Moonflower- A Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction

Chapter 3

A/N: I am so sorry for the super late chapter, it's pretty much inexcusable, so I'm not going to make excuses. I should have finished this sooner, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! I will try and keep on a better schedule in the future.

As always, thanks for reading!

-Theresa 

I can't do it anymore, thought Thorne halfway through the dinner Wolf had made. The crew was sitting along a hastily set up table. The rest of the party guests had left after Cinder had unwrapped gifts and everyone had eaten some cake. Now the old friends were alone and enjoying the farm fresh tomato sauce on their spaghetti while the kids ran around in the nursery with the royal babysitter.

Thorne had been trying to sit quietly and wait. He had tried to enjoy his meal, but it was impossible when Cress was keeping something from him.

Aces, Thorne thought, I'm acting like a two year old.

Still, as soon as Cress was done with her food Thorne jumped out of his seat. He did his best, largest, most obnoxious yawn and draped his arm over Cress's shoulder.

"Well I'm exhausted. How about you Cress? You know I think it's time we head home. Good night everyone!" He said and then waved and pulled Cress up from the table. She frowned but followed waving as Thorne dragged her from the room.

"What's wrong Thorne?" Cress asked. Thorne gave an exasperated sigh. This whole marriage thing really takes away the fun of being able to put on a facade. Cress could always tell when he had a problem.

They reached the driveway of the palace and Thorne opened the hover door for Cress. She still eyed him skeptically, but she got in to his great relief. He climbed in afterward, and now that they were alone, Thorne had to know.

"Cress you know how much I hate surprises," he began, and with those few words her eyes already told him she knew what this was going to be about. She began to laugh, and she tried to cover it, but it was impossible.

Thorne did not see anything funny about the situation. He frowned as she laughed and crossed his arms which only made her laugh harder.

Finally, gasping for breath, Cress was able to get a few words out. "What... Was the... Last... Time... I kept a... Secret... From... You," she said still giggling a little. She finally collected herself and explained, "You're always putting on a front for me Thorne, and you give me surprises al the time, but you can't handle me keeping a secret from you,"

"Cress," Thorne countered, "I'm the dashing captain who keeps the secrets and bestows gifts on his beloved wife. You are the sweet, naive wife who doesn't mind the secrets I keep from her." It was a perfectly reasonable argument.

There was a pause in the hover for a moment. Cress said nothing, but Thorne could see she was hurt.

"You think I'm naive?" Asked Cress. He voiced wavered and Thorne knew if he wasn't careful tears were coming.

"Cress, you know I didn't mean it in a condescending way..."

"But you do think I'm naive," she practically growled now. Thorne felt the mood in the car go from bad to worse. He could already see the blankets he would pull down from the closet for his bed on the couch that night.

But wait a second, what was wrong with Cress? She was normally really good at controlling her emotions, it was something she often tried to help him with.

"First you rudely pull me from our friend's baby shower early even though you know I wanted to stay later because we can almost never get all of our friends in the same room together, then you embarrass me by dragging me out of the room as fast as you can, you demand I tell you all my secrets, and now you're telling me you think I'm some sort of joke. Why are you doing this to me?" Then she burst into tears and Thorne felt his heart break ever so slightly as it always did when he hurt Cress. He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she brushed him away as tears still rolled down her cheeks. Thorne didn't say another word the entire ride back to their home on the outskirts of New Beijing, and Cress didn't even look at him.

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With a sigh, Thorne rolled over and turned off the light next to the couch. Then he laid on his back mulling over his many, many mistakes of the day. He had been awful to Cress. He hadn't even apologized to her, and now here he was laying on the couch like a coward while Cress laid all alone probably hating her existence because she had been wrong about him. He wasn't anywhere near the man she deserved.

But she had been acting so weird today. First she was keeping secrets, then all those mood swings in the car. Maybe something was wrong.

Thorne's heart began to pound in his chest. What if she was being manipulated by a Lunar and they were controlling her and he hadn't been protecting her? What if that Lunar was in the house right now? What if they were about to be attacked by some crazy Levana sympathizers?

Thorne wanted to smack himself. Cress was a shell, of course she wasn't being manipulated. He couldn't even believed he'd thought of that.

Maybe he was being manipulated to think there was something wrong with her. Thorne reached back and touched his scar on his neck. No, that couldn't be it. Linh Garan's device was still implanted in him, and that made his bioelectricity as nonexistent as Cress's. He was safe.

What if Cress wasn't actually Cress but a Lunar disguised as her? What if Cress was being held in a secret prison on Luna and the new leader of Luna was actually evil and Cinder was in on all of it and they were going to send Lunar soldiers down to attack him any day now and...

A realization hit him so hard he could almost feel the physical pain against his temple. Cress could be a lunar disguised as her and be a captive on the moon, or...

"Aces!" Thorne cried and jumped off the couch and ran up the stairs. "Cress!" He called as he ran down the hall to their room.

Thorne bust down the door. His heart was pounding from the run and anticipation. Maybe she's just sick, he told himself as his hands began to shake. Maybe he was getting all worked up for nothing.

Cress frowned at Thorne from beneath the blankets of the bed, but even in the darkness of the room Thorne could see the glimmer in her eyes as if she had been waiting all day for him to figure it out.

"Cress..." He murmured now. "Are... are you pregnant?"

She nodded her head, a giddy smile stretching across her face. "You don't have to feel left out anymore Captain," she said.

"Cress, I'm so sorry. I don't think you're naive, I really don't. You're the smartest, sweetest, most beautiful person I've ever met. Can you ever forgive me?"

Cress just shook her head and held out her arms. Thorne went to her and pulled her in tight to him. He felt a few tears roll down his cheeks, but they were of pure joy. They fell asleep just like that, Thorne holding his wife, and Cress holding their little son or daughter, and Thorne could not have been happier.

There you go, some Cresswell for the soul. :)