Chapter 5
The next morning, when Bellamy opened the door of the dropship, the whole camp was a mess. Part of the wall had been blown away; the tents were scattered among the trees in the nearby woods; pieces of metal and wood were scattered everywhere. His shoulders slumped. All this hard work for nothing. They had to start over again, all because of a stupid hurricane. Because a simple storm couldn't have done this much damage.
"Oh, wow," he heard beside him.
"Jane, you shouldn't be standing up. You gave birth two days ago."
"So?" she said shrugging. "Like I told you: I'm stronger than you think." She flashed him a bright grin and walked out into the destroyed camp – walking a little weird, but sill walking – helping the others clear out the camp. He noticed she carried a bundle on her back. It was Octavia. Bellamy grinned and shook his head in disbelief at her.
"She really is one if a kind," Murphy said next to Bellamy. "And she's crazy."
Bellamy shot him a glare. "She is one of a kind, but she's not crazy."
"Whatever you say, boss," he said, backing away with his hands up in mock defense.
Bellamy took a deep breath and gave some orders around the camp. Half had to build up the wall, the other half cleared the camp. Once that was done, that half went into the woods to get the tents that had flown away in the trees. One of the kids – Bellamy didn't know her name – managed to rebuild the fire.
A couple hours later, he couldn't see Jane. He went looking for her and found her sitting on a log in the outskirts of the camp.
"Hey," he said, sitting next to her. "You okay?"
She nodded, showing him their daughter. "She was hungry."
"Obviously," he said wrapping his arm around Jane's shoulders with a smile.
They were silent for a moment, both watching the baby suck for milk.
Snap.
"Did you hear that?" Bellamy said, standing protectively in front of Jane, his pocketknife out.
"No, I didn't," she said. "It's nothing, I'm sure. One of the kids going out for a leak, or something."
Bellamy listened for a few more seconds, but no other sound came. "Probably." But he wasn't so sure.
He kept his eyes on the forest, just in case. Once he was sure there was no one there, he turned his gaze back to Octavia, but kept his knife out. Just in case. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow pass through the trees. He couldn't be sure of what it was. But it was way too big to be one of the kids.
"Come on, Jane, let's get back inside the camp."
Jane could read on his face that he was serious. She knew when he was afraid and trying to hide it. And this time was no different. This was an argument she was not going to win. She bundled Octavia up and followed Bellamy back inside the camp, where the wall had fallen.
"I need more men on the wall," Bellamy ordered once Jane was safe inside the dropship. "Murphy was right. They're not going to wait for the wall to be finished."
"What's wrong? What did you see?" Clarke said, coming up to him by his side with Finn.
"I'm not sure. Maybe a Grounder. It was too close from camp. But too big to be one of the kids."
Clarke and Finn exchanged a look. Bellamy took it upon himself to help build the wall. If he was going to be a leader, he needed to show the example. After a few minutes, people who weren't doing anything stood to help finish the wall. Even the younger kids.
Jane finished breastfeeding Octavia, then she bundled her up in as many layers as she could, lay her down in a corner of the dropship to sleep, and also went to work on the wall.
"Um, no, sweetheart," Murphy said to Jane. "I'm not letting you build the wall."
"Why not? I'm very capable of doing it."
"I don't doubt that," he said. "But not in your condition."
"Having a baby does not make me sick, Murphy. I can help."
"Not happening."
"What's going on?" Bellamy said, joining the two people arguing.
"She wants to help build the wall."
"And he said 'not in your condition'."
Bellamy nodded once at Murphy, then he turned his attention to Jane. "He's right, you know."
"No, he's not. Having a baby does not make me sick or handicapped. Let me help."
Bellamy looked at her long and hard. He knew whatever he said she would still try to help rebuild the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "Fine. If you want to help, you're on water duty. Keep the worker hydrated."
"Yes, sir. That I can do." Jane walked away and Murphy chuckled.
"You can't control her, can you?"
"Of course, I can."
"No, you can't."
"Shut up, Murphy." Bellamy sighed. "She has a mind of her own."
"I can see that. What happened to her? Beside the fact that you knocked her up, I mean?"
"Survival instincts." He paused. "Both her parents died."
"Yeah, floated, like the rest of our parents," Murphy said, getting ice cold again.
"No. Well, yeah technically they were floated. Only once they had died, first."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Murphy walked away, leaving Bellamy alone again, barking orders here and there. Bellamy went back to work, keeping an eye on Jane as she gave water to the workers. The camp was filled with noises of Murphy's orders, people talking to each other, and Jasper's screams. He was still in the dropship with Clark and Finn. Bellamy headed over there.
"How is he?" he asked Finn.
Finn shrugged. "Not sure. Clark cut off an infected part of his flesh."
"I need medicine, Bellamy," Clarke said. "I can't do anything like this." She looked at the poultice she had taken out. "But I'm sure some of that had antibiotic properties."
"Do you know what it is?"
"No," Clarke said. "But I'm sure Wells does. He aced botany class on the Ark."
"I'll go get him," Finn offered, and walked away.
"How's Jane?" Clarke asked Bellamy once Finn was gone.
"Okay." He rolled his eyes. "She's out there, helping rebuild the camp."
Clarke smiled. "She's strong."
"Yeah. But I wish she weren't that stubborn."
Clarke looked at him with renewed curiosity. Was he opening to her about Jane? She shook the thought away and focused on Jasper again. Bellamy took it as his cue to leave and get back to work.
He pulled and pushed and carried and didn't even take a minute's pause during the next couple hours.
"Hey, Bell."
He turned around and grinned at Jane. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I am. But you're not. Here, drink this. Please," she added as an afterthought
"I'm fine," he said, refusing the cup of water she was offering him. "Keep it for the others."
"Bellamy, please. You need to drink something."
He looked at her hazel eyes and conceded. She needed him, too. If he died, he wouldn't be able to protect her. If ever she needed protecting, he thought internally rolling his eyes at her. "Fine. I'll drink." He gulped the cup down and handed it back to her. "Happy?"
"Very," she said with a smirk and kissed him before walking away to the next person.
"Do I also get a kiss if I drink?" the boy said to her.
"Of course, not. Now, drink."
He chuckled and drank the water. Bellamy went back to work. An hour later, the daylight was fading, and darkness was spreading through the woods and the camp. He helped lit a few more fires and ordered Murphy to continue taking off the wristbands.
"How many left?" he asked.
"About thirty," Murphy said. "I can finish tonight."
"Good."
Bellamy was standing on the side of the camp, on a small embankment, overseeing the camp. But the only thing on his mind was Jane. And Octavia. Jane was laughing with a couple other girls, making fun of Murphy and Atom. Bellamy was glad she didn't know what he did to come to the Ground with her. If she knew, he was sure she would hate him. He killed the Chancellor. And what troubled him was that he hadn't hesitated long before accepting. He just did it. But boy, was he glad. If he hadn't done that, he probably never would have met his precious baby girl.
That's when he noticed she was crying from inside the dropship. Didn't Jane hear it? But she was still laughing with the others. Looking at her, you couldn't tell she had given birth two days ago. Aside from her kind of hobbling walk. Bellamy sighed and headed for the dropship. He took Octavia in his arm.
"Hey, baby girl," he cooed. "Daddy's here. Don't worry, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, okay?" He cradled her in his arms and walked back outside. The girls in the camp looked at him in awe. Bellamy ignored them, keeping his eyes on Jane. Murphy was now laughing with her and Harper and Fox. Bellamy didn't know what to think of it. On one had he wanted to keep everyone away from Jane and keep her to himself, but on the other hand, she never had friends. She was always seen as the weird girl. But now? She was The Mother. The first Mother of the Ark on Earth, actually. And he didn't want to take that away from her. He smiled at how happy she was. And it was enough to make him happy.
Hi! thanks for reading and reviewing! I hope oyu liked this chapter, as well ;)
See you tomorrow for chapter 6. In the meantime, please don't forget to review this chapter (and the previous ones, too^^)! I like to know what you guys think, what you wish to see, what you don't want to see, etc... ;)