Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

BABY CRESSWELL

Thorne waited the full twenty minutes, not sure if Scarlet's suggestion was based on something scientific or just a random number she came up with. He waited outside Cress's room, pacing the hall, until his watch went off.

He pushed the door open and called up an easy smile. "Hey, sweetheart, how're you doing?" he asked, setting her water cup down on the table.

Cress nodded, though she looked exhausted. "Good."

Thorne lightly rubbed her shoulder, sinking down beside her when she leaned against him.

For almost another hour, Cress's contractions grew steadily stronger. She alternated sitting up and letting Thorne rub her back and laying against the pillows. At some point, Scarlet ducked out, murmuring to Thorne she'd be in the waiting room and to send her another comm if he wanted her to come back.

Thorne shot her an appreciative smile. He took his place beside her again, talking to her and trying to keep her calm. The hands on the clock ticked slowly forward.

"Alright, can we check you out again?" the head nurse asked as she walked in. The clock on the wall said it was just now 7.

Cress nodded against Thorne.

"How're you doing with the pain?" Thorne quietly asked her.

"Okay. There's just so much pressure," she added with a barely concealed groan.

Thorne kissed the side of her head, wishing so very badly he could take away all her discomfort.

"Alright Crescent, your little girl is right here so can you give me a good strong push with this next contraction?"

"Yeah."

Thorne laced his hand through hers, letting her squeeze during the contraction. On her third push he slid a supportive arm around her shoulders just as one of the nurses—or maybe she was a doctor, it was hard to tell behind the scrubs—caught a tiny little baby and immediately unwound the umbilical cord from around her neck.

"She's here, sweetheart," Thorne murmured, his vision blurring.

Cress was laughing and crying, shaking as the nurse set the baby on her chest and she wrapped her arms around her. "She's here—we did it," she said, her eyes sparkling. Everything seemed to happen at once. Hands wrapped a blanket around the baby and someone else wiped her little face off.

Cress turned to look up at him, smiling tiredly. "You're a daddy," she almost whispered.

Thorne couldn't reply. He kissed her instead, keeping his arm around her. She leaned her head on his shoulder, still trembling. One of the nurses checked Cress and made sure she was out of danger while another one sent up for some breakfast.

When Cress's trembling had subsided a little, she moved part of the blanket away so she could see the baby's face better. She had quieted down, her lower lip jutted out and one of her hands flattened against Cress's shoulder.

Thorne wasn't sure how long they were left alone, but at some point one of the nurses took the baby so she could weigh her and wrap her in a blanket.

"So what do we think? Does she look like a Nova? Or do we need to start going over our alternates?"

Cress thoughtfully sighed. "I think she looks like a Nova."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Nova Rose."

Cress grinned. She made no move to let go of Thorne so he didn't move either. Her breakfast plate came up a few minutes later and she let him go to eat. Which made sense; poor girl hadn't eaten in over twenty-four hours.

"Here dad, why don't you say hi to your baby girl?"

Thorne glanced over his shoulder as the same nurse who had been so attentive to Cress was handing him baby Nova, wrapped in blankets.

Aces, she was so small. So small and perfect and beautiful. A pale pink hat had been tugged over her head and her eyes were closed. Almost in a daze, Thorne settled onto the chair beside Cress, partially so she had more space to eat and partially because he just wasn't thinking entirely straight.

He couldn't take his eyes from Nova. His baby—their baby. Their little girl. Thorne blinked his eyes clear, smiling at her when her mouth opened in a big yawn and she let out a little groan. One of her hands opened from its fist and Thorne played with her small fingers, smiling impossibly broader when her small fist closed around his thumb.

As soon as Cress finished eating, Thorne passed Nova back to her, figuring she'd worked so hard she earned the right to hold her longer.

"She looks like you." Cress grinned.

"She looks like you."

Cress shook her head but she didn't say anything. She rubbed a finger on Nova's cheek and then kissed her forehead. "She's so beautiful."

"Yeah, she is. I'm gonna sneak out really quickly just so Wolf and Scarlet know everything's good."

"Do they want to come see her?"

"I'll ask." Thorne kissed her forehead and stood up, walking back down the hall to the waiting room where Scarlet and Wolf were waiting. They both quickly stood up. "We have a baby!" he said with a grin.

Scarlet almost laughed, grinning. "What's her name?"

Thorne cocked his head to the side. "Come meet her."

Scarlet let out something close to a squeal, gripping Wolf's arm as they started after Thorne.