A/N - *chants* angst angst ANGST

TRIGGER WARNING: brief mentions of physical abuse

Rey stayed mostly within her room for the next few days; she didn't bother Kylo, and he didn't bother her. At every meal time trays of food would be delivered to her door by a droid. She took them, because not doing so would be foolish.

She planned to attempt an escape, she would escape, but in order to do that she would have to be strong. Food was necessary for that.

On her third day of imposed solitude Kylo came to her room, but she ignored him by pretending to sleep when he opened the door.

On the fourth day, Hux arrived at her door.

She backed away warily as he entered her room, examining her in the same leering way he had done before.

"Tell me, girl," He demanded. "What is so special about you that makes Kylo Ren want to spend all of his time in his apartment rather than out hunting the Resistance?"

Rey didn't answer, knowing whatever she said wouldn't satisfy him.

This must be Kylo's way of punishing her for locking herself in her room, punishing her for hiding from him. He probably expected her to run to him for protection from the general, knowing how uncomfortable he had made her.

Well, Rey wouldn't do that. She had too much pride. No matter what Hux did to her-

Before she could finish the thought, his gloved hand connected with her cheek.

She stared at him in shock.

"When an officer of the First Order asks you a question, you answer." He growled.

"I don't have an answer for you," she told him angrily. "I haven't seen the man in days."

"Somehow, I don't believe you," He chuckled cruelly. "With how quickly he dismissed you, there must be something special he wants to hide from me."

Rey tried to escape the situation as she had the interrogation room: "You will leave this room and forget you were ever here."

He just laughed in her face.

"Like Snoke would let anyone susceptible to that little trick have a position like mine," He sneered. "And don't think of trying anything else, either. You might have the Force, but I have this."

He patted the blaster in his holster, flashing her a smile.

The general left soon, but he was back again the next day, and the day after that, each time with a new form of abuse when she was unable to answer his questions.

After a week of this, Rey decided she had enough.

Today, she promised herself as she twisted beneath the warm water of the shower, hoping to ease the ache of her taut and bruised muscles. Today she would stop hiding and face Kylo Ren again. Today she would start to play the game once more. It was the only chance she had of regaining her freedom.

Wrapped in a towel, Rey was climbing out of the shower when Hux appeared in the doorway. Wasting no time, he shoved her. Her knees smacked off of the marble floor, stinging her palms and bruising her hip.

She heard the sharp crack of one of her ribs as it caught the corner of the shower stall. It was the first time that a cry of pain escaped her.

Rey pushed herself up, gingerly rising to her feet as her hand cradled her wounded ribs as Hux walked away with a smug grin on his face.

For the first time since she arrived, she ignored the tray of food outside her door, preferring to curl up in bed as she tried to fight off the agonizing pain crushing her chest. It didn't help that she had little ability to dress at the moment with her damaged ribs.

She struggled into her undergarments, but she still felt exposed, and eyed the nightgown on her chair with interest.

Drawing in as deep a breath as she could, she knotted the nightgown before and bit by bit began to slip her arms in. She winced as pain shot through her battered ribcage. Struggling not to cry out, she bit her tongue as agony tore through her side.

"Rey…"

Rey froze; her hands were still trapped within the sleeves of the nightgown. She hadn't heard him coming. She didn't turn to face him, couldn't bring herself to do so. Instead, she remained unmoving, grateful that her undergarments were still on, shielding some of her nudity from his view.

She kept her head turned away from him, her breath held, as she waited for him to take his fill of the damage done to her body before he left again.

She didn't know what had brought him here tonight, not when he'd left her alone for so long, nor did she care. She simply wanted him to absorb whatever he could of her and leave.

She had no fight in her at the moment.

"What happened?" He demanded.

Rey clenched her jaw as she pulled the nightgown further up her arms. She ground her teeth against the throbbing of her body. She refused to answer him, refused to let him see that she was at all disturbed by his presence.

Suddenly he was before her, his hand seized hold of the nightgown as he attempted to pull it away. Rey held on to it, unwilling to relinquish anything to him. However, he was far stronger than her, and he wasn't injured. In the end, she lost.

She glared furiously at him as her hands fisted impotently in her lap, fighting the urge to cover herself as she sat before him in just her undergarments.

It took everything she had not to scream in anger and frustration; she hated this powerlessness, this inability to fend him off.

"What happened?" He demanded again.

"Like you don't know!" She snapped.

His mouth compressed in a severe line, and a muscle twitched in his cheek.

"I wouldn't be asking if I knew," He told her angrily. "What happened?"

Rey refused to back down from him, refused to cower beneath the weight of his heavy stare.

"Your friend happened," She retorted forcefully.

Disbelief registered on his face, his mouth parted as she felt his eyes wander over her again. Though it was far more of her body than any man had ever seen before, she didn't give him the satisfaction of turning away or trying to shield herself from him.

He already thought her far weaker than him, and she wouldn't support his theory by shrinking from his gaze.

"Are you… talking about Hux?"

Rey didn't appreciate being played with. Especially not right now. Right now she simply intended to go back to sleep and give her body a chance to heal before it was assaulted again tomorrow.

"Yes, I'm talking about Hux." She replied with a sneer.

Kylo's gaze traveled over her once more. Rey was surprised to realize that he appeared incensed by what he was seeing.

"Why did he do this?"

Rey shrugged, wincing as she instantly regretted the action. She clamped down on the small cry that almost escaped. Inhaling sharply through clenched teeth, it took her a moment to be able to speak again.

"Because he can. I'm just a First Order prisoner, a member of the dreaded Resistance."

That muscle was throbbing now as his nostrils flared.

"You might be a prisoner, but you are my prisoner. Stand up," he commanded gruffly. Rey didn't move. "Get up!"

The words were practically snarled at her, but she still didn't move. She had been beaten down enough over the past week, she would take whatever small victories she could get right now, and disobeying him was one such victory.

She didn't think about the fact that he could do whatever he fancied to her right now. She didn't care anymore, she would withstand whatever he did to her, withstand whatever they threw at her, until she was able to break free.

He made a low hissing sound, and then his hands were upon her arms. She was surprised at how tender his touch was as he lifted her to her feet. Rey's eyes snapped back to him, her mouth parted in surprise as she gaped at him.

He placed her on her feet, his hands rested on her arms as he took a step back. Heat flooded her face - at least on the bed she had been somewhat hunched over and sheltered from him. She couldn't stop her hands from instinctively trying to cover herself, but he pulled them aside easily.

Rey fought back waves of annoyance and despair as she stood before him, her body almost completely exposed for him to see. Yet, he didn't leer at her, didn't stare at her as if she were inferior to him and unworthy.

His fingers trailed over her ribs, running over the edges of the dark bruise that was obvious against her pale skin. Though she kept her face impassive, she felt her body instinctively flinch away from his touch as it neared her broken rib.

His hand stilled upon her skin, and his palm flattened gently upon her.

"Your rib is broken."

"I know."

He raised his head slowly, and she could see the question in his eyes.

She didn't answer it. As far as she was concerned he didn't have to know how it happened. He already knew who and why, and that was enough for her.

Instead, she remained immobile, frozen beneath his touch. His hand remained against her as it cradled the broken bone just beneath her skin.

His touch was far kinder than she had expected from him; he was the one that had allowed this to happen, after all.

"And he did this to you?" Rey remained silent, trying to keep the tears back. She didn't want him to see them, didn't want him to know that his gentleness unsettled her so much. Especially when she decided that he was nothing but evil and that she preferred to have nothing to do with him. That she would kill him if given the chance. "Rey?"

"Yes," she replied, turning her head away.

She could feel the tension that seized him, the anger that locked his bones, and yet his hand against her ribs remained surprisingly gentle. He leaned closer to her, his mouth momentarily pressing against her ear. She could feel the brush of his lips against her skin as he spoke.

Though she was determined to hate him, her body betrayed her by pressing closer to him. Instinctively, she sought the strength that radiated from him as her heart beat a little faster and her skin tingled for more of his touch.

"It won't happen again."

A single tear slid free and a shudder tore through her, neither of which she could hide from him. He wiped the tear away before sweeping her into his arms.

Rey gasped, expecting fresh pain to explode through her, but the way he held her kept the expected suffering from coming. It was gentle, so sweet that she could only gaze up at him in dazed surprised.

"Don't," she pleaded softly.

He didn't respond to her simple word, didn't look at her again as he left the room. Rey squirmed against him, tried to break free, tried to feel some irritation again, but she was so beat down, so broken, that she couldn't muster much of a protest.

True panic ripped through her when he placed her down in the middle of his room. She tried to jerk free, but he grasped nimbly hold of her wrist and pulled her back.

"You should be watched over. Broken ribs can be dangerous." He said simply, as if this was enough of an explanation for everything that was happening now.

It wasn't, but she didn't argue. She simply coveted sleep again, if she could.

They stared at each other for a minute more before he released her wrist. He lifted her smoothly again and placed her down upon the softest, most fantastic thing she had ever experienced.

It was only after she sank into the mattress that she realized she was in his bed. Her hands stroked over the thick blanket and silky sheets.

Then, the apprehension kicked in. She was in his bed!

She tried to sit up, but pain lanced through her side causing an involuntary groan to escape her. He was at her side instantly, hands tender upon her shoulders as he tried to push her back down.

She attempted to strain against him, but there wasn't much fight left in her at the moment.

"Rey, relax. I won't harm you," She eyed him warily, unable to believe him. He released a low, regretful sound as he shook his head at her. "You can't sleep alone tonight. You might puncture along. You have to be watched over, and since I much prefer my bed, you will stay here tonight. I can tape your ribs for you…"

"It's okay, I'll be fine." She assured him quickly. It would be a little too intimate if he did such a thing; it was bad enough he expected them to sleep beside each other tonight.

"Put your arms up." He held out the nightgown he had taken from her.

She frowned at him, before gingerly lifting her arms. She strained to keep her face blank as her body screamed in protest. He studied her for a moment before rolling the nightgown over her head with subtle ease.

She lowered her arms back down, relief filling her as her body relaxed a little. He adjusted it, pulling the material easily down her legs. Heat flooded her face, and she ducked her head as his hand brushed against her thigh.

He quirked an eyebrow at her, but refrained from commenting on her reaction to his touch.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Why would I?" She tilted her head as she studied him.

Frustration darkened his face, and his jaw clenched.

"You are to tell me whenever someone mistreats you."

"Don't like it when your property gets bruised?" she retorted angrily.

She didn't know why she was baiting him, didn't know why she was being so rude when he had been nothing but kind to her tonight, but she couldn't stop herself. There was something about him, and this whole situation, that caused a volatile and swift reaction from her.

"No, I don't," he replied icily.

She scrutinized him, surprised to discover that her question had truly aggravated him.

"I didn't mean…" her voice trailed off. She didn't know what to say to him.

"Didn't you?' Rey shook her head, but there were no more words within her. Mainly because she was certain that she owed him an apology, and she hated to be wrong, hated to say she was sorry. Especially to someone that was her enemy. "Come on, you need to rest."

She lay woodenly on the bed, and her fingers dug into the blanket as he laid it over her. He didn't lie down beside her but stood up, pulled off his coat, and disappeared into the bathroom that she had used upon first arriving. She listened to the water as he washed himself before returning.

"You will have to eat tomorrow."

Though it was a command, his voice was nowhere near as gruff as it had been before. She didn't take offense to the order; in fact, she sensed a hint of worry in his tone and demeanor. It warmed her further.

Maybe she was far more bewildered and exhausted than she realized. Especially if she was already feeling as if she could trust him again, when she had so firmly decided that it was the last thing she was ever going to do.

"I will."

She closed her eyes and settled in beneath the thick comforter. The mattress sank beneath his weight. Rey didn't open her eyes again; despite her determination to stay vigilant, she was already falling asleep.

Strangely secure in the bed of her enemy.

A/N - Dang, shit went down in that chapter. I know it was intense, but I hope you enjoyed it!

As always, please leave a review with your thoughts, suggestions, and predictions, and I'll see you in the next chapter!

~ Elizabeth (FanOfDeliciousFlavour)