forgiveness and fate ☾ the maze runner

chapter 19 {deep rooted love}

THOMAS glances over at Teresa, noting her gobsmacked reaction. He looks back to Sam, the young boy patiently waiting for a long awaited answer. His eyes show curiosity, and. . .desperation. It's the desperation that hurts Thomas and Teresa, on the inside.

"Sam. . .we're not your parents. It wouldn't be possible if we were, because it would mean that Teresa had to give birth to you when. . .well, before the Maze" Thomas explains, carefully.

Thomas's eyes avert to the ground. He doesn't want to mention the high probability that Sam's parents had caught the Flare. And that they're long gone. He looks up, his eyes meeting with Teresa's lighter ones. He can read what her emotions are saying - and she's trying to swallow the guilt of knowing that Sam's parents probably are dead.

"Then who are they?" Sam asks.

Thomas sighs, and looks to Teresa for some help. Thankfully, she responds.

"We don't know. I'm sure they were nice people. . .but Thomas and I don't even know our parents" she tells the smaller boy.

"Because your memories were taken?"

Teresa's eyes water. Only slightly. She doesn't want to show that she's saddened, remembering her mother. The only person she ever had before WICKED. The main personal motivation to why she helped WICKED. Yes, she can remember her mother. But only the bloody parts. The part when she truly went insane.

"Y-yeah" she responds, shaking.

Sam nods, looking down. "My parents. They're dead. Aren't they?"

Teresa's breath catches in her throat. She almost chokes. Yet she keeps her straightened, and fairly calm composure - like she always does. Thomas can't look at either of them - the girl he loves, and the younger boy he's grown fond of. The younger boy who reminds him of himself. Although they have their differences, Thomas does care.

It's the fact that the young, innocent boy has come up with a heart-breaking idea in his head. Which is true. That his parents are dead. But then again, Thomas's are gone. And Teresa's. And Minho's, Frypan's, Gally's. . .Newt's.

"It's okay, guys. I figured it ages ago. I think I can feel that she's gone, and that he's gone," the young boy tells him, honestly and very mature. "But I've still got my friends, and you guys"

⚫  ⚫  ⚫

"TOM?" Teresa's chin rests on his chest, big blue eyes watching her sleepy boyfriend move slightly.

He mumbles a 'hmm?' and his darker eyes slowly open to view her.

"Nothing really. . .I just got bored of waiting for you to wake up"

"Oh. . .were you watching me sleep?" Thomas manages to ask, his voice still sleepy.

Teresa smiles, and then rests her cheek against his chest. "Maybe"

Thomas mindlessly smiles at her admittance, and his hand rests on her back, soothingly rubbing it. He takes in a deep breath, about to inform her on something he knows she's not going of being reminded of.

"You know, Minho and I will go out running, again. Soon"

As he anticipated, her face looks up at him. He moves his chin downward, so his eyes can properly meet hers. This is when she realises why he was rubbing her back - to soothe her.

"Well, you were gonna have to. I guess you need your daily quota of running around, you have a lot of energy to burn off " she says, trying to think postively.

But Thomas being Thomas, can tell she's only saying this to make herself feel better, and less stressed. And himself.

"I just. . .don't want you to worry about me as much as you do when I'm gone -"

"I can't help that. There was a time when we were operated on by WICKED, and after that we couldn't remember each other. Then you're in the Maze, and in danger. Then we're separated again after the Maze. Then again in the Scorch, and I found you passed out in a nightclub. Then, we were away from each other for. . .for a while, " she trails off, looking down. "See why I get paranoid when you're away from me?"

A few seconds of silence pass.

"You know it's not just you that's like that. I'm like that when it comes to you"

Teresa says nothing in response, but her hand tenderly touches his cheek. And her head reminds her of how lucky she is that he forgave her. Like it tends to do, quite a lot.

"And you know that I love you" Teresa tells him, simply and sweetly. Emotionally. And truthfully.

"And you know what I love you, too"

⚫  ⚫  ⚫

A FEW DAYS later, Minho and Thomas are out exploring the rest of the paradise. They run past the stream where they saw the flowers, near the the beginning of when they started running around the wilderness.

They run up the rocky cliff, very carefully. The two remember the time Thomas had a nasty fall on the way back down, resulting in concussion. So before they started to embark upon the cliff to see the view of the mysterious distance (that's blocked by the large cliff) Minho gave Thomas a serious reminder.

"Right shank, you better be careful. On the way up, and on the way back down. Your girlfriend will murder me if you get hurt. . .again" are the words Minho told him.

Once they reach the top, they take note of the large hills in the distance. That they are still yet to explore.

Due to the vigorous exercise, the two sit on the cliff. But nowhere near the edge. That's just an accident waiting to happen. Thomas wonders back to Teresa. Well, first he wonders back to Sam. which causes him to think of her.

It makes him think about care. Caring. Love. Then other words tumble into his head, non-stop, like a wave. His eyes stare blankly at the sky as they hit his head; relationship, close, bond, attachment, attached, dedicated, committed, always, love, forever, soulmate.

Suddenly his mind has gone elsewhere. Back to a day when he didn't know what to feel anymore. Everything the world had to offer, threw itself at him. And affected him. Tormented his head at the time.

When his body was going out of his control. When his vision was blurring and distorting. When he saw hallucinations of Newt and Winston as Cranks. When he saw a Griever, and then afterward. . .

When Brenda kissed him. When he didn't see Brenda, even though she was with him. When he saw Teresa, instead. When his mind wanted her to be kissing him, instead. When he wanted her to be with him. And he never told anyone about what he saw at the time. He never told her.

They never told each other how much they cared about one another.

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a/n: plz check out my other  thomesa, maze runner fics;

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