Chapter 6: Balance of the Force

Thanks to the First Order informant's intelligence, the Resistance was able to discover the location of nearly all the First Order's fleet, including Kylo Ren's flagship, the Finalizer. Upon return from their honeymoon, Poe and Finn poured themselves into launching a bold surprise attack.

The assault occurred in the airspace above Nar Shadda, a seedy planet known for corruption and for its tacit support of both the First Order and the Empire before it. Rey had even heard stories from Resistance fighters native to the planet that a Jedi of the Old Republic - a survivor of Order 66 - had been left for dead there, blinded and badly injured.

The First Order was caught off-guard. Absolutely flat-footed. Rey could sense through the Force Bond that Kylo's counter-attack was thrown out desperately; he was rattled.

Steeling herself, Rey rounded up 11 of her Jedi Knights. She could sense Kylo, waiting for her down on the planet's surface... with six other Force essences surrounding him. The Knights of Ren. She and her Jedi would have their hands-full. Best to take them two-on-two, ideally. Kylo, however, would be Rey's and Rey's alone. Douce Cometshock volunteered to be the other odd man out, willing to face one Knight by herself, and Rey approved the plan. The fierce Wookie could handle herself.

The one Jedi learner who would not be going would be Little Luke. If the Force willed Rey to kill the man she loved, the father of their child, so be it. But she refused to risk her son being exposed to Ben's presence while he was still consumed by the darkness. She had all but resigned herself to the depressing reality that Ben was lost to her forever. She wasn't about to lose also the gift he had given her, the miracle they had created together with the Force's help.

"Do whatever Uncle Finn or Uncle Poe tell you," Rey told her son. "Keep out of sight. Find a good place to hide and stay there."

"Sure, Mommy," Little Luke affirmed, a little too casually.

"And stay there," Rey reiterated.

Rey and her Jedi took a light craft down to Nar Shadda's surface. On a crusty, dried over plain, clearly weakened by drought, they faced off against the Supreme Leader and his Knights of Ren.

The battle was fierce, the clashing of lightsabers kicking up dust around the combatants' feet. But no dust storm was bigger than the one surrounding Kylo and Rey. The dust swirling about her, Rey could barely keep her eyes clear to dodge Kylo's blows, and only this could be done with a little help from the Force, enhancing her eyesight. Even as she concentrated, even with how winded she was becoming, even after feeling the tsunami of rage directed at her through this man's Force presence, Rey made one last-ditch effort to save the man she had fallen in love with:

"Ben! This isn't you! And you know it! Come away with me..." She actually began to cry, the salt stinging her pupils and creating quite a mixture with the dust particles. "Help me raise our child... Stop now! Stop now, come back! I LOVE YOU!"

She did not know if he heard her, if he heard any of it. Except for the last part, the first time she had spoken those words aloud, admitted them not just to herself: I love you...

Kylo's movements slowed, until his body came to a standstill. The Force, roaring in his use of it, sucked down to the mere flicker of his presence within it. Turning in the whirlpool of dust, the Supreme Leader lifted his hand.

Outside the dust storm, Rey could hear cries of death, startled shouts come up. She did not know what was happening, but she could sense that the sudden purge was not any of her allies, her friends in the Resistance. It was... First Order officers. Aircraft. Weaponry...

Kylo Ren was decimating his own army.

From above them, there was a scream, as Armitage Hux was dragged by the Force down into the dust storm, until he floated just before Kylo. Darth Vader's grandson now struck him through with his lightsaber, in angry retaliation for betraying secrets to the enemy. For yearning to mount a coup and then go too far, and destroy the only thing left in this universe that he loved. Her... Rey...

Hux's lifeless corpse crumpled in a heap before Kylo. He disgustingly cast it aside, raising his eyes to Rey. The Jedi's heart sped up when she saw no anger there. Only... hope. Tentative exposure. The asking of a question: if she would take him as he was, demons and all, if she would only be with him. And their son. Not in the Light. Not in the Dark. But in the Grey...

"Rey... it's me. Ben. I'm here." Gently, Ben dared to take her hand.

Rey peered at him closely, paying special attention to his deep brown eyes, where she confirmed that there was no malice. Only... warmth... tenderness... desire not for power, but for...

Love...

She beamed with unadulterated joy. "It is you!" Keeping her smile plastered to her face, Rey leapt into his arms. And there, in the privacy of that dust storm, Ben and Rey embraced and shared a long, dreamy kiss.

It was the best kiss Rey had ever had in her life: better than the innocently pure ones with Finn, better than the angsty one with Poe, and even the affectionate ones after. It was a kiss Rey would never forget - one better than any in all the books she had read as a little girl on Jakku. It was a kiss full of apology, full of thankfulness, full of understanding and full of deep, deep love. It was a kiss full of enchantment, as the Force - in balance at long last - sang like a choir of angels around them, as Ben and Rey's lips met.

Rey now sprang her lips out of the kiss, boldly mouthing them down Ben's cheeks, along his jawline, his neck. He moaned and shivered at her touch, as her wide-open lips genuflected his body, worshipped at the altar that was his person. Rey kissed her way up towards his ear, nibbling affectionately at the lobe as she whispered silkily:

"If we get married, you can't ever tell me what to do." Then an afterthought: "And you have to help me train more Jedi."

Ben leaned back, so that Rey's lips fell away from his skin. His eyes were wide, and Rey could tell he was afraid he had misheard. She caught his eyes and held them, her face searching his anxiously, yet also hopeful. "Will you marry me, Ben Solo?"

A long, pregnant silence. The whistling of the wind of the dust storm began to howl less and turned into more of a dull roar. Then, suddenly -

Ben yanked Rey back into his arms and kissed her fiercely in return. "Yes," he hissed almost into her throat. Rey's lips curled into a triumphant smile against his.

"I love you," she whispered into his mouth, her voice strangely hoarse, the very utterance of those three little words making tears come to her eyes.

"I love you back," Ben whispered upon her lips.

It took a lot of convincing for Finn and Poe to agree not to arrest and quarantine Ben Solo on the spot. And it took even more convincing for Rey to make them understand that yes, Ben Solo was the love of her life and the mystery father of her child. And she and Ben were to be married, as soon as possible. To emphasize the veracity of her point, she refused to leave Ben's arms, or to relinquish her grip on her precious Little Luke.

Finn had thought, after seeing the way the Force worked, that he could believe anything. Except for this. Rey was in love with Kylo Ren? The man responsible for countless deaths in the galaxy? His... former employer? Should be one awkward reunion, he thought almost bitterly.

Eventually, however, Finn and Poe gave the couple their blessing. Back on Dantooine, Rey was adorned in a white bridal gown, and escorted down the aisle by the Resistance General himself. Finn had to be practically wrestled into a tux to serve as Best Man, but he did so without complaint, except to tell Ben as Poe gave Rey away, "You better take good care of our girl." The whisper had been meant for the groom alone, but Rey still heard him. She only smiled at her dear friend's protectiveness.

"Don't worry," she giggled, nuzzling into Ben's chest. "He will."

And so, Ben and Rey Solo were married. And Ben was finally introduced to their son, brought to tears when Little Luke hugged him without conditions and readily called him 'Daddy'.

That evening, as their little boy dozed and dreamed, Ben and Rey consummated their marriage in the bed they would now share. Gallingly straddling her husband's waist, Rey undulated and rocked against him as she began to make love to the light of her life. In response, Ben saucily began feeling up her are through the scandalous lingerie his bride had apparently worn especially for him. Rey slapped his hand away.

"I'm in charge here, Ben!" But she couldn't stop the impish grin on her face, the rosy blush to her cheeks. "You're so naughty!" It turned her on. Deeply.

And kissing him deeply, her tongue slipping in between his lips, her delicate fingers falling into the black mane that was his hair and pulling at each curl, Rey resumed having sex with the man she loved, the father of their baby, her partner, her husband.

The Skywalker family's tormented saga was over. The Force was in perfect Balance. All was well.

A/N: The overarching theme of this fic is that intimacy and love can be achieved even in simple friendships. Daisy Ridley made this very similar point in an interview, and I happen to agree. Such intimacy is possible, despite the way our culture portrays love. And I think Finn and Poe would help Rey as she mourns and pines for Ben. Please REVIEW to let me know your whole thoughts!