Picking Up the Pieces

5. Rescue Party

"We need to find Jasper, Bellamy. He could be alive out there." Clarke is trying to negotiate with Bellamy. Good fricken luck.

"We need to build walls to keep whatever the hell took him far from us." Bellamy says and I sigh. "Let's do both. I mean, the rescue squad doesn't have to be big, so whoever isn't saving Jasper builds the wall and control freak Bellamy over here can have his guys oversee the building to ease his controlling nature." I say nonchelantly, examining my nails out of boredom from having to listen to these two. "Wow, Jada, that might actually be worth a try." Clarke seems startled. "Don't act so surprised. You haven't even seen me work with mechanics and engineering yet."

I start to walk off but Clarke grabs my arm.

"Jada you're coming with us to save Jasper." Clarke tells me. "The hell I'm not." "Yes, you are. C'mon little J, you're coming." Bellamy tells me. "Little J, now? He's coming? And what happened to sweetheart?" "Yes, I'm coming and I can have more than one nickname for you, sweetheart." He says sounding very cocky. Ugh. "Fine. Who else is coming?" "Wells and Murphy." They say. "What a delightful little party. As it seems I'm the only one who dislikes you both equally, I assume I'm playing the peacekeeper roll on this lovely journey of ours?" "No." Clarke replies. "You're playing the grounder ass-kicker." "I like that roll much, much more. Let's get going then, shall we?"

Clarke and Wells walk ahead into the forest and Bellamy and Murphy fall back. I'm walking in the middle because I'm not really a 'bad guy' and I'm definitely not a 'good guy' by earth standards.

"Hey sweetheart, mind dropping back a little bit?" "I don't live to please you Bellamy." I shout behind me, smirk evident on my face.

"Well then I guess you're cool with Murphy staring at your ass the whole walk." Bellamy: 1 Jada: 0. I drop back to see Bellamy smirking and Murphy disappointed. Suck it up, bitch.

"What is it Bellamy?" "We've been wanting to know who's side are you really on?" "What do you mean?" "You fight for both sides sweetheart. You say something to defy the princess but you help her anyways. Who's side are you on?" "That's the way I want it. I'm nobody's bitch. I help Clarke because it'll help us in the long run but I don't worship her like Finn and Wells. I'm independent, neutral, undecided, your choice." "Until now. We want you on our side. You'd be a valuable person to have playing on our side of the battlefield." I decide to tease him.

"No." I say, trying to contain the little smile creeping up my face. "No? I really thought you were smarter than that." "And I thought that your head couldn't get any bigger." "What do you want me to do sweetheart? Beg?" "I wouldn't be opposed to a little begging." I've already decided that I would be on his 'side' for the sake of simply getting on his good side but I'm not one to refuse a show.

We come to a stop and he looks me in the eye.

"Sweetheart, will you please-" "On one knee." He glares at me and lowers to his knee. "Sweetheart, will you please-" "Quite monotone. Are you speaking at a funeral or proposing a joining between our two forces?" "I hate you so much right now" He mutters. "Oh but you don't my friend, because if you did you wouldn't be doing this and I would be dead. Am I wrong?" He doesn't say anything. "Right, now, resume the proposal." He looks me in the eye, holds one of my hands and says, "sweetheart, would you do me the honour of saying you will join my side, fight alongside of me, support me and in hand I promise to do the same if you would please just agree to become team Bellamy." "Bellamy?" "Yes sweetheart?" "I was totally bullshitting you. Of course I'll join your side." "You little asshole." He says in a joking matter and still holding my hand yanks me down onto the ground. "Bellamy!" I shriek. I roll onto the ground with Bellamy on top of me pinning me to the ground.

"Now who's the asshole?" I ask with a smirk. I roll over so I'm on top of him. "Apparently still you sweetheart." He smirks back at me. I am suddenly aware that I am laying on top of Bellamy and just how nice his gorgeous brown eyes are. He's looking at me directly and from that moment on it's as if we're alone in our own little safe haven. His eyes flicker from my own to my lips. Just as I'm about to lean in we're interrupted.

"Jada, Bellamy what are you doing? We have to keep moving if we're going to find Jasper before sundown." Goddammit Clarke.

I'm now aware that Murphy was, and is still here just watching us. Awkward.

Bellamy rolls us over once more, stands up and offers me his hand. "Uh, thanks." I say. "No problem." He mutters. "Hey Bellamy?" "Yeah sweetheart?" "If I'm on your team, I'm laying some ground rules. First, like I said before, I'm nobody's bitch. You can boss me around and tell me to do shit but that doesn't mean I'll do it. Second, I get my own opinions. Just because I'm on your team, doesn't mean you're always right and I'll always agree with you. Third, when I tell you you're being and ass, you're being an ass. What I'm saying with this one, is listen to me. I won't steer you wrong, Bellamy. And lastly, you include me in all major decisions because as I said before, you're not always right. Those are my terms, take 'em or leave 'em." "We accept your conditions. Welcome to team bad guy." We shake hands and he chuckles.

"By the way, we're trying to take off Clarke's wristband. And you're helping us. Team Bellamy. Just thought you should know, sweetheart." "Well fuck." I say.

Wells and Clarke pick up the pace to a light jog instead of a power walk.

"Hey, hey hey, what's the rush?" Bellamy takes out his gun. "Put it away." Wells tells him. "Enough with the testosterone show Bellamy. More important matters, remember?" I say. He puts the gun away and stays quiet. Clarke looks surprised then proceeds to speak.

"Jasper screamed when the spear hit him. If it had struck him in the heart he would've died instantly. We don't have much time." Clarke explains.

"We can go right after you take off that wristband." Bellamy grabs her arm and she yanks it back. "They only way the Ark is going to think I'm dead, is if I'm dead. Got it?" "Brave princess." A voice comes up from behind us. "Why don't you find your own nickname?" Finn asks. Finn's here?

"You call this a rescue party? You gotta split up, cover more ground." He states. "Alright, parties. Wells and Murphy, Bellamy and Jada and Clarke, come with me." Bellamy starts to argue about Murphy leaving but I tell him to shut up. We have to find Jasper before sundown.

We start to walk in a direction opposite the others.

"You're obviously not under 18 so what did you do on the ship?" "I told you already, it's not up for discussion." His face turns cold and he picks up the pace. I jog up to him and touch his arm. "Hey, I meant your occupation." I smile. He shakes his head. "Why do you want to know about my job?" "Why not, right?"

"I was kicked off the guard and put into janitorial." "Why'd they give you the boot?" "They found out about Octavia." "Ah. How'd they find out about her?"

At this one he seems uncomfortable but covers it up by saying, "Jesus, you ask a lot of questions. It's a long story, sweetheart. I believe it's my turn." "Alright, ask away Mr. Blake." "How old were you when you got put in jail?" "15." "How old are you now?" "I am 17, 18 in... how many days have we been here? Two? Then five days. I will be 18 in five days." "Happy early birthday little J." "Why little J?" I laugh. "I mean honestly, I'm among the oldest here and I'm 5'9. I get the J but the rest just doesn't apply." I laugh. He smiles. "I guess it isn't fitting. Sweetheart it is."

Finn pops out of nowhere and tells us they found clues to Jasper's whereabouts and to follow him. He leads us to a river and the rest of the group is there waiting.

"Okay, let's go."

We all walk down a rocky pathway through where a stream should be. "How do we know we're going the right way?" Murphy asks. "We don't. Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker." Bellamy says. "It's called following the signs. He has earth skills and that's good." Wells sounds so done right now. "Can you keep it down? Trying to find Jasper." Thank you Finn.

We're walking and then we stop. Why are we stopped? Finn's inspecting a broken branch on a bush. He looks around and see's blood on the rocks beneath the bush. "Believe we're going the right way now?" I ask. We hear something. Something I'm guessing isn't good. "Now would be a good time to take out that gun." Clarke tells Bellamy. And for once, he listens.

We walk low and quickly towards the groaning noises, looking around to make sure we won't be attacked. We're surrounded by bush. We mount a little hill and come to a clearing. We all stop in shock. What do we see? A bloody, yet alive Jasper bound up high to a tree.

We jog towards him, Clarke faster than any of us. One minute she's running and the next she falls into a spikey death trap. Bellamy unexpectedly catches her, like it was a reflex or something. For a moment he's just holding her, debating whether or not to save the princess. Finn, Wells and l run to help pull her up.

"You ok?" I ask. "Peachy." She mutters. "We need to get him down." "I'll do it." Finn says. "I'll come with you." Wells tells him. "No, you stay here. Watch Clarke. Jada, Murphy. Come with me. Watch him." I nod. A little climbing will do me good. "There's medicine on his wound." Clarke tells us. "Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Wells asks. "Maybe they're trying to catch something? Finn adds. "Maybe what what're trying to catch is us." I suggest.

We climb up and start to cut Jasper free when we hear growling "What was that?" Clarke asks. "Grounders?" Bellamy suggests. A large, deep black animal stalks up. "Bellamy, gun!" Clarke yells. He reaches for it only to find it's gone. "Alright, who took his goddamn gun?!" I scream and then we hear shots go off. Here we draw our attention to Wells who has the gun. Wow, he is a really bad shot. The panther hides in the tall grass and brush around Bellamy.

"Wells, you took the gun, shoot it for fucks sakes!" I scream.

Just as the majestic animal is about to pounce at Bellamy, Wells hits it. The shot is fired and the panther-like creature falls to the ground, dying. I'm in the tree, breathing heavily. Finn and Murphy are cutting down Jasper but I'm just sitting in shock. We're definitely not on the Ark anymore.

We get back to camp and Clarke, Finn and Wells immediately rush towards the dropship to help Jasper. Murphy and Bellamy drop the cat for the others to see. Bellamy looks at the crowd then shouts, "who's hungry?!" Always with the dramatic flair, Bellamy.

There becomes a lineup for meat and I have to hand it to Bellamy, he's clever. One of his most admirable qualities is his passionate nature. He knows what he wants and he makes sure he gets it. And right now, he wants those bracelets off and the Ark to stay where it is. That's exactly what he's doing right now. Bracelets for meat, damn. He drives a hard bargain.

I walk up to the fire and the animal that I've decided was a mutation of what used to be called a panther based on my knowledge of earth. One of my worst habits is my undeniable, incurable curiosity. I wanted to know about the world below ours. I frequently would hack into the secure network to read the truth about the war and how our ancestors planned our destruction wielding weapons of pollution and chaos. But amongst the stories of wreckage and ruin there were tales of greatness and triumph. I learned of things unimaginable to anyone on the Ark. But now, I'm discovering that there is so much more.

I turn to Bellamy and Murphy.

"Need a hand?" I ask. Not that I really want to assist in chopping up what was a living being, but I made a commitment to Bellamy.

"We're good, sweetheart. Here." He hands me a meat stick and I'm struck with a wave, no, a tsunami of hunger that I've been denying passage since we landed.

"Thank you, Bellamy." "Not a problem J." I walk off to a log on the boundary of camp. Too many annoying brats in this place. I start to eat my meat and at the first bite I instantly feel relieved. It tastes different than anything we'd ever had on the Ark. It was warm, that was a first. It wasn't slop, it wasn't bland and it didn't taste like oatmeal. Ugh, oatmeal.

"You look deep in thought." Octavia sits next to me. "Uh yeah." We both sit there eating.

"I'm sorry." She blurts. "About... It all, honestly." "It's fine, O. Don't worry about it." She smiles weakly. More silence. We've made our peace, might as well liven the mood.

"Who do you have to screw around here for a some water?" I ask. She laughs and Bellamy appears, probably drawn to the the sound of Octavia actually enjoying herself.

"That would be me, sweetheart. The tent's always open." He tells me cockily and winks. We shriek with laughter. "Bellamy!" I screech and slap his shoulder. "Bellamy Blake, quit flirting with my friend!" "No can do, O." Octavia groans and tells us she's going to check on Jasper and it's just Bellamy and I.

"Ouch J, that bruised my shoulder and my ego." "Poor baby, do I need to kiss it better?" "Yes please." He smirks.

I lean in mockinglyand his hand grasps my jaw and pulls it to his own. Our lips touch. He kisses me and I him. I've read about magical first kisses, when the prices kisses the princess, about how you see sparks and your lips tingle. But this wasn't like that. It was raw, passionate. Our lips were chapped and  rough from minor dehydration. His mouth tasted like the meat we had just eaten and I'm sure the same could be said for mine. It was still unlike anything I've ever imagined. It wasn't perfect; it was us.

I slowly pull away from his lips and warm embrace on the cool night. "Bellamy?" I look at him. "Yes sweetheart?" He replies. "I have to take over watch right now." I tell him awkwardly. Honestly, though I am supposed to be on watch right now it's the only thing keeping me from kissing him again. "Oh." He sounds disappointed. He clears his throat and his face turns emotionless. "You should get going then." "Yeah..." I stand up from the log. I decide that yes, I give in. I do very much like this boy. So, to show him that I am not leaving him by choice, I kiss him on the cheek and smirk. "We should do that again sometime, Bell." "Anytime, sweetheart, anytime." He smirks and calls after me whilst I stalk off to take my turn on duty.

Ok so, that turned out to be a really long ass chapter. It took me so long to write, it's ridiculous but I love it because of all the little Jada/Bellamy moments.

What should their ship name be? Jamy? Jellamy? Jallamy? Beda? Bellada? A last name mix? Blane? Like Blake and Kane? Or Kake? Klake? Comment your favourite so we're on the same page. I think I like Beda or Blane.. I don't know.

Anyway, I really would like some input, i.e what you liked/disliked, where you think the story is/should be going, little comments and things like that. It would mean the world to me. Now, I'm not going to say you have to comment or vote for the next chapter because I'm beginning to love this story and I love writing it but I would really appriciate it. Like so, so, so much! Thank you, I love you all so much!