Welcome to my collection of reylo short stories! They may vary in rating, so keep a lookout for the description above them if rating is a concern. The collection rating will reflect the most severe rating among the stories, but is not necessarily representative of all stories.

Title: A Gift of Flowers

Date Added: Feb 7, 2019

Rating: K+ (everyone)

Description: A few months after the Battle of Crait, Rey feels the bond open again for a special day.

A Gift of Flowers

Rey wiped the sweat dripping off her face with a towel and rubbed at her sweat-soaked hair before tossing the towel over her shoulder. The workout had been another hard one, but she wanted to be ready when she faced that man again in battle. Rey knew she had only bested him on Starkiller Base because he had already been badly injured. Rey had seen how he fought on the Supremacy. He was stronger and more capable than her. She could only hope the responsibilities of leading the First Order would distract him from his training enough to give her an edge before they met again.

Rey had to survive. The Resistance had to survive.

Rey bared her teeth at the fluorescent lights high above her in the ceiling of the ship bay. She could have trained in the Falcon, but there was more space to move outside. Rey had trained in almost every free hour she had in the months since Crait. Finn and Poe had taken to complaining that she didn't spend more time with them, but she couldn't stop until she eliminated every weakness.

She just didn't know how to eliminate her heart.

Rey gasped in fresh air as she tried to calm her raging heartbeat. He was in its shadows, roaring at her for rejecting him and asking her what if.

What if.

The memory unrolled like it happened only yesterday… That dark room had been filled with fire, smoke, and metal, and he had stood in its center and pleaded with her to stay at his side while explosions marked the deaths of her friends in the background. He had even offered her the galaxy.

A blast of cold air from the overhead fans brought Rey back to the present. She shook her head to clear it and felt tears roll down her cheeks. She hadn't wanted the galaxy, but she had wanted him.

"I don't even know him," Rey reminded herself.

Rey sniffed and nearly wiped her face with her tunic when she caught sight of how sweaty it was. She stared at it a moment, sighed, and stomped aboard the Falcon to find fresh clothes. She hit the button to close the ramp without thinking and froze as another memory of that man took over.

The last time Rey had seen him, she had been staring down at him kneeling on the ground. The Resistance had narrowly escaped annihilation on Crait, and Rey was floating on the satisfaction that she had saved so many lives despite him. She knew she had done the right thing when he hadn't, and so she shut the door on him both literally and figuratively.

However, that satisfaction barely made a dent in the loneliness that swept in at the knowledge he was gone.

"I don't know him. I don't even know what to call him." She had called him Ben when she believed in him, but now? Another tear worked its way free, jerking her back to reality.

Rey stripped down quickly in the privacy of her ship and grabbed a clean towel to wipe the sweat off before putting on a fresh outfit. It didn't fix the smell, but she felt better.

Poe and Finn had once teased her for not caring more about cleanliness. They claimed her body odor had scared away all her other potential suitors. She had shot back that she preferred it that way, but even that remark had made her long for him again.

Ben had never reacted to her state of appearance. He had been too busy studying her soul to note her smell, and he had liked what he had seen. Even when she had come to him looking like a drowned rat and sobbing openly about her fears, he had listened patiently and shown her nothing but acceptance. He had seen her ugliness and her beauty. He had delved in her past and glimpsed into her future. He had seen her weakness and her strength. He had seen all of her, and he had wanted her.

Rey shivered at the intensity of the longing in his eyes. Even knowing what was at risk, she had nearly given in, but she couldn't regret rejecting him. His actions on Crait spoke plenty about what lurked beneath. She thought she had known him. She hadn't known him at all.

"Ridiculous," she mumbled to herself as she put the dirty clothes and towels away. "Like a child throwing a tantrum!"

Yet he had known her. At least, he knew her better than anyone else. Both Finn and Poe had both expressed interest in her at different times. Finn had been blatantly enamored with her when they met. Rey was relieved when he attached himself to the technician Rose Tico instead. Poe was more casual with his interest, and she suspected it was a courtesy he went through with every new relatively young recruit to the Resistance, male or female. She had not missed the way he eyed Finn at first as well. Still, she couldn't pretend she was interested no matter how handsome he was.

She knew them, but they did not know her. Not really, anyway. All they saw was the hero Rey. The Rey that could befriend and empathize with the creature that now led the First Order was a stranger to them. They never looked into her shadows.

And that was the conundrum. Rey stepped into a vent and let it blast away the last of the sweat from her body before strapping a tool belt to her waist. Even though she knew Kylo Ren was a monstrous child wielding entirely too much power, she couldn't forget that he had seen her and understood her.

Perhaps she was also a monstrous child wielding entirely too much power.

Rey frowned and climbed down into the maintenance hole for the ship. The hyperdrive had been acting up lately, and she didn't want to end up stranded with a First Order fleet behind her. In her fantasies, Ben captured her and released her out of love with promises to set things right.

It was a pathetic daydream and nearly as childish as her old dreams of living in a world covered with flowers. He had tried to prevent her from leaving last time, and she had no reason to believe he wouldn't kill her on sight now.

More tears snuck away, and she cursed herself for not remembering to bring a rag down to wipe her eyes on. It seemed like every time she had more than a few minutes to herself, she fell into this pattern. She should be over him by now, especially since she was the one who rejected him, but the tears kept falling.

She just felt so lonely, and she missed the companion he had been in that strange time when they would speak together from across the galaxy.

"You are not alone," she said bitterly and scoffed even as she choked on the sudden welling of tears. "I've never been more alone," she complained.

The knowledge he was still out there teased her constantly, just like her connection to him through the bond. They had control of it now, though neither of them had contacted each other since Crait. However, she could, if she wanted to.

Rey took a deep breath and exhaled. "Bad idea, Rey. He tried to kill you," she muttered, just like every other time she considered it.

She climbed out of the maintenance hole and sprawled out on the cold steel floor of the Falcon. She sobbed as the chill seeped into her throbbing muscles and soul and melted her tension away, just like every other time, in this place where no one would see her or know how weak and pathetic she really was. She unleashed all her pain until she felt empty again.

But something was different this time. As her soul quieted, she felt something familiar and distant at once. The metallic floor seemed to wash over her slowly, and, suddenly, she felt him. He was there. He had opened the bond between them.

Rey froze. The logical, survivor part of her brain was screaming at her to get up and move into a defensive position. However, her heart was openly bleeding and desperate to know how he would react to seeing her tear-streaked and helpless. He had comforted her once. Would he comfort her again?

The seconds ticked away, and he neither moved nor spoke. Her heart pounded in her chest. He would have killed her already if that were his objective. The fact that he hadn't was sending her hopes into overdrive. She blushed, feeling awkward and stupid, and pulled herself up.

Rey finally risked looking at him.

He stood just a few feet away in the same dark ensemble he always seemed to be wearing, except that one time she caught him undressed through the bond. His hair was longer, pulled back in a loose ponytail at the base of his neck. Several wavy curls escaped to frame his face.

Had he always been so handsome?

As she studied him, he stepped closer to her, though he remained just out of reach. He gazed at her, looking all over her, from her eyes to her hair to her tunic to her feet, as if taking every inch of her into consideration. Even without a word from him, just having his attention so carefully put on her made Rey feel less lonely than she had since they had been on the Supremacy together. Her eyes welled up again, in relief this time.

"You've been crying," he said with a frown.

Rey nodded. There was no concealing it when her face was streaked with wet lines.

He narrowed his eyes. "Has someone hurt you?" he asked her in a quiet, dark voice.

"No, no one's hurt me," Rey said, shaking her head. She cracked a small smile at his concern. "I just…" The smile fell again. They were enemies now.

He seemed dazed for a moment. He took another small step forward, then shook himself and stepped back. "It's nice hearing your voice," he said. "I missed you."

Rey cringed even as she wanted to wrap herself in his words. He missed her, but Crait… "You tried to shoot me down, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren," she spat. "You tried to kill all of us! You tried to kill your own mother!"

He looked down as his eyes grew heavy. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry."

Rey waited, expecting him to say more, but he remained quiet. After a minute, the silence grew too loud for her. "That's it!? You destroyed all but a handful of the Resistance, tried to kill me and everyone I loved that you hadn't already destroyed, and all you have to say is you're sorry!?"

Something flashed in his eyes, and he glared at her. "Even I cannot change the past, Rey." He stepped back again and looked away from her now. His fingers twitched at his sides.

Rey watched his fingers. They were long and slender, and she realized with a start his gloves were not on. The only other time she had seen him without gloves was when he touched her hand through the bond… and there was also that time he was half-undressed, she supposed. She studied his form. The clothes hid much of his figure, but there was no question that he had maintained his training. Strength radiated from him.

"You're really sorry?" she asked after she caught herself trying to picture him undressed again. Her cheeks burned, and she hated herself for wanting him of all the people in the galaxy.

"I liked it when you believed in me… when you still called me Ben Solo," he said softly. "This monster that I have become… I would undo him if I knew how."

Silence fell between them again, but this time, the quiet felt electric. Every nerve in Rey's body tingled as she sensed that something big was coming. She stepped forward. "Do you want me to call you Ben?" she asked.

His brown eyes darted to hers like she had offered him a lifeline. "More than anything," he whispered.

Rey gazed at him. "I can do that for you," she said, not entirely certain what she was committing to. Her heart thrilled at the idea of talking to him again. She missed him so badly. "Ben Solo," she said carefully. His eyes softened at his name. She fidgeted, started to step forward, but stayed in place. "How do I know you won't try to hurt me again?"

He looked away. "You don't. Even I don't, but I am trying to change." He smirked and looked at her. "I made friends with Hux."

Rey made a face. "I'm not sure that's a good thing."

"Neither is he," Ben confided with a broad grin. "He was absolutely determined to hate me. Snoke had pitched us against each other since we were practically youths, you know." He chuckled gently, and Rey marveled at the brilliance the laughter brought to his face. "He didn't trust me at all, but without Snoke to interfere, I was able to convince him we had quite a lot in common, including our goals for the First Order. It wasn't so difficult after that. He knows loneliness too."

Rey froze and found herself avoiding eye contact with Ben. She had spent the last few months frequently avoiding others and feeling more isolated than ever while Ben had been going out of his way to get to know the people around him and befriend them. The contrast was staggering.

She bit her lip, trying to restrain the intensity of what she felt… jealousy, shame, frustration, rejection, and grief all boiled around inside her. Some part of her whispered that a good jedi would have been happy that Ben found a new friendship, but she was too hurt to feel altruistic.

"While Hux and I are not necessarily good people by many definitions, we also did not care for how incredibly ruthless Snoke had been," Kylo continued. "We took to challenging each other to find more humane ways of handling things. It's improved morale among the officers. More than a few men have shared that they were uncertain about their roles under Snoke, but that they feel good about their work now."

Rey nodded numbly, not entirely processing what he was telling her. The Ben Solo before her suddenly felt light years away. While she had been wallowing in her loneliness and focusing on little more than training for an eventual battle with him, he had been making friends and challenging himself to be a better person. Ben smiled again, and Rey realized it came to him easily. He must do it often now. Much had changed in the months they were apart.

Rey sank back and hugged herself while Ben continued to discuss the positive changes he had been making in the First Order. She felt worthless, and in the dark moment, she felt overly aware of her own filthy state. She was disgusting. Ben, on the other hand, was clearly prepared for meeting her. His hair had the volume and glisten of being freshly cleaned. He smelled of soap and scented oil. His clothes were clean and free of wrinkles. Even his fingernails had not a hint of dirt in them.

"That brings me to why I wanted to meet you again," Ben said, smiling gently at Rey. When she didn't smile back, he frowned slightly, as if only just then taking note of her discomfort. He reached out a hand towards her and dropped it. "Unless you want me to leave."

"No," Rey said without thinking. She looked up at him and studied his eyes. They were quiet and peaceful, though perhaps a touch anxious. The intense anger of the Ben she had known before was no longer boiling just beneath the surface. Her heart lurched in her chest. "I don't want you to go."

Ben's eyes lit up with wonder, and he nearly closed the gap between them when he looked back, as if remembering something. He bit his bottom lip and faced her. "Rey, my mother had a tradition on her home planet of Alderaan to honor…" he trailed off and blushed, and Rey raised her eyebrows. She had never known him to blush. "It's a day dedicated to letting someone know how important they are to you," he explained and looked her in the eye. "Rey, you are important to me."

Rey stared at him, mute with shock. She watched as he stepped back and reached out to lift a bouquet of brilliantly colored flowers with stems wrapped together from his side of the bond. He brought it forward and paused. "I don't actually know if this will work, but I want to give you these."

Ben held them out for her, and she gazed at them for a moment before remembering he was waiting on her. "Oh right," she said, and she reached for them. They were solid in her grasp, and she gasped as she suddenly smelled their sweet perfume. "They're beautiful."

"Beautiful like you," Ben said softly, gazing at her.

Rey's heart melted as she realized he didn't see her sweat or filth when he looked at her, and she missed him more than ever in that moment. "Thank you," she said. She wondered if she should tell him how incredibly handsome she found him, but she held herself back. No matter how much they meant to each other, even he had acknowledged she couldn't trust him yet.

"You're welcome," Ben said.

There was an awkward moment where they both stood in silence. Rey distracted herself with the flowers. There had to be at least a half dozen varieties in the bouquet, and each one was a different color, shape, and smell. "I don't think I've ever seen so many flowers together. You know, I used to dream of living in a world covered in flowers as a child, but I never imagined so many kinds could exist."

"I know," Ben said in a voice thick with emotion. "I saw it before." He paused, as if gathering courage. "I would like to speak with you again, as we once did." He cleared his throat. "It would mean a lot to me."

It was what Rey wished for too, and that thought, along with the gift of flowers, made Rey suddenly wary. No matter how much she missed him, he was still the enemy, and she had just accepted a gift from him through the force without even considering what else might be in it. If he included a trader, he would now know where the Resistance had been hiding. Her heart sank at her naivety, and she shoved the flowers against him. "I won't let you use me to take advantage of the Resistance," she said, despite knowing he may have already succeeded.

Dismay marred his face, and the bond broke, leaving Rey alone again. She stumbled into the space he had been and realized the flowers had fallen onto the floor. They were still there.

"No, no, no," she moaned as she tried to reopen their bond to dispose of the flowers, but it was like trying to find a door in a wall. He remained closed to her. She took a deep breath, ran her hands through her hair, and considered her options. There was no easy way to destroy potential tracers on the Falcon, and she did not even know that the flowers really were a risk. He had seemed sincere, but she had not survived this long without verifying things.

Rey knelt down over the gorgeous flowers and cringed as she realized what she had to do. "I'm sorry," she said to the flowers with a pained face. She untied them and found a small metal bit dangling from the ribbon. "A data chip?" she muttered, surprised. She set it carefully aside and then methodically took the bouquet apart, separating every petal, stem, and leaf until there was no place left to hide anything smaller than a thumbnail.

Rey found nothing more and was left with a broken pile of greens and petals. "They were just flowers," she said softly. Her heart ached for their destruction, but she still had to investigate the data chip. He had not hidden the data chip, but that did not make it safe to use. A data chip could hold a program that sent one's location or caused system failure. Still, there was only one way to find out what was on it. She deactivated the communication systems on the Falcon manually and inserted the chip into its computer to see what was on it.

"Coordinates?" she said and frowned. "Just coordinates?" She checked again, but nothing else was on the chip. "Coordinates to where?"

Rey bit her lip for a moment in thought. The flowers had held no hidden dangers. Ben had been nothing but open and kind when he approached her today. The coordinates could be anything, but she did not think he intended her harm with them.

Rey reconnected the communications for the Falcon and informed the Resistance base that she would be leaving to check something out. Once that was taken care of, she prepared the Falcon for lift-off.

"Where are you leading me, Ben?" she asked the stars as she entered the coordinates into the Falcon's navigation system. According to the Falcon, the coordinates were for a rocky unnamed planet in a neutral system, but the planet itself had nothing of interest on it. Rey frowned. Had he wanted to meet her there? Was the First Order fleet there? Was something else of interest there?

Rey sighed. She wouldn't know unless she went.

She felt the bond through the force again, searching for Ben. He was still closed to her, but she could sense his hurt and frustration with her through the bond. Rey glared and punched in the launch sequence with force. A minute later, she was in the air and flying into space. If he wouldn't speak to her through the bond, she would find him in person, and since the coordinates were her best lead… She pulled down the hyperdrive lever and entered hyperspace.

Rey looked again at the file for the planet. Someone had bothered to create a breathable atmosphere for it back before the clone wars as part of an attempt to scour it for mining materials, but the project had been long abandoned when nothing useful had been found, and substantial terraforming would be necessary to make the place livable. Of course, the Falcon's record for the planet hadn't been updated since before Rey was born, so perhaps more had been done to the planet since then.

Regardless, the system was definitely a neutral one, so any major First Order presence was unlikely… so whatever waited was likely either a gift or a trap. Rey had not notified anyone where she was heading, so if it were a trap…

Rey shook her head. Ben was many things, but he had always been honest with her. This wasn't a trap… probably. She took a deep breath. She would just have to be careful.

The hyperspace exit alarm went off, and she prepared to enter normal space. She took a deep breath as she pushed the lever back and then gasped all over again when she saw the planet, coughing briefly to clear out her lungs.

"It's… beautiful," Rey said in awe.

The planet before her was covered in every color she could imagine. Rich blue bodies of water swirled between greens, golds, purples, pinks, and more colors than Rey had names for. As she flew in closer, she realized what she was really looking at.

"Flowers. An entire planet covered in fields of flowers… just like…"

Rey's eyes watered as she smiled at the realization of what Ben had done for her. She had never seen so many varieties of flowers in her life. Brilliantly colored flowers bloomed as far as the eye could see in every direction.

"It's just like my childhood dream," Rey said with a crooked smile of wonder.

The coordinates had included a planetside location as well, so she made her way there next and found a small wooden cottage built next to one of the many streams on the planet. Next to it was Ben Solo's personal shuttle, and Rey shivered with anticipation. She bit her lip in hesitation for all of three seconds before landing the Falcon next to it. She practically ran down the ramp as it extended, threw open the front door to the cottage, and froze as she found Ben sitting down at a simple table inside the house. He leaned on his elbow heavily and didn't look up as she came in. All her delight slipped away as she recalled how they had parted.

"Hi," Rey said, suddenly feeling breathless as she took him in.

Ben lifted his head slowly to look at Rey, but he didn't say anything as she walked towards him. She wanted to touch him to confirm he was really there, but she did not know that he would welcome it. She stood awkwardly next to him, ignoring the other chair.

"This planet… It's amazing," she said. "Thank you for letting me see it."

He clenched his eyes shut. "It's not enough to make up for what I've done, but I thought it might help you smile." He opened his eyes again and pierced her with his steady gaze. "It's yours, along with this cottage. It's meant to be a retreat, should you need one. There are books on the flowers here, as well as some jedi texts you might find useful."

Ben pulled himself up and away from her. He walked to a stocked bookshelf beside a tidy bed and picked up a slender box about the length of her arm. "A new lightsaber, to replace the one I helped crack," he said and offered it to her.

Rey took the box from him and opened it. She was confused at the length of it until she realized it was double-ended. She turned it on and purple beams came out either end. "It's like my staff!" she said in shock.

"I knew you had experience with staves from your memories. I thought this design might be more comfortable for you," he said.

She stared at the lightstaff another moment before switching it back off and setting it and the box on the table. She wanted to hug him in thanks, but he had been expressionless and closed off since she arrived. "You're angry with me," she said. "I can't apologize for…"

"I'm not angry with you," he said, cutting her off. "You have every right to be suspicious, Rey. I couldn't even reassure you that I wouldn't hurt you again." He walked towards the door and paused with a hand on the handle. He looked back at her. "Could we… would it be okay to talk sometime?"

Rey's heart skipped a beat. She lunged forward, wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, and buried her head into his back. "Yes," she croaked, her voice hoarse with emotion. His body tensed in reaction to her embrace, and then sagged against her.

"You don't hate me," he said. He removed his hand from the handle, and Rey loosened her grip as he twisted around to face her and return the hug. Rey nuzzled her head against his chest and breathed in the rich smell of the leather and something uniquely him.

"I missed you too," Rey said. "Even at my angriest, I still missed you." She pulled away then just enough to look up at him. "But Ben, we're at war. I spent every free moment since I last saw you training to defeat you when we met next in battle."

Ben gazed at her for a moment. "I could help you," he said.

"What?" Rey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Train you to defeat me."

Rey shook her head. "You can't be serious."

"Why not? I've been offering to be your teacher since we met. Let me. Please," he gently pulled her tighter to him at the waist and leaned his head onto her shoulder. "I bought you a world and terraformed it to be covered in flowers for you. There's not much I wouldn't do for you, Rey. If your dream is to be powerful enough to defeat me, than let me help you."

The rumble of his voice against her neck made Rey's knees go weak, and she slumped against him, letting his arms support her upright. She leaned her head against his and felt him nuzzle her in response. She felt warm, safe, and loved.

"Rey?" he said after a moment. The scrape of his chin sent chills through her.

"You can train me," she said. After all, she told herself, she needed training, and he would be the best expert on how to defeat him.

"Thank you," Ben said and stood back from her with his hands still around her waist to support her. When she found her balance, he let go and scratched the tip of his nose with one finger. "I actually should go now. I didn't expect you to come here after our fight, and Hux was waiting for my return. He will get suspicious if I take too long."

Rey studied his eyes and saw his gaze drop to her lips. Her eyes widened, but she didn't let herself think about it. She simply stood on her tiptoes, yanked him down by the chest of his shirt, and kissed him lightly on the lips before letting go of him and backing away. She could feel herself blushing from her toenails to her ears. "Then you better get going."

Ben had also turned completely red, and a goofy grin appeared on his face. "I'll see you around, right?"

"You have to if you're training me," Rey reminded him. Ben's grin brightened. He took her hand briefly, squeezed it, and slipped out the door. A couple minutes later, Rey heard the noise of his ship taking off.

Rey grinned and threw herself onto the wide cottage bed to organize her thoughts. She squealed with delight as she processed that Ben still cared for her deeply, but the realization that he was still the Supreme Leader of the First Order sobered her shortly after. Mutual affection aside, she was still taking a major risk with a self-acknowledged unstable man. She frowned and sighed, but she could not make herself regret agreeing to spend more time with him. No matter their differences, she was unquestionably relieved to have him back in her life, and there was the matter of that kiss too.

He definitely had not minded it.

Rey smirked and climbed off the bed to begin the exploration of her new cottage. The bookshelf next to the bed contained enough books on flowers and the force to keep her busy for weeks. The kitchen had enough food and water to let her rest in comfort for several days if she wished, and the bed had been incredibly comfortable with its homely quilted blanket. The cottage even had a small refresher and a closet for storage. She had never experienced something so luxurious in her life.

Hours passed before Rey felt the need to return to the Falcon, and she only left because she suspected the others would worry if she went too long without contacting them. Finn answered the com call, and after he expressed his relief at her checking in, he shared that he heard about this funny little tradition from General Organa.

"So, like, apparently I'm supposed to give special gifts to the person I love on this day, so I tried giving Rose my jacket… you know, the one that was originally Poe's? But she freaked out on me saying she didn't want some other man's gift to me, and I didn't know what was up with that. I mean, a gift is a gift, isn't it? I'm beginning to think this whole special occasion thing was made up by the general to watch us all embarrass ourselves. Speaking of which, you wouldn't believe what Poe did."

Rey grinned as she heard her friend detail out Poe's antics. They might still be at war, and there was a lot left unresolved, but Ben still cared for her, and somehow, that made everything easier to bear.

What's this? Nerd Mom Writer took a break from Premonition to write a Reylo one-shot in honor of Valentine's Day!? Yes, I did! I hope you enjoyed it!

Please, please, please let me know what you think!

Furthermore, if you're new to my writing and like my style of reylo, feel free to check out my other reylo fanfics. I'm all about keeping it wholesome at heart, and I don't abandon my stories. Just keep an eye out for the content rating. Most of my stuff is T, but I do have an M fic in there.