A/N: Thanks for reviewing! Sorry for a bit of at time jump - only a couple chapters left! And sorry for the cliffhanger :D

And now I'm climbing higher like the ground can't hold, so I don't plan on stopping when this summit plateaus

Rey chatted with Kaydel while they waited and finally agreed to go on that shopping trip. She also ate quite a bit more. When Ben emerged from his talk with Lando, he seemed emotionally spent but clearly relieved by their conversation. Lando wished them good night and Kaydel showed them out. Too late, Rey realized that she should have asked where Ben could stay. But the doors of the lift were already closed.

Trying not to blush too much, she glanced up at him and then away. She couldn't help but think about their last time alone in one of these, how sure they had both been that the other would join them. And how it had finally come true.

"I can stay on the Falcon. Chewie suggested it," he said abruptly and she wondered if he was feeling as awkward as she did.

"Yes, perfect, I'm sure that'll be excellent," she replied, wincing internally. The lift was much too fast and they were at the floor where the hangar was before she could think of something more intelligent to say.

"Good night, Rey."

He was looking down at her attentively and she sucked in a breath. "Good night, Ben." Perhaps not the most original response, but she invested some emotion into it – relief and happiness that he was back. He smiled, an expression she was definitely not used to, and then he bent to kiss her forehead. Sorely tempted to do something rash, she managed to restrain herself to merely watching him walk away. And maybe sighing a little. She would see him again soon, she told herself, and she was exhausted from the mission to return him to life. So she could watch him go for a little while.

By the time she had awakened the next morning, Finn and Poe had already apparently spoken to and taken Ben with them to get to work. She learned this from Rose and was stricken not to see him right away. However, she could feel his presence in the Force and realized he was still in the building, so perhaps she was overreacting. Her concern that they hadn't let him rest enough, that this wasn't something he wanted to do, that he wasn't being properly cared for soon replaced her distress at his absence. Rose reassured her about that, too, and she let herself be convinced – Ben didn't feel distressed, at any rate.

This turned out to be an unfortunate harbinger of life in the New Republic – it was very busy and she saw Ben rarely. Well, at least once a day, but that wasn't enough. Not by a long shot. Still, he seemed to take to rehabilitating stormtroopers and officers as easily as Finn did. Not all of the officers were willing to be rehabilitated – the stormtroopers were an easier sell – but some had been brought up by the Empire's generals and had as little choice in the matter as the troopers. In any case, Ben was naturally very empathetic and compassionate, so was quite successful. Finn regularly spoke highly of him to Rey, sometimes with Ben there, the tips of his ears pink with embarrassment, sometimes whenever they had a moment alone.

Rey did not see much of Finn, either. They met for dinner most nights, but little else. Her days were taken up working with Rose. The morning after Ben had returned, she had confessed to Rose her passion for helping the downtrodden children in the galaxy, knowing Rose would also feel an affinity for those left behind by circumstance.

"That's something I've been trying to work on, actually," Rose had replied, her eyes shining, clearly happy to have someone who felt the same way. "I'm not saying the children who were taken to be stormtroopers are the lucky ones, but at least they got regular meals out of their slave labor."

Rey had never considered herself a slave, but she had been sold, so… "You're right! Can we end slavery?"

Rose smiled at her. "I don't know, but we can certainly try."

So they spent their days, if not ending slavery, then at least rescuing children from their dire circumstances. Slavery had never been a legal practice in the galaxy, but being illegal had not stopped it from being prevalent before. The New Republic banned the practice, though setting up its infrastructure would take some time before any laws were enforceable. There needed to be more immediate action if they wanted to make a difference.

Rey and Rose set up homes for the children and went personally to pick them up – Rose insisted on starting with some on Canto Bight and Rey was delighted to find that one was able to use the Force. She started teaching him right away, forgoing studying the Texts to just practicing feeling the Force and what it could do. She was surprised to learn that she had gleaned a lot from the Texts and could discuss more theory with him than she would have expected. Of course, being a child, he was understandably not all that interested in it.

Sometimes she had a chance to talk to Ben in the evenings, but usually not alone. Occasionally, if a mission kept one of them away from Coruscant overnight, their bond might connect them briefly. When it did, she wanted desperately to ask him about his future plans, and how he felt about all of this, but her tongue always seemed to get tied whenever the chance arose. So they spent the connection giving each other updates or in companionable silence. He looked good, in any case, and those churning emotions that had been his constant companion as long as she had known him seemed to have settled.

Finally, on a rare occasion where Finn and Rose were busy, she had an opportunity to really talk to him and figured she had better take it – this standstill had gone on too long. They were in the hangar bay, ostensibly to help Chewie work on the Falcon, but Chewie had gone off to find some part or another. It was strange to feel shy, especially with someone who could read her emotions, but Rey couldn't help but blush as she looked away from him and tried to think of what to say.

"Ben – "

"Rey – "

She giggled and he smiled – still not an expression she was used to seeing, but one she had had the pleasure of seeing more and more often.

"You go first," he offered.

Clearing her throat, she turned her attention to the tech she had been fixing. "I was just wondering how you're feeling about all this. Working with Finn," she added.

He considered. "It's good work. These people have never been able to make their own choices before, so it takes some guidance to get them used to it. And giving them options of what they want to do with their lives can be a difficult step for them. We're trying to make it easier, but they have to just take a chance sometimes."

She nodded, casting about for something to say. "There were a lot of stormtroopers with the First Order."

"Yes. It'll take a lot of time to help them all," he added thoughtfully.

Pressing her lips together, she nodded again, not liking where this idea was headed. How much time it would take and how long would he stay here?

"How have your Force teachings been going?"

She smiled up at him, pushing away her concerns. If he felt as passionately about his work as she did about hers, then of course it could take as long as it needed to. "Great! The children are really taking to it. We've found homes for three dozen, though the Force users are a bit more difficult. Prospective parents can be wary of them, and, anyway, they have to be close by for me to teach them all."

"You could be a traveling teacher," he suggested with his usual seriousness. "Go around the galaxy and give Force lessons in a different place every day."

The idea was a good one – though she still wished to develop her own school, having that as an option would help with students who wanted to stay with their families. It would be a lot of travel on her part, but she did greatly enjoy visiting new places. She grinned up at him. "That's brilliant!"

He looked faintly confused, as though her response was unexpected. "That's what you want to do?"

"Well, I want to have a school to train children to control their powers. Whether they want to stay long enough to become Jedi will be up to them, but I think it's important that they have some grasp of what they can do. So they don't accidentally explode anything," she explained with a slight frown before pushing past the image that phrase dredged up. "Anyway, I don't want to take anyone away from their families, so traveling to the rest of the students is a great idea, thank you!"

"It was hardly groundbreaking," he deferred but she laughed and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. He turned to look at her and she froze at their proximity, glancing at his lips then back at his eyes questioningly. Neither of them were adept at casual affection and she had not touched him since they had returned from Exegol. Now, several weeks removed from those moments on the Falcon, she felt nervous and uncertain.

He reached up to gently touch her cheek, brushing the hair back from her face with agonizing slowness before he bent to kiss her lightly. She wanted more, but he drew away. Her heart ached at the distance between them, trying to decide how to bridge it.

"How long do you plan to stay here? In Coruscant."

His voice was gentle but overly formal as he looked out at the city and she sighed before answering. "I don't know. Until I get the school set up. Rose and I have been focusing on finding and helping more children, so I haven't done much to look into that idea. There are places for them to stay here for now. I'm not in a hurry to leave," she added, uncertain why he was asking.

He looked at her again and her heart pounded at the attentiveness. "To leave your friends?"

"I… It is nice to be here with them. But I don't enjoy the crowds." Both those inside and outside this building. It was hard to find a moment to be alone, especially now that Ben lived on the Falcon with Chewie, so going there was no longer a refuge. Not that he would have turned away her company if she had gone, but it would no longer be the solitude she craved. And the idea of going there to see him alone made her flush and she always lost her nerve before she got too close.

Turning her attention back to Ben, she studied his profile and the thoughtful expression on his face. He certainly seemed to be pleased with what he was doing, but he looked tired. Sometimes, after they had dinner together, he and Finn went back to work. On occasion, they never came to dinner in the dining hall at all, and she and Rose would bring them food. It was strange to see Ben in his element, speaking with a former stormtrooper or with one of the Resistance members, actually making friends. It made her heart clench in a strange way, almost jealous that they got to spend so much time with him. But she wouldn't take this away from him.

"How long do you plan to stay on Coruscant?" she asked, aware that the question was too abrupt to be anything but awkward.

He seemed surprised that she would ask. "I don't know."

"Because we can leave, whenever you want. If you want. It's not – things are moving along and they won't need us here forever. You don't have to feel obligated to stay until all of the First Order is assimilated and the New Republic is running smoothly – that might never happen." If anything, he looked more surprised – or perhaps stunned – so she paused, clearing her throat. "I mean, unless that is what you want to do. You may not be used to making choices, either, like your stormtroopers, but you do get to decide what to do with your life," she told him firmly.

Without warning, he reached for her and kissed her thoroughly, pulling her against his chest. She ran her hands across his back and through his hair, desperate to touch him, until a familiar yowl interrupted them. She didn't jump back in surprise like she might have done weeks earlier, but her heart was pounding at being caught.

"Sorry, Chewie," Ben said, though he kept looking down at her with a fond expression as he tightened his grip around her waist. Then he looked up at the Wookiee. "How soon will the Falcon be ready to fly?"

Chewie grumbled about all the repairs that still needed to be made but admitted it could travel now. That made Ben grin for some reason and Rey was shocked at the rarity of it, her cheeks growing warm and a returning grin forming on her face.

"Great. Then get ready to take off, Chewie." Rey stared at him, bewildered. He kissed her lightly again. "I'll come back for you, sweetheart, I promise. There's just something I have to do first." A firmer kiss and then he released her, turning to follow Chewie onto the Falcon.

"Wait!" she called, confused and dismayed. He turned around to look at her and she couldn't help but be reminded of when she had closed the door to the Falcon on him.

"It's okay, Rey. It won't take long. I love you," he added almost breathlessly as the engines started up. He shut the hatch and they took off while she stared, too shocked to move.