Her senses came back to her rather slow.
First, it was just feeling. She could feel the tubes and the probes at her body. The ones the kept her fluids up, and the ones the fed her nutrients. She could even feel the waste disposal. Rey could feel the cool sheet on her body, and she could feel when they got too hot. The way she was positioned on her pillow was less than ideal, but she couldn't move. She began to feel when the droids would come in every morning, afternoon, and evening to check and record her vitals. She felt every itch and every gust of air. The best discovery of her finally being able to feel was with the feeling of Ben.
Though she was unable to move—and she assumed the same for him, since he hadn't moved—their hands were interlocked. She could feel his heartbeat in hand and it was something she had found to be soothing to her, for it was beating in sync with her own. His had was on top, so she felt the weight of his rather large arm press down on hers, but she didn't mind. Their bodies barely touched at the waist, and at the foot. Rey longed to scoot in closer. He was so warm and the air was so cold. At night he would grow too hot and she wanted to move away. She could not do anything. At one point, her arm fell asleep, and it was pins and needles until a droid picked his arm up for another blood sample. Rey tried to use the Force to improve her situation, but she was too weak. She could not even sense the things around her.
The next senses that came to her were taste and, unfortunately, her mouth had the taste of when one slept with their mouth open. Droids would regularly brush her teeth, but the taste of the paste was not much better. The room smelled like rubbing alcohol and saline. Like a medical center. She guessed that the droids noticed her smell and taste return. Her body started to react naturally to things. Her mouth would water and her nostrils would flare. The medic droids began to poke at her taste buds and test it with flavors pastes. They seemed to be happy with this development, for, within the hour, people had come into the room. A person touched her face and someone place and kiss on her forehead. It made Rey happy to feel them there, but she hated not to know who. Or what they thought of Ben.
Finally, hearing returned to her. She could hear the IV drips and the whirring of the medical machines. She could hear the soft beeps of the medic droids. It was all like music to her ears after not hearing for so long. She could hear her soft breath and Ben's. His breathing gave away his deep voice. For so long, it was his bear thing that she focused on. In. Out. In. Out. Over and over again, for so long. Rey didn't know how long they had been here, but it felt like forever. She wished them that the process of end one way or another.
It was yet another forever before her eyes perceived light again. Rey could sense the light passed her lids. She could see when it turned on and off. She could see the blue lights on the Med Droids.
For another forever, she started at the light above her, listening to Ben's breathing, syncing it with her own.
Every few hours or so, she would drift off to sleep. She didn't know how long they lasted. They were dreamless and void of any comfort. She would awaken to the sound of the med droids or the rhythmic breathing of Ben. She would listen for a few hours and fall back to sleep. Every so often, pains from her body would jolt her awake. Her body ached and groaned, especially in her chest. Over and over this would happen until the next time she awoke, her eyes opened.
Ben squeezed her hand. He was awake too. The light was bright, but her eyes adjusted quickly.
✺
A droid outside alerted Poe to their awakening. It had been ordered not to enter the room so their reactions could be observed. The room was bolted and no one was allowed access without proper precautions. They were not sure of Ben's state. They were taking his transition to light with extra caution. Poe hurried to the Coruscant Medical Center as soon as he could get his speeder across the planet. He touched down on the landing pad and hurried out into the sunny atmosphere. He was flanked by Finn and his girlfriend, the former Resistance mechanic, Rose Tico.
Things had been going well. Since the fall of the Emperor and the destruction of Exegal, Resistance was reformed into the Republic, as it had been peacefully for hundreds of thousands of years before the Empire. Systems immediately flocked to the Republic, and it was moved back to the Core World of Coruscant, where a senate building and proper housing already existed. It was in the center of the galaxy. Military control was not a problem, for a peaceful government was what the systems wanted, and their own separate governments dealt with any skirmishes themselves. Poe, himself was elected the Chancellor of the Senate and he had been working tirelessly to get the galaxy straightened out since the fall of the First Order. Poe wished he had the help of the Jedi as the Republic before he did.
Of the topic of Jedi, Poe has also put a team on retrieving the true histories of the fall of the Jedi and the Republic, clearing names and revealing the true heroes of the galaxy. He was anxious about the return of Rey and "Ben". But if the Jedi Order was to be rebuilt, it would be them.
The three friends to Rey hurried to the med bay where the two force users had been in recovery.
There was a one-way mirror outside the room, but Poe knew that they would be able to sense them. He needed to see their behavior upon seeing each other, untainted by attention. He, instead of lead them to a conference room where a live security hologram of the room was playing.
✺
After so long of nothing, then everything and not being able to move, Ben's toes curled in a stretch. He gripped harder on to Rey's hand and got and good stretch in, fighting through the blinding pain in his chest. He sat up in the hospital bed. He turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide and aware and she too stretched off the hours and hours of stillness. The sight of his beautiful dyad made him forget the pain that pulsated through his entire body. He smiled widely and Rey smiled back and giggled.
"We're alive," she whispered, sitting up, looking into his eyes. He studied her face. The last time he had seen her, her face was bruised and bloodied. Now, her skin was soft and clean and scarred where it was once cut. Ben assumed the same for himself. Ben touched her cheek, softly stroking it, taking in the soft feeling of her.
"You saved me," he admitted.
Rey placed her small hand on his face and moved an inky curl out of the way. "You saved me."
He put his other hand on top her hers and she intertwined her fingers. "No, Rey. You saved me. You never gave up. You always saw the best in me. You never lost trust in me, no matter how hard I fought it."
A tear escaped her eyes and ran down her face, triggering the same response in Ben. They wiped each other's tears away. "Forget about me giving you my life, you giving me yours. You saved me too. You showed me a home when I never felt so alienated in my entire life. You showed me who I was. After my entire life of solitude, you taught me how to love."
Ben looked down, not being able to meet her eyes. "Love is a strong word."
She tilted his face to look at her again. "We are bonded in the force. We share a life force. I would die for you again, but Ben, I want to live for you. I love you."
He smiled and again, and so did Rey, as he pulled him into her, pressing a firm kiss to his lips. When she pulled away, she repeated, "I love you, Ben."
Instead of kissing her, Ben wrapped Rey in a bone-crushing hug, holding onto her for dear life. "I love you too. Thank you for everything." They held the hug for longer that they held the kiss, and when the pulled away, Rey placed one more peck on his lips.
He looked around. "Where are we?"
Rey glanced around the room too. "No idea. Surely we are safe." She picked up Anakin's lightsaber from where she dropped it on the bed upon waking up. "It's good to be prepared."
Ben felt around for Leia's lightsaber. When he found it, he held it in his hands and stared at it long and hard, regret painted on his pale face. "She never gave up on me either," Ben confessed. "I would have killed you on Endor if mom hadn't used the last of her to stop me."
Rey swallowed hard. "She was right. She saved you as much as I did. You are your mother's son and you are doing right by living in her memory. You are a Jedi, as your mother was before you. Just as she prayed for you."
Ben didn't say anything. He continued to stare at the saber. He ran his thumb along the grooves in the design. "Skywalker," he said.
"What?"
"The Emperor used to say 'as long as skywalker lives, there is hope'. My mother was the son of Anakin Skywalker she was powerful like him and strong like her mother. She was a Jedi. She and Luke were skywalkers. And so am I."
"You're right." Rey agreed. She seemed sad when she said it. Ben knew that she longed for a family and a name of her own. "You're a Skywalker."
Ben's face grew hot. He was taking a risk with what he was about to say. "It's yours too, the name. You deserve the Skywalker name. If you want it.
Rey's face lit up. Her eyes were wide with surprise and elation. "Ben, are you serious?"
He nodded. "After all the terrible things I have done, have I lied, or joked?"
Rey giggled and punched him lightly in the chest causing him to wince a bit. "I should hope you learn to joke a little bit."
"Rey Skywalker?" he asked. Rey nodded, another tear escaping.
"Ben and Rey Skywalker," she agrees, sealing their union in their own eyes.
They kissed again, still sitting in the medical bed. When the pulled away this time, Ben noticed the spider-like bruise that peaked out of the top of Rey's gown. He pulled down the nape of the white fabric and squinted in curiosity. "What's this?"
She placed her hand on his chest. "You have it too." He started to remove his gown to get a better look. He stopped.
"Do you think anyone's watching us?" Rey glanced around and shrugged. "We're in a hospital. Probably not. I'm curious to see it."
Ben nodded and untied the gown to his waist and worked his arms out of it. In the center of his chest was a deep, red-purple bruise. It was the color of a plum. No healthy skin insight. The bruises snaked up and faded in all directions. "No wonder I can barely breath."
Rey looked at the sight in horror and light touch her fingers to the tender skin. "Oh my."
She undid her own and worked the gown off her own chest. Hers was just as bad as Ben's. They stared at each other for a while. Ben wanted to kiss her, but the sight of their injury-hit him deeply. They put their gowns back on and laid back on their backs, staring at the ceilings.
"Was it lightning?" Rey asked.
"Or was it when he stole part of our life force."
"Or when we kept switching ours?"
"I don't know"
"It hurts."
"I wonder if it's gotten better or if it's just been like that."
"How long have we been healing?"
"I don't know."
"I want to get up."
"I still can't feel part of my leg."
"Have you checked it?"
"No."
"You should."
He sat up and pulled the sheets back to check. What they saw surprised both of them. His entire knee and down was a robotic prosthetic. He winced at the sight and his whole body felt numb. He tried to move the toes at the end of prosthetic—and it worked. "Ew."
"How did that happen?"
"The fall. When Palpatine threw me into the crevasse. I hit it on the way down, landed on it at the bottom. It was shattered. I just would figure they'd replace the bones."
Rey nodded. "I think they did replace your femur," she said, pulling up his gown and pointed at the long scar. Ben eyed it suspiciously.
"Yeah," he said, his voice a bit thick. "I think so."
"It won't be so bad," Rey promised.
"Mom used to joke about how I was the only Skywalker boy who had all their limbs," he reminisced with sad eyes. He picked at the leg.
Rey smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "Some things never change."
He chuckled and covered it up. "I really didn't expect that. I liked my leg."
"Did you check your belly. Where you got cut on the fall. I noticed in the lair."
Ben moved his hand to his lower abdomen and pressed a bit. "Sore."
She smiled again and pulled him into a long hug that they didn't separate from. They fell asleep like that.