That evening, Ben went into his study to find it in a huge mess. His books were scattered on the floor, his papers were strewn across his desk, and a few toys were scattered around.

He looked at his desk to see Temiri playing with his calligraphy set.

"Can you leave that alone, please?" he asked, a bit annoyed at the mess he had made.

Temiri nodded, and stepped away from his desk.

Ben sat down at his desk and began putting his things back in his drawer.

"You don't like kids, do you?" Temiri asked.

Ben sighed. "It's not that I don't like kids, I just don't know how to... you know, be a father. My father wasn't really around that often, so I just don't know how to ... handle things."

Temiri nodded.

Just then Rey came in. "Dinner's almost ready," she said.

"Put that down it's not a toy," Ben yelled as Temiri pulled down one of the swords that was hanging on the wall.

Temiri struggled to put it back on the wall.

"Don't yell at him," Rey said.

"I'm sorry. He doesn't need to be messing around with that, it's as big as he is."

Rey nodded. "But you still shouldn't yell."

"Do you think you could keep him from coming in here?"

Rey nodded. "Temiri, from now on this room is off limits."

"Okay mummy," he answered.

"See," Rey said.

"How do you get him to listen?" Ben asked.

"It's not that hard," she answered.

Ben looked back down at his desk to see that Temiri had been using his seal to glue his papers together with melted wax. "What did you do?" he asked angrily.

"I'm sorry," Temiri said, he went over to help Ben fix the papers. But he accidentally knocked over a basin of water.

"Why is it everything you touch gets messed up?" Ben asked.

"You're not my father!" Temiri yelled.

Rey went over to him. "Don't talk to him that way!" she yelled at Ben.

"Look what he did," Ben gestured to his desk. His papers were now tie died with black ink.

"This arrangement doesn't give you the right to discipline my brother. He's just a child."

"Well I wouldn't have to if you would teach him to behave," Ben retorted.

"You should try having to work from sun up till sun down and raise a child on your own since you sixteen years old! I can't stay with him all of the time in order to teach him such things and make enough money to feed him! You don't know what it's like to work to survive, you're the prince all you have to do is sit there and everything is handed to you on a silver platter."

"Do you think Princes just sit around all day and do whatever they want. The lives of everyone in that city is in my hands," Ben yelled pointing out the window.

"You're just like my father... I thought... I thought you were better than him." Tears streamed down her cheeks. Rey pulled the ring off of her finger. "We quit!" she yelled, throwing it onto his desk.

"Rey, please wait..." he began.

But she wouldn't listen. She grabbed Temiri's hand. "Come on, Temiri, we're leaving."

Ben stood to stop her, but it was too late, she'd already walked out. He didn't care about his uncle or the throne, he had hurt her and Temiri and he had began to care about them both. It was just as he feared, he was a terrible husband and father even if he wasn't really theirs.

~*~

Rey gently tucked Temiri in, making sure he was warm.

"I'm sorry I messed up. It's my fault that we had to leave," Temiri said.

"None of this is your fault," she whispered, kissing his forehead.

She climbed out of the tent and stared into the flames of the fire. She couldn't sleep, she kept thinking about what Ben had said. He was right, she wasn't able to really take time to teach Temiri things because she wasn't around. But she had to work or he wouldn't be able to eat. She buried her head in her hands. What could she do?

~*~

Ben felt guilty that he'd blown up at Rey and Temiri. It had only been two days and he had already messed things up with them. He decided that he should apologize. Besides, she'd left before he'd even gotten to pay her.

He slipped out of the castle wearing a cloak so that no one would recognize him. He knew his guards wouldn't let him go alone. But this was something he needed to do by himself.

He didn't know where she lived, so he knocked on the door of the first house he came to.

An old woman opened the door. "What do you want?"

"Do you know where Rey lives?"

"You mean that homeless orphan girl? What business is she to you?"

"I...I care about her, but I said things that I shouldn't have. I owe her an apology," Ben answered.

"Well it's the middle of the night, why don't you wait until the morning?"

"Because I can't sleep after the way I spoke to her," Ben replied.

"You care about her?"

Ben nodded sincerely.

The old woman nodded. "She lives in the alley between those two buildings." She pointed down the street.

The poor girl lives in an alleyway? Ben thought, feeling more guilty than he already did.

"Thank you," Ben replied.

The woman nodded, then closed the door.

Ben made his way down the street, until he reached the alleyway the old woman had pointed out to him. His heart broke as he saw the small tent sitting on the cobblestones. He saw Rey hugging her knees as she stared at the flickering flames of a small fire.

He stepped into the alley.

Rey jolted up and grabbed her staff as she saw the shadowy figure approach.

"Leave us alone!" she yelled.

He pulled his hood back. "Rey, it's me," he whispered, not wanting to wake the boy.

"What do you want?"

"I came to apologize. I'm sorry I overreacted. I was a jerk, please forgive me."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing too," she answered, she gestured to Temiri who was asleep in the tent.

Ben nodded, then knelt down at the tent's entrance. He reached over and gently rubbed Temiri's back. "Temiri, I'm so sorry I shouldn't have yelled."

Temiri nodded. "It's okay."

Ben shook his head. "No it isn't. I was wrong. Can you forgive me?"

Temiri nodded. "I'm sorry about your desk."

"That's okay, it's just water," Ben answered.

"Can we go back to the castle now?" Temiri asked.

Ben nodded. "If it's okay with your sister."

Temiri looked up at Rey who nodded. "Pack your things."

Temiri grabbed his bag and began gathering his things.

Ben stood and went over to Rey again.

"I didn't know that you..." he broke off not knowing how to say it.

"Lived on the streets?" she finished.

He nodded.

"We were kicked out by our landlord just after our parents left," she explained.

Ben nodded sympathetically. "You shouldn't have to live like this."

"We make do," Rey answered.

"We don't pay you enough to rent a place?"

"Well my job isn't 'necessary' according to Hux, all I do is help the gardeners and the groundskeepers, my payment is firewood, one loaf of bread and two pieces of copper per week."

"Two pieces of copper? That's not enough to feed both of you," Ben answered. "I'm going to see to it that the servants wages are raised."

"That's very kind," she answered.

"Why didn't you tell me about your circumstances? I could have given you room and board as payment, maybe even gave you a better job."

"I didn't think that you would care. Besides, I didn't want to ask for charity."

"Well, I do care," he answered gently. He took her hand in his. "Promise me you will tell me if you ever need anything."

She squeezed his hand and nodded.

He brushed his thumb over the top of her hand. Her fingers were rough and calloused against his smooth ones, but they were also warm and he loved everything about them. "You're really strong, you know that. I really admire you."

"Others have it worse," she whispered.

He shook his head. "I complained about sleeping on the floor for one night and you live on the street. I feel like the most weak ungrateful person in the world right now. You never complain about anything."

"Ben, you're stronger than you think. It takes a lot of courage to admit that you're wrong," she answered.

"Am I really like your father?"

She shook her head. "No, I shouldn't have said that. It's just when you've been hurt before you become sensitive. He would yell at me and Temiri and treat us like we couldn't do anything right. And my mother was no better. You just don't know how to take care of a child. It's not easy at first. Somedays he's like a little angel, other days like today he really tests your patience. My parents had a lot of flaws, but I really miss them. I wish they would come back."

Ben nodded. "I admire you even more now that I know how hard it can be."

Temiri came out of the tent with his teddy bear and his bag. "I'm ready, let's go home!"

Rey looked at him, concerned that he was already becoming too used to living at the castle, too attached to Ben. She knew that he would leave them just like their parents had. After all, the deal was for a few days. She knew better than to allow herself to get attached to him, but Temiri didn't. He didn't understand.

~*~

As they returned to the castle, they were unaware of someone watching them from the shadows.