•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•

EPISODE LXI - I'M SORRY

"Why couldn't Snoke see you?" Rey asks her grandfather, aboard the Millennium Falcon. She watches Finn holding Poe's hand as the pilot grumbles about whatever salve Ben's applying to his head. Chewie faithfully pilots the ship, with the help of a temporary co-pilot in a terrified C-3PO. Leia and Luke fuss over Lando, although Luke keeps glancing back over his shoulder at Finn—not an easy task for Luke, with his clavicle broken. The tortured look on Luke's face, Rey suspects, doesn't stem from a physical injury.

Obi-Wan sighs as BB-8 rubs up against Rey's legs. She can barely see him over her stomach. "The Dark Side only sees what it wishes to see, Rey. Snoke, over millennia, dulled himself to any semblance of Light. He was further gone than perhaps anyone I've ever heard of."

"Hux saw you. In the end. He didn't before?"

"When he made peace with the Light," Obi-Wan agrees. "He may not have been Force-sensitive, but like each person, Force-sensitive or not, he was allied with the Light or the Dark."

"Why did it take you so long to find me?" Rey finally asks, rubbing her stomach as the baby kicks. Her stomach tightens and Rey winces. She's been experiencing contractions on and off for the past month, and has already had three since the island.

Obi-Wan looks into her eyes. "I tried."

She nods. That's enough. "What was my mother like?"

"I only met her twice. The Jedi Order—Jedi were discouraged from personal attachments. I provided for your mother's mother. I met her during the Clone Wars. I met your mother only twice. She had the same hair as you, the freckles." Obi-Wan sighs. "It's only of my greatest regrets, not getting to know her. You and Ben won't have that problem."

Rey watches Ben care for Poe and smiles. Ben turns around and smiles back at her.

"Forgive me," Obi-Wan says. "I let rules dictate everything. That's partially how I lost Anakin. That's how I lost your grandmother, and your mother, and you."

"You found me now," Rey says.

Obi-Wan sighs.

"After they die," Rey says. "The ones who aren't Force sensitive—Han, Hux—where do they go?"

Obi-Wan smiles. "I can't tell you. But they're at peace, is all I will say."

"Does Han know about Ben?"

Obi-Wan leans close to her. "How could he be at peace if he didn't?"

Rey nods, looking away. "Thank you. For coming."

It's over. I'm safe. Snoke is dead. The First Order, wounded.

She steps away from Obi-Wan, who fades. Wandering down the hallway, she remembers Han opening the grate where she and Finn had been prepared to gas him and Chewie to death, thinking them to be the First Order.

Finn turned out to be his nephew. And Rey, she would be his daughter-in-law. She's carrying his grandchild.

Another tightening in her abdomen. Rey leans against the wall, breathing deep.

I'm glad you came, Grandfather, she thinks. And Rey understands: the belonging you seek is not behind you, but ahead of you.

"Rey." Ben appears, and Rey pulls him close, kissing him as deeply as she can, as deeply as she's dreamed about in the month they've been separated.

"I love you."

"I know," he says mischievously. "I love you, too."

And she hears him, too: I never stopped trying to find you.

I know.

I'm sorry it took so long.

You came back for me. That's all that matters. Rey reaches out, stroking his hair behind his ears.

"Will you marry me?" he blurts out.

"What?"

"I—I mean, since we're going to be parents, I was just—" he stammers.

"Of course I will," Rey answers quickly, blushing, though she's not sure why. His face is similarly flushed. It doesn't matter to me, she thinks to him. What you've done. What they think of you. What comes next. I love you, and I want to help you.

"I'm so sorry," Ben whispers. "About all of it. What Snoke put you through. Kidnapping you. Trying to read your mind that time—sending you into that tree—"

"I knew all of that when we made this baby," Rey points out. "Not what Snoke put me through, but that's not exactly your fault."

He nods.

"I forgive you."

He smiles, and she cringes as her abdomen feels as if someone's twisting it, crushing it from the inside.

"Rey?" Ben asks. "What's wrong?"

"Practice contractions," Rey offers. "Phasma told me to expect them."

"You're gasping."

"It hurts."

"How many have you had?"

"They seem to be coming more regularly the past hour," she admits, as the realization sinks in.

"You're in labor," Ben states.

"I'm in labor," she agrees.