Rey was still mad when she went back into the base. To take her mind off of things, she decided to try to fix up the Falcon. There was always something to fix on that thing.
"Stupid Ben." Rey said, randomly rewiring some wires in hopes that whatever was wrong with the ship that day would go away. "Oh when we have our next big fight...argh I wish my lightsaber wasn't broken…"
"Rey? Are you ok?" Leia called, appearing inside the Falcon for no reason other than plot line- I mean, out of motherly concern for her dead brother's two day padawan.
"I'm fine." Rey lied.
"I can tell you're lying." Leia said.
"How?" Rey said, poking her head from out of the secret supply carriers under the floorboards. "Could you tell with your cool force powers?"
"Nope." Leia said, a bit smugly. "You just told me."
Rey got out of the hidden floor compartments and sat down beside leia to have their girl talk jawbone.
"So let me guess." Leia said.
"Ben." Both Leia and Rey said at the same time.
"What did my crazy son do this time?" Leia asked, feeling a headache coming on.
"I think he...I think he was flirting," Rey said, still confused on what happened, "But I'm not sure. The whole thing was so awkward. He stole my sandwich. And then he said that he hated sand. And then kissed me."
"Is he still alive?" Leia asked, though there was little concern in her voice.
"Yeah."
"Hm…" Leia said, "Thank you for restraining yourself."
"No problem."
"So he hated sand?" Leia asked. "Odd thing to say."
"No it's not." Another voice said as a ghostly woman appeared before the two of them.
"Who the heck are you?"
"Padme." The ghostly woman with flowers in her hair said, "I'm Ben's grandmother."
"You're the one who married Darth Vader?" Rey asked.
"Well yes and no." Padme said. "His name was Anakin."
"Wow. you're prettier than I thought you would be." Rey said shocked.
"Thank you." Padme said, tossing her hair back, a few force flowers falling onto the floor, "You're really pretty too. No wonder my grandson has a thing for you. Even if he's going about it all the wrong way."
"Were you like a trophy wife or something?" Rey asked before she could cover her mouth to stop herself.
"What?" Padme said, a bit offended. "No. I loved Ani."
Rey bit her lip to keep her laughter from escaping.
"What's so funny?" Padme asked, not really offended but rather confused.
"Sorry," Rey said, letting her smile show, "It's just… Darth Vader, one of the most evil people to ever live in the galaxy, his nickname is Annie?"
"Yeah well that nickname goes way back," Padme said, smiling, seeing the humor in her husband's nickname. "That's what I called him when he was little. He was like 9 I think. It just sort of stuck."
"Like a poisonous leach." Leia said, somehow not crying after finally meeting her mother who only appeared to get romantic gossip. "I've had my fair share of nicknames. Han's favorite one was calling me 'a committee'. Though I have to admit that 'Annie' is much worse."
"Ani." Padme corrected. "One 'n' and no 'e'."
"How can you tell that that's what we're saying?" Rey asked, really confused.
"It matters to the fans." Padme said, looking at the fourth wall, "They get really mad when character names or planets are misspelled."
"Um...ok…" Rey said, just going to ignore what just happened. "So do you have any ghostly wisdom about what I should do about Kylo?"
"Well do you love him?" Padme asked.
"Um...no not really…" Rey said.
Padme raised an eyebrow.
"Don't give me that look." Rey stammered. "Why would I be in love with him? He murdered Han. And like blew up five planets."
"Technically he didn't blow up anything." Padme said, smiling a bit. "That was Hux's fault."
"Who's Hux?" Rey asked.
"Pasty, creepy, ginger guy who you will probably meet eventually." Padme said, "But that's not what we're focused on right now. Right now we're focusing on you and Ben."
"There-there is nothing between us." Rey stammered.
Leia and Padme gave each other a look that clearly said 'yeah, sure. What ever you need to tell yourself'.
"I've been watching over Ben for all of his life." Padme reminded her, "I saw everything he did, and more importantly what you two did together."
Leia didn't really like the tone of what Padme said.
"You two didn't do anything...um" Leia tried to find a way to say this without changing the rating of the fan fic she was currently in. "too PG-13 right?"
"What?" Rey said, confused, which seemed to be her most used emotion at this point.
"Don't worry," Padme said placing her hand on Leia's shoulder. "They most they did was touch fingertips."
"Thank goodness." Leia said, relieved, "Wait. 'touched fingertips?"
Leia looked at Rey to confirm. She nodded.
"I guess that is as romantic as you can get nowadays without raising the ratings." Leia said, now disappointed in another way.
"It wasn't romantic." Rey protested, shaking her hands.
"Sweetheart, please." Padme said, her arms folded. "There was more chemistry in that scene than the entire series of Breaking Bad."
"Huh?"
"You'll find out once your dead." Padme continued. "If you don't have any feelings for him, then why did you reach out your hand to him?"
"I-I was curious." Rey stammered, feeling uncomfortable as two older women surrounded her. "I wanted to see if we could actually touch each other with our force bond."
"And why would you want to know that?" Padme said, raising an eyebrow and smiling. "Why would you want to touch him?"
"Ew gross," Rey said, just realizing what Padme and Leia had been talking about. "No no no. Nothing like that."
"I distinctly remember that you only wanted to save him from the darkside," Padme said, teasing a bit, "after you caught him with his shirt off. Can't help but think those two things go together."
"That has nothing to do with it!"
"Wait," Leia said, holding up her hand. "Snoke connected your minds while Ben was about to take a shower? Or was he just walking around his room shirtless all day waiting for Rey? Because either option is kinda...disgusting."
All three women in the room visibly shuttered.
"It's best not to think about it." Padme said, knowing the answer but not wanting to admit to either. "That aside, you can't deny that you a bit flustered and speechless at the sight of him like that."
"Well yeah," Rey said, wringing her hands together nervously. "How would react if all of the sudden and out of nowhere you saw a half naked man a few feet away from you?"
"Eh I got used to it being married to Anakin." Padme said, remembering her handsome husband. "Jedi, and Sith for that matter, tend to be ripped, as you have figured out."
"I do not find him attractive."
"You're blushing." Leia remarked.
"I am not!" Rey protested, clearly blushing, and beginning to rant. "I am not in love with Ben Solo! Why would I be? He's the Supreme leader of the First Order. He murdered Han who was the only father figure I've ever had. He's violent! He tried to kill Finn for trying to rescue me from him. He brutally murdered Snoke and his guards so he wouldn't have to kill me."
As Rey continued to talk, Leia and Padme noticed a change in her voice.
"Not to mention he's so emotional." Rey said, continuing to describe Ben Solo, "He always looks like he's moments away from crying. Like he's always so near his breaking point but he just keeps it in: constantly fighting his inner demons. And-and how he pretends he's in complete control to try to hide that he has no idea what to do and that he's truly terrified on the inside. And no matter how many times people kick him to the ground, figuratively and literally, he just gets right back up again. He's so broken. Desperate to try to fix himself but he's just unable to. Taking the advice of people who are untrustworthy. People who only want him for personal gain. He doesn't know how to deal with people...or emotions. He's-he's so alone. So desperate for some sort of human relationship that he likes talking to the girl that scarred his face and only sees him as a monster. So afraid of rejection that his hand trembles when he offers it to me."
Leia and Padme stared at Rey in silence.
"Yeah, can't see why you would be attracted to that." Leia remarked.
"And I thought Anakin was dramatic." Padme said, sitting next to Rey, who was now staring at the floor.
Padme gripped Rey's arm, a warm tingling sensation spreading through her veins from where the ghost touched her.
"Rey," Padme said her name much like how Ben said it: like it was a plea, an apology and comporting whimper all in one. "It's ok to have feelings for…"
"No it's not." Rey said, gaining her composure. "Maybe if things were different. Maybe if the galaxy wasn't in pieces. And maybe if he hadn't been acting so weird lately, then maybe…"
"Maybe what?" Padme said, kinda glad that her future daughter in law was opening up a bit.
"I don't know." Rey said, thinking over everything. "But I swear if he complains about sand again there won't even be a 'maybe'."