Hey everyone! I actually meant to have this updated sooner but I allergies and then a bad cold happened! Blah!
Thank you again for coming back. It really does mean the world that y'all are still reading. I've been working on a couple of other projects—four short stories for anthologies and then this story and finishing up All He's Ever Wanted. Please know that I cherish every like, kudos and comment. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
"Mr. Solo? Mr. Snoke will see you now." Snoke's secretary of the month welcomes him in. He follows her past several doors, the last three that used to be his, Hux's and Phasma's.
He knows that none of them miss working here.
His heart pings—if he hadn't accepted his mother's gift, he never would have met Kira. A small secretive smile appears.
He wouldn't trade the past year for anything.
His smile stays even when Snoke welcomes him, and he takes his usual chair across from his former boss. He can feel the older man taking him in. "Who is she?" Snoke asks.
"Who?" Ben asks. He knows who Snoke is talking about, but he doesn't want Snoke to even know her name.
"You have a new girlfriend. This must be a different one from the casual hookup in that dreadful club you like to frequent in New York."
There—just like that, his happy little mood is gone. He knew this would be a waste of time. "What do you want, Snoke?"
Ben knows by the way the old man's brows raise he's still not used to Ben not cowing before him anymore.
"I just needed you to tell me about the Rosenberg and Cohen families—"
"Cut the crap, Snoke. We could have done that over the phone, or email even. Why did you ask me to fly all the way out here?" He can feel his anger rising because of this ass wasting his time.
"Alright, here it is. I want, no need you back. I'll even give you forty-nine percent of the company."
"What are you talking about?" Ben asks the wind knocked out of him. "Are you retiring?"
"No, nothing like that. I just think your talent would be better used here than there."
Ben's chuckle is dark. He knows exactly what this is about now. "You're jealous. The clients are starting to realize that you are losing their money and they are seeking out Skywalker." He stands and picks up his briefcase. "Goodbye Alistair Snoke. From now on, you can have your secretary of the month email mine when you need me."
"Solo! Wait!"
He keeps on walking, not bothering to stop. Since he's out of his meeting sooner rather than later, he says to his driver—"Take me to Harry Winston's please."
Brbrbrbr
"Lor!"
"Rey!" He welcomes her with a hug like he always has. "It's been too long child. Where's Poe?"
"He had a meeting with some clients that wanted to meet at the last minute. I missed seeing you at Grandfather's funeral. I'm glad you're better." She accepts the chair he holds out for her.
"So am I. I hate being unwell," he says as she claims his chair beside her.
The server comes over to get their drink order. "Can we go ahead and order? I'm hungry."
His deep chuckle that she remembers so fondly makes her smile too. "That's my girl. I want the salmon."
"And I want a steak." They wait for the young man to go fetch their drinks before she says, "It's so good to see you, Lor."
"Yes, I can say the same. How's business?"
"Still there— thank you," the server sets down their glasses of tea and bread, her favorite. But she pauses and waits for the reason why he needed to see her. Lor San Tekka always had a reason for doing something.
"Do you still want to sell?"
She looks down at the perfect white appetizer plate. She hated it when Grandpa insisted that his old butler, Sim Aloo teach her 'manners' but through the years it's proven to be most useful of the things he tried to teach her.
"I can't. The will—"
"I know how to get you out from under the will and you can do what you want to with the company." A big wink. "just tell me first so I can sell my stock."
"How?"
"It's a bit underhanded, but if we can prove that it's causing you too much mental anguish or you're pregnant. Sheev wanted what you always wanted for you—a happy marriage. Several kids, the white picket fence and all that—"
"Bullshit." Rey tries not to let the anger bubbling up inside spill over. She's always had a temper…
"Rey—"
"That's you that wanted those things for me. I know you helped my parents get away. Grandfather," she hisses his name. "Wanted me to be as miserable as he was."
Hope bubbles up inside.
"Yes, I'll have more than grandfather did." She looks up and meets his eyes. "Is this why you called me?"
"No—" he gets his napkin and puts it on his lap. She glances behind her and sees the server bringing their lunch. She copies Lor and then after they both mumble, "Thank you." She waits for Lor to continue.
"Have you met with Solo yet?" He asks before he takes a bite of his salmon.
She coughs and is so glad that all she had in her mouth is the air she's choking on. "He keeps on calling, but we haven't planned a meeting or anything."
"Do you not want to hear what he has to say?"
"I know what he has to say. He wants to buy the company. I'm not ready to sell nor did I realize that I could." Across from the restaurant, a baby coos, demanding her attention.
Even as she watches the mother feed her baby, Lor continues, "See, you still want that dream." she turns back to him. "Let me tell you about you. Once upon a time—see what I did there, trying to make it sound nicer than it really is?" He chuckles to himself, but Rey doesn't really see the humor. Still, she remains which he takes as encouragement to continue.
"There were two young men who grew up together. the bestest of friends they did everything- We'd drink together, play golf and cards together even share holidays.
"One day, I guess you could call Sheev the leader of this group of men, met a up and coming young man, Anakin Skywalker."
Rey straightens up in her chair. Now, very interested in what Lor has to say.
"Anakin Skywalker was a young man full of ideas. Some amazing, some wonderous. Some out of this world. Sheev saw that potential in every one of them. And for a while, both men along with Sheev's friends—"
"You mean you?" Rey teases.
"Yes, I mean me." Lor affirms. "Anakin Skywalker and his money-making ideas made me a millionaire. It was like those two had a magical touch of Midas touch." Lor pauses and signals the server. "Double whiskey on the rocks please."
"Lor?" Rey questions. In all her years, she's never seen Lor drink. Not even a glass of wine during the holidays. "You don't have to finish—"
"No, you need to know." the sever sets down his drink. "Thank you—" he says before a long sip. "It was the oddest thing. They had a fight. It was stupid, really. Over where Anakin and Padme should live. Sheev had just started building his skyscraper and offered them a whole floor they could make into a penthouse. Padme wanted to move to California to be near her family." Another pause, another sip. "Sheev knew that the young couple would do what they wanted, especially when Anakin let it slip that the main reason they were moving was because Padme was pregnant. About this same time, your grandma was wanting a child but wasn't getting pregnant."
"She was the sweetest woman I've ever met, except for you, of course," Lor teases. But finally, your grandma found out that your dad was on the way."
When Lor pauses long enough to drain the rest of his whiskey, she offers again, "Lor—please you don't have to—"
"You've heard your grandfather's version which means he never told you about this. The original company was part of building several of the skyscrapers around the City and even here, in Las Vegas. What no one knew then or even now, that Anakin was the driving force and the architect of all those buildings. Sheev wiped his name from each project and hid how much money he made. When Anakin and I confronted Sheev—"
"Grandfather denied everything," she mutters. "Oh, dear God."
"Don't let this cloud how you see your grandfather—"
"Too late for that." How is she going to tell him that her and Rose have spent the last year cleaning up his little messes. She signals to the server. "An old-fashioned please. A big one. continue, please."
"Are you sure?"
"What happened?"
"Anakin and I confronted your grandfather. He denied everything of course. Anakin had a temper and pulled his gun—your grandfather's bodyguard grabbed Skywalker and in the shuffle, a gun went off."
"And Anakin was dead?"
"Anakin was dead. An old friend of ours, Ben Kenobi and I helped Padme to sue Sheev. We made sure that she had the best lawyers and on the same day she had the twins, she won her court case. She asked us to help her—so with the new plans and the rights to the buildings Sheev already built, Padme had a nice little empire."
"And Grandfather was still your friend after that?"
"Not at first but once I retired and Leia took over, he reached out to me again. We were never close like it was growing up but it was good to be friends with someone who has the same memories as you." Their eyes meet. "Ah hell, Rey. I shouldn't have told you. It's just I heard that Leia's son is wanting to see you, and while I know Padme forgave and Leia forgave, I'm not so sure the rest of the Skywalkers did."
"That doesn't sound ominous at all." The server sets down her whiskey and she takes a long sip. The harshness of the amber liquid that reminds her so much of Kylo's eyes warms her up all the way down to her stomach. "What now?"
"I guess you need to agree to a meeting? See what Ben needs from you."
"Have you met him before?"
"I haven't seen him since he was a young man—going off to university. He'd work as an intern during the summers. Smart, brilliant really. Anakin would have been so proud. He was the apple of Padme's eye. She adored him so much. Loved math so Leia kept him in accounting. I retired not too long after that. haven't seen him since."
"I'll meet him—sometime. I'm not sure when," she says, fully pushing all this information to the side until she can fully unpack it.
Hopefully when she's back home, in the safety of her apartment.
"Let's talk about something else. When are you coming to New York so I can take you to see the Yankee's play?"
Brbrbrbrbr
Not ready to go back yet, but not sure where else to go, Rey lets the driver take her back to the hotel. Instead of going up to wait for Kylo there, she walks into the quietist of the several bars.
Immediately, she loves it. Old oak, and leather—it reminds her of Morosis, and the regency gentleman's club look of it all. She quickly finds a seat at the empty bar.
"Good afternoon," the young bartender greets. "What's your poison?"
For the first time since she left Lor, her smile is genuine. "Give me your best local beer."
"Alrighty."
He turns and her phone buzzes. Another smile as she answers, "Hello."
"Where are you?"
She looks around for a name—"I'm at Simon's. It's one of the bars."
"I'm right around the corner."
"Bye." No sooner than she sets the phone down, Poe comes striding up beside her. He claims the seat beside her, and exhales as he sits. "What's up buttercup?" she asks.
"Nothing, I should say in public." He meets the eyes of the bartender. "Give me—"
"Do you have more meetings later?" Rey asks. He gives her the look and she continues, "Honestly, I don't remember your schedule."
"I do have some—give me what she's having then." he waits for the two pint glasses to be placed in front of them. Together from years of drinking together they pick up the glasses, tilt them towards one another, then Poe toasts, "Here's looking at you, kid."
"Right back at ya'" she returns. They take a long sip. She returns her glass to the counter, and says, "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"How well did you know Grandfather?"
"What did Lor say?" He sets down his glass and turns to meet her eyes.
She wishes they wasn't so out in the open, when her tears start but she can't stop them once they do. "Oh no," he mutters as she signals the bartender. She can hear Poe as he mutters room numbers before, he helps her off the stool. He grabs her purse and slides his arm around her waist as he leads her to the private elevator they have just for the penthouses. They are the only ones around this early afternoon, so they reach Poe's room quickly.
He leads her in and once the door clicks shut behind them, she goes to sit on his couch. "Where's Kay?" she asks.
"I was able to get her, her own room this morning. I'm an alright boss, she just wants her time too."
"Do you blame her?" She tries to tease through her tears. But her melancholy mood doesn't let her as a new flow starts now that she's somewhere safe.
"Mi Amor—" Poe coos as he sits down beside her. She slips off her heels and slides her feet under her as she lays her head on his shoulder. They haven't done this since the funeral, and Rey has missed her best friend. "What did Lor say?"
"That it was Grandfather's fault that Anakin Skywalker killed himself and he didn't actually kill himself- he was murdered by the bodyguard."
He takes her hand. "I've heard that."
"Who told you?" suddenly exhausted, she doesn't even pick up her head.
"I honestly don't remember. it might have been Papi. What else did Lor say?"
"He knew about the Skywalkers wanting to meet. He has no idea what they want though. Did you know that he ran their company until Leia took over?"
"I did. They offered me a internship but your grandfather paid for my school so I felt obligated to stay with the company."
"Do you wish you—"
"No, I'm where I want to be—with you and Finn and Rose. And hey, we run the company now—I would still be climbing the ladder at Skywalker. Is that what's wrong?"
"It is. How do I make up what Grandfather—I don't even want to call him that—did to them? what else has he done? I thought I was fixing the environmental stuff he destroyed, but what else did he do?"
"I don't know, but you don't have to do it alone. You have us."
"And I'm so glad that I do." Rey wipes her tears and dreads looking in mirror when her fingers come back with mascara smudges.
"Now tell me—who is this man you have hidden in your rooms?"
"It's Kylo," she whispers.
"What?" Poe's excited squeak makes her smile again. "What is he doing in Vegas? I bet he's here for the conference."
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? Didn't you ask?" Poe gushes.
"No, we don't talk about personal stuff. Work and otherwise."
"What do you talk about then?" Poe winks at her. "Or do you just fuck?"
"Poe!" She hisses as she slaps his arm. "But yes, we do. talk. About things. While we do other things." He's laughing at her and she's glad for his talent for being a distraction. They both lean back against the back of the couch. "What am I going to do?"
"What you always do. Put one foot in front of the other. Then live one day at a time. Don't worry about tomorrow, just worry about what's in front of you."
"Now you sound like Abuela."
"Well, she did raise me. And if she was here—she'd say the same thing."
"And she's right." Rey pats Poe's leg. "Kylo is on the way back. Do you want to go eat with us?"
"Nah—Finn and Rose are flying in tomorrow, and I need to do somethings before they get here." He grunts as he stands. "Are you going to be there for my presentation tomorrow?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," she assures him. "What time is it again?" she giggles as he throws a pillow at her head.
Brbrbrbrbr
Kylo: I'm back. Where are you?
Kira: Around. Are you at the hotel?
Kylo: Maybe
Kira: Master!
Kylo: I'm in our suite.
Kira: I'm on the way
Kylo: K
He's not sure why he's feeling this way—but he just knew that he needed to get back to Nevada—to her. Like he has to protect her from Snoke.
He pats down his jacket, and a little half smile appears when he feels the box from Harry Winston's in his pocket. He's never bought a woman jewelry before—he's never felt the way he does about anyone like he feels for her.
His phone buzzes in his pocket.
He doesn't even look to see who's calling when he answers, "Why aren't you in my arms yet?"
"Ben?"
"Mom? Hey—" he looks around feeling a lot of guilt that he's not even sure why.
"Who are you talking to—do you have a girlfriend? Han! Benjamin finally found someone!"
"Mom!" he hisses and can feel the blood leave his body as a keycard beeps and the door knob turns. "I have to go—"
"Oh no you don't. Let me ask you this—why were you just in California and didn't come see us? You know I can't come to New York right now—and to deny me my only chance to see my only child, my son." He can hear her tsking on the other end. But he doesn't hear the rest of what she says because his Kira is walking in the door and seeing her again after their brief separation—makes his heart beat fast.
"I have to go, Mom."
He doesn't see Rey stop when she hears who he's talking to.
Brbrbrbrbr
Of course, he has parents. A normal family. A grandfather who didn't kill one of his best friends.
He'll never want her like she wants him.
And guilt—so much guilt for rushing to find him because all she wants is for him to hold her and tell her that every little thing is going to be alright, to quote Bob Marley.
But in all his goodness, would he ever accept her for who she really is?
She should just go now—
But then that voice deep inside reminds her that he doesn't really know who she is. He doesn't know that she's a Palpatine.
She shakes her head, and in the name of giving him some privacy, she sneaks into the bedroom her clothes are in and gently shuts the door. Not sure what to do she decides to change and actually wear her bathing suit instead of skinny dipping again.
Always practical, she quickly dons the one-piece Rose tried to talk her out of, she wanted her to get the bright pink two piece, and throws her hair back into a messy bun.
She opens the door slowly and listens. As much as she wants to know what a conversation with his mother sounds like, she just wants to look busy.
But she doesn't hear anything.
"Where did he go?" She whispers as she lets herself out.
"Boo—" he rumbles behind her.
"Kylo!" She turns and answers him with a squeak.
"Hello beautiful." His approving look warms her insides. "Are we going to swim? Or we can go get a bite to eat."
"Just hold me—" the mood she's trying too hard to shove aside coming back full force now that he's here in front of her.
"What—" he manages to murmur as her arms circle his neck. "Kitten? What happened today?"
She hates that she can't stop the sob that escapes. This is not what she wanted to do tonight—she must have said that out loud because he picks her up and goes to the couch. He sits and she curls up in his lap.
"You don't have to tell me exactly what happened today in your meeting, but it upset you." He tilts her head back so her green hazel eyes meet his whiskey colored ones. "I do wish you'd tell me a little bit of it, and yes I'm a guy and I want to fix it for you."
"Kylo—" she sniffs. "I found out today that someone I thought I loved was in fact not who I thought he was. Did I waste all those years doing what he told me to do?"
"Kitten—do you still love this person?" He asks as he pulls her closer and presses a kiss to her temple.
"I guess so. He's been gone for several years now. but he was the only family that I have—had."
"You're alone?" He mutters.
"Poor little orphan R-R-Kira." Damn it what did she almost do? Maybe it's time that she did tell him who she is. But she buries her face in his neck, instead. "I have my friends who has been more like my family than my family.
"Kira—" he tilts her head back until their lips meet. Instead of taking the kiss deeper, he utters, "I'll be here for you—for as long as you want me."
She leans back so her green eyes can meet his amber colored ones. They've been dancing this dance around each other for over a year now. And this is the first time he's said anything like that. Half afraid to break what they have, doesn't say anything but kisses him. But this kiss, reminds her of their first one in how gentle but promising it is. He cups her cheeks, she holds his wrists in case he might stop. She feels her heart reaching out for his as he gathers her close.
He peels off his jacket, she loosens his tie. Together they tug his button up shirt over his head then she finds his belt. his pants stop at his knees while she pulls his loafers off, then when he's bared before her, he helps her to take off the bathing suit she just put on.
Then he sweeps her up into his arms and they return to the bed they slept in last night, still rumbled from where they didn't even want the maids to invade in their love nest. They land on the bed and lips claim, tongues invade. He kisses her everywhere he can reach while she returns the favor. But then he enters her, hard and fast stealing their breath away. He gives, she accepts, and hope is renewed.
"I-I-I-" he mutters as he comes.
She reaches for him, guiding his head to rest on her chest. A sweet kiss on his forehead and her simple, "I know." Is all either one of them has to say.