She'd seen him naked so many times it shouldn't have been a big deal. They lived in a single twelve by twelve room for all fourteen of her years, so they'd seen each other naked. Hell they'd seen each other taking a dump and smelled it too. And yet Octavia stared at his naked body, slick with sweat because the thermostat malfunctioned again, making their compartment too hot for even underwear. His body stretched out on their bunk as he read the book on his panel.
Her awareness of him twitched in areas she'd never considered. Why would her groin throb and swell in a way both wonderful and frustrating? Her small breasts ached for him to touch them.
Octavia licked her lips when he licked his. Her gaze hyper focused on his mouth now. Unable to help herself, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. What made her do this, she didn't understand. The only kisses she'd ever known were to cheeks or foreheads. Mouths touching never occurred to her. So she pressed her lips to his, and he froze for a moment before jolting out from under her.
"O! We can't…" He looked at her with such desperation, her heart broke because he looked desperate to get away from her.
"What's wrong, Bell?" Her own distress cracked her voice.
He sighed, got up and dressed. "We can't do those things."
"Why not?" She wanted him to look at her but he didn't seem capable.
"Because because… we just can't."
Watching as he finished dressing then rushing out of the compartment, Octavia didn't understand what just happened. She flopped back on their bunk and hated the way her body demanded something she couldn't comprehend. There was no getting comfortable, and the problem wasn't the heat.
"I thought he loved me." Her tears chased away everything else.
When there was no answer at the Blake compartment, Major Byrne searched the feeds to find Cadet Bellamy. She found him sitting alone in front of the window facing Earth. When she approached him, the set of his shoulders told her how upset he was. Had someone else told him?
"Cadet Blake."
He stood at a tension without pause. "Major Byrne." His salute and posture were perfect.
"At ease, Cadet. I need to talk to you about your mother."
"Is something wrong? Is she okay?" His worry hit her in the chest, making it ache.
Byrne put a hand on Bellamy's shoulder. "I'm sorry, son. But she's been reclaimed." She let him absorb that. "Medical discovered that she was pregnant, and when she tried to sneak out before the procedure, we had to question her."
Bellamy's eyes closed, and he sighed. "Let me guess, she refused to kill her child."
"I'm so sorry. If you need anything, let me know. But within the next twenty-four hours you must move into your new quarters. It's in Tesla Station, cabin 467." Byrne patted his arm. "You'll need to bring your mother's possessions to reclamation too. The law states you can keep a kilogram of her belongs for sentimental reasons. I suggest you do so."
The nod, slouch and slow gait as he left pulled down the edges of her mouth. No matter how many times she broke the news to family members, it never got easier. Reclamation of a body, a person, simultaneously hurt and helped everyone.
Clarke had been walking through the lookout hall when she saw a Cadet get the news of his mother's reclamation. Something about the exchange bothered her but she couldn't figure out why. She didn't have time to think about it, her alarm telling her there was an emergency in Medical.
When she got there, her stomach fell. There were children everywhere. Not one had clothes or hair, but they all wore major scars and fresh wounds. Her mother didn't even have to give her an order. Clarke picked the most urgent tag and treated a small girl that couldn't have been over six.
"I'm Clarke. What's your name?" Clarke asked as she looked under the bandage that covered half the little girl's face. .
"Dog."
That didn't seem like a name to Clarke so she smiled at the tiny bald child. "Let's get you fixed up. Okay? We don't have enough pain medication, so this will hurt a lot. I'm sorry."
No reaction from packing the girl's hollow eye socket with saline and gauze was bad enough. But the child's apathy and lack of flinching while the compound fractures in both her legs and her one arm got reset worried Clarke. The child fell asleep while Clarke glued the deep wounds crisscrossing the small body. Clarke knew that the goop stung and burned in the wounds as it knitted the flesh back together. How could this - baby - not even notice?
When the next child said their name was Dog, too, Clarke got the picture and swallowed the lump in her throat before stitching this patchwork of a baby together, too.
Sixteen hours later Clarke was the only medic left standing, so she took care of rounds for the next six hours. There wasn't much she needed to do since the children slept like coma patients. They ranged from infants to around fifteen, her age. Their charts showed they all needed names except one. The oldest, two months younger than Clarke, was named John Murphy.
When she turned to look at him, she saw him staring at her. "Can you let me go?" The cuffs connecting his wrist to the bed rail rattled when he moved.
"Sorry, no I can't." She bit her lip thinking about how to ask him how he got there. "Why'd they cuff you?"
"Killed our captors. I'll be in the Sky Box by morning." He sighed and scratched under his nose. His head had stubble unlike any of the others. "Got anything to help me sleep?"
Clarke didn't need to be familiar with the terms he used to know what they meant. After treating so many and looking after a hundred and thirty-eight mangled children, painted a transparent picture. "Yeah, sure. I'll be right back. If there's an emergency just hit the button here."
She made a beeline to the comm. in the office. As she called Thelonious, she closed her eyes and breathed deep to keep calm.
"Yes, Clarke?" Thelonious asked as he appeared on her screen looking tired.
"Chancellor Jaha, I'm sorry to bother you so late, but this couldn't wait. You know about the emergency?"
"Yes. What do you need?"
"I need you to pardon, John Murphy. He acted in self defense and the defense of children. Surely that deserves consideration."
The Chancellor rubbed his forehead. "Have you watched the playback?"
"No."
"I'll send it to you. It might make you rethink your request." Thelonious disappeared and video of the 'crime' began.
Fight after fight ran across her screen. Babies as young as three. Most fights ended up with a dead child. No weapons on any of the fighters but there were men and women lining the ring holding shock batons.
When John entered the ring, naked and feral looking, Clarke held her breath. His opponent dwarfed him, but size meant nothing here. Murphy soon had the better of the veritable giant. Breaking his arm and then pulling the bones out, John killed the guy by putting him into severe shock. After that, John Murphy took out every guard, handler and then who she assumed was the Pit Boss. It didn't matter what they hit him with, John never stopped until every adult fell. She assumed they were all dead considering there wasn't a single adult in the ward.
After hours of walking around and working out how to move Octavia across two stations to Tesla Station, Bellamy opened the door to their quarters and saw Octavia's naked body curve gently as she slept on her side. Her figure taking on a more feminine figure as she approached puberty. The good news about having to move would be a working thermostat. The bad is that they'd be stuck in even closer quarters.
"Octavia. Hey, sis, you need to wake up. It's important." He shook her shoulder and when she opened her eyes, he noticed how puffy and red they were. She must have cried after he'd left before and it broke him to have to cause her more pain.
"Hey, Bell. What's going on?" she asked her voice raspy and quiet.
He sat down and took her hand. "I have bad news."
"Mom got reclaimed, didn't she?" Her voice even softer now.
"How?"
"She hasn't bled for two months. I just read about it on your panel. There were things I knew I didn't understand."
"I'm sorry, O."