"I will protect you both," Ben insisted. He was relieved to know the truth. But he had a new worry. His father and General Hux hated each other, even before his mother became a prisoner of the Order. Ben was worried on what Kylo would do to Rey once the results were read.
The droid took Tessa's DNA sample. She gazed at her husband and said to his mind,
"If she is mine, I want her here with us. I've lost so much time!" The tears brimmed in her eyes.
"You can't force her to stay, Tessa," Kylo reminded her.
"I can't, but you can. You are Supreme Leader, after all."
It was only a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity passed before the droid came back with the test results. They were given to Kylo Ren. He read them, glanced at Rey, then looked at his wife. He managed a smile before stating,
"Rey Dameron is your daughter."
Tessa was shocked by the news. Her baby girl was alive!
Rey was mortified. She tried running out of the room, but Ben stood in her way.
"Let me go!" she screamed.
"I can't!" Ben told her, feelings the emotions of everyone in the room.
"Please stay," Tessa pleaded with her daughter.
"No! You are not my mother!"
"Rey, calm down," Poe begged, to no avail.
"The test says otherwise. I know you are angry..." Tessa tried to reason with Rey.
"Of course I'm angry! You tried to kill my father!" Rey snapped back.
"The man that you call Father ordered the attack on Corellia, putting my life, as well as yours, in danger!"
"He protected me from the bastard that was my biological father!"
Tessa was about to approach Rey, but Kylo stopped her. He turned Poe and asked,
"How did you get Rey?"
"I was in the woods, when I saw Hux with a blaster. I also saw a baby, lying on a tree stump. I thought he was going to kill her!" Poe began to explain, his eyes watery. "So I shot him multiple times. He warned me to keep the baby safe from her mother." He glared at Tessa, and added,
"Now I know why!"
"How dare you!" Tessa growled. "You have no right to judge me! You kept my daughter from me for sixteen years! Do you know what it is like, having a pain that never goes away?"
"I do," Poe sharply replied back. "It is the pain I feel every time I think about Rey, who sacrificed her life to save myself and countless others!"
"That is not how she died," Ben softly interjected. "She died giving birth to me."
Poe gave the boy a look of sympathy. He swallowed his throat and told him,
"I am sorry. I did not know."
"Save us your pity, Dameron! You still kept me away from my daughter!" Tessa hissed angrily.
"Stop it!" Rey yelled back. "Let go of your hate. It was Hux's fault we were separated, not my father's!"
"ENOUGH!" Kylo shouted. "Ben, I want you to take Rey and Poe to the gallery, to get something to eat."
"Kylo, he will try to help them escape!" Tessa panicked.
"He won't. Right, Ben?"
"Yes, Dad," Ben muttered, saddened that his parents knew of his plan.
"Follow me," the boy said to Rey and Poe. He led them to the gallery, and ordered food for them. They sat down, and Ben began to eat.
"Please eat," he told them, when he noticed they were not touching their food. Rey realized why he was eating with them. Ben was not who she had thought he would be. She picked up her fork and start eating.
"Dad, it's okay. The food is not poisoned," Rey reassured her father. She sensed his worry, but smiled when he ate his food.
"I can't hear their conversation. They are using the Force to block me out," Ben admitted.
"Oh Maker!" Rey moaned sorrowfully.
"Rey, it will be all right. At least for you," Poe stated.
"Dad, how can you say that? If they kill you..."
"Then I will die, knowing that you are safe."
"I won't be safe!"
"Yes, you will. Because he will protect you. Isn't that right, Ben?'
He was amused to see the boy blush in embarrassment.
"I may not be Force sensitive, but I do remember being sixteen," Poe continued. "You like her, don't you?"
"Dad!" Rey gasped, mortified that her father would say that.
"I do," Ben confessed, his hazel eyes focused on Rey. "I'm sorry, Rey. This is all my fault."
"How is this your fault?" she wondered. She was still trying to process that Ben had romantic feelings for her.
"If I had not run away, and flown to Ahch-to..."
"Don't blame yourself, Ben. This is my fault. I was running away, because I wanted to find out the truth about my mother. Now I wish I hadn't!"
Rey stood and walked away weeping. Poe cleared his throat and said to Ben,
"Go to her."
"But she..." he stammered nervously.
"Go." Ben nodded his head. He walked over to where Rey was standing. It hurt him to see her in pain. He gently touched her arm. She looked at him, strangely comforted by his presence.
"Don't be afraid," she whispered, as Ben wiped the tears from her face. "I feel the same way, too."
Ben smiled. Despite the situation, Rey liked him.
"I promise, I will do everything to make sure both you and your father are safe," he vowed, as he found her hand. "Let's go back to the table, before your father starts worrying."
A few minutes later, they were instructed by a Stormtrooper to meet Kylo and Tessa in Ben's private quarters.
"Why?" Ben questioned the soldier, who just walked away.
"Dad, why are we meeting you in my quarters?" Ben called out to his father through the Force.
"You will see," Kylo coyly responded.
"Mom?" Tessa did not answer him.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Ben thought to himself.
They entered Ben's quarters. Kylo and Tessa were there, holding hands. Rey noticed that the Empress had been crying.
"Please have a seat," Kylo instructed. They sat on a couch. Tessa sat on a recliner, gazing at the daughter she thought she would never get to see.
"We have discussed what to do with your father," Kylo began, focusing his attention on Rey. He felt compassion for her. The situation she was in was no fault of her own.
"You love him, and you don't want to be separated from him. But my wife..." Kylo paused, turning to face Tessa. "She never got a chance to hold you, to be the mother to you as she was to Ben."
He glanced at Poe and told him,
"Therefore, you are to remain on the Finalizer, along with Rey."