Summary: AU, Drama/Romance, Bellarke. 3x they argue, 1x they don't.

Rated M – for adult content (I'm always cautious).

Disclaimer: Just borrowing The 100, not for profit!

A/N: My first short fanfic ever, it will only be four chapters long, with 1000 or less words, per chapter. I've never done anything like this before so please review and let me know what you think, I would appreciate whatever you have to say. Also my work is not beta'd so I apologise for any blatant errors – please point them out if you find them – I like constructive criticism.

Pronunciation (keep in mind I'm Australian): Terran = Tare/ren, Aithne = Eth/nee, and I think Ashwin is pretty self-explanatory.

This fic will earn it's M rating in Chapter Four - which will hopefully be up tomorrow.

DISSENT

Three.

"Can you believe those people?" Bellamy was still so rattled by the appointment they'd just attended at Aithne's school that Clarke wondered whether he should be driving. "She was defending some poor defenceless kid. She did the right thing Clarke, you know that don't you?"

"It's not that simple Bellamy. She could have done serious damage."

"All she did was block his attack, and he was a much bigger kid. If she was gonna do damage it would have been to herself." He was irate. "Did you even see her arm?"

"Of course I saw her arm!" Clarke snapped. She was tired of him always accusing her of missing things, details about their children. He had been on and on about Ash the last few days – how he saw things, knew things that weren't normal at his age.

If she was true to herself she did feel a little like she'd lost touch with her babies. Work was drowning her. She barely saw them, and the last three weeks had been nightmare after nightmare. First her accident, then Ash's safe cracking scene and now this – Aithne getting into a fight at school? Where the hell had that come from? Not from her Griffin genes – that was for sure.

"This is your fault," Clarke stated matter-of-factly.

"What are you talking about?" Bellamy queried.

"You're the one who insisted she take up Karate at such a young age." Clarke crossed her arms in front of her as Bellamy took the corner too quickly in his rage. "Can you slow down please?"

He gripped the steering wheel hard but heeded her request. Remembering it was not too long ago he had cursed her for falling asleep at the wheel.

"Don't you see Bellamy? She's just like you. She doesn't know how to control her anger." As soon as she said it she regretted it.

"Is that right?" he grunted between gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," she said immediately. "It's just… she doesn't understand Bell. Karate isn't about using brute force. That boy's parents could press charges you know."

"If anyone's going to press charges it'll be us."

Clarke sighed, thinking about the giant bruise on her daughter's arm from the elbow block she'd used to defend her friend. It would take more than a week to heal and she was lucky she had done no further damage.

"Her dojo's going to suspend her." Clarke added.

"Maybe," Bellamy replied, looking at her sideways as he watched the road. "It depends on their perspective. If you weren't so concerned with the law or the school rules, you'd see that Eth did a brave thing today. She stood up for somebody who couldn't stand up for themselves… and that's something you taught her." He licked his lips and continued. "So… if you wanna blame me for encouraging her to protect herself, or for her fiery nature - then go ahead. But you can't deny filling her head with all your highfaluting ideas of justice… princess."

Clarke's mouth fell open at his final comment. He hadn't called her that in years.

She turned to look at him and her eyelids flickered at the slick curl of a smile on his lips. There was no masking his delight in having surprised her.

And there was no masking his pride in his daughter's actions today.

Clarke didn't know if she could sanction any kind of physical contact with other kids, even if it was in self-defence. But she had to admit, given the injuries on Aithne's arm and the eye-witness accounts of what had actually happened, she was a bit perplexed by the school's stance.

She made a mental note to call them in the morning.

They arrived home and were greeted by Octavia in the driveway.

"Bout time," she whined, hurrying out the door. "Can't stay, gotta go, sorry. I hope everything went ok. Your daughter is a badass. We've been reading their readers and Terr's been drawing – I think he gets that from you Clarke."

Clarke smiled trying to take everything in. Octavia was such a bundle of energy and she had a way of illuminating a path wherever she went. Aithne adored her.

"By the way," Octavia called over her shoulder as she put her bag in the car. "Ash is a genius." Bellamy and Clarke exchanged worried glances. "He bet me three games to zip in chess. I'm tellin' you he's like the next Bobby Fisher or something."

"C'mon O, it's not hard to beat you at chess." Bellamy smirked.

"Oh really?" Then how come you haven't won a single game in the last… what – fifteen years?" She tilted her head and challenged him smugly.

Before he could retort the kids came rushing out, Terran bouncing in Ethy's arms, Ash already in his pyjamas despite the fact that it was only five o'clock.

"Aunty O," Aithne interrupted "You forgot your book." She reached out to give it to her.

Octavia's eyes lit up and she snatched the paperback out of the girl's hands, gave her niece a quick kiss on the cheek and jumped into the car, waving her arm out the window. "Gotta go, love you peeps, byeee."

Bellamy and Clarke were left standing, gaping, as she pulled out of the driveway and drove away up the street. They looked at each other, quizzical.

"Was that…?" Bellamy began.

"A copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting?" Clarke finished the question for him.

"Damn…" he smiled, and looked to Clarke with a spark in his eye that she hadn't seen in a long time, well, at least not in the last three weeks.

Man, did she need a drink.