Chapter 6

Later that same night, most of the kids were still outside, cooking meat on the fire, telling jokes and enjoying the survivable earth. Couples were already forming, and leaving two by two to the tents or nearby trees inside the walls of the camp. Bellamy was doing rounds, seeing how everyone was doing and what was going on. As much as he let a little chaos come inside the camp, he still needed to make sure everything was okay. Jane had Octavia in her arms. And she was sitting next to Murphy. Bellamy walked behind them.

"So? Why'd you get locked up?" Murphy asked.

Jane let out a single chuckle. "For being pregnant. And not telling who was the father."

"That's it? You got locked up because you got knocked up?"

"Eeeh, yeah. Something like that."

But Bellamy knew exactly how it had all gone down.

A few years ago, on the Ark…

For seven years, after Bellamy first met Jane, he shared his rations with her when her father didn't show up, he remembered her birthdays, and looked after her. At seventeen years old, he was accepted in the Guard as a Cadet, thanks to his mother who had earned a favor with the Chief of the Guard. Another thing he owed her.

Jane was becoming a beautiful young girl, and at twelve years old, she already had a mind of her own. She was reserved in school, but aced most of the classes. She was particularly brilliant in craftsmanship. She could make anything with scavenged parts and tidbits of anything. She was really creative.

A year later, Jane was thirteen years old. She came back home from school on her own, since Bellamy was on duty. She listened at the door, but didn't hear anything. Her father wasn't home. Again. She punched in the numbers to the code to open the door to her small living quarters. Most of the days, she would be alone. Her father seldom came home, and she was used to it by now.

But when she opened the door, her father was there. Unmoving. Sprawled on the ground, his face in his own vomit. Jane quickly covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve. How long had he been here like that? She crouched on the floor beside him and turned him over.

"Dad?" she said, shaking him. "Dad, wake up!"

He didn't answer. She quickly looked for a pulse on his wrist but couldn't find any. She searched for one in his neck. Nothing. She fell on floor, her vision blurry. He was dead. He had drowned in his own vomit. She wasn't sure if it was more humiliating for her or for him. She hated the man. But he was still her father.

Jane scramble to her feet and ran to the medical bay. Arriving there, she quickly dried her cheeks. She didn't want anyone to know she had been crying. People already saw her as the weird girl, anyway. She stood in line, waiting her turn. Thank goodness, there were only a couple people before her. When Doctor Jackson let her in, he asked her what was wrong.

"My dad's dead," she simply said.

Doctor Jackson frowned. "What do you mean? Where is he?"

"In our room."

"Show me," he said, taking a radio with him. If what the girl said was true, he would need some help. She led the way to her assigned room – number 20718 – and opened the door for Doctor Jackson. And sure enough, his father was still there, on the floor, covered in vomit. Jane stayed on the side, watching what he was doing. Like her, he checked for a pulse. And found none. He took a small light-pen out of his pocket and flashed it in her father's eyes. No reaction.

"I'm sorry," he said to Jane, standing up.

"I'm not."

Doctor Jackson looked at her. She had already lost so much, and his heart reached out to her. He took her in his arms and tried to hug her. But she backed away.

"I don't need your sympathy," she said. "He was dead to me, anyway." It wasn't entirely true, but still. She didn't want pity from the people. Now she was on her own and she would fight for her life.

Doctor Jackson took a deep breath and called help through his radio. A few minutes later, Doctor Abby Griffin and other nurses came in and took her father away in a black bag on a stretcher, while one of the nurses cleaned up the floor.

"Do you want to be there for the Floating, honey?" Doctor Griffin asked her. "You don't have to."

"No," she said. "I want to be there."

Doctor Griffin and Doctor Jackson shared a glance and nodded to Jane.

"When is it going to be?" she asked.

"Whenever you're ready."

Jane swallowed hard. "Tonight. Before curfew."

"Okay. I'll have someone escort you at ten o'clock this evening."

Jane nodded and the people walked out of her room. She curled up on her bed. She didn't want to cry. Not for this garbage of a man. But tears came freely. She cried and she didn't even know why. For as long as she remembered, she didn't have a father. He was never there and when he was, it was empty handed, always blaming her for his wife's death. He had crushed her under his foot like a bug. So why was she crying?

A few hours later, she heard the code being punched in from outside. Bellamy.

"Hey, Janey," he said walking in and closing the door. "Guess what happened today, it was so fun-"

Jane turned around in her bed and faced him, eyes red and cheeks wet. She looked exhausted.

"What's wrong?" he said, climbing next to her in her bed, a frown of concern on his face. He opened his arms and she threw herself at them without hesitation. He closed his arms around her and she started crying again. "What's going on?" he asked softly. He never saw her in this terrible state before. What was going on?

After a few minutes, the sobs subsided and she slowly stopped crying. "My dad is dead," she said without preamble.

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Jane," he said.

She wiggled herself out of his embrace. "I'm not. I don't even know why I'm crying," she said wiping away the tears.

Bellamy didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing.

"What happened today that was so funny?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Nothing, it was stupid." How could she just wipe away her father's death like that? But then again, he wasn't the best father. No screw that. He was the worst father. The only thing that pained Bellamy was that he was not able to arrest him and float him himself.

Jane shrugged. "Okay. I'm going to the Floating, tonight. Wanna come?"

"Wait, what? Why are you going?"

"I just want to make sure that he's out there."

Bellamy swallowed hard. "Sure. I'll come if you want me to." Jane nodded. Just then, a knock resonated on the door. Jane jumped out of the top bunk bed and opened the door. It was Doctor Griffin.

"It's time," she said.

Jane nodded and Bellamy jumped out of the bed, too, following Jane and the Doctor to the Floating. Jane was stoic as a rock during the whole thing. Bellamy couldn't help but watch her the whole time in case she suddenly broke down or something. But she never did. Once her father flew out of the door, she turned her back to him and walked away.

"Are you okay?" Bellamy asked her on the way back home.

"I'm fine," she answered a bit quickly.

She punched the code in and the door opened. But she refused to let Bellamy inside. "Goodnight," she said, closing the door gently in his face. Bellamy paled. He couldn't leave her alone for the night.

But then again, she had been alone most of the time, anyway.

The next morning, when Bellamy went to check on Jane, she was gone already. He went to her school to see if she was already there and waited. All the kids came but Jane. Where was she?

Jane was on the other side of the Ark, in factory station, looking for a job. Now that her father was gone, she could finally do whatever the hell she wanted. School wouldn't help her. She needed a real job so she could earn her own food. Bellamy didn't have to share his rations with her anymore. He had done enough of that. Now it was her turn to give back.

The Chief of Factory accepted her. It wasn't the first time a kid came asking for a job. But Jane was the youngest yet. From that day on, she worked from eight in the morning to eight at night. She didn't have anything else to do, anyway, so she worked the double shift.

During the next two years, she spent her days working in Factory, and her evenings with Bellamy. They would both share funny things that happened during the day. During those two years, his mother was floated for stealing medicine for herself. Now, Jane and Bellamy only had each other.

A few days before her fifteenth birthday, Jane had finally managed to gather up enough rations. She put them all in a bag and knocked on Bellamy's door. He opened it and the familiar smile when he saw her appeared on his face.

"Hey," she said stepping inside. "I have something for you."

"Oh, what is it?" he said, sitting on his bed. The top bunk bed had been taken away since his mother was gone. Jane handed him the bag.

"Open it."

"Okay," he said, curious. Then, his smile faded, and he frowned, taking the rations out of the bag. "What is this, Jane?" His voice was deeper than usual. He wasn't happy. But Jane guessed he would react that way.

"Payback," she said. "For all the rations you shared with me. It adds up."

Bellamy shook his head. "I don't want a payback."

"You don't have a choice," she said already stepping out of the room, leaving him alone with his new bag of rations.

"Jane, wait!" he called after her. But she was already gone. He stared at the gift. How many times did she skip a meal to gather all this? His heart started to beat faster. He darted for the door. But instead of knocking on hers, he punched in the code and let himself in.

"I'll need to change that code if you-" Jane said, but was quickly interrupted by something she was not expecting. At least not now. His lips were pressed against hers, cupping her small face in his large hands. He kissed her long and deep. It took Jane a few seconds to realize what was happening. And when she did, she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled under his lips. He backed away first.

"Took you long enough," she whispered.

He chuckled. "The rations bag was all a scheme, then?"

"No. That was real."

They both laughed. He was holding her around her waist, close to him, like he always dreamed he would. Ever since he had met that little six-years-old girl, he wanted to kiss her.

"Are you sure about this?" he said, suddenly doubting everything. "I'm twenty, and you're barely fifteen."

"So what? No one will know, yet."

He chuckled and rested his forehead on hers. "You're one crazy girl, you know that?"

"I've been told, yeah."

For two years, they dated in secret, seeing each other at night, without anyone to see them. Their favorite thing was to sit in the empty corridor after curfew near the window overlooking the Earth. And they would make up the world, based on things they had learned and read.