Things would just be easier for you if you gave up."
*
Rey drifted in and out of consciousness for a while. She wasn't sure how long, but when she was awake, she felt more nauseous than anything. She closed her eyes again, her head feeling like it was about to burst. "Ah, you're awake again." He said. "You sleep like you're dead by the way."
"Why didn't you just let me die?"
"Oh good, you're being dramatic too, you must be getting better." Rey raised her arm, making a choking motion towards Ben, she didn't actually go through with it though. "You only proved my point further."
"Fuck you,"
"Thanks for the offer but no thanks. You have three broken ribs and I don't think that'd be best."
"Fuck off,"
"Do you need to pee?"Yes.
"No,"
"Are you sure about that?"
"I'm going to kill everyone you love and then laugh when you cry about it."
"I'll take that as a yes, you need to pee."
"Fine,"
"I have a bedpan," He handed it to her. "I'll leave. Trust me. Cleaning that out is a lot grosser than going in it." Rey's face burned, but he left and she really had to go. She had no other choice but then to wrestle with her pants and then relieve herself. She did her best to cover up without aggravating her injuries and Ben came back in to take the bedpan.
She was granted another fifteen minutes of peace before he came back in. "You look great," He said.
"To be honest, at this point killing me would have been kinder."
"Sorry to disappoint." He said. "But you should know by now that I'm not going to kill you." The more he said that the angrier she got. This was so stupid. If she could get up herself she would probably kill him. "How about this," He said, "you drop the act of being the angry Empress who could kill me with one look and just be friendly. It's a lot easier."
*
"Smile more," Plutt hissed at her. "He will never take you if you scowl like that, it makes you look ugly. Faking being friendly is easier."
"Then why don't you take your own advice and fake being friendly?" Rey said. "It'll make you less ugly." It was raining that night. The storm seemed to rage and pour even harder when she said that.
"You'll be paying for that." He told her. She knew she would.
*
"Right," Rey said, "so you just want me to fake get along with you?"
"Hell, maybe you'll actually learn to get along with me." He told her, "Believe it or not all Jedis are prudish or moralistic assholes. Some of us are pretty cool."
If rolling her eyes didn't hurt so much Rey would do it. "That sounded lamer than you could imagine." Ben shrugged. It was the start of something different, where Rey and Ben coexisted in a bit of peaceful annoyance together. It was like that for a while.He tended to her wounds and talked and she just tuned him out for the time being. She drifted in and out of sleep, nightmares permeating her mind the entire time. "Are you okay?" Ben finally asked her after a while. She wasn't sure how much time had passed. "Do you need something?"
She didn't say anything for the longest time, her cheeks burning. "I'm fine," She said.
"You've been having nightmares."
"I always have nightmares,"
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Why would I talk to you?"
"Because you don't have anyone else to talk to. Like I said, there's no one else here for you to talk to." Rey wished that he would just let her be. She just needed to get healed up and signal for the Order to come and take her. "It might be better than you think it is."
She sighed after a long pause. "I'm used to having nightmares," She told him. "It's like my life has been one long nightmare and I haven't woken up yet." He didn't say anything for once. He just let her talk. "I don't really know what to tell you other than I have nightmares about people from my past. That's all I can really say."
"Are you sure? You can talk to me, I won't judge you."
"That's all I want to tell you." Rey's voice was tight and hoarse. "Can you just leave me alone?"
"Fine." He said. "I'll leave you alone."
Rey didn't know how long it took for broken ribs to heal, especially with the help of the Force, but she wished that they would heal faster. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and she hated staying still. She needed to move. She needed it so she didn't go insane. "Are you okay?" Ben asked.
She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. "Is it hot in here to you?" She asked him. Her voice was more pitiful than she would have liked it to be.
"I'll get you a washcloth." He told her. "Are you nauseous?"
"No, it's just hot."
"Right, you might have a fever. Hold on."
This was the first time that Rey didn't have the urge to kill Ben. He brought her a cool wet wash cloth and stayed quiet, before giving her some more medicine and telling her that it would bring down her fever. "Thank you." She thought he would make some annoying remark about how she was finally being a little bit nicer to him. He didn't. He just smiled a little bit. It annoyed her that she actually liked that smile.
It was a lot nicer of a smile than anything she had seen in a long time. "Is that helping?" He asked her after a while.
"Yeah," She said. "Thanks." She took a deep breath in and drifted in and out of sleep again. But this time she didn't have nightmares. Her sleep was just black. There was nothing else there. Maybe this was the start of something new. Maybe they would actually get along.