Clarke
Clarke is exhausted from her shift at the hospital but is excited to finally catch up with her bestie. She glances in the hallway mirror of her apartment and fixes her lipstick before trying and failing to fix her hair and giving up. She doesn't live far from the hospital or the campus bar where Octavia works so Clarke decides to walk there… and totally regrets her choice about halfway there, as the heels that she is not accustomed to wearing starting to make her feet ache.
But Clarke forebears and soon she is walking through the door to TonDC Bar and hears the delighted squeal of her best friend.
"O! I'm so excited to see you! How are you?"
Octavia hugs her friend and they bounce and chatter excitedly for a minute before Octavia takes her by the hand to lead her towards the back of the bar where they can talk easier.
"How was New York? Tell me everything. I'm so jealous. My boyfriend is going to be here later and I want you to meet him. Eeeee… I can't believe you're home!"
The women excitedly catch up for over an hour before Lincoln arrives and O introduces the stoic, soft-spoken man to Clarke.
Lincoln apologizes to them when he explains that he is covering a shift tonight and is just stopping in to see Octavia before his shift, so he stays for a few minutes and then heads out again.
"I can't believe you haven't met him yet. I mean, you work at the same hospital."
Octavia is saying incredulously and Clarke laughs.
"Well, I've only been there for a week and it's a BIG hospital, O."
Octavia signals a co-worker behind the bar and the tall girl brings over a couple shots for them with a wink.
Octavia hands one to Clarke and holds the other up in salute.
"To my two favourite people coming home to me!" she says with a laugh and almost takes the shot but sops at Clarke's quizzical look.
"Two?"
O laughs again.
"Oh, right. I didn't tell you that Bellamy left the military and is back home with me!"
Clarke's expression turns slightly sour and O rolls her eyes.
"Oh my god, you two are so similar, it's disgusting."
She takes her shot and Clarke giggles and follows suit.
With the exception of a couple of drunk creeps hitting on them fairly consistently, Octavia and Clarke have a fun night of drinks and dancing. They close down the bar and Clarke invites Octavia to her place for ice cream and Disney movies to sober up.
Octavia's co-worker locks the bar door behind them as they leave and the duo stumble happily towards Clarke's apartment.
They are almost there when they hear yelling from behind them and turn to find the drunk creeps from the bar, calling after them.
"C'mon O, We're almost at my place. Just ignore them."
But the guys are running after them now and the girls are getting uncomfortable. When the strange men catch up with Clarke and Octavia they crowd their personal space, drunkenly inviting them both to their place.
Clarke faces off with them and says, bluntly.
"Look, we aren't interested. Fuck off."
She goes to turn away again, taking Octavia's arm when one of the guys grabs her other arm and wheels her back around.
"That was fuckin rude, bitch! You need someone to teach you manners?"
His friend's cruel smirk sends a shiver of fear up Clarke's spine as she rips her arm out of the first man's grasp.
"Don't fuckin touch her!"
Octavia screams and shoves the man backwards so hard that he stumbles into his friend.
"What the fuck?! Crazy bitch!"
Clarke can tell that the whole situation is going sideways and she insn't fast enough to block the man's arm as it comes up and snaps out like a whip, connecting with Octavia's beautiful face.
Clarke watches her friend fall to the ground and steps in front between her and the asshole as the second man pulls his friend backwards down the sidewalk. After a minute, Clarke falls to her knees to check Octavia over.
"O! Are you okay? Let me see."
Keeping a wary eye on the retreating figures running in the opposite direction, Clarke assesses the injuries.
"Okay, the hospital is around the corner, let's get you checked out by someone who isn't half in the bag. We should maybe call your brother too. From past experience, he's usually less mad if we let him know what's going on."
Clarke helps Octavia to her feet and they huddle together as they turn towards the University hospital. Octavia makes a quick call to Bellamy and he insists on meeting them at the hospital.
Silent tears and blood stream down Octavia's face as they walk through the double doors to the ER and Clarke briefly talks to the receptionist as Bellamy practically bursts through the doors behind them. His gaze instantly zeroes in on his sister and strides the few steps to wordlessly wrap his strong arms around her, letting her take any comfort that he can offer.
Clarke gives them some semblance of privacy as she turns back to the receptionist and asks her to find a nurse on duty named Lincoln and tell him that his girlfriend is here.
After a couple minutes, a nice older nurse escorts Octavia to an empty ER bay and starts checking her over as Clarke and Bellamy hover closely. Another minute goes by and then a frantic looking Lincoln sweeps back the curtain and almost bowls over the elderly nurse as he dives for Octavia and holds her close.
Another couple minutes of reassurances and Lincoln steps back again with an apology to the ER nurse. His gaze roams over Clarke and then lands on Bellamy, sizing him up as he is being sized up in turn. Clarke suddenly finds the testosterone levels in the room to be stifling and since Octavia is busy being checked over, Clarke steps forward to mediate.
"Lincoln, this is Octavia's brother Bellamy. Bellamy, this is Octavia's boyfriend, Lincoln. You are both big, tough guys, you're both upset, and you both love her so, don't hit each other."
She pointedly glares at each of the men until they both seem to back down and try to get themselves under control.
Bellamy turns his gaze towards Clarke for the first time and gives her a cocky sneer.
"Bossy as always, Princess."
Clarke inwardly cringes at the old nickname given to her by her cheating high school boyfriend but just stares back at Bellamy.
"I see you're still a prick, Blake."
She returns her attention to Octavia and when the police show up, Clarke walks over to give her statement before the newly arrived ER doctor finishes up with Octavia.
To her surprise, Bellamy follows her out of the ER bay and stands leaning against a wall a few feet away as he listens to her story. Out of the corner of her eye, she watches his body start to tense as Clarke describes the part where creep number one grabs her arm and then again when Clarke gets to the part where Octavia got hit.
Clarke's sneaks back out of the bay, Clarke is waiting for him, blocking his path with a glare and her arms crossed over her chest.
"No."