Permanent Mark

Chapter 30

Ben sleeps for an entire day. It's a blessed, dreamless sleep. Rey uncurls herself from his back only to use the 'fresher and drink some water. She remembers how she'd kept him peaceful when she'd known him before, a lifetime ago. Which is why she'd stayed nearby, guarding his mind like she used to.

She returns and watches him. He's so much older now. She notices fine lines around his eyes and mouth, somehow knowing that whatever he's been through, it aged him.

He turns and his dark hair falls over his eyes. She pushes it back, her fingers lingering longer than they should.

She'd been but a girl the last time she saw him. He'd been only a gangly young man. He seems so much bigger now. As she had laid behind him, her hand found its way to his bicep and she had timidly squeezed it, surprised at how large and hard his arms were now. She doesn't remember him being so large.

Something in her shudders and she suddenly needs to move, get away. It is a strange feeling.

Now she watches him, hardly believing he's here. He's alive. And she wonders if she will wake up, all of this a blissful, bittersweet dream.

If it is a dream, she hopes to sleep forever.

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Before he opens his eyes, he sighs. He feels at peace, something holding his heart.

He senses warmth and contentment. He feels so much better, not knowing how long he's slept but feeling protected, peaceful.

Peaceful? That can't be right. He must be dreaming.

Except he never dreams. He almost always has nightmares.

He's afraid to open his eyes, afraid to lose whatever this is. So he just drifts, riding along on this wave.

Then something tickles his nose. He reaches to scratch and feels a handful of silk. Vanilla scented silk.

No….not silk. But very similar.

He finally opens his eyes and looks down. He's greeted with chestnut colored hair spilled all over his arm. There's a light weight on his chest, pressed against him. Warmth seeps into him and he's never known such a weight could feel so soft. So right.

It takes a moment, his sleep addled brain needing time to register.

It's Rey. She's asleep, her back against his chest. Her head resting on his arm. Somehow his legs are curled up behind hers and she's sleeping deeply. She's burrowed under a blanket, only her eyes uncovered. He hears a light snore coming from under the blanket.

Maker, he's cuddling Rey. He's spooning Rey. And now that he's awake, his body is too and the lower half of him is reacting.

His mind shoots messages to his body but his body doesn't compute. All his blood rushes south as something, that traitorous part of him screams.

Warmth, softness, a woman is near.

"Stop it", he tries to speak to his nether regions but nope, his body continues to betray him.

He panics and tries to pull away slowly, praying to every deity he can think of that she stays asleep.

"No...warm…" she mumbles and holy kriff she wiggles back against him.

Well, hell, that's not helping at all, screams his brain while his body screams yessss and he is well and truly afraid to breathe.

What if his dad or Chewie walks in???