The Pivotal Moment

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A/N-sorry for the delay. Here is the epilogue I promised. Thanks once again to everyone who kindly reviewed this story!

Epilogue

Nine years post Exegol;

"I've made you some Caf.'" Ben said to Rey as he steered his way carefully into the cockpit.

"You're a lifesaver." Rey turned to smile at her husband, reaching out to take the flask of Caf' from him. She had been up all night, piloting New Horizons through an extremely difficult patch of space. With all the modifications she and Ben made over the last few years, the old gunship was hardly recognisable from the old relic she had bartered Skywalker's old X-Wing for.

Rey raised the flask to her lips and sighed in bliss as the warm liquid slid smoothly down her throat. As she drank, Ben leaned in and began to kiss her neck. Even though she was extremely tired, Rey knew that as soon as he started to kiss her in her sweet spot that she would crumble.

"Are the kids still asleep?" She murmured as his soft lips continued to caress her sensitive skin.

"I checked. Eyes closed. Even breathing. We're all good." Ben promised.

After just a few delicate touches of his warm lips, Rey engaged autopilot and allowed Ben to lift her out of her seat. He quickly took her place, pulling her with him until she was straddling his lap. All Rey's previous thoughts stopped in their tracks as her hands started to do his bidding. Now she had only one desire, one wish, and they both knew it was just a matter of time before it happened.

"MOM!" Their son's loud voice bellowed from their living quarters down below, interrupting their blissful moment. "DAD! LEE LEE'S JUMPING ON MY BED AGAIN!"

Ben groaned in disbelief as he cussed under his breath. "Unbelievable!"

"I thought you said they were asleep." Rey complained irritably as she climbed off his lap and adjusted her clothing.

"They were." Ben answered defensively. "Well at least Tai definitely was…"

"Ben!" Rey rolled her eyes in exasperation. "You better go and see what trail of destruction our daughter has left behind this time."

"Me?" Ben questioned in alarm. "I can't right now."

"Why not?" Rey demanded as she followed the direction of his gaze. "Oh." She muttered as realisation dawned. "Pour cold water on it or something." She suggested grumpily before storming off to the belly of the ship.

Being a parent to two extremely force sensitive children was proving more challenging than either she or Ben had ever anticipated. It would have been difficult enough if they had ever managed to settle in one place, but with their nomadic lifestyle, it was proving taxing. Raising two kids on a ship wasn't ideal. They were four people sharing a small space. Even with all the modifications and improvements they had made, they were often falling over each other.

"MOM!" Tai bellowed again.

"Coming." Rey sighed as the door to her son's room slid open, revealing Tai's harassed expression as he tried to keep his chaotic younger sister under control. As usual Leia was bouncing off the walls.

Rey grabbed her three-year-old daughter by the back of her shirt and raised her up so she was dangling in front of her eye to eye. "Lee Lee, what have I told you about annoying your brother?" She scolded her.

"I wan' one, Mommy." Leia cooed.

"Want what?" Rey frowned as she glanced down at her annoyed son. "What is she talking about, Tai?"

"Nothing." Tai's gaze slid guiltily to one side. He clasped his hands behind his back and tried to look as innocent as was possible for an eight-year-old boy to do. He looked so much like Ben when he was being rebuked that it was hard for her to keep a straight face. His thick black hair, which despite extensive grooming, never seemed to stay tidy. It flopped in his face, forcing him to brush it out of his eyes.

"Tai!" Rey prompted him.

Tai began to fidget as he came under his mother's scrutiny. He shot his younger sister an annoyed glare. Leia, who was still dangling in her mother's tight grip, gave him a toothy smile. Like her older brother, she had inherited her father's thick black hair. Hers was pulled into two bunches, which made her look like she had two jug handles on either side of her head.

"I wannnee one. Mommy, pleeease." Leia began to whine.

"What, sweetheart?" Rey was completely mystified. "What do you want?" She asked as she let go of the back of her small daughter's shirt and balanced Leia against her hip instead.

Leia pursed her lips as she tried to wrap them around the difficult word she was trying to pronounce. What had Tai called the blue glowing stick thingy? "Sa….sab…saby?" She tried.

"Saber." Rey corrected her.

Leia nodded enthusiastically and clapped her hands in delight. Rey's eyes narrowed as she glared down at her son. "Tai." She said warningly. "We only let you keep the practice saber under strict instructions that you not use it when your sister is around."

"Its not my fault!" Tai protested hotly. "She's always around. Wherever I go. There she is. Nothing can keep her out of my stuff. Not when she uses the force."

"What's going on?" Ben had finally joined them after sorting his 'problem.'

Rey handed their chaotic daughter over to him as tiredness made her eyes droop. "They're all yours." She said to Ben, yawning to emphasise her point. "Good luck…I mean goodnight."

Ben held his giggling daughter under her arms as he watched the doors slide closed after his exhausted wife. He gave both children a stern look. "Whatever you did. Don't do it again." He scolded them.

Tai rolled his eyes while Leia just focused on levitating some of her brother's toys in the air. "What have I told you about using the force, Missy." Ben warned her as the toys fell to the floor when he broke her concentration. Leia pouted when he ruined her fun and folded her arms across her chest in imitation of her mother. "Aww you look so much like your mother when you do that." He said fondly as he tickled Leia under the chin, setting her off into another fit of giggles. "Right, kids, its time for some morning meditation." He announced cheerfully.

Tai groaned as he rolled his eyes again. "Can't we at least have breakfast first?" He complained.

"Nope." Ben ruffled his son's messy hair. "Meditation and then breakfast. And we all need to be quiet and on our best behaviour. Especially you, Missy." He told Leia as he carried her out of his son's room. Leia smiled at him mischievously, showing all her baby teeth.

Ben knew that look. He sighed again. It was going to be a very long morning.

To the sounds of his children bickering over breakfast in the background, Ben took over the controls of the ship and punched in the coordinates for Kashyyk. It was time for another pit stop and the kids always enjoyed visiting Uncle Chewie.

Ben relaxed in his seat as he let his mind drift back to the past. Six months after fleeing Exegol, Rey had fallen pregnant for the first time. To say they were both shocked was an understatement. They had always been so careful, neither of them wanting to start a family until they had found somewhere to settle permanently. Unfortunately, their fugitive lifestyle made that dream was nigh on impossible. They needed to stay under the radar for obvious reasons. Ben was a wanted man which meant they were constantly moving in case someone recognised him. They had several close shaves over the years, barely escaping with their lives when they were discovered living in the forests of Naboo two months after Sidious' fall.

Rey's unexpected pregnancy had been the catalyst for them reaching out to Chewbacca and asking for sanctuary on his home world so Rey would have somewhere safe to give birth. Despite Ben's fraught history with his surrogate uncle, the Wookie had put aside his own ambivalent feelings, and welcomed them with open arms. And Ben was glad he had. Tai's birth had been riddled with complications. He was breech-which meant he was facing the wrong way. At one critical point Ben thought he was going to lose Rey. She endured so much blood loss, the outcome was looking bleak. He didn't know what he would have done without Chewie's support. Ben's eyes grew moist just thinking about that difficult time. Thankfully the outcome had been good. Rey gave birth to healthy baby boy, who they named Tai, in memory of the only friend Ben had ever really made when he was training under Skywalker.

Rey took months to recover. They stayed on Kashyyk for over a year, with Chewie playing the doting uncle. It was pure restlessness that made them leave. So, when Tai was old enough to start walking on his own, they packed up their ship, bid a fond farewell to Chewie, promising to stay in touch, and headed off for another new horizon. And that's what they had been doing ever since, wandering the galaxy in search of the next adventure. When Rey had unexpectedly fallen pregnant again a few years later, they had returned to Kashyyk in a panic, expecting the worst. But this time the birth had gone smoothly and they welcomed a baby girl into their family, christening her Leia, after Ben's mother.

"Hey." Rey's greeting pulled him back into the moment. She leaned in for a kiss, her lips brushing his teasingly before pulling back.

"You're supposed to be resting." He chided her gently.

"With that noise?" Rey said playfully, referring to the bickering that was still going on in the background.

Ben couldn't believe he had managed to tune everything out as he reflected on the past. He sought Rey's lips again, his kisses becoming increasingly demanding as he tried to coax her back onto his lap again. She laughed, pushing him away gently. "We're heading to Kashyyk I see." She said with raised eyebrows.

"We were overdue for a visit." Ben smirked.

"Uh huh." Rey's laughter was like sunshine after a rainy day. Ben would never get tired of hearing it. "Let's just hope that Uncle Chewie is up for some babysitting."

"Let's hope so. Because I'm getting desperate." Ben murmured as he pulled her mouth back to his. He kissed her and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, with the promise of more to come.

A/N-thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed that little snippet of Ben and Rey's lives post Exegol. Please review if you have the time.