The Intern - SEQUEL to The Mentor

Normalcy

Rey's POV

"Ma'am." A distant voice says. "Mrs.Solo." It says a little louder. I open my eyes and find myself still on the bed next to Ben and there's a blanket covering me, probably from the nurse who was on duty to watch him. "Mrs.Solo." The voice says again and I find the nurse from last night standing at the foot of the bed.

"I'm just his fiancé," I say as I sit up. "Rey."

"Oh, I'm sorry Rey, I saw the ring and assumed. It's beautiful by the way." She says with a smile and I nod back. "My name is Billie, I'm one of the two primary nurses that will be observing Ben until he wakes up. You may meet someone else on our days off but I'll let you know who that is before they get here. Here in the ICU patients are under constant observation from that window and we switch off on 12-hour shifts." She gestures to a window on the side of the room which I don't remember from last night, but I was also in a massive fog and don't remember much of anything. "I talked to Dr. Holdo this morning and she wants me to take Ben down for a few scans because he hasn't woken up yet."

"Why hasn't he woken up?" I ask turning to look at his face and find that he looks exactly like he did last night.

"We don't know, it could be any number of reasons, that's why we're doing the scans." She pulls her face into a thin line, her expression soft. I know they aren't allowed to tell me that he will be okay but I can tell Billie wants to. "Your future in-laws are here if you would like to go wait with them."

Billie introduces me to another nurse who takes me down to a private room with Leia, Han, and Luke while she takes Ben downstairs for the scans.

"Hi sweetheart," Han says and motions for me to come to sit by him on a couch by patting the seat. He puts his arm out and wraps it around my shoulders as I pull my legs up next to me. Luke sits on the other side of me and he rests his hand on my legs that are up against him.

None of us say much, I think it's all clear how little we all slept and how worried we are.

A doctor walks in after a while and introduces herself as Dr.Holdo. She is a tall, thin woman with graying, almost purple hair wrapped in a bun on the back of her head.

"Ben is very lucky that this wasn't worse. The surgery last night went well, and we should be able to start physical therapy in a few weeks. His brain activity is normal, however, there is a little swelling so we will be keeping him in the ICU for observation until that subsides. We believe this is a contributing factor as to why he hasn't woken up yet."

"How long do you think it'll take for him to wake up?" Han asks, his hand rubbing my back since I've sat up.

"There's no way to tell." She says, her voice is stable and calm, clearly rehearsed. "It could be within the week, but it could be longer. We have no reason to believe he won't wake up though."

She answers a few more questions for us, informs me that I am still able to stay overnight on the cot if I choose but she encourages me to go home and get a good night's sleep in my own bed and that Ben will be watched by the nurses who are fully capable. The idea of leaving him terrifies me though.

—

It's been five days since the accident and I have barely left Ben's room. Poe brings me clothes and coffee every morning because he's the only friend allowed in the ICU because they think he's Ben's brother.

He takes me to go get breakfast before he goes to his grad classes and then comes back after to take me to dinner in the cafeteria most days. I think he's scared that I won't eat otherwise. Finn has brought Zori to visit every day and I have taken breaks out in the courtyard to see her. They've been working on training her and Finn shows off what she has already learned with pride.