Star Wars chapter 9

Sorry about the delay! Enjoy!

Leia got the transmission from Lando that he had Rey and would be headed their direction. He was asking for coordinates. She sent them without hesitation. Sighing with relief she sent for Poe and Finn to be informed, with in the day they would have Rey back. Leia wondered what had the girl held up, wondering if it was bandits or if it could have been that she took longer to connect with the force for her crystal.

That evening everyone was gathered after dinner in the docking bay, waiting for Lando to appear in the sky. They waited a couple hours and then slowly Leia told them to go to bed. She would wait up with a few people. Poe, Finn and Rose refused to leave in case she needed help or there was any trouble. Knowing Poe, he probably just wanted to jump in a ship and blow something up. Leia smiled at all the times he would request to blow something up or do something stupid.

In some ways he reminded her of her son when he was younger. She was sure that they would get along, especially their cockiness about flying; Rey could get cocky too. Especially about the Falcon. She bonded over it with Han and Chewy felt that she should keep flying it in memory. Han would be proud of where they all are at the moment; she was sure he knew their son would turn back to the light. Han could be stressful, but he always looked on the bright side and had a come back line for anything. She missed arguing with him.

Soon enough there was a ship landing and one look at the limping trio had Leia calling for medics while the rest ran to help them off the ship.

That night Rey slept awful, she would toss and turn and each time she did so she would land on her wound. Finally, she rolled on her stomach and sighed. "This is awful…"

C3PO stood nearby to watch as her nanny for the night to make sure she didn't leave bed. Leia had authorized a guard at her door more so to make sure she relaxed instead of figuring out the saber or working on a ship or even just walking around. She was glad to see the girl come back in one piece but was still nervous for her injury.

"Miss Rey, you must stay still, The princess has authorized me to.."
"It's ok C3PO, I'll stay in bed."

He kept rambling on, but Rey had started to drift off once she found a more comfortable spot. She drifted off to the sound of him going on about staying in bed and not getting up for anything and that he was there to watch her incase she needed anything. She wondered how Ben had done this as a child, the constantly nervous droid always made her more nervous than content. She figured he didn't know that he came off that way, otherwise he would profusely apologize.

She dreamed of Ben holding her hand and brushing her hair out of her face. She woke in the middle of the night to her bed shifting. "Ben?"

"I'm here, I wanted to check on you.." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, "No need to put your life in danger to get my attention." He chuckled when she swatted his hand away.

"Yes, because that was my intention." She glared up at him. "Ben…" She struggled to stay awake, "Would you stay until I fall asleep?" She blushed as she asked her question. She was nervous to ask, it felt like weakness to ask someone to watch over her. She had been on her own so long, being part of a dyad and seeing Ben's memories had helped. She hadn't really seen romance work or know much about it, but what she felt for Ben was beyond logical to her. She knew ships, she knew piloting and she understood what it was to be a friend or mentor. Where did that leave Ben? She wanted to ask but now clearly wasn't the time as she couldn't keep her eyes open.

"Of course, rest. I'll be here long after you fall asleep. You think I'd leave you in C3PO's hands?"

Rey laughed as she dozed off, the last thing she remembered was Ben's hand in hers and his lips once again on her forehead.

Rey slept all night after the interaction with Ben, cracking her eyes open she looked around. Testing her strength, she shifted to a sitting position. She cringed when her back moved wrong, it was still tender. A nurse was writing something on her chart by the door. "Good morning miss Rey! How are you feeling this morning?"

"Sore, how is Lando?" Rey reached for a glass of water. The door hissed open and in walked Poe and Leia.

The nurse responded that he was ok, he was up and moving out of his room this morning.
"Good you're up!"

"How are you feeling dear?" Leia placed a hand on her arm and sat in the chair next to her bed.

"I'm good. A little sore, but I should be up and moving soon."

"Take your time and rest, you deserve it. Once you're rested, we can work on that lightsaber of yours."

Poe leaned against the wall crossing his arms, "We need you to do something for us… not sure we're ready for this yet tho…"

Leia shrugged, "This is the best bet we've got. Rey, can you call Ben here?"

"Ah… I can try." Rey closed her eyes and reached out with the force. Thinking of Ben, she tried to envision where he was. Soon she felt the warm pull and the dulling of sound around her, 'Ben? Can we talk?'

'Rey…' As soon as she heard the voice in her head the bond snapped open and Ben was standing opposite his mother on her other side. He reached for her hand, holding it tightly. "How are you feeling?" He noticed everything in the room around him the moment their hands touched. "Dameron. Mother." He nodded to them but turned his attention back to Rey.

"I'm good, just have to relax and C3PO won't let me leave this room." She sighed and fell farther back onto her pillows she had propped up. Ben smiled, "He was obnoxious when I was sick as well, surprisingly not as bad as a certain Wookie."

Rey laughed, "Chewy? Really? I guess he doesn't know I was hurt yet… Let's keep that secret." Leia smiled as the two interacted.

"Ah… about that, he knows. We had to keep him from coming into this hallway and waking you up in the middle of the night." Poe had shifted closer as he spoke.

"Ben, we asked Rey to call you here to discuss our terms. We have discussed your terms and are willing to agree to most of them."
"Most?" Ben Turned so he was still holding her hand but was able to see both Dameron and Leia.

"We agree to a stale mate. We will grab our council leaders and meet on a neutral planet or your choosing. We would like each planet to govern themselves. As well as implementing a few people from each planet to go to a galactical meeting amongst people in their own galaxy. That way each planet will not be ruled by either the First Order, or the Republic. We will have democracy back; each planet will elect amongst their own. We understand that among some planets there will be more tactical approaches, which is where the First Order may come in. Planets held under rule of the Hutts for example." Leia finished as she handed a folder to Ben.

"Agreed, the First Order should be for control purposes. We will disband our planetary weapons as agreed upon. I will destroy the blueprints so no one should be able to turn it on. The few I have spoken to have agreed that a stale mate would be beneficial to start working on plans to settle disputes. It's hard to find people amongst the First Order Generals to go along with it. I have spoken to some storm troopers as Finn requested. The majority would agree to placement among planets to start on the peace terms. As well as would be willing to stand down at my command."

Leia sighed in relief. "That's a start, this will be a long road, but I think we can do it."

Poe stood at the end of Rey's bed. "We know that a lot of people will disagree with the terms and with what the plan going forward will be. We think it's best to show strength with a bond." Poe finished his sentence with a smirk.

Ben raised an eyebrow, "What kind of bond?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious, we need to bridge the gap, First Order and Resistance. If you were to-"
"All right Poe, I think we've taken up enough of Rey's time. She's getting pretty tired. And you've left Ben with a lot to think about."

Ben glanced sharply down at Rey who was indeed having trouble keeping her eyes open. "Mother, are you implying something?"

Leia smiled, "She's the only one to really keep you in line. I would love to have her for a daughter."

Ben smiled at his mother. "I'm not sure that this is the best course of action. She deserves a lot better than me. I've done terrible things…"
"You have, and you've also done some good things too. Let her decide, she's already decided. You saved her life Ben… patching her up like that on Lando's ship. You need to know that you made a difference." She reached over and patted their entwined hands.

"Ask her in your own time, and for goodness sake don't be like Han. Get the girl a ring."

Ben faded as he laughed. It was well known in the Solo household that Han was impulsive and asked Leia without a ring, always intending on getting her one until she found one that she liked, and got it herself.

Ben's surroundings appeared once again, he was on a ship with many storm troopers and generals that were willing to stand down at the next battle. He had made plans to send some to each planet with orders to stand off. As well as a batch of them to go to the dreadnaughts and get them to be un-operational. He had a lot of planning ahead of him, he thought he might turn grey in the meantime. If you had asked him five years prior, he never thought he would live long enough to get grey hair. How astounding it was that so much could change in the two years he had met Rey. She changed everything.

By the end of the week Rey was up and moving, she was working on some ships with Poe and Rose when Leia called her over. "I think it's time to finish up the lightsaber."

"Are you sure you have time?"

"Well I don't, we have a lot of meetings this week with the First Order generals and our generals. But after the meetings, I know a certain Jedi in training that would love to help you." Leia waved her hand in the air, "He should be sending us the information, and be here tomorrow."

Rey smiled at the thought of Ben teaching her how to make a lightsaber. She appreciated his knowledge, between Leia, Ben and the Jedi texts she felt confident they could do anything. She had still been searching for anything to do with the Dyad. Currently she was ok taking a break from reading now that she was allowed out of her bed.

She went back to Rose and let her know that Leia had said they would arrive the next day. Finishing up they went back to their bunkers to rest before dinner.

The next morning was a blur to Rey, at times it felt as if it was moving too slow before she would see Ben and at the same time it was moving too fast. Was she ready to see him in person again? Things had been so strange; he did patch her up and he held her hand as she was recovering. Where did that leave them? She liked to believe he only had feelings for her, but they had yet to discuss anything of the sort.

Unbeknownst to her, Ben felt the same way. He was aggravated that it was taking so long to get everything ready to travel, and then traveling he was upset at how fast time was going. They arrived at the moon, Leia had told him of their location and he had brought many generals with him. He had snuck them so Hux wouldn't know what was going on. They arrived and were escorted to where the meeting would take place. Upon walking to the meeting room, he ran into Finn. He let him know where the storm troopers were so he could talk to them.

A few hours into the meeting and Ben wanted to leave already. He just had to set the foundation, leave someone else in charge and he would be free of this. This is not how he wanted to spend his days. The paperwork, the annoyance of old nonagreeing people. What he wouldn't give to be anywhere else than here, although as an afterthought, here was where she was so really… it probably shouldn't be so bad to spend a full week here.

They broke for lunch and Ben brought his guests to where the lunch area was, both their generals were super confident in this working. Leia waved him off toward a green grove. "She should be training this time of day; I made her a course out back." After a brief pause, she added, "You might try running it as well. You seem a bit rusty."

Ben smirked; rusty he was not. But compared to Rey's agility and the fact that she was running this course daily; she would have the upper hand. He felt his pocket, making sure he had his lightsaber on his belt and a bag of food. He left into the forest. He found Rey meditating with rocks floating around her, he floated up behind her and tugged on her hair. She flipped around and threw out her hand at him throwing him toward a tree. At the same time, he flipped so his feet hit bounced off the tree and he landed with his feet on the ground. "What a greeting."

"Ben!" She dropped the boulders and walked over and hugged him. She felt a little odd, as if too much time had passed, she wasn't sure how to act around him. They had physical contact yes, but again where did they stand? She was nervous to hug him, was it ok to hug him? She felt super uncomfortable all of the sudden. He pulled her tight against him. He looked down at her with understanding. He tilted her chin up, leaned down and kissed her. She reached up on her toes to meet him half way. They pulled each other close and were content to just be in each other's presence. Ben happy knowing she was ok and safe, and her knowing that for once they were in the same place and it didn't feel like they were on opposite sides of the war anymore. Pulling apart he held up the bag of food. "Lunch?"

"My mom asked me to start showing you how to start your lightsaber." Rey's eyes lit up, nodding she stood up to grab her bag. She pulled out the pieces needed as well as her crystal. He eyed the equipment, "Staff huh?"

"Fitting huh?" she smiled at him as she started at him.

They spent the afternoon working, him teaching her and her trying to understand how it all fit together. The afternoon flew by. Eventually Poe came to find Rey and Ben to bring them back for dinner and an evening meeting.

Half the week had passed faster than they all had planned, each day Ben and Rey had snuck time together, in the early mornings they raced the course together. Almost always ending in Rey winning, though Ben wasn't complaining about getting to spend all this time together. They would all meet for breakfast, then part ways; Rey to hang out with Rose and Ben to the meetings. Each day of meetings drug on longer than necessary in Ben's mind. Each day the box in his pocket got heavier and heavier, how was he to do this? He needed to find the right moment, but at the same time he just enjoyed the easiness of hanging out. When had it become so easy? Today unbeknownst to either of them, it would all change. After dinner Leia had cut the meeting short, partially due to the decisions made and partially due to a rain storm that had started and was pouring down. Ben had stopped in the hall to talk to Finn and Poe. They saw Rey scamper across the pouring rain with Rose trailing behind her. They must have been working on ships and got caught in the down pour.

They laughed at the girls as they came up beside them drenched. "Woah, you guys look like drowned rats!" Poe laughed and Rey elbowed him in the side pretty hard causing him to wince.

"I take it the meetings went well?" Rose was glad to see them out early. They nodded all agreeing that three days of meetings was boring and was taking forever.

"Can we finish up my lightsaber then?" Rey's voice seemed like a silver lining in the gray'd out afternoon.

"Yes." Ben turned to follow her into the compound closer to her room where she kept her lightsaber. They spent a couple hours working on her lightsaber, after getting it set-up she tested it by turning it on and off. Smiling at her handy work Ben said once the storm passed, they could go out and test it. They sat on the edge of her bed in small conversation and a few yawns. Ben had scooted back against the wall, he wasn't ready to go back to his room yet, even though it was just around the corner he enjoyed their time together. Rey yawned and leaned against him; he pulled his arm around her falling to the side dramatically. Rey laughed, "You're too big for this bed, it can't fit us both!" Readjusting Ben made room for them both. He laid on his side and pulled her close. "I think we both fit." They lay that way for awhile before Rey reached up and kissed him. They laid like that for a while, entangled in each other's arms. Over the course of the night clothes were discarded and they became more comfortable with one another on a new level. In the morning Rey woke up with an arm over her waist and a firm chest against her back. She felt Ben pull her closer and sleepily murmur good morning.

"Good morning." Rey smiled at the comfortable position. At that moment her stomach had grumbled making Ben laugh. "We should go get breakfast."

"Five more minutes." Rey rolled over and stuffed her face in Ben's chest. They stayed like that for a while longer before emerging from her room holding hands on their way to breakfast. Upon entering the room her friends could instantly tell something had changed. Rey was bombarded by Poe and Finn for questions of why she was glowing and if they were officially a couple as Ben hadn't let go of her hand yet.

That afternoon they were sitting on the grass they ate lunch together. "How are the negotiations going?" Rey took a bite of her sandwich as she listened to Ben explain how boring it was but it was going as well as could be expected. "What were the final terms? Poe didn't go into much detail, he said we had to create a bond between them? How?"

She was so focused on eating she missed how nervous Ben looked in that moment. "Well… they think that the best way to bridge the two would be by marriage…." He watched her reaction. She was so innocent.

"Who do they plan to marry off?" Rey reached for another partial sandwich.

Ben took Rey's hand, "Rey, I hadn't thought this would happen so soon, but we are a dyad in the force. We share an unspoken bond, I trust you above all else on the battle field, there is no one else who could have brought me back to the light. I'm sorry for all the things I've done and all the times I have hurt you and your friends. I can't promise to give you the world, but I promise to take you to every green planet I can think of. To teach you everything I know about the force, and to love you. Would you consider not only being my dyad bond mate, but also my wife?"

Rey gasped, during Ben's speech she had set her food down and he had grabbed her hand. He placed a small ring inside her palm. Looking at Ben she saw how uncertain he was, she couldn't imagine her life without him. The past couple years had gone extremely fast and she knew she would not say no.

"Yes." Ben's eyes widened and he slipped the ring on her finger. Pulling her into his lap and into a searing kiss.

"I love you Rey. I know it's soon- you don't have to say it back."
Rey smiled, "I love you Ben." She smiled at him and they sat like that until they heard someone calling for them. "We should head back." He frowned at her, "Or we could stay here."

"Ben really, we need to go. They'll need you for the meeting, and you'll want to share the news with your mother I'm sure."

"She knew I was going to purpose. Probably way before they put that into their terms actually."
"When did you know you wanted to?" Rey looked up at him as they stood up.

"The moment we crossed sabers."

Rey laughed, "Of course you did."

A few days had passed and the committee had agreed that the terms agreed upon were to be set up. They each took a part of the galaxy and headed out the next morning. Storm troopers sent along as well to help keep peace but also enforce that they are indeed going to have a stale mate and start a new government. The news that spread the fastest though was that of Ben and Rey's engagement. In a show of unity, Leia had been convinced they should holovise the wedding.

Her friends were thrilled that she was going to be happy. Rose had some questions that even Rey and Ben hadn't talked about, where would they live? Would they stay with the resistance? When would they wed? Where would they wed? Were they all invited? She even asked if Rey wanted to wear a dress. Rey said no to a dress right away. It was still a war after all. Leia had insisted on them dressing properly for a hologram wedding.

"Man, I never would have thought of the day Rey would marry Kylo Ren!"
Poe was walking Finn to the garden where the wedding was to take place. "I know! And it took us a while to trust him, but it seems to have been working. The last few months have gone smoothly, with Hux and the rest of the First order generals in prison it's peaceful."

"Don't forget us shutting down the last killer planet weapon!"
They high fived and made sure that everything was set up. Guests were to file in the reception area but the ceremony was to be just family and close friends. Rey had forced the generals to back down, with a relieved Ben at her side.

"Do you think Leia will cry first or Rose?"
"Rose for sure."

The ceremony took place not an hour after the guys were done doing a walk through, true enough Rose was the first to cry. Leia shortly after. Lando was the officiant as weird as that was, it was Ben's request. Ben and Rey wore traditional wedding clothes, with the exception of Ben holding both light sabers on his belt in case of emergency.

They holovised the vows, the kiss and them being pronounced man and wife. As well as part of the reception. They danced, ate good food and had some drinks. The night went fast and no one disturbed Ben and Rey all night. It was the longest they had spent one on one without being interrupted.

Over the week before the wedding they had spent as much time together as possible, spending nights sharing the same room, sharing stories and learning each other's habits.

As the night came to a close Ben and Rey ventured off saying goodnight to those they passed. Coming across Leia, they were pulled into a hug. "Thank you for putting up with him. I've always wanted a daughter." Rey laughed as Ben scowled.

"Good night mother." Ben pulled Rey down the hall to their room.

One chapter to go!