Moonflower- A Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction

Chapter 7

Cress had never looked so beautiful.
Thorne could not count the number of times he had thought Cress looked beautiful on his hands, on his portscreen's calculator, or even in the stars. However today her radiance lit the room, for he had never seen anything or anyone as beautiful as Cress holding their baby son in that hospital bed.
It had been stressful. He had sat inside the room while she had been in labor and paced and paced and wrung his hands. The nurse had had to usher him out into the hall to get some air, and even then he had continued to pace and ring his hands.
It's taking too long he would think on his way down the hall. Something is very wrong he would think on his way back.
Soon their friends came to join him outside her room, and they all tried and failed to get Thorne to calm down. Eventually it was Cinder who was able to place a hand on his shoulder and lead him to a stool in the waiting room.
"Thorne I am thirty percent cyborg and I have a beautiful baby girl. Cress will be fine. I promise," and there was something about Cinder taking time to reassure him, the ever proud captain, that made Carswell Thorne sit and wait with only mild hand-wringing.
Soon the doctor walked out into the waiting room, and without even waiting to see what he had to say Thorne rushed into Cress's room to find himself in the present. There she was the most beautiful woman he had ever known and in her arms was his son. His son he would take on daring flights through the streets. The son he would sit down at the dinner table with for a family of three not two anymore. This was the son he would tell the story of the Great Lunar War when he was old enough, and of course all the stories of his mischievous youth. This was the son he was very much expecting to be quite the handful unless of course he had enough Cress in him. The son that, with any luck, Cress would let Thorne teach how to pilot his beloved Rampion someday.
Thorne stood at the door, still and staring. Cress look equally tired and thrilled but most of all radiant. She smiled at Thorne, a laughing look in her exhausted eyes.
"Do you want to come hold your son?" Cress asked her voice quiet but happy. And the great Carswell Thorne was speechless for perhaps only the second time in his life.
He made his way over to his wife and child, and before he took the baby from Cress's hands he kissed her, fully and passionately. He hoped he could convey in his kiss the overwhelming love he felt at that very moment. Cress sighed happily, and as soon as she had placed their son in Thorne's hesitant arms she fell into a well-deserved.
Thorne help the baby boy so he could look at his sleeping face. His fists were clenched near his face, but he looked so at peace. His head was wrapped in a tiny hat reading "Baby Rampion" that Cinder had bought many months ago when they had told the crew about Cress's pregnancy. A beautiful cargo ship flew across the letters making Throne grin.
Then in perhaps the smallest, most fragile voice Thorne had ever spoken in he said, "Hello son. I'm your dad, and I just wanted to tell you even though you're too small to ever understand and I've just met you, I love you more that a thousand Rampions and you're worth more to me than a million moons. Just thought you should know,"
Baby Rampion slept on.
-----
"Okay, so what did you really name him?" Cinder asked, a tinge of annoyance in her voice. She always seemed to be a little on edge these days. From what Thorne had heard Cynthia Peony had been quite a handful.
Good for her, thought Thorne with a smirk. "What? I'm telling you the truth. We were just so inspired by your gift that we decided to name him Rampion Thorne. It's a good name. The ladies love vegetables," he said with a wink at Cress.
They had been home for two days now, and Cress had approved of their closest friends coming over to see the baby. She was still tired, they both were because it seemed their son needed a midnight snack every night, but Thorne couldn't help but admire her perseverance. And to think at one point it seemed like Thorne was the hero. No, Cress was much stronger than he could ever be.
On one couch in the Thorne's living room Iko sat holding baby Thorne in one hand and baby Cynthia in the other while Winter gushed over them. Jacin sat on the floor with Solstice and Fitz, now crawling around but not getting far. Either Scarlet or Wolf would pop in every once in a while to talk while the other continued to search for Luc in a very one-sided hide-and go seek. Cinder had come only with Cynthia because Kai had had some very pressing work to finish, and Cress and Thorne sat together on the couch practically leaning against each other and trying to keep each other awake.
Cress rolled her eyes at Cinder and Thorne's banter. Thorne grinned more, but let Cress tell the story.
"We wanted to name him after family. We were inspired by all of you and your kids so we decided to pay tribute to my father with our son, but at the same time none of my father's names seemed suitable for our son's first name..."
"And so I said," Thorne cut in quickly, "You've always liked the stars so much Cress, and they mean a lot to me because I see them from my ship so often. Are there any constellations that would make for a good name for our son?"
Cress smiled back at him with the memory, their story-telling flowing as if they had planned it. "I thought for a moment, and it dawned on me so quickly I knew we had the perfect name,"
"So we combined our mutual love for the stars with Cress's father's name and we got..."
"Leo Dimitri Thorne."