Transformation: Becoming Ben Solo (A Reylo Fanfic)

Chapter 61 - New Arrivals

A/N - Hey Lovelies!  This will be the last chapter before the epilogue.  I think you all know what's coming.... 😉.  Thank you to EVERYONE who has continued to read.  I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing it!  I'll also try to get the Epilogue up tonight too.  Again, I love your comments, so don't be shy - and please hit the little star to vote if you like it.  ENJOY!

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"Damn!"  Rey cursed under her breath, as she tried to loosen a wheel bolt on the baby cart she'd found in a market on Naboo.   It was a cozy little bed on wheels that could be used to take the baby for a walk if she was fussy or just needed some fresh air and sunshine; Rey had fallen in love with it immediately.  Ben had disagreed however, wanting a new hover pod instead.  He insisted that it would be safer for the baby, and wouldn't bounce around like the cart, which he thought meant that the baby would be more likely to stay asleep.  The elderly proprietor of the market stall had simply laughed at Ben and winked at Rey, saying that babies liked to be bounced, which means they more often stayed soundly asleep in the carts than in hover pods.    She also told them that both her children and grandchildren had used the traditional carts, and that in her opinion they were far superior to the pods.

However, it had been in need of some work, and she'd been slowly fixing it up over these past few months.  Lately, that work had almost come to a standstill because of her duties on the Conciliation Team and everything else that had happened recently.

This morning, she found that she couldn't sleep and had woken early for some reason.  She'd felt restless – wanting to do something.  Lying in bed for awhile, she decided to get up and try to finally finish it.  She was running out of time.  It had been about a week since her return home to the Center, and she'd barely been able to work on it for even a few hours.  There were only a couple of weeks left before the baby arrived and she wanted to finish it by then.

It had still been dark outside when she'd rolled over to get out of bed, and Ben had immediately woken up too.  "Where are you going?  What's wrong.  Is it the baby?"  He whispered frantically.

"I'm fine Ben.  There's nothing wrong – I have to pee and I just can't sleep.   I'm not tired so I'm going to get up now."  She'd soothed.

"Okay."  He said, sitting up to get out of bed too.

Rey had rolled her eyes.  "No, Ben.  Go back to sleep.   You have a long day and don't need to get up just because I am.   I'll be fine."

She could feel his uncertainly wash over her.   "Are you sure?"

Leaning over to give him a soft kiss, she'd whispered.  "Positive, Love.  Now go back to sleep."

Chuckling to herself, she wondered how eager he'd be to get up early with her after doing it for months when the baby woke them up each night.

Her heart warmed thinking about how he'd been since he'd rescued her from Vitka.  He'd been so sweet, solicitous and very, very protective of her.  Not that he wasn't usually like that – but now he was even more attentive.   Normally, she would have found his behavior to be overbearing, but in this case she couldn't blame him.  If the situation had been reversed, she probably wouldn't let Ben out of her sight for months.  Also, she'd felt like the whole thing was partially her fault, and so was willing to let him be overprotective for a little while.

Slipping out of her reverie, she growled as she tried the bolt again and found that it was still stuck.  Her hands and fingers were swollen, which meant that she couldn't get a good grip on the wrench she was using.   Muttering under her breath, she changed her position to try to get some better torque on the wrench, swearing again when it still wouldn't budge.