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"Excuse me," a woman's voice softly spoke hidden by a huge vase of roses in her arms. "Which way to Ben Solo's office?"
Kaydel blinked from her seat at the Organa Family & Associates law firm's reception desk. No one ever asked to see Ben unless... "Do you have an appointment?" She pulled up the associate calendar on her computer. Mr. Solo was free all morning.
"Um," the woman faltered, adjusting her bouquet. "No."
"Well, is he expecting you?"
"Not exactly," she confessed, shifting the flowers to reveal her uneasy face. "Can you make an exception?"
"Rey!" Kaydel jumped up and hurried around the desk to hug her, but ended up awkwardly holding her arms out before dropping them at her side. They were not getting around Rey and that vase. "What are you doing here? Aren't you swamped today?"
Rey was a friend of the firm. She owned a popular local flower shop which the firm represented last year when she nearly lost it to a developer. Some around the office made fast friends with her, but they never saw her in the office since the case was won in her favor. And of all days, today was Valentine's Day, and Kaydel was surprised she wasn't swimming in flower petals.
"Rose is holding down the fort so I could make a delivery," Rey explained. "Sooo... Ben's office?"
"Oh, now he's Ben?" Kaydel raised a teasing, questioning eyebrow. Ben used to work for the opposing counsel's firm. An angry place that sucked a person's soul. Rey's fights with Mr. Solo were legendary.
"Kaydel, please!" Rey pleaded. "I can't be gone too long."
"Fine," Kaydel conceded, "but it's not my fault if you two get into it today. You got time later for lunch?"
"Yes, but..." Rey blushed as red as the roses in her vase, "I already have plans," she whispered the last part.
"Uh huh," Kaydel nodded along, intrigued. "Fine. Keep your secrets. His office is straight down that hall, last door on the right." She pointed.
"Thanks, Kay. We'll do lunch another time," Rey called over her shoulder. Peeking out from underneath her red sweater as she walked away swished a knee-length pink skirt covered in sparkly red hearts.
"Huh," Kaydel thought to herself, leaning against the desk as she watched her friend walk away. "Rey hates Valentine's Day."
"Rey's here?"
Kaydel jumped at the unexpected presence behind her and whipped around, gasping for a breath. "Miss Organa! Yes, Rey's here. That was Rey. Can I help you with something?"
"Please, it's Leia," she waved a hand as she walked away. "And I want to see the ring. Those two have been avoiding me," she grumbled the last sentence.
"Ring?" Kaydel questioned and scurried after her boss who was making her way to Ben's office.
"You know that boy of mine proposed with no ring? Just blurted it out!" Leia complained, halting in the middle of the hall and quickly turning around. "And Rey didn't seem to care!"
"Wait what?!" Kaydel screeched, shocked, then waved awkwardly at Poe who had come to lean against the door frame of his office. "Rey?" She whispered this time. "The Rey who is in his office right now? The Rey who can't stand him?"
Leia nodded solemnly. "Why are you so surprised? The sex must have been phenomenal."
Kaydel exchanged a draw dropped look with Poe before both of them followed Leia to the end of the hall. Last door on the right. "Miss Organa–"
"Leia."
"Right. Sorry. Leia," Kaydel cleared her throat into her fist. "That's your son you're talking about."
"And I know a mutual heated gaze when I see it. My son can get it!" Leia punched the air. "But he finally met his match in our feisty flower girl."
"What's this about Rey and Ben and– I can't repeat that thing out loud?" Poor, lost Poe wondered out loud.
Kaydel didn't have to look. She could feel Leia's eye roll. She could feel it deep in her soul.
Their entourage of three, Leia plus a reluctant Poe and eager Kaydel, stopped right in front of the floor to ceiling window of Ben's office so their view inside was unobstructed. Rey's bouquet sat on Ben's desk and her left hand, the left hand now accessorized with a diamond on the ring finger, cupped Ben's cheek while the two secret lovers kissed.
Kaydel leaned back, reaching behind Leia to jab Poe in the shoulder. He looked at her and shrugged.
"I'm thinking a summer wedding," Leia commented, pulling on the office door handle. "It's locked." She jiggled the handle then banged on the door. "Ben! It's your mother!"
The couple broke apart with a jolt. Rey smoothed her bunched skirt down and sat in a chair in front of the desk as Ben stomped to the door, throwing it open with an eye roll. It was the eye roll only a child of Leia Organa could replicate. "Yes, mother?"
"Don't mother me," Leia fearlessly shoved past the giant man with ease and took the empty seat next to Rey. "Let me see it."
"It's too much," Rey held her hand out to Leia. "I really didn't need a ring, but..." she looked up and over her shoulder at Ben, taking his hand with her free one. "He went to that little antique shop I like so he helped another small business owner, right?"
Kaydel exchanged a raised eyebrow with Poe. "Who is this Ben?" She whispered.
"That's wonderful, dear." Leia tapped Rey's hand reassuringly.
"Anyway," Rey stood. "I need to get back to the shop. Busy day." She leaned up to kiss Ben's cheek, but he turned just in time for her to catch his lips instead.
Kaydel once again exchanged a raised eyebrow with Poe at the lip suctioning smack and whispered I love yous.
"Wait for me outside," Leia ushered a reluctant to leave Rey to the door where she turned back with a small wave then left. "Now, Ben." Leia clapped her hands and rounded on her son, height difference only slightly lessened by his lean against his desk. "My son. Don't tell me you just handed her that ring."
"I handed her the– OW!" Ben flinched, grabbing his upper arm where Leia pinched him. "What was that for?"
"You can't just–" Leia cut herself off, groaning into her hands. "Nevermind. I better go speak with her before you don't plan a wedding and you surprise me with a marriage certificate." And with that, she left with a flourish.
Ben froze, his eyes widening at his empty doorway. With a hard swallow, he picked up his vase and buried his face in the petals of every Valentine color imaginable.
"So, Ben," Poe started. "You hiding a marriage too?"
A good question. One Kaydel was wondering, too.
Ben smiled down at the vase before setting it back on the desk. "Not exactly." He straightened, rounding his desk and sitting in his black chair. When his confession was met by stunned silence, he paused shaking his computer mouse and looked up at his colleagues. "What?" More silence. "Look, my mother might have overheard something I shouldn't have said anywhere on the same planet as her, so we tried to cover by saying I proposed. It technically wasn't a lie."
"Proposed without a ring," Kaydel stated to keep track of the facts of the case.
"Can you both please leave now?" Ben complained, rolling over to a filing cabinet. "I want to finish going over these files before lunch."
"Oh!" Kay squealed like an excited school girl with juicy playground gossip. "Are you Rey's hot lunch date? Who knew grumpy Ben Solo could make her blush."
It must have run in the family, the eye roll Kaydel could feel penetrating her soul because all she could see was the back of Ben's head sticking up over his chair.
"Aaw, a Valentine lunch!" Kaydel plowed on, feeling fairly fearless under the influence of the eye roll due to extreme exposure over the years. "But wait... doesn't Rey hate Valentine's Day?"
"You're right," Poe agreed. "I remember her complaining about it last year. Something about working so much on a day others are in love making her miserable."
Ben slammed a drawer shut. "Well, she doesn't hate it anymore."
Kaydel hopped up on Ben's desk, making herself quite at home. "Tell us more, Rey's valiant Valentine savior." Eager for gossip from Rey's maybe husband/secret fiancé, she swung her legs.
"No."
"Come onnnn," Kaydel pleaded. "Please?"
Ben rolled back to his desk, dropping his files on top with a thunk. "Don't you have work to do?"
Kaydel opened her mouth to retort, but he was right. She did have work. Phones to answer and meetings to schedule and documents to scan.
"I could give you some," Ben looked up, raising a challenging eyebrow. "If you're not busy."
"No, no, it's fine." Kaydel hopped off the desk. "I'm good." Lunch tomorrow?" She grabbed Poe's elbow, dragging him out of the chair he made himself comfy in to watch the office gossip channel.
"Can't," was Ben's simple reply.
Kaydel spun around in the doorway. "Ooooh, another hot lunch date with the missus?"
"My mother."
"Oh." Kaydel frowned. Though sweet, her excitement had been squashed. Maybe Rey was free. And on that thought, she made her way back to her desk.
"I'm not defending your mother in a trial for your murder, Solo!" Poe yelled behind her.
Kaydel snorted as she leaned over the reception desk to grab her phone, but a poof of Valentine movement caught her eye. The edge of the desk dug into her stomach, legs flailing behind her and one arm stretched out, as she watched Rey by the elevator bay jab impatiently at a button. "Eee!" Kaydel ran as fast as she could in her high heels out of the office and threw her entire body in front of the elevator doors which, thankfully hadn't opened, or she might have fallen in.
"Kaydel?" Rey glanced back at the office. "Is something wrong?"
"No, no, nothing at all." Kaydel blew out a breath, fluttering a wisp of her hair. "I'll ride down with you. Wanna get lunch tomorrow? Your husband has other plans, so..."
"Husband? We're not married yet." Rey chuckled as she shook her head. "Leia. Wants. A. June. Wedding." She punctured each word with a push of the elevator button.
"You don't?" Kaydel looked at her friend. Really looked at her. Gone was the red hot anger boiling on her skin from the days of Ben's firm trying to take her flower shop. Frustrated pinch of her eyebrows aside, she was glowing, and Kaydel could just make out the diamond ring on her left ring finger where her arms were crossed across the front of her Valentine dress. The print covered the whole thing.
Rey shook her head no and stabbed the button again. "Where is the damn elevator?" She glanced apologetically at Kaydel. "Sorry, it's just this holiday. I need to get back to the shop and help Finn load the delivery van."
"Speaking of Valentine's Day, is a certain brooding legal tree the reason behind your change of heart?" Kaydel winked. "Pun totally intended." She was a real comic.
Rey giggled. "Today's actually our anniversary. I mean, more than enemies anniversary."
"Enemies with benefits?" Kaydel guessed. Judging by Rey's intense blush, she guessed right.
"Anyway," Rey cleared her throat. "We became more than that, grew to care about each other? We had lunch together at the shop and he gave me a cookie bouquet. Said I probably didn't need more flowers. I haven't felt alone again since that day. Neither has he." She smiled down at her ring. "We're each other's person."
The elevator doors finally dinged. They waited so long that Kaydel's most urgent questions had been answered, so they parted there with plans for lunch the next day and a hug now that a huge bouquet wasn't in the way.
Things around the firm remained peaceful after that up until early May when Leia trailed behind Ben out of his office and all the way to the break room, clearly desperate to speak with him.
"All I want for Mother's Day is for you two to set a date," Leia complained to her son's broad back. "Maybe arrange a cake tasting."
Ahh, the Mother's Day card. Kaydel snickered into her coffee mug.
"Mooommm," Ben whined, spinning the coffee pod rack.
"Don't give me that tone." Leia picked a pod from the rack and slapped it into Ben's hand. "And please remind Rey I'm available to go dress shopping with her."
"Don't we need to pick a date first?" Ben asked, fiddling with the coffee pot.
"Yes!" Leia tossed her hands in the air. "These things take time. June's already–"
The slam of Ben's hands on the counter cut her off. "We're already married!"
An awkward silence filled the room. Kaydel's eyes zeroed in on the clock on the wall, the seconds ticking by agonizingly slow yet also loud.
"I just wanted to marry her. Just us," Ben said softly. "She's my person." He left without his coffee.
Kaydel retrieved his cup, squeezing Leia's shoulder as she passed her. Hopefully it came across as comforting.
"Am I murdered yet?" Ben groaned into his hands at Kaydel's knock.
"She'll get over it." Kaydel set his mug down on a cloth daffodil coaster. Rey probably got it for him. Kaydel was gifted one similar... a sunflower. "Congratulations, Ben."
The happy couple never did have a wedding and it eventually became something of a tease between mother and son, but husband and wife found other ways to celebrate their secret love story. Every year, Rey got Ben flowers for Valentine's Day.