I Hope (My Love)

Rey twisted in her bed, finding no comfort in her bed, even with the dozens of pillows surrounding her. She still could remember Jakku, it wasn't something she would ever forget. Her home was just an AT-AT walker in the outskirts of the Graveyard of ships, with scratched walls marking the days she spent waiting for her parents to come back for her with no answer, no success. She had had more time with them in this life, 15 whole years until a car accident stole them away, and she wondered if they ever knew what their family had gone through long ago. Maybe that was why her father never let her close to her grandfather, but he never really spoke about his family.

When they died, though, he was her only close to relative, and became her legal guardian. Sheev Palpatine paid for her every need to be met, for people to watch over her, and for her education, but they only ever met twice. Once in the funeral, and on the day of her graduation, mere weeks before his death. He was a complete stranger, but a stranger who left her with more billions of dollars or properties than she would ever be able to spend in dozens or lifetimes.

Rey gave up, finally, and tossed her sheets aside, leaving the bed and just padding to her office. She had to head back to the set in two hours, where Ben Solo would be waiting to discuss the script and finally give his answer, and she didn't know what to expect. What if he wasn't her Ben? What if he was just another Ben Solo, just coincidentally named the same as the other half of her?

She didn't want to think of it, and just stepped into her closet, running a finger through her clothes and trying to find something soft, that she'd look good at. Even if it wasn't him, if he wasn't the one, she wanted to impressed Ben Solo. She wanted to make him say yes.

Would fake eyelashes be too much? Probably. She wasn't going to an interview, not officially. Sure, as a composer, Ben Solo would want to know more about the story, and she'd need to explain a lot to him, and they'd bounce ideas back and forth, or something like that. Rey had never directed a film before, or even talked to a composer, she was just a writer until she decided to do this. Rose was the one who actually knew what they were doing and guiding her along.

But the Dolce & Gabbana shoes were okay. They made her legs look amazing, and no one would really think a lot about them. And her hair. She should do something with her hair. Did it smell good? Maybe she should wash it. Yes, she'd do that now.

Ben tapped his foot along with the recording of the piano playing around him in the room. He'd need to be in set in one hour and hadn't even closed his eyes through the night. His mind was running a thousand mile a minute, and he couldn't stop counting the minutes until he was finally meeting her. Rey. Rey Palpatine.

This was her theme she was making now. A bit playful, filled with hope and underlined with adventure, and the force. The force had always been strong within her, and he wanted her theme to show it.

Ben was trying to keep his hopes low with no success. In the back of his mind, there was a small reminder. It could be someone else. Maybe this was a different Rey Palpatine, and life was playing with him. But still… He couldn't stop thinking that this was it, and that she knew who he was. Three months of insistence to reach him couldn't be just something that a random person would do without a goal in mind, without something to say, something to show.

So when the watch on his wrist told him time was ticking, he tried his best to dress up for her eyes, to smell good and to feel good. He wanted this day to be in her mind forever and for her to never forget about how much he cared, and if that meant spending 20 more minutes than he usually did fixing his hair and look like he was going on a date, so be it.

Their crew was filming in a studio he'd already visited once - when Hux was having a fling - and he was welcomed by the same girl who'd knocked on his door with the script.

"Good morning, Mr Solo," she said, looking clearly tired, and he wondered if this was really the time she arrived or someone had made her rise early so someone could talk to him. "Can I offer you a coffee? Miss Tico and Miss Palpatine aren't here yet."

Ben tried to mask his disappointment, and quickly accepted it, following the girl - Zorii - to a coffee station right beside the catering table, and everything sat there looked really good.

"Rey wanted us to have the best experience ever, so we can look back in time and say we had a good time in set even if the film flops, so the food is amazing and the coffee is divine," she told him before turning to the barista. "I want a Zorii and a Rose Tico, please."

Ben raised his eyebrows. So they had their own coffee names? How did that even work?

"That's nice of her," he decided. "How would it flop, though, from what I've read, it's good."

From where he read, the scrip was simply telling a big part of their story together. His past life, his mistakes and the moment he fell in love with Rey… It was all there.

Zorii shrugged.

"Well, this is Rey's directorial debut," she explained. "So, she's nervous. I don't know a lot about it, but from what I know, she dreamt with all of it and wouldn't let anyone change anything about the plot. Kylo and Kira's story is her baby. That's why she's financing the whole thing for herself."

He didn't hear anything after that. She dreamt with it. All of it.

It was her, his Rey. And more than, she knew who he was, and had dreamt with him just like he'd dreamt with her, just like he was tormented with the image of her in his head, but the lack of her presence in his life. He could barely breathe.

"What I need to know is," a male voice said behind them, startling him, and he turned around to see who it was. "Does Kylo know?"

Ben's heart was so loud he wondered if anyone else could hear it. She was just like he remembered. Her face, her eyes, her body, her chestnut hair - finally lose, finally falling onto her shoulders and framing her beautifully - and her lips, smiling gently at the actor who resembled him more than he'd seen someone do.

Suddenly everything else just felt obsolete, and she was the only one in the world who mattered, and every cell of his body was just screaming her name.

"He did, from the start. From before that, even," she explained, calmly. "Kira is his other half, something that was part of him ever since the very beginning. She's what pulls him to the light, and the balance in him. Even if they aren't lovers yet, they are two parts of the same soul waiting to become one again."

The actor said something, but he wasn't paying attention. Rey was the only one that mattered.

And then, her eyes met his, and her whole body stood still. He could see it, the recognition in her face, and how a small gasp just passed her red-painted lips. Ben wanted to walk to her and kiss her, take her away and hold her until they were one and the same.

"Ben," she smiled largely, and God kill him if it wasn't just like the last time he saw her, coming back to life in his arms.

His muscles relaxed like he had been holding every tension in the world until now and had just let it go, and a voice calling his name by his side broke the spell, making him turn at it.

"I hope you two don't mind," a Vietnamese woman looked up at him. "But I really think we should take this to my office."

Rey left without even saying a word, and he followed her without even thinking or saying anything to the confused people around them. 'Office' was a bit of a broad term, as he just entered a large trailer with Rey's name on it, with a desk, a bathroom and a bed.

"I'll leave you two to figure your whole…" the woman looked for words. "Soulmate stuff. Just don't make too much noise or people will come to investigate."

He didn't say anything, and neither did Rey when she turned to look at him.

"Rey," he sighed, finally.

He was home, at last.