Chapter summary:
After obtaining the information about the location of Ben Solo from Lando, and with a deadline ticking above her head, Rey travels to Tatooine. Will she finally meet the man she seeks for so long?
Author's note:
I deeply apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. When I sat down to edit it and make sure there are no mistakes, I realized that while it works with the rest of the story, it is not the chapter I wanted to originally write. So I decided to rewrite it, fell sick and had to stop – because, naturally, it is hard to write when you have a migraine and fever – but hopped back on when I could. So, here is the chapter I wanted and planned to write. I'm very thankful that the right words finally came to my mind because they didn't the first time around.
Chapter 7 – Tatooine, Part 1
As far as Rey could tell, Tatooine and Jakku were similar in many ways.
Both worlds were arid desert planets plagued by hot climate. Settlements of the sparse population were usually lying in the middle of nowhere. And people of the Galaxy generally preferred to avoid these inhospitable areas rather than to joyfully visit them. Yet, both planets had once been places where the history of the Galaxy was shaped – both in a positive and a negative sense.
But while Jakku made the obvious endeavour to be part of the present, electing an official political representation to act on behalf of the planet and its inhabitants, using the credit grants provided by the New Republic to modernize the mining facilities in order to offer high-quality minerals on the market, turning lone settlements into self-sufficient cities, Tatooine seemed to be frozen in time.
Sure, not all had stayed the same as it had been during the age of the Empire. Mos Eisley spaceport had been refurbished, for instance. The primary landing facility now enabled mass transport around the Galaxy as it could berth several spaceships of various sizes at once and the old hangars had been converted into dwellings, abodes, shops and other facilities, creating an ideal cosmopolitan refuge for both the locals and the visitors.
However, Tatooine did not seem to be interested in being involved in the public matters. Contrarily, the planet preferred to stay off the radar in order not to clash with the authorities of the New Republic. The reason was self-evident – crime syndicates still claimed the world as their own, using it as a gigantic smuggler cache where anyone could buy anything they wanted – if they were willing to pay the given price.
The locals favoured minding their own business because to stand out meant to get into trouble. Sooner or later, the head of the cartel that was currently the self-proclaimed ruler of their settlement would cross their paths and such encounters barely ended up well for the naïve brave fools. It was better to live a quiet, relatively comfortable life of a second-class citizen than to be a provocateur and become an easy target.
Therefore, they mistrusted the strangers, leaving Rey going around in circles while she was trying to find the repair shop Lando had told her about. She received no help from the passers-by she asked for help, so she had to examine every single of the former hangars, her eyes hurting from deciphering the faded inscriptions at the entrance as she tried to make out what goods the people inside sold and what serviced they offered.
Several buildings later, she finally found much smaller circular construction away from the main city centre that bore all marks of the place she was looking for. The signboard 'repair shop' was perhaps a bit older than she had anticipated but it was undeniably serious about its meaning which was more than she could say about the rest of the sites she had explored so far.
Hesitant at the beginning, she entered through the main entrance, her eyes scouring the area around her. The silence inside was almost eerie. All she could hear was the crunching sound of her steps on the sand. Aside the presence of the nearly dismantled fighter in the first half of the coliseum-like construction that was partitioned in the middle, the place looked deserted.
If it wasn't for the quite useful spare parts lying all around, she would be sure that she was mistaken and this place was no repair shop. But no one would ever discard such valuable goods or store them in a former hangar without any security measures against thefts. Someone had to be here. Otherwise Jawas would have already taken the place apart a long time ago.
"Is anybody here?" She called out cautiously since she had no idea who or what could assault her in this forsaken place.
Initially, she heard nothing so she approached the other half of the circular building that was also split in two parts. One was housing quite cosy, but plain living quarters and the other one served as workshop if all the tools and blueprints were any indication. Both parts had two floors so she dared to stick her head inside and call out again, her voice sounding strident in the silence.
"Coming!" A low-pitched male voice responded to her query, making Rey to back out of his private quarters and wait for him outside.
When a young man ran down the stairs and stepped out of the workshop, cleaning his hands dirtied by oil in the towel, she had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from squealing. It was him. She had seen his tall build, black clothes and overgrown dark hair before. Her vision she'd had back in the tomb on Chandrila had given her all the clues she needed to identify him.
Suddenly, the details she had noticed in the vision all clicked together. The interior of the spaceship she had seen was the Millennium Falcon. The domed astromech droid projecting the star map was R2D2. The lightsaber in her hands was the one she had found in the coffin. And the man she attacked who called her by her name so softly was standing right in front of her.
But was he also the man she was looking for?
"What can I do for you, Ms?" He asked her politely with a timid smile, sticking the dirty towel inside his back pocket.
Taking her time to answer, Rey studied his features for a while, trying to guess whether the adorable dimple under his chin was coming from his mother and if the arched eyebrows were a genetic legacy of his father. "I am looking for someone. His name is Ben Solo." She announced confidently after she was done assessing his peculiarly handsome looks.
If that name had ever meant something to him, he certainly didn't show it. Instead, he raised his eyebrows in surprise and tilted his head to the side as if he was trying to remember whether he had ever met the person she was asking about. "There is no one of this name, I'm sorry." He crushed her hopes without batting a single eyelash.
His answer came neither too fast, nor too late to be considered suspicious. For a weak moment, she was too close to believing that she was wrong, and that she let the striking resemblance between the boy and the man from her vision deceive her eyes. But then she remembered that the only son of Leia Organa was a master of deceit since he eluded of being found for so long.
"I was told that he would be here." She insisted, smothering the rising panic with the attempt to call his bluff. "So, unless there is another repair shop around here—"
"I'm quite sure that you can find plenty of repair shops on Tatooine, all the way from Mos Eisley to Mos Espa." He drawled the word 'all' and made a telling gesture with his hand.
Albeit he had meant to tell her to bugger off, he found the way she opened and closed her mouth, apparently unable to find the right words to deal with the situation, adorable. "What do you need of him? Maybe I can help you out." He took a pity on her and offered his potential cooperation.
Doubtfully measuring him with narrowed eyes, she realized that she could use the bait-and-switch opportunity to find out who he truly was. "I'm a lawyer. My employer, Plutt & Associates from Jakku assigned me to represent our client, Snoke Industries, in signing of a deal about the sale of Organa Engineering Company. However, its owner, Leia Organa, unfortunately passed away before the deal could be concluded." She purposefully dropped all the names and facts to elicit his reaction.
"The only person who can now sign the deal is the sole heir of the property, her son Ben Solo. Regrettably, the man is missing for over a decade but I'm still resolved to find him and finish the job." She folded her arms across her chest to appear unshakeable by his lies, shooting him the 'I-know-who-you-are' look.
But the heartless bastard didn't even have the decency to express sympathy or remorse. "Lucky guy, it seems he's about to get rich." He uttered with a disinterested shrug of his shoulders, driving her to the edge of despair.
"That is debatable." She snapped at him angrily, realizing that she was just wasting her precious time with the… whoever that man even was. "Anyway, since it seems that you don't know anything helpful to me, I'll rather go ask around the town."
Decisively turning on her heel, she intended to leave and turn the whole settlement upside down in order to find the man who was supposed to be hiding somewhere in this sandy hole. If this idiot decided that it was better to dupe her into thinking that he was someone else, so be it. Once she gathered enough evidence to support the truth, she could let him taste the might of her wrath.
However, the firm grip on her right bicep halted her step, his calloused hand preventing her from going away. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He tried to dissuade her from wandering the town on her own, his voice sounding apologetic.
"Why?" She turned around sharply to look at him, slipping her gaze down her arm to look at the place where his fingers were wrapped around her flesh.
The thing was that something odd was happening. The humming vibration had no visible manifestation as it appeared to be more of a tingling sensation somewhere deep inside her, but she could tell that it was the result of their physical touch. He seemed to be shocked by it, too, staring on the very same place on her body with a frown, mumbling something to himself under his breath.
"If you're going to stick your nose where it doesn't belong," he said once he released her arm as if she burnt him, trying to process what had just happened, "you'll end up in jail. Or worse,—"
"Why would I be imprisoned?" She interrupted him in a defensive tone, her lawyer instincts immediately kicking in. "I've done nothing."
He broke a smile at her innocent naivety that made her to believe that something like law enforced by the New Republic possessed any importance on Tatooine. "They will find a reason, trust me." He persuaded her with a knowing look that bore proof of his personal experience with the ever-changing legal system of this planet that was everything but lawful.
"What do you suggest I should do then?" She asked him resolutely, challenging him to drop the stupid act and save them both the time and troubles. "I'm running short on time, you know. I absolutely must find him."
He bit his bottom lip in response, a habit he picked up to resist the duress of others. This foreigner, who was overflowing with the power of the Force, seemed to be genuine. But he had met better and far more believable pretenders than her. If he were to trust her with his secret, then he needed to verify the information she had given him and then either confront her with the lies, or perhaps to finally open up to someone.
"People here don't trust strangers. I'll ask around for you in exchange…," he offered and paused, narrowing his eyes at her curiously to guess where her limits were.
Since it wasn't her first time dealing with such a kind of demands, she expected him to require something immoral and depraved. Her bet was that he would either want some crazy sum of credits she would never be able to put together as a payment for his useless efforts or to give him a few rounds of pleasure in all thinkable, and maybe even unthinkable, positions.
"…in exchange for what?" She prompted impatiently when he fell silent and let the offer just hang in the air as if he wanted her to jump in joy at the prospect. "Name your price and I'll see what I can do."
Like kick your balls. And ass. And then I'll tell you to go fuck yourself.
"Have a dinner with me." He asked her with confidence of a seasoned womanizer she sincerely doubted him to be, considering the ascetic way of life he was clearly living.
Ah, so he wanted sex. Men can be such pigs.
Snorting in disgust, she shook her head unbelievingly. "I don't even know your name." She pointed out that the common courtesy was that the invitation usually came after the introduction.
"Neither do I know yours." He shot back without missing a beat, his mouth curving into a cheeky smile.
She levelled him with a glare but had to admit that he had a point. She was a guest in his home and as of now, no official introductions had been made. "I'm Rey. Pleased to meet you." She swallowed her pride and extended her hand for him to accept it.
To test her reaction for completely scientific purposes, he invaded her personal space before accepting her extended hand, savouring the instant onrush of the odd sensation from earlier. "Kylo Ren. Pleased to meet you, too." He introduced himself in return, studying the beautiful freckles framing the area of her fearless eyes from up close.
Damn it. Damn him! Why did he…
Maybe it was the side effect of the peculiarly pleasant touch of their hands. Maybe she had finally lost her mind, after all. But she could not recall when she had experienced such an intense carnal reaction to a man for the last time. She could only tell that it had certainly been a while because she perceived everything about him as extremely manly and attractive.
He wasn't a typical hunk who would attract the attention of all women in his surroundings but there was something raw about him that was pulling her in. His tall muscular built, for instance. Or his dark, brooding aura that mirrored in his grim eyes. The roughness of his strong hands that made her feel protected. Or his full, crooked lips she was hanging on with her gaze.
"So, Kylo Ren," she quickly cleared her throat when her thoughts started to breach the dangerous waters, pulling her hand away from his to compose herself, "if I agree to have a dinner with you, you should tell me where do you intend to take me so I could meet you there."
Logically, she imagined that Tatooine did have a few restaurants, cantinas or taverns but considering what kind of characters usually spent their time on the planet, she somehow doubted that she would feel comfortable in any of them. But perhaps Kylo knew about at least one hidden gem where they could sit down to talk, have a good meal and a round of drinks.
He looked around the hangar that was his home as if the answer was self-evident from the very beginning. "I'll cook for you here." He informed her calmly without any sign that he could have been joking.
The prospect of spending her evening with a complete stranger in his house without anyone to turn for help in the near vicinity should switch the bright red warning light on inside her head. Yet, she felt quite the opposite. "Okay. I accept the invitation." She gave in to the inexplicable pull between them in hope that he would loosen up his tongue so she could knock the truth out of him.
"When should I come? An hour before the suns go down?" She suggested, making sure that he had enough time to 'ask around' and 'gather the relevant information' before he would treat her with the proposed dinner.
He smiled and stepped away from her to give her back the personal space he had so impudently seized for himself earlier. "Sure." He clasped his hands behind his back with a short nod.
When it was clear that he would not share with her anything else and she had nothing to add, either, she bowed her head to sign her goodbye. This time, when she turned around to walk away and rework her strategy, he didn't move to stop her so she could freely stride out of the hangar and lean against its wall once she was alone. Her shaking knees were barely holding her up so she was grateful for the concrete support.
Placing her hand over her erratically beating heart, she took a deep breath in and out. Then she slapped her own head to berate herself for acting like a sex-starved teenager when all she should be thinking about was finding Ben Solo. She needed to force the man to sign the damn deal so she could meet the deadline and get rid of the bounty hunter threat hanging over her own life.
Thus, she should stop consider the upcoming date as some romantic occasion that had the potential to lead to something more. She should regard it as a strictly business opportunity to pursue the clue she had received from Lando. And the dear Force could go to hell with its mysterious nudges and incentives that were causing nothing but havoc inside her mind.
Whether Kylo Ren and Ben Solo were one and the same did not matter. Whether the boy and the man from her vision were one and the same did not matter, either. What mattered was her job.
Upon sorting her thoughts, she unglued herself from the wall of the hangar and set off on her way back to the Millennium Falcon so she could surf the HoloNet and find what she could about Kylo Ren. If the man thought that he was about to make a fool out of her for the whole evening while she would naively believe his made-up stories, then he was mistaken.
-Atonement-
"I would be much calmer if we could go with you, Ms Rey." C3PO agitatedly defended his justified worries for her, supported by the angry beeps of his domed friend.
Maybe his memory had been wiped out in the past but his logs were telling no lies about the reputation of Taootine. Not to mention that Rey intended to spend her evening in its remote location in a company of a man she had known for barely an hour. He had a reason to be worried, especially since she obstinately refused having a chaperon in the form of two droids.
"I know, Treepio, and I really appreciate your concern. But if I'm right and he is Ben Solo, we must be careful." She insisted with a weary sigh, combing her hair pensively.
She knew that the droids knew Ben since he was a little kid but she had to keep in mind what had happened when his own father found him. The last thing she needed at the moment was to trigger his anxiety over being discovered by someone from his past, especially since the deadline to sign the deal would run out tomorrow noon. There was still a plenty of time for her to unveil the truth.
"Remember that I have this," she showed her droids friends the band comm wrapped around her wrist to calm them down, "so if anything goes awry, I will let you know. Okay?"
Their grumbles and beeps accompanied her departure like funeral music but she didn't want to stand down from her position. The risks she was taking were great, yes, but she had been in worse and more dangerous situations before. The number one priority here was to determine who Kylo Ren truly was – whether he was just a random man she had happened to meet or the man she was looking for.
Her research on HoloNet unfortunately hadn't bore the fruit she hoped to find but she had noticed a few interesting connections that appeared to be way too convenient to coincidental.
His name started to appear on a starting list of a wide variety of space races that were regularly held through the Galaxy about five years ago. He had competed in everything he could from asteroid slaloms to piloting championships. But judging by the suspiciously regular placement somewhere between the winner of the race and the last racer, she deduced that while he loved racing, he had no clear intention to win.
The desire to stay anonymous and be one of those racers who competed just to make up the numbers was a clever way how to avoid encounter with Han Solo. The thing was that coincidentally, racing was a well-known past time of the former smuggler. However, after his marriage to Leia, he had to legalize his hobby, racing only for charities or sponsoring the official events.
But if Kylo Ren thought that his alias was supposed to guarantee him the anonymity he sought, then she didn't consider it a successful act. Swapping the first name and the last name, and dropping three letters out of seven only to replace them with three different letters did not make his alias as enigmatic as he probably thought. She needed but a minute to see it.
Be as it was, she was curious to see what aces the man was hiding in his sleeve and what the real reason behind the dinner invitation was.
-Atonement-
When she walked inside the hangar, she paused and immediately backed out to check if she had entered the correct building. However, the signboard was still the same as it had been several hours earlier – shabby and in a desperate need of repair, but still distinct enough to be readable. Yet, the interior of the hangar looked almost nothing like the one she had seen before.
Gone were the nearly dismantled fighter and the omnipresent spare parts. Both were neatly put away to the side to provide space for an elaborate path lined with torches and small braziers. The warm light led her across the hangar towards the living quarters that were now supplemented by an elevated terrace equipped by grill station and large table full of platters that were already offering an incredible variety of food.
The man who had introduced himself to her as Kylo Ren was standing by the grill with metal tongs in his hands, checking the singing meat while humming the tune of some jazzy melody that floated quietly from the living quarters. To her bad luck, he looked positively scrumptious and her mouth shamelessly watered for an entirely different reason than for the delicious fragrance of a well-cooked meat.
His black pants tightly hugged his perfect backside. The long sleeves of his equally dark T-shirt were rolled up to his elbows, showing off the hard muscles of his forearms as he squeezed the tongs to flip the meat over in order to grill it evenly. And after he tossed his head in the air and wiped away the sweat on his forehead, his long trimmed hair reflected the last glossy rays of sundown.
"Ah, here you are." His words snapped her out of her reverie and she blushed when she realized how unabashedly she had ogled him. "I was beginning to be afraid that I'm making all this food just for myself."
The remark made her both embarrassed and angry. "I didn't realize that the twin suns set in a slightly different time." She puffed up her cheeks because she was usually very punctual and didn't appreciate when someone pointed out the rare occasions when she wasn't somewhere on time.
"No need to get mad, Ms Lawyer." He teased her with an amused smile, risking offering her a glass of fresh, fruity drink she thankfully accepted without throwing it back at him. "Though I have to say that the way you inflate your cheeks is adorable."
She rolled her eyes at his attempt to flirt with her, seating herself on one of the comfortable chairs around the large table he had gestured towards for her to sit. "Is that supposed to be your pick-up line? Quite pitiful, I must say." She fired back at him, taking a deep gulp out of the juicy, mouth-watering beverage.
He ignored her dig at his cheap attempt to flatter her because he was aware how poor it had been. But as a son of his father, he could barely resist such a chance to flaunt the Solo genes. "So, I asked around," he began instead, throwing several pieces of the done meat on the platter so he could replace them with the raw ones, "and it seems that no one knows anyone going by the name Ben Solo here."
Rolling her eyes with an exaggerated sigh since she had expected such an outcome of his 'survey' she doubted he had even conducted, she rather studied the diversity of food in front of her. His storage space had to be well-maintained since the imported fruit and vegetables looked very fresh. The variety of bread and sauces was also quite impressive, just like the succulent chunks of meat he had just placed right under her nose.
"He might be living here under an alias, you know." She tried to goad him into a reaction when he sat down opposite of her, inviting her with a telling gesture to enjoy the meal and eat as much as she wished in the all-you-can-eat buffet style.
He returned her the inquisitive look but remained silent, smile tugging at the corners of his mouth when he saw how she took a piece of bread, used knife to cut it in half, smeared herb butter she had sniffed first over the two halves, lined them with the cut bits of the vegetables, threw some meat on one of them and poured a dark red sauce over it, only so she could pressed both halves back together and sink her teeth in it.
"True. Just because nobody knows him doesn't mean he isn't here." He said slowly and reached for the dark purple grape wine, savouring the surprised hum slipping from her mouth in between the chews. "I should get a word from Mos Espa tomorrow morning."
She was well-informed enough to understand that he meant the Palace of Mos Espa, formerly known as Boba Fett's Palace, and Jabba's Palace before that. It was an infamous prison for burdensome and inconvenient people who dared to ruffle the feathers of the crime syndicates, but who were too valuable to be just killed. Ransom credits were one of the regular incomes of the cartels, after all.
But they both knew that Ben Solo was not one of the unlucky prisoners.
You slimy bastard…
Swallowing the portion of the – by the way – most delicious meal she had ever eaten, she huffed to express her frustration. "I hope that it will be more than just a mere word. I have a deadline to meet." She tried to sell the gravity of the necessity to finally find Ben Solo she had no reason to pretend because it was real. "If the deal isn't concluded by tomorrow noon here on Tatooine, Snoke will take over the company by force."
If she meant to secure his compassion, she unfortunately failed because he stayed stolid to her cause. But not because he would be indifferent to the fate of the company and the people of his home planet but because he already knew about the deadline, just like he knew about the bounty hunters who were supposed to bring Rey back home to her boss. In fact, they had already arrived on Tatooine.
Coincidentally, one of them was female huntress by the name of Nyra who was his good old 'friend'. She had hunted him several years back until he had managed to convince her to leave him alone like so many before her. Only thanks to her he was able to verify all the information Rey had given him which led him to believe that Rey had been telling the truth about who she was and what brought her to him.
Yet, he found it difficult to open up to her and reveal his true identity because something about her still bothered him. No matter how hard he tried to read her – Force or no Force – she exuded concerning vibes. Only a handful of people he knew would travel the length and breadth of the whole Galaxy just to find him and those people actually had a logical reason for such a hassle.
But her? Why was she looking for him so fiercely? What did she want from him?
"Nothing I can do about it right now." He shrugged his shoulders and began to focus on preparing his own meat sandwich, throwing a cheeky eye in her direction. "Rather satisfy my curiosity, Ms Layer. How did you end up representing someone like Snoke?"
She eased the angry squeeze of her fists under the table his excuse of an answer had provoked and smiled at him slyly. "My, aren't you rude? It seems to me that I'm the only one here sharing personal stuff." She complained with a huff, watching him lazily pouring the light green dip on the top of his meat portion.
"Why don't you show your cards first, Kylo Ren?" She leaned forward over the table to make an eye contact with him so he could see the challenge in her eyes. "I'll give you an answer when you tell me something about yourself."
Instead of looking uncomfortable, he slipped his gaze down her chin and lifted his thumb to wipe away the sauce that dripped down from her sandwich earlier before taking a bite from his own portion. Then he leaned back, stifling a chuckle with another bite when he saw how perplexed she was because of the simple touch. He could entertain himself with such reactions for the rest of his life if it was up to him.
"Ask away." He gave her the permission to ask whatever she wanted to learn something about him after he swallowed.
She shook herself mentally and leaned back, too, crossing her arms over her chest to narrow her eyes at him. It was so easy to ask the question that was hanging in the air ever since they had met but she had already understood that he was playing a certain kind of game with her. Apparently, whatever condition she was supposed to meet in order to make him drop the act had not been met yet.
"What are you doing on Tatooine?" She asked because she sincerely wanted to know. The explanation Lando had given her sounded logical but standing face to face with reality, he appeared to be much more comfortable with living here than she had expected.
He regarded her for a moment because the question was way too simple. "I crashed my ship here some time ago." He decided to feed her with a half-fabricated story because he had truly crashed his ship on this Force-forsaken planet but during a planned landing manoeuvre.
"You're running a repair shop. Don't tell me that it takes so long to fix it with all the spare parts lying around here." She teased him with a smirk, waving her hand in the air to point at the pieces of junk lying in the far corner of the hangar.
Chuckling, he stood up and grabbed the tongs so he could flip the meat still singing on the grill, using the gained time to prepare his answer. "No, it doesn't. But I want to make severe adjustments to my ship and the desired parts aren't always available." He clicked the tongs to emphasize that hunting down the needed components wasn't always easy – or cheap for that matter.
"Ah, so you finally want to win one of those space races?" She commented with a hint of amusement in her voice, stuffing the bent flatbread with the desired ingredients, topping the portion with nuts and cheese.
Swiftly turning around to face her, the initial frown gracing his features promptly changed in a quizzical raise of his eyebrows. Since he was sure that no one had identified him through the nickname he lately used, barely anyone had any idea about his racing escapades. Not even his uncle Lando had any notion that the racing genes he inherited from his father managed to conquer him.
So how did she know?
Entertained by his bewilderment, she raised her finger to point at his face in the 'if-you-could-just-see-your-face-right-now' gesture, giggling in a low voice in between the chews. "I looked you up on HoloNet." She explained when she was able to talk again. "Your racing career is impressive but not exactly successful."
He stared at her for an endless moment, trying to absorb what she had just said. When it came to the mass communication technology like HoloNet, he was a little bit old-school. Regularly using it meant to leave a digital trace that could be easily tracked so he naturally preferred more old-fashioned ways of harvesting information like private communication channels and face-to-face interactions with others to avoid being found.
Therefore, it had never crossed his mind to use the network to search for personal or any other kind of information about someone. He had gathered most of what he knew from the experience, ancient sources and knowledge of other people. Occasionally, he watched the HoloNet News broadcast in cantinas and other public establishments to see what was currently happening in the Galaxy but that was it.
"She looked me up on HoloNet." He mumbled to himself as he turned back to the grill station to close the lid and let the meat to finish.
Leaving her earlier remark about his racing career without a response, he sat down back down opposite of her after he refilled his glass with the juice. "Anyway, I told you something about myself as you wanted. Your turn, now." He reminded her that she had promised to give him the answer to his question in exchange for talkativeness.
Briefly, she considered arguing that she had wanted him to lift the veil of mystery surrounding him a little bit higher than that but she eventually settled for the 'an answer for an answer' kind of dialogue. It seemed fair. "I didn't do anything special to become a representative of Snoke Industries." She shrugged her shoulders to support her claim.
"I guess my boss just wanted me to give the chance as a reward for being a good worker and because he needed to employ his more experienced lawyers elsewhere." She commented thoughtfully as she wondered whether Plutt was regretting his decision now or not. "The assignment was supposed to be unproblematic because everything was already arranged."
For a spare second, she was about to add more details but then decided against it – if he wanted to know how the deal had been born, he had to pry it out of her just like she was forced to pry the truth out of him. "I also suspect that Snoke Industries specifically asked for me because one of the business partners never hid his interest in me." She rather diverted the conversation to a different direction.
"Oh. So this whole mess basically ruined your date." Kylo pitied her empathetically, inwardly surprised with the pang of jealousy rising from the pit of his stomach to his head where it began to paint violent images.
Rey barked out a sarcastic chuckle, knowing that she would rather spend the rest of her life lost in the jungle on Kashyyyk than to go on a date with Armitage Hux. "I'd probably punch him if he tried to make his move." She snarled, unable to hide her antipathy towards opportunists like the red-headed pet of the disfigured tycoon.
His laugh came out in a low undertone as if he was trying to stifle the noticeable pride and joy in his voice, soothed by her aversion towards the uninvited suitor. "Ah, so it is one-sided attraction." He commented with hardly deniable content, sending her one of his suggestive looks.
Whether he tried to bewitch her with his suave charm he undoubtedly inherited from his dear father, or if he was trying to lull her to the false feeling of safety, she refused to be so naïve to take the bait. "What about your family?" She fired with a foxy smile. "Aren't they worried for you?"
Licking his lips, he took an unhurried sip from his glass just to keep her on the edge. "Orphaned. Almost half of my life." He pointed at himself first without missing a beat and then redirected his finger towards her. "Yours?"
"Orphaned, too. Ever since I can remember." She put him back in his place to let him know that she would be sympathetic to him only if he truly deserved it which was – sadly for him – not the case this time.
To give him the credit, he respected the set rules. With each question and each answer, he opened up to her a little bit more to reciprocate the way she opened up to him. As the days slowly turned in the night and she talked about her childhood in poverty, her job opportunity and what had led her to the journey across the Galaxy, he shared the small details from his boyhood and his experiences from races and travels around the Galaxy.
The chat between them flowed so naturally that it was easy to accept the fact that they liked the company of each other, perhaps more than it was sensible for two people who had just met one another. However, whenever either of them got too close to the hidden agenda they respectively had, the other always managed to steer the conversation out of the dangerous waters.
He was the first to lose the patience – perhaps because she had more experience with waiting for the right moment to strike – and decided to broach the subject after she returned from the visit of a fresher. "There's one thing I simply can't fathom about you." He remarked when she found him sitting on the floor of the terrace on a mattress he had brought outside, basking in the warmth of the cooling grill station behind his back.
After spending quite a while with him, she felt comfortable enough to join him on the mattress, sitting down right next to him with only a tray of their glasses and some leftovers from the feast between them. "And here I thought that you figured me all out." She yawned lazily, unable to stop herself from teasing him.
"Why are you risking your career and your life to find a guy you've never met? What do you really want from him?" He ignored her dig and put emphasis on certain words to hint that he knew that the whole inheritance thing was just an excuse for something much more important.
Taken aback by the sudden sternness in his voice, she realized that the condition she was supposed to meet in order to make him reveal his true identity was to tell him her real intentions. It was honestly logical because she would have demanded the same from a stranger who had searched for her far and wide but at the same time, she found it difficult to share. She had never given any name to her real intentions.
Since he wasn't looking at her, she turned her gaze away to stare ahead of her, too. "It will sound silly." She began slowly because her true reasons for searching for Ben Solo were silly. If she had the luxury to put everything she had on the line, then it would be risky at the most. But she had put the only thing she had on the line. She was being silly.
"Shoot." He challenged her after he took a sip from his glass, giving her the comfort of his close presence but no eye contact to make it easier for her.
"It all started with him." She uttered into the quiet of the night that seemed suddenly so silent that it hurt her ears. "I have discovered something about myself recently and I believe that the fact I found out through him has a meaning. I don't know why but I need to know what the meaning is."
He didn't know when exactly she had been exposed to her Force sensitivity for the first time and neither he had any idea how it could have had anything to do with him, but he could tell that it had happened not that long ago. He could sense that she still inwardly winced whenever the Force nudged her from the inside, calling her to use it while she felt nauseous from the mere notion of doing it.
"Does that thing you discovered about yourself… frighten you?" He asked her carefully just to be sure that her resentment toward the Force was based on fear alone and not on some tragic first-hand experience.
Breathing out shakily, she was surprised how talkative she had become but could not deny the relief it brought her. "It does. I know it should be a good thing… I think," she added as if in the afterthought because while she had already read many materials about the Force, she still didn't know how she could decide on which side she should be, "but it makes me feel like a freak."
"Hey," he turned on his side so swiftly that she flinched but let him caress her cheek soothingly when he lifted his fingers to do so because it seemed important to him that she understood what he was saying, "you're no freak."
Looking deeply into her slightly watery eyes after he gently tugged at her chin to make her face him, he realized that she hadn't shared this with him earlier not because she would have loved to toy with him but because she never said these thoughts out loud. Ever since she had experienced what it was like to have sensitivity to the Force, she had kept it locked up inside her.
But she no longer needed to hide it because the Force thrummed around them in a way he had never experienced. The tips of his fingers tingled at the place where he was touching the smooth skin right under her chin and since she was currently quite vulnerable, he could see in her eyes that she felt the odd but pleasant vibrations, too. The Force called for something but to figure it out was up to them.
Yielding to the prevalent desire he struggled with for the whole evening because she was the most attractive woman he had ever met, he leaned in towards her moistened lips but paused when she placed her hand on his chest. But more than to tell him to stop, it seemed that she was seeking support in him, twisting his T-shirt between her fingers urgently.
Rey knew that it was coming. The kiss was drawing nearer with each eye contact, hidden between each line of their banter and undeniable in each 'accidental' brush of their skins. She felt the flood of desire and onrush of curiosity as everything inside her was screaming to just lean in and surrender to such primal urges but she also knew she would be doomed if she tasted his lips because it would never end with just one kiss.
"I-I think I should be going." She recoiled from the temptation when he bent down again, his mouth gently grazing against hers. "I didn't realize it was getting so late."
With a sigh that helped him to compose himself, he pinched the bridge of his nose while she promptly raised herself on her feet, searching for the satchel in the semi-darkness of the terrace. "Sure." He tried to shake off the rejection with dignity to respect her boundaries.
When he stood up, he had to smile when he saw her perplexed expression upon realizing that there was nothing but blackness stretching in front of her. The fire in the braziers and on the torches had already died out some time ago but she had been too busy talking to him to notice. Now, she thought she would have to cross the whole hangar without seeing where she was even going.
"You don't have to go over there." He assured her, gesturing towards the main entrance before pointing his finger inside the living quarters. "There's a backdoor in here."
She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. If the backdoor was inside his 'house', then it was much closer to his bedroom. Not that she wanted to accuse him of anything but she knew that if he made his move again, she would be his and not on her way out. She had resisted the temptation only the first time around and she had no strength, nor will to defy the awakened lust for the second time.
However, it seemed that he had no ulterior motive for bringing her inside when he waved at her to follow him because he acted as if he truly just wanted to see her out. Once they reached the inconspicuous backdoor, he simply leaned his tall figure against the doorframe in a nonchalant manner, waiting for her to work up the courage to look him in the eye and bid her goodbye.
"Thank you for tonight." She eventually appreciated his skills of a good host, her earlier gall completely gone because she wanted the compliment to sound as sincere as it truly was.
Folding his arms across his chest, he shrugged his muscular shoulders that somehow looked gigantic in contrast with the relatively tiny dwelling he inhabited. "You're welcome." He replied with a warm smile that melted her insides.
For a short while, she just stood there in silence, crumpling nervously the satchel strap between her fingers. Her legs were ready to start running to take her away from the temptation he represented but since he had done nothing wrong, she found it offensive and rude. He had read her signals right when he had attempted to kiss her, after all. It was her who had behaved like a coward.
To rectify the bad impression she had left behind, she approached him and used his crossed arms as a support to stand up on the tips of her toes so she could plant a chaste goodnight kiss on his cheek. It was supposed to bring peace to her heart but instead, the innocent kiss stirred a storm of far-reaching and immeasurable consequences she wouldn't know about until weeks later.
The End of Chapter 7
Well, I am off to edit the third chapter of my LBFAD story now. I know that the next chapter is exactly as I wanted to there will be no rewrite happening but the one after that will also need some rework. Either way, look out for the next update because we are finally reaching the point of why this story is rated M. *wink wink*