In which... a lot happens. This chapter is way too long and I apologise.

Thanks ever so much for reading this story, and thanks especially for the lovely reviews, they mean the world :) hope you enjoy! Lots of revelations to come in the chapter after this one.

Three weeks following their wedding announcement, Luke and Mara have a date down. It will be mid summer, with a quiet ceremony at a local chapel, and the reception at Alderaan House. Rey is a little stunned to find out she is counted as one of the few who will be present at the actual ceremony. She literally just met the bride and groom.

The wedding is now two months away, and Rey still needs to find "at least 10" friends to invite. Her friends include Finn, and... Can she count Poe? And Rose? That's a whole 3 people, and she's already cheated on the definition of friends. Luckily enough, Finn, Poe and Rose are available that day and have accepted to come. She just needs 7 more people. Poe said he'd try and help.

Following her last training session with Ben, Rey intends on avoiding him as much as she can until the following Monday. Saturday should be easy, as she will be out shopping for an outfit and Ben cannot possibly invite himself to that. Until then, Rey is planning on hiding, throwing herself in her work, thriving to make the gardens look their best for the upcoming wedding. Luke, Leia and Mara unwittingly help her escape Ben by giving her a pile of wedding invitations to take around town. Han digs out Ben's old bike for her, and Rey reluctantly accepts it. Ben's words, that he knew she wishes Han was her dad, combined with now being offered what was obviously a father to son gift, nearly force her to turn down the bike. Sensing her hesitation, Mara points out that taking invitations around by foot would take forever, and suggests Rey borrows the Falcon. Han visibly pales at that, and so Rey goes for the bike.

This is how, on Friday, Rey distributes invitations around town, and spends a good half hour at the post office sending off the bulk of it to all sorts of exotic places.

"You sure got friends, darlin'," says the woman at the post office. "And congratulations, you'll make a lovely bride."

Rey is too stunned, and flattered, to correct her.

On the way home, Rey feels her phone, an ancient Nokia, vibrate, so she stops and picks it up. It's Leia.

"Rey, honey, are you still in town?"

"I am, why?"

"Are you far from the flower shop? Mara would like to know if you could just drop in and ask if they got her email. She wants white roses, blush pink roses -whatever that colour is - and baby's breath, which apparently is a plant. Would you be able to see them?"

"Yes of course, no problem."

"Hope it's not too much trouble," says Leia, then : "oh hold on a second," someone speaks in the background, then Leia comes back, with a heavy sigh : "also, when you pick your dress tomorrow she would very much like it if you chose something blush pink, but she says not to worry if there's nothing you like in that colour."

"Alright, no worries. See you soon."

Rey turns around and gets to the flower shop.

All the employees are busy, and she has to wait a good 20 minutes before someone can see to her. Finally, it's the owner's daughter, 17 year old Tallissan, who arrives.

"Hello, sorry about the wait."

Tallissan Lintra is a very pretty blond girl with a soft voice, and a sort of grace about her that makes Rey feel like an oaf.

"Hi," smiles Rey. "Tallissan, isn't it?"

"Tallie, please," the girl replies. "When is your wedding?"

"Oh it's not my wedding, I'm just here for... For a friend."

"Oh right, I thought maybe it was your mum who left us that email."

"I don't have a mum."

"Oh!" Tallie looks genuinely mortified. "Of course! Sorry, I forgot!"

"It's fine," Rey says, and it really is fine. Tallie seems very sweet. "She's called Mara, it's her wedding. She's marrying my boss's brother."

"Oh right, are you like a PA?"

Rey is slightly startled at the question. Is she a PA?

"More of a gardener. So, she said blush pink roses, white roses, and some baby's breath?"

"Baby's breath, oh, it's lovely. I'd have that in my bouquet, if I ever got married. Good choice."

Rey and Tallie finalise the order, and have a little chat about high school - Rey finding out which if her teachers are still there, and which have finally retired. Evening arrives. Before taking her leave, Rey, out of pure impulse of the moment, gives an invitation to Tallie. That's another friend. The girl looks really pleased, and immediately accepts. Then Rey tells her that she meets her friends every Saturday and that tomorrow they are skipping coffee and going to try on outfits, if she'd like to join. Tallie says she'd love to, and that she'll ask her parents.

Rey leaves feeling both very pleased with herself for finding another friend to invite to the wedding, and very anxious at the idea of trying on blush pink dresses in front of yet another person. Hopefully, everyone will be absorbed in choosing their own outfit, and no one will look at her.

As she rides along the darkened streets, Rey's thoughts return to Tallie's words - is she, in effect, Mara Jade's PA? Have they invited her to the wedding so she could be everyone's help, or do they actually want her there? Is that why they insisted she move there in the first place - so that she can become a live-in butler? She knew she was the gardener, but...

At the intersection, Rey looks right, and she doesn't see the car coming from the left.

All the downstairs windows of Alderaan House are lit up, and the shadow of Leia Organa is standing behind the curtain of the dining room. The curtain is drawn slitghly, Rey can see that now, as she walks up the drive, most of the bike resting on her right shoulder, and the front wheel carried by her left hand. Rey can feel a huge, purple bruise forming on her leg, and the scratches on her arms sting bitterly in the cool air of the night. Thank heavens she had her helmet on.

When she comes into view, the door opens and a tall, dark silhouette comes running out.

Ben stops a few steps away from her, and the lights behind him prevent Rey from seeing his face. Leia and Han follow closely behind.

"Rey!" Shrieks Leia.

Rey raises her hands and knocks herself on the chin with the broken wheel.

"Ow! I'm so sorry, I broke the bike!"

They make her come into the house and sit her on a kitchen stool. They get her to take her sweater off, stripping down to her tank top. Leia inspects the cuts and bruises on Rey, whilst Ben towers over from behind his mother. Luke and Mara stand opposite, Mara having already apologised profusely for making Rey go to the flower shop.

"This car came from my left at the main intersection, and I didn't see it. It was completely my fault."

Leia leaves and starts rummaging through the top cupboards. Ben steps closer and takes a seat, scowling at Rey's injuries like they've personally offended him.

Leia returns with a first aid kit which Ben takes from her and starts picking out of. When Rey throws Leia a slightly alarmed look, the older woman replies:

"Ben received first aid training when he was in the special forces."

Rey feels like saying that a couple of scratches isn't quite worthy of special forces medical training, but then Ben starts putting his hands on her and her mind goes blank. He cleans the cuts then applies antiseptic before wrapping them in gauze. His actions are gentle and confident - meanwhile, the whole room watches on. Once he's done with her arms, she sees him eyeing up her torn jeans, and Rey begins to worry they're all going to see how flustered she is getting, so she babbles on:

"Well, the invitations are gone, anyway, and I've only got a couple left to give my friends tomorrow. Flowers are ordered, and I invited the flower shop girl, Tallie, she's really lovely. She's coming with me and my friends tomorrow to look for an outfit - blush pink, did you say? So is that for me only or should all girls dress in pink?"

"Just for you, Rey, lovely." Says Mara, and Rey is certain she can see a knowing smile on her perfect lips. She's looking at Rey like they're sharing a secret. "You'll be my special girl, I'd like you and Leia to match my bouquet. But don't worry if you can't find anything you like, I can always just change my flowers." Mara's eyes narrow in on a sudden thought. "Hmm. Guess I haven't thought that through, does it mean I ought to ask all the other women not to wear blush pink?"

She looks at Luke and Han who nod thoughtfully, pretending to have a clue.

"My dress arrived up this morning," Mara tells Rey. "Leia has had a look. There's just one little bit that needs fixing up, size wise, but it's perfect."

"I could take it to the seamstress," offers Rey automatically.

"Absolutely not."

Rey gives Ben a startled look. He's very close, his big brown eyes, similar to Leia's, staring right back.

"But I..."

"No."

"Let her speak, Ben."

As soon as Luke speaks, Rey feels the very rage pulsing off of Ben.

"Shut up," he growls at his uncle. "This is your fault."

"...my fault?"

"If you hadn't sent her to do all of your errands, she wouldn't have got into an accident. It's your wedding, you sort the goddamn flowers. She's not your fucking PA."

"Now hold on a second-" Luke raises a calming hand at Ben, who jumps up.

"She's not yours!" He yells, which is an odd phrasing, but then again it's anger that's taken over and everyone is starting to look rather worried. "Don't you just show up here and start bossing her around!"

"That is not fair!" Argues Luke, his own voice rising to meet his nephew's. "Rey is-"

Ben abruptly lunges forward, knocking a coupe of stools over, and makes to grab Luke's throat. Han and Leia start shouting at him to stop, and Mara puts a hand over a mouth, a horrified expression on her pretty face.

When he stands in his path, Ben pushes Han to the side and sends him tumbling against the oven. Fearing that Leia will be next, Rey acts purely on instinct: she jumps forward and puts herself inbetween Luke and Ben, arms spread out. Ben stops, about an inch away from barging into her.

"What are you doing?" He growls through gritted teeth. "Move."

"No. You need to calm down. Go for a walk."

"MOVE!" He screams at the top of his lungs. His face is very close to hers now.

"No."

They stare each other down. He takes one more step forward and for a second Rey is convinced that Ben is going to throw her away like he did with Han. Then, to her surprise, he steps back and stalks out of the room through the back door and disappears into the night.

Rey is annoyed. She's annoyed with that idiot who appeared out of nowhere and knocked her off her bike, she's annoyed with Ben for losing his temper and terrorising everyone, and she's annoyed with herself for looking for him in the garden at night, at stupid o'clock, when all she wants to do is tuck herself into bed. After her third time around Alderaan grounds, Rey gives up, and returns to her cottage, scowling at her feet. She doesn't notice Ben standing by her door until she is a couple of feet away.

"Oh!" She jumps. "You're there!"

He looks somewhat sheepish, hands in his pockets, scratching the floor with his foot. Tucked under his arm is the first aid kit.

"So you've calmed down then? That's good." Says Rey, more aggressively than she'd intended.

"...yes. I followed your advice and went for a walk."

"Yes, I saw that. I saw what you did to my azalea." She mimicked her throat being slit, her hand as the knife.

"Sorry."

"What did you use?"

"...an axe."

"Wow. An axe on a bush. Talk about an overreaction!"

He lets out a sigh, raising his eyes up to the sky.

"You really could have hurt your father, you know."

He says nothing, but suddenly looks extremely tired and almost...sad.

"Is that for me?" Rey points at the first aid kit.

"We haven't done those cuts on your leg yet."

"I'll do them myself."

"It won't take long."

"Forget it," Rey says, smiling. "You're not getting in my pants tonight."

She's teasing him, trying in spite of herself to lift his spirits. His eyes widen for a nanosecond, but then he is quick to tease her right back.

"'Tonight'?"

"Or ever."

"We'll see."

"Don't get cocky."

He just smirks, and looks at her with something close to fondness in his eyes.

Rey is feeling...she doesn't know how she's feeling. This quick, humorous exchange between them had felt easy and surprisingly comfortable. They'd been teasing each other. Some might even call it flirting.

The weight of the situation takes form, and she sees it: a man and a woman, alone, at night, flirting, right outside the woman's bedroom. Rey's mind lets out all sorts of sirens and she aborts the whole thing.

"I'll manage," she takes the kit from under his arm. "I might need your help tomorrow morning with my arm."

"Sure."

"Good night."

She retracts to the safety of her cottage, hearing him whisper 'good night' as she closes the door.

The next morning, Ben changes the bandage on her arm, and she lets him. They don't speak at all, but at some point they do exchange a smile. When she leaves Alderaan House, Rey tells Ben she'll see him the next morning for their training session.

"Blush pink, don't forget," he says to her.

"Yep." She puts her trainers on. He's watching her. "Blush pink. You should get a suit in blush pink."

"It's totally my colour."

Rey pauses. Oh my, he is... Is he joking? One look at the small smile on his face confirms it, and Rey turns away, hiding her own smile, repressing the urge to laugh.

She's still smiling when she gets to town. In the distance, outside the mall, she sees Finn and Rose. Tallie is there, too. And Poe. And... Looks like Poe has brought a couple of girls. Rey's smile falls. She braces herself.

"What happened to your face?" Finn immediately asks.

"I just fell over on a bike," Rey tries to whisper so the others won't hear, but they're all leaning in. "A car hit me. I'm fine." She silences Finn's exclamation of outrage with a raises hand. "So! Here are your invites... Finn, Tallie, Rose, Poe..." Rey freezes. She doesn't remember the names of the two girls.

"Kaydel and Jessika," introduces Poe.

Kaydel has big brown eyes, and blond hair gathered into two buns. Rey remembers her as a bit of a nerd in high school, captain of the chess club, and editor of the school newspaper. Jessika was a tall, gorgeous Asian girl with an athletic figure and perfect skin. At school, Jessika used to be one of the cheerleaders, as well as champion swimmer, top of her class and considered one of the most popular girls. Kaydel had been the type of kid to remind the teacher there was homework, and Jessika had been the 'effortlessly cool' type that everyone, including teachers, admired.

"I invited Jessika for you, like you asked me to," he gave her a 'please just go with it' look, "and Kaydel loves weddings, so she offered to come when I said you might have some spare invites."

Right.

Rey gives Jessika her invite, wondering how on earth the girl believed Poe's story. They've never once spoken to each other. Kaydel grabs her own invite then returns her attention to Poe.

"Is there a dress code?" Rose asks.

"Blush pink for me, suits for the boys, then not really, no."

"We're going for a coffee after this, right?" Kaydel asks Rey whilst looking at Poe.

"Sounds good," says Poe, looking at Jessika, who's introducing herself to Tallie.

Rey takes a deep breath.

As it turns out, finding an outfit is even worse than she'd imagined. Rey has never shopped for clothes - all of her things are donations. She's never worn pink, let alone a dress. She's not even sure what her size is. She hates this. To her, everything seems too expensive, too revealing, and just too much. She absentmindedly looks through a rack of dresses on sale, when she sees Poe and Kaydel standing nearby. Kaydel keeps asking Poe's opinion about various dresses, whilst he keeps trying to escape towards the men's aisle.

Rey loses herself in the scene, taking in Poe's charming smile. He's bulked out, since he's returned from his tour around the world. He's been everywhere. He's seen so many things.

"I hate this."

Rose has appeared besides Rey.

"I hate shopping."

"Me too," says Rey.

"The only time I ever wear a dress if for New Year's Eve, and only because my mum makes me."

"I've never worn a dress," confesses Rey. "At least yours doesn't have to be pink."

Rose snorts. "Yeah."

She follows Rey's gaze towards the other two, and whispers: "Kaydel was in my class at school. She's always been crazy about Poe Dameron, but he's been too cool for her, you see? She's never dared approach him. Now she's all grown up."

Rey looks at Kaydel, following Poe around. Suddenly it clicks.

"Is that why she's so keen on coming to the wedding?"

"Yep. But, it's not going to get her anywhere. Poe likes Jessika." She nods towards said Jessika, standing a bit further along. "And Jessika likes girls."

Rey raises an eyebrow. Jessika is currently speaking to Tallie, complimenting her choice of outfits to try on, offering advice.

"It's like that TV show my mum watches every night after she finished her shift at the hospital," jokes Rose. "All we need now is for Tallie to fall in love with Kaydel, and we've got ourselves three seasons sorted out."

Rey laughs, deciding that she likes Rose. Maybe it's ok if Finn and her get close to each other.

"I'll try this," Rose says, picking up a blue dress. "And that."

"God, you're quick."

"I just want it done and over with! Still need to get some shoes."

Unfortunately for Rey, things take a turn for the worse when she ends up the last one without an outfit, and Kaydel takes it upon herself to find her one - it's the only thing preventing everyone from getting coffee.

"What about this one?"

"I'd rather not show my whole back..."

"This one?"

"I'd rather not wear a long dress.."

"This one."

"It's too short for me."

"With your figure," interrupts Jessika, "you could pretty much wear any dress you like. But you've got small breasts, which is a good thing for you, it means you don't need a bra, so you can easily wear anything backless and you can show quite a bit of cleavage without it being vulgar."

"You could for a midi dress," says Tallie.

Rey has no idea what that is. She's mortified. Everyone, including Finn and Poe, are sitting outside the changing rooms and seeing every dress she tries on. To Rey's great horror, they are privy to the comment on her breasts.

"She needs sleeves," says Kaydel.

"Sleeves are uncomfortable," replies Rose.

"Her arms are muscly, she needs to cover them."

"There's nothing wrong with her arms!" Argues Finn.

"What do you like?" Questions Kaydel, exasperated.

"I don't know! I just don't want anything too- too sexy! Or too uncomfortable."

"I know," Poe says. "I got it. I'll find something for Rey. Finn, come with me, you're getting the shoes."

The girls stare in bewilderment, until Poe returns with a blush pink, midi dress on sale. It's a pleated design with a plunge at the front and the back, lace trims and no sleeves. It is sexy but not overly so, and the length is just about what Rey can manage. Finn hands her a pair of metallic nude, small and square heels with an ankle fastening strap.

Rey tries it all on, and when she shows the group they all say it's great, though she knows that by that point they would have approved anything. Still, Rey is seduced. She likes the way she looks in that dress.

"There," Tallie smiles. "With your hair down and a bit of eye makeup...perfect."

Rey cannot get out of there fast enough.

She walks home later that day with her bag of purchases in hand, her head still reeling from the embarassement of it all. Even Poe knows more about dresses than her. Is there actually something wrong with her arms?

The air is warm and the light gold, the scent of blossoms a nice distraction from the day. Rey walks a long way around to avoid the drive, going round the back and through what Leia refers to as the roses garden. Unfortunately, that is where she finds the entire household, minus Luke and Chewbacca.

"Ah!" Exclaims Leia, a glass of champagne in hand. "Success?"

"Success."

Leia and Mara cheer, hands up in the air and all, and Rey wonders how much they've already had to drink. Han and Ben look much sober. Rey wonders if they've discussed what happened the night before, or if they just carry on as normal. She feels like shaking them. Have they ever even discussed the stabbing incident? And where's Luke? Is Mara not scared of Ben, now? Actually, that's a definite no. Mara doesn't look like she'd be scared of anything, or anyone.

"Well done, kid," says Han. Rey loves it when he calls her kid. "Can't have been easy. You've earned this." He hands her a glass of champagne, and guides her into a garden chair.

Rey reluctantly sits down, setting her bag under her chair, hoping Mara will forget about it.

No such luck.

"Well?" Mara's eyes are sparkling. "Let's see?"

Rey pulls the dress out of the bag and holds it up.

"Oh, lovely! And it's got a bit of a plunge, sexy!"

"Is that alright?"

"Is it alright? It's more than alright, isn't it, Ben?" Mara laughs, and Leia suddenly starts into a fit of giggles.

Rey blushes and puts the dress away. She feels foolish.

"I didn't pick it," she says. "I couldn't decide, I've never worn a dress in my life. My friend picked it."

"She's done well." Says Mara.

"It's a he. Poe. Poe Dameron."

Instantly, the temperature rises. Leia abruptly stops laughing and raises a calming hand towards Ben.

"Poe Dameron?"

Ben's voice is hard.

"Yes. He's my friend."

"Son..." Starts Han.

"It's fine." Ben says, gripping his glass. The explosion everyone is expecting does not happen, and eventually, the conversation gets going again. Ben avoids eye contact.

"Well, whoever it is, they've certainly looked at you well." Mara says.

Later that night, Rey sits on her bed and tries her heels on. She takes a couple of steps around her cottage, thinking that maybe this ain't so bad, when a series of knocks on the door make her jump so hard she bangs her knee on the table. She hurriedly kicks off the heels and rushes to get the door.

It's Leia.

"Hi, Rey, honey," she's still tipsy. "Listen I know it's late, but can you come please? Ben's had an accident."