A yawn escaped Rey's lips as she made her way back to her room. They had another 14 hours before they would reach the Resistance Base, which meant Rey finally had enough time to get a decent night's rest before having to face her friends. The door slid open with a whoosh to reveal Ben's meditative form on the floor. He opened his eyes and offered her a smile. "So this is where you've been hiding?" She threw him a teasing look.

"I'd argue that you can't really hide on this ship. Besides, you seemed pretty engrossed in your research." He shot back with a glimmer in his eye. He wasn't entirely wrong. She had been doing her best to try and get information about the Sith with Theo and Doj's assistance. They were the only ones who would be able to get her access without triggering any of the alerts.

Ben knew better than to linger out there, not while the hostility was so high between him and Doj. Rey was pretty sure Theo had no idea about their shared past, or at the very least didn't know the details and for that they were all thankful. He had proved time and time again that he was more of a 'speak first, think later' kind of guy. Rey almost thought he was eerily similar to Poe.

"Did you find anything useful?" Ben asked, snapping Rey's train of thought. She noticed he had the tendency to do that when Poe came to her mind. "Maybe. There are a few other worlds linked to old Sith ruins. No concrete evidence though. I wasn't able to get any names either. Our best bet would be to run searches ourselves." She began to undo her signature hair knots.

"Hmm" He hummed quietly in response. She met his gaze again as she took out the final loop and her now rather long hair cascaded over her shoulders. She never wore her hair down. It was too easy for it to fall in her face and obscure her view. She picked up her brush and began to untangle the mess of hair. "I'll mention it to the Resistance when I meet with them. Maybe they'll be willing to let us handle it ourselves."

Ben hummed again absentmindedly and Rey turned to look at him in confusion. She was certain he would put up a fight on her last point. He was watching her, his head tilted to the side and resting on his palm. His face looked lost in memory, eyes soft with a hint of a smile on the corners of his mouth. She was certain she'd never seen him look at her like that. "What?" She questioned, her mouth curving nervously to match his.

"You're so beautiful." He murmured quietly. Rey felt her cheeks blush at his words. She rarely had the chance to see her reflection growing up. Even now she wasn't fond of seeing her own reflection and wouldn't dare to call herself beautiful. "Don't you dare think that for a moment." He interrupted her thoughts. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and if you don't believe me I'll remind you every day until you do."

Rey was sure her cheeks were red with embarrassment. "Thank you." She said quietly and turned back to finish brushing her hair out, uncertain how to proceed past that tender moment. She ran the brush through her long locks before beginning to braid it back out of her face for bed. "I used to watch my mother do her hair." He said quietly behind her. She sensed his memories as they played in his head. "I'd sit on the floor just like this while she got ready. She was always getting ready for something. It was almost like our own quality time." He finished.

Rey was surprised at the lack of bitterness in his voice as he spoke about his mother. She thought back to the kind woman and gave a small laugh. "She did have some amazing hair though. I'll never understand how she did it." Ben sighed. "I do. I always watched her. All those twists and braids…" He trailed off and Rey felt her arms begin to ache as she braided her hair back.

"I can finish that." He said simply and Rey paused to look at him. He moved his legs and patted the ground between them. Rey could feel her heart flutter at the thought, but her aching arms were glad for the relief. She moved to sit between his legs and let the braid go loose. His hands gingerly took her long locks and started to twist them together down the back of her head. She could feel his warm breath on her neck as he concentrated.

They sat in silence for a while until he asked for her hair tie. She grabbed it off her wrist and handed it back to him, waiting patiently while he secured his work. "There." He breathed gently. Rey could sense his pride at his work and lifted her hand to feel the braid. Unsurprisingly, it felt perfectly symmetrical, better than any braid she had been able to do on herself.

She turned to meet his gaze and smiled. "Thank you." She whispered and he smiled back in return, leaning in to place a tender kiss on her lips. Neither one made a move to pull away as the kiss deepened. Rey turned to face him as she pulled her fingers through his hair. She could feel the tension build in him as their kisses intensified. This was the blissful moment that had always been cut short when they were briefly united, and they finally had the luxury of time.

Rey could sense it, that feeling she had felt once before when they truly felt one. Their minds flowed together, unhindered thoughts and feelings mingled. Ben broke the kiss abruptly and pulled back from her. She looked back at him with concern, nothing in his mind alerted her to any negative feelings from him. Did she do something wrong? He gulped and gave her a shy smile. "No." He breathed. Placing his forehead gently on hers. "Nothing's wrong. You're perfect." He leaned back and scanned her face.

"I just wanted you to hear me say it first." His voice shook with emotion as he tried to swallow the tears filling his eyes. "I love you." He said gently, emphasizing each word slowly. His eyes scanned her shocked face for a moment before she realized she had just been sitting there motionless. A slow smile spread across her face as the words registered and she leaned in to kiss him. She pulled back after a short moment, leaving her face inches from his. "I love you too."

It was like they had been struck with a crack of electricity. He pulled her body close to him, strong hands grabbing her as she straddled his waist and wrapped herself tightly around him. Rey knew he obviously had more experience than her, running his hands around her body knowingly, exploring every inch. She moaned into him contentedly as she moved her hands under the front of his shirt, feeling each of the defined muscles she had admired before.

They were almost aggressive as their kiss broke and Ben buried his face in the crook of her neck. Kissing and whispering sweet nothings as he moved to her collar bone. He paused momentarily when he sensed her thoughts and without missing a beat she tugged the shirt over his head. He pressed a question to her and smiled at her enthusiastic answer, pulling her shirt over her head as well.

Their lips crashed back together as he braced her legs and stood to move to the bed. Laying her down underneath him as he began to kiss the newly exposed skin. Rey was surprised at her lack of modesty. She had never imagined she would feel completely at ease as she became so physically vulnerable, but perhaps this was nothing compared to the emotional vulnerability they had both shared for the past year and a half. She giggled when she saw what plans he had for her in his mind and he looked up from where he had been pressing kisses on her stomach. He moved slowly back up to her waiting face breathlessly and shot her a questioning look. Is that okay?

Her heart soared when she realized he had purposely been sharing with her to ask for permission. She grinned at him, nodding, and wrapped her fingers behind his head to pull his eager lips back down to hers. This is long overdue anyway.

Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed! I did want to put a disclaimer out, I have made significant edits to try to streamline the story. Ultimately, I'd recommend re-reading to avoid any confusion from this point on as certain plot points have changed to better align with where the story is now. But you shouldn't be lost if you choose not to.

All of the chapters have been updated, but you'll notice most of the major work was in the first 5 chapters or so. The soul stone story-line has also been updated to (surprise) make sense!

I hope you guys can forgive the amateur writing skills, but hey, it's fanfiction for a reason. Hopefully things flow much better now for new readers and return readers alike. If you have any comments I'd love to hear from you! Thank you all for your continued support :)