Clarke slid off her shoes before carefully removing her new dress and hanging it in her room. She grabbed her tattered pajamas and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror next to her bed. She paused for a minute to stare at her reflection. You weren't a very nice person today, she thought as she studied her own face.
Cadet Blake wasn't exactly friendly, she argued with herself mentally, shaking out her blonde hair. But I guess that last blow was a bit low, she conceded.
Clarke sighed as she pulled on the pajamas and moved to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She stared down at the toothbrush in her hand and the baking soda toothpaste next to the sink, hit with the realization that this was another luxury that citizens on the outer stations had to leave their units for. She finished up in the bathroom and returned to her bed where she'd left her tablet.
You almost ready to talk? There was a message from Raven waiting on the screen.
I'm ready now, Clarke typed out quickly. A few seconds later the tablet vibrated in her hands as Raven's name popped up on the screen: Raven Reyes requesting Video Chat. Clarke accepted the call and suddenly Raven's face was on the screen in front of her.
"Aww, Griffin," she said teasingly, "you got all dressed up for me!"
"Ha," Clarke snorted. "Don't flatter yourself. I didn't want to wrinkle my new dress in bed."
Raven looked up at someone Clarke couldn't see and said, "What are you staring at?"
"Why are you rolling around on the floor in the hallway, Reyes?" Clarke heard the voice of John Murphy, who she still couldn't see on the video chat.
"Piss off and keep walking cockroach," Raven swore at him before she turned her attention back to Clarke.
"Where are you?" Clarke demanded, wondering why her friend would be anywhere Murphy would have been that late at night.
"I'm in the hallway a few doors down from Finn's," Raven admitted sheepishly before explaining, "I needed to vent without him overhearing."
"You guys had a fight, didn't you?" Clarke already knew the answer.
"He told me he's thinking about not reporting to his post tomorrow. Then he tells me that he doesn't care what the Ark says and it doesn't matter. What does that even mean? If he doesn't report he'll be breaking the law, and he's 18 now – "
"Raven, Finn's not that stupid," Clarke tried to reassure her. "He's just being dramatic. He's pissed he got assigned to Galley."
"I know, but it's his own damn fault," Raven said angrily. "I've worked my ass off to pass the Engineering exams, you studied like crazy to graduate early. Finn just floats through everything so they gave him a job with no responsibility."
Clarke knew that Raven wasn't wrong, but she still wanted to make her feel better. "He'll be ok Raven. It sucks for him right now, but it's not the worst job. At least they didn't stick him in sanitation."
"I'm worried he's going to do something stupid," Raven bit her bottom lip.
"We'll stop him. He'll come to his senses," Clarke promised.
"I hope so," Raven sighed and paused. She hesitated before she said, "I got an important message from the Chancellor's Office today."
"You did?" Clarke asked.
"Yeah. They're moving me into my own unit in Phoenix, now that I'm an engineer."
"Raven!" Clarke exclaimed, "that's amazing!"
"I guess so," Raven didn't sound as sure. "I'm just kind of sad about leaving the Collins', they're family now."
"I get that," Clarke said, "but you'll only be one station away and you'll have such a nice place!"
"Yeah," Raven said slowly, "I don't know. I kind of feel weird about it. They took me in after my mom – she – they've just really done a lot for me."
"Raven, they'll understand. They're going to be proud of you."
"I hope so," Raven didn't look convinced. "Anyway, it's getting late and I need to get back in there before Finn starts to wonder where I am and we start a whole new fight." Raven rolled her eyes.
"It's all going to be ok Raven," Clarke tried again to cheer her up. "He'll get used to everything after a few weeks. Good night."
"Good night, Doc," Raven said with a wink, disconnecting from the conversation before Clarke could reiterate that she was only an apprentice, not yet a doctor. Clarke set her tablet down on the charging pad next to her bed and settled in under the blankets.
She greedily inhaled as much air as her lungs allowed, holding it in and savoring it for a moment before expelling it to get more. Earth's air was sweet and delicious in a way that nourished her soul. She shivered as the cool spring breeze caressed her bare arms. She opened her eyes and saw she was wearing her new white and blue dress. She was standing barefoot in an orchard, and the grass was soft and damp under her bare feet.
Tendrils of mist hugged the tops of the mountains under the overcast sky that surrounded her. Clarke looked closer at the trees. They were peach trees! Their branches were heavy under the weight of the succulent fruit. That explained the sweet scent in the air. Rows and rows of neatly planted fruit trees stretched out as far as she could see. She took several tender steps to the nearest tree and reached for a plump peach. She bit into the most incredible thing she had ever tasted. It was better than anything that Farm Station could have dreamed of cultivating. This tree grew out of the soil on Earth, and it watered by the rain and fed by the sun instead of the artificial lights. Clarke ravenously devoured the peach and reached out for another.
She was startled by a noise behind her and whipped around to see what made it. A few rows over there was a dark figure picking peaches from another tree and placing them into a homemade basket. She crouched low to the ground to avoid being seen while she watched what looked like a masculine figure under a dark cloak with a hood. The figure finished filling its basket and started to move away from her. She knew it was a bad idea, but an overwhelming force propelled her forward, following the cloaked figure through the rows of trees in the orchard.
He walked briskly in front of her and she struggled to keep up and keep from being noticed. After several minutes of keeping up this pace, Clarke noticed a white fence off in the distance, marking the edge of the orchard. A dense, looming forest waited behind the fence, and the man in the cloak headed straight into the trees without hesitation. Clarke had never been in a forest before, and she stopped at the edge of the orchard to weigh her options, but she felt panic rising in her chest when he slipped out of sight into the woods, and she knew that she couldn't lose him so she clambered under the fence and hurried in the direction he went.
The ground was rough under her feet, and it hurt. The forest was darker than she'd ever imagined when she'd read about in the archives on the Ark. She caught sight of the figure walking up ahead again. Every few feet he glanced back over his shoulder like he knew someone was following him, but she couldn't see his face through the darkness, and he didn't slow down to let her catch up. After a long walk through the dark forest, the cloaked man approached a rock face covered in a curtain of vibrant green moss and disappeared behind it. Clarke crept slowly into the cave behind him. She knew that she was going to be cornered in there if anything happened, but her curiosity and the strange pull she felt toward the man urged her forward. She suddenly heard a girl's voice.
"You brought me peaches? I've never had a peach before!" the girl was clearly excited. Clarke wondered how she could have never had a peach when the orchard was so close.
As she crawled forward in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the girl, Clarke slipped in a puddle of water dripping from the ceiling of the cave. Her arms flailed wildly as she fell loudly to the ground. The dark figure tensed, and reached for something inside his cloak, slowly turning toward her.
Clarke jerked awake with tears streaming down her cheeks before she had a chance to see the man's face. The dream had felt so real, and suddenly she was overwhelmed with an immense feeling of loss. She'd lost Earth, and the man, and the delicious peaches. Clarke broke into loud sobs while she fought to control her breathing and calm herself back down.
"Clarke?" her dad swung open the door to her room, his face covered in concern. "What's going on, Tinkerbell?" Jake saw the tears flowing from her eyes and sat down gently on the corner of her bed.
"It was just a dream," Clarke said brokenly through sobs. "But it was so real!"
"What were you dreaming about, Sweetheart?" Jake reached over and started rubbing small circles on her back.
"I was on Earth," Clarke took a deep breath, "but it was the most real dream I've ever had about Earth. It felt so real. Now it's gone."
Understanding dawned on her father's face. "That sounds like a rough dream."
Clarke nodded, finally starting to collect herself. "I'm not sure why that upset me so much. Sorry, dad."
"Don't apologize to me," Jake said with a smile, "I'm always here if you have a nightmare."
"Thanks Dad," Clarke attempted to smile at him. "Hey, what time is it?"
"Just after twelve hundred," her dad answered promptly.
Clarke groaned. "I was hoping to sleep a bit later than this before my first night shift. I don't think I'm going to be able to fall back asleep after that though."
Clarke slipped out of bed and began preparing for the day. She still had some time before Wells would be expecting her at dinner, so she decided to head to the library and get some reading time in. She pulled her green long-sleeve shirt over her head and shimmied into her black pants.
Despite it being one of her favorite places on the Ark, Clarke hadn't been to the library in months. She'd been spending every spare minute studying to finish her General Education credits early in her family's unit because with her parents spending so much time at work, it was quieter than the library.
The Ark's library was quite different than what Clarke imagined the libraries on Ancient Earth had been like. On Earth, libraries were portrayed as quiet refuges to read and study in silence, but on the Ark the library was more like a social gathering spot. The cavernous space where Mecha and Farm Stations were joined did hold every physical book on the Ark – it was illegal to privately own paper books or remove them from the library – but there was also comfortable furniture for lounging, board games and video screens where citizens without tablets could access the data archives.
Clarke scanned her wrist to enter the facility and immediately noticed Raven seated at a table on the starboard side of the room.
"Hey smart lady," Clarke said as she took a seat next to her friend.
"Hey," Raven grunted without looking up from the tablet she was ferociously scribbling on.
"What are you doing?" Clarke prompted.
"Math." Raven answered shortly.
"But you already graduated!" Clarke protested. She hated math.
"First Shift. Two Hours. Good Impression." Clarke knew Raven well enough to know that she wasn't going to stop whatever she was doing if she couldn't even be bothered to speak in full sentences.
She turned to the bookshelf nearest Raven's table, looking for something to read. Even though all of the paper books in the library had been uploaded to the Ark's system, Clarke loved reading real books. There was something about the smell of the century-old pages and the weight of a novel in her hand that just felt right.
She noticed one of the books was turned around so that she couldn't read the spine. Curious, Clarke pulled it off of the shelf. Middlemarch, by George Elliott. She hadn't read this book in a while, so she plopped herself down on a sofa behind Raven, who was still solving equations for fun, and began to read.
Clarke slowly sank deeper and deeper into the story until the world around her on the Ark had faded away. That was one of the things she loved the most about reading; even though she knew she'd spend the rest of her life physically trapped in a tin can orbiting the Earth, when she was reading she could visit all of the places she'd learned about in history class, far away on the planet below. She'd just gotten to the part where Dorthea is considering learning Latin or Greek when a deep, incredulous voice shattered her imaginary world.
"Seriously?"
Clarke looked up and felt her stomach twist when she saw Cadet Blake towering over her, wearing his threadbare civilian clothes instead of his guard uniform. He was definitely from an outer station.
"Excuse me?" Clarke was genuinely confused about why he was bothering her when he was off duty.
"You're reading my book," he said with a scowl as he jerked his chin toward the novel in her hand.
"Your book?" Clarke asked defensively in response to the undercurrent of aggression in his voice. She studied him up and down while he glowered at her. "If it's yours then why did I find it on a library shelf?" Clarke challenged him with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you for real, Princess?" he demanded angrily. "Isn't it enough that you have the luxury of reading or watching whatever you want, whenever you want, from the comfort of your own quarters," he gestured toward her tablet sitting on the chair next to her, "now you have to come in here and help yourself to the scraps the rest of us are allowed to read too?"
Clarke appraised Cadet Blake carefully before answering. She still felt a little guilty over the peach incident. The smart thing to do would have been to simply give him the book but she didn't like his attitude. Or his threatening scowl. Clarke had never really been the type of person to back down from a challenge.
"I'm just enjoying the library, like all citizens of the Ark are entitled to do," she said haughtily to the young man whose expression grew even darker.
"Yeah," he snorted, "entitled is the right word for you, Princess."
He'd raised his voice and Raven's head jerked up from the table where she was working. Her gaze bounced back and forth between Clarke and the angry Cadet Blake as she tried to figure out what was happening.
Clarke bristled at the nickname. She opened her mouth to tell him just what she thought of him but he cut her off before she had the chance.
"You can literally pull that same book up on your tablet and read it. So why don't you?" His tone was still harsh but she didn't miss the faint hint of hope mingled in with it. He must have really wanted to read the book. Clarke felt herself waiver for an instant. Then she remembered that he'd called her 'Princess'.
"Because I don't have to," she said coolly. "I picked this book up first, and I'm going to finish reading it." She hoped that would show him that she wasn't going to be pushed around.
He gaped at her in disbelief. She could tell he was struggling with a comeback and she felt a little bit of satisfaction at leaving him speechless. Clarke noticed Raven get up and move closer in her peripheral vision but she refused to look over, staring instead directly into the Cadet Blake's eyes and waiting to see what he'd do next. She caught herself admiring the different shades of brown and intensity she found there.
"Fuck you," he finally said calmly, shocking her. He turned around, grabbed a random book from the shelf behind her and stomped off to a chair a few rows away from Clarke. She stared after him with her mouth open in disbelief.
"For the love of Earth Clarke," Raven chided her once he was gone. "You couldn't just let him have the book?"
Clarke was immediately ashamed of herself. She wasn't normally rude and her parents had always taught her to be respectful to people from the outer stations. Shit. Her father would be so disappointed in her if he'd seen what had happened. "I would have," she said defensively to her friend, "but I didn't like his attitude."
"You know he has a point right?" Raven was never one to hold back. "The only way he can read that book is to come to the library and hope no one else has it. You can pull it up whenever you want."
"Ok Raven," Clarke snapped as she thumbed the pages of the book, "I get it. I screwed up. I just … he just got under my skin I guess."
Raven gave her a long look. Clarke hated admitting she was wrong.
"Fine," Clarke muttered, "I'll figure out who he is and find a way to make it up to him."
"Bellamy Blake," Raven informed her as she returned to her seat and turned her focus back to her equation. "He's from Section 17."
"You know him?" Clarke asked. She was surprised to hear he was from 17. Although she'd assumed he was from an outer station, it was very rare for someone from Section 17 to ever be accepted into the Guard. That explained why she'd never seen him working in Alpha before despite the fact that he looked old enough to have been assigned at least a couple of years prior; typically, it would take a cadet from Section 17 at least a couple of years to earn enough trust from his superiors to be assigned to an inner station.
"Sure do," Raven's distracted tone told Clarke she was losing her to the math again. "He's friends with Finn," Raven continued as she began writing numbers again.
"Good friends?" Clarke asked.
"I think it's more like they run in the same circle," Raven answered her distractedly.
Clarke bit her bottom lip thoughtfully. Bellamy. She'd never heard his name before. She opened Middlemarch again, but she was having trouble focusing on the words now. What kind of cadet spent his time reading novels? All of the cadets she knew were training in the sparring rooms whenever they were off duty.
She shook her head lightly to clear the thought from her mind. Clarke stared at the page in front of her, her eyes running over the same words again and again as she tried to focus. After her third attempt at the same paragraph, she sighed and lifted her eyes from the book across and gazed across the room.
Bellamy Blake was sprawled out on a chair scowling at the open book in his hands. If it was possible to read angrily, he was doing it. She watched his deep brown eyes rip back and forth across the pages viciously, in stark contrast to the smattering of soft freckles that danced lightly over his cheek bones.
Screw him, Clarke thought to herself, he's so rude. If he'd just politely asked for the book, I would have given it to him. If I give it to him now, he wins.
It took at least twenty minutes before she able to get back into her book, but once she finally did, Clarke sank deeply into the world of Middlemarch. Several hours later, her tablet's alarm startled her out of her fantasy world. Wells, Food the reminder message flashed on the screen. She looked around the room and realized that Raven and Bellamy had both left at some point. Quickly, she gathered up her tablet, and reached out to place the book back on the shelf. Right before she deposited it, Clarke turned it around with the spine facing inward toward the shelf like she'd found it. That way Bellamy would at least be able to find it next time he came to the library.
She left the library and headed toward the Mess Hall, unsurprised to see that Wells was already sitting at their favorite table with an empty seat across from him. She flashed him a quick grin and stepped into the chow line, grabbing an empty metal tray from the stack.
"Hey Finn," Clarke greeted Raven's boyfriend when she got to the front of the line.
"Hey Clarke," Finn said dejectedly, barely looking up at her. He disdainfully scooped up some vegetables into her tray and slid a slice of bread next to them.
"Thanks," Clarke said a little too brightly. "Hey, I was thinking – "
"Can't talk," Finn interrupted her sullenly, "gotta serve." He grabbed Murphy's tray, who was standing behind Clarke in the line, effectively dismissing her. She made her way over to the water dispenser, and scanned her chip so it would pour out her hydration ration. Then she headed over to Wells.
"We need to do something about Finn," she said as she pulled out her chair to sit down.
"Ok," Wells said immediately, then patiently waited for her to continue.
"He's miserable," Clarke said, "and it's going to make Raven miserable. I think we should invite him and Raven over to my place to watch movies and eat popcorn."
"Sounds great," Wells replied encouragingly. He never turned down an invite to the Griffin household. Clarke knew her best friend was often lonely in his quarters, because his father was tied up with work so often, similar to her own parents.
"How about the day after tomorrow?" Clarke quickly checked her schedule on her tablet, "my parents will both be working. At sixteen hundred hours?"
"Sounds likes a plan to me! Are you excited for your first shift in Medical," Wells asked and he took a bite of carrots.
"Yes," Clarke grinned, "I hope I can stay up all night though. I had trouble sleeping in this morning."
"It's definitely going to be an adjustment getting used to these overnight shifts," Wells agreed.
"What about you? Are you pumped for Earth Monitoring?" she asked.
"Kind of excited, kind of nervous," Wells answered.
"Nervous?"
"I'm just worried the other researchers are going to assume I only got the job because of my father. I don't want to be that guy," Wells stared down at his tray.
"Wells, you're always going to be 'that guy'," Clarke started. Wells' eye jerked up and immediately revealed she'd hurt his feelings. "I mean," Clarke continued before he could say anything, "that anyone who doesn't know you is going to assume certain things about you because you're the Chancellor's son. But once they start working with you and get to know you, they'll see you deserve to be there. You're the best," she smiled at him.
"Thanks Clarke," Wells said softly, holding eye contact for just a little longer than she was comfortable with. She quickly made herself busy finishing her dinner to avoid the awkwardness.
"Alright," Wells announced after a few moments. "I guess it's time to do this." They stood up and deposited their empty trays in the bin and headed out of the Mess Hall.
"Have a great first night in Earth Monitoring, Researcher Jaha," Clarke said when they reached her turnoff in the hallway.
"You enjoy Medical, Doctor Griffin," Wells winked at her.
Clarke laughed and nodded, then turned toward Medical, pulling her hair back into a braid as she walked through the familiar halls of Alpha Station. Wells had slowly been pushing the boundaries of their friendship for the past few months, and she was anxious about how to respond. It wasn't exactly that she wasn't interested in him, or that she thought he'd make a bad boyfriend, but she wasn't sure she wanted their relationship to change at all. Clarke had just reached Medical and was about to enter the facility, when she heard a noise beside her.
"Where do you think you're going," a deep voice demanded as a guard stepped out in front of her. Clarke looked up to see Bellamy Blake staring down at her angrily.
"Since when are there guards posted to Medical?" Clarke asked, surprised to see him there.
"Heightened security command," Cadet Blake replied. "So again, I have to ask, where do you think you're going?"
There were only two other times that Clarke could remember seeing guards stationed outside the doors of Medical, and both had been immediately following attempted raids by gangs from the outer stations. She wondered why the Council had considered it necessary to place guards on duty, especially since she hadn't heard any recent reports of unrest.
"Hello, Princess," Cadet Blake waved his hand in front of her face. "For the third time, where do you think you're going?"
"To work," she answered defensively, straightening her posture. "Hey! Miller!" she said, greeting her friend who she had just noticed was standing behind Bellamy facing in the opposite direction.
"Clarke?" Miller asked as he turned around to study the situation. "Dude, she's fine, let her in," he said to Bellamy.
"The orders are that I need to scan your chip first," He said coolly to Clarke with his jaw clenched instead of answering Miller. He definitely wasn't the forgiving type. She wanted to say something to clear the air between them, especially if he was going to be on duty guarding Medical.
"Ok," Clarke said as she rolled up her sleeve, "but I just wanted to say that – "
"Medical Apprentice Clarke Griffin," a robotic female voice interrupted her from the handheld scanner. "Access to Medical Bay is granted."
"All done," Bellamy said bitterly, "you may enter Medical, Princess Griffin." He stepped to the side keeping his gaze straight ahead, still refusing to make eye contact with her.
"Gee, thanks," Clarke said under her breath as she walked past him.
"Have a good first night Clarke," Miller nudged her as she walked by him.
"I'm going to try," Clarke smiled at him.
"Dude," she heard Miller say behind her as she left, "what's with the hostility? You keep acting like that and they're gonna kick you off Alpha duty and send you back to 17."
"I'm just following the orders," Clarke faintly heard Cadet Blake's clipped response.
She walked further into Medical, searching for Dr. Eric Jackson, who her mother had told her would be training her for the first cycle of her apprenticeship. She'd known Dr. Jackson for the past six years while he'd been training under her mother, and she was excited that he'd be the one guiding her through the introductory training.
"Clarke," the young, dark-skinned doctor greeted her as she almost bumped into him turning a corner. "I knew you'd get assigned to Medical!"
"Good evening, Dr. Jackson," Clarke responded politely. She knew Jackson would be reporting back to her mother at the end of the night on her performance, and she wanted to get off to a good start.
"Alright, first thing's first," Jackson said seriously. "There's a package from the Recycling Center with your new medical scrubs over in the storage area, why don't you go get changed and we'll get you sworn in as a new apprentice.
Clarke nodded enthusiastically and left to find the package. She was pleasantly surprised to see that she'd been issued two pairs of medical scrubs that were both blue, her favorite color. She slipped out of her clothes and into a pair of scrubs, packing her shirt and pants away for the end of her shift. Then she headed back to Jackson to recite her apprenticeship oath. To her dismay, Jackson was standing close enough to the entrance that she knew Miller and Cadet Blake would be able to overhear her.
Oh well, it wasn't like her career was an embarrassing one. She pulled herself up straight, raised her right hand and recited the oath she'd carefully memorized.
"I, Clarke Griffin, swear to fulfil to the best of my ability and judgement, this covenant: I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow. I will apply, for the benefit of my patients, all measures required and permitted by the laws of the Ark. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug. I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me so that the world may know. I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with obligations to my fellow human beings. I will not violate this oath, or act in contravention of the laws of our society, less I face the ultimate consequence of execution."
Jackson nodded at her as she finished the oath. "Well then, time to get to work," he grabbed a clipboard off of the wall.
"Sounds great!" Clarke said, "who's our first patient?"
"Oh, you don't get any patients yet," Jackson said and Clarke was sure she heard Bellamy snicker behind her. Clarke's face fell. "I'm going to have you sort through the medicine cabinet here and do an inventory," Jackson informed her as he passed her the clipboard and a pencil.
"Great," Clarke tried to sound excited about the task. She knew everyone had to start somewhere.
Jackson used the key around his wrist to unlock the cabinet. "So follow the labels on all of the pill bottles," he explained, "and write the total quantity of pills on the chart there. I'll be receiving patients here in the examination room next door, so just give me a shout if you need anything."
"Ok, I'll get to work," Clarke said, already pondering the ways she could keep herself awake on the most boring overnight shift imaginable. It certainly didn't help that Bellamy Blake was standing twenty feet away guarding the door and silently judging her.
Clarke settled into the task and was about halfway through her inventory Jackson's first patient arrived. Clarke hadn't heard the woman passing the guards, but she heard the concern in Jackson's voice as he sat her down to talk to her in the examination room.
"The cough's gotten worse," the woman said to Jackson with a scratchy throat, her long dark hair sticking to her sweaty forehead.
"It looks like we gave you a week's prescription of antibiotics already," Jackson said, reading her chart on his tablet as he listened to her lungs with his stethoscope.
"Yes," the woman agreed quietly.
"Did you take them as instructed?" Jackson asked while he measured her pulse.
"I did," the woman said stoically. Clarke had stopped counting the pills and was discreetly watching the woman. She couldn't have been older than forty, and she was gorgeous even though she was sick.
"Hmm," Jackson said as he studied the chart. "Clarke, come over here," he gestured to his apprentice.
Clarke stood up and joined Jackson to study the chart on his tablet. She smiled gently at the woman before she looked down.
Aurora Blake. The name clicked in her head immediately. Clarke glanced over at Bellamy standing in the doorway, of the next room, his stance extremely tense. He was staring into the examination room now, while Miller stood facing the hallway.
"Do you see the problem?' Jackson asked her.
"Ahm," Clarke turned back to the tablet and read the diagnosis and medication dosage again. "The antibiotics should have worked on her by now," she said quietly. She tried very hard not to look back at Cadet Blake as she delivered the news. She was certain this was his relative.
Aurora Blake sat silently in front of them looking at the floor. Clarke continued reading the profile on the tablet and saw the woman's occupation was listed at Seamstress, Section 17. Then her eyes landed on the net line: Son: Bellamy Blake. It was his mother! Clarke turned to look at him again, standing in another room twenty feet away, but obviously able to hear the entire conversation.
"Ms. Blake," Jackson began in a soft tone, one Clarke recognized all too well as the voice of a doctor about to give a patient bad news, "Unfortunately, we've used the maximum amount of antibiotics we're permitted to issue to a single patient. If they haven't worked yet, I'm not authorized to offer more."
The woman looked up with tears in her eyes. If Clarke hadn't already been staring at Bellamy over in the door way, she probably wouldn't have noticed the way he angrily clenched his jaw.
"What will happen to me?" Aurora choked out brokenly.
"Well, you might get better," Jackson began.
"But that's not likely, is it?" she interrupted.
"Not without the medicine, no," he replied solemnly. Clarke's mother had obviously taught Jackson the same thing she'd taught her; it was always better to be honest with a patient instead of offering them false hope.
"Are you sure there's nothing you can do?" Aurora asked Jackson with a note of desperation.
Just then the emergency bell rang on the door above them. "Code Green. Code Green. Report to Surgery," a robotic voice came from the speakers.
"Clarke," Jackson said as he thrust the tablet into her hands and rushed toward the next office, "Please issue Ms. Blake a one week supply of essential vitamins from that supply cabinet. I'll be back after the Code Green."
"Yes, sir," Clarke replied.
The woman before her was crying softly and as Clarke followed her gaze to the young man at the door, saw the pain on both of their faces, and she felt her own heart breaking. She knew that the antibiotic allowance would have been extended for a resident of a more important station, and suddenly Clarke was angry. This woman was a seamstress. It was a miracle that her son had been made a member of the Guard. Clarke wondered how that had happened; someone must have written him an excellent recommendation. He was just trying to better himself.
And now here was his mother about to be sentenced to death. No wonder he had a chip on his shoulder about the inner stations.
"Alright, Ms. Blake," Clarke began with the tiniest hint of nervousness coating her voice. What she was about to do was highly illegal, and highly dangerous. "The first thing you're going to want to do, is make sure you get lots of sleep. Sleep can help fight off the virus." Everyone in Section 17 had heard similar things in the past. Doctors told them it was possible to get better, when they knew it wasn't. Aurora's downcast eyes weren't paying attention.
Clarke moved over to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the antibiotics instead of the vitamins, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure Miller wasn't looking. Aurora saw her reach for the container of precious medicine and looked up at Clarke, shocked.
"So I'm going to give you these vitamins," Clarke said, fighting to keep the panic out of her voice at what she was about to do. She'd never broken the law before. "You're going to want to take them twice a day for a week," Clarke said as she quickly counted the antibiotic pills into a small container and handed them to Bellamy's mother. The woman clutched the box to her chest and stared up at Clarke with huge eyes.
Clarke looked over at Cadet Blake, deliberately made direct eye contact with him and held it. If he turned her in, she'd absolutely be floated. The look of relief on his face was unmistakable, and she knew immediately that her secret was safe with him. She nodded to him, and he nodded back, almost imperceptibly.
Miller suddenly turned to the side and noticed that Bellamy was nodding at Clarke, and turned his head to see what was going on. Clarke froze, terrified she was about to be caught, but Bellamy leaned over with a smirk on his face, looking Clarke up and down.
"Ever seen a doctor fill out her shirt so well?" he asked, nudging Miller. Clarke felt the heat rising to her face, even though she knew he was just creating a distraction. She carefully covered the antibiotics label on the pill bottle with her hand and reached out to put it back in the supply cabinet.
Miller snorted. "Dude, I'm gay." He looked back over at Clarke again. "But if I was into that sort of thing, I could see your point." Miller turned back towards the hallway.
Clarke looked back at Aurora one more time. "You need to take every pill, it's very important that you take all of the vitamins. You understand?"
Aurora nodded her head. "Thank you," she whispered, grasping Clarke's hand.
"Of course," Clarke said softly, squeezing her back. "Now you take good care of yourself Ms. Blake. Follow all of those instructions. You look like a strong woman. Hopefully your body will be able to fight this off with the help of a lot of sleep and good vitamins."
Aurora stood up, clutching her pills tight to her chest, and walked out of Medical, lightly brushing her son's elbow as she walked by.
Clarke bit her lip and made eye contact with Bellamy once more before turning to finish her inventory, which she was going to have to lie on. All of the resentment from their first two encounters had disappeared from his graze, and he was staring at her inquisitively. She smiled quickly and turned back to the medicine cabinet, trying to ignore the accelerated beating of her heart.