Two by Two

Set after S01E08 - Day Trip

Raven has restored communication with the Ark. Finn is healing, Bellamy and Clark have made the trip to the FEMA bunker in Washington DC. Assessing the situation on the ground and in space, Jaha and the council decide to remain in space until Spring (necessitating the culling of hundreds more people) and order The 100 to pair up and start repopulating the Earth.

Chapter 7

When Bellamy sought Clarke out again later that night, he found her talking to Callista soothingly. "Women have been having babies for thousands of years without medications or machines."

"I don't know anything about babies, there weren't many kids born in my sector," the pregnant girl said tearfully. "I turned 18 last week, I think. It's hard to tell down here… I would have been floated on the Ark before anyone even knew, but down here… To have a baby I don't even want…"

"Do you really not want it?" Clarke asked gently. "I'm not judging you, but… you could have come and talked to me or Monty when we first got here, you had to know…"

Callista had been assigned to work the crops on Farm station on the Ark, she had known Monty, and since she'd asked Monty for herbs to settle her stomach while on the ground, she knew he would likely know other herbs, herbs that might end an unwanted pregnancy.

The girl ducked her head. "I never thought I'd have a family, why would they allow me to have a baby, I didn't even make it into tertiary school, I was classified as unskilled labor. I took all my supplements, I don't know how-"

"The medication doesn't always work," Bellamy spoke up, alerting them to his presence. "Sometimes other drugs interfere; sometimes it's a body chemistry thing." Clarke nodded, wondering if that was how Bellamy's mom had gotten pregnant with Octavia, if it had been an accident, or something she'd wanted.

Callista seemed to shrink back behind Clarke, and Bellamy knew without even having to ask that her pregnancy hadn't come about by her choice.

"What matters is that it happened, and now we need to know what you want to do," Clarke said softly. "Monty thinks he can find some herbs that would cause your body to reject the pregnancy, if that's what you wanted," Clarke finished, seeing Callista's hand cover her stomach protectively.

"I… I'm scared, but I don't think I want… that. It's a baby, innocent. And you said that every life matters here," Callista said, sounding alive and energized for the first time since telling Clarke that she was pregnant.

"That's right, every life does matter. And if you want this baby, then his or her life is one we'll cherish," Clarke agreed.

"There is not much we can do now to prepare, besides increasing your rations, but in the spring we'll be ready, it won't be easy, but we can do this," Bellamy said determinedly.

"But when the Ark comes, what if… what if he-"

"The odds are in your favor that the father won't come down, there are only 500 seats available," Clarke tried to reassure her.

"But if he does make it to the ground, he'll answer to me," Bellamy said menacingly. "We'll protect you and your baby, you can count on that. The Ark will never hurt any of us again."

After some more discussion, Bellamy walked Callista back to her dorm, assigning Harper who was in the same building to watch out for her and report back if she saw anything worrying. Returning to the drop ship, he could tell that Clarke was still upset.

"What's wrong, Clarke? We knew this would happen eventually with the Ark's bullshit order or not," he said ruefully. Take 100 horny teenagers out of lockup and set them free with no rules and little to do, and what you got was a lot of hookups. Early on the forest around camp had been rife with rutting teens reveling in their freedom.

"If they come, and we're still here..." she shook her head, worry lines marking her forehead.

Bellamy scowled, they'd begun discussing the possibility of leaving to find a new home once they'd disabled the wristbands and before the Ark sent down their drop ships. Without the wristbands, the Ark wouldn't be able to track them and they'd be free to live as they wanted. Bellamy wasn't sure how he felt about the idea, and Clarke also had reservations. "Then we'll deal with it, bide our time until we can either take over or take off."

Clarke took a deep calming breath. "If this is the first generation of ours born on Earth in a hundred years, do you really think they're going to let us raise them? The babies? If they're only bringing 500 people, they're probably counting on us being their labor force, not stay at home moms," Clarke gave voice to her worries.

"They'd... of course they would take the babies off of us." He looked angry that he hadn't considered that. "We won't let it happen, Clarke. Our plan is working-"

"Too slowly-" she disagreed.

"We have five months. We have time. We can't leave until the weather warms up anyway," he reasoned. "It's your plan, you should trust it."

"I hate them, I hate them so much," Clarke said, her hand clenching into fists.

Bellamy took her hands in his, kissing each one before placing them on his shoulders. "So do I. But we're going to beat them Clarke, we're going to survive and we're going to live free." He sounded confident, wanting her to believe it, but he wasn't blind to the potential problems.

They would need to have a safe place to go. They would need to carry everything with them or chance finding what they needed once they got to their new home. The timing would be dependent on the weather, but the latest they could safely stay was two weeks before the drop ships were set to come down. They'd need the time to make a good distance with several girls possibly heavily pregnant by then. It didn't leave much room for error.

"Octavia," Clark asked tentatively, not sure if she wanted to know.

"A guard tried with her. She punched him in the face and nearly bit his dick off. They sent her to solitary for two weeks and transferred him out." He sounded equal parts proud and disgusted and she could see the anger still simmering in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Bellamy."

"It's not your fault. I was a cadet and I had no idea that that went on. There was nothing you could have done, no way you could have known."

Clarke blinked back her tears. No, she hadn't known, would have been powerless to help anyone even if she had known, but there was no way her mother hadn't known. Clarke pressed her face into Bellamy's neck, letting his hands soothe her, running gently up and down her back. She was becoming more and more aware that she didn't know her mother at all.

While that was personally a problem for Clarke, it was also a problem for the rest of The 100. If the Ark's lead doctor, a person charged with saving lives and widely regarded as the most humane and egalitarian of the Council was so morally compromised, then what did that say for the rest of the Ark's leadership?

If she had thought there was a chance for them to work with the Ark's exodus population, that chance was now gone. How many of The 100 had been victims of an unfair system on the Ark, and how many had been victimized a second time while in lockup. Power imbalances bread abuse, and there was no way Clarke wanted to subject her people to that again.

They'd be better of striking out on their own and taking their chances with the dangers the Earth posed. Despite the old saying, better the devil you knew, Clarke couldn't imagine asking The 100 to bow down to the Ark again.

-The 100—

Time passed quickly as they rapidly approached the winter solstice. On days when the weather was good, hunter/gatherer/scavenger crews went out, but those days were fewer and far between.

"Clarke!" Octavia screamed, sending the girl in demand to her feet instantly. Clarke rushed towards the drop ship entrance, expecting the worst. Outside she saw Jasper and Octavia helping a limping and bloody Monty through camp.

"What happened?" Clarke asked as soon as they had him on the table.

Jasper tried to tell the story, but was desperately out of breath from the trip back to camp through rough and muddy terrain with no idea if Grounders were pursuing them or not. "Forest… Gathering herbs for…" he said through deep gasping breaths.

"We were trying to find some more contraceptive herbs, Monty was worried we would run low before spring came, and Grounders…" Octavia filled in, her words much more steady, but her eyes filled with confusion and worry.

Raven pushed Jasper out of the way, handing Clarke her supplies. "Do you need anything else?" Raven asked anxiously. Besides Finn and Clarke, Monty was her closest friend in camp.

"Grounders attacked, we didn't even see them, they were just there. We tried to run, but-" Jasper said mournfully.

"OK, it's over. Hey Monty," Clarke said reassuringly. "The good news is the arrow went all the way through your leg."

"How is that good news?" Monty said tersely, his face white with pain.

"Trust me, it's good news," Clarke said and Raven nodded her agreement. "Now, this is going to hurt, maybe you could squeeze Jasper's hand?"

Octavia knew what was coming and took Monty's other hand, holding his arm down as Clarke tried to break off the shaft of the arrow protruding from his thigh. Monty hollered hoarsely, squeezing hard on Jasper and Octavia's hands as he tried not to move despite the pain. Jasper feel to his knees, his own face ashen, and looked at Clarke with shock widened eyes seeing that the arrow was still intact.

"I'm sorry," Clarke said, "It won't break." Clarke was wishing that Bellamy was there, he could probably snap it in half with minimal effort, but he was out hunting, as were Jones and Drew. Miller was in camp but he was squeamish at the sight of human blood.

"I'll do it," Raven said quietly. "I work with my hands, I can do this."

"You can do anything," Monty said shakily. "You're amazing."

Clarke nodded and shifted to the side, holding the arrow where it entered Monty's leg, trying to minimize his pain as much as possible.

Once the arrow was broken, Clarke removed it easily and set out to wash the wound. She made sure to get Monty to drink a cup of his most potent moonshine before she cleaned the wound, and was relieved when he slipped into a restless slumber as she finished bandaging it.

Washing her hands in a bucket of very cold water, Clarke wondered how many enemies they could face and still have a chance of surviving.

-The 100—

A few weeks later they were officially in the midst of winter. Snow that had fallen days before was still on the ground, daytime temps were barely going above freezing, and The 100 were hunkered down, staying inside as much as possible and living off the food they'd managed to store before all the plants had died or gone into hibernation and the game animals had become much more scarce.

"Damn, it's cold," Bellamy complained coming into the room they shared most nights now. Clarke looked up from her notebook that she sketched in, giving him an absent smile. She'd gotten used to having him around, and being close to him, so besides a sound of protest as he curled his arm around her a cold hand coming to rest on her stomach, she didn't react.

He saw a sketch of a face he didn't recognize. "Who's this?"

"My dad," she said softly. "I wanted to draw him before I start to forget."

"You'll never forget-"

"It's a biological fact, Bell, memories fade. I won't forget him entirely, but the details, the bump in his nose, how his smile was crooked, the way his hair fell over his forehead and he always forgot to schedule a cut until it was in his eyes…" she swallowed hard. "Those things will fade away."

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel," Bellamy murmured, pressing a kiss into her hair.

"That's so true," Clarke said, her mouth quirking up into a smile. "And profound."

"I have my moments," he said, smirking at her. "But that was a quote from an Earth poet."

"I could draw your mom," she offered, turning to a fresh page. She'd been busy drawing the members of The 100 that had died, wanting a record of their lives before they moved on from the place where they'd been buried. Bellamy frowned, exhaling loudly. "Bellamy? Don't you want a picture of your mom?" Clarke asked. "I know you were close."

"We were, but… it's complicated."

"Complicated how?" She asked, not liking how he wouldn't meet her eyes and the way his body had stiffened against hers. "You can talk to me, or… you don't have to," she continued when he remained silent.

"I loved her, and I hated her," he said so quietly she had to strain to hear the words and even then she wasn't sure she'd heard correctly.

"Hated her? Why?" She wanted to know, could see how it ate at Bellamy, but his jaw had clamped shut, the muscle there that was a tell-tale sign of intense emotion for Bellamy ticked rapidly. Clarke set down her notebook, shifting onto her knees and moved so she was sitting in his lap, straddling his legs.

"She condemned us all when she had Octavia. Herself, Octavia and me. I had a secret, a life threatening secret, nearly my whole life. And Octavia, what was she supposed to do, live and die under the floor forever? How is that even a life? It was more than unfair, it was cruel. It was selfish and she forced that on us," he choked out. "I don't regret having a sister, having Octavia, I love her…"

"I know, I know you do," she soothed, moving into his arms and pressing her chest to his in an effort to offer comfort.

"It was selfish, what she did. Maybe I could have become a guard, I would have been given my own quarters, could have had friends finally, maybe even a wife," his voice grew louder as the long repressed anger inside him broke free and rose to the surface. "But what could Octavia have? What did she have to look forward to? Hidden, with only me and our mother for company until Mom died, and then living under my floor? Endangering any family I might have?"

Outside their room, Octavia stood trembling as tears ran down her cheeks silently.

Unaware of Octavia's prior eavesdropping, Clarke didn't know what to say so she stayed silent, holding Bellamy and letting him hold her. She'd never met Aurora Blake, had no idea what had motivated the woman to risk her own life as well as the life of her living child for another. Maybe she had loved Octavia's father too much to consider abortion, maybe she just had moral objections it, but what was clear was that Bellamy was not wrong, Octavia's life would have been one of seclusion and secrecy for as long as she lived. And that was barely a life at all.

Several minutes passed in silence before he spoke again. "She had Octavia's eyes, only brown. A high forehead, like mine, but her jaw was somewhere between Octavia's and mine."

Clarke eased away from Bellamy, picking up her notebook and pencil before starting to sketch the woman he described.

When the outside door to the longhouse opened, Octavia ran, pushing Jasper out of the way and fleeing across the camp. Jasper ran after her, and found her by the back wall, crouched low and shivering. He hunched down beside her.

"Octavia? You OK?"

"Yeah," she said bitterly. "I'm great."

"You don't sound great," Jasper said with a crooked smile.

"Well my life was shitty before so my definition of great might be skewed," she muttered darkly.

"You want to talk about it?"

"No," she denied. "How about you talk."

""Bout what?"

"What was it like growing up on the Ark? What was school like? And your parents? When did you meet Monty? Did you have lots of friends? What did you do for fun?"

"Wow," he laughed. "Uh, I don't remember meeting Monty, we lived on the same corridor, our mom's took turns watching us while the other worked on the fields."

"Farm station, right?"

"Yeah…"

-The 100-

They had minimal communication with the Ark since the solar panels didn't pack much juice to start with, the days were short, and snow and ice kept covering the panels. Despite that they were able to report on the three confirmed pregnancies, manufacturing four more, and relayed the news of seven more deaths (two actual), to the Council.

"We're in desperate need of supplies, food, more warm clothes and blankets… if you could just send-"

"We can't afford to send down any help or support. We'll need all the supplies we can bring when we arrive," Jaha said, and Clarke didn't have to fake her angry look.

They'd agreed, their own little council, that Clarke should convince the Ark that they were barely surviving, desperate for help, thereby hopefully lulling them into a sense of security about The 100's activities on the ground and their eventual welcoming of the Ark.

"I'm concerned at the low pregnancy rate, we'd anticipated at least half of the girls would have conceived by now," Jaha said, his brow furrowing in concern.

"Seven of 38 is outside the statistical probability," Kane added, his sharp eyes searching Clarke's face as if looking for signs of guilt.

"Seven of 31," Clarke corrected him. Seeing each of the faces of the three dead girls and the ones whose wristbands they'd removed. "We've had several deaths."

Kane stared at Clarke through the camera. "Thirty-two if you count Raven Reyes, which is a 22% pregnancy rate, which leads me to believe-"

"You're forgetting to factor in the Ark's high infertility rate-"

"That only accounts for five more girls," Kane discounted, obviously having already considered that.

Clarke smiled harshly. "But 15%, which brings our 'compliance' to 37%" she said with attitude. "I don't know what the percentages are, but if you factor malnutrition, poor health and the psychological effects of fear and stress on conception-"

"Psychological effects? You have to be kidding me."

"I don't find anything about this to be funny, Councilor Kane," Clarke said in a tone that blatantly disrespected him.

She might as well have called him an asshole for all the malice in her tone, and while Bellamy was proud of her and appreciated her fire, he worried that one day she would push them too far and even her mother's presence on the council wouldn't keep her alive. As long as she had her wristband on, her life was in danger. They'd debated hotly over whether to drain Clarke's wristband or not, but decided that she was on camera too much to risk them noticing the tampering.

"And what about you, Ms. Griffin?" Kane attacked. "Infertility has never been an issue in your family, and if one is to believe your vitals monitoring, you have had ample chances to become-"

"Marcus, please," Abby interjected.

"That's enough, Kane," Jaha broke in.

Clarke stared at the camera in disgust. She opened her mouth intent on giving them a piece of her mind despite Bellamy's nonverbal command to stay quiet, when her mother spoke.

"Clarke is correct. Malnutrition, stress and other psychological factors could depress conception rates. Add in the fact that many women find that there is a period of up to 18 months after stopping birth control before they can conceive, and the pregnancy rate is within the statistical probability."

Clarke gritted her teeth and remained silent and the council argued among themselves. Among their many statements was that if they could expect such a low conception rate that they should recalculate the drop ships' selections to include more people of child bearing age.

Clarke perked up, wondering if they'd already assigned seats, so to speak and if there was any way that they could get and use that information. Before she could come up with a way to ask, the monitor dimmed as the battery ran out.

"Well, that was interesting," Bellamy said.

-The 100—

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