"Don't forget—take it easy until the repairs have had time to mature," the Twi'lek nurse cautioned as she escorted them to the front of the clinic. "Allow at least four to six standard weeks before you resume normal activities."

Ben nodded.

Rey thanked the nurse for both of them, then smiled up at Ben. Linking her fingers through his, she led him out to the docking station. Poe had brought the ship around, and he, Finn, and Rose were waiting by the ramp.

"Good to see you up and moving!" Finn shouted across the distance. Rose was grinning.

Ben smiled wanly, then seemed to finally take in the ship before him. Rey felt him slow down.

"That's our ship?"

"Hey, don't hate on her!" Poe groused good-naturedly. He clapped Ben on the shoulder, then nodded at the others. "Come on, let's get going."

"We got you a change of clothes," Rose said to Ben, falling into step beside them. "We had to guess the size, but it should do until we get back to Ajan Kloss."

"Thanks."

Up ahead, Finn was talking as he gestured up at the ship. "Turns out ol' Poe seems to know all the shady secrets of Coruscant."

"Hey, I didn't hear you complaining when I found us a clean ship and medical care!" the pilot snipped.

"Actually, we did complain. Who even knows about a place like that?"

"Yeah, Poe, where did you learn about that shipyard?" Rose piped up.

Poe sighed, then turned to the rest of the team with an air of defeat. "I was a spice runner back in the day. Okay?"*

Rey, Finn, and Rose's jaws simultaneously dropped.

"You were a spice runner?"* Finn blurted.

The pilot shot him a glare. "You were a Stormtrooper?"* he mimicked.

Rey raised a hand. "Were you a spice runner?"*

Poe was scowling now. "Were you a scavenger? I mean, we can do this all day."*

In the resulting pause, to everyone's astonishment, Ben started laughing. Rey looked up at him in surprise. The others exchanged a bemused glance.

"What?" he asked, still grinning. "It was funny."

"That was weird," Poe muttered sotto voce.

But rather than getting angry, Ben shrugged him off. "I am capable of human emotion, you know," he said mildly.

Poe shook his head. "I think almost dying did you good."

Ben smirked at him. "It almost sounds like you would've missed me."

Poe scoffed as he headed for the cockpit. "Who else am I supposed to sharpen my wits against?"

"I thought you had to have wits in order to sharpen them," Ben quipped, following him.

Rey, Finn, and Rose exchanged a questioning look. Rey shrugged, then started after Ben. Finn and Rose followed.

"—piece of junk!"* Ben was complaining as they stepped into the cockpit. Interestingly, Rey could hear a teasing edge in his voice.

"Hey," Poe admonished him as he settled into the captain's seat. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."*

"That remains to be seen," Finn muttered. Poe shot him a dirty look.

"You sound like my dad," Ben said, taking the co-pilot's chair.

"Thank you. Your dad's a wonderful man."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Look, are you gonna help me get off this rock or not?"

Ben shrugged and buckled into the chair as Poe reached for the controls.

Deciding to leave them to this utterly unexpected and highly odd male bonding ritual, Rey ushered Finn and Rose out of the cockpit.

…

When they touched down on Ajan Kloss, Leia was the first one to greet them.

Hand in hand, Ben and Rey descended down the ramp to the sound of cheers as the remaining Resistance soldiers celebrated the team's return. Poe, Finn, and Rose accompanied them closely on either side.

When he saw his mother, Ben stepped forward and enveloped her petite frame. Han wrapped his arms around the two of them. Even Luke joined in, embracing his reunited family. With a roar, Chewie engulfed all of them at once.

It was decided that they would build bonfires and put a fresh-cooked meal together for that evening, rather than suffer the standard rations, and the rest of the day was spent in cheerful preparation for the event. Even if the fight wasn't over yet, a huge victory had been won, and with it the tide had turned. A celebration was warranted. As the sun fell behind the trees, the dark of night was kept at bay by warmly crackling flames. People talked and laughed, ate and drank, and swept one another up in impromptu dancing between the fire pits.

Rey sat with Ben off to the side, along with his family and their friends. Leia, Han, Chewie, and Luke wanted to know everything that had happened, and so among the five of them, the team recounted the events on Starkiller Base and afterward.

"Force healing, huh?" Luke mused aloud. He stroked his beard. "Wonder if it's a dyad thing."

Ben shot him a scowl, but Rey giggled.

"She shouldn't have done it at all," Ben groused. "Force healing is incredibly dangerous."

Rey sighed in a much put-upon manner. "I remember what you told me," she said yet again. "I healed you before you died; I didn't use all my life force like an idiot."

He turned to her. She could see a gleam of amusement in his eyes, despite the subject matter. "You were dead dead. I didn't have a choice."

"No excuses, Solo. Gotta be quicker next time."

He bit his lip and shook his head. She could tell he was trying not to laugh. "There had better not be a next time," he rumbled, looking her over. His gaze lingered on her lips, then he met her eyes with a small, private smile.

"Oh, for kriff's sake, look at them," Han said with mock disgust, gesturing with a hand. "Could the two of you be any more disgustingly lovey-dovey?"

"Yeah, for real," Finn interjected. "Get a room, you guys."

Rey threw her head back and laughed. Ben grinned.

"Aw, go on and kiss her!" Poe cried, laughing. "Geez, man, do I have to teach you everything?"

Rey was still laughing when Ben's hands came up to hold her head, and then he was kissing her. She squeaked in surprise, then enthusiastically returned the kiss, not caring who was watching.

Poe whooped, the others cheered, and Ben laughed against her lips.

…

It seemed like a lifetime had passed since she'd last been in her quarters.

Rey let herself into the small room, dropping her staff and lightsaber on the cot on her way to the fresher. Stripping down to nothing, she took what was possibly the hottest and most luxurious shower she'd ever had, then dressed in her sleeping clothes and locked the door on her way out.

She tiptoed down the hall and knocked lightly on Ben's door, and was quickly admitted. He'd likewise showered and changed, and stood before her now with a slight crease in his brow.

"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching for him.

He nodded, giving her a faint smile. "Just tired. Sore. Want to sleep for about a week straight."

She took him by the hand. "Come on. Let's get you off your feet."

He eased himself down onto the edge of the cot and stretched out with a low groan. Rey climbed in beside him, tugging the blanket up with her as she laid down. She propped herself up on one elbow to look at him, resting the other hand on his abdomen.

"Don't you dare," he warned.

"I wasn't going to. I'm not sure if Force healing would help at this point, anyway."

"Probably not," he muttered, closing his eyes. "It just needs time."

She studied him, then on a whim leaned forward and kissed his cheek. He sighed contentedly.

"I should've kissed you a long time ago," she whispered. "I wanted to, you know. So many times. Especially after Ahch-To." She laughed as she remembered. "I blushed like mad when you took your shirt off before we sparred that time. And when you caught me from going under in that pool? Oh, stars, I thought I would combust. I'm surprised you didn't notice."

"I thought it was because of the sun," he murmured.

Rey slowly shook her head. "Hopeless," she said with a smile.

"In any case, it's probably a good thing you didn't kiss me while we were swimming." He cracked one eye open and peered up at her. "I was the only thing keeping us above water. If you had kissed me, we both might've drowned."

Rey giggled, and he chuckled beneath her.

"What about the other times?" she asked. "Are you glad I didn't kiss you then, either?"

"Rey," he replied, opening both eyes to look at her. "The first time you ever looked at me, I was about to give a report to the Resistance leadership council. We were in the middle of a debriefing, and my mother had just asked me a question. You looked at me, and my mind went completely blank. And you've seen what happens when you kiss me," he added, smirking wryly. The smile gentled. "Perhaps everything worked out in the way it was supposed to, because if I'd lost my train of thought or gotten distracted earlier during our mission…"

She picked up as he trailed off. "I'm not so sure we weren't distracted at times, but I know what you mean. Still, there were so many times we misunderstood each other. There was so much miscommunication. Don't you wish things had worked out differently? Easier?"

"No," he said adamantly, shaking his head for emphasis. "Everything that's happened has brought us together. No matter how hard it was, I wouldn't change it for anything." He brought up a hand to smooth the flyaways framing her face. "I love you too much to risk it again," he whispered, tucking the stray hairs behind her ear.

She smiled tremulously, feeling tears sting the backs of her eyes. Force, the things this man did to her. And to think how close she'd come to losing him… "Don't ever leave me, Ben," she murmured.

"Never," he breathed.

She leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips, but was wholly unprepared for the vehemence of his response. At the touch of her lips, he tangled a hand in her hair and pulled her flush against him, capturing her lips with his. He was insistent and desperate, his nose pressing into her cheek as his heightened breath intermingled with hers. She returned the kiss with equal fervor, curling her arms behind his neck and arching against him as she opened her mouth to him, stroking her tongue against his. He moaned against her with a shudder, then shifted, making to twist on the cot to move on top of her—but suddenly hissed in pain.

She froze. "Are you okay?" she panted, eyeing him in alarm.

Grimacing, he eased himself back down on his back. "I'm fine," he managed. "Just can't do that yet." Breathing carefully, he snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her closer. "Come here. Please come here…"

She carefully crawled on top of him, allowing him to guide her, then leaned down to reclaim his lips. He sighed into her, fingers splaying across her back as he drew her close again.

"I love you," he murmured, and she wasn't sure whether he'd said it aloud or through the bond. It was all one and the same, the way they were melded together now.

He kissed her again and again, slow, drugging pulls, nipping at her lips, brushing his tongue against hers. His hands feathered up and down her back, just skimming the sliver of bare skin under the hem of her nightshirt before moving back up again. It was maddeningly, tantalizingly gentle, and she found herself pressing closer, wanting more of him. She distantly wondered if he was driving himself as crazy as he was driving her, and then slipped her hand around the base of his skull and deepened the kiss.

The hands that had come to rest on her hips squeezed reflexively as his breath hitched. One large hand caught the back of her head while the other cinched around her waist, pulling her hips against his. His lips slanted over hers, delving into her, kissing her over and over.

She moaned into his mouth, hardly able to stop herself from moving against him, and returned his kisses with abandon. She was losing her mind, she was sure of it. Fisting her hands in his hair, she pressed closer, arching into him—

He broke the kiss with a gasped, "Kriffing hell!"

Breathing hard, she raised up to look at him. "Too much?" she murmured foggily.

"Getting there." A grimace of pain flashed across his face.

With a shiver, she reluctantly rose off him. He made a soft sound at the loss of contact. Sliding onto the cot beside him, she burrowed against his side, unwilling to stop touching him, and he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her in tight.

"Please stay with me," he whispered against her hair, still panting hard. The gusts of his breath stirred the flyaways framing her forehead.

She squeezed her arm around him and cuddled closer. "Always."

"Forever?"

"Forever."

He blew out a shaky sigh and fell silent. She felt him turn his head and bury his nose in her hair as he finally began to settle.

A while later, he whispered into the dark, "I'm going to marry you."

"I hope you do," Rey replied softly.

"I am." There was a tight, tremulous edge to his voice. "You will marry me, right?"

She smiled against his side, even as her heart squeezed. This dear, sweet man with his big, tender heart. "Yes, I will."

He exhaled in a rush, then took a slower, steadier breath. "Good."

A/N: Starred (*) phrases were borrowed or adapted from Star Wars!