Present day

Leia and Chuy flanked Rey, escorting her out of the hospital to the SUV waiting in the parking structure. Rey didn't even notice the nervous glances from Leia as the older woman surveyed the area; her body was finally calming down from the nerves and the pleasant drug injection she got in the emergency room. By the time Rey climbed into the backseat, she was dozing off, and Chuy had to help her get comfortable with a travel neck pillow and blanket he found in the backseat, taking care to avoid nudging her sore shoulder.

When Rey woke up, she was still in the backseat of the SUV, the pre-dawn light straining to crest the horizon. Rey rubbed the sleep from her eyes and through the darkness, could see the unmistakable low curves of the desert hills and the array of lazy, spinning blades of hundreds of wind turbines.

"What are we doing in the desert?" she yawned, her senses waking. They must have been driving for a couple of hours to find themselves en route near Palm Springs, of all places.

"It's not safe to stay back in town right now," Leia said. "That was real ballsy of him, to come to your place." She huffed, annoyed by the audaciousness of the estranged Ben.

Rey sat up, wincing from the pain radiating down her arm and hugged the sling close. "So we're going to…?"

"Do you consider yourself a lucky person?"

Rey looked down at herself, then back at Leia, and laughed. "Not particularly."

Leia grinned. "Well, let's take a night off."

Chuy navigated the SUV through a congested road, then pulled up in front of a lavish hotel.

"A casino," Rey said, dryly. "We're out in the desert and we're staying at a casino?" At this point, after this long with these people, she wasn't even surprised that they ended up at Morongo, a Mecca for the old and old alike. She knew that Leia had a secret gambling vice that she didn't get to indulge as often as she'd like.

Leia shrugged. "Security in these places are top-notch, believe it or not. We'll figure out what we're going to do about your appointment with Mr. Solo tomorrow. But we're going to stay here tonight. Is that okay with you?"

"Not like I really have a choice, since we're already here," Rey said. Although, she was looking forward to getting away and having the opportunity to do something relaxing. A massage maybe, or a dip in a hot tub...

"I've already made you an appointment," Leia said, nonchalantly. "Under a pseudonym, of course."

Rey scowled. "I thought we promised each other that we wouldn't pick each other's brains."

"Oh, I wasn't," Leia smiled. "I just know you all too well."

Chuy dropped the two women off in front of the hotel entrance and elected to park his car himself; he didn't like valets messing with his vehicle. Rey let Leia hold onto her good arm and guide her to check-in.

"Mmm, don't you love it," Leia inhaled deeply as they walked past the clanging and chiming of slot machines and through an impenetrable haze of cigarette smoke. "Such a plethora of vices available to us and it's much closer than Vegas!"

Rey wrinkled her nose at the ashy scent hanging in the air and recoiled as they walked by an old woman who was tethered to a slot machine and hacking a horrible, phlegmy cough. "Yeah. Love it."

"Why don't you sit down while I get us checked in?" Leia suggested, leading her to a cluster of couches near the front desk. "I'll only be a minute." She cast a wary look around the room before she walked away from Rey.

Rey's shoulder hummed with a throbbing pain. She wished she had an ice pack or something to dull it; the drugs were wearing off and she could already feel the bruise spreading. She thought of the officer and his worried face. Reaching her good arm into her borrowed jacket's pocket, she felt his business card and fingered it gently, rubbing her fingertip along its edges. The cop, Poe, knew. Was he on their side? He couldn't be – Rey immediately quashed that thought. Trusting people did not come easy to her and trusting law enforcement was even more remote from her capabilities. But still, she felt safe with him.. near him.

Rey sat and people-watched until Leia and Chuy reappeared. The three went upstairs to one of the top-level floors, where the nicer suites were housed, and dropped their stuff off in their room. Leia had scheduled massages for all three of them, mainly for the guardian to be close by in case if anything happened, but that didn't stop Rey from giggling at the thought of the massive, burly man wrapped in a fluffy robe, sipping cucumber water.

Ten minutes later, the three were in the waiting room, all wrapped in fluffy robes. Rey grinned goofily at Chuy, who was enjoying a cappuccino into a ceramic mug which looked ridiculously tiny in his hands.

"Chuy doesn't strike me at the kind of guy who enjoys a spa treatment," Rey whispered to Leia.

Chuy huffed and turned away while he sipped daintily from his mug.

"They always make him pay extra because he's so hairy," Leia revealed. "They have to use extra massage oil."

Rey giggled again but was interrupted by an employee calling her by her cover name.

"Daisy?" a smiling woman in a pastel outfit unlike scrubs appeared in the waiting area. "Your room is ready. Follow me?"

Rey hopped up and trailed after the woman to a small room where calm, meditative music was playing from a speaker and a massage table awaited.

"I understand you have a sore arm today, so I will advise the masseuse to avoid the area," the woman said, scribbling on a clip board as Rey kicked off her slippers.

"That's right," Rey said, unknotting her robe's belt.

"Any other areas to avoid? Do you prefer soft or deep?"

"No, and um.. medium?"

"Any allergies to any certain fragrances or oils?"

"Not that I'm aware of. But I don't care for lavender."

The woman scratched a few more notes and smiled. "Please strip down to what you are comfortable with and lay face-down on the table. Your masseuse will be here in a few moments." She excused herself and left Rey alone to the whispery tones of Enya.

Rey gently pulled off her robe and draped it over the back of a chair. The air was chilly and her skin immediately goosepimpled. Down to just her panties, she crawled on top of the table, eased herself down, and pulled the blanket over herself as she pressed her face into the funny horseshoe-shaped pillow. She was grateful to realize there was a warming pad under her, which felt great on her arm.

A few moments later, there was a warning knock on the door, which opened after a polite moment's hesitation then quietly closed. A pair of feet shuffled purposefully toward one corner of the room, then to another, then there was a sound of a dispenser pumping. A warm, oiled hand alighted upon Rey's back, gently but firmly stroking up and down her spine.

Rey had to keep herself from moaning. She couldn't remember the last time she had such a treat and the worries of the past few days were dissolving with each stroke, knead, and soft touch.

The masseuse worked her way down the entirety of Rey's body, dutifully tucking the sheet around her private areas so as to not expose her while she coaxed every angry knot and muscle to relax. She rubbed some warming gel into Rey's tender arm and the pain faded to almost nothingness. Once she had reached Rey's feet and titillated and seduced every toe, she gently lifted the blanket and whispered for Rey to roll over on her back.

Yawning, Rey tenderly switched sides, pressing her palms to her eyes to rub the sleep from them. As she did that, a warm, scented cloth appeared above her face, and she moved her hands just enough for the masseuse to lay the cloth over eyes. A sweet, citrusy scent filled Rey's nose and she felt her body melt into the table.

Another half hour or so passed in this way, the delightful smells, sounds, and most importantly, feels of a most relaxing massage. Rey was almost sad when the masseuse's touch finished at her feet, as she knew it was over.

Unseen hands pulled the cloth away and the masseuse asked, "How was that, Miss –"

A gasp.

"Rey?"

Rey blinked rapidly to clear her vision. A disembodied, upside down head gawked at her. A face, framed in blonde hair, and piercing grey eyes.

"Kelly?!" Rey choked out, bolting upright. She immediately snatched up the blanket to cover herself, not caring she had just flashed her former best friend.

"What are you doing here?" Kelly hissed, her face changing instantaneously between shock, hurt, and anger.

"I'm, I-, I just—" Rey stumbled, unable to find the words.

"Where did you go?" Kelly demanded. Her eyes softened momentarily as she surely was remembering the event that had happened so many months ago.

"I-I'm sorry," Rey finally managed to say. She tucked the blanket in tighter, feeling uncomfortably vulnerable.

"Rey, I was so worried!" Kelly exclaimed. "After that shift at the restaurant, I just didn't know what to do. I went home, but you never came back. Do you know how worried I've been? I couldn't go back to work after that. I moved away when I realized you were never going to come home." Her voice cracked in anguish.

Abandoning Kelly was an issue that Rey took the hardest when she departed so unexpectedly. How often Rey had practiced what she would say the day she'd ever see Kelly again, and now here she was, her former best friend, standing beside her in utter horror. "I saw your eyes," Rey blurted out. "How in a moment, I became a freak to you. To everyone in that room."

There was a pregnant pause. The truth hung heavy in the air.

"So it's true," Kelly said. "You're.. one of them."

Rey clutched the blanket together to her chest. Kelly assessed her, warily.

"I didn't ask for this," Rey whispered.

"I can't believe it." Kelly looked like she simultaneously wanted to burst into tears and that she also wished she could strangle Rey. "I thought I knew you, Rey. I thought you were my friend."

"I am," Rey moaned pitifully. "Or I was." Her voice trailed off, painfully aware of the status of their friendship. "Kelly, I didn't know.. I just—"

Kelly's expression darkened. "I hope you enjoyed your massage, Daisy." She chucked the washcloth in the soiled clothes bin and left.

Rey sat, frozen, still pressing the blanket to her chest. She felt her rapid heartbeat pulsing against her palms, a frantic, hummingbird frenzy. After a few minutes, she willed herself to dress. The pain in her arm returned. A heavy burden sunk on her shoulders. She shuffled out to the waiting area where Chuy and Leia sat.

"That took you a while. Is everything okay?" Leia inquired. "How was your massage?"

"It was fine," Rey said, trying to maintain her emotions at a neutral plane. "I want to get a drink."

"Should you really be drinking after taking painkillers?" Leia instinctively reached out for Rey, placing a hand tenderly on her sore shoulder.

"Stop mothering me, Leia," Rey snapped. "I'm an adult. I don't need you to tell me what to do."

Leia withdrew her hand. Her eyes furrowed worriedly and Rey immediately felt an intrusive knocking inside of her head.

"I told you to stop it!" Rey snarled. Her mental hackles snarled and her wall built up, forcing Leia away with such a shock that the older woman physically jumped backward. Chuy emitted a distrustful, low growl.

"Thank you for the massage," Rey said, curtly. She tightened her robe and angrily flip-flopped away, a furious aura emanating from her body.