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Chapter 22: Let's Go Home

Summary:

No one knows what's going on, but everyone agrees that Lee Hux is an asshole.

Notes:

I apologize for my shitty posting... life has been kicking me down. I haven't given up on this fic though! Updates may be slow, but I'm progressing! I promise :)

Chapter Text

Finn sat beside Rey’s hospital bed to keep her company. In the shared room with three other male patients, Rey was the smallest person there. Curled into her bed and mostly hidden by sterile smelling sheets, she seemed even smaller than usual and Finn held her hand as she stared at the far wall, dejected and quiet.

Her dark hair spilled over the pillow and gently flowed off the edge of the bed, pulled from the tri-knots she usually wore.

Judging by the looks of Rey’s new roommates and their minor injuries, Finn and Poe assumed they were fraternity boys. Frat boys who were already whispering about Rey in her state. No matter how capable Rey was, at the moment she was shaken and distressed, so Poe and Finn made sure that at least one of them would be with her until she was allowed to leave.

Under strict orders from the doctor, they were not allowed to let Rey sleep for the next five hours in case she had a concussion. Finn kept her awake with aimless chatter and by massaging her hand when her eyes drifted shut. She protested every time, but Finn succeeded in keeping her up.

At the moment, Poe had gone to fill out Rey’s paperwork and left Finn behind to keep her company. After a phone call to her parents, Rey had assured them she was fine and that they did not have to come to America to care for her. Then, she had curled into a fetal position and refused to utter another word.

A few cuts and scrapes aside, she was fine and being held in the hospital for cautionary reasons and to await the results of her concussion exam and x-rays. Finn looked at the bandages on Rey’s forehead and wrists as she held onto his hand. “H-how,” she finally broke her silence and Finn leaned towards her. “How is Kylo?” Her voice shook as much as her hands and she stared up at Finn with watery eyes. “I want to see him.”

Finn bit his bottom lip and looked down at Rey. He knew there was no use in lying to her. “Kylo’s in surgery right now,” he said.

“What?” she breathed, sitting up. The bedsheet fell away from her body and Finn adjusted the hospital gown that slipped from her shoulder, raising it. “What do you mean?”

“Rey, just… try to stay calm,” Finn said. He touched her shoulder and Rey stared with wide eyes, tilting her head in a small nod. Taking a deep breath, Finn told her what had happened. “You were saved by your airbags, but Kylo’s didn’t deploy. He’s in surgery having his skull reconstructed and- Rey!” Finn shouted for her as she swung off of the bed and lost her balance, nearly collapsing against the bed beside hers. The frat boy in it reached to help her up, but Finn was up in seconds, running around the bed to catch Rey. “Hey, where are you going,” he asked as Rey fell into his arms. She held her hands to her face and it was then that Finn realized she was crying.

“This is all my fault!” she sobbed, holding onto the sleeves of his shirt, her knuckles white. Tears streamed down her face as she cried against him. “I shouldn’t have yelled at him and- we were fighting- Finn, what if he dies?!”

Finn sighed as Rey released her pent up emotions against him. Poe stepped into the room with a clipboard and a pen. He froze when he saw his boyfriend and roommate on the floor. Finn hugged Rey as she sobbed against him, stroking her hair and holding her close.

“Sh, Rey, it’s alright,” he whispered as Poe sat down in a chair. “Kylo is going to be fine. He’s going to be alright. It’s alright.” Meaningless words of comfort came easily as Finn looked past Rey’s shoulder to where the eyes of three curious frat boys peered down at them.

Gently, Finn picked Rey up off the ground as her sobs subsided into little hiccups. “You’re tired, Rey. Go to sleep and we’ll get you home,” he murmured, motioning towards Poe to close the curtains. Swinging his hands back and forth, Finn raised his eyebrows at his boyfriend.

Poe understood immediately and reached out to shut the green barriers around Rey’s bed, cutting her off from the leers of the other patients. The closure provided Finn with relief and he hoped Rey felt a bit better knowing she was not being stared at by sophomores.

They sat together in the confines of the drawn curtains as Poe filled Rey’s paperwork out, the scratching of his pen and the tapping sound that came from hitting the cap against the clipboard the only sounds from either three. Rey’s soft sniffles subsided into hitched breathing until she finally fell silent.

Touching Poe’s shoulder, Finn muttered that he would get water and be back. His boyfriend nodded from the clipboard and Finn slipped past the rubbing alcohol scented drapes before leaving the room.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Finn exhaled and leaned against the wall, breathing deeply. He didn’t like seeing Rey so out of sorts, but to see her crying- it was too much.

Walking through the semi-bustling halls of the hospital, Finn managed to locate a water fountain beside a vending machine.

He leaned forward and pressed the lever on the fountain to take a sip of water but stopped when a weary Han Solo walked up to the vending machine with a wrinkled dollar in his hand. “Han,” Finn said as the older man attempted to slide the crumbled money into the machine. “Han.”

The former smuggler seemed to be oblivious to Finn. Biting his bottom lip, Finn watched Han fight with the machine that spat his dollar out try after try.

Reaching into his back pocket, Finn found his wallet and removed a new dollar and handed it to Han before taking the wrinkled money. “Han, are you alright?”

That was when Han’s stubborn expression dissipated as he leaned against the vending machine. Finn realized he had never seen the snarky old man as anything but mellow and happy until then. Now, Han Solo was afraid. “The doctors prolonged the surgery another two hours,” he whispered, rubbing his eyes. “Leia is distraught, I’m getting angry at a fucking machine and my son…” he trailed off.

Finn placed a hand on Han’s shoulder, trying to offer any help he could. “Kylo is going to be alright,” he said slowly. “He’s a big man and he’s got great doctors working to save him, Han. Your son will be alright.”

His words did little to comfort Han, but Finn felt the tense muscles beneath his shoulder relax by a fraction. They stood by the vending machine as it whirred and buzzed, sending a bottle of water out with a massive clatter and a thunk. “Let me get that for you,” Finn said when Han reached down to get the bottle.

Leaning forward, he snatched the ice cold bottle from the compartment beneath the machine and opened it before handing it to his tired boss. “Try to get some sleep if you can,” he said as Han closed his eyes and downed half the bottle in one gulp.

“I doubt anyone would be able to sleep while their child is being brought back from the dead,” said he. Han tucked the bottle beneath his arm and rested his eyes against the palms of his hands. Finn placed a hand on the older man’s shoulder.

“I really hope Kylo will be alright,” he said. “If there’s anything you need, just call Poe or me.”

Nodding, Han removed the bottle from beneath his elbow and sighed. “Make sure Rey is alright,” he sighed. “I’ll be here with Leia.”

Rey was allowed to leave within the hour.

With Finn’s arm around her and Poe’s arm at the small of her back, she was guided out of the hospital and toward a taxi that waited in the parking lot. None of them spoke except to tell the driver to go to Rey and Poe’s apartment.


Four hours after Rey’s departure from the hospital, Kylo was released from surgery, under heavy anesthetic and placed into a medically induced coma and quarantine.

Leia watched from outside the glass pane that separated her from her son as he laid in bed, bandages wrapped over his face and torso and arms. Holding onto Han for support, Leia sighed, pressing her fingers against the cool glass pane that kept her away from her son and the machine that kept him breathing.

Kylo’s chest rose in rhythm to the soft beeping of the heart rate monitor. Only one eye showed through the bandages- bruised and swollen. His crushed eyelashes fluttered and Leia wiped her eyes as her son continued to breathe.

“So it’s true,” came a voice from behind.

Leia swiveled to see Lee Hux standing with his hands behind his straight back. He wore the same clothes from the courtroom with an overcoat slung over his shoulders and a grimace on his face.

“Lee,” said Han.

“Han,” nodded Hux.

The redhead stepped forward, leaning to raise an eyebrow in Kylo’s direction. “I had heard…” he trailed off. “His chances of survival? How high are they?”

“What do you want?” Leia snapped. She had no patience for Hux’s haughty antics. “Why are you here?”

Hux’s passive face remained just that- passive. He neither looked in Leia’s direction nor stopped his scan of Kylo’s damaged body. “What I want,” he said, “is to know whether or not my friend is going to live and to know if I’ll have to replace his position or put him on extended leave.”

Leia held Han to keep him from lunging at Hux.