"Ɓen, can I ask you something?" she said as they ate the stale pieces of bread.

He nodded.

"If you were the knights' leader, why are they so loyal to Snoke? Why didn't they help you?"

Ben sighed. "Snoke has twenty knights who are completely loyal to him, along with the six knights who were led by me, until I left. I know they would help us if they could, but they're too afraid of Snoke and with good reason. They were taken even younger than me, I couldn't let them go through what I did so I took the blame for everything. But they were made to watch as I was punished and I know that it scared them that they blamed themselves for it. I love them all as my brothers and I wouldn't ask them to put themselves in danger for my sake."

"You have a good heart, I wish that everyone could see you as I do," she whispered.

"I've never felt comfortable telling anyone this, until now." Ben looked at the hard, cold stone walls of the cell thoughtfully. "When Snoke discovered that I was taking the blame of my knights, he said that I was weak and foolish for doing so."

"Ben, it takes a lot of strength to do as you did and I'm sure that your knights look up to you for it."

"I know," he whispered. "I realized that yesterday when you saved me from Snoke."

She smiled, and leaned her head on his shoulder knowing that sometimes a simple action such as this could express things that she didn't have the words to describe.

He took her hand, seeming to know exactly how she felt. He was about to whisper words of affection in her ear and kiss her tenderly, when a soft knock at the door interrupted him.

He stood up and Rey followed him as he walked over to the door. It swung open to reveal the young knight holding a small bundle.

He looked around behind him, then passed the bundle to Rey. "It was all that I could do."

Rey smiled at him and nodded her thanks.

The boy turned to leave, but Ben stopped him. "Christopher, wait." He stopped and Ben pulled him into a hug, "thank you."

Christopher looked at him with tears in the corner of his eyes. "You've always been a brother to me Ben, and you always will be."

Ben patted his shoulder, smiling slightly. But he couldn't say anything, if he did then his voice would reveal the tears that he was hiding. Tears that for a small part were caused by pain and sadness, but for the most part were caused by joy. Finally he recollected himself well enough to speak. "You will always be my brother too."

"You shouldn't have turned yourself in to save me," Christopher said.

"You're worth it to me, besides if I hadn't I wouldn't have met my wife." He gestured to Rey. "This is my wife, Rey."

"You got married?" Christopher asked, surprised but obviously happy. He hugged Ben tightly.

Ben nodded. "I'll tell you the whole story when we have more time."

Christopher nodded. "It's so nice to meet you, my lady. As far as I am concerned you married my brother and that makes you my sister. I promise I will love and protect you as if you were of my own blood."

Rey smiled at him. "Ben talks about you all of the time, you really are just as wonderful as he described."

He smiled back. "Well I don't remember my parents, but Ben was a good big brother to me. He made me who I am. I have to go now, but I'll come back to check on you later on."

Ben nodded. "Goodbye, brother."

Christopher nodded, then he closed the door and locked it.

Ben turned to look at Rey and she smiled at him. "You have their loyalty, that is greater than fear. Even greater than that, you have their love."

Ben nodded. "I know they would help us if they could, but doing so would put them in danger from Snoke. I can't ask them to do that."

Rey nodded, she could never do anything to put her friends in danger. She looked down at the things that Christopher had brought for them. "I need to redress your wounds, they need to be properly cleaned."

He nodded and went to sit on the bed. He knew that arguing would be pointless, even though he didn't mind. It would only mean that he would get to be close to her. Though he knew that the healing ointment would reignite the burning pain of his open wounds, her gentle touch would make it worth all the pain he was sure to feel.

Rey sat down next to him, she looked at his bandages they were covered in dried blood. Luckily she could see no sign of any fresh bleeding. She untied the knot that was holding the bandages in place, then she removed the dirty bandages and set them aside.

Rey looked at the open wounds, they weren't bleeding freely but there was a slow steady flow of blood. She dipped a scrap of cloth into the cleaning ointment. "This is going to sting really badly," she told him gently.

"I know," he whispered.

Rey began cleaning his wounds, she noticed that he was gripping the sheets next to him in a tight fist, trying not to show his pain. She tried to clean the wounds as gently as she could but even the slightest touch of the ointment stung his open wounds. When she got to the deepest wound, he inhaled sharply and squirmed slightly.

"I know it hurts but if you keep bleeding like this..." she gestured to the blood stained cloth. "It could become serious."

"If it's suppose to make it better... then why does it have to hurt so much?"

Rey gently lifted his chin so that he would look at her. He leaned back, resting his head against her chest and peering up at her with his big brown eyes. "If you don't hold still, I'm going to stop being gentle."

He smirked, "that was gentle?" he teased. He reached up placing his hand on the back of her head and before she could respond, he pulled her into a kiss.

She didn't respond at first, but then she surrendered as he passionately brushed his lips against hers. She leaned down closer to him, pouring her affection for him into the kiss. She moved her hand, gently running her fingertips along his neck.

After a moment, she pulled away and looked at him. "I know you're trying to distract me, but it's not going to work," she said, even though it was far from the truth. She didn't want to stop kissing him or holding him like this, but she knew that she had finish tending to his wounds first or they would just get worse.

He reached up and gently caressed her cheek. "It's not?" he asked, smiling at her.

That smile, she thought, it really was working but she had to focus on taking care of him.

"No," she whispered. Then she placed one last kiss on his lips, before she returned her concentration to cleaning and bandaging his wounds.

"Does it feel better?" she asked in a soft voice as she secured his bandages.

"Yes, thank you sweetheart," he whispered.

Rey smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist. She rested her head on his shoulder as she hugged him from behind.