Clarke and Bellamy had been gone for two days, leaving their daughter in the care of Jasper Jordan. Jasper was the one most commonly commissioned to look after Charlotte, being the most capable of taking care of her as well as protecting her. Octavia was the next choice, but she had her hands full with her own kid, Lincoln having gone with Clarke and Bellamy. Then there were Monty and Raven of course, but Raven preferred not to have the life of the child of Clarke and Bellamy Blake in her hands, and Monty was uncomfortable with any and all of the children in the camp.
That left Jasper.
The two of them were currently seated on the floor of his small hut, playing with some of the toys he had made for her throughout the six years of her life. Jasper was lying on the floor, propped up on his elbow with Charlotte across from him on all fours, giggling as she held a small, very crudely carved wooden dog in her tiny hands. Jasper laughed and swiped it from her grasp, leaving her empty handed.
"Hey!" Charlotte whined, sitting back on her knees with an all too adorable pout curling at her lips. Jasper grinned and did his best to copy her frown, moving the wooden dog across the floor until it bumped into her knee.
"Woof. Woof." He barked, eyes widening comically as he waited for her adorable smile. Just as it started to bloom across her face, a sharp rapping on the door startled the both of them, making Charlotte jump and Jasper get to his feet with impressive speed.
"Jasper, it's me. They're back!" Monty shouted through the flimsy door. Jasper lifted Charlotte up by her arms, swinging her onto his hip and holding her tight as he flung open the door. The shorter boy's eyes flitted ephemerally to the small girl in his best friend's arms, grimacing at Jasper.
"Who?" he asked knowingly, grabbing Charlotte's jacket off the rickety table, lying it across her shoulders before following Monty out into the camp.
"Bellamy." Monty answered simply. "Lincoln got him to med bay. Clarke's losing it. She sent me to get you. Raven's there but she had to take Octavia out. She needs an extra pair of hands and I'm pretty useless." He said quickly as they neared the log building they used as a medical facility.
"Jasper." Charlotte whimpered just as they reached the front. "What happened to my daddy?" she asked quietly. He sighed and Monty clapped him on the back before disappearing into the structure.
"Your dad got hurt, kid." He started, one corner of his mouth quirking downwards in half frown. "And your mom's going to save him, but she needs my help. So." He said firmly. "You and me are going to go in there, and we're going to be really brave, yeah?" he asked, wrapping his hand around the one she was clutching the dog with, eyes glancing over her mess of blonde curly hair that he had attempted to tame into a pony tail.
"Brave." She repeated, nodding seriously, staring at Jasper with deep brown eyes. Bellamy's eyes.
"That's right. Let's do this." He jerked his head and shifted her higher on his hip before walking into the med bay.
Jasper took one look at the scene in front of him and quickly wrenched Charlotte's jacket up over her head to protect her from the image ahead of them.
Bellamy was half curled on his side, one arm crossed over his chest, eyes screwed shut and half writhing under Lincoln's restrictive hand. The nock of an arrow was protruding straight from his chest, just to the left of his sternum, blood bubbling from the entry point.
"Lincoln, hold him still! Monty, get me those medicines and Raven for the love of God, get Octavia out of here!" Clarke shouted orders, tears still flowing from her bloodshot red eyes.
Jasper caught sight of Avan standing behind his father, unsure what to do while his mother screamed in Raven's arms, and his father did his best to hold a dying man still.
"Avan," Lincoln called to his son as Bellamy's thrashing grew harder to control. The ten year old stepped forward, shoulders squared like his dad always told him. "Grab his other arm, hold it as tight as you can." He instructed. Avan did as he was told and leaned all his weight down on Bellamy's bicep.
Raven wrapped her arms around Octavia's waist and dragged her from the building, shutting the door behind her.
Charlotte was sniffling into Jasper's neck and clinging to his jacket and the toy dog like a lifeline. She was impressively quiet until her dad cried out and her mom gasped a sob through her teeth.
Charlotte's cry of fear drew Clarke's attention and stilled Bellamy who's eyes open and rolled toward the sound of his daughter. Clarke hurried around the table and pulled the jacket away from Charlotte's head, smoothing her hair and kissing her face.
"It's going to be okay. Daddy's going to be okay." Clarke promised, face twisting into an expression of pain at the prospect that what she was saying could be a lie. "How could you bring her here?" Clarke hissed at Jasper who was still staring at the arrow in Bellamy's chest.
"I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't leave her, and Monty said you needed me here. She hasn't seen anything." He insisted guiltily. Clarke stroked her daughter's hair again and lifted her onto the floor, positioning Charlotte so that her back was to Bellamy. She crouched down and guided her arms through the sleeves of the patchwork coat Octavia had strung together for her. Clarke forced a smile at her daughter and rubbed the tears off her chubby cheeks.
"Avan, take her upstairs. Don't come down till someone comes to get you." Clarke called to Octavia's son without moving her eyes from Charlotte's scared face. Avan looked at his dad for approval, hurrying forward when Lincoln nodded. He wrapped his arms around Charlotte and guided her around the table and up the stairs. Clarke took a few seconds to catch her breath before standing up and motioning Jasper forward. Monty was standing beside Bellamy, looking nauseated as he held a few vials out to Clarke.
"Get out and help Raven." Clarke ordered without looking up from Bellamy who, once Charlotte was clear had resumed his attempts at freeing himself of the pain. In the next second he was coughing up blood and breathing harshly through his mouth. "It punctured the lung. Knife and a tube, Jasper, now." She snapped, biting her lip as she watched his back arch off the table in an attempt to suck more air into his drowning lungs. A few moments later, a sharpened knife and a section of rubber hosing from the old drop ship was pushed into her hands. "Lincoln, you've got to hold him, understood?" she glanced up at the Grounder and mirrored his nod before inserting the knife into her husband's side. Blood bubbled between his teeth in what was supposed to be an exhale.
Clarke pushed the tube between his split skin and took a deep breath as the blood started to drain from his lung.
"I have to take the arrow out. I'm going to need to cauterize it, you got that?" she called to Jasper who nodded quickly and scurried over to their supplies.
"Clarke." Bellamy rasped.
"Get him upright." Clarke ordered Lincoln, ignoring Bellamy for the sake of emotional detachment she needed to finish this.
"Clarke." He called again, hissing as Lincoln pulled him up.
"Bellamy, you're going to need to stay really still, you got that?" she murmured, stroking the side of his bloodied face.
So much for emotional detachment.
She turned sharply and raised her shaking hands to stare at them in horror. She couldn't do this with shaking hands. Jasper looked from her face to her hands and put his own on her shoulders.
"You've got this. It's Bellamy. You won't let anything happen to him." He told her evenly. Clarke nodded and shook out her hands, satisfied to find them steady as ever. She grabbed a roll of cloth and held it in front of Bellamy's lips, giving him no other option than to bite down on it.
Clarke angled the weapon slightly to the left before sharply shoving it through his body and nodding for Lincoln to break the head of it off.
Bellamy screamed into the fabric in his mouth and bucked against Lincoln's hands. Clarke shut her eyes and tears squeezed out from under her eyelids.
Charlotte whimpered at the sound of her dad's shouts of pain and curled her arms tighter around her knees. Avan looked at her and slowly wrapped his arm around the six year olds shoulders.
It was another hour before Jasper came up stairs to tell Charlotte she could come down. Avan shook her gently until her eyes opened and she scrambled off the floor, launching herself into Jasper's arms.
"He's alright kid. Your dad's fine." He promised her, rubbing her back lightly. Avan stood off the floor and scooted around Jasper to walk down the stairs where he knew his dad was waiting.
Jasper and Charlotte emerged on the first floor to find Octavia leaning over her pale brother, glaring at him murderously. Lincoln put a hand on his son's shoulder and propelled him towards the door, grabbing Octavia's hand on his way out. She kissed his cheek before allowing herself to be pulled out of the med bay. Jasper handed Charlotte off to Clarke before lightly patting Bellamy's arm and starting towards the door.
"Hey." Bellamy croaked, stopping Jasper in his tracks. "Thanks." He said roughly. Jasper nodded and walked out the door. Clarke let Charlotte slide to the floor and cringed as she immediately ran to her dad's side.
"Daddy." She whimpered, struggling to push herself onto the table. Bellamy wrapped a hand around her arm and pulled her up.
"Hey." He smiled at her.
"Are you hurted?" she asked skeptically. Bellamy reached up and tugged on her messy pony tail.
"Nope. Your mom made me good as new." He answered.
"You cried. You're not supposed to cry. Momma said so." She hedged, pouting.
"I know. I'm sorry, I scared you." He frowned, running his thumb across her chubby cheek. "Can you forgive me?" he asked, tilting his head on the table. Clarke put a hand over her mouth and watched, chin trembling.
Charlotte hummed thoughtfully, nose wrinkling as she put some honest thought into her answer.
"Yep." She chirped. "I forgive you." She nodded once and threw herself halfway on top of him to kiss his cheek. Bellamy grunted in pain, eyes slamming shut.
"Charlotte," Clarke called, flinching towards her daughter.
"What?" she asked, pouting, sitting up and looking over her shoulder at her mom.
"You've got to be careful with your dad. His chest still hurts, sweetheart." She said softly.
"Oh." Charlotte hummed. "Daddy, I have to go make sure Avan isn't scared. He doesn't know you're okay." Charlotte said seriously. Bellamy nodded back just as seriously and fought back a smile. "Okay? I'm gonna come back." She told him. Her dad nodded again and ran a strand of her curly hair between his fingers.
"Okay." He replied. She stared at the wooden toy in her hands for a moment before holding it out to Bellamy with a straight arm.
"He's going to take care of you while I'm gone." Charlotte stated matter-of-factly before sliding off the table and skipping past her mom.
"Make sure you go with Jasper when you say goodnight to Avan, alright?" Clarke called after her.
"Okay." She sang, skipping through the doorway.
"She gets that from you." Bellamy laughed, cringing when it caused a jolt of pain to shoot through his chest. Clarke just stared at him and tracked her fingers back through his hair, watching at the steady motion caused his eyes to drift closed.
"I can't do this without you." She whispered softly just as his breathing evened out.
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