Reconciliation

It was a clean break. A smooth, easy, clean break.

It'd been ten months. He didn't miss her.

She was better off, wherever she was.

Well, she'd be there any minute now. It was her idea. She'd commed him the week before, saying she'd be in LA. That they should meet up.

He didn't know why he agreed. It was best to leave the past in the past, right? They tried dating after the war ended. They tried for an entire year, but he just had too many doubts and she was too optimistic. He never would admit that his doubts were him worrying that she would meet someone better, though she'd seen right through him.

It was weird that she was reaching out to him at all. He was the one who broke her heart. He probably shouldn't have accepted the invite, but she seemed to be doing well.

Apparently, she was even seeing someone….

Just as the jealousy started to creep into the back of his mind, the bell of the diner door rang and she was the one pushing through it. He lifted a hand and waved her over.

She was wearing a simple yellow summer dress, and her hair was halfway to her waist now. The LA humidity had given it a subtle wave, and there was a tint to her skin, her freckles darker than usual, as though she spent a lot of time in the sun these days.

"Hey, Thorne," she said with a smile, sliding into the booth across from him and picking up the portscreen menu. "Thanks for meeting me. I thought it would be nice to catch up."

He took a sip of his coffee. He wasn't much for the stuff, but it seemed appropriate. "Yeah, no problem. How have you been, Cress?"

She smoothed her hair back and then tapped an order into the screen. "I've been great. Just, you know, working and hanging out with, uh, friends. You?"

She was a lot less nervous than he remembered her being. "Much of the same. How's your hot shot hacking job?"

Cress laughed, rolling her eyes. "I'm not a hacker, I'm a coder. And it's great. How's your new Rampion model coming along?"

"Almost finished with the designs," Thorne told her. "It'll be released in 131. They think it'll be one of the more popular cargo ship models."

She glanced down at her hands and then slid the portscreen menu to the other side of the table. "That's amazing. You seem pretty happy."

Like usual, he put up a wall of positivity. "I am. Most things seem to be really falling into place. So, I heard through the grapevine that you're seeing someone. What's he like?"

Her eyes widened and she looked down. A blush spread across her face. "He's, um, he–he's great. We're not very serious right now. I've only been seeing him for a little less than a month."

His heart caved in. He couldn't pretend like he hadn't had some hope that Cinder had lied to him.

But why did he care? He didn't miss her. It'd been ten months. Their relationship was over. They weren't in love anymore.

He grinned at her. "That's great. I'm glad you're happy!" He was, of course.

An android rolled over with their food and drinks, setting their respective plates in front of them. Glad for some sort of distraction, he began to pick at his fries.

"Are you seeing anyone?" she asked. Her voice was steady, but he knew her better than anyone. She was worried about his answer. As if she had a right to be. Well, maybe she did. He was the one that left in the first place.

He took a sip of water. "Uh, no. I haven't dated since–yeah, you know. I've just been trying to keep it chill right now, now that our fame has died down."

Cress smirked. He didn't realize he'd missed her this much, but the feeling in his gut revealed a lot more than he expected. "You aren't trying to win that fame back? It was everything you'd ever wanted!"

"Yeah, well, it got annoying after a while."

"Yeah."

Their conversation trailed off into silence, nothing but the clinking of cups on the table and silverware on plates.

So much for catching up.

In truth, Thorne wanted nothing more than to reach across the table and run his fingers through her hair and tell her how much he missed her.

Because there was no pretending that he didn't. Not anymore.

As soon as he thought he might work up the nerve to say something, she spoke up. "I miss you, Thorne."

He dropped his sandwich onto the plate and looked up at her. She was staring at him, her jaw tight, her eyes afraid. She inhaled, as though she'd been holding her breath, and then looked down at the table. "I mean, I'm sorry, but I just–this guy I'm dating, I realized something about him the other day." She chuckled lightly, like there was a joke and he was missing it. "He's just like you. Well, like you were. He's an asshole. It's as if he's you, before the satellite crash, only the you you wanted to be. I'll never believe that you were ever as heartless as you lead on. But, Marcus, he's just… my stars. I can't get a word in edgewise with the guy. He cuts me off constantly, makes really inappropriate comments when we're in public together. And I…," she wet her lips, "I realized something else, too. I don't only dislike him because of what kind of person he is." She looked up at him now, her blue eyes every bit as striking against her sun kissed skin as they'd always been. "It's also because he's not you."

He sat back against the cushion of the booth, slack jawed, his heart pounding.

Thorne was speechless. She was the only person that had ever had that effect on him.

Carswell Thorne. Speechless.

Cress cleared her throat and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "So, uh, you pay at the table here, r-right?"

She grabbed the menu, tapped the screen, and then swiped her wrist across the red scanner light that appeared below it.

Without another word, she got up to leave. He mirrored her, paying as quickly as possible, grabbing his jacket and following her out into the warm, humid afternoon.

She was walking away. Fast. Swiping at her eyes.

"Cress!" he called after her. "Wait!"

She stopped, swiped at her face again, and then turned around. Her eyes were red and teary. "What? I pour my heart out to you and all you do is just sit there, and now you want to talk?"

A small crowd accumulated around them, interested. He was pretty sure someone was recording them, too.

"I'm sorry about that. I couldn't think back there. But you… you have no idea how much I want to say to you right now."

She crossed her arms. "Then say it."

"I've missed you every single day, Crescent. Nothing's the same without you. I thought it would've been easier by now, but it's not. I miss you. I miss my best friend. I miss my girlfriend. I've never not felt regret for leaving you."

She gathered her hair in a fist and pulled it all to one side. "So, what do we do about this?"

With three strides, he put himself right in front of her. His hands in her hair. Her lips against his.

She still used the same shampoo and perfume.

It was like she never left. Like he never ruined anything.

Perfect.

There were also people around them cheering, but they seemed to fade into the background.

She smiled, breaking the kiss. "Well, that's one thing."

He ran his knuckles across her cheek. "Come back, Crescent."

She grabbed his wrist, brushing a thumb over it, her eyes locked on his. "O-okay."

"Really?"

She tied her arms around his waist and pressed a cheek into his chest. "Really."

He was all the way on the edge of the bed, poised to fall off if he moved even one inch to the right.

This was familiar.

Also, his left arm was numb. That was even more familiar.

Memories of yesterday flooded his veins and he looked down at her. She was smiling. Blushing.

Just the Cress he remembered.

He rolled over top of her and landed on the other side of the bed so he wouldn't fall off during their impending morning conversation. "Well, you still sleep the same as you always have, I see."

She giggled and encircled an arm around him, pulling closer, resting her head against his shoulder, one leg wrapping its way around him. "Some things never change. You still snore."

He scoffed. "Some things you can't help, okay?" Thorne sighed. Tightened his hold on her. "Aces and spades, I've missed you."

She brushed a kiss across his collarbone. "I'm just glad I wasn't the only one." She pulled from his grasp and shuffled to the side of the bed, stretching. "I have a conference in a couple hours. I need to go back to my hotel to shower and change."

Cress reached for her port, likely to call a hover, but he plucked it from her grasp. "You've still got some outfits here you can use."

She gave him a look, quirked a smile. "Oh, I've grown since then, Thorne. I doubt they still fit."

She stood up and pulled her yellow dress over her head, pulled her hair into a pony tail. He frowned. "How long is the conference?"

"I'll be there all day."

"Oh."

"I'm going back to Seattle tomorrow evening." She sat back on the bed, facing him, reaching over and touching her palm to his cheek. "I'll be glad to spend tonight and all of tomorrow with you. But, for that to happen, I need to check out of my hotel before the conference, and I need to get my things."

"I'll drive you."

She pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I promise I'm coming back, Thorne. You don't have to cart me around the city."

He gave her a signature Carswell Thorne smirk. "I've always enjoyed carting you around, my love."

She shoved him away gently, grabbed her port back, and then called a hover. Standing up, Cress regarded him again. "If we're going to do this, you can't get jealous so easily. You have to trust me, Thorne. You're you and I trusted you. I do trust you. Forget all those other guys, just focus on the fact that you can trust me."

His heart fluttered. She was so adorable when she was being straight-forward without stuttering. Well, her stuttering was adorable, too, but this was a serious situation. He reached over and took her hand, kissed the knuckles. "I will do better this time, Crescent."

She smiled, climbed off the bed. "Is that a promise?"

"It's a promise."

"Good. You haven't broken one of those yet."

And then she was out the door.

At least she was coming back this time.

Author's Note: Spring Break has turned me into a writing fiend. If only this didn't still mean that I'm procrastinating homework... Is it summertime yet? Anyway, as mentioned in the description, this little thing here is just one of many one shots I'll be posting under this title. I've posted a lot of fics, okay? I'm starting to feel crowded, but I can't bring myself to delete the less popular ones or reupload some of them to make it a bit cleaner around here. Oh well. Sorry for rambling!