Work Text:
@Padawan_Writer : I hope you like this work. It might have deviated quite a bit from your prompt and for that I apologize but I hope you still enjoy.
Padawan_Writer's prompt
Prompt 4 - in an in-universe au where Ben is good (either post-TROS where Ben lives or where Ben never turned evil at all), Ben decides to fly the Kessel Run in the Millennium Falcon and try to beat Han Solo’s and Chewie's record. But he needs a co-pilot and a mechanic who’s good at racing and in for the danger (that’s where Rey comes in). Will they beat the record? Are they more than just co-pilots?
Ben squinted up at the bright sunlight as it filtered down through the lush foliage and landed on his skin. From the position of the sun, he concluded that he’d been meditating for what was probably a few hours now.
‘Well no one tell Luke Skywalker that his dreaded Darksider nephew was actually choosing to meditate nowadays.’ Ben thought snarkily.
Around him, the forest was filled with creatures big and small and he could feel them all in the Force. He could also feel the soft warmth of his mother in the distance and the brighter, more colorful presence of another. It made him frown for a moment that she hadn’t tried to reach out to him all morning but the calmness of her Force signature suggested nothing amiss. Plus he was pretty sure she’d picked up on the thought that had been circling around in his mind for the past couple of days and Ben was sure she was probably more excited than him to attempt the Kessel Run. Also, the other thought and associated plans that had been running through his mind for quite some time, had been a pain to keep from Rey… so he put that and all following spiraling thoughts away before they could catch on and send his emotions swirling out of control, as they frequently tended to do.
Especially now, that the war had ended and his role as an active combatant was over, at least for the near future. This left him and a whole lot of others involved in the war, at odds with not much to do during the newly established peace. The lack of things to do after the war, was something Ben hadn’t really thought about before. But now, days on end passed with no real work for him to finish except writing reports for his mother or learning the intricacies of political negotiations because Leia for even one second thought that he might be interested in taking up her position after she retired, which he’d assured her time and again, he was not.
Practicing his lightsaber forms and seeing the steady glow of his purple blade reflected in his surroundings were some of the high points of his day now. The usual high point of all of his days revolved around one particular Force user with freckles like stars littering her golden skin and her eye catching, unusual three bun hairstyle, but that was a thought for later… much later.
Sighing, he quickly dropped down from his position in the air and made his way back to the base. Almost a year had passed after the Resistance had emphatically won a galaxy wide war that had spanned generations, yet they still hadn’t really learned to let down their guard. The organization, it was more of a stable military organization now rather than the fringe group of fighters they’d been before, still functioned out of multiple military bases strategically positioned on various star systems.
Ben nodded his greeting to a couple of pilots he passed as he made his way deeper into the base, but his thoughts were still on the past years and the time he’d spent with the Resistance both before and after the war came to a head.
It had taken Snoke ordering him to execute his mother in front of the galaxy, for the erstwhile Kylo to have a breakdown, kill his master and leave the First Order. While it might have been the best decision of his life, Ben constantly wished he’d found the strength to break away from Snoke’s abusive control earlier, when it had been Ben’s other parent in his crosshairs. His last moments with Han still haunted the Force user and there wasn’t a moment when Ben didn’t regret his actions on Starkiller Base.
That his mother had still accepted and protected him from the rest of the Resistance which had wanted his head on a platter, still filled him with awe and shame. Awe at the strength and generous compassion his mother had the capacity for, and shame at his weakness that had taken her husband away from her and kept their family apart for so many years.
A year ago
Though Leia hadn’t wasted a moment bringing him back into the Resistance, things had been touch and go with most of the other members of the command group. Respect for Leia and her orders had probably saved his life in the first few weeks after his defection, but the wealth of information about the First Order that Ben had brought with him and had no qualms sharing with the Resistance commanders, had definitely eased some of the tension.
Successful mission after successful mission, giving the Resistance a huge advantage in the war against a much more ruthless First Order, now being led by Allegiant General Pryde, had paved the way a little bit more. That he’d flown every single mission with them, putting his life on the line with the rest of the Resistance pilots, had given him a bit more leeway around the base. Ben only had to deal with stink eyes and muttered curses after a while, compared to having vibro blades and blasters shoved in his face with voluble threats accompanying the weapons.
It had the side effect of making Poe Dameron, now a supposedly responsible Commander, grumble and moan about Kylo Ren getting to fly more missions for the Resistance than himself but Ben counted every instance he could irritate Poe as a win so that was almost fun.
FN-2187 or Finn, as he was called now, had cemented himself with the group that wanted to gut him on sight and refused to change his opinion. Ben hadn’t really been bothered enough to try to mend fences with the man, especially since Finn had actively contributed to the animosity that had existed between Ben and Finn’s best friend in the beginning.
But his first kinda-sorta ‘friend’ in the Resistance, had come in the form of Rose. The ever cheerful and multi-talented mechanic had been very open about her opinions from day one, that while she was against everything the First Order stood for she was ready to give Ben a chance to prove himself. And with every day that passed, Rose’s companionship and support had become extremely important to Ben. Rose was almost like a younger sister to Ben now and the young mechanic seemed to be content being considered so.
And then there was Rey.
To say that Ben and Rey had hit it off from the beginning would be an utter and absolute lie. Having come to the Resistance with Finn, who’d found her on Jakku of all the planets in the galaxy, Rey had either been aggressively antagonistic or pretended that he didn’t exist in the beginning. Which, considering the fact that he’d just defected from the First Order, wasn’t that much of a surprise. What was surprising however, was just how powerful in the Force she felt to him, even as untrained as she was. Even just being in the same general area of the base, Ben could feel her Force signature like a bright sun, spreading its warmth and light to everyone around her. And knowing just how she felt about him, Ben had resolved to stay away from her as much as possible.
And he would have succeeded had it not been for one thing... well, two things. The Millennium Falcon with its notoriously faulty hyperdrive and his Uncle Chewie.
Ben knew that he’d damaged his relationship with Chewbacca beyond repair on Starkiller Base and had never even thought to defend himself when the wookie had launched himself at Ben upon meeting him for the first time after Kylo’s defection from the First Order. Leia could only watch in despair as one of her oldest friends roared and railed at her wayward son, his grief palpable even as his hands held a bowcaster to the younger man’s chest. Ben had taken everything the wookie had thrown at him, unable to react in any way as his uncle poured out years of grief, anger and helplessness. Silent tears of shame and pain poured out of his eyes as Ben shook in Chewbacca’s grip, the reality of just what he’d done to his people, to his own family, hitting him with full force.
The first words he’d spoken since leaving the First Order were to his uncle. Ben had centered the bowcaster over his heart with one hand while gripping Chewbacca’s arm with his other.
“You should do it. I deserve nothing more than this.” he said.
And Chewie had looked oddly determined, a large finger tightening convulsively on the trigger before the weapon fell carelessly to the duracrete floor with a thud and Ben was enfolded in a painfully familiar hug, his ears filled with soft trills of Shyriiwook calling him ‘Starfighter’ and ‘Little Prince’ before Chewie pulled away
‘Do your part to fix the galaxy little one.’ his uncle had told him before walking off toward his father’s old ship. And that was the first time he’d seen her… Rey.
A woman had been working on the Falcon and was now talking to uncle Chewie and for all his emotional upheaval just a few seconds ago, Ben found he couldn’t take his eyes off her. It wasn’t just her wide smile or the sunkissed skin or even her lovely eyes that lit up as she spoke. But the waves of her Force signature that buffeted him and wrapped around him like a warm blanket that caught and held, his attention.
“Who’s that, mother?” he’d whispered and turned to see Leia smirk before she motioned for him to follow her.
“Let’s get you settled first. We can talk about Rey all we want to once we have the situation figured out”
He hadn’t learned much more about Rey that day except for her name, which had settled like a soothing balm to his sore and abused heart. Something about the young woman was pulling at him like a beacon and like a dumb moth to a flame he’d tried to get closer… with the expected disastrous results.
In front of the whole cafeteria, Rey had called him a monster, accused him of murdering his father in cold-blood and warned him to stay away from her and her friends. And whatever stupid hopes he’d had of Rey and himself died a fiery death in the face of her scorn. His resolve to do what she wanted and stay away from her only lasted a couple more weeks before he was brought back into her orbit because of the Falcon.
Even with so many mechanics in the Resistance and with Rose available too, Chewie insisted that the only one, who could even touch the Falcon, was Rey. And the Falcon really, really needed to be fixed if they were going to fly any more missions with it in the near future. So Ben had done what any man in such a situation would do and had gone to Leia.
His mother had taken one look at him and smirked
“Girl trouble?” she asked with a wicked smile
And for the first time in years, the mighty Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren, the man who had terrorized the galaxy as Snoke’s second in command, blushed and stammered.
“W-What do you… It’s n-nothing like that! I just…”
He could feel his ears heat up in embarrassment as he tried to stutter and stammer his way through a denial… of what he himself wasn’t sure yet. Sighing, Ben just turned around and walked out of Leia’s office, his mind trying to memorize his mother’s laughter that still rang out like bells as he left.
Asking Rose for help had resulted in her turning a compassionate look at him before she smiled sweetly, told him to man up and ask Rey himself. It took Ben a few hours to work up a strategy to approach Rey but all of his efforts seemed to have been wasted because when he found her, she was already working on the Falcon.
Deciding not to push his luck, Ben simply sat next to Rey’s toolbox and floated whatever tool she needed to her, as she needed it. The first time he force nudged a set of pliers to her, Rey had glared at him but accepted the tool and just continued working. As he continued to help her through the complicated rewiring process on the hyperdrive, just nudging the right tools toward her while staying a good few feet away and staying silent the whole time, Ben could feel Rey becoming more and more puzzled and conflicted about him in her thoughts.
Her thoughts were loud in the Force and while he’d been able to hear snatches of thoughts or feel strong emotions from others, Ben had never, not even under Snoke’s training, been able hear thoughts or feel someone’s emotions with this much ease or clarity. It was intriguing that he could do so with Rey, who he didn’t know anything about and who hadn’t even been trained in the Force. But even untrained, he could feel just how powerful she had the potential to be. Her Force signature burned like a miniature sun, warming him from within and Ben idly wondered what he felt like to her or if she could even feel his presence at all.
So involved in his thoughts was he that he’d jumped when he heard Rey speak. Her usually melodious voice sounded sharp and curt, cutting into some part of him deep inside
“I can feel you lurking over there. You feel like a bloody gravity well, nothing but darkness.”
There was a loud metallic clang as the calipers he’d been levitating fell to the duracrete and Ben got up hurriedly, fighting to control emotions that had started to spiral. He was so focused on not letting his wildly seesawing emotional state turn to anger and cause any damage that he didn’t hear Rey scramble out from under the Falcon and call out to him
“Ky-Ben! Wait…”
But by the time Rey could stand up, Ben was nowhere to be seen.
Over the next few days, no matter where Rey searched, no matter who she asked, no one knew where Ben Solo had gone. She knew he was still on planet because she could feel him in the Force. She’d lied to him in spite and anger when she said he felt like a gravity well. In fact, Rey had been so scared when she first felt him land on Ajan Kloss because Kylo Ren… Ben Solo had felt familiar. He’d felt like home.
Rey couldn’t explain what that felt like if she tried but somehow, his presence in the Force felt comforting and easy to her, like he was a part of her. It made Rey want to drop her guard, curl up in the velvet darkness like a tooka cat and go to sleep, not worrying about anything. And that scared her more than anything else.
Over the next few weeks, Rey consciously kept an eye out for Ben’s tall, broad form and kept an ear out for any mention of him in the conversations that flowed around her. She stuck as close to the General as she could without arousing suspicion, hoping to catch a glimpse of her son but to no avail. Every day that passed without a sighting of Ben Solo, Rey grew more and more silent and withdrawn. In the heat of the moment, frustrated and scared of her own reactions to his presence, she’d lashed out and now, she couldn’t even find him to apologize. It was like he’d vanished without a trace… but she could still feel him in the Force clear as if he was stood next to her.
If she hadn’t been instinctively drawing comfort from his Force signature, Rey might’ve questioned why it was that he alone stood out to her in the Force like a beacon. Almost everyone else felt like little flickers of light, what they called fireflies on Ajan Kloss. The General felt like a camp fire, warm and inviting. Master Skywalker had felt like a roaring inferno contained behind a pane of glass when she met him… so much power but it was all locked away. But Ben… well, Ben had felt like the moon. Light and dark, powerful and chaotic but contained, exerting his influence on everything and everyone around him. And from the moment she’d seen him, Rey had felt a mystical pull towards him to which she’d reacted the way she usually did. She’d run.
Rey’s mind and heart were in conflict. The things she’d heard about Kylo Ren from Finn and others who claimed to know about the First Order commander and the pull she felt toward Ben Solo couldn’t be reconciled. But seeing who Ben Solo really was, seeing him do his utmost to make up for all the atrocities committed by the First Order, trying his best to bring them down and bring peace and order back to the galaxy was even more confusing to her.
The part of her that wanted to explore whatever was between them grew stronger by the day and even without having seen Ben for over two weeks now, Rey could feel the bond between them strengthen over the time period into something almost solid and tangible. She didn’t know Ben in the usual sense yet, not having interacted with him at all, but through their mystical connection through the Force, there was nary a soul who knew Ben Solo and Kylo Ren better.
During those two weeks was the first time Rey had thought about Kylo Ren in terms of Ben Solo, it shocked her how much she’d already accepted the man who carried the burden of both those names. She didn’t know much about the circumstances that had resulted in Kylo Ren coming into being and she didn’t care about knowing all the things he’d done as Kylo. They had done enough damage to his soul and that was apparent to her.
What was also apparent to her was that she didn’t want to add to that damage in any way. Decision made, Rey made her way to the General’s quarters, determined to speak with Leia about the Force, her son and the connection she felt to both. It was a massive surprise then, to find not only the General but also Ben Solo there.
“General, excuse m- Oh!”
Rey found herself speechless in the face of the man she’d been trying to find for a fortnight. Ben didn’t appear to be doing any better if his red face and ears were any indication of the state of things. Without saying a word to Rey, he just got up with a murmured word to his mother and before she could say anything, was out of the room.
Rey could only stare at Leia in surprise before frustration set in and with a muttered imprecation, she too set off in pursuit of the nerfherder, unaware of Leia’s small, satisfied smile.
It proved rather easy catching up to him because the place he’d headed for was the Millennium Falcon. Rey made her way up the ramp and with a flick of her hand, closed it behind her. She needed to say some things and by Force she was going to make herself heard today if she had to tie him down. A stray vision of Ben Solo tied down for her made her feel things she definitely had no business feeling and made her pause mid-stride.
With a shake of her head to dislodge that vision, Rey determinedly made her way to the cockpit and started flicking switches rapidly, setting the Falcon’s takeoff sequence. A quick transmission to the base’s tower cleared her for takeoff and within seconds, the old freighter was breaking atmosphere when a clearly surprised Ben Solo stumbled into the cockpit.
“What are you doing?! I knew it… you’re crazy. Oh Force! I’m stuck on a junk heap with a crazy woman”
Rey, already at her threshold of patience for the day, grit her teeth and snarked back as she concentrated on taking the ship beyond the gravitational pull of the planet
“We could stand here and chat about my mental health all day your Highness, or you could sit your butt in the co-pilot’s seat and actually help me”
To her surprise, Ben slid into the seat next to her and the two worked together silently, syncing perfectly with each other as if they had flown together countless times before. Even without her prompting, Ben set a course for some planet that she had never been to before and the two of them made the jump to the nearest hyperspace lane before sitting back in their seats. Turning to her, Ben eyed her carefully before speaking
“So… are we going to talk about why you felt the need to kidnap me?”
“I didn’t… I didn’t kidnap you! I admit. I didn’t really think it through but my intention wasn’t to kidnap you or something. I just wanted to make sure you couldn’t keep running away or disappearing. I wanted to speak to you and I need you to listen”
Rey was red and breathing heavily by the time she finished, her eyes and nose feeling itchy and watery to her horror. She was not going to cry… not in front of this nerfherder.
“Hey… it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere. If you want to talk, I’ll listen to what you want to say. There’s no need to”
“I’m NOT crying. Don’t you dare treat me like a child Ben Solo!”
Rey shook her head violently. This wasn’t going the way she wanted. She definitely hadn’t meant to get this emotional but the stress of the past few days, the sleepless nights and her endless thoughts about this man had worn her down.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’ll listen to what you have to say.”
He put his hands up in a placating gesture before he leaned across the distance separating their seats and touched her hand in a tentative manner.
And the two of them were yanked into a series of visions.
The two of them back to back, fighting shadowy creatures. His purple lightsaber and her golden saberstaff clashing with weapons in a dance of death.
The two of them holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes, her clad in a white flowy dress with flowers in her hair
The two of them surrounded by children of various ages, all of them practicing levitating with small blocks
Ben, a small child with dark curls and a bright smile on his shoulders while Rey walked next to him holding hands with a toddler with hazel eyes and pale skin dotted with freckles.
The two of them clad in heavy, formal clothing with circlets on their heads with thousands of people surrounding them, bowing in respect.
As the visions ended, Rey found herself panting and clutching Ben’s hand, his own breathing heavy as he stared at her, trying to make sense of all the flashes he’d just witnessed.
“I don’t… what was that?”
“I think we were just shown a Force vision”
Ben sounded awed and disbelieving at the same time. Shaking himself out of it, Ben looked back at Rey who seemed to still be stunned by what they had seen.
“D-Do you know about the Force Rey?”
“I do but not much. When I went to get Master Skywalker from Ahch-To, he told me I was Force sensitive but refused to train me or anybody else. He gave me one lesson in recognizing the Force but wouldn’t teach me anything else. He also refused to join his sister or help the Resistance.”
Ben shook his head in resignation and disbelief at his uncle’s behavior but that was a can of worms to unpack on another day.
“So… you know about the Force and you can feel it in living beings. We know you can feel me through the Force too”
Whatever Ben was going to say next was stopped by Rey’s small hand against his lips. For a second both of them froze at the sensation of his lips against her skin and unbidden, an image flashed through the bond that had both of them jump back from each other, blushing to the roots of their hair.
“A-About that… I’m really sorry for what I said the other day Ben. I… I guess I let some stuff people said get to me and judged you even before I spoke to you”
Ben watched her wide-eyed
“So… I don’t feel like a gravity well?”
Smiling through her embarrassment, Rey shook her head and tried to articulate what she felt
“No… you feel like – well I don’t know if I can actually describe what you feel like in the Force. Just that the first time I felt your Force signature, it felt familiar and comfortable and… that just scared me a bit, I guess.”
When he remained silent, Rey glanced at Ben from under her lashes and silently tried to send him a thought through the connection she knew was now stronger than ever. It felt like having a friend inside her head and for the girl who’d always been alone, not being alone ever again sounded like a dream come true.
As if he’d heard her thought loud and clear, Ben replied immediately
“To me, you feel like the sun. Bright and warm. You bring life wherever you go Rey”
The blush from earlier had just started to recede, was back in full force and Rey felt her cheeks, ears and the tops of her shoulders go warm.
There was a long moment of silence between them, neither wanting to break the delicate emotional balance of the situation. But the silence was comfortable, companionable and for the first time, both Ben and Rey found that they enjoyed being in each other’s company.
“So… what happens now?”
Ben squinted up at Rey trying to understand what she meant
“Well… we’re able to feel each other in the Force, we’re somehow able to communicate by our thoughts and we’re both Force sensitive. What happens now? Do we go back to Master Skywalker? Will he train us? Me?”
Ben shook his head and let out a deep sigh
“Luke and I have a very strained past Rey. He won’t teach anyone else because of me and what happened between us when I was his student. Let’s just say that it’s better for the both of us to stay away from each other. But you do need a teacher because you have the potential to be a very powerful Force user. I can teach you if you’re okay with learning from me.”
“But I don’t want to learn dark side techniques”
“I could teach you just the light side of the Force Rey but think about it… there cannot be balance if there is only light. You need both dark and light to have balance in the Force. If you accept the dark and let in the light, only then can you find the gray. But I’m not asking you to make a decision now. Think on it and let me know.”
Rey nodded thoughtfully, already processing what Ben had told her, making her see everything in a new light. Just then, the proximity sensors on the Falcon started to beep, letting them know they were going to reach their destination. The two took their seats, with Ben in the pilot seat this time, just in time for the ship to jump from hyperspace.
Rey could only gape in wonder at the vision that filled the viewfield in front of her. She turned in awe to see Ben grinning at her, his eyes shining in happiness at sharing this with her. He waved his arm in an arc, gesturing to the planet that filled their vision
“Welcome to Naboo.”
Over the next few months, Rey and Ben went from strangers to friends to being inseparable. As their bond became stronger every day, words became superfluous and sometimes, the two went days without actually speaking to each other while communicating through their thoughts almost constantly.
For two young people who had grown up almost entirely alone, having one another in their minds was like a soothing balm… a constant reminder that neither of them had to be alone anymore. They worked so seamlessly together that Rey and Ben became the Resistance’s most favored operatives for most of their missions. Their unique skillsets made them extremely effective and most likely to succeed at any given operation.
Working closely together, training together and constantly being in each other’s presence made it difficult for both of them to hide their attraction to each other and while they both knew they really liked the other, neither wanted to make the first move in case it ruined the state of things. Neither Ben nor Rey liked to keep secrets from each other but this became the elephant in the room. Their awkward dance of avoidance went on for almost six months before things finally progressed.
When they came back from yet another mission with dopey grins and entwined hands, Ben and Rey expected some sort of a reaction from their friends and family. Finn’s only reaction was to glare at their twined fingers like they personally offended him, but that was the only expected reaction they got. Rey and Ben gaped at one another when after taking one look at them Poe heaved a big sigh and doled out a handful of credits to a smug looking Rose. Their mouths hung open even more when the person with the most number of credits at the end of the betting pool was a triumphant Leia Organa-Solo.
The erstwhile General’s not so whispered comment of not waiting too long to give her grandchildren to spoil resulted in what had to be the darkest blushes anyone had ever seen.
Rey and Ben knew they were it for each other… each other’s soul-mate, a dyad bound in the Force. But there was a galaxy-wide war to be won before anything else could happen in their personal lives. For now, they were together and fighting side by side for the betterment of the galaxy. That was enough.
Present day
Even as Ben walked into their shared room, he already knew she wouldn’t be there. Neither were their supplies or her little satchel she’d started carrying around, filled with odds and ends she liked to tinker with in her down time. Smiling to himself, Ben turned and walked right back out of their room before sprinting back and grabbing something small.
A few minutes later, he raced up the open ramp of the newly refurbished Falcon, that he still affectionately called a junk heap, to find Rey smiling widely at him from her position reviewing some navigation charts at the Dejarik table.
“So… are we doing this?”
Without breaking stride, Ben swept her up in his arms and dumped her on top of the charts she’d been studying.
“Have I told you how much I love you yet?”
His grin was wide and teasing as he ran his fingers up her sides lightly, knowing exactly how ticklish she was. Rey giggled and squirmed before pushing him away so she could climb down from the table while she arched her brow at him
“Not today, you haven’t Solo”
“Well, allow me to rectify that right now my lady”
Sweeping her right back onto the table she’d just climbed down from, Ben leaned down and caught her lips with his own in a light, loving kiss
“I love you Rey, so much…”
She leaned up and pressed another soft kiss on his skin, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and fingers combing through his hair softly.
“I love you too my Ben”
Ben’s arms tightened around Rey’s waist and he sighed contentedly as she rested her head on his chest. They stayed like that for a minute or so, just enjoying the peace and contentment they felt simply being in each other’s arms.
“So… are we doing this?”
Rey repeated her earlier query into his chest and Ben simply hugged her tighter and hummed his response.
“It will be H-Dad’s birthday in a couple of day cycles. I wanted to do this to… in a way, honor his memory I guess”
Ben moved back from the table and shrugged, his shoulders hunched, his lips moving in a way that suggested he was emotional but trying to not display it. Rey sent soothing thoughts to him through their bond and took his hand in hers, squeezing in silent support
“We’ll make Han proud.”
With a bright grin, she jumped down from the table and gestured to the various charts of the Akkadese Maelstrom she’d been studying when he walked in.
“Come on… if we want to have any chance of doing this, we need a plan. Han and Lando finished the Kessel Run in just over 12 parsecs. If we’re going to attempt anything similar to what I’ve heard they did, we’ll need a lot more than just luck and your crazy Solo genetics. There isn’t any coaxium available anymore but I guess we can make do with…”
Ben ran his fingers idly over the tiny jewelry box sitting in one of his pockets as he listened to Rey detail a plan that was sure to end in disaster six ways from Benduday. Every moment he got to spend with Rey was a gift and he wasn’t going to squander a single one if he could help it. Ben rubbed the velveteen box one last time, thankful that Rey had somehow not managed to pick up on his plans when she’d heard him thinking about the Kessel Run over their bond.
Sending a thank you out into the Force, Ben brought his attention back to his Sunshine, determined to make it the most unforgettable day of her life yet.
Two day cycles later, when a battered and bruised Millennium Falcon landed on Kessel, its two occupants triumphantly walking down the ramp hand in hand, Rey’s ring sparkled almost as much as her smile.