C.2 - Bruises

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Groggy. He felt groggy. He also wasn't sure he was fully awake yet, everything was black and fuzzy but slowly he could feel sensation of his limbs blur back into reality.

What had happened last? Where was he? His eyids twitched with eye movement below and followed his brows, twitching with curiosity of his surroundings. Rey. Memories flashed, her face, her smiling face. Her lips against his. He breathed in sharply and his eyes shot open.

Ben gulped and squinted, facial feautures contorting into pain from the overhead fluorescent lights scorching his cornea. All he saw were white lined walls and a white tiled ceiling, typical for a medical bay. He remembered now, Rey staying by his side until he was under proper care by professionals, her nattering to said professionals, her pure love and devotion.

His eyelids peeled open once more, slowly, and saw more of his surroundings. Loud machines, signs plastered to the wall, his own vitals displayed on a holograph adjacent to his bed.

Rey. She slept on a dingy chair pulled up as close to his cot as she could manage. Her arms were crossed over the edge of his bed, head neatly tucked in, eyes glued shut. He wondered if she stayed since he was in here, however long that was. He hoped not. There were most likely parties out there, she deserved to take part, engage in celebrations with her friends with no further worries.

He unfolded his arm from off his torso and gently rested it on her head. Her soft hair under his fingers, twirling a loose tresse around his index finger idly.

She murmured inconerently into the crook of her arm and nestled back in, her subconscious reacting to the physical touch so he withdrew his hand to let her rest.

"...Put it back..." She mumbled into the cloth of her arm.

"Didn't know you were awake." Ben started with an attempt to sit up, resting his upper body weight onto his elbow digging deeply into the mattress.

She peered up to him with big round eyes. "I didn't know you were awake." The back of her throat made a small yet cute growl as she stretched her arms as wide as she could in a much needed stretch. "You've been out for a while."

"How long exactly?"

Rey shrugged tiredly. "Few days now."

"Hm." Ben sighed and leaned back into the bed. "Well it wasn't bad enough for a bacta tank."

"Oh it was." She assured him, wrapping her much smaller hands around his, curling his fingers into the warmth of his palm. "No available bacta tanks, lots of injured. As much as I would have liked you in a tank your cot would do for now."

"Have you been here the whole time?" He questioned protectively, giving her hand a small squeeze.

She shook her head. "Poe, Finn, and Rose took me out a few times to eat. See the crowds of people wanting to thank me..." She shook her face free of the many loose threads of hair. "Most of the time I came back to see you."

He smiled, but just barely, he was still rather tired but he knew a small smile would convey the point. "You didn't have to."

"You crashed. Multiple times, I was scared." Her voice wavered earnestly. "You began to even out yesterday afternoon, but I didn't want to take a chance and miss something."

Warmth spread across his cheeks, bringing bacm some form of colour back to his ghostly pale face. "I ultimately thought I was giving you the rest of my own life force when I brought you back." He watched as her features began to twist with emotion. "The time I got to spend with you afterwards was merely a bonus. I was ready and content with that sacrifice."

Small tears surfaced in the corners of her eyes, a sheet of liquid now illuminating her eyes sparkled under the medical lighting. "Well I wasn't content with that." Rey choked out. "Thank you. Really I mean it. My parents gave their lives so that I may live... You were ready to lay your life down to give me another chance.. I feel like I don't deserve that."

"You're deserving of anything good in these worlds, sweetheart." He spoke almost sternly, but lovingly, wannabe scolding her for not having the self worth he saw in her. His term of endearment perked her right up and her eyes wavered with the purest joy. He hadn't even thunk twice about the word, but it felt natural and if she had the same reaction to it he'd call her that name everyday for the rest of his life if he could.

She departed from her perch on her chair and edged to the side of his cot, laying a gentle hand on his chest. "You're what I wanted. And I got you." She spoke softly and warmly, tracing a small circle into his grey medical garb.

"I'm not sure that's a good thing in this world."

With a roll of her eyes she ignored his comment. "So how do you feel? Better I hope?"

He paused to mentally feel out his body parts. Chest still hurt and his right side still had a lazy ache to it, but beyond that the feeling of death did not keep him in its grips.

"Much better." Though the small circles she traced could definitely put him in a love induced lull that was sure to knock him out if she continued. "For the record, I am happier to be alive. With you."

Rey smiled a big dimply smile. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you.."

He felt the loss of Rey once. He didn't wish that upon her, so he would take his health seriously.

Ben propped himself up on his elbows slowly. "Am I able to leave soon, do you know?" He felt almost adamant to leave for two reasons. One, the guilt of taking up a cot in their small medical wing and the use of their short supplied stims. Already he felt unwanted but to be treated across the way from a pilot on deaths door didn't seem right. His second reason would be prolonged stays in the medbay conveyed weakness and although he felt like he's shaken the need to look powerful, he worried that maybe frustrated and angry Resistance troops here may burst through the doors guns blazing.

"They wanted to check on you once you gained some form of consciousness." She threaded a finger through his hair now it was within reach. Soft, it must have been washed when she was away. "I'm sure they'll make their rounds soon."

Ben pushed himself and sat up completely so he could now look down on Rey, tingles of energy trickled down his system. "I need to stretch my legs."

Her eyes quickly panned to the pair of machines keeping track of his vitals. They weren't wired any longer, instead small gadgets were embedded on the skin and transmitted recordings to the monitors. If he wasn't tied down with wires she supposed it was okay.

"Alright." Rey slid off the edge of the bed and her black booties padded against the cold stool with a slap. "Go slow." She held her arms out for him to take, which he gratefully did.

Clad in his grey capris and grey tunic he clambered out of the bed carefully clutching onto her presented forearm. Bare feet placing down on the cool tile, an instant relief from under the heavy blanket they had him under. He watched her lower gaze to glance at his feet.

His brow twinged. "What?"

"N-nothing." She grimaced. "I feel like I know you so well but really I don't know you. Weird to imagine you without your big boots on, or wearing regular clothes. Or having a morning routine."

"Well get used to it." He replied, though thinking about it he'd like to know how she would go about her days off, her go-to activities. Favourite drink, food, favourite time of day. Was she a morning person or a night person?

"You're up!"

They were quick to turn their heads to the sudden imposition, seeing a robed medical staff entering the room with a surprised face.

"If you could just sit on the cot for a mere moment..." She chirped happily, lightly tossing her hologram statboard on the counter across from his bed.

Ben let go of Rey and complied with her request, pulling the fabric of the capris up slightly to give more leeway to sitting down. He watched her silently pull a few gadgets from a sanitzed cabinet overhead and approach him, he recognized them as run of the mill medical equipment and not a bomb they've planted to have him offed, so he let out a drawn out breath. Rey stood beside him with arms crossed.

"How are you feeling today?" The doctor questioned, tinkering with a lit up dial on the gadget to calibrate it to the desired frequency.

"Much better than the other day." She nodded to his words. "Still aching but I no longer need to be hospital bound."

"Is that so?" She queried skeptically with Rey smirking. "Would you mind lifting your shirt?"

Without hesitation Ben met her request, finding the edge of his shirt and drawing it up past his pecs, revealing a grotesque scene of bruising that painted his skin in different colours of aging blood. He felt Rey's eyes burn holes into him with shock yet she remained silent. He glanced down curiously to see the fuss and bristled at the sight. He'd never been in such a bad state.

"You've broken nearly every rib on your right side and without free space available in the bacta tanks I'm afraid we could only make do with what rationed stims we had available. It may be back to old fashioned healing."

"That's fine."

Rey craned her neck to meet eyes with him. "I can heal you later-"

"-No." Ben stated bluntly, releasing his shirt so it curtained back over his injury.

"Not only the numerous broken bones but we imagine there's trauma to your inner organs that isn't surfacing yet, brain injury-" The doctor was interrupted by Rey.

"I can force heal you, Ben-" Rey insisted but was cut off yet again.

He squinted in her direction. "No, you're not doing that."

"You had no problem with me force healing you on Endor." She reminded.

The doctor stood patiently.

"After you nearly killed me." He pressed with a raised brow. The doctor now excused herself, this seemed as if it were getting personal, and the couple did not pay any mind to her early dismissal.

He continued. "I have been out cold for days now, the image of you laying dead in the citadel ruins is still quite fresh for me. I'd rather let you regain all your energy and life essence before being drained again." Ben wavered when the word dead passed through his lips. Her lifeless eyes that stared into nothingness and mouth agape, her limp body flopping into his arms when he held her. A tight knot formed in his throat. He'd never felt so absolutely helpless, he remembered looking around for any shred of help but no one was there for him, no force ghosts, and then he knew the only way to bring her back.

It wasn't how he imagined their first embrace to be.

Rey's lips twisted downwards and her eyes seemed to prickle again. "I know." She whispered. "I saw it. You climbing from the pit.. Picking me up." Her eyes and cheeks turned red. She managed to avoid thinking about their time in the citadel together through over worry of his health these past few days, thankfully, she thought, but reliving it now and seeing how pained he was to even speak of it made her want to curl up and cry. "Holding me like it would be the last time you did so."

Bens eyes coated themselves in a dewy sheen, red blotchyness appearing in his face.

They existed in silence for half a minute as they composed themselves. It wasn't something to unbox in a medical room Rey decided with a huff, and wiped away the few straggling tears. She pulled Bens head to the warm crook of her neck for another half a minute before placing a much needed kiss on his forehead and gently pushing him back into position.

"I wont force heal you. And if you want out of the medical bay we can leave if the doctor gives you the okay, but only then. Deal?"

"Deal."

The doctor returned and examined Ben thoroughly. Placing her previous gadget to his bare chest to listen in on his heart, his lungs, onto his back to listen from a different angle. It stuck to his skin and she read off her holographic board in her palms.

"When you came in you had a collapsed right lung, which we sorted to the best of our abilities, and by the sound of it your breathing has improved, but time is the best teller."

She held the gadget over his head and slowly hovered it all around at different angles.

She read off her pad curiously. "I suspected a brain bleed, at the very least, but your noggin' is in tip top shape."

Rey breathed a sigh of relief.

"What I would like as your medical professional is to observe you for at least one more night..." She eyed Ben for a response but he didn't fork one over. "But the way you're improving, maybe a bed in your own home would prove useful, but not by yourself. I'll leave the options available. For now I'll continue my rounds, so if I don't see you I imagine you made your choice."

"Thank you." Ben spoke with an understanding nod of his directions. They watched her retreat to another patient at the other side of the room.

"I spoke with Poe."

His first instinct was to say who? but he knew she'd take it as a sassy remark so he obstained.

"He's General now." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Meaning his word goes around here."

"Will I be put to death?" Honestly he wouldn't be surprised, so this was mostly a legitimate question.

"No." She smirked. "He's not your biggest fan, but out of his graciousness he's letting you take up a room."

"Why not share yours?" Ben questioned, curling his fingers around the metal railing of the cot idly, only noticing the lewd implication of his question now. Not that he expected to share a bed with her immediately, but if they were short on boardings some people would have to get cozy.

"I don't really have a room?" Rey tapped a finger to her chin in thought. "I sleep outside."

"Outside?" Did he hear her correctly?

She laughed smoothly. "It's what I'm used to!"

"I knew you were a scavenger girl, but didn't expect that. I guess I'll be learning a lot more about you soon enough." He smiled, and when she warmed to his outward expression of fondness he only wanted to smile more.

Bens clothing he staggered in with were returned to him, neatly folded but greatly in need for a washing. Maybe a bleaching, he figured as he clasped the fabric between his fingers and it nearly felt stiff with dried sweat. He'd woken up multiple times in cots drenched in blood so he supposed it could be worse.

He excused himself to the restroom to change. He would have worn the hospital attire out if he could because they smelled fresh and felt soft against his bruised skin but who was he to take from another that may need them. He pulled the shirt over his head with a slow ease, over extention of his arms already panged deeply in his body so he was sure to take his time.

With a blank expression he looked at his bare chest in the mirror with analytical eyes. They panned from right to left, from his shoulders down to his hip bones were his hospital pants hung. Old scars and new, he could point out exactly how and when he acquired them, and by who. His finger idly touched over the rippled skin, the texture of torn skin improperly healed over by him hiding wounds so Snoke never knew he was bested in battle even in the slightest.

It was trivial now when he thought about it, but at the time he was so frightened of failure. Countless times he'd allowed a wrist or rib to heal indented and later required correcting and for what? Going back in to put his bones back in place amounted to more scarring. Perhaps this was to be his person shame to view everyday for the rest of his life. His body itself was a battle zone and not a sight for most to see.

If he had a choice he would have opted out of Rey seeing the condition he was in. Maybe it was his inward self-loathing or marred self confidence but he thought maybe her seeing just how much battle he'd seen she'd be put off.

He blinked and refocused on the image in the mirror.

Ben removed his trousers and folded them up with the shirt on the rim of the durasteel sink. He wasn't keen on handing over the boxers they so graciously clothed him in, but he was sure they wouldn't mind. Carefully he removed the shirt that was folded in the box and let it unfold itself, his basic black long sleeve from under his tunic. He fit his head through the hole and managed his arms in decently well, and in the mirror he eyed the hole which Rey gave him. He toyed with it idly before pushing his legs through the black dirtied pants he wore, grimy with sweat and dirt from the climb up the pit. He sat on the edge of the toilet and painstakingly pulled his socks and boots over his feet, which nearly made him outwardly cringe having to wear worn socks but he would find a new wardrobe soon enough.

Before leaving he ran the sink with the coldest water the handle would allow, watching it circle down the drain for a moment to reach peak coldness before cupping it into his hands and splashing it over his face. That was sure to wake him up.

Rey was sitting on his hospital bed looking out into the room where other patients lay with her hands clasped in her lap. He felt his own features soften at the scene but a sad thought crossed his mind. He felt like she thought she was tied down to him, indebted to him, hindered by his survival. She should be out with friends, outside where she loved, laughing.

He pursed his lips together. What use would he be to her? Aside from the medical attention he needed for at least the next week, what exactly would she gain that she wouldn't get somewhere else? He was tired of being selfish and taking whatever it is he pleased. Rey deserved a lot more than that. He wanted her but does she really know what she needs beyond surface level? He would be vilified the rest of his waking life and that was something he accepted but it was an unfair burden to place on her. She would be judged the rest of her own waking life if she associated with him.

"What are you doing?"

She ripped him from his thoughts, her head craned over her shoulder to the sound of the restroom door swirling shut behind him.

"Debating on where to leave their garb."

She knew it was a lie but she played along. "I'm sure leaving it on the bed is fine." She slid off the edge of the bed and faced him. "I'll take you to your room? Maybe we can get some food in you."

"If you don't have anything better to do." He sat the box down on the cot where he lay for days. No wonder his back ached.

She smiled thoughtfully. "Of course I don't."

"No parties?" He raised a brow.

"Well probably but I'm not one for big parties." She jerked her thumb toward the door. "Shall we? It's not that far, promise."

He nodded and followed by her side, trying his absolute best to stand up as straight as he normally would, though it pained him to do so he didn't particularly want the Resistance to think he was playing up injury for sympathy points.

Finn watched as they left the medical wing with a neatral expression. Rey had opted out of nearly every get-together he mustered up, even smaller ones like she said she preferred, all to stay by Kylo Rens side - Bens side, Finn corrected himself.

Rey had him correct himself on the few times he dragged her from Bens side. Finn would look down at the man who lay unconscious, his vitals uneven and worrisome to medical professionals. He stood there with anger erupting in his stomach but when Rey would look up at him with nothing but fear raging behind her eyes he would soften up and drag up a chair beside her. He would ask how Ben was doing and Rey would explain quickly with adrenaline jittering through her exactly what was going on with him. He'd pull her out back to the cafeteria to share a meat bowl because she insisted she wasn't hungry but in the end she ate most of his bowl. She needed the energy, Finn figured. She was a mess and Finn finally understood why. It was true, the last time he saw them interact they were doing some circus-level acrobatics off slippery ship ruins in the heat of a ocean storm, very dramatic like he might add, but Rey's comment about it being more complicated made much more sense now. They had a weird way of showing love.

But as Finn watched them leave the long corridor he felt nothing but relief. When he assisted Rey in hauling Ben's half-conscious self he could feel it. Initially he thought Ben chose the winning side for self preservation, which made sense, he seemed incredibly selfish, but when he touched Ben's shoulder it was a strange feeling he knew came from the force. He didn't sense an evil aura, plotting to kill the Resistance from within while taking advantage of Rey. Instead he felt a broken man full of anguish and pain, and most importantly love for Rey.

Finn swallowed thickly and proceeded into the large room where Ben had been resting. "So, he's all good now?" He questioned the female doctor working this room full of injured patients. Normally they wouldn't give patient information but seeing as how Ben had no immediate family and she'd seen Finn in there multiple times she complied.

"Seeing as how I was sure he was to die within the hours you both brought him in, he's doing amazingly well." Finn smiled at this. Rey deserved it. "But boy do they bicker like an old married couple." She snorted and he laughed along with her.

Next chapter: Ben stays bedridden to heal and Rey takes care of him. Poe decides Bens fate.

OMG! Thank you all so much for the outpour of love for my little story I pulled together in my TROS ending rage!

Reviews are so loved! As well as the follows and favourites ! Please let me know thru review if you're still keen on this story so I know to keep writing or not haha

PS. please let me know if I stray away from being in character for any of them, I'm scared I'll mess up either Ben or Rey.