Her body felt tired this morning; she hadn't slept well and had two small people fighting over the covers all night long. Nora made quick work of a French braid in her hair first before braiding Kyra's without thinking twice. It was part of their everyday routine and secretly one of Nora's favourite parts of her day.

It reminded her of all the times her dad had attempted to braid her hair when she was little and all the times he had been successful too.

There was something so soothing about having your hair done by someone else, but in turn she felt that same soothing trance wash over her when she felt Kyra relax against her as she braided her long dark locks.

As she skipped off to breakfast, Nora gave Gwen a quick wave before leaving the centre to pick up blankets from goodwill and the new batch of weekly rations. She took a different route though today, hoping to pass Bellamy on his way to start his shift.

He was a creature of habit these days and she knew his routine like the back of her hand now after these past few months in his new role as a janitor. She could still see some bitterness in his face whenever he passed by another guard. Although it wasn't his chosen profession, Nora could tell he was reluctant to leave. She wondered if it was because it meant he had disappointed his mom and her desire of him making a strong career from himself on the Ark.

But she had never and would never ask him about it. Nora thought it was better to move forward, with a new chapter opening for him.

The redhead hadn't seen him since that evening of her birthday. The moment of their almost kiss that Kyra had seemingly interrupted. She couldn't deny the small bubble of nerves of seeing him again; would he try to kiss her again or was the moment over? Would he even try again? Did this mean he liked her like that?

Hell, or had she just imagined the whole thing? It sure felt like she had.

In the distance, she could see the familiar dark mop of hair and she squeezed past some other people and skipped to catch up with the taller man. "Hey stranger."

His head shot to the side and as his eyes landed on her, she felt her nerves disappear. He gave her a smile, a genuine one that made little creases appear beside his eyes.

"How's the 21 year old feeling?"

She rolled her eyes, "not any older to be honest." Nora spared a look to his janitorial uniform. "First shift of the week?"

Bellamy groaned, "yeah, I've picked up a few extra shifts this week too."

Nora squinted at him, what did he need extra credits for? "Sounds like fun."

"Hopefully there won't be as many blocked toilets this week." He rolled his eyes and she scrunched up her nose. "I just might not be able to come by the centre as much this week is all. But next week I'll be back to normal."

She smiled up at him, "good, because I need our extra chaperone."

His smiled widened at the chaperone mention. Bellamy had fallen into the role well and the kids were equally as happy with him taking a more active role in the centre too. His dimples popped into place and she felt the giddy nerves return to her stomach.

"You stopping by to see O today?"

"Yep, it's goodwill, new rations, lunch and then Octavia this afternoon."

"Tell her—"

"You love her, I know." She gave him a soft smile and nudge in the side. "I always tell her and she always says—"

"What a sap her older brother is?"

A smirk crept onto her lips, "something like that. Octavia's got a great vocabulary."

He burst out laughing, his eyes disappearing into the creases as he shook his head. "O's always had a way with her words."

They walked along in silence, the pair sliding through the early morning crowds that gathered and moved in the hallway. She could see goodwill up ahead, Rose smiling at a passing Arker who had stopped for a chat.

"So, uh..." Nora looked up, her eyes brows raised at Bellamy as he froze in his sentence. "There's a moonrise later this week..." his eyes cast down to catch hers, his dark eyes warming her up. Say it, say it... just ask me... "Did you wanna head down to the bridge for it?"

She tried not to grin with the giddiness that swelled inside her. "Yeah, sure, that sounds like a plan."

The nervous look in his eyes seemed to flit away and was replaced by a sparkly look. His dark eyes looked less wide, more relaxed and... happy? Nora debated it and then felt them draw to a stop and looked over to see Rose smiling at her with a knowing look.

"I'll catch you soon?"

"Yeah, stop by when you can." She nodded up at him before he darted off for his shift. The bundles of nerves soon returned to her stomach and if she was alone, she was sure she would have done a giddy dance.

"Well, well, well... this is an interesting development."

Looking over, the redhead saw Rose with her arms crossed. She had never seen the woman smile so big as she was right now.

"What?" Nora fought back a smile of her own.

"When did you two start dating?"

The young woman rolled her eyes and leaned on the front desk. "We aren't."

"So that's what you kids call flirting then?"

She couldn't stop the smile. "I don't know what you'd call that. I can't read him one bit." Nora said, leaning in closer and whispering, "but he did try to kiss me on my birthday." Rose's mouth dropped open, her smile widening into a grin. As she gushed over the new developments in Nora's love life, something Rose had wanted for the young woman for many years, she gathered a new supply of blankets. Nora had also put in a request for any warm layers for the kids, with the temperature dropping, she wanted to be prepared in any way.

Thanking the older woman, she left goodwill with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.


Her second stop of the day was collecting the new rations and it seemed that everyone on Mecha had had the same idea. Nora hadn't anticipated a wait this long.

She noticed many familiar faces, all leaving with wide eyes and smiles. They must have been hungry. She was hungry. She wanted to sit and gorge on food.

Scanning her ration card at the hatch and holding out her ID tag for them to check, she watched the hatch lift after a few moments as a woman arrived at the door with their rations. But it wasn't in their usual small crate, no, this was triple the size.

"This is too much for one week." She never was on to complain about too much food, but this wasn't right.

The woman gave her a shifty look, "they're changing the way rations are given out. This is one months supply."

"Why would they do that now? That doesn't make sense."

"Do I look like I make the rules?" She gave the redhead a strong look of impatience, her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed. "If I did, do you really think I would be in this job? Take them and leave. If you've got a problem, take it up with the council."

Nora makes a gruff sound and lifts the heavy box from the surface and carrying it out the doors and past the other Mecha and Arrow station residents, whose rations were also larger.

It made no sense. Why would they change the system that had been in place and working for so long? They got weekly rations to stop people from over eating and running out of rations too soon. Monthly ration packs made no sense.

Her arms ached by the time she got back to the centre and she immediately caught Gwen's eye. The older woman followed her into the kitchen, "did you steal all of that?!" She whispered in a hiss, mixed with shock and horror.

Nora shot her a look. "You really think I'd be able to make it past the guards with all of this if I had stolen it?"

"Don't get smart with me."

Nora rolled her eyes. "This is our monthly ration pack. They're not doing it by week anymore."

"That's strange. Is it more than usual?"

"I'm not sure."

After Gwen made sure the kids were being monitored by the volunteers, she rejoined Nora in the kitchen as they quickly counted out meals and portions for the month and what was inside the case.

As they laid them out before them, it didn't take them long to see it wasn't enough. They were even more reduced than had they been by a week. Nora's jaw clenched, making a gruff sound before standing up to protest. Gwen went to pull her back by the wrist, "don't. Don't do anything rash that you may regret or anything that could get you floated."

"It's not enough though."

"I know it isn't, but it's nothing we haven't faced before. We'll get through it again."

Gwen pulled in the redhead into her arms, giving her a tight hug, but Nora's golden eyes remained locked on the rations. She hoped it would work out. They would have to be smart with their rations, they had no other choice.

"They're gonna be hungry. It's not right."

"It will work out." Gwen shushed her.

Nora knew Gwen would protest, but an extra ration run this month would be needed, otherwise they would be starving come next month.


The next morning, she found Jimmy and Kyra curled even closer to her, wrapped up tightly in their blankets and new fleeces she had picked up from goodwill. It was cold, abnormally so. Nora slipped out the bed, tightening the blanket around the pair before grabbing her only zip fleece before tracking down Gwen.

The woman wasn't hard to find, she was already huddled around the thermostat in the centre. It was noticeably a few degrees lower than yesterday, "what the hell?"

"It doesn't work when you adjust, stupid thing is either broken or they're overriding it."

"At least it's not as cold as it was in lock up."

"Well that's some reassurance," Gwen joked. "We need to get you a thicker jacket."

Nora waved it off, "Bellamy says he's keeping an eye out for me in goodwill."

"Bellamy says, huh?" Gwen smiled, getting them each a glass of water.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"That look you gave me. Rose gave me the exact same look!"

"What look?" She said innocently.

"There's nothing going on. Kyra made sure of that on my birthday."

Gwen's eyes bulged. "Did he kiss you?!"

"No. He was about to I think, but then Kyra burst out." She gave her a look. "I never knew he liked me like that and that was the first big thing between us and it flopped like a wet fish. Not really the best sign of any happening or a future, or whatever."

"There will be more kisses, I'm sure." Nora scoffed. "I know it! I've seen the way he looks at you."

"Like I'm a clumsy fool, who is also a thief?"

"No." She swatted her shoulder. "He likes you, like really likes you, honey. You're blind if you can't see that."

"I just know I probably like him a lot more than he likes me."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Whatever. It didn't happen so there's no point in talking about what didn't happen or what will never happen." Nora huffed and Gwen burst out laughing.

"The world isn't ending, don't worry your pretty little head. It will happen again, I promise you." Gwen kissed the top of her head before slipping out the room and readying breakfast for the kids.

A/N: Just a few more to go until the ground... :)