"What?" She asked, not quite hearing or maybe not quite believing.

"Your DNA will match the records from the

First Order." He answered quietly, his voice quaking softly.

"Because she forged it," Rey said it as a statement but it was more of a question and they both knew it.

"Because you were there."

Silence.

"Did you know?" she asked. A deep calm before the storm encompassed them.

Silence again.

"Maybe we should go to somewhere more private." He whispered, delegates were starting to file out quietly into the hall around them. Phasma must have concluded her presentation.

"You knew?" She mouthed, her voice lost somewhere in time and space.

Ben reached for her, one hand to her shoulder and one hand to her bulging abdomen, as if he was trying to pull his family close to him.

"Sweetheart..." he breathed, his voice low and husky as he tried to gather her small frame close to his, though she tugged his hands away.

"You said you saw my parents, that they were drunks, that they sold me for drinking money." Her voice went hoarse at the end.

He was trying to move her through the hall.

She shook her head. She could tell people were starting to stare but she couldn't stop herself even though she wished she could.

"You knew? You knew and you didn't say anything?" She cried, her voice edging upwards at the end.

Without answering, he grabbed hold of both her shoulders and pulled her with him through the hallway. Her legs moved mechanically.

Everything was a lie. Her whole life was a lie.

The door to Poe's empty office slid shut and left them in a dark, silent room.

Numb. Everything inside Rey went numb.

Ben reached for her again but she evaded him deftly, lifting a hand up between them, holding him at bay.

"Rey, please." He whispered as tears escaped his eyes, "Sweetheart."

Rey shook her head, "You're scaring me, I don't know what's going on. Do you know who I am, or...or not?"

"You're Rey Solo, the woman I love, the mother of my child."

Rey's lower lip began to tremble, "You said you saw my parents, that they sold me."

Ben stared at the floor, his mouth working out several answers before he met her gaze again and said, "That's what I saw. Just like I told you..."

"But you knew more than that!" Rey shouted suddenly, "Tell me! How could you not mention that you knew me as a child? How old were you in that clip?" She demanded.

"Probably eighteen," he muttered, "I don't know for sure."

Her eyes pleading, "Ben, why did you do this?"

"I didn't lie to you, Rey," he said softly, beaten.

"Everything has been a lie!" She shoved him through the Force into the desk behind him.

He let her, choosing not to easily deflect her simple manipulation of the Force.

"You can search my mind, take whatever memories you want," he said barely above a whisper as he leaned hard against the desk behind him.

"I don't want to search out your memories, I wanted you to be honest with me," tears were flowing down her face unheeded as she finished.

Overcome with the need to be away from him, she crossed toward the door and escaped, racing through the hall, her hand cradling the developing child in her womb. She didn't stop until she was safely inside their room, sitting alone on the bed.

She ached to feel his comforting arms around her and in the same instant felt relieved that he was far away from her, like it was safer somehow that way. But that didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

Everything was a lie, everything they had shared. How could she ever trust him when he had held such desperate secrets from her for so long?

Author's Note:

Thank you to everyone who left reviews and sent messages encouraging me along this journey of writing fan fiction for the first time, you have all been amazing!