He felt his heart in his throat as he watched her get pulled from the centre, plastic cuffs around her wrists. No goodbye. Shumway hadn't spared him a single look as he followed the guards out.
It was too late in the evening to appeal. Council wouldn't come together until the morning for any appeals. Abby would be at her home. There was no one that he could go to for help. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. They wouldn't do anything to her tonight. She would be fine tonight, she had to be...
"Bellamy!"
The small voice coming from inside made him look over, as Kyra came running over. "Yeah?"
The little girl frowned and immediately he saw Octavia's younger self in her features. "Is Nora coming back?" Looking over her head, he saw Jimmy behind her, sharing the same frown.
Nodding, he crouched down, "she will, don't worry. I'll get her back." Kyra didn't respond, her frown still heavy but when she surged forward and hugged Bellamy, his shoulders relaxed and his heart ached.
Wrapping his own around the girl, he stroked her hair to calm her like he had done with Octavia so many nights before. "Come on." Standing up, he lifted the girl up with him and she kept her tired head rested on his shoulder. As he walked over to their closed off bedroom, he placed his hand on Jimmy's shoulders and steered him forward.
He shared a brief look with Gwen, who gave him a grateful smile.
"Which room is yours, bud?"
"Our bed is in there." He pointed to door, pushing it open, he saw a handful of beds, each with small nets separating them. There were a few bunkbeds for the older kids down one side, but the youngest ones had smaller beds, with blankets across each. Jimmy stepped forward to the lone double bed in the far corner, with two blankets. "Nora usually sleeps here."
He clenched his jaw and felt a pang for the little boy. Crouching down, he placed Kyra on her feet and she crept onto the bed and pulled her cover over herself. "Get into bed, I'll tell you a story before the other kids get in here."
As Jimmy smiled at him, Bellamy ruffled his hair and perched on the end of the bed. It wasn't exactly comfy, but none of the beds on the Ark. Well, unless you lived in Alpha station.
As the two children lay down, their blankets wrapped tightly around them, Bellamy leaned back against the wall and stretched his legs out in front of him on the mattress. "There once was a man, who lived on the moon..." He began, never letting his gaze wonder far from the children. They tried with all their might to keep their eyes open, even when a few of the other kids came in to their beds.
He had a small audience of those who were still awake as he told the story, his voice soft and quiet. When he saw most had given up the fight with sleep, he made sure the blankets were tight around them before opening the door.
Gwen was waiting anxiously outside on a chair, her elbows resting on the table in front of her. He didn't say anything, but squeezed her shoulder in comfort.
She glanced up at him and it was then he saw her face full of worry. "Nothing will happen until the morning." He assured the older woman.
"How do you know that?"
"Just a feeling."
"I hope you're right."
When morning came, Bellamy was waiting at the doors to med bay before Abby even arrived for her first shift. He hadn't slept well; the reading den wasn't as comfy without her by his side. When Doctor Griffin walked down the tunnel, he stood upright and spared Jackson a look by her side.
"Bellamy Blake. This is a surprise." She said, swiping the doors open with her keycard.
"I need your help."
She spared him a brief look as he followed the pair inside the doors. "Med bay isn't open for another hour."
"It's Nora." Abby froze and turned around. "Shumway arrested her last night, for refusing an inspection on a child's room."
She sighed, long and deep, before rubbing her forehead. "Council won't convene yet."
"Make it."
The doctor looked up at him, her face not giving anything away to him. "I'll see what I can do. Jackson are you alright to handle med while I'm away." He dutifully nodded at her, before taking the clipboard from her. "I won't be long, hopefully."
Bellamy never strayed far from Abby's sight as they walked through to Alpha, following the corridors down until they made it to the council chamber. On their walk, he told her every detail of what had happened, how she had simply resisted because of the lateness of the visit and the sleeping young children behind the curtain, the already distressed older kids and the rude nature of the visit.
He was forced to wait outside as Doctor Abby Griffin spoke with Jaha. On one hand, the former cadet wanted to listen to everything that was being said and on the other, he was glad for the wall separating him from seeing Jaha's face and the face of his mother as she was floated. He was the reason for all of their troubles. He was the reason his sister was locked up.
Gritting his teeth, his jaw clenched and Bellamy leaned against the opposite wall... and he waited. He waited for what felt like hours, as the light beamed into the corridor in streams occasionally. The light had a blue tint from space, the dark sky outside. He wondered what Octavia's view was of right now. He knew from Nora that she now had a small window.
A heavy thud drew his attention away from the window and down the corridor, to see Lieutenant Shumway walking down with a face of thunder. "Janitor Blake, what a surprise to see you here." He said dryly.
He didn't reply, just bit his tongue and clenched his jaw even tighter than before. If he said something, it was sure to get him in trouble and that was the last thing they needed right now. He was happy to make Shumway's life a living hell, yes, but not while Nora's life was in jeopardy to.
Shumway didn't knock before entering the chamber, but the door slammed shut behind him, leaving his two crony guards outside and staring back at him.
They were in the cadet class above him, clearly power hungry if they were following the crooked Lieutenant around. Bellamy could see they had been given a special promotion, by the badges on their shoulder. It seemed that was a perk if you did Shumway's bidding for him. He wondered what else he had made them do.
The thought didn't last for long though as the door was pushed open in a sudden move that even shocked the two young cadets. Shumway's anger radiated from his body, glowing out of his hard face as he didn't stop to talk but instead strode down the hallway, with the guards struggling to keep up. Bellamy turned back to the chamber to see Abby Griffin walking out, Marcus Kane hovering behind her. Jaha didn't show his face, typical, Bellamy thought, brave chancellor.
"Let's go."
"What happened?"
"Nora is being released right now."
Bellamy's eyes widened and it was then that Kane spoke up, "the guards will escort you to her and ensure her safe return." Two guards emerged from the chamber, one of them was Jones and his shoulders relaxed. He refused the urge to embrace the man, it had been a while since he had seen him last and it appeared that Jones felt the same.
Bellamy nodded to Kane, not having the words to speak to him in that moment. He was, after all, the man who had pressed the button that floated his mother. As Jones and the other guard led the pair over to lock up, it was then that Bellamy started asking questions, "what did they say?"
Abby took a deep breath in, "The council agreed that refusing an inspection was not permitted... however, Shumway should have carried it out at a more suitable time to not disturb sleeping children." They turned down another corridor and the tunnel to lock up came into sight. "Shumway will not be permitted to carry out any further inspections in the childrens centre. Jaha will allocate a new guard for that."
"And Nora is released, no trial?"
"No trial. But, she is being released on a warning to be more cooperative with officials." As Abby showed her badge to the guard on the door of lock up, she turned back to Bellamy, "You can't come any further. We'll bring her out."
As his shoulders slumped, he watched them all enter through the locked doors until he was left alone in the hallway. It was still early in the morning, not many people were around and those that were, gave curious looks to the janitor.
When the buzzer sounded and the doors slid open, he saw Nora walk out while being supported by Abby and Jones. She had a dark blanket around her shoulders as she took slow steps in his direction, coughing every now and again. When she looked up, he felt the breath leave his lungs at her ashen face and drooping eyes.
"What the hell happened to her in there?" He stepped closer and immediately pulled her into his body. Her arms limply wrapped around his body as her face pressed against his chest tightly. Reaching to look at her closer, his hands touched her face and immediately felt the chill on her body.
"Oxygen deprivation and the core temperature of the room had been placed on ration... due to a repair order."
"It was Octavia's old skybox." Nora said in a soft voice before coughing. Her golden eyes fluttered shut as his warm hands cupped her cheeks. She seemed to sink into his warm hands. "The one I said needed to be repaired, to get her moved. Damn... karma."
Clenching his jaw, Bellamy couldn't do much else at this point but help warm her up. Her body seemed to be seeking out his warmth, as she pressed into him.
"We need to get her to med bay for o2 treatment." Abby spoke, with wide eyes of urgency. Bellamy understood and leaned down to hook on arm under Nora's legs as the other rested on her back. As he carried her through the corridors, with her arms wrapped around his neck, the redhead pressed her face into the crook on his neck.
He felt her soft breaths on his skin and gripped her a bit tighter to his body. The tunnel that led them to med bay came into sight and he was soon forced to place her on a small bed. Reaching to the other vacant bed, he pulled a blanket from it and draped it over her. "You alright?"
Nora just nodded, "I am now." As her hazel eyes opened to him once again, she gave him a weak smile. "Thank you." He just nodded, pushing her hair back from her face. "I knew I could... count on you." Bellamy didn't leave her side as Abby worked around them. "How are the kids?"
Chuckling, he could believe that she would be more worried about them over herself. "They're fine. We'll take you back there after." As Abby placed an oxygen mask over Nora's mouth and nose, Bellamy settled into the chair beside her and watched her take a deep breath in of oxygen.
They stayed there for the next few hours, Nora dozing in and out of sleep. The oxygen mask had given her back her breath and she was slowly warming up with the blankets wrapped around her. Being without decent oxygen levels for the night had done its damage already and Bellamy was more than ready to make Shumway's life a walking nightmare now.
"You don't need to carry me."
"Abby said you still need to rest."
"I feel better."
Bellamy didn't say anything, just spared her a brief look. He didn't slow his walking at all as he carried her down the corridor towards the children's centre that evening. Abby hadn't released her any earlier due to monitoring her lungs, wanting to make sure they were expanding fully and her core temperature was up.
"You can walk into the centre, but that's it."
The redhead let out a gruff sound as she held the blanket around her tightly and rested her head back onto his shoulder. Her soft breaths hit his neck as he felt her relax. "Thank you. For getting Abby to release me... and staying with me all day."
He chose his words carefully, "I couldn't leave you in there. Not before we ruined Shumway's life."
She chuckled, her shoulders shaking slightly before coughing once. "I can't wait for that. Let's put itchy powder into his uniform first." She said, with a playful tint to her voice that made him relax and laugh at her joke. Lowering her to the ground, he kept his hand on her back to steady her as she looked at the doors to the centre.
"Ready?" Nora nodded and shrugged the blanket from her shoulders, not wanting to look frail. Bellamy took the blanket from as she began to fold it up. With an encouraging smile and a nod, he pushed the door open.
Dark eyes watched her closely as she walked through the centre, her shoulders back and her head high. "Nora!" A loud yell caught his attention and before he knew it, Kyra was running at her at full speed with Jimmy closely following. "You're back!" The little girl exclaimed as she slammed into Nora's knees and hugged her. Bending down, she embraced the girl as Jimmy quickly joined them and wrapped his arms around her shoulders tightly.
"We missed you." Jimmy whispered to her and Bellamy couldn't help but smiling. She was every bit the caring doting older sister with the kids. She kissed Kyra and Jimmy on the head and squeezed them back.
"I missed you both too." She rose to stand and ushered them back to the table to finish their dinner.
Gwen was next to greet her, hugging her tightly. "Don't scare me like that again. You hear me?"
"Yes, mom."
The old woman shot her a look and Nora just smiled on. "And no sarcasm either." She warned before turning to give Bellamy a quick hug. "Thank you for bringing her back."
"Don't mention it." The former cadet waved it off.
"Yeah, don't mention it. His life would have been boring without me in it. He had to come save me." Nora teased as she nudged him in the side.
Rolling his eyes, Bellamy turned to Gwen, "she's on bed rest for tonight."
Nora's mouth dropped open when he smiled at her. "I am not. I am fine. I'm better."
"Nope. Bed rest."
She crossed her arms, trying her best to resist coughing and instead settled on clearing her throat. "Hardly rest if I share it with Jimmy and Kyra, is it?"
"They will be fine for one night." Gwen excused her. "Just sleep in the den."
Nora contemplated the thought, shrugging but before she could speak up and protest, Bellamy had already agreed for her. "The den it is."
But he missed the coy smile Gwen wore as she looked on at the young pair. "Bellamy can you hang around until at least after the kids go to bed and look after Nora?"
"Sure."
"I'm not an ill child."
"Just behave yourself and do what you're told." Bellamy shushed her with a smirk and pushed her through to the corner den. She rolled her eyes as he led her through the room towards the cosy den, filled with a blanket and pillows.
It was there that she set up camp for the rest of the night, Bellamy made sure she was comfortable before Jimmy came over. "We ate all our food. Can we hear a story, please Bellamy?"
Bellamy gave Nora a brief look, but she just shrugged and sunk lower into the cushions beside him. "Sure, bud." As some of the kids left for their bed, Jimmy, Kyra and a few others squeezed into the den and got cosy for a story from the former cadet. Gwen came by with a cup of water for her; she took it with a smile and a 'thank you'.
It didn't take long for her to drain the cup and lean her head against Bellamy's shoulder. Without missing a beat of the story, he opened his arm up to wrap around her and she slipped into the nook he created, her mess of red hair covering him. The kids didn't bat an eyelid at the sleeping woman, more interested in the elaborate mythical story Bellamy was telling them.
But as the story ended and Gwen pulled them away to their beds, Bellamy looked down at the woman beside him finally. She was blissfully unaware of everything and completed relaxed into the flat pillows and he didn't have it in him to move and disrupt her. Instead, he sunk down next to her and pulled another blanket up to cover her, keeping as much warmth between them as possible. Pushing her red locks from her face, he pressed a soft kiss to the crown of her head, "sweet dreams, Nor."
