The New Normal

Portrait

"Are his eyes following you too?" Rey asked as she studied the portrait across from her. "Lovely couple." Rey squinted her eyes and leaned her head forward. "Men in this family have gorgeous locks and exquisite eyes, wow."

Hux cleared his throat, a bit uncomfortable, however, even he was taken in by the appearance of Anakin Skywalker. He had seen old holovids of the glorious Darth Vader and admittedly, Hux admired the dark entity. Afterall, Darth Vader had conquered many worlds with fear and strategy, not by throwing tantrums and being spoiled. The holovids and old paintings of Darth Vader shown in the Order, had him in his life support suit, so this was the first time Hux was meeting the man behind the mask.

"I wonder how he got that scar." Rey asked.

"During a fight against the assassin, Ventress."

Rey and Hux turned to the doorway as Ben, carrying a box, entered the room. "Lightsaber duel in Coruscant." Ben placed the box on the floor and glared in Hux's direction. "Will you be helping, or do you need more time to ogle my grandfather?"

"Yes, sir." Hux said as he scurried out of the room.

Ben walked towards Rey and placed a kiss on her temple. "You should be resting."

"I am, I was." Rey said as she looped her arm with Ben's and placed her head on his shoulder.

Ben, in turn, stared intently at his grandparent's portrait, fixating his eyes on his grandfather. As a child, he had seen pictures of his maternal grandparents, but he had pushed down anything about his grandfather before he became Darth Vader. Ben, mostly Kylo, had read what he could about the Sith Lord, wanting to mirror Vader's power. For Kylo, it was a dream, really, to come close to that of a powerful being like his grandfather.

Suddenly, Ben thoughts were broken by feelings of great dejection. Tears formed in his eyes when the feelings grew within him. He exhaled sharply and held Rey's hand. "What wrong?" Ben had failed to notice she had been softly crying.

Rey teared eyes turned to look up at the man next to her. She noticed her emotions had reached Ben and gently wiped a single tear escaping him. "Sorry." She sniffed. "I did not mean to make you cry."

"Not crying." Ben chuckled. "I'm only helping you express yourself." He led her to the nearest couch. Ben sat first and then sat Rey on his lap. Immediately Rey hid her face on the crook of his neck, not wanting to share her silly thoughts.

"Hello, in there." Ben amused. He started to rub small circles on Rey's back, trying to soothe whatever she was going through.

"It's the hormones. It's of little consequence."

"Nothing you do, or feel is of little consequence to me. On the contrary, everything you do is worth broadcasting on the holonet."

Rey entwined her hand in his and held them both against her heart. "She died of a broken heart and his love for her changed him."

Ben looked back at his grandparent's portrait. No secret it was painted in the lake house, as Ben recognized the balcony in the portrait from the one outside. His grandmother was clearly pregnant, maybe in her last month, wearing a champagne rose sleeveless, long dress; amethyst crystals embedded the bottom of the dress. She had accessorized the dress with an elegant amethyst arm cuff on her left arm. Her curled, brown hair was worn down, and on it, she adorned a champagne rose tiara with three amethyst crystals.

Compared to his grandmother, his grandfather wore his brown, leathered Jedi robes as he encircled his arm around the gorgeous woman next to him, with his hand meeting hers in the middle, both smiling and clearly in love with one another.

"We can't honestly say what happened. We weren't there." Ben stated.

"Died the day she gave birth, and he never got a chance to say goodbye."

Ben placed a kiss on Rey's hair. "It's too grim to think about saying goodbye. I don't think he would have been able to, even if he had the chance; I know I wouldn't. I would cradle you in my arms and wonder how my life could possibly continue without you, my light, and proceed to desperately wake you up. I would kiss you and silently thank you for loving me. Buuuut, not accepting the fact that you're gone, I would sacrifice myself if it meant you lived."

Rey tears flowed more. "Please don't say that." She playfully hit Ben's chest. "I can't imagine my life without the other part of my soul." Rey gave Ben a soggy kiss on the cheek. "I don't know. They look extremely happy and in love. It's sad to think they never had the chance to be a proper family."

One thing Ben had realized he had above his grandfather was the beginnings of a proper family. Sure, he knew Anakin could not have predicted the death of his wife, or the events that would happen afterwards, but Ben felt confidant Rey was not going anywhere. He had a chance of a proper family with the woman he loved. A chance to have some redemption for the darkness which had consumed him. Ben knew he belonged to the dark side but there was no harm to have something in the light, his love for his family.

Snoke had mocked his unworthiness into the dark side, calling him unbalanced. He was. He had accepted it the day Rey took his hand. Even if the light side called to him, he would always wear the mark of the dark one. It was Rey's love which kept him one foot away from complete darkness and, although he would never admit it, not even to himself, he appreciated having a bit of light in him.

"Oh my, it's true!" a robotic voice echoed in the room. The dyads turned to the door to find C-3PO and R2-D2 walking in. "See, I told you Princess Leia was telling the truth. Young, master Ben is back."

"Threepio? Artoo? What are you doing here?" Rey questioned as she and Ben stood up.

"Mistress Rey, how good it is to see you again!" Threepio glanced down at Artoo as he started making some exciting beeps. "Oh, my goodness! You are right Artoo, master Ben has gotten taller and scarier. Why, do you remember the time he could not reach his pod toy and threw quite a tantrum, breaking the other toys he did have? The princess gave him quite a talking to."

Rey giggled in Ben's direction at the image of little Ben using the force to get what he wanted.

"There you are!" Leia said as she too entered the room. "What are you doing in here? Like I said this is your home now however, this room is not available. It's my parent's old bedroom and the housekeepers have kept it intact, and I wish for it to remain like that. Rey, why are you not resting?"

"Sorry. Hux accidently came in here and when I was about to ask him to leave, we started checking out that portrait."

Leia sighed at the dreadful notion she would have to coexist with General Hux. Ben had agreed for her to live with them for a time but never was she made aware Hux was also going to be living in her parent's estate. "Why you brought that man here, I will never understand."

"Enemies need to remain closer." Ben dryly stated. "The Supremacy will be in Naboo's atmosphere until I remain here. I rather have my most untrusted general near me unless I want to wake up not finding my vessel up there."

"He's not that bad, Leia. He can be pleasant when he wants to be." Rey defended Hux, gaining an annoyed glare from Ben. "We gave him the room facing the dock. It's secluded and I don't think he would want to roam around nonchalantly while Ben is in here. Besides, Ben and Hux will most likely be busy up in the dungeon, I mean ship."

"Look, Artoo," Threepio exclaimed as he moved in closer to the portrait, "It's Master Anakin!"

Artoo beeped excited as he too moved closer to see his old master's face.

"Of course, I remember this day!" Threepio was insulted by his best friend's suggested of being forgetful. "Master Anakin had just come back from a mission in the moon Pantora. Queen Padme was extremely worried about him. Why, he had not communicated with anyone in days! When he arrived, the master was scolded dreadfully by the young queen. She went on to remind him it was not only him anymore; he had a family now and could not be so careless during missions. It went on for an hour with him not saying a word and only nodding his head in agreement."

Rey could not hold her in laughter, earning odd looks from those in the room. "The great Anakin Skywalker, most powerful Jedi, was scolded by his wife for being an idiot?!" Rey looped her arm in Ben once again. "You have more in common with your grandfather than I thought."