The Redemption of Ben Skywalker

by AngelofTartarus

Reylo AU. While the fight against Palpatine is over, the war is not finished. The First Order has regrouped and its generals have seized power in the absence of Kylo Ren and are continuing their mission to conquer the galaxy. Rey, Ben, Poe, and Finn must overcome their differences to defeat the First Order once and for all. Pairings: Reylo, Poe/Finn

12. Everything's Gonna Be Okay

Chapter 12 – Everything's Gonna Be Okay

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Sweat poured down Ben's forehead and his lungs were only just starting to protest as he ran yet another lap through the humid, insect-filled jungle. His guards were taking care to keep their distance from him while remaining close enough to keep an eye on him as they ran. He mildly appreciated their consideration, but he really just wanted to be alone to wallow in misery.

He swatted at a cloud of buzzing gnats as he passed by the tree Mixa and Aarzio were sitting under. They'd gotten tired after the tenth lap, so they'd decided to trade off on tailing him when he showed no sign of stopping. Sertali was currently following him while the others caught their breath and recovered from hyperthermia.

Ben continued his manic pace, plunging headlong back into the jungle. He barely registered the prickly branches snagging at his clothes or the heat of the sun overhead; he was too lost in his thoughts. After searching all night for the maker of the suppressor cuffs and finding absolutely nothing in the Falcon's extensive database or in the Resistance's meager cache of data, he had decided to go running once the sky had taken on hues of light pink. The reality that he'd likely lost his abilities forever was sinking in and the shock was transforming into something ugly. He'd had to do something productive to counter it. If he didn't get control of himself, he was going to kill someone. But no one here would appreciate it if he started a massacre or destroyed the encampment, so he'd been trying to work out his frustrations with exercise. But needless to say, it wasn't working. Being alone with his thoughts just made the anger and self-loathing worse. What he really needed was to talk to his mother, but that wasn't possible.

Ben came to a sudden stop and sent up a spray of dirt as an idea struck him like lightning. Of course he could talk to his mother! If his grandfather could appear before him, then surely his mother could manifest as a Force ghost as well! Anticipation buzzed through him, energizing him and making him a little lightheaded. As quick as a flash, Ben turned and sprinted for the waterfall, ignoring the well-trodden path.

"Ben!" Sertali shouted in shock. "What are you doing?"

"Following a lead," he said over his shoulder.

"Slow down!" Sertali begged as he sped up.

"Keep up!" Ben shouted, not slowing one bit. He was too excited.

"Not again!" Sertali muttered curses under her breath as she commed Mixa and Aarzio, letting them know they were taking a detour.

Ben didn't let Mixa's startled response deter him as he expertly navigated his way down the hidden path next to the waterfall, skipping from stone to stone. The mist from the falls wafted into his face as he reached the bottom, cool and refreshing.

Giddy with new hope, Ben took a second to get his bearings. Everything looks a little different, having not jumped off the waterfall first. He darted towards the crop of trees that were older than the ones around them. The canopy grew dense as Ben made his way deeper into the vegetation, heading for the small clearing where he and Anakin Skywalker had the conversation that had convinced him to stay and give being a good – or rather, tolerable – guy an honest attempt.

The sounds of wildlife faded and Ben stopped as the clearing came into view. Sertali joined him one minute later, panting hard from the exertion of keeping up with him.

"Give me some space," Ben requested, not taking his gaze from the clearing.

"Anything, so long as you stop running," Sertali gasped out, unhooking a thermos from her belt and desperately guzzling down water.

Ben stepped forward and shivered as he entered the clearing. The air was charged and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He had the urge to look over his shoulder to check if someone was behind him. There was definitely a well of Force energy present, stronger than the last time he was here.

Ben closed his eyes and concentrated on his mother, willing her to come to him. He recalled memory after memory of Leia: sitting with her at meetings with planetary officials to discuss their integration into the New Republic, her smiling at him with pride as he recounted what he'd learned at Luke's training academy, her sorrowful eyes as he fired on her ship as the Resistance fled for their lives. He let the accompanying emotions fill his whole being, turning into a beacon that was surely visible throughout the Force.

He wanted to know who she'd obtained the cuffs from, but more importantly, he wanted to hear it from her lips that she truly hadn't meant to use them on him. That she hadn't wished to cripple her only son for life, forcing upon him a fate worse than death.

A chill zipped down Ben's spine and he opened his eyes, expecting to see his mother standing before him. There wasn't even a wisp of an ethereal being. Ben huffed and concentrated again on his memories of Leia.

Long minutes passed as Ben waited for her to materialize. With each passing minute that stretched agonizingly longer, Ben's patience wore thinner and thinner. He could feel the Force ebbing and flowing strongly around him. There's nothing stopping her from appearing, so why hadn't she come? It's not like there was traffic she had to fly through!

"I'm waiting!" Ben shouted, startling a bird in the tree over him to take flight. A discarded turquoise feather floated to the ground as his hope turned to disbelief and anger. "After all these years, I finally want to see you and you don't show up? I know I wasn't the perfect son, but kriffing hell! I need you now!"

Silence was the only answer he received. The well of Force energy in the clearing faded in slow degrees, but it was a clear enough signal. No one was coming. No one was going to help him.

Ben roared his grief and frustration to the heavens, but it wasn't enough to soothe his shattered soul. He slammed his fist into the side of the closest tree. The pain felt good. He punched the tree bark again, making the trunk shake and leaves flutter to the ground. He barely felt the splinters being shoved into his knuckles.

-oOoOoOo-

Rey gnashed her teeth as she brought the starship out of hyperspace. The sight of Ajan Kloss soothed some of her ire. The small jungle moon had become more of a home for her than Jakku ever had been in twenty years. The people she chose to associate with really made all the difference.

"Rey."

Rey schooled her face into a blank mask. She nodded in welcome as Jecob slid into the empty co-pilot's chair.

"I finished running the trace on that fake emergency transmission we received. Boosting the power really helped," Jecob handed a holoreader to her. "Whoever sent it was very good at covering their tracks. The transmission was spoofed by sending the signal through various communication stations in twelve sectors."

"Were you able to narrow down the original source?" Rey asked as she scrolled through the trace log.

After they'd flown off on the rescue mission, Rey hadn't been able to shake off Ben's words to her that she shouldn't leave the base. The feeling had intensified with each light-year they traveled. Halfway to their destination, she'd finally given in and listened to her own innate misgivings about this mission. To her shipmates' befuddlement, she'd brought the starship out of hyperspace and asked her comms experts, Jecob and Megyad, to dig deeper. Within minutes of analyzing the trace logs of the signal, Rey confirmed neither Wedge's nor Lando's bases had received the distress call. A tense half-hour later, Jecob and Megyad had further confirmed her suspicions; the transmission hadn't originated from their destination. Someone had tried to lure them there, likely the First Order. Searching her feelings, Rey was confident there was no emergency awaiting them and turned the ship around.

"I was only able to determine it came from the Cademimu Sector," Jecob shook his head in a mix of admiration and frustration. "The signal has already degraded too much to perform a more in-depth trace."

"Besides Ajan Kloss, the only populated region in the sector is Lenico IV," Rey noted as she confirmed the logs matched his report. "We can send a team to the space station colonies to investigate further and examine their trace logs."

"I already thought of that," Jecob cut in. "The colonies don't really have the technical capabilities to cloak a signal like this. I think…" He swallowed hard and looked sick to his stomach.

"You don't think the signal came from Lenico IV," Rey stated slowly, a pit forming in her own stomach as she connected the dots. "You think it came from Ajan Kloss."

They both looked out the cockpit window to the blue-green jungle moon they were slowly descending on.

"There's no other group in this sector with the ability and power to bounce a transmission like this," Jecob said quietly. "It's the only plausible explanation."

"Kriff," Rey vehemently muttered under her breath. "There's a spy at the base."

"It might be the same person who killed Anzen," Jecob offered.

Rey blinked in surprise. She'd forgotten about that until now. The mysterious murder of Anzen Tirel after he'd planted a bomb in an attempt to kill Ben. How could she have forgotten about that? After Daria had confirmed Anzen hadn't killed himself with that hidden knife, why hadn't she pursued it further? Why hadn't any of them investigated further?

"Commander!"

Megyad burst into the cockpit in a flurry of movement.

"I got the comms system running again!" she said between gasps of breath.

"It was offline?" Rey asked, bewildered.

"More like disabled. That's why we couldn't contact the base," Megyad said, punching a command into the primary comms console. "But that's not the important thing. Listen!"

"R1-SL2, come in. Code crimson. I repeat, code crimson."

"How old is this message?" Rey turned fully to the console. Code crimson signaled a medical emergency at the base, a significant one. The only one a step above it was code black, quarantine due to a highly infectious disease.

"R1-SL2, come in. Code crimson."

"I thought we established a comm lock with the ship!"

"We lost the connection. Something was deactivated at the end-user. R1-SL2, come in. Code crimson."

"We first received transmissions twelve standard hours ago," Megyad supplied, turning the audio off. "They've been repeating the same message ever since."

"What's going on down there?" Rey flipped a switch on the dashboard to give her manual control over the engines. They needed to land immediately. "Winn!"

"Yes, commander?" Winn asked as he stepped back into the cockpit. It was cramped with all four of them huddled at the front.

"Strap in and re-route power to the shields," Rey directed as she tightened her seat's safety harness against her chest. "We're going to need additional thermal protection. I'm going steer us in at a steeper descent angle."

"What's going on?" Winn traded seats quickly with Jecob and did as she asked. An orange indicator light flashed, warning against continuing their current flight path.

Megyad replayed the distress call for Winn as Rey switched the light off and took hold of the controls to push them quicker towards the planetoid. They were all pressed back into their seats from the added forces.

"We shouldn't have left the base," Winn said darkly as the nose of the starship turned orange. "For all we know, Ben-"

"Don't make assumptions until we get down there," Rey leveled a glare at her co-pilot as they cleared the atmosphere. "Rose didn't give any details in the message."

"I'm just saying what I'm feeling," Winn said as he engaged the stabilizers and extended the landing legs. "As a Jedi, you listen to your feelings. As an empath, I listen to what other people are feeling and I know we can't trust someone at the base. All the evidence points to your First Order boyfriend."

"Ben is helping us, Winn. Don't let past events affect your perspective," Megyad said in exasperation, rolling her eyes even as she grabbed a beam to hold herself steady as the ship went through some rough turbulence. "If he were biding his time to strike back, he wouldn't be training us, repairing our starships, or taking orders!"

"She has a point," Jecob said. "He's not the type of person to successfully engage in that type of subterfuge. His explosive personality would give him away every time."

"Whose side are you on, Jecob?" Winn snarled over his shoulder. "You hate the guy!"

"Yes, but even I can see he's not a double agent," Jecob muttered, looking away. "He's not the one we need to look for."

"What?" Winn shot a questioning look to the crew. "There's a spy at the base?"

"Someone tried to lure us away," Jecob nodded. "The transmission could have only come from someone on the base. I'm certain of it."

"That information doesn't leave this vessel," Rey said, letting power flow through her voice. The crew looked at her with wide eyes. "If we tip our hand early, we'll never find them. Understood?"

Jecob and Megyad nodded, but Winn just stared at her.

"So what are we going to do?" Winn asked calmly, only his strong grip on the controls belying the stress he felt.

"You three aren't going to do anything," Rey said as she brought the starship down towards the shipyard. There were people congregating there. "Act like everything is normal and report any suspicious activity to me and only me."

Winn wasn't happy with that answer, but he kept his mouth shut.

They all braced themselves as the starship touched down in the shipyard perhaps a bit harder than Rey would have liked, but she was in a hurry. Poe and Mosla only would have continued trying to reach her if they were in dire need of her unique assistance. There had been a waver in Rose's voice as she relayed the message over and over again. Rey gnashed her teeth in worry. How could she not have realized the comms system had gone down?

She unbuckled herself from her seat and quickly made to disembark the ship. A hand held her back as Jecob and Megyad hopped out.

"What?" Rey asked Winn impatiently as calls for her sounded outside the starship.

"I didn't want to say this in front of the others, but we really should decide how to ferret out the spy's identity," Winn cast a suspicious look out the starship's doors.

"I will take care of it," Rey said with as much authority as she could muster with worry coursing through her veins.

"It's clear you can't!" Winn hissed loudly. "Wake up, Rey! You're Force-sensitive and you can't sense anything wrong. Whoever it is, they're able to mask their true intentions from you."

"It's not Ben. He has nothing to gain from it," Rey argued back. Besides, Ben couldn't hide anything from her anymore; their dyad betrayed their true emotions to each other. Even when they threw up shields, hints of emotion leaked through.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I can feel malicious intent from someone on the base," Winn confided in her. "It feels like nails on a chalkboard to my senses, yet I can't narrow it down to a person. But the point is that I can feel it. Put me in charge of the investigation."

Rey looked at him with new eyes. Was her ability failing her? It was true she felt comfortable with every person on the base. If Winn could help, she should let him and ignore her personal dislike for him because of his vendetta against Ben. But what if Winn was the spy?

"What about Poe and Finn?" Rey asked cautiously, testing him.

"Neither of them is hiding anything," Winn said immediately. "They're genuine. We can trust them with this."

Would he have said that if he were the spy? Did she have a choice whether or not to trust him in this?

"Then find out what you can and report only to the three of us," Rey directed as the calls for her outside the ship grew louder.

"As you say, commander," Winn nodded resolutely. "I won't let you down."

Rey stepped down from the starship and was immediately beset upon by frazzled healers.

"Thank goodness you're back!" Megara exclaimed as she hugged her.

"What's going on?" Rey got straight to the point. "Rose said in her transmission there's a code crimson emergency."

"Finn's scout ship ran into some trouble on their way back," Megara explained as they speed-walked to the medical tent. "We don't know the full story because they're all unconscious, but we determined they were exposed to some sort of chemical."

"Holy shit," Rey breathed out as they passed by the demolished watchtower and she saw the deep divots carved into the training grounds.

Rey broke into a run, making a mad dash for the med tent. It seemed she was spending most of her time there these days. Resistance fighters jumped out of her way as she passed; she could feel twinges of concern emanating from them.

"You're back!" Larma exclaimed in relief as Rey burst into the medical tent.

"Are they okay?" Rey couldn't begin to explain the horror and fear she felt at seeing her comrades-in-arms lying motionless on the cots with devastating burns carved into their skin. It made the couple of chemical burns she'd gotten from a plasma leak during a botched scavenger hunt pale in comparison. "How can I help?"

"Have you healed similar wounds before?" Larma asked, leading her to sit before Finn. His injuries were the worst of the bunch.

"Not with the Force," Rey shifted the armband on her left forearm to showcase two circles of shiny pink scar tissue. "I know the process though."

"We've already stabilized their organs," Megara explained as she adjusted the volume on Finn's life monitor. The soft beeps of his heartbeat became audible. "We need you to stimulate their cells to grow back together."

Rey briefly wondered how they'd been able to heal them this much without her, but she didn't waste time and reached out to the Force. She imagined she was at the bottom of a giant waterfall and the water crashing down on her was a conduit to the Force. A wave of energy surged through her and coiled up, ready to be used at a moment's notice. She sent mental tendrils out and connected with each of the injured Resistance fighters. They balked at her presence, so she sent soothing healing energy to them and numbed their pain as their flesh knit back together. Energy poured through her endlessly, working to her will; the power was intoxicating and left a pleasant warmth in her soul.

When she could no longer sense anymore healing to do, Rey pulled back and opened her eyes. Finn's eyes fluttered open and he smiled tiredly at her but his indomitable spirit showed through it.

"Hey," Finn said hoarsely.

"Hey yourself," Rey said back, smiling in relief. "You're supposed to stay out of trouble unless I'm there with you."

"Couldn't help myself," Finn chuckled. He accepted Megara's help to ingest a yellow-blue brew through a straw and then ate some ice chips. "How was your rescue mission?"

"We'll talk about it later," Rey said gently. "You focus on recovering."

"Here, drink some of this," Larma pressed a large cup of a bitter-smelling brew into her hands. "You need to recover your energy levels too."

Rey raised a dubious eyebrow at the green mixture with floating brown chunks.

"It tastes better if you swallow quickly," Larma recommended before moving away to help the other Resistance fighters who were also waking up.

Rey plugged her nose and drank as quickly as she could. Finn laughed as she gagged at the aftertaste.

"Ugh," Rey said as she stole some of his ice chips. "Not great, but not the worst thing I've ever drank." She did feel more energized and awake though, like she could go on a run.

Her spirits lifted as Poe walked into the tent even though he looked a fright. He was akin to a walking zombie with the dark circles under his eyes and his hair and clothes in disarray; he must have been pulling all-nighters, trying to deal with keeping the Resistance running and fretting over Finn's injuries. Poe stopped in his tracks as he saw everyone was awake.

"Poe," Finn tiredly smiled and stretched a hand out to him.

"Thank the stars," Poe breathed and rushed to him, grabbing his hand and squeezing hard to reassure himself he wasn't dreaming. "You're going to be okay."

"Of course I am," Finn said with certainty. "Between Ben and Rey, we're going to be just fine. I don't think the burns will even scar." He flicked the fading pink scars on his arm.

"Ben helped?" Rey asked. It would explain how the healers had been able to stabilize the squad after such devastating wounds.

Everyone in the tent suddenly refused to meet her gaze. The tension could have only been cut with a lightsaber.

"It's a little fuzzy, but I distinctly recall him in my mind," Finn rubbed his forehead. "He directed me on how to reach out to the others and heal the worst of the damage."

"That couldn't have been easy," Rey said. Something about the situation didn't sit right with her.

"Not everyone made it," Finn muttered, chewing on some more ice chips. "And I still have a headache."

Rey turned to Poe and narrowed her eyes as he refused to meet her gaze and a red flush crept up his neck. The reason hit her like a starship coming out of hyperspace.

"Poe, why didn't you take off the suppressor cuffs so Ben could just heal them outright?" Rey asked. "You didn't need to wait for me."

Poe sighed heavily and lifted his head. It was worse seeing the guilt and regret in his eyes.

"I don't know how to take the cuffs off," Poe confessed.

Rey was astonished her first reaction was anger, a seething deep-rooted emotion that twisted her insides into knots. She understood why he'd done it; his first duty was to protect the Resistance. But a more primal part of herself couldn't comprehend how he could have willingly made that choice. It made her hackles raise in defense at the thought of losing her ability to call the Force. She'd only had her abilities for a few years, but it was already an integral part of her. She couldn't imagine how Ben felt about this, and he'd had knowledge about his abilities since birth. She was surprised he hadn't tried to kill Poe.

"Poe, you didn't," Finn said, horror fixed on his face.

"I did it to protect us, but it seems like that decision is backfiring on me at every turn," Poe hung his head in shame. "I've been trying to find out where the suppressor cuffs came from since the incident. There has to be a way to take them off."

"And?" Rey asked, barely hanging onto civility.

"And nothing," Poe shook his head. "Ben hasn't been able to find anything either. I've called for outside assistance."

The anger left Rey as she thought of Ben, turning into worry as she realized he hadn't greeted her yet.

"How is Ben?"

"He hasn't slept since the day before yesterday," Poe rubbed his eyes and let out a partial yawn. "He's been scouring the Falcon's database and then our mainframe for anything relating to the cuffs and its maker. I gave Mosla and Kettplai permission to help him optimize the search. Still, nothing."

"We'll figure it out together," Finn squeezed Poe's hand in silent support. "Where is Ben now?"

Rey was grateful Finn had thought to ask. She didn't think she could keep the panic from her voice if she asked.

"Aarzio managed to pry him away from the comms tent earlier this morning," Poe said. "He decided to go on a run. I thought it was best to let him work through this in his own way. Mixa and the others are with him."

"Have they been running all day?" Rey asked in disbelief as she whipped out her comlink and sent a link request to the captain.

"All I know is I haven't seen them at meals or their scheduled shifts," Poe shrugged as he let out a jaw-gaping yawn.

"You need some sleep," Finn said and tugged Poe onto the cot with him.

Poe protested, mumbling something about not wanting to injure him, but Finn just settled the man against him. Poe stopped objecting and cuddled with Finn, closing his eyes and dropping into sleep almost immediately. Rey couldn't stay mad at him; she could feel the guilt tearing him up on the inside. She would find a way to fix this.

"Commander Rey?"

"Yes, captain," Rey spoke into the comlink, moving away from the cot so she wouldn't disturb her exhausted friends. "I'm back on the base."

"I'm glad you've returned," Relief was clear in Mixa's voice.

"How is he?" Rey asked, knowing he would understand her meaning.

Indistinct shouting and roaring filtered over the comlink. It sounded like Ben.

"You should get over here now," Mixa said shortly. "I've done all I can for him."

"Send me your coordinates," Rey said, leaving the tent and running for the jungle trail.

"Already did," Mixa said. "And Rey? You should hurry."

Cursing to herself, Rey checked the coordinates quickly and adjusted her trajectory. If these numbers were right, they were deep in the jungle, beyond the usual path. What was Ben doing all the way out there? She hoped he hadn't tried to run away again.

Rey reached out through their dyad to determine what was going on, but there was a block in place muting her senses. She pushed through the wall, sending out what she hoped were calming vibes and reassurances. She was hit with a tsunami of dark emotions so intertwined that she couldn't distinguish any; all she knew was that the intensity threatened to drown her. She was sharply shoved out and Rey gasped as reality flooded back and the block was raised again.

She stood up from where she'd collapsed and sent healing energy to her skinned knees as she started sprinting again, using her feelings more than Mixa's coordinates to triangulate their position. Her senses tingled as she stepped foot in an older part of the jungle. There was just something… extra about it. Captain Ivin and the other guards came into view just as she started to hear Ben's soul-strangling shouting. Rey slid to a stop next to the guards and watched in dismay as Ben punched the hell out of a poor tree.

"Rey, you need to stop him," Aarzio said urgently.

"We don't dare get any closer," Mixa explained to her. "We hoped you would be able to get through to him."

"You did the right thing. I'll take it from here," Rey nodded to him. "Why don't you all head back to the base? I'll bring him to the medical tent when he's suitably calm."

"I'll prep the tweezer kit," Mixa nodded in agreement.

The guards walked off, Mixa and Sertali casting back worried gazes to her and Ben.

Rey turned back and inhaled deeply. She hoped Ben wasn't too lost in his aggressive state to recognize her. Without hesitating a moment more, Rey moved forward into the clearing and summoned the Force. She stepped between Ben and the tree, simultaneously pushing him back with the Force and sending calming vibes through their bond.

Ben quieted and breathed harshly as he was momentarily distracted from pulverizing the tree. His eyes had a faraway look in them, but recognition kindled the longer he stared at her. Rey reached out again through their dyad, cautiously this time, but Ben shoved her away firmly. Rey got the message. He didn't want her in his mind.

"It's going to be okay, Ben," Rey reached out to put both hands on his chest.

Ben shied away, making Rey even more concerned. He never refused her touch. Ben's breathing grew more rapid and his eyes glazed over again.

"No, stay with me, Ben," Rey grabbed his bloody, splinter-filled hands and put them high on her chest. "Breathe with me. In, out."

Ben gazed at her blankly, but he did as she instructed, taking breaths at the same pace as her. Slowly, reason came back into his expression and his eyes became less lost. Ben's fingers moved under hers and he flipped his hands over to envelop hers in a warm grasp.

"You're back early," Ben said simply.

"You were right. I shouldn't have left," Rey said.

"I told you so," A half-smile came to Ben's lips.

"I'll listen next time," Rey smiled back, but she couldn't keep up the happy expression as she looked at his ruined hands. "Ben, why were you punching the tree?"

Ben's face closed off, taking on just one expression. Anger.

"Since Poe doesn't know how to remove the cuffs-" Ben looked quickly to her and she gave a nod that she knew what Poe had done. Ben's face soured and he continued. "I couldn't find anything in the Falcon's database on them, and then it hit me that my mother would know something since she's the one who acquired them. I came here to speak with her. This clearing is some sort of magnet for Force energy."

Rey waited patiently for him to continue, but Ben pursed his lips and his eyes darkened in fury.

"Did she not tell you anything?" Rey pried gently.

Ben let go of her hands and stepped back in jerky movements. "She didn't even show up." He glared at the ring of trees. "I don't know why I expected you to!"

"Ben, maybe now isn't the right time for her to show up," Rey suggested hesitantly. She didn't know Leia's reason for not materializing, but she knew Leia would have come if she could.

"Or maybe she hates me and that's why she won't come!" Ben shouted into the air, his chest heaving up and down in suppressed aggression. He looked down at Rey, sadness glinting in his eyes. "I can't say I blame her if she did." He muttered the last quietly.

"Oh, Ben," Rey said compassionately, reaching out to him.

Ben dejectedly took her hand and swayed unsteadily on his feet. Rey took his arm instead to stabilize him.

"I'm fine, just dizzy," Ben waved her off.

"I'm not surprised. You haven't eaten or slept in over a day," Rey firmly wrapped an arm around his bulk and pulled him into a slow amble back to the base. "Come on."

Ben followed her on autopilot, not even protesting the long uphill walk. Rey fed energy to him in small spurts, enough to keep him going. She didn't dare heal his hands until they got those splinters out. They finally reached the base and Rey guided Ben into the med tent. She was settling him onto the last free cot when she felt his mood take a dive as he registered his surroundings.

"I can't be here," Ben stood up unsteadily.

"You're injured. You belong here," Rey said, blocking his path to the exit.

"I don't want to be in this blasted tent," Ben grumbled. "It's become a symbol of everything wrong with me. First, I was unable to heal myself from a stupid bacteria, and then I had to use a go-between to heal these people. Being here just reminds me I'm a broken man."

"Is that what you see?" Rey asked softly. "Because I see a man strong enough to withstand a deadly plague long enough to receive the cure. A man who overcame every obstacle thrown at him thus far in order to save six people from certain death. No broken man could have done that. You're more than what the Force can give you."

Ben stared at her wonderingly.

"At the very least, you need to stay until you get those hands seen to," Rey pressed him back onto the cot and he went willingly. Now that he was coming back to himself, the pain he was experiencing was radiating through the dyad. She pressed against his right arm and he hissed. An additional stab of pain shot through their bond.

"It's nothing," Ben insisted, settling back into a pillow.

"It's not nothing," Rey pushed the jacket sleeve over his right forearm and raised an eyebrow at the gauze wrappings coming undone there.

"I'll need to take a look at that too," Mixa dropped a tweezer kit, a jar of bacta paste, and a roll of bandages onto the cot next to Ben's legs.

"What happened?" Rey unwound the wrappings and suppressed a gasp at the small patches of infected red flesh. She immediately set about removing the infection.

"Burns from liquified starship hull," Mixa said as he tugged splinters from Ben's left hand.

Ben twitched, giving no other outward indication he was in discomfort but Rey could feel the pinpricks of pain through the dyad.

"And how did it happen?" Rey raised an eyebrow at Ben.

"Only way to open the starship doors," Ben shrugged apathetically. "Finn and his squad would have drowned if someone hadn't done it."

"I would have taken a look at it earlier, but Ben wasn't letting anyone get close," Mixa told her.

"Well, I'm here now," Rey examined the wounds closely. "It will heal." She pushed energy into them and flesh knitted together before their eyes; soon there was nothing left but smooth, pale skin. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as a wave of dizziness and exhaustion washed over her.

"It's amazing how you can do that," Mixa admired as he tugged a particularly long splinter from Ben's second knuckle.

Ben's breath hitched as the fragment left his skin. To distract him, Rey sat on the cot and sidled up to him to brush a hand through his hair.

"Your hair is getting pretty long again," Rey remarked. It was almost the length it had been the first time they'd met.

"I'll cut it."

"No, I like it this length," Rey said offhandedly, enjoying the feel of the silky smooth strands sliding through her fingers.

"Then I'll fight Chewie when he tries to hack it all off again," Ben turned to her with a half-smile.

Rey chuckled and continued to run her fingers through his hair. Mixa soon finished with Ben's left hand and applied bacta paste to it before moving to the other hand. The gentle beeping of life support monitors for the recovering Resistance fighters filled the comfortable silence. As they sat there, Rey's thoughts drifted back to the aggrieved, heated accusations Ben had made in the jungle.

"Your mother never hated you," she said quietly.

Ben tensed beside her. He didn't want to address that topic.

"Leia loved you," Rey stubbornly pressed on. He needed to hear this. "All she wanted was for you to find your own way in the galaxy."

Ben was silent for so long that Rey thought she'd have to address the topic with more tact to convince him of that fact.

"She did?" Ben asked with a hint of surprise. "She didn't want me just to come back to the light side?"

"I'm sure she did," Rey said, keeping her tone gentle but firm. "But above all else, she just wanted you to be at peace. You were a lost soul who was just trying to find some meaning, a purpose. She wouldn't have condoned using the suppressor cuffs on you. And I know she would have come when you called if she could have," Rey sighed, combing her fingers gently through his hair. "I don't know why she didn't appear, but it wasn't because of anything you've done or haven't done. We'll find another way to remove the cuffs. I promise I won't stop searching until we do."

Rey jumped a little as a loud snore interrupted her. She looked down and chuckled to see Ben had fallen asleep under her gentle ministrations despite Mixa still tugging shards of wood from his right hand.

"Right in the middle of my speech," Rey shook her head, not at all mad.

"He heard you," Mixa smiled in reassurance as he finished with the tweezers and applied the bacta mixture to Ben's hand.

"I can heal him," Rey reached out, but Mixa pressed her hands back down.

"Save your strength. Don't think I didn't notice your dizzy spell earlier," Mixa pinned her with a stern gaze as he wrapped bandages around Ben's knuckles. "The paste will prevent infection and help the skin heal fast. If you try to help now, you'll tap yourself out and cause who knows what kind of damage to yourself. I don't know too much about healing drained Force users, but I'm guessing the best medicine is to get a good night's sleep."

"As you say, healer," Rey nodded demurely with a smile and settled back onto the cot with a softly snoring Ben.

"If he complains about the pain after he washes the paste off tomorrow, then you can heal him," Mixa said as he snapped a blanket open to get rid of the folds and settled it over them. "But it might do him some good to deal with the consequences of his actions. Punching trees-" Mixa tsked in dismay.

"It was the only way he saw to contain his aggression," Rey stated simply.

"Learning the suppressor cuffs are likely permanent was hard on him," Mixa said. "He hit the general in the face when he confessed the truth."

"That's all?" Rey wondered, looking at Ben. Even when he was sleeping, lines of worry didn't vanish from his face.

"It was a decent punch, but even I'll admit I expected more of a reaction. I think if it weren't for you and the time he's spent here, he might have reverted to behaving as his past self would," Mixa looked sadly down at Ben. "He's been trying very hard to stay in control of his emotions. It's been a battle, a continuous uphill struggle."

"I'll help him continue his battle," Rey promised. "Finding the answer to removing the suppressor cuffs will be the toughest quest I've faced yet. We don't even have a starting point. But I'll manage somehow."

"Not all hope is lost," Mixa gently touched her shoulder and a wave of reassurance swept over her. "If the cuffs went on, then they can come off. It's just a matter of finding out how."

-oOoOoOo-

Ben woke up with the scent of engine fuel lingering strongly in his nostrils with just a hint of apple to take the edge off. He lifted his face from the soft cushion he'd been lying on and looked around in confusion. Hadn't he been searching nonstop for a way to remove the suppressor cuffs? His pillow shifted under him and wrapped an arm around him.

Rey yawned and looked down at him with sleepy eyes. Her loose hair brushed against his face and tickled his nose.

"Stars, what time is it?"

Ben pulled his hand out from beneath the blanket and checked his wristwatch. It was midmorning; they'd both overslept.

"Too late to get breakfast," Ben rumbled, his voice still rough from sleep. He pressed his face back into her neck and wrapped an arm around her. "Might as well sleep til lunch."

Rey chuckled and nudged him in the ribs to get him to loosen his hold. "It's too early to do that. We have things to do today." She sat up and greeted the healers moving around the tent.

Ben half-heartedly glared at the ceiling before sitting up himself. He grimaced as the pressure he placed on his hands aggravated the injuries there. The pain brought the previous day's memories back with full clarity.

"How are those wounds today?" Rey asked, taking one of his hands and gently unwrapping the bandages.

The angle was awkward for her to work with in the small cot, so she moved to half-sit in his lap. The closer proximity to Rey distracted Ben completely and heat rushed through him. He had to shift the blanket to cover his rising erection. With her disheveled hair and adorable expression of great concern over something as trivial as a few cuts, Ben couldn't help thinking she looked beautiful.

"I think it's healing on its own," Rey scrutinized his other hand closely. "I'll know for certain once you wash off the paste."

"It's nothing I'm not used to," Ben shrugged.

"I see you're awake at last," said a disapproving motherly voice.

Ben looked up to see Larma coming to stand before them and her thunderous expression fixed solely on him was enough to make his stirring erection wilt like a dip in the coldest arctic ocean.

"I don't know what you were thinking, almost destroying your hands like this," Larma lectured sternly and grabbed one of his hands to examine the injuries. "I hope you're happy with yourself, young man."

"It's healing, Larma," Ben assured her. The wounds only stung a little.

"You are lucky the damage was superficial," Larma dropped his hand. "You shouldn't need more of the bacta paste."

"How do I get this muck off?" Ben flexed his fingers and wriggled his nose in disgust at the sticky, oily feel of the paste on his knuckles and fingers.

"Soap and water. But you'll need to wait. We just ran out," Larma said, nodding to the healers in the background assisting the recovering squad in washing up, stretching their limbs, and applying fresh bandages.

"No worries, Larma," Rey stood up and stretched. "We'll swing by the supply stores and grab you another box of soap on our way to the river."

Ben subtly sniffed his shirt and privately agreed it was time for a wash. Countless hours searching nonstop for a clue on the cuffs' origins and running aimlessly through the jungle had given him an interesting scent that no one could be happy with. Rey's nose was pretty tolerant of strong odors to put up with him.

He followed Rey out of the tent in their quest for soap, but someone caught his arm on his way out. It was one of the injured fighters, a middle-aged woman who'd mostly avoided him before now.

"Larma told me what happened," she croaked through her healing throat. "I owe you my life."

"You should give your thanks to Finn," Ben shook free of her weak grip. "I only helped him see what must be done."

"He may have done the actual healing, but he couldn't have done it without your help," said another Resistance fighter in the neighboring cot. He sat up with a pained grimace. "I felt your presence. You may be a murderous bastard, but you came through for us when it counted. Thank you."

Ben glowered and remained silent. He couldn't help thinking there should be two other people here. He could have saved them all if his ability to access the Force hadn't been hacked into nonexistence by a self-serving, arrogant pilot. He didn't deserve their praise.

Ben turned and left, cutting some of them off mid-speech. Rey murmured something to them and then fell into step next to him. Her mental presence brushed against his mind and he accepted the soothing touch but didn't let her in. She didn't need to be tainted by his inner turmoil.

They raided the supply store for a couple of boxes of industrial apple-scented soap, pocketing a couple of tins for themselves. They passed by people going about their day as they headed back to the med tent. Some gave Ben sidelong glances filled with pity and understanding; the rumor mill had reached them about the suppressor cuffs. Ben didn't hold back as he sneered back at them. He didn't want their sympathy. Sympathy wouldn't restore his abilities. It wasn't like a lost limb. A lost limb could be replaced with a mechanized appendage. Losing access to the Force was worse than that; Poe had essentially cut away part of his soul, handicapping him for life.

Rey took both boxes as they returned to the tent. Ben loitered near some battered comms equipment as he waited for her to deliver the supplies.

"Mr. Ben?"

Ben flinched as a voice piped up at his waist. He hadn't heard the child approach. He tempered his expression before he looked down so he wouldn't horrify the kid into bursting into tears. The boy extended a sparse bouquet of colorful wildflowers to him.

"We picked them together," The brown-haired child smiled bashfully up at him.

Ben's attention was caught by movement behind the large generator. Two other children peeked out to look at him and hid again, squeaking and shushing each other.

"Do you like them?" asked the boy hesitantly.

"They're… nice," Ben said, taking the flowers.

"Flowers always make my mummy feel better when she's sad," the boy said innocently. "Now you don't have to be sad anymore." He smiled and bounced off back to his friends. They ran off, waving goodbye.

Ben was frozen to the spot, looking at the flowers. Children were so innocent, thinking there were simple fixes to horrifically difficult problems.

"Jax means well," Rey said as she stepped out of the med tent.

"I know," Ben pasted a smile on his face and offered Rey the flowers. "I wish these were the solution to my problem."

"So do I," Rey accepted the flowers and brushed the red petals of a flower with a vibrant yellow center.

Another fighter passed by with a pitying gaze and Ben glared at them for the audacity.

"You were right about my mission, by the way," Rey said as she tugged him into a brisk walk.

"It was a dud?" Ben guessed.

"More likely a trap, but we'll never know as we stopped halfway," Rey said. "None of the other bases received a distress call. And we ran a trace on the signal origin again and it didn't match the destination."

"The First Order has to be behind it," Ben said, almost impressed. "It's a smart move, trying to lure Resistance fighters with a distress call that seems to come from one of their own."

"Maybe," Rey said, her thoughts far away. "All I knew was that I had a bad feeling about it."

"I'm glad you listened," Ben said with relief. "Sometimes, that's the only warning you'll receive before everything goes sideways."

Rey hummed in mild agreement, still distant.

"Unless you think it wasn't the First Order," Ben narrowed his eyes.

"I didn't say that," Rey didn't meet his eyes as they came to a private section of the river. The flow of water was slow and even, having been tamed by a rock formation upstream.

"Rey," Ben refused to let this go until he got an explanation.

"It's nothing," Rey gave him a brief smile, but there was a touch of worry in her eyes that she couldn't mask.

"Clearly not," Ben crossed his arms.

"Let it go, Ben," Rey rolled her eyes. "If there is something more to my false mission, I'll take care of it."

"I could-" Ben stuttered and his voice failed him as he watched Rey shuck off her arm wraps and tunic and step out of her pants, baring her skin to the golden glow of the sun. His gaze roamed over her, admiring her muscled figure and assets.

Wearing only a gray binder over her chest and a faded black pair of underpants, Rey waded into the pool of flowing water. She looked over her shoulder as she submerged herself.

"Are you planning to bathe fully clothed?" Rey asked with an impish grin.

Ben almost ripped a seam in his jacket as he took it off and pulled his shirt over his head. He was more careful with his pants so he didn't snag the zipper on anything delicate. He chose to follow Rey's lead and keep his underwear on. Hopefully, the river was cold enough to dampen his reaction.

Luckily, Rey's attention was off of him, so he was able to jump into the water without her noticing his extreme reaction to seeing her practically naked. The mid-morning sun had warmed the waters, making it the perfect wading temperature.

Rey grabbed some soap and lathered it between her fingers. Ben's mouth went dry and his gaze was riveted on her hands as she slowly spread the white foam over her skin. Fantasies engulfed his mind, all of them involving a flat surface and Rey beneath him.

"Soap?" Rey extended the cake of soap to him.

Ben numbly took it from her and washed the paste from his knuckles. The oily substance came off and the soap irritated the raw, healing skin, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He absently applied soap to his chest and arms as Rey cleaned her hair. By raising her arms, she drew attention to her perky breasts. The water had molded the cloth to her chest and her nipples were pressing through the material.

Ben raised his right arm to wash his back and grunted in pain as his muscles protested the movement.

"What's wrong?" Rey immediately turned her attention to him.

"Nothing," Ben shook his head.

"It's your arm, isn't it?" Rey said knowingly. "You pulled a muscle yesterday."

Ben shrugged and even that movement engaged the healing muscle.

"Here, turn around," Rey said as she took the soap back and lathered her fingers.

She nudged him to turn and spread the soap over his back with her small hands. Ben vowed to throw out his left arm as well if it meant Rey would continue to help him bathe in the future.

It may have been wishful thinking, but he thought her touch lingered on his shoulders. As her hands moved over his sides, he unconsciously let out a strange noise.

"Are you okay?" Rey asked.

"Yes," Ben said, tamping down the urge to giggle.

Rey repeated the movement and he let out a snort and a choked-off chuckle, shying away from her fingers.

"You're ticklish!" Rey giggled.

"No, I'm not," Ben argued back as he half-turned to glare at her.

"Yes, you are," Rey said gleefully as a mischievous glint gleamed in her eyes.

Rey darted in before he could react and stroked her fingers quickly over his sides. Ben helplessly let out gusts of laughter and chuckles as Rey chased after him, tickling his ribs mercilessly. He ducked and dodged but as he shielded one side, she dove in to attack his other side. His heart grew light at the ridiculousness of the situation as he almost doubled over from laughing so hard. He admitted his strategic retreat wasn't working and decided to launch an offensive strike. Quick as a viper, Ben ran his fingers over Rey's ribs, eliciting a shriek of surprised laughter. A smile rose to his lips and he started laughing in earnest. He had to admit it felt good to genuinely laugh again.

The air was filled with the sounds of their breathless laughter as they chased each other around the pool, attempting to get the biggest reaction from each other. Their impromptu tickle war ended when Rey lost her footing on the slippery rocks and threw her arms up in alarm as she went down. Ben grabbed her forearms and dragged her against his chest to prevent her from slipping below the surface.

Ben looked down at Rey's beauteous expression and his lips twitched up in amusement as he noted there were still soap bubbles in her hair. As they stared at each other, still breathing hard from their exertions, the mood changed in an instant. Their laughter faded as they registered their close proximity.

Ben loosened his hold on Rey to wrap one arm around her waist and slide his other hand into her hair to cup her head. Ben slowly leaned in and kissed her. Rey returned his kiss hesitantly at first, but then used the water's buoyancy to jump and wrap her legs around his waist, pressing her pussy against his cock perfectly. Ben groaned as Rey kissed him passionately and shoved both of her hands into his hair to bring him closer. Ben pressed her against the closest rock and ground his throbbing cock against her, eliciting a moan from her.

"Ben!" Rey gasped before he took her lips again.

Stars, hearing her breathlessly say his name was better than any of the thousand times he'd fantasized about it.

Rey wriggled under him as she used her heels to push him further into her. She let out a moan as he cupped one of her small but perfect breasts, pressing up into his touch and tossing her head back. Ben took advantage and kissed his way down her bared throat.

They both jumped as the thunderous roar of a starship's engine broke through their singular focus. Ben looked up in time to see a faded silver starcruiser with yellow streaks and an X-wing with red wings fly overhead. He didn't recognize either ship but he knew they weren't from this base.

"That's Lando's ship," Rey said, her eyes narrowing as she followed the ships' flight path beyond the trees. "What's he doing here?"

"Let's go find out," Ben offered, pulling away. His burning curiosity about why his uncle had finally come to this base after so many months was just barely outweighing his need to continue making love to Rey. Barely.

They waded to the riverbank and hastily dried off and put their clothes back on. Ben noticed the wildflowers the children had gifted him were still on the ground where Rey had left them. He plucked a red wildflower with soft, pointed petals from the bunch and tucked it behind Rey's ear as she finished fastening her armbands. She looked up at him in astonishment and a question in her eyes.

"Red looks good with your hair," Ben said, letting his fingers linger on her cheek for a second longer.

She blushed and took his hand as they strode back up the dirt path to the base.

Rey stopped the first person she saw in the canteen to find out what was going on, but Ben didn't think an explanation would be necessary. His gaze shot across the expanse of the half-filled canteen to the bright gold sheen of C3PO's metal plates. He locked eyes with the droid and a split second passed before the protocol droid freaked out.

"Oh dear, oh my!" C3PO yelped and shuffled away at his top speed. "Help! General Calrissian, Artoo!"

Ben rolled his eyes and smiled in genuine amusement yet again. He walked briskly after the droid, catching up quickly and keeping pace easily much to the protocol droid's terror.

"Threepio, calm down," Ben spoke over the droid's panicked cries. "I can explain."

"I'm not ready to be a pile of scrap metal!" C3PO insisted, waving his arms at Ben and walking as fast as he could.

Ben chuckled and let C3PO shuffle ahead. They entered the shipyard and C3PO rushed toward the small congregation of Resistance fighters next to the newly landed starships. Ben's steps flagged as he recognized the familiar figure of his Uncle Lando. Even with his back turned, he would recognize his uncle anywhere even though they'd both changed since Ben had seen him last.

"General!" C3PO almost steamrolled over R2-D2 and BB-8 in his bid to reach Lando. "General!"

"What is it, Threepio?" Lando asked as he turned about.

"It's… it's," Threepio waved his arms in distress as he babbled.

"It's alright," Lando reassured the droid. "Take a second to realign your circuits."

Artoo beeped at his friend to calm down and tell them what was going on.

"He's trying to say that I'm here," Ben stepped forward and cut over C3PO's nonsensical rambling.

The group turned fully toward him and displayed an array of emotions. Poe looked on with resignation while Lando and a young woman who resembled him blinked in shock. The other fighter's face was hidden behind a golden helmet, but they tensed and moved their hand to rest on their blaster. Artoo tooted a greeting and Ben nodded in return. He'd always liked the astromech droid.

"Don't say hello!" C3PO reprimanded the droid. "Are your circuits scrambled?"

"Well, well. What have we here? I presume this is what you were taking several minutes to tell us?" Lando spoke sideways to Poe without taking his eyes off Ben.

"I was trying to soften the blow, but yes, sir," Poe nodded. "Ben is with us now. Has been since Exogol."

"Is that so?" Lando raised an eyebrow at Ben.

"It is," Ben smirked. "Until someone gives me a reason to leave and join the other side." Unsurprisingly, this didn't get any laughs.

"Don't tease them, Ben," Rey scolded him as she caught up with the group.

"I had my suspicions when Poe said he had a secret source, but I'm still relieved to know I was correct," Lando said with a hint of a smile, but his eyes were guarded as he stared at Ben.

Ben didn't know if that meant he was forgiven. He hid his emotions behind a stoic mask as he examined the two people Lando had brought with him. He didn't recognize the young woman with the bouncy, curly hair, but she carried herself with the bearing of a First Order stormtrooper. The person in the golden mask was one of the fighters his forces had met during his recent venture to Kijimi. Their features were obscured behind the mask, but then the shield over the eyes lifted, showcasing fierce green eyes. Realization hit him as he remembered why he found the fighter so familiar.

"Hi, Zorii," Ben said with a cheeky wave.

"Are you kidding me?" Zorii's green eyes flashed with indignation. She drew her blaster with rapid speed and pointed it at him. "That's all you have to say to me after all this time?"

"Sorry for invading your town?" Ben guessed with a shrug.

"You asshole," Zorii scoffed. "You know that's not what I'm referring to!"

"Is there anyone you haven't angered?" Rey muttered beside him.

"Not really. It'd be easier to assume that anyone who crosses paths with me has some sort of grudge," Ben's lips twitched up in amusement. "Zorii here is just angry that I didn't say goodbye before I went off-planet."

"You didn't say goodbye before we left?" Poe spoke up, adding his own condemnation to support Zorii's position. "Even I know you should have said something. No wonder Zorii tried to shoot me when I went back to Kijimi."

"I feel like I'm missing something," Rey said testily as she looked between the three of them.

"Back in the day, Poe went to Kijimi as a representative of the New Republic to form an alliance with the spice runners," Ben explained. "When he didn't return in the allotted time, I went to see what was going on. He'd opened talks with the leader of the spice runners but was stalling in making a deal. My guess, it was because she and her daughter had taken a fancy to him."

"Untrue. They wanted me to become a spice runner to seal the alliance," Poe explained. "I was trying to come up with a diplomatic way to refuse but still secure an allyship."

"I crashed their meeting and disrupted the negotiations," Ben said. Such was the power of a Jedi, even a fledgling one. "Zorii and I hit it off. One thing led to another and…" He gestured suggestively between himself and Zorii, sure everyone would read between the lines. "The next morning, I loaded Poe onto my starship and flew him out of there. Don't know why I bothered since he went back and actually became a spice runner."

"I appreciated the effort," Poe piped up.

"I'm still angry," Zorii hissed, her blaster never wavering.

"You knew him for less a day, Zorii," Poe leaned in close to her. "Let it go."

He wasn't fooling anyone with his concern. Ben could tell he was enjoying this.

"Let go of your teenage squabbles," Lando rolled his eyes in exasperation, pushing Zorii's blaster to point at the ground.

He stepped forward with open arms, letting a warm smile rise to his lips. He embraced Ben in a big bear hug.

"Welcome back, kid. I always knew Han and Leia were right," Lando whispered in his ear. "You would come back home."

Something in Ben settled and he returned the hug, feeling less murderous and lost.

"You seem more relaxed," Lando drew him aside as Zorii continued to squabble with Poe and give Ben nasty side-glares. The general gave him a once-over. "Relaxed, yet troubled all the same."

"A lot has happened since Exogol," Ben sighed. Where to even begin? "Long story short, I've been feeding the Resistance valuable intelligence to defeat the remnants of the First Order and in return, Poe put suppressor cuffs on me that he can't remove."

"He did what?" Lando's face turned grim as he clocked the black bands on his wrists. He was working hard to keep the pity off his face, but Ben could feel it. Lando swallowed hard. "What's done is done. All you can do is go forward."

"I can't fight this war without my abilities," Ben refuted heatedly.

"Being a Force user isn't what makes you who you are, Ben," Lando said firmly, making Ben pause and take notice. "It's a large part of yourself, but it isn't everything."

"What am I if I can't be Jedi or Sith?" Ben scoffed. Being Force-sensitive was everything for someone like him. Even Lando subconsciously knew it.

"You're a man who wants to find his place in the galaxy," Lando said simply. "Your options are unlimited, no matter what you think. If you want to help the Resistance or leave it all behind, you can do it. If you want to find the makers of these cuffs, I will help you search the entire galaxy."

"Really?" Ben asked. Did his uncle truly believe he was worth more than his gifts? It was hard to believe since he'd always been coveted and chased after for his immense power.

"Yes, though I draw the line at doing another Kessel Run," Lando chuckled under his breath. "Once was more than enough for me and the Falcon, especially with your father at the helm."

"I bet I could beat his record," Ben boasted, laughing and feeling a little better. All his life, he'd been told his worth was entirely linked to his extraordinary abilities in the Force and he'd believed that too. But what if he acknowledged that wasn't all he could contribute? It was a novel idea. "Thanks, Uncle Lando. I could use your help." He clasped arms with his uncle.

"Anything for you, kid," Lando nodded. He glanced down at the cuffs and raised Ben's wrists up, leaning in for a closer look. "There are markings here." He brushed his thumbs over the mismatched patterns embedded on the cuffs over his wrists.

"I noticed those too," Ben shrugged, dismissing the faint but distinctive marks. "They don't mean anything."

"We should have Threepio and Artoo take a look," Lando insisted. "It could be a remnant of a dead language or they may have come across these in their travels."

"I doubt it."

The droids were currently squabbling and giving Ben suspicious glances. He'd be surprised if they'd stopped arguing long enough to pay attention to their surroundings over the years to gather any useful information.

"Poe asked for Threepio's presence at this base to decipher some patterns," Lando said, surprising Ben. Poe had asked Lando to bring the droids here… to help him? "If he can't provide a lead, I know an analyst who specializes in archaic languages. Might take a while to get in contact with them though."

"I suppose it can't hurt to get the droids' opinion," Ben muttered, not even twitching as the dinner bell rang.

They walked side-by-side to the canteen. Rey fell in alongside him and took his hand, giving it a little squeeze. Ben smiled down at her, sending reassuring vibes to her through the dyad. Things were going to be alright.

Ben shifted impatiently as the Resistance leaders gave the daily report. He just wanted to eat and get the droids' opinions on the cuffs' markings. Nearby Resistance fighters whispered to each other and Ben narrowed his eyes. They usually listened quietly.

"Where is she?"

"Do you think she's alright?"

"I'm starving."

Ben turned to see what they were looking at. Jecob and Ayanin were scrambling about in the food prep area, running into each other in their haste. Pots and pans clanged softly as they argued about something. Ben sniffed the air. He couldn't smell any rehydrated food. Tawna always had something ready by the time the daily report meeting was held. Where was she?

Everyone was grumbling and bad-tempered by the time Rose called an end to the meeting. They gathered impatiently near the food prep area where Jecob and Ayanin were moving at a breakneck pace to dish out a quick stew. Ben grabbed his own portion of food, glaring at a Resistance fighter who dared to shove him to move quicker.

He sat at an empty table and bit into the bread roll. There were hard spots in the middle since it'd been rushed through the rehydration cycle. Lando, Rey, Zorii, and a woman his uncle introduced as Jannah joined him at the table. Poe hesitantly sat at the end of the table furthest from Ben. Finn and a couple of healed Resistance fighters limped into the canteen amid welcoming cheers. They waved in acknowledgment and Poe helped Finn find his seat at the table.

Ben was glad to see Finn up and about, but he just wanted to get this meal over with so he could get some answers. He brightened as C3PO and R2-D2 passed by the table. His prayers had been answered.

"Threepio!" Ben called out, ignoring the gold droid's yelp. "Do you recognize these markings?" He held out his wrist so the droid could examine the cuff.

"I'm not sure I should be assisting a member of the First Order," C3PO hesitated coming closer. "It is against my directives-"

"I trust that his allegiance is with us," Lando waved the droid forward. "Poe asked for your presence here to help him and I trust that is the right thing to do. Please, Threepio. Tell us what you know."

C3PO inched closer with R2-D2's urging and examined the cuff's half-circle markings.

"These symbols do not match any of the six million forms of communication I am programmed with," C3PO shook his head.

R2-D2 piped up with a series of beeps.

"How would you recognize these symbols?" C3PO argued petulantly.

"Artoo, where did you see these markings?" Poe practically vibrated with an intensity that Ben silently matched.

R2-D2 projected an image of an ancient temple wall as he spoke. The infrastructure had crumbled, but the engraving of concentric half-circles was unmistakable.

"We've never been to Savareen," C3PO thunked the astromech droid on the head, causing the holoimage to pixelate momentarily. "Your circuits need to be cleaned!"

R2-D2 whistled back emphatically.

"I do hate needing mind wipes to keep my circuitry stable," C3PO grumbled.

"You came across it at the end of the Clone Wars?" Ben slumped in his seat as Artoo's message sunk in. That was over fifty years ago! Who knows if the structure was still standing or if the people were still there.

"It's a starting point, Ben," Rey's hope thrummed through the bond.

"I'll work with Rose to gather a squad to go investigate these ruins," Finn said, wincing slightly as he shifted on the bench.

"We'll need to also enlist the assistance of our sister base's analysts," Poe addressed Lando. "Who do we have who can track down historical records about Savareen?"

"This information is as old as the Rebel Alliance, perhaps even older. Our analysts will be hard-pressed to track anything down," Lando stroked his chin in consideration. "I'll find my associate who specializes in these types of artifacts while your scouts investigate these markings on Savareen."

"Then it's settled," Poe said definitively.

Everyone nodded in satisfaction at this plan and continued to eat the remainder of their meal. Poe shot a hopeful glance towards Ben, silently asking for forgiveness. Ben shut down his expressions and turned away. The cuffs weren't off yet.

Ben tapped his foot impatiently waiting for Rey to finish so he could leave the canteen and go to his tent and be alone. His guards were absent, leaving only Rey to tail him. Rey popped the last morsel of bread into her mouth and nodded her farewells to the table as she stood.

"We'll talk again tomorrow before I depart, Ben," Lando directed at him.

Ben gave a short nod and left the canteen. Rey chattered as she followed him.

"Mixa, Aarzio, and Sertali have night shifts today and other duties to perform tomorrow morning, so you won't see them until after mid-day meal," Rey sped up to match his pace. "There's a sparring session in the morning we're expected to lead. I was hoping you could help me with this move I'm having difficulty with. I do hope the crater in the training arena doesn't cause any problems."

"The crater adds a new element to your training," Ben said absently as they approached his tent. "It's about time I started you on how to fight properly on uneven ground."

"You cannot judge my skills based on past experiences," Rey snootily turned up her nose. "I'm self-taught."

"You'll catch on quickly. I have no doubt about that," Ben smirked at her. A faint rustle nearby made him twitch, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"Yes, I will. I'll see you bright and early," Rey smiled, welcoming the challenge. "Goodnight!" She kissed his cheek and walked to her tent down the row.

Ben raised a hand to the tent flap when that rustling sound came again. Adrenaline shot through his system, sharpening his senses with knife-like intensity. Someone was in his tent. His hand drifted down reflexively to his waist to grab his lightsaber, but there was nothing but air. Damnation.

"Ben?"

Rey was staring at him questioningly. Ben raised a finger to his lips. Rey's eyes widened in alarm and she cursed under her breath. She gestured for him to wait as she hurried back, but Ben was already turning back to the tent. He could take care of the threat himself, armed or not.

Ben girded himself for a fight and threw back the tent flaps and entered the dwelling. Almost immediately, he was wrongfooted. No adversary was waiting to pounce on him and slit his throat. Instead, he was met with the sight of his blankets, the thin mattress, and a brown Resistance uniform ripped up and used to make a nest of sorts. At the center was a naked and indignant pregnant Jixiti in her feral form.

Tawna hissed as her solitude was disrupted. The angry noise cut off as her luminous green eyes fixated on him and she aborted a move to swipe at him with those long talons. A welcoming chirp greeted Ben and Tawna settled back into her nest where she rolled around, inhaling the fabrics' scent.

"What the hell?" Ben couldn't believe this was happening. If he hadn't recognized the familiar large stain on the scraps of shredded blankets he'd once used, he would have wondered if he'd entered the wrong tent.

"Ben, let me handle it!" Rey urgently nudged him aside to see what was going on. "Who's there?"

Tawna growled under her breath at the appearance of a newcomer, and it turned into a full-fledged protective snarl as Rey put a foot over the threshold. The Jixiti lunged forward, surprisingly swift given her large belly. Ben grabbed the back of Rey's tunic and indelicately yanked her out of harm's way just as Tawna's talons swiped through the air where Rey's throat had been just a millisecond before.

Ben snatched Tawna's arms to prevent her from pursuing Rey. Her raw instincts may see Rey as a threat, but when Tawna came back to herself, she would never forgive herself for hurting someone she considered a friend. Tawna relaxed in Ben's grip, her focus shifting instantly. She pressed her nose into the V-neck of his shirt and inhaled deeply, cooing in delight. Ben guided Tawna back to her nest, but she refused to let go of him. Her talons pricked his skin and she let out a distressed whine as he attempted to extricate himself from her steel grip.

Ben recalled her words from many weeks ago in the canteen, that she needed a mate. He'd thought she'd had designs on him when she'd insisted he was a compatible match, but her insistence on finding a new mate was perhaps due to an innate need instead of a wish to replace her beloved dead mate. Her alter needed a proxy to support her through her pregnancy and the birth, hence why she'd chosen his tent to make her nest in. Ben quickly doffed his jacket and shirt, handing the latter to the distressed woman and praying it would work. The shirt was definitely smothered in his scent.

Tawna released her hold on him and pressed her nose into the fabric. She lay back in her nest, chirping in delight again. Ben backed away slowly and Tawna didn't protest as he exited the tent.

"Ben, are you alright?" Rey turned him to face her as she examined him for lacerations. She raised an eyebrow at his shirtless state.

"Perfectly fine," Ben assured her, enjoying the way her eyes fixated on his pecs.

"Where's your shirt?" Rey jerked her eyes up to meet his.

"I gave it to Tawna so she'd let me leave," Ben said as he draped his jacket over his arm. "I don't claim to be an expert in Jixiti biology, but I think she sees me as a proxy for her mate."

"Well, she can't have you," Rey huffed. "You're mine."

"Tawna knows that," Ben puffed his chest out, delighting in her jealously. "Her feral form sees things differently."

"Hmm," Rey said, distracted once again. She shook herself. "Well, you can't sleep in your tent. Why don't you share mine for tonight?"

Ben had to focus all his willpower to prevent his jaw from dropping.

"Okay," he said through a suddenly dry mouth. She'd never offered that before.

He walked in a dream-like state while following her into her tent, each step filling him with anticipation. Calm down, he sternly lectured himself. She probably just wants to sleep.

Rey adjusted the lanterns' light levels while Ben perused his surroundings. It was even more sparse than the last time he'd been in here looking for her lightsaber prototype.

"Sit anywhere you like," Rey gestured to the blanket-covered mattress as she unclipped her comlink. The device beeped and initiated a connection as she stepped just outside the tent. "Poe, I found Tawna. She's made a nest in Ben's tent."

Ben tuned them out as he sat on the edge of the mattress and folded his jacket neatly and set it aside. Rey's voice turned sharp as she said something back to Poe, but her words were muffled. She stomped back into the tent, a frown stamped on her face.

"Let me guess," Ben said as Rey took off her utility belt and chucked it into a corner. "Poe's not a fan of us rooming together."

"To put it mildly, no," Rey rolled her eyes. "I love him, but if he doesn't butt out of my personal life, I'm going to punch him in the face! Nobody gets to tell me how to conduct my life and who to have a relationship with," she huffed and started pacing, gesturing wildly. "Where does everyone get off with giving their opinion of us? If I want to share my living space with you, I should damn well be able to do it without everyone judging me!"

Was it inappropriate for him to get a boner just watching her pace with righteous anger? Ben reached out and snatched Rey's arm as she passed, tumbling her onto his lap and startling her into silence.

"You're beautiful when you get worked up about something," Ben gave her a peck on the lips.

Rey drew him back in for a proper kiss, moving to straddle him. Ben hardened further as she settled against him. He stifled a moan as she shifted suggestively against him.

"So that's why you've always been so contrary in our previous interactions," Rey murmured against his lips, a devilish glint in her eyes. "You were just trying to get a rise out of me."

"Perhaps," Ben said. That was partially true. It'd also been the only way to get her to talk to him. Juvenile, he knew.

"You know you can just talk to me, right?" Rey brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes.

It was scary how well she could read his thoughts now.

"I do. It's easier now that we're not being pitted against each other," Ben tilted his head consideringly. "But you know what's weird? We know each other well, yet at the same time, we know very little about each other. It's hard to strike up a conversation not related to the Force or the war."

"We know the important things about each other and that's what matters," Rey said. "We have the rest of our lives to learn how to be comfortable with each other and share personal details."

"We're off to a great start, then," Ben said as he caressed her lower back. "But I don't think I'm ready to talk about my past just yet."

"I understand," Rey splayed her hands over his chest, giving Ben shivers of pleasure. "I was thinking we could begin with something small."

"Like what?"

"Like the story behind this scar," Rey traced her fingers over a white line high on his chest.

"Training accident with Captain Phasma several years ago," Ben recalled. "I tripped over a malfunctioning mouse droid and her quicksilver baton made it through my defense. She gloated about it for a whole week."

"Deservedly so," Rey's lips twitched up. "You're a difficult opponent to beat. Even if it was due to an accident, it was still a win."

"Which is why I endured her ribbing and only sliced up one communications console," Ben lifted Rey's right arm to examine a purple bruise half-hidden by the beige wrappings. "This is new." He brushed a finger lightly over the area.

"Oh, this happened on my mission," Rey explained as she unwound the fabric, baring her arm. "I was helping Jecob boost the power to the transmission array and a damn toolbox fell on me. Gravitational disturbance from a nearby comet."

Ben focused hard, trying to channel healing energy into the bruise. It was akin to pulling a thick coil of rope through a tiny sewing needle, but he managed to summon a bit of energy. The bruise lightened to a yellow-green color. Ben frowned. It should have healed all the way.

"How'd this happen?" Rey examined a ridged web of scarring on his side.

"That's from the amateur bomb trap I told you about," Ben suppressed a chuckle as she ran her fingers over the sensitive area. "I didn't check the entryway and walked right into the blast zone. It shredded my right arm and most of my torso and broke four of my ribs. They were able to repair most of the damage with bacta, but the surgery left me with this souvenir."

Rey planted a gentle kiss on the scars, making Ben's breath catch in his throat.

"Your turn," Rey urged him.

"Right," Ben leaned back to appraise Rey. He couldn't see other scars on her bare skin. "Do you have any more?"

"You'll have to search for them," Rey challenged him.

"Okay," Ben grinned and slowly unwrapped her other arm. There were two pink shiny scars there.

"Plasma leak while scavenging a BT war cruiser," Rey explained.

"That must have hurt like a bitch," Ben kissed the marks.

"Yes, but I got a good haul," Rey turned his head slightly and tapped her finger on the ridged line over his right ear. The long scar was practically hidden by his hair. "How'd this happen?"

"I had to have surgery on my ear as a child," Ben told her. "I don't remember what for, but I'm told I would have lost my hearing without the procedure. Something I inherited from my father's side."

He reached for the belt keeping her tunic fastened and unbuckled it. The material parted from its tight diagonal binding and Ben's gaze zeroed in on a cluster of thin pink scars on her lower abdomen.

"These are knife wounds," His pulse quickened in alarm.

"A fellow scavenger tried to steal my haul," Rey scowled as she remembered the infuriating event. "We were rivals. He followed me to a site where it was rumored an armored transport had crashed with a batch of refined coaxium. He stabbed me as I was hacking through the hull."

"Quite rude of him," Ben kept his rising anger in check. Rey was here, so she'd obviously made it out alive and had recovered.

"He didn't hit anything major. I woke up an hour later and got the bleeding under control," Rey wiggled as he ran his fingers lightly over the tangle of pink lines. "I got the last laugh. Followed him back to the Niima Outpost and waylaid him not twenty feet from Plutt's concession trading stand. We fought, I won," Rey smiled in satisfaction. "I must have scared the shit out of him because I never saw him again."

"You are a force to be reckoned with," Ben nodded, but privately he thought the scavenger rival had been certain he'd finished Rey off and hadn't wanted to test fate again by crossing her path a second time.

Ben helped Rey slip out of her tunic fully and then reached for the tab holding her bra in place.

"Hey!" Rey playfully slapped his hand away. "It's my turn!"

Ben pouted and leaned back. "Very well."

Rey smirked and ran her hands over his chest, searching for the next blemish she wanted to know about.

"I already know the story behind this one," Rey said as she stopped at the circular scar on his stomach. It was hardly visible unless one leaned in close. She frowned as she looked at the fading wound.

"It's okay, Rey," Ben kissed her on the cheek, reading the guilt on her face.

"Is it?" Rey asked quietly, doubt in her eyes.

"Our paths were always going to lead to that outcome," Ben said earnestly. He'd had some time to mull it over. "I didn't give you any other choice. Both you and my mother knew that," He tilted her chin up so he could see her eyes. "I think it had to happen, so I could let Kylo Ren go. So I could be Ben again."

"Doesn't mean I don't regret doing it," Rey whispered.

"Don't," Ben shook his head. "I'd rather be here with you than alone as leader of the First Order."

Rey drew him into a gentle kiss. Ben let her take the lead as she entwined their tongues. How did she always manage to taste like chocolate? He wrapped an arm around her waist, pressing her against him. Her breath hitched and she kissed him more passionately and ground her pussy against him. His cock hardened until his pants were uncomfortably tight. Ben twisted and set Rey onto the mattress, readjusting so she was comfortable on her back. He nipped his way down her neck, smiling in satisfaction at the tiny mewls and gasps coming out of her mouth.

He reached for the bra's tab again and this time Rey didn't protest. He pulled the tab and the fabric parted, letting her perfect breasts spill out. Ben cupped one in his palm and Rey groaned as he brushed his thumb over her nipple.

"More," Rey demanded.

"As you wish," Ben smirked and drew her nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.

"Oh, fuck!" Rey shouted, pressing up into his touch.

Echoes of her pleasure zipped through their bond, letting him know he was on the right track. He continued worshipping her breasts, taking care to pay attention to both equally. Rey clutched at his shoulders as pleasure overcame her, her nails digging in deep and adding to the growing pressure in his gut.

"What about this one?" Ben pulled back and ran a finger over a dark red blemish high on her breast.

"What?" Rey raised her head to look at him in confusion, her eyes dark with passion.

"This mark," Ben kissed the spot, letting his lips linger. "What's the story behind this one?"

"I… I was stung by a Verexel," Rey said breathlessly as he kissed his way down to her stomach.

"And this one?" Ben said as he came eye-to-eye with a dark pink crisscross just above her waistline.

"It's my turn to ask," Rey complained without heat.

"You better hurry then," Ben plucked at the ties holding her pants together.

"Um, I-" Rey stuttered as he pressed his lips to her pelvis and slowly made his way lower. "That star-shaped scar on your side."

"Ah, that one you know too," Ben said as he gently tugged her pants and underwear down. She shyly parted her legs and Ben settled between them. "That particular trophy is from Chewie's bowcaster. I had to summon a fuck-ton of energy from the Force to keep my organs where they were supposed to be."

Rey giggled as he breathed lightly against her mound. "I still can't believe you were able to do that and still come after me and Finn for a fight."

Ben raised his head. "Does my power turn you on?"

Rey blushed and Ben smiled wickedly.

"Yes, it does," she admitted.

"Wish I'd known sooner."

Ben parted her curls with a finger, baring her pussy to his gaze. Starting at her entrance, he gave her a long, slow, sensuous lick that traveled up to her clit. He sucked the small swollen bud into his mouth and rolled his tongue over it.

Rey groaned and let loose a litany of half-coherent curses and pleas. Her hands shot down to clutch his hair in a tight grip. Ben let out a moan as her pleasure darted through the bond and went straight to his cock. He thrust against the mattress, trying to get some relief.

"More, please!" Rey gasped out, thrusting her pussy against his face.

Ben smirked and sucked her clit aggressively as he inserted one finger into her hot core. Rey gasped and rolled her hips up desperately. Ben matched her pace, driving her higher and higher. He plunged a second finger into her slick depths and then a third, pumping them slowly, a stark contrast to the way he worked her bud. It didn't take long before she shouted in ecstasy and pulsated tightly around his fingers. He couldn't wait to feel that around his cock.

Rey dragged him up and smashed their mouths together. Ben moaned in surprise as her legs wrapped tightly around him and she thrust against him. Lust came through the bond, driving his own passions higher. The orgasm he'd given her had barely taken the edge off.

Their hands tangled as they both fought to get his pants off. Ben finally got the zipper open and his cock sprang out, hard and dripping from need. Rey took him in her hand and pressed the tip of his length to her slick entrance.

"Please, Ben," Rey moaned against his lips. "I need you."

Ben bit his lip hard to keep from coming right then and there as her words almost undid him. He took her mouth in a voracious kiss that had them both moaning as he pressed forward. The heavenly sensation of her tight walls gripping the head of his cock sent a bolt of fire searing through his veins.

He was momentarily distracted by a pattering of footsteps right outside the tent, one pair light and the other heavy.

"Come back here!" shouted a panicked woman.

A shadow paused at the tent's threshold.

Ben jerked back and yanked the blanket out from under Rey, causing her to tumble off the mattress.

"What are you-" Rey yelped in alarm.

Ben threw the blanket over her naked form and used a corner to cover his erection just as a child burst through the entrance. Ben caught a glimpse of dark blue hair, tiny wings, and white scales rimmed in blue before the child was burrowing into the blanket. Ben cursed as the fabric was tugged out of his grip, exposing him. He stood quickly and turned around, stuffing himself painfully back into his pants with gritted teeth.

"Ava!"

The owner of the voice followed the child into the tent and Ben turned to see one of the child-carers. Zala's jaw dropped as she took in Ben's shirtless state and hard erection and Rey blushing as she tried to remain covered as Ava turned the blanket into a nest.

"By all that is holy," Zala covered her face, mortified she'd interrupted a clearly intimate moment. "Ava, come here now!"

"No!" Ava screeched, dragging an extra blanket over to her.

"Your mother said you have to stay with me and that's final, young lady!" Zala sternly reprimanded the child, taking the blanket from her and handing it to Ben.

Ben shook the blanket out and held it up, forming a covered space against the tent wall. He nodded for Rey to shimmy over into it so she could get dressed. Rey dove into the area, leaving the other blanket behind. Ava tangled herself into the material, fighting Zala's attempt to catch her.

Cloth rustled as Rey quickly dressed.

"I'm so sorry," Zala apologized to them as she tried to pry the child from the nest she was making.

"It's okay, Zala," Rey assured her as she buckled the belt to her tunic. "We understand."

Ben begged to differ, but he kept his biting opinions to himself.

"I'll have her out of here in a minute," Zala promised emphatically. "Ava, this isn't your tent. You can't stay here."

Rey nodded to Ben when she was finished dressing and Ben lowered the makeshift curtain. Together, they watched Zala unsuccessfully try to untangle the child from the mess of shredded blanket.

"No, I want to stay with Mr. Ben!" Ava screamed, swiping tiny claws at her babysitter.

"Ava," Zala grabbed her wrists and maneuvered her out of the blanket. "You have to stay with me. Why don't we go back to my tent and watch your favorite holonovel?"

"No!" Ava wriggled out of her hold like a slippery eel and ran to Ben, hiding behind one of his legs and clutching it tightly, her talons pricking his skin. She turned her face into his leg and he could feel her inhale and exhale strongly.

Ben's heart sank as he guessed why the little Jixiti wasn't obeying her mother's wish for her to stay with Zala. Ava was suffering separation anxiety and her instincts told her to go to the person who made her feel safe, just like Tawna's had. And that was him for some reason.

Rey clutched his hand and squeezed gently. He looked up and met her compassionate gaze. A shared understanding passed between them and Ben sighed in resignation as he opened his mouth.

"She can stay for the night," he told Zala.

"I couldn't possibly let you do this," Zala protested. "Tawna wanted me to look after Ava while she nests."

"Ava's distressed. We can't kick her out," Rey spoke up. "Let her get some rest and we'll talk with her tomorrow about staying with you."

"If you're sure," Zala said unsurely, looking between Rey and Ben.

Rey looked to him as well and silence fell.

"Yes, we're sure," Ben said, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice.

"I'll check in first thing in the morning," Zala vowed. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ava. Be good."

"I will," Ava mumbled, happier now that she was getting her way.

Zala cast a last uncertain look over her shoulder as she exited the tent.

Ava gave a tiny cheer and dove back into the blankets.

"Well, that happened," Rey said quietly.

"Not how I hoped the night would end," Ben said with a frown. This was definitely a boner killer.

"There's always tomorrow," Rey winked at him.

Ben brightened and began a mental tally of the various places on the base that offered better privacy.

Rey spread the second blanket over the mattress and Ava, who was curling up into a loose ball. Ben joined them after he donned his jacket and tried to get comfortable enough to sleep. His eyes snapped open as someone took his hand. Rey smiled ardently at him and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. Ben smiled and squeezed back. This may not have been his ideal end to the day, but this wasn't that bad either.

---

A/N: *chuckles evilly* *darts off into the shadows*