Rey sleeps soundly in his arms, but his mind won't stop going over everything he's learned since coming home. Everything he's done. He still can't really believe he'd invaded Rey's mind like that, and he's beyond grateful that she seems to have forgiven him.

Then, he'd made her feel as if he was leaving her, too. He looks down at her placid face, relieved the nightmares are leaving her alone. He'd hoped that their bond would keep them away from her for good, but clearly, she just has too much spinning through her head to wipe them away entirely.

He's thankful that she'd been willing to wait for them to take that final step together, become one with their bodies in the same way as their soul, because he doesn't really think he deserves her like that. Not yet. He has to show both of them that he can go for more than a few days without losing his damned mind.

It means nothing that Darth Vader is his grandfather. He won't fall to the dark side, he won't hurt Rey like that. It doesn't matter that Snoke manipulated him for years. His head is his own now, and he's going to prove to himself that he belongs to no one but himself. Well, and Rey.

He just can't settle, so gently, he untangles himself from her. She stirs and makes an adorable snuffling sound, but then sleep pulls her back under.

Once on his feet, he takes in one long look of her sleeping form. She's all that matters. He's going to face it all. For her.

And the first step is dealing with his uncle.


He pads into the family room and over the boxes bursting with his mother's pilfered data. Carefully, he picks through them until he finds it.

Luke's debrief after the events of the second death star.

His whole life he'd been told that Luke had sensed good in Darth Vader and had gone to the Imperial base on Endor in a desperate attempt to reason with the twisted man. It makes far more sense now that he knows that Vader is his father.

Taking a deep breath, he pulls up the recording.


Ben sits back, not quite sure what to think. Now that he knows Palpatine is back, it all feels so tragic and pointless. His grandfather returned to the light, sacrificed himself to save his son, and the Emperor still lived. What had it all been for?

It's all just a horrific cycle and he taps his knee. Does Luke know about Palpatine? What will that do to him?

It's the middle of the day on Yavin 4, he could comm him …

He dislikes talking to his uncle. They'd never really seen eye-to-eye on anything, but he is family. And he would rather like to hear his reaction when he finds out that Ben knows about Vader.

Sighing, he snags the comm off the end table and just stares at it for a long time. If he's lucky, Luke won't be available and he can just leave him a message. He's not sure he'll even talk to him, after what happened with Daxon.

Huffing out a breath, Ben taps in the code for Luke and waits.

"Leia! I thought I'd hear from you by now."

Ben clears his throat. "It's not Mom."

"Oh, Ben …" Luke says, sounding almost disappointed. "What do you need?" he asks shortly.

"I know about Rey. That she comes from the future."

"I see," Luke says slowly.

"I also know about Vader."

He hears a sharp intake of breath and he smiles. It's satisfying to get the drop on Luke Skywalker.

"What, precisely, do you think you know?" Luke asks carefully.

"That he's your father, that my whole family was so terrified of me turning to the dark that you all but guaranteed it."

"Now, Ben, that's not fair—"

"Isn't it? You always kept your distance from me, didn't even treat me the same as the others, let alone acknowledged I'm your family!" Ben is already losing his temper and he takes in a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Look, I don't want to fight. I need to know what Rey told you."

"Shouldn't you ask her?" Luke points out in that condescending way that always gets right under his skin.

"Fine, I was trying to be gentle. Did she tell you about Palpatine?"

"What about him?" Luke asks with confusion.

"So you don't know he's still alive."

There's a long, thick silence over the comm and Ben just waits.

"No. No I didn't know. Rey failed to mention that," Luke finally says.

"She does that," Ben acknowledges. As much as he loves her, Rey is still closed tightly and he's sure there's something she's not telling him.

"There's more …"


Well, that had been frustrating. Luke hadn't known a damned thing about Snoke that he didn't already know. Ben hadn't been able to explain about the voice and Snoke, just asked because he'd come up in their research. Let his mother tell him.

He looks at his chrono and groans. There are only a few hours left in the night, but he doesn't feel even the slightest bit tired.

Deciding to give up entirely, he picks up his datapad and keeps reading about the old Empire.


He's beginning to nod off when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

"Ben?" Rey asks. "Are you alright?"

Blinking he looks up into her worried face and smiles. "Just couldn't sleep."

"Oh," she says fiddling with her nightgown. Something is clearly bothering her.

He sets aside his datapad and opens his arms. She immediately situates herself across his lap and nestles into him.

"What is it?" he asks gently.

"Just … you were gone. When I woke up. I … I didn't like it."

Ben frowns slightly. "I would never just leave in the middle of the night, I promise."

"I know … it's just …"

He can sense so much pain from her, so he cups her face with his hand. "Tell me."

"I don't know how. It feels silly," she whispers as a single tear streaks down her face.

"Oh, love … nothing you feel could be silly."

"I just … I … when you died—" A sob steals her words and he pulls her close.

"Shhh, shhh. It's alright. You've been through so much."

She nods and says softly, "But I have you. You're right here. What's wrong with me, that I'm still so afraid you're just going to disappear?"

"You've lost too many people. It's perfectly natural to be afraid." He strokes her hair and she finally stops trembling. "Tell me … tell me how we fell in love in your time."

"I don't really know how to answer that," she evades. "We never had a chance to talk about it."

"Hmmm." It bothers him that she guards her memories of his future self so closely, almost like they're too precious to share. But she's finally calming, and he decides they've been through enough recently.

She'll tell him, eventually.

Won't she?


"Ben."

He's so warm, and Rey is close. Sleep. He wants to sleep.

"Ben."

"Mmmmm," he mumbles.

Then he feels a little shake and he cracks open one eye.

Rey smiles that glorious smile and that makes him open his eyes fully. "Good morning, sweetheart." He'd finally been able to find sleep when they'd come back to his … their room.

"Your mother is outside. She wants to talk to you."

He clenches his eyes shut and drapes his arm over his face. "Too early."

"No, it's late. We slept in. Again."

Then he hears his mother's voice through the door. "Ben, I'm sorry, but I have to go into the office, and I want to talk to you first."

He flings his arm away and sits up, grouchy and full of bad grace. At least he's already wearing a shirt as well as his sleeping pants.

"Come in," he grumbles.

The door opens and his mother looks ready for battle, of the diplomatic kind. Perhaps there's a vote today.

"Good morning, Ben, Rey."

He just nods and Rey says, "Good morning."

"Before I go, I wanted to ask … well, I wanted to know if it's alright for me to reach out to Luke—"

"I commed him last night. He knows most everything. Not about the voice … I couldn't trust him like that."

Leia frowns slightly. "I do think he should know."

"I just couldn't tell him," Ben admits softly. It was a step too far to take with his uncle. At least right now.

"I know … I know that Luke failed you, we all did, but—"

"He did most of all," Ben almost snarls. He may not have done it, but knowing Luke wanted to kill him in the future deeply colors his perspective. His death was preferable to simply talking to him. "Did you tell her? Did you tell my mother what he did to me in the future?" he asks Rey.

"Yes, she told me … I haven't known how to talk to him, what to think since then. But now, I think we need him."

Ben's shoulders slump and he knows his mother is right, but he really doesn't want to say it out loud. "I just … I feel like he never trusted me to be stronger than my blood," he confesses.

"I think we're all guilty of that."

Rey steps forward and puts her hand on Ben's arm. "I … I've never understood that. I'm sorry, Leia, but … both you and Luke never fell, why were you so convinced Ben would?"

Leia looks away for a long time, and when she looks back, her eyes are haunted. "Now that I understand the darkness I felt was always Snoke, it feels so wrong that I doubted you like that. All I can say is I was afraid. So afraid."

The anguish pouring from his mother moves Ben to come up to her and enfold her in his arms. "Mom … I know you did the best you could. I may still be hurt, but I do know that."

"Thank you," she shudders.


"Where's Han?" Rey asks over breakfast.

Ben shrugs. "Oh, probably working on the Falcon."

"I know we should keep digging through that data, but …" She gets a wistful look in her eyes.

"What?"

"Could we … could we spend the day together? With everything … I miss our time together. Our walks on Yavin 4. Just getting to be."

Ben smiles broadly. It still amazes him that Rey wants to spend time with him, and her quiet request makes his heart swell with love and pride.

He reaches for her hand. "I think that would be wonderful. What would you like to do?"

"Something outside?"

And suddenly, he knows just where he's going to take her."


"Republic City has one of the most extensive botanical gardens in the galaxy," Ben informs Rey as they walk through the verdant entrance. It's under a huge dome so that they can control the climate for different regions and the transition from city to the lush greenery always takes his breath away.

"This is … wow," Rey exclaims.

"It is, isn't it?" He squeezes her hand and watches her face as she takes it all in.

"Where do you want to start? There's a flitterbug garden, the arboretum, an orchid house—"

"Oh, let's go there!"

Ben smirks. Why did he even ask?


Rey gasps as the palatial white greenhouse comes into view. It has two vast wings, and a soaring cathedral-like dome, all paned with glass.

"It's all filled with flowers?" she asks in awe.

"From every corner of the galaxy."

Rey picks up their pace and Ben has to chuckle at her child-like glee.


She stands in the middle of the grand hall and just gapes at the bursting color. All around her is every shade one could imagine, but Ben thinks she's still the most beautiful flower of them all.

"I don't even know where to start!" she squeals.

"Have you always loved flowers?" he asks.

"Oh yes. Until leaving Jakku I'd only ever seen one in person before."

Ben frowns at the reminder of her deprivation. "You'll always have flowers, now. I promise, wherever we make our home, it will burst with them."

She goes up on her toes and kisses him sweetly. "I love you, Ben."


"Look!" she gasps and Ben's eyes follow where she's pointing. It's a large display of Murikami orchids. They're much larger than Rey's and he realizes hers must be young.

She goes up the infoholo and begins to flip through its description. He reads over her shoulder.

The Murikami Orchid is unique for its special Force-sensitive properties. For this reason, it has been known to react to impending danger and joy. However, much of this is only myth, as Force users are so rare.

A single bulb can produce up to a dozen separate plants, known as a creche. They're bonded and it's not recommended that they be separated, as they appear to react poorly to being away from their siblings.

She looks at Ben swiftly. "Did you just read that?"

"Yes," he says grimly.

"So even if we got another one, mine would still be sad."

"I'm sorry, Rey … I didn't know." Leave it to him to get her the most depressing gift in the galaxy.

But Rey simply looks speculative. "Do you think they might … communicate?"

"I don't know. I mean, there doesn't seem to be much known about them."

"Maybe … maybe my orchid can give us some insight into what the First Order is doing with them."

"It's absolutely worth a try."

He can feel her vibrate with the need to rush home and try immediately and he asks, "Should we go?"

Her eyes light up, but then she shakes her head. "No … no. I know that we have more than a decade before the First Order becomes unstoppable. We have time. Show me the flitterbugs!"


After watching Rey with the flitterbugs, luminous in her joy, he'd taken her to the tea house in the center of the botanical gardens. They serve a traditional Coruscanti afternoon tea and he's eager to see what she thinks of the towers of treats they'll bring to their table.

"Ben, it's so beautiful here. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of trees and plants!"

"I'm really happy you're enjoying it."

"Thank you … you put so much thought into me." She absentmindedly rubs at the cuff he got her at the markets and he smiles at the memory.

"I always will. Rey … I could spend the rest of our lives showing you beautiful places and it would never be enough to make you understand how much you mean to me."

"I know, I do," she says.

"I … I don't think you do." He takes her hand and looks deeply into her eyes. "Before you, I was lost. I needed you, so desperately. You make everything make sense. You make me make sense."

She frowns slightly. "I'm not … I'm just me."

"Exactly. You're my other half. We fit."

She curls her fingers around his. "Yes, we do."


A/N: Thank you, ArtemisBare! You are simply the best.

Thank you, Readers! I'm sorry I wasn't able to pick back up with my streak, I was under the weather but am much better now. Thank you all for sticking with me!