Ɓen was awakened by the sunlight pouring into his tent. He opened his eyes to find Rey looking at him through her beautiful hazel eyes. He blushed, and smiled faintly, it was obvious that she had been watching him. She was looking at him with such affection that he was surprised; even though he knew that she loved him. "Were you watching me sleep?"

She blushed fiercely. "The dawn woke me, but I didn't want to get up incase I accidentally woke you. You looked so peaceful."

He smiled. "That's because I was dreaming about you." He was still laying very close to her, so close that their noses were only inches apart. He smiled and moved closer to her, brushing his nose against hers.

She giggled softly before wrapping her arms around him and kissing his lips affectionately. Then she pulled away and moved closer to him, snuggling into his arms. "And I wanted to lay here with you for a little while longer," she confessed.

He smiled and kissed her forehead. Then he sighed and his expression grew serious.

"Rey, please don't tell my parents about what Snoke did to me, especially my mother. She already feels guilty for sending me to Snoke, I can't imagine what it might do to her if she knew the truth," he whispered.

"I won't tell them, Ben. I promise."

They held each other in silence for several moments, before Rey spoke quietly. "Can we sleep together from now on?"

Ben looked down at her, smiling a little shyly. "Of course we can, if that's what you want."

"It is." She smiled at him before reaching up to place a soft kiss on his lips. "I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered as she snuggled into his arms again.

"But what about your friends...?" he began. "They might not be very happy about me sleeping with you."

"Rose already knows and I imagine that she's told Finn," Rey answered. "She's happy that we're finally a couple."

"But Poe doesn't like me," Ben pointed out.

"I don't care what he thinks," Rey answered. "It's none of his business what I do with my husband."

"I just don't want to come between you and your friends," Ben answered running his fingers through her hair.

"If Poe is truly my friend, he will be nice to you for my sake. I care about my friends, but I can't let anyone come between us. You're my husband and our relationship is more important than my friends accepting me. If he doesn't accept my husband, then he doesn't accept me. We are one."

She touched the scar on his chest. "I feel awful about the way I treated you before. If I had known what you had been through I never would have ..."

"Shhh shhhh." He rubbed her back. "Don't beat yourself up about it."

"But, your life was filled with pain and instead of helping I just made it worse."

He moved her hair out of her face. "No you didn't. You did help me, you have given me a will to live, something I didn't have for a long time. And now you have given me your heart, what more could I ask for?"

She slipped into his arms.

After they held each other in silence for several moments, Rey sighed deeply and sat up. "I should see if they need any help with breakfast." She took his hand and placed a soft warm kiss in his palm, then she stood up and turned to leave.

She went over to Finn and Rose who were preparing breakfast by the fire.

"So, did you talk to him?" Rose asked softly, after a few moments.

Rey nodded.

"What's been troubling him?" Finn asked in a low tone.

"Well... I'm not sure if he would want me to tell anyone," Rey answered.

"Come on Rey..." Finn pressed, but Rose placed her hand on his forearm and her eyes met his.

"Finn, I know that you're used to Rey sharing everything with you. But this isn't her secret to share. It's Ben's, if he wants us to know, he'll tell us."

Finn nodded. "You're right, I'm sorry. I suppose I wouldn't want you to tell everyone else something that I told you in private." He turned towards Rey. "Can you at least tell me if he's okay? I'm worried about him, he's my friend."

Rey nodded. "He's fine, I think he just needed to talk to someone. He's not used to having anyone to share his troubles with."

Finn nodded. "Well at least he has you now. I know that you'll be there for him... So will I, because you're the closest thing to family that I have and since he is your husband that makes him family too. I will always be there for my family."

Rey hugged him. "Thank you Finn."

Rose smiled at Finn. "Have I ever told you that you're the nicest person I've ever met?"

He smiled affectionately at her.

Poe stopped what he was doing and came over to them. "So, your talk must have gone pretty well considering that you decided to sleep with him."

"Poe, he's my husband. We should be able to share a tent if that's what we want, " Rey answered.

"Just because he's your husband doesn't mean that you have to sleep with him. He's a traitor and you've chosen him over us," Poe answered.

"If you were married wouldn't you want your wife to sleep with you? I shouldn't have to choose between my husband and my friends. Just because I've fallen in love with him doesn't mean that I don't care about you and Finn and Rose, I wouldn't betray any of you," she replied. "I know that you don't trust him. But if you care about me at all, then please try to be nice to him. What effects my husband effects me, what hurts him hurts me."

"Fine. I will try to be nice to him, only because you're my friend, " Poe replied, going back to his work tending to his horse. But he was still acting like Rey had betrayed everyone by falling in love with Ben.

Rey, Finn and Rose continued working on breakfast. They all turned to look as Ben emerged from his tent and came over to join them. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Finn replied, trying to act casual.

Ben sat down on the ground. Rey went over to sit beside him, timidly resting her head on his shoulder. He looked at her for a moment before wrapping his arm around her and rubbing her back tenderly.

"Listen Ben, you don't have to tell us about your past or why you joined Snoke. We're sorry if it felt like we were interrogating you or something last night. It's just that now that we know you personally all of the stories about you betraying the kingdom don't seem true. And I realized that I was taking everyone's word for it without hearing your side of the story. It doesn't seem fair that everyone labeled you as traitor without even hearing your side of the story," said Finn.

Ben nodded. "All of you are the first who's even bothered to ask. I'm sorry... it's just not an easy thing to talk about."

"Well, you don't have to tell us," said Finn. "I trust you, you're my friend and since my brother died I don't have any family, so I care about all of my friends as if they were my family. That includes you Ben."

"Thank you Finn," he said, then he sighed. "When I was thirteen, my parents sent me to train with Snoke, because he was the best swordsman in Alderaan. After I had been training with him for a year, he told me about his plan to take over the kingdom. He told me that if I served him; fought for him, he wouldn't hurt my family. But if I refused he said that he would kill everyone I loved. And now I... I'm worried that he will, because I have betrayed him."

Rose hugged him, while Finn patted his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ben," said Rose.

Finn nodded, "me too. I promise that I will do everything I can to help protect Rey and your parents from Snoke. He won't get near them if I have anything to say about it."

"Thank you, Finn."

"You did all of this to protect your parents?"

They all turned to see Poe standing there watching them.

Ben nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so quick to judge you when I barely even knew you," Poe said.

"It's okay, Poe," Ben replied.

Poe shook his head. "No it isn't. I'm sorry for everything I said," he looked at Rey. "Both of you. Rey is my friend and if she trusted you, then I should have trusted her judgment enough to do the same. But if what you say is true, then we need to hurry, Snoke will stop at nothing to get his revenge."

They all nodded gravely. They ate their breakfast quickly, and then they set out, traveling through the trees at a steady pace.