Chapter 22

Bellamy spent more and more time alone, working on his project. He left it to Raven to give orders around and to prepare everyone for when we would be ready. Considering this was the first time he was doing this, he had no idea how long it would take him. But he really enjoyed doing this, and it actually kept his mind away from Clarke. It felt good to have a new purpose in his life, and he was glad Jane was now the center of this purpose.

He had a lot of time to think about her, now, and of their relationship and noticed how every stupid decision he had made over the years was always to protect her, and then to protect her and Octavia. What had gotten into him, in these past weeks, pushing her away just to listen to Clarke? He had her right beside him all along. But now he would personally make sure he would be at her side for the rest of his life.

After six days of working on his project, he went to look for Raven and found her working on her own part of the project, welding pieces of metal together.

"How's it going?" he asked, leaning on the wall.

She pushed up her helmet and smiled at him. "Almost done. Just a couple more to make. You?"

"Done," he said, showing his pieces of art in his palm.

Her eyes widened. "Oh wow! These are great! I wouldn't have made them better."

"Thanks," he said, a proud grin on his face. "How much more time do you need?"

"Just a couple hours. You can go ask her. I'll be ready by then." She put back her helmet. "Oh, and please shave your beard," she said before going back to welding her pieces.

He chuckled. "We'll see about that. Jane likes it."

Raven pushed her helmet up again and met his gaze, a sly grin on her face. "Did she say that in so many words?"

Bellamy blushed. "She didn't say she didn't like it."

"Exactly. Now go shave before anything else."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. You're the boss."

"No, you are." She winked at him and went back to work.

"Whatever." He walked away and stuffed his plan in his pocket. He obeyed Raven's suggestion and shaved his beard. It was the first time since they arrived in Space again. More than three months of facial hair to shave off. Then, he wandered the corridors, looking for Jane. She wasn't in the lounging room with the others – part of their job was to keep her entertained and as little alone as possible – or in the Com Room. Neither was she near their window, or in their room. He checked all the rooms on his way, until he found her in the medical bay. He rolled his eyes. Of course, she's in the Med bay.

He paused mid-step, smiling, when he saw her focused on her medical tablet. She was sitting at the only table in the room, reading. She didn't even hear him come in. Or if she did, she didn't show it.

He walked silently behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hey."

Jane jumped a foot in the air, gasping. She definitely did not hear him come in.

"Geeze, Bell. Don't scare me like that," she said, putting a hand on her pounding heart.

"Sorry," he said, chuckling lightly. "I didn't mean to scare you. What are you reading?" He dragged a chair next to her and sat down.

Jane became pink rather quickly and turned the tablet off. "Nothing. Just some medical stuff."

Bellamy raised an eyebrow. "I've known you for years, Janey, and I've rarely seen you flustered like this," he said slyly. "What were you reading?"

"Nothing, really, I was just trying to understand how to take out the IUDs. Harper and Raven still have them, and maybe they'll want to take them out one day, I don't know," she said, her voice trailing off and looking away. She took a deep breath, fighting the heath from her cheeks. "Anyway. What's up?"

Bellamy shrugged, pretending there wasn't anything new. "Nothing, I just wanted to be with you. Hey you wanna go take a walk?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Where?"

"Around the Ring? Where else?" he said, laughing softly. He stood and offered her his hand, which she took.

"Oh, I thought you were going to suggest we go to the Taj Mahal or something," she said slyly. "But oh, well. I'll take the Ring."

Bellamy tried not to laugh to hard. "Good, I was hoping you would." He opened the door for her and they wandered around the Ark, until they came across their favorite window. In a tacit agreement, they both stopped in front and looked down at the planet. The burning radiation was slowly diminishing, revealing brown patches of land here and there. The oceans were already showing between red clouds of radiation.

"Do you think they're all right in the bunker?" Jane asked.

"Of course. Why wouldn't they?"

"I don't know. 1100 grounders and 100 Sky people. I guess I'm just afraid our people will be eaten alive."

"I really hope not. I didn't win that conclave for nothing. But I'm sure Indra and Kane are working well together." He paused. "I really hope so. At least for Octavia's sake."

"Yeah, I hope you're right." She leaned her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her.

It's now or never, the little voice in his head said.

"Jane?"

"Hmm?"

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you," he said softly. "Not only these five years in Space." He paused a few seconds. "I want to grow old with you."

Jane didn't say anything. This was really unexpected.

"Would you?" he said after some time, when he realized Jane wasn't saying anything.

She untangled herself from him and took a step away from him, searching his eyes. "Bellamy, what are you doing?"

He tried a small smile. This was not how he had hoped it would go. So he went for the big thing. He dropped on one knee and took both her hands in his.

"Jane, will you marry me? Please?" And then, as if he almost forgot what was in his pocket, he got out a tiny silver wire ring had made with a tiny wire rose on top.

Jane was not expecting this. At all. She gasped and stared at the ring.

"Please?" Bellamy said again, softly.

Jane nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. "But how? Here, in space?"

"Yeah," Bellamy said, standing up and slipping the ring on her right ring finger. "Why not?"

Jane stared at her ring. "It's so pretty. Did you make this?"

He nodded, pride dripping all over him, and she hugged him, clinging to his neck like he was the last thing keeping her alive. And in a way, he was. He hugged her back, one arm around her waist and the other hand lost in her hair. Ever since they had come up in space, she had let her hair down, and Bellamy found that he really liked it.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear. "I always have, and I always will."

She let out a small chuckle and met his gaze. "Always have, huh?"

He titled his head to the side. "Look, I've had my moments of being an idiot with Clarke, and I apologize. I kind of took you for granted, and I didn't appreciate the us enough." He paused, brushing hair away from her face. "Will you forgive me?"

She nodded. "I forgive you. But please don't do that again."

"I won't." He smiled and bent down, resting his lips on hers and kissing her softly at first, and then with more passion and force. It had been a long time since their last passionate kiss. But he didn't want to get lost in this moment. There was still work to do…

He broke off the kiss and held her beautiful face in his hands. He placed a kiss on her forehead. "Come on. Let's go tell the others," he said with a grin on his face. He took her hand and they walked back to the dining area. The others were lounging in the couches, and Bellamy and Jane both arrived holding hands, a wide grin on their faces. Especially on his.

Raven and Echo grinned and stood. They both almost tackled Jane to the ground in a vicious hug. "How awesome is that?!" Raven asked.

"You knew?" Jane asked.

"Yeah," Echo said, a sly smile on her face.

"Attention, everyone," Bellamy said in his deep authoritarian voice. "Jane has accepted to marry me, the Complete Idiot of Space, aka the CIS." He made a little curtsy to his friends, and chuckled.

"Bell," Jane said. "You're not the Complete Idiot of Space. If you want to be a CSI, you're going to be my Cookie that Sounds Interesting, okay?" She stood on her tip toes and kissed his cheek. Bellamy grinned and looked down at her with such love that he could have drowned in it. He may had given his heart to her, he still was overwhelmed by how much he loved her. He had been through a dark phase with Clarke, but now he had 200% of his focus on Jane, his soon-to-be wife, and mother of his child. She was his entire life. He was about to burst.

"So," Murphy said, cutting the rejoicing over their engagement. "When do you want this done?"

Bellamy looked at Jane. "The sooner the better, I guess?"

Jane shrugged and nodded. "It's not like there's a lot to organize and prepare, anyway." She frowned. "Bell, who's gonna marry us?"

"I will," Monty said, flashing her a grin.

Jane raised an eyebrow.

"It's not like we have a minister or anything, anyway," Bellamy said. "Tomorrow?"

Everyone whooped and accepted for the wedding to take place the next day.

"We're going to elope?" Jane asked, threatening to burst out laughing. "This is ridiculous."

"Nah," Murphy said. "To elope, you would have to run away with Bellamy. There's nowhere to go, and like you said, there isn't anything to prepare. So I think tomorrow is good."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Fine. It's not like I was going to wear a white wedding dress, anyway. No one got married like that on the Ark."

"Okay," Raven said, taking matters in her hands. "Jane is going to bunk with Echo and I tonight, because the groom isn't supposed to see his bride until the wedding. Tomorrow, we celebrate. Come on, Jane." She took Jane by the hand and led her away. She looked over her shoulder and nodded to the others. Your job, now she told them silently.

Echo and Raven stayed with Jane for the rest of the day and did not let her leave the room unsupervised. They talked late into the night, and fell asleep only a few hours before morning. In the morning, Harper brought the three girls their breakfast – algae salad, what a surprise.

Then, Echo slipped out without Jane noticing and came back with something behind her back. "Jane, we have something for you. It's from all of the girls, actually." She handed Jane what she was hiding behind her. Jane took the gift. A white piece of cloth.

"What is it?"

"Spread it out," Raven said. Jane obeyed and spread it out on the bead.

Jane's eyes widened. "You're not serious. You made this?"

Echo nodded. "We all helped on it. None of us was good in sewing, but we made it happen."

Jane held it out in front of her.

"Put it on," Raven suggested.

Jane took off her pants and shirt and slipped inside the dress. It was made out of rough white bed sheets, off-the-shoulder with a string holding the dress there, and another to make a belt at her waist. It went all the way down to the floor. Raven arranged her hair to cover her shoulders.

"And this is from me. Well, Bellamy asked me to make these, actually." She gave her a box and Jane opened it.

"Oh, my goodness, Raven. You made these?"

"Yep," she said proudly.

Jane took out the metallic flower crown out of the box and placed it on her head. "It's not even heavy. It's beautiful."

"There's the bouquet to go with it," Raven said and Jane took it in her hands. With bronze and gray metallic flowers in her hands, Jane was ready.

"Does Bellamy know about this?" Jane asked, observing the bouquet.

"The bouquet, yes. But not about the dress and the head piece. Jane, he's going to be head over heels for you. Even more than he is now."

Jane smiled and hugged her two best friends. This was the strangest day of her life. Getting married to the man of her dreams in a Space ship, away from everyone. Away from Octavia.

The two girls led Jane to the lounging area, where the wedding would take place.