"Protect your face." His hand reached out to gesture to her face that was uncovered. Quickly, she brought her left fist up close, her right fist extended further out. "Strong stance."

Nora looked down at her feet, making sure they were planted firmly into the ground.

"Now, go."

The redhead threw her fists out in the combination that Bellamy had been teaching her for the past half an hour. He blocked every one and bit back his smile, she was a good student and a quick learner. "That was better, right?" She grinned widely.

"Yeah, it was better." Taking a step back from her, he glanced around the section they were using for training. It was an old deck near Farm station, which was currently awaiting restructuring. No one lived nearby or worked around here. There were other decks which required more urgent repairs, leaving this area barren.

The two of them weren't complaining.

"So what's next?" She bounced on the spot, rocking on the balls of her feet. Reaching up, Nora pulled her hair into a messy bun. A few tendrils framed her face before she quickly tucked them behind her ear. "Defence grabs?" Bellamy made a face. "What if I don't have the opportunity to punch this person straight in the face? What if they grab me suddenly?"

"Then you trust your instincts and kick them in the balls."

Rolling her eyes, a chuckle fell from her lips. "You must have been taught how to restrain a person? Or at least take them down?"

Bellamy hesitated before nodding. "Y-Yeah, we have." He scratched the back of the neck before looking across at her bright eyes.

"Good, then that's next?"

"Sure you don't want to save it for next time?"

"Nope." She grinned. "I've got time to kill, Blake and you're not up to much right now either."

Sighing, Bellamy relented and approached her. He knew she was right. "Main spots to go for: the temple, the nose." He tapped her nose. "If you use the palm of your hand and push up, you can break their nose quite easily." The cadet reeled off the best places to strike, watching her closely as she nodded, listening to his every word intently. "Knees, because they can't chase you with a broken leg. Solar plexus," The cadet pointed to below his pecs, in the middle of his chest. "Just one shot there will knock the wind out of them."

"Like a punch?"

"Or an elbow. If someone tries to grab you from behind, just throw your elbow back." Taking a step closer to stand behind her, he locked both of his arms around the top of her chest, just under her neck.

He stilled suddenly, his mouth drying up.

Bellamy Blake had never been one to get nervous around women. But there was something about the redhead that got to him. Swallowing the thick lump in his throat, Bellamy tried to re-focus and continue. "You-er... you then throw your elbow back and it— Oof!"

"Like that?" Nora had thrown her elbow back to meet his solar plexus just like he had instructed her. Except maybe with a bit more strength than he had anticipated. She turned around with a big grin on her face and was met with the sight of Bellamy bent at the waist, one hand to his chest.

"Yep." He wheezed, "Just like that."

The smile disappeared from her face. "Oh my god, I'm sorry!" Taking a step closer to the cadet, she led him over to the bench. Bellamy breathed deeply, dropping down. "Does that mean it was good?"

He couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah." He coughed and grunted. "That was good. A little bit too good, maybe."

She made a face, "sorry."

Waving it off, he smiled at her as she crouched in front of him. "That's lesson one."

"You having second thoughts on this offer to train me?" He considered it for a second. "You so are!" Her laugh rippled through the room and he smirked at her.

"Just didn't think you'd hit that hard."

"Oh you thought I was weak?" She shoots him a mock look. "At least I know it works well." She nudges him, dropping down to sit on the floor in front of him. "Pretty well too, I mean I took down a cadet! Not many can say that."

"You're the only one right now."

"I know." Nora made a face again, her nose crunching up as she laughed. "I'm pretty proud of myself."

He decided in that moment the he loved the way her nose scrunched up when she smiled like that. Totally carefree and comfortable around him. He wondered who else she smiled at like that; who else she was this comfortable with. The kids? Jimmy and Kyra were smitten with her, even with her poor storytelling skills.

They had grown close in such a small frame of time, the trust almost instant between them. He knew she had stolen, he knew her flaws but accepted it all none the less.

Just like she had known he was hiding something, call it a gut feeling but she knew there was something under the surface, another layer to Bellamy, one he kept hidden away. The nosy part of her wanted to find out, she wanted to peel back the layers and find out what he was hiding.

Even she kept secrets. Frowning, she remembered her own dark secrets. Ones she kept hidden away, along with her fears and doubts.

It was hard to do sometimes on the Ark, with everyone knowing each other's business. She wouldn't dig, not yet at least. Maybe he would tell her? If he trusted her enough, maybe he would.

"This is a nice spot."

"Yeah, I come here a lot." He caught her giving him a look out the side of her eye, a curious glance. "I don't get a lot of time to myself."

Nodding, she understood what he meant. She didn't get a lot of time to herself in the centre either. When she stepped through those doors, it was all about the kids, making sure they were warm, fed first, had plenty to read and stay entertained. It was all about them. She barely got any time to herself and when she did, it was to get clean.

"I know what you mean, it's constantly one thing after the other." Looking out, she counted the stars one by one. "Thanks for doing this with me, training me."

The cadet quirked a smirk, despite the aching in his sternum from her strike, he was happy he had agreed too. "If it helps you feel safer, then I'm all for it."

She copied his smile, avoiding his stare. "Eventually it will. I don't know how I'd be if it came to me actually having to hit someone."

"Well, you didn't seem to have a problem hitting me."

She burst out laughing, the smile on his face growing wider. Covering her face with her hands, the redhead turned to him, leaning against the wall behind her. "I apologised for that."

"And it still hurts! How am I gonna explain this if it bruises?"

"Just say you got taken down a girl." Grinning, her foot nudged his. "Because that's what happened. Besides, they won't see it if it bruises anyway!"

Gingerly, Bellamy pulled the neck of his shirt out, to glance down his t-shirt at the mark. There wasn't a mark in sight on his skin, but he pulled a face and winced. "Yep, it bruised."

He watched as her face fell slightly, looking remorseful. "Seriously?"

Bellamy winced again, leaning back.

"What... no." He nodded again, slowly lifting his shirt. When she saw no mark or bruise, a glare pulled her brow down and she launched forward. "You ass!" Slapping at his arm, "I will actually bruise you for that!" His laugh rang out as he dodged her meagre hits. His hands gently caught her wrists as he held her still and she stood above him. "I'll get you back for that." She promised, pointing a finger at him, trying to fight back the smile.

The cadet raised his eyebrows, mocking her gesture as she backed away slowly from him. "Oh, I'll be waiting."

"You won't even see it coming. I'll be like a ninja from those stories you told the kids about yesterday."

"They were turtles actually."

Her face went blank. "What? They were ninjas!"

"Ninja turtles."

"Whatever, I'll still be as quick as one of them!"

The dark haired young man laughed as he watched her grab her jacket before joining her. "Okay, little ninja turtle." Rubbing a hand on top of her head, she shrugged him off with a mock glare.

With slow steps, he walked her back to the children's centre, his pack draped across his back and his eyes alert as he scanned the hallways.

"Same time again tomorrow?" Bellamy made a face. "We don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, it's not that. It's uh— I can't tomorrow." Scratching the back of his head, Nora realised his secret might have been bigger than some of hers. He looked conflicted, worried but sad at the same time.

"Don't worry, another time." Nora suggested with a forced smile. He relaxed ever so slightly, but still looked tense.

"Sorry—"

"It's fine," she shrugged it off as she took a step closer to the doors of the children's centre. "You're the trainer, you can set the schedule." She joked, nudging him in the side lightly. She hoped her face hid her disappointment. She was a good liar after all.

"I'll come get you for the next session."

"Sure, and then maybe we can try more defence?"

He raised an eyebrow at her quiet suggestion. She had been insistent on focussing on defence techniques, to the point where Bellamy was wondering if someone had tried to attack her. He had heard stories through the cadets and guards about people being preyed on, seeing kindness for weakness and taking advantage of people, men and women, young and old. He just hoped Nora was not one of them.

Bellamy had seen her return to the centre with bruises before, where had she been? The ration centre? He watched as she slipped away with a smile that reached her eyes, a genuine beaming smile, before he turned the other way to his home.

He remembered the look of disappointment on her face when he said not tomorrow, but he knew his responsibilities. He wasn't going to forget about his sister for anyone. He looked after her, he always would. She had no one outside of those four walls. She didn't have a life beyond their home. He hoped for one day when he could show her a moon rise, one they could share together and see the excitement in her eyes.

Knocking the tune, he signalled it was him before unlocking the door to their home and slipped inside quickly, relocking it behind him.

"Hey Bell." The brunette muttered, her voice low as she focussed on sewing together one of their mom's projects.

Groaning he dropped down to the chair across from her, "Hey, what's mom got you working on now?"

"A jacket for some guard whose name sounds like door who I don't really care about."

"D'you mean Corr?"

"Whatever." Looking up for the first time, she squinted at her brother. "Why do you look like that?"

"Like what?"

"Happy."

"I can't look happy?"

"You can, you just don't usually after training."

"This was a different kind of training session."

Octavia squinted again. "With a girl?" Bellamy made a face at her. "It so is! Who is she?"

"O."

"What, Bell! I don't leave this room, I am literally forced to live through you. Which is weird but I don't care. Where did you meet her?"

"She's just a friend."

"Who makes you happy."

"O." He glared, his voice stern. "She's just a friend who wants to learn how to defend herself."

"Why?"

"I don't know why, she hasn't told me yet."

"I wonder if someone hurt her, and now she's turning to you to protect her and teach her how to defend herself. Then she'll hurt them and get them back for hurting her, and then she'll—"

"You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Going too far. Making up stories."

"Well what else can I do in this tin can?"

Rolling his eyes at the face she gave him, Bellamy tuned out his sisters ramblings, the jacket long discarded at the side as she rambled on about different possibilities. He knew there was no harm in it but deep down, it got his mind going too. He wondered if there really was someone who was threatening her.

Would she tell him if there was? Or would she take care of it by herself, like she always had?

A/N: Thank you to everyone for reading, reviewing and favouriting/alerting! You guys are the best and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far :) I've got so much planned for this!