SWEET LITTLE LIES // BELLAMY BLAKE // THE 1OO

THIRTEEN

✿ THIRTEEN ✿

"I wake up in the morning and I wonder,

Why everything's the same as it was"

___

Katherine carefully bit off a small piece of meat, pushing it against the small mouth of the little cub. It had been crying and moving restlessly ever since she had told Monty about her day and Katherine had figured that it was because he was hungry, though he had not taken a single bite of the meat she had been offering him.

"Perhaps he just needs milk," Monty said after a couple of minutes of observing Katherine.

"Well, there sure is no pet store around the corner, so I will have to make do," she replied. She grabbed the tiny piece of meat and pushed it against the inside of the cub's cheek so that he was forced to swallow it. Katherine smiled and pressed a little kiss against his black nose.

"Holy shit," Octavia muttered all of a sudden. "Is that a baby panther?"

Katherine quickly turned around to face Octavia, hiding the newborn inside her arms. She hadn't even heard Octavia come up the ladder, and she gave herself a mental slap in her face. This time it was Octavia, but if it would have been Bellamy or Frog-Face the little miracle would have probably ended up in the kettle for stew.

Letting out a loud sigh, Katherine drew one arm back, so that Octavia could see the baby cradled in the crook of her elbow. Its milky blue eyes looked up at Katherine in curiosity but quickly switched to Octavia as the girl went to hang over the newborn cub in amazement. Katherine noticed her eyes twinkling in excitement, much like hers had been doing ever since she had found the baby.

"He's amazing," Octavia said in awe. She cautiously placed her fingers on top of the fragile head of the panther, the fur feeling soft underneath her skin, and when the cub closed his eyes in satisfaction, Octavia started petting the animal. She even managed to get the cub to purr.

"Octavia," Katherine said in a voice that meant business. She only gained Octavia's attention as she started to wrap the cub in a piece of fabric again, forcing the younger Blake to take her hand away. When Katherine was done, the cub in her arms somewhat resembled a burrito, only its fluffy head poking from the cloth. Katherine looked up at Octavia, who managed to look slightly insulted. "Nobody knows. Nobody can know, especially your brother can't."

Octavia scoffed as if she was very amused, a smile forming on her lips. "Keeping a secret from my brother?" she asked somewhat sarcastically. For a second Katherine felt like she could sink through the ground. Of course, Octavia would tell her brother, Katherine realised, she couldn't even begin to understand the relationship those siblings had. So it surprised her when Octavia started nodding enthusiastically. "I'm so on it! Do you need any more meat? I will get it for you, they're cooking up the panther now."

"No," Katherine replied horrified. She shook her head wildly. "That's his mother."

"Oh," Octavia replied a bit taken aback. For a second she looked at the cub with a grave look, but then her facial expressed changed to a giddy one as if she had just realised something funny. She shook her head, moving towards the ladder of the Dropship. "That would have been a bit dark yeah. I will steal some chicken from Bellamy."

Before Katherine could reply, Octavia's head disappeared down the ladder.

✿

In the end, Katherine had decided that she would keep the cub in her, Nathan's and Charlotte's tent, with their permission of course. Charlotte had reacted the way every young girl probably would have, full of enthusiasm and asking if she could hold him. Nathan... not so much. It was obvious he was a bit excited, but he was focused on the more practical sides of it. What about food? He sure as hell wouldn't clean up after the cub and oh woe if the cub would do its needs on his mattress.