Promise (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo x Original Character)

The In-Laws

Chandrilla

Leia was finishing packing the house. Han and she would be moving to Tandankin, the new home of the alderaanian people, by the end of the month. Everything was already done or about to be done, there was only Ben's room to be packed; she had purposely left it for last, but it was inevitable now, she had to get in there and pack her son's things. She feared she'd find something in there that could've tipped her off or helped her see he was turning dark; as his mother, she blamed herself for not helping him, not seeing he was slowly giving into the darkness he had been born with. She took a deep breath and opened the bedroom door, going straight to the two large windows, opening them wide and letting the sunlight lighten up the room. She looked around the comfortably decorated space: a large bed, a dresser, a desk with a black chair, a spacious black couch close to the closet's double doors. It wasn't messy, Ben had never been a messy kid, he liked things in their rightful place, he used to say his inner conflict was all the mess he could handle so the space around him needed to be calm and pristine.

Leia took a deep breath and walked around the room; as always, his bed was made, his desk was clean and his clothes well-folded. She had declined any of the droids' help, wanting to pack her son's things herself, as if that could make her feel more in touch with him – a son she feared she didn't know as well as she'd thought. She picked up a few boxes and walked to his closet, starting to pack his clothes; his Jedi clothes, his favorite stay-at-home clothes and the fancier ones he wore whenever he was out representing his royal title. Leia finished packing those relatively fast. Next, the dresser (socks and underwear); and then she sat on the chair by the desk to empty his drawers. First drawer only had paper and pencils in it – Ben's love of writing was something she'd always admired in him; she couldn't stand all the paperwork she had to do for the Senate and as the Alderaanian ruler, but she knew he wouldn't mind that part of the job, his official memos would most likely be better written than any of hers. She carefully boxed his calligraphy kit and moved on to the second drawer, where she found some interesting things: a girl-ish hair tie, a small note (I'll miss you.) and a receipt for a pair of engagement rings.

"The rings!" Leia gasped, staring at that piece of paper; The engagement rings Ben said he had bought! She looked at the receipt more closely, the date the rings were scheduled to be ready for pick up had been twenty days ago, and Ben had already paid for them – a lot of credits.

Leia stopped her packing, put the receipt in her pocket and walked out of the room. She was going to pick up those rings.

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Leia parked her landspeeder in front of the jewelry store and walked inside.

"Your highness!" exclaimed the owner behind the counter. "What can I do for you today?"

"Nothing for me, thanks, Johan. I came for these." She gave him the piece of paper. "My son bought these rings a while ago and I just found the receipt today. According to this, they should be ready."

"Yes! They are. Let me get them for you." And he went into the store's safe stockroom and came out with a black velvet box. "Here they are." he said, giving it to her.

"Thank you." She held the box against her chest and left the store, driving home as fast as legally possible.

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Leia asked the kitchen droid for some tea and sat at the long dining table to take a look at the rings. She opened up the box and stopped: inside the black velvet interior lay two stunning rings, a truly breathtaking pair; the female one had a beautifully cut Corusca Gem, its purple color adding to the femininity of the details in the white gold ring, and the very small diamonds that surrounded it made it look as expensive as it was. It was a jewel worthy of a queen. And its counterpart, the male ring, was larger and in the same white gold with only a dot of that deep purple stone. She closed the box, thinking about all the hopes Ben's training at the Temple had given her, and all the dreams of a family and a happy future she started to have for him when he told her about proposing to his secret girlfriend. She remembered his words: "You'll love her when you meet her (...) Just trust me. She is perfect."