Chapter Text
Rey fixed herself a cup of tea and flopped down at her kitchen table. This week was going from bad to worse. At least she could have a little bit of time alone; her grandfather had gone down into the village and their strange monk visitor had taken off early that morning to capture his ‘rare bird’. Rey scoffed into her cup; it was all starting to get bizarre. Try as she might, Rey couldn’t stop her thoughts wandering back to the man she’d met yesterday in the run down toilets. It might not have been the most romantic place to run into someone, but she couldn’t get him out of her head. Her fingers twitched around her cup, wondering what it would be like to run them through his hair. She bit down on the inside of her cheek, wondering if she could find a way to get up to that marketing conference just to accidently run into him again.
Rey sighed. What was wrong with her? It was one encounter; he’d probably forgotten all about her. She blew on the top of her tea, cooling it as there was a loud knock on her front door. She got up, mouth and eyes suddenly looking more like saucers when she saw who was on the threshold of her grandfather’s B&B.
“Can we come in?” The red haired man demanded, trying to give her a winning smile but coming up short. Rey, who knew her grandfather would never forgive her if she turned away business, stepped to one side to let him and his tall, blonde haired companion in,
“Sure, kitchen’s down the hall. I’ll make you a coffee.” The man made a sound she was sure sounded something like chocking but didn’t comment on it. When she joined them, they both had wide grins on their face, “What is it?” She finally dared to ask.
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By the end of the proposition, Rey wasn’t any more in the clear about what she was supposed to be doing. She was on the edge of laughing, only preventing herself given the look on Hux’s face. “Right, so let me get this straight. You want me to pretend to be Jessika Pava, get fake married to Ben Solo so that she can get married to him later? All this just to put off the press?” Hux nodded enthusiastically,
“Exactly. Think about it, £500 for an hour’s improvisation.” Rey looked at him, deadpan. She had an awful feeling in her gut about this.
“But Ben will think I’m Jessika?” Hux nodded,
“It has to look believable- that includes his expressions. He’s not going to go doe eyed over a complete stranger now, is he?” Rey felt the sting of his words a little more than she should have done. She worried her bottom lip, considering it all.
“No.” She said resolutely, going back to the washing up. A vein in Hux’s forehead started to bulge.
“£700.” He stuck his hand out for her to shake. Rey scoffed.
“No. I’m not interested in weddings.”
“It’s not a real wedding.” Hux protested. “£1000?” Then a horrible idea struck Rey,
“Why me? Has someone on this island told you I’m some kind of prostitute or something?” She looked furious but Hux didn’t back down,
“Right, £5000, no questions asked, one hour only. Think about it, you could use the money for your poor, sick grandfather. Wouldn’t he like that?” Hux went to one of the windows and gave one of the curtains a little yank. The plaster was so old and worn that it all came off immediately in his hands. Rey blinked, her mind processing. It was just a little acting, right? As much as she hated the idea of weddings right now this crazy American was just going to give her five grand for standing there and looking pretty. She could do this for her grandfather. The money could do so much for him.
“Alright, I’ll do it.”
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Ben was passing his soon to be wedding ring from finger to finger, trying to find somewhere it felt comfortable just holding it in his palm a while longer. It wouldn’t be long until he met Jessika at the altar; they could finally get married then. He sighed, maybe then he could go back to writing and this block would finally leave him. He hadn’t written anything meaningful in months, not since he’d met Jessika. He’d been surprised at how quickly she had proposed, they’d had the whirlwind romance so far. Looking at it from the outside, his heart and mind should have been singing onto the pages of his latest novel but he just didn’t feel it. It wasn’t like his first book, the Finalizer, this time nothing was speaking to him when he got his typewriter.
He ran his hand over his face. He was sure there were hundreds of thousands of men who would kill to be in his position right now, but he just wanted it to be over. He was done with the sneaking around, even though this would make Jessika happy, he just wanted to get married to her then go home.
There was a knock on his door; his ride to the church was here.
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Poe Dameron had been up his tree for some time waiting for the wedding to start. As he did, he found his entertainment in looking up his old pictures of Jessika. Some he kept back for himself, others he sold to the press, though not ones he deemed as being too personal. He wouldn’t have bothered with trying to snap her first kiss if she hadn’t been so damned stubborn about it being private- to Poe, she’d turned it into a game, one he wanted to rise to; like he had something to prove to her.
As he flicked through his pictures, he noticed a familiar sensation running over him and a smile warmed onto his features. He loved the way her smile lit up when she was happy, and even though he couldn’t hear her laugh now, when he looked at pictures of her laughing, the echo was in his ears.
Picture after picture was adored, and it was only after a few minutes he realised what that knotted feeling in his chest was. He was in love with Jessika. Poe blinked at his camera, then at the venue as he saw cars approaching; his mouth was dry.
He had a decision to make.
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With more make up than she’d ever worn in her life, along with a dress which felt like it was suffocating her, Rey found herself sat in the back of Hux’s car. He’d insisted on a veil which was thick enough to cover her face so that Ben couldn’t see her. That was important apparently because he couldn’t know she wasn’t Jessika until the end of the ceremony. It was all something to do with some photographer and the press- Rey hadn’t paid much attention to it because it made her head hurt a little.
When they got to the church, her veil presented another problem as she stepped out of the car; Hux had gathered so much net from her grandfather’s old curtains to form her veil that she couldn’t see a damn thing. He held her hand as he guided her out of the cold Scottish climate into the church building. She could just about make out the shapes of people and Hux hissed at her,
“Walk forwards, you’re getting married. Act like it.” Rey nodded and started to walk towards two blobs she assumed must have been the priest and the groom- Mr Ben Solo. As she walked she stumbled a bit and felt arms grab her, helping to steady her in a soothing way,
“Hey, Jessika, are you alright?” He asked. Rey, who was petrified of what her fake American accent was going to sound like (Hux had insisted she tried that too) so she just managed a muffled,
“Mhmm!” As she felt herself being led towards the altar. She followed the direction of the man’s voice to face him, trying to hold herself up as high as she could and look like she was a Hollywood star, rather than the local mechanic/amateur guide book writer.
“We’re welcomed here today to bring together Ben Solo and Jessika Pava in Holy Matrimony…” Rey held onto each syllable the priest said, panicking as it got closer to the texts she would have to repeat.
“I, Ben Solo, take you Jessika Pava, to be my lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death us do part.” Rey couldn’t see him, but she swore she could hear a tremble in his voice and he was speaking awfully quickly. The priest told her what she had to say and she could feel her heart hammering in her chest,
“I- Jessika Parvaarrr.” She started in an exaggerated American accent. Somewhere behind her she could hear muffled complaints, “Take you, Ben Solo to be my husband, to have and to hooold, in sickness, love, health, death.” The accent was so bad she rushed to the end, eventually abandoning the whole thing in a flurry of words and syllables. The priest didn’t seem too concerned and both were asked to present the rings. Rey could feel the tremble of Ben’s hand as he slipped the ring on her finger,
“What’s going on here?” She could hear him whispering over her shoulder.
“Just go along with it.” Hux was saying.
“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss-“ She could feel the fabric of her veil being lifted up and ripped off with urgency, like a child might do with a Christmas present. When she focussed on the man in front of her Rey nearly jumped backwards,
“Kylo?” He looked just as shocked,
“Rey?” No, except he wasn’t Kylo was he? She had known that yesterday, only now she knew why he had lied to her. He was Ben Solo, the author of the book she’d spent the whole of their conversation yesterday criticising. She winced. This week was definitely getting worse.
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Ben was striding towards the castle; his face was red, flushed with anger as Hux, Phasma and Rey (the latter at a wider distance) followed him.
“What do you mean she’s missing?” He demanded, turning and rounding on Hux who looked unfazed.
“I mean she’s missing, genius. Don’t worry we’re looking for her.” Ben still looked furious,
“Who, who is looking for her?”
“Oh, you know, the gang…”
“The gang? You mean her make-up artist and hair stylist? Or did you mean you and Phasma?” Phasma looked unimpressed,
“I’m not going out there-“ Hux held his hand up,
“No one is asking you to do anything.” He then turned back to Ben, “She’s on an island in the middle of the outer Hebrides, she can’t have got far.”
“There could be wolves or anything out there!” Ben shouted, “And do you really think the press are going to think this toilet attendant is my wife.” He gestured to Rey as though only just noticing she was there. Rey matched his furious expression,
“I am not a toilet attendant.” She looked up at the clock, knowing her grandfather would be back soon, “Though I would like my cheque and a lift back home?” No one seemed to be paying her any attention as they had all become aware of the shouting and noise of others outside the castle.
Hux barged past Rey, nearly knocking her to the floor as he looked outside the window to find several members of the press all at the moat of the castle, shouting up at them. That was when Hux decided that this was not his week, or his year.
“Right, right, you know what Ben, you’re right, we should all go look for Jessika.” He smiled sweetly and then looked at Rey, “And you can go home, but we’ll go out the back way, hmm?”
Rey didn’t like his expression but she did need to get home so she followed the group begrudgingly, holding the skirts of the dress so she didn’t trip up on her way up the stairs. “Just through there-“ Hux said, gesturing for Rey and Ben to go in before him; neither of them noticed him stopping Phasma entering the room. It was too late as he slammed the door shut, locking it tightly behind them.
Rey was the first one hammering on the door,
“Let me out! An hour you said!” Hux shrugged at the door,
“Yeah well, I’m full of crap darling, ask anyone.” Phasma gaped at Hux as they drew away from the door.
“Why…?” She began, pointing at the room Ben and Rey were now locked in.
“Well, if they’re locked in there, then Mr Prince Charming won’t go out looking for Jessika and blow his cover, and that awful girl can still pose as Jessika. As long as the press think they’re both in there, then they won’t go looking for Jessika out on the island will they?” Phasma didn’t look convinced but she didn’t have any reason to doubt Hux.
“Fine, I’ll go tell the press we want to make an announcement.”