Rey woke the next morning to the sun rising at its brightest over the canopy greens, a fair bit of song in the air from birds sitting at high roosts in trees.

Seemingly refreshed she realized she'd made it through the night without the hindrance of night terrors corrupting her dreams. The sensational tingle on her lips reminded her of the kiss the night before. The remembrance of it made her smile.

Yes, a real authentic smile.

She regretted doubting him after he had proven his loyalty time and time again. She figured he only stayed because he felt obligated. That he owed it to her for the sake of returning the same kindness she'd shown him.

Gods, she had never been so wrong about anything in her life as she was then. And at the warmth of his tender touch that cold shell of astringency surrounding her heart softened to a pulp.

What was left in place of her emotional barriers was something so powerful it was rumored to be capable of moving mountains. Something that had effortlessly driven away the darkness she'd wittingly shrouded herself in. Something that could never be severed from her by the edge of a blade.

For once in her life, Rey understood what it was like to love someone and to have that same love returned.

She felt like an abandoned treasure buried below the sands of a pirate's cove and had just been discovered. Though the thought of losing yet another important piece of her life left her initially terrified. First her parents and her wings and now, she had Ben. The fear only heightened her need of wanting to keep him closer if it were at all possible.

Every day spent with him their relationship grew stronger, noticing trivial things that she loved about him. Like how much he talked with his hands and how he rambled faster on topics he enjoyed. And how he always seemed to be so fascinated by the smallest things she had to say. No matter the insignificance of her words he always made her feel as if they had actually mattered.

Their kisses also lasted longer, and every time he left her craving more. It was because of his constant affection that gradually made it easier for her to accept the absence of her wings. However, every now and then, memories of that day occasionally reared from the abyss, and she was once again reminded of the pain.

She wondered what might have happened if Ben hadn't found her. How easy it had been for a predator to have ended her misery.

Would she have felt it? Or would she have been numb to it? So many what ifs had circulated her mind ever since, and out of all the things that bothered her, the unknown troubled her the worst.

"Rey."

Fluttering her eyes at the sound of Ben's gruff voice, her head turned to see him staring intently, concern prominently written on his face. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

Her brows furrowed. "Yeah, why?"

He indicated toward the fruit in her lap with a curt nod. "You've been digging at that apple for quite some time now."

Frowning her attention veered to the apple cupped in her palm, a small particle of its outer red skin mutilated by her thumbnail, scraps of its inner juicy flesh gathered beneath her nail bed as a result of her absent-minded digging.

How long had she been out of it?

"Oh…" She scoffed, worrying her bottom lip. "Sorry, guess I'm not as hungry as I thought I was."

Casting him a peripheral glance she saw he wore the same incredulous look he always had if she hadn't completely sold him on her little white fib. She knew that lying to him was fruitless, her conflict was as blatant as an open children's book.

She'd be fooling herself if she denied knowing that he worried about her constantly. He'd been so patient with her, it was the least she could do. And it wasn't like she didn't want to tell him, cause in all actuality, she wanted to tell him everything.

But how could she possibly begin to simplify the things that happened in order for him to understand, when she was still trying to process everything herself?

"I have an idea," he chimed in, giving the devoured apple core in his hand a casual toss into the brush then turned to face her, leaning on his hip, a hand on the ground for pillar. "Let's go somewhere for the day."

She quirked a brow at him skeptically. "And go where?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "Somewhere away from here and the lagoon. Or how about we just walk and see which direction the river takes us?"

Rey considered his offer. It'd been weeks since she last ventured anywhere beyond the perimeter of their willow with him. While a part of her dreaded leaving the security bubble that was her home, the other half of her deeply missed scavenging nature for abandoned trinkets. She reasoned to believe if anything should happen, she had Ben beside her.

"Sure," she nodded, offering him a frail smile. "A walk sounds perfect."

They followed the river to a private nook tucked away deep inside the forest, its soil rich and carpeted by lush clover and alabaster buds on top. Tall reeds sprouted from crystal clear water among rocky, shallow banks.

All around them were beds of various wildflowers, some with bulbs the size of an adult fist and others dainty. Their aroma so potent Ben almost tasted the sweet beads of nectar that honey bees busily gathered, buzzing from one flower to the next.

"This place is...exquisite," she stated in a voice of sheer amazement, eyes captivated by its charm. "How could I have lived here my entire life and not know that it existed."

Nodding in agreement his ears suddenly perked at the soothing resonance of a distant whir, its originating source a beehive he found dangling from a low-hanging branch nearby, bees swarming the outside.

Coming from a homeland that solely thrived on meat, he'd never tasted the impeccable flavor of honey before. He imagined it paired well with fruits and nuts they had periodically found. It would definitely spruce their diet up a bit, too.

His head jerked towards the bustling hive as he turned to Rey, still bewitched by the awe-inspiring scenery. "Think it's worth the risk?"

Drawn from her gaping, Rey crumpled her face at the query as she noticed what he had motioned to. "Worth getting stung a hundred times over? In my opinion, no. I'd rather you not try."

Ben snorted. "I'm sure there's a way to get it without being stung."

"I've had it once before, anyways," she grumbled. "Trust me, you're not missing out on much."

Frowning, he brooded at the hive. "Yeah, but what if I -."

Rey groaned in frustration. "Ben, I don't want the damn honey!"

Stunned by the belligerence in her outburst Ben clamped his jaw and immediately fell silent, his gaze snapping to hers. Where he had expected to see an expression that mimicked the tone of her words there was only remorse and shame.

She recoiled under his scrutiny and began to fidget with the ring on the bracelet that he'd given her, eyes trained on her toes. "I'm sorry," she whispered, flattening her lips. "I shouldn't have said that. It wasn't your fault."

Arms crossing over his broad chest Ben took a short breath. "Rey," he grimaced, "I never asked what happened that night because I'd hoped you would tell me when you were ready, and I understand if that time isn't now. But perhaps, telling someone would lessen the burden of feeling alone, and I know that's how you feel because I can see it."

Nodding wordlessly her eyes refrained from meeting his, standing in uncomfortable silence for a few passing beats. With no explanation appearing to be in sight he was ready to suggest that they should leave when Rey finally spoke.

"He wanted some time with me before the party started, just the two of us. As a friend, I owed it to him so I agreed." She smirked, "And I couldn't say no after he mentioned having snacks with him. He knows that I love food. We talked about stuff," her eyes coyly met his. "I may have mentioned you to him, too. He didn't like that though."

The slightest hint of a smile crept over Ben's lips. Rey proceeded to enlighten further on that fateful night, her brows knitted intensely.

"He, um," she swallowed hard, hugging herself as she shifted weight on her feet. "He asked if we could ever be more than friends. I apologized, after recovering from the shock of course, and assured him I didn't feel the same way. That I saw him as a friend and nothing else," she sniffed, a tear descending her cheek.

"I knew he was angry but he said he didn't want to ruin the rest of our time together. He asked if I was hungry and offered the honey and berry granola he brought. And it was really, really good." Her lone tear grew to a sob, "I don't remember anything after that, if it was him or not I don't know other than it was cold and dark and I was alone, Ben. I was alone and hurt and afraid and - and…"

"Rey, it's okay," he soothed, as he pulled her trembling frame flush against him, arms around her shoulders, lovingly massaging the back of her head with his hand. "It's okay, sweetheart. You won't have to be alone again."

"I just want to forget," she croaked, balling her hands into fists on his chest, tears dampening his bare skin. "Please, just help me forget. Please."

Ben felt his heart breaking with her every plea. If it hadn't been for Rey needing him right then and there, he would've gone looking for Hux and murdered him on the spot.

"I'll find him for you," he vowed through gritted teeth. "I swear, I will find him and avenge what he did to you." Pulling back from her he held her tear-stained face between his palms, leaving her no choice but to look into his eyes. "I wish I could take those memories away, I can't. But I can help you move on if you can also accept that being with me is enough and let me love you. Then maybe you'll forget on your own."

She stared back at him starry-eyed, as sunlight reflected off the moisture in her dazzling whites. "You've always been enough for me," she whispered in a voice so quiet the words almost drowned in the songs of nature. "I love you."

A smile promptly rid his expression of its previous somber state, his mind freshly reset to ease, as he repeated those same words out loud for her to hear. She gave a moment for the words to sink in, and he saw the effect they held over her was a mere equivalent of his own.

Planting her hands at the arc of his neck and shoulders she met his lips halfway and kissed him soundly. Where he was hardly experienced with kissing at the beginning of their budding affair he discovered with every stroke of her lips that he was becoming surprisingly quite good at it. Aside from enacting on instincts, he relied on the slightest hints as to what satisfied her yearning.

Emboldened, he tentatively teased the brim of her upper lip with his tongue, and she awarded him with the faintest of sighs in response. What he hadn't expected was for her lips to open then at the seam, welcoming him inside her mouth's exhilarating heat.

He exceptionally liked it when she threaded her fingers through his hair, giving their roots a gentle tug and rousing a moan that heartily rumbled his chest, and triggered a feverish chill that surged his spine as her blunt nail tips tenderly massaged his scalp.

His annoying, large hands though never ceased to give him fits. Foregoing the hassle of deciding where to put them he comfortably settled with the notion of keeping them low on her waist or safely above her shoulders.

Safe was good. Safe kept him out of trouble. And playing it safe had kept him alive throughout the years as a raven.

But then - then - she had the gall to go and ruin that rather sensible mind frame of his. The friction of her pelvis grinding his had awakened a problem he considered exceedingly worse than hand placement. For all he knew, there was only one way out of this sort of predicament. Two, if he were to count the use of his hand. Even then, after being a bird for nearly a decade he'd forgotten what it felt like.

But when she did it again, despite tightening his girth on her hips he found that he was physically incapable of expressing any term for her to stop. It felt good - really really good.

"Rey," he groaned raggedly.

Pausing in motion she gazed at him beneath hooded lashes, breathless and ignorant of the iron-hard bulge she had herself pressed up against.

"Wha - oh." Widening her eyes she noticed the apparent erection extending from his groin inside his trousers as she took a step back from him, a hand remained on his shoulder and the other cupped over her mouth, concealing a portion of the soft pink embellishing her cheeks. "Oh gods, I'm so sorry! I didn't -."

"No, no it's - it's okay," he stammered, his face burning an angry red. "I - I've just never done this before."

Chewing her bottom lip she managed to offer a coy smile. "Yeah, me too."

"I - we don't have to, you know, do anything." The thought of phasing suddenly crossed his mind as he nervously cleared his throat. Things were a lot easier as an ornament on her shoulder. "I mean if you want to…"

Gods, when had he turned into a desperate babbling idiot? He supposed he deserved that humility after living a majority of his life as a sheltered raven.

Yet, in spite of his childish ramblings, Ben was taken aback when she bashfully nodded her answer, tucking hair behind her ear with the hand she withdrew from his shoulder. Quickly wetting her lips with a swipe of her tongue, she loosened one of two elegant bows securing the dress' strap in place, jutting the shoulder with the other bow intact toward him.

Taking a breath, his fat fingers fought for a suitable grip on the strappy ribbon. It wasn't as if he hadn't done it before, except the difference between then and now was that he hadn't been trying to look at her breasts.

It came down to the point of him needing to talk himself through the motions, hoping his outer struggle wasn't as apparent as the raging battle inside his head. As the fabric crumpled to a heap at her feet, every speck of blood that his body contained gushed to his ears, oxygen trapped in his throat.

As she stood bare in front of him he took in her every curve, blemish, and freckle marking her taut figure. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen - with and without her precious wings. He must've uttered the phrase out loud at some point because he saw her blushing even harder when he successfully pried his eyes from her perfectly round breasts.

"Y-You can touch me if you want," she murmured timidly.

Gods, he hadn't needed to be told twice. His giddiness inside soaring to new heights, higher than his wings could ever carry him. And they felt just as marvelous as he had imagined them to feel once upon a time.

His palm traced along the bottom swell to the peak of her nipple, finding she particularly enjoyed it when he gave its rosey bud an experimental pinch between his forefinger and thumb. Her sharp gasps punctuating his circular motions stirred his growing arousal.

Grinning at her reaction he repeated the act as he leaned over and began showering kisses along the slender column of her neck, lingering at her pulse as she was most susceptible there to his lips.

Her fingers grazed the subtle grooves of his toned abs, and trailing the dark line of hair from his navel to the top hem of his slacks, determined to free his swollen cock of its ridiculously tight confinement with every caress of his hot tongue over her skin.

Urging the slacks beneath his waist his engorged length sprung to her pleasurable view at high mast, its painfully engorged skin softer than either of the finest silks but also coating the strongest steel. She curiously wrapped each of her five fingers around its base, causing him to hiss through his teeth and groan into her skin.

Pumping him leisurely had nearly sent him crashing over the edge if he hadn't been so adamant to experience the rush of finishing inside her. Rey encouraging him to touch the slickness between her folds hadn't been much of a help either but he stubbornly couldn't bring himself to resist.

And as for whom suggested the idea that they should lie on the ground he couldn't say, because one minute he was standing and the next he was on his back, his ebony wings providing ample cushion on the luscious blanket of clover, Rey on her knees and straddling him at either side of his waist. Whether it had been his idea or hers he didn't care, the view of seeing her angelic face hovering above him was worth it, and surrendering any and all control of the situation to her was exhilarating. But it had also enabled him to see just how nervous she was; even while having him at her mercy.

"Nervous?"

Wincing, she nodded curtly twice. "Just a little."

Blindly reaching for her hands grappling her thighs, he wove their fingers together. "Take your time, try not to think about the pain. And keep your eyes on me."

It wasn't the greatest advice in the world, not like what she had offered him before removing the arrow from his wing. But it must have helped as she loosened the nervous grip on his hands, transforming her frown to a smile that spread to her eyes. She leaned in for a chaste peck on his lips.

"I love you," she affirmed sweetly, her warm breath tickling his lips.

"I love you, too," he replied huskily, his heart a battering ram to his ribs.

She kissed him again, keeping a firm grip on his hand and releasing the other she rose onto her knees. His breathing hitched as she probed her glistening entrance with the head of his cock, lathering him in her slick so to make taking him easier. As she slowly lowered onto him he gazed on in amazement as he gradually disappeared inside her, her inner walls forcibly stretching to accommodate his width.

He tried not to cave into initial instincts, however the strong urge not to buck his hips became significantly difficult as his cock was fully encompassed by her simmering heat. Flexing his hold on her hand and thigh, his resounding moan in pleasure as he arched his back swallowed her innocent mewl.

"Gods, Rey," he growled, "you feel so incredible."

He'd hoped she could say the same thing, that the experience for her was equally amazing as it was for him. Bearing the thought in mind he almost felt guilty then for saying it.

Thankfully, she confirmed a few moments later that the ache of his presence lulled to munificent fullness, and a simple roll of her hips gifted them the extraordinary thrills of love-making. As she moved at a leisure pace he swiftly met her hips with shallow thrusts, driving themselves to that delectable stage of becoming more blissfully intertwined than ever.

Feeling her orgasm flutter around him was as close to experiencing Heaven descending as he'd ever get, only it wasn't the face of a higher power that he saw but a stunning pair of hazels staring back as he rapidly followed. Her hair hung freely around her face in cascades of rich auburn waves as Rey hovered above him, chest flaring in sync with his winded breaths.

Not caring that they were at a total loss of air Ben brought his hands to her face, the sweat on their bodies blending as he drew her closer and kissed her deeply.