He is going to her.
It has been 100 days since he touched her, kissed her or held her.
100 days since their children have felt her embrace. They need her as bad as he does. They are strapped in, ready to go on an adventure.
He is going to her.
She is going to kill him.
"Papa! Where are we going? Papa! You going to fly us? Papa! Where's Mama? Papa! Can we go see Mama now? Papa?"
He's seriously considering changing his name and not telling them.
They have simply worn him out.
He thinks to himself, here I am, apparently the strongest Jedi in the galaxy. I have ran an army. I've conquered worlds. I've fought the Knights of Ren and won.
But two little girls have completely kicked my ass.
They never stop. Never stop running, climbing, playing or talking. They want to eat constantly. They fight non stop, especially over him. Leia is unwilling to share her Daddy with her twin.
They are a handful. He loves it. But he's exhausted.
He spends almost all night one in each arm. He puts them in their bed but they always come looking for him, one crawls up one side and one the other side.
Then he's pinned.
They need their mother, he needs his wife and to be able to sleep all night.
"Shhhh…..Papa has to think, okay? What did we talk about? Talk amongst each other. No fighting! You could also take a nap?" He asked, in a small hopeful plea.
He wonders if Rey would know if he put them into a force sleep.
She would. She knows everything.
He'd wrestled with trying to send word of his arrival but there are many reasons he hadn't. He is afraid of the message being intercepted by the wrong person on the way there. It would mean he couldn't leave until it was received and confirmed. Rey would find out and force connect so fast his head would spin. But none of that mattered because he didn't know how to. Rey contacted Poe and he never asked how. Why would he ever need to know?
Now that the love of his life was so far away from him, all he had to do was close his eyes and see her. He was lucky as hell.
On approach to Anja Kloss, he receives a transmission to identify himself, like he knew he would. He refuses to give his name. He only asks for Dameron. Repeatedly. The guy on the other end refuses.
"Here's the deal. Either you get Dameron or I promise you, your ass is grass. Not by me but someone there will kick your ass if you are the reason I can't land. She's kicked mine before. You won't like it"
Silence.
Then two little girls wake up.
Oh shit.
"Why won't he get Uncle Poe? We want to see Uncle Poe"
Ben cringes at not only the name the girls have given Dameron but the fact that someone might've heard them. He does not want any enemies dropping in and hearing there are kids on this ship.
"Excuse me, did they just say Uncle Poe?" the asshole asks.
Ben is trying so hard not to explode. He really is going to have to force connect with Rey. This dick is not going to cooperate.
Ben speaks through clenched teeth "Yes, NOW will you go get Dameron?"
The idiot doesn't turn off the line on his end.
"Tell General Dameron that there's some little kid asking for him, claims she's his niece"
Ben is flabbergasted. That's all it took. He just prayed no one outside of asshole heard it.
Poe comes on the line, breathing heavy. Obviously he had been running.
He only had one word to say.
"Really?!?!?"
"Yes, really. So are you going to let me land or what? And for fucks sake, don't say anything to anyone! Tell asshole he better be quiet!"
"Papa!! That's a bad word!"
"Ughhhhhhhh. Get me off this ship Dameron. I'll owe you big time"
"Yeah, let him land so I can kick his ass" Ben hears him tell whoever was holding him up.
Ben lands and climbs out of the cockpit, reaching for Driea first.
"Papa get me first!" Leiliana screams out.
"Shhhh, hush already. No whining!"
Ben is exhausted but he senses that Rey is closer and his heart rate jumps.
Immediately he throws up a wall between them so she doesn't sense his presence. She'd know he was here.
Poe comes jogging up.
"You ass!! You should've contacted us first. That was stupid as fuck Ben. We have to know who is coming here"
There's a tug at his shirt. He looks down to see black haired Driea at his feet looking just like her grandmother.
"Mama said don't say that Uncle Poe. That's a bad word"
Poe forgets he's pissed at Ben. He swoops her up.
"Look at you! Oh my gosh, you've grown! Where's your sister?"
There's a small cry from the cockpit above. Leiliana thinks she was forgotten.
"Shit! Hold on Leia I'm coming"
"Papa don't say bad words!"
"Ughhhh" Ben throws his hands in the air.
"That's it baby girl you fuss at Papa" Poe tells Driea, throwing her straight up in the air. She squeals.
Ben fumes."She's not your baby girl"
Ben climbs down with a still crying Leia in his arms.
"Shhhh... it's okay I didn't forget you"
"Dameron, where is she? She's going to kick my a…..I mean tail for bringing them here but they need her. Where is she?"
"Well lucky for your as…..I mean tail, she's out flying right now, she practicing maneuvers"
Leia is now falling asleep in his arms. He goes to take Driea.
"No, I got her. It's okay"
"Oh well thanks" Ben says awkwardly. He feels a bit possessive. He's never seen another man hold his daughter before.
"Dameron, she doesn't know we are here"
"Well I figured that, there's no way she would've gone on a mission if she knew"
"I want to surprise her, okay? Tell that dic...that guy not to tell anyone we are here"
Driea eyes him looking all for the galaxy like her Mama when she's pissed at him.
"What? I didn't say it" Ben reasons with his four year old.
Poe bursts out laughing.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I just realized you have three Rey's, I kinda feel sorry for you." He keeps laughing.
"You have no idea Poe, no idea"
Ben had just called him Poe instead of Dameron.
Ben hears a familiar sound. He stops.
It's Chewie.
He hasn't seen Chewie in twenty years. He actually wants to hide from his uncle.
Chewie is about the only living creature that Ben is intimidated by.
Chewie walks around the corner, looking for Poe.
Ben and Chewie just stare at each other.
"Poe, will you take Leia"
It's not really a question. Poe sets Driea down, asking her to be still and quiet and takes a sleeping Leiliana into his arms.
He walks up to his Uncle. Chewie is several inches taller than Ben, making him a good bit more intimidated.
Ben looks up at him, "Do you know who I am?"
Chewie is silent. Ben takes that as a yes.
"Chewie, I don't know what to say to you. I'm sorry"
Ben hangs his head. Chewie is still silent.
"Yeah, well, I don't blame you for not speaking to me. I'll leave you alone"
Chewie asks one question.
Ben looks up, surprised that he knows. Well of course he knows. His wife told him.
"Yeah Chewie, that's them. That's my girls"
Chewie was always emotional. He is literally a big walking teddy bear. Tears flow from his eyes. He asks another question.
Ben smiles a bit. Those girls are healing in so many ways. Ben is so incredibly proud of them.
"Of course you can meet them Chewie. You don't have to ask me"
<I will always ask. You are their father>
Ben has to turn away. It was like a knife has just went through his heart. This wookie has seen him kill his own father yet he still shows respect towards him as a father.
Ben turns to look at Chewie. There will not be a mention of Han or Leia or what had transpired. With those words, Ben felt a strong wave of emotion between him and his uncle. Ben always thought Chewie may have some force powers. When he was a child he was more impressed by his Uncle Chewie than his own blood Uncle. To him, Chewie was more powerful and wise than a Jedi.
"Thank you Chewie, you don't know…."
He can't stop. He turns away from Poe. He has cried many times in the arms of this wookie. Even when he was a teenage boy. Ben had always been wide open with Chewie. Except about the voices in his head. He should've told him about it.
Tears flow down his cheeks. Chewie looks at Poe and tells him to watch the girls. Poe has no choice. It wasn't like he'd say no.
Chewie tells him to go sit down on a boulder around the corner. A crying Ben obeys.
Chewie gently places his enormous hand on Ben's head.
<I never gave up hope, Ben. They didn't either>
"Chewie, I wish you had killed me that day. I wish you had hit me with that blaster"
Chewie speaks to Ben in a way that very few understand. Ben was taught from birth the wookie language.
<Ben look at me>
Ben looks up, tears still streaming.
Chewie nods to the girls.
<I missed on purpose. You came back and you've done good by Rey. She loves you. I knew she loved you before she knew. Before you knew. She told me to put her in that shuttle, that she had to go to you. That's when I knew.>
"She's more than I ever deserved."
<She was the miracle we hoped for.>
"I love her Uncle Chewie. She's my everything. I had to come here. She needs me."
<You are a good husband. And a good father. They are beautiful. They look like their grandparents. Are they going to be afraid of me?>
Ben smiles. "Not if they have Solo blood in them. Come here Driea" he calls his daughter to him.
Driea's mouth had not closed since the wookie appeared. She walks over to Ben slowly. Chewie is lucky it is this one he encounters first, Driea has a tender heart, like Rey. Leia will be the more guarded one, like me, Ben thinks.
Never one to mince words she remarks, "He's bigger than you, Papa. I thought no one was bigger than you."
Ben smiles, kissing her little black head.
"Does that scare you?"
"No, I like big. And he's furry"
"He'd like to meet you Driea. He's my Uncle. His name is Chewie. He helped raise me"
Chewie says hello to her. Driea looks at Ben.
"What did he say Daddy? I don't understand him"
"He said hello. I'll teach you how to understand him"
"Like you taught me to float rocks?"
Chewie looks at Ben.
"Yeah, Chewie, they are both force-sensitive. I'm training them."
Chewie cries again. Driea walks over to him and touches his knee.
"Don't cry Chewie"
Chewie asks Ben a question.
"Driea, Chewie wants to hug you. He wants me to ask you if it's okay"
She doesn't answer him. She just climbs up in Chewie's lap. She literally disappears behind Chewie's hand. He's still crying.
<Leia's eyes. Rey's heart>
"Yes, I agree."
Ben looks up and Poe is gone. Ben jumps up, his heart racing.
"Where's Leiliana?"
<Calm down Ben he went inside the hangar with her, he won't let anything happen to her>
Still, he needs to go find her.
He finds Poe in a chair holding his daughter. Both of them are asleep.