Three days later…

A voice crackled through Ben's simcap headset, "Sir, a rebel cruiser has just dropped out of hyperspace and is requesting permission to send over a shuttle."

"Send them to Bay 94. I'll be there shortly." Ben replied then keyed up to tell Rey that her friends had arrived.

The pair climbed out of their simulators and made for the specified shuttle bay. "Do you suppose we have time for a quick shower?" Rey asked, pulling at the front of her flight suit.

"I can meet them if you want to get freshened up." He leaned down and kissed her. "Just don't leave me alone with these people for too long."

"Maybe you should freshen up, too." She suggested, wrinkling her nose at him. They'd been in the simcaps for nearly eight hours not counting a short lunch break halfway through and the flight suits were designed to not breathe. "They can wait a few minutes."

He sniffed at her collar. "Maybe you're right." He teased. "If you smell like that, I don't even want to know what I smell like."

She made a face and chuffed, "You smell like a wet Wookiee."

"Oh, well, they might not notice it then." He teased.

She slapped him on the arm and laughed, "You're terrible!"

He did a very good impression of the Wookiee sound for 'yes' and she looked at him in amused astonishment. "What?" He grinned. "I did grow up with a Wookiee around all the time."

"I'm having a hard time picturing Chewbacca teaching you to do that." She shook her head.

"He didn't." He winked at her. "I learned it to annoy him."

"You *wanted* to annoy Chewie?" She looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"I was a very bored child." He said with a shrug. "Getting a rise out of Chewie was the highlight of my day sometimes."

"What else can you say?" She was eaten up with curiousity now.

"Mostly just swear words…" He said evasively.

They reached their quarters while she was still pestering him to tell her the Wookiee swear words he knew. "I don't believe you." She said as they entered the refresher and shucked off their flight suits. "Chewie is a gentleman, I've never heard him use foul language."

"That's because you never shaved the hair off of one side of his face," He grinned devilishly. "Or braided his arms together while he was sleeping."

"You didn't!" She gasped, then started laughing so hard she could barely breathe as the images flashed through her mind.

Ten minutes later they emerged from their room, clean, dry, and still smiling. The rebel shuttle was just landing as they entered Bay 94. The ramp dropped down and Poe was the first to emerge, followed closely by Finn, C3PO, R2-D2, BB-8, and bringing up the rear was Chewbacca, himself.

The humor fled from them both as Chewie shoved his way past the others with a furious growl and lifted Ben off the floor by the throat. He roared into Ben's face and shook him roughly.

Rey recovered from her shock very quickly and grabbed the light saber off of Ben's belt. She ignited it as she chopped downward over the Wookiee's forearms. The hissing blade came to a halt so close to Chewie's fur that tiny puffs of smoke rose around the blade and the smell of burning hair wafted through the air.

"Either you remove them or I will." Her voice was full of deadly menace and her eyes as hard as stone.

Chewie barked and growled a few words at her.

"I know he did," She said in a tone that invited no further arguements. "Now turn him loose."

Chewie dropped Ben and roared his frustration.

Ben hit the floor in a heap, choking and gagging as air rushed back into his lungs.

Chewie let out a litany of barks, growls, roars and purrs that Rey didn't quite understand. "You can say anything you want to, but don't touch him again." She said, moving herself to stand between them, Ben's saber pointed at Chewie's throat.

Chewie was obviously not ready to give up just yet as he pressed his case in the low rolling growls and purrs of his language, gesturing toward Ben.

"He was different then." Rey said, her body as tense as a bowstring. "Snoke poisoned his mind against everyone who loved him, but he isn't under Snoke's influence, anymore. He killed him and turned away from the Dark side."

Ben lurched to his feet, holding his throat. "I'm sorry Chewie," He croaked. "I really am." He tasted blood in the back of his mouth and swallowed painfully to try to clear it away. "If I could take it back, I would." His throat hurt so much it was hard to speak.

Chewie roared at him.

"I know." Ben rasped. "I know you loved him!" Tears slipped over his lower lids. "Believe me, I hate what I did just as much as you do!"

Chewie made a mournful sound.

"I miss him, too." Ben's damaged windpipe was making speech more difficult with every word but he knew he had to make things as right as possible with his father's lifelong companion. He reached out and took the light saber from Rey's hand extinguished the blade and put it away.

"I'm not the same person I was then. You of all people, know that he never gave up hope that I'd come back from the Dark side." His voice was fading fast into a hoarse whisper. "Well, I have and now I'm doing everything I can to make up for the things I've done." Ben's voice gave out then.

"It's true." Rey spoke up for him. "He's not Kylo Ren anymore. He's not the same person who killed Han. That person no longer exists." She placed a hand on Chewie's forearm. "He's Ben Solo, again. The same person who braided your arms together and learned to swear in your language and… and shaved half your face, as a child." Her eyes pleaded with him to believe her.

Chewie made a garbled sound.

Rey relaxed visibly. "He did!"

Chewie gurggled, purred, barked and growled for several seconds.

Rey smiled and shot an amused look at Ben. "No, he didn't mention that!"

Chewie gave a series of short rolling growls.

"Yeah, it sounds like he was quite a little terror." She agreed as everybody else around them breathed a sigh of relief. "Why don't you and I go see if we can find a quiet place to chat and you can tell me all about what he was like as a kid." Rey led Chewie off while the others watched in wide eyed amazement. "Were you in dire need of an ammo pack when you discovered that he'd replaced them all with sweeties?"

Chewie's garbled reply drifted back to the others as the duo disappeared into the corridor.

"She really has a way with murderous savages, huh?" Finn mused. Shaking his head in bemusement he glanced at the others and frowned. "What?"

Poe was gaping at him, Ben was glaring at him, C3PO did a double take between him and Ben, R2 made a whaaa sound and BB-8 bleeped out electronic wee wooh.

"Well, I meant… uhh, mad… angry… Chewie! I was talking about Chewbacca!" A flustered Finn sputtered and tried to back-pedal. Seeing Ben's scowl deepen he threw his hands up and cried out in frustration, "I wasn't talking about you!"

Poe clapped Finn on the shoulder and said with a rueful grin, "You're really not helping yourself at all here, buddy." He looked at Ben and said jokingly, "You might want to add a few classes on social graces to your stormtrooper program."

That didn't manage to get the scowl off Ben's face either.

Poe sighed and shook his head, "Come on, we got work to do."