Clarke was not sure what she had been expecting from the day, but she was absolutely certain that this was not it.

She was surprised to find nerves mixed with the excitement that was simmering in the pit of her stomach. Now that she was moments away from speaking to the best friend she'd attempted to call on the radio every day for the last eighteen months, she found that she wasn't altogether sure what to say to him. Her standard summary of the day's activities didn't quite seem to cut it, now that there was the possibility of him actually hearing what she had to say. This had all seemed so much simpler when she knew she was really just talking to herself. Should she maybe fetch Madi to tell her the good news? Should she -?

"Clarke?" A familiar voice cut short her rambling train of thought. Just as well, she thought – it hadn't been her most coherent moment. She could hear something approaching desperation in his voice, as well as a certain breathlessness that stood testament to the speed with which he must have run to the radio.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Wow."

"That's what Raven said, actually."

She heard him let out a shaky laugh.

"I'm so sorry, Clarke." She felt her heart deflate in disappointment. Was this what she'd waited eighteen months to hear? What he'd run to say? Of course he was sorry. She knew him well enough by now, she liked to think, to have known that he was sorry long before he said the words. And of course she forgave him. She always would. "I'm so, so sorry. I can't... I'm sorry." He was sobbing weakly, and her heart went out to him. She understood, now, why Raven had insisted that she should speak to him herself, as he trailed off into barely audible repetition of that one, heartbroken word.

She wished she could reach out to give him a hug, but reminded herself to be grateful that they could speak at all.

"Bellamy," she said softly, "It's OK. You did absolutely what I wanted you to do. You lived. And it's all turned out fine. I'm alive, Bellamy. But you know what? If you need forgiveness," she began, putting that hug she so badly wanted to give into her voice, "I'll give that to you. You're forgiven, OK? You're forgiven."

"Thank you, Clarke. I remember, you know. That day, the first time I realised what a great team we could make. That feels like a lifetime ago now." She could hear the smile in his voice, and was beyond grateful to be back on familiar ground.

"So has Monty found a way to grow jobi nuts in space yet?"

She'd missed his laugh, and it was only on hearing it again that she remembered how young and carefree it made him sound.

"No, he's still working on that one. The algae moonshine is pretty good, though. Well, better than any other way of consuming algae, at any rate."

"Ah, I do miss Monty's still."

"Yeah, right. You never truly appreciated that still. You're terrible at fun."

"I promise you," she said, torn between giggles and a need to make him understand that she was serious, that she meant every word, "when we meet again in three and a half years, we are going to have fun."

"I'll hold you to that, Princess."

"I'm looking forward to it already."

"It's going to be a long three and a half years."

"Yeah." Privately, she thought the time was going to fly by much quicker now that she could actually expect him to reply when she called. She looked forward to having a conversation rather than a monologue to look forward to at the end of each day. But, somehow, this didn't quite seem like the right time to mention all those calls. She had a feeling that particular confession could lead to conversations they weren't entirely ready to have. Today, she resolved, was a day for celebrations, not difficult conversations.

"I.. I think you probably already worked this out, but, I've missed you. So much." She could hear his voice growing thick with emotion.

"I've missed you too. I think I was onto something when I said we were better together, back in the lab. I don't want to sound clingy, but you had better radio every single day for these next three and a half years. No excuses."

"Don't you worry. I'm not going anywhere."

"How are you, really? How is it up there?"

"It's... safe. I suppose that's something. I've been... struggling to look for the good points, if I'm being honest. I think the others are doing better. Monty and Harper are in their element."

"I'm sorry you're not, though. You'll be back here soon, I promise."

"How is the ground?"

"It's OK, really. I don't know how much Raven told you?"

"Not much. I may slightly have run here before she finished speaking."

She had to laugh at that. "Yes, I thought as much. Well, the nightblood is protecting me pretty well as far as I can tell, and I've made a home in this valley that escaped the worst of the radiation. Some of the deer even have a normal number of heads."

"Wow, you really lucked out."

"Yeah, I did. There's something else, too. I met a child. A girl. Another nightblood. We've sort of teamed up."

"That's great, Clarke. At least you're not completely alone. What's she like?"

"She's called Madi. She's small and fierce and very good at laying bear traps and loves hearing about you guys as her bedtime stories. You should meet her, I can go fetch her. She'd want to speak to you, she's heard so much about you."

"I should probably go get the others at some point too. It's selfish of me to keep you to myself. Do you want to fetch Madi so we can meet her? I promise I'll be back at the call button in two minutes."

"Sure. Try not to run quite so quickly this time. I was worried you might have a cardiac arrest when you first got here."

"Actually, make that three minutes. I just realised I'm still not dressed."

"Wow, Bellamy. Just wow. Thanks for dropping that one in there."

"You're welcome." She could practically see him grinning at that.

"I'll be back again really soon. And, Bellamy?"

"Yes?"

"Please don't disappear on me. Please be there in three minutes. I can't lose you again"

"Same to you. I'm telling you, I will kill you myself if you go missing-presumed-dead on me again."

a/n Thanks for reading! Next up: Madi meets her heroes.