The Sands of Jakku

One Jump Ahead

"We plan to attack in three days time," Leia told Rey, "The day of the wedding. I won't let my son be murdered by these degenerates because of his own stupidity."

Rey nodded in acknowledgement, but didn't say anything. She had been silent since she and Poe came back from the palace, and her friends were worried about her.

"We'll take down Snoke," Leia told her, placing a hand on Rey's shoulder, trying to reassure her., "I promise you that, Rey."

Rey didn't even look at her, lost in her own thoughts. She couldn't believe Kylo had called the guards on her. Or maybe she could. It didn't seem so impossible after what he had done to her in the Cave of Wonders.

But either he didn't remember her from the cave, or he just never brought it up. It bothered her to think he had never recognized her from that night. She didn't think his view could have been that obstructed by his hood, considering he seemed to be incredibly efficient at dueling with her over the lamp. He had to have been able to see her.

"Rey?" Finn asked from the doorway over her hospital room. She turned her head just slightly to look at him. She hadn't seen him since their fight earlier in the day.

He was here to tell her "I told you so," no doubt. She watched him, waiting.

"I..." he started, sighing before he continued. "Rey..." He sighed again, approaching her bedside and gripping the sheets on her mattress.

Rey watched him, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She knew what she had done was stupid, but she had to try. There was no excuse for doing what she did and then not giving General Organa or Poe a choice other than to participate in her scheme. In Finn's eyes, she was certain she was the most despicable person on the planet right now.

"Please don't..." Finn groaned, pulling her into a quick hug, pressing a kiss to her hair. "Don't scare me like that again!"

He pulled away and stared down at her with wide eyes.

"Poe told me everything, Rey. Once he got back with you he found Obi-Wan and me and told us what happened. I should have listened to you, but I was so caught up in being worried about what happened at the palace. You almost died," he stopped to take a breath and stared pointedly at her. "I didn't want you to go out there again. And now to have something like this happen. I don't like seeing you unhappy, Rey."

"I know," she said softly.

Finn pulled her into another quick hug and sighed.

"And you better apologize to Obi-Wan," he said against her ear, "He's very upset that you called him an old man."

"He is an old man," Rey muttered against Finn's cheek.

"I know," Finn chuckled. "But he's really angry."

"Fine," Rey said with a short laugh. "Where is he anyways?"

"Catching up with Leia," Finn responded, finally pulling away and sliding into the chair next to her bed. A companionable silence fell over both of them, but Rey was still restless.

Her thoughts kept going back to Kylo. What would happen when Hux found out she had been there? That she had returned from the watery grave to which he had sentenced her?

*

Seeing Rey again like that gave Kylo a severe sense of deja vu. He couldn't quite place it, but he was sure he had seen her somewhere before, almost like it was a dream.

Thinking about it made him uneasy. It made his head pound and his mouth dry. But he knew he remembered her from somewhere other than her stay as a princess here at the palace.