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Even though General Organa had never trained as a Force user to the extent of Ben or Luke, she felt the tension emanating from the barracks all the way on the other side of the Resistance base. Nor was she surprised to discover that the oppressive tension led her directly to the more private rooms, specifically the one her son and Rey had claimed as their own. It was for that reason she found herself standing just outside the entrance, eyebrow raised at each of the men that had crowded around the sealed bedroom door. Her son was standing tensely next to the door, his posture stiff and brooding. His dark eyes were permanently fixed in a sideward glance at the door. Finn was only slightly better than Ben, the former stormtrooper actively pacing. Poe watched his not-so-secret lover in amusement. Only his sporadic glances toward the door gave away his own concern for Rey. Luke was seated on the floor a few feet away with his lightsaber attached to his hip. He appeared to be the only one calm.
“So who is going to be the brave one and explain to me why four grown men are unnecessarily standing guard around a bedroom,” Leia chastised when she made her presence known. Each of the men acknowledged her presence in some small manner or another. Finn stopped pacing, Poe looked toward his commanding officer in respect while Ben and Luke merely moved their eyes up to her.
“Especially at the expense of their official duties,” Leia added. Luke spoke up first.
“Neither Rey nor Ben attended the morning spar session. I came to discover why only to find Ben out here with the door locked.” That at least explained to Leia why her brother had broken protocol. She’d issued an official order that banned the carrying of weapons within the base unless en route to training or as otherwise ordered. The lack of Ben’s unusual looking lightsaber attached to his hip corroborated her brother’s story.
“Care to explain?” Leia asked her son in her usual no-nonsense voice.
“I could not sense Rey after breakfast this morning,” he said simply. Leia was surprised by his posture in the presence of the other three men. It seemed only around Rey did he show anything other than an aloof expression and stance. To see him openly stiff and brooding meant to Leia he was truly worried he’d been unable to reach Rey through their unique bond.
“And you two?” she demanded of Poe and Finn.
“Skywalker asked Finn if he knew where she had gone and we--or rather Finn decided and I followed--to join Skywalker in locating her. We got brooding loverboy instead,” Poe replied with a smirk. Ben ignored Poe’s nickname for him since he and Rey had become an official couple throughout the base. The pilot hadn’t been so willing to easily forget what Kylo Ren had done to him in favor of Ben Solo, refusing to use either name.
“Rey has locked herself in the bedroom I assume?”
“We haven’t been able to confirm but that’s the assumption,” Poe replied.
“No hints as to why?” Leia pressed.
“She was scheduled for a routine medical check up this morning. Whether she showed or what happened, I have no idea,” Ben answered.
“As her Commanding Officer, she’s required to inform me of any medical problems that arise that prohibit her from performing her duties. I will speak with her privately,” she said authoritatively.
“If you can get in,” Finn said in defeat at the locked door that they had all gathered around. Leia rolled her eyes and moved past the men toward the passcode panel for the door. With a few clicks she entered the override code, the lock released and the door slid open.
Leia walked in, the door immediately slid shut behind her. The bedroom was rather sparse save for the basic furniture. A bed with the standard issue bedding was centered against a back wall adjacent to the artificial windows. A leather lounge chair was situated in a corner next to the ‘fresher, the familiar two lightsabers of her son and Rey resting on the seat.
“Rey?” she called out. Leia dropped the unyielding expression she’d kept on her face when she had discovered four of her officers all hovered near a bedroom and replaced it with concern.
“In the wardrobe,” answered Rey. Leia arrived at the doorway to the closet, perplexed at Rey’s choice of hiding place, especially in the girl’s own bedroom. She found Rey huddled against the back wall, wrapped in a black cloak too big for her small frame. Leia recognized it as the one Ben had been wearing when he’d first returned to them. The cloak of Kylo Ren that Rey had inexplicably kept.
“What happened? You’ve got four men outside worried about you.” Leia didn’t elaborate or press further but sat down next to Rey. The girl looked absolutely terrified, Leia noticed.
“The doctor has declared me unfit for duty or weapon intensive training,” Rey replied hesitantly. With that declaration, Leia suspected the medical unit had already placed in her datapad a full report on Rey’s medical prognosis as required.
“How far along?” Rey’s head shot up in panic before she took a deep breath.
“Only a few weeks. I didn’t mean to scare anyone, I just panicked,” Rey admitted quickly. “I’m not ready to tell Ben, I’ll have to admit to myself it’s true if I let him into my head. General, I don’t know how to do this.”
“No one does, Rey. Every child is a unique combination of their parents. There’s no amount of studying or training that can ever prepare someone for those kinds of trials.”
“I don’t remember my family, I don’t know what it’s like to have one or even care for one.”
“You do know how to care for them.” Leia took a deep breath and continued. “I will forever be grateful to you Rey. You’ve given me my son back. You’ve given him peace in a way I can never understand, in a way no amount of training with Luke could ever have given him. My family is a powerful bloodline Rey and there’s the potential for the dark side in all of us. It seduced Vader and it seduced Ben. Even Luke and I cannot completely ever stop fighting it’s seduction.”
“So there’s a potential monster growing in me?” Rey snapped defensively.
“Only if you think there will be,” Leia replied solemnly. With another breath, she prepared herself to tell Rey something she’d never told anyone. Not Han. Not even Luke. “I sometimes blame myself for Kylo Ren. I was convinced Ben had too much Vader in him and I sent him away. I wanted my son to change who he was because I was scared, Rey. Even now, there are times I fear Kylo Ren will resurface. You don’t. You don’t just love Ben, Rey. You love Kylo Ren. You have this power to bring out the light in people even during their darkest hour. No child ever born in our family has ever been lucky enough to have a mother as powerful as you. There’s no one else I’d trust with my grandchild.”
“Thank you,” Rey mumbled sheepishly. Her sitting position relaxed and her nerves eased somewhat. With a soft smile, Leia stood up, pleased she’d managed to talk some sense into her son’s lover. Rey stood up as well shortly after. She had some big news to tell Ben after all.
The door to the bedroom opened up, Leia frowning when she realized the four men were still hovering. All four mobilized in some fashion. Ben immediately moved to Rey’s side with Finn followed by Poe walking closer to the entryway. Luke’s only clue to movement was his head rising to greet Rey. Before the men could all converge upon the mother-to-be directly behind Leia, she began administering orders.
“Luke, Finn, and Dameron. Out. Now. The latter two of you back to your stations and schedules. Luke, you and I need to have a meeting discussing your training. Ben, you and Rey need to have a discussion. Please do so in your assigned quarters and not in the hallway in accordance with standard protocol. Everyone understood?” With five begrudging nods, Leia managed to move out of the hallway and back to the regular part of the base.
She’d shop for her new grandchild shortly.