Chapter 2

Rey wandered into the kitchen, adjusting her nightgown and yawning heavily. As she turned to the kitchen counter and prepared making breakfast, she suddenly heard a loud and drawn-out howl.

"RARRRRR!"

Rey jumped about a foot in the air and instinctively reached for her lightsaber that, at any other time, would have been clipped right to her belt. Except it wasn't there. And it wasn't a fearsome monster, or even a playful Chewbacca, that had terrorized her. It was her nine-year-old son, cracking up at the family table over the startled face his mother made.

Rey sighed, her breathing and heart rate returning to normal, as she frowned at the young boy, her hands on her hips. "Ani..."

"Oh, come on, Mom!"Anakin Solo cackled. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

Rey just shook her head and returned her focus to cooking breakfast. "I really shouldn't have you play with Chewbacca. He's not the most... consistent influence..."

"Who's not the most consistent influence?"Ben Solo hummed, as he now strolled in from outside, five-year-old Padme on his arm. He wrapped an arm around his wife's waist from behind.

Rey turned around in his embrace and smiled up at him impishly. "You."

Ben just smirked. "You forget, dear, that we share a Force Bond. I know you were talking about Chewie."

"Hmmm," Rey hummed, pecking his lips lightly. "And I know that you need to discipline your son."

Rey awoke from the dream in some halfway land between contentment and suddenness, as she now felt her fiancé sink into the bed they already shared beside her. Normally, they would wait until after the wedding, but in the years that they had been together, neither had enjoyed sleeping alone. The nightmares were too unforgiving. Rey buried her face back into the pillow and willed herself back into sleep, just so she could again dream about her and Ben's children... their children...

The very next morning, Rey and Ben departed on their journey aboard the Millennium Falcon. Their first stop was the most obvious: Jakku, Rey's home world. The plains of sand, as far as the eye could see, sucked Rey and Ben's legs deep into their grip. The sand got everywhere it could reach - into their clothes, onto their skin. Having grown up in such a desolate environment, Rey was used to the discomfort. But poor Ben was itching and scratching everywhere the sand invaded. Even worse, he was wearing black, so he absorbed all the heat from the sun.

It was a relief when the couple finally reached Niima Outpost, where Rey had once made her living. Rey marched right up to Unkar Plutt's stall and looked the old dealer dead in the eye.

"What are you doing back here, Jedi?" Unkar glowered at her.

Rey did not flinch. "I need you to answer one simple question: who were the people who sold me to you? My parents. What were their names?"

Unkar shrugged. "Why do you need to know? You're marrying him, ain't you?" And he gestured at Ben. "It's all over the Holonet."

Ben now inserted himself into the conversation. "Who were they? Tell us," he entreated. When Unkar did not provide an answer forthwith, Ben felt his temper evaporate faster than the erosion of a fuse. Seizing the sleazy dealer by the throat, he ignited his red lightsaber and pointed it right at Unkar's chin. "TELL US NOW!"

"Ben," Rey's soothing call of his name calmed him the way nothing else could, causing all the muscles in Ben's body to relax. Yet he still did not lower the saber, which he could see was now having the desired effect on Unkar Plutt.

"All right, I'll tell you! Her mother was a woman who went by the name of Kira. And her husband - Rey's father - was a junk trader known as Dli-Mon Kenobi."