Clarke flutters around her apartment, one eye on the clock and one eye on the carrier in the living room. She knows there's still plenty of time until she has to leave, but today is the kind of day where her stress is maximizing every small detail into a potential catastrophe.

She can't help it, even if she knows it's silly.

Or maybe not so silly, she thinks as her phone lights up with an incoming call.

"Hello?" She says even though she has caller ID. "Monty?"

"Clarke," he rasps and she pulls the phone away from her ear just to double check that it is her friend calling. "Clarke I'm so sorry, but I have to cancel. I have bronchitis."

She feels her shoulders sag in disappointment, even as she puts as much sincerity into her voice as possible. She knows that Monty wouldn't lie just to get out of babysitting. "Oh, that's okay. You don't sound too good."

He makes a noise that she thinks might be a chuckle before he erupts in a fit of coughing. "I feel like death," he gets out after a minute. "I don't want to get Aden sick."

Her eyes involuntarily glance back to the living room. "Yeah that's probably for the best. I hope you feel better."

"Thanks, I'm sorry again. I owe you."

She shakes her head. "No, Monty, of course not. It's fine, really. Try to get some rest."

They hang up and she puts her head in hands. Monty had been her last hope at finding a babysitter.

Then she perks up. Or maybe he's the perfect excuse to stay in.

/

"What do you mean you're not coming?!"

Clarke grimaces. "Monty is sick and he was my last option at a babysitter."

"Why can't you just bring Aden?" Raven suggests. Clarke opens her mouth to argue, but Raven interrupts. "Don't argue, it's my birthday and you know it's best friend law that I get what I want on my birthday."

Clarke snorts. "Yeah where was that law on my birthday when I asked you to get me ice cream?"

"What the fuck, Griffin, you were in labor! I wasn't going to leave to get you ice cream!"

"Ugh, I hate you." Clarke lets her head fall back against the top of the couch. "But fine. I'll see you in an hour."

"You better bitch!" And with that, Raven hangs up.

Clarke groans. Today is just really not the day for this.

/

It's not that Clarke is disappointed that she's bringing Aden out, it's just that she really doesn't think a 25th birthday party is necessarily a great atmosphere for a six month old baby, even if it is just an afternoon barbecue.

She really didn't even want to go in the first place because she's only recently started leaving Aden with babysitters for a few hours and it still makes her nervous. But this was Raven's birthday, and Raven is her best friend, and she really was there when Clarke was screaming about ice cream during her labor, so she kind of figured it was just something she was going to have to do.

She's just tired, like all the damn time, and she really wishes she was spending this day in her bed cuddling with her son and catching up on some much needed sleep.

Having a kid is fucking exhausting.

And it's not like she didn't expect that. She did. Of course she did.

That's probably the best thing about pregnancy being 9 months. You have a little time to prepare.

But that's also the worst thing about pregnancy being 9 months. That's so not enough time to prepare.

/

If she's being honest, a thousand years wouldn't have prepared her for becoming a mother.

And sure it's exhausting, and terrifying, and sometimes when she's had a particularly long day, she'll stare down at Aden and it won't really register that he's real.

Like he's a real life baby. Right there. That came out of her body and who she's responsible for.

Like no offense to mother nature or god or whatever… but what the fuck.

Still, once she comes back to like, consciousness and realizes that yeah, he's like totally a real, actual, non-imaginary, tiny human (seriously what the fuck), it's all totally worth it.

She doesn't mean to brag but her son is pretty much the coolest six month old on the planet.

And that's not just because she dresses him in the cutest outfits a baby could wear.

He's really smart, and super cute, and he actually doesn't even cry that much.

And he just… gets her. Like, yeah, she knows that doesn't make sense, because how can a baby – legit like an infant – just get her, but he does. Once she was holding him and feeling really overwhelmed with everything and she started crying a little, and Aden lifted his tiny baby hand and set it on her cheek and just left it there. Like he knew Clarke was upset and was trying to comfort her.

Yeah, she knows it doesn't make sense because he's just an infant who isn't capable of like, cognitive reasoning or something, but it happened.

He's just totally the best son a single-before-twenty-five-mom could have.

She's not going to say there are things about her life that she wouldn't change, but not one second has gone by where she's thought that about Aden.

Even if she does sometimes have trouble accepting that he is a real-life human baby that came from her vagina.

(Like seriously, what the fuck.)

/

Clarke sighs and adjusts the diaper bag on her shoulder before bringing her hand up to ring the doorbell. Aden gurgles at the sound and raises his fist in the air as if he wants the sound to continue.

"I know, baby," Clarke murmurs absentmindedly. "Are you excited to see Aunt Raven?"

Aden just stares at her with his giant eyes until the door swings open and she breaks eye contact.

"Clarke you're here!" Raven beams at her and leans in to give her a hug which is made really awkward by the fact that she's holding Aden in his carrier and also his giant ass diaper bag.

"Happy Birthday, Raven," she says into her friend's neck, and okay, she knows she didn't really want to come that much, but she's still happy to see her best friend.

Raven pulls away and looks down. "And where is my god son?" She bends down and carefully unbuckles Aden from the carrier before scooping him into her arms and balancing him on her hip. "Hello there Chubster."

"Raven," Clarke admonishes, but she knows it's no use.

(The nickname has stuck since the day he was born. The doctor set him on Clarke's chest and Raven had leaned over with wide eyes. "Dude. Is he supposed to be that chubby?")

"Ugh he has the cutest cheeks," Raven says, using her index finger to poke at his cheek before giving it to Aden. He grabs onto it immediately and sticks it in his mouth. Raven laughs. "Gross dude."

She pushes back into the house still carrying Aden and Clarke follows, setting his stuff near the door. A few people she sort of recognizes from some get-together in the past smile at her and she nods her head at them amicably, still hustling after Raven who has disappeared into the kitchen with Aden.

When she finally catches up, she rolls her eyes as Raven holds Aden carefully up to her chest, showing him off. One of her arms rests under his body while she loops the other around his stomach. In front of her, a woman leans down to Aden's eye-level. As Clarke watches, she starts to play peekaboo, smiling widely when Aden giggles.

Clarke smirks and pulls out her phone to take a picture.

"Aw, look how cute," she teases, waving the phone in the air. "Anya playing peekaboo."

The woman glares at her but doesn't stand up straight, her face still at Aden's eye-level. "Delete that, Griffin!"

"No way. I totally have blackmail."

"Blackma-" Aden cuts her off with a laugh and she softens. "Aden your mommy is the worst. Yes she is." She grabs his foot and wiggles it a little. "And you're totally making my girlfriend have baby fever, aren't you?"

Raven snorts. "I do not have baby fever! I'm simply spending time with my godson on my birthday."

"Mhmmm," Anya hums and shoots Clarke a knowing look over Raven's shoulder. Then she kisses Raven on the cheek and turns around to finish putting together a salad to go with dinner.

"I don't have baby fever," Raven mutters. "I'm twenty-five dammit!" Then she glances at Clarke guiltily. "I mean… darn it… Crap. Sorry, Clarke."

Clarke just shakes her head, resigned to the fact that when Aden starts saying real words (which she hopes will be any day now…) that the first thing that will come out of his mouth will probably be a string of curse words.

Raven slides open the back door, taking Aden out on the porch with her. Clarke steps out after her. "Look Aden there's Auntie O and Uncle Beefcake."

Lincoln looks over from where he's grilling burgers as Octavia snorts. "Raven stop calling my husband a beefcake."

"Well he is," she scoffs, continuing to hold Aden to her chest. He reaches his arms out toward Lincoln, but Raven shakes her head. "Uncle Lincoln is busy, but he'll say hi to you later. Come on, Chubs, let's go make the rounds."

Clarke watches as she takes her son back inside, half of her still not used to letting him out of her sight, but the other half knowing that Raven would never let anything happen to him.

"Take a load off, Mama, have a beer."

Clarke smiles at Octavia and sinks down into the deck chair next to her friend. "I should've left Aden with Sam's babysitter."

Octavia nudges Clarke's calf with her foot. "Honestly, when Raven heard Monty canceled she was over the moon."

"Anya says she has baby fever," Clarke mentions, causing Octavia to break out in a fit of giggles.

"Let's make them watch Aden and Sam one night and she'll be cured of that quicker than you can say Baby Reyes-Woods."

Lincoln turns around, his eyes wide. "Babe don't joke about that. That baby would be…" He shuts his mouth to keep from saying something else, eyeing the sliding door. "Chaos unleashed," he whispers.

Clarke and Octavia look at each other before cracking up, their laughter mixing together in the evening air. "He's so right," Octavia says after they've stopped laughing. "And I thought Sam was crazy…"

"Sam is an angel, I don't know what you're talking about," Clarke says, raising her eyebrows in Octavia's direction.

Lincoln's laugh is disbelieving, but happy. "She's taking more and more after Octavia every day, Clarke. Don't kid yourself."

Octavia nods in agreement and groans. "I never knew a one year old could be so… ornery."

Clarke chuckles at that. Then she softens, feeling thoughtful. "Do you think Aden and Sam will be friends?"

"Yes," Octavia and Lincoln respond at the same time.

Octavia grins. "If Aden is anything like you, they will be."

Clarke rolls her eyes. "I don't think he'll be like me that much. He just seems really…" She thinks for a moment. "More sensitive than I am." Then she shakes her head. "He's six months old. I sound crazy."

"No way," Lincoln says, his back to them as he uses the spatula to take the burgers off the grill. "It's intuitive. You know him. He's your son."

"Totally," Octavia agrees. "I knew after two weeks that Sam was going to be a goofball and I wasn't wrong. She laughs more than Lincoln."

"Mhmm," Lincoln nods. "Parental intuition." He smiles at her and lifts the plate in his hand. "Should we tell those crazy kids their burgers are ready?"

Clarke chuckles. "Do you guys ever feel like you're missing out on being young still?"

"Sometimes," Octavia says. "But it's worth it."

"Definitely." Lincoln smiles softly at Octavia. "Wouldn't change anything for the world."

Clarke nods. "Yeah," she says. "Me neither."

/

Everyone has eaten and Raven has had her fill of godson time and is taking shots with Anya, so Clarke decides to try to get Aden to take a nap.

She hopes it won't be too hard. He should be exhausted after playing peekaboo eight thousand times with a bunch of rambunctious twenty-somethings.

She bounces with him as she walks from the kitchen to the living room where it's quieter. A few girls (she thinks their names are Echo and Luna) sit talking on the couch, but they're quiet and she thinks it's quiet enough for Aden to get some sleep. Desperate Housewives is playing on the TV in the background and she absentmindedly watches while she tries to rock him to sleep.

"These ladies are so silly," she murmurs to Aden, hoping to lull him to sleep. "Yes they are. So, so silly."

She watches for a few minutes before looking down to see if he's asleep. He's mostly motionless in her arms, but his eyes are open and they're staring off away from her at something. She follows his gaze to a young woman she doesn't know who is smiling softly at him and waggling her fingers at him in a small wave.

Clarke grins to herself. She's used to it. People in public stare at babies, make faces at babies, coo at babies. It's a thing.

"Say hi, Aden." She shifts so she's facing the woman better and Aden leans his face into her neck, peeking from her hair. She smiles at the woman. "He's shy sometimes. Probably because you're so pretty, right Aden?"

The woman laughs a little at that and Clarke feels heat shoot into her cheeks.

"Oh my God, sorry," she says, half mortified. "I hate when people do that, like, he's a baby he doesn't know the difference. I'm just projecting because I think you're pretty probably." She pauses. "And oh my god why did I say that?" She shakes her head, letting out an embarrassed laugh. "Anyway… I'm Clarke and this is Aden. Please excuse my lack of a filter."

The girl tilts her head to the side curiously, her green eyes glinting playfully. "I'm Lexa. Nice to meet you, Aden and Clarke." The corners of her lips twitch up in a careful smile. "He seems like a wonderful boy."

Clarke places a kiss on his head. "I don't want to brag, but he's the coolest." She scrunches her nose playfully.

Lexa raises her eyebrows. "Must be genetics."

"Of course," Clarke grins, but pauses when she feels her phone vibrating in her jeans pocket. She adjusts Aden in her arms so she can fish it out. Her eyes widen when she recognizes the number. "Crap, I need to take this." She looks around as her phone continues to ring. "Umm, sorry can you hold him really quick?" She doesn't really wait for Lexa to respond, just hands him to her gently.

Lexa's eyes widen in surprise, but Clarke already has her phone pressed to her ear and is making her way into the bedroom to take the call.

She was expecting a call from Alie but not until tomorrow. The woman is commissioning Clarke to paint a picture for her sister Becca's new office downtown. The sisters, co-founders of a prosperous tech company, fell in love with Clarke's art last summer when one of her pieces was in a gallery in the city.

Clarke had jumped on the offer to paint something for them. She really needs the money. Ever since Aden was born, she's been struggling. Her mom has helped her out with money and it's been fine, but really, she's an adult with a kid. She can't live off her mother forever (even though Clarke knows her mom probably wouldn't mind at all).

Alie agrees to meet up with her later in the week to discuss some details and Clarke hangs up with a smile on her face.

Then she realizes she had basically deposited her son in the arms of a stranger and feels her eyes widen. She hurries back to the living room, but she'd worried for nothing. Lexa is sitting with Aden in her lap, allowing him to slap her hand in a continuous high-five. As Clarke watches, he laughs and pokes the woman in the cheek happily.

"Sorry," Clarke says as she approaches. "I totally just forced you to watch my kid. I don't know what's with me today."

Lexa looks up at her and smiles softly. "I don't mind. Is everything okay, Clarke?"

"I, uh." Clarke sits down next to her, her back against the couch. "Yeah. I've just been commissioned to paint something for a super rich lady."

Lexa grins, her eyes sliding over to Clarke's while still holding Aden in her lap. "Congratulations, Clarke."

"Thanks. And really, thanks again for…" She gestures toward Aden. "I swear I have it more together than this usually."

A snort comes from her side. "Don't listen to her, Lexa, she's a mess." Raven appears in front of them wearing a shit-eating grin. "And what is this?" She barks out a laugh. "Anya get in here and take a look at your sister right now!"

"What?" Anya pokes her head in the entrance to the room. "Oh my God Lex, are you holding a baby?" Anya's mouth falls open and Clarke looks at Lexa, who looks slightly embarrassed at being called out, but Clarke has no idea why.

"Please, Anya, don't be…" Lexa fidgets, her hands stilling on Aden's sides as a blush creeps up her neck. "I am perfectly capable of caring for children."

"Yeah, but…" Anya crosses her arms over her chest. "You wouldn't even get a pet when I suggested it."

Lexa sighs as if they've had this conversation multiple times. "I live in an apartment building and there is no room for a dog to run around anywhere, it would not be fair."

"What about a cat?" Raven asks.

"I'm allergic," Lexa mutters.

"A fish?"

Clarke snorts. "Fish are boring, please don't get a fish."

Lexa smiles at her. "I don't want a fish."

At that moment, Aden lets out a whimper and Clarke knows he's about to start crying. She sighs and gently takes him from Lexa, bouncing him up on and down on her lap. "Shhh, you're fine, I know."

"Raven! Your margarita is ready!" Octavia calls from the kitchen and Raven hops on Anya's back to be carried to the kitchen. Clarke sighs as Aden scrunches up his tiny baby face, clearly uncertain if he wants to start wailing or if the bouncing is helping.

Lexa shoots her a sympathetic look, her lips pulling up slightly. Something in Clarke's chest expands, a sudden rush of fondness for someone she doesn't really know, but she's always felt things quickly and too much.

She exhales in a small laugh. "You don't have to sit with me. I'm probably heading out soon anyway."

Lexa shrugs. "I don't mind. I was hiding from Anya in here anyway." Her eyes widen immediately. "Please do not tell her I said that."

"Your secret is safe with me." Aden has thankfully quieted down a little and she smooths his hair over to the side. It's always so unruly. She thinks he might need a haircut. "Why were you hiding?"

"She was trying to set me up with someone from her work." Lexa's face remains unreadable, but her eyes give away her annoyance.

Clarke laughs. "Oooh, with who?"

Lexa sighs, her lips thinning. She glances around discreetly, maybe looking for the person in question. "Her name is Emori."

"Oh I know her!" Clarke grins. "Yeah, she's a piece of work. And I think she has a thing for our friend Murphy."

Lexa nods. "She is just… not my type."

"Girls?" Clarke asks.

Lexa shakes her head. "Girls are my type, but…" She tilts her head to the side. "Rebellious punks? Are not."

Clarke feels her body shake with laughter and she tries not to disturb Aden. "Three weeks after I had Aden, Raven tried to set me up with our friend Harper." She shakes her head in exasperation. "Those two are clearly meant to be."

"Yes, they are both…" Lexa bites her lip around a smile, shaking her head.

"Obnoxious morons?" Clarke supplies.

Lexa nudges their shoulders together. "You said it, not me, Clarke."

"I've said worse." They grin at each other for a second until Aden lets out a tiny yawn that has Clarke's heart breaking from cuteness. "I guess I better get this little guy home."

She stands up, holding Aden to her front. He leans against her shoulder, his eyes barely open. She kisses the top of his head gently and lets out a sigh.

Lexa stands up after her. "Do you need help getting anything to the car?"

"Umm." Clarke grabs the diaper bag and loops the strap over the shoulder Aden isn't leaning on. "Actually, yeah, can you grab his carrier there? It locks into his car seat."

Lexa grabs it and they walk to the car. Once the carrier is secure, Clarke carefully sets Aden in it, buckling him in and making sure he's all set. His eyes are closed when she pulls back and she tries to close the car door quietly.

"Thanks again," Clarke says to Lexa. "It was really nice meeting you."

"It was nice to meet you, too, Clarke." Lexa smiles softly and folds her hands in front of her. "Maybe I will see you around."

Clarke grins. "Yeah, I'm sure. Raven yells at me if I disappear for more than three days, so." She shakes her head fondly. "She'll probably be mad at me for leaving without saying bye, but she'll get over it."

Lexa nods. "I'm sure she will."

Clarke opens the driver's side door of her car. "I know I said it, but thanks again." She gets in her car and shuts the door, rolling the window down. "See you later, Lexa."

"Goodbye, Clarke."

Lexa doesn't go inside until Clarke has pulled away from the curb. Clarke turns onto the main road, trying to drive smoothly. She glances back at a stoplight and notices Aden has fallen asleep finally. The sight makes her sigh in relief.

Today was full of unexpected surprises. Despite her earlier worry, none of them managed to be catastrophic. Thinking back, she guesses most of them weren't even bad, like the commission news and even the party was fine.

She thinks of Raven holding Aden, and her conversation with Lincoln and Octavia on the porch. Her mind lingers on a soft smile and green eyes.

Maybe the day was a pretty great one after all.