Summary: Luke and Rey recover, and grow closer. An unexpected reunion complicates things.

#########

They all but stumbled back to the parking lot, and made a quick trip the Urgent Care clinic a few blocks away, at Rey's insistence.

"You hit the ground with about 130 extra pounds on your chest," she said firmly as Luke gave her a hand up into his truck. "You're getting checked out."

"I didn't hit my head. I'm fine." But Rey caught the slight waver in his step. She laid her hand on his arm gently.

"Humor me? Please…"

"Fine. But you're going too."

It was a slow day at Niima Urgent Care. They were hustled in quickly – the staff was well-used to dealing with sprained ankles, broken bones, and nasty cuts from the influx of tourists during the summer, and the more adventurous locals in the Fall and Winter.

She wished that she could have gone in with him, but she wasn't family.

They let her out first, after checking her mobility range.

"Whiplash," the doctor said. "From your description of the accident, the risk of chronic symptoms is high – your head whipping back and then forward."

"I don't feel anything," said Rey, rubbing at her neck gingerly.

"Shock," he said. "You need to rest. Symptoms sometimes take awhile to manifest, but if they do, you'll need to take it easy, and if it gets bad enough physical therapy is an option. No cliff running for awhile."

He wrote her a 'scrip for three doses of codeine, and told her to stick to ibuprofen unless the pain got worse.

It turned out that Luke had bruised a rib but, luckily, he he'd fallen 'the right way,' as a rather disturbingly sharp nurse told them when he'd finally been released, after what was probably the longest thirty minutes of Rey's life.

Luke had apparently taken most of the impact on his hip and leg. They were both told, on no uncertain terms, to rest up for the rest of the weekend, and possibly into the week.

"Especially you," the nurse said, looking pointedly at Luke. "No hero-ing for at least two weeks. And you," she said to Rey, over Luke's protests. "Go easy on him."

"The hell did she mean by that?" said Rey as they headed out the sliding doors, passing a couple carrying a little girl with her arm in a sling and a lollipop in her mouth.

"Nothing, I'm sure," said Luke, turning bright red. Rey shrugged.

"Well, I'm driving," she said. "Keys?"

####

They didn't get back until late afternoon. Filling their prescriptions took a stupidly long time – Luke had been prescribed several days worth of painkillers, and the pharmacy backlog was especially nasty that day. They wound up waiting for almost an hour, Rey pretending not to notice that Luke was pretending that he wasn't in a considerable amount of pain.

She wasn't exactly in top shape herself. The damage was finally catching up to her, an ache growing in her neck and shoulders that Rey knew would likely shift from dull to stabbing in a few hours. It was, after all, pretty much the definition of 'this is really going to hurt tomorrow'.

Worse, sitting in the pharmacy waiting area with nothing to do but look at crappy magazines and think, hyperaware of Luke at her side, hiding his pain, the events of the afternoon started to swim into horrible, crystal clear focus.

She could have died. They both could have died.

And now Luke was hurt, because she hadn't been careful.

Rey couldn't stop herself from looking at him. He sat rigidly, his ribs supported by the light brace he'd been given at the clinic, his face lined with tension and fatigue. She swallowed dryly.

How do you thank someone who just saved your life?

####

They both gulped 800 mg of ibuprofen as soon as they got back to the truck, and fortunately made it home just as Rey's neck was starting to seize up. Thanks to the freight elevator, they were able to get everything upstairs and into Luke's apartment in one trip, despite their condition. Rey dropped their backpacks unceremoniously next to his couch, smacked an adhesive hot pack on the back of her neck, and flopped down onto said couch with a contented sigh, tugging Luke with her.

For awhile they just relaxed. The days were getting shorter, so golden evening light filled the far-away spaces, opening up little nooks and shapes that Rey hadn't spotted the last time she was there. Like her place, Luke's apartment was one wide open space that trapped light. However, he'd clearly made it his own. The common area was sub-divided by tall bookcases and shelving, filled with books, pictures, and odds and ends ranging from an intricately carved walking stick on the coffee table to a ten-foot tapestry hanging between two windows. Lamps of a variety of shapes and sizes were interspersed all over the space, not an electrical cord to be seen.

"Remind me to ask you how you did that," said Rey drowsily.

"Mmmph?"

"The lights."

"Says the engineer." She could feel his smile.

"It gets pretty dark in here at night, if I don't use the Close Encounters lights." Luke turned towards her and pointed at the ceiling. Rey wrinkled her nose and shifted closer. Man this couch is soft…and warm…

"I have the same ones," she said. The building still had the original electrical system installed – industrial lighting and all. The floodlights high up in the ceiling certainly did their job, but… "Way too harsh. They just make my place look…Well, it's just me anyway, but it looks emptier than it is." Empty and old and tired, too much blank space…

"Yes," said Luke. He hesitated. "I've lived here almost ten years. It took me awhile to get used to it, but…Filling the space helps."

"Just you?" Rey asked without thinking. Shit. "Ok…Please, please forget I said that," she said. "It's none of my business."

"No, don't be sorry," he said. There was a smile in his voice. "Just me. And my work. And there's more around here than most people think. I didn't really see it until I started running, but it's true."

"Thank you for showing me," said Rey quietly. "When I first moved here, I – " she swallowed. "I was trying to disappear." She shut her eyes as the emotion she'd been pushing away flooded in.

Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't -

"Hey," said Luke, sitting up. He took her hand in his. "It's all right." And carefully pulled her into a hug.

It felt like falling. Rey pressed as close as she dared, mindful of his rib, shuddering as the ice gripping her chest cracked, and she shook silently in his arms. Luke leaned back into the couch and rocked her gently, stroking her back. Rey pressed her cheek to his chest and just breathed, filling her senses with the smell of his skin and the low rhythm of his heart.

He held her until her pulse quieted, and the dry, shuddering sobs drained away.

He's so warm, Rey thought as she came back to herself. Warm and solid… She tensed, her heart stuttering as her awareness shifted from steady, human, comfort to a strong body – breath and blood and Luke – so close to her skin.

Luke's arms tightened, sensing the shift. Rey felt him draw away before he actually moved. She swallowed and wrestled down the sudden urge to cry again.

"We should probably get up," she said. "Get you settled before we pass out."

Luke nodded slowly.

"That's probably a good idea. Same thing goes for you, too," he said, looking at her sternly. "Are you still sleeping on an air mattress? That can't be good for your neck."

"Maybe…Ok, yes. But it's a really good air mattress!"

"Rey..."

"Really!"

Luke just looked at her, the corner of his mouth quirking up. Rey threw up her hands.

"Ok. Fine. It's awful. Can I stay with you?"

Rey cringed as soon as she heard the words come out of her mouth.

"I mean, this couch is practically a bed!" she said quickly, blood rushing hotly to her face. Which we are lying on. Right now. "I mean – "

"Of course – I did promise your friends that I'd keep an eye on you," said Luke with a laugh.

Rey groaned.

"Under threat of severe bodily harm," she said. She'd texted them while waiting in the pharmacy. One long phone call later they had Luke swearing to watch out for Rey, in oddly specific ways. Such as not letting her sleep on that fucking air mattress.

"Which means I'm taking the couch," said Luke.

"Absolutely not," said Rey, bouncing to her feet. "You're the one with the bruised rib." Luke rolled his eyes.

"All right, all right…"

####

She helped him into his bedroom, whistling in surprise.

"Wow, you could fit five people in this thing," she said, gesturing at the California king-sized bed in the middle of the room.

"I've never tried," he said. "Not even in the seventies." Rey snorted.

And he could…if it wasn't half-covered with notebooks, crumpled paper, and uncapped pens. A heavy laptop lay on what she assumed was Luke's space, the cooling fan wheezing faintly.

"Ok, here you go…Are you usually on this side?"

Luke hid a wince as he sat, grinning bemusedly as Rey began piling pillows against the headboard.

"Yes, right there – Oh no, watch out –"

"…Seriously?" Rey held up a half-full coffee cup that had been nestled somewhere between the laptop and a binder labeled 'First Drafts - Burn After Reading Or Else'.

"I have no idea how that got there," said Luke innocently.

"I'm sure," she said. "I'll just take that. She said to take it easy on you. So I am."

It took a couple trips to the kitchen and the living room, and a lot of direction from Luke, but Rey finally managed to sort out what she'd found. Most of it was notes and reference for his current project – half of which went in the office, which was already practically overflowing with books, and the other on the enormous desk in the living room.

Luke smiled when she found a little wheeled desk that fit right over the corner recliner.

"I was wondering where I put that," he said.

"I'm going to know your place better than you when we're done," she said, with an odd flutter in her chest.

"I work everywhere," said Luke, gesturing at the small pile of notebooks, reference, and pencils that he had insisted on keeping within arm's reach. "If I wake up with an idea, a dream, a word, and my notebooks are right here, I can get it down before I forget."

"That's good thinking," said Rey, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed. "Does that happen a lot?"

"Yes," he said, smiling ruefully. "The results tend to accumulate, as you just saw."

"You really do live for this, don't you?"

"Yes, I suppose I do," said Luke.

"Is it ok if I read one of your books?" she asked. "I checked," she said, smiling a little. "But I can't find anything under your name. Do you use a pen na - " Rey frowned, her eye caught by a book under the nightstand.

"Hey…"

It was The Lost Cove, the book that she'd bought for Finn weeks ago.

"This is you?" she asked. " 'Owen Amidala'?" There was no picture of the author, and the bio was short – just a quick paragraph about 'Owen's' writing history, and three other book titles.

"My uncle's first name, and my mother's maiden name," said Luke. "It seemed like a good idea at the time…"

"I got this for Finn right after I moved. I read a couple pages. Ok. More than a couple pages. It's…good," she said, blushing a little as she remembered just what she'd read.

"Thank you," he said. "Keep it. Really," he said, waving off her objection. "I have at least a dozen floating around here somewhere."

"Thanks," said Rey. "I've been trying to rebuild my library, after – " She couldn't get the words out. "Most of my books were…lost during the move."

"Somehow I don't think you mean they fell off the roof of your car," said Luke, watching her carefully. Rey shook her head. She couldn't meet his eyes.

"I don't want – I can't talk about it. Not yet."

"All right," said Luke. "Well…Feel free to use the shower – down the hall to the left. Have you got anything to sleep in?"

"It's, um, laundry day," said Rey. From a certain point of view. She usually slept in a camisole and panties, but that was definitely not going to work here.

"Hmm…I'll find something you can borrow." Luke stood carefully and moved toward the bureau. "There are towels in the linen closet."

"Thanks…My shower is terrible. Finn's trying to help me with it, but…Are you sure you don't want to shower first?" Rey asked. Shit, I'm babbling. Luke shook his head, pointing at the door on the other side of the bedroom while he rummaged through the drawers.

"I've got my own. Don't worry about the water pressure. Aha…" He tossed her a well-worn, oversized, gray t-shirt. Rey held it up, grinning.

"'The Alliance'?" she said.

"It's kind of a long story," said Luke.

"It's perfect," said Rey. It'll come about halfway down my thigh… "I'll, um, just go do that…"

She made a hasty retreat.

####

Rey took a quick trip across the hall to pick up some bath supplies, underwear, and a change of clothes, and then headed for Luke's bathroom, resolving to get in and out as quickly as she could. She could hear the shower going on the other side of Luke's door. I hope he's all right…

Rey had injured her ribs– bruised and broken – several times over the course of her life. People frequently underestimated just how difficult something as simple as taking off a shirt was when one side of your torso was a mess. She was still grateful to Finn for all the times he'd helped her in and out of her clothes after she'd broken three ribs in a car accident their last year of university.

She paused in the hallway, listening to the water and the faint echo of movement on the other side of the bedroom door. He'd clearly managed to get undressed without her, but movement sometimes exacerbated…

He might need some help. Her feet moved towards the door.

Rey shook herself. You're being silly. He was moving all right. Hovering won't help. And she wondered, with a twinge of guilt, if she was being entirely altruistic. Kylo always said I was too clingy…

It was just a hug.

Fortunately, Rey cut of that train of thought before it got rolling, and locked herself in the bathroom.

She folded her clothes neatly – guests did not leave messes – and stepped under the blissfully warm water. Rey sighed in contentment. Apparently the landlord gave his tenants a lot of latitude when it came to apartment modification. The tiles, for example, had definitely been installed fairly recently, and there was not a speck of rust to be seen. The lights were bright, and the air was somehow…clearer. She couldn't imagine anything with more than two legs living in the cupboards. The pipes did have the same alarming groan-squeal that hers did, though. Finn said that there wasn't all that much he could do about it – the central water system hadn't been updated since the seventies, so there were going to be odd pressure bursts, and the occasional sudden temperature fluctuation.

I should get them in here – Finn and Luke can talk shop. Rey smiled as she scrubbed a day's worth of sweat and grit out of her hair. Well, I did want them to meet Luke…I guess the universe intervened.

Rey was pretty sure that they liked him, too. She was more relieved than she could say.

####

After her shower, Rey put on Luke's shirt. It fell mid-thigh, and had that soft, comfortable, feel that only came from years of wear. It came up to her collarbone, but the collar was so stretched out that it was almost off-the-shoulder. And it was thin. Rey looked at herself in the mirror and squelched a sudden impulse to cross her arms over her chest. The shirt was loose, and still opaque, but if she stood up straight she could definitely make out the tips of her breasts.

Rey glared at herself in the mirror.

It's pajamas. It's fine. You're ok.

She gathered her things and headed downstairs. She took her time laying out blankets and a pillow on the couch, listening for the shower. After she heard it turn off, she wrapped herself carefully in an extra blanket and headed back upstairs with a glass of water and Luke's meds. Rey knocked on the door, brushed her wet hair behind her ears, and made sure that the blanket was secure, despite the edges trailing on the floor.

"Hey," she said. "Are you decent? I brought the good drugs."

"Come in," said Luke.

Rey almost dropped the glass. Luke was seated on the end of his bed, toweling off his hair. He was dressed in a long, gray, bathrobe and had clearly jumped out of the shower in a hurry – he was still dripping, and the bathrobe clung to his shoulders and chest like a second skin. And he was very obviously not wearing much under it.

She knew, from a perfectly objective standpoint, that Luke was in good shape. Hell, he gave her a run for her money almost every day of the week. His clothing didn't exactly hide it, either, but it was just a suggestion, really, of a lean runner's frame and the occasional hint of solid, spare, muscle. The robe didn't show much more – Hell, it was thicker than most of his running shirts – but the soaked material and the way the neckline was slipping open seemed to shout for her touch. There would be almost nothing at all between her hand and his skin if she just –

"Meds. Doctor's orders," she said, hovering in the doorway, willing her feet to stay where they were, dammit. Luke froze. He did the smallest of double-takes, looking at her as though he'd never seen her before. Then he set the towel down across his lap and waved her in.

"I see you do house calls," he said, in a slightly strained voice.

"Not usually," she said, sitting next to him. "Only on special occasions. Down the hatch."

"What about yours?" said Luke, eying her warily. She shook her head, tearing her eyes away from the droplet of water trailing down the deep V of his robe.

"I took more ibuprofen – I'm saving the good stuff for when it gets bad." He frowned, but took the water anyway. "I'll be fine."

Rey hesitated.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"A little," said Luke. "Thank you."

"Good," said Rey.

They looked at each other. Rey swallowed. The room suddenly seemed to small, and too hot, the bed too soft, for the blanket. She wished she could just slip it off, feel the air, cool and free, on her skin. But –

"Luke – "

"Rey – "

They both laughed.

"Good night," she said, when she knew they weren't going to trip over each other's words.

"Good night, Rey." His smile was warm, and maybe – just maybe – a little sad.

Rey walked shakily downstairs, and wondered what the hell had just happened.

####

Rey woke just after three in the morning. Her neck was throbbing, her position on the couch had pushed it into exactly the wrong angle, and her whole body was strung as tight as a piano wire. She stared into the dark, vague shapes of Luke's living room, and bit back a low sob.

Rey squeezed her eyes shut and tried to go back to sleep, but…

She gave up.

Rey stood, wrapped herself in a fuzzy orange blanket, and knocked quietly on the bedroom door.

"Luke…" she whispered into the dark. If he's asleep, I'll leave. If he's asleep, I'll leave…

"Rey? What's – Come in."

Luke flicked on the bedside lamp and sat up slightly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"What is it? What's the matter?"

"I – It's my neck," she said. She could barely get the words out. "The couch, I – Can I crash here?" she asked, her face flaming. "I don't move around much." That woke him up. He blinked with surprise, but, once again, slowly nodded. She dropped her eyes and shuffled around to the other side of the bed.

"Of course," he said. "Watch out for the – oops…" Rey smiled tremulously as she pulled a chunky notebook and pen out from under the covers.

She waited for him to turn off the light, and then dropped the blanket and climbed in. She sighed in surprised pleasure as the cramp lessened slightly, her head cradled by an enormous pillow. The mattress shifted as Luke turned towards her.

"Better?" he whispered. He sounded very far away. Rey felt suddenly awkward – there was enough room for at least three people between them.

"Yeah," she said. "Thanks." His response was quiet.

"Anytime."

####

He shook her awake around 5 am.

"Rey – Rey, it's me - " Luke shifted away as she lashed out blindly, the dark, unfamiliar room pressing in on her, reacting to the strange, heavy shape lying next to her. The ceiling swam and shifted overhead. Where -

She came back to herself when Luke turned the light on.

"What – what is it?" She sat bolt upright in bed, dripping with sweat, her shoulders shaking convulsively.

"You were having a nightmare," said Luke. "Hold on – I'll get you some water."

"I'm…Ok…" Rey whispered, and wished that she could disappear.

Luke returned a few minutes later, with a glass of water and a damp washcloth. She gulped it down, gripping the glass tight.

"Here. Sometimes this helps." Luke passed her the cloth, motioning that she should hold it to her forehead.

It did. Slowly she settled back, the panicked burn in her chest fading away. Luke turned off the light and lay carefully on his side.

"I'm sorry," Rey whispered. The dark swallowed her words.

"Don't be," came the answer. "Try to sleep…"

She dropped off surprisingly quickly.

The same could not be said for Luke.

####

Sunlight pricked at Rey's eyelids, nudging her gently awake. She was warm, unusually so, and much higher off the ground than – Oh. The room snapped into focus, and Rey realized that she wasn't alone. And she was much further away from the edge of the bed than she remembered. Definitely not on my side.

The mattress moved beneath her, and the unmistakable warm weight of a man's chest was pressed to her back. There was a sleepy rumble, and then an arm draped over her middle and drew her close. Rey stiffened, her emotions roiling. But Luke's breath was deep and even, his heart a steady rumble against her back. He was asleep.

She breathed out slowly.

This was actually –

They both jerked awake as someone pounded on the apartment door.

"What the hell – " Rey threw back the covers, disentangled herself from Luke, and looked around wildly.

Luke groaned, pain creasing his face. Rey darted to his side.

"Luke!"

"I just sat up too fast – don't worry – What time is it?"

The visitor knocked again.

"Seven twenty," said Rey, glancing at the bedside clock. "Are you expecting anyone?" Luke shook his head with a wince. "I'll just check who it is, ok? Don't move too fast."

"Wait – "

She wrapped herself in the blanket and headed downstairs.

"All right, all right, son of a bitch…" Rey rolled her eyes as the knocking intensified. She unlatched the door, wincing a bit as she heard Luke moving hurriedly about upstairs. He really needs to install a peep hole… "Hey!" She cried out in indignation as the visitor shouldered past her.

"It's about time, Uncle. You're a hard man to – Rey?"

She staggered back. The blanket hit the floor.

"Kylo?"