Security, Part I

"It's so cold!"

Cress flopped backwards into the snow, waving her arms and legs in arcing motions to create the silhouette of an angel in the blanket of white.

Cinder rolled her eyes, more out of jealousy than annoyance. She wished shecould carelessly make a snow angel. "It's ice, Cress. It's 'posed to be cold."

Sticking her tongue out at Cinder, Cress cleanly hopped up and away from the angel she'd engraved into the temporary ground.

"Lovely!" she chirped.

Cinder was about to agree, but was interrupted.

"Crescent?" shouted a voice from the house.

Cinder sat up in her chair, aware that she was about to be shooed away by Mr. Erland, as it was near time for Cress to start her assignments.

Mr. Erland, with his balding head and house slippers, watched them from the doorway, fists on his hips, speaking to them through the screen in the door. "I told you not to get too messy out there, Crescent!" The girls giggled. "C'mon, it's time to do your times tables. Cinder, Mrs. Thorne informed me that you're all going out for dinner tonight. I suggest you get back across the street and get ready."

His words were amiable, as he was a gentle man, but Cinder still felt slightly berated. She liked them, sure, they were the best foster family she'd had. But while the Mrs wasn't so bad, her husband was strict and her son was a complete moron. Still, the only better alternative was her own parents, and they were out of the question.

Cress walked over and awkwardly hugged her best friend. "Bye, Cinder. I'll see you later!" She looked over at her father. "Can Cinder come over after dinner? Please, papa? Please?"

He sighed heavily. "Not tonight, dear. I've got to work on my research."

"Why can't Cress have a snow day, anyway? My school got one," Cinder contested.

"She doesn't have to go anywhere. School is in the study. There is no danger in walking from her bedroom to the study," Mr. Erland told her.

Cinder grimaced. "Worth a shot. Bye, Cress!"

Cress waved and disappeared into the house.

Fixing her mittens, Cinder started wheeling herself back across the street, dreading whatever was awaiting her back at casa de Thorne. She wondered if Mrs. Thorne would make her study more Spanish vocabulary today. She wondered if Cress would ask her to stay the night on Friday. She wondered if she'd ever get to play in the snow herself.

She wondered if she and Cress would stay best friends even after Cinder was inevitably moved to another foster home.

Cinder had never really had friends. Kids weren't very nice to quiet girls confined to wheelchairs, unable to ever join them on the playground. Cress, however, wasn't fazed. Though she didn't go to Cinder's school, on account of being homeschooled, she'd run into Cinder last Halloween, the both of them getting ready to Trick-or-Treat (Cinder didn't much like this holiday, not even before the accident). Cinder complimented her Rapunzel costume and Cress waxed poetic about how "cute" Cinder's Padmé Amidala costume was–one of her first foster families had been big fans of Star Wars, and it rubbed off quite a bit on Cinder. She and Cress had become instant friends.

Even if she was more than aware that people are always changing, Cinder knew that she and Cress would be friends forever, if given the chance.

Pushing herself up the ramp to the Thorne house, Cinder pushed open the door and wheeled herself in. "Mrs. Thorne? I'm back," she called.

"In here, dear," said Mrs. Thorne from the den.

When she wheeled in, Carswell was sitting on the cushioned chair, pouting as he always did when he didn't get his way. Mr. and Mrs. Thorne were sitting together on the couch. Cinder squeezed the arm rests on her chair. "I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Thorne, I didn't realize you guys were having a meeting."

"Please, call me Isabella," Mrs. Thorne said. "We were only waiting on you. We wanted to talk to you about something."

Cress caught Carswell's eye, and he didn't look happy at all to see her, not like he usually did. He was something of a big brother to her, after all. Or she thought, at least.

Her stomach clenched. They were going to get rid of her. It had been a few months now, and so maybe her time with them was already up. They probably requested a transfer. She was too insufferable, her numerous doctor visits too much to handle, much like they were for every other family.

"Wh-what's up?" She was failing miserably at keeping her cool.

Mr. Thorne cleared his throat and sat up straighter. Cinder was always intimidated by him and his unwavering self-confidence. "Do you enjoy living with us?"

She thought she was going to throw up. "Oh, very much," she replied. "You're really nice and understanding about… about everything."

Mrs. Thorne smiled so gently that it made her heart pound harder. Whether it was meant to be apologetic or welcoming, she couldn't tell.

"We've been discussing your time here," Mr. Thorne continued. "We would like to know if you want to stay here permanently."

"Permanently?"

Mr. Thorne nodded once.

Cinder froze. "Like… adoption?"

"Yes," he said. "You're very young and we'd hate to know that you would be tossed around the system for the next 7 and a half years, and well, we thought we might like to take you in. Isabella works from home, so getting you to your appointments is not an issue. Your medical costs are manageable and, despite his current disposition, Carswell would love to have a little sister."

Carswell harrumphed. He was four years older than Cinder and, at 14, he was quite the piece of work. But he did always care about her.

And then she thought of Cress, and then she thought that she might cry.

They would be friends forever.

She wanted to run over and tell her immediately, but Cress was "in class", as Mr. Erland called it, and she knew better than to interrupt. Instead, she looked at Carswell.

"Why are you unhappy?" she asked.

Carswell glared at her momentarily before his gaze softened and he looked away. "I'm supposed to be the only child," he muttered.

Cinder wished she could have just jumped up and hugged him, like she used to do to her parents. Instead, Mrs. Thorne waved dismissively in his direction. "You get to be a big brother now."

A small smile came out of hiding. "Yeah… but still!"

Mr. Thorne stood, ignoring his son's purposeful stubbornness, and patted Cinder on the shoulder. It was the closest he would ever get to a hug, practically his own version of one, at that. "Welcome to the family. We will all go fill out the paperwork tomorrow when you get out of school, if it isn't canceled again."

Socially awkward as always, he nodded at her and left the room.

She couldn't believe it. Finally, finally, Cinder would have a family again.

Cress was knocking on the front door – pounding on it, really. Cinder could hear her from her bedroom at the other end of the house. They had only just gotten back from dinner, and she was trying to change into more comfortable clothes.

Mrs. Thorne had already invited Cress in by the time Cinder got to the door.

"Cinder!" Cress's face brightened at the sight of her best friend, and she all but pounced on her.

Laughing, Cinder pried Cress off of her. "What's up?"

"If my father asks me what three times nine is one more time…," her voice trailed off into a small fit of giggles.

Mrs. Thorne herself laughed, too. "Would you like some cookies, Cress?"

"No, thank you. Papa wants me home as soon as possible. I just wanted to know if Cinder can stay the night on Friday."

"Well, Cinder?" Mrs. Thorne swiveled her head to look at her. "Would you like to spend the night at Cress's on Friday?"

"Yes, please," Cinder said, her voice small.

Cress's grin grew impossibly wider. "Thank you, Mrs. Thorne!"

"Isabella, please."

"I-Isabella," said Cress. "Thank you!" She wrapped her arms around the woman, who hugged her back.

"Alright," said Isabella, "I'll see you later, Crescent. Tell your father I said hello, and good luck with his cancer research."

After Isabella left, Cinder motioned for Cress to come closer to her. "I have a secret," she muttered. Cress leaned in. "They're adopting me," whispered Cinder.

Cress had a problem with being as quiet, and she all but shrieked out of excitement. "Oh my gosh! You're going to be my neighbor forever!"

"Friends forever, right?"

"Friends forever!"

Cress embraced Cinder again, practically falling on her lap as she bent over the wheelchair.

From the landing at the top of the stairs, Carswell shouted to them, "Can you two keep it quiet down there? Some of us are trying to… to play video games!"

He was lying, Cinder knew. He was always up to something.

Blushing, Cress backed away from Cinder and tucked her hands behind her back. Carswell disappeared back into his room. Cress's smile returned. "I'll see you later, Cinder! I love you!"

Cinder's breath hitched, but she didn't know why. She and Cress had exchanged those words countless times. "I love you, too," she replied. "Can I call you when we get back from downtown tomorrow?"

Cress beamed. "Please?!"

"Of course!"

She gave Cinder one last hug and skipped out the door.

The house around her was silent now that she was alone in the foyer. Cinder rubbed the scar tissue of her thigh where there was once a leg. Before she could start to dwell on it, Carswell pounded down the stairs.

As he started to swing himself around the post, he stopped and glanced at Cinder. "You're pretty cool, for a kid," and then he was gone.

Cinder smiled. It had been years since she felt happy, but she knew that it was exactly how she was feeling.

And it was awesome.

Author's Note: I originally posted this and said that I would make it two parts, to make it more obvious that they're totally More Than Friends, but then I got lazy. But then someone reminded me that I love Cressder and, well, here we are.