Chapter 2
"Clarke!" one of the girls helping with Jane said just seconds after Clarke had taken the knife from Bellamy. "The baby's coming!"
Clarke and Bellamy exchanged a quick look and they both dashed back to the dropship. Jane was holding on to both girls for dear life, one on each side. Bellamy could see she was in a lot of pain.
"Jane, listen to me," Clarke said, and Jane turned her head to her, listening. "When a contraction comes, I need you to push as hard as you can, okay?"
Jane nodded, pain written all over her face. But then a new contraction came and the excruciating pain distorted her completely. She screamed and pushed at the same time. Clarke was in the way and Bellamy couldn't see anything.
"We have water!" Finn the Spacewalker said, running inside the drop ship with the others.
"Boil it on the fire," Clarke ordered, keeping her eyes on Jane. "And do it fast. The baby is coming."
Finn took Bellamy's arm. "Come on. You'll drive them crazy if you stay here. Help me with the water."
Bellamy obeyed after one long look at Jane who was completely ignoring him, anyway, too focused on the task at hand. He and Finn scrounged parts of the dropship to boil the water in. But it took some time.
"Where did you get those clothes?" Bellamy asked Wells. He had coats and shoes in one hand, and a makeshift shovel in the other.
"I buried the two kids who died in the landing," he said, looking long and hard at Finn. He had been the one to untie his seat belt and walk in zero-G. Two had followed his example, and died in the landing. Finn looked elsewhere.
"Hey, give me that," Murphy said, taking the clothes away from Wells.
"Give them back," Finn said, grabbing the clothes from Murphy's hands.
"No," Bellamy said. "If he wants them, he needs to go get them himself."
Wells sighed and put the shovel on the ground, and took a boxing stance in front of Murphy, who burst out laughing before punching Wells in the face. "You don't have what it takes, Chancellor."
Finn helped Wells back up.
"Finn?" Clarke called out. "I need the water!"
Finn and Bellamy looked at each other and took the boiling water from the fire back to the drop ship. Almost all the hundred delinquents stood near the entrance, looking at the spectacle.
"Go away," Bellamy bellowed while Finn carried the water inside. "There's nothing to see here."
Murphy, Atom and a few others helped him push the onlookers away.
That's when Jane screamed one last time, and was followed by a baby's cry. Tiny, but there. Bellamy froze and turned around slowly. It was getting dark outside, and the orange, yellow and red flames of the bonfire in the middle of the camp danced on the metallic structure of the inside of the dropship. And on Jane's wet face. She had made it through. Bellamy's boys held the mob out of reach of the dropship while Bellamy walked inside, dazed.
Harper was sponging off Jane's sweat off of her face, and Fox held Jane's head on her lap. Jane lay limp on the floor while Clarke cut the umbilical cord and cleaned the baby with the water Finn had brought in. Murphy walked in and gave her one of the spare jackets from the dead boys Wells had buried. Clarke wrapped the baby in it and gave it to Jane. Bellamy watched in amazement. They were both alive.
For now, a small voice in him whispered. But he pushed it away.
Jane held the baby close, but didn't have the energy to, and Bellamy kneeled next to her, holding her arms around their baby.
"It's a girl," Clarke said, and Bellamy's eyes watered. Never in his right mind had he dreamed of this day. He was a daddy of a tiny little girl, on the ground, and Jane was alive with him.
"You name her," Jane whispered. She was weak, and Bellamy knew it. But he couldn't face life without her.
"Okay," he whispered back. "What do you think of Octavia?" he said with smiles in his eyes and on his lips.
"Very good name," Jane said, closing her eyes.
"You need to feed her," Clarke said. "Here, I'll help you." She helped Jane lift her t-shirt so she could breastfeed her baby girl.
"Everyone out, please," Bellamy said.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Monty, the Asian engineer-raised-on-farm-station asked.
Bellamy chuckled. "It's a girl, and her name is Octavia. I'll bring her out later and you can meet her. But now, Jane needs privacy."
They all nodded and turned away. Just before Clarke closed the door of the dropship, the hunting party came back. With a deer. A two-headed deer. Bellamy ordered the guys to prepare the meat for the evening dinner. Clarke closed the door and they were alone. Fox was still there, though, acting as a pillow for Jane.
Clarke helped Jane breastfeed. But after a few minutes, Jane's head fell to the side.
"No," Bellamy said, panic in his voice. "What's happening?"
Clarke checked her pulse in her neck. "It's okay. She just fell asleep. She was in labor for six hours. She's exhausted. She'll need to rest for a few days. And she should stay in here for now. I don't know how cold the nights can get, down here. But she needs food and water. She'll recover in a few days." There was a I hope so in Clarke's voice that Bellamy tried to ignore.
He nodded without a word. "Thanks," he said after a few seconds and then met her eyes. "For everything. And for not doing the C-section."
A small smiled appeared on her lips. "I'm glad I didn't have to do it either." She gave him his pocketknife back. Their fingers brushed when he took it back. There was a tiny shock of electricity. Nothing more. Only it coursed throughout his entire body.
Clarke must have felt it, too, because she stood and went to clean her hands in the makeshift basin, avoiding his gaze. Whatever happened in that shock of electricity, neither one of them wanted to talk about it.
When Octavia had eaten her share of breastmilk, Clarke gave her to Bellamy and opened the door. By then, the sky was dark, and the only lights came from the bonfire and the stars. Not a single cloud could be seen.
Bellamy held baby Octavia in his arms, and he noticed two things: meat was cooking on the fire, and everyone was wearing a wristband. All except him. He frowned and wondered what they meant.
Finn stood next to him. "Congratulations."
"Thanks," he said in his deep voice with a half-smile on his face. "Hey, what are the wristbands for?"
"Our vital signs are sent back to the Ark, so they know the Earth is survivable."
Bellamy thought fast. If the people on the Ark knew the Earth was survivable, they would come down. And he would be dead. He couldn't let them know they were fine or they would come. He had to do something.
"Hold her, please," he said to Finn, giving him baby Octavia. Finn took her but had no idea what to do with a baby. Bellamy stood near the fire and called out for everyone to listen.
"Listen up everyone! The people on the Ark deemed us expendable to test the Earth. But we don't need them. We're stronger than you think. Because if they come down, no one – except maybe Clarke and Wells – will have it good. We're criminals, but we can take care of ourselves." He paused, looking at the group of teenagers around him. "That wristband on your wrist? It makes you prisoners. We are not prisoners anymore. They say they'll forgive your crimes. I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors!"
"Yeah!" the group answered.
"So we do whatever the hell we want!" Bellamy said.
"Whatever the hell we want!" the crowd echoed again.
"So if you want to eat, you give your wristband."
The crowd fell silent. But Murphy was the first one to step up, setting an example to the others. "Start with me," he said, sticking out his chest. Bellamy took a piece of scrap metal and managed to open the wristband before tossing it into the fire. He then gave the piece of metal to Murphy. "You do the honors," he said before heading back to the dropship.
Finn was still holding baby Octavia, and Clarke was standing next to him, both with gaping mouths. "Are you crazy?" Clarke said. "If they don't come down, we're all dead."
"What are you talking about, Princess?" he said, taking Octavia in his arms, again.
"Life support on the Ark is failing, Bellamy. They need an escape plan to survive. Earth is their escape plan. If you take off the wristbands, they'll think we're dead, and they won't come down, and they'll die. And so will we. We need medical supplies and more people."
"Why would we need more people?" Bellamy asked.
"Because the group looking for water was attacked by grounders. Jasper Jordan was hit and they didn't come back with him. He was alive, though. They heard him scream. I'm going after him with a group."
"You can't go now, Princess," Bellamy said, mocking her. "It's dark. Wait until morning."
"He'll be dead by then."
"I said wait until morning."
Clarke sent him a death stare. "Fine. But in the meantime, build a wall. We'll need one." She walked away with Finn, leaving Bellamy alone with his daughter.
"Is that why you were in Solitary?" Bellamy heard Finn ask Clarke. "They didn't want you to spread the good news?"
hi! thanks for reading! I hope you liked this second chapter ;) funny I can't seem to stop writing this fanfic, when I have trouble coming up 1600 words per day for my original WIP... eeeh anyway. I'll manage! thanks for your reviews, too ;) see you soon with chapter 3!