Finn and Poe were growing desperate. Rey had now been missing for a full day, and although both of them were increasingly losing hope, neither had been able to bring themselves to contact Luke or Leia, to admit that they'd lost Rey.

"It's time. We have to send for Luke and the others," Finn said, his voice unsteady.

Poe rubbed his eyes frustratedly; neither of them had slept through the night. "Not yet. Contacting them would mean that the entire Star Fleet would be sent over, that could open up a whole new barrel of problems out here. War, even. We keep looking."

"If we don't find her by the end of the day, we're sending for Luke," Finn declared, eyeing Poe angrily.

Poe sighed. "Okay. But we'll find her before then. We will. She may have just gotten lost."

"For an entire day? Do you hear yourself?"

"Listen, Finn, you don't think I'm just as desperate to find her as you are?" Poe exclaimed, rubbing his head, disgruntled. He straightened himself, looking seriously now at his friend. "Finn, I love her."

Finn stared back at him, dumbfounded. "What—you—you what?" He stammered.

"I've known ever since we dropped her and Luke off on that isolated little planet. I hated knowing I probably wouldn't see her again for a long time."

Finn blinked, his heart quickening. How could he not have realized this? He'd seen the way Poe looked at Rey, admired her, just as he himself always did. I've loved her a lot longer than you, Finn thought bitterly, remembering how he'd admired Rey's skill in piloting the Millennium Falcon away from pursuing Tie fighters on Jakku, how grieved he'd been when he'd seen Kylo Ren carrying her through the battle on Takodana to his ship.

Poe noticed Finn's dejected expression. "I know you miss her too, Buddy. But we have to stay positive."

"Are we done here?" The large Trianii grumbled, dropping his cigarette and grinding it into the dirt with his large boot. He folded his large muscular arms as leaned against his ancient-looking landspeeder. For even more Galactic credits, the Trianii, called Tojor, had offered to continue transporting them to various towns and villages in their search for Rey.

Finn nodded somberly, and he and Poe climbed into the back of the speeder, Trojor steering them swiftly down a busy market road through the colorful forest.

...

Rey shook awake in the fading evening light, bolting upright on the couch as she made sense of her surroundings, memories flooding back to her of what had taken place earlier that day. She rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"You're awake."

Rey nearly jumped off of the couch. She looked up with wide eyes and saw Kylo standing behind the counter in the dimly-lit kitchen, watching her intently.

"Would you quit scaring me?" Rey bursted. She studied her adversary-turned-rescuer: he wore the same simple dark clothing as earlier, but now had a thin cloak of some kind around his shoulders, as if he'd been outside. Rey still couldn't bring herself to believe what had happened over the past few days.

Ren broke his gaze from her and turned around to a small fridge, taking out a large liquid canister. He began pouring the dark liquid into a small glass.

After replacing the canister to the fridge, he picked up the glass and carried it over to her. Rey shrunk back against the couch instinctively, watching him anxiously. He stopped a few feet away from her, probably sensing her apprehension. He extended his long arm, holding the cup out to her. "Drink this."

Rey's face twisted as she looked at the opaque cup. "No," she said forcefully, glaring back up at him.

"You need it to heal," he said calmly, urging the cup towards her.

She looked up with him with distrustful eyes. What game was he playing?

Ren sighed quietly, bringing the cup to his own mouth, taking a small sip. "It's not poisoned," he stated, extended it to her again. Rey hesitantly grasped the cup, their fingers grazing momentarily. She looked down at the dark blue liquid, studying it for a few moments. She looked back up to see Ren watching her expectantly, his eyebrows raising. She realized he wasn't going to leave until she drank it.

She slowly sipped at the drink, eyeing Kylo with enmity as she did so. The cold liquid had a strong, sickly-sweet flavor. She handed the empty cup back to him, only half-empty. She scrunched her face. "That's horrible."

A wry smile formed momentarily on Kylo's mouth as he looked down at the cup. Rey was surprised; she didn't think him capable of smiling.

He turned and walked back into the kitchen, placing the cup into the sink silently. Rey observed him attentively from the couch as one would a wild animal. He rinsed the cup out with water. It was difficult for Rey to grasp the idea that someone as fierce as he would still do such mundane tasks.

Kylo glanced across at her as he set the cup onto a towel to dry. He moved to the side of the counter, gesturing to a small pile of clothes on the edge of the counter. "You can use these," he said simply. She stared at him suspiciously. "Not that they'll fit," he added. She watched his face for any sign of a trick, but he merely turned around and left the room.

Rey remained on the couch for about a half hour more, her eyes moving between the empty archway and the pile of clothes on the countertop. She wanted so badly to change into clean clothes, but she also wanted to avoid potentially running into Kylo.

Eventually, boredom and curiosity getting the best of her, Rey limped her way to the kitchen, taking the clothes and tiptoeing silently through the foyer. She listened carefully, but heard no movement. She turned down the hallway that led to her temporary bedroom, and saw that all of the hallway doors were still closed.

Rey continued to tiptoe clumsily to her room, her sore ankles making it difficult to do so. Once in her room she quickly but silently shut the door, staring at it for a few moments, waiting for Kylo Ren to come bursting through it in a fit of rage, but coming back to her rational senses she decided that probably wasn't going to happen.

Rey began to undress herself, staring at Ren's grey t-shirt and soft trousers he'd lent her. She then remembered the washroom, and entered it, her spirits lifting as she saw a large bathtub. She nervously turned on the faucet, warm water pouring out into the basin. Rey painstakingly peeled the gauze wraps off of her stinging ankles and wrists, but was surprised to find that the wounds weren't as bad as she had thought they were going to look. Climbing into the tub, relief overcame her as the warm water soothed her wounds, the dirt and sweat soaking off of her skin.

…

After having sat in the tub for nearly an hour, Rey toweled off and began slipping on her new clothes. They felt baggy, loose. She walked into the washroom, looking at her reflection in the small mirror. The clothes were way too big, almost comically so. The shirt hung off of her shoulders, the large pants nearly falling off of her hips. Rey decided to roll the top of the pants twice to keep them on her, and she also rolled up the bottom of the pant legs to keep them from dragging underneath her bare feet.

Her hair still damp, Rey toured around the nearly barren bedroom several times, bored. Outside the tiny window she only saw thick foliage. Rey's curiousity growing, she quietly opened her bedroom door, peering around it. The hallway was empty.

Rey crept through the silent hallway and foyer into the kitchen area, stopping abruptly near the counter as she spotted Kylo sitting on the couch across from her, looking down at some tablet computer in his lap. He raised his head and looked up at her expectantly.

Rey had the fleeting instinct to just go back to her bedroom as Kylo continued to stare at her, but she instead held onto the edge of the counter, as if to keep herself in place.

"What do you want?" Kylo asked flatly, still gripping the tablet in his lap.

"Why did you help me?" Rey asked, frowning. Her voice sounded less stable than she'd wanted it to.

Annoyance flashed across Kylo's face. Rey waited a several silent moments but he didn't speak, so she decided to try breaking into his thoughts. Yet again, he was quick to block her; to Rey, their powers felt quite evenly matched.

"Don't even try," Kylo snapped. He quickly stood, and Rey straightened herself defiantly.

"Where are we?" She prodded.

He was quick to respond this time. "That's not for you to know."

Rey stood her ground, glaring across the room at him. She watched his forehead twitch as she tried again to break into his mind. "Tell me."

He took a large step in her direction, his body tensing. "I don't have to let you stay here. I can force you out any time I like," he hissed.

Rey dropped her efforts from pressing into his mind, suddenly losing energy. Her mind began to spin, dizziness setting upon her. She leaned forward into the counter to stable herself, letting her head hang downwards. She rubbed a hand against her now throbbing forehead, staring down at the countertop, wishing she could use the Force to relieve her pain.

"You're having withdrawals from the drugs, still," Kylo observed.

Withdrawals? Rey thought, images of syringes filled with green liquid flashing back into her mind. She shuddered, her body suddenly feeling cold.

She glanced distrustfully at Kylo as he moved in her direction, making his way around her to the fridge. She felt hyper-aware of his presence as he passed her. Kylo again pulled the dark liquid canister out of the fridge.

"No," Rey protested, shaking her head. "I'm not going to drink that."

"If you want to relieve your pain, you will," he stated, setting a cup of the blue liquid on the counter before her.

"What...what did they inject into me?" She asked, staring at the cup in front of her.

Kylo moved to the other side of the counter across from her, seemingly to create distance between them. "A drug that takes away your senses, induces drowsiness. A common one, in these parts. But very potent."

Rey looked across at him, noticing his rather mild expression. His eyebrows raised slightly, his dark eyes flickering from her to the cup, signaling her to drink. She sighed as she lifted the cup, grimacing as the awful cold liquid slid down her throat.

"Drink that when you are in pain," Kylo said. "You will heal much faster. But do not drink too much at one time, it will also induce great drowsiness."

After forcing herself to finish the cup, Rey set it down onto the counter loudly, staring at it. "Poe, Finn. They probably think I'm dead," she realized despairingly.

"Do not worry about them," Kylo said, but his voice was less than reassuring.

Rey blinked slowly across at Kylo, her lids lowering over her eyes as tiredness began to overcome her. She scowled at him one last time as she turned around and made her way back to the bedroom to nap.