"Oh my gosh!"

Those were becoming Thorne's favourite words. He glanced over at where Cress was staring in wonder out the window. They had just landed in Australia with the latest load of plague antidote for a recent breakout in Northwestern Australia, and it was raining. Not just your normal run-of-the-mill raining but full on pouring.

"That's right, its monsoon season isn't it?" He mused as he came to stand behind Cress, watching over her shoulder.

Cress turned to look at him, wonder in her eyes.

"It's beautiful!" she said.

Thorne smiled down at her, her smile tugging at his heart like it always did, he leaned in and pressed a kiss against her lips.

"Yes it is."

Cress excitedly lowered that hatch door and stood as the thunderous drumming of the water into the ground made its way to her ears.

"What time did we have to meet the mayor?" she asked absently, eyes on the rain.

"We are a day early, so not until tomorrow," Thorne advised.

Cress grinned up at him and grabbed his hand, pulling him out into the rain.

"What! No wait, my-" but his complaint about his perfectly coiffed hair died on his lips as he watched Cress dance in the rain and jump in puddles.

"It's not even cold!" she exclaimed, arms wide, spinning with her face to the sky.

"Welcome to Australia." He reached out and pulled Cress against him, admiring the water droplets that made their way down her slightly flushed face. The rain stopped suddenly, but Cress's attention was on Thorne now. His hair hung messy over his forehead and droplets of moisture ran down his face.

Her heart exploded when his lips met hers the way it did every time he kissed her. Every single time.

All too soon Thorne pulled away, clearing his throat.

"I better go - uh - check on that rattling noise we heard."

He ran a hand through his hair and kissed Cress on the temple before stalking back to the Rampion.

Cress watched his retreating back, confused and a bit hurt at his sudden withdrawal. The excitement and joy drained out of her and all of a sudden she was annoyed. She walked up to her quarters, peeling off her wet clothes and jumping into the shower.

Once dry and warm she made her way dejectedly out to the galley where she ran into Wolf and Scarlet being all cute and couple-y. Wolf had his hand possessively on Scarlet's hip, and she was leaning into him as they discussed something under their breath. Cress watched them for a moment, dejectedly pouting that Thorne was off somewhere checking his ship instead of being cute with her like these two.

Wolf spotted her first.

"Cress, hey!" the couple turned, but wolf kept his hand securely around Scarlets waist, maintaining their contact.

"Hey," she replied glumly, grabbing a snack out of the cupboard and hopping up on one of the stools by the bench.

"Uh oh, that doesn't sound good, what's he done this time?" Scarlet teased.

Cress blushed and Wolf glowered.

"Do you want me to go have a chat with him?" his voice was low and threatening and Cress looked up at him, eyes wide, shaking her head.

"Oh, no, it's fine, it's probably just me… I mean…"

Wolf growled and stalked off.

"Wolf wait, please, don't say anything to Thorne!" Wolf bristled, but came back to the bench and sat down, turning to Cress.

"What's he done?" he demanded.

Cress looked to Scarlet for help, but she just leaned forward, interested to know as well. Cress looked up to the ceiling and sighed.

"I don't know what's going on, and I don't know what started it, but all of a sudden, Thorne isn't…" she trailed off, wondering how much information she should divulge. Cheeks flaming, she decided to jump on in and get it all off her chest. Who better to talk to than her friends right? "He isn't kissing me the way he used to, and he keeps leaving for weird reasons, and I'm worried maybe he's changed his mind about us." She said it all in a rush, looking down at the bench, tears pooling in her eyes.

She heard Scarlet's intake of breath and she came around to sit on Cress's other side, wrapping an arm around her.

"I'm so sorry Cress, I think this is our fault,"

Cress looked up at Scarlet quizzically.

"Your fault?"

A chagrined, apologetic smile lit Scarlet's features before she shot a quick accusatory frown at Wolf.

"It's mostly Wolf's fault really."

"Hey!"

Scarlet raised her eyebrows at him and he hung his head. "Ok yeah it was my idea. I was worried about you Cress."

"What did you guys do?" Cress asked, curious how anything they may have said or done could have caused the sudden space between herself and Thorne.

"Ok just keep in mind we had your best interests at heart," Scarlet said. She hesitated, as though she was trying to find a place to begin.

"Cress, you know you are several years younger than Thorne."

Cress raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Scarlet laughed, "I think you spent too much time with Cinder on this last trip."

Cress smiled, a pang for her friends on Luna shooting through her. But they were getting distracted.

"Probably, but you were saying that I'm young."

"Yes, and, uh, well," she shot a help me look at Wolf.

"We just told Thorne to be careful not to pressure you into anything you might not be ready for." he said simply, shrugging.

"Anything I might not be… wait, are you guys talking about sex?" Cress asked, sure her cheeks were bright red.

They nodded seriously and Cress's eyes widened.

"Oh. Oh Oooooooh!"

Pieces of the puzzle in her mind fell into place as she put together Thorne's sudden change in behavior with the advice she could imagine coming from Wolf. She tried to imagine the bio-engineered wolf-mutant soldier sitting down with Thorne and having 'the talk' with him. She let out a bewildered laugh, which soon turned into almost hysterical laughter.

Scarlet and Wolf glanced at each other, not sure what to make of Cress's reaction.

"I- just wish I- could have seen- his face!" Cress bust out between peals of laughter.

Wolf grinned then and Scarlet laughed.

"It was pretty stricken,"

Scarlet and Wolf then took turns trying to emulate what they had seen on Thorne's face, leaving the three of them breathless with laughter.

"Hey you lazy sods, what's this all about?"

Thorne came into the room, sending the three of them off on laughter again. Cress skipped over to him and wrapped her arms around him. He readily drew her close to him, wrapping her in his warm embrace. Cress nuzzled her nose into his chest and giggled.

"What's so funny?" Thorne asked gently. She could hear the smile in his voice.

"Nothing," she replied looking up at him. She heard Wolf and Scarlet leaving the galley as she reached up on tip-toes to press a kiss to his lips.

"Wolf told me he had a little chat with you," she mentioned.

Thorne went red. Cress had to swallow another giggle.

"Oh, yeah.. that. Well he raised some good points," Thorne squeezed her to him, but then let her go. Cress, suddenly wondering why she had started this conversation with him, flushed and turned to get some mugs out of the cupboard.

"Coffee?" she offered.

Thorne shook his head.

"Cress, I know there is a difference in age with us, and I guess I just –" he paused again, scuffing his foot against the floor, "I mean you would tell me if… if you were uncomfortable with something wouldn't you?"

Cress turned away from the coffee and wrapped her arms around him. Her heart bursting with appreciation that he cared enough to talk with her about this.

"Of course,"

"Well good. I never want to pressure you Cress, I never want to make you feel uncomfortable." He wrapped his arms around her and she wondered how she could ever feel anything but at home in his embrace. He kissed the top of her head and she turned her face up to him. He willingly kissed her and her heart exploded again.

When they broke away, Thorne grinned, "Whenever you are ready though, you let me know!" his voice was rough and deep and the look in his eyes piercing, yet tender. Cress almost melted.

"I will," she whispered.

KC