A Galaxy is Not Enough
Chapter 5: The Wedding Night
Rey is startled awake by the jolting movements of the shuttle as it lands. Sitting upright, she blinks tiredly and is met by the solemn face of her husband. Hux is shadowed in the pale artificial light as he leans back in his chair. When he looks at her, his face seems to soften for a moment.
"We're here," he says, rising and offering her his hand.
She takes it and allows him to help pull her up. It takes her a second before she realizes that she was covered with a blanket —or not a blanket— a coat. His coat, she can only assume. She grips onto it as she stands.
Hux clears his throat, taking the coat from her and without a word drapes it over her shoulders.
"You looked cold," he says by way of explanation.
"I—thank you," she replies as she follows him out of the shuttle and down the ramp. "What about our things?"
He waves a dismissive hand, "the droids will see to it." He doesn't turn to look back at her as he walks, and she finds it challenging to keep up with his long strides while she wears the ridiculous heels. She should've just taken them off, her feet ache from all the dancing.
She notes with some sorrow that the insides of the Galactus are familiar to her, similar to the Supremacy in design and capacity. Though she knows the ship is not a dreadnought, it is considerably larger than the Finalizer. The immensity of the structure doesn't provide her with the same awe it might have before she came aboard the Supremacy, but it still serves as a reminder of how powerful her new husband has become.
Thankfully it isn't a long walk to the turbo-lift, and soon they're inside, flanked by a group of six heavily armed stormtroopers. Rey watches Hux as the lift moves, but he doesn't look back at her. He stares straight ahead, his eyes fixed on a spot on the steel grey doors. She notes that his posture looks painful, back ramrod straight, and arms clasped behind him. She's never seen someone so stiff.
There's also a strange and palpable tension in the lift and Rey wonders if it might be from the Force or something else. It permeates everything, distorting her vision and making her feel slightly ill. Perhaps Hux is nervous, or maybe it's the stormtroopers. Regardless, someone or something in the lift or on the ship is radiating fear, and it doesn't dissipate when the doors finally open and Hux steps out. In fact, it grows exponentially with each step they take.
Rey follows Hux into what she thinks is a hallway before she understands that the lift took them directly to a room, a large and luxuriously decorated sitting room with four plush chairs and a chaise. She admires the large viewport out into the starry dark of space and then sees that this is only the entrance to Hux's apartments.
The stormtroopers re-enter the lift once Hux dismisses them and soon it is just the two of them inside the spacious room. Rey takes a moment to halt and observe the artwork hung up around the sitting room. One is a large painting of a city. The city resides on a hillside, nestled in a forest and though she hasn't seen much of it, she can tell that the vast green and blue of the city and its woods are in the midst of a downpour. It must be Arkanis, it would only make sense.
She stifles another yawn and glances at her husband, the strange tension hangs thick in the air between them. Stars, if she weren't so tired, she would just kill him now, but she did promise Leia that she would try to find out what had happened to Ben. She lets out a full yawn and leans against the wall to unstrap her heels.
"Tired?" Hux asks as he removes his overcoat and folds it over his arm.
"Yes, I'd like to use the fresher though," she admits.
"F-follow me then," He says softly, and she almost doesn't catch the slight tremble of his words as he leads her through the lounge and into a sizable kitchenette. He opens a cupboard and pulls out two glasses and sets them on the counter, then he takes turns filling each with water and hands one to her.
"I'm sure this will seem like large accommodations to you, after the Resistance camps." he begins with that air of confidence that reminds her of their first meeting. "But I do believe it might feel a bit small as the days go by. It is equipped with only a bedroom, refresher, kitchen, lounge, and an office. The closets are spacious, enough for your wardrobe—"
"I don't have a wardrobe," she interrupts.
He blinks, surprise and annoyance in his look before he responds, "Oh—well, I did take the liberty of ordering you a wardrobe, though I wasn't certain you'd like the style of the garments. Anything you don't like you can send back. I certainly won't be offended."
She gives him a confused look, "you ordered me clothing?" Like someone could just order a meal? Was it really that simple?
"I—Yes," he frowns back at her, perplexed. "Anyway, since I realize you might find it a bit cramped in here as time passes, I've arranged for a training room specially equipped for you, and I had another room created for a private office for you, though it hasn't been finished yet, so I apologize that—"
"I'm sure it's fine, thank you," she replies tightly, gulping down the rest of her water as she leans against the counter. He talks too much. But he really did appear to be as generous as the Knight had said, though she wasn't one for gifts. She'd accept them of course, because she didn't want to create a problem and she would do her best to put him at ease. Keep his guard down. It wouldn't be long before she knew the truth and then, well, he'd be dead. And hopefully, she would be gone.
He takes a slow sip of his water and then sets it down. Then he draws himself up, back straight and arms folded behind him again.
"I'll show you the rest of the apartment then?"
She nods and leaves her glass on the counter, following him down a hallway and into an extravagant bedroom. He enters the room purposefully while she lingers in the doorway.
"This is —is our room—and the fresher is through there," he points to a closed door. Rey notices absently that his ears have turned a bright pink. "The closet is through there, and I'm afraid there's only the one bed, I'm sorry, I didn't think —perhaps you might want some privacy or to take things slow. . ."
He's rambling, but he can't help it. The collar of his shirt is too tight again, and his cheeks feel hot, and what was it he was going to say?
She glances around the room, her eyes settling on the bed. It's a huge thing, massive almost. And Rey is sure that even this one bed could probably fit more than four people on it.
"Why would I have a different bed?" She asks curiously. He's acting so strange, and he's making barely any sense.
"If you felt you needed some space before — um —before we —the c—consummation," he says hesitantly. His oratory skills have apparently decided to fail him today.
Her eyes dart from the bed and back to him, "I don't need any time. We can just get it over with now and then we won't have to worry about it anymore, right?"
Hux's throat is suddenly dry, "We don't have to—don't need to do anything tonight."
She scowls at him, "Of course we do. I won't have you telling your Emperor that I didn't fulfill my obligations. It's all there in the agreement after all."
"Stars," Hux says with frustration. "The stipulation in the agreement gives us plenty of time before any consummation is expected. Didn't you read it?"
Rey blinks, "I read it, but I don't remember that." Though she had only read it the one time.
"I amended it," Hux says quickly. "I didn't feel the expectation of immediate coitus was the right way to go about this union."
"Oh," Rey says, confused. "Oh, so you—we don't have to do it tonight?"
Hux swallows and tries to smooth out the front of his uniform.
"No, we do not have to do it tonight."
"Well," Rey shrugs. "Alright, then."
"Alright," Hux replies, trying to wish away his red face and even redder ears.
Rey removes his gaberwool coat and tosses it on the bed, then she starts to pull the pins out of her hair. Hux stands awkwardly watching her for a moment, but when she begins to undo the back of her dress, he takes a sharp breath and announces he needs to use the fresher. He disappears quickly behind the fresher door.
She stares after him. He's an odd one. She's never really cared much about modesty. She was raised on Jakku after all, and there were always reasons to put modesty aside for survival and convenience. So, she doesn't give a thought to it when she manages to worm her way out of the tight lacy dress, and she's left standing in a slip and undergarments.
She dumps the dress on the bed along with her heels and then pulls the slip up and over her head. She supposes she'll wait for Hux to come out of the fresher so she can wash all the stiffness out of her limbs. She needs to clean up the mess on her face and wash her hair too. Fiddling with the pins in her hair she pulls out nearly sixty while she waits, and she places them on the nightstand by the bed. The chronometer that sits on it displays the time and its already 0218 into the night cycle. Probably best they don't consummate tonight anyway, she's exhausted, and her feet are sore.
When Hux finally returns from the fresher he's already dressed in some black First Order sleep pants and t-shirt with a towel draped over his shoulders. He stops short when he sees her, sitting on the bed in white lacy undergarments that were obviously meant to match her dress. The crimson blush returns with a fury, and he starts to sputter.
"The—um—your clothes are in the closet," he says, averting his eyes and studying the bristles of his towel with extreme focus.
"I know," she replies evenly. "I needed to shower first, I didn't want to get straight into clean clothes."
"Oh," he replies, still looking away. He moves aside from the door and gestures with one hand toward the door. "It's all yours."
Rising from the bed Rey glances at him as she heads to the fresher, he still won't look at her, and she's completely confused as to why he's acting so bizarre. He's a military man, after all, surely, they don't care all that much about modesty either.
Hux finds himself all too acutely aware of Rey as she moves past him, his damn traitorous eyes can still see her tan body, covered in a white lace —barely nothing—as she slides around him in his peripheral vision. He makes a show of drying his hair off with his towel and then drops it in the laundry chute in the closet. Trying to pretend it doesn't bother him, he picks up her heels off the bed and deposits them in the closet with the other shoes he's procured for her. Then he hangs his gaberwool coat up in the closet and eyes the wedding dress.
He's not sure what exactly to do with it, so he balls it up and stuffs it down the laundry chute. The service droids ought to know how to deal with something like that, shouldn't they?
Finally, he settles himself into the bed and closes his eyes, until the sound of the fresher comes on, and then he finds himself staring at the door for a long moment.
His stomach twists in some sort of confused anticipation. What exactly had he hoped for tonight anyway? Licking his lips, he rolls over onto his side away from the door.
—
When Rey exits the fresher, she takes care to wrap herself in a towel, as she can only imagine how he might react if she were to walk around nude like she usually does. Then she dresses quietly in the large closet. She doesn't spend much time admiring all the garments. Besides, there's far more clothing than she's ever seen in her entire life. Dresses and tunics and shoes, all sorts of shoes. And such a variety of colors and textures. She tries to smother her excitement.
Though she's never been one to get that excited about clothing, that's only been because she's never owned much. And well, here is over half a room with clothing just for her. She dresses in black underwear and a thin black tunic that reaches her mid-thigh. Deciding that she will forego a breast band for now, since she normally doesn't sleep with one anyway. She's surprised that Hux even thought to acquire her clothing that is both comfortable and practical.
Hux is. . . Well, he's surprisingly thoughtful. Not quite like the blazing lunatic, she's seen in projections during Resistance meetings. And definitely not like the slimy and odious General that Finn has always portrayed him or the pompous and stiff prude that Poe likes to say he is.
In fact, if she were to give him any description at all, it might be. . . Reserved. . . And maybe even a little. . . sweet? Though there is an arrogance about him, that seems forced, as it serves some sort of purpose, she can't quite figure out.
She glances down at her hand, admiring the ring again. She's snuck little looks at it since the ceremony because she didn't really want to be seen staring at it. But it truly is beautiful. And the image of Jakku and its two moons make her ache with a longing she can't quite comprehend. She doesn't want to go back to Jakku, not now. She knows it holds nothing for her there. Not anymore. But to carry this reminder of who she is—was—is a gift, something she hadn't even realized she wanted.
It's not like the Grand Marshal knew how she felt about Jakku. But somehow, it gave her the distinct impression that he understood her more than she understood herself. And certainly, more than she understood him. If she could be honest, she didn't understand him at all. She'd expected him to demand they consummate their wedding tonight. She'd imagined he might even be forceful. In fact, she hadn't at all expected him to be shy or embarrassed or have made so many plans for her. To be honest, she hadn't expected him to take her desires into consideration at all.
But he had, and that left her feeling. . . Strange. Confused and annoyed a bit. He was being too nice. Too concerned about her wellbeing, and it made her wary. He was up to something, and she would find out exactly what that was. She can play this game as well; she could pretend to be concerned about him too.
She can play that part, the concerned and doting wife, she decides.
Carefully she flicks the lights in the closet off and manages to find her way to the bed in the dark. She notices that all the things she'd laid on the bed are now gone, Hux, no doubt had a droid clean up after them. She pulls back the covers and climbs into the bed, sinking into the soft sheets with a sigh.
Hux stirs next to her, and she feels the bed dip a bit as he rolls onto his back.
"Goodnight Rey," he offers quietly.
"Goodnight . . ." She replies, staring up at the dark ceiling of their room. Her new home.
"When is the next reception?" She asks suddenly.
"Tomorrow evening," Hux whispers, his voice sounds oddly hoarse and strangely apprehensive.
"Oh," she says. "Well, I suppose we can suffer through the torture together."
He hears the humor in her tone, and he smiles in the dark, thankful she can't see him.
"Oh, it will most certainly be torture," he replies good-naturedly.
"Why do you say that?" She asks, turning to her side though she can't see him.
"Because my mother will be there," he says quietly.