Reyna Gillespie was having one of those days. The kind where she was well aware that it was all very #FirstWorldProblems but she could not help the grimace that passed over her features as a particularly drunk person knocked into her from behind. There was the tell-tale dampness of a spilled drink and the guy mumbled out an apology before moving on without a backwards glance. She shifted slightly and debated on using it as an excuse to head back to her bedroom and change her top, but she wasn't interested in listening to her friend bitch at her. The top was black so she was confident that nothing showed anyway. She would just smell like a bar.

Rey shook her head in irritation and turned back to the window. It was by far her favorite thing about her new home. New York gleamed in the night sky and it was a far better view than the slightly obnoxious mingling going on in her condo. There aren't enough booze in this city to have made any of this a good idea, she thought. But James had assured her that having a party in her brand new loft was the thing to do. Even if she didn't recognize half the people currently gabbing at one another on her seven thousand dollar leather sofa.

I thought you were supposed to get gifts for your home, not have to pay a fortune repairing damage, she thought with a twist of her lips. Rey had already spotted signs of red wine stains on her polished concrete floors and she resisted the urge to sigh. Her glass was still too full and she needed to remedy that.

She gulped down another large swallow as James came up behind her. "Girl, this party is swank." James was her best friend for the last five years, ever since her brother Poe beat it off to the Navy to be a pilot. Rey had no idea what the swank meant but it sounded positive so she smiled.

"How long before I have my house back?" she asked through pleasantly gritted teeth.

James, as usual, was unimpressed. "It's like midnight, babydoll. It's gonna be hours."

That's what she was afraid of. She hated crowds of people, but she'd just been promoted at her job and her condo was finally finished with her renovations to make it her own personal modern oasis in the city. That being said, she spent much of her time on her terrace with its lush plants and beautiful view. She'd be out there tomorrow planting flowers if she wasn't too hungover after this shindig. While the party hadn't been her idea, people in her line of work needed to make social and business connections. Connecting with other people had never been one of Rey's stronger suits so she'd agreed to host a little soiree, and James had handled the invites. She didn't know half these people but then that was the point. Most of the people she did know had already said their hellos and hung around for a few minutes before they went off to take advantage of the new faces and potential connections.

She took another drink of her sangria and was about to get up, perhaps try to converse with one of her guests, when she felt her phone start buzzing in her pocket. Rey ignored it at first, but it just kept buzzing with updates from her twitter feed. She set her glass down on the sill and pulled her smartphone out. Rey blinked as mass texts and social media notifications started cascading down the screen, but she couldn't read them fast enough before another notification buried the one she was trying to read. Rey looked up and saw that most of her guests were having a similar experience. She quickly unlocked the little machine and pulled up her twitter app.

Her feed was blowing up in front of her and she clicked on a link to a news site. First Contact, it read and she blinked several time. Must be some kind of hoax, she thought. Rey was about to play the accompanying live video stream when the people around her began talking even more loudly. There was a note of panic as the volume in the room began to increase.

"Holy shit you guys! Turn on the fucking television!"

Rey looked over to see her seventy inch flat screen light up and whoever had the remote was flipping through the channels rapidly. Whatever it was, it had gotten the attention of this crowd . . . it had to be big.

"—You're just tuning in, contact with extraterrestrial life has been made."

Rey nearly dropped her phone as her fingers slackened in the face of the news anchor almost frantically reporting on the video of giant goddamn space ships circling the planet. The image was grainy but it was very clear that there were several grey triangular ships moving over the atmosphere of the planet. Images began to appear on the screen showing not only the lighter grey ships but a larger darker ship that reminded Rey of an arrow head

The blonde news anchor seemed a bit flustered but she kept her tone even. "Reports from NASA say there are seven smaller ships that are approximately sixteen hundred meters in length and our defense specialist says a single ship could carry as many as four hundred individual air ships inside. The larger ship is nineteen hundred kilometers in length and can carry . . . thousands." Rey and everyone else in the room heard the gulp in the woman's voice.

Nineteen kilometers, she thought, what the hell is that in American?

A map of the planet appeared showing little red triangles moving over the planet along with their trajectories. The large one seemed to have settled over Paris, France. Grainy cellphone video of the mass hysteria in Paris was being played as the news anchor continued speaking. This was played in conjunction with large crowds of people gathered at cathedrals in Europe. They held candles and prayed and Rey felt her breath coming out in uneven pants.

She heard someone cry out in a panic, "Oh my God, one is heading here. I need to go home. Holy shit, I gotta go home!"

More than half of the party spilled out into the hallway as many of her guests hurried to make it to their homes, probably to be with family since it seemed very possible that E.T. wasn't just there to phone home. Rey blinked several times and her fingers tightened once more around her phone. Her hand trembled as she hastily swiped through her apps and selected her brother's name from her call list. She held the phone up to her ear but it went straight to voicemail. She would need to call the navy operator, but she knew she had no chance of getting through to Poe. He was a pilot—he would be on stand-by.

"Fuck," she murmured but still sent him a text anyway asking that he call her when he could. I love you, she typed out.

Rey moved closer to the television as new images flashed across the screen, and she bit her lip as the 'experts' pointed out the areas that were clearly some kind of offensive weapons. The term 'rail gun' was being thrown around along with 'massive cannons' and 'immense firepower'. The ship had many openings along the side—docking bays, her mind whispered—where smaller ships could emerge and rain down untold destruction.

She looked out of the window towards the night sky. The ship wasn't there yet, of course but it was coming. And Poe . . . where was he? She wracked her brain trying to remember where his carrier was. Poe was usually pretty vague about where his ship was going and never gave her anything concrete. She could only hope he was nowhere near the line of fire.

She could see the beginnings of a riot in the streets below her condo and she wondered how bad it would get but the sudden silence of the news program drew her attention back and the screen flickered. Her jaw dropped along with everyone else's as a creature materialized on the screen. He . . . it . . . whatever it was wore all black with a hood draped over a mask. The silver inlays that swirled around the facade shone dully in the low red light of wherever he was broadcasting from. If he was looking to intimidate the population, he had that 'stuff of nightmares' thing down to an art.

"Greetings." The voice was male, she was sure, and distinctly unnatural as if he were speaking over a phone. It was deep and almost guttural but there was no trace of a foreign accent which caused her to narrow her eyes.

"I have traveled quite a distance to this find this little planet. I am looking for something—Someone." A face flashed up onto the screen. It was clearly a sketch and not a photo. Rey blinked in confusion.

James stood beside her and he looked from her to the screen several time before asking in a quiet voice, "Babydoll, is that you?" She was shaking her head in denial even as he asked. It wasn't possible.

The man in the black mask continued speaking in a voice-over. "I seek this girl. She is human and born of this world, but she belongs to me."

The image switched back to the creature. "You have twenty four hours to deliver her to these coordinates. If not, I will raze this planet until I find her."

The screen flickered and the dumbstruck news anchor sat there for several seconds before realizing she was live again and began talking. By then, everyone in the room was looking back at Rey in varying degrees of pity and horror. There had to be some kind of mistake or maybe it really was a hoax because there was just no way . . .

She met their eyes. "It's not me!" she snapped at them.

James looked incredibly dubious and raised a brow. "Girl, that picture even has you doin' that thing with your teeth like you can't keep all of them in your head."

And just like that, the spell was broken and she turned to James. "Oh fuck you!"

Her friend didn't seem even remotely apologetic. "Hey, I just call it like I see it."

James was trying to calm her down by bringing the conversation back to their normal fairly vapid level and she appreciated the effort from him. What the fuck was going to happen now?

And as if God himself decided the answer her, the news anchor stopped talking and listened to whatever was being fed to her over her earbud. She then nodded and began speaking again. "I've received word that the Department of Defense is asking anyone who fits the description of the girl in the photo to please report to your nearest law enforcement station."

Oh shit shit shit. How was this happening? It was like a bad dream or something. "I need to call my brother," Rey said frantically scrolling through her contacts to get the Navy emergency line. It was a long shot and she knew it but she had to at least try. It rang quite a few times before a slightly frazzled voice came on the line. "This is the United States Naval Station in Norfolk. My name is Joanna Harrison, ID number 423067. How can I help you?"

Rey took a breath. "Yes, my name is Reyna Gillespie. I need to speak to my brother, Lieutenant Poe Dameron. He's on CVN-69 Dwight D. Eisenhower."

The operator began speaking almost before Rey had finished. "Ma'am, we have a backlog of calls."

Of that, Rey had little doubt. "My face is on the goddamn TV. I need to speak with my brother."

There was silence for a few seconds from the woman but Rey could hear her typing something in the background before she responded. "Ma'am, we have your contact information on file. We will notify your brother of your call and he will contact you as soon as he is able."

Her eyes slid shut as she hung up the phone. She turned back to James. "What the fuck am I gonna do?"

James looked at her. "That guy seemed pretty serious about blowing us all to hell. So I'm gonna say you need to hightail it down to the precinct cause I love you, but I'm not ready to die yet."

Her eyes slid closed again and she took another breath. God dammit. She had plans for fucks sake. But realistically, there was no way she was the girl that that guy was looking for. Rey was nothing special, just a marketing exec at a mid-level firm. One of billions of people on Earth. He had to be looking for someone else. Some one whom she shared a face with. Rey nervously fingered her mother's wedding ring as it hung from the fragile chain around her neck.

She grimaced, biting her lip as she watched the news cycle through the information and the talking heads took over. "What do you think he looks like under there?" she wondered aloud. It was a shallow question—not really deserving of an answer in light of the fact that there were space ships circling the planet. James as always, had an answer.

He shrugged offhandedly. "Baby, you don't wear a grudge mask like that unless you look like something that got dredged up from the bottom of a lake."

There were times when she appreciated James's brand of wit. This was not one of those times. "Oh, that's just making me feel so much better."

Rey looked around at the people still lingering watching the news before turning and walking away. Some eyed her speculatively and she heard the whispers follow her as she left the living area and headed for her bedroom. James followed behind her and she clenched her fists as she entered the master suite.

"Shut the door, please," she said evenly. Rey didn't need people gawking at her as she figured out what her next steps were.

James closed the door behind him and she walked over the large window and looked out over the city. She fingered the ring that circled her throat again and her words were barely more than a whisper. "There are like, what, a dozen people on the planet at a time that all could be identical twins?" Rey asked as she searched the sky again for any sign of the ship that was headed their way.

She could see James's reflection in the glass and his answering nod. "So you've got like a million to one chance that it's actually you." He was trying to be supportive and she smiled slightly. It wasn't quite the right math, but it was close enough. She didn't really believe she was going to be carried off by Black Mask, but . . .

"We're going to the precinct which is only a couple of blocks but afterwards . . . if they don't send me away, I want you to come back here and wait this out. Better than trying to get a cab back to your place."

James was rarely serious, but he nodded and took her hand. "It's going to be okay."

She had to believe that. "It's not me," she said quietly.

He shrugged. "Probably not. Though he could do a lot worse."

She shook her head and smiled a bit. "I couldn't. Why does he even want with this girl that he's looking for?"

"Well, he's probably no Harrison Ford, but maybe he's a king or something and he's looking for a lost relative . . . or girlfriend."

She rolled her eyes at how cliche that sounded. "Or maybe he's going to eat whoever it is that he's looking for."

James tilted his head and went and sat down on her bed. "I don't think some alien wackjob is gonna fly his ass all the way here to find one person just to eat her."

She grimaced and pulled her sequined black top off and threw it on the bed. "You don't know that. What if human flesh is some kind of rare delicacy?"

James shook his head. "They wouldn't be asking for a specific person if that was the case."

Rey pulled open her closet and grabbed a folded grey henley and pulled it on, toeing off her nude pumps as she went.

She looked over the multitude of clothing she had. Most of it had cost far more than she should have ever spent but they were investment pieces. "Should I pack some stuff?"

James came up behind her and looked pensive for a second. "I don't know. You probably don't want to be dragging a suitcase around with you through the city. Maybe just a couple things you can fit into your pockets."

She nodded. Black Mask didn't seem the type to put up with a rolo. She grabbed a pair of socks before heading into her bathroom. Rey sat on the toilet and pulled the thin cotton over her feet and looked around at all the expensive serums and lotions she'd collected. This morning it had all meant something to her. None of it meant anything now. She swallowed before getting up and walking back out empty-handed.

As Rey thought over what she really wanted, the only thing she could think of was her mini ipad. It had most of her extensive movie, music, and book collections on it. It had her photos and videos of her friends and her brother and a few old scans from her parents. If she ended up leaving this planet for who knew how long, she wanted to keep her memories. Everything else was just . . . excess.

Rey pulled on her most comfortable set of knee high black boots and tucked her jeans inside. She didn't have too many purses but she grabbed her favorite cross-body bag; a dark leather one with tan and burgundy flowers, and looped it over her shoulder and hip. She pulled her blue hooded coat over everything and picked up a scarf.

She looked around at her bedroom again. It was everything she'd dreamed of for over a decade. Years of education and work had gotten her here—double degrees followed by an MBA. They'd cost her three years of eating ramen and rice in a five hundred square foot basement apartment to pay off her debt, even with her generous salary. It was supposed to have all been worth it. Poe was supposed to retire from the Navy in a couple of years and then he'd work as a flight instructor or perhaps as a private pilot for a wealthy family. She would have her brother back and they'd live the high life in NYC. She'd had it all planned out.

Rey thinned her lips. There was nothing to worry about. She didn't need to bring a suitcase full of stuff with her because she'd be coming back. Black Mask was looking for one girl. It probably didn't matter which one, so long as they matched the description he'd given.

She would keep herself off to the side and away from notice and then she'd be back here in her loft and she'd be back to work by Monday morning. Rey nodded to herself. There was nothing to be concerned about, really. Everything would be fine.

The dark haired girl slipped her ipad into her bag and wrapped up a couple of charging cords and stuffed them in next. Her wallet and a few other small 'purse items' were thrown in. She'd need them while traveling anyway. James was eyeing her but he said nothing as he followed her out into the living room. More people had cleared out since she'd last been in there. The ones still there looked at her guiltily and she knew what they were thinking.

Rey sighed. "I'm going, goddammit."

She wrapped herself up in the scarf and pulled the hood of her coat down low. It was a ten minute walk to her local police station and she didn't want to risk anyone stopping or delaying her.

She turned to James. "You'll go with me . . . right?"

Her friend nodded emphatically. "Of course," he said as he turned to the people who lingered. "Alright, everyone out."

No one put up a fight as they were ushered out the door and they all looked at her like she was on her way to the hangman. Rey met their eyes evenly and did not let a shred of fear or doubt cloud her features. If she wasn't turned away at the precinct, she'd be back in a couple of days and this whole thing might even be good publicity for her job.

When everyone was well away, Rey checked her bag to make sure she had everything one more time before nodding and the pair made their way out. She locked the door behind her and slipped the keys into her pocket. They were both silent as they made their way down to the street. She came to a halt at the entrance of her building.

It was chaos as the population tried to decide if it was the end of the world or not. People were yelling and cars were honking their horns while others were stock still staring into the sky. The general discontent hadn't degenerated into looting or an all-out riot yet but she could tell that violence was brewing.

Rey kept her hood low over her face as she and James stayed close to the buildings, away from the road where the majority of the activity was taking place. What must these aliens be thinking of us, she thought, eyeing the crowd. Their steps were quick and James kept an arm around her as they turned a corner. She recognized their location and stopped, looking around.

Her eyes landed on a familiar sight and she turned to James and said quietly, "Just one stop."

He looked at her, his brows drawn together but he nodded none the less as she pointed to the tiny store up ahead. Just as they were about to go inside, the owner, a man in his fifties was attempting to pull down the metal grating that would protect his shop.

She tapped him on the shoulder and gestured inside. "I just need one thing. I'll pay cash."

The man looked at her and she knew he recognized her face. He stared for a long moment before nodding and muttering, "Make it quick."

She pulled her hood down as she walked quickly inside and was in the back in only a few seconds. She hardly ever went down this aisle, only occasionally picking up a cheap pair of earbuds if she happened to have forgotten her usual set. The aisle was full of overpriced electronics ranging from slightly outdated cd and dvd players to disposable cell phones and radios. But none of that was what she was looking for. Her eyes glided over the gaudy and expensive merchandise before settling on what she was looking for.

She picked up the white and blue cardboard box that proudly proclaimed the item to be a solar charger for USB devices. Rey was resolute she wouldn't be going anywhere but . . . she might be sitting in an airport or something on the way back and need a way to charge her phone. The girl took a stiff breath and mentally nodded to herself as she picked up the small box and headed for the front of the store.

James was waiting for her along with the older man by the checkout counter. Rey set the box down and added two chocolate bars as well. She pulled out her wallet and picked three crisp twenty dollar bills from the pocket. She held them out to the shop owner and he looked at her again and she wondered what he was thinking. Did he know her as the girl on TV or as the workaholic who stopped in there almost every morning getting a danish and coffee? He looked down at the charger and then at her face and she could tell that he knew exactly what she was doing.

He waved his hand at her before he pushed the items back at her. "Take it. No charge."

Her hand trembled slightly as she held the money out. Everyone thought it was her. Rey's jaw tightened as she set the bills down onto the counter. "I'll be back for the change on Monday," she said firmly before taking the box and the candy.

She held the items tightly to her chest as they walked out of the shop and back into the street. She quickly pulled her hood back up and the chocolate was immediately stuffed into her pocket. She shivered as the lights in the shop went out behind them. James lead her off to a side alley beside a dumpster. The smell would have made a normal person wretch but that was New York. Her hands were trembling so badly by then that James had to take the box from her and pull everything out himself. He unwrapped the components and helped her put the flat charger into her bag. It was tucked in beside the ipad and the bag hidden away again under her coat before they stepped back out into the chaos.

The pair avoided everyone else as they came closer to the police station. She stopped outside of the blue double doors of the ninth precinct. The green lanterns flanking the entrance glowed in the darkness and it was hard to tear her eyes away from the terrified people coming and going from the stone building. James tugged on her but she was having trouble moving any further.

Rey turned to her friend. "It's probably not me—like maybe he'll take anyone who looks like that. Maybe I can just go home and it won't matter," she said, panic lacing through her voice.

James put his hands on her shoulders and held her in place. "But it might matter. If it is you that he's looking for and you don't go in there, people could die. Your brother; your friends; everyone. I've seen Independence Day fourteen times and I'd rather not live through it, thank you very much." It was the most serious she'd ever seen him and she nodded, licking her parched lips before turning back to the station. James wrapped an arm around her waist as she finally came to the doors. He pulled one open and ushered her inside.

The place was a madhouse of yelling people and cops scrambling to accommodate the numerous complaints and criminals being dragged in. But the worst was the women. There were women everywhere speaking to anyone who would listen.

"It's me!"

"I'm her."

"I'm ready to go back to my homeworld!"

Rey looked around incredulously at the line of women waiting to speak to the person at the front desk. She took a step back but James stopped her. Up until now, she'd been half hoping that this was some sort of practical joke, like War of the Worlds or something.

"It's okay. Let's get in line," he whispered into her ear.

She nodded and they got behind a woman with long frizzy auburn hair that was covered in freckles. She was clutching an overnight bag and sighing as she replayed the video of the alien on her phone over and over again. She was obviously there for the same reason as Rey but even with the sketch flashing across the screen repeatedly, the lady still thought that she was what the creature in the mask was looking for. If only, Rey thought.

The red-head wasn't the only one though. Rey noticed that many of the women in the line as well as waiting around looked nothing like the picture. They ranged in size and shape from someone that Rey was almost positive was a man under that sequined red dress to a bottle blonde woman with mocha colored skin. Why were they there? she thought desperately, Why would they all want to go?

Fifteen minutes later, she finally made it to the front desk. There was a blonde lady cop behind the counter who wasn't looking at her. Rey stood there in silence as the woman finished filling out a form of some kind. The officer looked like she'd rather be pulling out her own teeth than doing what she was currently assigned. Rey sympathized as she looked over the crowd of women (and a few men) that waited off to the side.

The woman pulled out another form but still hadn't looked up at Rey as she began to fill in a new form. "Let me guess, you're ready to fly away with your dark prince."

Rey blinked. "Uh no. I really don't want to be here."

The cop actually looked up at that and Rey pulled her hood and scarf down. She was almost certain her face was pure misery. The woman's eyes narrowed and she pulled a small piece of paper off her desk and held it up towards Rey's face. It had to be the picture that the creature had flashed on the TV.

She bit her lip. "Should I wait with the others?"

The cop shook her head rapidly. "Ah . . . no," she said as she pointed towards Rey firmly. "You stay right there."

The cop clicked something on her radio and said, "Captain, there is a girl out here who fits the description."

"On my way."

Rey looked over at James and her face fell as her friend reached over and squeezed her hand. She had hoped to be turned away but that apparently wasn't happening. A few minutes later, a tall dark haired man came out and his eyes were glued to her as he came closer. She also couldn't help but notice that more and more of the people and cops in the precinct were now looking at her.

The captain came to stand in front of her and he scrutinized her face. Her brows knitted at the inspection. "You want to look at my teeth too?" she asked sarcastically.

He snorted. "No. I had heard they found a perfect match out in Iowa. I didn't expect to have anyone actually matching the photo walking in here."

"If they found a match, then can I go home?" she asked, unable to keep the note of hope from her voice.

The captain shook his head. "No. Come with me and we'll go over your itinerary."

"Itin—where am I going?" she asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"We'll discuss it in private," he said, his eyes darting towards the group of men and women who waited but were rather unsubtly eavesdropping on their conversation.

Rey nodded and turned to James but the captain spoke again. "Just you. We can't let anything leak."

Rey rubbed the bridge of her nose before meeting the man's gaze once more. "Alright," she said before turning back to James. "I guess this is it," she said, her tone shaky and she fought to keep tears from filling her eyes.

He hugged her. "It's not. You'll be back before you know it," he said encouragingly.

She nodded and kept those words repeating in her mind. I'll come back.

It's been a while but I'm back with another story. I don't post everything I write on but this one is worthy of a posting on here. I've been working on this story since March and it is currently 130K words of unedited text. I will be updating on Fridays depending on the schedules of myself and my two lovely and gracious betas, Firelord65 andCopper_Nails. I might try to get more chapters out later but I'm also working on a few other fics and going to school. If you'd like to stay up to date on my progress and what I'm doing, you can follow me on tumblr sophiascribbling