Stay. Please.


How could such a simple plea revive images of the events from a past he'd purposely left dead and forgotten? No two words had ever managed to sustain such an effect over Ben as they did at that moment though the words were Rey's, and not ones from his own recollection.


A wave of nostalgia from his days in college had come charging towards him, like a herd of wild mustangs being set loose. The thunderous sound of hooves echoing inside his head, along with Rey's innocent questions, had effectively revived those old memories, concealed in the deepest catacomb of his mind, of the day his father lost the use of his legs.


But all those ghosts from his past accomplished was to remind him of all he lost and strengthen his desire to hold on to this budding relationship with Rey, resisting his usual fear of history repeating itself.


But...


Rey was different, she wasn't her. It was a thought he had to remind himself of until slowly, his fear of what could happen subsided, remembering how she and Kylo had taken to each other. It made the worry of bringing Rey to the ranch at first more poignant, ensuring that he wouldn't make the same mistakes twice.


Still, none of those reasons provided an explanation for why he hastily said 'yes' to spending the night with her. He could have said 'no' and promised to check on her the next morning before school. It was what the little voice of reason wanted him to do, screaming that this was Rey, his student, and their deepening relationship could be dangerous to both of them. However, the days where Ben viewed her in that light had long passed. Not since she became his friend and confidante, the face he looked forward to seeing every day, especially when he thought of the day when they almost kissed, the butterflies in his stomach, the way her breath hitched as he came close. He didn't know how he could stop himself once he got a taste of those lips. He vowed not to risk pursuing more until she turned eighteen.

One more week, he reassured himself. One more week and Rey would officially be considered legal for him to express how much she'd come to mean to him without having to suffer more shame and worry than what he was bringing upon himself already.


It was easier said than done, of course, considering he instinctively went to kiss Rey before leaving the following morning. It wouldn't have been much, just a simple peck to the forehead, but he resisted. Luckily, the Nyquil continued to make her sleepy, so the moment played out to be less awkward when he decided to simply brush some stray hairs from her face instead. Maintaining this level of restraint proved to be difficult when he stayed with Rey the next evening and again by accident the Friday night after.


Awakening from his sleep to the iconic orchestral music coming from the television, he discovered the classical modern music that played while on The Fellowship of the Ring's main menu.


His eyelids fluttered open slowly, realizing that he'd fallen asleep while he and Rey were watching the movie the night before. Removing the warped frames that left an indentation on his face from leaning against his palm all night, he settled them on the armrest over the screen of his phone. After running his hands over his face, his sight settled on the sleeping figure using him as a pillow.


Rey was nestled peacefully between his legs, her knees raised over the calf of his right leg while his other was stretched along the outer cushion edges down the length of the sofa. Her back was pressed against his chest, head relaxing on his shoulder directly lined-up with Ben's chin. Her arm was on his outer thigh, the other on her lap.

  A smile teased the corners of his mouth when he heard faint snores passing through her slightly parted lips, with the remnants of a stuffy nose from the fading illness. Ben carefully slipped his left hand through the crevice between her bicep and side, taking advantage of what seemed to be the only chance he had to spend time with her before Maz came home the following morning. He hugged her firmly, earning a contented sigh from Rey as Ben leaned his shoulder comfortably into the sofa's plush backside.


Rey shifted her weight onto her left hip, still slightly dazed from the prior evening's dose of cold remedy. She drew the blanket under her chin with the hand that was previously resting on her lap, bringing her knees up against Ben's outstretched leg. His hand skimmed down the brief extent of her ribs, coming to a halt at the shallow incline of her hip.


"You're cute when you snore," Ben confessed, his brows humorously curved.


Rey scrunched her nose at the thought, brows puckering along with a noticeable grimace. "I don't snore," she contested, burying her nose into the plaid flannel near his shirt collar to hide the embarrassment burning her cheeks. He smelled like a subtle combination of chicken soup with a floral-blend of Downy fabric soap. "It's probably something that you heard in the music."


"Sure," Ben chuckled, his laugh rumbling low from his chest. His thumb moved in lazy circles over the cotton fabric of her black leggings. "I guess it didn't take long for either of us to pass out last night."


"One of these days we'll watch a movie all the way through," Rey snorted, her voice coming out muffled from holding the blanket pressed below her bottom lip.


"Perhaps," Ben replied pensively, focus trained on one of many clumps of hair that was pulling itself free from the chaotic mess of her ponytail. It really was quite a sight to behold, like she'd stuck a finger in a light socket at some point. "Not that I can complain about the alternative though."


"Ditto," Rey smiled, opening her eyes for the first time since she'd woken. She watched the constant loop of events play on the television screen with hooded eyes. "Being sick wasn't so bad when the company more than made up for it," she finally spoke after a long pause, "even though I'm sure the sight of me was far from my best at times."


Ben considered his reply, while his hand absentmindedly caressed her hip. "I beg to differ," he admitted huskily.


Rey raised her head from his chest, their faces mere inches apart. A rosy-colored tinge highlighted her cheeks, blood rushing to her face, feeling slightly self-conscious about his compliment. Ben's hand ascended from her hip to her cheek, adding to the warmth as he cupped the prominent rise of her jaw. He caught sight of a barely visible dimple when she smiled, his features adopting a look that resembled hers.


"I think you're the one who's getting sick now," Rey replied timidly, laying a balmy hand on his forehead. Her fingers brushed the short layers of his bangs, mingling over his skin, to the side, brows drawn heavily as if Ben were actually sick. "Just as I had feared," she sighed. "You are a little feverish."


"I doubt it," Ben responded, his face taking on a wounded expression. If only Rey knew how much she affected him without trying. "How are you feeling?"


"Better," she huffed, moving her hand to its previous warm spot beneath the blanket. "Are you going to your parents' today?"


"Yeah, I have to," Ben said. "Not just because of Kylo, but, apparently, they decided to add a little more to their usual bash this year," he explained. "I'll be spending the day helping get that set up since it's next weekend."


"Can I help?" Rey asked, sounding hopeful. "My head's just a little stuffed, but I could use the fresh air."


Ben hesitated for a moment, "Only if you're up to it."


"What – no ultimatum this time?" Rey quipped, raising an accusatory brow.


Ben smirked, "You know I wasn't going to actually fail you right?"


"Maybe, but I wouldn't have put it past you Mr. 'I make linebackers cry,'" she goaded, poking her index finger at his chest.


"That – isn't entirely true," Ben explained with an amused look on his face. "It was a quarterback."


Rey rolled her eyes and laughed, before her eyes lowered to her stomach, acknowledging the angry growl that was its way of begging for food. "Of course," she sighed.


"At least your appetite is back," Ben countered. "I can make us something before we go."


Rey wrinkled her nose, mulling over what was inside the kitchen cupboards and fridge. "There are eggs, cereal –," her face instantly lit up at a thought, "– and everything needed for pancakes."

Ben nodded, agreeing immediately, "Pancakes it is."

**

Watching Ben cook was becoming one of her favorite pastimes. It was the little things about him, she realized, that made the wait for the sweet and fluffy sustenance more tolerable as the sultry smell from the skillet frying on the stovetop merged with the warm, floral notes of vanilla. Like, watching his focused concentration when measuring out the flour and baking powder, and his gentle yet precise manner while allowing the batter on the skillet to bubble just a little before he would flip it.

But it was the crackling sound of eggshells breaking, followed by electric beaters blending the creamy substance, that brought back Rey's memories of a warm childhood. Those days, her legs had been significantly shorter and she needed the help of a larger pair of hands to get to her perch on the counter. That was only if her mom's guitar case hadn't been lying around. On most days, Rey wound up turning the object into her own make-do step stool. Her cheeks had been chubbier with a voice that remained observantly quiet. And the kitchen had been slightly smaller at the back of the tiny bakery shop, occupying the corner of 6th and Main Street in downtown London.


Rey narrowed her eyes, focusing hard on the tiny air pockets that bubbled over the batter that Ben had poured a few moments before, sifting through memories that had lapsed into the alcove of her mind over the passing years.


"You okay?" Ben asked, concern carving into his features as he noticed the faraway look in her eyes. It had been a solid few moments since he last saw her blink.


Rey nodded, fluttering her lashes to rid of the burning sensation from staring for too long. Her eyes ascended to his, easing his worry a little with a nod. She offered a smile, a silent indicator of what her inner emotions were.


"I used to do this with my mum," Rey uttered wistfully, eliciting a staggered look from Ben at the first time he'd heard Rey speak of her mother. "She loved to bake, even owned her own bakery."


Ben nodded, his lips curling inward as he considered his reply to what he knew would be a sensitive topic. "Did she have a personal favorite?" He asked, genuinely curious. "To bake – I mean."


Rey knitted her brows and chewed on the inner pocket of her cheek, rummaging through every memory that could point her towards the name of that certain pastry her mom had cooked the most. As if it were a scene from a television show she'd just seen, her mouth twitched at the corners when she discovered it.


"Scones," she stated simply at first, her voice rising with excitement as she dove further into the story. It was surprising how easily she was able to talk about her mother with Ben. "Her favorite was chocolate chip, but she always made sure that there was one white chocolate out of the batch for me every day. It was one thing I looked forward to the most after school."


"Did you ever try to bake anything?" Ben inquired, raising his brows expectantly. Gathering the pancakes from the skillet with a spatula, he dispensed them into even stacks between the two dishes he'd set out.


Rey nodded, eyeing the food hungrily as Ben drizzled a healthy amount of syrup over each pile before realizing he was still waiting for a direct answer. "She would let me crack the eggs sometimes. But there were a lot of cookies and cakes that wound up having eggshells in them," she snickered, her face adopting an apologetic look as if Ben had once been a victim. "And she let me stir the batter. But I was mostly her professional taster before she put anything into the oven."


"So," Ben started thoughtfully, asking her to follow him with a subtle cock of his head, wielding a plate in each hand, "can I request something special from the chef?"


Rey furrowed her brows, lips drawn askew as she gave his back a contemplative look. Urging herself from the counter and landing with a grunt, she proceeded to claim the chair alongside Ben's at the table. "I would hardly call myself a chef, but I may have a special recipe that you may like," she declared, chewing her bottom lip. "I can't guarantee that it'll taste as remotely good as hers, or not have eggshells."


Ben nodded in approval and smiled. "As long as I don't have to worry about internal bleeding."


"Um – no," she assured him with a laugh. "We're talking just enough to give whatever I choose a little bit of a crunchy texture. Just a little bit though," she teased, displaying a pinching gesture with her forefinger and thumb to show how little she meant.


Ben chuckled, severing a slice from the heap of food with the side of his fork, "Then, you have my approval."


Rey beamed excitedly, deciding on a specific recipe that she wanted to make for him – and for herself – while diving into the plate that was loaded to the rim with syrup. The idea of cooking anything for Ben fueled her ambition to finally explore every box that remained sealed in hopes of finding her mom's binder of favorite recipes. It was definitely something that she would leave for a weekend, or a weeknight when there wasn't homework to keep her busy.


Taking the first bite of her breakfast, Rey moaned through a sigh as the food gradually melted on her tongue like butter, eyes rolling in the process. She chewed slowly, savoring the flavor before swallowing. "These are incredible," she commended, seeming too eager for the next bite to notice the proud grin on Ben's face. "Let me guess – it's your mom's recipe," she stated, too shy to lift her gaze from her plate.


Ben shook his head. "Actually, it's mine," he replied humbly, earning a very expressive look from Rey, her mouth now too full to properly respond.


"Impressive," Rey murmured shortly, casting a sidelong glance in Ben's direction, followed by a silent chuckle.


They sat in a warm, companionable silence as Rey busily chomped at her food while Ben retrieved the phone buzzing inside his front pocket. "I guess we have to make an extra stop today," he said, after reading Leia's text. His thumb pranced over the screen, adding a brief reply.


"For what?" Rey inquired, taking a pause between bites.


"Spray paint," Ben confirmed calmly. "Every year they put a design on the display ends of the hay bale mounds. It makes it more appealing for kids, I guess," he explained. "Last year they did pigs."


Rey snorted at the concept, "I love it. What's the theme this year?"


Ben shrugged, stabbing his fork into some pre-cut slices, "Whatever you decide."


Rey blinked like she just received some sort of high honor reward, "Anything?"


Ben nodded, replying through the corner of his mouth that wasn't occupied by food, "Anything."


Rey drew her bottom lip with an incisor, considering the variety of options that could be done for such an occasion. Spiders were too Halloweenish, so were ghosts and witches and Frankenstein faces. Jack o' lanterns remained a likely possibility, but so did cows and minions from Despicable Me. It wasn't until the end of breakfast that she realized what she wanted to do. It would be the perfect representation of what Solo-Skywalker Ranch was about – in an autumn theme.


**


"It's about fucking time you guys showed up!" Sabine cried from a concealed location within a stall, conceding to the voices of Rey and Ben echoing through the barn's lofty interior. "Where in the hell have you two been?"


"I wasn't aware that we were on a strict schedule," Ben retorted wryly, raising his voice to make up for the fact that he had no idea where Sabine was hiding out. His fingers concurrently untangled from Rey's, both depositing the plastic bags filled with the colors they'd chosen for the hay bale art onto the floor of the prepping station.


"Well, not according to Leia's schedule per se," Sabine admitted sheepishly, revealing her position as she stepped over the threshold of Chopper's stall with a shovel in hand. "My fingers are just itching to hold a can of paint."


"You've always been the impatient one here out of the bunch," Ben remarked, urging Rey from the prep station with a gentle press of his hand to the small of her back towards Sabine's location.


"Not necessarily," Sabine shrugged, not putting much thought into the brief gesture she noticed between the two as they approached. "I just didn't feel like shoveling horse shit all morning while my bitchiness is already off the charts with PMS."


"Jesus, I didn't need to know that," Ben growled, his lips brandishing a scowl.


"I can sympathize," Rey admitted, speaking up from her place alongside Ben. "I felt like shit for a few days this week, I get it. But you can put the blame on me for us being late. I had him make an extra pit stop to bring Kylo a little treat," she gestured her hand, revealing the voluptuous, red apple that she'd hidden in the pouch of her hoodie.


Sabine smiled at the gesture. "He'll love that for sure. He wasn't as mopey as usual when I snuck a peek out back earlier," she elaborated, casually directing her thumb over a shoulder towards the site of Kylo's pasture.


"That is a first," Ben concurred, sounding as genuinely surprised as Sabine had been while briefly glancing to the landscape beyond the structure's interior. "So, has it been just you all morning?"


Sabine shook her head, allowing them to catch a better glimpse of her dramatic new hairdo. The crown of her head was as black as Rey recalled it being the last time that she saw Sabine, except the colors extending from the darkness were now tri-melted shades of a fiery red to orange to a sandy blonde. Rey wondered what colors her hair would be the next time she'd see her.


"No, Hera helped me this morning," Sabine assured, leaning the shovel grip against the stall door. Her arms quickly folded over her chest, acknowledging a cool draft flowing through the open entrances. "She went to get some lunch with Wedge a little bit ago. Biggs was looking for you earlier though, I think."


Ben scoffed, "What for?"


"I guess the tractor decided to take a shit yesterday," Sabine uttered bluntly.


Ben gave her a look that exerted being less than enthused, "And?"


"And," Sabine started sardonically, enunciating the word with more effort, "apparently you're a master at hooking up old-fashioned carts."


Ben rolled his eyes, huffing out a groan, "It doesn't take that much competency to hook up a damn cart."


"They need Jango for it," Sabine replied, a little more brazen than before. "Evidently the assholes tend to listen to you better."


Rey snickered while nodding in agreement, giving Ben an amused look when he cocked a brow her way. "Sorry," she agreed with a cynical grin, "but I think it's a proven fact at this point. You have a way of making assholes more submissive."


Ben felt the heat of embarrassment scourge his face, bleeding from his cheeks over to his ears. His tongue toyed with the inside of his cheek, choosing the next set of words carefully as Rey and Sabine drowned in a fit of cackles. His eyes grew dark and cynical, brandishing a wolfish grin. "More than just assholes, I tend to like exerting dominance and control in all aspects of life," he explained, allotting a wink towards Rey as he pivoted at the waist to take his leave. "It's just who I am, I guess."


Rey blinked, staring at the empty space where Ben had stood for a prolonged period, her mind absurdly puzzled until the meaning of his expression finally sunk in along with the humiliation of her own. However, Ben's comment was more than telling without Sabine needing to be enlightened more on the details of what was going on between him and Rey. It wasn't just his parting words that managed to bring all of the pieces together, but, also the way Ben looked at Rey as well as the inexplicable bond between her and Kylo.


Interesting...


"I'll – um," Rey stammered, biting the side of her lip with her top molars, "let me give this to Kylo real quick and I can help you with – whatever."


"Sure," Sabine nodded, smiling perceptively. "It doesn't have to be done today," she added reassuringly with a shrug. "At least the weather is good for us to get somewhat of a head start. It's going to take a boat load of paint to finish the three mounds that they planned to build, anyway."


Rey nodded, considering her with apprehension before advancing to Kylo's outdoor enclosure. Sabine trailed alongside her, arms remaining crossed, expression pensive as they walked in momentary silence. They had barely made it over the barn's interior sill when Sabine finally spoke, breaking the awkwardness.


"So," Sabine started, cocking a knowing smirk, "you and Ben, huh?"


Rey took a breath, regarding Sabine with a timid glance, "I don't know what you're talking about."


Sabine rolled her eyes, pausing in her strides. "I know that there's something going on between you two, Rey," she huffed. "I see the way he looks at you."


Rey felt her pulse rise as Sabine's words began to settle: she knew. Of course, they'd been careless enough to allow the little secret of their budding relationship to show with someone else around. Halting in her steps, Rey swallowed the heavy lump forming at the back of her throat as she turned to face Sabine. Her shoulders rose and fell, heaving a shuddered sigh.


"I do like him," Rey whispered, dropping her eyes to the toes of her converse. "A lot, actually. And I think it's safe to say that the feeling's mutual."

Sabine considered her, expression soft. "What's the problem, then?"


Rey frowned, raising her chin to meet Sabine's imploring look. "He's my teacher," she confessed solemnly, hands fidgeting with the apple in her sweater pouch. "And I'm seventeen – until next week."


Rey expected Sabine to have been more judgmental about the shocking revelation, but it wound up taking a turn in the opposite direction. Surprised – yes: Sabine's eyes were a dead giveaway that she was shocked. But there was a considerable amount of empathy as well.


"Has he been good to you?" Sabine asked. "No roaming hands or attempts with underage hanky-panky?"


Rey snorted, her chest feeling significantly lighter and more at ease. "Yes and no. It's all so very new. I would hardly call it a steady relationship just yet."


The early morning activity didn't count, right?


"Good, cause I would be forced to kick his ass," Sabine warned, though the affable tint in her voice said otherwise. "As I said, Ben's a good guy – a keeper for sure. Now, let's feed the jerk and go paint."