Disclaimer: Any corresponding characters or references to The 100 are the property of the author and producers.
"Hey Dr. Griffin," My favorite nurse greets when she walks in, her hair in another incredible braid that I could never figure out for myself.
"For the millionth-time Octavia, you can call me Clarke in the break room." I laugh and she grins. After pouring herself a cup of coffee, she sits down across from me at the table as I review some charts for the ER. Her nail scrapes along the curve of the coffee mug before she takes a deep breath, and I glance up at her, "Is something wrong?"
"I have a favor to ask," She looks up at me and I just nod for her to continue, "You know about my niece, Victoria? Well, her pediatrician recently moved across the country and she needs her annual exam for pre-school. Bellamy doesn't like any of the doctors I've recommended, because Victoria gets panic attacks sometimes just from a change of face. Like the first time Lincoln shaved his beard after the winter time. For the last two years, she's sat in the bathroom and watched him do it so it doesn't trigger her attacks," She shakes her head, "Anyway, I was wondering if you could do her exam? I know you're the best trauma surgeon ever, but I think she would have an easier time seeing me relaxed around someone who's a stranger to her."
"Of course, Octavia! I'd be happy to do it. When would be best to make her appointment?" She chuckles as she moves over to her locker and pulls out a calendar, opening it when she sits back down. I let out a surprised laugh when I see what seems to be color-coordinated chaos almost every single day this week. She grins when she sees my reaction.
"I've got Lincoln's, Bellamy's, Victoria's, and my schedules on here, and on my phone, it takes a tribe to make sure Victoria doesn't fall through the cracks, not that any of us would let that happen. This isn't even taking into account Jasper, Monte, or Harper,"
"I thought it was a village?" I tease.
"Nah, that's too mainstream," She laughs before locating a slot of time where both her and Bellamy seemed to be off at the same time, "Does Thursday at five work?"
"Yep, putting her in right now," I schedule her in to my own calendar while Octavia puts hers' away.
"I think you said it's her second year of pre-school?" I ask and she nods.
"Oh yeah, next year she's going to break everyone's heart by going to Kindergarten, Bellamy and Lincoln get all stiff and tough about it," Octavia rolls her eyes, "As if she wouldn't have the entire force coming her away if she scratched her knee on the playground. Everyone in the prescient loves her. Her birthday is a little over a month away and she already has so many RSVPs that would put a college open-house, free beer party to shame."
"Is there anything I can bring to her appointment that would make it easier on her?"
"She loves elephants, her room is covered with them in every shape and form. What's one more stuffed animal right?" She laughs and shakes her head, "Really we have to blame that one on Lincoln, he gets her at least one new figurine a month that's hand carved from Africa from his cousins that do elephant research there, ever since she was born. Not counting that anytime we see anything remotely elephant; all of a sudden it's being bought and delivered to her for no reason whatsoever, Monte and Jasper are the worst about it though."
"I know your brother is her dad, obviously, but what about her mom?" Octavia wrinkles her nose.
"There's a reason, well, a lot of reasons Bellamy got full custody over her when she was born. Victoria hasn't met her, I don't think any of us really want her to. Bellamy drunkenly hooked up with that chick one night, and believed her when she said she was on birth control. A couple of months later he gets a call that the abortion he didn't even know about didn't work and that he was going to be a daddy. There's more about her obviously, but that would be up to Bellamy to tell you. Some doctors have speculated that something about the abortion procedure is linked to her panic attacks, but no one knows for sure. All of us are pretty good about getting them under control quickly, but Bellamy is the only one who can really calm her down if it's one of the more traumatic ones," She explains before taking a long drink of her coffee.
"He sounds like a good dad,"
"He practically raised me, but even he admits it's different when it's your own kid, but yeah, he's the best dad. He worked his butt off the first couple of years to finally be able to afford a house for them, and he spends almost every moment of free-time he has with her, especially when he's been working a lot of overtime," I smile at the thought. I'm about to say something more when both our pagers go off and we're out of the room like wildfire.
I enter a private exam room quietly, smiling softly when I see the most beautiful little girl sitting on an exam table, clutching her battered looking elephant to her chest. Octavia must have done her hair as it's artfully pulled away from her face in perfect French braids, it's the same dark brown that is almost black that seems to run in their family. Big brown eyes meet mine and I watch her reflexively hold the elephant to her even tighter.
"Hi Victoria, I'm Dr. Clarke," I say, making a point of sitting in the rolly-chair that is a few feet from her, putting me at a lower level than she is. I set the bag down beside me, concealing what's inside. She eyes me before glancing up at the man that hasn't said a word so far that is flanking her rather protectively. His hair is cleanly cropped to his head, but still kept thick looking despite the military grade cut. There's no doubt that Victoria is his child, all of her features are smaller versions of his own practically, right down to the freckles. He is very handsome guy with his broad chest and muscled arms, but I remind myself to focus.
"You must be dad," I greet, holding out my hand.
"Bellamy," He says, his long arm easily reaching the distance to give my hand a shake without even budging from his little girl's side.
"So Victoria, I heard from your Aunt Octavia that you're going to pre-school soon, are you excited?" I ask, still not getting any closer to the child, giving her time to adjust, and Octavia smiles thankfully at me from Victoria's other side.
"Yes," She murmurs, allowing her elephant to drop down a couple of inches in her hold as she seems to evaluate me right back.
"What's your favorite part?" I question.
"Coloring and playing," I grin.
"Do you like playing with your elephant too?" She nods and pets its' head, relaxing a little more, "And what's this one's name?"
"Emmie," She looks down at the animal, "She's brave."
"I bet she is, but even brave elephants need check-ups too. Do you want to listen to her heart?" I ask, offering her my stethoscope. Her reservations fall away and she nods with an excited smile. I roll my way towards her and gently place the stethoscope in her ears before placing the other end over Emmie's "heart." Victoria listens for a few seconds before giving a nod of approval.
"She sounds like stuffing," I hold in my laugh and nod very seriously.
"Very good, can I listen to your heart now? Just to make sure you don't sound like stuffing?" She nods eagerly as I put my stethoscope on and listen to her heart and lungs. After that the exam is easy as pie, as long as Emmie goes first for everything, until we get to the vaccines. She stiffens and reaches for Bellamy who slides her into his chest, keeping his arm wrapped around her.
"Victoria," Octavia tries to chide, reaching for her, but the little girl's eyes are fixed on the needles as she burrows herself as closely to Bellamy as she can get.
"It's okay, Emmett has to go first anyway," I tell her, knowing this was probably going to be the hardest part. I pull out the large elephant from the gift bag. It's fluffy and lays flat, reaching almost four feet long, meant to be cuddled with according to the tag before I snipped it off.
"Are they going to hurt him?" She asks as I "wipe" a spot on the elephant's arm before preparing the first shot that it filled with water.
"It'll just be a little pinch," I explain, and she watches in rapt attention as I administer the shots to the elephant, making a point of placing a couple of band aids on his arms. Victoria relaxes, slowly drawing away from Bellamy. I glance at her as I "write down" Emmett's procedure.
"Emmett did a really good job, but I think he needs a hug," I tell her and she immediately reaches for the stuffed animal, hugging it to her in a bone-crushing embrace, distracting her briefly while I prepare her own vaccines.
"Now I think it's your turn. Is that okay?" I ask her and she nods, offering Emmie and Emmett to Octavia to hold. Her aunt smiles at her encouragingly as Victoria reaches for Bellamy's hand. He grasps it gently, leaning his elbows on the table as he gently kisses her knuckles before giving her his own smile that nearly has me melting in a puddle on the floor.
"Where did daddy leave off when I was telling you about Goddess Victoria?"
"She was racing Nike," She tells him excitedly, completely ignoring the smear of antiseptic on her arm.
"That's right, and who was winning?"
"Victoria!" She cheers, briefly twitching at the first shot, but too caught up in her dad's story to really care.
"Mm, are you sure it wasn't Nike?" He teases and she furiously shakes her head, "Alright, I'll take your word for it. So Victoria is trying to keep her lead, stars exploding around her wheel tracks as her chariot goes across the sky. Nike is close, but she will not be beat. Through night and day they raced and raced, Victoria always one step ahead, unafraid of rain or snow as she headed her stallions through the galaxy. When Jupiter declared her the winner, the gods and goddesses all took a moment to look around the sky. She and Nike had spread the stars far and wide across the night, but Victoria's smile was so bright during the day, it blocked them out, so it was only when the world turned that you could see her masterpiece in that valiant race against the Greek god, because—"
"Rome is the best!" She yells and Bellamy laughs and I swear I just might internally combust at how rough and beautiful the sound is. Victoria suddenly looks over at her arm with adorable elephant band aids covering a couple of spots, "That didn't hurt."
"Because you were so brave and strong. You're my best patient ever," I tell her sincerely and she grins at Bellamy in her own personal triumph. He smiles back, seeming to bask in her little victory.
"Can Dr. Clarke come to my birthday?" She asks Bellamy, "She's very nice."
"Uh, yeah, if she wants to," Bellamy tells her. I'm about to open my mouth when Octavia shoves a pink invitation in my face.
"You keep these on hand?" I laugh as I take it and she shrugs before offering the elephants back to her niece. Victoria yawns and looks up at Bellamy through heavy lashes and he wordlessly picks her up, rubbing her back as she buries her head in his neck, each arm curled around an elephant. Within a few moments it seems she falls asleep.
"Thank you," He says with an overwhelming amount of sincerity, "This is the first time she's ever done so well with a doctor."
"I'm glad to help," I smile, making eye contact, and for some reason I'm not able to look away. He stares right back, emotions flitting just behind those dark eyes, but nothing coming to the surface. Finally, Octavia breaks the tension.
"Where do I go for the co-pay again? I don't know this side of the hospital all that well," She mumbles.
"No, her exam is free," Bellamy opens his mouth to argue, "I already cleared it with the office before you all arrived. You have enough to think about protecting our community and raising your daughter."
"Thanks Clarke," Octavia smiles, pulling me in for a hug. I give her one back before we pull away and I finish writing down my notes for Victoria's file. The child stirs as Bellamy begins to walk.
"Say goodbye to Dr. Clarke," Bellamy murmurs in her ear and she peeks at me around Emmett.
"Bye Dr. Clarke . . . will you come to my birthday?" She asks hopefully before a yawn catches her.
"Sure, sweetie," I grin and she smiles sleepily back before readjusting her head on Bellamy's shoulder. He turns back to me just as they reach the door.
"Thank you, again," I smile in return as they all leave.
AN: Love it? Hate it? Keep in mind this is my own interpretation of the characters for this particular story, so they're not necessarily going to be perfect copies from the TV show.