Chapter Eleven – Rey

Rey wiped the last of her tears off her face as she walked down the hallway. Ben's arm draped over her shoulder protectively, and she loved how safe it made her feel. He'd assured her he didn't care about her lineage, admitting it would be hypocritical considering his own lineage.

They'd decided to leave immediately. With a price of that magnitude on Rey's head, being on such a lawless planet as Jakku put her in more danger. Alkos offered to take the first shift piloting, promising Ben he'd wake him for the second half of the journey.

Their kiss, so filled with passion and need, popped into her head. A blush graced her cheeks. When he'd healed her, he'd finished by sending some kind of tickling into her bones. Then it traveled straight down into her core. She'd almost orgasmed right there. He'd looked surprised, so it hadn't been anything deliberate. But the way he'd responded set her on fire. She could still feel that fire burning inside her.

Stopping in front of the room Alkos had given Rey earlier, Rey desperately wanted Ben to stay with her. She'd shared all of her secrets with him and found no reason to keep any distance from him now.

Stretching up on her tippy toes, she pressed her lips to his. It wasn't the same heated kiss from before, more of an invitation. An invitation he accepted.

As she drew away, he leaned down, capturing her lips with his again. Without breaking the kiss, he reached behind her to open the door. They practically tumbled inside and the door slid closed behind them. Then, in one swift move, he spun her around and pressed her against the closed door.

Rey moaned as his tongue licked at her lips, invading her mouth. Her tongue danced with his. That burning fire inside her blazed hot. Her hands burrowed in his hair, that lush dark hair of his. He was so close, but not close enough. She dragged her leg up his and hooked her foot behind his thigh. Then she pushed him into her. She relished the pressure of his hard body against hers.

His mouth left hers and trailed kissed along her jawline to her neck. She turned her neck to give him better access. Her breath lodged in her throat as he nipped the delicate flesh there. She could feel his mouth against his skin before he started licking and kissing her neck again.

Rey untangled her fingers from his hair and pulled the hem of his shirt out of his pants. She ran her hands up his stomach to his chest underneath the cloth.

He gasped. Then he froze.

Awareness

Rey froze as well, sensing something had changed within him.

He took a step away from her. "I should go." His eyes seemed to look everywhere but at her.

A chill swept through her, a cold hand gripping her heart. "You...you don't want me?"

His eyes finally steadied, locking with hers. "I ache for you, Rey."

Her spirits soared hearing his words. "Me too." She smiled and reached for him.

He shook his head and took another step back. "I can't."

"Why?" Her hands clenched into fists, fighting the tears from returning.

He looked up at the ceiling, sighing loudly. "I'm going to leave the Jedi Order."

Rey rocked back as if he'd slapped her. He'd worked so hard to be a Jedi, defeated Snoke's attacks on him. "Why?" she asked again.

"Because I'm in love you, Rey! I've been in love with you since I was nine years old. I don't know what you saw when you went into my memory, but images of you kept me from bowing down to Snoke. And I wanted to bow down to him, but not if it meant losing you. No other woman could ever compare to you. It made that vow of celibacy very easy. But you're here now, you came back to me. I will never leave your side."

Rey's heart fluttered at his admission of love. She couldn't believe how the four days she'd spent in his childhood had shaped his entire life. Her original thought that he wouldn't remember her now seemed so absurd. "I'd never ask you to give up being a Jedi."

"I know. But you mean more to me than being a Jedi does. The vow of celibacy isn't just about intimacy. It means I can never marry, never father children. It demands total loyalty to the Jedi, and I can't give them that anymore. But I can't break that vow before renouncing it directly to Master Skywalker. You have your freedom. I just ask you give me a little more time until I have mine." His eyes begged her for understanding.

She smiled, nodding. "I've waited two years for you. I can wait a little longer." He moved to walk around her to the door, but she couldn't bear to be alone. "But can we sleep together. Just sleep, nothing else. I don't want to be alone."

He groaned, but there was a smile on his lips. "You're gonna kill me, Rey! Alright, but we're going back to my room. I'd barely fit on this bed by myself, let along with both of us."

Rey clapped, so happy at her victory. She followed him back to his room down the corridor. They settled into his bed, backs pressed together.

Before she drifted off, Rey mumbled, "I'm in love with you too, Ben."

Joy

Love

They fell asleep.

She'd never slept so well as when she lay beside Ben. No nightmares plagued her. She barely heard him leave to take the second shift, although she swore she heard Alkos get punched for a snide comment about finding her in Ben's bed. When he left, she rolled into the spot he'd vacated, absorbing in his linger heat and scent. It put her right back to sleep.

He woke her in the morning with a fresh cup of caff.

"I could really get used to this kind of service," she greeted him, hungrily grabbing the travel mug.

He laughed and sipped from his own travel mug. "Next time you have to bring me caff in bed."

She threw a pillow at him, laughing.

He ducked but still got hit. "You'd better get up. We're landing soon. I pulled out some spare clothes that should fit you. They're in the refresher." He kissed her on the cheek and left the room.

With the excitement of her impending reunion with Master Skywalker, Rey rushed through her shower and pulled on her clothes. They'd obviously been made for a woman, although the pants were a little short, ending halfway up her calves. She appraised herself in the mirror. She looked just like a Jedi. She couldn't help admit disappointment that this particular dream wouldn't come to fruition. But if the Jedi made her chose between them and Ben, she'd pick Ben every time.

The ship jostled as it entered the atmosphere. She steadied herself on the desk chair, then quickly tied her hair up in one bun instead of her usual three. It would have taken too much time. Then she ran out of the room up to the cockpit.

Ben sat in the pilot's seat and Alkos in the co-pilot seat. Ben seemed to be concentrating on the controls.

"You might want to strap in," Alkos called back to her. "Looks like there's a wind storm brewing down there. May get bumpy."

Rey strapped in to the seat behind him. The ship rattled and shook as Ben fought with the controls. Finally, they set down on the planet with a firm bump.

Following behind the other two down the ramp, Rey almost fell over as a strong gust of wind battered at them. It tried to rip the hair out of the bun, but failed. Good thing she put it up. She marveled at Ben for being able to even land in this level of wind. She knew he was a good pilot, but this proved just how good he was. She'd have had trouble landing in this.

Master Skywalker beckoned them from the main door of the temple. Nobody else could be seen, presumably hunkering down during the storm.

Alkos yelled he had to check on something and took off in the other direction.

Ben grabbed Rey's hand and they ran into the temple. A gust of wind followed them in, roaring through the building.

Luke shoved the door closed, cutting off the wildness of the outside. Then he turned and measured Rey with his eye. "Do you know me?"

Rey smiled. He was testing her. The scar running through his missing eye was certainly different than when last she saw him, but he was still Luke. "Yes, Master Skywalker. I feel like I was just here yesterday. Well, it was actually three days ago."

Luke hooted with happiness.

Ben, who still held her hand, startled beside her. Obviously, he wasn't used to his master displaying such emotion.

Rey squeezed his hand, then let go as Luke approached her with open arms.

With a huge smile on his face, Luke captured Rey in an embrace. "I'm so glad to see you!" He guided them into his private office and indicated them to sit. She took the seat next to Ben and opposite Luke. "I really wasn't sure you were going to come back to us, Rey. And if you did come back, I wasn't sure you'd remember what happened."

"I wasn't sure about that either, but I do remember." Rey leaned forward, covering Luke's hand. "Thank you, Luke, for putting me to sleep before traveling. I didn't feel anything on the trip back."

"Rey, you'd said it felt like it was tearing you apart when you traveled, right?"

"Yes," she whispered, cringing at the memory of the pain.

Luke shook his head in amazement as he replied. "It did tear you apart. I watched it happen right here. It was one of the most horrific things I've ever seen. I don't know how you survived it."

Rey shrugged. "I don't know either. Maybe it's why the device was lost." She glanced at Ben, giving him a tiny smile. "But it worked."

Anger

Rey's eyes flew back to Ben.

He clenched his jaw, not looking at her.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked, incredulous.

"No!" He snapped. "Not at you! At him- me- Ben Solo in whatever reality! I'm mad you had to experience that for me."

"Oh, Ben. Don't you see it was worth it?" Rey wanted to crawl into his lap and kiss his anger at himself away.

"Is there something else, Ben?" Master Skywalker looked at him pointedly.

Ben pursed his lips then sighed. "I force-choked someone yesterday."

Luke's eyebrows went up.

Rey remembered back to that flash of rage, quickly followed by shame, when he'd been gone yesterday. When he'd been buying her freedom from Plutt. She turned to Luke. "If it was Plutt, it's totally understandable. He's an infuriating Crolite."

Luke looked back at Ben. "Was it him?"

"Yes, Master. He..." Ben paused, licking his lips. "He said something inappropriate about Rey."

"Do you need to work it off?" Luke asked.

Ben sat there for a moment, his mouth moving as he debated. "Yes." He walked out of the room.

Rey moved to follow him but Luke stopped her.

"He'll be right back. Ben has very strong emotions, especially anger. We've been working on his control, but sometimes he just needs to punch something. Any idea what this Plutt could have said that would have triggered him?"

"I don't know if Ben told you, but Plutt is the scavenger master. Ben technically went there to buy my freedom, although it was before I told him everything else. I do remember Plutt threatening to sell me to the sex slavers a couple of years before I left. Maybe Plutt used that to drive my price up."

Luke stared at her for a beat before answering. "I could see how that would send him into a rage."

Ben walked back in the room. The knuckles on his right hand had just a faint redness to them. "Sorry," he said in a quiet voice. Then he cleared his throat. "There's something else."

Luke held his hand up, motioning for Ben to continue.

"I'm leaving the Jedi order."

"No."

Ben stood up abruptly. "Master!"

"Sit down." Steel laced his tone. "I know what you're thinking. You want to be with Rey, in all ways, and you don't think the Jedi Order would allow it."

Ben sat down. "Yes."

"But the Force wants you to be together. You are a Force Dyad, two that are one. The Jedi have no right to keep you apart. I don't see any reason why you can't both be Jedi and be together."

Rey squealed, then clamped her hand over her mouth. Luke was giving her everything she'd ever wanted! A chance to be with Ben as well as become a true Jedi.

Ben smiled. "Thank you, Master. You are wise."

Luke chuckled. "Depends on the day. Anything else to report?"

Rey's heart sank at the final piece of information they had to share with him. "One more thing."

Luke's head tilted. "Yes?"

Speaking up, Ben took the burden off Rey. "We discovered there's a very large bounty on Rey's head. We think it's the Emperor."

"The Emperor!" Luke knocked over his chair as he jumped out of it. "No. Rey, I know you said he came back, and you and Ben had to defeat him on Exegol, but I went to Exegol. It was empty, nothing but ruins."

Frowning, Ben asked, "When did you go to Exegol?"

"Not long after your mother and I killed Snoke, who was just an extension of Palpatine according to Rey."

Rey stomach clenched. "I don't know if they aren't there now because of what I've changed or he was just hiding. But he's the only person in the galaxy who'd put a price on my head."

Luke squinted at her. "Why your head, Rey? Ben was the one he was targeting before."

Shame coursed through her. She bent over, hugging her knees, and closed her eyes. Tears leaked out, dripping on the carpet. "I didn't tell you everything before," she answered in a broken voice.

Ben's hand rubbed her back. "Rey is the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine."

A sob erupted from her throat. Hearing those words spoken out loud by Ben almost made it worse.

"I see," Luke commented.

Ben continued explaining even as the heat of his hand moving on her back soothed her. "Rey's parents sold her into slavery on Jakku to hide her from him. He must have sensed her power, even as a young child. Somehow he's discovered she's alive and with me." Even though she'd never explicitly told him this, Ben had obviously put all the pieces together.

Rey's eyes opened as she felt Luke's hands on her knees. He knelt down in front of her.

"We can protect you now, Rey. You're one of us. We'll never let him take you," Luke assured her.

Rey cried more hearing his words of love and acceptance.

A/N: Super exciting news that I am sharing with the entire world! I wrote a book that was published last year by a tiny press. It's a western horror romance, and I just found out that it's going to appears in a horror movie! My amazing publisher got it into the hands of the actress and it's already been filmed in the movie. She even sent me screen shots of it! I'm not allowed to say anything about the movie, only that it has already been optioned by Netflix and Hulu and will be announced in August. Yay!