"Life as a Dyad"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 9

The next day, the entire Solo family slept until well past noon. In fact, it was only the holocom beeping that woke Rey up. She answered in a half-asleep state to find that it was Limdin asking about Gavin, but he seemed satisfied once Rey told him that Gavin was staying with them and immediately hung up.

Rey yawned as she forced herself to a sitting position, trying to ignore how her bones cracked, figuring that Limdin might have only just gotten up as well, seeing as how it was the weekend. Though her own body was still calling for sleep, she pushed stray hairs out of her face as she looked down at her husband, who hadn't stirred. A strand of hair had gotten into his mouth, which she gently pushed out, careful not to wake him. The wrinkles that had started to pull at his face seemed to smooth out a little when he slept, almost making him look like he was thirty again.

But she only got a few moments to admire her husband, since the holocom beeped once again. This time Finn's hologram popped out, which perked up Rey's mood a bit. "Hey Finn," she said. "How are you and Poe doing?"

"We're fine," said Finn in a panicked tone, "but are you doing all right? I just saw the news!"

"The what?"

"Is it true? You were attacked last night?"

Rey couldn't breathe for a few seconds. "It was on the news?" she finally managed to choke out.

"Yeah," said Finn, blinking at her as if trying to assess her condition. "Some guy named Cole Harman from Hosnian Prime, lost his parents and home in the planet's destruction, he was a kid at the time and only escaped it himself because he was visiting his grandparents. He attacked you last night?"

"Cole Harman," Rey repeated. For some reason learning the person's name made her stomach drop, as if he became more real when he had a name. "He did threaten us last night, but no one was hurt."

Finn swallowed, staring at Rey as if he wanted to hug her. "Would it be all right if Poe and I came over? Just, you know, to make sure you're doing all right? We could even bring lunch if you haven't had lunch yet."

"I'll talk to Ben about it," said Rey. "Could you call back in about five minutes?"

"Of course." Finn forced a smile before hanging up.

Once Finn hung up, Rey reluctantly shook Ben awake. "Ben," she whispered, "wake up, I have something to tell you."

. . .

"Uncle Finn! Uncle Poe!"

Even in his twenties, Gavin still thought of the generals as his uncles and addressed them as such. He also made sure to hug them every time he saw them and they made sure to squeeze him in their big warm uncle hugs. That was one thing he hoped would never change no matter how old he got.

"Hey buddy," said Poe, grinning as he pulled out of the hug. "How's life with roomies going?"

"It's going," said Gavin. "Is it weird if this still feels more like home than my apartment?"

"I'd say you're lucky," said Poe, running a hand through his graying hair. "I mean, I first left home cause of complicated circumstances."

"Okay, okay," said Finn, patting his husband's shoulder, "don't bore him with the Spice Runners story again."

Gavin snickered as BB-8 rolled in from behind Poe, beeping an excited hello. "Hey, BB-8." He bent down and ran his hand over the little droid's dome. "I bet D-O would like to see you."

BB-8 beeped in anticipation before rolling off in search of his little droid friend while Gavin turned his attention back to his uncles. "Mom and Dad are in the kitchen," he said.

Both Finn and Poe nodded, their expressions suddenly grim.

. . .

Ben could barely keep his sandwich down with how his stomach was jumping, and that wasn't made any easier by the generals entering the kitchen. Though Rey immediately jumped up to embrace them both, Ben remained seated, focusing on his lunch. He was pretty sure that the generals no longer despised him like they once did, but he still wasn't their "friend," either. Poe, especially, had been scarred by the way Kylo Ren treated him and Ben doubted those scars would ever fully heal.

And speaking of Poe, now he was sliding into a chair next to Ben, giving him an awkward look. "So . . ." he said as if he didn't know how to start a conversation, ". . . rough night?"

"You might say that," said Ben.

"Are you, you know, doing okay?"

Ben shrugged. "I guess so, but now that it's been on the news, I might have to retract that statement soon."

"Yeah, I'm real sorry about that."

"But I guess we should've expected this after the police got involved and all." Ben let out a long sigh. "It's probably only a matter of time before this happens again."

"It probably is," said Finn as he slid into the seat next to Poe, followed by Rey and Gavin, "which is why Poe and I have been talking about putting you in a protection program."

"A . . . protection program?" Ben's gaze went from Rey to Gavin and back again - they both had uncertain expressions. "You mean send me away to an undisclosed location and give me a new identity?"

Finn nodded. "I know, it doesn't sound great, but it might be the best option after what happened."

"It might keep Rey and Gavin safe if I were away from them," Ben mused out loud, though his heart was screaming as he did so.

"No!" Rey practically shouted. "Ben, if you go into this protection program, I'm going into it with you."

"What?"

"You heard me," said Rey, that familiar fire in her eyes. "I didn't wait twenty years for you to be released only to get separated from you forever."

"We'll still see each other when the Force links us," Ben protested, though as he said it he could already tell that Rey wouldn't accept it. "You can't just toss away your life for me!"

"Were you satisfied with the Force linking us when you were in prison? No, I want us to be together, and if that means I change my name and move to a distant planet with you, then so be it."

"And what about the Force school?" Ben argued. "What about Gavin?"

"I could go too," said Gavin. "All of us in exile together might not be so bad."

"This is crazy!" Ben shouted, gripping his head. "The only reason I'd want to run away would be to protect you two - that doesn't work if you both throw away your lives to come with me!"

Finn and Poe glanced at each other as if silently discussing how smart this was. "Well," Poe said, "if you want to stay here, then we can help protect you and help you work your way into being accepted by society, maybe."

"How?" asked Ben.

"Well, maybe we could help you get a job," said Finn.

Rey smiled at her husband. "You could work in the shop."

Ben rumpled his mouth. "Isn't the whole point of a job supposed to be bringing money into the household? Doesn't it defeat the purpose if I'm getting a paycheck from my own wife?"

"I could talk to my boss," offered Gavin. "We could probably always use another cashier or stocker."

Ben's eyes lowered to his still-unfinished sandwich, imagining customers glaring when they saw Kylo Ren working at the store. "I don't know," he said in a low voice. "I don't know."