Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter Twenty Seven

Thorne hadn't seen his father in almost four years, yet he was exactly the way he had remembered—dressed in his familiar military uniform, his hair neatly trimmed, and his hat tucked under his arm. He was also wearing the perpetual scowl that Thorne had seen way to many times.

"What are you doing here?" Thorne asked.

His father smirked. "Nice to see you too, son."

Thorne bristled.

"Routine inspection. This hospital is part of the military's supported medical facilities."

Thorne forced a nod.

"What brings you to a hospital? Visiting someone?"

"Yep," Thorne replied, ignoring the patronizing tone.

"What room?"

"Excuse me?"

"What room is she in?"

"How do you know it's a she?"

His father leveled a glare at him. "I can't imagine you taking the time out of your busy schedule to visit... not a she."

Thorne blinked, trying to think of something to say and hating that nothing came to mind. His port pinged, buying him a few moments as he glanced at it. It was Scarlet, asking where in the known universe he and Cress were.

"Tell you what, your mother is here with me and I know she'd love to see you again; as soon as you and whoever it is you're here with is better why don't we all get together for lunch?"

Love to see you again. The words pierced Thorne's heart, thinking how silly they sounded when connected with his mother. He put his port away, making a note to reply to Scarlet in a minute.

"I don't know what's on the agenda for the foreseeable future," Thorne said.

"Find out and let me know. We're staying at the Starlight Plaza."

"Sounds great." Thorne forced a smile but even he knew it looked fake.

His father nodded curtly before spinning around on his heel and disappearing. Thorne stared after him for a solid 5 seconds before shaking his head and starting back to Cress.

She was still curled up on her side, but her eyes were open and she was watching the net screen. Her face brightened when Thorne walked in.

"Hey wife."

Cress's grin intensified and she pushed herself up.

Thorne rested his palm on her forehead, relieved to feel her temperature had dropped back down. "You look a lot better."

"I feel better. What happened?"

"I think the nurse said you had pneumonia, which can develop from a flu. It's fairly common."

Cress peered into the box as Thorne opened it. "Mm, smells good."

"Take it easy though."

She nodded. "Did you get anything for you?"

"No, I got... sidetracked."

Cress lightly frowned.

Thorne sank down onto the chair beside her bed. "I ran into my dad in the hallway."

Cress's eyes widened. "What? I thought they lived in LA."

"They do, but he said this hospital was one of the military's... things, I don't know. He's doing some inspection." Thorne hesitated. "He asked if we wanted to get together for lunch."

Cress froze mid-chew. "When?"

"Whenever you're feeling better. So I figure you'll take at least another three weeks and then we'll have to leave."

Cress faintly laughed. "No, it's fine. We can go."

"No, believe me Cress, I don't want to go."

"You haven't seen your parents in how many years?"

"I'm trying to shoot for 5."

Cress giggled. She took another bite of egg. "I don't mind going, if you... change your mind."

Thorne raised an eyebrow.

"Really. I mean, you technically got to meet my dad I wouldn't mind getting to meet yours."

"Yeah, but my dad's not... we're not on good terms. We never have been."

"Well neither were me and Dr. Erland."

"True, though I didn't know that was your dad."

Cress shrugged.

"If you want to, I can suffer through an hour with them. I'm just warning you in advance, they're not going to like you."

Cress's shoulders dropped, just a little.

"They don't like anyone, but especially anyone connected to me," Thorne added quickly. "They're crazy. I just want to give you a full warning."

Cress nodded, shrugging. She finished her breakfast just before the nurse came back in. She confirmed that her fever had broken and gave her some antibiotics to take for her pneumonia.

"Is she contagious?"

Please say yes, please say yes.

"No."

Aces. Thorne thumped his knee with a fist.

"I'm gonna to let you go, stop at the pharmacy for those antibiotics. Take them until you run out," she added, turning to Cress.

Cress nodded.

"So she should go home and rest for like, the next month right?" Thorne asked, eliciting a glare from Cress. "Going out in public would be a bad idea?"

"I wouldn't say a month." The nurse shrugged, her hand resting on the door knob. "Maybe a few days to a week. Just don't overdo it."

As soon as the nurse left, Cress sank back down. "So... lunch with your parents?"

Thorne sighed. "I guess it..." he shook his head, "would be better to get it over with."

Cress nodded. "Maybe Saturday?"

"How about Sunday? That way they won't ruin our weekend."

Cress giggled. Her eyes blinked slowly.

"You okay?"

She nodded. "Just tired."

"So you've really never been sick before? Not even when you were still on Luna?"

"Not that I remember. Unless you count the time in the desert."

Thorne shrugged. "I don't think so, that was heat stroke combined with some kind of infection... I think. I don't know. You ready to go?"

Cress nodded, stifling another yawn. She slid out from the bed accepting Thorne's outstretched hand.

Wolf and Scarlet weren't in the Rampion when Thorne and Cress walked up and several of the crates with the antidotes were missing.

"They must have taken them to the hospital. We probably just missed them."

"Should we help?"

"You shouldn't. Looks like there's only a few left." He added. Scarlet and Wolf could handle the rest.

"If you want to help, I'll be fine. I was just going to lie down." Cress said as they walked inside.

"Nah, I'm sure they've got it." Thorne replied, kissing the side of her head. He walked with her to her room and made sure she was comfortable before closing the door.