Does he regret enlisting in the military? No.
Is he bummed that he's been discharged? Also no.
When his plane lands he walks straight out the front door to get a cab. He wanted to surprise Octavia, it's been years since he's seen her. Far too long.
As the cab pulls up in front of their old family house, he suddenly gets nervous.
What's he supposed to say? How's he supposed to explain what happened? What gives him the right to spring this on her?
He doesn't get time to think about those things because the door is opening. Bellamy stands frozen in front of the door, his hand ready to knock.
"Bell?" Octavia speaks with disbelief like he's not really there.
"Hey, kid, miss me?" She tackles him in a hug, making him fall back onto the porch.
"Yes, of course, I did you freak." He laughs, hugging her back.
They get his bags in and sit down in the kitchen, talking about everything, catching up on the past few years.
It all comes to a close when Octavia says, "I'm so happy to see you," before going to bed.
He gives her a soft smile, "I'm happy to see you too, O."
Happy doesn't begin to describe how happy he is, but it's a start.
xxx
They live and grew up in the small town of Walden, South Carolina. Where the population is always less than 3,000 at any given time.
Bellamy's in town for a few days before he starts to remember everything about it.
How small it really is. How rural. How close everyone is. How most people stay their entire lives, never giving a second thought to leaving, let alone actually getting out.
He can hear people whisper and look at him. Like he's the strangest tourist they've ever seen. But he's not visiting, not anymore. He's back and he's here to stay.
After a week and a half, he and Octavia are driving around and he spots it.
"No way... The Griffin diner is still open?"
She looks over to where he's pointing.
"Oh, yeah. Clarke runs it now."
That's a shock to him.
Clarke Griffin was his high school girlfriend. They were the total cliche power couple; star quarterback and head cheerleader. But they both had ambitions and goals, and one of the goals they shared was to get out of this godforsaken town and never come back.
Looks like we were both bullshitting each other on that promise...
They go in for dinner and find it looks still the same as it did when he left.
But things are going to be different. He's known that from the start. He's been gone for over seven years. He doesn't expect things to stay the same for that long.
"You've got to be kidding me, Bellamy Blake back in Walden, I never thought I'd see the day." He looks over to the counter and standing behind it is one of his favorite people in the whole world.
"Raven Reyes, you a lowly waitress now'a'days?"
She smirks, pleased he can still take a joke.
"In this dump? I wouldn't be caught dead. However, one of the perks of being best friends with the owner is I can use the drink machine, coffee maker, and soft serve whenever I please."
"Oh is that right?" He's smirking back.
She shakes her head, a smile still on her face. She comes out from behind the counter to give him hug. It's only after he releases her that he notices the brace. His smile drops. She follows his line of sight and rolls her eyes.
"I'm fine, minor car accident. It's just a precautionary thing."
The three of them take a booth and start talking about her leg, talking about his enlistment, talking about dumb things.
They talk and talk until they're interrupted by a high pitched scream.
"Aunty Raven!"
"Anty Rae!"
Bellamy looks behind him to find two small, identical children rushing towards their aunt. The boys are small, they both have the same blonde hair and fair skin that he recognizes, one of the boys shares her trait with his piercing blue eyes while the other has flashing grey. They look familiar, but he doesn't want to assume.
"Reyes." Bellamy turns again to find a towering man he'd never met before smiling at Raven and finding her smiling right back.
"Kingsley." She nods before turning back to the two boys. "Your dad treat y'all alright?"
"He took us to the park and the arcade!"
"And for pizza and ice cream!"
"So basically everything I told you not to do, you went and did?" They all turn in surprise to find a blonde woman in black, dirtied combat boots standing at the front door with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face.
"Mommy!"
"Mama!"
They both rush up and hug her legs. She looks around her friends before settling her gaze on Bellamy, losing her smirk and turning it into a bit of a forced smile.
"Bellamy Blake...never thought I'd see the day you came back to this crater rot of a town."
"Clarke," He stutters on her last name, unsure of if she changed it when she got married, "I could say the same thing about you."
"Oh, I never left. You just didn't stick around." The tension fills the air quick, and everyone feels it but the kids.
"Mommy, Daddy wanted to know if he could spend the night tonight." The one with grey eyes asked.
Clarke looked down at her son, at the guy Bellamy knows to be Kingsley/Clarke's baby-daddy, at Bellamy himself, then back to her son.
"I don't see why not, but no staying up late."
It turns into a bit of a family argument, but there's no heat behind any of it. They're all friendly with each other, in a familial way.
Clarke tells Kingsley to take the kids back to the house, she tells him she'll be home around ten and that they can talk when she gets there.
The kids make final rounds for hugs before literally climbing on top of their dad's back, the man walking out of there with no problem.
Once everything calms down Bellamy notices that Raven and Octavia have mysteriously disappeared, leaving him alone with Clarke.
"So..." He starts, unsure of where they stand. He didn't think she was still living here, so he hadn't visited when he came back from his first tour. He hadn't seen her in over seven years, and they didn't have the best goodbye, but it certainly could've been worse.
"So," Her smirk coming back into place before sobering. "You staying this time?"
He nods without thinking. She nods back.
"Polaris is still open, you want to get drinks and catch up?" She offers.
He quirks a brow, "Sure, when?"
"Tonight works for me. After the little monsters pass out."
He gives a soft smile, "Alright. 11?"