A note from your humble author: This is certainly a slow paced chapter compared to the last one, but I figured you guys could use a breather and there's some important dialog that needs happen to set up the next chapters.

It was a beautiful dream. He dreamed that she had come to rescue him. He could see her face; he could touch her one last time. And then he died, for surly he had been swallowed into the black oblivion, the all consuming darkness that awaited him. But perhaps death is only the continuation of a dream, because he felt warmth on his skin, he heard wind in the trees. He opened his eyes and was in an unfamiliar room. The window was open and sunlight streamed in. He was in a bed and beside him – was her.

She appeared to be sleeping curled up in an uncomfortable chair beside his bed. She looked so beautiful in the warm sunlight.

Was this death? Was this heaven?

All he knew was that he wanted to reach out and feel if she was really there, but the moment he moved, even though it was just a tiny bit, he could instantly tell that his body was insufferably weak and filled with pain. He let out an involuntary groan.

She heard him move and groan and it stirred her awake. She immediately jumped up and went to his bedside.

"Don't move, you'll only make yourself worse," she ordered.

He regarded her with weary eyes and confusion. "Am I dead?" he asked.

"Not quite," she answered, with a small smile. "I don't want you to freak out right now. It's not good for you, but you might as well know that you're currently in the medical ward of the resistance." She watched as a panicky look crossed over his face, and she could feel him tense up through the bond. "I said don't! You're okay; no one here will harm you. You're safe. Almost no one here even knows who you really are. Just your mother, Master Luke, Chewie, and Maz Kanata…and the pilot Poe Dameron…and my friend Finn, you fought him once, I don't know if you remember…and…me."

"Just? I think you just listed half the resistance!" he groaned and closed his eyes as his slight outburst brought on a migraine.

She frowned. She could sense the light in him was stronger than ever, but there was still a lot of volatile darkness in him as well. The last they had been able to speak to each other he was desperate to escape both the First Order and the Resistance. "I wasn't the only one who came for you. I couldn't have done it on my own. They were the ones who helped me…who helped you."

He gave a bitter laugh. "Why would they want to help me?"

"Because I told them the truth," she confessed, preparing herself for what would undoubtedly make him angry.

"YOU WHAT?" he shouted, but quickly regretted it with another groan of agony.

"Ben, please," she pleaded as she reached for his hand above the covers. She was relieved when he did not pull away from her. "I know you think the worst of everyone here, but all those years…they didn't know what was happening to you. They didn't understand, but even then, your mother and uncles never stopped loving you."

He stared into the ceiling trying to be remote. "I killed him…I killed my own father. I've slaughtered so many. I have no right to be here," he said as his eyes grew red with unshed tears.

"They know. They know all that, and it still didn't stop them from putting together a rescue mission to bring you back. They've missed you so much. The only reason they're not here in this room right now is because they figured you weren't ready to deal with family just yet. You did nearly die. Master Luke and I had to use the force to heal you just to get you this far."

"Luke Skywalker is here?" he dared to ask, still being far from ready to begin calling him 'Uncle Luke' again.

She nodded her head in affirmation. "They're all here. Nobody else has to know that you were Kylo Ren. And you don't have to talk to anyone else if you don't want to, at least not yet."

"How long have I been here?"

"Two and a half days. You've had several operations, two bacta treatments, and had to be given three blood transfusions. You damn near used up all the medics blood reserves. Lucky for you we have the same blood type," she said pulling up her sleeve to reveal a bandage over the crook of her elbow.

"Rey? You gave your blood for me?" he said in a choked voice, this time not being able to stop some of the tears that escaped his eyes.

"You nearly gave your life for me," she said as she leaned over and gently wiped a tear away with her thumb. She looked into his glistening dark eyes and leaned down to gently press her lips to this. She felt his hand reach up to cup her face and suddenly their gentle kiss had changed to one of hungry passion.

She could feel him through the bond, how he ached for her, and she couldn't deny how much she wanted him too. But when he nearly yanked her into the bed, she forced herself to pull back.

"Oh, no, you're not near well enough," she chided.

"Oh, I feel great," he argued, and suddenly she noticed that he was pitching a tent.

She could feel a hot red blush spread over her face and her ears felt like they were burning. "Oh, um," she mumbled as she tried to divert her eyes. "Perhaps you should take it easy until the rest of you catches up. It's going to be at least another couple days before you're well enough to leave the medic ward."

"And then what, join the resistance?" he asked, and she could feel him growing bitter again.

"You're not a prisoner here. There are no locks on your door, no armed guards, just a handful of people who care about you. Please don't throw it all away again. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. If you don't want to be a part of the resistance, fine, don't be. I brought you here to save your life, because I believe that you can be saved. I want to help you, because I can."

"No one can help me," he argued.

"You can feel me through the bond; you know I can't lie to you, just like you can't lie to me. You, above all people, should know that I live with both darkness and light within me. In fact you were probably the first person who knew that it was there, probably even before myself. I have been to the first Jedi temple, except it's not really a Jedi temple at all, it's a place where light and dark come together. I experienced something there that has shown me the way, the way to balance, the safe path between good and evil. You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but I hope you will chose to stay and let me help you. I can show you the Grey way. I can help you calm the storm within you. Please, won't you give me a chance?"

"Just being near you helps calm the storm," he said as he gripped her hand. "I don't know if what you say is true, but I sense that at least you believe it, and I want to believe you. I'm probably a fool, but I want to believe everything you say. I couldn't leave without you anyway. I've felt it since the moment I met you. The force wants us to be together. Don't you feel it too?"

"Yes, I feel it too."

Leia sat in her desk chair, but instead of working on paperwork she just stared out the window lost in a happy memory.

"Come in!" she called, when she sensed Rey approach her door.

Rey walked in with a smile. She couldn't help but think that if the general had only been trained in the force, what a powerful Jedi she could have been.

"How is he?" the general asked.

"He's awake. He'll still need a little time," she replied.

The general was not detoured by this news. She knew she would not be getting her son back all in one day, but just the fact that he was here, alive, and safe, made her the happiest she had been in years. "I expect he'll be a little slow to come around. He gets that stubbornness from me."

"I offered him my help. I sense his doubt, but he seems at least willing to let me try and help him."

"Can he really become like you, a Grey Jedi?"

"He doesn't believe it yet, he's got a long hard road ahead of him. He's still probably more dark than light. There's still a lot of anger and resentment in him. He will always carry wounds with him that will never heal, such as Han." Rey hated bringing up Han in front of the general, but she also knew that sometimes there were just things that needed to be said.

"My son was in the grip of darkness when that happened. A darkness that I shouldn't have let happen to begin with."

"The silver light taught me to let go of the past and try to focus on the present. You were a good mother to him. No one could have known what he was dealing with at that time. I often wish I had known such a love in my own life. Just a fraction of what he had known would have quenched the thirst within my soul. You have time to be there for him still."

"Rey, I want you to know how grateful I am to you for bringing home my son. I know you had help, but it was you who managed to finally get through to him where no one else could. He needs you. One doesn't need the force to sense that much. And I am so very glad that you are taking this upon yourself. But I would also understand if you changed your mind. My son can be a real jackass sometimes, and he gets that from his father," she said with a smirk.

"I noticed," she replied and they shared a moment of brief laughter.

Eventually the conversation shifted to recent resistance activities. It had been over a week since the battle of Jakku Canyon and much had been going on while Rey had been wrapped up in dealing with Ben. Many of the slaves that had been freed on Jakku were suddenly left with nowhere to go, most of them having lost their livelihood when the First Order reclaimed all of the Empire's old scrapped ships. Many would stay and remain moisture farmers or entrepreneurs of some sort, but a lot had a very good reason to hate the First Order. After the battle the Resistance had received a surge of new recruits, almost all of whom were recently freed from slavery on Jakku and had nothing else to go back to.

"I'm pleased for any addition to our numbers, and I have no doubt that someone from Jakku is a force to be reckoned with," she said as she gave Rey a knowing smile. "The only problem is, that's a lot of extra mouths to feed, and the First Order has been retaliating by attacking our supplies. Our last two shipments have either been destroyed or confiscated. We're going to have to do something about this blockade before we can hope to rally ourselves enough to make our next move on Endor, which is still suffering under the hand of the First Order."

"What will you do?"

"We have another shipment that should be coming in soon. It's taking a roundabout route to get here in the hopes of throwing off the First Order. The only way they should be able to find it and intercept is if there's a First Order spy leaking our information. If they stop this shipment, we'll know for sure. After that, we'd have to root out the spy."

"I wish I could be of more help. I have a feeling I'm about to have my hands full."

"You've already got a pretty important mission. Since Luke's been back he's been an immense help. You should probably go back and check on Ben before he mean mugs all my medical staff."

A note from your humble author: What to do with a grumpy horny stubborn jackass? You'll have to read the next chapter to find out! There may be some lemon ahead ::wrings hands and grins evily:: MWAHAHAHAHA

Thank you to everyone who has left feedback for me. Please do continue to review. I really love the motivation you guys give me and it makes me so so happy. So please feeeeeed meeee!