fourteen; ARE YOU EVER GOING TO TELL ME YOUR NAME?

"Reese, you're up."

The young woman glanced up to see Clarke staring at her expectantly and she frowned at the girl, incredibly unsure of who wanted to speak to her because everyone on the Ark, all of her friends, thought she was dead.

"If it's my father, you can tell him to float." She warned and Clarke shook her head with a frown.

"It's not your father." She assured, "But, he does want to talk to you and I think that you should speak to him."

Curious and albeit slightly annoyed with Clarke for her unneeded opinion, Reese got to her feet and popped another nut in her mouth, chewing as she walked over to the tent where she and Alexander had set up the communication system.

She hesitantly entered it and took the headset from a smiling Clarke with confusion in her eye.

She placed the device on her head and took a seat in the chair, staring at the fuzzy screen in curiosity until a woman sat down on the other side and a wide grin spread across her face.

"Grammy." She breathed out.

Vera Kane's smile was as breathtaking as Reese remembered it to be and she watched with wide eyes as the aging woman laughed, her hands cupping her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes.

"My darling Reese." She whispered to her in awe, "Oh, I'm so relieved."

"How are you?" Reese asked with a smile of her own as she wiped a tear from her cheek quickly.

"Me? I'm wonderful. But, how are you? You're on Earth, darling, is it everything we ever imagined?" Vera asked her excitedly as she clasped her hands together and Reese laughed as more tears sprung to her eyes.

"Everything and more, Grammy." She confirmed and she just made out Vera's eyes brightening on the grainy screen, "You're going to love it so much."

"Oh, I can already imagine it, darling." Vera exclaimed before she sighed, "I'm not going to be on the first ship but your father will be."

"Grammy, please, I don't want to talk about him," Reese told her gently, not wanting to upset her because ever since she was seventeen, her grandmother had made it her mission to get her only grandchild to forgive her only son to no avail, thinking two years was long enough to hold a grudge.

"I know, darling, but he'll be down there soon, you can't exactly avoid him, and you need each other, please just try, for me?" Vera asked, her tone slightly pleading, and Reese sighed, twisting the ring on her finger anxiously.

"I'll try." She lied and Vera beamed, clapping her hands together excitedly.

"I'm going to convince him to bring the tree down." She exclaimed happily, "Will you both plant it for me, maybe with that lovely friend you used to bring to visit the tree?"

Reese grinned, honoured that her grandmother wanted her to plant the tree in the earth and she nodded happily, her head spinning.

"We'll wait for you to come down." She assured her, "We'll plant it together."

"One minute." A voice on the monitor side spoke.

Vera gave her a watery smile.

"I miss you, Ellie." She whispered and Reese swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked rapidly to avoid breaking down in front of her grandmother.

"I miss you too, Grammy." She responded, wiping another tear from her cheek, "I'll be seeing you soon, yeah?"

"Of course." Vera beamed at her granddaughter and nodded as she stood up in her seat, "I love you, darling."

"I love you." She told her and just like that, her grandmother was gone.

Reese smiled to herself and wiped away another fallen tear and she closed her eyes a small sigh escaped her, she hadn't realised just how much she had missed her grandmother until she was right in front of her.

She opened her eyes and froze, her eyes hardening at the sight of the man on the other side of the screen who was staring at her with those cold eyes.

"Miss Kane." He greeted civilly.

"Shumway." Reese spat, her eyes staring at the man in anger and disgust, "What the hell do you want?"

"Will you retrieve Dax for me?" He asked her pleasantly, "His mother is waiting to talk to him."

Reese stood from her seat and glared at the man who stared at her with a smile as though he hadn't been the one who pushed the button that executed her mother and she nodded once and ripped the headset from her head and stormed out of the tent.

"Dax!" She shouted when she finally found the boy, who looked over at the sound of his name being called, "You're up."

The boy nodded and placed the animal he was skinning on the table they had made a few days earlier and he brushed passed her on his way to the tent and Reese made her way to the dropship, passing Monty and Jasper who tossed her a bag of rations and she grinned at them in thanks.

"Don't eat too many of those." She called to them, "They're supposed to help us through Winter."

"Yeah, yeah." Monty waved her off as he threw one of the nuts at Jasper who caught it in his mouth triumphantly.

She shook her head at the two with a smile as she entered the dropship, tossing back one of the nuts as she found Octavia and Bellamy in the middle of an argument.

"That's the way it is." Octavia was telling him angrily.

"Sorry." She murmured as she stared at the two who stopped to look at her in surprise, she smiled at Octavia but didn't meet Bellamy's eyes as she chewed the nut.

"Reese, you still agree with me, yeah?" Octavia questioned and Reese nodded slowly, not wanting to get between them, after what Octavia had told her happened between them before the torture of the grounder had happened and she had yet to yell at Bellamy for.

"He's still dangerous," Bellamy exclaimed as he looked between the two girls in disbelief.

"That's probably because of what you did though." Reese pointed out bitterly as she shook the back and poured a few of the contents into her outstretched palm.

"Exactly," Octavia spoke.

Bellamy scoffed as he stared Reese who looked completely disinterested as she ate her rations before he turned to Octavia who was glaring at him, "Whatever twisted connection you think you have with that animal, forget it, you don't get to see him, end of conversation."

"Why do you even care since I ruined your life?" Octavia asked her brother as he began to walk away and he froze in place, "You should want me to go up there, maybe you'll get lucky and he'll kill me, problem solved."

"Okay, firstly, Octavia, don't you dare ever say that again." Reese told her sternly, "And secondly, I'm leaving because I really don't want to be a part of this."

"Octavia, you know I didn't mean that." Was the last thing Reese heard as she quickly turned on her heel and walked back out of the ship and made her way to Alexander's tent, the man smiling at her in greeting as he shuffled his deck.

"Nuts." She greeted him happily as she held out the bag and he smiled, stretching his hand out and she poured some of the contents of the bag into his hand and he quickly tossed them back, chewing as he began to deal out the cards.

"Go Fish?" He asked and Reese nodded, picking up her pile and glancing at them.

"Got any fives?" She questioned and he smirked.

"Go Fish." He responded and Reese sighed, grabbing a card from the pile, "Got any twos?"

Reese handed him her two and he grinned triumphantly, "I spoke to Grammy. Any sevens?"

Alexander handed her the card, "How'd that go? Any nines?"

"Go Fish." She replied and he huffed, grabbing a card from the pile, "Really good, actually, I didn't realise just how much I missed her. Any fours?"

"I'm glad." He told her as he handed her a four and she placed the pair on the ground next to her, "Did you talk to your Dad? Any eights?"

"Reese." She heard a soft voice call and she shook her head, thinking she'd imagined it.

"No, I'm not ready." She replied, "Go Fish."

"Do you think you'll ever be?" He asked softly and she frowned, thinking over the question as she stared down at the cards in her hands.

"Reese."

"Probably not." She answered quietly, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Alexander asked her, watching carefully as she stood.

"My name." Before her friend could respond, she exited the tent as she called softly over her shoulder, "I'll be right back."

✦❀✦

She followed the whisper passed all of the delinquents who were rushing about and she left the gate, straining to hear the voice as it continued to whisper her name. She wandered all the way to a clearing not far from the butterfly field and a lone figure stood there with her back to the young woman, ebony coloured curls falling down her back.

"Reese."

"Mom." Reese whispered in awe and the woman turned, her kind expression lighting up jubilantly when she lay eyes upon on her only daughter.

"Reese." She repeated happily as the woman stumbled forward, tears welling in her eyes as she stared at her, "Hi, sweetheart."

"How are you here right now?" Reese asked her tearfully, "Am I dreaming?"

"No, not dreaming." Elizabeth Kane told her with a faint smile, "More hallucinating, but we don't have a lot of time."

"What?" Reese asked her frantically. "Why not?"

"You're needed elsewhere." Elizabeth answered softly, "Bellamy needs you but we need to talk first."

"About what?" Reese asked hesitantly, ignoring the remark about Bellamy.

"Marcus, sweetheart."

Reese frowned at her mother's words and shook her head stubbornly, "I'm not ready."

"I know, baby." Elizabeth sighed, "But you have to be ready at some point."

"He's the reason you're dead," Reese spoke, her chin trembling as she remembered that day.

"I broke the law, Ellie." Her mother told her gently, "Your Dad was just doing his job."

"I begged him not to." She whispered, her voice breaking harshly.

"Let your walls down, sweetheart." Elizabeth told her as she brushed her hand across Reese's cheek and she leaned into the touch, "Let yourself become ready and talk to your father, allow Bellamy back into your life, be happy, my beautiful Reese."

"I'm trying." She cried as a few tears spilled down her cheeks and Elizabeth smiled, wrapping her arms around her daughter who returned the embrace fiercely as she sniffled, "I miss you."

"I know." Elizabeth ended the hug and took a few steps back, "May we meet again."

"What?" Reese asked as her mother turned and walked gracefully toward the trees, "Mom, wait! Mom, why does Bellamy need me?"

Elizabeth paused and slowly looked at her daughter with sad eyes, "He's losing himself."

When she turned away again, a tear slipped down her cheek and she sniffled, "Mom, please don't go. Mom, please, come back."

"I love you."

"Mom!" She cried, "Mom!"

"Sky girl?"

Reese ripped her gaze from the place her mother had disappeared and spun on her heel to see the same female grounder she had been accidentally meeting with and she wiped her cheeks quickly.

"You're alone again." She observed, before her eyes flickered to the bag in Reese's hand and they flooded with understanding, "Jobi nuts, they cause intense visions, what were you seeing?"

"My mother." Reese answered carefully, "She's been dead seven years."

The woman slowly nodded, "Your people have my friend, don't they?"

Reese's eyes widened in surprise, "My friend and I are trying to get him released." She sighed angrily, "It's not going so well."

The woman studied her before she nodded.

"You're unlike the rest I've seen, I'll be sneaking in release him myself, I will not harm anyone." She added when she saw Reese's look.

"Thanks for the heads up." She replied and the woman nodded and turned away, beginning to walk in the direction Reese assumed she's come from, "Are you ever going to tell me your name?"

The grounder woman paused and turned back to her, her head tilted to one side as she regarded the young woman.

"Delphia." She replied, "Delphia kom Trikru."

Reese smiled at her, "I'm Reese, uh, Kane."

Delphia nodded once.

"You should get back to your people, Reese kom Skaikru." She told her before she slipped away and Reese found herself smiling softly as she turned back to the place her hallucination mother had previously stood before she turned and began her trek back to camp, throwing the nuts still in her ration back into the dirt as she went.

As she reached the wall, she collided with a body and barely caught herself before she fell, digging her boots into the mud to stop herself from falling onto her bottom and she quickly glanced up and into the bloodied face of the grounder Bellamy had chained up in the dropship and her eyes widened as he looked at her in shock.

"Octavia, I'm assuming." She guessed and when he refused to answer, she nodded, "Okay, cool, well, get out of here then."

He looked at her in shock but didn't need to be told twice and he quickly stumbled away from her, pulling his jacket further around him as he went.

✦❀✦

"Let the grounders come." Bellamy shouted as he and Clarke appeared, each holding a bulky sack over their shoulders and Reese immediately noticed the injuries on his face that weren't there when she had seen him earlier in the day, "We've been afraid of them for far too long, and why? Because of their knives and spears, well, I don't know about you but I'm tired of being afraid."

He and Clarke shared a look before they removed the sacks from their places and dropped them onto the ground gently, the material falling away to reveal a couple of dozen rifles and Reese let out a low whistle at the sight of them as the people around her began to speak amongst themselves.

"These are weapons, okay? Not toys." Clarke announced, "And we have to be prepared to give them up to the guard when the dropships come, but until then, they're gonna help keep us safe."

"And there are plenty more where these came from." Bellamy told them as the teenage delinquents around them gazed at Clarke with newfound respect, "Tomorrow Reese and I start training you, and if the grounders come, we're gonna be ready to fight."

Nobody spoke but the members of the hundred began to nod and soon after, they all dispersed and Reese watched Bellamy walk over to Octavia and wrap a blanket around her before the conversed for a few moments and Bellamy walked away to a secluded spot and Reese slowly approached where he had seated himself alone and she sat down cross-legged beside him, smiling up at him softly when he looked at her in surprise.

Bellamy sighed quietly as he ran a hand down his face, not looking at the woman, "I'm sorry."

She raised an eyebrow in surprise, "For?"

"I never thought I'd be capable of doing something so terrible." He whispered, "I'm sorry for not listening to you, I'm sorry that you had to see that, and I'm sorry that you're so disgusted with how I handled everything."

"Why'd you do it, Bell?" She whispered softly and her heart clenched when she saw the tears that shone in his deep brown eyes.

He's losing himself.

"When I saw Octavia, chained up, in an underground cave." He murmured, his voice breaking, "Something in me just snapped at the thought of her being held against her will underground and I thought he'd hurt her on top of her fear of those types of places and I lost any rational thought because I'm supposed to protect her, Reese, and I failed."

Reese stared at him in shock.

"You did not fail, Bellamy Blake." She whispered strongly, "Sure, you hit a bump in the road and you've been set off course a bit but you did not fail Octavia, do you understand me?"

"She hates me."

"She doesn't." Reese stressed, "She's angry and hurt, but she does not hate you, Bell, she loves you with her entire heart and I know that because I love you just as much."

"I'm so sorry." He told her, "For things not being how they used to."

"It's okay, they don't have to be exactly like they used to be." She replied with a grin as she took his hand in her own, "We've both changed and we'll go work things out as they come along because you're my best friend, and I'm not giving up on us that easily."

"What has you thinking so positively?" Bellamy questioned, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth as he gazed at her.

"My mother, actually." She answered after a moment, unsure if she'd wanted to keep what she'd seen quiet or not, "A hallucination of Elizabeth Kane is just as wise as the non-hallucination version."

"Your Mom was such a badass." He commented, his tense frame slowly beginning to relax when the conversation began to shift.

Reese smiled as she thought of the woman who'd raised her, "She definitely was."

Bellamy chuckled, "So, you remember how to use a gun, right? Because, I kind of told those kids you'd train them."

"Please." She scoffed at him as she finally let go of his hand, "Are you forgetting who taught you?"

The two shared a small laugh before they fell into a comfortable silence as they stared at the crackling flamed that danced in the pit feet away from them.

"Bellamy." The couple looked over their shoulders to see Clarke standing a few feet from them with a determined look, "It's time."

Bellamy slowly got to his feet with a troubled expression and he looked down to see Reese staring up at him with a curious smile.

"Gotta attempt to clear my name." He explained, a smile forming on his face when she grinned excitedly, "Because, I'm not going to run."

"Good luck." She told him before she reached up to pat his hand with an encouraging look and he continued to smile as he turned away and followed after Clarke as she called after their retreating forms, "Take care of him in there, Griffin."

"She really cares about you, you know?" Clarke spoke up, sparing a swift glance at the man who was looking over his shoulder and making a face at the giggling brunette.

"I care about her too." He answered.

══════════════════

double update because chapter thirteen was trash and needed to be overlooked.

i was really debating on what i wanted reese to hallucinate her mother saying to here before k finally settled on them just talking about her father and bellamy, but reese still has a long way to go before she forgives her dad.

Chil au daun - Calm down

thanks for reading!

~r