Conflicted: A Reylo Fanfic

Captive

Rey ran alongside Ben, hand in hand, as they approached his shuttle. As they drew to a halt on the ramp and looked back toward the bunker to see if they'd been spotted, they noticed the trail of blood red footprints that led in a straight line right to them, and they laughed.

"Can't sneak anywhere on this damn planet," Rey grumbled through her laughter, but Ben quickly sobered.

"Do you want to go back?"

She turned, placing herself deliberately in his arms and looked up at him affectionately. "No. I don't."

"You know what they'll think if we don't."

Rey glanced back once more, anxiety ratcheting up inside her, though not for the reason Ben likely thought. "I'd rather they think they know what we're doing and not hear us, than hear us and know what we're doing."

Ben frowned, taking a moment to decipher her meaning, then his brows lifted. "Do you mean...?"

"Yes, I do," she answered softly, meeting his gaze squarely as her heart hammered against her ribcage, and for no cause related to their recently completed dash.

He swallowed thickly. "I didn't think..."

"I don't know when I'll see you again. Or if..."

He shook his head. "Rey..."

"No, Ben... It's just— That's how it is. I'm not asking you to change anything. And I'm not certain we would be in any less danger if you did." She gazed up at him, studying his face with serious intent. "You're a target of the Resistance. I'm a target of the Empire. Neither of us knows what will happen and I won't let us make promises to each other that we may not be able to keep."

She watched as he bowed his head low, knowing he was very uncomfortable with the turn of this conversation. But she'd been thinking about this a lot and her mind was set. She knew what she wanted. She knew the associated dangers and risks. And she didn't care. Other things were just more important to her.

"The hard truth is that we may not ever see each other again," she insisted gently, voicing the fact neither of them wanted to confront. "Or it may be a very long time. But we have now. We're here now."

To her dismay, Rey felt hot tears invade her eyes as she realized just how fleeting that state of affairs really was.

"I don't want to squander that," she whispered. "Do you?"

He shook his head, pressing his forehead to hers and breathing deeply with overwhelming emotions.

"I don't know how I can leave you tomorrow," he confessed softly, his voice breaking.

"You don't have to," she murmured. "I can do the leaving if you need me to."

"You're so much stronger than me..."

"No... Just more stubborn."

He smiled, but there was such sadness to it. "I love you so much, Rey."

Reaching up, she cradled his jaw in her palm and rose on her toes to press her cheek to his, murmuring into his ear, "Then show me, Ben."

She felt the way his heart thrilled to hear her use that name, and the way another part of his anatomy responded to her suggestive tone. He groaned deep in his throat as he kissed her, dragging her up against his chest and losing himself in her embrace.

...

Rey lifted her head a fraction of an instant after Ben did, alert to the abrupt change in mood that the beeping tone wrought within him. Before she could ask what the sound meant, though, he was rising swiftly from the bunk in which they lay, snagging his pants from the floor as he went. Momentarily distracted by the lovely sight of his retreating backside, Rey's awareness of Ben's anxiety put her on edge even before it turned into outright alarm.