"Tell me about the girl," the voice purrs.

Ben is shocked silent at first. How does the voice even know about Rey? He's sure he's been careful, never saying a word about her.

"I know you've left Skywalker's temple. I wonder why you didn't tell me."

"It all happened so fast," he explains.

"Skywalker has always been so short sighted, never seeing what's right in front of him," the voice spits. "I'm sure you felt so abandoned. You should have reached out to me. Don't I always help you?"

"Yes. I'm sorry." Why is he suddenly so afraid of his only true friend? His instinct is to always protect Rey, but now he wonders why. The voice has been there for him since he was small, listening to his struggles with so much patience.

"You beat a boy badly. I could sense the darkness in you. Do you see now how powerful it can be?"

Remembering how right it had felt to lose control, dominate Daxon so completely, he can't deny that a huge part of him just wants to taste that freedom again. But then he thinks of Rey's stricken face. "But at what cost?" he asks with real curiosity.

The voice scoffs. "You are so powerful, why concern yourself with such trivialities? You are meant for greater things, my boy."

He hasn't thought about that, not really, since he met Rey. Is there anything that could be greater than making a life with her? What if this path he's considered really did part them? Much as the idea of her by his side as they walk in the dark is appealing to his baser nature, he can't really see her making that choice.

"I'm not so sure about that anymore," he says cautiously. He hasn't stood up to the voice in years, too afraid he'd be left all alone again.

"And why is that?" the voice asks with no inflection.

"It's just different with my parents, that's all. They're not so bad."

"They're just showing you what you want to see. They'll ignore you again soon enough."

"I don't know … my mom isn't as busy, now, and dad is sticking around."

"Are you sure this isn't simply how they always are when you're away? Perhaps your unexpected arrival has them behaving as they usually do when you aren't there to interrupt their lives."

Ben frowns deeply. This doesn't sound right at all.

"Or perhaps they're simply putting on a good face for the girl," the voice continues.

Before he can think better of it, he asks with rancor, "How do you know about her?"

"Ah. You are not my only friend, young Solo." That hurts. Other boys confide in him? "Don't let yourself be distracted by a pretty face."

Ben's eyes narrow, and he struggles with what to say. It feels wrong to defy the voice, but he can't let him talk about Rey like that. "She's none of your business," he says firmly.

"Everything about you is my business," the voice responds with a touch of threat.

"Not her," Ben growls, and he immediately shields his thoughts.


All night he thrashes in his bed, tormented by nightmares. Rey on her knees in front of some frail old monster. That same monster torturing her while she screams. A man in a black mask threatening her with a spitting red saber.

No matter how hard he tries, he can't stop the cascade of images every time he falls back to sleep, until eventually he goes to his desk and pulls up everything he has on the dark side. It had been a source of fascination, but now … now he's beginning to wonder.

Does the voice mean him harm? What about Rey?


Han laughs as Ben drags himself to the breakfast table. When he'd gone to knock softly on Rey's door, there'd been no answer, so he'd assumed she's still sleeping.

"You look like bantha shit," Han remarks.

"Didn't sleep well," he grunts.

"No, you still can't sleep together," his mother interjects.

"We'll see about that," Ben says under his breath. After years of fitful sleep, the three nights he'd slept with Rey by his side had been a revelation and he's desperate to have it back.

"Oh!" his mother gasps as Rey arrives. Ben's eyes immediately go to her form and he breathes in sharply. The deep circles under her eyes make it clear she didn't fare any better than he did.

Rey and his mother share a look. "Is it …" Leia breathes out.

"I think so," Rey responds, and Han makes a perplexed look.

Leia frowns, her eyes troubled. "Maybe you two should go back to bed."

"What's the point?" Ben asks with bitterness. If he can't hold Rey, he's not interested, and he gets to his feet, needing to touch her.

He rounds the table and pulls her into his arms, breathing in her scent. Now, now he calms, and she immediately returns his embrace.

They stand wrapped together for an age and he already feels worlds better.

His mother sighs and says, "Take her back to your room, get some sleep."

They don't have to be told twice, and they scurry away to the sound of Han asking, "What just happened?"

Leia sighs and says, "Sit down, husband. We have a long conversation ahead of us."


"I missed you so much," she says as soon as he has her tucked in next to him in his bed. It's small, but they manage to fit without too much trouble. They already need to be as close as possible. "I had terrible nightmares," she breathes out as she clutches at his shirt.

"I did, too." He wonders if maybe they were the same. Was he seeing her future? Had his dreams really happened? To her?

"I thought I was free of them," she says to herself.

"You had nightmares before." He's very careful not to phrase it as a question.

"Always … until …." then she trails off and he knows she won't say more.

"Please tell me," he entreats.

She sighs. "After … after I met you, your future self, the nightmares got worse. They didn't go away until the first night you and I slept next to each other."

So, whatever had happened between them in the future, it hadn't been like this. Whatever their relationship, it had been platonic. He's oddly pleased that he doesn't have to be jealous of himself.

"And so, last night …"

"They were back."

"Mine started when I was 10."

"Oh, Ben … all that time?"

"Yes," he says with a hollow tone and he wonders if he should tell her about the voice. It had always comforted him in the night, making the bad dreams go away. Now though … what if it starts talking to her? Whispering in her ear, trying to part them?

"I think our connection, I think it keeps the nightmares away, so long as we're close."

Ben's mind makes swift connections. Is that why the voice couldn't reach him? And it suddenly seems much more sinister if what he shares with Rey keeps it from contacting him. Because the only thing he knows, more than he's ever known anything before in his life, is his bond with Rey is pure.

One thing is for certain. He's not going to trust the voice any longer.


Rey wakes him with a sweet kiss and it's so easy to imagine a thousand wakings, just like this one.

"It's past lunch. Again," she says with a wry smile.

"Was it really just a few days ago that we were getting up with the sun?"

"I know," she says with a decadent stretch. "I feel like I could sleep for days with you."

Privately, he thinks he could sleep with her for days, but not quite how she means.

As if his mother sensed their waking, there's a knock at his door. Who is he kidding? Of course Leia senses them.

Rey untangles herself from him and is at the door before he can manage to get to his feet. As she opens his door, Ben stands awkwardly, not sure how he feels about his mother seeing him with a girl in his room, even if that girl is Rey.

"Oh, you look much better," Leia says with relief as she glances at both of them. "Han and I have planned a little outing and we'd like you to join us as soon as you're dressed."

He hasn't had a chance to make sure Rey is fed, and he says, "What about breakfast?"

"Don't worry, we've thought of everything."

Han is lurking by the door and looks skyward. "And she does mean everything."


Ben is confused when his father pulls him away, heading in the opposite direction from Rey and his mother. "Come on kid, this is father-son time."

"But where is mom taking Rey?"

"Don't worry. It's better this way."

Ben looks after Rey longingly and she gives him a huge smile, waving. She's obviously pleased to be with his mother again and he's absolutely certain that they had some sort of relationship in her previous life.

"Where are we going?" Ben asks as his father hails a speeder.

Han looks around quickly and says gruffly, "Med Center."

"But I feel fine," Ben says with confusion.

Han sighs and rakes his hand through his hair. "I'll explain once we get there." Then he tosses him a protein bar and grunts, "Breakfast."

As he nibbles on the dry bar, he grimaces in the back of the speeder. "Mom better be feeding Rey better than this," he grumbles.

"Oh, don't worry. I heard Leia talk about shopping and ladies who lunch, whatever that means."

Ben frowns. What the hell is going on?


They pull up to the Med Center, and he's had enough confusion for one afternoon. "Dad, explain."

"Well, when a boy and a girl really love each other—"

"You gave me this speech when I was 12," Ben says, giving his father a look of annoyed disbelief.

"Yeah, well, now we're gonna make sure you don't make any little Reys or Bens. Today is the day you get your implant."

His eyes bulge out of his head. "And is … is mom …?"

"Oh yeah, she's just being nicer about it. Wants to make sure your girl has the right clothes, too. I don't expect them to be back until we're both snoring in front of the holovision."

"Right clothes?"

"Your mom has accepted her. With a vengeance. There're about a dozen events coming up, and apparently they all require somethin' different to wear."

Ben hates events and he looks at his dad, understanding him for the first time. "Is that why you were always off on some job or the other?"

Han winks at him. "Wanna come with me?"

For a moment, Ben really, really does.


Just as his father had predicted, they're both snoozing through the end of some completely vapid holofilm, when Rey and his mother return, laughing and chattering.

Han opens a lazy eye and peers at Ben. "The women have returned. No doubt successful from the hunt."

Now that Rey is back, he rubs the sleep from his eyes and gets to his feet. She bursts into the family room and she's resplendent in a tight little dress that makes him want to wrap her in the throw blanket to his left. She'd been out in public? In that? What had his mother been thinking?

Rey spins, sliding her hands over her hips, and it's all Ben can do to keep from groaning. "Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful," he says with a strangled tone. What it really is is the sexiest damned thing he's seen in his life.

Leia pokes her head in. "Did you guys eat?" she asks.

"Yeah, yeah," Han yawns. Then he sways to his feet. "I'm going to bed. Where is that, by the way, Princess?"

Leia giggles like a teenager and Ben isn't sure what to think of this strange parallel universe he's found himself in where his parents flirt like mad and don't scream at each other.

"You know very well, Han. I'll be up soon."

Leia hugs Rey closely and says, "Thank you for a wonderful outing, Rey. Welcome to the family." Then she kisses her cheek and pats Ben's shoulder as she passes him. "Goodnight, Son."

"Goodnight," Ben says in a daze. Welcome to the family?

"Your mother, Ben, she's wonderful. Though she did try to get me to get an implant today. I had to explain I already had one. Maker, that was embarrassing."

His jealous rage fills him immediately and he crowds her with his larger frame. "What?" he growls. Why did she need it?

She pulls back, startled. "I got one a few months ago. It was standard procedure where I was."

He can tell that she's lying to him, but he's already trying to rein himself in, remembering how he's seriously reconsidering the dark. And he's absolutely feeling it bubbling up within him. Taking a deep breath, he steps back and tries to give her a genuine smile.

"I got my implant today, Dad took me."

"Well, they might be fine with us being together, but they sure aren't in a hurry to have grandbabies!" she remarks with forced cheer, her eyes still looking a bit wary.

But he is. He wants to plant a baby in her belly as soon as possible, make her his completely. Then he shakes his head. Where had that thought come from? Of course he doesn't want that. Certainly not yet.

"Come on, I'm exhausted," she says with a yawn.

He watches her backside sway all the way back to his rooms, trying not to imagine all the men who got to see this tempting view.


Ben can't quite get his jealousy under control. Why did she really get that implant?

Yet, Rey is so happy as she pulls out various items of clothing that droids had delivered to his room. Clearly, his mother has decided this is Rey's room now, too.

Then she squeals in delight as she finds a small gold box. He recognizes it as from one of the local confectioners, his mother's favorite.

"Oh, Ben. Have you had these?" she asks as she opens the box and shows him a decadent box of chocolates.

"Mmmhmm," he says, getting pulled into her glee. Who cares what came before him? All that matters is making Rey happy.

He's about to pluck one from the box, when she swiftly closes it on his fingers. With a playful grin, she teases, "Nope, all mine."

Oh really? Well two can play at that game. He leans into her and growls, "You know I can take whatever I want."

Expecting her to continue their teasing, he's horrified when she goes stark white, her eyes blinking rapidly.

"Rey?"

She shakes her head, her eyes clenched against something. Against him?

"Rey, what is it?"

"It's nothing, just a memory."

But she's shaking and he needs to fix this. "I didn't mean I would take them. They're all yours."

Her face screws up and she grabs her head. "I know. I know you didn't. I just … it's so hard. You're so like him, sometimes, and it scares me."

And that's when something inside him snaps. All his questions rush into him with violent intensity. Why did she need that implant? Did that other man touch her? What really brought her here? "Who?! Who am I like? The other man? The one who died? The one you loved?"

"Yes," the voice croons. "Make her tell you."

He grabs her by the shoulders, and her frantic face only spurs him forward. If she's afraid, it means he's close to his answers. Answers she's denied him time and again. If she won't give them to him, he's going to take them.

"I know you won't tell me, I know you're too afraid," he sneers, the dark side storming inside him.

"What, no, Ben, please stop—"

"NO!" he bellows. "I will know what you know. It's my future, too!"

And in that moment, he breaks into her mind.


A/N: HEA Policy is in firm effect!

Thank you, ArtemisBare. I promise, I got enough sleep last night. Really!

Thank you, Readers! Your investment in this story is giving me the energy I need to keep this chapter a day writing streak, and I'm so, so grateful to you all!