Part XXXVIII

After the doors close, the room falls into silence, almost to the point where they can hear their heavy breaths echoing off the polished walls. Their gaze roams over the other's face, as if they had forgotten all of their features, the cluster of beauty marks across his face or the small scar on her right cheek, the way his eyes turn the color of Chandrilan cognac when lighted just the right way and how her skin flushes under his intense survey.

Ben was the first to break their trance. "I need to touch you," he voice came out in an exhale of breath, pleading and desperate.

Rey didn't wait to give him permission as she reached up, cupping his face in her small palms and pulling his lips towards hers. His hands were warm and all-encompassing, sliding against her face, her ribs, her hips…

They had never physically been together while her friends from the other side of her life were so close. Ben had popped in and out of their bond plenty of times while Rey was on the base, many times he had been privy to the one-sided conversations with Rose. But with Poe, Connix, and Torc on the same ship, there seemed to be a static buzz between Rey and Ben with just the slight excitement of being caught.

"Missed you," Rey panted into their kiss as she gripped his wrist and seated his hand between her thighs, wordlessly begging for his touch there.

Pulling away from her lips with a smile, he cupped her sex through her pants and she moaned while rolling her hips into the heel of his palm. "I thought I had no business being involved with the furthering of your line."

He rubbed his hand between her legs and created the most wonderful friction but then he pulled away, a satisfied but playful expression his face. Rey whimpered but then narrowed her eyes at him, knowing that he was being glib and coy. As she took a step back from him, she wondered if he could take as good as he was giving.

She walked backward until she was just out of reach and could feel the edge of the dark wood table hit her rear. "Why should you be concerned with my sex life?" Rey pulled the green cowl over her head as she spoke before working at her saber holster and next to the ties of her warp tunic. "You…the Emperor of the entire galaxy could have any woman he wants…" She kicked off her boots and slid her tunic off her shoulders.

Ben felt his mouth go dry and when he swallowed it was like trying to get down a lump of sand, but he held firm, loving the little show his wife was putting on for him. He dearly needed to adjust his hardening length, but he dare not move for fear of breaking their game.

Pulling at the buttons of her trousers, Rey looked down at her toned abdomen, "I'm merely a lowly scavenger from Jakku." Pushing down, she was thankful that the pants were loose enough to easily fall in a puddle at her feet. She watched his Adam's apple bob as she started to unwrap her breast band and could have sworn she heard him let out his own whimper when he saw her rings hanging proudly between her breasts.

"What could an insignificant creature, such as myself possibly offer his Imperial Majesty?" Her forefingers slid into the waistband of her panties and they too glided effortlessly down her thighs.

With balled fists, Ben was having to almost physically restrain himself with the Force to keep from lunging towards her and he had to bite at his tongue to keep from chastising her for such self-loathing speech, reminding himself that she was just toying with him in a most delicious way. When she reached her hands back and scooted her bottom on to the table top Ben almost swayed with want and had to remember to not stand with his knees locked in his ramrod posture.

Seated on the table, she pulled one of her legs up, placing her heel on the edge of the dark wood and let her legs fall apart, spreading herself for her husband. Tilting her head innocently and running her fingers along the chain that held her rings, Rey gave him her best doe-eyed look, "Perhaps the Emperor would like to show a poor desert rat how to preserve her line in the Force…"

His cape, belt, saber included, and coat were already littering the floor by the time he got to her, his right hand cupped her face as his left hand covered her breast, his thumb reaching out and tangling with the gold that hung cooly against her sternum. Full lips sucked the mews and sighs from her throat as he basked in her perfect light.

Rey was pulling at the shirt that was tucked into his trousers, needing to feel his warm skin as it rippled over the muscles at his ribs, his chest heaved and his stomach clenched with her fiery touch. She played his body like a finely tuned instrument, stroking the pad of her thumb along each divot of his eight-pack. She moaned helplessly into their kiss at the realization that her husband was absolutely shredded.

Taking the crown from his head, Ben set it upon the table before trailing his lips down the column of her throat and savored the taste of her. He licked at her nipples, sucking and biting at the supple flash before running kisses down her trembling stomach. Rey was already a moaning and keening mess at his efforts but he needed more. "I want you to scream my name atop the very place we are fostering peace."

Ben had spoken his demanding words into the soft skin between the peaks of her hip bones and a violent shiver racked Rey's body. Before she could steady herself, his full lips were laying a breathtaking assault on her clit.

He licked her cunt until she did indeed cry out his name, along with a filthy string of profanities grunted in Basic. Cords of her slick ran down the cradle of her legs and embarrassingly stained the table top. The pale skin around his mouth was rubbed red with the intense fucking he just gave her with his lips and tongue.

While his mouth was busy bringing his wife fully into her light, his hands had been working at the straps of his boots and as he stood, he kicked out of them unceremoniously, hooking his forefingers into his socks around his claves and pulling them off in quick secession.

His bare feet flexed on the polished floor of the conference room as he looked down upon his glowing wife as she lay glistening and spent on the very table where he would watch the Resistance fall, once and for all, in the name of peace. Ben appraised her heaving breasts and the rings that rested in the divot at the base of her throat with wanting hunger.

In a sweeping move, Ben scooped Rey up off the table, tossing her easily over his left shoulder, the one that held the pockmarks from her stabbing saber blow on Starkiller, and gathered the Jedi texts in his free hand that wasn't gripping around the back of his wife's thighs.

"Ben," she squealed with a happy laugh. "Where are you taking me?"

He splayed his large hand along her creamy leg and squeezed at the lean muscle under soft skin. "I promised you a tour of the library."

Much to her chagrin, Ben walked to a door on the right side of the room and with a swooshing sound and a rush of cold air on her backside, Rey realized that they had to cross a hallway to get to the said library. Thankfully through the Force, she could tell that there weren't any other souls around, but she balked at the audacity of her husband strutting around his ship with his naked wife over his shoulder like some lust drunk barbarian.

What was even more embarrassing was that she had to cross her ankles and squeeze her thighs together a the thought of him marching her to bridge, commanding his men to 'Get out' in that deep, non-compromising tone that seemed to make her insides burn. In the abandoned command tower he would drape her before the stars and claim her on their interim flagship, much like he had in the Inflictor on Jakku.

But the room they entered was not the bustling hub of the ship of her fantasies, rather a quiet corner that she doubted many ventured into. As they crossed the threshold, dim lights came up and the same varnished wood and old book smell of Ben's office back on Coruscant overloaded her senses and for a moment she could almost believe that she was home.

Instead of laying her across another table or throwing her into one of the padded armchairs that dotted the room, Ben set her on her own feet. The carpet was plush against their gripping toes and it gave the room a softness that Rey didn't think could be achieved in a Destroyer. She watched him pad towards the far end of the room and slid the texts on to a shelf with other ancient looking books and Rey wondered what those pages contained, but she was also unapologetically distracted by the sway of Ben's shoulders and the definition of the muscles that stretched across his back.

She had ceased being bashful around Ben and stood just as confidently nude as she did draped in jewels before the Queen of Naboo. So when she walked up behind him, running her hands up his spine, she had nothing but hunger on her expression. As he turned to face her, Rey continued her trailing fingers down the planes of his abdomen as she sank to her knees.

"I suspect this is the only time you will allow me to kneel before you," Rey said with a smirk as she popped the buttons of his pant closer and slid the cool leather down his muscular thighs.

He was ready for her, his arousal had waited patiently for Ben to bring his wife to climax first and then get her into a more intimate environment before it begged for attention. "Please excuse my selfishness in this one act," he asked in a coo as he cupped her cheek but also sucked in a sharp breath as her warm hand came up to wrap around his shaft.

Reaching behind him, Ben gripped onto the bookcase at his back and let his head drift until it rested upon a higher shelf. Shifting out of his pants that were pooled around his ankles, he widened his stance so that Rey's face was more level with his needy cock. Each time he had to accommodate for her size, he was reminded just how small his little woman was and he still marveled that he didn't rip her in two each time they made love.

Her mouth was even hotter than her fist that still pumped at the base of him that wouldn't fit into the back of her throat. Rolling his head forward, Ben peeked down at her and groaned at the sight but even more he imagined Rey in an emerald velvet gown, her wedding set sparkling on her finger, her crown set her head, as she bobbed in his lap and he sat upon his throne.

In this waking dream, she would bring him to orgasm, swallowing down every drop that he gave her. She would easily right his clothing then take the seat next to him, straightening her posture and calling to the guards to let in the audience for the day as if she had just not had him a groaning mess seconds before. His Empress would give him a coy smile, wiping the last drop of him from her pink lips, lick her finger, moan at this taste before giving him a wink and turning to the dignitaries that were filling the throne room.

Coming back to the present, he gasped at her quick tempo and sincerely believed that this woman would be the death of him. Needing a warmth that he knew could only be achieved by being completely seated within her, Ben pulled back his hips, and almost felt bad for the disappointed groan that echoed out of her now empty throat. But he ducked down, lifting her up by gripping under her arms and when she wrapped her legs around his waist, he was able to adjust his arms to cradle her rear as his other hand bushed the stray hairs back from her face before capturing her lips.

Advancing forward, he walked them through a low arch and into a secluded nook off the main room of the library. As with everything other change and decision he has made since becoming Emperor, he remodeled this ship with his Empress in mind. While they were waiting for the Redemption to be completed, he wanted her to feel just as much at home on the Serenity as she did on Coruscant or on Naboo.

While lavishing her face and neck with kisses, he laid her down upon a tufted velvet chaise that was set alongside a floor to ceiling transparisteel viewport. He had envisioned walking into this room during their tour of their galaxy and seeing her sitting in this very spot reading with a backdrop of stars, even though in his eyes, she would always burn brighter than them all.

So with a galaxy of twinkling stars and the blue and white orb of Akuria as their audience, Ben made slow and tender love to his wife. He absorbed each of her gasps and mews as he rocked forward at a steady pace. Rey's knees gripped around his hips attempting to draw him closer and her fingernails dug into his flanks as she felt the muscles of his back flex with each thrust.

Pulling her in close, Ben rested his forehead against hers and the bond was open, their signatures weaving together and unexpectedly, he felt even more connected to Rey in this moment. Before in the bond, their presence in the Force would come together, but they were still two very distinct entities. Now, as she started to beg for another release and while his pleasure started to coil in response to her body's needy pull for his spend, there seemed to be another part of their signatures, parts of both of their essences that was solidified in the between, completely, beautifully, and perfectly gray.

Balance, Ben thought to himself, the future the Force had promised him all those months ago on Ahch-To, and he passed his unadulterated affection through the bond to Rey and with a few more rolling thrust of his hips she was clamping down and falling apart below him. Riding her waves, he grunted against her lips and he followed her into bliss.

They held each other for a long while, watching the stars and Ben pointed out Graviex Med, Horuz, Kesmere, and even Dantooine in the western sky. He almost thought about sending a comm up to the bridge and having them turn the ship so they could watch Coruscant pulse brilliantly from within the Core.

With a sorrowful sigh, Rey started to sit up, "Poe is starting to get worried." She could feel his unease through the Force, he was starting to question why she had not met back up with them yet.

Ben hummed against her skin at the base of her throat and fingered the rings that hung between her breast. "Is he worried that I have gone back on my word and thrown you in a cell?"

She giggled, "That and you seducing me to the Darkside."

He kissed her upturned lips and met her gaze. "And are my persuasion techniques effective?" As he asked, Ben reached between them, running his fingers through her dripping folds, gathering his seed and pushing it back inside of her where it belonged.

Slightly sore from his relentless desire for her, Rey moaned at the ache of the stretch but also the pang of lust that yearned to be filled by him again. She almost wanted to be taken prisoner, if only it meant that she would never have to leave him, but they were so close to everything they had been working for, sacrificing for, that she knew she could withstand twenty-five more days of separation.

So she just mewed and rolled her hips so that his fingers slid deeper inside her before kissing his lips. "Ben, we can't," her words were in direct contrast to what her body was asking for, but as she felt another wave of worry through the Force she knew that their time together was over. "We have to go before they come looking for me."

Ben wanted to say to hell with all of them, let them come witness the awe-inspiring love that they had found and nurtured into an Empire of amity and prosperity. Let them see how brightly he could make Rey's light shine and how he bowed only to her, how she was the guiding force of all the change in the galaxy and she, Empress of the People, was who would ensure peace everlasting.

But reluctantly Ben stood from the chaise and pulled her along with him, back through the arch and into the main library. Their clothing from the conference room was neatly folded and laid upon a table top and Rey was slightly mortified at the thought of one of the guards, or Marker forbid, a Knight having to pick up and fold her knickers.

Nonetheless, they both dressed and Rey looked at Ben's crown that was laid out next to their sabers before picking it up and turning it in her hands. "Why the thorns?" She asked, pushing the pad of her thumb against one of the obsidian spikes.

"To remind myself to never get comfortable wearing it. To remember my past sins, the pain I have caused, and the pain those acts inflict in return. It is a crown of atonement, not of power."

Rey nodded in understanding, knowing Ben's mind almost as well as she knew her own, and she wondered if each thorn amounted to a past dark deed, for there were so many thorns and her heart hurt for the burden of Snoke's sinister teachings that would forever tarnish her husband's heart. "I wish I could absolve you of your sins," she said feeling the full weight of the crown on her palms.

"You have healed me in more ways than I could ever express," he stroked her cheek and as he spoke, Ben sank down to kneel in front of her.

"Emperor," Rey addressed as she ran her fingers through his love mussed hair before placing the crown of thorns back upon his head.

"Empress," Ben looked up at her with such love and admiration.

Reaching down and gripping his left hand as he stood, Rey kissed his palm, "Husband."

Moving his left hand away from her lips, Ben pressed his large palm over the rings that now hung securely under her breast band and reaching out with the Force, he made his kyber pulse. "Wife," he spoke softly before pressing his worn lips to hers.

Their kiss was fleeting and he pressed his forehead to hers once more before taking her hand, "I have one more thing to show you."

Rey followed him out of the library and back into the conference room where there were two large pieces of parchment laid out upon the table. "What are these?"

Ben touched one of the documents, which was written on hand-pressed paper and scripted in black and gold ink. "We were wed before and in the Force but by signing this it will be seen as valid by law as well."

Nodding, Rey remembered Rose talking about filing a marriage license on Coruscant while she and Finn were on their honeymoon. "And this one?" She reached out to touch the other paper and studied the writing, almost wondered if Ben had penned them himself.

"Your Imperial Declaration, that names you Empress of the New Order, my equal in law and rule." He watched her look back down on the document, glancing over the words written in his own stylized calligraphy, and he swallowed in anticipation. Rey had taken her vows in the First Jedi Temple on Ahch-To, but this declaration would solidify her place in history as his Empress, the tamer of Kylo Ren, and the designer of peace.

Rey had never had to sign her name to anything before, and she would never admit it, but she had secretly been practicing her signature so that she wouldn't look like an illiterate fool when meeting with councils and committees as Empress. So without a second thought, Rey picked up the fountain pen that rested next to the documents and first signed the marriage certificate, then the acknowledgment of her intent to rule through her inner Light, with benevolence, and at her Emperor's side.

Walking up behind her, Ben wrapped his arms around her middle and rested his chin on the top of her head, and the moment he looked down at the documents he was glad for the support for he felt as if his knees were going to buckle out from under him.

There, in black ink, as solid as she was under his embrace, was the perfectly scripted name of her choice.

Rey Solo-Ren

They never came to a conclusion of the name she would take, as Ben didn't care as long as she was his for the rest of their days, but he was overrun with emotion as he saw what she had selected. He would never tire of being surprised or humbled by this woman, and he wanted to weep at her acceptance of both sides of his soul. She was laying claim to both the Light and Dark sides of him, his past and his present, and in this, agreeing to be his future.

Turning her in his arms he couldn't help but kiss her again, "I love you more than the air that sustains my unworthy existence."

Rey was ready to chastise him for ever thinking that he was undeserving of this life with her…when there was a knock at the door and Alister poked his head into the room. "Sorry for the intrusion, but the Resistance leaders are ready to depart and are eager to see that the Empress is safe."

Looking up at her husband, her other half in life and in the Force, Rey cupped his right cheek, "The next time we meet here it will be to sign a treaty for peace and to start our lives together."

"For eternity and beyond," Ben whispered down upon her light and hopeful expression as he planted one more kiss upon her lips before they had to right themselves for the public opinion that they were amicable foes from different sides of the war and of the Force.

Walking down the halls of the Serenity towards Hangar B, Ben couldn't help himself and kept ghosting his bare fingers along the small of her back, or tracing the heel of her palm. Rey playfully swatted at him, whispering for him to behave himself, which of course he did not, and in spite of her attempts to maintain her neutral ambivalence towards him, he pulled her into a deserted hallway just before they entered the hangar and pressed her to the wall, kissing her senseless.

"You are bold, Emperor," she spoke in panting breaths.

Pressing his hips into her lower abdomen he showed her just how bold he was willing to be and he drew in the scent of her before groaning, "Give me a reason to not call in your bounty and keep you here with me."

Rey lightly laughed and stroked at his hair, careful to avoid his crown. "Because you love me and know that taking me captive would just start this war all over again."

"Why are you always right?" He practically pouted like a giant six-foot-two toddler, which Rey found oddly endearing.

"Because my decision making doesn't take place in my pants," she quips back before palming his growing erection.

Growling while taking her wrists in his large hand, he pinned her arms above her head and cupped her jaw, "Death of me," he breathed out the accusation.

"And what a glorious passing into the Force it would be," she smirked back then received another passion filled kiss.

"Emperor, Empress," Arlan's soft voice came from the end of the hall and gained both of their attention. "General Dameron is threatening to come and retrieve Rey himself."

"I'd like to see him try," Ben snorted before quickly kissing Rey once more and then releasing her from his hold. Only when his guard turned back down the hall did he adjust the issue in his pants that he would have to resolve once Rey was off.

When they entered the hangar, Poe practically stomped over to them, "Rey…what the hell? Where have you been?"

Rolling her eyes, Rey attempted to exhibit aloof mannerisms. "In the library. Ben has a wonderful collection of books that catalog the Jedi going back millennia."

Poe gave her an incredulous and narrow-eyed look, "I didn't know that books could make someone look so flush."

Maker, Rey could only imagine what she looked like, brought to orgasm with Ben's skillful mouth and then softly fucked into a sweaty and keeling mess, before being cooed sweet nothings and then pinned to a wall for good measure. She slid a glance to her husband and he just gave her the Solo smirk and a raised eyebrow while sending, 'Saber or sex' across the bond.

Her mouth fell into an 'O' shape and then she blurted out, "Saber!"

Now Poe was looking at her as if she had gone mad, "Sabers…"

"Yes," Rey said, nodding her head to get her point across. "It had been so long since I was able to properly duel with someone, so the Emperor graciously offered his services."

One of the Knights standing off to the side coughed behind his mask and Rey knew it was Cale trying to stifle a laugh at her poor excuses. Rey almost wished she had her own mask to hide her flaming cheeks behind.

'You could always use the Force to ebb his doubt,' Ben silently spoke to her through the Force.

Rey's scornful gaze cut from Cale to Ben, and she decided to stop digger herself in deeper and turned to her husband, "Thank you, Emperor, for the educational conversation and critique on my forms." She was tempted to bow, even give the slightest incline of her head, but remained steadfast.

"The pleasure was all mine," Ren replied, his lips twitching at his own joke and unlike his wife, the Emperor quirked his head to the side and lowed his gaze to the floor for just a moment in the only public acknowledgment he could provide to show his admiration towards the beautiful woman standing before him.

Outwardly, the only indication that it was physically and emotionally paining her to leave was how her brows pinched together for just a moment before she turned and walked onto her shuttle without a glance back.

Ben reaches out and gave her a final caress through the Force which she returned and they both prayed for a bond opening later that night. But the Emperor still had a suspicious potential ally to deal with. "General," he addressed before holding out his hand. Slightly reluctant, Poe accepted the handshake.

"Thank you for helping to bring a peaceful resolution to this conflict." Ben placed his left palm on top of their clasped hands, perhaps smugly showing off his wedding band again before releasing his grasp on the Resistance General. "I will have my officers send over a draft of the treaty within the week for you to look over and request any revisions. We will meet back here in three weeks time to sign. It will be broadcasted over holo so the entire galaxy will know that peace has finally been made a reality."

Poe was still not completely convinced that this wasn't some kind of Darksided ploy, so he took a half step forward, effectively invading the Emperor's personal space, "Why are you doing this Ren…really?"

Ben's expression held no ill intent and he almost felt light at being able to relieve Dameron of any remaining doubts. "Once I was freed of both my Masters, I became only a slave to the Force, 'and my wife' he spoke the last part within his mind. "I only exist to appease the Force, as it works within and through me. It is calling for peace and I am at its mercy to obey."

Kylo's explanation almost made Poe's head hurt and he mused that he would never entirely understand all this Force mumbo jumbo, but as Leia had always instilled in him, and perhaps also in her son, actions speak louder than words, and Ren was showing in spades that he and the galaxy were ready for change.

"And if the Force tells you to go Dark again?" Poe inquired.

The Emperor smile…actually smiled down at the General before flicking his gaze to the shuttle, "There will always be an incorrigible little Jedi there to beat me back into my place."

Something in Poe's brain clicked, why Ren never put a kill order on Rey, why he swore to never harm her, why Kylo respected her and almost seemed to…admire her. Rey wasn't just the beacon of hope the for Resistance, for peace…she was the neutralizing presence in the Force that would keep Ren's Darkness at bay.

The realization was comically evident across Poe's expression as he quickly shifted his gaze from the shuttle where Rey was starting the pre-flight checks to the still smirking face of Kylo Ren. Bending slightly to accommodate for the half a foot that Ren had on the General, Kylo held his finger to his lips and mockingly made a shushing sound. "I suggest you keep this to yourself General…wouldn't want the entire galaxy knowing my weakness for there is still evil out there that would wish to see us plagued by an endless war."

His mother's warning still prickled at the back of Ben's mind as he watched Dameron dumbly nod before couching, straightening his posture and bowing his head. "I will review the treaty with my leadership and be back here in three weeks time."

Kylo nodded and watched Poe turn and take one step towards the shuttle before he rounded again, "One more thing…" Poe paced into Ren's personal space again and spoke lowly. "If you go Dark again and Rey has to come to kick your ass and you hurt even a hair on her head…"

Ben wanted to posture up on Poe, sneer down on him and ask what the tiny man with a large ego was going to do about it, but he would play nice, knowing that once Poe served out whatever sentence Rey saw fit for the General's war crimes, that she would still want to be part of Poe's life. So he relented, "If she ever has the opportunity to, as you so graciously put it, kick my ass, I ardently hope that it is because she allows me to help her train in the Force and not in a battle between Light and Dark."

Poe gave him one last narrow-eyed look before he took a half step back, "I'm glad we understand each other."

"Categorically," Ren replied with a partial smirk, enjoying putting his Core education to good use in confusing the poor General.

But Poe wore his own smirk as he tipped his chin up at Ren, walking backward as he spoke, "I just hope your wife isn't the jealous type Solo, cause you were never good at hiding your emotions."

Ben couldn't even be upset that his affection for Rey was apparently written across his face and he begrudgingly gave a point to Dameron for the astute observation. It was moments like this that made him remember a time, long ago, when he used to consider Poe a friend.

AN: I hope to wrap this up in the next two or three chapters, but it almost hurts my heart to bring this story to a close, I have become quite fond of it. Brainstorming and planning for the next installment has already started but it might be slower coming out since my Muse has demanded I go back to working on FOoB.

So I guess what I want to say is, no matter what happens in the next few chapters, I want to thank each and every one of you for coming along for this ride with me and giving so much love and support. I write because I love the relationship between Rey and Ben, but also because you all have encouraged me along the way.