You can't stop the change, any more than you can stop the suns from setting.

The war was over and they had won. Rey knew she should be celebrating with the others, but she couldn't, not yet. Because she couldn't feel him. In fact, she couldn't feel... anything. She started to panic. She reached out with the Force. Nothing. He was gone. He was gone again…but this time she feared it was for good. Her knees felt weak. She swayed on the spot.

Rose appeared before her. She watched her friend grab her arms and shake her. Rose's mouth opened and closed but she couldn't make out any of the words.

Was this to be her reward? A lifetime of loneliness? after everything she has done? All you had sacrificed? Anger filled her. She reached out to the Jedi long since passed.

Don't we deserve to be happy after all we have endured? Please, bring him back to me...

Then she saw him emerge from the trees and her world stopped for one perfect moment. He was striding towards her purposefully, the dagger still in his hand, pointing downwards. He was limping slightly, but he was alive. She said it again to herself. He was alive.

Alive.

She realised the trauma of the battle had dulled her senses and temporarily closed her off from the Force. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly, reaching out internally to reconnect with the energy around her. Suddenly her senses were flooded with Ben. She felt his pain, his relief to be alive, his exhilaration at seeing her again and most of all his love. She was surrounded and overwhelmed by it. How could anyone love her this much? She didn't deserve it.

Yes you do.

He was still making his way slowly across the field towards her, but as his words touched her mind, she found she couldn't wait any longer. She sprinted towards him and jumped into his arms, sending him flying backwards onto his back in the long grass.

'Oof!'

Ben's head slammed into the hard terrain as Rey crashed into him. Every inch of his body ached but he didn't care. Because she was with him. She was right there telling him that she loved him out loud and more intimately through their bond, kissing every inch of his face and begging him to stay with her and never leave again. He thought he could die a happy man right there, just knowing that Rey loved him. But thank goodness, it wasn't his day to face his maker. His father's spirit nudged to the surface playfully.

'Sweetheart, I'm happy to see you too, but are you trying to break every bone in my body?'

Rey smiled down at him.

'You forget I hear your every thought, Solo. I know how much you're enjoying this.'

She leaned down and rubbed her nose against his.

Poe ran up to them. His eyes were wild.

'Is she…' He started to say but trailed off.

Ben smiled and made a motion with his head indicating for Poe to look behind him. Poe pulled in a strengthening breath. There she was. Her white robes rippling against the grass and her long blonde hair gently lifting in the soft breeze. She looked timidly at her surroundings. Then she saw Poe and he felt his heart sing. He ran towards her and came to an abrupt stop before he crashed into her. He ran a hand through his hair nervously.

'I thought I'd lost you,' he said quietly.

'I was fortunate but my father was not.'

Poe took her hands in his and she looked up at him.

'I'm so sorry.'

'He is at peace now,' she said smiling slightly.

Poe looked at their hands joined together.

'I never thought I would be able to touch you like this,' he murmured, running his thumb over her pale skin.

'I confess I too thought it impossible, it's more than I dared allow myself to yearn for.'

Daughter mustered her courage in order to share her important revelation with Poe.

'Poe, with the death of my brother and father, Mortis has been destroyed. I am mortal now and free to do as I choose.'

She looked at Poe anxiously, waiting for his reaction to her words. A thousand things crossed through Poe's mind but he wasn't sure which to express first.

Ben and Rey felt Poe and Daughter's desire for one another hit them like a wall of heat. Rey endured it quietly, but Ben had much to learn about patience and compassion. The intolerant man who had spent many years of his life loudly voicing his angry opinions, called out to the hesitant paramours.

'Would you two kiss already? You're killing us over here!'

'Ben!'

Rey reprimanded him with a slap on the chest.

'I'm so sorry, he's new to the notion of boundaries,' she said with an apologetic shrug.

Daughter watched Rey and Ben as they continued to embrace and whisper intimately to one another.

'The one they call Ben is interesting,' Daughter observed cocking her head to the side.

'His energy is different now, it feels old and yet somehow also entirely brand new.'

'Yeah, he's one of a kind alright.'

'As are you,' Daughter said with a smile.

They looked at each other again. Poe shook slightly as he tried to conceal his desires. Then he gave in. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her towards his chest as he planted his lips against hers. Daughter, was caught off guard at first, but quickly melted into the kiss.

Ben smiled smugly at Rey. Rey rolled her eyes and giggled as she buried her face in his hair.

Poe and Daughter parted from one another, flushed and out of breath.

'Dameron Poe, I…I want you to know that there is love in my heart for you and I wish to be with you from this day forth,' she looked at Poe wearily wondering what his response would be.

'I have no objections to that,' Poe said with a smile that soothed all her fears. He held out his hand and Daughter took it. She looked up at him lovingly as he led her to his ship.

'We're taking some well-earned leave!' Poe yelled as they departed.

Ben and Rey smiled after them before their eyes returned to each other's once more.

'Are you going to get off me anytime soon?' Ben asked as he pretending to grimace in pain.

'No,' Rey replied with a grin then winced as her lip twinged.

Ben's face darkened as he noticed her bloody lip.

'Who did this?' he demanded.

'Don't worry, I made him pay for it.'

There would be time to swap war stories later. At that moment she was too exhausted to relive the ordeal.

'That's my girl,' he praised. .

Ben put a hand on her cheek. He ran his thumb over the small cut on her mouth and the injury healed instantly. The brief contact made Rey's heart hitch in her chest and call out to him.

She breathed deeply as she looked down at Ben. Through their shared consciousness, he felt her desire for him, but also her overwhelming fatigue.

'Is it truly over, can we finally rest?' she asked looked down at him with hopeful, tired eyes.

'We can, my love,' he answered, pulling her down to his chest and wrapping his arms around her.

'We can.'

A few weeks later at an intimate ceremony in a secret location, the son of a scoundrel and a princess, and the daughter of a pair of Jakku junk traders said their vows in front of a small audience of their closest friends.

As they joined hands and kissed to seal their eternal commitment to one another, Rey and Ben felt the love and acceptance of their beloved Force family who were always with them, guiding them on their journey together.

The Galaxy was once again at peace, the war was over and the Force had found the balance it craved within the hearts and minds of two lost souls who had found each other against all the odds.

C3PO once offered to calculate for them the chances of a Scavenger from Jakku falling in love with the Supreme Leader of the First Order, but Rey and Ben both strongly turned down his offer.

They told him they didn't need to know the odds, because they put their faith in the most powerful Force in the Galaxy.

Love.