Rey does not pack a bathing suit.
In the first place, she doesn't swim. Doesn't know how, has never needed to know how, never wants to learn. The water isn't a place she needs to go, except for baths and showers. And in the second place, she knew he was messing with her, so she googled it and discovered what appropriate Alaskan summer attire is. She's surprised at how warm it says it's supposed to get, though. She supposed, in that vaguely ignorant way, that Alaska meant snow and ice all the time. She's glad to be wrong.
That night, after one of the most confusing days of her life, she drafts an email explaining Pryde's departure from the company and how Ben Solo would be taking over his clients. Her own stubborn ego wants to put in there some snide and snarky things about him, or maybe how it's only a temporary measure until a suitable replacement is found. But she doesn't. She doesn't do it because she doesn't want Ben to read it and renege on their deal, and she doesn't do it because he's a good fit for the job and as much as Rey doesn't want to lose her highly qualified assistant, she wants him to succeed and for these authors to love him.
So her email is complementary, and she sends it to Luke for approval before sending it to the rest of the team.
Luke replies immediately with two gifs of hysterical laughter and a thumbs up. He replies again a minute later with: I'm still laughing my ass off about this. Kudos to Ben for finding a way to work this situation in his favor. And congratulations to both of you. Give all my love to Leia, Han, and my mother this weekend. Promotion approved, nepotism be damned. I'll handle Mara's objections, don't worry. Go forth and blackmail each other into wedded bliss.
Rey isn't sure she likes any of that, but what can she do?
What she does is shower and scrub the day off her as best she can.
What she does not do is replay that stupid hickey incident in the bathroom over and over in her mind as she tries to fall asleep. What a ridiculous idea that was. One of her worst.
And what she does is meet Ben at the airport in the morning. He arranged everything as she'd specified when she thought he wasn't listening, so after check-in and boarding, Rey settles comfortably into first class, prepared to ignore him for the entire flight. But it's not so easy as that, because the first thing she notices when they're shoulder-to-shoulder within the confines of the plane is how nice his cologne is, with notes of bergamot and cedarwood. It wraps around her, as cool as clean mountain air, inviting and enticing.
She knows this scent. It's the one that almost bowled her over the first time he walked into her office. It's the one that made her lecture him about professionalism, and subsequently prohibit the use of cologne in the office. Because she couldn't have her assistant smelling so...good. Not like that, anyway.
"Um," she says after a dazed few seconds. "So now that you're not my assistant you think you don't need to follow the office personal grooming policies?"
"We're not in the office, Rey," he says, unruffled as he casually opens a manuscript on his tablet and pulls out his corresponding tablet pen. "You can't dictate what I do on my days off."
She frowns. It's ridiculous of her to be annoyed by his personal grooming choices. It's just that it's a really good smell. It's hard to concentrate with that around her, smelling like something she wants to drag off to bed.
Rey grits her teeth and tries to ignore it. She pulls out her own tablet and dithers around for a bit trying to decide what to work on. But it isn't only how good he smells today, or how extra soft his thick dark hair seems. She struggles to focus for other reasons. Nerves, she thinks. This whole strange situation. So maybe she should better prepare herself for the steps ahead.
She connects to the in-flight wifi and googles a list of common INS interview Fiancée Visa questions.
"These are intense," she says with soft dread after looking over the list. "Who knows the answer to some of these? Where does your fiancé squeeze the toothpaste? In the bathroom, I hope. Or is that some kind of weird government euphemism?"
His interest piques and he sets his tablet down, leaning over to peer at her list. His scent is even stronger with his head this close to hers.
"I'm sure they meant which part of the tube you squeeze. I go from the bottom. I bet you go from the middle like a heathen. Anyway, that one," he points. "I know that one."
"What is your fiancée allergic to? I don't have any allergies."
"Yes you do. You're lowkey allergic to apples. Apple skin, to be more precise."
"I am not!"
"Yes, you are. When you eat an apple with skin on—"
"Who peels their apple before eating it?"
"Well, applesauce doesn't do it to you. Neither does apple juice. But when you eat a fresh apple, your face gets red."
"What? No it does not."
"Yes it does. How can you honestly not know this about yourself? Next time you eat an apple, go look in a mirror. You get blotchy here," he touches her cheek and then traces around her eye and up to her forehead, "and here," and then his finger traces downwards to her neck. "And here."
She bats his hand away before he can skate too close to her gland. "Okay, fine. I know you're allergic to Baby Soft perfume by Love's."
He laughs. "How can you possibly what was wearing?"
"I tracked her down and asked her while you were in the bathroom trying to wash it off. She thought it was hilarious." Rey did not share the girl's amusement, but she restrained herself from drop-kicking Sunny across the convention center.
Ben's full lips tease into a half-grin. "You never thought to share that information? It could be useful to me."
She looks away. "I figured if one of your many admirers was wearing it, you'd be too indisposed to ask for confirmation."
"True enough. Well now we know."
"Now we know."
"Okay, another," he says, pointing. "Favorite hobbies. You like tinkering with machines and fixing things."
"Why do you think that?" This one is scary accurate — scary because Rey has never let anyone know about her life outside the office, hobbies included.
"One night you asked me to stay late to work on sorting the unspecified PitMad submissions, and I think you forgot I was there. I was at my desk and you were in your office. Your computer broke, and you just took it apart right there and fixed it. I think it was something with the fan."
"The heat sink…"
"Right. You never call IT for hardware issues. When your chair had a busted lumbar support crank, you fixed that too. Things like that have happened several times over the years. You're a tinkerer."
The fact that he's noticed these things makes her bristle. She wants to retaliate with unwarranted knowledge of her own. "Well you're a calligrapher, and a poet. At that conference in Munich when your room flooded from the floor above and you had to come into mine for the night, I saw your brush set when you were drying out your bags. And sometimes when you're not at your desk, I read the pieces of poetry you write on sticky notes and hide where you think no one can see them."
Ben looks surprised. And instead of being annoyed, as she is, he looked almost pleased. "How about this one? Favorite color?"
"You like white," she says. "You think it makes a clean aesthetic, and you like that it encompasses all the colors."
He laughs. "Or black. I like both."
"Yes, you do. You favor white, though."
"I'd say that's fair. You like green. But not like a chartreuse or lime. You like a deep, true green. Like an emerald. Like a leaf."
Rey blinks, once again caught off guard by how he knows this. "Yeah, I do."
"Mmhmm. And this one." His cocky smirk manifests again. "Criminal history? I know you're comfortable with fraud, though I don't think I should answer it that way in the interview."
Rey blushes, but her humor fades quickly and she glances away. "Yeah maybe you'd better just lie for that one."
She can feel him studying her, but pretends to look for the service cart instead of meeting his eye.
"Oh," he says softly, "you have other stuff on your record?"
"You know what, we've got two weeks to work out these answers. Let's just give it a rest right now. I'm going to nap."
"Wait, wait, wait," he leans against the wall of the plane, crossing his thick arms over his thicker chest. Rey tells herself not to notice. "I've discovered something about the formidable Ms. Johnson that I didn't know? I'm pretty sure we should talk about this. Krennic will sniff that out immediately. Tell me your scandals, baby, and I'll tell you mine."
"No thanks, and never call me that again." She signals a flight attendant. "Can I grab a bottled water, please?"
The flight attendant nods and drifts away again.
"That's something I know about you," he says with lingering amusement. "You don't drink alcohol."
"I don't."
"Why is that?"
"Sorry, dead end, next question."
He huffs an exasperated breath. "More secrets. Rey, we have to know these things about each other."
"And yet, some things will remain a mystery."
"Your unknown criminal history and your unwillingness to drink…" He considers for a moment. "Could the two be related?"
"Drop it," she snaps, whirling to give him a nasty glare. "Ask me about either of those things one more time and I'll bury your bones in the Alaskan tundra. Don't think I won't."
He frowns, lifting a brow. "There she is. For a minute I was wondering what happened to Witchy Rey."
"I so enjoy getting to know Chatty Cathy Ben," she bites back without losing a beat.
"Look," he says, sitting forward now. His eyes are glittering and intense, "you're the one that wants to do this whole charade, so you don't get to be the one to chicken out when it gets personal and uncomfortable."
"I'm not chickening out," she seethes. "I'm drawing lines. Boundaries. And some information is on the wrong side of your boundary. You don't get to know, not even for this."
"If our stories don't align then I go to prison. That's worse than being sent back to England. So you see why 'drawing lines' doesn't work for me."
"Our stories will align just fine. If they ask, you tell them it's something I won't talk about. That's the truth anyway, so you don't even have to lie."
The lines of his mouth harden. "I guess this means we're done asking questions."
"Yes. It does."
The rest of the plane trip is almost totally silent. At least the next couple hours are. Ben makes notes on the manuscript, Rey approves new author contracts and bids for valuable manuscripts. There's an iciness between them that has nothing to do with the cold plane air or the refreshing cleanliness of Ben's cologne.
In Juneau they get on a connecting flight to the island of Naboo. It's a terrifyingly tiny plane, just two seats to each row, no center aisle, and she's all pressed between Ben's personal space and the window, so she just kind of closes her eyes and counts the minutes until she can escape.
The Theed airport is as tiny as its plane, so they exit right onto the tarmac and are immediately greeted by a couple of women enthusiastically waving them down from the fenced pick-up area a few meters away.
"Your fan club?" Rey asks.
"My mother and grandmother," he replies, scooping up their bags from where they're being lobbed out of the belly of the plane onto the asphalt. "Come on. And be polite to them please. They're kind of sticklers for manners."
It takes Rey a horrified minute to follow, because she's seized by a swooping realization and immediate dread. Ben's mother. Ben's mother is Luke's sister. And she's known this. Of course she's known this. But until this moment, she's never put the puzzle pieces together that Ben's mother is Luke's very famous, very high-profile sister. The famed Leia Organa, influential senator and champion of women's rights. She retired a decade or more ago to go back to her family business, but she's remained one of Rey's absolute heroes. Any time Luke talks about his sister, she gets utterly starstruck. But she's never thought about how Luke only has one sister, and one nephew, and therefore the two must be related.
Oh crap.
The person she's kept Ben from visiting all this time, refusing him weekends and holidays, is Leia Organa.
The woman Rey is going to lie to about being engaged to her son.
She feels sick.
"You coming or not?" Ben tosses over his shoulder, halfway across the tarmac already. She drags her feet after him, mouth ashy. She can't lie to Leia. Or, she can. But what happens if they're caught? This woman probably still has connections in very high places. And Rey wants her approval, not her disgust.
Right away, it's difficult.
Right away, Leia Organa Solo slides right out of all those high-powered career pictures of her and into mushy mom-mode, practically tackling her giant mountain of a son with a happy cry.
"Ben! I can't believe you're finally here!"
They both seem genuinely happy to see each other again. Ben scoops his short mother up in a huge bear hug.
And then there's Padme, Leia's mother who is exactly as tiny as her daughter, all wrinkles and fashionably styled white hair and fashionably forward clothing. Luke one time said his mother was a senator too, long ago — one of the first female senators ever. She was truly revolutionary for her time. Rey probably owes her a great deal too, and this only adds to her anxiety.
"Where's your lady?" Padme asks after taking her turn to hug her grandson. "Luke said we'd love her."
"She's here," he says, turning to motion.
"Hi," Rey says awkwardly, hoisting her carry-on bag strap higher on her shoulder.
"Mom, Grams, this is Rey. Rey, my mother, Leia, my grandmother, Padme."
"Hello Rey," Leia says with a smile, opening her arms to pull Rey in for a quick, barely-there hug. "We've heard a lot about you."
"So much," agrees Padme, giving her a grin. "Some good, some bad."
"Oh, I'm surprised you've heard anything good." Rey shoots Ben a little look. The picture he's probably painted to his family of her. Three years of sorry, can't, the devil's making me work again. Great, she's already on bad footing with these women and she hasn't even begun.
Ben lifts his hands with a little grin. "The good part must have come from Luke."
Leia laughs. "Apparently you two outing your relationship is causing quite the scandal over there! Luke said no one knew! How could you keep it a secret so long?"
Rey winces at the idea of anyone at the office finding out about it. The only way they'd know is if Luke had said anything, and she has a funny feeling that's exactly what he did. Damn him. But maybe he was just trying to help, in his strange way.
"Things were complicated, Mom," Ben sighs. "They still are, honestly."
"Nothing complicated about it," Padme chirps. "It's fate, that's all. You can't fight fate."
Rey blushes and grits her teeth in a fake smile.
Leia laughs. "My mother is a big believer in the mystical side of life. And she was kind of a rebel back in her day. She lived with my dad before they got married. Really scandalous for the time."
"Yeah, yeah," Ben says impatiently. "Are we going to stand around here getting to know each other or can we do that at home?"
"Yes, let's get you two back to the fort," Padme says, wrinkled face alight with excitement. She loops her arm through Rey's. "It'll be nice to have a granddaughter," she confides with a wink. "Leia and I could use another girl around. It gets a little heated when Ben and his dad are together. We need a softer touch."
"Oh, I uh…" Rey falters because this fancy old woman is too much in her space, nobody is ever this much in her space — except yesterday's little ill-advised hickey episode — and also because she isn't sure she has a softer touch. She's been living in bitch mode almost her entire life.
"It's okay," Padme whispers, and there's a conspiratorial edge to her voice. "I know how it is. I had to be the same way when I was your age. But you don't have to be guarded with us, darling. You can relax and find your inner peace while you're here."
Rey has no idea what her inner peace would look like, and she's more unsettled than comforted by this advice. Still, she just smiles politely and nods anyway.
Ben puts their suitcases in the back of his mother's old truck and they all pile in. Leia and Padme sit up front, Rey and Ben in the back. Rey is silent as they drive, incredibly uncomfortable and unsure how to act. Ben seems more at ease. He stretches an arm out behind her, resting it on the back of the seat, body canted a little in her direction. Like they're not oil and water pretending to get along. He chats with his mother about people she doesn't know, catching up on gossip she has no way to relate to. She wonders briefly if she should lean into him. If she should really try to sell their lie with some low-level PDA. But she just can't bring herself to do it, so she swallows hard and reads the signs they pass instead.
The town is shockingly quaint, like Rey would expect to find if someone built a theme park dedicated to Alaskan gold mining and Yukon exploration. Main street is populated with old shops and authentically antique storefronts. Theed's oldest signs seem to be in Russian. She can see faded old Russian letters on the sides of buildings. She wants to ask Ben about them, but doesn't dare interrupt. There's another culture here too, swirled into the Russian-American kitschy western vibe. Little totems and symbols interspersed among the glimpses of town, like the indigenous population retained a strong foothold.
She should have read Theed's Wikipedia page before coming here. She suddenly wants to know everything.
A surprising amount of signs read Amidala. There's a pharmacy with the name, a general store, a photography studio, a tourist souvenir shop, a bank, a cafe, and others she barely catches before they've passed.
There's a lull in the conversation, so she asks. "What's Amidala?"
"Oh, that's my maiden name," Padme says brightly. "My family owned a lot of property, as you can tell. That all belongs to Leia now. Luke didn't care for any of it. It'll all be Ben's someday, if he wants it."
Rey glances at the giant man beside her, but he turns his attention out the window. He's never mentioned being the heir to a whole Alaskan town before. He's never mentioned a lot of things. Is that her fault, for never allowing him an identity outside her assistant? Or is it possible that he too has secrets about his personal life which he would not choose to share with her, if she asked?
They drive a few minutes longer, all the while Padme talks about her parents, her mother's indigenous heritage, her father's colonial pride. Finally they pull into a little parking lot labeled Marina. There are ladders disappearing down the side of a small cliff, down to boats waiting at slips below. The second Ben hauls the bags out of the back of the truck and starts towards one of these ladders, Rey feels a sudden, suffocating flash of panic.
Not a boat.
They're not honestly going to ride on a boat.
Incredibly spry for her age, Padme climbs down the ladder first, Leia following close behind. Ben drops the bags down to them and they load them into — yes, a boat. Theirs, obviously. It's some kind of motorboat, no sails or anything, but Rey couldn't begin to label anything further about it. Without another word of acknowledgement, Ben starts to climb down the ladder.
"Ben," Rey hisses, eyeing the churning water jostling dock and the boat's hull below. "Ben, I'm not comfortable around water."
"Yeah, I knew this already," he says, lowering himself another rung.
"I'm not getting on that thing."
"Then enjoy the town for a few days or head back directly if you want. I'll see you back at the office on Monday."
She gapes at him, horrified that he can be so unfeeling. But then, hasn't she treated him the same way over the years? Still, it infuriates her. Right now she really needs to stay on firm, unmoving, dry land.
"Ben," she pleads, trying again. "I can't swim."
"That's why we have the boat." He drops down onto the deck and turns to the two matriarchs.
"Benji," his mother chides, "shouldn't you give Rey a hand down the ladder? You're not being very gentlemanly."
"Mom," he sighs, "my love doesn't want to be coddled. She's stubborn and independent."
Rey hears him as she's navigating the ladder, riled again by this comment but too anxious now to do anything about it. She can hear the water sloshing below, the boat squeaking gently against the buoys.
"Then she suits you, doesn't she?" Leia teases affectionately. "Now go and help her."
"A woman in leadership can't let herself be ordinary," Padme intones philosophically. "If she is, people will walk all over her. She must channel the stone heart until it consumes her."
"Yeah, that's lovely that you two have something to bond over," Ben says a little begrudgingly, and Rey feels his hands on her ribs, sliding to her waist, guiding her down the last few rungs of the ladder. He takes a liberty. He slides one of his palms over the round of her butt, cupping her with one hand, guiding her down with another.
She drops onto the dock with both feet and momentarily flails for support as the boards beneath her gently rock with the water. Ben grabs her and steadies her. At first she's grateful, but it's fleeting because then she remembers the feel he coped, and as soon as she has her balance, she twists her hand to clasp his wrist and yank him in close, lip curling, snarl barely contained to a private volume.
"Touch me like that again and I'll cut your wandering hands off, got it?"
His smokey eyes widen momentarily and then the smallest of smirks dances over his plush, close lips. His scent swirls around her. "My lady loves to give me her violent threats, doesn't she?"
Rey makes a noise of disgust and shoves him away again, purposefully striding to the boat and climbing aboard despite her fears.
"You two are so cute," Leia sighs. "I'm so happy Ben found a nice companion to settle down with after all this time."
Rey doesn't know what this woman thought she saw, but it wasn't nice. Padme gives her a grin and another wink.
Ben gets in and unties the boat from its mooring. He pulls out a life jacket from beneath one of the seats and tosses it at Rey before assuming the helm. Rey puts it on and refuses to feel even an ounce of gratitude. Nobody else is wearing one, but she feels safer with it on. As they pull away from the dock with a throaty engine gurgle, she closes her eyes and drinks a deep gulp of fresh ocean air.
This is going to be a long weekend.