"So can I take your piece with this one?" Charlotte asked, gesturing with her bishop and directing it at Bellamys last pawn.
"You can, but you might wanna try moving your queen instead." Bellamy hinted. He was sat opposite young Charlotte teaching her to play chess while she was waiting for her operation. She was all prepared but clearly scared. Bellamy worried about her because she'd asked her parents not to be there. They had been asked to wait upstairs in the visitor Café until she was out.
"So I thinking about my superhero name." Charlotte said as Bellamy moved his knight around pointlessly. He wasn't trying to win. He nodded for her to continue her thought. "Super Leg Girl?"
Bellamy couldn't help but laugh. "You can't have that!"
"Like you could do better." Charlotte said bitterly.
"How about... Kicker?" He suggested and she smiled brightly. She liked it.
"So if I take this piece isn't that check?" She asked as Bellamy had purposely cornered himself.
"Check.." he lead her quickly to see if the patient would remember.
"Mate! Check mate!" Charlotte was so excited. Bellamy found it hard to remember that she wasn't just a normal girl and instead that she was waiting for an operation to remove her leg of the cancer that inhabited there.
"Trying to score dates off kids now?" Clarke said from the doorway. Charlotte looked a little confused, but not a lot surprised her between the two adults. They were very weird together and she'd gotten used to the kind of weird remarks they made like that one.
"Just teaching her. She'll be able to beat you after a couple more games." Bellamy raised his eyebrows. "We still haven't played our last game yet." Clarke thought about the implications of that remark. Did he still want a date? She turned her attention to Charlotte.
"You ready kid?" Charlotte tensed up visibly in front of Bellamy.
"It's alright kicker. We'll be right outside waiting for you." Bellamy got of his position sitting cross legged at the end of her bed and Clarke started preparing the bed to move her.
In truth, Clarke knew just how worried Bellamy was about Charlotte. His hair was a tangled black mess from where he had been running his fingers through them. He looked tired, especially more than usual, and the nurses had said he'd been up dozens of times during the night.
She'd be lying if she told herself she wasn't just as worried as Bellamy. The last thing this kid needed was yet more complications.
Being a doctor obviously she knew the risks but she also knew there was very little reason to be scared for little Charlotte. The complications on this surgery were usually very small and the operation was more or less risk free otherwise they wouldn't do it.
It didn't stop her from freaking out.
Two other doctors wheeled Charlotte out of her room as Clarke was supposed to be off duty right now. She had scheduled it so she could be there with her when she was in the operating room.
Bellamy and Clarke walked beside each other slowly, both trying to look brave for their friend. Clarke did it better than Bellamy, who still looked petrified.
"Brave." Bellamy commented quietly.
"She is." Clarke agreed.
"She wasn't the only one I was talking about." He gave Clarke a knowing look "Brave Princess."
Clarke didn't think she was being brave about anything. She didn't understand what he meant, but she
They stopped and got told they couldn't go any further so they had to say goodbye to Charlotte.
"You'll do great in there. Just relax." Clarke said gently to Charlotte.
"I'm scared."
"Hey Kicker, say it with me. 'Screw you cancer. I'm not afraid.'" Bellamy told her.
"Screw you cancer. I am not afraid." She said quietly and Clarke took her hand.
"Louder." She encouraged. Charlotte broke out a grin.
"Screw you cancer! I am not afraid."
"Slay your demons kids." Bellamy muttered to her and Clarke squeezed her hand lightly. Charlotte looked down at her legs and wiggled her toes under the blanket. She nodded and let go of Clarke's hand, and then she got taken away.
Clarke directed Bellamy into a small waiting room which was designed to be used for families waiting for people to finish in the operating room. As Clarke was a doctor and Bellamy was a patient, they could both be in here as they weren't breaking the rule of not having non-family members in there.
There was just a small table and a few chairs, then a section clearly meant for children. It had a couple of brightly coloured beanbags laid out, some books, some board games and a few toys scattered here and there.
Bellamy had started to look very uncomfortable and Clarke realised his ribs must be hurting by now. She took a seat at the table but Bellamy say in the kids section and leaned against a beanbag. He winced.
They both knew what was on their minds, but didn't think they should talk about it. Clarke was sure Bellamy would ask what the procedure's risks were and she didn't want to say. They ranged from slight pain to the wound not healing or infections which could cause serious, serious issues.
"What's it like breaking your ribs?" Clarke asked.
He paused, thinking about it. "You're a doctor, you must have asked that before." She shook her head. "Okay. I felt like I had a stack on bricks on my chest. I couldn't breathe, so I felt sick and dizzy. It hurt to move and every time I did it felt like an electric shock was going through me. I've never felt anything like it before."
"Still not going to tell me how you did it then?" Clarke moved so she was leaning on the beanbag opposite Bellamy. She picked up a toy gun from basket of toys next to her. "Were you beaten up by the mafia?"
"No, I'm afraid not. And I can't tell you... Not while it's still a secret." He hushed his voice for dramatic effect. "A big secret."
"Fine. Am I ever going to find out?" Bellamy thought very carefully about how he could say this.
"I'm sure you will. Somebody won't be able to keep it secret."
To her, this seemed suspicious, but she decided against trying to push it out of him. If he didn't want her to know, then it didn't need to be known. Still she hoped she'd find out someday.
It has occurred to both of them that when Bellamy left the hospital they wouldn't hang out. Octavia might not like it, or Raven might not like Bellamy so he couldn't hang out at her house. Still that didn't mean they weren't going to keep hanging out in his last few days at the Ark.
"So, tell me Blake, what's the plan?"
"The plan?" She pretended to shoot him with the gun.
"You know, the big plan for the rest of your life. Everybody's got one. What are you going off to do? Retire to the South of France and take photographs?"
"Oh." Bellamy thought about it. Obviously he'd considered what he was going to do with his life, but nobody's ever asked. He was a car mechanic. Everybody just assumed that's what he was going to do for the rest of his life. But of course he'd considered doing something different. He noticed Clarke was waiting patiently for his answer.
Something Bellamy had never considered before was spending his life with something. He'd never met his dad, and the men his mum brought home never lasted long. He'd never seen a stable, long-term relationship. Except maybe Lincoln and his sister. He supposed they counted as long-term now.
So he'd never seen himself settling down with anyone. The idea of being with the same person every day for the rest of his life seemed so abnormal. Everybody left eventually. His mother had taught him that before she went too. That meant that no plan he'd ever devised ever factored in any other person in life except Octavia. She was the only person he cared about.
Yet, as he looked at Clarke. Her big, beautiful eyes fixed on him, the soft pink highlighting her cheeks and cascading over the gentle slope of a slight smile. He stared at her golden hair still pulled back, but the colour like honey grizzled over toast was enough to confirm it's beauty. He looked at her, and suddenly he was so sure.
Hey! I'm hoping you liked this, it was kinda tricky to write, especially with all the buzz from the last episode of the 100. Please let me know what you thought and I'll be updating soon!