"Rey! Rey, look over here!"

Kylo smiled down at his partner as she obligingly turned to the cameras, her red lips curled in a tight, amused and exasperated smirk. She could feel his mouth on her ear as he whispered, "What did you expect? They've missed you." She harrumphed, playfully smacking him with her clutch, his laugh nearly drowning out the red carpet commentators they were approaching.

It was the Grammy Awards tonight, and it had been a month, three weeks and four days since Rey had come back to him. Kylo only knew how long because Poe and Finn had jokingly set up a board in his condo, proudly boasting that it had been fifty-six days since Rey has gone AWOL.

Of the group, only Phasma had not been amused, rolling her eyes at the pair of jokers, quietly quipping, "This is why you two aren't invited to nice things," when the award show invite came for Rey—and only Rey. Kylo was sure that Finn didn't mind, seeing how he was trying to convince Poe to retire from the limelight with him. Poe, on the other hand, kept swearing up and down that he would leave stardom when he was dead—or when Hux retired and was no longer a problem.

Kylo absentmindedly pulled Rey close, the petite singer chuckling as she found her face tucked against her lover's suit. "Kylo, if you keep doing that, Poe is going to kill you for messing up my hair."

"What about your makeup?" She could tell that his attention was elsewhere, his gaze far off, brow furrowed. Still, she humored him, grimacing at her joke: "Well, then I suppose I can scare Hux off for good. He's never seen me without makeup."

Rey waited for the sardonic snort of laughter, but Kylo remained silent, pausing for a second to pose stoically, his eyes not on the photographers, his grip on her waist getting tighter.

"Wha-" She felt the question die on her tongue as she caught a glimpse of a shock of red hair in front of them in the procession line, stopped by the commentators they were quickly approaching. Rey felt Kylo try to divert them, but her hand was on his arm before she realized. "No, Kylo. Come on."

She could feel his dark eyes on her, staring at her quizzically as she all but made a beeline to Hux. Rey knew that she was dragging Kylo along behind her, that she was for sure going to end up on the cover of a thousand websites and magazines for her actions, but she had an important mission to carry out.

When she tapped him on the shoulder, Hux didn't look up at first, too focused on the boring interview he was being forced to take part of. But then she tapped him on the shoulder again, and the red-haired man couldn't help himself, glancing over and instantly doing a double take.

"Rey…" She smiled up at him, her hair down around her shoulders, unlike those times that he would see her the past year. To him, she was suddenly a different person—and maybe she was, no longer an innocent celebrity who dressed in white and purity. No, he could see Kylo's effect on her, from her elegant black dress to how she sized him up now. Hux knew there was a camera trained on them, and he could see Kylo awkwardly standing behind Rey, her grip on his hand seemingly tight as her lips remained quirked in a tight smile.

"Rey, I…" Hux stepped forward, and really he wasn't sure what he wanted to say. He knew that he should apologize, but now, as his gaze traveled up and down her frame, there was no assurance that he would apologize.

Perhaps luckily for him, he didn't get the chance to say anything. No, now his ears were ringing, and suddenly his gaze was not on her, but on the face of stunned reporters.

Kylo stood, dumbstruck, as Rey pulled her hand back down to her side, sweet smirk on her face as she looked at Hux evenly. "That's for leaking the story." She turned, as if to leave, and for a moment, he relaxed.

"Oh, right…" The two men could hear her quiet murmur, and Kylo quickly stepped back, out of the way, as she turned back to Hux, open palm meeting his other cheek, the reporters' quiet gasps being drowned out by the sound of her hand's contact. "That's for being an ass." She nodded, almost thoughtfully at her statement, turning now and dragging her stunned boyfriend behind her before Hux even had a moment to process what happened.

"Rey…love…you just smacked Hux." The petite singer didn't seem to hear as they scurried away moments later, seemingly more focused on finding the theatre's entrance so they could get to their seats. The tall guitarist almost wasn't sure that she had actually slapped his former bandmate, but as she glanced up at him, and smiled, he found himself caught between a laugh and a groan.

"Hey." She looked up at him and he laughed despite himself, leaning down resting his forehead against hers. "I'm supposed to be the bad one." Rey scoffed at that, pecking him on the nose as they waited to be beckoned forward to their seats.

"If you want to think that, love, you can. I just wanted to make my last magazine cover memorable." She glared at him as he laughed. "Your last one? Keep wishing, princess."

"What, like you have a way to make sure it's not my last one?" Kylo didn't answer, absentmindedly patting his pocket when Rey glanced away for a moment, confirming that the ringbox was still there and smiling to himself as it pleasantly clunked against his leg, ready and waiting.

"Would you be mad if I did?" She harrumphed at him again, leaning into him, fingers folding together as they linked hands, quiet among the sea of chaos as more musicians and celebrities filed around them, almost swallowing her murmured response. "I suppose not."

"Good." She felt his lips on her hair, and for a moment she debated whether or not to scold him again, deciding against it, closing her eyes. Her hands still stung from slapping that bastard, Hux, but Rey decided it was well worth it, humming contently as Kylo pulled her close again, as an usher nodded at them, waving them forward.

"Kylo…I love you." There wasn't a day that went by now that she didn't say that, didn't squeeze his hand tight, didn't look up at him as if to reassure herself that she was still by his side, that he was still here.

Rey felt her smile tugging at gently at the corners of her mouth as he kissed her hand, squeezed it back. "I know. I love you too." That was all that needed to be said, Rey decided as the theatre lights went down, as she settled back in her seat, waiting for the eventual cue for the pair to go backstage to get ready for their performance. She didn't need anything elaborate, not when she had him.

With him by her side, she could smile as if she didn't care about the glitz and glamour. Kylo felt her squeeze his hand again and smiled. "I know."

It had been fifty-six days since she had come back to him. Hopefully he could wait another thirty-seven minutes to ask her to stay with him forever.