He didn't come.

Rey stayed home all day, waiting for him to show up at her door, to apologize and tell her that he needed her. But he didn't come.

The more she thought about it, the more she sat there, staring at the wall separating them, the angrier she got. It wasn't that she didn't understand what he was doing, because she did. He thought he was being noble, pushing her away for her own good. Like she was some damsel who needed to be told what was good for her.

The part that hurt was that he obviously thought she would just move on, that she would give up the second he decided to push her away for her own good. She thought that he knew her better than that, her resilience and her stubbornness. That she cared about him too much to just walk away.

Then again, she hadn't said it back.

It ate away at her all day. The way that he had closed his eyes before admitting that he loved her, the quiet relief in his voice, like it had been a weight on his chest that he had finally gotten off. How he had just stared at her after, probably waiting for her to say it back.

And she hadn't.

She had never told someone that she loved them, not romantically. Those words meant something. Commitment, expectations, a future together. All things that her time in the foster system had taught her not to count on. They were things she hadn't really let herself think about having.

Rey knew that she felt more strongly about Kylo than she ever had with someone before. He understood her so well, sometimes it felt like he could see into her soul. And he found all the light parts and made them shine a little brighter. He made her better and she tried to do the same for him. When they met, she could see the conflict in him, the light in his soul against the darkness of his past. She tried to help him nurture that light, so that he could be happy and free. She wanted that for him more than anything.

But was that love? How was she supposed to know? Maybe this feeling wore off in a few weeks. Maybe it was just infatuation. Was there some sort of general rule for how you can tell if you're in love?

She worried about it all day, old insecurities blooming back to life. When she had been young, the agent taking her to her new family would always smile and tell her not to be nervous, her new family would love her. And again and again, they would mistreat or disregard her. Eventually, as a child, she had just decided that she was some broken, unlovable thing.

BB came and crawled into her lap, curling up into a warm orange ball. He stared at her knowingly, sensing her distress and trying to offer her comfort. For some reason, it brought tears to her eyes, his gentle sweetness and desire to comfort her.

She hadn't cried all day. Anger and frustration had burned more brightly than anything else and she refused to shed a single tear because of Snoke's actions and what he had brought about.

Unable to stand sitting around and waiting anymore, Rey went to bed early. So much had happened today, and was still happening. She tried to not let it sink in, that Kylo hadn't come. But laying there in the dark, ears straining for any sound from his apartment, a little voice in her whispered that maybe he'd wanted to break up with her for a while. Maybe this had been too good of an opportunity to ignore. Maybe he didn't love her.

She knew, she knew it wasn't true.

But there, in the dark, she couldn't seem to quiet that little voice.

...

In the morning, she woke up a few minutes before her alarm was supposed to go off. She couldn't recall when she had finally fallen asleep last night but Kylo hadn't woken her up. She hadn't heard a sound from his apartment all night.

Staring at the wall, worry set in. Perhaps he just hadn't gone to sleep at all, knowing that his nightmares would be worse than ever. But... a scary thought crossed her mind before she could stop it. What if he had left? Packed up his things and just vanished in the night? Or worse yet, what if he had hurt himself?

She shook her head, trying to banish such dark thoughts. Pacing around her bedroom, she kept glancing at the key on her nightstand. The key to Kylo's apartment. No, she couldn't. Even now, she couldn't invade his space, not unless she knew something was wrong.

Finally, she snatched up her phone from the nightstand, calling Finn.

"Yeah?" He answered, sounding sleepy, like she'd woken him up.

"I need you to do me a favor," she blurted, feeling a trickle of panic wiggling its way into her chest. She sat down on the floor firmly, breathing deep. There was no need to worry, she was probably just overreacting.

Finn sounded more alert now, probably picking up on the anxiety in her voice. "Of course, what's up?"

"I need you to call Kylo for me."

Silence for a second. "What do you mean? Why can't you call him yourself? Or just walk over to his apartment?"

Rey sighed heavily, leaning her head back against the wall, phone pressed to her ear. "We had a- well, no, he kind of broke up with me."

"He what?!" Finn sounded really awake now.

"I don't have time to explain," she said before he could start ranting. "I just need you to call him and make sure he's okay. He might not answer the phone if it's me. Just act like you don't know what's going on, tell him you wanted to meet up for coffee and talk or something."

He grumbled for a second. "What's the point of this? Am I trying to actually take him out?"

Rey resisted the urge to scream. "No. I just need to know if he's okay. Please, Finn. Just see if he answers."

She could tell that he was holding back a hundred questions. But he just huffed out that he would call her back in a minute and hung up.

Jiggling her leg, she closed her eyes and tried to breathe, to calm down her thoughts that were racing out of control. She was sure he was fine, she was overreacting and probably acting like a crazy person. Finn probably thought she'd finally lost it.

But she still leaned over and swiped the key from off her table, gripping it so tightly that the jagged edges cut into her palm. If he didn't answer, she would go over. She'd knock first but if he didn't come to the door, she was letting herself in. She had to make sure.

A minute later, her phone vibrated in her hand.

"Did he answer?" she asked, almost before the phone was up to her face.

"Yes, he answered," Finn responded. "I invited him for coffee this morning and had to lie my ass off when he asked if you put me up to it. I just said I hadn't spoken to you yet today and he said I might want to before inviting him out."

Relief sent her slumping against the wall. He was okay and it didn't sound like he had left.

Her hand opened, an outline of the key pressed into her flesh.

"Thank you," she breathed.

"Uh huh," he said, and she could tell he had more to say. Sure enough, a second later he continued. "He sounded rough. Rey, what happened? That guy is madly in love with you, he would never break up with you. Not if he had half a brain in his head."

She flushed as the memory of him closing his eyes and telling her that he loved her flashed through her mind.

"He thinks he's protecting me. He seems to think Snoke is going to destroy my life if I don't walk away now, so he made that decision for me."

Finn sighed in a burst of static. "Not to be pessimistic, but doesn't he realize that Snoke already saw you? If he wants to target you, it's a little late for Kylo to try and do some damage control."

"You think I don't realize that," she said dryly. "He hasn't just seen me, he knows who I am and where I work. He threatened to go and dig up my past with Plutt."

"Fucking hell," Finn muttered tightly. "You're in way over your head. Maybe you should listen to Kylo and just walk away. Come stay with me."

Rey instantly bristled. "I hope you're fucking kidding. You know I would never just leave him, not now and not because some sick, wrinkled fuck thinks he can scare me away."

"Calm down, I just had to throw it out there." His voice was soothing but underneath, she could hear his concern. He was trying to hold it together for her though.

"Kylo isn't thinking straight anyways," she told him, anger fading away to tiredness. "He's in panic mode and trying to do what he can. If he let himself think about it, he'd probably realize it's too late to protect me from Snoke if he really wants to take me out. But he's just desperate to do something and for him, all he can do right now is try to help me."

"Chivalrous idiot," Finn grumbled, pulling a quiet laugh from her.

She adjusted the grip on her phone. "Yeah, but he's my chivalrous idiot."

They fell into a minute of contemplative silence.

"So what are you going to do?" he finally asked gently.

"I have no idea," she admitted. "My plan right now is going to work and trying to figure everything out."

He hummed thoughtfully. "Not much of a plan."

"Thanks for pointing that out." But it was all she had right now. She couldn't spend another day in this apartment, dwelling on everything and convincing herself that Kylo actually didn't want to be with her.

He sighed. "Well, you know I'm here if you need anything. Poe too."

Rey smiled softly. "I know. Love you."

"Love you too. Be safe."

She hung up, letting out a breath that felt like it took all of her strength with it. First thing, she needed to get ready for work. She couldn't afford to miss another day and maybe getting back into the motions of working would help her dispell some of this nervous energy and clear her mind. To be honest, now that she had imagined the worst, Kylo having hurt himself or left, this situation didn't seem so bad.

The problem was going to be convincing Kylo to let her help him. Though she felt strange and uncertain about potentially loving him, it didn't change the fact that she did care for him. She couldn't leave him to face Snoke alone, especially when he might think he had nothing left to lose.

Rey dragged herself to the shower, resting her head against the wall as hot water scalded her skin. This situation was so messed up. Was she supposed to go confront Kylo and make him understand? Did she wait for him to come to her? The thought of waiting, another day like yesterday, made her stomach twist. It wasn't in her to sit around and wait for someone else to make a decision.

Then what? Did she go behind Kylo's back and get his mother involved?

She sighed, turning the shower off and wrapping a towel around herself. That felt like a betrayal, especially since he had just agreed to reach out to her himself.

As she got dressed, she tried to organize her thoughts. Eventually, it came down to her main concerns; Kylo leaving to try and run from Snoke or Kylo just giving up. He wasn't going to wait around for Snoke to toy with him and make his life hell and Rey knew that she hadn't convinced him that justice was possible. Those seemed like the two most likely outcomes. Although, now that Kylo had managed to find some happiness in his life after his childhood, she didn't think he would ever give up and go back, no matter how badly Snoke shook him yesterday.

Rey thought of that night weeks ago, when Kylo had told her that he thought this was the happiest he'd been in a while. The surprised little smile he had given her, the soft light in his brown eyes.

Her throat tightened and she had to pause for a second to swallow the lump down, head bowed.

She couldn't let anything happen to him.

...

Rey went about her work day with a quiet determination. She had no plan, just a fierce sense that she would do whatever she needed to make sure nothing happened to Kylo.

Poe hadn't said anything when she came in, just gave her a firm hug and his usual warm smile. Finn had called out for her yesterday morning and she did no idea how much he had told him, but she didn't ask.

Then, in the early afternoon, Governor Snoke walked through the cafe door.

Disbelief crashed over Rey, freezing her in place. How dare he show his face at her work, strolling in her casually without a care in the world. His arrogance was staggering.

Though she could feel anger and fear creating a storm inside her chest, she calmly walked over to him, hands hanging loosely at her sides. She stopped a few feet away from him, her body rebelling at the thought of getting any closer. He watched her come, a small, smug smile stretched across his face.

"Leave right now," she told him quietly, not wanting to make a scene. Poe was chatting with a couple at the counter, oblivious to who had just walked through his door. Though Finn might not have told him the specifics anyways.

Snoke chuckled, like her anger amused him. "I was hoping you would sit down and talk with me."

Rey nearly choked. "Are you fucking delusional?" she hissed. "Leave before I call the cops."

His eyes went flat and cold. "And tell them what, you stupid girl. You still don't seem to realize that I'm in control here. I make one phone call and I can get your friend's cafe closed forever. I can make sure he never serves another coffee in this city, that he can't get a job that doesn't involve cleaning up messes or mopping floors."

She was nearly vibrating with rage. "What do you want?" she bit out between clenched teeth.

He gestured to an empty table near the window. "As I said, just to talk."

As if she had a choice. Rey pulled out her chair slowly as Snoke sat down across for her, fighting the overwhelming urge to hurl the chair at his head. She hated him so much that she could hardly stop herself.

Governor Snoke settled back into his seat comfortably, no doubt sensing her anger and discomfort and feeding off of it.

"Now then," he said, like they were just going to make small talk. "I'm prepared to offer you one hundred thousand dollars to give up on this relationship you think you have with Ben Solo."

Rey struggled to keep a straight face. One hundred thousand dollars... that was all he thought Kylo was worth to her? That amount of money was probably pocket change to him. Maybe she should take the money and use it to hire someone to murder him in his sleep.

The fact that he was here bribing her right now though meant that he made him nervous. She was a threat to him or he wouldn't bother. The thought empowered her.

"I understand," he continued. "You think that you and Ben have a connection. Both unwanted and abandoned by your family. Unloved until you found each other." The look on his face told her just how absurd he found the idea. "But what you fail to understand is that he will never need someone other than me. You didn't see him as a child... sad and lonely, so desperate for love and attention. The way he looked at me, I knew that he needed me."

Bile rose in Rey's face. She didn't want to hear this. She couldn't listen to him say these things, justifying all that he did to Kylo, to an innocent child.

"Shut your fucking mouth," she told him, not caring if he threatened her again.

He laughed softly, like she was funny. "You're angry because you don't want to see the truth of him. You're going to turn down the money and try to fight for him because you think you love him. And in the end, he'll come back to me because it's where he belongs. It's where he wants to be. I know his heart and his soul, I've seen what's inside of him."

Listening to him say this... Rey suddenly wasn't afraid anymore. Realization struck her like a thunderbolt. He was right. She was going to fight for him, no matter what the cost, no matter how much Kylo tried to push her away... because she loved him.

She laughed, interrupting Snoke, who looked surprised.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just-" She laughed again. She'd been worrying so much about what love meant and how to figure out if she loved Kylo. Using her head instead of her heart. Listening to Snoke say these things and realizing that she would do anything for Kylo, that she had been prepared to do anything for a while... of course she loved him. She was such an idiot.

This was what it meant to love someone. To stare potential ruin in the face and feel calm and unafraid because you were helping the person you cared about. To put them before you. To fight with everything you have to give them the best life you can, the life and happiness they deserve. She would throw away everything for him, hand it over willingly to Snoke if that's what it took. But she wouldn't leave Kylo, wouldn't give up on him like everyone else.

"Get out," she said calmly, staring Snoke straight in his cold blue eyes. "We're done here."

Though he tried to hide it, she could see the confusion on his face. He had come here, so confident that he could intimidate and scare her away. But in the end, he had helped her. It was ironic really.

She stood up and braced her hands on the table, leaning closer.

"I think you're the one who doesn't understand. Kylo and I are going to ruin you, you disgusting fuck. You destroyed his life and nearly took everything from him. And now, we're going to do the same to you. Everything you care about, your title, your big fancy fucking mansion, the respect of your peers; you're going to lose it all. And in the end, after we're done, Kylo and I are going to walk away and never think about you again."

She grinned at him, feeling the crazy edge to it and not caring.

"You're going to wish you had left us alone. You underestimate Kylo, and you clearly underestimate me. I promise you, you're going to regret it."

Without another word, she turned around and walked over to the counter where Poe was still chatting with the couple from earlier. Had only a few minutes really gone by? Every second spent in the presence of that man felt like an eternity.

"Poe," she interrupted, giving the couple an apologetic look. "I need to leave."

Surprise and concern crossed his face. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just really important." Rey glanced over her shoulder at the table but Governor Snoke had vanished. "I'm sorry but I have to go."

Poe waved a hand, unconcerned. "I can call Rose and see if she can come help for a bit. Don't worry about it. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?"

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thank you."

Racing to the back room, she snatched up her purse and jacket. She had no idea what she was going to say but she had to go see Kylo. She had to tell him what he meant to her, to make him understand that she wouldn't leave him. Not like everyone else.

As she headed out the front door and down the street, no sign of Snoke anywhere, she felt a renewed sense of purpose. She'd been caught up in the moment when she said those things, wanting to make him nervous and uncertain. But it didn't change the fact that she was more determined than ever to find a way to free Kylo from Snoke's hold.

And her and Kylo would find a way together.

Protective, determined Rey is coming out to fight! I know this chapter was a little shorter than usual so I apologize, the next chapter should be back to my normal length. I wanted to give Rey a chapter where she gets her head on straight and figures things out before we dive back into the actual plot.

And, I've started a writing Discord group with a bunch of other Reylo writers. If you're interested in joining, message me and I'll send you an invite! It's a very chill and supportive group full of amazing people and anyone is welcome to join.

As always, thank you for reading and for your support!