Moonflower- A Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction

Chapter 2

 "Balloons over there, cake in the next room please! Where are the party favors? Come on people we only have twenty minutes until Cinder gets here," Thorne shouted. He had taken charge of putting together the surprise baby shower, and Cress had to admit that he wasn't doing a bad job.

"Baby showers are so fun! I've already found twelve party games for us to play. Oh! Here's another one, that makes thirteen," called Iko from her spot on the other side of the room. She was pinning a bunch of balloons to the mantle on one side while Kinney hung a matching bunch on the other. She seemed to be multitasking.

"Come on Iko, you know none of us guys wanted to play those weird games. It's bad enough we have to drink out of these," he said motioning to the hundreds of baby bottles lined up on the refreshments table.

"Fine, then I'll do some research on how to properly plan a baby shower and use it to point out everything you're doing wrong," Iko taunted.

Cress rolled her eyes from her netscreen in another corner of the room. With a quick tap of a couple of keys Cress made the lights in the emperor's parlor upstairs flicker on and off quickly, but not unnoticeable. That was Kai's signal to start getting Cinder ready to make her way downstairs. She just hoped he was watching.

"Maha go help your papa in the kitchen. He needs more tomatoes. Luc get down from there! No cake until aunt Cinder gets here," Scarlet moved to lift a little boy, just two years old, off the cake table. The boy screamed and scrambled off the table running away, but his little legs could only carry him so far before Scarlet scooped him up in her arms.

"You're not getting away this time mister troublemaker," She said. The little boy whined and tried to wiggle out of Scarlet's grip, but she flipped him and held him by his ankles for a moment. The boy's whines turned to screams of delight before she flipped him back up into her arms and headed to the kitchen to help Wolf finish dinner.

A starry eyed Winter burst into the party holding two babies no older than twelve months, one in each arm. Scarlet turned with visible relief on her face. "What? You thought I wouldn't bring Fitz back to you?" She said, a wicked grin on her face. "Although Solstice and Fitz get along so well I guess I should have considered keeping him,"

Scarlet rolled her eyes and held her youngest son in her one arm while she dragged Luc toward the kitchen with the other. Winter took her only daughter, the most beautiful baby Cress had ever seen, to play on the carpet near the fire and the mantle where Iko and Kinney had finally finished hanging balloons. Jacin followed close behind, a diaper bag in one hand and a bag of toys in the other. While carrying those things seemed a little uncharacteristic of the large former guard, he wore a caring smile for both his wife and daughter.

"Don't you feel so out of it?" said a voice behind Cress with a chuckle. She swiveled around in her chair to see Thorne reclining on a chair just behind hers. He must have been sitting there watching her work for several minutes now.

"What is there to feel out of Carswell?" she said with a sigh as she turned back to her work. Cress knew exactly what he was talking about, and she didn't want see her smile.

"Well all our friends are carrying around kids and diapers with them everywhere, and here it's just us two. I feel left out," he said with a mock pout, but something about being married for four years made Cress see the hint of sincerity beneath it.

"I've actually been meaning to talk to you about that," Cress began.

Then a crash came from the door at the other end of the room and Iko came racing in. "She's just down the hall! Everyone hide!" she called and all the shower guests raced to their hiding spots behind chairs and under tables. The lights switched off and the room went silent.

A faint click of shoes from an echoey hall grew louder and louder. Soon Cress could hear voices.

"All I'm saying is that you need to take some time to relax more often," said the male voice. Kai, thought Cress.

"And all I'm saying is if I don't take my fair share of the work you will have way too much, and I'm fine Kai. This isn't the first time an empress has been pregnant and had to run the country at the same time," said Cinder in return. Cress smiled. That was most definitely the Cinder she knew.

The clicking came to a halt as someone pulled open the large doors to the great hall where Cress was hiding beneath her desk next to Thorne. Everyone was silent as the monarchs of the Eastern Commonwealth stepped into the room.

Cress could practically hear Cinder's eyes roaming the decorations in confusion. "Kai? What's going..."

The lights flickered back on and everyone jumped out from their hiding spots. "Surprise!" Cress called loudly with the rest of the guests.

Cinder stumbled back a little and placed a hand on her noticeably larger stomach, her eyes wide but shining. Cress new there would be hormone induced tears if Cinder actually had tear ducts. Cress shed a few tears of happiness for her instead when she hugged Cinder and gave her congratulations.

Then the party started. Cress switched on the music at her desk and grabbed some cake. The Kesley's oldest kids ran around the room giggling as Wolf tried to keep them away from the cake and Scarlet enjoyed some time on the carpet with Winter and her daughter. It didn't help Wolf much that Throne kept moving the pieces of cake to the edge of the table so that the kids could easily reach them. Cinder also sat with Scarlet and Winter as they giggled over the little onesies and baby toys she had unwrapped. Cress started to join them when two strong arms wrapped around her waist.

"I believe you wanted too tell me something before we were interrupted," Thorne whispered in her ear.

Cress grinned up at him and twisted out of his arms. "I'll tell you when we get home," she said before scurrying off to the other girls and leaving Thorne scratching his head.