The Intern - SEQUEL to The Mentor

What Happened?

Rey's POV

Five weeks have passed since the accident and Ben still hasn't woken up. The swelling of his brain has gone down and his hip is mostly healed but they still don't know why he hasn't woken up despite the brain activity that is increasing every day.

Nick has been coming every couple of days to sit with me which is nice because Poe's schedule is pretty busy between grad classes and clinicals. Poe still doesn't trust nick though and brings it up occasionally but it causes more tension than necessary because I just tell him Nick is being nice and to stop being paranoid which he doesn't like.

Gwen and Hux stop by every couple of days and Rose sometimes comes with them, but Poe and Nick are the only ones I see regularly. Even though they don't stop by regularly, I do hear from both Gwen and Janette on a daily basis just to make sure I'm okay and I'm always thankful just to have some interaction.

The nurse tells me that I should talk to Ben which I do every time that we're alone. I tell him about Zori and how big she's getting, how his parents are, and how work is going for me at the parks department. Its the first week of August so I'll be stopping work there soon and starting up with classes for my Senior year.

"Hi baby," I say as I sit down on a chair next to him and grab his hand. His skin is soft and the callouses from his cello strings are starting to go away, and I run my finger across his fingertips. His hip is healed so they've moved the contraption that was over his midsection which is making him look more normal as well. His face is starting to grow stubble again after I got permission to finally shave his face yesterday after they took him off blood thinners. He was getting pretty scruffy up to then and I couldn't take it any longer.

"I miss you," I whisper, looking up at him. Usually, my words flow so easily but for some reason today I don't know what to say and squeeze his hand as I try not to cry.

"I'm really scared," I whisper as I admit it out loud for the first time. "One minute you were fine and the next minute I almost lost you, and I wasn't there to help you. I'm so lost and I don't know how to live without you. Please come back to me, Ben. I love you so much." I lean forward and cross my arms on his bed next to his leg without letting go of his hand and rest my head on my arms.

I sit there for a while with my head down, just thinking and crying when I'm startled by his hand, which is still in mine, twitching. I sit up immediately and hang onto it, staring at it to see if it does it again. His hand twitches and tightens around mine slightly, making me gasp and run out of the room to find a nurse. "Nurse! He moved! His hand moved." I yell as I get to the nurse's station and try to catch my breath.

"Let me call Dr.Holdo, I'll be right there." She says and I run back to the room as she picks up the phone.

As I rush through the door and I'm stopped in my tracks. Bens eyes are partway open and he's looking at me. "Rey?" He whispers and I burst into tears at the sound of his voice for the first time in over a month. I walk to the side of his bed and crawl up to hug him, laying my head on his chest. His body doesn't move much but he lifts his arm and places it on me gently.

"I thought you were never going to wake up." I cry into his chest as the nurse walks in.

"What?" Ben stops for a second and swallows. "What happened?" He says still in a dry whisper.

"Mr.Solo it's nice to finally see your eyes. Rey here has been telling me almost every day how beautiful they are." Dr.Holdo says as she walks in, grabbing the clipboard at the foot of his bed and I move back to the chair by his bed, grabbing his hand and wiping tears away.

Dr. Holdo scribbles on the clipboard and then looks back at Ben after he has finished taking a drink from the cup the nurse holds for him. "Do you know where you are Mr.Solo?"