*I'm sorry for the huge delay in posting this chapter! Please read the bolded note at the end for more info
Kayden woke up the next morning to find that Bellamy had come home and crawled into bed at some point during the night. It seemed he had been tired from his shift, because his gear was still on.
Kayden carefully lifted the covers and slowly eased her legs over the side of the bed. She tried to stand up as quietly as possible, but cringed when the wooden frame creaked. She turned to see if the noise had woken Bellamy, but he just shifted in his sleep. He turned over from his side and for once, lay on his back in the bed. His head lulled to the side, revealing messy tufts of dark hair.
Kayden couldn't help but stare. She'd never seen him like that before. His face was calm; empty of strain or tension. It made him look younger, more innocent somehow. It didn't last long though because all of a sudden there was a knock at the door and Bellamy's eyes flew open.
Kayden was so surprised, she nearly fell off the bed trying to pretend like she hadn't been staring at him. When they'd both gathered themselves though and Bellamy sat up, they looked at each other. The question in his eyes told her that he hadn't been expecting anyone either. Quickly, they both composed themselves.
Kayden jumped up and threw her knit sweater on, quickly brushing her hair and re-adjusting her clip. Bellamy patted down his bed-head and stood up. He seemed to all of a sudden notice that he was still wearing his gear from last night and quickly pulled it off. When they were both semi-decent looking, they turned to each other again. Kayden sighed, looking at Bellamy and offering a warm smile. He didn't return it, but she could see the warmth reflecting back in his eyes. They both braced themselves as they approached the door. Then Bellamy reached to open it.
He seemed surprised to find a young girl with wavy blonde hair and pretty blue eyes that scanned them in a familiar, analytic way, taking her and Bellamy in. Kayden watched him shake off the shock before he spoke.
"Clarke?" he asked, clearly confused.
"Hi," she answered timidly. She seemed more uncomfortable than them. "Was this a bad time? I… didn't mean to interrupt," she continued, looking past them into the room. She didn't sound very sincere, though. Kayden thought about responding, but was grateful when Bellamy answered instead.
"No, its fine," he said, nodding. "Did you… want to come in?" At that, Clarke seemed to snap to attention. Kayden watched as Clarke's eyes met Bellamy's and softened.
"What? Oh, uh no. I just… my mother wanted you two to come down to the Council room and see her," she said, offering an awkward smile. Her words were directed at both of them, but her eyes stared unwaveringly into Bellamy's. Kayden could see the familiarity in them; the ease with which she looked at him.
They're…close, Kayden realized. She was surprised to find herself a bit upset with the discovery. But then she found herself coming to an even more urgent conclusion.
Wait, mother? Kayden thought, puzzled. She studied the girl's face and intense blue eyes. Then, it clicked. She knew where she'd seen that cold, calculating gaze before. Clarke was Chancellor Abby's daughter. And Bellamy knew her. He knew her well.
Kayden's thought process was broken however when Bellamy answered the blond girl. "Okay, we'll be there," he said, nodding slightly. Clarke seemed a bit surprised at the simplicity of the answer at first, but then she gathered herself and spoke.
"Okay," she said, attempting one last smile. This time, she directed it at Kayden. Kayden didn't want to seem cold, so she returned it. Then, Clarke headed back the way she'd come and Bellamy closed the door.
When he'd secured the lock, he turned and began cleaning up the gear he'd thrown on the ground. He started getting dressed. Kayden spoke first.
"So, we're going to see the Chancellor?" she inquired curiously.
"Yeah, it's probably just a routine checkup. She's left us alone until now so you could get settled, but you've been here almost three weeks," he answered, pulling on a new shirt.
Kayden counted in her head. It was true. She'd lost track of time, what with all the jobs and the days and nights blurring together, but it had been around 20 days since she'd left her people. She started to stare off into the distance nostalgically, lost in thought. She must have looked sad, because the next thing she knew, Bellamy was touching her arm lightly.
"You good?" he said. Kayden turned to face him and saw the tenderness in his eyes again. His concern melted her nostalgia and she smiled. She nodded to show that she was fine and blinked a couple times to clear the wetness from her eyes.
"Let's go meet your leader," she said.
When she and Bellamy reached the doors of the Council building, one of the guards lifted her radio and spoke of their arrival. Kayden couldn't help but feel nerves rising in her chest. This would be her first time seeing the Chancellor, or any other Council member for that matter, since she'd arrived. And this time, she wouldn't have a pretty dress or makeup to shield her.
She was comforted, however, when a familiarly friendly face opened the doors to the Council room.
"Welcome," said Councillor Jaha, smiling warmly at her and Bellamy. He moved out of the way and gestured for them to enter. She and Bellamy walked forward.
It wasn't much. A room with a round table in the middle and all of the Council members sitting around it. In the seat directly facing her and Bellamy sat the Chancellor, however; staring analytically as always. Kayden shifted uncomfortably under the Council's gaze but then reminded herself of the importance of impressions here. She cleared her thoughts, pushed down the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach, and did her best to put on the warmest face she could.
The Chancellor stared at them in silence, while no one else in the room spoke. Kayden saw something odd creep in to the older woman's eyes. She recognized it as curiosity, and grew curious herself. Then, Abby spoke.
"So, you're fitting in nicely, I hear." She said it simply, stating a fact. But her eyes betrayed her thoughts for once. Something in the way she was studying her and Bellamy. Had she noticed the progress in their relationship? Had she not expected it? Then Kayden noticed Bellamy's eyes on her.
She turned to face him and saw his look, prompting her to speak. She opted for a simple, one-word reply.
"Yes," was all she said, staring intently at the Chancellor. The older woman regarded her; not as coldly as she had the first time they'd met face to face, but in a more content manner. Kayden realized suddenly that Abby must be glad that she had been fitting in. The Chancellor continued staring at her for a moment, studying her, weighing the truth of what she had said. Then she broke eye contact.
"Good," she declared. "You may leave, Kayden." She didn't say anything else but Kayden understood. The Chancellor needed more information from Bellamy, and she wasn't welcome.
Councilman Jaha approached her and began guiding her out of the room. She looked back and found Bellamy gazing after her. Their eyes met and the message in his warm eyes was clear. It'll be alright. He offered her a half-smile. She didn't return it, and was lead out by Jaha. He smiled kindly at her before turning and heading back inside. The doors closed behind him, leaving Kayden alone with the two guards.
She couldn't help but wonder what Bellamy was telling the Council behind those doors.
Kayden walked in silence towards the dining area. It had been early when Clarke had come to get her and Bellamy, so breakfast hadn't finished yet. Clarke, Kayden thought curiously. She hadn't ever seen her around the camp before.
She faintly remembered spotting the blonde girl at the celebration the day she'd arrived, but Kayden hadn't been paying attention to her then. She certainly was now though.
She decided however, that she wouldn't make up her mind about Clarke until she got to know her better. There was something about her eyes, something about the way she smiled, that told Kayden that she was once a very sweet, very friendly girl. That something must have happened to her; that she'd been through things that had changed her.
Looking back on it, Kayden realized that behind the look Clarke had given Bellamy had been something similar to what she had seen in his eyes the day she'd walked down the aisle. A shared experience, a mutual understanding. Whatever Clarke had been through, she'd been through it with Bellamy.
Kayden's thoughts were interrupted, however, when Raven shouted her name. She hadn't even realized that she'd reached the dining area.
"A bit lost in thought, Princess?" Wick announced. Kayden and the others laughed as she took her seat. She thanked Monty as he offered her a plate of food.
"Hey, where's Bellamy?" Raven asked, taking a large bite of bread. Kayden sighed.
"He's… speaking to the Chancellor," she answered. Everyone at the table quieted down.
"She probably just wants some updates from him. No biggie," Raven said, laying a hand on Kayden's shoulder and comforting her.
"I know. And it's not the first time he's spoken to the Council about me either. I just... I wish I knew what they were saying," Kayden looked down at her plate but didn't reach for any food. She'd lost her appetite. Everyone at the table was silently staring at her. Wick broke the silence.
"Well, to hell with what the Chancellor or the Council thinks of you. I think you're great. After all, you haven't turned on us yet."
He'd probably meant it as a casual compliment, but everyone at the table gasped. Raven stomped her foot suspiciously and Wick yelped in pain. Jasper opened his mouth mid-chew. Monty spat out the tea he'd been sipping. Harper's eyes widened. Miller's expression remained the same but he his eyes became alert. They all looked from Kayden, to Wick, and back to Kayden; waiting for a response.
Kayden turned to Wick. The others observed in silence. He gulped under her intense gaze. Then, she broke out into laughter. Everyone was so stunned, they just stared at her. She continued laughing and even had to lay her hands on her stomach to ease the pain that was beginning to flare in her abdomen. When she was done, she turned to smile at Raven and Wick.
"I guess I haven't," was all Kayden said. Raven looked at her understandingly and broke out into a smile. The rest of the table followed. They continued laughing and talking and joking until the end of the meal.
Kayden walked down to the creek to report for laundry duty. She had been one of the last to leave the meal to help clean up, so she wasn't surprised to find that some people had already begun the shift. She was, however, surprised to see a girl with lightly tanned skin and dark hair working by the shore. She walked over to her.
"Octavia?" Kayden asked. The other girl turned to face her and broke into a grin.
"Hey," she said.
"What are you doing here? I didn't know you were on my shift," Kayden inquired. She smiled back to show that she was happy to see her friend.
"I had to switch shifts with Louis because of some mix-up in the fields. That's why I wasn't at breakfast," she answered. While talking to Kayden she'd tried to continue washing clothes but a shirt escaped her grasp.
"Shit," she spat. The cloth drifted downstream. Kayden's reaction was automatic. She got up on her knees and motioned her hands. The water under the material rippled and sent a small wave back to the shore where the two girls were sitting. Octavia picked it out of the water and turned to Kayden.
"I will never get over how cool that is," Octavia said. "Seriously, I've seen glowing butterflies and they still don't even come close." Kayden laughed and the other girl joined her. They continued their work and conversed and joked for the remainder of the shift.
At the end, Kayden walked up the hill to lay her box of washed clothes at the deposit. She couldn't help but notice an older woman studying her, however, when she bent down to lay the box on the ground. Their eyes met and Kayden got the sense that the woman didn't like her very much.
"Yo. Kay, you coming?" Octavia asked from the top of the hill. Kayden snapped to attention and turned to the other girl.
"Uh, yeah," she answered, shaking the odd feeling off. She then jogged up the hill to join Octavia and the others.
Kayden spent the rest of the day going from shift to shift. She walked with Miller in between Kitchen duty and Apothecary. They joked and spoke about the probability of Jasper ditching his rotation to go meet his boyfriend. At the apothecary, Monty helped Kayden finish the soap bars she'd left to set a few days prior. Jasper snuck in through the back however and grabbed Monty's hand, pulling him away from Kayden's side. She turned to Miller and he reluctantly handed her the piece of chocolate he'd been saving.
She then proceeded to Picking Duty, her last job before lunch. Clement began to babble lovingly about his family like he usually did, and Kayden listened intently as she picked berries and put them in the pockets of her bag. When the subject of the Council came up, however, Kayden told Clement about how she and Bellamy had gone to see them this morning.
"They just want to keep you on your best behavior, is all, Sweetheart. The Chancellor doesn't want you causing any trouble, so she's gotta look like she's keeping an eye on you."
She's already got eyes on me and everyone else 24/7, Kayden thought to herself, exasperated. Her eyes darted over quickly to the guard posted at the entrance to the fields. She sighed, however, and continued listening to Clement rant comfortingly for the rest of the rotation.
When Bellamy didn't show up for lunch, Kayden decided that he must have gone straight to work after he'd finished speaking to the Council. Her shoulders drooped disappointedly. She had been hoping to ask him about the meeting. Her troubles were forgotten however when her friends joined her at the table. They all spoke about their morning jobs and Harper told them all about a hilarious mishap that had occurred in the stables that morning involving a saddle, a very agitated horse, and some apples.
Kayden and Raven left lunch early to walk to the next shift which they had together. They passed by a Councillor and 2 guards who were deep in conversation, and Kayden couldn't help but stare and think about Bellamy's meeting with the Chancellor.
"You know, you shouldn't worry," Raven spoke. "Abby may seem like a hard-ass and act like a bitch most of the time, but I've also seen her save peoples' lives. She can be just as caring as she is careful."
Kayden scoffed. "I'll believe that when I see it," she responded. Raven stopped walking and grabbed Kayden's arm lightly so that she'd do the same.
"Look, I know you and your people have had to struggle, but you don't know what it was like on the Ark. Everything up there was about survival. Abby had to make a lot of hard decisions. Everyone did." Kayden tightened her lips at the corner, and looked down timidly. Then she raised her head.
"Like Clarke and Bellamy?" Kayden said, staring at Raven with the question in her eyes clear. Raven met Kayden's eyes, then rolled her own. She slid her hands into her pockets and started walking again, kicking a rock out of her path.
"You noticed that, huh?" Raven said. Kayden shrugged, looking at the other girl expectantly. "Well, that didn't exactly happen on the Ark," she continued. She went on to explain how the Ark had been dying, and the Council had decided to send 100 juvenile prisoners to Earth. She then told Kayden about the events that had followed - her coming down in the drop ship, their clash with the Grounders, and then the rest of the Ark following them to the ground.
"Bellamy and Clarke took charge. They took care of everybody. And, even though the rest of the Ark came down and we've made a home for ourselves here, you don't forget about that. About what it was like to survive together, in space or on Earth." Raven looked at her and Kayden nodded understandingly. She knew what it was like to survive.
"The Chancellor may not be the warmest of people, but she's done the best she can with what little resources she has. We all have. Including Clarke. And Clarke may not seem it, but she's one of the most caring people I know. She's just a leader to her people first, and a friend second." The girls continued walking in calm, understanding silence the rest of the way.
The rest of the day passed smoothly, and Kayden found herself walking back to her cabin after dinner alone. Octavia had asked her if she wanted to come down to the Hollow to hang out with everyone a bit, but Kayden told her she was feeling tired and that she was going to get some sleep. What she didn't say was that she was really too anxious to relax, and still thinking about Bellamy's talk with the Council. She became lost in thought as she walked, so she was startled when all of a sudden someone tapped her on the arm and she turned to see Bellamy walking beside her.
She was so stunned that she stopped walking altogether. Bellamy stopped as well and smiled at her. Then she blinked the surprise from her eyes, and returned a grin.
"Hi," she said, shaking her head a bit to clear her thoughts.
"Hi," Bellamy responded. He gestured for them to start walking again. Kayden nodded and turned away to hide her blush.
"So, how was the Council meeting?" she asked, slowly turning her head to face him questioningly. She couldn't help the curiosity in her voice. Bellamy chuckled a bit and nodded understandingly.
"Couldn't wait to get straight to the point?" He looked at her, smiling. She nodded shyly. "Well, it went fine. The Chancellor just asked if I thought you were fitting in, and I told her the truth."
"Which is?"
"That everyone here loves you and she has nothing to worry about." At this, he turned back to Kayden and smiled that tender smile again.
"And that was it?" Kayden asked, surprised.
"Well, she asked for some details about what kind of food you were eating but- HEY!" he exclaimed, as Kayden shoved him. Then they both broke into laughter. When they stopped, they found themselves staring into each other's eyes. They weren't aware of how close they were, however, until a group of kids came running down the path screaming Bellamy's name and they sprung apart, both startled. Kayden gathered herself and crossed her arms uncomfortably, hiding her blush once again.
"Hey Bell!" the kids shouted. They attacked him and grabbed his arms and legs. One kid even climbed onto his back. Bellamy broke into that handsome boyish smile that Kayden loved.
"Hey guys," he said warmly. Kayden couldn't help but watch admiringly at the way he handled the kids. There was such warmth and kindness in the way he picked them up and played with them.
"Bell, you haven't been at bonfire in weeks!" one boy said, tugging his arm.
"Yeah, you have to tell a story next time," the one on his back added.
"Yeah, Bell! Promise to tell a story!" a little girl repeated, tapping his leg.
Bellamy looked at Kayden pleadingly. She smiled kindly but held up her hands in a mocking gesture, showing him that she wasn't planning on intervening. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Fine, I promise," he answered the children. They all proceeded to cheer. The boy on his back climbed off of him and took off, and the rest of the kids shouted goodbyes at Bellamy and followed. They watched the children sprint down the path and disappear.
When Kayden and Bellamy were alone again, Kayden turned to him to find that he was already staring at her. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, looing down, and began walking again.
"I don't think they'll ever like anyone as much as they like you," she joked.
"Nah, they just don't know you as well as I do," he answered. She looked at him, a bit surprised at the remark. He turned to meet her eyes and Kayden noticed the affection in them again. The tenderness emanating from Bellamy was becoming a recurring emotion.
"What's not to like?" he said, turning away and shrugging his shoulders.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, but Kayden couldn't help but smile at what Bellamy had said.
Hey guys! So I'm so sorry that I took so long with this update. I tried to make it a bit longer than normal to compensate.
Anyways, I've been thinking of maybe pulling back updates to every Sunday.
The reason for this is that, when I started this story, I was on break from school. But after chapter 11, I came back. I don't really have a lot of time during the week now.
Now this doesn't mean there will never be updates during the week. If I find myself with some free time, I will try to write in extra chapters, I just don't to make any daily update promises that I can't keep.
I'm really excited to continue telling this story. Thanks so much for all your support and for being so patient!
PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO REVIEW OR PM ME ABOUT ANYTHING IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS.