[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-size: 12px; font-family: times new roman; letter-spacing: .6px;"]people that were close to bellamy would be able to realize that something was off, there was that spark missing from their eyes and the usually extroverted person had began to grow more reserved and timid as if she were walking on eggshells. she was still new to northstar district, having only been there a year, how were they to know the real gravity of the situation she had found herself in? when bella had decided to try and make a home here for flynn and herself, the last face she wanted to see was that of her estranged husband. her blood had ran cold when she heard donovan's voice for the first time since being in the district and it hasn't warmed up yet, she had practically always been on guard since they arrived, often losing nights of sleep as they would just sit there and watch flynn for some form of reassurance that he was still okay in the moment.
for the first few days, bellamy had stayed secluded in her the little home she had picked for her and her son, trying to keep her whereabouts unknown to don until he would show up on her doorstep one day to 'fix their relationship for flynn's sake'. it wasn't long before it was back to what she had tried to escape from - playing happy reunited family with a man that would replace warm embraces and sweet nothings with cold shoulders and cruel threats. she had felt stuck though, it was too late to plead her case because while she had been hiding out with flynn, donovan had been going around preaching that it was a miracle they had found their way back to him, that they had been separated months ago because of bandits and it wasn't because bellamy had decided to flee with their son in the middle of the night because he had been a danger to them.
even if it weren't for the fact that he had those first few initial days to spread his story, he had already resided in northstar district long before bellamy even had begun to imagine moving there. he had months to perfect his story of a worried husband and father, he had time to build solid foundations of trust and friendship with the other residents. even if she did decide to try and speak up, don had already made it clear his intentions of what would happen, threatening to lie and make up stories about how she was the real danger to flynn and get the others on his side so flynn would be taken from her. they couldn't let that happen - at least with going along with it they could still keep flynn by her side and make sure he was safe.
it took awhile, but after about a month of primarily staying in the house with her one year old, she started to slowly begin to try and get more familiar and friendly with the people in northstar district, going on walks and helping out the best she could, eventually even making friends and growing bonds with the other residents. it had been more tolerable this way, being able to be out of the house for the majority of the day and in the open view for multiple people throughout the day, she felt safe this way and it gave her some comfort to know that it meant there were more eyes on flynn as well.
it was a nice spring day out, the seagulls flying around and making noise in the distance on the beach could be heard from where bellamy had been in the garden with some of the group's children gathered around little pots and gardening materials. she had been crouched down, flynn standing on his own between her legs with his little hands resting on her knees as he babbled nonsense in between giggles and squeals of excitement. "bella! look at this!" they heard finn chirp, holding the unrooted plant carefully in his hands. "wow, nice job, kiddo! now we just gotta get it into it's new home, right?" finn nodded eagerly, setting the plant down into the whole dug out in one of the pots they had prepared. bellamy watched as he started pushing the dirt over the flower's roots while she carefully adjusted flynn so that he was sitting on the ground with his toy before making her way over to the other child.
"you're doing perfect!" bellamy praised him. "you just gotta pack down the dirt a bit more now." she would lightly put her hand over his on the shovel, tapping the back of it on the soil around the plant to make sure the roots were safely tucked into the dirt. "there we go - beautiful, isn't it?" she smiled at the child, watching as they nodded eagerly. "i wanna do another one!" bellamy let out a chuckle at the enthusiasm, nodding her head along quickly. "go for it! you're a natural at this, bud." as she took a few steps away and crouched down beside flynn again, she ran her hand lightly over his head which made him giggle and look up at her.
for the first few days, bellamy had stayed secluded in her the little home she had picked for her and her son, trying to keep her whereabouts unknown to don until he would show up on her doorstep one day to 'fix their relationship for flynn's sake'. it wasn't long before it was back to what she had tried to escape from - playing happy reunited family with a man that would replace warm embraces and sweet nothings with cold shoulders and cruel threats. she had felt stuck though, it was too late to plead her case because while she had been hiding out with flynn, donovan had been going around preaching that it was a miracle they had found their way back to him, that they had been separated months ago because of bandits and it wasn't because bellamy had decided to flee with their son in the middle of the night because he had been a danger to them.
even if it weren't for the fact that he had those first few initial days to spread his story, he had already resided in northstar district long before bellamy even had begun to imagine moving there. he had months to perfect his story of a worried husband and father, he had time to build solid foundations of trust and friendship with the other residents. even if she did decide to try and speak up, don had already made it clear his intentions of what would happen, threatening to lie and make up stories about how she was the real danger to flynn and get the others on his side so flynn would be taken from her. they couldn't let that happen - at least with going along with it they could still keep flynn by her side and make sure he was safe.
it took awhile, but after about a month of primarily staying in the house with her one year old, she started to slowly begin to try and get more familiar and friendly with the people in northstar district, going on walks and helping out the best she could, eventually even making friends and growing bonds with the other residents. it had been more tolerable this way, being able to be out of the house for the majority of the day and in the open view for multiple people throughout the day, she felt safe this way and it gave her some comfort to know that it meant there were more eyes on flynn as well.
it was a nice spring day out, the seagulls flying around and making noise in the distance on the beach could be heard from where bellamy had been in the garden with some of the group's children gathered around little pots and gardening materials. she had been crouched down, flynn standing on his own between her legs with his little hands resting on her knees as he babbled nonsense in between giggles and squeals of excitement. "bella! look at this!" they heard finn chirp, holding the unrooted plant carefully in his hands. "wow, nice job, kiddo! now we just gotta get it into it's new home, right?" finn nodded eagerly, setting the plant down into the whole dug out in one of the pots they had prepared. bellamy watched as he started pushing the dirt over the flower's roots while she carefully adjusted flynn so that he was sitting on the ground with his toy before making her way over to the other child.
"you're doing perfect!" bellamy praised him. "you just gotta pack down the dirt a bit more now." she would lightly put her hand over his on the shovel, tapping the back of it on the soil around the plant to make sure the roots were safely tucked into the dirt. "there we go - beautiful, isn't it?" she smiled at the child, watching as they nodded eagerly. "i wanna do another one!" bellamy let out a chuckle at the enthusiasm, nodding her head along quickly. "go for it! you're a natural at this, bud." as she took a few steps away and crouched down beside flynn again, she ran her hand lightly over his head which made him giggle and look up at her.