Chapter 1
AN : Like many other fanfiction writers, I should not start on any new story when I have so many WIP ... in progress... but guess what? Here's another one! :D
"I need to walk."
Rose raised a brow, but she said nothing. Her eyes were fixated on her iPad, chewing her lower lip subconsciously, engrossed in the latest episode of another romance drama about yet another pair of star-crossed lovers.
Rey struggled out of bed on her own, feeling like a monstrous whale and knowing that she looked like one as well. She had always been lean and fit; her exercise regime made sure of that. And she was still lean and fit when she was pregnant, and had been working at least sixteen hours a day until the last four weeks when suddenly her body decided that it wanted to become something clumsy and aching instead, and achieved it overnight. She huffed as she finally got her two feet on the floor and winced when she felt gravity doing its work. Her back hurt, and she looked down at her belly sorely.
"I'm giving you another two hours," she told the bump.
"I told you it's not a good idea," Rose finally spoke as the credits rolled on the screen. Her one true pair had resolved a misunderstanding that had plagued them for the past two episodes, and the girl had a blissful smile on her face.
"Just two more hours."
"And then it's the start of a miserable twenty years. No, make that thirty."
Rey rolled her eyes.
"You're not helping."
"I tried, Rey. I tried ten months ago when I told you that it is an absolutely bad idea. Remember?"
Rey rolled her eyes again.
"You know, it'll be your fault if the baby rolls her eyes even before she starts to latch."
She glared at her best friend, but said nothing. She suspected that her baby had started to roll her eyes when she was in her womb and Rose was pulling her to all the pre-natal classes and shopping for baby stuff.
"Say cheese," Rose suddenly said as she lifted up her iPad at the same time.
"What -?"
"It's for Finn," Rose explained as she lowered the tablet and pressed on a button to send the picture across cyberspace. "He messaged me, asking me if you're OK. He said that he woke up this morning feeling like he should reach out to you."
"But he reached out to you instead."
"He said that he has messaged you dozens of times, but you didn't reply."
Rey dug into her bag and found her handphone after much searching. There were more than twenty missed calls and messages from Finn. She unlocked the screen with her finger and started to tap furiously on the screen.
Hey, sorry for not picking up. Have my phone on silent -
"Don't worry, I have updated him. They sent their love," Rose informed Rey, referring to Finn and Poe, who had been spending the past few weeks hitchhiking in the mountains.
"Has Poe popped the question?"
"I don't think so, else we would have heard Finn's Yes all the way from wherever they are."
The two girls laughed.
A nurse came in just then, slim with a tight-fitting starch white uniform and a clipboard on her arm, just like what one saw on television.
"Good afternoon, Mrs Rey," she greeted chirpily.
"Ms Rey," Rey corrected her through clenched teeth. The nurse did not seem to hear. She supposed all the screaming from her previous patients had rendered her almost deaf.
She used to have a last name, but she had it legally removed from all her records the moment she came of age. She was just Rey now. Rey without a last name.
"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked as she guided Rey back to the bed.
"Filled with regrets?"
The nurse chuckled as if she found it amusing.
"Oh, Mrs Rey"
"Ms."
The nurse gave a wave as if it did not matter.
"Very soon, you will have your baby in your arms, and then everything will be worth it." She wrote something on her clipboard.
"The doctor will be here soon. Are you sure you don't want an epidural?" she asked.
"Positive," Rey said through clenched teeth as another wave of pain swept through her. "How much longer do you think it'll be before the baby comes out?" She tried to get a more accurate assessment from the nurse.
"The baby? Maybe five hours? Ten?"
Rey's eyes widened. She could hear Rose laughing behind her.
Ben turned a corner without slowing down and nearly crashed into a nurse who was pushing a new mother and her baby in a wheelchair.
"Sorry," he whooped out an apology, unable to wipe the grin from his face.
He saw their eyes widened as both the nurse and new mother recognized him.
Ben smiled at them.
"Congratulations on your baby," he said to the new mother as he dashed off.
The doctor looked up from between Rey's legs. She wanted to put down her legs but they ached terribly, as if she had run a full marathon, even though she had given in and asked for the epidural. How much longer did she have to suffer?
"How is it?" she asked.
"It'll still take some time, but perhaps we can push you into the delivery ward now," the gynaecologist said with geniality.
"Thank goodness," she breathed, and shot up when someone ran into the room. The man skidded to a stop as he saw her, the same moment that she recognized who the tall the broad-shouldered person was.
"Rey!"
"Ben! What are you doing here?" She struggled to put her legs down and sat up, her face turning red at the thought that he had just seen her with her legs bent and wide open.
"It's Kylo Ren!" the nurse next to her squealed as she gripped the bedframe to support her weak legs. A few years ago, when Poe was dipping his toes into directing, Ben took up a small supporting role as a favour in his budget movie about a girl and her father who was recently released from jail after serving his sentence for a drug offence. The movie became a sleeper hit somehow, but what was surprising that the audience loved the snarky drug dealing cellmate of the lead character, and Ben suddenly found himself famous. Other acting offers came in after that, including a lead role in a romcom, but he declined them all. It had been years, but, like what Finn and Poe said, posters of a half-naked, heavily tattooed Kylo Ren with tousled hair and a pair of jeans riding low on his hips could still be found on the walls of many ladies' bedrooms.
Both Rose and Rey swore that they didn't own any such posters.
"Hi." Ben gave a wave to the nurse. "Hi Rose," he waved to the other person in the room, and then lost no time going up to Rey.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, brushing her cheek with his knuckles.
"Terrible?" she had to admit and Ben held her hand in his. "But why are you here? I told you that you don't have to fly in."
"You shouldn't have told me that you're in labour if you don't want me to fly in."
"Are you ready?" the doctor asked. Rey knew now that she would never be ready in a hundred years, but she nodded.
Ben pressed his lips against her knuckles. "You'll ace this, Rey of Sunshine," he said, using the nickname that he had given her so many years ago, and she could not help but smile.
Two attendants came in to push her to the delivery ward, and as she left, she heard the nurse spoke, her voice highly pitched and excited.
"Can I have your autograph, Kylo, no… Mr Solo? I'm a big fan of yours…"
"Isn't she beautiful?" Rose cooed as she placed the baby back into Rey's arms.
"She's gorgeous," Ben, who was seated on the other side of the bed, agreed.
"Both of you are biased," Rey pointed out as she looked at the newborn with the red and wrinkled face, but she was smiling. Her body was still aching after going through the labour, and all she wanted to do was to take a 12-hour nap, but she did not want to let go of the baby. She had just breastfed the baby, and the tiny newborn closed her eyes, seemingly contented.
Rose's handphone beeped.
"It's Poe," she said as she looked at the message on the screen. "He popped the question."
"And?" both Rey and Ben asked.
"Of course Finn said yes," she replied, her voice filled with excitement. "I'm going out to the corridor to call him and get all the details," she said as she got up from her chair. "Can't wake the baby up," she added with a wink as she made her way out of the room, speed dialling Poe at the same time. She waved to the baby with her fingers as the door closed, the phone pressed to her ear.
"Finn and Poe, married," Rey said as the door closed with a click. "It seems that it was just yesterday that they first met."
"And Poe was still wearing braces," Ben reminded her with a chuckle.
"My babies. They have all grown up," Rey pretended to sniff, but she did feel a catch in her throat.
"Nope, she's here," he told her as he touched the baby's palm. The baby opened her eyes.
"Hello," he whispered. The baby yawned in response.
"I think she recognizes my voice." Ben was in awe. He touched her soft cheek. "She is beautiful."
Rey laughed, but she could feel her eyes getting wet. "You're biased."
"Of course, I am. She looks like me, a mini-me. Can I carry Mini-me?"
Rey nodded, and Ben gingerly took over the baby, making sure that the baby was safe in his arms and all his ten fingers were pressed against the tiny body before he stood up. He pressed his nose to her dark, wavy hair, taking in her scent. "She smells like a baby."
"She is a baby," Rey reminded him.
"Yolanda," he tried out the name and chuckled when the baby opened her eyes again. "She's smiling at me," he told Rey, a smile wide on his face as he hummed a lullaby, and the baby made a sound.
Emboldened by Yolanda's response, Ben swaged his body to the song, chuckling as he looked at her expression. He took her hand, pressing it to his lips.
"She's smiling at me again, Rey," Ben said as he walked towards the bed and sat down on his chair again. "See?"
The baby's eyes were closed, but Ben was right, there was a smile on her face, even though Rey learned from the pre-natal class that it was only a reflex and not an actual smile. She looked from the baby to Ben's face, at the ecstatic look on his face as he babbled to the baby in baby language.
"Ben. Ben?"
"Yes?"
"Can I… would you…"
"Yes?" He turned his full attention to her, and Rey was suddenly reminded of what his fans said when interviewed - that his eyes spoke to them.
She swallowed before continuing.
"Ben, would you... would you like to be Yolanda's godfather?"