Not All Fun and Games

Chapter 34

How could I be so clueless? Of course she's pregnant, she's showing all the signs of a pregnant woman! I learnt about it during my medical training on the ark.
What's weird is that I never saw her with any guys around camp. Maybe she snuck out with one at one point, to find someplace more private.

Somehow, my lips think before my brain does, because I'm now asking her who the baby daddy is.
Zoe's face goes from her usual light pink to almost white. She opens her mouth, but no words come out. I give her a moment to pull herself back together, and finally, she answers.
"The father isn't one of us, Clarke."
I furrow my brown, wondering what she must mean. Could she have gotten pregnant on the ark? No, she was in confinement for the past year and a half-at least that's what she told me.
"He's a..." Her face scrunches into a sour expression as she says the next word: "grounder."
My mouth drops.
"But that's not what I call them. They prefer the term 'earthborn', apparently," she continues casually—way too casually to match the way I feel right now.
"You... and a grounder? I mean-er- an earthborn?"
Zoe nods guiltily.
"You had sex? With a grounder?" I ask like a complete idiot. Wow, Clarke. Way to be subtle.
Octavia laughs, easing the tension.
"It appears I have," replies Zoe, her cheeks now dark red. Her face has gone from pink to white to red all in the last 5 minutes.
I look down, embarrassed and feeling foolish. Zoe must already feel terrible. Not only is she carrying a baby, but it's a grounder's baby. I look back up at Zoe so fast, my neck cracks.
"He didn't, um... It wasn't against your will, was it?" I ask her, rubbing the back of my neck.
Her eyes widen. "Oh—no! Of course not! Calvin would never do that."
I raise my eyebrows at her, smiling in a teasing way.
"Calvin, huh? So, how'd you guys meet?"
Her eyes light up when she answers. "Well, it was a few days ago. Chloe was being an ass. She was nagging me about something-I forget what. I mean, I love her, but she really knows how to get on my nerves." Her head rolls back as she laughs and she looks up at the sky, her eyes ignited by the bright stars. "Anyway," she continues, "I couldn't take it anymore so I left. But just when I was a few steps out of camp, I saw a flash somewhere low down in the trees. I was curious, so I followed it. I hadn't realized it was a human until I caught up to him. He was wearing a large black coat-turns out it was moose skin-and a black mask. I wanted to run back to camp, but my legs refused to move. And apparently so did his, because he just stood there, looking at me. Finally, he removed the mask, and I saw something I really wasn't expecting to see-a smile." Zoe's lips curl up as she recounts the story, and there's something in her eyes that I haven't seen yet on her. I decide it must be love-and the look suits her wonderfully.
She begins again. "His eyes were-well, are-blue. Like the sky, but more clear." I hear the happiness and admiration in her voice as she describes him. "He has dark skin, but not that dark. His hair is blond and very long but he keeps it tied up in fancy, detailed braids And he's tall," she says, concluding the description of his appearance. "He didn't look dangerous, he looked sweet and harmless. And then he surprised me, once again, by actually striking up a conversation! He talked perfect English. He asked me all about the ark and why we're down here. We talked for hours, until I had to come back to camp. We decided to meet up the next day at the same time. Of course, I didn't know how to tell the exact time so I ended up being a little bit late. He wasn't upset at all though." She pauses to smile, her eye still glistening with love and fondness.
"In fact, he decided to teach me some tricks for being on the ground. He told me what the sun and moon looked like at different hours of the day, he showed me how to season food with wild herbs, he even taught me how to swim! We met up a lot since our encounter. One night he showed me to a small cave, and well..." She trails off and points to her stomach, blushing again.
Things slowly begin to click into place as I think. "So when you found Alex this morning, you were out in the woods looking for Calvin?"
"Yup," she nods. "And the day Alex went missing and people saw an earthborn around camp, it was Calvin. He was just there to see me. But when he was spotted, he left as quick as possible."
Octavia gasps. "Whoa. It all makes sense now!"
I nod, my mind still wrapping around this information. "So he's different from the others then? He doesn't want to hunt us?"
She shakes her head. "No, of course not. He wants to make peace. And there are others like him. But there are also some that are against that idea. You two were right about them not wanting us to enter their territory."

So Octavia and I had the right idea. Some of them wouldn't think twice before sending a spear through our hearts, but others wish to make peace so that we can live with each other. That's pretty much all we've wanted since we got down here, but we thought the grounders hated the idea.

After a silent pause while Octavia and I process Zoe's story, I speak again.
"Zoe, do you think I can talk to Calvin?" I ask.
She looks at me warily but nods. "Yeah, I think so. Why?"
"Because I need to speak to his leader."