"Where are we getting in from?" Poe questions, his gaze never wavering. He so does not trust him, and Ben can't blame Poe and yet it still irritates him.
"Is it okay if I pull around back? I have a key, and security will be less vigilant about checking that lot."
"If I call Jess or Snap, do our chances of getting caught go up?"
"What do you think?" You're the ex-agent.
"Damn." Poe groans. "If they see you, what're they gonna do?" he wants to know. He rubs his chin.
"It depends on if Snoke's alerted them or not. I'm guessing not, so we'll be fine unless your buddy doesn't come through in time," Ben says, twisting the tables as he does so well.
Poe snorts.
Ben brakes for a red light, realizes no one's around, and powers through anyways. His tongue sticks in his mouth. "Will you take care of Rey? I mean, I know you and Finn are—together. Rey told me. But when I go to jail, will you let her stay with you guys anyways as your roommate? Make sure she's not lonely?"
"You're really willing to go to jail, aren't you?"
"That's what I just said," Ben snaps.
Poe exhales. "I hope you know that Rey is my friend. And Finn's. God, she's probably Finn's best friend. We're not leaving her anytime. I'm not a flake."
"Good." He swallows.
Out of the corner of Ben's eyes, he sees Poe watching him, biting his lip as if there's something running through his mind, something he's trying to grasp about Ben, about Kylo, and Ben doesn't have the emotional energy to spare on trying to figure out what it is.
"Do you want to go to prison?" Poe finally asks.
"Who would want to? I need to. There's no other way."
"Yeah." Poe sighs. "Probs not. It's what you deserve."
Ben grits his teeth. "I know."
"But you weren't involved in all of the other deals," Poe states as Ben breaks for a running squirrel.
Run, little guy, run, Ben thinks as he watches the squirrel hesitate, staring at the glaring lights. Finally, it spins and scampers to safety. "Not directly. I knew, though. I didn't like it exactly, but I knew."
"And will whatever we download from your computer show that?"
"What does it matter?"
"It probably doesn't," Poe confirms. "I'm just asking. Could it? Does it?"
"Probably." Ben turns down a familiar street, and Poe finally tears his eyes away from him and onto the building looming in front of them, dark and imposing, streetlights slapping their light at its feet.
Ding.
Hux freezes, his pants half pulled up and Phasma still topless on the floor.
"The elevator?" Phasma quizzes.
Footsteps thud. "Shit." Hux lunges for the light switch, plunging the offices into darkness as he drops to the floor, huddling behind his desk. He reaches his arm out to grasp Phasma's shoulder, not sure whether he's trying to tell her he'll protect her or asking her to protect him.
"Through here," Hux hears Kylo Ren say. Two people tread down the hallway towards Kylo Ren's office. Light glimmers from the door.
"What are they here for?" Hux wonders.
"Isn't it bloody obvious?" Phasma hisses.
"Yes," Hux answers. Kylo Ren's surely not packing up his desk belongings. He's turning them in.
You're really going to have to run now.
He already knew that.
Phasma reaches her hand across to clasp the hand that clutches her own shoulder. "Do you think we can slip out while they're in there?"
"We're going to try." Hux reaches for his desk drawer, sliding it open a half inch at a time.
"What are you doing?"
"I keep emergency cash in here. And I need my wallet," Hux snaps.
She sighs. "Fine."
"Do you already have everything?"
"Yeah." Phasma hesitates before shrugging into her bra. "When we get out of here, I'll go to my place and meet you at yours, okay? And we'll leave together."
Hux's fingers close around the wad of cash. He rests back on his heels. "You will come?"
Her hand brushes his face. "I will."
And Hux, he has no choice but to believe her. "Let's go, then." He straightens up, buttoning his pants and jabbing the corner of the desk with a clank.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Phasma snorts. She's not mad—well, she is, but she's also—almost laughing.
Hux can't afford to smile. "Let's go."
Light floods over them, paralyzing Hux.
"Nope. You aren't going anywhere," taunts a cocky voice.
"Hux? Phasma?"
Hux scowls and turns to see Kylo Ren standing next to a much shorter man. The man whose nose Hux ordered broken. Oops.
And that man—whose name Hux doesn't even remember, because it's always simpler not to—aims a gun at him and Phasma.
Play it calm. Stay calm. Hux slides his eyes towards Phasma, who's right by his desk phone. "Phasma, call Snoke."
"What?"
"If you move towards that phone—" Poe threatens.
"Just what are you doing here, Ren?" Hux demands.
Kylo shakes his head, and for the first time—well, maybe the second time, if Hux counts the time he ordered Kylo to follow Snoke's orders and beat his father—Hux feels like he's seeing Kylo without a mask. "Making sure your deal doesn't go through," he retorts. "Were you waiting for me? Did you already contact—"
"No," Phasma snaps, cutting Hux off. "We're leaving FO Tech."
"You too, huh?" Poe shakes his head, glowering at Hux.
Hux lifts his nose, sneering. He might not agree with all Snoke's done with FO Tech, but he won't tolerate this insolent ex-agent, this rogue investigator, looking down his holy nose at Hux. "And you're not going to stop us."
"I'm going to arrest you," Poe corrects.
"And just how do you plan to do that?" Phasma asks, stepping forwards. Her shirt still isn't on, although her bra covers her. There's no mistaking the muscles that bulge in her arms.
"You—you're Phasma," Poe stammers. "You're the one who threatened Finn! And me!"
"How is he?"
"Happy and not giving you any scrap of—"
"Clearly." Phasma rolls her eyes. "And now we're leaving. You don't have the manpower to arrest us, even with your gun, because we both know you aren't going to murder us."
"I can wound you," Poe says, eyes narrowing. "Incapacitate you. Like you did with me that night with your car and when you threatened me."
"Can you?" Phasma's hand goes to her hip, where she keeps her own holster. Hux can't help smiling. This woman's amazing.
"If we leave now," Hux says. "We won't rat you out to Snoke, Ren. And you can do what you like with this crumbling company—turn it in, whatever. Issue arrest warrants for us if you want." He reaches for Phasma's hand, hoping she can't feel the tremble in his but knowing she can.
Poe glances as Kylo, who nods in annoyance.
Without another word, Hux and Phasma dash out.
"Is it finished downloading?" Poe demands, pacing with a sweaty sheen to his face. His leg quivers as if it's not fully healed.
"Just about," Ben answers, tapping his fingers against the back of the chair he's sat in every day for years.
"I don't like this," Poe reiterates, as if Ben can't pick up on his jutting jaw and scowl. "They could have warned someone as they were leaving."
"I know." Ben wants to scream. "I—got it."
"It's done?" Poe scrambles over.
"Yup." Ben detaches the thumb drive and pockets it.
"Nuh-uh." Poe holds out his hand. "Give it here."
Ben rolls his eyes, but he digs in and drops it into Poe's palm. "Happy?"
"Very," Poe calls as he limps after Ben. "Let's get the hell out of here."
Ben leans his head against the elevator wall, heart pounding. What if Hux and Phasma's escape alerted security? No, it's unlikely. Hux usually works vampire-esque hours. And this surely isn't the first time Hux and Phasma have stayed late together.
When the door to FO Tech locks behind him, Ben lets out the breath he hasn't realized he's been holding. He looks at Poe, who cocks his head as something soft—sympathy?—fills his eyes.
"Oh shit," Poe gasps as he skids to a stop.
Luke Skywalker crouches beside their car.
Ben's stomach lurches and he almost vomits onto the pavement. He's not ready to see his uncle. And oh God, he knows fucking everything.
They all do, but Ben wanted them to see him when he'd already turned the evidence in, when he finished what his mother, father, uncle, and Lor San Tekka started.
"Finn called me," Luke says simply. "Parked down the street. I figured you might need some help."
"We've got what we need," Poe says, yanking the car door open. "And now we need to get the hell out of here."
How is he supposed to drive a car with his goddamn uncle no doubt tagging along?
"Hey," Poe says as he hobbles back over and grabs Ben by the shoulder. He meets Ben's eyes, and he doesn't say anything because he doesn't have to. "Come on."
Ben climbs into the car, and Luke into the backseat. "Let's leave my car," Luke says.
Motherfucker.
"I'll text my buddy at the Bureau," Poe says. "And Finn and Rey."
Ben glances over his shoulder as he starts the ignition. His uncle studies him and Ben squirms.
"It's good to see you, Ben," Luke says softly.
"Yeah, how long has it been?" Ben snips as he starts to drive. They're almost home free.
"Ben, I was depressed. I wanted to—"
"Oh, stop it. Neither you, nor Mom, nor Dad—none of you bothered to look for me until it was too late," Ben says, voice cracking.
"Whoa," Poe says as he taps at his phone. "Um—guys—"
"I was depressed, Ben," Luke snaps. "I know I failed you, all right? I know it. I knew it then and I knew it now. You're not exactly eager to face up to it now that you know you've failed too, are you?"
Don't you know what it's like to hide, and not know if it's what you're meant to do or if you're just afraid?
Ben doesn't answer, because he needs to drive but his chest aches as sobs try to wrack through him. I'm a failure. I really am.
You're not failing this, though.
But Luke can't stop. "I was worried about you, Ben. Your mother—if I was worried, I know she was in agony—we couldn't publicize anything for your safety. We were worried people would track you down."
"I was safe," he finally chokes out.
"With Snoke?"
"He kept me alive."
What the fuck is wrong with you? Snoke roared when he found the empty Tylenol bottle and Ben pacing. Get in my car. I'm taking you to get your stomach pumped like some pathetic nutcase.
When Ben lay there in the hospital, nauseated and his arms bruised from so many pricks and so many liver function tests, he almost wanted to call his mother.
But had he tried this at Luke's, at his parents', he surely would have been successful. And Ben knew then that he didn't want to die.
When Snoke offered him the name Kylo Ren, when seventeen-year-old Ben accepted it, he made Snoke and excelling in FO Tech his priority. A new name, a new life, a purpose and a direction.
Until his father called his name. Until Rey threw coffee in his face. Until he realized he couldn't bear to hurt her, not again.
Luke sighs as if he suspects what Ben might be talking about. "I'm sorry, Ben."
We'll see, Ben thinks. He's not ready to absolve his uncle, not just yet.
"What are you doing here?" Rey demands, not caring how rude she sounds. She spots the golden toenail shell Ben gave her, sparkling on the coffee table.
"Luke called us," Leia explains simply. "He told us about… our son."
"Ben," Rey says. And she doesn't care anymore. "He's my boyfriend."
Finn sinks back onto the couch as Han's jaw drops. Chewie shakes his head, hair flying everywhere.
"How long?" Leia wants to know.
"Since right before I started at Alderaan House." Rey shivers in her shorts and thin t-shirt. They need to turn down the air conditioning. "I lost my job and my apartment. He's the friend who helped me. He found me sleeping on a bench and offered to let me stay with him."
"And now you're dating," Han states.
"Yes."
"And you didn't tell us," Leia says, her voice shaking.
Oh shit. Leia doesn't even have to say it. I've been slightly hypocritical. Rey lets out her breath. "At first I thought you'd fire me if you knew we were still friends. And then he didn't want you to know."
"Luke knew," Leia realizes.
Rey nods. Yes, I love your son, she thinks. Yes, I'm his girlfriend, and I'm not leaving him.
"So Luke told you what he and Poe are up to?" Finn interjects.
"Yes." Leia and Han exchange a look, one of almost hope, but hope crushed by so many years of disappointments, disappointment Rey knows well.
"You said you still love him," Rey says to Han. "You do, don't you? That wasn't a lie, was it?" Because even though she knows Ben's still terrified of facing his parents, she suspects he needs them more than he can admit—and he'll never ask. He knows he has no right to ask, so Rey will ask.
"Of course I do," Han insists.
"And you love him?" Leia questions.
Rey nods as the intercom buzzes. She jumps.
"Did Poe forget his keys?" Finn wonders as he marches over and presses the intercom. "Hello?"
"I'm guessing this is Finn," comes a rasping voice Rey's never heard before, except maybe in her nightmares. "I know you and Rey Kenobi are in there. Either you let me up, or I'll just hang out in the parking lot and shoot both of your boyfriends when they arrive. And I'll collect your phones when I get up there, and if either of you text them in the meantime, I'll kill them."
Leia opens her mouth and Rey waves frantically. No! Be quiet! "How do we know you won't kill us?" she calls as she jabs her finger at the bedrooms, jerking her head at Han, Leia, and Chewie.
"If Kylo Ren and Poe Dameron cooperate, I won't."
"Let him up," Rey tells Finn, heart pounding. Snoke may have a plan, but it has so many holes that Rey plans to grab it and tear it apart.