End of the Beginning (A New Hope Series)

Chapter Twenty - Balance

   It had been three months since their wedding day and Rey's pregnancy was progressing rapidly. Ben was seeing to it that she was well taken care of and while her belly grew, he became more and more anxious. Rey knew he was nervous about becoming a father. Though he had nothing to worry about, she realized that it stemmed from his relationship with his own father. Han and Ben loved each other, but Rey had witnessed firsthand, the struggles Ben faced when it came to his relationship with his father. She knew that he feared their child would one day loath him as he came to hate his own father. Rey had tried to tell him that he had nothing to worry about. Ben had come to despise Han because Han was not present in Ben's early years. But Rey had no doubt that Ben would do everything possible to always be a part of their child's life. He was going to be a wonderful father.

   Rey sat in the rocking chair that Ben had made her and watched as he tended to the garden. As it turned out, he was apparently good with his hands. Rey enjoyed watching Ben create things as opposed to... well... destroying them. During their peaceful time on Naboo, Ben discovered that he was a very gifted carver and had a green thumb when it came to growing things. Rey was glad that he found something he enjoyed. She knew he had alway struggled when it came to finding a purpose. And as it seemed, Ben had decided his sole purpose was making her happy. Though Rey couldn't deny that he was very good at it. The rocking chair, the garden, cooking three square meals a day. He did it all for her. The rocking chair had been carved with the same design on his grandmothers necklace, the garden had been planted with hundreds of lilies, (once Ben found out they were her favorite), and the food was always made in abundance and variety.

   With a hand on her enlarged belly, Rey stood and called to her husband. Ben brushed off his hands and waved, unable to hear her. Rey smiled, laughing and shaking her head. "Come here," she shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth to make her voice travel further. Ben tilted his head, still not able to hear her. "What?" He shouted back. Rey let out an exasperated sigh. "Come here!" She yelled once more. Ben shrugged his shoulders, lifting his hands outward as if to show her that he couldn't hear her. Rey rolled her eyes and waved him over. "Get over here!" She said with a smirk. Ben still couldn't hear her, but he must have understood, because he began picking up his tools and cleaning up the dirt he had just uprooted. Rey had come to realize that her husband was a bit of a perfectionist, never leaving a job unfinished. Perhaps that was where his determination to find her all that time had come from.

   Ben raised an eyebrow as he approached her, then laid a hand on her baby bump. "You could've just used the Force, you know." He said as he bent down to kiss her stomach. Rey grinned. "Yes, but we are trying to live more normal lives, remember?" She emphasized 'normal' and Ben smirked. "We are never going to be a normal family, my dear. You may as well accept it." Rey rolled her eyes in turn and laid her hand over his. "The baby has been kicking. I wanted you to feel it." She said and Ben's eyes lit up. He stayed completely silent as she moved his hand to the spot where she had felt the baby's foot. They didn't have to wait long before the baby began to kick at their hands. "A bit protective of his mother, isn't he?" Ben asked and Rey smiled. "You are so convinced that it's a boy. What happens if the baby comes out and it's a girl?" Ben stood and kissed Rey on the lips. "Then I shall love her and protect her as I do her mother."

   As Ben wrapped his arms around Rey, she wondered how her life became so wonderful. It was hard to believe that any of this was real. Rey knew in her heart that it was, but to see how far she had come, how far Ben had come, how far they both had come... It was truly amazing. Rey went from being a nobody from a scrapyard planet to a wife and mother. And Ben went from being the feared Kylo Ren to a husband and father. And they both had become war heroines. If Rey was being honest, she never would have seen this outcome in the midst of everything that had happened. Nobody could have foreseen this being their future. But it was more than she could've hoped for. Rey felt as though that's all she ever thought about anymore. How lucky she was. But it was always important to count your blessings and their family was a blessing to say the least.