Gladiolus ~ The Maze Runner

3~2: It Feels Illegal to be Happy in an Apocalypse

A/N: greetings. if there are typos in this, it's because this is still a draft. if you see any, please please PLEASE lmk and I will fix them. thank you guys!

***

The jolt of the Berg landing on solid ground woke me up. Blinking a few times, I look down and notice Claire fast asleep in my lap, curled up under a blanket that someone must have put around us when we were both napping.

The doors open and the runway shoots down. Harriet and Brenda are leading all of the children out into base. Hank approaches us and gently shakes Claire awake. "We gotta go with the others, Clarie," Hank says.

"Will Hanna be coming?" Claire asks. Hank looks at me in question.

I really want to. But I can't. I have to give a mission report and then have a group meeting with Vince. "I won't be, but I'll see you guys around!" I promise. "Don't worry. You guys are in good hands with Harriet and Brenda."

Claire obviously doesn't want to go, but she finally relents and climbs out of my lap, giving me one last hug before she leaves, hand-in-hand with her brother. I pick up the blanket and rise slowly, stretching my joints.

Thomas approaches me with those wonderful kind eyes. "She really likes you," he comments.

"Yeah," I replied, my voice catching in my throat. My eyes grow misty as I watch Claire and Hank melt into the crowd of other kids.

"You okay?" he asks gently, noticing my distress. I turn and wrap my arms around his neck tightly in response. He hugs me back, arms secured strong around my torso. I bury my face in his shoulder, eyes squeezed shut.

"I'm sorry for worrying you," I apologize quietly. He doesn't seem angry with me in the slightest for risking my life on this mission, probably because he understands why I did it. But I know he was scared for me. If he was in that position, I would be scared too.

"Don't even start that," he chuckles back. "You have no reason to be sorry. If you risk your life for something stupid, then I'll be a little mad. But you made the right decision, and you saved her."

I nod, slowly pulling back, but not far enough to detach myself from him completely.

"What happened in there?" he asks earnestly, keeping eye contact.

"I'll, uh..." I take a shaky breath. "We can talk about it later. I don't think I can talk about it right now or I might throw up. Besides, I wanna know how your side of the mission went. Did you and Newt get the information we need?"

He nods, wrapping his hand in mine, leading us out of the aircraft. "We got everything. We're getting Minho tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!"

"Yep," he grins. "It's risky and on short notice, but it's the best opening we have."

"I could kiss you, you genius."

He laughs. "Well, come here." He spins me to him and I give him a light kiss before continuing to the tech shop.

"Seriously, it's a miracle that you and Newt found that information," I continue as Thomas holds the door open for me.

"I know it is. I'm shocked we got anything at all. Those systems were hard to get through."

"Where's Minho going to be tomorrow?" I ask, curious.

"On the train," Thomas answers. "Don't worry. I'll outline the whole thing in the meeting."

***

Sure enough, we all finished our mission reports and work for the day before everyone joined up in the tech room to discuss Thomas and Newt's latest discovery.