hello hello! Another shorter chapter today because I want to go in a make some changes to what I drafted for chapter 3 originally. I'm not here to slow burn but I'd rather deliver some smaller pieces one by one rather than waiting a week to post a long chapter. I hope that's okay! In-depth notes at the bottom! Thanks for reading!


Rey's heart skips a beat as she takes in the sight of the man beside her. He's alive. With all her might, Rey pulls her gaze away from Ben and back to her friends. She is met with their various confused expressions and her heart sinks. They have to understand...they must...

Finn is the first to speak. "Glad to see you could join us...Ben...mind explaining to the rest of us how the hell you survived a planet exploding. Rey filled us in on you showdown with the Emperor..."

Ben and Rey look back at each other as he finished his thought. They share a shaky breath as the memory of the Emperor's wrath flashes between them. Rey sees a glimpse herself in Ben's eyes, lifeless on the temple floor. Dead. She gets a taste of the intense feelings that swirled through him as he'd healed her, as she'd opened her eyes and looked at him again, and as she kissed him.

Ben struggles to speak. "Well-I..." He shifts his weight away from Rey and groans in pain, his knees buckling beneath him. Rey catches him as he falls forward, her hand pressing on his chest as the Force supports his weight. The touch sends another shock through them, their Force signatures flaring with mixed feelings. "I think my leg is broken..." Ben wheezes.

Rose jumped up from where she was sitting. "The interrogation can wait Finn. He needs a med droid and a bacta infusion now. I'll go check on Chewie's status." Finn steps forward and helps Rey get Ben to a chair.

Poe strides closer to them and leans against the table. "Rey you've been awfully quiet. That's not like you." Rey takes her eyes off Ben as he sits and frowns at her friend. "I'm...I'm a little overwhelmed by how the Force has reacted to all this. It's very..."

"Overwhelming..." Ben finished her thought. Rey's breath falls short as she looks at him, really looks at him. He's just like she remembered - with his long face and his dark hair and his broad shoulders. She senses just how overwhelmed he is as well through the bond. He missed you.

Zorri scoffed in disgust, yanking them both from the trance. "Oh, so that's what this is. So the Last Jedi was fraternizing with the enemy all along and we're just supposed to be okay with that?"

Rey glared at her. "Watch yourself."

"Or what? You'll Force choke me? Torture me? Blow up a planet? Or is that your boyfriend's job?" Rey's nostrils flared as she stepped away from Ben. "I said...watch yourself..." Jannah immediately stepped between the two women. "That's enough! Both of you!"

Rey feels the pull of Ben's mind from behind her. Rey...don't do this...it's not going to help... Ben's voice whisper in her head. Rey retreats from her defensive stance, leaning against the table.

Zorri crosses the room without another word, slamming the ramp controls as she exits the ship. Jannah sighed. "I'll go after her." She paused to point a finger at Ben. "I'll have some choice words for you later."

Poe snorts and rubbed his forehead. "Well, that went horribly. You're really doing a number on our core morale here Solo." Rey shot him a glare before she could stop herself. "Easy there princess, I'm just stating the obvious. He's not the most popular man in the base right now...let alone the galaxy." Finn nodded in agreement. "Is it wrong to ask what would Leia do?"

Rey feels a twinge of despair flare through the bond at the mention of Leia. Ben takes a slow, shaking breath as he sits straighter. "She would have needed some form of collateral to risk giving the former Supreme Leader sanctuary among the Resistance leaders." Ben reaches into his pocket and pulls out a thin black cartridge. "This data tape is a backup of all the data on my ship. Every single ship schematic, clearance code, every name of every First Order officer, trooper, mechanic...financial associate-" He extended his arm out to Poe, whose jaw has hit the floor. "It's yours...in exchange for my safety. I can also officially relinquish my title as Supreme Leader of the First Order. You now have what remains of the First Order in the palm of your hand."

"Where did you get that?" Rey gasps, even as she senses the truth. Someone on Exogul gave it to him...but how? Ben glances at her for a moment and nods. Later...

Poe stared at the tape, nodding slowly as he processed the weight of their new advantage. He looks between the tape and Ben, calculating his next words. "I'll let you hold onto that..." Finn flails his arms in shock. "You'll what?" Poe put his hand up. "...what I'm saying is it may be needed in a more...diplomatic capacity tomorrow - with the others - once word gets out that Kylo Ren is alive."

"Kylo Ren is dead." Ben and Rey say in unison. A small smile appears on Ben's lips and it takes every ounce of Rey's control not to throw herself in his arms and get lost in his embrace. Instead, Rey blushes and puts her hand over his on the table, the Force singing its praises as they touch. Kylo Ren turned. You helped me. Ben's quote takes her by surprise. He remembers.

Poe clears his throat, breaking their moment off. "Anyways...I'm going to give Kaydel an update...see what she can do about assessing morale. I'll expect to see both of you in the morning..." As he leaves, Poe makes a point to cross the room and kiss Finn on the cheek. Rey can feel Ben's surprise flare through her mind, followed by a much more muted longing to do the same to her. She stands up straighter, not allowing his thoughts to catch her off guard in front of her friend. As Poe leaves and the Falcon ramp closes, Finn crossed his arms and smirks.

"Well...it's just us now..." Finn takes a step toward them. Rey feels the recollection of the last time they were all together like this. Alone, in a cold forest, fighting for our lives. Finn takes Rey out of her own thoughts. "You had pretty good timing Solo...Rey had just told us about what you did for her..." Rey finds herself incredibly nervous as he pauses. "...and I'm glad I get to thank you properly." Rey watches Ben blink at her friend in surprise. "I-..."

"You did the right thing at the right time. Obviously..." Finn takes Rey's other hand and gives it a squeeze. "And in my eyes that makes you a good man...a better man to say the least. I know a thing or two about crossing over to the other side, so I'll try my best to be here for you...both of you..." Rey smiles wide as she holds back tears. Finn nods at her knowingly and then nods at Ben. "Just do me a favor and don't kill anyone else along the way."

Ben winces at his choice words as Finn looks back at Rey. "There's a lot I don't understand about the Force, but I want to learn. So don't run off into the sunset before you can teach me a thing or two." Rey grabs him with both arms and pulls him into a crushing hug. She squeezes him as hard as she can, hoping his growing powers in the Force can give him just a glimpse of how much she wants to say to him. "Thank you Finn." He hugs her back and she can feel his understanding.

She also feels a mixture of sadness and guilt...even a hint of jealousy. She realizes these feelings are coming from Ben as Finn pulls away from her. He watches them both with sad eyes but recovers quickly. The Falcon ramp rumbles open as Chewbacca came trudging up with a med droid and Rose in tow.

"Chewie wait!" She calls after him. Finn steps out of the way as the Wookie stalks up to the table and stares down at Ben. Rey realizes she's instinctively stepped back in front of Ben in order to protect him. The room is incredibly quiet, sans the mechanic buzzing of the med droid coming up the ramp.

Rey feels Ben's hand press into her waist, encouraging her to step aside. It's okay. Rey moves away and there's a beat of an almost awkward silence.

Ben takes a breath and ponders his next words carefully."I...I should probably...apologize-" Chewie cuts him off with a growl. "I smell bad? Have you sniffed yourself lately?" Chewie closes the distance and pulls Ben into a tight hug. Rey's heart swelled at the sight of their reunion. She had to admit, it wasn't she expected.

Chewie growled in Finn's direction and began to lift Ben from the seat, who groaned in pain as he put weight on his leg. Finn quickly came to his aid and they all followed the med droid into Rey's quarters. Rey started to follow them as well, but Rose suddenly stopped her. "I think it's your turn to sit down Rey. Ben needs to get treated for his injuries." As he was being helped around the corner Ben glanced over his shoulder and smiled at Rey. Listen to her. I'll be alright. Please rest.

Rose left her for a moment to grab some leftovers from their dinner. She prepared Rey a plate and sat beside her, taking her other hand as Rey began to eat slowly. "How are you feeling?" "A lot better...but I'm still worried about how everyone's going to react. They don't know him as I do..." Rey feels herself blushing.

"The base was in a frenzy when I went down there...everyone was gossiping and arguing - that is until Poe showed up just now. He told everyone to shut their gobs and get some sleep and everyone listened." "Did he mention Ben?" Rose nodded. "Well...someone did ask him if Kylo Ren was alive. Poe told everyone there was no reason to be concerned...because Kylo Ren is dead."

Rey stops eating and stares at her friend, waiting for her story to continue. She doesn't say anything else. "That's all he said?" Rose shrugged. "You know he's got a flair for the dramatics - plus half the base is still drunk from all the celebrating! But I think it'll really help us ease him into the Resistance. Leia taught Poe a lot more about diplomacy than we thought." Rose takes a sip of her drink.

Rey shakes her head and pushes her plate away, the food suddenly leaving a sour taste on her tongue. "I'll never be one for diplomacy. It almost makes me thankful for the Jedi...the Force...my place in all this..." Rey suddenly feels the weight of her exhaustion, her limbs aching from how much of her power she'd used to tear apart Ben's ship. She leans on the table with one hand, resting her head in her palm. Rose began to rub her shoulder, lulling her tired eyes closed. She tried to fight it, but Ben's encouraging voice whispered through her once again and her eyes shut. Rey...please rest...


Notes:

One of my biggest fears for this story was making my supporting characters too OOC. I firmly believe that if Finn & Poe had the chance to meet Ben Solo they'd be skeptical, but above all, they'd support Rey because he did save her life! Now that doesn't mean they'd ready to plan her a wedding or anything - but I think we all know they wouldn't put their friendship at risk. Poe is going to do what Poe does best - and I think Finn would want to just keep that communication with Rey open so he doesn't lose her. Hopefully, I'm doing them a little bit of justice? I'm trying my best here. Most of all I want this fic to be light heartened and feel-good vs something angsty! If you have opinions on how you think the rest of the group would've handled meeting Ben please feel free to share!

Another thorn in my side has been how intensely negative all my social media has been about the new movie. I usually find a lot of inspiration on tumblr by the entire Reylo tag is swallowed by all these crazy theories and sad posts and it's just really bumming me out -_- . I hate to see people so sad over something that I found so moving. So I hope this fic does a little bit to brighten the mood! I promise the next chapter will be a bit longer with the Rey/Ben reunion you've been looking for :)))

Thanks for reading! (this was recently revised! Stay safe everyone!)