chapter eight: but he doesn't have the face for it
"What do you mean you didn't know she was a bounty hunter?" Finn is cackling with laughter and Rose is grinning big.
"Seriously! She just neglected to mention it during our whole getting-to-know-you conversation for hours today."
Rose doesn't sound upset, so Rey stops feeling bad about that awkward reveal. They're two rounds into their drinks now and everybody is loosening up. Rose seems to fit in well with the group. They like her.
"Wait, wait, then how did you find out?" Finn presses.
"I had to hear about it from some asshole whose father she is hunting," Rose replies, and Finn's cackles burst into a howl of incredulity.
Jannah leans against Rey and picks at the wings they ordered, her fingers sticky. At this news, however, she stiffens and looks at Rey.
"Wait, you saw him again?"
Rey clears her throat. "Oh, uh, yeah. Twice, actually. He's really protective of his dad, I guess. But it's fine. I've got the situation under control."
Rose scoffs. "Right. By under control you mean you two have this bizarre dynamic where you're angry and rude to each other but also you do each other favors you didn't actually ask for?"
Jannah looks like her head is going to explode. Her expression is wild, vacillating between disbelief and horror. "You're associating with this guy? Like, casually hanging out? Rey, isn't that dangerous?"
"No," Rey protests, shooting Rose a begrudging look. "It's not dangerous. Okay, okay it definitely has had the potential to be dangerous, but it doesn't matter, we're not hanging out. I'm not associating with him if I can help it. He gave us a ride here, yeah, but that was a one-time thing. I guess he was feeling nice or something. But please stop worrying, it's fine. I'm a professional, I can handle it. He knows that if he interferes too much, I'll just arrest him for harboring a fugitive."
"Why haven't you done that already?" Zorri asks curiously. Poe is absently playing with her hair and watching a football game on a screen at the bar, only half-paying attention.
"He hasn't actually done anything yet," Rey admits. "And he's rich and has a bunch of lawyers. So I have to be careful. Griff would not appreciate a lawsuit."
"He's rich?" Finn's eyes widen.
Rose nods. "He drives a Maserati Ghibli."
Finn whistles. "Holy smokes. Loaded."
"Look, can't we find something else to talk about?" Rey pleads. "It's just part of the job I'm trying to navigate, nothing more." She bumps her shoulder into Jannah's "Tell me about something else. Tell me about one of your cases. Rose, Janah is a social worker. Just started."
Rose picked out a wing and leaned her elbows on the table, face illuminating with interest. "Really? That's gotta be a hard gig, dealing with taking kids from families and stuff. How do you compartmentalize?"
"Well, first of all I'm really new at it, so I haven't had time to get emotionally bogged down yet," Jannah explains. "But also I don't work for DCFS, so I don't deal with that side of things. I work with the foster system, so it's more about helping kids get out of harmful situations and finding better ones for them. I really want to be that rock they can lean on. But mostly it's just a ridiculous amount of paperwork so far, so that's not very emotional."
Rose grinned. "Paperwork is about as far away from emotional as you can get."
After a few more minutes of benign conversation about foster kids (as benign as talking about that can be) Rey gets up to fetch herself and Jannah another drink, since they are both running low. Satisfied that the others are latched on to another topic now, she feels like she can relax again.
She has decided what that look on Ben's face wast, and has also decided she doesn't really want them talking about him. There seems to be more under the surface than she initially thought, and it makes the subject of him an uneasy one for her. The expression he'd worn is one she knows well, now that she's finally recognized it. It is one she's worn herself, in her moments of quiet ache. It is loneliness.
Rey orders more drinks and leans against the bar while she waits for them.
A man seated a couple stools away keeps looking over at her, and she pretends to ignore him at first — she's definitely not interested in the usual conversation that happens at bars — but his staring eventually grates on her nerves and she throws him a sharp look.
"Do I know you?"
The man is probably in his fifties, sandy hair mostly gray, a close-cropped beard and the wrinkle lines of someone chronically stressed. His blue eyes are clear and sharp, though.
"I don't know. Do you?" he asks. "You look awfully familiar."
"Doubt it. I'm not from here. And you don't look familiar to me."
He cocks his head to the side, studying her face carefully. "No…I saw you recently."
She has absolutely zero recollection of him, of that she's certain, and her interactions in the city have been limited. She shrugs, unable to help him find the answer.
He snaps his fingers and points, eyes widening when he has it. "You were leaving my brother-in-law's car shop the other day."
Rey stiffens in surprise. "Is your brother in law Han or Chuy?"
"Han." He peers at her curiously. "What's a kid like you doing mixed up with those two criminals?"
A brother-in-law! A trickle of excitement runs down her spine.
"I just like his car," she replies a little distractedly as she glances back at her friends.
The man makes a scoffing grunt. "That car. What do you like about it? It's ancient, unreliable, and ugly."
Rey just thought she was coming out tonight to relax, but fate has thrown her a bizarre opportunity here. An opportunity to learn the most elusive pieces of Han's story, and she is suddenly keenly interested in pursuing it. She is ready to abandon her other plan for this new one.
"I'll tell you, and we can talk because I'm so curious about this, but can you excuse me for just one second, though? I just gotta run this back to my table. Please don't go anywhere."
He bobs his head once and waves her off. "I'm not done with my drink yet. I'll be here."
She hurries Jannah's cup back over to her and leans over to whisper urgently, "I might have a break in the case. I'll be right back."
Jannah makes a noise of surprise, but Rey is already flitting away again, feeling the attention of the others following her as she makes her way back over to the bar. She slides onto a stool next to the stranger and offers her hand.
"Time for proper introductions. I'm Rey."
"Luke," he says, shaking it. "How old are you? No offense, Rey, but you seem too young to be hanging out with old crusty hacks like Han and Chuy."
"I'm nineteen. And we share a mutual appreciation for that ugly hunk of junk you don't like." She says this lightly, throwing him an easy grin. "I don't see what age has got to do with it."
He barks a grunting laugh and taking another swig.
Rey wants to know everything, but she decides to proceed slowly. "So Han is your brother-in-law, huh? He never mentioned you. Are you married to his sister?"
"He's married to mine," says Luke. "Han doesn't have any family except us."
"Oh. He's still married? I asked him about his family once and he said it was complicated, so I assumed that meant divorced."
"Nah, not officially. Just separated. They're going through a long rough patch." He sets down his glass and gives her a hard look. "Listen, Rey, he's not a good influence. I love the guy, but he's bad news. You really shouldn't hang around just because you like his car."
"He's nice," she replies, shrugging one shoulder. "He offered me a job there."
Luke's eyes widen in bafflement. "Why?"
"I'm a mechanic. I've been helping him fix up the van, and I guess he likes my work."
"That's a terrible idea."
"Well, I didn't take it. I already have a job."
"Good." Luke nurses his drink and looks like he's thinking about something that irritates him. "That shop is no place for a nice kid. And to be honest, I don't even know why he's back here. Han's got a checkered past. I bet he hasn't told you that, has he?"
Rey shakes her head.
Luke grunts yet again. "He got out of the country to get away from some legal trouble, but now he's back and we're all worried about him."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Luke pauses, as if he hasn't considered this. He glances at her. "I don't know."
Rey studies him, trying to decide how to play this so he keeps talking without it seeming like she's prying into their personal lives. "I mean, I won't lie to you, Luke, I like being around him. I don't really care if he's in legal trouble. Unless you're telling me he's some kind of pervert, I don't mind a criminal record."
"No, the trouble he gets into has nothing to do with that." Still, Luke frowns. "But you wouldn't want to be caught as an associate of his if the law finds him."
Rey can't help herself. She grins just a little, knowing she is the law, and she has found him. "I don't think it'll be a problem."
Luke takes another generous swig. "You got a dad?"
This question surprises her. The grin fades from her face. "Uh…not exactly."
"A mom?"
"No."
Luke sighs heavily. "That's why you like being around him. Han's got this dad vibe, and you're trying to find a father."
Rey laughs at this assessment. "Why do you think that?"
"He's got a soft spot for —" he waves his hand vaguely in her direction.
She lifts a single brow. "For what?"
"Pity cases."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She doesn't try to keep the offense out of her voice. Rey hungers for more family than what she has, yes, but she's never wanted anyone to feel sorry for her and she does not like the idea of being a pity case.
"Kids who remind him of himself," Luke clarifies. "A person without people."
Rey considers this. "But he has people, doesn't he? He told me he has a son, at least. And if you say he's married — and he has you?"
"A son." Luke laughs at that, harsh and mocking. "As if Ben has ever done Han any good."
Rey lets her surprise manifest plainly, especially at the contempt dripping from his nephew's name. "What do you mean?"
Luke throws her an irritated look, though she knows instinctively that she is not the source of his agitation. "That kid is bad for everyone. He doesn't care at all about his parents or the opportunities they've given him. Han would cut off his own hand to have a relationship with his son, but Ben doesn't care."
"That's…awful," Rey says with some difficulty. She weighs this revelation against the specter from the tunnel, threatening her to stay away from his father, and against the man in the car, looking at her group of friends with wistful envy. It's a strange shade to add to her sketchy understanding of him. "Why is he like that? What happened?"
Luke shook his head. "Some people go rotten along the way. I don't know where it went wrong with him, but when he graduated high school, his parents had him come intern with me. They thought it would be good to give him some focus, maybe help him meet some people. Ben had a few friends in high school, but somehow he just never quite fit in. I tried to help him, and he was a hard worker, I'll admit. But…"
"But what?" Rey pressed.
"I don't know, he had this resentment building inside or something. One day he announced he'd gotten a job at our biggest competitor, and he was gone. He took some of our ideas in development and gave them over to his new employers. He just kind of turned his back on the family. He hasn't spoken to either of his parents in years. It's a big reason why Han and Leia have such a strained relationship now. I think they blame each other, or maybe they blame themselves but they just take it out on each other. His actions have pretty much destroyed our family, and almost destroyed our business."
Rey makes a mental note of Han's wife's name and takes a long draught from her drink, trying to drown out the story, trying to forget that she just heard about a boy who had everything she wanted and threw it away. A boy who now drives around a ridiculously expensive car and makes life exceedingly difficult for her just because he doesn't want her to arrest the father he doesn't even have a relationship with.
He's not a great father. He's not even a good father.
She shakes her head to clear the echo of his words, wincing against the burn in her throat. "I don't understand."
"Me neither." Luke stares straight ahead with the expression of a man who is defeated. "I can't say I'm blameless, if I'm being honest with you. We…argued. Big time. Right before he got the new job. I said a lot of things I shouldn't have. Maybe I pushed him over the edge."
"It still seems like a childish reaction to go running to your family's competitor with trade secrets," Rey says, and there is a sinking feeling in her stomach that she will probably run into Ben again before this is all over, and now she has all this knowledge sitting there like a rock inside her. How will she address him? Would he give her answers if she demanded them? She has no right to know, of course, but this ugly little picture Luke has painted for her hits a little too close to home and she feels a desperate need to understand.
Luke glances at her, lifting a brow. "You're easy to talk to, Rey. Suspiciously easy. Did someone put you up to this?"
"No," she says honestly. "I don't think I know anyone who knows any of you."
"Are you sure we don't? That you haven't met my family before?"
"I'm positive," she says. "Unless any of you have lived in Arizona, California, Oregon, or Colorado in the last ten years."
Luke shakes his head. "We've been right here. Then what brings you to Seattle?"
"I…" she falters for an excuse. There's no way she's telling him her real purpose. Not now. "I came here to help my friend move. I liked it, so I'm staying for a little while."
Luke signals the bartender to bring his bill. "And somehow you managed to find a bad influence like Han to hang out with."
"His car is a classic," she says, playfully defensive. "They're worth so much, and his is in such bad shape. I can't stand it. I want to help him fix it up."
Luke gives her another skeptical look. "You're wasting your time."
"Maybe, but even if the car is ultimately a loss, which I don't think it is, I still like talking to him."
He rolls his eyes. "That's a dangerous game to play, Rey. Don't go looking for a father in Han. He's a bad influence and he's too soft to make you stay away for your own good."
"I'll take that advice into consideration," she says.
When the bartender brings Luke's card back, he motions to Rey. "I'll pick up her tab too, when she's done. Just charge it again."
Rey blinks in surprise. "Thank you, but you don't have to do that."
"It's really nothing." Luke stands and puts on his raincoat. "It was interesting to meet you Rey. I trust you're not offended if I say I hope I don't see you again."
She smiles. "I can't promise you won't, but I'm not offended."
He nods. He doesn't smile back but there is a twinkle of mischief in his careworn blue eyes. He flicks his fingers in a casual little salute and then heads out the door.
The very moment he's gone, Rey's friends rush over and surround her, everyone talking at once. Their faces are wreathed in astonishment. She holds up her hands, laughing, begging them to stop and go one at a time.
"What did he say?" Zorri demands.
"I can't believe you just struck up a conversation with him!" says Finn in absolute awe. "The guts on you, girl!"
"What does he have to do with your fugitive?" asks Jannah. "Of all people!"
"You're either insane or crazy brave. And he talked to you forever!" Rose gushes.
Poe tilts his head and considers her. "Wait…you don't know, do you?"
Rey shrugs helplessly. "Know what?"
The others gasp in unison, and it makes her laugh all over again.
Poe grins. "She just talked to one of the most important men in the city — the whole world, arguably, and she doesn't even know who he is."
"What? What are you talking about? Who is he?" Rey looks between them all, bewildered now, and overwhelmed.
Rose grabs her hand and pulls her attention, her eyes wide and full of significance. "Rey, that was Luke Skywalker. Of Skywalker Institute?"
Okay that...that wasn't at all the answer she was expecting. Rey stares in dumfounded silence. She doesn't know how to process this nonsensical information, but she has the distinct sensation that the world has just dropped out under her feet.
Ben works for Empire Analytics. Empire's main competitor in the tech industry is the innovative development group who calls themselves the Skywalker Institute. They churn out new technological advances as fast as Empire, but they preach a commitment to ethical sourcing and fair trade. It makes them slightly more expensive and therefore less popular than Empire, yet there is no denying they're on the very cutting edge of technology.
"Oh," Rey breathes. The impact of her conversation with Luke Skywalker lands like an atomic bomb in her brain. Ben is a Skywalker. The family he betrayed, the company he abandoned, is one of the biggest in the entire world. And somehow, by just agreeing to bring in a lowly smuggler about to skip bail, Rey has gotten herself mixed up in all of it.
She decides to take the next day off from bounty hunting again. She needs to process the information she learned and figure out how that fits into her job. A job which feels somehow much more complicated than it did the day before. She has stepped into the middle of a story here, and she does not belong in it. She has no place in it, yet she's been tasked with removing one of the key players of that very drama.
In the morning Jannah peppers her with questions over breakfast, more about what Luke said, about what Rey is going to do with Han, about this son he has and whether or not Rey should be trying to get some backup.
"I'll be your backup!" Jannah says. "I don't know anything about it, but put a taser in my hand and I'll have your back!"
Rey laughs at this. She has no doubt her fierce and brave friend would provide excellent backup, but there's no need for that. So instead she pulls Jannah in for a quick hug. "I can't tell you how good it feels to have someone worry about me."
"Aw, I'm sure your guardian guy, is worried about your too! And your little brother."
"I don't know if they are or not," Rey says honestly. "But I'm grateful to know you are, at least."
Jannah strokes her back in soothing motions for just a second and then gently pushes her away. "I have to go to work, and so do you, though I'd really prefer it if you went to your new job instead of after the guy Luke Skywalker told you to stay away from."
Rey grins. "Don't worry, I need a day to figure out what he told me. I am just going to the new job."
"Good." Jannah says.
And Rey does. She goes to Niima Auto and works a half day. Rose is there, a little hungover but still excitable, and ready to talk about the night before.
"My sister works for SI," she tells Rey. "I told her about you talking to Skywalker himself and she almost fell over. She's never even seen him. I guess he's not often at the office. His sister is though. She the visible head of the company. So your low-time smuggler was married to her?"
"I guess." Rey is still reeling from all this information. She feels tired just thinking about it.
"And that guy who gave us a ride last night is the son of Leia Organa?"
"Is that her last name?" Rey makes a mental note of it as well.
"Yeah. Everyone thinks it's Skywalker, like her brother, but I guess that's her married name."
"No." Rey doesn't tell Rose what Han's last name actually is, but it does does dredge up a weary sort of curiosity about where the name came from.
Rose doesn't seem to share this interest. She moves on easily. "I'm hoping to get hired at SI after I graduate. They're always looking for people with new ideas, so I gotta come up with something good to entice them."
"I bet you come up with something great."
"Maybe we can, and then we can both get in."
Rey grins, because the idea is fun, and she chooses not to remind Rose that she won't actually be staying in Seattle long enough to make any of that happen.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon pass quickly. Plutt shows up once to bully people about not working hard enough, and Rey decides he looks rather like a blobfish. He disappears back into his office soon enough though, and she appreciates the chance to work with a great deal of autonomy.
Later, Rose takes off to go do homework while Rey decides to wander and explore the city while she brainstorms ideas for how to extract Han without disrupting this little circle of people who care deeply about him. It's a puzzle without a nice pretty conclusion. Either way, she's going to spread unhappiness in her wake.
She ends up at Pikes, which she supposes is fitting since she should probably see it at least once before she goes back to home. It's the off-season and it's a weekday before the after-work crowd, so it's not as packed with people as she expected. She wanders through the labyrinth of the shops below street-level, charmed by the small Nepalese and Tibetan shops most of all. She buys a little pendant with a talisman that supposedly brings greater insight, because even if she doesn't really believe, what could it hurt?
After that she wanders up top and peruses the wonderful array of fresh fruits and vegetables and homemade jams on display. She tries yellow watermelon and some fruit that sort of looks like a strawberry, except the skin is actually a hard shell enveloping a squishy white fruit inside, suspiciously like an eyeball. It has a nice flavor though. She doesn't remember the name of it two minutes later.
She's enjoying herself, feeling at ease and unworried for a blessed few minutes. She wanders over to a booth featuring a spread of sample honey pots with little dipsticks to taste with. Her hand is hovering over one of these, trying to decide which she wants to try first, when a familiar chill spreads goosebumps over her skin and she looks up sharply.
Ben.
Is here.
He's at the same booth, buying a large jar of honey. He doesn't notice her immediately, and Rey wonders if she can slip away into the crowd before he does, but then all at once it's too late and he's turning. His eyes meet hers. There is a pause, a spark of the faintest surprise, and then a single eyebrow lifts.
"I can't seem to escape you," he says dryly.
"That tends to happen when you're monitoring someone's activities," she snaps back, reflex more than anything.
"Would you believe me if I said I wasn't actually stalking you?"
"No."
"Then I won't waste my breath."
He looks less formal than he has any of the other times she's seen him. No business attire today, only a pair of perfectly fitted dark-wash jeans, a black raincoat and a green scarf. His expression is more mild than she's ever seen it, not guarded or suspicious or even entertained in that sharp way he was last night. He just looks relaxed. His eyes take her in, deep inscrutable wells that reveal nothing of what they think of her. And there is that tiny upturn at the corner of his lips, like this is not the most disagreeable thing to happen to him today.
She stares at him, floundering for anything further to say, until her gaze drops to the jar of honey in his hands.
He follows her attention, giving the glass a little shake. "Local. Made from bees who pollinate blackberry bushes. It's a subtle difference from wildflower honey, but one I enjoy. They have a sample there if you want to try."
He points. Rey glances at it, her brow furrowing. Even his tone is different. Like all the hostility that has been between them is forgotten. He picks up a sample stick and dips it into the jar, handing it to her laden with golden dew.
"But the purple one says it's blackberry..." she says slowly.
"That one is flavored with the fruit afterwards. It's overpowering, too sweet, and I don't care for it."
She takes the stick, still unsettled and suspicious, and far too aware of the moment when her fingers brush against his. She flushes hot as he watches her slide the sample stick into her mouth.
"It just tastes like honey," she concludes, shrugging. "Sorry."
"Unacceptable," he decides, and quickly grabs three more sticks, scooping up three more daubs, each from a different pot. "Maybe if you compare, you'll be able to tell the difference. First try this one. It's the one you think is blackberry."
She rolls her eyes, mostly for the show of it because she's too bewildered to actually be annoyed, and takes the stick with the purple honey on the end. Again he watches her with strange intensity as she tastes it. She winces at the flavor.
"Okay, that definitely just tastes like berries. I don't like that."
He nods, a brief look of vindication, and then he hands her another. "This one is wildflower. This is what you're used to."
It's a neutral honey flavor, familiar and recognizable. "Yeah, it tastes like the first one."
"No, it doesn't." He presses the final one into her hand, holding it there, his fingers enveloping her whole hand when she tries to pull it away. "This is the first one again. You still have the taste of wildflower?"
"Yes."
"Okay." He lets go and she takes a step back from him, unsettled at the warmth of his contact. She obliges this interest of his one more time, setting the drop of nectar onto her tongue, throwing the stick in the trash as she works the flavor around. Strong familiar tones accented by a darker shade, subtle notes of something a little less pure, a little more shadowed.
"Oh," she says softly, her eyes flying to his in surprise.
The faintest of smiles ghosts across his lips and he nods. "See?"
The woman behind the counter has been watching them, apparently, because she chimes in with a soft whistle. "Well that was the sexiest way I've ever seen anyone sample my products."
Rey clears her throat and throws the woman a quick, embarrassed look. The woman gives her a wink and a grin, and waggles her eyebrows in Ben's direction. His normally pale face is unexpectedly tinged with color. He recovers quickly, though, ignoring the comment and giving Rey a nod.
"If you decide to take any piece of Seattle home with you when you leave, I recommend a jar."
"Thanks..." she says. He looks like he might go, and she could simply chalk this up as another inexplicably weird encounter with him and go about her day. But she doesn't want to do that yet. There are too many questions, and he is too strange a riddle to leave unsolved. So she says quickly, before he can turn away, "I met your uncle yesterday."
He tucks his new jar into a green crochet marked bag slung on his shoulder. "That can't have been a pleasant experience."
His response is so unperturbed that she doesn't know what to make of it. "The story he told certainly wasn't."
"Hm, no doubt. I could tell a worse one, though."
Yes, that's what she wants. She wants him to tell her his version, because she cannot understand Luke's. But she plays it cool instead of immediately demanding an explanation. "Could you?"
"Do you like seafood?" he asks abruptly.
This catches her off guard. "I uh…I like all food."
"Come." He turns abruptly and starts weaving around the other shoppers, heading in a direction she'd already been through.
She scrambles after him, far too puzzled and intrigued to second-guess herself.
"Are you going to tell me your worse story?" she asks as she tries to keep up with his long strides.
"No," he says.
She wrinkles her nose. "Then why even bring it up?"
"I didn't. You did."
"I didn't! I just said Luke told me some unpleasant things."
"Luke is an unpleasant person," Ben replies. "I try not to go around spreading joyless tales of family discord to relative strangers."
"Are we really even strangers at this point?" she mutters, a little resentfully because no matter how much she wishes to avoid him, he keeps turning up. They seemed destined for acquaintance. Or if destiny doesn't have a hand in it, Ben certainly does because he's the one who always insists on turning these encounters into more than a casual run-in.
He smirks, but doesn't offer further commentary. A moment later, they stop walking. They arrive at a little tiny restaurant tucked in a remote corner of the market — so far out of the way that there are no other shoppers here at all.
The restaurant has two tables crammed into a narrow space between an exterior window and the ordering counter. Tantalizing smells emanate from the kitchen, only hidden from view by a basic partition. The whole thing is half the size of Mando's trailer.
Ben sets his market bag down on one of the tables and goes to the counter.
A tiny woman of unknown ethnic origin comes out from behind the patrician and gives Ben a huge grin. Her face is lined with with endless wrinkles. "Welcome back, Mister Solo. You want the same as always?"
"Two of them this time, Mai. Thank you."
The woman's gaze flits to Rey and her smile grows. "Two. Yes."
She vanishes into the back.
Ben grabs two water bottles out of the little cooler beside the register and returns to the table. He sits, and after a moment of hesitation, Rey does too. She keeps asking herself why she's here with him, asking herself if this is what Jannah —or Mando for that matter — would consider risky behavior. They're more or less isolated here, though he's cornered her in worse situations and done her no real harm. Like last night, she isn't at all prepared to deal with him if he changes his mind about that. But also like last night, she doesn't get the feeling that he's a threat. At least not until she's actually arresting Han.
His behavior is so chill today. Has he picked up on her decision to take her time arresting Han? Or has she somehow convinced him that she isn't interested in that anymore?
Except she still is. Isn't she?
"This is my favorite place at the market," he says. "They're not in a great spot, admittedly, so they suffer a bit in the winter months when it's the off-season. I like to give them my business as often as I can."
Rey studies his face and tries to see the portrait of a man who could callously turn his back on parents who loved him. She can't see it, and it baffles her.
He glances at her, perhaps expecting some kind of response, so she drags her attention away from him to flit around the tiny restaurant.
"What do you like about it?"
He settles his elbows on the table, leaning into it comfortably. "I like that it isn't crowded. And Mai makes the best swai fish."
"Swai?" Rey wrinkles her nose. "Never heard of it."
"It's sometimes called Basa," he says. He's doing the same thing to her as she was doing to him a moment ago, studying her like a question he's trying to answer.
She shrugs a single shoulder. "Honestly, my experience with fish is kind of limited. Mostly to the stuff that comes in cans."
This amuses him. He doesn't laugh, but it plays at the corner of his mouth, distracting and charming. "This is a good introduction, then."
She taps the honey jar in his bag. "You some kind of foodie, then? You seem to like showing off your favorite flavors."
"Not a foodie," he says, but thoughtfully, like he hasn't considered this. To her other point, he says nothing. For a moment she thinks he might, but he works it between his teeth and lets the words die unsaid.
Instead, he switches topics. "How's your mechanic gig working out?"
This puts her suddenly on edge. She gives him a sideways look. "I'm not abandoning my contract with the bail bond company, if that's what you're asking."
"It isn't, but that's good to know."
Ben is clearly relaxed, so Rey tries to relax too. It's almost impossible, with him sitting there like a live wire, making her nerves buzz with electricity. Kriff, why can't she just react to him like a normal person? Being with him sets her teeth on edge, and she doesn't know if she wants to tase him and run away or drag him to her and...and...and what?
She sits back in her seat and addresses him without the suspicion. "The shop gig is good. I enjoy the work. The boss is an imbecile, but that just works in my favor."
"How do you mean?"
"He mostly stays in his office, only coming out to grouch at everyone once in a while. I value my autonomy, so I like that he's not micromanaging everything all the time."
"Interesting," Ben says, and strangely, Rey actually believes he is interested. Like this is a topic that intrigues him, instead of being banal chit-chat. "You'd probably do well with your own place, I imagine."
"My own shop?" This thought has never occurred to her. She tastes the flavor of it and smiles a little. "Now that would be paradise. I could focus on the kinds of things I love most, like restoring classics."
"Specialize in restoration." Ben nods, and that little half-smile is back. "I can see why you get along with my father."
"But if he has such a love for the classics, why did he let his Westie get into that kind of shape?"
Ben huffs a sardonic laugh. "A question you could ask about many things in Han's life."
Rey cocks her head and peers at him, wondering if he will perhaps expound on that comment so clearly laced with meaning. He doesn't.
Mai brings out two small steaming plates of delicate white fillets surrounded by bell peppers and onions. The fish fillet is sprinkled with a myriad of spices, and the smell makes Rey's mouth water.
"Thank you," Ben tells her.
She gives him a wink and heads back to the kitchen.
He stands and gets them some plastic utensils and napkins from the counter. He slides her across the table to her before settling in to his own plate. "And Rose is your coworker and this shop?"
"At Niima Auto, yeah." Rey applies her knife to the fish, and it separates under the lightest touch, buttery smooth. "She's fun to work with. I like her a lot."
"You seem to be able to make friends easily."
Ben eats all prim and proper, and Rey feels ridiculously intimidated. He holds his plastic utensils like they're made of silver and when he lifts a bit to his mouth, everything is so tidily arranged not a single drip escapes into his lap. Rey glances at her own fork and grimaces. How is she supposed to take even a single bite when he's watching? She knows too well that she turns into a desperate animal at the first taste of food. Mando has always teased her for how she attacks her meals like someone is about to take it away. He does it gently, knowing her history. She's not embarrassed to eat around him. But Ben is very, very different.
"I have never been able to make friends like this before," she says honestly, using the conversation as a distraction to keep from having to take that first bite. "High school was rough."
"Lonely," he guesses with deadly accuracy.
She nods. "Very."
He takes another perfect bite, and after swallowing says offhand, "Me too."
"But you're — oh my God." She cuts herself off with that ardent whisper, having managed to sneak a taste when he reached for his water. The flavors of the meal overwhelm her. The fish is not the least bit fishy, but instead imbued with all the artful symphony of spices and peppers, garlic and onion, so perfectly balanced as to be the very definition of gourmet.
Ben regards this reaction with an expression that is hard to read, but satisfaction glitters in his space-dark eyes and a small smile settles at that favorite corner of his mouth. "You approve, then?"
"I definitely approve," she gasps, immediately indulging in a second, much more generous bite, and then a third. If she isn't careful, she's going to have this whole plate clean in thirty seconds and then he'll know she's a garbage urchin after all. She forces herself to slow down long enough to finish what she tried to say a moment ago. "You're from a famous family. How could you possibly have been lonely in high school?"
"I would argue it's precisely because of that fame that I was." His satisfaction is giving way to entertainment as he watches her overly careful movements. "But I don't particularly want to talk about that. Tell me about your friends."
"Tell me about your job," she counters.
His gaze sharpens, caution in them now, fully aware of the deflection. "I imagine you already know where I work."
"Yeah, of course. I'd be bad at my job if I didn't try to find whatever information I could about you."
"Did you find much?"
"Not much, no."
"Good."
"But what do you do at Empire? You don't strike me as the nerdy tech type who develops or programs new products."
He smirks. "Not a tech type, but maybe more of a nerd than you'd think."
"Liar. There's no way. And anyway, you didn't answer the question."
"And you didn't answer mine."
She frowns. He smirks. There is a brief standoff, and then he relents, taking a moment to savor another bite and a swig of water. Then he inhales deeply and gives her an honest answer.
"I'm basically the bulldog of the Director of Operations. My official title is Operational Administrator, but what it means is that whatever the director needs done, I make sure it happens."
"Like an assistant?" Rey doesn't think Ben looks like the coffee-fetching type.
"No. Like, if a department is failing to meet deadlines or quotas, I'm the one who brings the pain. I'm the enforcer."
She winces. "Yikes. That can't be a fun job."
"You'd be surprised. Intimidation is surprisingly intoxicating."
"Yeah, but nobody likes you. That means you're lonely at work now too."
His gaze lifts from his food to stare at her.
She clears her throat and qualifies her statement. "I mean, maybe you're not. Maybe it feels good. I just think it's gotta be draining after a while to have everyone hate you."
He says nothing for a long time, and Rey wonders if she's offended him. She doesn't want to see the confirmation of it, so she focuses on finishing her food in the same deliberate way she began. She's still done way before him.
"It is," he finally says. "It is draining."
She wants to ask him about Skywalker Institute and why he left, but she can feel in her bones that it's not the right time. This encounter has been…surprisingly pleasant. She doesn't want to make things awkward and tense again.
"Bounty hunting is kind of like that," she admits, giving him this peace offering. "Nobody is glad to see you except the bail bondsman who sent you out in the first place."
"Why do you do it, then?" Now he's the one searching her face, and the scrutiny makes her feel unusually flushed again.
"Well, someone has to."
"Why do you do it, though? Some people don't care about being hated. I suspect you do."
She bristles at this observation — what arrogance has allowed him to make these kind of assumptions about her? But then, that isn't really fair. She's making all kinds of observations and assumptions about him too. Less guesswork and more intuition. Besides, he's not wrong. Rey hasn't been willing to admit it to herself before, but any time she's accompanied Mando, she experiences a stab of rejection when she sees the anger in people's eyes the moment they show up. It's not a feeling that is compatible with the job, so she ignores it. But it's there. Ben has pinpointed it and made her uncomfortable, that's the only reason she doesn't like it.
"I have to do this," she says after a second.
"Why?" The question is gentle, but pressing.
She doesn't want to answer it. "I just have to, okay?"
"I was right before, about someone you love does this, wasn't I?"
The warmth in her chest grows cold and she throws him a resentful look. "Drop it. It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me," he says, and now there is a little bit of steel infiltrating his tone too. "It's the reason you are trying to take my father."
"If you need someone to blame for that, blame him," she fires back. "He's the one smuggling illegal goods and skipping bail. If it weren't me here to grab him, it would just be someone else."
"I do blame him," Ben says, frowning. "But isn't someone else here, it's you."
She is getting flustered, and the desire to flee wells up in her with sudden urgency. "How much do I owe you for lunch?"
"Nothing."
"I insist—"
"Why do you feel you have to do this job, Rey?" He presses, leaning forward.
Rey leans forward to, the bite in her voice growing sharper — she can feel him backing her into a corner again, and she doesn't like it. "Why did you betray your family and go to Empire?"
A curtain falls over his features now, the mildness and relaxation gone in favor of the hard, angry man she's seen before. "You think you know something about that because of what Luke told you?"
Rey doesn't flinch from his fiery glare, but meets it with equal venom. "You think you know something about my life just because I've answered a few of your questions?"
The truth settles over the table and empty plates, chilly and unyielding. Whatever this strange afternoon has meant, they are clearly not going to be friends.
Rey gets up, giving him a stiff nod. "Thanks for lunch. If you feel like stalking me again, I'll be at your father's shop, fixing his car. Don't worry — he's safe," she gave him a steely smirk, "as long as Chuy is there."
Ben's jaw tightens but he says nothing.
Rey doesn't wait to see what might happen if they let that silence grow. Instead she walks away.
A/N: phew, long chapter, folks! I considered splitting it, but nah, we'll just leave it as one behemoth instead. This fic is a bit of a slow burn, if you haven't already figured that out, but I promise steady progress :)
Your reviews are very much appreciated, keep them coming!