Heaven Can't Wait - Chapter 13
12 Apr 2018 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennickels
Chapter Thirteen - I Have an Idea
Before Bellamy can make it to the door, the dome above flashes a brilliant white as lightning slashes the night sky. The ground rumbles with distant thunder and the lights flicker. Several kids yelp in surprise. The lights go out completely with the next burst of lightning. Bellamy counts the seconds until the thunder booms—four and a half.
The lights blink back on a moment later but continue to fluctuate madly in a strobe-like effect that sends Jasper into a song. Another strike sets the rest of the kids cheering. The party is on.
Bellamy counts to three this time before the thunder shudders the entire station. The storms are moving faster now. And coming closer together. It won’t be long before going outside won’t be an option. The thought sends a shiver down his spine.
Not going to last a year.
The girl squeezes his neck as the lightning intensifies, her fingers curling in his hair. He pats her back and darts out the door, hoping the quiet of the hall will calm her.
Without windows, the only sign of the storm is the occasional tremor of the station. And the flickering lights which can’t seem to decide if they want to be on or off. Sometimes they stay off for seconds at a time before reluctantly coming back to life.
Bellamy knows he should probably go find Raven and find out what’s going on, but he veers in the opposite direction from Engineering instead. It must be late because the halls are nearly empty—the few people he passes give him a wide berth.
With nowhere else to go in the confines of the station, Bellamy ends up back at the empty Medbay. The nurse—a young woman he remembers from school—smiles at him when he enters. Then ducks her head as if embarrassed.
She’s flirting, dumbass.
Bellamy hurries past at that thought. He has way too much going on to think about relationships.
At least with random girls, says the voice. But one particular girl-
Shut up.
The voice just laughs.
He finds Abby in her office, staring into space. She starts when he pokes his head in then smiles at the girl who eagerly goes to the doctor. Bellamy sighs in relief as he drops into an empty chair.
“How are you doing?” Abby asks with that motherly tone.
Bellamy shrugs. Like there’s an answer to that question she’d accept. He fiddles with one of the holes in his pants to avoid looking at her.
“Kane radioed,” she says after a moment. “He was trying to beat the storm back to Arkadia, but it overtook them about twenty miles out.”
“They’ve been moving a lot faster. We’re going to have to shut the doors soon.” Before more people get stranded out there. Before there are no more chances to make it back just in the nick time.
The little girl plays with the necklace around Abby’s neck, letting the ring slide on and off her fingers.
Abby pulls her hair away from her face and gently turns it back and forth, checking her out. Then she takes the girl’s hands. “These wounds are almost healed.”
“Lucky her.” Bellamy rubs one especially annoying burn on the back of his hand.
Abby takes the ring, slipping it under her shirt and gets up, the girl on her hip. “Come on; I have an idea.”
Bellamy reluctantly follows her out of Medbay and down the hall to her quarters. The place is a lot larger than his, and he’s had to share with Miller and Bryan ever since they brought on the extra Grounders. It’s cozy, though. Lived in. Like a real home.
A framed photo on the wall catches his eye. It’s hard to mistake the two young kids as anyone other than Clarke and Wells. They look about six years old with their gap-toothed smiles.
“Were these your quarters in orbit?”
She nods. “Lucky me, huh?” She looks over at a picture of Clarke’s dad. “I get to have all of my memories.”
The distant look in her eyes makes him wonder if they haunt her as much as they haunt him.
Abby sets the girl down next to a shallow tub in the middle of the room. “I asked around and found some clothes for your little shadow. I thought we might all enjoy her having a bath. It took some convincing, but I finally got Raven to approve some extra soap. I figure we wash her first then tackle her hair.”
“I doubt there’s enough soap in this station to clean her hair,” he says with a snort.
Bellamy strips the girl of her filthy clothes while Abby transfers water from the sink to the tub. The girl shoots it suspicious looks that make him smile.
“Oh, come on,” Bellamy says. “It won’t be that bad. It’s just water. See.” He reaches in and splashes a little. The girl leans over the side with a frown then carefully tests the water. “Told you-”
He doesn’t get to finish the sentence. The girl slams her hand into the water, splashing his face. He blinks at her impish grin, water dripping from his nose. Abby covers her mouth, trying not to laugh.
“Cute,” he mutters.
Abby situates her in the water and chatters away at her about Clarke as a baby while also explaining every step. He figures she picked up the habit on the job. Every doctor seems to do it. Maybe it calms patients. It sure seems to work on the girl—she sits in the tub without complaint, letting Abby soap her up. The lather turns gray with grime before she gets to the legs.
She giggles when Abby cleans her feet. “Oh, you’re ticklish, huh?” She tickles the other foot. The girl pulls it away. They go back and forth like that for a bit. “Clarke was ticklish on her feet, too.”
Bellamy smiles, filing that little bit of trivia away for later.
“Well,” Abby says after a few minutes of struggling with her tangled hair. “I think that’s about all we can do now. The water’s too dirty to get anything more clean.”
They leave her splashing for a couple minutes while they clean up.
“Thank you,” Bellamy tells her softly. The words feel so inadequate for everything Abby has done for him.
“You’re doing a good job, Bellamy,” she says, squeezing his arm. “Look at her. She’s been through so much, but she’s over there splashing and laughing. That’s all you.”
He doesn’t believe her. “What’s going to happen to her?” he finally asks, not sure he wants to know the answer.
Abby doesn’t answer right away, and she doesn’t look at Bellamy. “The Grounders will find someone that will take her in. Someone with children her age to help her adjust.”
He knows that’s the right thing to do. She should be with her people. Then why does letting her go feel like a part of his heart is being torn away? He takes the towel Abby offers and lifts the girl from the tub, bundling her up tight.
She giggles and bounces in his arm, water dripping from her hair onto his shirt. “Hey, you’re getting me all wet.”
She apparently gets what he’s saying because she starts shaking her head. Water sprays everywhere, damp hair smacking his face. He laughs. “Okay. Time to get you dried and dressed.”
He carefully dries her off then squeezes the water from her hair. She shivers in the cool air. “Here,” he tells her, holding out a pair tiny underwear that must have been sewn from old pajama bottoms based on the flying pig design. It’s something his mom would have done. He gets a wistful look on his face for a moment before shaking away the thought.
Next is a little shirt with a tear along the neck. He pulls the band off from around the top, not wanting her to strangle herself. Then there’s a little dress that reminds him so much of the one Octavia had that he has to stop and remind himself that this isn’t O.
He buttons up the front of the dress. It’s gray pinstripe—probably from a man’s dress shirt. It comes past her knees, but she’ll grow into it.
He sits her down next to him and pulls on the long, knee-length socks which immediately slip down to her ankles. She keeps trying to pull them up but they slide down, her legs still too small. Her shoes are at the bottom of the pile, slightly cleaner than before. He ties them on then looks her up and down.
“Not bad. You clean up pretty nice.” He cocks his head. “Now for the hair.” The girl stands between his legs, and he methodically works the tangles out with the comb Abby left.
He doesn’t get them all before she starts fussing so he tosses the comb to the side. “Enough of that. It’s boring and not fun at all.
“This might help,” Abby says, handing him a large, worn book. “It was Clarke’s favorite when she was little.”
Bellamy takes the book of colorful nursery rhymes. It immediately captures the girl’s attention, and she curls into his lap as he starts to read.
