It was amazing what a smile and a friendly face could achieve on the Ark. Within a week, the mechanics that she knew through work were more than happy to place a routine check on one of the SkyBox cells. Nora gave them Octavia's number and in no time, the mechanic had issued a repair order on it and required the prisoner to move out.
The redhead knew one of the only cells left in the Skybox was one down the far end, but had the best view from the skylight window. It was small, yes, but it was a view that only some in lock up were treated to.
Nora didn't see her in the lead up, she didn't know how she reacted, but she could only imagine the same look of wonder on her face when she stared out at space each day.
But when she finally made it down for her weekly visit, there was a smile on Octavia's face that hadn't been there before. As the guard shut the door behind Nora, they shared a brief hug, but Octavia clung to the older woman with an iron grip, "thank you." She mumbled.
She didn't need to say anything else, knowing that the Blake sibling had something to be entertained by in here was something. Reaching inside her jacket, Nora pulled out the familiar white and blue toy. She saw how the brunette's eyes softened at the sight of it, before reaching out to delicately take it from her. "Bellamy's been looking after it for you. He wanted you to have it with you in your new room."
A sad smile rested on her lips and Nora felt something tug at her heart. She never wanted Bellamy to see this sad expression on his sisters' face.
"Thank you."
Dropping her pad to the ground, she leant back against a wall and Octavia took up position leaning against the opposite wall. They fell into a pattern of talking while bouncing a small rubber ball between them. Nora used it in the centre with quiet children, to get them distracted so they relax and talk. It worked perfectly on the youngest Blake; she quickly relaxed with the repetitive motion of the ball being bounced between them.
Octavia asked questions about the Ark and her work in the children centre, although she had heard a lot already from her brother it seemed. "He spoke about the kids a bit, said they reminded him of me."
"He's spending more time there now." Another bounce. "I think he gets lonely in your home now. He said it's not the same without you."
A soft smile rested on her lips, "that's how it always used to be. Mom was out most of the time and it just me and Bell." Another bounce and a sigh. "I just miss sitting and talking to him. He'd tell me about guard training, about any incidents on the Ark, about stupid things that happened during the day... he even told me about you."
Nora eyes flicked up to meet the younger girls gaze. "What did he say?"
The smile grew wider on Octavia's face. "Not much, just little bits. I wanted to meet you but he said it wasn't safe, blah blah blah and look where I am now." Another bounce.
"He was protecting you."
Another bounce.
"But we could trust you! He knew that."
"You still can."
"I could've met you earlier though and had a friend."
Nora smiled over at her. "Well you can still consider me your friend now. Just one you can't take long walks around the Ark with." She joked, pulling a laugh from Octavia. "Can I tell you a secret?"
Octavia's eyes widened, "please" she elongated the word in a way that made Nora smile. If she made a guess, Bellamy wasn't one for gossiping with his sister.
Nora rolled her eyes, "okay, it isn't that exciting or interesting."
"Just tell me."
"When I saw you at the dance and saw how Bellamy was looking at you, I totally thought you were his secret girlfriend."
"Gross!"
Nora laughed as she watched Octavia's face screw up. "Well what else was I to think? He was being really suspicious sometimes, and when he bought that necklace for you and it appeared on your neck at the dance, who was I to think he had a sister?"
"That's disgusting. Is that why you pulled me away from that creep?"
"Yes." Another bounce. "I've gotta protect my friends interests! Besides you did not see the absolute death glare Bellamy was giving the kid."
"He's never had to fight the boys off before."
"There'll be more time for him to do it, I'm sure." Nora winked at the younger girl.
"So you think I'll get out of here?"
The redhead paused as she caught the ball and threw it back on instinct. "I hope so." Octavia caught it with quick reflexes, her eyes off in the distance. "Are they feeding you enough?"
She simply shrugged. "It's more rations than I had at home."
"Good. Warm enough?"
"It gets colder at night, but it's okay."
Nodding, the redhead caught the ball as it bounced on the metal floor. "What do they teach you in classes?"
The question made Nora look up, then frown as she tried to remember her classes. "Depends the age and where you live, Alpha station gets more Earth skills classes and Science too. Factory you've got more practical skill classes, more manual labour, like Mecha really."
"Can you teach me?" She asked, with another bounce of the ball. "Bellamy used to, but obviously can't anymore." Nora caught the ball, not with as quick reflexes as Octavia though.
"Sure I can. I'll pull together some notes. I'll ask Bell if he's got anything as well. I've got class notes from our kids at the centre but they are definitely too young for you." She bounced the ball back to her. "I'll see what I can do before next week."
"Thanks."
"Don't worry about it."
"No, for all of this." She looked over to her, suddenly serious. "Thank you."
"No need to thank me, seriously. I just gained a new friend because of it." Nora smiled over at the brunette and it wasn't long until one appeared on the lips of Octavia too.
Three thumps to the door, from the guard waiting outside, told her that their couple of hours were up. Octavia made a move to bounce the ball back to Nora, but the redhead raised a hand up to her, "keep it." Gathering her pad, she would likely spend the rest of the evening writing up the report on her visit. She really hoped Kane would grow tired of it all and just release the girl.
As the older kids settled down with a small meal in their hands on one cooler evening, the youngest were just settling down, with blankets wrapped around them tightly as they dropped off to sleep. The curtain was pulled across to seal of as much as light as possible for their bedroom.
Nora understood they were trying to ration oxygen on the Ark, but that didn't make it any easier to watch the children get colder in the night. "Can we watch a cartoon after dinner?" Jimmy's voice spoke up from the end of the table with a bright grin beside another child his age. They were already in their warm night clothes, so it wouldn't be the end of the world to let them.
She smiled over to the boy, "if you promise me that you eat every last crumb, then yeah, sure you guys can, bud." Ruffling his hair, she walked passed to check on the other end of the table.
"Nor, did you pick up any clothes from goodwill this week?"
Shaking her head, she looked over at Gwen, "nothing new Rose said. I'll check again next week."
"Thanks." Gwen nodded, peeking into the youngest children's room. "Fast asleep." Nora met the woman in a high five. The volunteers had gone home and it was just the two of them now; like it normally was for dinner and bedtime.
"You seen Bellamy recently?"
"Yesterday, he wanted a full brief on Octavia's visit." Nora said as she gathered up the toys around the room and placed them in the corner. "I think he said he would stop by tonight after his shift." Gwen smiled over and Nora couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Stop it!"
"He's coming round a lot is all."
"Well he lost his sister and mother; he doesn't really have anyone else."
"And the person he wants to spend his time with now is you."
"And the kids." The redhead just gave her a look. Gwen shrugged as she walked away, happy that she had planted the seeds again in Nora's mind. She thought enough about Bellamy in the day, he always found a way to slip into her thoughts.
Three knocks to the locked door to the centre put frowns on the women's faces. "Open up!"
As Nora was closest to the door, readying to clean up the kitchen area, she backtracked and peaked through the glass hole in the door to see who was on the other side. She felt her blood run cold when she saw Shumway and 3 other guards.
Twisting open the locks, she pulled the door open to the lieutenant's smiling face. "Miss Thorn, by Authority of the council we are here to perform a random inspection."
As Shumway pushed past the door, the guards followed and quickly began rounding the room, pulling some things away from the wall and checking over the large area. Gwen stood guard by the children as they finished eating nervously.
"Since when are inspections carried out in the evening?"
"It's a surprise inspection, we carry them out at all hours."
"Even when children are sleeping?" Nora argued with a stone cold look, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What's wrong, Miss Thorn? Hiding something?" Shumway squared his shoulders as he took a step closer to the redhead.
"No. Just children to protect from people like you."
She kept her face blank and her eyes hard, even when her heart was hammering in her chest as one guard entered the kitchen behind her. Inside one of the cupboards, there was a false floor, which beneath that, Nora had cut a hole in the metal sheeting to hide the stolen rations.
She never moved her eyes from Shumway, not trusting him one bit. When the front door was pushed open, she spun round expecting another guard or backup to be arriving, but her face relaxed when she saw Bellamy appear.
It looked like he had gone home to shower and change out of his janitor uniform before, with his hair still a bit wet and pushed back. He froze in his spot and his face turned hard when he saw the guards and Shumway. "Janitor Blake."
The Blake sibling strode over to stand beside the redhead, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by Gwen. "What's going on?" He asked Nora, but before she could open her mouth to answer, the lieutenant spoke.
"Just a random inspection." He said as he wandered away from the pair and looked inside the kitchen where another guard was checking. "Bit low on rations?"
She scoffed, her face completely deadpan, "you sound like you're surprised." In reply, all she got was a smirk.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a guard going to pull back the curtain on the sleeping youngsters. "Hey!" Before her mind could commute, she strode over to him and pulled him back by the arm, pushing the curtain closed. "There are children sleeping in there."
"Failure to comply with inspection is a criminal offence."
Nora sighed, sparing a glance to Gwen whose eyes were wide with worry. "Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't do random inspections at night when children are sleeping."
Bellamy took a step closer to the woman, his heart beating faster as she stood her ground in front of the kids' bedroom. But he was stopped short by a hand to the chest. Looking over, he saw Shumway push him back.
"Are you refusing an inspection, Miss Thorn?"
Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. She knew exactly why Shumway chose to do his inspection at night; he had expected this reaction from her or just wanted to disrupt her, Gwen and the children as much as possible.
"Does everyone else get inspections at night? Or is it just us?"
He didn't answer her question, but she saw his lip quirk up in response. "Miss Thorn, you are under arrest for failure to comply with a property inspection." Before she could register his words, the guard before her had grabbed her arm and spun her around to press her into the wall. She felt plastic ties wrap around her wrists and tighten without reason.
"You can't do that!" She heard Bellamy's voice loud and clear over the commotion. Turning her head, she saw Gwen gather the children and lead them round the corner to the reading den, calming them as she went. But two little ones lingered, Jimmy and Kyra, the latter's bottom lip wobbling as she looked on at the scene.
"This wasn't an authorised visit."
"Doesn't need to be." Shumway said in her face. "Because that's strike two for you." She remembered her first strike, putting that scar there on his face. He had told her then that there wouldn't be another strike, it would just be death. He made good on his threat it seemed.
Her eyes connected with Jimmy and Kyra's just as they were being pulled away by Gwen, "It's fine." She mouthed to them, "go."
Grabbed by the shoulders, Nora was spun to face the doors and caught sight of Bellamy on the way. He went to block the door but Nora shook her head, she didn't want him to get involved. But she hated the concerned look on his face, like someone else was slipping away from him.
But Nora knew this wouldn't be it for her. It couldn't be. This wasn't an authorised visit, so Shumway hadn't got it approved by a higher up. There was no way he would be able to get her floated without council approval too, who would convene in the morning. So that would mean a night in lock up.
As she was pushed from the centre, she tried to look back over her shoulder at Bellamy, but all she saw was Shumway smiling back at her, blocking her view.
This was exactly what he wanted after all these years. He wanted her to be gone from his sight, to not be a pain in his backside any longer and he wanted her dead.
She didn't struggle in the arms of the guards, that wouldn't help her case; all she could do was to keep walking. They didn't stop until they made it to lock up. As they slid past the secure doors and walked down the corridor, Shumway finally spoke up, "what's wrong with this skybox?"
Nora's eyes moved from the holding cells further down to the skybox Shumway was pointing to; the one Octavia was formally in and she had asked her friends to place a maintenance order on. Octavia was only a few doors down from her, but completely out of reach.
"It's got a repair order on it, sir. Oxygen lowered and the heating stopped while plumbing repairs are made."
Fuck.
Her head lowered, she knew before Shumway even spoke that this was where she would be sleeping. "This will do perfectly."
"But, sir, the repair is—"
"Open it up."
They did as they were told, before walking in. She felt the cool air consume her and was thankful she still had her fleece on her body. Nora breathed in as much oxygen as possible while the door was still open, because as soon as it closed, she needed to ration it to make it through the night.
Staying calm, she felt her wrists released from the ties and the guards left the room, until only Shumway remained. "It has been a pleasure, Miss Thorn. Sleep well."
She wanted to slap the sick smile off his face, she wanted to give him another scar, to scream and shout at him... but she couldn't. It wouldn't help her case at all and the sooner she accepted that the better. It would read better that she had gone willingly and not caused any problems. She knew Abby would contest the arrest and Kane would hopefully support her.
All she could do now was wait... and hope. Turning around she spied the bed instantly and was at least grateful the blanket was still there. Nora wrapped it tightly around her shoulders and lay down on the bed in the cold, dark room. The only light that trickled in was from the small glass window.
Tucking her legs up high, she tried to keep as much warmth in as she rested her head on the flat pillow. She just had to make it through the night without freezing to death and she would be back in the centre with the kids, Gwen and Bellamy tomorrow. She kept that strong vision in her mind as she closed her eyes and willed sleep to take her.
A/N: So that didn't exactly go to plan. I think everyone can agree that they hate Shumway, right? A GREAT BIG thank you to: CopperMax, MissNovelistic, DoctorWho9 and Guest for reviewing the last chapter – you guys are the best. Let me know what you thought of this chapter! ;)
