The car smelled like rose petals, and Kylo wondered again just how many flowers Rey had stuffed in the backseat. The passing lights dotting the freeway provided too little light to provide a solid answer, the late evening's sun slipping away too fast to help anyways. So he just sighed, glancing over at Rey, realizing that she was humming again, fingers tapping along the leather passenger seat. It almost felt like the first day of driving—the radio up, the last trickle of sunlight straining through the back windows, the highway a winding curve that didn't ask questions and never required answers—but both of them knew the difference, could feel it if their fingers brushed too close when reaching for the radio dial.

They had been driving all day, trying to make up for their day off the road. He had hoped that things would have slipped back into normalcy with the drive, that he could get the past twenty-four hours out of his head, but with the long stretches of road and the exit signs blurring with all the rest of the billboarded advertisements, his mind had, of course, drifted back, the weight of Rey's lips against his a whisper of a sad joke now.

He had meant what he said—whatever Rey wanted, he was fine with. If she wanted him, he'd be happy. If she didn't want him, decided not to talk to him after this trip home, he wouldn't begrudge her. Maybe it would be for the best even, seeing that he had missed the window of opportunity, his chance with her, years ago. But still, the feel of her, warm and curled up in sleep at his side, lingered even though he had spent last night sleeping on the floor again, and Kylo wasn't sure how much more of these almost phantom sensations he could deal with. The thought of her severing their friendship just because she didn't want to be vulnerable with him left him almost reeling, and once more, as his passenger nudged his arm, his name a worried sigh on her lips, he realized that he was driving a bit too fast again, that his attention had drifted.

"Takodana is in two exits." Her voice was soft, and it struck Kylo odd, how distant she sounded. He glanced at her, the shock of her hazel eyes looking back at him probably apparent in his sharp inhale, his lips twisting into a smile, albeit an anxious one. "Thanks."

"It's no problem." She returned the smile before she sighed again, lifting her arms in a stretch. "We made good time, didn't we? All things considering, I mean." There were a few loose flower petals on her sweater, fallen from the bouquet that sat on her lap to give to Leia later, but Kylo made no move to point it out, to brush them off. He was sure that she noticed how careful he was being now, how he seemed to avert his eyes and bite his tongue if there was a moment that could be soft, romantic, nonplatonic in any sense.

"Yeah. We made really good time, even with that little detour." Kylo didn't know what else to call the stop at Naboo right now. If it had been successful, if things had changed between them for the better, the pitch and tone of this whole car ride would be different. Instead, Rey merely nodded, not correcting him, and he felt that familiar thrumming thought in the back of his head. This is what you get. This is what you deserve.

Before he had been able to shove the thought down, answering it just yesterday with, I can do more, I am doing more, I will do the most. For her. Today, tonight, and tomorrow, though, he was being forced to admit defeat, to chime in with agreement. Yeah. This is exactly what I deserve.

It was for this that he allowed himself to sink down into silence, almost wishing that Rey wouldn't follow suit, but as her fingers lingered on the radio dial, turning up a pop star's warbled plea for love, Kylo didn't protest. Instead, he followed the road and the signs, the car drifting to the right now as they exited, the white letters stark against the green sign: Takodana.

The town seemed smaller than he remembered, but he took comfort in it, taking stock in how the little elementary school seemed to have been renovated, how the corner store seemed to finally move the dumpster out back to a new location, probably to dissuade teenage delinquents from using it as a rendezvous for smoking and heavy petting in the shadows.

It didn't take long to find that old dirt road that the Kenobi homestead sat on, the Organa-Solo household just a few miles out, and Kylo could see the lights in the living room, his mother probably waiting up for him. He looked back to the Kenobi household, the car rumbling across the stone-bumped road, his brows furrowing with a frown. No lights on, and it was barely nine o'clock at night. Old man Ben should be awake still. Despite himself, Kylo glanced at Rey and found her brow scrunched in worry, her teeth worrying over her lip.

Despite himself, despite the past twenty-four hours, Kylo slipped his hand over Rey's, his thumb smoothing over the back of her hand as she jumped and then relaxed, sighing at his mumbled coo: "I'm sure everything is okay. Someone would have called you if it wasn't. Everything is okay, Rey." She nodded and he squeezed her hand and let go. For a moment, he wondered if he caught a shadow of disappointment flit across her face, but they were pulling up to her house now, the white-picket-fenced property seeming to stretch further than the town it sat on the outskirts of.

"Thank you for the ride, Kylo." He looked at her again as he put the car in park, but her gaze was on her knees, her hands curled there. "I really appreciate it. Seriously."

"It's no problem," he muttered, the tail end of the phrase being swallowed up by Rey blurting out, "When do you head back?" He blinked, nearly asked her why she cared, but then he caught her eyes again, so nervous, almost skittish.

"My flight leaves on Saturday." He saw her brow wrinkle again, adding, "Since I'm leaving the car here, I had to book a flight back. If I had known you were driving here with me, I would have looked into buying you one too." His voice died in his throat with that, realizing that it probably worked out better this way, that Rey probably didn't want to be stuck next to him on another cross-country trip, and so he closed his mouth, watching her fidget.

"It's okay. Finn and Poe promised to help me figure it out. I'll be fine." Another moment of silence, and then she looked up, leaning across the center console for him, her arms slipping around his shoulders almost too readily and Kylo tried not to hug her back too eagerly. "I really appreciate you, Kylo. Stop worrying about everything that happened, okay?"

He snorted, rolling his eyes as she pulled away, both smiling despite themselves. "Right, because I can stop worrying just like that." She rolled her eyes back, chuckling. "Pop the trunk for me, will you? I have to get my bags." He hummed in response, reaching for the little lever to do so, but her hand was on his, making him pause. Rey looked as if she was turning a question over in her head, her eyes apprehensive as her mouth opened, and then closed again.

"You know, if your grandfather isn't here, I'm sure my mother would all but insist that you come spend the night instead. I'm sure she would love to see you too." The smile that bloomed on Rey's face was something that Kylo wanted to bask in almost greedily, knowing that he had technically given her the reason to smile, but he denied himself that happy flush, instead shifting the car out of park and into reverse, retreating down the driveway and back to the road, back to his home, where he had not been for a very long time.

He'd think about this all again later, probably after his mother bothered him about him and Rey, when he'd be forced to be completely honest with someone, even if he didn't want to be. For now, for this short, few mile drive, he'd let Rey smile, her voice smooth as she sang softly with the radio, the sound never growing tired in his ears.