"General Organa, this young woman has been conspiring with Kylo Ren. Just look at the proof - what he has done to her," General Holte's canines flash through a smile that is not kind. He looks at Rey like he is hungry, like he has found the perfect prey.
Leia is not shaken in the slightest.
"I will handle the situation appropriately, Holte. I trust that you have not forgotten Rey's vital role in the Resistance."
Holte's expression is grave.
"Indeed. I have not forgotten the role Force users play. But there is a gross lie here, a great deception taking place under our noses."
He takes a step towards Rey.
"She is so young, perhaps it is not her fault. Your son is considerably deranged. I would not blame the girl if he cast some spell over her."
"That's not how the Force works," Rey spits at him. He strides over to her, angry, when Leia blocks his path.
"That is enough, Holte. Leave us."
The door closes and the room falls silent.
"Thank you," Rey says quietly. Leia turns and her smile - it is small and sad.
"Holte is an unpleasant man and I am sorry he got as far as he did. Sit down, Rey." Leia motions to the now empty chairs.
Rey sits, unsure of how to approach this. Leia has heard, surely, that her pregnancy is the result of the terrible lie she and Rose created. Rey glances down at her hands before meeting Leia's eyes.
"The baby…"
"I know."
"You know?" Rey's mind goes blank with panic.
"Rey - I know my son. I know of his interest in you. I know it's more than an interest. What I don't understand is how this happened. I can't help you unless you tell me."
Leia wants to help her. Rey clings this fact desperately.
"Is it true you've been talking with him for the past year?"
Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't kriffing cry in front of Leia, Rey repeats internally. She swallows hard.
"Yes. Through the force. He...he contacted me shortly after he killed Hux. He said he wanted to leave the Order and asked me to help him."
Rey burns with shame and continues.
"I met him at the old base in the Corporate system and I...we...in the past our relationship was complicated. I cared for him as Ben, and when I thought he was returning...well I must have cared for him a great deal more than I realized."
"I can see that," Leia's gaze rests on Rey's belly.
Rey feels the growing heat on her cheeks.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, "I made a terrible mistake. I never should have met up with him alone. I never should have kept our communications a secret." She can tell Leia wants to ask her about the force, ask about how it is different from the way they sense each other. She mentally scrambles to find a way to explain it when Leia walks around the table and sits next to her.
It occurs to Rey that as his mother, Leia understands the pain and disappointment that Kylo is not coming home. She clasps Rey's hands in her own, her tone warm.
"I am not angry with you Rey. I know what it is like to have a child during wartime - and it is not easy. Kylo contacted numerous top ranking officers in the Resistance. He demands we bring you to him or he will attack."
Rey tenses. Leia shakes her head.
"We do not negotiate with Kylo Ren. He would find a reason to attack us regardless, Rey. You cannot blame yourself for his behavior."
Rey appreciates Leia's sincerity but she does take responsibility for his threats.
Leia draws in a long breath.
"Not everyone feels the way I do. You saw Holte. Rey, I want you to consider going into hiding. At least until the Order is finished." The older woman touches Rey's face tenderly, "I cannot allow harm to come to you or my grandchild, whether it is at the hand of my son or someone within the Resistance."
Her grandchild. The thought that Leia is family almost breaks Rey.
Rey cannot picture herself abandoning the resistance. Hiding, waiting it out, not helping. Leaving the place she considers home, only to be alone again.
Leia is right, though.
The Resistance needs to focus on the First Order and the Knights. Not on her.
"Okay," she responds, "tell me what I need to do."
Leia checks that her office door is locked and the two begin to plot Rey's escape.
Rey wants to tell Leia that the baby is a boy, that he is strong with the force. She wants to ask Leia if she felt Ben's power in her womb. She wants to ask how to survive being pregnant during wartime.
Rey has an endless well of questions and she senses Leia does too. It is simply not possible right now.
There is no time to waste, no space for sentimentality.
They both understand this.
Kylo wishes Rey did not ruin his plans to leave her alone.
He contacts Resistance leaders one at a time.
He starts with those he knows to be corrupt, those he has bribed and exchanged intel with in the past. He ends with those who think the world of Rey, who refuse to believe what he says despite the crestfallen edge that enters their voice when he finishes speaking.
Rey's good name is being dragged through the mud, her reputation falling apart.
It is not personal, it is just business. She will see that she does not need the scum that is the resistance - all she needs is him.
Kylo does not like how the force blinds him to Rey.
He is unable to push past it, unable to pry their connection open.
He must have really hurt her. Kylo sighs. He is always hurting her.
It might have been helpful, he thinks, if he asked how she was feeling first. He has not considered how she is coping with the pregnancy, does not think to ask if there is anything he can do to help. He needs to remedy that.
The stricken expression on her face when he ordered her onto his bed is cemented in his mind. Her heart never stopped hammering in her chest, her adrenaline never left her system. Rey hates being dominated, hates being commanded. She is independent.
Kylo wants to respect this, wants her to be his equal. Yet deep down he would rather she regard him as her - he can't find the right word. Not teacher, not master, not owner.
Kylo just needs Rey to accept that he is in charge when it comes to their intimate relationship. They will rule together, but it is his job to protect her, to take care of her. He decides what happens in the bedroom.
Still.
Kylo realizes he went about their last coupling all wrong.
Fucking her felt too good. He has to take what he can get. Who knows when he will have her again? She left his thighs and his sheets soaking wet. Kylo did not know women were capable of that - he has a lot to learn.
It is not his fault her body was made to be submissive to him. She is a woman.
Rey's petite frame left nothing to the imagination. The physical changes he saw and felt on her body make it real to him.
The concept of her pregnancy is no longer abstract.
Kylo still cannot believe she chooses to carry his baby to term.
His baby.
He wonders how in the hell she is going to last another five months.
After the resistance delivers her to him - and they will- he needs to demonstrate that he is ready to be a father.
Kylo's fingers drum the screen in front of him. He does not know much about babies. They are small and loud, demanding and fatiguing.
A lot like Rey.
It frightens him, a little, that Rey has the ability to carry and birth life. She is too powerful.
Kylo thinks about her last visit to his flagship. He did not give her the warm welcome she deserved. He did try, but she ended up tied to his bed, thrown into a cold cell.
Kylo is ashamed at the memory as he summons Captain Witt to his chambers.
He needs to make it up to Rey.
When Captain Witt arrives, he orders her to obtain the necessities needed for an infant. His child will have the absolute best and Rey will want for nothing.
Captain Witt has been forgoing sleep trying to organize a Clone Army and the change in orders shocks her.
Kylo is not finished. He has a few specifications that he makes with Rey in mind.
If he had it his way, droids would watch over the baby in a separate room. Any child of Ren will not be coddled, will not be weak.
But he knows Rey.
He orders Witt to place whatever crib she finds next to the bed in his private chambers. He knows firsthand that Rey likes to fucking snuggle. That she is soft, that she will coddle their son. She will probably bring the baby into their bed. Kylo sighs again.
With reservations he will allow it - for a little while.
He wants her to be happy.
If she obeys him, she will be.
As much as he wants Rey to embrace the darkness within, it is her commitment to the light that turns him on - that draws him to her. It is the way she thinks everyone can be good, even someone as deplorable as him.
She needs to stay that way, she needs to keep him balanced. This is why he will tailor the room to her needs, to the baby's needs. His approach needs to be soft with her this time around. He needs to hold back from fucking her again until she is ready.
Kylo is about to make another specification when his comlink flashes. Irritated, he smacks it.
"What?"
"Supreme Leader," the voice belongs to Krog, "General Holte requests to speak with you."
"Patch him through."
Kylo dismisses Captain Witt and hears static before Holte speaks.
"Kylo Ren," he forgoes Kylo's formal title, "I want to inform you that the Knights have offered me a considerable sum of money in exchange for the scavenger. Unless you can surpass it, I regret to inform you that I must accept their bribe over yours. You should know there are numerous bounties being offered for the scavenger and your child."
Kylo blinks.
He will not play this game.
"Congratulations, General," Kylo says, voice low and monotone, "You have just guaranteed your death at my hands."
Holte thinks because Kylo purchases weapons from him once that he can make demands like this?
A foolish decision, and it will be his last.
Kylo realizes the bigger problem. The Knights want Rey. Others want to benefit from her situation as well. They want his child.
Kylo wets his dry lips. It will be fine, he tells himself.
It is not fine.
He can't keep fucking up like this.
He assaults the force with panicked fervor but he does not sense her. Rey is effective at keeping him locked out.
Kylo does not have time to wait for the resistance to surrender Rey to him. Not while others seek her out.
He activates his comlink and orders the flagship to enter hyperspace.
He will pay Resistance base Z-131 a visit.
He will do whatever it takes to get his hands on Rey, and he confirms with Krog that they are loaded to the hilt with weapons.