Disclaimer: If I had the money to own Star Wars, I would not be struggling to pay for college.

~Cheerful in Chugiak~

A little jingle played out of Rey's speakers as the last notes of a well-done pop remix faded into the background.

"You're listening to 103.9 FM, The Force." Driving down Northern Lights Boulevard in the dead of night after helping Plutt close, Rey smiled in anticipation.

"Good evening, Anchorage, and welcome back to Nights of Ren, with me, Kylo Ren…" Kylo Ren was her favorite radio DJ. He had good taste in music, great remixes and a voice that would probably make her weak in the knees if she were to ever hear it in person. Hell, the raspy tenor with bass undertones that mingled with the radio static crackling through her speakers already made her sigh in appreciation.

"…and we'll be taking requests after this brief word from our sponsors." The red of a stoplight snapped her out of her reverie and the car slid a bit too far into the intersection on the icy, salty, snowmelt-slicked road after she slammed on the brakes. Sheepishly she threw the car into reverse and backed up behind the white line, careful not to hit whomever had generously backed up to make room for her. She fell back onto the headrest and took a couple of deep breaths. Then her brain finally digested what Ren had said and she whipped her phone out, dialing the numbers for the station frantically.

She'd just placed the phone to her ear when the light turned green and she floored it in a burst of overexcitement. The ringing of the line calmed her down and she eased into a more reasonable rate of acceleration, though her fingers still drummed on the wheel nervously. There was this particular remix of Open Arms that he'd played once that she absolutely fell in love with. Rey had searched the internet desperately to find a downloadable copy, but it didn't seem to exist; she figured it must have been a personal version. Every night she tuned in to this station, praying to hear that song, but he'd never played it again, at least not on the air. The very fact that he had personal remixes indicated to her that he was a DJ for hire on the side, even if he wasn't working on producing anything. There was a click on the line as she came to another, much more graceful halt at a red light.

"Hello. You've reached 103.9 FM, The Force. This is Kylo Ren speaking." Rey's jaw dropped in a silent gasp and her hands began to tremble in anticipation. 'Oh, God, he sounds even better on the phone, why does he sound even better on the phone?!' She was mute for nearly ten seconds before her excitement was joined by an eagerness to hear that song she remembered so well. She cleared her throat and shifted for a more solid grip on the steering wheel.

"Hi, erm, my name's Rey."

"Hello, Rey. Do you have a song request for us this evening?"

"Yes, yes, certainly!"

"And what might that be?"

"Um, there was this remix, of Open Arms, by Journey? You played it last year and I adored it, but you haven't played it since." There was some shuffling for a moment as Rey started moving again, the light having turned green.

"Open Arms, you say? I believe that can be accomplished." She could practically hear the smirk in his voice, and she had to resist rolling her eyes as she turned her left blinker on and pulled into a turn lane, searching for a gap in the oncoming traffic. Rey knew from having been a fan of the show for so long that Ren had a bit of an ego to him, but he wasn't obnoxious, or she wouldn't still be listening. "Do you have something prepared that you could say when you come on the air? A shout-out, joke, anecdote, special occasion?"

'Oh, shit.' She hadn't thought about that.

"Um…" She flipped through her mental catalogue of jokes and, finding nothing that she deemed appropriate for on-air dialogue, she racked her brain for any recent/upcoming events. 'I know!' She perked up as she spotted a gap and made her turn. "My brother Finn got engaged the other day!"

"Well, that'll do just fine. Now, when you go on the air, I'm required to call you by another name to protect your privacy, but you don't have to do any such thing. Is that alright with you, Rey?"

"Oh, yes, no problem!"

"Alright then. Stay on the line and I'll get back to you in about two minutes." There was a click and static sizzled quietly over the line. Rey felt jittery at the prospect of going on the air, regardless of how few people were probably up this late listening to this station. She changed lanes and flicked off the truck that had been tailgating her as it sped past.

"…and now we have Cheerful in Chugiak on the line for our first song request. Good evening, Cheerful." She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the corny name, but it was better than that one time a drunk guy had called in and earned the name "Fucked Up in Fairbanks." Every other DJ on the station had joked about it for at least a week. Rey turned the volume down, finding the radio's echo of what he was saying on the phone to be a little too weird.

"Evening, Kylo."

"Any specific reason that you're so happy this evening?" She stopped at a four-way, letting the car who'd stopped before her make it's left turn before she made hers.

"My best friend, well, he's my brother really, got engaged to his boyfriend on Tuesday."

"My, my, that is cause for celebration, isn't it? How long have they been together?" She beamed widely.

"About two years, now."

"Well, we wish them all the best here at 103.9. Is there a song you'd like to request?" She slid smoothly to a stop at the next light.

"Yes, please. Would you play that Open Arms remix of yours?"

"Anything for tonight's little drop of golden sun." The corners of her mouth twitched up as he managed to reference her name without saying it. 'Clever.' "Enjoy, and many congratulations to the new couple. Open Arms, by Journey." The tenor dropped out at the last phrase and she writhed in her seat, breath hitching at the raspy sound of his now all-bass voice just as the DJ hung up. She slowly and reluctantly put her phone away. Looking up, she realized that she'd missed the green light and sighed. She couldn't stay gloomy for long, however, as the redone notes of the ballad floated quietly up to her ears. Turning up the volume, she consoled herself that at least there hadn't been anyone else at this intersection to honk and interrupt the first couple of bars.