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"Give me all of you.

Not just what the

world sees, but the

broken parts you

hide so well.

The parts that pull

at my heart.

The ones I want to

love the most."

-JmStorm

Kylo Ren

She's on my bed, her body curled up tightly with her head nestled in my pillow, the fall of her hair like a river of dark silk.

She's been thrashing in her sleep, my covers in disarray and I can see where she has bitten her lip as if trying to hold back her screams.

Or her tears.

She's trembling and I notice her skin pebbling in response to the low temperature I keep my room at.

It seems Rey does not like the cold. Something to remember when all of this is over. I reach up and remove my cloak settling it over her huddled form.

It envelopes like a living shadow until only her face can be seen.

A sigh from her lips and her trembling stops, her body no longer clenched but relaxing.

Her lashes flutter and the malice I sensed earlier is gone.

Perhaps nothing more than an aberration but I don't trust the way it disappeared when I began to probe our Bond.

What could Palpatine be after now?

Rey shifts on the bed, her brows furrowing and again I taste the flavor of our Bond.

Bitter sorrow flows into me laced with confusion and pain.

Her nightmares coming back to torment her.

How I wish I could take them from her mind to give her peace.

She's mumbling in her sleep, a pained sound that grips my heart in helpless fury.

Gently, so I do not disturb what little sleep she has managed to gain, I sit next to her.

"Sleep Rey," I murmur, placing my hand on her brow, "I'll guard your dreams."

She doesn't wake but her restlessness eases and her breathing is calmer. I stroke the tendrils away from her face and her sorrowful emotions are no longer so potent.

She's slipping deeper into her dreams and I wait by her side until she is calm. Only then do I get up and complete the rest of my tasks.

My saber along with hers on the workbench. The Sith dagger gleams dull in the light and I cannot help but glance at Rey.

She is motionless on the bed, the cadence of her breathing unbroken.

For now the nightmares have retreated.

I pick up the dagger and press my private comm.

"How may I serve you Supreme Leader?"

"I want food and drink sent to my quarters. Make certain that there are portions for two."

"Will you be wanting your usual meal Sir?"

I pause, about to say yes and change my mind.

"No...I want a selection of high protein foods but nothing heavy." Rey will need to replenish her strength and she looks as though she's lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Clearly she has not been taking care of herself and I mean to change that.

An image flashes in my mind's eyes, of Rey back on Pralis and the look of sensuous delight as she digs into the desert I ordered for her.

"I want the crimson ambrosia from Yavin Four as well."

"Yes Sir. I will have the meal sent to you within the hour."

That done I turn my attention back to the dagger, the metal tarnished but the carved runes are clear and undamaged.

There is something strange about these runes. Along with archaic writing there are numeric sequences.

Almost like coordinates but...

I close my eyes and and press a hand to my temple. It's been a few years since I've had to decipher Sith runes and Revan's was never easy to transcribe.

Dagger in hand I move across the room and press my hand to a hidden panel, my eyes straying once more back to my bed.

Rey is fast asleep beneath my cloak.

The panel releases and inside are books that I've kept stored away from prying eyes.

I gaze at the small book that my mother had given me when I was only six. The Life and History of Alderaan.

It might well be the only one of its kind and even I who am a monster will not destroy something so priceless.

But it is not my mother's people I am seeking today.

Several more books lie in my collection and I pick up a slim volume with a black binding and flowing, silver script.

Revan's personal journal, written in his own hand.

Perhaps, like my mother's book, the last of its kind.

The panel slides back into place seamless and undetectable as I take both book and dagger to the alcove by the window.

There I can study the dagger and the secrets it keeps and still keep an eye on Rey.

I have a feeling that her nightmares are not done with her just yet.

But for now I have time enough for this.

The runes flow in a strange pattern and I turn the pages, matching the runes in the book to the ones on the dagger.

It is slow and tedious but I am starting to be able to read the script faster now. Years of learning, hours upon hours of studying coming back to me.

But there is something in the book that catches my attention, thoughts of the dagger momentarily forgotten.

"She is not what I expected, this Jedi who has crossed my path. I should have killed her, as I have done to so many others but I hesitated. There was something about her, a resonance in my soul when she spoke to me. As if I knew her from a different life."

"Bastila Shan. Our paths will cross again."

I scan the pages for another reference to this 'Bastila Shan' but there is no other mention of the female Jedi.

A resonance in the soul?

I cannot help but glance at Rey as those words circle through my thoughts.

Had Darth Revan felt the same about this Bastila as I do Rey?

I shake my head and beret myself for getting sidetracked and continue to scan to the runes on the blade, the pieces falling into alignment now.

An ache in my neck and a slight pounding at my temples by the time I've completed the translation.

I snap the book shut and stare at Rey.

"So that's what you're after. The second wayfinder."

The runes on this dagger give the exact coordinates and the system to track the emperor's wayfinder.

I now possess that knowledge. The system though...I have to marvel at the irony of it all.

It would seem the galaxy is having one last final laugh at all our expenses.

I have a better understanding why Dameron fled to Kijimi. If Threepio managed to read the dagger they would need a way to extract the data from his memory banks.

I am well aware that this language is proscribed by the New Republic.

A harsh buzzing at my door and I am on my feet, blade and book left behind.

I key the unlocking sequence and see Vicrul at my door.

"What now?"

"A person claiming you sent for them is requesting access."

I sent for no...ah, the food.

"Bring them."

Vicrul turns and motions with his hand and I see a junior officer moving slowly towards us, the whites of his eyes apparent as he glances at my Knight.

Despite the stink of fear coming off of him the tray is steady in his hands.

"Supreme Leader, your meal. As requested."

Vicrul has his hand on his weapon and if the officer so much as twitches wrong, he will execute him where he stands.

I have no desire to see the walls painted with blood and I take the proffered tray.

"Go. I'll send word when I'm finished."

The officer snaps me a hasty bow and retreats with alacrity.

"Return to your post Vicrul."

"As you command."

The door shuts behind me and I reengage the lock before placing the tray on the end of my workstation.

This time I reach for a different panel and pull out an ancient tea set. A simple silver pot and two cups.

A small canister that contains preserved tea leaves from Naboo along with fragrant herbs.

A gift from Maz when I turned ten.

Just before I was sent to train with Skywalker.

The tea will need time to steep and I scoop out the necessary ingredients into the pot and fill it with water.

A mild manipulation of the Force and the water begins to boil immediately.

The aroma of syberries, a tang of citrus and the scent of winter roses emerges quickly. I add a few more herbs and leave it to brew.

A soft, feminine cry cuts through the silence and I'm already moving towards Rey.

Her face is soaked in sweat and she's thrashing on the bed, as if fighting off an invisible enemy.

"Not...suppose...I'll be good..."

Incoherent words she's mumbling and my cloak falls away from her shoulder and a look of anguish etches into her face.

"No," a broken cry that squeezes my heart as a single tear slips free, "go...away..."

I'm at her side just as her arm swings wide and I catch her fist before it can connect and do either of us harm.

Her nightmares spill into my mind...

A sea of sand and broken, twisted metal that cast sinister shadows in the waning moonlight. A dirty, ragged canvas attached to a blackened hull that might have been an X-wing at one time with a tiny girl huddled beneath it as the winds try to rip away the meager protection.

Her hair is nothing but a knotted mess and long scratches mark her arms, the blood already dried and flaking.

She looks up and I see the tears that continue to fall, carving white grooves in her skin beneath the dirt.

Eyes of hammered gold stare up at me in terror.

"Don't let him find me!"

Cruel, malicious laughter that comes on the wind and the little girl before me claps her hands over her ears, rocking and shaking beneath that terrible sound.

"Go away! Go away!"

I hear a putrid voice whispering in the wind, once more clawing at the canvas, trying to expose the little girl to the elements.

This isn't real. Just a nightmare.

"Please...don't let him find me! Someone save me!"

Her anguish flows into me and I snap my saber out, snarling as the wind begins to howl.

Her broken cries rip at my soul and I turn, dropping to my knee's and gather her up in my arms.

Her thin arms wrap around my neck, her tears soaking through to my skin.

"It's alright, I won't let him hurt you."

Eyes of haunting amber look up at me and the dreamscape shatters...

I'm sitting on the bed looking down at Rey who is blinking up at me amber and topaz shifting in the light.

I can still see the traces of terror reflected in her befuddled gaze.

Tendrils of damp hair cling to her face and I pull them away just as she turns and catches my hand, her lips tracing the scars on my palm.

It is unexpected and the intimacy catches me off guard, the feel of her mouth making my pulse spike and I swallow hard.

"Ben," hot breath against my skin that makes my stomach clench and a sleepy, sensual lilt to her voice that sharpens my attention, "I was looking for you."

There is something strange going on with Rey. The cadence of her voice, the shifting colors in her eyes...I've seen her this way once before.

The first time our Bond reconnected after Snoke's death.

She thought she had been dreaming.

She sounds the same now as she did then.

"I'm right here Rey," her grip around my hand tightens, "You don't have to search any longer."

Her lips leave my palm as she looks up at me and I see shadows dancing in her gaze, a ring of gold around the iris.

I feel the Force thrumming around us and a prick of unease goes through me.

What is going on with her?

She lifts her arm, a graceful gestures as she digs her nails into my armor and tugs on me.

There is a playful light in her eyes at odds with the terror from her dreams only moments ago.

She tugs harder and I realize she wants me closer and I oblige her strange mood and lean down.

A delicate frown traces her lips and she lets go of my hand to lean up on her elbow.

The movement leaves our mouths inches from each other.

"What are you doing?" I can't fathom her mood right now.

We are so close now I can count each individual lash, see my own bemused reflection in the fractured color of her eyes.

"Trying to kiss you."

She makes it sound like its the most obvious thing in the world and yet her eyes are impossibly soft, her mouth lifted into a winsome smile as if she's hiding secrets.

I take back what I thought earlier. I have never seen Rey like this.

So sweetly beguiling and the prick of unease melts away beneath her startling answer.

Well if that is what she is after...

"Then do it."

Her eyes widen and her fingers dig deeper into my armor.

"Ben," my name a breathless demand coated in laughter that steals my will, "lean down and I will."

Her mouth hovers beneath mine and there are strange currents in the air, as if the galaxy is holding its breath as I close the distance between us.

Her lips part beneath mine, soft and yielding and the gentle sigh of breath mingling with mine is all that I desire.

The heat of her mouth chases away the doubts in my mind and her surrender is everything to me.

Her arms wrap around my neck pulling me closer as I press her back down into my bed, crushing the silken strands of her hair in my fist.

Thoughts of war, of the empire I intend to rule and even the emperor who shadows our steps no longer concern me.

There is only her and how I feel when I am with her.

She makes me so terribly vulnerable and yet I've never felt stronger than when I am with her.

As if the missing and broken pieces of my soul were meant to be found by her.

A gentle moan, her body curving into mine and before I can lose the last vestiges of my control I pull my mouth from hers.

Her hand lifts to my face, brushing back my hair with a touch so tender that I have to close my eyes least I betray just how much I adore her, how much I am slave to her will.

Her skin is warm against my face, a delicate trace of sun-drenched woods assaulting my senses and I press a kiss to her palm.

She has such radiance to her is it no wonder I am forever drawn to her light.

The slightest catch to her breath and through our Bond I sense a flicker of sadness, a touch of melancholy.

I open my eyes and forget how to breathe.

She is looking up at me with defenseless, shimmering eyes and lips that tremble with a sorrowful smile.

I have never seen anyone look at me the way she does.

As if she see's the man and not the monster.

As if there was a part of me that could still be redeemed even after all the blood I have shed.

"Rey?" The words feel heavy on my tongue, "What is it?"

"I," her eyes fill with tears and the aching confusion in her voice is tearing me apart, "am I dreaming Ben? Or is this just another nightmare sent to torment me that I can't wake from?"

What is she talking about? She acts as if none of this is real, that I am nothing more than an illusion.

Is this how she truly see's me?

"Am I a nightmare to you then?"

The tears that threatened to fall only seconds ago are burned away in the shifting kaleidoscope of her mood.

"No!" Her hand drops from my face and she moves so quickly I just narrowly escape being hit in the head but feel our fingers entwine, ""you are my dream." Her words are becoming frantic and I watch as the ring of gold begins to appear around her iris's once more, " The one I always hope I find but it's never you I find...just nightmares..."

Fragmented words and through the Bond I sense another presence.

Cold, calculating and filled with a hatred that borders on the insane.

Rey breaks away from me, the slim ring of gold in her eyes bleeding out, taking over.

My cloak falls away and she stumbles from the bed, dropping to her knee's, her hands covering her ears.

"Go away! Leave me alone!"

It is the same vision I saw in her nightmares. Rey as a small child trying to fight against an unseen monster.

The emperor has come back to torment Rey.

"Rey!"

I am next to her but she doesn't react.

The chill in my room drops to arctic temperatures and I can see my breath misting in the air.

Rey is frantically rocking and the tears that fall crystallize, frozen and shattering like ice as they hit the ground.

Palpatine, trying to entrap her once more as he tried that day we touched the shadow of Exegol.

"Rey, stop." There is no sign she can hear me and I channel the Force into my being and thrust the power through our Bond, "look at me."

Her head snaps up, wide and unseeing as the circle of metallic gold expands until only a sliver of amber remains on the outer edge.

A rictus smile cuts across her face and I feel the touch of evil crawling along our Bond.

"You cannot save her," her lips move but it is Palpatine's voice I hear in the echo of screams, "she is mine."

Palpatine, trying to lay claim to the blood that flows in her veins.

It is not Rey he wants, but the vessel of power she carries.

I can feel the shadow of her soul in the Bond, trying to fight his control but she has neither the experience nor the training to defend herself.

I did this to her. I meant for us to stand together against Palpatine but instead I have left her vulnerable to his manipulations.

I won't let him have her.

It was time to show Palpatine just exactly who I am and the legacy I carry in my own bloodline.

I grasp the sides of her head, maintaining the connection that allows our power to meld together.

I carry the blood of Skywalker in my veins, both light and dark.

Her eyes bleed from gold to perfect black as her skin bleaches of all color.

His hold on her is growing stronger and I gather the Force around me.

He is not the only one who can call the lightning.

"Do not interfere blood of Skywalker!"

A ripple around us, like the presence of a shadow as his hatred warps the very air in the room.

I can feel shards of ice coating my lungs but I refuse to bow before him.

I refuse to let go of Rey.

I have one chance to free her. The veil of darkness that shrouds her spirit has all but smothered her light and the anger I feel at her entrapment threatens my control and I have to remember to breathe.

I cannot let emotions sway me now or he will have us both.

I can peel back the layers of darkness. His stench of miasma and rotting flesh is potent but I sense that he knows nothing of our Bond.

That Rey and I are a Dyad.

I can feel the lightning in my blood, a maelstrom of power waiting to be unleashed.

I must strike at Palpatine without harming Rey or all of this is for nothing.

Ben...

The caress of her soul against mine, that flickering light I guard against all intrusion and I sense Palpatine recoiling and in that moment of weakness I strike at the darkness.

It splinters against my assault and Rey breaks free, our powers melding and her spirit flairs like a beacon and I am blinded by the harsh light.

My head is ringing as she takes control of the Force and I am thrust out of the Bond and back into my physical body.

She slips out of my grasp and I barely manage to catch her before she slumps over.

Her skin is cool to my touch and her eyes are closed, the rise and fall of her chest the only sign that she still alive.

The temperature in my room is normal, my breath no longer clouds the air.

Palpatine has been pushed back for now but she hasn't opened her eyes.

"Rey wake up."

Not even a flicker and something akin to fear tightens my throat and makes my hands shake as a smooth back strands of her hair.

"Sweetheart, open your eyes," I lean down and press my lip to her cold ones, willing her to respond, "Come back to me."

Seconds tick by and grief grips my heart until I feel her lips move beneath mine and I quickly lift my head.

Startling eyes of amber stare up at me, the haze of fatigue settling in them and they are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

"Ben," a rasp as she speaks my name, lifting a hand to touch my face and I cradle her cold skin next to mine, "what's happening to me?"

Cold anger burns through me at the assault she just suffered. If I hadn't been here...

"The emperor came looking for you."

She flinches in my arms and her hand slips free of my own and I beret myself for letting my temper get the best of me.

Again.

"But...how?"

I look down at this woman who could very well hold the power of the galaxy in the palm of her hands.

Perhaps it was time I told her the truth about her parentage, about all that I have learned since returning from Exegol.

But the bruises beneath her eyes and the way she trembles in my arms makes me hesitate. She has only just escaped one nightmare and I can't bring myself to thrust her into another.

There is still time for us. Nothing more than a sliver but I will take what I can get at this point.

"That can wait," she opens her mouth and I cut her off before she can speak, "you need something to drink."

Her voice is raspy and I don't like the pain that shows when she tries to swallow.

A distinctive growl from her stomach and a look of mortification that cuts through the tension and pushes me back from the black rage trying to take over.

"Food as well."

She feels so light in my arms, so fragile and that brief amusement I felt dies a quick death.

Her lashes veil her eyes from me and a quiet, melancholy sigh leaves her lips.

"Why is it you always seem to find me when I am at my weakest?"

I answer before I even have time to properly think about her question.

"Maybe it's because that's when you need me the most."

She lifts her eyes to mine and there is an intensity to her gaze that leaves me feeling off-center, as if she is searching my soul for an answer to a question I have yet to hear.

She's pulling out of my arms and I want to stop her but her eyes have not broken away and I am helpless to do anything but sit here and watch as she kneels in front of me.

"I heard you calling out to me," words barely above a whisper but with such longing I have to clench my hands in a effort not to pull her back into my arms and promise her anything if she would stop breaking my heart, "you called me 'sweetheart'."

My father's endearment to my mother and it was the only time I ever saw her truly smile and soon equated that to a feeling of love.

"I did."

A tremulous smile on her lips but one tinged with such sorrow I wish she would stop, it is painful to look upon.

"You haven't called me that since Emphameira."

I cannot tell if she accusing me for not using it for so long or relief that I've stopped using such endearments on her.

"If you don't like it, I'll stop."

I have never used that endearment on anyone else, except her. If she asks me to stop I will never speak that word again.

A pained sound leaves her lips, I would call it laughter but there is too much loss to hold any mirth.

She scoots closer until our knees touch and she's placing her hands over mine and I am bound to her all over again.

She touches her forehead to mine and a strange weariness settle in my bones and all I want is to stay like this with her.

"Don't stop," a whispered plea that forges chains around my soul, "you're the only one who is allowed to call me that."

There is a hollow ringing in my head and I wonder if she knows how those few words have destroyed almost all of my defenses I've built up to this point.

"Rey I-"

I love you.

How desperately I want to speak those words to her, to lay my heart in her hands and tell her that it will always belong to her.

She pulls her head up and I see my own anguished reflection in her eyes.

"Ben what is it?"

I can't tell her. I made that mistake on Emphameira when I offered her everything to stay by my side and it wasn't enough.

I don't know if I will ever be enough for her.

I'm on my feet, putting an end to this strange conversation between us and pull Rey to her feet as well.

Her face goes blank as she sway's slightly and I grab ahold of her before she can fall.

"Easy, I have you."

Too little nourishment and I beret myself for getting...distracted.

By her and how she twists me up inside.

"You need to warn a girl when you're going to do something like that."

She sounds disgruntled but the echo of sorrow is no longer present and something inside me relaxes.

"Noted," she looks up at me, her eyes clearer and I see her usual stubbornness reasserting itself, "Now come and get something to eat and drink before you pass out."

I am mildly surprised when she doesn't argue and I take her to where I left the food before we were...interrupted.

Her eyes widen when I pull the covers from the plate and I can practically taste her excitement in the air.

"That looks great. How?"

I gather the dishes and tea and move back to the alcove with Rey following behind me.

Her question leaves me both amused and oddly exasperated. She has a quicksilver mind and her intelligence is one of the many qualities I adore about her but there are times where she still sounds like the sheltered girl from Jakku.

I take her by the hand and make sure she's sitting before she can fall over, her skin is far too pale.

"I am the commander of the Steadfast Rey, getting food and drink is nothing."

I watch as the tips of her ears turn red.

"Oh, right."

I note the chagrin and decide to keep my mouth shut. She's picked up the tea I made and I don't want her throwing it at my head if I comment on the lovely blush spreading across her skin.

She glances up at me as I set the food down before taking a careful sip of her tea.

"Mmmm," a blissful sound as she cradles the cup closer to her body, "what is this? I don't recognize it?"

I'm not surprised.

"It's from Naboo," I don't tell her its something I found in the personal journals of Anakin Skywalker before he became a Sith, "the herbalists cultivated this to help restore energy."

He kept the basic recipe and I managed to replicate it after a few trials and errors.

I mix my own tea and take my place across from her, feeling the warmth spread throughout my body and shake off the weariness from earlier.

"I definitely need to get that recipe."

I wonder what she would say if I told her I was the only one who still knew how to make it.

I keep my silence. If making this tea is the only way she'll let me take care of her than I have no wish to divulge my secret.

I watch as she takes a selection of meat and her eyes water as she bites down on the greens.

"Not to your liking?"

The spices stalks of Ord Mantell are a preference of mine but it can be an acquired taste.

Rey takes a long sip before answering me.

"No I like it," her watering eyes say otherwise, "i just wasn't expecting to be so spicy."

She takes another bite just to prove her point and I can't help but chuckle at her tenacity.

A ghost of a smile on her lips as she plucks a piece of ambrosia from the plate.

"Was is this?"

She's more careful now but I have no wish to spoil the surprise.

"Try it."

She's giving me that unsure-but-game smile I've come to recognize.

I lift an eyebrow and sip at my tea, feeling my depleted energy starting to return.

"Fine," she mutters when I refuse answer her question and quickly bites down, red juices staining her fingers.

I lower the cup from my lips and can only stare as the look of sensuous delight making her eyes glow like hidden gems.

I swallow hard when she licks the juice from her fingers with such unabashed delight it is all I can do not to reach out and take over the task myself.

She has three more of the ambrosia in her hand and devours them within seconds.

"Oh gods," my body tightens at the sensual pleasure in her voice, "these are fantastic."

"I'm glad you like them."

Although from the look on her face I think 'like' is far too tame a word.

"What are they?"

As if I'm going to just simply hand over the information that gives her this much pleasure.

Between the tea and the ambrosia I may have found the perfect way to bribe Rey into taking care of herself.

"Eat some more meat," she narrows her eyes when I side-step her question and I give her a pointed look, "you need the protein."

A soft growl from her and I feel that tickle in the back of my throat when she stabs the meat and rips it apart with her teeth.

My beautiful little savage.

A chocking noise and when I sit up she waves me off by taking a healthy swallow of her tea, although her breathing is slightly off.

"Slow down," I can't help but admonish her, "it's not going anywhere."

Clearly my concern is wasted when she retaliates by glaring at me and point her fork in my direction.

"Less talking, more eating from you."

I may have requested two portions but this food is for her. I have the tea and I've gone longer than this without eating.

I'm more concerned about her.

I see that stubborn glint in her eyes and not at all surprised when she sets her fork down and crosses her arms.

"I'm not taking another bite until I see you eat."

As far as threats are concerned that's rather pitiful but I can't help but be charmed by her obvious concern for my own well-being.

"Giving me orders on my own ship Rey?"

She tilts her head and cocks a slender eyebrow in my direction, seemingly unimpressed with my reminder that I command the fleet.

"Yes. Now start eating."

I should know better than to argue with her when she gets like this. She really won't eat another bite until I do and I resign myself to the situation.

I grab my own fork and begin to eat. The tension in her body eases and she flashes me a tiny smile before going back to her own meal.

A warm glow in my chest at that smile and perhaps having her order me about isn't such a bad thing.

Between the two of us we manage to clean the plates.

"You need to take better care of yourself."

I glance up at the soft admonishment in her tone. Her coloring has improved but I can still sense her fatigue.

Clearly all of her strength hasn't returned and I move away to fix her another cup of tea.

"I could say the same of you."

She takes the tea from my hands and I am surprised at how chilly her skin feels. She has the cup cradled to her body as if trying absorb the warmth.

The look she gives me, however, is anything but warm.

"I do just fine on my own."

Yes because I see the faint smudges beneath her eyes that look like bruises from her lack of sleep.

"Indeed."

Again that flash of amusement before she turns away from me, drawing up her knee's and staring out into space.

I see her shiver just as I pull the dishes away to be collected later.

Despite the warm food and drink she is still cold.

I pick up my discarded cloak from the bed and move back to her side.

Something grips my heart when I see her there curled up into a small ball.

"Sit up."

I blink, momentarily startled when she does as I ask without arguing with me and quickly tuck my cloak around her shoulders.

The insulated material should provide her with the warm she's obviously craving.

She looks up at me and once more I am caught in the fractal beauty of her gaze.

"Thank you."

Why is she thanking me for taking care of her? It's all I've wanted to do since that day in the hut on Skywalker's island.

"You're welcome."

She's no longer shaking and reluctantly I let go of her. There is a tenderness in her gaze and I feel...different when I am with her.

As if all of the softer emotions I threw away have come back to me.

Just for her.

I should walk away, return to my duties but I can't. Her eyes stay on me as she begins to move away from the window.

"What are you doing?"

It doesn't look like she's trying to leave.

Again that delicate blush along her face, the tips of her ears turning red.

"Making room for you."

It takes me a minute to untangle her meaning and her actions become clearer.

She making room so that I can sit behind her.

Close enough to hold her in my arms.

Gently I rest my hand on her shoulder and slip behind her, pulling her into my arms.

A ghost of sigh I hear as she lays her head on my chest.

She fits perfectly in my arms and the silence between us is the peaceful kind.

In the midst of war, I have found rest here at her side.

"Ben?"

I no longer flinch when she calls me by that name. Once more it has become a familiar weight inside my soul.

"Yes?"

A trembling breath before she speaks again.

"What's happening between us?"

Of all the questions she could ask me of course it would be the one I haven't a clue how to answer.

"I...I don't know."

But as she lays here with her head on my chest, so trusting in my arms I have to wonder if this isn't the answer we're both seeking.

I pull her closer to me and lay my head on hers, the warmth of her body a reminder of how alive she makes me feel.

"But whatever this is," I try to explain, "it feels...right."

I believe that we were meant to be together.

Now more than ever.

Her breathing changes and she shifts in my arms and I lift my head and stare into the startling clarity of her gaze.

A trembling in my soul and I hold my breath to whatever it is she's about to tell me.

"Ben I-"

Her voice dies just as my comm goes off and I see shock cross her face just before the speaker irrevocably shatters the moment between us.

"Supreme Leader, we've arrived on Kijimi. Resistance fighters located and attempting to flee our forces."

Her tea slips from her gasp, the liquid splashing my boot as she stares up at me with a haunting look of betrayal.

Our brief respite has come to an end.