A while back, I opened my prompt fills on Tumblr (you can find me as pawprinterfanfic there) and was lucky enough to get the prompt "Clarke and Bellamy get married so she can keep Madi and in the process fall in love (bonus: I would love it if Bellamy had to break up with Echo to do it)" from griffin-groupie

It's safe to say I went a little overboard with this fic.

It was meant to be a one-shot at 2000 words. I'm still not done writing it, but the current total is 35, 000 words.

If you've read any of my other fics, you'll know that I usually have longer chapters (9k words), but that won't be the case for this fic. In the interest of time, I've decided to keep each chapter around 5k words or less.

I also just want to give a HUGE disclaimer. This fic deals with a lot of the details of marriage and adoption. I have no life experience with either of these things, so a lot of the logistics in this fic are from what I have seen in movies or have read. Therefore, this is 100% not accurate and I give the biggest apology in advanced because of this. If there are any major problems, feel free to approach me about this and I will be more than happy to listen to what you have to say! I hope most of you don't mind my lack of knowledge haha.

I also try to put warnings at the start of each chapter. General warnings for this fic are: angst, coarse language, and romantic scenes (these are limited to kissing). Specifically for chapter 1, the warnings are major angst and hurt/comfort.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 1: THE DEAL

June 4

She came to see him in the middle of the night.

"Bellamy!" she hissed, her fist pounding against the door. She had been standing at the door to his apartment for a couple minutes already, trying her hardest to wake him up. It was an all too familiar situation. When they used to live together, she would more than often forget her keys. Same old, same old. "Bell!"

She reached for her phone again, pressing the button to call him. She let it ring several times, hoping he turned on the sound or vibrate for the night.

She needed to see him.

After a few rings, she pressed the red button with a little too much force and shoved it back in her pocket. Wake up, wake up, wake up.

"Bellamy!" She knocked rapidly again. She knew it wasn't the best idea to visit him in the middle of the night when he was already asleep, but she needed her best friend. Gods, she needed him. Her life had fallen apart within the last dozen hours, leaving her broken. Out of everyone in the world, she knew that he would help put her back together.

"Bell- Oh!" The door flew open, sending her stumbling inside the apartment. She caught herself on the doorknob, preventing herself from tumbling to the ground. The light poured in from the hallway, casting an illuminating glow over both herself and the woman in front of her.

"Clarke," the woman who answered the door greeted her, her voice tired.

Clarke straightened up and gave her a warm smile. While her and Echo never were best friends, they got along just fine. Clarke grimace when she seen the woman was wrapped in a throw blanket. Realizing she must've woken her up, an apology came tumbling out of her mouth.

"I'm so sorry for waking you up. I just need to talk to Bellamy." Echo closed the door to the apartment and flicked on the light to the living room.

"It couldn't wait until morning?" she asked, crossing her arms. Clarke chewed her lip, a wave of guilt flooding her.

It could have. It could have waited. She didn't need to see him right now. She just needed him – she needed someone to help hold her together. Bellamy was the first one she thought of, but, really, she could've gone to Raven or Wells or Monty or even Murphy.

"I know, I'm sorry, but it's an emergency." Clarke scanned the room, surprised to see a blanket thrown onto the floor beside the couch and pillows spilling beside it. Her eyebrows pushed together. "Bellamy is home, isn't he?"

"I'm sure he's still asleep," Echo said, walking towards the couch. She bent over, picking up the blanket and pillow, tossing it back onto the sofa. She sat down heavily, her head dipping towards her knees. She looked exhausted.

"I'm sorry for waking you." Clarke shifted on her feet and glanced towards Bellamy and Echo's bedroom. The door was still shut and no light flooded out from under it. Echo was right; he was still asleep. "I'm just going to go talk to him. Sorry again."

"S'okay." Echo was already falling onto her side, her eyes shielded under her wrist against the bright lights.

Clarke flipped the switch off, walking briskly across the living room, towards where Bellamy's bedroom was. She navigated the room in the dark, her memory guiding her perfectly. Even though it was only a few weeks since she moved out, it felt like a lifetime.

Clarke slipped into his room, shutting the door behind herself. While the apartment was silent before, the air was heavier in his room, somehow. It felt quieter, darker, more closed off. She sucked in a few deep breaths as she listened for the sounds of his breathing.

She could tell he was still sleeping, just based on the pattern of his breaths. They were so even and calm. She felt guilty waking him up, but she needed him. Her desperation outweighed her uncertainty in that moment.

"Bellamy?" Clarke stepped forward, her hand outstretched into the darkness. She couldn't see anything. While the living room had a small window for moonlight that helped guide her way, Bellamy's room was pitch black. "Bell?"

"Mm." He groaned from the bed and she heard his covers rustling. He was slowly waking up.

"Bellamy," she repeated, her voice louder this time. Her hand touched the mattress finally and she sat on the end. The sudden dip in the bed must've woke him up fully.

"Mm. Clarke." His voice was rough with sleep, but still held that tenderness that she appreciated so much. Just hearing his voice made her eyes water.

She needed someone to hold her together.

"Yeah, it's me." Her voice was crackled and thick with emotion. She nearly let out a sob when she could hear his movements begin to speed up. He could hear the pain in her voice too, causing him to wake suddenly.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He reached over and flicked on his bedside lamp. Clarke winced as the soft light hit her eyes. Bellamy was already moving towards her, pulling himself across the bed.

"I'm not hurt," she responded. Not physically hurt, anyways. The truth was, she wasn't okay. Nothing about her day was okay. "I'm sorry for waking you." Even those words came out tightly, like her throat was closing in on itself.

"Gods, what time is it?" Bellamy pulled himself beside her, his feet dangling off the bed to match hers. His hair was sticking up in every odd direction and his eyes were barely cracked open. Him looking so sleepy made her feel even worse. "It doesn't matter. What's wrong?" Clarke felt her bottom lip tremble the slightest, her throat constricting.

Talking about it was so much worse than just thinking about it.

"Hey." Bellamy's voice had become even softer as soon as he realized how close to tears she was. His arm wrapped around her shoulder, pulling her body into the crook of his arm. This was one of the many reasons why she needed to talk to him. His arms were like a home to her. This wasn't the first night they held each other, helping each put each other back together, piece by piece. "We don't need to talk, if you don't want. We can just sit here."

Clarke shook her head, tears flooding her eyes. "No," she croaked. "I need to. I just." She sucked in a breath through her teeth. "I just need a second." Understanding, Bellamy rubbed his hand over her arm tenderly, bringing her some comfort. She was shaking just thinking about the situation she was in.

Stalling, she looked for something else to talk about. She thought about the young woman who let her into the apartment. "Why is Echo sleeping on the couch?"

Bellamy let out a long sigh. His free hand came up to rub his eyes. "She's moving out again," he said, his voice strained. Clarke put her pain on hold to listen to his. "It's mutual. We… uh. We just have different priorities in life – different goals." He pulled a face. "I love her, Clarke. I don't want her to give up what she wants in life just because of me." Clarke sent him a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry." He smiled softly.

"Thanks." He sighed. "We both agreed this would be for the best. I know I for sure want children sometime, she knows for sure that she doesn't. We love each other too much to keep going around in circles." He fell silent and Clarke knew that was all she was going to get out of him that night.

She turned back to her own thoughts. Suddenly, they came flooding back, threatening to suffocate her. Clarke clenched her jaw tightly and sucked in another deep breath. Stay calm, stay clam.

How was she going to get out of this?

She wasn't. Oh, gods, she wasn't going to be able to stop this. She was going to lose her. Clarke's thoughts spiralled quicker than she thought possible. Within seconds, she felt like she could get physically sick.

"They're trying to take Madi away," Clarke managed to get out before tears rolled down her cheeks. She focused on Bellamy's arm across her back, and his weighted touch along her shoulder, trying to keep herself from falling apart completely. She focused on his warmth and his comfort, soaking up his presence with everything in her.

"What?" His movements stopped completely, too shocked to continue comforting Clarke. "Wh- no. No, they can't. Clarke." His words broke her heart. His shock and disbelief made her feel like she was spinning.

Her daughter. They were taking her daughter away.

Madi wasn't biologically her daughter, but she was hers just the same. She had been working on adopting her for the last several months, but they had come to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work earlier that day. Clarke was still a full-time student and working a full-time job. The agency said it wasn't the right fit for a kid; she was hardly home, she was living paycheque to paycheque.

It broke Clarke's heart. As soon as she met the young girl, she knew she wanted her in her life. She never expected to have the want for a child so soon, but Madi broke all of that. Her bond to Maid as unlike anything she had ever experienced.

A motherly bond.

And now she would never have that. She would never legally be Madi's mother. She would never be able to help raise her into the wonderful young woman she knew she would become. She wouldn't be able to take her bowling, or out for ice cream, or to Disney. Those were the things they had talked about doing once she was adopted. She wanted to do those things with her daughter – her family.

Knowing she wasn't going to get that opportunity broke her heart. No. It crushed her soul, more so than she thought was possible.

"Come here," he mumbled gently, as if sensing Clarke was just on the brink of falling apart.

Bellamy wrapped his arm tighter around her shoulders, bringing her flush against him. She went willingly, burying her head against his neck, sobs bubbling out of her chest. The familiarity of this hold brought her some comfort, even only slightly.

She had never felt so heartbroken before. It felt so similar to the pain she felt when she lost her dad. They were gone, never coming back. They were no longer part of her future. Losing Madi was a lot like losing her father. The worst part was that she couldn't do anything to change the outcome.

"It hurts," she sobbed her, her fingers curling around Bellamy's shirt. He tucked her head under his chin, holding her as closely as he could. Her nose was pressed into the neckline of his shirt. His arm was wrapped securely around her waist and his hand was pressed against her back.

"I know. I'm so sorry, Clarke."

He reached behind them, grabbing his discarded blanket, and pulled it towards themselves. He wrapped it securely around Clarke's shaking frame and around his own shoulders, cocooning both of them.

Clarke was more thankful than ever in that moment that she went to see Bellamy. He knew her. He knew what would keep her together.

"They said it's because I'm too busy," she sniffed. Words were tumbling from her mouth without much thought. "I'm a student, I work, I volunteer. Gods, I know I'm too busy, and that's the worst part. I have bills to pay, plus tuition for school, and student loans." She sniffed loudly. "I know it wouldn't be fair to her, but that doesn't make it hurt any less."

"That's why they won't let you adopt her?" Bellamy prodded gently. "Because you're not home enough?"

She nodded. It was a logical decision that they had come to; she was too busy to have a child in her life. It wouldn't be fair for Madi to have a family that was never around. She didn't blame the adoption agency. It was just reality.

"But if I'm not working to pay for the house or whatever else, then I wouldn't have enough money to support her anyways. It's a lose-lose situation, Bell. I work so I can support our lives, but then I wouldn't be around enough. If I don't work as much, I can't support our lives." She sobbed again.

Bellamy was at a loss for words. He knew how much Madi meant to Clarke. The two of them shared an unbreakable bond ever since they met. She had been volunteering at the hospital the night Madi and her parents were brought into after a car crash. Clarke was the one that sat with Madi after her parents had died, leaving her without anyone to call family.

When Clarke didn't return home that night, he got worried. He remembered calling her cell phone dozens of times, worried out of his mind. Her shift only lasted until 4pm, but she hadn't returned home or any of his calls. At 10pm, he had enough, and went down to the hospital himself, convinced something terrible must've happened to her.

Several other volunteers and workers pointed him in the direction of a hospital room. Gods, he didn't know what to expect. He half expected the worst; he expected to find Clarke in that hospital bed. What he didn't expect was to see Clarke sitting beside a young girl, a children's book clutched in her hand. As soon as he walked into the room, she lifted a finger to her lips.

"She just fell asleep." Clarke looked at her, pain in her eyes. "Poor thing." With those simple words, Bellamy knew. His best friend wasn't going to let this young girl go into the world alone. His best friend just became a mother.

It broke his heart to see her this way, and it broke his heart to know Madi and Clarke would be separated. He spent countless hours with Madi over the past months and he'd grown fond of her. She was smart and outgoing and wiser than her years. She brought such joy to Clarke's life, just like Clarke brought to her. The two of them were a family.

Even he had bonded with Madi. The amount of times Bellamy had taken her and Clarke to get ice cream was ridiculous, all things considering.

Gods, were they ever going to see her again? Would he be able to say goodbye to the young girl? Or was that it? The thought of never seeing her again made him sick. He didn't even want to think about the fact she would never be a part of his life through Clarke. He couldn't begin to imagine how Clarke was feeling in that moment.

He tried to put himself in her shoes. How would he feel if someone was trying to take Octavia away? While he never had legal custody over his little sister and never adopted her, he helped raise her. What would he have done if he was in Clarke's position?

Anything. He would have done absolutely anything to keep Octavia with him. The situation hit too close to home; if things had been different by even a few years, he would've been in a very similar position to Clarke.

In the end, him and Octavia were family and he would do anything to keep her safe. He knew Clarke had that same connection to Madi. He knew she would do anything to keep Madi safe. She would do anything to keep Madi and her together.

They were the same in that sense. All they wanted was to keep their families together.

"It's okay, Clarke," he told her, his voice mumbled by her hair. He was a liar. It wasn't okay. Nothing about this was okay. "We'll figure this out. We'll find a solution." Even his words didn't inspire hope in himself. It was an impossibly bleak situation.

"There isn't one," she sobbed. Bellamy knew his shirt was going to be tear-covered and wrinkled beyond belief in the morning, but not one ounce of him cared. As long as she was safe. As long as he was there for her. As long as she felt better in the morning. It was familiar. "I'm going to lose her."

Bellamy's heart lurched as her sobs increased. She was barely able to breathe between her sobs. Her whole body was shuddering, every inch of her falling apart from her grief. "I'm… I'm going to lose her." Her breathing hitched again. "Bellamy."

Her words were a desperate plea. He understood her though – he always understood. Help me. Gods, he would share the burden of her pain in an instant if he could. It was torture watching her fall apart like that.

She continued to sob, her anguish filling every available space of his bedroom. Bellamy held her tightly, trying to find the right words to say. She was in so much pain. She was losing a family member. He could feel her pain, too. His heart felt like it was breaking over and over again.

What could he say to make this better?

Nothing. He couldn't fix the situation. He couldn't promise her things would work out. He couldn't do anything. This was completely outside of his control and it was agonizing.

What would he want if he was in her situation?

Something to hold him together.

He could do that.

They'd been here before, when Clarke's dad died. When her mom told her the news, she spent the rest of the day under his covers, sobbing until she fell asleep.

They'd been here before when his mother died. When he returned home from the hospital, she had been the one wrapping her arms around his frame, holding him as he sobbed until his throat burned. She had been the one to help keep him together.

That's what they did. They were there for each other – always.

"I've got you," he promised her. That was one thing he could promise. He couldn't promise she would be able to adopt Madi. He couldn't promise that things would work out. But he could promise to be there, beside her through every step.

In one smooth motion, he took her into his arms. She adjusted to the position change easily, choosing to bury her face in his neck and wrap her arms around his shoulders. Bellamy inched his way back up the bed and fell gracelessly to the mattress.

Clarke moved her face from being pressed against his neck, deciding bury it in the pillow beside his. He crawled in behind her, his arm wrapping around her middle, pulling her to his chest. She curled around him, her fingers gripping the blanket tightly.

For the first time in hours, Clarke felt safe. Being wrapped up in Bellamy's arms was familiar. His arms were safe – his arms were home. It was easy to feel the pieces fall back together slightly, wrapped up beside him, completely shut off from the outside world. It was easy to feel safe.

Clarke didn't release her hold on him until she had cried herself passed exhaustion.

June 5

That next morning, Clarke woke with her hair glued to her face and her skin sticky with tears. The room was still pitch black, all the sunlight being warded off by a thick blanket hanging in the window. She couldn't tell if it was morning or afternoon or only a few hours after she had arrive at his doorstep.

His arm was still wrapped around her middle, keeping her secure and the pieces of her soul in place while she slept. Her back was flush against his chest and she could feel every breath he took. The steady rhythm of it was calming. She twisted her head around, trying to see if he was awake yet. To her surprise, his eyes were wide as he stared at the ceiling.

"You're up," she commented. In fact, it looked like he hadn't slept at all that night. His face was long and his eyes tired. He looked exhausted.

After a split second, he glanced to her, their eyes locking. Her mouth ran dry at the intensity in them. "How did you sleep?"

She shrugged, turning around to face the door once again. Bellamy's fingers were tracing light patterns on the sheet beside her and she couldn't take her eyes off of it. "Good enough, I guess. When did I fall asleep?"

"A few hours ago." Clarke could hear something wrong with his voice, almost like he was nervous or stressed. It sounded like he was distant. Clarke's heart dropped to her stomach.

"What's wrong?"

Clarke didn't bother twisting back around to see him, feeling more than content to be settled in his arms. She could still feel pain raging around her, but it wasn't as intense as it was last night. Being surrounded by love from her best friend had dampened the storm clouds.

"What if you had more money?" Bellamy asked quietly, completely disregarding her question. She was confused. What was he asking her?

"Money?"

"Would they let you keep her? If you had more money." Realization dawned on her. Oh. He had been thinking about Madi and the adoption all night.

"I don't know…" She chewed her lip and ran over a few options in her head. "I would be able to work less and I could spend more time with her, but that's a temporary solution. Even if I did get a little more money right now, in a few months, we'll be right back here. And it doesn't solve the issue of her not having somewhere to go while I'm at work and school."

"What if you had a shared income, though? Not just a one-time thing," Bellamy clarified. Clarke froze in his arms. He couldn't be possibly meaning…

"I don't know what you mean, Bellamy," she said, her voice almost too quiet to hear. If he was suggesting what she thought he was… She couldn't fathom it. No. It wasn't possible. Bellamy would never… She wouldn't allow it.

"Us," he stated simply. Clarke's heart stopped. With that one simple word, he had confirmed her suspicions. "We could share an income. Together, we would make more than enough to support all three of us. You could work less – spend more time with Madi. And on those days that you have to work, I'll be home with her."

It sounded like he had thought about it a lot. She didn't doubt that he had been running through options all night while she slept. It was such a Bellamy thing to do.

"Bellamy," Clarke said, her voice hissing into a whisper. "That won't work. They'd never consider a friend for sharing an income." She chewed her lip. "And even if we went back to being roommates, they wouldn't combine our incomes. We'd be in this exact same spot."

"They wouldn't combine the incomes for friends or roommates. I know. That's not what I'm meaning." She felt even more confused by his words. Clarke twisted around in his arms, her eyes locking onto his. They still held that same intensity and determination that she had seen in it earlier.

"Then what exactly are you meaning?" she pressed. She didn't expect him to squirm with her question, but she was even more surprised by his set jaw and spark of determination in his eyes.

"We'll get married."

She felt her body go completely still and her mind fall silent. She gawked at him for several seconds, her minds spinning to process what he said.

"What? Bellamy, no." She was already moving out of his arms, scrambling into a sitting position. Millions of thoughts were running through her mind. She felt overwhelmed by his proposition.

He wanted to get married so she could keep Madi. He wanted to marry her. Her best friend. Her former roommate. Bellamy Blake.

No. No way. He wouldn't throw out his whole life for her like that. She wouldn't let him. He already threw away his childhood for a kid – his sister, and she wasn't going to let him repeat that.

No matter how much the idea tempted her.

"Hear me out!" he pleaded, also pulling himself up to sit in bed.

"No, Bellamy. I'm not going to let you sacrifice so much for me. It's out of the question!" She was frantic in denying it. Bellamy had always been selfless, but this was going to far.

Gods, she wanted to accept his offer so bad. Getting married would solve her problem, but she couldn't let him do this. No. She had to stay firm.

"Clarke, just… listen." His tone had softened once again. "I want this. And it makes sense. It would work, too. It solves all of the issues they had with your application! You said they denied you because of money and time. Well, with an additional person, that isn't a problem anymore! It's perfect." Clarke let out a non-humorous laugh.

"Yeah, perfect except for the fact we aren't married!" She tugged on the ends of her hair and bit her bottom lip. "We don't… I don't…" We don't love each other like that.

It was true, for the most part. Sure, she had thought about it, but it was easy to imagine being in love with him. He was reliable and trustworthy and had been the only constant thing in her life for a long time. It was only natural to have those thoughts in passing.

But this? This wasn't in passing. He was serious.

"I know." He still looked more determined than she ever seen him before. It shook her to her core. It looked like he had been thinking about this all night. Had he been thinking about this all night? "We aren't in love. I realize that. But a marriage doesn't have to be that." He smirked a little. "I- we." He frowned as he struggled to find the words. "A marriage doesn't have to be about love – it can be about family."

Family.

"I know how much you love Madi and I know she loves you too. You two are amazing to watch. It's incredible to watch both of you grow together, and I can't imagine that getting taken away from you." He sucked in a breath through his teeth. Before he could say anything else, Clarke was already speaking.

"But you're throwing away your life," she insisted. "You can't just marry me because you want me to keep her!"

"It's not only about that," he insisted, a sombre look falling on his face. "I love Madi, too," he said, his voice taking on an emotion Clarke wasn't familiar with. She'd only heard him speak like this a handful of times before; all of them involving Octavia. "I know we're not as close as you two are, but I… I don't want to see her go either. She deserves a family; she deserves you as a family, Clarke."

There it was again. Family.

"You know family is so important to me, right?" He didn't need to wait for her answer. They both knew he valued family ties more than anything. "What if I said that I want this too? Not for you, not to make you happy, or not to make things work out. But… me. This could be my family, Clarke."

Clarke was stunned by his words. All of her protests died in her throat. Her facial expression softened. The frenzy she had felt inside has simmered out.

"You'd want this too?" Her voice seemed small and so unsure. She felt so unsure.

She had been insistent in her mind not to accept his offer, even if she wanted to. It was for his sake. Hearing that he wanted this for himself too put her at a loss for words.

"I already consider you part of my family," he told her. "You're my best friend. We've been through so much together, supported each other, love each other." She chewed her lip, in deep thought.

We love each other, but not in the way a married couple does.

"But… Bellamy." She ran her hands through her hair a few times. "This won't work. It won't. We aren't actually married. They'll want to see wedding photos and hear about our relationship and see our house. We don't even live together! We… Oh, gods." Her head fell into her hands.

Truth be told, she was thinking about it. It was such a tempting offer. He was right; it would solve all of the issues the agency had with her adopting Madi.

She was actually running through the loops they would have to jump through in her head. Her mind seemed to have skipped past the stage of denial without her permission.

No. He can't do this. He can't. We can't.

Her voice of reason was growing quieter and quieter as the seconds passed.

Bellamy had fallen silent at her questions. Wedding photos, relationship information, a house. There was so much more than just agreeing to be married and spending time with the kid. There would be so much more than just agreeing to be a family.

Of course, he knew that. He wanted to be a family, too. He wanted to drive her to school in the morning, and pack her a lunch for school, and cheer her at her soccer games during the evenings (did she even play soccer?).

But the actually relationship stuff with Clarke hadn't been something he was thinking about.

"It would work," he told her again. "You're still down on the lease here. For all they know, we've been living together for the last couple of years. It's literally documented that way. They don't have to know whether we've been dating or not. We could've been dating the whole time we lived together."

Good point. She'd only moved out a few weeks ago, electing to live with another one of her friends once Echo moved it. She wanted to give Bellamy and Echo privacy, and how awkward would it be if she was living with the two of them?

Oh, gods.

"What about Echo?" Clarke peeked at Bellamy between parted fingers. "If we do actually do this… If we actually get married..." She swallowed thickly at that. "Where does that leave her?"

Bellamy fell silent again at that. She took his silence as conformation that things wouldn't work. Clarke let out a puff of air, letting her head fall back into her hands. She knew this wasn't possible. She tried not to feel too disappointed by it.

Oh, gods. She got her hopes up for nothing. She actually started to think of doing it. She ran through all of the steps they'd have to go through. She started imagining what life would be like.

She could almost see Bellamy going to pick up Madi from school if she was caught up in a shift at work. She could almost see Madi falling asleep in their living room, too tired to finish her movie. She could see Bellamy completely missing the target while the three of them went to do archery.

She was imagining them as a family. A family was something she hadn't had in years; it was something she hadn't had since before he dad died.

"She'd understand."

His words turned all of the air in the room to dust. Clarke sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes stinging from the dryness lingering in her throat. Her head spun and her limbs went completely numb.

"What?"

Bellamy chewed on his lip. "Do you remember what I told you last night?" Clarke swallowed thickly and thought back to only a few hours previous.

Of course. Echo had been sleeping on the couch. Bellamy said they were breaking up.

"Yes."

"And you remember why we're breaking up?" He didn't give her a chance to answer. "It's because we have different goals and priorities in life. Those are things you just can't ignore." He sighed. "A family, Clarke. She doesn't want that.

"We were talking last week about nothing specific, just offhand comments and jokes about our future. I mentioned that I wanted kids. She mentioned that she didn't." He ran his hands through his hair. "That's something I won't compromise on, and I would never ask her to compromise herself either." He sighed. "We know what we want in life and we can't find that with each other."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He shrugged. "We've both talked about it and we're in agreement. We are both leaving the relationship on good terms. We just want what is best for each other." There was a long pause. "So, she'll understand. This is what I want to do." He settled his features and locked eyes with Clarke. Her eyes burned.

"I can't ask you for this," she croaked out. "You can't give up your own life just for me – and not for Madi either. That's not fair for you." Bellamy reached out for Clarke's hand, taking it in his own. She startled, glancing up once again.

"I want this, Clarke." He squeezed her hand. "A family. We could be a family." A family. Her heart yearned for that. "I never thought I would want one so soon, but this is it. I always believed that I would know something is right when I see it, and this is just one of those things. I know it's right. I know it's what I want." He shrugged. "Plus, I don't think I would be too proud of the fact if I never tried to make this happen, especially when I know it's something I would want later in life. It's never been a question of if I want children."

Clarke shook her head, still determined to stick to her decision. No. She couldn't accept this. This was asking too much.

"Bellamy…"

Changing tactics, his lips pressed together tightly. "Would you do it for me?" His voice was strong. He still held that same determination from earlier. "If, when my mother died, Octavia was going to be taken away from me, would you just sit back and let it happen? Especially if you knew you could help?" No. "Especially when you knew that you wanted a family, too. Would you have let them take her away? Or would you have offered the same thing I just did?"

"I would do anything to help," she told him honestly. She didn't even have to stop and think about that answer. If he was about to lose his family, she would have done anything in her power to stop that.

"And would you see it as throwing out your life?"

"No." Because, she wouldn't have been. Her life would have just been different. She would have them as a family. Her life wouldn't have ended in that situation; a new one would have started.

"I feel the same way, Clarke. I'm not throwing out my life with this decision. I'm making a change to it; a huge one. But I want it. I really want it." His voice softened. "I want a family. Our family, Clarke; Madi, you, and me."

Her throat constricted at that. Every argument in her head vanished. Her reluctance disappeared.

He wasn't doing it just for her. He was doing it for himself, too.

"A family," she agreed. He nodded firmly.

"I want this if you do." For the life of her, she couldn't look away from his eyes even if she wanted to. Because she wanted this too. She wanted a family with him.

"I do."

"Then," he said, a soft smile spreading across his face, "let's get married."

I hope you enjoyed! This first chapter is basically setting up the rest of the fic, but I hope it was still enjoyable to read.

As for the next update, I hope it is soon, but I also have another WIP for Bellarke (it's Bellarke in The Hunger Games, if you're interested in it), so it might be a little later than I hope.

I hope you enjoyed. Comments and kudos are majorly appreciated! This is my first time doing a fic filled with so many tropes, but I hope you all enjoy it!

Thanks for reading!