AN: Hey guys, welcome! :3 This one's just a fun little picture of what the Gladers might like to do in their free time at the Safe Haven. I put Gally back in there because I liked him in the movies and wanted him to have a little redemption. Also Teresa has a mental turning point at the end. Reviews please, especially if anybody seems out of character!
It's night in the Safe Haven, and Thomas is in Minho and Frypan's tent with five others – all of them laughing their heads off as Teresa somewhat graphically narrates Minho's tragic death by spontaneous combustion.
The game is Mafia, and they've been playing it several times for at least an hour already, but it's been so fun that no one wants to stop. Wiping his eyes, Thomas looks over at Gally sitting across the circle and feels a mixture of emotions when he sees a small grin on the big guy's face. Thomas is not sure how he feels about Gally being in the Safe Haven, accepted back into the group like he's one of the Gladers again – but then, he did rescue Teresa from the Last City. That's something Thomas thinks, ironically, that might actually make him like Gally a little more.
Because ever since Gally brought Teresa back, things between her and Thomas have been changing. There's something different between them. He peeks at her with one eye while he and the rest of the townspeople are supposed to be asleep – he's the Doctor, so it'll be his turn soon anyway – and sees the red scars of still-healing blisters on her face catching the lantern light every time she moves her head. It's been a couple weeks since she was let out of the medical tent to join the rest of the Haven, but the results of her fall into the burning wreckage of WCKD tower are still apparent on her skin.
She notices him peeking and stops her narration to say loudly, "No peeking, children... Thomas. That includes you!"
You little cheater, she says in his mind.
He teases her back. But you're just so entertaining. There's an unfamiliar warmness in his heart.
That warmness hasn't left since Teresa woke up.
He had plenty of time before then to worry about if she was even going to make it. It had been a close call. Concussion, third-degree burns all over her body, three broken ribs, and a lot of bruising. During that time sitting against the wall across from her bed, hearing the med-jacks' tense conversations whenever they didn't think he could hear, Thomas realized something.
He really couldn't imagine his life without her.
"Doctor, wake up." Teresa whispers, and he raises his head to find her tilting her head at him with her blue eyes flashing in the dim light. "Who would you like to save?"
Thomas offers her a cunning grin and pretends to look furtively around the circle, resting his gaze on Frypan's fake-snoring figure. That one, he thinks at Teresa so the others won't hear. That big snoring lump over there, he looks dead.
Teresa tries to cover a laugh. He might be the only one here who's actually asleep, she thinks back at Thomas, quirking a smile, and then tells him to go back to sleep.
It's the sheriff's turn and then another day begins, in which it turns out Frypan actually was asleep and Brenda got murdered by a large seagull that fell out of the sky mid-flight and accidentally impaled her with its sharp bill. Minho pats the ground next to him from where he's sitting cross-legged just outside the circle.
"Join the dead people," he calls to Brenda, and scoots over, not even blinking when Brenda sits down cross-legged, too, and less than an inch away from him. Thomas doesn't think he's the only one who's been noticing how close the two have gotten lately, and he's right, because just then Frypan starts whistling an old love song and Minho has to throw a blanket to get him to shut up.
They go for one more turn but then stop because Frypan, who was the mafia, is asleep again. Deciding not to wake him, since it's already past midnight and Minho wants to go to bed anyway, everyone else climbs out of the tent into the pale moonlight and stars. It's a beautiful night and the sound of waves lapping the seashore not far away adds a gentle rhythm to the otherwise quiet camp. Thomas, Teresa, and Brenda walk up the row on the way back to their own tents. Brenda tilts her head at Thomas, and then disappears among the alleyways between the tents, leaving him and Teresa alone. She looks at Thomas.
"What was that about?"
He glances up at her, then shakes his head.
"I don't know. She's been getting harder and harder to read ever since we got here." Hesitating, he admits, "I think it might have something to do with you."
Teresa doesn't look surprised. She lowers her head, speaking carefully.
"Whatever it is, I hope I didn't cause any trouble between you two." He can hear regret in her voice. "I thought I was right, Tom – haven't you ever felt that before? You understand, you were with us… Them…" She trails off, then stops walking and turns to face him. "I just… I just don't know what to think anymore." The wind tousles her long black hair.
Thomas watches her, feeling an inexplicable surge of empathy. She needs to go through this, he realizes. She needs to realize what WCKD was doing, how wrong it was… But he knows. He felt it himself the months, even years, before he was inserted into the Maze.
WCKD is good, he thinks bitterly, then stiffens as Teresa appears to notice his thoughts. She raises her head and he can see that she's crying.
Without warning, she hugs him, wrapping her long arms around his shoulders and pulling him close. Surprised, Thomas hugs her back.
It's okay Teresa…it's okay…
Without speaking, he tries to calm her, whispering reassuring thoughts to her mind. They stay like that for a long time.