Shortly after the battle of Crait...

Rey felt a tremor in the Force, and her world went silent. She knew what was happening, it was ...Kylo...Ben, the spark of their connection had ignited and once it did, there was no stopping it. She didn't want to do this now, she was angry with him...but she knew her anger was just there to mask the pain just as his was, he'd hurt her and she wasn't ready to face him.

She turned to see him there, she was prepared to yell at him as she had on Ahch-To, but his hurt, pain filled eyes quickly stopped her.

"You left me," he whispered, tears filled his eyes. "You abandoned me."

His words filled her with guilt, she hadn't known that he would feel abandoned because she left. She had promised herself that she would never abandon anyone. "I didn't want to," she answered. "But I couldn't stay, they would have known that you killed Snoke, they would have killed you."

He looked at her, surprised that she cared rather or not they killed him.

"I do care," she said, seeming to read his thoughts.

He stared at her, not knowing how to reply. "Why didn't you wake me up...take me with you?"

"I didn't think that you would want to, I thought that you didn't care about me," she admitted. "I thought that all you cared about was power."

"No, Rey I care about you. I killed Snoke to save you, because I care about you and because I didn't like the monster he turned me into."

"You're not a monster," she answered after a moment.

"Yes, I am."

Her eyes met his. "Ben isn't."

"Ben is gone, all that is left of him is a cracked broken shell, like my grandfather's lightsaber, never to be whole again."

"That's not true," she answered. "I've spent my whole life fixing things that were broken, nothing is ever beyond repair."

"So I'm just a broken thing that you're trying to fix?" He sounded mad, but behind the outer anger she sensed hurt... a deep pain. Everyone he'd ever known had treated him that way, that he was broken and needed to be fixed.

Rey swallowed hard before stepping towards him. "Ben..." she reached for his hand and despite his anger he allowed her to take it, he followed without resistance as she led him to a seat. She sat down beside him, continuing to hold his hand, she looked into his eyes. "Sometimes when something is broken it means that it's meant to become something greater than it was before, it's not meant to be restored it's meant to be remade..." she stopped and took a deep breath. "And sometimes to become whole again, it must become one with another broken thing."

He gasped looking down at their hands as she intertwined her fingers with his. He gasped understanding what she meant, she was broken too. They needed each other to be whole, they didn't need to be fixed, they needed to be remade.

He looked into her eyes, already he felt whole just by the touch of her hand. He reached up with his free hand and gently caressed her cheek. Then he leaned closer to her, pressing his lips to hers. The moment their lips touched he felt it... the oneness the wholeness she'd spoken of.

She reached up to touch his hair, deepening their kiss.

When they pulled apart, he leaned his head on her shoulder and she held him for a long moment.

"I'm coming back," he whispered. "For you."

Rey squeezed his hand and smiled at him. "I'll be waiting for you."

As soon as her connection with Ben had ended she went to find Leia.

She sat down next to the General. "Leia...it's your son..." she began.

Leia looked grief stricken. "What happened to him?"

Rey smiled. "He's returned... he's come back."

"Are you sure?" Leia asked.

Rey nodded. "He killed Snoke to save me. He's coming back for..." she trailed off, feeling too embarrassed to say that he was coming back for her.

"...for you?" Leia smiled.

Rey nodded shyly.

"I should have known that you could bring him back."

"Do you think that you could convince everyone not to hurt him?" Rey asked.

"I think so...but I need your help you're the one who has seen what he did, seen how he has changed."

Rey nodded.

Moments later they stood before the small group of Resistance fighters.

"As you know we are extremely low on fighters we need everyone that we can get," said Leia.

Everyone nodded.

"I received word that someone will be joining us, a First Order defector like Finn."

Everyone broke into a brief excited conversation, anyone brave enough to leave the First Order and join the Resistance was seen as a hero.

"Anyone I would know?" Finn asked.

Leia nodded. "My son, Ben."

"Kylo Ren!" Finn and Poe both bursted out.

Leia gestured to Rey.

"He killed Snoke to save me," she said.

"But Crait..." Finn began.

"His actions on Crait were only because he had been hurt by those he loved, Luke...and me," she confessed nervously. She was nervous both because she was admitting that she had hurt him, and that he loved her. "I left him...abandoned him," she explained.

"But how do you know that he has turned?" Poe asked.

"Because we are bound in the Force as one, I can feel it. Once I felt darkness, now I feel light," she said. "Please don't hurt him."

"Him? That's what you're worried about, not the fact that he might hurt us?" Poe asked.

"He won't," she answered.

"How do you know?" Finn asked.

"Because...I love him," she confessed. In return she received shocked gasps and an "I knew it," from Leia.

"What if he attacks?" Poe asked.

"I take full responsibility for his actions, if he attacks I will fight him," she answered. "Just don't hurt him."

"For me," Leia added.

"Fine, I'll give him a chance for you General," said Poe.

Finn nodded. "If he saved Rey, and she claims to love him, then I'm happy to give him a second chance. It's the least I could do for my best friend."

Rey smiled and hugged him.

"Approaching TIE," Kaydel announced.

Poe moved towards the cannons.

"Wait..." said Leia.

Poe stopped.

"It's Ben," Rey said, feeling his presence.

Leia nodded with a smile. "Open the cargo hatch, it's wide enough for a TIE."

They opened the cargo hatch and Ben landed his TIE silencer inside.

As soon as the cargo hatch was closed, Rey ran into the cargo hold just as Ben was exiting his ship. She ran to him, leaping into his arms.

Ben smiled wrapping his arms around her waist and spinning her in a circle. He lowered her feet to the ground, kissing her.

Nearby, Leia, Poe and Finn watched the greeting between them. Finn and Poe with their jaws hung open in surprise, Leia grinning widely.

As the two Force users pulled apart, Leia went over to greet her son.

He looked down at her, she seemed so much shorter than when he'd seen her last, but he knew that he'd grown since then. She was older and frailer too.

Leia looked up at her son, the boy she'd known was gone, but so was Kylo Ren. She knew he'd never be the same, he'd endured too much in his young life as she had when she was his age, but he was strong and he had Rey to pull him through. And Rey had him, she realized noticing a change in the girl.

Seeing her son smile at Rey brought her more joy than anything else had in years, but as she approached his smile faded, replaced by a look of grief. She sensed that he was afraid to face her.

"Mom..." he began, chocking on his words.

"I know," she whispered, she knew what he was going to say and she wouldn't make him say it. "I forgive you."

He couldn't hold it back any longer, his tears spilt in a flood and he collapsed onto his knees before her. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close as she had when he was a child. "I love you."

"I love you too," she heard her son mutter through his tears.

Rey smiled softly as she watched their reunion. She couldn't bare to see him cry, but she knew that after years of pain kept buried deep inside, he needed to let it out. She placed her hand on his back, rubbing it gently, before she knelt down behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her head between his shoulder blades.

"Are you sure that's Kylo Ren?" Finn asked Poe in a lowered voice as he watched.

Poe smiled slightly. "No, it's Ben," he replied. "Leia's son has finally come home. She never wanted anything for herself... anything but this."