Hiiiii I'm back.

Time to get back to our regularly scheduled (not) programming.

As Ben ran, he thought about what he'd said the night before: about going nowhere. About staying here, on the island.

He jogged along the edge of a towering cliff, the crash of the waves below thundering in his ears. The ocean air was clean and cool on his skin, the grass soft and yielding beneath his bare feet.

As he crested a hill, he heard the chirps of porgs before he saw them. He stopped at the top of the slope, pausing to catch his breath. The porgs picked at berry bushes and fluffed their feathers in the breeze. It seemed that they were enjoying the weather, too.

Ben scanned the craggy ridges ahead, the field of porgs, and then the ocean stretching to the calm blue horizon. He was lost for a moment within himself, forgetting all of his worries and just allowing himself to feel and be. He was free from his duties with the First Order, free from the war, free from the abuse and the mental probing of Snoke.

Here, he was free. Freer than he remembered ever having felt. And, to top it off, he was with her. At least, for now. He'd had no choice but to run in an attempt to help stave off his pent-up need for her.

Propping his hands on his hips, Ben stared resolutely out at the ocean. This wasn't the worst place in the galaxy to live, he considered. It was isolated from society and well-hidden. It had plenty of resources, both in the way of food and building supplies. It did rain a lot, but that only made the sunnier days like today feel all the brighter.

Not to mention, he thought, the place was...beautiful.

….

On his way back to the hut, Ben expected to find Rey still sound asleep on the bed, and he felt a beam of warmth unfold within him at the thought of cuddling up next to her. But as he approached the site of his crashed ship, he slowed, sensing Rey nearby. He looked to his ship, realizing that she was inside of it.

"Rey," he called, stopping before the craft. "What are you doing in there?"

Rey appeared through the hole in the craft's side. Her eyes traced up and down his torso.

"Where have you been all morning?"

Ben frowned and ignored her question.

"Why were you in my ship?"

Rey's eyes returned to his face.

"I'm repairing it," she said, wiping sweat from her brow. Ben scoffed at the confidence in her voice.

"I told you–it's beyond repair."

"No, it isn't," Rey dissented, turning to inspect a cluster of wires sticking out of the ship's open hull. Ben remained silent for a few moments as he watched her. "You didn't even bother to take a look at it. Your ship is in much better condition than mine," she added.

"Are you so eager to get out of here?" He ended up sounding plaintive, rather than derisive, and he frowned again, this time at himself.

Rey's hands paused on the wires.

"You can come with me," she said, hesitating before turning her face towards him. They stared at each other for a long, tense moment.

"Or you can stay."

Rey's mouth closed, disappointment marking her features. He heard her exhale as she returned her gaze to her task.

"I can't stay," she said. "I won't."

Ben held his ground, willing her to look at him again, but she didn't. She appeared to be absorbed in figuring out how to reconnect the broken wires, her brows lowered in concentration. Ben swallowed and slowly, he turned to head back down the hill.

"Ben–" Rey sounded exasperated as he heard her trotting after him. "I'm hungry. We need to catch a fish. I don't want to eat berries for breakfast."

"That's what I'm doing," Ben said over his shoulder.

"Alright, well, I'm coming with you."

Ben glanced down at her as she caught up to his side, mentally kicking himself as he allowed his gaze to settle a little longer on her hazel eyes than he'd meant to.

….

"We need to enjoy the sun while it lasts," Rey said. Rain clouds were already gathering around the edges of the island by the time they'd reached the fishing rock and thrown the net into the ocean waves.

Ben folded his arms across his bare chest, watching Rey as she closed her eyes and leaned back to bask in the rare sunlight. She wasn't wearing her vest or armguards, just her snug cream blouse, so his covetous eyes were free to roam the curves of her form.

Eventually, Rey straightened and opened her eyes, so Ben was forced to avert his.

"Ben! Were you not watching the line? It's almost over the edge!" she exclaimed, scampering over to the rock where they'd tied the end of the net's rope. The rope was taut, and with luck it was because a fish had gotten caught in the net.

"I wasn't," Ben admitted. "Wait, Rey, stop," he urged, and she halted just before the rope to look back at him as he approached. "We have to do this together. Remember?"

Rey nodded, staring up at him for a moment. "You're right," she admitted, stepping to the side. "Here, you grab this end of the rope, and I'll grab here, and we'll pull the net up together."

They both strained as they pulled the line back up the face of the cliff. Ben huffed out a tired breath as the soaked net finally slid up onto the platform, but he gave it another good yank, bringing it closer for good measure; he didn't want Rey to ever get so close to that precarious edge ever again.

They both knelt before the net and pulled the thick ropes away, revealing several bright red fish inside.

"Three!" Rey exalted.

"And they're a good size," Ben admired, practically salivating at the sight of their next meal. "They should last us a while, even longer than the last one."

Rey must have been as hungry as he was because she didn't waste any time in wrestling one of the flopping fishes into her arms. She wrinkled her nose and looked up at the grey rain clouds crossing over the sun above.

"I think I just felt a raindrop," she said.

"So did I," Ben said, and almost immediately after, as if on cue, a light pattern of rain began to sprinkle on the smooth rock around them.

Rey nodded towards the cave behind them, struggling to keep the jerking fish clasped to her chest.

"Maybe we can light a fire in there and cook one of these."

Ben followed behind her, one fish tail in each fist. As they entered the shelter of the cave, Ben lumped the still-moving fish in a pile on the stone floor as Rey gathered sticks from outside, drying them on her shirt, along with a few charcoal rocks.

"Can I start it?" Ben asked as Rey assembled the sticks together on the ground.

"Sure. Just strike these together over the sticks. Hard," she instructed, placing two rocks into his open palm.

Ben stiffened as her hand brushed against his, then refocused himself on the task at hand. Sparks flew from the rocks on his second try, igniting a small flicker of flame in the nest of sticks. Rey smiled.

"And now you know how to light a fire," she stated, tilting her head at him. "Have you seriously never had to light a fire for yourself before?"

Ben shrugged.

"Not with rocks," he said, tossing them to the ground. "There are tools for that sort of thing, you know."

"I didn't have access to fancy tools on Jakku, you know," she mimicked, looking up at him from beneath her lashes. "We scavengers had to learn how to survive on our own." She dropped her gaze from his and turned towards the crackling fire. "I suppose you'll need to learn how to survive on your own here, too."

Ben stepped towards her, speaking softly.

"Not unless you stay."

"Ben, don't."

"We would be safe here," he intoned, stopping just behind her. Gingerly, he rose a hand to her shoulder, now bathed in the nascent glow of the flames before them. "We have everything we need here to survive: food, water, fresh air." He traced his hand down her arm and slowly laced his fingers through hers. "A home."

"Ben…" Rey's voice was breathy, beseeching.

"Rey," Ben returned, brushing her hair from her cheek with his free hand. He leaned his face closer to hers. Rey didn't move, so he bent his face and pressed a kiss to her jawline. "I want you," he crooned, and he heard her soft, quivering sigh, felt her hand give his an almost imperceptible squeeze.

His heart raced: she wanted him, too. It wasn't just her sigh and the squeeze of her hand; he could sense it, burrowed within her like the growing flames before them.

Gently, he kissed her neck, slowly making his way down to its base. He paused and, at last, Rey turned towards him, her trembling lips mere inches from his. He searched her eyes, moist and glistening in the firelight. Ben released her hand to cup her face, barely able to suppress his relieved groan as he pressed his mouth down to hers. He'd missed her soft lips and smooth skin so badly, among other things.

As she kissed him back with overwhelming fervor, Ben dropped his hand from her cheek to wrap around her waist, pulling her closer. Rey arched into him, releasing a breathy moan that mixed with the hiss of the flames consuming its wooden fodder. Unable to control himself–and, in all honesty, not wanting to–Ben pushed her away from the fire, digging his fingers into the frustratingly tight fabric of her blouse and backing her against the cave wall.

Rey let out a needy huff of air as he broke his mouth from hers to wrench her trousers and underwear below her hips, and he dug his teeth into his lip amusedly as he felt her small hands struggling with the fastenings of his own. He pressed a deep, hungry kiss to her mouth, grasping her hands and shoving them out of the way to undo and lower his pants with efficient speed. He caught Rey's eyes catch on his erect member before shifting back up to his eyes, peering at from beneath her lashes.

Ben pressed forward and kissed her again, groaning into her mouth as he slid his arms around her thighs and lifted her up against the wall. Rey barely had time to wrap her legs around him when he thrust himself into her fully, a cry breaking from her lips. Ben gripped her bottom, squeezing as he began a steady, rocking pace, focusing on Rey's pants and moans and her parted mouth.

She was hot and tight and–beautiful. Maker, so beautiful. His head spun with pleasure and ecstatic emotion and he couldn't get enough of it–of her. Ben barely suppressed his growl as he shifted his grip, gripping her beneath the bend of her knees and moving deeper inside of her as he attained a new angle. He sensed the heavy tension building within Rey and he squeezed her thighs, pushing the Force through his hands and up to her center. Immediately, Rey shuddered around him, letting out a cry as she came, her eyes finding his.

As soon as she looked at him, Ben followed her crash. He moaned deeply, pressing his lips to hers as heady relief flooded him and pooled up inside of her.

He held his lips to hers as he descended his high, heaving for breath against her mouth and feeling the dull, pulsing strain of his arms.

Carefully, he released his hold on Rey, lowering her to her feet but never shifting his worshipping eyes from hers. He kept his hands on her arms, keeping her in place.

His mind descending from the clouds and returned to him, he huffed out an exhausted breath.

"So?"

Rey's expression morphed from quiet awe into puzzlement.

"So, what?"

"Was it better for you that time?"

Rey's mouth opened, then closed, like the still-breathing fish on the ground behind them. Her brows lowered in abrupt consternation.

"If-if you think that's how you're going to change my mind about leaving, then–well, then–you're wrong," she stammered, poking an accusing finger into his chest.

Ben mirrored her expression.

"What? No...Rey, I didn't...that's not..." he struggled, equally as flustered. He hadn't been trying to change her mind–That intention hadn't really crossed his mind. He'd needed to express himself to her in a way that words couldn't–at least, not yet. Surely, she knew that. Didn't she?

Rey turned her face from his, her cheeks still red and flushed. Ben rose a hand to grip her chin, turning her face back to his and waiting to speak until she looked up at him.

"Rey, I didn't make love to you to try to change your mind," he explained. "I wanted to because–because I–" Rey raised her brows expectantly as he fumbled for a moment. Again, fear got the best of him. "Because I wanted to. Okay?" He slid his hand lower down her arm, releasing his other from her chin. He took a step back from her, forcing himself to accept the situation. "I know I won't change your mind," he said resignedly.

Rey stared at him quietly, her expression seeming almost solemn.

"At least, not that way," he added, allowing a small smirk.

Now Rey's brows lowered again, but he thought he saw a glimmer of playfulness in her eyes.

"I know you're too smart for that."

"Well," Rey relented, taking small steps towards him. "Even if it was your intention to try and convince me to stay, I'll have you know that it was a...valiant effort."

"Valiant?" Ben repeated, secretly beaming.

"Mmhm." Rey traced her finger across his chest absentmindedly. She looked up at him, appearing to be fighting back a smile.

Wanting to free it, Ben tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her, filling with warmth as her fingers gripped his arms. He sighed contentedly as he felt her lips curve beneath his. He wrapped his arms around her, unable to stop kissing her, not wanting to part from this moment of soothing tenderness.

Kylo Ren: Lightsaber extraordinaire. Feared equally on the battlefield and in space dog fights. Ruthless map-seeker. Brutal interrogator. Known punch-thrower. Jedi Killer.

And a bit of a pussy when it comes to admitting his feelings.

Where do you see these two going? Or staying? I have the story fully planned out now, but I'm curious to know your thoughts. Maybe one of you will guess right!

This chapter took a while to write because a plot bunny hopped into my head and I ended up writing the final chapter for this fic. But don't fret, we still have around 6 chapters until we get to the point when we must say adieu...