When Kylo returned, I didn't go to the hangar to greet him. There were so many questions, the conversation with Aplek weighing heavily on me, and the hangar wasn't the place to discuss it. But when he sent me an invitation to dinner, I accepted, letting Sara dress me in a cobalt colored strapless gown, and pin my hair back on one side with a sapphire and diamond encrusted silver comb. I felt the familiar flutter of my heart when I walked into his private dining room, and his eyes met mine.

He wasn't in his finery, just black slacks, and a white shirt, the first few buttons undone, and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I could see the admiration on his face as his gaze swept over me.

"Sara picked out the dress." I offered.

"It looks gorgeous on you." He said, pulling out my chair for me. "And it's my favorite color."

I blushed a bit, and took my seat, watching as he sat across from me, the tiny table between us barely big enough for the two plates sitting in front of us.

I removed the cloche that covered my plate, and gasped, the spices hitting my nose.

It was braised shaak roast, sautéed leafy greens and mushrooms on a bed of pasta, my favorite dish from Naboo.

I looked up at Kylo to find him grinning like a fool as he uncorked a bottle of Domaine de la Maison sur le Lac, the specialty house wine from my grandfather's estate.

"How did you get this?" I asked in a hoarse whisper.

"I stopped on the way home." He said, filling my glass. "I also got you more tea."

My eyes stung and I blinked the tears away.

Kylo froze. "Did I do something wrong?"

I shook my head, swallowing the lump in my throat. "No, it's just…" I never imagined, not in my wildest dreams, that I'd be married to someone who would go out of their way to get my favorite things from my home planet. "Thank you."

He covered my glass with his hand. "Well, don't cry in it."

I laughed, bringing my napkin up to dab my eyes, and he took his hand away, smiling warmly at me.

Easy. This was so easy, being with him, laughing with him.

He picked up his fork and took a bite, nodding as he chewed.

"Good, right?" I also took a bite. It was exactly what I'd grown up with and I sighed as the flavors danced on my tongue.

He took a drink from his wine glass. "Your grandfather sends his regards."

"Yeah?" I asked. "Was he nice to you?"

"Like, creepily nice." Kylo said with a nod. "And, then, just creepy."

I took another bite. "Let me guess," I thought for a moment while I chewed. "He asked if I was to your-" I raised a suggestive eyebrow. "Satisfaction."

He nodded again. "Yeap."

I rolled my eyes. "So creepy."

"Creepy as fuck." He agreed, mouth full.

Silence fell as I took a drink of wine and put my glass down, my attention going to my dinner. "What did you say?" I asked, as casually as possible.

"There it is!" He laughed. "I knew that question was coming!"

A blush blazed across my cheeks and I covered my face with my hands, hiding it.

"No, no, no." He said, motioning with his fork. "That's quite an interesting shade of red you've turned, I want to see!"

I lowered my hands to scowl at him and he laughed again. "I didn't know what to say, so I just told him the truth."

I nearly choked on my wine. "The truth?" I repeated, my eyebrows pulling together.

"Not the whole truth." He amended. "Just, you know, that I am happy...with you and your….marital performance." He huffed out another laugh, and I did, too.

"Good to know that my marital performance is satisfactory." I said.

He nodded. "Best wife ever."

My face fell as I remembered my conversation with Ap'lek.

Kylo noticed my change in mood immediately. "What's wrong?"

I sighed. "Did Ap'lek tell you that we spoke?"

His brow furrowed. "Ap'lek?"

I nodded.

"No." He took a bite. "What did you speak about?"

I decided to come right out with it. "He showed me the day you became Supreme Leader."

He paused mid-bite, and lowered his fork, looking up at me, his face unreadable. "Leave us." He said, and there was a shuffle as the servants filed out of the room. "He showed you?" He asked, as soon as the door closed.

"Yes."

A slow nod. "And you want to know why I killed him?"

I shook my head. "No. Ap'lek told me….about your mother."

Pain flashed in his eyes, but unlike every other scrap of emotion that I'd seen from him, he didn't immediately force it away. Typically, with the only exception of our first night on Bespin, he wore a stone cold mask of indifference. It was how he was able to be verbally attacked, and sit there, only falling apart after in his own room. But, now?

Now, his eyes held so much grief and despair it made my own chest ache.

"Im sorry." I said. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, he was right to tell you." His mouth turned down, and he pushed his fingers through his hair. "Does it make you feel differently about me?"

"No." I told him, honestly. "I'm just concerned."

His mouth tightened and he blinked a few times. "Concerned that it'll happen again if I lose control?"

My voice wobbled when I asked, "Has that happened? Other than the once?"

He swallowed, looking away, and his voice was hoarse when he said, "Sometimes, I...dream about the moments before I….when I saw…." The plates on the table clattered as the room shook. He gritted his teeth together, and they stopped. "So, it's happened a couple of times when I'm asleep but, when I wake up, it stops."

"Has it happened when you had someone with you?" I asked.

He looked up at me, his forehead crinkled. "Someone in bed with me?"

I nodded.

"No. I…" He shifted in his seat. "Bespin was the first time I've ever slept next to someone."

"Ever?"

"It makes me vulnerable in a way I'm not comfortable with." He shrugged. "Well, wasn't comfortable with, until you."

"Me?"

He nodded, but said nothing.

I smiled at his admission, then looked down at my plate, my forgotten dinner. "I'm concerned because you and Ap'lek believe that I have just as much power as you do, and what happens if I can't control it?"

A silent moment passed while he considered. "We could ignore the possibility that your power is most likely greater than mine, and wait for it to surface before we worry about it." Another shrug. "Or, we could train."

I laughed once at his nonchalance. "Well, don't sound too excited."

"It's not my decision." He put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. "It's yours."

"And you don't care either way?"

His face clouded. "It's not that I don't care. I care about you a great deal, and I care about what you do, and what you want, and what you enjoy." He rubbed his chin with his hand. "I wish you would talk to me more about the things you think I dont care about."

I cocked my head to the side. "Like what?"

"You want an instance of something I wish you would talk to me about?"

"I would love an instance."

He lifted an eyebrow. "And, you'll answer?"

"If you give me an instance, I'll answer." I promised.

He put his elbow on the table top, and extended a hand to me, his pinky up.

I glared at him. "Really? A pinky promise?"

He shrugged. "Only way to know you're serious."

I rolled my eyes and looped my pinky around his and he squeezed it with his own, not letting go. "Why have you started reading smut, and why do you feel the need to hide it from me?" He asked.

The unexpected question hit me so hard that I flinched, not knowing what to do with my face, my body, or my hand, which was still suspended in the air by his pinkie around mine.

He let my finger go when he saw my reaction. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." His chair creaked as he leaned back. "I release you from the bonds of the pinkie oath."

"Is that what we're calling it now?" I asked. "The Pinkie Oath?"

He picked up his wine glass and drained it, then grabbed the bottle to fill it again.

"I wanted to know what married couples do in the bedroom." I admitted, and he froze, bottle still up, though the wine stopped pouring. "Because what the ladies on Naboo told me is never going to happen between us, and I wanted to know what would."

There. The truth.

He slowly put the bottle down, and kept his eyes down. "And, why did you feel the need to hide it?"

My cheeks burned. "Because I was embarrassed of how much I don't know."

He met my gaze. "I'm already aware of how much you don't know." He said, his voice softer than I'd ever heard it. "You don't need to be embarrassed. Not with me." His eyes were full of earnestness. "Do you have questions?"

"I, well," I figetted under the table. "I haven't actually gotten to the smut, yet. They've just kissed."

"Will you ask me if you have question?"

I nodded, and he seemed content with the answer. "Actually." I said, and he looked up. "I do have a question."

His eyebrows rose as he waited.

"Ap'lek told me that our marriage contract will be voided if I'm not pregnant in the next few months." I said. "Is this true?"

He nodded tightly, "Yes."

So, Ap'lek had only given me the truth. Which meant that Kylo had known, but kept it from me. "And, that wasn't information that you thought I deserved to know?"

"I always assumed that you didn't want to be here, and that you would want to go home. So, I tgought we could just wait it out, and then when the officials got sick of waiting, they'd release you from the contract." He explained. "All we had to do was get through a few months to a year, keeping up appearances that we were actively trying to get pregnant, and then that would be that. But," he shook his head. "Everything changed."

Yes, everything had changed. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with him any more than he was expecting to fall in love with me. Even if we weren't there quiet yet, being so ensnared by the other was not something either one of us had anticipated.

"And, on Bespin," he said, "When you choose to stay with me, I knew that this wasn't just a contract anymore. And, I wanted it."

"Wanted what?" I asked.

His eyes focused on me, vulnerability swirling in those russet orbs. "I've already told you that I want a marriage with you. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this work, if that's something that you want." His voice changed as if the words tasted sour. "But, the contract is still between us. And, the officials can annul our marriage if you're not pregnant by our first wedding anniversary. That's why I went to Kessel." He admitted. "To try to find a way around it."

"Did you?"

He shook his head, looking defeated. "No."

I leaned back in my seat, processing everything he said. He wanted to be married to me, but to stay married, I had to be pregnant before our first wedding anniversary. "And if this is not something that I want?"

His eyebrows pulled together. "Im not going to force anything on you. I'm not going to hold you here against your will. Those things haven't changed."

So, I could wait it out and let the officials annul our marriage. He'd let me, if that's what I wanted. "I know that I want to stay with you. I know that I want to stay married to you. I just…" I figetted again. "Everything I'm feeling for you is just so new, and it's exciting and intense and terrifying, because I've never felt like this about anyone. Ever."

He nodded. He understood. He'd never felt this way for anyone else, either. According to Aplek, at least, and he'd been right about everything else.

"I just need time." I told him. I wasn't ready to dive into anything else, yet.

"Whatever you need." He said, his eyes holding that earnestness again.

I sat up and retrieved my wine glass, letting him fill it from the bottle. "Do you have another instance?" I asked. "Of what you want me to talk to you about?"

"I want to know everything." He said, corking the bottle. "I want to know about your childhood friends, and your favorite ice cream and what scars you have and how you got them."

"Everything?" I repeated.

He nodded. "Everything."

I took a sip of my wine. "A question for a question, then? You answer one, I answer one?"

He thought for a moment. "That's fair."

And that's how we occupied the rest of the night.