~*~

   Ben rushed straight to the place he knew he would find her. And just when the tiny sparks of water blinded his eyes, did he stop.

  
   He took a deep breath, and ran a hand across his forehead to wipe away the sheen of sweat that had settled over his skin. The hood had fallen off his head as he was running, his hair was messy and snuck against his face.
   His legs wanted to carry him farther, until his eyes would meet her. But something held him in place.

   Fear. The fear that it was not real. The fear that the moment will pass so quickly, he will never know what happened.

   It was fear, and something more. Something that was too strange for him. He was nervous. Happy. Afraid.
   Overcome.

   Taking a deep inhale, he pushed his feet to go farther, despite the knot he felt in the pit of his stomach. Despite the heart that was mercilessly hammering in his chest.

   He wanted to run, to see her, to hold her in his arms, to let his tears and kisses wash her shoulders. And he wanted to stay, and make this moment as long as possible.
  
   His hand pushed aside the bushes from one side, and he stepped through the thick of leaves that gave way to the shimmering surface of the water.

   And what he saw next took his eyes. The red setting sun bled into the fiery lake, making a sparkling path across the water that led to the sky.

   And in the middle of that pool of gold, was someone. Someone who was making him want to rush straight away.

   But instead, he took his time admiring her. His Rey of sun amongst a million others.

   She was wading through the water that deflected the blazing sky above, not too close to the brim, yet not too far.

   She must be afraid, he thought. But she yearns to swim deeper, he could feel it as she looked over to the spreading water.

   He paced on the shore, his tread soft as if the mere shake of it would cause Rey to turn her head and take notice of him gazing at her.
   And he was not ready for that yet.

   Slowly, he let his hands fall next to his body, numb. He was suddenly nervous, something he rarely felt, something that scared him.

  It had been that kiss. That first kiss she had given him that had stirred something inside him. Something he didn't have the strength to deny.

   He approached the lump her clothes made on the stony shore and instinctively reached down to touch the white tunic that covered the others. He decided he would be off somewhere in the forest soon, to give her privacy. But he dearly loved to watch her bathed in those warm colors that matched her heart. And the low ripples she sent through the water as she moved her hands through it seemed to be calling him to her.

   But he could see her turning and wheeled around to go. His heart began racing, and he could feel his face sweat.

   In his haste, he stepped on a branch, making it creak under his weight. And this time, he turned his head to see her do the same, surprise all over her face.

   But she didn't seem angry. Instead she smiled and swam toward the shore, stepping and standing up. The small waves she sent before her lapped against the shore, and as she stood to her feet it rippled around her waist. He averted his eyes at first as she emerged from the water, thinking she might be naked, but then realized she was wearing a light colored dress that hid everything that needed cover.

   "Stay with me." she said as she held out a hand for him. Drops were falling from her soaked hair that, as he has just noticed, was caught back in those three buns. And her skin glistened in the sun that cast a golden light around her.

   And he began to fumble at his torn leather tunic, throwing it down along with the belt that strapped it, revealing the loose shirt underneath.
   He jumped in the water after her, dressed as he was, and waded to her side. At first, the cold water prickled at his skin, but he didn't care a bit as she came to welcome him.

   The hug she gave him took him by surprise. And the way he could feel her wet skin through the thin tunic she wore sent shivers down his spine.
   His eyes widened, and his arms remained in the air, somewhere between spreading open in welcome and wrapping around her.

   But Rey had buried her head in the croon of his neck and the tears that fell in torrents from her eyes mingled with the water that wet his skin.

   She was shaking violently, and she clung to him for dear life, his white linen tunic balled in her fists. Why was she crying, though? He was there now, with her.
   Gently, he nestled her better in his arms, and his hand stroked her three buns.

   "Shh. I'm here now, Rey." and he stopped to nudge her head, giving her a few more moments to calm. But the shakes that racked her frail body would not cease. And it was then when his hands passed along her ribs that he realized how thin she was. "My sweet," he whispered.

   But she cut him off, as a barely legible answer came out with her sobs. "I...I missed you!"

   His hold on her tightened in response, pressing her impossibly close to him. And tears wet his eyes too. "I won't leave you again. I promise." but he knew it was a lie. "I want to make those moments ones of the best, Rey. Will you help me?"

   And finally her sobs seemed to subside as she leaned back to meet his gaze and nodded weakly.
   His hand slid beneath her chin and nudged her head up so that he could look her in the eyes. Those hazel eyes he loved now missed the gleam they had in the past, that spark they have borne ever since she had realized he had turned.

   This time, though, it was him that smiled first as his knuckles brushed against her jaw up and down, softly, as if the mere touch of his hand could break her.

   "Rey, let's swim farther." Ben told her. And it had the desired effect. Maybe she realized that it was not worth grieving before the sentence. Those moments were worth memorizing.

   And she looked earnestly in the distance. How she would have loved to be there... But she had no idea how to swim.

   "Ben..." She began, hesitantly. "I can't swim."

   He suppressed a laugh, before extending a wet hand to her cheek, to wipe the remaining tears away. It left a trail of fresh water across her jaw, that dripped from her chin in tiny droplets.

   "I'll hold you." he continued to caress her cheek as he gazed into her eyes. "Do you trust me?"

   She was hesitant again. But her answer was, "I do."

   There were so many questions he wanted to ask, so many things he did not understand. Yet he could not seem to get feed up with looking upon her, beholding her in the sunlight. And he could not say how much he would be going to miss her, up there in the Force heaven. And how his soul would tear apart when he'll see her so far from him. And how he would be happy for her own happiness, and would do his best to protect her as much as was in his power.
   But he would not think of it now.

   He scooped Rey up in his arms and she leaned her head on his shoulder, right beneath his chin. Had the water not helped him hold her, he would have dropped her on the ground. Now was not time for questions and answers, they would have time for them, somewhere in the future...

   The water was coming up to his chin by the time he stopped to watch the sun set over the forest, the fiery light slowly trickling across the lake, as if it were absorbed by the green line that divided the lake from the sky. The same he felt about his life.

   But her gentle nudge against his jaw brought him back to where he was. She seemed to be thinking the same, at the same time trying to feel him nearer. And his mouth nuzzled her hair in return, feeling her warmth, her sorrow, her joy.

   "Did I ever tell you how much I love the water?" her dreamy voice broke the silence, as her fingers ran along the clear surface of the lake.

   His eyes drifted to hers. "I don't think so."

   Right now, he felt like he was holding a child who was experiencing something for the first time in his life. A child thrust into something new and dangerous, dependant on his protection. "But I guess that's why, because you have lived so much on Jakku, you've never had the chance to truly taste it."

   "Yes...what times were those... It seems so far away. The day I left my home planet."

   But he gave her an understanding smile. "I think I have found my home planet."

   She drew her head back to look at him. "Weren't you born on Chandrilla?"

   "My home planet is any planet where I'm with you, Rey. I've changed it many times. But since I found you, I found stability. You give me something I can believe, Rey. You made my heart a better place."

   And the same words, same actions, got stuck in his throat. He wanted to kiss her, to make her his. Not yet, not yet, that voice spoke in his head again.

   "Rey..." he began again, as a new thought flashed in his mind. A memory he had wanted to ask her about. A memory that had clawed at his heart ever since he had encountered it. But he was afraid to voice his thoughts. What if she didn't love him as he loved her? Even so, the words stumbled out of his mouth. "I had a vision on the day they got me out of the cell. On the day I saw you."

   She tilted her head, urging him to go on.

   "We... We had a child, Rey. In my dream we had a little girl."

   "Ben..." She cut him off.

   And he could see clearly the distress in her voice, the grief that pained her face. But he thought it was only the sudden news, the fact that, maybe, she had never imagined herself with child, so he rambled everything he had seen. "She was real, Rey. I saw her when my parents appeared to me as Force ghosts. I saw her and you. And I held you both in my arms and swore to never let go. Rey, it was true. More true than a dream." he said earnestly.

   "Ben, listen, please." She interrupted again. And her eyes were about to break with witheld tears. "I've always wanted a little girl...with your soft raven locks... But, are you sure she was mine?"

   His look of confusion soon gave way to fear. How could that not have been their daughter? He had been sure on it. "Rey, what do you mean?"

   "Ben... You see, that wound had left me barren." and she brought her hands on that place with a slosh of water. "So... Yes, maybe she was yours... But with someone else." She looked back as she struggled to suppress her tears.

   "No, Rey!" he said desperately as his free hand grasped hers. "There's only you. And I... I've never been with anyone before. I'd never..." he let out a grunt that finished the sentence.

   His hand went under the water to the place she had mentioned. And he heard her gasp as he lightly touched her there, on her abdomen, the scar still a relief on her skin that would mark her forever.

   "Does is hurt?" he asked as he retreated his hand. But to his surprise, she grasped it and placed it back, holding it tightly.

   Slowly and steadily, his thumb began to caress that place. And he could hear her sigh softly. But she was so thin... Worse than the girl he had met back then, on Takodana, the fugitive of Jakku.

   "How long has it passed since the surgery?"

   "Two weeks, I guess. And who told you that you are barren?" he tried to deny the feeling of loss that slithered in his heart. He tried to push aside the thought that he had once wanted a family with her, and still did.

   "The medics." She said.

   "Yeah... And do you believe it?" he knew how foolish this sounded, yet he couldn't help it. It was still a bit of hope he clung to.

   "Ben, it is confirmed."

   "But the wound seems healed. Like, completely healed."

   Rey placed her hand on his shoulder, and prepared for the news she was going to deliver him. "That is about Annika, Ben. And about the Force."

   She watched as his mouth gaped and closed in confusion. So she decided to spare him the shock of it.

   "That's why I could open the bond. And why I could unlock the doors. She had taught me the force. And she had cicatrized this scar that would have weakened me much longer." she placed her hand over his, where it still rested on her abdomen.

   "Then I... I owe her some thanks. For healing you. And for everything."

   But most of all, he didn't get to tell Anni how much she meant to him, what he had in his plans for her. That little child somehow reminded him of his childhood, something he wanted to keep her far from. "How is she? Is she well? She was so weak the last time I saw her, does she eat enough?"

   But Rey gave a snort of a laugh at his obvious concern.

   "Ben..." She reached out and cupped his cheek. "She is well. There is nothing the resistance does not do for her. She's everyone's favorite there." but the last words drew a sad look from Ben. "Don't worry, she didn't forget you. In fact, she speaks about you all the time. Every day, when we go into the forest, and every night, when we talk before we fall asleep. When I was at my worst, she had stood by my side, and had talked me about you. In all that haze during my coma, she was there by my bed, and had been my salvation. She, and you. The way I pictured your face in my dreams after the stories she told me with the one she saw as her father figure." her hand drifted from his face to his hair. Now he was not afraid to be touched anymore, she realized. Not even after two weeks in prison.

   And all he did was place his chin on top of her head inhaling her scent, too stunned to say a word. Until he could feel her begin to shiver, and realized that the sun was almost down, its light almost bled into nightfall.

   "You're cold, we should go and dry."

   "No," she protested. "I want to stay." and he could feel the regret in her voice, could feel it in her body as she clung to him. And he felt it, too. Felt that, if he would go out of the water, everything would end.

   "I don't want you to catch a cold. Not in your state." and he turned around and carried her back, in spite of her weak attempts to resist. But a cold was the last thing she cared about. "I'm glad that you freed me." he whispered in her hair when the water  has lowered to his knees. "I come to realise that I've been living for these moments the past two weeks."

   She just smiled as she looked over his shoulder at the golden line that bordered the trees. And she wished she could stay there with him, for the rest of her life. She wished she had wings, to take flight up in the soaring skies.

   For a moment, she wished her life was that of a normal girl, living a normal life, not having to run around an ever lasting evil that threatened the galaxy.

   But it was all left to her imagination. And to those moments of freedom that were slipping like sand through an hour glass, right before her eyes.

~Thanks for reading! ~

A/N: just a little notice that the next chapter will be the direct continuation of this one, since they were meant to be a whole.