NICE TO MEET YOU

I

Clarke was late, she was supposed to be at the hospital in five minutes, she glanced at her watch, there was no way she was going to make it in time, as she walked speedily through the streets of Washington D.C. She took a deep breath, today had not been a good day- in fact it had been fucking awful. She had just seen her (so-called) boyfriend fucking another woman and now she was going to berated at work for being a few minutes late because she was just a lowly intern.

Clarke sighed, it hadn't been a particularly long relationship, three months maximum, but there was still a certain level of attachment and affection. She was therefore, startled when she used the key he had recently given her to his apartment and there was a woman's legs wrapped around his waist. She had only wanted to grab a few documents she had left carelessly earlier this week, but of course the other woman appeared shocked at her presence too. As it turned out, the woman- Raven- had been Finn's girlfriend for five years, and had been doing a semester aboard whilst gaining her doctorate, only to find that Finn had moved on in her absence. Clarke was the other woman, she was his mistress- his bit on the side, she thought with disgust.

She glanced at her watch again, she had three minutes to do a ten minute jog. It was 10pm- being a medical intern meant that Clarke worked unusual hour shifts, so when a man tapped her on the shoulder, she immediately punched him in the face and sprayed pepper spray in his eyes.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he cursed, as she turned to get a better look at the attacker so she could later describe him to the police, "why the hell did you do that?"

Clarke looked at the man, he was dressed in a suit, which was definitely out of the ordinary for someone that was attempting to mug her. He couldn't be much older than her, (although she couldn't get a good look at his face as he was furiously rubbing his eyes). He was holding a briefcase- in fact the man did not look like much of a threat at all. She had punched and pepper sprayed a completely innocent man- shit.

"Oh God I'm so sorry- it's just you approached me from behind- and it's dark and late-" Clarke stammered to the stranger. Despite being reasonably central within Washington D.C., the street was sparse, it was perfectly reasonable for her to presume that someone was going to attack her.

"I'm sorry I scared you," he mumbled.

"No it's my fault, look I work at a hospital which is approximately a 15 minute walk away-" she said as he moved his hands away from his face and she could now see the blood gushing out of his nose.

"No it's fine-" he protested, although he did not appear convinced by his own words.

"Really, you have to let me do something for attacking you-" Clarke said.

"You can tell me where the TonDC building is..." He interrupted yet again.

"I'm sorry I don't know where that is-" Clarke said, searching her brain for any recollection of TonDC building.

"Don't worry," the man said gruffly, as he walked past her briskly. Clarke stared at him as he turned away and walked off.

"Wait, wait," she called after him, and Clarke was very aware she was now chasing after the guy she had just attacked, "why don't you just search it on your phone?"

"It's ran out of charge-" he said swinging around to face her. She gasped as she saw his face, not only was it covered in blood, but his eyes were beginning to swell- however she was aware that she could not force him to go to the hospital with her.

"I can search it on mine," she said, sighing slightly knowing that she was going to be even later to work, however, it was the least she could do for the man she attacked. She quickly keyed in the building name into the maps app on her phone. "It's just two minutes away- swing a left down there," she said pointing to the road, "and then a right basically as soon you are on that road and then it's along there-"

"Thanks," the stranger said, before he walked quickly in direction that she had just told him.

Clarke glanced at her watch she was officially late five minutes late for work- she did not feel they would be too sympathetic when she explained it was because she had attacked a man when he had attempted to ask for directions.

II

Clarke walked slowly to the kitchen, as her head throbbed in pain, the previous night had been her friend Maya's bachelorette party, and Clarke was currently suffering from the side-effects of having way too much to drink in celebration. She grumbled as she walked towards the kitchen, wearing an oversized t-shirt and slippers with cats on. She poured herself a large glass of water and swallowed some aspirin and placed some toast in the the toaster, before she walked into the living room to sit down in front of the television.

Her phone started ringing- "hey Mom," she said in greeting after she had looked at the caller ID.

"Shouldn't you be in work?" Abby demanded, Clarke rolled her eyes.

"No I have the night shift today, why did you even call if you thought I was at work?" Clarke said. She did not have the best relationship with her mother after the somewhat suspicious death of her father, and it was rare that she bothered to call.

"I'm was hoping to receive your voicemail-" Abby said, and then stopped mid-sentence, realising what she had just said.

"Just what every daughter wants to hear," Clarke said sarcastically.

"Hmm, well I might as well tell you now," Clarke could hear he Mother take a large of intake of breath. "Myself and Marcus are getting married," Abby said.

"Married?" Clarke asked in shock, hearing her voice raise an octave. Her Mother and Marcus had been dating officially for four years, but Clarke had long since suspected that it was going on long before the death of her father.

"Yes it has been six years since your father passed, and it is time I moved on," her mother answered tensely.

"Of course, when's the wedding?" Clarke said, unsure what else to ask.

"In three weeks-" Abby answered.

"You are getting married in three weeks and you did not tell me?" Clarke said punctuating each word in anger, how could her own mother not inform her of her wedding?

"It's fine Clarke. I have already called the hospital to request the weekend off for you."

"You called the hospital before you told me?" Clarke demanded, outraged by the turn of events.

"Clarke you have to understand, I had no idea how you were going to react-" her mother said slowly.

Beep Beep Beep

"Shit, shit, shit- it's the smoke alarm!" Clarke said, "I've got to go- bye Mom."

Clarke ran into the kitchen to find smoke engulfing the area. She soon found the toaster and turned it off at the main power outlet and attempted to waft away the smoke- it served her right for getting the cheapest toaster possible. Despite the fact that she had now the opened the window of her apartment the alarm had not stopped going off and she was too short to reach it. She headed to the cupboard to find a broom she could poke it with, when she heard a knock at the door.

"This is the fire department- please let us in to your apartment."

What? she hadn't called the fire department, she cursed sliently as she opened the door.

There were two men in full firefighter gear standing at the door. She felt completely humiliated, she couldn't place where but she had definitely met one of them before, he had brown curly hair, and tanned skin, and she couldn't help staring at the freckles that covered his face.

"Good morning Ma'm, we have been altered that there is smoke in your apartment, we need to assess the situation quickly and see whether we should evacuate the building."

"No, no," she protested, "no need for that, I just burnt some toast, and I have a really old toaster and I can't turn the alarm off-" the men push past her and head for the kitchen. One of them (Freckles) reachs easily and turns off the fire alarm, while the other stands leaning in the kitchen door.

"I'm really sorry- I didn't call you, I would never waste you time like that-" Clarke stammered at the men, squinting slightly as she attempted to remember why she would recognise the man.

"It's perfectly alright, your alarm is part of a system in the apartment complex, and if a certain level of smoke is detected we are automatically called," the man standing in the door way informed her, as the other walked out to join him.

"No way," he said looking at up and door, he nudged the other fire fighter. "It's pepper spray girl," he said and the other man broke out into laughter. Clarke went a deep shade of red, she had never got a good look at the man that night, but now she looked him up and down he was fairly handsome.

"I'm so sorry-" she said.

"It's fine Pepper, it gave me quite the story," the man cut her off. She ignored the use of the nickname Pepper.

"I've always wanted to meet the girl that punched Bellamy- it's like a dream come true."

"It was a dark night, and he didn't make a noise to alert me of his presence and-" Clarke attempted to explain.

"What's your name?" Freckles asked.

"Clarke."

"Clarke," he said the naming rolling easily off his tongue and Clarke realised she was staring, she quickly averted her eyes. "Good to know the name of my enemy- you know what they say keep your friends close and your enemies closer," he smirking, as he casually leaned on her wall.

"It really was a mistake..." she protested, realising she was still not aware of his name.

"Bellamy," he supplied.

"Bellamy," she said, "and about today-"

"Don't worry Clarke, this house call was more that worth it," the other firefighter said laughing. "I'm Miller by the way."

"Well thank you Miller, Bellamy, you're services are no longer needed," she said hoping they would take the hint and leave her apartment, before she died from embarrassment.

"Of course," Miller said, heading towards the door.

"May we meet again Pepper," Bellamy said nodding at her, before he followed Miller out the door.

After the meeting they had such had, Clarke strongly hoped she would never be graced with his presence again.

III

Unfortunately life was not that kind to Clarke, and she saw Bellamy again less than a month later and of course as with all their meetings she had to embarrass herself- this time she split coffee on him.

Clarke was running through the college, she was supposed to me representing the hospital in a careers fair, but she had got completely lost. After finally finding out the correct direction, she was now late. She attempted to sip her coffee as she ran through the grounds of the college, and in doing so ran directly into a man, spilling her hot coffee all over his chest.

Fuck, fuck- she thought.

"I'm so sorry-" she said, not looking the man in the eye.

"Pepper?" He questioned.

"Bellamy," she breathed, "Fuck, again, I don't always intend to hurt you, no matter what it appears."

"It's okay," Bellamy answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"It's not, how can I make it up to you, do you want a new shirt?" Clarke said taking in the fact, that his previously blue shirt had a rather large brown stain on it.

"No it's fine, I have no more lectures today," Bellamy said, in what Clarke presumed waS attempting to comfort her.

"You study here?" Clarke questioned, she thought he was a fireman.

"Yeah I'm only a part time fireman, I'm getting my masters in Ancient History."

"Wow that's amazing Bellamy," Clarke complimented, not knowing why she felt proud of a man she did not really know. He eyes once again gravitated towards his shirt, "seriously how can I apologise?"

"Well you could let me take you out for-" Bellamy started speaking, but Clarke was once again distracted when she looked at her watch.

"Bellamy I'm sorry, I'm late- oh God I'm so late- I'm supposed to be an the careers fair. I'm sorry again, I'll pay you back sometime, at this rate I'm sure to bump into you again soon-" Clarke said before sprinting off.

"Clarke wait can I have your-" Clarke vaguely heard Bellamy start asking her something, but she had rounded the corner before she could fully digest the words.

VI

"You just need to get laid Clarke," her friend Octavia said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Clarke was currently sitting with a glass of wine of her new friends sofa.

"That's your answer to everything. Haven't finished your latest essay- have sex. Missed the bus- sex will make that better. Spray a guy with pepper spray who was just attempting to ask for directions- yeah you should have sex with him-"

"Spray a guy with pepper spray- that's what happened to my brother. Wait you can tell me that story in a minute," Octavia said as she walked over to the door, "Hey Bell- yeah I'll buzz you up, sorry to interrupt you mid rant Clarke," Octavia said as if she was not sorry in the slightest, Clarke just rolled her eyes in response, and poured herself some more wine.

She had only known Octavia for a matter of months, they had met volunteering at Mount Weather, but she already felt remarkably comfortable around the girl- she had that kind of effect on people. She also liked to drink as much as Clarke did, and therefore when they were together they would often get very drunk, at this present moment Clarke only felt mildly tipsy, but she knew within the next half an hour she would progress to slightly drunk.

"Hey O, sorry I forgot-" the man walked in and abruptly stopped when he saw Clarke lounging on his sister's sofa.

"Not again," Clarke said as she saw him and crashed the head into the cushion of the sofa.

"Sorry I'm such bad company Pepper," Bellamy said in greeting.

"How many times do I have to apologise about that?" Clarke said groaning, as she stood up from the sofa, and rounded against it to lean on the back of it, so she didn't have to crook her neck to have the inevitable conversation with Octavia about how she knew her older brother.

"How do you know each other?" Octavia questioned looking between the two of them, as the three of them stood in a triangle formation in Octavia's living room.

"Meet the woman who punched me in the face and then proceeded to spray pepper spray in my eye, when I was attempting to ask directions to this very apartment," Bellamy said.

"That was you?" Octavia twirled around to face Clarke as she placed her head in the arms to cover her face.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Clarke groaned.

"You don't think the universe is trying to tell us something?" Bellamy said winking at her.

"You don't seem the type to listen to the universe," Clarke countered.

"I do when it keeps throwing myself and a stunning woman together," Bellamy flirted shamelessly, Octavia rolled her eyes at her brother's antics towards her friend.

"So Clarke is one that pepper sprayed you?" Octavian asked.

"Yep," Bellamy said, not getting a chance to expand as his sister dove into her next question.

"And the woman that punched you in the face?" Octavia said seemingly confused at how Clarke continued to hurt her brother.

"Well the two happened simultaneously," Bellamy said

"And split hot coffee on you?"

"Uh huh," Bellamy said smirking at Clarkes obvious discomfort.

"I can't believe its was you- Bellamy has been talking about you for months!" Octavian said whipping around to face Clarke, and then turning around to face Bellam, "So Clarke is the one that you were going to ask-"

"Ask what?" Clarke interrupted at the look of embarrassment on Bellamy's face.

"Ask why it seems to be your sole purpose in life to cause me trouble," he said lightly.

"I feel as if every embarrassing act I have committed over the past few months you have witnessed," Clarke said.

"Ahh don't worry about it, besides you were kinda cute in those cat slippers," Bellamy said, upon noticing the exchange Octavia offered for Bellamy to stay, at which Bellamy agreed.

"So what are you watching?" Bellamy questioned, looking at the television, he placed his hand on the back of the sofa and jumped over to land seated on it. Clarke stood uneasily at the other side.

"Well I wanted to watch the Walking Dead," Octavia said, but then glanced over at Clarke, "But Clarke is insisting on Game of Thrones," Octavia said looking at Bellamy, knowing that he would choose Game of Thrones.

"Game of Thrones it is," Bellamy said, as Octavia sat next to him pouring herself another glass of wine.

Clarke attempted to walk around to the sofa so she could once again sit on it, but she could feel that the alcohol had suddenly gone to her head. Bellamy had placed his legs on the coffee table in front of the sofa, and as she attempted to climb over his legs she tripped and fell directly on to his lap.

"Shit," she cursed, as she sat in his lap, unable to move out of sheer shock.

"If you wanted to sit there Pepper all you had to do was ask," Bellamy told her as she attempted to climb out of his lap, but Bellamy grabbed her hips lifting her out of his lap and placing her down so she was seated in middle of him and Octavia who was howling with laughter.

"You know what you should do now-" Octavia said.

"Have sex?" Clarke questioned, before abruptly realising that Bellamy had not been a part of their previous conversation and even if he had, it was highly inappropriate to say as such in front of his sister. Octavia had once again resumed laughing.

"While I wouldn't be opposed to that, maybe we should go on a date first?" Bellamy asked.

"You want to go on a date with me?" Clarke questioned surprised at the sudden turn of events.

"Well I did try and ask you the last time we meet, but you seemed otherwise occupied," Bellamy said smirking.

"You sure?" Clarke said, looking at him confused.

"As long as you promise not to hurt me I think we will be fine," Bellamy said. "I've wanted to ask you out ever since I was called to your apartment because you burnt some toast."

"I think I'd like that," Clarke said smiling. "Maybe I'll try and function as a normal human being," she said, as Octavia broke their conversation about how excited she was about their upcoming date.

"As long as you go on a date with me I don't give a fuck," Bellamy said.

"Yeah because that sounds romantic Bellamy," Octavia said sarcastically but was beaming at her brother and her friend. Clarke sat there as they watched the television smiling at the sudden change of events, she could become rather comfortable with the Blake family. She shivered slightly and Bellamy pulled her slightly towards him, giving her chance to move back away if she wanted- she didn't, and instead moved to kiss him on his jawline. She was soon encompassed in his arms- she could get used to this.

I would really appreciate any reviews to let me know your thoughts :)