Chapter Text
“I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a few minutes out of your day to call your mother back. She raised you, for God’s sake!” And with that, Rey replaces the handset onto the base and simply stares at it, willing the phone to ring.
She has worked for Leia for almost six months now, and she regards the woman as something very close to a maternal figure in her life. After aging out of the foster care system, bouncing from temporary home to temporary home, she didn't expect anything to come out of this job interview.
Two hours after she’d run out of the room and terrified she'd have to choose between rent and food again, her phone rang with a job offer that brought her to tears.
As a college dropout, money is always an issue. All her hopes and dreams rest on the ability to complete her degree, mostly through part-time online enrollment, but progress is progress. And Leia has assisted with that at every turn and continually pushes her when she thinks she has no more to give.
So of course she feels animosity when she regards the son who continues to break her boss’s heart at every opportunity.
Does she have an enemy aside from her loneliness? She does now.
!
Monday morning starts bright and early with zero missed calls from a certain phone number. She has corrected all the filing mistakes, sorted out all the emails and meeting requests, and there's nothing left to do while she stares unhappily at the ticking clock.
The number is deeply etched in her memory now, ten digits that she can ramble off faster than the first twenty digits of the number pi, which pushes her fingers to move with some sort of muscle memory.
No answer, no surprise, but her heart still palpates unnaturally. The robot voice has become a close confidant.
“Hello, Ben Solo’s voicemail. You may remember me, Rey Niima, your mother’s assistant. The two people who you avoid like a newly discovered plague.” She sighs heavily. “Speaking of plagues, you might find one on your doorstep if you don't answer Leia’s calls or at least call her back. Do you have working fingers? Can you send your mother a text message at least? I’m available if you need instructions or help moving all your robot parts.”
She ends the voicemail with a loud shriek before returning the handset back down on to the receiver.
Will she have to soldier on through this eternal struggle with Ben Solo? There are bigger problems in the world.
!
By Friday, Leia is rushing in and out with a smile on her face and her shoulders seemingly less weighed down by the millions of stressors she has in her life.
“Ben sent me a text this morning,” Leia says this with a smile as they split a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin during their short one-on-one weekly meeting.
Rey’s eyebrows shoot up toward her hairline. “Really? Is that good?” Work has taken a backseat to personal matters for the time being.
When she turns her iPhone to her assistant, Rey is conflicted with thoughts of surprise, excitement, and the low pits of uncertainty.
“Hi mom ill try 2 call u later”
That's it. One sentence for the woman who gave birth to him and put up with years of his shit.
She might not be aware of all the details, but Rey can see the sorrow reflected in Leia’s eyes when she talks about her family. Ben is all she has left aside from her non-profit, and he can't deign his mother with his company.
It's decided, she hates him. Her stomach tosses with acid and anger when she thinks of him.
Ben Solo will rue the day he meets Rey Niima in the flesh, mark her words. And his tombstone.
!
Rey gives him a week, seven days, including five business days, to keep his word and at least attempt to call his mother. But when she sees Leia after that time has passed, she knows it hasn't happened.
“Hey, asshole,” she articulates to his voicemail box once again. “You lied to your mother and got her hopes up yet again. I’m the one here cleaning it all up, making sure that her disappointment doesn't dislodge her entire day. How useful are you? Don't you need laundry done or want a home cooked meal? Can't you make some excuse to stop by? She seems like she’d be fine with doing that for you. You're a monster, though, aren't you?”
Her last thought is cut off when the woman in question emerges from her office with a large brown stain covering her beige blouse.
Luckily for everyone, Rey has a number of backup tops, pants, and skirts stashed inside the closet right next to the entry door. Situations such as this happen a few times a month, at least.
Rey is quickly up on her feet, rushing to lock the door and bar anyone from entering while she helps Leia get everything sorted out.
The pink color in Leia’s cheeks broadcasts how she truly feels, “I was on the phone with that demonic man, Snoke, and I—I got too upset.”
It's not in her job description to bury herself in her boss’s business, so she does her best to keep her mouth shut and help in any way she can unless she's directly asked for her thoughts.
“I’ll rush this down to the dry cleaners immediately. Oh, that cami will need to come off too. There has to be another—yes!” Rey closes her eyes and holds out both the black blouse and grey cami, allowing her boss to strip down and redress in moderate privacy.
“All done.”
Leia looks as crisply put together as ever. Maybe a few wisps of hair have fallen out of her braids, but otherwise no one would be able to tell that she’d become so flustered.
“Would you like anything while I’m out? Lunch, or maybe another coffee?” The dry cleaner is about half a mile away, straight down the street once she leaves the office, and downtown is full of everything a person could want or need while they live in this metropolitan heaven.
“Get yourself some lunch. I don't need anything other than some peace and quiet to recharge.”
“You got it, boss,” Rey slips her small crossbody purse over her head and moves for the door with her arms full. “I have my phone if you need me.”
The walk always clears her mind like nothing else can. Something about the breeze rustling through her hair and the sun beaming down on her gets her from 100 to 0 in no time flat. It's not meditation or yoga, not even close, but in the middle of the day, stacked between meetings and filing and angry clients, it keeps her blood pressure down and puts a smile on her face.
There are no regrets when she thinks about everything she left behind to start a new life here.
Her mind is so far away from her own being when she is grasped by a set of strong arms that pull her off to the right where a restaurant has an outdoor seating area.
“Finn!” Rey is screeching, and she knows it, but she hasn't seen her best friend in nearly a month. Maybe longer, truth be told, but thinking about it makes her tear up almost instantly.
“What—what are you doing here?”
He is laughing at her, his face full of mirth. “I was just coming to see you. Where are you off to?”
“Dry cleaners,” she holds up the clothes balanced over her forearm, “and then lunch if you're buying.”
“Oh I’m buying, am I?”
“Big shots always buy when their broke college roommate is involved, duh.”
!
Returning to work after lunch spent with her best friend, Rey is more than a little surprised to see the door locked after she's climbed up the steep stairwell.
“Hello?” She knocks a few times before she starts digging into her bag in search of her keys. Leia is always here. Did something happen?
Her heart rate starts to climb the longer she stands there, starting to throw things out and onto the floor as her keys continue to drift deeper and deeper into the nearly endless depths of leather.
The keyring slips onto her finger, clicking and clanging as she pulls it out, and her breathing has turned erratic while her mind pours over every horrible possibility that awaits her inside.
Maybe she's a pessimist, but after a hard life filled with very few good things, Rey is the one person only too familiar with the horrors life can throw at you. Once the door is open, the first thing she notices is the stillness of the office. The lights are off, the vent fan isn't on, and Leia’s door on the far side of the small office is closed. It is never closed except when she's dealing with an unsavory situation.
She calls out again but receives the same response as she did before. “Hello? Leia, are you here?”
As if someone is watching her every movement, the phone rings as she takes one step forward.
Part of her intends to run to the closed door, to beat it down if necessary, and see what lies just beyond the threshold, but the logical part of her remembers that she works here, and it's her responsibility to answer the phone.
The phone rings twice more before she makes up her mind and rushes to her desk, nearly stumbling over the top and then off the chair to catch the call before it goes to voicemail.
“Leia Organa’s office, how may I direct your call?”
All she hears at first is static and the sound of someone breathing on the other end. She’s heard about women receiving phone calls from perverts who only breathe loudly and never speak.
“Is someone there? Hello?” She waits a few moments before her anger gets the best of her. “It's very rude to just sit there and breathe, you know. Are you one of those perverts who gets off on that sort of thing?”
“I’m not.”
It is not what she expected, the response or the voice that belongs to the man on the other side. It's unnaturally deep, causing a shiver to run up her spine and instantly cool her down after the heat of concern had nearly set her ablaze.
“What can I do for you then?”
The voice sighs and doesn't answer immediately, pushing her almost to the edge of her seat. “May I speak with Leia, please?”
Of course. Why else would someone be speaking to her if they aren't screaming right off the bat.
She tacks on her most insincere smile even though he will never see it or know it's there. “I’m sorry, she's not available at the moment. Can I take a message?”
What she hears is a barrage of swear words barely louder than a whisper. He must have pulled the phone away from his face, but she hears it all anyway. “Umm, can you just tell her her son called?”
Rey is struck dumb, completely. “Her son?”
“Yes, Ben Solo.”
Someone will be along to pick her jaw up off the floor, right?
“Right! Yes, Ben. I will absolutely let Leia know you called.”
“Thanks. And Rey?” She is horrorstruck. When did she say her name? She is sure she didn't, but her mind has solidified like concrete and stopped working.
Her voice is small when she simply says “yes.”
“I've really enjoyed all the voicemails.” And then he's gone.
He's gone, but so is Leia. Fear grips her heart as she creeps to her boss’s door only to find the room empty just like she expected.