EPISODE LXII - FAMILY: PART 1

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Ben's heart pounds and cold sweat trickles down the back of his neck. "What do we do?"

"I don't know," Rey says, pacing as her mouth screws up in pain. "I've never had a baby before."

"I'll get my mother." It's the only thing he can think of. Rey's having their baby... a few weeks early, and on the Millennium Falcon...

"Sounds good," Rey offers, panting.

Ben darts out from corridor and spots Mother sitting next to Luke, talking to Finn. Her nephew. Ben still can't wrap his mind around it, and he doesn't have time to try right now. "Can you come with me?" he requests. "Now?"

"What's wrong, Ben?" she asks, taking in his face.

"Nothing's wrong. It's just—Rey's in labor. I think. She thinks."

"What?" yelps Poe from the bunk he's laying on.

Finn's jaw drops. "Now?"

Mother rushes into the corridor, where they find Rey still pacing, breathing too regularly. In, out. In, out. In, out.

"How far are we from D'Qar?" Rey asks through gritted teeth.

"Far enough. A day or so," Mother answers.

Rey lets out a barking laugh. Ben clutches her elbow. "You'll be fine." She will be. She's strong.

"You will be," Mother agrees. "I had Ben on this ship."

"You did?" That's news to him.

"Really?" Rey looks to Ben, and in her hazel eyes, Ben sees pain, fear, but also excitement and love, and with all that is in him, he loves her. He wishes he could take her pain away.

"Yes," Mother says, smirking. "Hopefully Ben will be more help to you than Han was to me. Because you are helping, Ben."

He nods. "Of course."

"What happened with Han?" Rey inquires, sighing.

Mother's eyebrows quirk upwards. "He fainted."

"Really?" Ben's jaw drops.

"He got it together when it counted, though," she adds.

Rey's face blanches, and she clutches her abdomen and strains not to scream. A low whimper emerges instead.

"Come on." Ben reaches to carry her.

"I can walk myself!" she hisses.

"I know. But you don't have to." He picks her up in his arms anyways, just like he carried her a year earlier, on Takodana, only focusing of what information he could glean from her about the map, ignoring the sparks inside that hinted she was far, far more important.

Rey looks into his eyes, conscious this time, and smiles as if she knows what he's thinking. Which, she probably does. We've both changed so much.

I love you.

Ben carries Rey towards the bunk, which a horrified looking Poe has vacated.

"Are—are you okay, Rey?" Finn asks.

Rey tries to answer but bites her lip in pain. Ben sets her on the bunk, and she grips his hand so hard she almost breaks it. A scream finally emerges in answer.

"Oh, dear," says C-3PO.

"I'll be fine," Rey ekes out, still crushing the bones in Ben's hand.

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