128I have been friends with Octavia Blake since the minute she was born. Obviously I don't really remember it. But it's one of my dad's favorite stories to tell, and I've heard it way more times than I can count.
We were there the day she was born. My father had known Aurora for his whole life, and when she found out she was pregnant again, he was the only one she'd trusted with her secret. It was only a couple of months after I was born, only a couple of months after my mom died having me. I guess it was part of the reason he agreed to help her. Losing Mom made him righteous and reckless. He was willing to do just about anything to stop anyone else having to go through that pain. Even if it meant risking me losing him.
Dad helped build a compartment in the floor to keep the baby hidden, smuggled in rations and medicine while Aurora was pregnant. He had easy access as one of the inventory men, running numbers on supplies of Factory Station. That's where he was supposed to be when Octavia was born, but he left the moment Aurora called to tell him she was going into labor. A family emergency, he'd told his boss, and they let him walk right out. I guess they just assumed that I was sick, little premature infant I was. No one guessed he was going to play doctor to deliver an illegal child.
He'd grabbed both me and my bag—which, for the moment, was filled with towels and basic medical supplies rather than toys and diapers—and rushed us to meet Aurora. The door was slammed shut and he immediately got to work on the pregnant woman. He'd been subtly reading up on the subject for months now, how he could make the delivery easy, secret and safe. And while he tried to help Aurora quietly through the pain, I was left in the care of a very young Bellamy Blake.
It wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence. I was constantly being left with Bellamy as an attendant, whenever my dad had to go to work. In reality, he'd been looking after me since before I was born, back when he used to push food against my mom's stomach because he thought that's how babies ate. That was another one of my dad's favorite stories.
Aurora's whimpers filled the room as she bit down on the rag my father had given her. He tried to coach her through, holding her hand and reminding her to breathe and push, breathe and push. Bellamy did his best to distract me by pulling weird faces or blowing raspberries against my hands, but it wasn't working very well. Either because I could hear his mother in pain or because I could feel the thick tension in the air, I was inconsolable.
"Shh! Nylah, you have to be quiet!" Bellamy pleaded over my cries. "Please, please, please be quiet! L-Look!"
He puckered his lips and crossed his eyes, making a weird squeaky sound that managed to silence me for a few seconds. But then Aurora gave a particularly hard push and cried out in pain, and I immediately started crying again.
Bellamy grimaced, holding me tight but casting a terrified look across the room. "Mom?!"
"She's fine, Bellamy," my father assured him as he wiped his mother's brow. "You hear that, Rora? You're fine. You're doing good. Just a few more pushes. You can do it."
She groaned again in response, but with a determined spark in her eyes that made Dad smile. It flickered as she pushed again, grunting against the rag, but never faded entirely.
Bellamy hesitated for a moment before scrambling to his feet. He picked me up in his arms and hurried closer to his mother, panic etched into every inch of his face. "Is she still okay?"
He didn't get an answer. Instead, my father started counting, grabbing one of the towels and keeping a hand on Aurora's knee as her breathing picked up. She sobbed against the rag, her face shining with sweat, and then it was over.
She collapsed back as Dad grabbed the baby and without a pause went to work cleaning her. The tension never faded from the room, even as the sounds of Aurora's and my crying subsided. We spent what seemed to be an eternity paralyzed, watching in fascination and fear as my dad finished the job. Clean the baby, deliver the placenta, cut the cord, ease the pain. He muttered it to himself as he moved, a mantra to keep himself calm and collected under the scrutiny of two children. He would stay calm to keep the Blakes calm, and that in turn would keep me calm. The hard part was over. Now we just had to survive.
"Bellamy…" Aurora's voice was weak, but she managed to smile our way as she looked up from the baby in her arms. "Come here, Bell." He walked us forward slowly, like he couldn't let himself believe everything was really over. But his mother smiled at him, and ran her fingers through his hair. "My brave boy…you have a sister."
Some of the fear disappeared from Bellamy's face, and my dad carefully lifted the bundle out of Aurora's arms. He knelt down to our level and grinned. "I'll trade ya."
Bell put me down without taking his eyes off his sister, and almost reverently accepted the baby into his arms. My father scooped me up, resting me on his hip and kissing my cheek as Bellamy stared down in awe at the new addition to their family.
"You should name her," Aurora panted, letting her head loll onto one shoulder.
He was quiet for a few seconds, until his eyes brightened with an idea. "What about like that story we were reading the other day? About Emperor Augustus. He had a sister—Octavia."
I chose that moment to make a delighted squealing noise, my tiny fingers grappling with my dad's shirt as he hoisted me a little higher on his hip. Even though I probably didn't know what was going on, the sound made everyone smile. Even Octavia seemed to grin for a moment, her mouth stretching wide as she discovered her own vocal chords. She cooed for a moment, and then let out her first cries.
"No, y-you can't let her cry," Aurora said quickly. "Here, give her to me."
Bellamy stepped forward to return his sister, but his mother suddenly hissed in pain and grabbed her stomach. The momentary calm disappeared in an instant, and his eyes widened in worry. "No. No, Mom, you can't fall asleep!"
"I'm so tired…"
"Damnit," my father hissed, quickly putting me back down on the ground. He rushed forward, grabbing another towel and moving back to his original position. "Bellamy, take the girls into the next room. I've got to stop the bleeding."
"B-Bleeding?" he asked quickly. "Why—Why is she bleeding? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, Bellamy. It's very normal. But I have to try and stop it or she'll need medical attention. Take Nylah and your sister next door. I'll come get you if I need you."
Bell hesitated for a moment, before reluctantly agreeing. He struggled to carry Octavia and guide me at the same time, but he didn't make it two steps before his mother reached out and grabbed his arm. She composed her face through the pain, taking a deep breath and giving him a solemn look. "Your sister, your responsibility," she whispered, and then her eyes fluttered shut.
"Come on, Aurora, stay with me," Dad ordered. "Bellamy, go."
It took a few minutes for him to move us, but Bellamy eventually ushered the three of us a good distance away. He sat down with his back against the wall, cradling his sister against his chest as she continued to cry. "Shh! Please, please. Shh, shh, shh."
I carefully plopped down next to him, peering at the tiny person in his arms with the upmost interest. Octavia's presence had helped to stop my crying, almost as if I felt that two of us shouldn't be crying at once.
Bellamy rested a finger against her lips, and Octavia instinctively pulled it into her mouth. Her cries ebbed away to silence until she was finally content. Wide eyes swiveled around the room, taking in her surroundings for the very first time, and her brother let out a sigh of relief.
"See? I told you, it's okay. I won't ever let anything bad happen to you, Octavia. I promise."
"Yes."
Bellamy quickly looked over at me, his eyebrows shooting up under his hair as he watched me. "Nylah?"
"Yes."
I'm not quite sure what I thought I was agreeing to. All I know is what happened in the story. And that's that I reached out and ran my fingers over Octavia's face, which made her giggle around Bellamy's finger. Then I slid myself around and stuck my hand in the blanket, pulling out one of her arms. I tried to press my hand against hers for a few minutes, but Octavia was too restless to stay still. Somehow, I ended up holding her hand, with Bellamy grinning down from above me.
"See, Nylah? This is my sister, Octavia."
"Ahh—Oc!"
The attempt at his sister's name made Bellamy laugh, and I let out a pleased giggle.
"That's right, Ny. This is Octavia. And I'm gonna protect you both."
That's pretty much how my dad found us when he came in to check on us later. Octavia had fallen asleep in Bellamy's arms, one hand holding his finger in her mouth and the other wrapped around my own. I had my head on Bellamy's knee, and was swimming in and out of consciousness while I sucked on my thumb. It took Dad a couple minutes to ease me away from the newborn baby. Even asleep, I didn't want to leave Octavia's side. It was a habit I never really grew out of.
That was the day that I met my best friend. And that was the day that doomed us all.
A/N: Hi everyone! So I'm starting yet another story, because I have zero self-control and I'm very emotional about Bellamy's face. I just marathoned the show last week, so this might be slow going, but I wanted to get some feelers out. There will be a few shorter chapters about life on the Ark, and then I'll launch into the story that starts with the show.
Disclaimer, I do not own nor am I affiliated with The 100 or the CW. I simply own Nylah Parker.
Thanks for reading, guys, and let me know what you think!
-Brittney
