Chapter 1

"That's it Clarke! I will hear no more excuses! You know that I love your siblings to death, but you are going to hire a babysitter!" Octavia exclaimed as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake the kids.

"Oh no, what did they do?" Clarke groaned in response. She had a massive headache and wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep so that she would have enough energy to get through the next day.

In response, Octavia led her friend to the den.

"Shit! Octavia, weren't you watching them at all?" Clarke exclaimed angrily.

The whole room was covered in sparkling glue. Two crooked horizontal lines in gold and silver had been painted across the black couch, swirls of gold covered the chair, and bits of glitter that had fallen to the ground made the carpet sparkle. In addition, one side of the wall contained an unfinished stick figure, with waves of yellow glue representing the hair, and dots of blue making up the eyes. The legs of the figure were both missing.

"I'm sorry," Octavia replied. "But I had homework to do, like I told you I did. I was working just one room over from them, and they were all happily watching a movie, so I thought everything would be fine. When I herd them loudly chattering and laughing, I found Aden 'decorating' the couch using a stick of gold glue in the glue gun, Maddy was working on the chair, and Ryan was making a portrait of you."

"Ryan did this?" Clarke asked. She was surprised her brother knew how to make stick figures. He had only begun kindergarten a month ago and had never expressed an interest in drawing.

Octavia nodded. "When I yelled at them to stop, Ryan started crying, which made Maddy start to cry. Aden said that they were doing it as a gift for you, knowing how much you like art."

Clarke groaned. Even when her siblings were causing her huge amounts of trouble, it was impossible to really be mad at them. They really should know better than to paint the house though.

I eventually got them settled and to bed," Octavia stated as she continued. "But because I spent almost the whole night with them, I barely got any work done on my paper which is due tomorrow, so I really need to go."

"Can I help you finish it? I will worry about cleaning the place tomorrow." It was no secret that Clarke was really smart, so Octavia was quick to accept the offer.

By the time the paper was done, it was 3:00 AM and both girls were exhausted.

"Just sleep here again tonight, it's way too late for you to drive back home." Clarke stated. "I do have to be up at 7:00 AM to get lunches ready for the kids though, so I'm sorry if we wake you."

"It's fine," Octavia replied.

"Oh, and thanks again for coming over today on such short notice," Clarke said as she held out a fifty dollar bill for her friend.

"I can't accept your money Clarke, you're my friend. I'm happy to do the favor for you. But I was serious about hiring a babysitter. No one will fault you for not being able to handle all three of your siblings on your own while being in school."

"My parents trusted me with them. They could have made my grandparents the legal guardians, or my mom's friend Callie, but they picked me. My parents never used extra help when raising us except for when absolutely necessary because they wanted us to grow as a family. They didn't want some stranger involved."

Octavia nodded, glad that Clarke had finally provided some sort of justification to explain why she wouldn't just hire someone. Whenever anyone brought up hiring a babysitter, Clarke would generally dismiss the idea without leaving room for the conversation to continue.

"Your parents did trust you Clarke, which means they know that you will make the best decisions for your siblings." Octavia replied. "But it has been over a year now, and you are struggling. You can take the time to find just the right babysitter so that they can help take care of your siblings when you need to be studying and building a future for yourself. When the babysitter is with your kids so often, they won't be a stranger. Your kids will grow to like whoever you hire."

"What if they don't?" Clarke replied. "What if I end up hiring some nightmare of a babysitter who my kids hate? They have been through so much already. I can't bear to put them in the care of someone who will make their lives any worse."

"You will watch whoever you hire closely, and will let them go if the kids aren't happy."

Clarke remained silent. On some level, she knew that Octavia was correct. Her first exams would begin in two weeks, and she was already behind in her studying. Clarke was stubborn and still believed she was correct in thinking that the risk involved in bringing someone new into her home was too high, but she was also beginning to acknowledge that it was unrealistic to think that she could provide her siblings with the support they needed while doing well in school.

"I will think about it. Let's go to sleep now. It's really late and we don't want to risk waking up the kids."

Octavia nodded, and the two girls fell asleep seconds after hitting the bed.

"Good morning Clarke!" Maddy yelled as she raced down the stairs. Ryan followed closely behind, as he ran to the kitchen table for breakfast. Aden already sat quietly at the table.

"Good morning," she replied, as she pulled each one in for a hug and kiss to the cheek. As always, Ryan clung to Clarke the longest.

"I heard the three of you got up to some trouble yesterday. While I appreciate that you wanted to decorate for me, you should all know by now that you cannot paint the furniture or walls with anything permanent. I do not want this happening again. Understood?" Clarke had decided not to punish them further. While she was highly annoyed about the whole situation, her siblings had not intended to cause any harm. "I also don't want any of you using glue guns again without the supervision of an adult. You could have burnt yourself."

"Yes, we're sorry." Aden replied. Aden was the oldest of the kids at age ten. After a growth spurt last year, he now stood very tall for his age. With a fairly deep voice, and eyes that were haunted by the memory of his lost parents, he could easily be mistaken for an older child. In a way, Clarke was relieved that Aden had been able to act like the child he still was last night.

"Did you like my picture?" Ryan asked excitedly.

"It was great Ryan, but promise you will keep it on paper next time."

"Ok!" Ryan replied quickly as he continued to eat his cereal. Clarke laughed when she spotted a cornflake that had gotten stuck in Ryan's blonde hair, and pulled it out.

Clarke let out a sigh of relief when the kids had all gotten to their classrooms. She shot Octavia a quick text telling her to let herself out, and Clarke headed off to the university to begin her morning classes.

"Shit," Clarke muttered under her breath when she awoke with a start, realizing she had just slept through most of her biology lecture. The lack of sleep from the past several nights was catching up to her, and Clarke knew she could not go on this way.

One week later

"None of them are good enough!" Clarke yelled out in frustration.

"There was nothing wrong with that last girl we met up with. What is your issue with her?" Raven asked. Raven had also been a lifesaver for Clarke over this past year, having stepped in to help babysit more times than Clarke could count.

"When she talked to Aden, there was just no connection," Clarke replied.

"They spoke for one minute Clarke. What, do you expect sparks to fly or something?" Raven retorted. Raven was beyond thankful that Octavia had somehow convinced Clarke to hire a babysitter, but she was annoyed with how unreasonable her friend was being.

"She was just so normal and bland. And she also gave me that pitying look that I hate so much when I mentioned the death of my parents. I don't want the babysitter to be giving the kids that kind of look."

"Well, I guess we will just have to keep interviewing more 'sitters next week" Raven sighed. "Do you have this week covered for the kids?"

Clarke shook her head. "I have a lab on Wednesday that doesn't end until 6:00, so I will need someone to take the kids home and take care of them for a bit." Clarke answered with pleading eyes.

"Fine, I will be here. But only on the condition that you take next week's interviews more seriously."

"Thanks Raven, you're the best. And I promise I will." Clarke replied.

Raven nodded. "I'm going to a party tonight. I would invite you, but I know that you won't be able to come."

"Geez, you don't need to rub it in Raven," Clarke replied, annoyed with her friend. Clarke had been to one party about eight months after her parents had died. The only reason she had even gone to that one was because her friend Bellamy had shown up at her place, insisting to take care of the kids, and Octavia and Raven followed closely behind to drag Clarke out. Ever since that night, Clarke told herself that parties and normal social outings weren't a luxury she could accept anymore. It was a wonder she had managed to stay so close to her friends.

"If you had a babysitter, you could come with me." Raven replied, a smirk beginning to play on her lips.

"Shut up. All of you have me convinced already. I will hire someone once I have found a person who deems themselves worthy."

Raven might have exaggerated when she told Clarke that she was going to a party tonight. In reality, it was mainly just a relaxed night of drinking and gaming competitions with their core group of high school friends, plus a couple of new friends that they had made since beginning university. Tonight, it was at Jasper and Monty's flat.

"How were the interviews today? Please tell me Clarke hired someone." Octavia said, as Raven took a seat next to her.

Raven shook her head in response. "She's being too picky and untrusting of everyone. I get that she's super protective, but this is getting out of hand."

Octavia nodded her agreement. "There should be so many qualified people applying for this job as well. Clarke is offering a really high salary."

"How much per hour?" Raven asked out curiosity.

"$20 an hour, plus unlimited access to her father's old car."

"Holy shit, $20 an hour plus a car? I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but what job is this?"

Octavia and Raven quickly turned to their new friend Anya who had spoken.

"We've told you about our friend Clarke, right?" Raven asked. Anya nodded in response. She had definitely heard a lot about Clarke.

"Well we finally convinced her to get a babysitter."

"Is she made of gold or something? Who the hell pays that much for a babysitter?"

"Her mom was a doctor and her dad was an engineer, so her family had plenty of money left to them. And Clarke would pay anything to ensure the wellbeing of her siblings."

"Maybe I can convince my cousin Lexa to apply for the job. She could seriously use the money and the car."

Raven and Octavia's brows both shot up.

"Who is this cousin? How old is she? Why have we never met her?" Octavia exclaimed excitedly. She really didn't want to be the one stuck going through another glitter fiasco anytime soon.

Anya rolled her eyes at Octavia's outburst, but responded. "She's nineteen, lives with me in my apartment for the time being, and is saving up money to open up her own fencing academy. She doesn't have any experience with kids yet, but she's obviously open to working with them since she will do some instructing once she gets her academy running." Anya decided to leave the part about Lexa's cold exterior out.

"Let's set up a freaking interview!" Raven replied. "You trust her completely I take it?"

"Absolutely," Anya nodded in response. While Lexa would likely not let Clarke's siblings get too close to her, she would be extremely loyal to them.

"Is she free tonight? If she is, I say we ditch this thing and run her over there right now!" Octavia replied.

"No ditching!" Jasper exclaimed as he approached the girls. "Just drinks."

Jasper handed a few more beers around, and took a seat next to Monty on a couch perpendicular to the one the girls were seated on.

"I will see if Lexa is even interested and get back to you," Anya said to Raven and Octavia.

"Clarke, I have great news!" Octavia yelled as she walked into Clarke's house unannounced.

"Octavia!" Maddy yelled as she dashed towards her excitedly. "Octavia, can we play soccer again? I learned this really cool new trick" She said excitedly.

Interested in seeing what the commotion was all about, Ryan ran to the front area and jumped into Octavia's waiting arms.

"Look at what Clarke made for me!" he announced as he showed off the airbrush tattoo that Clarke had put on his wrist.

"It looks great Ryan, and I will be out to play with you in just a minute Maddy! We need to talk with your sister for a few minutes first though."

"Sorry it took me so long to get down here," Clarke said as she walked down the stairs. "What's up?"

"Octavia's going to play soccer with me!" Maddy yelled in response.

"That's nice of her, make sure you thank her." Clarke replied with a smile.

"We might have found a babysitter for you. I convinced her to come down here in an hour since I knew you would be free!" Anya had only called Octavia three hour ago with the news that Lexa was interested in doing the interview, but Octavia had been quick to follow up with Lexa and set an interview time.

"In one hour?" Clarke exclaimed in disbelief. "The place is a mess! I need to make supper for the kids, and then-"

"I have already ordered pizza for supper," Octavia began, and Ryan and Maddy cheered excitedly. "And if she's going to be babysitting, she's going to get used to seeing this place as a disaster anyways. I will stay for the interview, and will help you prepare whatever it is that you need doing."

"Thanks Octavia, you're the best. But you can't keep ordering pizza for them!"

Octavia shrugged. "We will work it off during some soccer. Come on Maddy! Ryan, are you going to play? I'm sure Aden will join us as well."

"Yeah!" Ryan replied.

Clarke was so thankful for Octavia in this moment. The kids were happily running around outside with Octavia, which gave her some time to work on her English paper and prepare for the interview.

I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter is already written so it should be up within two days.

How do you think the interview will go? Do you like the kids? And how do you think the family is truly handling the loss of their parents?