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Bellamy rubs his nose, which is quickly turning red. He situates his gun strap with a large yawn. Miller, who’s on shift with him right now gives him a concerned glance.
“Hey, you good?”
“Yeah, I think I might be catching something.”
“You should head by the infirmary once our shift is over.”
“Yeah, I will. Just to know if I should be distancing myself from everyone, or not.”
“Yeah, maybe get some medicine. It’ll help to feel your best.”
Bellamy nods. Their shift drags on for what feels like an eternity before Miller finally stands up, his joints popping loudly.
“Alright, I’ll handle the last walk through before shift turnover, you go ahead and get to the infirmary.”
“Thanks, man,” Bellamy says, also standing.
His joints ache, and stretching doesn’t relieve it like it normally would. He turns in his gun before heading to the infirmary. Abby and Clarke are both in there, tending to a few different people. Jackson is nowhere to be seen, leaving it with just the two of them to handle everything. Bellamy leans against the wall, watching them silently. Eventually, almost two hours later, they finish up with everyone that’s seated in the waiting room. Clarke walks over to him.
“Hey, what’s up? I just noticed you.”
“I’ve been here for a couple hours actually. I think I might be catching something.”
“Why didn’t you say something? We could have gotten you checked out already.”
“You were busy, and I didn’t mind waiting. I got off shift already.”
“Of course you did, and of course that’s all that matters.”
“Yeah, I don’t have another one till tomorrow morning. So, I could have waited a lot longer.”
Abby walks over.
“What are you guys talking about?”
“Bellamy thinks he might be sick. I’m gonna check him out. You should go check on Kane, I can handle Bellamy.”
Abby nods.
“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes or so.”
Clarke leads him over to one of the beds.
“Sit down.”
He does while she washes her hands and puts gloves on.
“Open your mouth.”
He does, and she checks his throat, eyes, ears, and nose.
“That was very thorough, Princess,” Bellamy says, making a face.
“Yeah, well, we need to make sure that you’re not going to spread a deadly and contagious virus, so we have to be thorough.”
“Ok, and am I?”
“No, you’re not. I think you just have a cold. Come on, I’ll get you some meds and walk you to your room.”
Bellamy stands up, and follows Clarke to the other side of the room. She gives him the meds, then they walk to his room in silence. As soon as they open the door though, confetti gets thrown in Bellamy’s face by a small hand.
“Octavia, why are you throwing confetti at me?” he asks, then spits a piece out of his mouth.
“Because I found some. Happy birthday, Bell,” she says, offering him a box.
“Great. I got a cold for my birthday.”
Clarke laughs in surprise while Octavia just looks confused.
“You’re sick? On your birthday?”
“Apparently. I forgot about my birthday.”
He opens the box.
“Well, I guess that’s more fitting then,” Octavia mutters.
He pulls the folded piece of paper out of the box.
“What is this, and why did you have to put it in a box?”
“Cause you like boxes. Also, I didn’t have a birthday card, so I just made one.”
He opens it. After reading it, he turns to her with one eyebrow raised.
“Really? It just says get better. That’s mean, but I’m going to pretend that this is a get well soon card instead of the mean way you actually meant it.”
“I know you’re mad, but couldn’t you be a little more considerate?” Clarke asks.
Octavia makes a sour face.
“Don’t try to tell me what to do. Also, it was funny. Anyway, I’ll bring you some dinner later, Bell.”
She walks past them, heading towards the exit. Bellamy shakes his head. \
“Well that went well.”
“Really, you think so?”
“I mean, better than a lot of my interactions with her recently.”
“I didn’t know it was your birthday today.”
“I forgot about it. It’s not a big deal, and I didn’t even really celebrate it on the Ark. I had better things to do. Now we all have better things to do.”
He gives her a small smile.
“Thanks for the meds, and walking me over here. I appreciate your support with Octavia too, but there’s no point in arguing with her. She’s dead set on her opinion, and you can’t change her mind. Only Heaven and Earth moving would be able to sway Octavia. She’s stubborn.”
“Yeah, it seems to be a Blake trait. I’ll let you rest, and I’ll see you later. Happy birthday, Bellamy.”
Bellamy smiles.
“Thanks, Clarke.”
She walks out, and he shuts the door behind her. He drops down onto his cot, closing his eyes. He ends up taking some meds, then falling asleep. Eventually there’s a knock on his door, waking him up.
“You can come in,” he calls, his voice still rough from sleep.
Octavia steps inside, holding a tray.
“I got you dinner,” she says stiffly.
“Thanks, O. I really appreciate it. You can just set it down somewhere. I’ll eat it in a little bit.”
She nods, dropping the tray on the floor by the door.
“Are you going to take off your shoes and belt?”
Bellamy glances down, noticing his boots.
“Yeah, I guess I will at some point,” he replies, feeling too tired to move right now.
She walks over, kneeling down by his cot. She unlaces his boots, gently eases them off of his feet afterward. Bellamy thinks back to when he would get sick on the Ark. It was very similar to this, except they would laugh and joke about how his germy co-workers probably gave him something. He looks away from her.
“What happened? We didn’t used to be like this,” Octavia whispers, quietly enough that she might not have even meant to say it out loud.
“A lot of hurt. I hurt you, Mom hurt you. I hurt Mom, and you hurt me. We’ve both done things that we regret. I know that you regret how you had to live the first part of your life. I wouldn’t change anything though. I’m glad that you’re safe now.”
“You always were a little too self sacrificing, Bell. As much as I hate admitting it, you weren’t at fault for what happened to me. Maybe for us getting caught, but nothing before that. You didn’t ask Mom to have a second kid, and you tried to make my life as easy as you could despite the impossible situation. You’ve always taken care of me, and I’ll be here to take care of you if you ever need it. Though if things keep moving in this direction with Clarke, you won’t need me.”
“I’ll always need you.”
Octavia looks away from Bellamy, her face turning red.
“Ok, well, I’ll let you get some more sleep. Just radio me if you need me.”
“Ok, thanks, O.”
She nods, stepping back out. He turns over, deciding to attribute the burning in his throat to his cold. It’s not long before someone else knocks on the door. This knock is softer, and distinctly not meant to wake him up if he’s asleep.
“You can come in,” he says, wincing as his throat scratches.
He’s congested, and that’s also causing him to sound funny. Clarke opens the door.
“Hey, I just thought I’d come by with something that the rest of them put together for you.”
“Who’s the rest of them? What do you mean?”
“Well, I saw Miller at dinner, and told him that it was your birthday. He was pretty upset that he didn’t know that. So, we ended up going around, and everyone wanted to sign a card for you. I know that the card your sister gave you earlier upset you, so I thought your friends could make you another one. Not to make up for it, just to brighten your spirits.”
Bellamy smiles, sitting up.
“I wish you hadn’t told everyone that it was my birthday, especially since I don’t feel very good. I don’t really want to leave this room.”
“Yeah, and I told everyone that would probably be the case. They all said that it was fine. That we could celebrate another day if you wanted to. If not, that’s also fine. We were just talking about all of us getting together for dinner, or something.”
“Yeah, I’d be fine with that.”
She hands him the card. It’s written in gentle handwriting.
Dear Bellamy, happy birthday. We know that you’ve had a really hard year, we all have, but think about it, you’re a year older! A year closer to whatever comes next, and a year closer to the peace that we’ve all been searching for. This year has been hard, but we’re so proud of you for managing as well as you have. Things will get better, all we have to do is keep working on them. We all wish you well, and hope that you feel better soon! Love, that’s where everyone signed the card.
Bellamy looks at it, his eyes misting up a little bit.
“Thank you, Clarke. I talked to my sister earlier, and I think we might be able to work things out. I don’t think she meant the card from earlier, but you’re right this does make me feel better.”
“You have people in your corner, Bellamy. Even if it doesn’t feel like it, we care about you. We will always be here to pick you up when you’re feeling low, and support you when you’re going through something. Even if it is something as minor as a cold, which is a terrible thing to get for your birthday, by the way.”
“We didn’t do a lot for my birthday even when I was younger, but I used to love that day so much. Octavia would write a story or a poem, and read it to me. Mom would take me to farm station, and we would get some flowers. I would braid them into Mom and Octavia’s hair while Octavia read. Then we had dinner together, and I would fall asleep with Octavia in my arms. I just miss her so much, and I know that it’s my fault that she hates me. I hurt her, and everything I do pushes her father away. I keep hoping that one day she’ll understand, and maybe we’re heading towards that, but any time I let myself hope, it backfires. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
Clarke stares at him, shocked and unsure of what to say. Normally Bellamy doesn’t really respond to Octavia’s baiting, and he normally acts like it doesn’t bother him.
Finally she says, “Your sister is immature. She was never taught how to interact with other people respectfully. Your mother failed her in that way. She also put a lot of pressure and responsibility on you without impressing the importance of that on Octavia. There really isn’t any way to make her understand not now. Once she decided that you were the bad guy in her life, there was nothing you could do. All you can do now is be patient with her, and wait for her to realize things on her own. You can’t shield her from everything, and she’ll understand the truth eventually. In the meantime, maybe some distance would be good for you. Even if you can’t do that, we’ll be here to support you. You can always turn to me when things get to be too much.”
Bellamy wipes his eyes, even though he hasn’t actually started crying yet.
“Thanks, Clarke. It’s probably just the meds and low grade fever that I feel like I have.”
Clarke reaches over, putting the back of her hand on his forehead.
“Yeah, you have started running a temperature. Here, you need to eat. Then you should get some more sleep. We can talk more in the morning, ok?”
Bellamy nods, taking the tray when she hands it to him. She stays till he’s done eating. Then she tosses the blanket over him, and turns off the lights.
“Goodnight, Clarke.”
“Goodnight, Bellamy. Happy birthday.”
He smiles as she closes the door, and he drifts off to sleep.