A knock at his door brought his attention back to his ship. He looked to his right, at his door that Rey and Leia couldn't see.
"I have to go." He whispered.
Rey frowned as he stepped closer and kissed her temple. I love you. He told her through The Bond and then he was gone.
Leia stared, her mouth agape, at the place where her son was just standing. "Where did he go?" She breathed.
"Back to his ship." Rey told her. If she was being honest, she hated when he had to leave. Hated being away from him more than she cared to admit.
Leia looked at her with knowing eyes. "I used to look like that when Han went on smuggling trips." She motioned to the chair next to her and Rey sat down. "Tell me everything." Leia begged, taking Rey's hands in her own.
And she did. Rey told her about Snoke connecting their minds. About the first time they'd touched hands in her hut on Ahch-To. About the night she learned the truth about what made Ben turn. She told her about Ben killing Snoke when he'd been ordered to kill her and how they fought back to back, killing every Praetorian Guard. Then, after, Ben extended a gloved hand and begged, literally begged her to join him. Not serve him, not work for him, but rule by his side.
As my Queen. He interjected and Rey blushed as she remembered she's left her thoughts exposed and hoisted her shields in place.
"And then?" Leia prompted when Rey trailed off.
"And then..." Rey went on. "I thought that the Bond would go away after Snoke was killed but it didn't. At first, we couldn't control it. I would look up and he'd be there." She purposfully left out the detail that they'd caught each other at awkward times.
She'd heard a shower running and looked up, to find Ben standing with water cascading onto his nude form. His eyes had been closed, his hair flat agaisnt his head, his face, his neck, and the broad curve of his shoulders. He'd reached up, his muscles rippling under his skin and slicked his hair back out of his face, tilting his head back, leaving him entirely exposed to her.
She'd never seen a naked man and her eyes drank the sight in thirstily.The water streamed down the ridges of his chest, his stomach, to the black patch of curls between his toned thighs.
She'd gasped and his head snapped up, his eyes flying open and instantly meeting hers. She'd had time to apologize before the bond closed.
"Then." Rey continued. "I started to feel him." She brought a hand up to tap her temple. "I started to feel if he was hurt or alone or scared, and I could follow the Bond to him."
She'd been woken in the dead of night, dampened with sweat and panting, with so much fear and guilt trembling the Bond she stepped through immediately, finding him asleep in his bed. His head moved from side to side and his sheets hissed as his legs moved restlessly beneath them. Rey stepped forward and saw that his bare chest was sheen with sweat. Darkness swirled around him like a thick cloud of smoke.
She'd felt it, it's power calling her seductively. She'd moved closer to Ben but the air was thinker, making it harder to move, to breathe, to think, and she was thrown, unwittingly, into his nightmare of the last night he'd seen his father. The red of his lightsaber casting an eerie glow on Han's face.
That had been the first time she used her light on him, as the Darkness threatened to swallow them both.
He'd bolted upright as soon as her light hit him and looked up, pouring every ounce of his dispair into her through the Bond. "Rey?" He called, his eyes filling with tears. His face distorted. "I killed him." He choked, his voice breaking as a heartwreching sob ripped it's way out of his chest.
She'd gone to him, his arms going around her waist and his tears soaking the thread-bare fabric of her nightdress as he sobbed into her stomach, clutching her to him as if his life depended on it.
It was after that night that they knew they could no longer ignore the Bond and agreed to meet in person to try and find out what it meant.
That meeting had not gone as planned as they had crashed into each other as soon as their eyes met in a fury of pants and moans and kisses as they tore the clothing off the other. Dispite the intensity, and the Force driven need of their love making that night, it had been Rey's first and Ben had been remarkibly tender, doing everything he could to ensure she'd felt as little discomfort as possible.
She felt Ben rub agasint her shields and let him in. Listen to your heart race. He teased. Could you keep your arousal out of the Bond, please? It's hard to command an army when I'm the one at attention.
She smiled wide and shoved him out, hearing him laugh once.
"After we sealed the Bond." Rey said, trying to put it as delicately as possible. "I could hear him. Hear his thoughts as if they were my own. We've had to build shields in our minds to give ourselves some privacy but even when they're up, I can't hear him, or see him, but I can still feel him. Still sense what he's feeling. Like he's holding the other end of a rope that's tethered to me."
"Eariler, when you smiled." Leia asked. "Was that him?"
Rey nodded, a delicate blush tinting her cheeks.
Leia watched her, her eyes, the eyes she'd so generously given Ben, filling with tears. She covered her face with her hand. "I'd given up hope." She confessed. "I thought my son was gone. That Kylo Ren had killed him and stolen the face I can't help but love more than I love myself." She looked up, her cheeks glistening, and took Reys face in her hands. "But you. You've brought him back." Leia let go of her face and pulled her into a hug. "I can never thank you enough."