aid • kylo ren

XXII

Luna woke up and was enveloped in warmth. She turned, attempting to not disturb him and the arm that was draped over her torso. She looked up through her lashes at the man she loved – his beautiful face never failing to make her heart skip a beat. She studied each freckle and mole that littered his cheeks, the curve of his nose, the slight scruff that had begun to appear on his cheeks. She never got tired of him. She gently moved forward and placed a soft, tiny kiss on his lips. He stirred, drawing in an intake of breath, his arm tightening around her. His eyes cracked open and he smiled at the sight of her.

"Morning, my love." Kylo whispered hoarsely. His morning voice made Luna shiver.

"Morning." she chimed softly.

"How long have you been up?" Kylo asked.

"Not long." She answered, moving closer to Kylo.

"And how long have you been looking at me?"

Luna erupted into giggles and hid her face in embarrassment. This was routine for them, however, it never ceased to make Luna self-conscious when Kylo found her looking at him.

Kylo chuckled and kissed her head. He loved waking up to her every morning. In the few weeks that had passed them, he never got tired of her.

"You look so beautiful in your sleep." Luna mumbled.

"Well, thank you."

Luna smiled as Kylo moved to get out of bed. But Luna placed a hand on his bicep, his skin erupting into goose-bumps.

"No, stay." Luna whined.

Kylo gave a smile, and reached to cup her cheek. "You know I can't. Hux will bust a vessel if I'm late for this hearing."

Luna frowned and Kylo kissed her nose.

"I'll meet you later tonight ok, baby?"

Luna sighed and nodded. "Ok."

Kylo moved again and walked swiftly to the dresser and begun to dress himself. Luna watched the curves of his back and as he shrugged the back robes on him.

"I'll see you later ok?" Kylo reassured.

"Ok, I love you."

Kylo came to the bed and cupped Luna's face in his large hands before bringing his lips to hers in a slow but sweet kiss that made parting even more painful.

"I love you too."

And as Kylo left, Luna stretched in the bed, the silky sheets gliding over her bare skin and savouring the last bit of Kylo's warmth. She had to get up too. But all she really wanted to do was lie bed and sleep. She had been so tired lately. And she didn't know why. But she thought nothing of it. She dragged herself out of bed and to the chair to fetch her uniform which had carelessly been thrown there. She slid it on and packed her things and headed to work.

~*~*~*~

Luna was 3 hours into her shift and was already counting the minutes until she could return home. She loved her job – but she loved Kylo more. She made her way down the corridor to Ward B and into cubicle 378 to run a diagnostic on a patient. She opened the curtain to see the unmasked stormtrooper in front of her. She was always surprised when she saw their faces – they were usually always handsome in some sort of way, but they lacked something. A sparkle of sorts. Their eyes empty. Exposed to too many horrors.

"Hi sweetheart, I'm Luna and I'll be running your diagnostic check-up, how are you feeling today?"

"Alright, better than yesterday." He replied, his voice thick with exhaustion.

"That's good, can you recite your ID number please?"

He nodded. "JV-7639"

Luna made sure that it matched the number on her form before getting out the blood pressure arm band and delicately wrapping around the fabric and connecting the Velcro around his arm.

"I'm just going to check your blood pressure and your other vitals ok?"

He nodded. Luna got to work trying to be as gentle as possible. She tried to be gentle as she figured they would usually be treated more roughly and she thought it would comfort them.

"Miss?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Do you have a boyfriend? Because if you don't maybe we could go out sometime."

Luna looked at him and smiled. He must be a new recruit, a transfer of some sort, as he was naïve to the fact that he would have no "sometime". His forwardness also made Luna think back to the trooper who died in her arms, Jordan. Luna thought about lying but decided to tell the trooper, after all, what is the harm in that? But she knew she shouldn't say exactly who he is.

"Actually, honey, I do have a boyfriend"

"Oh. That's nice"

Luna smiled. "Yeah it is, but sweetie, I am very flattered by your offer."

The trooper smiled. "Do you like him?"

"Yes. Very much so."

"Does he treat you well?"

"He does." Luna grinned. She liked talking about Kylo – even if she couldn't explicitly say it was him.

"What's your favourite thing about him?" He asked.

Luna thought for a moment, for there was not one single thing that she could name, but instead a whole range of little things that made up who he was that she loved about him.

"I don't know. There's a lot of different things. I think my favourite thing about him is that he is considerate of me and my feelings and of our situation. He's always making sure I'm alright and if I'm not, dropping everything to make sure I am. He's very compassionate and loving, which is really nice and I'm almost proud that he is the way he is after his upbringing and current circumstances. He may not show it all the time to others, but he has a heart and feelings. And the fact that I'm the only one that sees that makes me feeling really special and loved. But I honestly don't deserve him. I'm so lucky."

JV-7639 was grinning, a genuine grin that he had given he didn't think ever. He saw the light in Luna's eyes as she spoke of her love. He could only hope to have a love like that. But deep down, he knew that it would never be.

"He sounds like a great man"

"He is" Luna smiled. "Ok, I've done all the checks, everything is perfectly normal"

"Great, thank you"

"No problem, sweetheart, I'll get you the discharge slip for you to sign and you'll be free to leave with your helmet on, unfortunately. You'll have to hide that handsome face of yours." She smirked as she packed away the equipment.

JV laughed. "Thank you."

Luna smiled and left the cubicle and close the curtain and went to grab the discharge slip, and she did so in a hurry, as she very much looking forward to seeing Kylo later night.