Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter One Hundred and Forty

Thorne fought really hard against the panic rising. He wanted so very badly to be able to stay calm and collected—if nothing else to hopefully keep Cress from panicking. The entire drive to the hospital he tried to psych himself up for anything that might happen. Cress had been going back and forth as to whether or not she wanted pain meds.

Thorne sent a silent prayed that she would take the pain meds. He was having a hard enough time watching her be in this level of pain, he wasn't sure he'd be able to watch her in anything more intense.

Her hand tightened around his, which meant the pain started to get worse again. He drove a little faster and in only another five minutes they were pulling into a spot.

Cress made no move to leave.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to go in," she said, her eyes welling up.

"Well you can't have the baby in the car, it's not under the warranty."

Cress either didn't hear him or didn't get his attempt to be lighthearted.

"It'll be fine," he said gently, smiling. "Really."

"I know but I wanted to do it naturally so but these contractions are starting to hurt so bad." She choked on a sob.

Thorne gently  took her chin, turning her face so she'd look at him. "If you want to do it on your own, you are more than capable of it, okay? But there's also nothing wrong with wanting the pain meds. No one will think any less of you," he murmured, forcing himself to set aside what he wanted her to do, but also not wanting her to feel like if she didn't do it on her own she was weak.

Cress swallowed.

"Okay? But let's go inside and have them check you out—you have some time to think about it."

Finally, Cress nodded.

Thorne took her hand again as they started inside and were shown to a room. The nurse told him it was a slow night so it took no time for Cress to get checked out. She was already seven centimeters dilated (Thorne couldn't entirely remember what that meant other than she was close to actually having the baby).

"So what are we thinking? Epidural, no epidural?" the nurse asked as Cress turned into her side and tried to hide a grimace.

Cress glanced at Thorne.

"I'll tell you what, I'd give you another 10 minutes before it'll be to late, so why don't I come back in, say, 5?"

Thorne nodded. "Thanks so much."

As soon as they were alone, Cress pressed a hand to her eye.

Thorne, sitting on the chair beside her, scooted closer and kissed the side of her face.

"I want to be tough," she said, clearly trying to fight back more tears.

"You are tough! Hey, look at me—whatever you decide to do, you've literally grown an entire new human,m and you'll still have to go through the physical work of actually having her. The only thing the pain meds will do it give you a small break from being in pain and let you enjoy this experience a little better." He smoothed a hand among her forehead. "Choosing to be in pain doesn't mean you have to work any harder, you're still gonna have to do the work even if you got the epidural."

"Scarlet will probably do it without anything."

"Yeah well Scarlet will probably want to free-birth by the cows, so let's not go there."

Cress almost smiled. "What do you want me to do?" she asked, her voice trembling just a bit.

"It doesn't matter what I want—you're the one doing the work; what do you want?"

Cress looked like she was going to start crying again. "I really want to get the epidural."

Thorne relaxed into an easy grin. "Oh thanks the stars."

At that, Cress looks visibly relieved.

"Okay? Let's get the nurse back in here." Thorne had just reached for the buzzer when she walked in.

Thankfully it took no time at all to get Cress the meds so she wouldn't feel the contractions as much. The nurse kept repeating she'd still feel them, just not as intensely. Which, Thorne suspected, worried her until she felt one and said it was easy.

For almost an hour, she had contractions on and off. They seemed to have slowed down a little, but were still coming regularly.

In between visits, Thorne did his best to keep Cress as calm as possible. He hoped she'd have been able to get some sleep, but because the nurse was coming so often, it just wasn't possible. Instead they played a few hands of Royals, then Uno.

"We still gotta nail down a name," Thorne said, tossing a yellow three on the pile.

"We have them narrowed down. Besides, what if we pick one and she doesn't look like her name?" Cress's gaze flickered to the screen tracking her vitals. The line marking her contractions started to rise.

"Still doing okay?"

"Yeah. Doesn't hurt, but I can feel it," she said, resting a hand on her stomach. She reached for Thorne's hand and put it next to hers.

"Aces! You got strong stomach muscles, Damsel."

Cress giggled. She looked at the screen again. They still weren't as strong as they'd get, but each one was getting closer.

"How are we doing?" the nurse asked as she walked back in.

"Good. Getting tired."

"Yeah, I bet. You're getting there. Try and get some sleep, if you can."

Cress nodded, faintly sighing.

Thorne tapped his cards on the nightstand, glancing Cress out of the corner of his eye while simultaneously watching the two nurses get things set up. He involuntarily smiled, watching one of them set out a handful of blankets in a small cradle.

"What time is it?" Cress asked.

Thorne glanced at his watch. "Six-thirty. Why, you got a date?"

"No, I just want to know how long we've been here."

"Almost an hour."

Cress nodded.

"Try and get some sleep, okay?"

Cress nodded again, leaning back against the pillows. Thorne pulled the blankets up and tucked her in, waiting until she'd drifted off before slipping from the room.