Moment of Weakness

Trust No One

A/N: Sorry for the delay again today. It was a long day and I was having a rough time finding the motivation to do the final read-through before posting.

"These notes are indeed impressive," Ami, the chief editor of the Chicago office musses as she pans through the manuscript that Christie had sent to her a week ago. After reading through Rey's notes, Ami had requested a meeting with Rey and Ben which they had turned into a trip to visit Poe and Zori and try to smooth over the tension created by the sudden engagement.

Ami had worked for Alderaan publishing before Rey was hired as Leia's assistant five years ago and had always been one of Rey's favorite people in the small office. After Leia's retirement, Ami moved into her old job but they never found anyone that they wanted to promote to Editor leaving two holes in the company after Hux was fired.

"So what do you think Ami?" Ben asks, drumming his fingers on the chair impatiently as she reviews all of her notes she had already made with post-it notes. She was always very thorough and liked to comb over everything with a fine-tooth comb must to Ben's distaste.

"I think she'll be a great addition," she smiles and sits forward, clasping her long skinny, manicured fingers on the desk in front of her. "Obviously don't throw her in headfirst, give her time to get her footing, and learn the ropes, but I believe she'll be a vital part of the team before we know it."

"Thank you, Ami, I really appreciate it," Rey says politely.

"My pleasure dear," she smiles and hands the manuscript back to Rey. "Do you have time to grab lunch?" She addresses both of them, looking expectantly between them.

"Unfortunately, we don't," Ben lies because he has never really been fond of Ami and her nosiness into his personal life. For some reason, her friendship with Leia had given her the impression that she could poke and prod around in his life as she pleased, and Ben greatly detested that trait of hers. "I'm afraid we have a flight to catch."

"Another time then," she smiles and stands to say goodbye to both Ben and Rey.

Rey smiles victoriously as they make their way down to the car waiting for them on the street, Vicrul behind them and Kuruk waiting for them in the car. The meeting Ami had just confirmed her verticle movement in the company and her promotion to at least a Junior Editor. She hadn't had a ton of aspirations professionally, she was happy working as an assistant, but Ben's gentle pushing had given her enough of a spark to pursue this potential dream.

 As they approach the door in the lobby back out to the street, Ben slows, stopping Rey with him. "Kuruk, why aren't you in the car?" Ben asks looking at Kuruk who stands stoically by the door, his sunglasses pulled despite being inside and his hands clasped in front of him.

"There has been a change in the plans apparently. I tried to stop them with no success," Kuruk mumbles and motions for them to follow him. He leads them out the door to a black limousine waiting along the sidewalk and opens the door for them. Unlike usual, Ben gets in first, sensing trouble and wanting to scope out who's waiting in the car first, and Rey gets in slowly behind him. 

"There they are," Qi'ra chirps as they settle in the back seat and Vicrul sits next to Qi'ra while Kuruk walks back to the other to follow. Not that Qi'ra minded, Vicrul had always been her favorite and the rest of the men were all aware of that fact.

"You can't just show up whenever you please and expect us to follow you," Ben says in a clipped tone to Qi'ra.

"Well, you came to Chicago and didn't announce your presence to us," she narrows her eyes at Ben and then moves her attention to Rey. Her hair is pulled back tightly from her face and she wears a white button-up with a black jacket over top, black pencil skirt, and red pumps.