A/N: So I didn't really ship anyone (except StormPilot!) after TFA and once TLJ came out I tried not to ship Reylo, seriously I tried really hard not to... but I do. I couldn't help myself, I was seduced by their Force Bond. So here's my contribution to the fandom.

The first time it happens after Crait, it's been a long few weeks where they've both tried (desperately but rather unsuccessfully) to not think about each other. Suddenly Rey finds herself staring at his broad cloak covered back as he hunches over a table, data tablet in his hand. He freezes in place and turns just enough to see her in his peripheral vision, and when he realizes she's on the other side of the room he returns his attention back to the screen in front of him but he keeps himself angled enough to keep her in the edges of his sight.

He doesn't speak or even fully look at her, just ignores her. She expected rage or sadness, what she's wasn't expecting was indifference. It stings more than Rey wants to admit.

She watches him for a while in silence, trying to find the words to bridge the distance between them. She's not exactly sure what she wants from him, only that she wants to feel the same closeness that they had when their hands touched and she doesn't want to call him an enemy.

"Ben?" He tenses at his birth name coming from her lips and she feels a ripple in the Force. 'That's not my name.' It's his angry voice that booms in her head, and Rey isn't sure if he's actually acknowledged her or if his thought was simply loud. She opens her mouth again to say anything but stops when he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. She smiles a little, thinking even if he yells at her at least they're communicating, it's step one in figuring things out.

Her smile drops when she feels him tug on the bond and before she can breathe out a single syllable of protest he's slammed a wall down on her. It's far more jarring to be shut out forcefully than for the connection to simply end naturally. Rey follows the thread of their bond only to come to a dead end. She probes at it a few times before finally giving up. He's blocked her out quite effectively for now, not even echoes of feelings are coming through.

With a sigh of loneliness, Rey returns her consciousness back to the Falcon and the Resistance on board. There will be no bridges built today.

It happens again a week later and this time he shuts her out before she can fully get her bearings. One moment she's running forms with her staff, and then they are face to face. She barely registers his surprise before he's glaring at her and then she's back in her own space again. Truthfully it makes her a little sick to her stomach, all the back and forth like whiplash, even though she technically hasn't moved a muscle.

It keeps happening every few days or so. Unlike the first time he never gives her a chance to speak, now that he knows he can shut it off he wastes no time in doing so. Each time Rey finds the experience of being flung from his mind both jarring and heart breaking.

It's been less than a day since their last connection, and when Rey finds herself looking at Ben's profile, he's talking. His deep voice throws her because it's clear he's not talking to her but it's the first time they've connected when they aren't alone. He doesn't even glance her way, the only reason she knows he knows she's there is the way his hands clench into fists. He stops talking and she watches him nod, clearly listening to someone else. His focus shifts across the space in front of him.

'He's in a meeting.' Rey realizes with a start as she continues watching and cautiously edges closer. 'I wonder if I can hear anything useful for the Resistance.' Without warning Ben shoots up from his seat, though his words are surprisingly calm.

"Excuse me for a moment, there is something most urgent that has come up through the Force. Continue without me, General Hux will fill me in on what I missed." He doesn't wait for a reply, just exits the room and goes straight to his personal quarters with Rey on his heels. He finally faces her as soon as the door is shut behind them.

"Get out of my head!" He growls at her, eyes blazing with fury and betrayal. Rey knows her earlier thought was wrong but it was also so tempting. She's not sure she would have actually gone through with it but the thought was still there.

"Ben I-"

"That is not my fucking name!" He shouts at her, chest heaving with barely contained rage.

"Please, just listen!" She wants them to talk but not like this, not if he won't listen to her.

"No. Just go away!"

"I won't leave it like this."

"Why not? You already walked away once easily enough. You made your choice and it wasn't me! Just stay gone!"

"Why? Because I make you feel something besides rage!"

"You make me feel nothing but disgust and hate. Now stay out of my head Jedi." The words have their desired effect, for the first time since Crait she ends the connection. Her eyes are broken as they are dislodged from each other's presence.

Rey leans back against the wall of the Falcon, feeling numb.

Disgust and hate. That's what he feels when he thinks of her now, when he looks at her. The idea that he doesn't feel the same way she does anymore is nearly physically painful. Yes when they parted ways on Crait she was angry with him and disappointed and hurt but she did not feel disgust or hatred. She's not sure how long she sits on the floor forcing back her tears when Leia comes in, looking concerned.

"I've tried to stay out of this but I felt a disturbance in the Force and it led me here." Leia pauses before pushing forward with her words. "I've also been sensing Ben lately but only faintly. Rey, what's going on?"

Rey doesn't make a conscious choice to tell Leia but the whole story comes pouring out none the less. By the time she's finished both women are crying openly and Leia finally tells Rey that Ben didn't take the shot at her ship.

"He didn't?"

"I sensed him and I know he sensed me as well but I know he didn't shoot. After Han," Leia pauses, grief etched across her face. "I thought my son was lost to me. I'm ashamed to admit that I lost hope in my boy but in the last few weeks I've come to know that Ben is still in there. He may call himself Kylo Ren right now but he's still Ben. My son is not gone."

"You have to talk to him, maybe you'll have better luck than I did. He hates me."

Rey is surprised to see Leia smile kindly at her through her tears. "Oh my dear, sweet girl. Ben has always felt his emotions strongly, overwhelmingly so but he's never been very good at expressing his emotions. Even as a child, his go to for anything that wasn't happiness was anger. I know now that was mostly Snoke but I also know he is his mother's son. I was a princess once, as I'm sure you know but I was never that dainty flower people assumed I should be. I am now and have been for a long time Leia Organa, The Huttslayer, and I am angry. I always have been." Rey looks at Leia in surprise as a familiar spark of anger radiates off her. His mother's son indeed.

"Now you know why I refused to train as a Jedi with Luke. I knew their philosophy, and I wasn't willing to risk my soul or those I love for the chance to lift rocks and fight with a laser sword. Besides I had a new Republic to build, and Han. And eventually Ben." Leia's eyes look far away as though she's reliving those early days with Han and Ben. She shakes her head as though to clear her mind of the past.

"Back to my son. He doesn't hate you, because if he did he would be hunting you down." The words 'like he tried to do with Luke' hang in the air and while Leia can't fault her son's feelings after what Luke almost did, she wishes her son and brother had parted on better terms. "But he's not. He's avoiding you and lashing out at you because he's hurting. Rey you make him feel like the man he wants to be and not the monster Snoke tried to make him into. I can't ask you to keep trying to reach him, only you can decide if Ben is worth that to you. All I can ask is the next time you see him, tell him I love him and would like him to come home."

"He is... worth it to me. Ben Solo is not gone, only lost on his path home and I will bring him back." Leia feels a burst of hope shake the very foundation of the Force. If anyone can help her son find his way home it is this woman in front of her. This woman who has seen the very worst of her son and still found him worthy of her trust and affection.

"Get some rest Rey, if you plan on taking on my son's stubborn ways you are going to need it."

"No, he's going to need it. I don't give up." Leia smiles again, eyes shining with hope once more as she rises. She cups Rey's cheek and a flood of affection flows between them through the Force. They have loved the same people in different ways, across two lifetimes. They are linked through those attachments, through the affection they feel for each other, and through the Force.

Leia leaves Rey in peace to think about things. Her own pain and anger has dulled but it is not gone. While she is determined to help him come home, Ben Solo still needs to do the work himself. The first step is the two of them making amends with each other. She can't help him if they aren't communicating. Rey briefly considers reaching out to him immediately but quickly shoots down the idea. He's probably still seething from their earlier encounter and even if she manages to get through the wall that he no doubt put up as soon as she ended their connection, all that will happen is Ben lashing out again. No it's better to give him time, let him cool down and then try talking again. This time she'll need to find a way to keep the connection open, regardless of him trying to close it.