drumming his fingers along the wood impatiently.

This guy, Rey grits her teeth and looks back up to him.

"I'm aware of the steps one takes in a modification case," his eyes settle on her and he frowns. "Who are you exactly?"

Who are you? She wants to demand. "I work with the DA's office in child support."

He gives her a nod and what looks like a snarl as he says, "Yes, I gathered that, but who are you? I've never seen you. Are you new?"

She is, technically, new to court. But she knows the procedures well enough that she feels more than a little offended at his suggestion. As much as she wants to snipe at him, instead she tells him, "I'm Rey Niima. Nice to meet you." She smiles at him sweetly and offers her hand to shake.

He ignores her hand and just studies her for a moment before he leans down, dark eyes resembling an endless black abyss as he says, "Yes, I might've known that if you'd been wearing your badge."

Rey's mouth pops open and she dips her chin to look down where her badge should be. Heat floods her face as she glances back up at the smug look on his face. She turns away so she can rifle through her bag and feels relief when her fingers close around her badge. She quickly clips it to her denim jacket before meeting his eyes again.

She gives him another too-sweet smile. "See? Totally legit."

He hums, standing up straight once again and crossing long arms over what appears to be a massive chest. "If that's so, shouldn't you know not to speak to my clients?"

Rey freezes as she stares up at him. "What?" She asks a bit dumbly.

Both his eyebrows raise as though he's surprised at her stupidity. "Mr. Hall," he waves a hand behind him, "is my client. He's hired me to represent him and in doing so, should not be questioned or harassed by the DA's office without my representation. Does Holdo not teach you that?"

Rey's mouth drops open again, though she can't quite find the words she needs through her embarrassment.

The man - Mr. Hall's attorney, apparently, - continues, "If you're 'legit'" and he says it in such a condescending way that Rey feels her blush intensify, "you would know that you aren't supposed to speak with a non-custodial parent who has representation without their attorney present."

"I-I'm sorry," she whispers hoarsely, "I didn't know he had an attorney..."

"Oh," his eyes flick to the file and he reaches for it. Rey wants to tell him that no one is allowed to touch those files outside of DA staff and the judge, but in light of the legal faux pas she just committed, she lets it slide and watches as he flips open the file and peruses through the first couple of pages before finding what he's looking for. He gives her a pointed look before turning the file where she can see it, plain as day. 'Notice of Appearance. Comes now, Honorable Benjamin C. Solo…'

"It's in the file, Miss Niima." He says this as though he's speaking to a five year old.

Rey nods and looks away from the smug expression on his face, waves of humiliation washing over her. She knows the rules, knows that she's not supposed to talk to someone who has an attorney unless explicit permission is given to do so. Part of her wants to argue that David Hall approached her, that she was just trying to be polite, but she knows this Benjamin Solo guy will only hear excuses.

"I'm going to speak with my client," Solo says, finally moving away from her table. "If you don't mind though, I'd like it if someone more experienced worked with me on this case."

Rey ducks her head and fights back tears of embarrassment.

"So Rey," Jannah says as they're all riding down to the lobby at the end of the day. "I heard you met Solo."

Rey bristles at the name and scowls over at Jannah, who holds up her hands in surrender.

"Just asking," she chuckles.

Jessika pats her arm. "That bad, huh? It's okay, sweetie. He's just covering for Luke Skywalker for a little while. He normally doesn't handle family law. You get used to him."

"Speak for yourself, " Jannah mutters.

"He was such an asshole," Rey says, still not quite over the way he'd humiliated her. "I fucked up, I get that, but he didn't have to be…."

"Abrasive?" Rose suggests.

"A dickhead?" Jannah supplies.

"Yeah," Rey agrees, mostly with Jannah's word.

"Look at the bright side," Jessika says in a way that Rey just knows is not indicative of a bright side at all. "You'll have plenty more opportunities to enjoy his sunny disposition. Skywalker's on leave for several months, I heard."

Perfect.

Ben is busy working on getting a petition filed before the day's end when a huge pain in the ass strolls into his office like he owns the place.

Okay, so he does own the place. But he isn't supposed to be here right now.

Ben looks up at the smiling idiot, contemplating telling him that it's hard to get rest if he just keeps popping into the office a couple of times a week.

"Hope this is important," Ben says, settling an icy look on his uncle.

"Good to see you too, Ben," Luke says jovially, planting himself in a seat. Ben takes a minute to look at him and suppresses a wince. He looks rough, thinner, tired - the chemo is taking its toll.

"Is there something you need or are you just here to annoy me?" Ben looks back at his computer screen, trying to put the final touches on the petition before electronically filing it. Mitaka could technically do this, but Ben admitted long ago that he's too much of a control freak to entrust important deadlines to anyone but himself.

"Heard you were a little harsh with Amilyn''s new worker today."

Ben pinches the bridge of his nose. "You mean the girl who spoke to my client in my absence?"

Luke is silent, and when Ben looks up, he sees he's made a face.

"It's interesting how you just assume that I'm in the wrong when she clearly…"

"Alright, alright," Luke holds up his hands and fidgets in his chair. "I didn't have the whole story. I just heard she was upset after the two of you spoke and she didn't finish the case she started with you."

"I didn't want her to. Anyone who doesn't know the rules is wasting my time."

"Ben…"

"Luke," he counters, sending him a sharp look. "I can't have DA clerks trying to reach an agreement with my clients behind my back. Your clients," he adds pointedly.

Luke sighs, "I'll have Amilyn talk to her. But try to be nicer, yeah?"

"Sure," Ben says flatly. "Tell your ADA friend to try to hire people who know what they're doing."

The next time Rey sees him in court, she feels better prepared to deal with him. Now that she knows what he's like, she practically grabs at the case with his name on it - one that he was appointed to. She's practically spoiling for a fight this time. She eyes him as he speaks with his client, and she goes to have a quick word with the custodial parent and assures her that the contempt charges will be addressed.

He's sitting at the center table directly in front of the judge's bench, looking over what she assumes is his version of the client's file. She walks slowly and takes a minute to study him. He would be startlingly attractive if he wasn't such an ass.

He has the kind of hair that girls are both envious over and want to run their fingers through - long, thick, and wavy. His eyes are deep set and so dark, framed by equally dark lashes. His nose is long, but not at all in an unattractive wait - in fact, it fits the rest of his face. His lips should be too plush, too colorful for a man, but somehow it works.

Probably why he's such an asshole, Rey muses. Successful and attractive. Probably doesn't think he needs a personality on top of everything else.

He glances up when she stops just beside him, shadowing him as he did her a couple of weeks' prior - though not near as impressively as he'd done it. Annoyance flashes across his face before he looks down again.

"Partnered up again, I see?"

"I wouldn't call us partners by any means," Rey says coolly. He's here representing a man who hasn't paid child support in eight months while Rey is on the side trying to make sure the kid is taken care of.

Solo waves at the seat on the other side of the table without looking back up at her. Rey steps back around to the front of the table and slaps the folder down, though it doesn't draw a reaction from him like she'd hoped. She plops down in the chair and opens the folder, looking over it once more.

She looks up and Solo is looking at her expectantly and almost, almost impatiently, and she has to grit her teeth to keep from snarling at him. "Right. Well, it looks like your client has eight acts of contempt. The custodial parent insists he's been working the entire time and posting all over social media about the trips he's gone on and the money he's spent rather than taking care of their child." She raises an eyebrow. "Does he have any solid argument against the contempt charges?"

Solo sits back in his chair, pulling absently at his tie and Rey's eyes are drawn to his hands.

His freaking hands!

They're huge.

"He doesn't want a hearing. He's willing to enter into an agreement if she's willing."

"Is he going to pay the balance of what he's past due then?" Rey asks, arching a doubtful eyebrow. The defendant's arrears balance isn't chump change - he owes quite a bit.

"He doesn't have that kind of money just lying around," Solo says, a hint of irritation coloring his tone. "He is willing to plead guilty to the contempt in exchange for a suspended sentence. Suspended based upon future compliance, of course," Solo is quick to add when he notices Rey gearing up to argue again.

Rey wants to avoid a hearing too, mostly because she hates testifying in court almost more than anything else, so she's quick to grasp onto this solution.

"Okay," she says, looking for the arrearage figure in the file, "so the arrears would be adjudicated at $5,200. He needs a monthly payment on the arrears."

Solo nods along, not looking up from the notes he's scribbling, "How's $25 a month?"

Rey frowns and stares at him so long he looks up.

He sighs heavily. "What?"

"She won't agree to that. Do you know how many years it will take to pay off the balance at that rate?"

"What do you propose then?" He asks tiredly.

"Twenty five percent of current support."

"How is that a deal for him? We could have a hearing and the judge would order him to pay less than that."

"The judge would order more than $25 per month though," Rey hisses, feeling her temper spike.

"Fine," Solo runs a hand through his ridiculously nice hair. "$50 per month?"

"$100," Rey snaps.

"$75," Solo bites out. "Final offer. Do you want this to go to the judge?"

"Fine," Rey mimics his earlier snip. "You already said he'd plead guilty to eight acts and at five days per act, that would give him a suspended sentence of forty days…" She's just started scribbling notes on a legal pad of what will go into the agreement when Solo slaps his massive hand down on the yellow paper.

"We are not agreeing to the full five days per act."

Rey glares up at him and bares her teeth a bit. "What do you suggest then?"

Solo stares at her for several seconds, a muscle twitching beneath his eye. "One day per act."

"You've got to be shi…." Rey bites her lip to stop the stream of profanities threatening to come out. "Absolutely not. I might be willing to do four days if we avoid a hearing, but there is no way he's getting an 8 day suspended sentence when he's over $5,000 behind!"

Solo finally slides his hand away and sits back in his chair again. "He has $2,000 cash right now to go towards the arrears. It doesn't quite knock it in half, but it puts a pretty significant dent in it. What do you say, Miss Niima? My client pays a lump sum and you give him two days per act?"

Rey is at a loss, once again thrown off balance by his compliance to meet her halfway on something when he'd been giving her such a hard time. If he had mentioned at the beginning of this that his client had money to put toward the arrears, this could've been over quickly. And when she glances back up, he's looking at her and he looks - a little bit like he's enjoying himself.

It annoys her even more.

"Three days per act, twenty four day suspended sentence, $75 per month towards the arrears, and the $2,000 lump sum," she says, "And a referral to the Responsible Parent Program."

Solo's eyes narrow at the last minute addition, but then his lips quirk a bit and he says, "We have a deal."

When Ben is done for the day, he can't help but feel amusement at his second exchange with the new girl working for Amilyn. She doesn't seem to like him much, not that things like that have ever bothered Ben.

There are plenty of people who don't like him.

But he can't help but remember her irritation with him as they negotiated over a contempt agreement of all things. He probably could have avoided most of the back and forth with her if he'd told her upfront that his client had cash, but - well, he finds he kind of likes interacting with her. She was a little intense in her need for fairness and even though the whole agreement was a small thing for him, he appreciates her tenacity while fighting for her client.

There was a particular way she bared her teeth and scrunched her nose that he finds - well, adorable. And adorable is not a word Ben Solo throws around.

Or ever uses at all, really.

But it certainly applies to her.

And she isn't the airhead that he had taken her for after their first meeting. She had looked non-threatening enough at the time, in her yellow sun dress, with her awkward fumbling -

But this time, she'd been ready for him and probably wouldn't have given him an inch if he hadn't worked so hard to comply with her wishes. He could've been difficult, took the case to a hearing, and maybe his client would've come out better, maybe not. But he finds that in an odd way, he likes bantering with her.

He certainly looks forward to future interactions.