Equilibrium (Reylo)

Thirty: Family Ties

After dinner, Ben escorted Rey down to the bedrooms on the south side of the palace. They decided to take a longer route that lead there by walking outside through a long railing sided by white podiums and the palace walls.

Ben reflected about the dinner, how happy he was to be able to spend time with his mother after so long. How he hasn't felt that happy period. To have her accept him after all he's done. And not only that, but he was happy for his mother to spend time with the only other person that had accepted him for who he was, his light, his equal—Rey. To see how they've gotten along so well. For all three of them to spend time together.

Ben casually whisked Rey's hand in his, pressing it against his chest as he brushed his fingers over her knuckles. "My mother has taken quite the liking to you."

"Has she?" Rey asked, pretending to sound shocked.

Ben stared out in the open railing, hearing their voices echo throughout the long corridor as it lead down to the courtyard. "It's quiet obvious."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Ben surveyed the empty courtyard, watching the moonlight reflect off the cobblestone. "Well, this is the home planet of my grandmother."

"Really?" she asked, looking all around the courtyard for the first time.

"She grew up here," Ben explained. "My mother would told me stories about her, just the information she was told, of course. My grandmother passed away from childbirth."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rey mumbled, wrapping her free hand around Ben's arm, securing herself closer to him. She tried to bite back her curiosity, but she didn't think much about the harm of asking. "And your grandfather?"

Ben sighed, continuing to stare out in the distance. His grandfather? Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader? Honestly, Ben didn't know which story to tell, especially to Rey.

But he eventually decided on which one really counted. "I'd like to think my grandfather, the good that was left in him, had died before he became Darth Vader."

Rey stopped dead in her tracks, yanking Ben back from her grip on his arm. "Wait, wait, hold on. Your grandfather is Darth Vader? The Darth Vader?" She asked, her voice shifting far from its usual relaxed tone. "As in your muse? The man you were trying to become?"

Ben scratched his neck. "Uh, yeah," he answered bluntly. "But that was a long, long time ago."

"Your family is a lot more complicated than I thought," Rey commented, just as they continued on their path.

"I'd be lying if I said that's an overstatement."

"Is it too late to reconsider becoming a part of the family," Rey teased, looking up at Ben to see his reaction for herself. "I know I didn't swear an oath or anything. . ."

"Nuh-uh, you're stuck with us," he told her, squeezing her hand tight, "whether you like it or not."

"So what happened to your grandfather?" Rey asked, wondering how to get across asking this next question. "How did he. . ."

"I like to think he died with my grandmother," he said, "because he couldn't live without her."

"Died of a broken heart," Rey said, almost as a question. "Is it wrong to think that sounds. . .romantic?"

Ben looked down at his equal, seeing the moonlight captured inside her eyes, the bright hazel suddenly a dark, earthy brown at night. He stopped in his tracks, wanting to get lost inside those orbs that make him feel so at peace. Just simply looking into those eyes could put anything raging inside his mind or his heart at ease.

"I think it is."

Ben raised his hand to her cheek, delicately cupping her soft, round cheek in his palm. Rey leaned into it, her eyes closing in serenity. This gentleness of her always warmed his once black heart. It always softened his once cruel soul. There were no more words he could come up with to describe the woman he loved other than the ones he had already used. There was no use to trying to figure out how much he loved her, because he did.

He thought about how fortunate he was to find this someone whose so astray. To find someone in all of the galaxy reflecting the emotions he felt most of his life.

And she just had to be a Jedi, as well. . .

He didn't know their journey to find common ground would lead to this. To do something so strong like liberating himself from all the dark forces that controlled him. Choosing Rey was the best thing he could have done for himself. And he would have died for that. But her choosing him was the best thing that could have happened to him.

"I don't know what I've would've done if I hadn't found you," he told her, then he grabbed her hand and kissed the inside of her palm.

To which she replied, "I wonder the same thing."

And that made these next words easier to say, "You know, you didn't fail me, Rey."

"What do you mean?"

Ben titled his head, his eyes flashing a look that basically stated 'You know what I mean'. She stuck her tongue out in response. To prove he was serious, he stated, "You didn't give up on me, Rey. Ever after everyone had. That means something to me. You chose me. No matter what I said or what you thought, you didn't fail me." Ben smiled, a kind of smile he only reserved for her. "Thank you for choosing not to give up on me."

Rey pushed back the hint of tears in her eyes and sealed her response, 'You're welcome' in a single, slow kiss. Then she squeezed Ben's hand as they continued their walk. "And I'll choose you tomorrow. And the next day." She would repeat this until it annoyed him, "And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that. . ."