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T E N | SAVING PRIVATE JASPER

By the time Carter and Charlotte returned from the little paradise, most of the camp was up...

... And moaning about Jasper.

"Carter!" She cringed at the anger in Finn's tone. Slowly, Carter turned to face her best friend with an innocent smile.

"Hi." She replied a little too sweetly.

"Where the hell have you been? I thought you got kidnapped or something!" He exclaimed, looking her up and down for any new cuts or bruises.

"I stayed with Charlotte, she couldn't sleep so we sat under a tree until we both fell asleep," Carter sent Charlotte a sly wink and Charlotte bit the insides of her cheeks so she didn't blow their cover. Finn looked between the two of them suspiciously but didn't pursue it.

"I need to change your bandage, come on." Finn ordered somewhat grumpily. Carter rolled her eyes dramatically and looked down at Charlotte.

"You know where I am if you need me." Charlotte nodded as Carter and Finn walked towards the drop ship. Carter's mood dropped at the sight of it. She hated the thing with a passion. "Hey Finn..."

"What?"

"Do you think you could help me get up to the second level, where Jasper and Monty are? I need to talk to Monty and I really don't want to stay on the lower level, it drives me crazy." Finn raised an eyebrow at her explanation.

"I could try and take you up there on my back?" He suggested. He knew he could argue his point to the ends of the earth about the fact that climbing a ladder is dangerous when you've only got one working foot, but he wasn't stupid. She would do it anyway, with or without his consent, so instead of arguing he just decided to agree with her, at least he would be there if anything went wrong.

"That sounds dangerous... I'm in." Carter snickered, hobbling after him. Once they got to the ramp, Finn managed to get her on his back without a problem and held tightly under her legs so she couldn't fall.

"I'm going to need my hands so wrap your legs around my waist, just be careful." He instructed. Carter did as he said and tightened her grip on him. He was shaky on the first few pegs of the ladder but the further they got, the more comfortable he felt and adjusted to the extra weight. Once they was up, Carter released her grip on him and sat on the edge of the hatch hole as Finn went back down and passed her up her crutches.

"Carter, what are you doing up here?" Clarke gaped as Carter used the crutches to stand on her foot. "If you've used that foot so help me I'll-"

"Relax Princess," Finn smirked, reappearing on the second level. "I carried her up here. If I didn't, she would have found a way up anyway. Besides, I need to check her foot and all the medical stuff is up here." Carter ignored their conversation and hobbled her way over to Monty who was tucked in the corner, examining wristbands that had been taken off.

"Any luck?" Carter raised an eyebrow as she slowly lowered herself opposite him and placed her crutches to the side. He looked up from his work only just noticing her presence.

"Not yet," He shook his head. Carter's shoulder's deflated. "But I did fix your boot." She looked up and smiled gratefully at him. She missed that boot.

Finn crossed his legs and sat across from her, slowly undoing the bandaging. He bit his lip and looked at Carter and then at Clarke, who came to check on it. "Not bad," She smiled at Carter. "You're healing pretty fast. I give it a few more days until you can try and walk without the crutches."

"This is really weird, three days ago you could nearly look right through the hole, now it's all scabbed up and on a fast track to healing." Finn marvelled as he wrapped a new piece of cloth around Carter's foot. "Does it hurt?"

"Not really, only if I put my whole weight on it, not that I've tried or anything..." Carter trailed off absentmindedly. She didn't understand why it was healing so quick either, maybe it had something to do with being on the ground? She sighed and shrugged the thought off. She could figure it out when she was better. She chewed on her lip for a few moments, zoning in and out of deep thought before she turned her head towards Monty. "Try it on me."

He looked up, wide eyed and confused. "What?"

"You're working on a dead wristband, take mine off. See if you can keep it alive." She elaborated, delicately putting her wrist on the table, palm up.

"But what about your dad?"

"What about him?" Carter countered with a quirked eyebrow. "Getting in touch with the Ark is a hell of a lot more important than my dad thinking I'm alive through a band."

Monty furrowed his eyebrows and examined the bracelet attached to her wrist. "Are you sure?"

"Positive, I've had three days to think over it." Carter insisted, nudging her arm closer to him. He shrugged in response and picked up her arm, thoroughly inspecting her wrist.

"The Grounders cauterized the wound," She heard Clarke observe and turned her head towards where Jasper lay moaning in agony. Carter had became almost immune to his moans and rarely ever heard them. She didn't understand why the majority if the Hundred couldn't either. "Saved his life."

"Saved his life so they could string him up as live bait," Finn added, standing up from his handiwork on Carter's foot. He leaned causally against the ladder and crossed his arms across his chest. "Garden of Eden this ain't."

"This is infected. It could be septic," Clarke affirmed grimly. Both Carter and Monty looked up with a grimace. Clarke diverted her attention to Monty. "Any progress on using the wristbands to contact the Ark?"

Silence.

"Monty?"

Monty stared at Jasper gravely for a long beat and then looked back up at Clarke. "That would be a firm no."

"He's working on it." Carter hissed in pain as he accidentally pinched at her skin.

"Sorry." Monty mumbled, somewhat distracted by his best friend wailing in agony.

"My mother would know what to do." Clarke shook her head in defeat. Carter gnawed on her bottom lip as she looked back at Monty who was concentrating on the careful removal of Carter's wristband.

"How's he doing?" Carter didn't have to look up to know Wells Jaha had joined them. She could hear his heavy boots clang against the metal floor.

"How does it look like he's doing, Wells?" Clarke snapped impatiently. Monty and Carter exchanged cautious glances before looking back down at her metal bracelet. She had noticed there was a lot of unspoken tension between the two but never felt the need to ask. Her curiosity was sparked, however, as she couldn't see the Chancellor's son doing anything wrong. He's an all round model citizen. The exact person Carter always unintentionally avoided.

"Hey, I was just trying to help." Wells defended.

Clarke sighed in frustration, both at herself and at Wells. She knew it was irrational to snap at him like that, but she was too wrapped up in saving Jasper to care. "Alright, you wanna help? Hold him down." Clarke instructed calmly. Both Finn and Wells clutched onto his hips and legs, restraining him. Carter watched as Clarke grabbed one of the make shift knives and stuck it in hot coals.

"I'm not gonna like this am I?" Monty asked although it was rhetorical. Carter wanted to look away, but she couldn't. Her teeth dug deeper onto her lip and her hand which was by Monty squeezed into a ball. It wasn't even her that was receiving it, but she could imagine how much pain that would be, it hurt like a bitch on her foot, much less on the chest. Monty's soft, warm hand rested on top of Carter's and she blinked away from the knife in the coals to Monty's reassuring face. He nodded softly as if trying to silently calm her down and it was then she realized how ridiculous she was being. Even Jasper's best friend wasn't as worried as she was.

Clarke exchanged looks with Finn and Wells before he nodded, drawing the dim glowing red blade out of the coals carefully. She then looked to Monty with a pleading look. "I know this is gonna be hard, but can you hold down his other leg?" She then turned her attention to Carter. "And I need you to hold him by his collarbones."

A reluctant nods came from both of them and they slowly made their ways over, Carter with her crutches and did what was asked of them. Clarke looked at all of them individually before exhaling deeply. "Okay, on three. One... two... three!" As soon as the blade hit his skin, a powerful scream emitted from Jasper and his body tensed before he began to thrash out.

"Hold him still!" Clarke ordered and Carter tightened her grip on his collarbone and gritted her teeth at the sound of Jasper's moan. "I need to cut away the infected flesh." Carter looked away as Jasper's eyes rolled into the back of his head and his scream dwindled to a throaty groan.

"Stop it, you're killing him!" Octavia frantically rushed to Jasper's side, her eyebrows knitted with worry.

"She's trying to save his life." Finn retorted calmly.

"She can't." Another voice interjected. Oh great, why don't we just invite the whole camp up here, Carter thought bitterly. She looked up to see Bellamy walk up to them and she suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Of course it would be him to think of the worst scenario.

Carter peered up through her lashes as Wells stood up, with a hint of distaste in his expression "Back off."

"Would you stop?" Carter snapped, glaring at the both of them. "Jasper needs our help and you're having a god damn fight for dominance." They both turned to look at her and she didn't bother hiding her annoyance. It was selfish of them and she wasn't going to stand for it.

"We didn't drag him through miles of woods just to let him die." Clarke added, refusing to look at either of them.

"The kids a goner." Bellamy objected. "If you can't see that, you're deluded. He's making people crazy."

Clarke raised her head, her face was of stone. "Sorry if Jasper is an inconvenience to you, but this isn't the Ark. Down here every life matters."

"Take a look at him," Bellamy spoke lowly. "He's a lost cause." A silence overwhelmed them as everyone of them looked down at Jasper's exasperated body. Carter refused to believe he couldn't be saved. She looked up and caught Finn's gaze, her stomach dropped at how hopeless he looked. Bellamy's words had got to him.

"Hope." She mouthed to him with a small smile. He returned it, although it was forced. He desperately wanted to believe that Jasper was going to pull through, but they had no medical equipment to help and there was no way to know if he would even recover from it.

"Octavia, I spent most of my life watching my mother heal people," Clarke paused. "If I say there's hope, there's hope."

"This isn't about hope," Bellamy contended, avoiding Carter's piercing stare. She didn't have to look at him to know that he didn't believe that. She could just hear it in his voice. "It's about guts and you don't have the guts to make the hard choices, I do. He's been like this for three days, if he's not better by tomorrow, I'll kill him myself."

"Bullshit." Carter mumbled under her breath. She remembered how Clarke's life balanced in Bellamy's hands, literally, and he could have dropped her--it was one less problem for him-- but he didn't. Carter strongly believed that Bellamy couldn't kill someone without a damn good reason, and that's why he didn't shoot-to-kill the Chancellor.

He glanced at Carter for a fraction of a second before looking at his sister. "Octavia let's go."

"I'm staying here," Octavia countered, side glancing at Clarke with a faint smile. Despite that Octavia couldn't see him, he nodded his head and descended down to the lower level.

"Power hungry, self serving jackass. Doesn't care about anybody but himself," Monty muttered causing Carter to chuckle lightly under her breath. His eyes flickered to Octavia. "No offense." Octavia shook her head, too dejected to say anything.

"Yeah--Bellamy is all that, but he also happens to be right." Finn acknowledged, pursing his lips. Carter sighed and pulled away, hobbling back to where her and Monty sat previously.

"You're wrong." She pursed her lips and stared at Finn with hard eyes. "He will make it thought this and he will make a full recovery or I'll be damned. If you don't think he is then I suggest you leave."

"Carter-"

"-No Finn." She shook her head firmly. "I have stood by you no matter what stupid ass choice you made, but this? Giving up? That's not what the Finn I know would do. He would fight until there's nothing left to give. So, I'll say it again, if you're gonna carry on being depressing then I suggest you leave." When he didn't budge, she hobbled back to him and nodded her head. "Good, now quit being a downer and help us get Jasper back on his feet."

"Ouch." Monty smirked. "I'd hate go get on the wrong side of you."

"I'm forever on the wrong side of her, aren't I Bambi?" Finn wiggled his eyebrows causing Carter to crack a smile and ease the tight atmosphere.

"Damn straight."

"The lighting in here is really bad, I'm gonna go outside and figure out what it was exactly that they put on Jasper's wound." Clarke excused herself as she climbed down the ladder. There was pause between the remaining bodies left before Finn stood up.

"I should probably go with her," He walked over to the hatch and looked back over to Carter. "Holler if you need me."

"Yes, mother," she drawled out sarcastically. He laughed and swung himself down to the lower level.

"I should probably go too." Wells parroted. Octavia, Monty and Carter all watched until Wells was gone before speaking again.

"They're practically tripping over themselves for her attention." Octavia mused. Carter frowned and looked between Monty and Octavia before shaking her head.

"What? No... No. Finn wouldn't, he couldn't be..." She trailed off, becoming more and more convinced by the second. "Oh my God... he is."

"What- jealous?" Octavia teased, the atmosphere suddenly started to get lighter.

"Ew no." Carter scrunched up her nose. "I'll pass. He's too... smothering, like he always thinks I'm going to break or something if he leaves my side."

"Sounds like Bellamy," Octavia pointed out.

"Bellamy's your brother."

"So?"

Carter's frown deepened before her whole face lightened up into a smile. "He literally treats me like his little sister, I don't know whether that's annoying or adorable." Octavia chuckled lightly and rolled her eyes.

"Can you just settle with both?" Monty asked with a quirked eyebrow, gesturing with his head to his makeshift work bench. "I kind of want to get your wristband off."

                         ***

"Ouch! Dammit!" Carter hissed, yanking her arm back and rubbing where Monty had cut. It had been the third shallow cut he had made on her arm. He claimed it was an accident, but by the second jab, she was beginning to think he was doing it on purpose.

"Well you keep squirming," Monty scowled, retrieving her arm back. "I would have hated to see you when you injured your foot." Carter paused as she tried to think of something witty to retort with but her mind went blank so she settled with a glare.

"How much longer, you've been doing whatever you've been doing for ages."

"An hour and a half isn't ages," Monty sent her a pointed look. "I just want to get it off right, is that such a crime?"

"Yes." Carter answered bluntly. "You've drawn blood from my arm three times now, I'm pretty sure that counts as bodily harm."

"You guys, keep it dow-" Just before Octavia could say anymore, a group of teenagers filled the room coughing and darted around quickly to close all the vents. Carter frowned at them in confusion. What the hell are they doing?

"What's going on?" Monty asked, looking at them as they covered their mouths.

"The air got thick, everyone's skin started burning." A girl answered. Carter's eyes widened just as Octavia's did.

"My brother's out there!" She exclaimed, looking fearfully at them.

"So's Finn," Carter breathed, her eyes were back to their widened state. "We need to do something."

"No. He'll be fine." Monty assured, looking at both girls with little conviction. "We'll all be fine."

Carter bit her lip and knitted her eyebrows but stayed put. A bile rose in her throat at the image of Finn burning in poisonous air. Suddenly, there was a click and the pressure around her wrist lightened, her eyes darted to the now open wristband and her jaw went slack.

"Did it work? Is it still working?" She rushed out, rubbing at her wrist where the little needles were, hoping it would relieve the small nagging sting.

"Yes," Monty breathed in astonishment. He chuckled, looking at Carter and Octavia with lightness. "Yes!" Just before they could celebrate, someone darted past the table, wobbling it and knocking Carter's bracelet off, leaving it to clatter on the floor. Monty scrambled to pick it up and watched as the blue light on the edge of the needles faded out . Monty groaned and let the broken wristband drop to the small work table. "No..."

"Dammit!" Carter slammed her palm onto the table in anger. The only thing that kept her in contact with her father was gone. She picked it up with clumsy hands and inspected it. Sure, she was an engineer but she didn't have the first clue on how to fix that. "Back to the damn drawing board," she sighed bitterly.

"Kane! Kane!" A rushed voice made him turn with a quirked eyebrow. It was Abby.

"What?" Kane demanded. He was still rather bitter from her disobeying orders and the fact that he hadn't seen his daughter in days didn't help his mood either.

"It's Carter," Abby glanced at Kane with uncertainty. "Her light's gone out."

His heart stopped and his ears rang with a sharp sting. "Wh-what?" Before Abby had a chance to reply, Kane was already sprinting to the Control Room, his heart was in his throat.

He skidded to a halt and his bottom lip trembled as his eyes fell on Carter's dim profile. There was nothing there, her heart monitor was flat and there was no readings left to assure him his little girl was still kicking. "No..." he turned his head around to face Abby, his finger jabbing towards the screen. "That's wrong. She... she can't be-- no."

"Do you believe they're taking their wristbands off now?" Abby asked, absorbing in her colleagues grief-stricken face.

                        ***

"Shh, it's okay Jasper, it's gonna be okay." Carter soothed, gently stroking at the boys hair. She was completely thrown off guard when his moans started to get louder and louder, so she did the only thing she could. Try, and fail, at soothing him.

"I'm gonna get a drink, do you want one?" Monty asked, tiredly rubbing at his eyes. The chances of anyone getting to sleep in the drop ship decreased with every agonizing moan that erupted from Jasper's throat. Octavia silently shook her head and sighed and Monty's eyes landed on Carter.

"I'm good," Carter declined with a smile. "But whilst you're down, can you see if Charlotte's there? She's small, got blond hair and doesn't look a day older than thirteen."

"Sure." Monty nodded as he climbed down to the lower level as another moan emitted from Jasper. Both Carter and Octavia ignored the complaints from the rest of the Hundred that had taken cover down below.

"Do you really think he's going to pull through?" Octavia asked as she sat down on the other side of Jasper, gently stroking his forehead.

"Yeah," Carter affirmed with a confident nod. "He's made it this far, I'm sure he's gonna be just fine until they get back."

"I'm counting on it." Octavia sighed, looking down at Jasper remorsefully. "You know, when the giant snake got me, he was the only one that risked his life to save me."

"Then it's all the more reason to save him." Carter smiled a genuine smile at the girl. She returned it and they both sat in a comfortable silence. Carter wondered if her father thought she was dead or not. She desperately wanted to tell him she was still alive, but all the while they couldn't contact the Ark there was no chance. For the first time since after her mother's death, she would openly admit that she missed him, even if he was an ass, she really missed her dad.

"Murphy's gonna kill Jasper!" Monty rushed out as he scrambled up the ladder, breaking Carter's thoughts. Octavia quickly got to her feet and helped Monty shut the hatch, kicking Murphy down as she did. Carter carefully got to her foot as Monty sat down on the hatch, a panicked look streamed across his face.

"Don't let him in!" Octavia called out as she looked around for something to jam the hatch with.

"Let me in Monty!" Murphy shouted, pounding his fist against the hatch.

"No rush!" Monty blurted, his eyes darting from both girls. "I'm fine here."

"Here!" Carter hollered, chucking Octavia one of her crutches. She breathed out a thanks and shoved it through the handle and under one of the ladder pegs so the hatch couldn't open. They all looked at each other, with relief.

"Now what?" Monty asked, scrambling back to his feet.

"We wait until my brother's back, he'll have something to say," Octavia decided. She looked back at Carter who was trying to concentrate on standing with just one leg and one crutch. "Are you OK?"

"Peachy," Carter mustered a smirk as she sat back down. "Man, I hate that guy."

"I strongly second this opinion." Monty nodded. "Murphy's a douche."

"Did you see Charlotte?" Carter asked, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"No," Monty shook her head and Carter's stomach dropped. "I'm sorry, Carter."

"So she's out there somewhere?" Carter furrowed her eyebrows and ran her free hand over her face. She was preying that Charlotte was safe. Carter had made a bond with the little girl and she would be more than disheartened. She grimaced just at thought.

"Hey, you can find her tomorrow, I'm sure she's safe." Octavia reassured.  "But right now, we've got to hang tight and protect Jasper."

Despite every atom in her body wanted to run out into that fog and find Charlotte, Carter bit her lip and nodded.