AN: I could use a pick me up today, so make sure to leave me some love for posting another chapter so quickly. As always, enjoy the fluff...

Part XV

Over the past year there were so many things that Rey had experienced with Ben that she never thought she would. One of those just happened to be tenderly making love to him, hundreds of feet from the ground on a small platform up a redwood tree on Endor's moon.

It was slightly awkward, shifting around the limited space and stripped off her leggings before setting herself into his lap. He scooted back, pressing his spine against the truck of the tree as Rey reached between them to free his ready cock from his pants. As she slid down on him, Ben worked at the ties of her tunic, wanting to give his large hands free roam of her warm skin.

Rey rode his thighs, her still wrapped arms snaking around his neck as she pressed her now exposed chest to his lips. Their movements were steady but not rushed, and the only sounds around them were soft moans and mews of pleasure as they pledged love, and understanding, and togetherness.

"Ben," her tone was begging, tears continued to slip from her eyes during their joining, maybe a part of her was still somber, but mostly she was overwhelmed with feelings of acceptance and devotion.

"I'm right here," his voice was deep and reassuring as he stroked her cheeks and spoke into her neck.

She whimpered through her climax, crying into Ben's shoulder as his strong arms encompassed her back. He couldn't stand the thought of disturbing her for the sake of his own release, so he denied himself and just held her, soothed her, loved her.

After a few long minutes, they separated and Rey did her best to slip back into her clothes. Ben pulled her to him, her back pressed to his chest as she settled between his legs. His arms folded around her middle and he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Did you ever find what you were looking for," she ghosted her finger tips along his warm arm, "when you first came here?"

Ben sighed and pulling her in closer, "I'm not really sure. Snoke told me that Luke had killed Vader, his own father, out of fear or hate maybe. As a Force user, when my grandfather died he became one with the Force and debris from the second Death Star was scattered all over this system. Including his helmet that now resides on the Finalizer."

"You came here to find a piece of him…" It was more of a realization than a question.

"He died before I was even a consideration but it seemed like he was the only part of my blood that I could possibly relate to. I desperately wanted to feel something…anything from him that told me the new path I was on, the path away from my family, and the path towards the darkness was the right one…would be worth it."

"And do you think it was?"

"I'm not arrogant enough to assume that I would end up right here, right now, if I had chosen another path and while I do regret some of my past," he swallowed thickly, "…actions…I have no qualms with my current situation." He dipped his face to lay his lips upon her shoulder.

Rey may have forgiven Ben for his past, for the action that made him so uncomfortable, for killing Han, but she knew that it would always be a sore spot that would never heal on Ben's heart.

"It was only just before we met on Jakku that I found out the truth about my grandfather's last moments and perhaps if I had known that his death was a sacrifice for the love of his son, for the love of family, it may have swayed my choice."

"That recently?" Rey asked.

He rested his cheek on the crown of her head, "My mother's journal…thank you for bringing it to me."

Rey hummed, "I thought it might give you some closure."

"It has," he said affectionately, "but it has also raised questions that I will never get answers to."

"Like what?"

"When I was a boy when Leia and Luke started to see more of my darkness, I was struggling to fight off the voice in my head, they didn't try to help. They just blamed it on my legacy, as if I didn't have a choice in the matter, but I was trying so hard to stay in the light when Snoke was calling me to pain and suffering.

"My mother wrote about those times, how lost she felt and hopeless, but she didn't even try talking to me about it."

"You could have talked to her about it…" Rey tried to offer.

"I was eleven and she wasn't around much, or if she was, she was too busy arguing with Han and trying to save their marriage." His fists tightened remember trying to press his pillow over his head so he didn't have to hear his parents throwing verbal insults at each other. Leia cried a lot during that time and he felt like even more of a burden which just added to the pain that Snoke preyed on. "Families aren't all they are cracked up to be."

"I wouldn't know," Rey said looking down at her fingers as she started to pick at her cuticles.

Ben felt bad, but just slightly, unsure if their lives had been reversed if she would have fared any better. "At lease your parents made it clear that they didn't want you," his tone didn't mean to be harsh. "Instead of pretending everyday that you weren't the biggest mistake of their lives."

Rey understood that they had very different pain concerning their families. She may never be able to understand what it was like to live in the Solo-Organa household, but she could accept that it had caused him pain. "The Force doesn't make mistakes," she had to believe that they weren't put through their own personal hells for nothing.

"No, it doesn't," Ben agreed before tightening his hold on her. "My mother wrote about you…"

"Oh?"

"She liked you. Said you reminded her of her younger self who went off begging Obi-Wan for help."

She chuckled, "Do boys always fall in love with a woman just like their mothers?"

"I wouldn't know…" Ben mused. "I've never loved anyone but you." His mushy statement earned him a playful slap on the arm as Rey scoffed. "Anyways, you may have some of the more redeemable qualities of my mother, but you are…will be so much more that she ever was."

"What do you mean?"

"Well first," he smiled, "you have a much cooler disposition, which is useful around the temper that was passed down to me." He didn't see, but Rey rolled her eyes before smiling, completely agreeing with his ability to flux moods. "And," he kissed at her shoulder again, "when our children start to discover the darkness that flows within them, you will not give up on them, you will not think their path is set, you will teach them to always come back to the light."

"We will teach them Ben," Rey corrected him. She didn't ever want to think of a time that he wouldn't be there to show his legacy that it was normal to experience dark emotions, but that they must not steep in them. Vader and Kylo's dark years are lesson enough to help guide anyone back to the light.

When he was quite for a long moment, she almost wished that she could read his thoughts, but instead went back to talking about his mother, "Leia didn't spend a whole lot of time with me on Dantooine."

"She wasn't good with attachments. She lost too many people to the war, even before I was born, and I think she found it hard to connect, always knowing that the more she cared, the more she would hurt when they didn't come back from a mission. She was a lonely and scared woman."

"We were all lonely and scared," Rey mused.

"We were…" he confirmed that those feelings were for the past.

"Perhaps we will see her some time…in the Force I mean." Rey turned her head to the side so she could see his face behind her.

He smirked and just moved his eyes to return her gaze, "Be careful what you wish for, my love."

They explored the rest of the abandoned village, walking between platforms on bridges that looked like they were on the brink of fraying. "I won't let you fall," Ben reassured her as he waiting for her to cross a rather haggard looking walkway.

Ben had to practically crawl through the doorways of the Ewok homes and Rey giggled as he hemmed and huffed at the small living quarters. They ate their rations up on the highest platform they could find and Rey could just see the golds and pinks of a setting sun.

The forest got dark quickly and once they were back on the ground Rey took her sabers from her back, "Do you want to be the stars or do you want to be home?" She asked making reference to the inscriptions on the bases of the hilts.

"You are the stars," he held out his hand for half of her saber.

"And you are home," Rey said back with a smile as they both ignited the blades to be their light to guide them back to the base.

Rey was thankful when they reentered the shuttle, "The guards are bunked up in the base, so we have the ship to ourselves," Ben said knowing her thoughts.

As much as she wished to be taken by him in every which way, she sighed, "I'm so tired…I really just want a shower and then to go to bed."

Ben wanted to feel dejected, but how could he when he was able to lay his head next to hers, listen to her little snores, and then wake up to her mess of hair in the morning? So he just closed the ramp to the shuttle with a wave of his hand and followed her to their quarters.

They showered together again and by the end of it Ben had to carry her to bed as she was falling asleep on her feet. He situated her in the bed next to him, tucking her into his side before he called his datapad to his hand to review the day's memos. Even though he would always take time away to be with Rey, he still had a galaxy to run.

For just a moment, as she shifted in her sleep to cover more of his body with hers and he brushed damp hair away from her face, he dreamed that this was his real life. Opening a new memo, he sent a message to his metal smith Malkolm with a simple request.

The next day they had breakfast with the guards and Rey was thankful that Tyris was a decent cook since she still had not grasped anything beyond reheating rations. When she came back out of the shuttle her eyes lit up, "No way!" She cried as she ran the rest of the way down the ramp.

"You like it?" Ben asked slipping some supplies into a compartment under the seat of the sleek gray Joben T-95 speeder bike that awaited them.

"Please tell me that I get to drive it," Rey ran her hands along the sleek curves of the bike.

"Maybe when we get to the grasslands on the other side of the forest, the trees can be tricky to navigate and this thing has a lot of power."

She quirked up an eyebrow, "You think I'll get myself killed?"

He laughed, "I think you will get me killed and then where does that leave us?"

Rey just let out a noise between a hum and a huff before she clipped her sabers to her back and swung her leg over the speeder, settling into the space behind him.

They whizzed into the forest, "The trick is to use the Force to anticipate the placement of the trees," Ben said as he leaned the bike from side to side to avoid the redwoods.

It didn't take long before they cleaned the forest and came out upon a large meadow that led up to a range of towering mountains. They spent the better part of the morning taking turns to see who could make it down to the river at the far end of the field and back the quickest. Rey loved the cool morning air in her face as she pushed the speeder to it's limits. They also spent about an hour going over saber forms. It wasn't often that they got to spar in the flesh and Rey longed to truly feel the heat of his breath as he pinned her back to his chest, with their sabers crossed at her neck.

During one set of parries, Ben had spun around to avoid the stabbing motion of her right saber, but Rey had caught him with an upstroke of her left saber and a lock of his hair fluttered to the ground. "Oh, no," Rey tried to cover her laugh in her forearm as she saw the singed clump at the right side of his head.

"This is why I wear the helmet," Ben said in mock horror as he tried to fluff his hair back into place.

"How will you ever find a consort now?"

He took a long stride towards her, wrapping the arm that held his now disengaged saber around her back and pulling her in close to him, "The task has proven itself quite difficult at times...she is an enigma, not one to easily come to heed."

Rey blinked slowly and bit at her lip, knowing that he wouldn't be able to resist dipping down for a kiss and when he did, she moved her right hand up next to his shoulder, snapping her saber to life just under his chin. His eyes went wide as he halted any movement towards her. She smirked and her voice was just a whisper, "Do you surrender?"

Ben loosened his hold on her and started to slowly sink to one knee, Rey keeps the saber steady just a breath away from his neck, he could feel its heat and small sparks that the blade gave off felt like pin pricks along his throat. Finally, when he completely kneeled before her, he spoke, "I surrender everything to you."

In another swift move, Rey's saber was switched off and they were both flung out to her sides, getting lost in the long grass that surround them. Next she lunged at him, throwing her arms around his neck as she tackled him to the ground. She couldn't remember a time that she had ever been so blissfully happy as she peppered kisses over his face and their joined laughter echoed off the forest to the west and mountains to the east.

After a few moments of rolling in the grass, kissing, and perhaps pushing their hips into the other's, Ben stood and pulled her up with him. They collected their sabers from the grass and then moved closer to the river because he knew his desert flower loved water, and he spread out a blanket for them to enjoy a simple meal of fruits, cheese, and bread.

He wanted to remember her like this for the rest of time. Her eyes sparkled like the bubbling of the river, her smile was as wide and bright as the Endor sun, and her skin glowed like the snow-capped mountains behind her. She was the perfect picture of beauty and he again thanked the Force for her.

The sun was at it's peak and sweat made the hair at the back of his neck curl and stick to his skin. A black band was produced from under the sleeve of his tunic and he pulled his hair back, tucking the now shortened strands behind his ear. Rey was looking at him lovingly and he couldn't help but almost blush under her gaze.

"I hope at least one of our kids gets your ears..." Rey mused.

He outright laughed now, "And here I thought you were merciful." She tilted her head and pinched her brows together. "I was teased relentlessly as a boy." He used his two forefingers to make his already pronounced ears stick out more.

Rey shifted and reclined, resting her head in his lap and looked up at the clouds forming in the sky. "Well I love them." She felt him start to run his fingers over her arm wraps and now she wished she had not worn them so that he could truly touch her. "I want them to have your ears and hair...mine is much too mousy. They can have my noes because I am merciful, but your lips because they are beautiful."

"And your eyes," he added, loving that she was talking about a future that extended past just the two of them.

Even thought she loved his dark and fathomless eyes, she would let him have this one piece of her, but in all honesty, she wanted a child that would be so unmistakably Ben's. One day and she hoped soon, she would be able to shed her dwindling loyalty to the Resistance and proudly take her place at his side.

They laid out in that field for hours discussing all aspects of their future. It was easy to make plans when you weren't sure when they would actually be able to come to fruition. It was easy to say that they would spend a year or so touring the galaxy as Emperor and Empress, that they would go to Chandrila, Naboo, Yavin 4, and Kashyyyk, and that they would teach balance to any Force user who wished to learn.

It was easy to make believe even though at the backs of their minds, they both knew that they would be returning to separate lives the next day. It was easy to dream…

Nightfall was upon them and they remounted the speeder bike and headed back to the base and shuttle. Tyris had prepared another meal and they enjoyed each other around a small fire just outside the base's blast doors.

Rey appreciated the more relaxed atmosphere and sat curled into Ben's side and the guards regaled her with stories of their time with the Emperor. Ben allowed them to poke fun at him for Rey's sake since her laugh healed his soul.

After about an hour around the fire, Rey's hands started wandering up the back of his shirt, further up his thigh, and into his hair and he knew it was time to take her to bed. "Empress," his tone was low and warning. When she bit her lip and gripped her fingers into the curls at the nape of his neck he moved swiftly, throwing her over his shoulder while calling a 'good night' to his guards.

She squirmed and flailed the entire way up the ramp and into the main hold. Right when they were out of sight from the guards, Ben playfully slapped at her rear that sat just above his left shoulder. Her body jumped in surprise and she let you a little 'Oh!' before she moaned as his large hand continued to caress at her round bottom.

He only set her down once they were locked behind the door of their quarters. He paced around her, as if sizing her up, assessing when to go in for the kill. As he circled her, he started to slowly remove his clothing. "That was very wicked of you to tease me in front of my guards." He stopped in front of her, his gaze burning, "What am I to do with you?"

Rey liked this game…she knew it would end with him pounding passionately into her. She loved when he was gentle and slow with her, she loved when they seemed so in sync that their hearts beat at the same rate and they drew the same breath, but she also loved his rough hands on her, his gritted teeth as he tried to keep the pace that had her falling apart, and the sharp sound of their skin slapping together.

So she decided to take what she wanted from him. Going down on to her knees she looked up at him was she pulled at the ties of his pants, "Do with me as you will, Master." Rey heard his intake of breath, not sure if it was because of her words or the fact that she took his hard length into her small hand. Before he could answer or protest, she wrapped her lips around him, his skin slightly more salty from their days activities, but his taste still made her moan. His velvet skin moved over the rod-like engorged tissue of his cock, and she moved her hand to stroke at the base of him where her mouth couldn't reach.

"Oh you sweet girl," Ben cooed as he carded his fingers into her hair and he watched her bob at his groin. Her mouth was wet and warm but it wasn't the moist heat that he craved and before he reached the point of no return, he lifted her to her feet, undressing her as he led her towards the fresher. She was nude by the time they entered the other room and he quickly propped her up on the vanity top, rubbing the head of his cock along her folds a few times to spread her slick before he drove into her.

She was putty in his arms as her spine arched and her head lulled back. She gripped at the sink basins for leverage, to keep her right at the edge of the counter as he sheathed himself into her fully and forcefully. Ben watched her expression float somewhere between pleasure and pain, his large hands digging into the flesh around her hips.

He loved how she had gently rode him the day before, how through the Force, through the bond, they could feel all of the emotions of the other. They exchanged love and acceptance and understanding, but there was something primal about commanding her body as she commanded his. There was something about exerting power over her, although his only intent was to give her what she needed. Balance, he thought as he continued his assault between her legs.

Ben started to grunt out, knowing that there was no way to stop his rushing climax and he reached out, pinching her nipple between the knuckles of his middle and ring fingers as he palmed her breast and pulled.

Rey cried out, arching into his touch and her inner walls clamped down, pulling his release from him with waves of constricting muscles. He pushed into her as deeply as he could and allowed her body to milk him to his resolve.

With the most tender care, Ben bathed her and took her to bed, resting his head on her chest as she stroked through his drying curls. "Why do you say that Kylo Ren was born here?" She asked out into the darkened room.

He rubbed his palm against her abdomen, "It was here that I decided that I couldn't go back…couldn't go back to my family, back to Luke…my mother. I couldn't be Ben Solo any more. So I buried him in the same spot that I unearthed my grandfather's helmet."

"Why do you let me call you Ben?"

Turning his face just slightly, he was able to place a simple kiss to her bare breast, "With you…I want to be Ben…or at least a version of him that I could have been." Pulling her in closer he pressed his fingers around her ribs, "Kylo Ren was never meant to be loved."