The fight seems to leave the remaining First Order members as soon as Bren hits the floor. The stormtroopers don't struggle as they're disarmed, and the technicians seem almost relieved to be taken into custody. But the image that will stick with Ben for the rest of his days is the Coalition troopers gathering up the babies one by one.

He's grown used to their battle-hardened faces, the conformity bred into them by the stormtrooper program. But now their expressions morph into a soft joy he finds he envies. What will he look like when he one day holds his child?

Tazzy is cooing over one, letting it play with her hair. He even catches Poe making faces at a baby held protectively by a trooper. Ben is just glad they no longer wear their masks, because he's not sure he'd recover from seeing their anonymous visages as they try to calm the traumatized infants.

Smudge stands where he was when he shot Bren, still like a statue. He blinks occasionally but doesn't seem to notice the activity around him. You'd think watching a squadron of former stormtroopers lose their minds over a bunch of babies would get his attention, but he just stares into space.

Ben is about to approach him when Rey beats him to it.

"Smudge?" she asks cautiously. "Would you like to meet the little girl you saved?"

Slowly, Smudge turns his head towards her voice. "Girl?" he croaks out.

"Uh huh. She'd like to thank you."

Smudge's eyebrows screw up. "But she's a baby, she can't talk."

"Oh I can tell. Force, you know," Rey says with a wink and Smudge is gradually coming back. Hesitantly, he holds out his finger to the infant who curls her little hand around the digit.

"Strong grip there, little lady," Smudge says with a quirk of his lips.

"Would you like to hold her?" Rey offers.

"Oh, I don't know-"

But Rey is already bundling the infant into his arms and Smudge's whole face is transformed into nothing less than love.

"See, you're a natural," Rey says.

"Always wanted a little girl," he whispers. "Hoped …" Then he's shaking his head and mumbling, "Never thought I'd get the chance."

Then he tries to give the baby back to Rey, who just pushes her back towards him. "She's going to need someone to look after her, now. Keep her safe."

His arms tighten around his precious burden and his face grows serious. "I'll be there. She's been through enough."

"I know. You both have." Rey looks at him with something akin to pride. "You're a good man, Smudge."

"Rey," Ben sends through the bond. "Are you sure he's up for this? I mean he's not all there …"

"He'll have us. They need each other. He can learn. They'll learn together."

A lifetime of desperately needing a family echoes through their connection and Ben finally tumbles to how much finding parents for these orphaned children means to Rey.

Smudge is completely lost in his new charge, so Ben leads Rey away and pulls her into his arms. "We'll make sure all of them have families. I promise."

Rey cocks her head towards all the soldiers making absolute idiots of themselves over the babies. One of the technicians is trying to show a Coalition trooper that babies aren't like blasters, showing him how to support its tiny head.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem. You're going to have to set up a nursery on the Finalizer."

Blinking, Ben wonders what Shree is going to have to say about all this. And will TL forgive him for breaking some of his troopers?

"Hey, Tops!"

"Yes, Tazzy?" he acknowledges with an annoyed tone.

"Look what we found for ya!"

She hands him his saber and comm and he gratefully clips his weapon to his belt.

"We need to make it to the surface, find out what's going on with the fleet."

"We'll stay here, take care of the babies." The baby in Tazzy's arms makes a cooing sound.

"Such a burden," he deadpans.

"Oh, I don't know. Raan'd make a great mom."

Ben snorts, imagining the rigid Captain Raan reacting to this little surprise. But he really does need to communicate with the fleet, so he goes to find Rey, who's organizing getting the babies fed. Once the comfort of being held had properly registered, their empty bellies had them all screaming.

Rey figured it out first and her scavenger instincts had kicked in. She'd quickly found the formula and began handing it out to the besotted troopers. Now the troopers are all holding a baby, gently feeding them.

But then one of the technicians starts to get agitated. "That one needs special formula!" he cries out.

His comrade huffs out a breath. "Not our problem anymore, thank the gods."

"How can you say that, Hroden?" the first technician aska with a horrified expression.

"You always were too soft, Tyn," Hroden sneers with disgust.

"I never wanted this!" the technician named Tyn exclaims.

"What did you think the First Order was up to?" Hroden asks with curled lips.

"Not this … never this."

Rey goes up to the distraught technician. "Tyn is it?" she confirms.

Wariness fills his narrow face and he nods slowly.

"Is there anything else we need to know? About the babies?"

"I tried to take care of them as best I could."

"Traitor," hisses one of the other technicians.

"You might have been alright with all of this, but I never was," Tyn snarls back.

Rey puts a soothing hand on Tyn's bicep. "The babies?" she nudges.

"Well, she likes cuddles," Tyn says, gesturing to Smudge and 'his' baby.

"What else?" Rey encourages.

Once the technician had started talking, he hadn't been able to stop, showing Rey little things he'd learned about each child as she listened intently. Now that it's calm again, Ben finds Rey watching the scene with a conflicted expression.

"What's wrong," Ben asks.

"Oh … just remembering. Plutt made me help with the younger children until I was old enough to strike out on my own."

"You didn't like the other children?"

"No … it wasn't that. I just … I could never protect them. I only wanted to be responsible for myself after a while. It was … it was too hard to watch him crush them the way he crushed me."

"He didn't succeed. You may be a bit bruised here and there, but you're whole."

She smiles sadly. "No … I'm not. But I'm getting there." Then she jerks her head towards the wall of the lab. "Look."

Ben's gaze follows her gesture, and he finds Smudge leaning against a console, snoring away with the little baby snoozing on his chest. There's no more tenseness to his face and he sees how right Rey was to encourage them.

"How did you know?" he asks quietly.

"That's a man who wants to care for something beyond himself. He sacrificed his only companion to save me, then remembered me so well he painted my picture in that mural. We only spoke for about ten minutes, but I became important to him. He needs something to love."

"And … do you?" he asks, wondering if they, too, should take one of the infants.

Her lips quirk in a wistful sort of way. "I have you."

"Right, but …" He's trying to ask about children and she's not making it easy on him.

"I know you want babies, Ben. I felt it when you were trying to say goodbye. I know you want a family with me, and I want that too. Just not yet."

"Oh," he says, unable to hide his disappointment.

"I want to take time to just … be." Then her head tilts. "I mean, obviously if one of these babies needed parents, I'd be first in line," she looks around the lab at all the doting troopers, "but something tells me that's not going to be an issue."

Ben nods and swallows his questions. How long does she need? How many will she give him? Can they just practice? His need for her is becoming a low howl in the back of his mind, wanting to connect with her after such a harrowing time apart.

But he must talk to Shree, so he sighs and changes the subject. "I need to go above ground and contact the fleet." Maker, he hopes they aren't going from one battle to another.

"I'll come with you." She looks around the lab and smiles. There's a happy peace throughout the recent site of such horror. "I think the babies are in good hands."

The looks of contentment among the Coalition troopers brings a humanity to them he'd not really accepted before, nervous that somehow the First Order had irreparably broken these poor souls. But … instinct seems to win over their painful upbringing and the scene of healing makes him full of hope for the future.

"Come on," he says taking her hand.

The serpentine corridors are empty of the living, though they have to pick through quite a few corpses, and he tries not to think about how this is just more blood on the First Order's hands. On his hands. How had he accepted such brutality for such a long time? It makes no sense to the man he's become.

"Ben … it's not your fault," she sighs out, clutching his hand tighter.

"If not mine, whose?"

"Uh, Snoke's? Hux's?" she points out as if it's the most obvious truth in the galaxy.

"I didn't stop it. I didn't even let myself see how horrible it truly was until it was almost too late. Stars, Rey … I barely did anything to stop Starkiller!"

She ceases walking and looks at him for a long time. "But you're doing everything you can, now."

He wants to argue, it just feels like an excuse, but she's not wrong. He has done all in his power to shift the tides. Even when he didn't have the Force, he can see he's made profoundly different choices.

"Listen to me, you have to stop feeling sorry for yourself."

"Sorry for myself!" he sputters.

"Yeah, you're letting your self-pity blind you. You're here. You're alive. And no one but you could have gathered these people together. They trust you precisely because you were also corrupted, also used. And you pushed back. You killed Snoke. You created the reality where they could be free."

He shakes his head, still smarting from her remark about feeling sorry for himself. But … maybe he is taking too much on himself.

"Just live in the future. With me."

Then she goes on her toes and kisses him with a frantic pull, as if her entire being is willing him out of the morass. Soon, all he can feel is how much he loves her and he's kissing her back with equal intensity.

Backing her up against the empty tunnel, her legs go around his waist and it's spiraling quickly. The bond is sparking with fire and lust, need and deep connection. Gods, he wants to rip off her clothes and bury himself inside her. Crawl into her and never leave. When he's thrusting home, there's only Rey.

But … no. The first time he feels her through their connection like this, he wants time, so he slows his movements and she whines out in frustration.

"There's no one around," she coaxes.

"I know," he pants out, leaning his forehead against hers, trying to put out the wildfire she builds inside him. "But I need a bed and the whole night for this."

"Just once?" she begs. "We can be quick."

She rolls her hips against his and he groans in desperation. "We have to comm the fleet," he argues.

"They can wait," she says with a pout.

"So can we. We have our whole lives."

Slowly, she extricates herself from him, but growls, "You better make good on that promise, Solo."

"Oh, I intend to."

As soon as they reach the surface, he blinks into the morning sun and pulls out his comm. The sky is littered with ships and he prays they're not the Coalition's.

There's a wrecked star destroyer sinking into the sands and it's already crawling with scavengers. Rey's eyes gleam and he can sense how a lifetime of instincts are pulling at her.

"You don't have to scavenge any longer," he says with sadness. No one should have to live like this.

"I know … but it's hard not to imagine the portions. By the time I learned the scavenge, all the best parts were long gone."

"Well, you can have first crack at your very own dreadnought," he teases, trying to lighten her dark mood.

There's real greed in her eyes and it makes him chuckle. Maybe he really will set her loose on one of those monstrosities.

She nudges his communicator into his hand, and he nods. "This is Ben Solo, checking in from the surface."

Immediately, Shree's voice comes crackling through the comm. "Oh, thank the gods!"

"Tell me what's happened," he orders.

"You first, Prime Magistrate."

She doesn't sound panicked and then TL's voice joins in. "Yeah, you had us pretty worried there, Ben."

"We're fine. Some losses, but we've taken the bunker. All the prisoners are safe and we have the First Order stormtroopers in custody." And a whole bunch of brand-new parents.

"Bren?" Shree asks with a hint of worry.

"Dead. I'm sorry, I know we wanted to try him-"

But he's cut off by the sound of cheers and he blinks.

"It's over," Shree says with profound relief.

"The fleet?" Ben asks with trepidation.

"All captured or destroyed. Though, we lost some good people … Captain Raan didn't make it."

Rey inhales sharply then breathes out, "Oh … Tazzy."

Ben's face crumples. It was too much to hope that everyone would come out of this alive, but the thought of Tazzy losing Raan just when they'd found each other … it makes it all so much more real and he grasps Rey's hand tightly. What would he have done if he'd lost her?

"Let's wait until we're back on the Finalizer to tell her," Rey whispers and he jerks his head once. Let her have more time dreaming of her little family.

"Send the transports; it's time to come home," Ben says somberly. "We managed to rescue the prisoners and infants."

"All of them?" TL asks.

"Yes, thank the Maker," Ben acknowledges.

"We'll send medical teams, too. They can't be in very good shape after being at the First Order's mercy," adds Shree.

Ben's eyes clench shut as he remembers the hollow eyes of those women. Some had already been pregnant and much as he wishes this was just a happy ending, the healing is only just beginning.

"Very shallow mercy, indeed."

"We're coming, as fast as we can," Shree's calm voice intones.

Everyone is now at the surface, waiting for the transports and Finn comes up to Rey, beaming. He's holding one of the small bundles and his face splits into a wide grin.

"He looks like me!" he exclaims, proudly showing the infant with green eyes and tawny skin. Ben makes a skeptical look at Rey who shushes him.

"Don't you think you should talk to Rose, first?" Rey notes.

His face falls, but then he stands straighter. "She'll understand why I have to do this. Why we have to do this." Then he holds his face close to the baby's wide, intelligent eyes. "Isn't that right, Page?"

Ben finds himself pouting. Everyone is acting like these babies are a litter of twylas and he wants one, too.

Then Rey pulls him aside. "Are we sure these are orphans? I didn't think of that. What if some of them belong to the rescued women?" she asks in a hushed tone.

"We'll have Bast dig into the records. That's one thing the First Order always did right."

"I just hope we're not setting everyone up for broken hearts."

A wave of rightness washes over him and Ben puts his arm around Rey. "Something tells me it's all going to be fine."

As soon as the transports touch down, Finn is looking everywhere when Rose's voice calls out, "Finn!"

The crowd parts and Rose runs straight to Finn, wrapping her arms around him as he tries to juggle the baby and Rose's enthusiasm. Then Rose registers just what he's holding and steps back. "Finn?"

"I just … he doesn't have anyone. Like me."

"Thanks a lot!" she huffs.

"You know what I mean."

Rose nods once and says, "Yeah."

"I thought … we could …"

"Oh … oh!"

Then Rose takes the little boy into her arms and blinks down on him.

"Rose … meet Page."

She looks up swiftly and her eyes fill with tears. "You're not playing fair." Then her face softens. "He does look like you."

Finn smiles smugly at Ben and says, "See?"

Rey looks up at Ben, catching his eyes.

Through the bond he sends, "Like I said. Everything is going to be fine."

"Yeah … for once in your life, Ben Solo, I think you might be right." Then her brow arches. "Don't get used to it.

Grinning a self-satisfied smile, Ben says, "Wouldn't dream of it, wife."

A/N: Thank you, ArtemisBare! You really helped me flesh out this one!

Thank you, Readers! We're almost there! I think there will just be two more chapters. *sniff* Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being so supportive!