Having run a red light while traveling down the main stretch off Main Street didn't seem to faze Rey until she pulled alongside the safety of the curb just outside her house. Or had it been a stop sign? Then again, it could have very well been both. Her foot pressed on the break a little harder than necessary, bringing the Suburban to an abrupt stop and jerking her upper body slightly forward along with it.

No, this house was Finn and Hux's, she admitted enviously to herself with a frown.

Her house was supposed to have been the cute little Cape Cod bungalow that she and Poe would've been sharing as it was the day they would have come back from their honeymoon. The same house where her more significant belongings had been kept that hadn't been packed away in cardboard boxes with the word JUNK written dramatically in black, permanent sharpie.

Now, since the meeting with Maz it was obvious that a majority of those belongings would inevitably be joining the rest in storage as well. But that was the least of her worries within the clustered-fuck of a mess she could call thoughts.

What she couldn't comprehend was how in the hell there had been a million dollars sitting right under her nose and never had the slightest clue about it being there. Most importantly, why was Poe sitting on such a significantly large sum of money without feeling the need to tell her about it?

A million and one thoughts rushed through the nerve endings within her mind desperately, searching for the million and one reasons to answer the million and one questions that only seemed to come up unanswered with every possible prospect she could consider. For the entire ten-minute drive home her mind had been engulfed by the deafening sounds of a raging war: so loud it fell near in comparison to that of a freight train traveling full speed ahead into a tunnel. Its echo easily drowned out the rhythm of whatever songs had been playing on the radio. 

Now, that she was safely parked she finally managed to take a breath, she considered the fact she even made it home in one piece was certainly a miracle of its own. Everything, from the moment she left the small plaza downtown where Maz's firm had been located to the porch's wood flooring she was currently standing on, had been in a fog.

Rey snorted, acknowledging what should've been a horrifying thought that she didn't even remember leaving her vehicle just a few seconds ago. Somehow, her feet managed to take over while her brain suffered a momentary lapse. Otherwise, there was a possibility that she would've spent a majority of the evening in her front seat, staring absentmindedly at her dashboard.

Rey sighed heavily. After having endured so much within a two-week time span she couldn't have been certain if she was even capable of keeping her shit together for no longer than five minutes at this point. It was certainly a given that she had to be prepared to answer the onslaught of questions that Hux and Finn were sure to have for her – or rather Finn's alone.

Whether her roommates asked right away or not one thing was for certain and required her utmost attention before anything else: she was starving! After having only eaten a full muffin and a second that had been nearly obliterated from her absentminded picking, she was more than ready to devour an entire cow on her own at this point.

With only a subtle breath, she managed to catch the delicious, sweet aroma of freshly made pasta sauce along with fried beef, trailing through the screen of the front door to her nose.

Thank fucking God! She knew she could always count on Finn to have supper ready at precisely 6:00 P.M. every evening after getting home from work.

From where she was standing she could easily see Finn, sitting on the bar stool at the window of the kitchen that overlooked the living room, with one foot firmly planted on the wood flooring and the other propped on the brim underneath his stool. He was already stuffing his face full of the spaghetti that had just been finished moments prior while Hux was standing on the opposite side of the window with his own plate full of food, too deeply engrossed in the conversation of theirs to acknowledge that Rey was in plain sight of his view.

Having just taken a fork full of food into his mouth, Hux finally acknowledged Rey's entrance into the house with a nod and a grunt (she figured it was suppose to be his way of saying hello). Finn pivoted his torso so that he was facing away from his food and towards Rey, greeting her with his usual friendly smile.

"Hey!" Finn said with a mouth half full of food. "How did the meeting with Maz go?"

That was fast, Rey muttered silently with an exasperated huff. Snubbing the coat rack behind the front door where she normally hung her satchel, she carelessly tossed it on top of the coffee table in the living room before making her way over to where the two men were situated.

"Jesus," Hux mumbled with a mouth still half full of food, hindering Finn from hearing the prominent annoyance behind his tone. "At least let her make it through the door first."

"It's okay." Rey assured with a fake smile. It wasn't until she started making up her own plate of food at the stove when she noticed the seemingly, expensive pair of stainless steel pots atop the burners. Quizzically, she issued a knowing look towards Finn regarding the newfound cookware.

"Yeah, um, about that, " Finn began sheepishly explaining, shrugging his shoulders. "There was some good shit in those gifts. I couldn't let them all go to waste. No wonder people get married. Look at all the cool stuff that you get!" Finn gestured with his fork at the other half-opened boxes: a blender, a juicer, and a fancy set of china dishware that failed to strike Rey's fancy.

Rey snorted, feeling a little less enthused. But then, who was she to consider taking away such happiness from a man that loved to cook?

"Well, I can say officially that you guys now have yourselves a third roommate." Rey affirmed, dryly. Judging by the frowns on the two men's faces, she was forced to elaborate a little further as she aggressively piled the pasta on her plate. "Poe didn't have a will. And since I can't afford our house on my own Maz made it clear that everything he owns will immediately go to his parents since we never got married."

"Shit, I'm sorry Rey." Hux stated sympathetically. "But you know, you can stay here for as long as you need to, right?"

Rey smiled halfheartedly as she took the unoccupied stool next to Finn. "I know." she replied softly. Stabbing her fork into the pile of noodles on her plate, she scoffed at the unspoken details she was purposely trying to avoid from discussing.

"Not that I can complain," Finn added humorously, gesturing with his head towards Hux in an attempt to cheer her up. "You're much better company than this dick can be at times."

"Speak for yourself." Hux quipped sharply. "My sanity has been spared on more than one occasion thanks to her."

Finn scoffed, having taken a mouth full of food prior to Hux's comment, he purposely pointed the fork in hand towards the red head's direction. "Hey!" he snapped with what little resentment he could express having an over-stuffed mouth. "This chick is only nice to you because I'm your friend."

Rey chuckled at the lighthearted dispute between the two whilst heavily regarding the plate of untouched food in front of her. Twirling her fork in the pasta absentmindedly, her subconscious betrayed her and forced her mouth to blurt out what had been heavy on her mind all evening.

"Did either of you know that Poe had a million dollars set back in his private investment account?"

Hux nearly choked on the food he'd just bitten into moments prior, rendering himself into a fit of coughs whilst struggling to catch his breath. If Rey's concern hadn't been entirely focused on whether or not Hux was going to make it out of his state alive, she would've noticed the sound of silence on Finn's behalf as he paused between bites with pupils blown wide. 

"I'm – sorry." Hux sputtered out once he managed to catch his breath, holding a hand over his chest where it ached tremendously from having his airway constricted. "But I could've sworn that you just used 'Poe' and 'a million dollars' in the same sentence."

Rey nodded. "Yeah, in some big investment account apparently."

Finn rolled his lips together, concern etched between his brows. "Maybe it was from an inheritance from his parents? Or from when his dad's old man died a few years ago. It's not much of a secret that his entire family was well off in finances."

Rey raised her brows, flitting between utter surprise and distress that their friend had also failed to tell them about his hidden fortune. "So, you guys didn't know about it either?"

Judging by Hux's stupefied expression on his face, it was clear that he was just as much in the dark as Rey had been. Finn only shrugged in response. "Why should he have to?"

Hux blinked; flabbergasted at Finn's indifference over the shocking revelation. "You don't find it weird that he failed in bothering to tell us – his business partners or fiancée – about this?"

"Well, no? That money had nothing to do with the business end of our ordeal. What he does with his personal end of finances isn't any of our business, Hux."

Hux scowled, heavily showing his distaste. "I call bullshit. He should have at least told Rey," he affirmed as his eyes met hers. "I mean – if we had been engaged, and I had a million bucks there's no reason why I wouldn't have told you in the first place."

Rey only nodded. It appeared to be all that she was capable of doing as she allowed the information to settle into her thoughts. Mindlessly, she pushed around the chunks of hamburger on her plate with her fork, herding them into a pile amidst the pasta.

Finn chuckled at Hux's comment. "First of all, I've seen your bank account, Hugs and you don't even have two dimes to rub together."

Hux clenched his jaw in resentment.

Being the optimist that he was Finn couldn't help but seize the opportunity to view the better side of reasoning behind Poe's secret. "And second, there could be a hundred different reasons why Poe felt the need to keep this hidden from us."

Rey skeptically quirked her brow with in unison with Hux's, regarding Finn's overview. "Like what?"

Finn scrunched his face into a disoriented look of concentration, considering the fact that he should've been more prepared to offer more specific answers. "Well, maybe he didn't want to end up depending on it entirely, you know? So, he might have just wanted to put it away. Out of sight and out of mind. But do you honestly think that he wasn't going to tell you, Rey?"

Rey considered the thought momentarily. Poe had never given her a reason not to trust him, but the more she regarded the thought she couldn't help but feel cynical about her fiancée's overall motive. "I don't know..."

"I think that maybe he was waiting for the right moment to surprise you." Finn concurred sincerely. "Like – your wedding night for example!"

Rey cocked her head. It did seem plausible that it could've been a wedding gift if she had to be more optimistic, she supposed. "Do you think so?"

Hux rolled his eyes. "This should be good," he grumbled while managing to tend his attention back to his food.

"Hell yeah, I do!" Dropping his fork to his plate, Finn buoyantly brought his hands up in dramatic gestures as he began to metaphorically paint his grand picture. "Okay, picture this: it's your honeymoon night, and you've just had hours upon hours of sex without Hux or I in the house for once. And Poe pulls you into his arms and says, 'Rey, you know that part in our vows where we said for richer or for poorer? Well, we're the former!'"

Rey chuckled halfheartedly at the thought before her positive expression reluctantly fell wistful. "Poe really would've loved to do something like that, wouldn't he?"

Finn nodded curtly; enhanced with a toothy grin as he stood to take his plate to the sink. "He really did love you, Rey. That I have no doubts about."

Rey sighed heavily, knowing that Finn truly meant well in essence. As her daydream ended she couldn't help but shake the feeling that it all seemed too good to be true. Regardless, it really was a good justification as to why Poe worked excessively up until his death.

Unwarrantedly, guilt crept over her that their last moment spent together was Poe being chastised by her. Rey sniffed, acknowledging the stinging sensation of tears prickling behind her eyes. She rubbed them with her palms to hinder herself from crying.

Turning the water on at the sink to wash his plate, Finn glanced at Rey in time to see her wiping her eyes. His earlier smile from bringing his friend out of her momentary state of melancholy was promptly replaced with a frown. His eyes shifted over towards Hux, realizing that he was also eyeing her with the same sympathetic expression; perhaps, with a little more meaning behind his piercing gaze.

Thinking quickly over his thoughts, Finn blurted out the first reassuring phrase he could think of at that moment. "Food for thought, Rey: the belonging that you seek isn't behind you – it is ahead."

Hux eyed him with a look that could've only been him considering the illogical fact that lobsters had just spontaneously crawled out of Finn's ears. "Where in the hell did you hear that?"

Finn shrugged. "It was my fortune from a fortune cookie that I had the other day," he stated as a matter of fact whilst diverting his attention back to placing the now empty plate into the dishwasher. "I figured it was appropriate."

Rey's frown was abruptly replaced with an amused smirk. Snorting humorously at Finn's offhanded comment, she suddenly realized how grateful she was for the two men in front of her and how much they'd already helped her endure.

She hoped in time, she'd find a permanent solution to help ease the burning pain that was constantly broiling in her chest. Time always had the capability to heal all wounds. For now, it was only a matter of questioning how she would mend that gaping wound and allow it to heal.

**

As darkness of the later evening hours descended so did the anticipated effects of Rey's prescribed sleeping medication. Still dressed in her early day's attire, Rey fell into a deep, premeditated sleep on the living room's futon. Stretched out comfortably, across the makeshift bed's length her left arm draped haphazardly over her face to shield the living room's interior lighting while the other dangled over the edge.

Too deeply immersed in her sleep, Rey failed to notice Hux's honorable attempt to transfer her into the comfort of her own bed in the room situated off from the main area of the house. Carefully, he slipped an arm underneath the folds of her knees and another under her back, cradling her against his chest with her head resting against his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Finn inquired sharply with an arched brow.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Hux retorted, feeling annoyed at having to state such an obvious answer as he attempted to make his way across the room.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Rey didn't want to sleep in there tonight?"

"Oh, for fuck's sakes I figured she would be more comfortable in there than out here." Hux argued, exasperatedly.

"Just let her sleep out here tonight," Finn added aggressively whilst attempting to transfer Rey into his own arms and take her back to her chosen place for rest. "If she wanted to be in her room she would've chosen it in the first place."

"You're being ridiculous," Hux sneered through gritted teeth. "Just let go of her!"

As the two men engaged further in their juvenile-like argument the initial sturdy grasp that Hux had on Rey loosened, hindering his and Finn's ability to obtain their hold over her, and accidentally sent her plummeting down to the hardwood flooring.

Taking pause with fear that she'd wake up, the two men glared at the other before realizing how strong Rey's sleeping medication was. Amidst the commotion of their previous argument and dropping her, Rey's only reaction to her fall was a snort that broke the steady resonating sounds of her soft snores. The two men chuckled, humorously as they both stared down in amazement at her ability to remain in such a peaceful state.

"Wow," Finn snorted whilst shaking his head in astonishment. "She's out."

**

When Rey awoke the next morning on the folded-out futon, she could only withhold herself in comparison to feeling like one of those zombies on the television show The Walking Dead. Well, not so much as the notion of having her entrails dragging behind her in the dirt but more along the lines of feeling like she'd been ran over by a Mac truck in her Suburban, and received a severe case of whiplash in result.

It hadn't been the first time she'd fallen asleep on the horrid piece of old fashion furniture in precedence to taking her insomnia medication too early in the evening, and she was more than certain that she hadn't felt this much like shit afterwards.

Thankfully, it was nothing that a scalding shower of hot water couldn't handle to help further ease the ache from the prominent stiffness in her neck and shoulders. She almost regretted the decision of hindering the ache from her muscles when it could've easily overshadowed the indiscernible wound in her chest when she found herself standing along the front walkway of the awe-inspiring Cape Cod that Poe had bought for them.

Its slate grey siding with dividing porch columns, and shingles on the roof were heavily offset by the white pillars placed purposely on the cement columns. The porch's white-trimmed railing served along beautifully with the patio's white flooring and matching trim around the house's exterior, and around the windows and doorframe.

Instead, it only managed to serve as an unwarranted memory on top of the staggering list of things she'd rather just shove into the alcove of her thoughts. Nostalgia came crashing over her like a violent tidal wave, taunting her in the cruelest of ways what she could've been doing right now instead of regarding her unforeseeable future as a lowly spectator.

For starters, Rey easily imagined herself working in the tear-shaped garden that veered off from the porch's front steps and lined the main walkway. She would've planted smaller shrubs along the back half of the garden with a few ferns at end that widened. Then, she would've planted an assortment of perennials (especially daisies) to provide a hearty dash of color to the small patch. Maybe she would've added a birdbath somewhere in there as well.

She could easily see herself sitting on the porch's swing stationed to the far right of the veranda, painting for hours on end during days while Poe was away on travel: specifically, of the birds and other living aspects of nature that the garden would've attracted.

But now – now those imaginings were merely considered to be as worthless as the dirt that had been swept under the front door mat that read Home Sweet Home. Swallowing the apparent lump that had formed in the back of her throat, Rey reached into the primordial metal mailbox by the front door where the spare key had been kept until the initial move in day.

Upon opening the door, she was instantly greeted with the prominent smell of the freshly painted, white walls. Smiling eloquently, she regarded how bright and clean the main sitting space looked along with the chestnut hardwood flooring that had only a full-length couch and loveseat to cover it.

The interior was brightly illuminated by the late morning sun's warm natural lighting, shining through the windows. As the reality behind her current state began to settle, her trivial smile gradually began to waver into a flat line at the sentimentally, yet seemingly stupid thought that she'd never gotten the chance to put curtains up.

The unwarranted reminder prompted the need to get what she came for initially and leave. At first, she planned to pack a few of the things that remained of hers, but like everything else that had once fallen victimized to her procrastination it could definitely wait another day. Now, all she needed was to find any and every bank statement of Poe's, hoping that they could provide some answers as to what this secret high-dollar investment account had been created for.

Making her way through the living room there was a small nook - just before the archway that led directly into the kitchen - that consisted of a built-in counter top and drawers with a set of cupboards stationed just above that they planned on using as an office space.

Just before Rey had the chance to make it that far over the main room's threshold, something in the bedroom positioned off from the bungalow's main sitting area caught her attention from her peripheral.

Furrowing her brows, she blinked rapidly in confusion as she paused at the bedroom's doorway with a steady hand placed on the entrance's framework. Leisurely, she made her way into the room with narrowed eyes, regarding the unmistakable sleeping form of Ben Solo.

For a brief moment she considered the fact that maybe her eyes were simply playing tricks on her. Because why in the hell would Ben, of all people, be sleeping here when Boulder had more than enough hotels to accommodate him? But her momentary state of denial was quickly proven false as she drew closer to the bedside.

A tiny, near non-existent voice in the back of her skull begged her to leave: to get what she had come for and return at a later date when he would surely be gone. At least, that was until her eyes betrayed her and insisted that she take in the shirtless, solid frame of muscle lying before her that was oblivious to her presence.

Ben was lying on his stomach with his arms enveloped underneath the pillow, which only allowed his head to be propped up slightly more than his shoulders. It allowed her to better make out the visible part of his face and consider how much different he appeared to be than when she last saw him a few days prior.

The subtle five o'clock shadow along his jaw line made it blatantly obvious that it had been a few days since he last shaved. His ridiculously long eyelashes pressing along the upper half of his cheekbone gave his face a more youthful appearance, which had been half-shielded by the sporadic remnants of his dark locks, hanging messily over his face.

Reluctantly, her eyes daringly swept lower to his shoulders. His arms – fuck! His biceps alone were easily the size of her thighs. She hadn't realized how true it was when people said that wearing black makes a person appear to be leaner until she'd seen him stripped bare of the former attire. She could easily see how his muscles bulged in shallow depths at the prominent crease where his arms bent at the elbows.

Her eyes remained disinclined to what her brain was willing them to do, and proceeded to roam further down his back. With a worried bottom lip she noticed how exceedingly pale and creamy his skin looked in comparison to the white cotton sheet underneath him, and how his broad frame narrowed slightly at the junction of his lower back and hips. Her eyes stopped and lingered a little longer than necessary where the top sheet draped loosely over his bottom half, leaving the grey elastic stripping of his boxer briefs in plain sight.

Her breathing hitched and her eyes widened when sudden realization dawned upon her what she had been doing. Her eyes blinked rapidly, forcing them from their momentary trans-like state as she brought herself back into a more sound state of mind. Her angst-ridden wonder quickly reverted into being subtly infuriated that he had to pick this place in particular to stay.

Deciding to ignore the part of her mind that insisted on leaving well enough alone, and leave him be Rey crossed her arms over her chest and cleared her throat, enhancing the implication behind its meaning as she made it louder than necessary to wake him.

Ben jerked awake at the sudden sound, alert that he was no longer alone in the house but not wholly awake enough for his mind to grasp the identity of the figure standing alongside the bed as her narrowed eyes bore like daggers into his.

Momentarily, all he could do was stare blankly at her familiarity before the veil of lethargy lifted from his mind, revealing exactly who it was that that he was staring at. His sleep heavy eyes quickly grew wider as realization dawned on him that she – Rey – was actually here.

"Rey," he breathed serenely.

"What are you doing here?" Rey inquired sharply. "This is Poe's house! You have no right to waltz in here uninvited."

Ben winced at the harshness behind her words. "I guess I deserve that," he stated sluggishly. "I didn't feel much like going home right away after – everything. So, Kes said that I could crash here for a few days while I was in town."

Rey grimaced at the unwarranted reminder that the house was no longer hers. Even though Ben hadn't meant for his words to hurt, she could feel the invisible dagger twist and prod deeper into her chest as if it were searching for any remaining of her heart that hadn't been broken.

Seeing Rey's sudden change in demeanor, Ben shifted onto his side, facing her as he propped himself up on his elbow. The sheet lying haphazardly around his waist descended lower over his briefs, remaining unbothered of the fact that his entire upper body was now bare for her pleasurable viewing as his eyes were too focused with concern on hers.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ben pressed gently.

Rey's eyes remained tediously focused on his: longer than she should've allowed them to be. No, I'm not okay, she wanted to say. As always, her pride won out over from expressing it. But then perhaps, it was also more along the lines of her being too focused on avoiding the temptation from sneaking a glimpse past the vicinity of his neckline.

Sighing heavily, Rey turned to amble towards the direction of where the designated office space was located. Wordlessly, she acknowledged his question by gesturing with her hand in the air as her other arm still clung to her torso.

"Why are you still here, anyways?" She muttered over her shoulder, only raising her voice loud enough for him to hear as she passed over the bedroom's threshold, barely disappearing around the corner before she commented further. "I figured you would've been back in LA by now doing – whatever it is that you normally do."

Like a teenager chasing after his newfound crush in the hallway at school, Ben flung the sheet off his legs to the side and clambered out of bed to follow her. On his way out, he leaned over for his jeans and shirt that were lying in a pile on the floor near the foot end of the bed. Although, the concept of dressing and walking had proven to be quite difficult as he nearly fell on his face a couple times while pulling the pair of pants on and proceeded into the hallway with the t-shirt casually draping over his shoulder.

He saw Rey seated and hunched over in the Windsor chair at the trivial-sized office space; which, judging by the way she was searching through the cupboard with a firmly-pressed expression, she was clearly on a mission looking for something.

"Yeah, I was supposed to be actually." He said finally, apprehensively in acknowledgment to her question as he leaned against the wall behind her with a bare shoulder. "I had a photo shoot that fell through, unfortunately. I guess the model got sick or something, I don't know." Ben added as he shrugged with indifference of the matter. "Thank God, anyways. The models can sometimes be more difficult to deal with than the executors that hire me. At least the fat-ass check that they cut at the end of the day evens out the ride to Hell."

Rey glared at the unforeseen man behind her, clearly showing her annoyance that she wasn't feeling as amused over Ben's humor as he was. She cursed herself wordlessly, that her mouth was refusing to shut up and ignore him.

"You know, I never understood why he was friends with you." Rey started as she continued her search through the cupboard, allowing the manila folders to pile up on the floor that didn't consist of the documents that she was looking for. "You act like you don't even miss him."

Ben snorted, wryly. "Your aversion of me is somewhat bewildering. Considering, this is – what, the second time that we've met? And yet, you always act like I just killed your neighbor's dog. Can you honestly tell me that this is solely based off of one unfortunate mishap in a bathroom?"

"I know everything there is to know about you, Ben Solo." Rey spat, keeping her attention focused on scavenging through the mounds of folders like she was on some grand, archaeological escapade through the deserts of the more southern states.

Ben arched a brow at her back, feeling the need to be humored further more he attempted to press his luck past the fact that she was still holding somewhat of a conversation with him. "Oh, you do? I would love to be enlightened of those facts: if that's what they are."

Rey groaned utterly at Ben's excessive incite to stroke her irritation. Perturbed by his presence, she huffed out of pent up aggravation. Her back straightened in her seat as she snapped her attention towards his, readying herself to issue some sort of insensible remark.

It wasn't until Rey opened her mouth and was forced to face him completely when she found herself abruptly silenced. Regarding the imploring look for an answer on Ben's face, she realized she was completely incapable of conjuring any reasonable explanation as to why she hated him when there was nothing she could really be angry at him for – without seeming like an unsophisticated asshole that relied on the beliefs of others to make her own decisions.

He definitely wasn't like the average 'sweet talker' that she had met over the years. Ben seemed much too awkward in that aspect. She could easily see that vulnerability in him by the way he carried himself with uncertainty. If Rey had to be honest, the longer she thought about it she came to realize that maybe – maybe – there was something more underneath those shallow layers than what she initially thought.

Frowning, Rey found herself regrettably, redirecting the frustration towards herself rather than at the refrigerator of a human looming behind her. Begrudgingly, the seemingly vacant look in her eyes shifted into something far more expressive as her gaze descended from Ben's face to his chest. Momentarily, Rey became mesmerized with the subtle flaws that his moles added to his skin, and thwarted her mind from searching for plausible answers to his question.

Her jaw fell lax as Rey's eyes flickered over the prominent bulk of muscles on his chest, and the impressive lines that defined his abs. Her gaze descended further towards the evident jut of his hipbones that appeared v-shaped, disappearing into the waistline of his jeans along with the dark hair trailing from his navel.

"Rey?"

Rey felt her muscles shudder and her eyes blinked at hearing his low voice. Her eyes quickly diverted back towards his quizzical gaze as he was still waiting, patiently for an answer. She scowled at the feeling of her cheeks flush pink in regards to what she'd inadvertently been doing. Jesus Rey, you act like you haven't seen a half-naked man before!

Sighing heavily in defeat, her hardened expression on her face softened as she quickly returned to the original task that had been at hand. "Don't you have a shirt or something that you could put on?" She mumbled; desperately trying to gain any ounce of dignity back that she'd lost in that momentary lapse of unwarranted gawking.

Ben smirked. His eyes remained on Rey for a moment longer before he acquiesced to her request by finally, pulling the plain grey shirt on that had been lazily draping over his shoulder. Feeling curious as to what she was looking for, he joined her at her side in a few short steps, and knelt down next to her.

"What are you looking for, anyways?" He inquired as he reached for one of the manila envelopes piled in front of the open cupboard door.

Rey pursed her lips and swiftly smacked his knuckles with her finger tips; only hard enough for him to recoil back from the pile of credentials. "If you insist on staying around here – then don't touch anything." She chided. "Think you can handle that, Mr. Yummy?"

Ben grimaced at the nickname he'd inadvertently acquired. "Rey, I swear I didn't know you were there."

Rey snorted, choosing to ignore that particular topic. "Anyways, not that it's any of your business, really." She started, but paused briefly as she promptly discovered the folder containing all of Poe's banking records. Her heart fluttered inside her chest. Now that she had them she began to wonder if she really wanted to know what was in them. As always, her curiosity insisted on moving forward. "But if you must know, Poe has statements from a rather large investment account that are missing. I'm just not sure if they're in here or not."

Ben's eyes immediately flickered from the pile of folders towards Rey. His jaw clenched along with the feeling of the annoying nerve that twitched in his neck when nervous. "Do you know what it's for?"

Rey chewed her bottom lip in thought as her eyes roamed over the dozens of numerical characters on the papers in front of her. Furrowing her brows, she swallowed thickly as her eyes rose to meet his. Realization over how he had spoken to her finally brought her mind up to speed with her thoughts, alerting that tiny voice of reasoning at the back of her mind that Ben knew something that she didn't. She began to wonder if she really wanted to know the answer that lie somewhere within the soft, dabbles of honey that speckled his dark brown eyes.

"No," Rey replied hesitantly. "Do you?"

Ben considered her inquiry, but not without realizing how beautiful she was until he'd finally allowed himself to. Briefly, within the rare moment of being so close to her, he regarded how the room's warm lighting allotted the subtle trail of freckles over her cheeks and nose to show through the dark tint of her sun-kissed skin. His eyes trailed over her face, settling upon her eyes that were a soft, misty shade of hazel. Only then did he discover the fleeting glimmer of fear behind them, pleading with him not to tell her if it was bound to break her even more than she already was.

Goddamn you, Dameron.

"No," Ben admitted softly. "Believe it or not, Poe didn't always tell me everything."

Rey considered him. Whether Ben was telling the truth, or not she felt her emotions teeter between relief and disappointment. Perhaps, it was best even if it was more less the latter of his decision. As naïve as it sounded, she was happy with the notion that Poe was using the money as a wedding surprise rather than it being something that would've made her feel anything less.

"Okay," Rey said in that of a heavy sigh. Her eyes trailed away from Ben's as she moved to put the manila folders back into the cabinet before rising from her seat, keeping the desired folder secured in her grip. "I should be going anyways."

Ben nodded, wordlessly trailing a few steps behind her to the front door whilst considering something – anything to say while he still had the chance to talk to her.

"I, um -," Rey started. Stopping at the door, her hand gripped the doorknob as she turned back to face him. "I'll probably be back tomorrow morning sometime. I have some things here that need to be moved into storage. I mean, if you're not busy that is..."

Acknowledging the flutter in his chest at the thought of being able to see her again, Ben offered her a crooked smile in reassurance. "I'll be here."

Rey's mouth fell agape; as if she had more words to add but promptly closed it for save. Instead, she allowed a corner of her mouth to curve up into a hesitant smile: small enough for Ben to see that she had heard him and accepted his silent offer.

What Rey didn't realize was that the smile still lingered long after she left.