•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•

EPISODE LXIV - FAMILY: PART 3

Rey doesn't want to scream, but she can't help it. Agony twists and crushes her from the inside, and there's no place to take the pain besides her lungs, no place to release it besides her voice.

"You're doing great, Rey," Leia assures her.

"What would doing badly look like?" Rey groans.

"Something would look like it's wrong, and everything seems fine. You're going to be fine."

She hopes so, but fine extends far beyond just having this child. What kind of mother will she be? She never had one, and Rey's terrified she won't be able to be a good one, and that's all she wants: to give her son or daughter all the love she possesses, wrap them up in her arms at night and plant kisses on its forehead, tell them they'll be safe and never give him or her cause to wonder that she'll ever leave.

"Rey?"

"What if I'm not a good mother?" she manages. "I don't know how."

"I don't know how either," Ben admits. "We'll figure it out. We'll have to." His voice shakes as he runs his hands over Rey's sweat-soaked hair.

Red and white excitement shoots through her. She wants to hold this baby, wants to give him or her everything. This child that she clung to as a reminder of Ben's love for her when her memories wavered during her captivity—she's about to meet him or her.

"We—" Rey says through gritted teeth. "Are going to be great parents. Or at least, we're going to give it everything we've got."

Ben chuckles.

/////

"How long does it usually take to have a baby?" Poe wonders as he sends BB-8 back into the room to check in on Rey. Although, the moans seem to suggest it will take a little while longer. In the meantime, they've all crowded in the cockpit.

"Leia took almost a day to have Ben," Luke says.

"So we could be back at D'Qar?" Finn asks.

Chewie huffs.

"I take it that's a no."

"What is going to happen back on D'Qar?" Poe questions. "I mean, we'll have to regroup to take on what's left of the First Order... but with Ben. What will happen? It's our fault for breaking him out. And he'll have a kid, and probably a wife because I'm assuming they'll get married. It doesn't seem right to keep him locked up."

"We'll see what we can do," Lando says. "I think his actions on Ahch-To will work in his favor."

"I can't believe you're arguing to free him," teases Finn, jabbing Poe in the thigh.

"I can't believe you're his cousin," Poe returns. "Finn Skywalker. You guys are the most complicated, messed-up family in the entire galaxy, and yet we all want to be like you."

If you want to be a Skywalker, just say the word, Finn thinks. Not actually. Not yet. But someday.

Luke sighs.

"You all right?" Lando inquires.

"Yeah. I'm just—I wasn't there when you were born. I didn't know you existed. It reminds me of my father... he thought his wife was dead." Luke looks at him. "If I had—maybe—"

Finn grabs his father's hand. "It's all right." It is.

"You lost so much."

"We both did." Finn does wonder what life would have been like, if he and Ben grew up together. Would the older boy have mocked him, or protected him, or both? How would Han have treated his nephew? The man he called Solo is actually his uncle. Finn can't help chuckling at that, but there's a bittersweet stalk too that springs up, making Finn wish that Han was here to find out about his nephew, meet his grandchild.

Another scream. BB-8 sticks its head back into the room and bloops.

"Translation, please," Finn requests.

"BB-8 says it won't be long now," Poe says. "And that there's a lot of blood."

"Beyond what's normal?" Luke demands.

BB-8 shakes its head and beeps again.

"Leia's not worried, so we're not going to worry either," Lando declares. "She'll be fine."