The screams were the hardest part to deal with about the nightmares. Sometimes, they would start in Charlotte's room, and it was like they triggered Jasper's own nightmares. Clarke wasn't sure who to wake up first. With Bellamy in the house, he went to Charlotte and she went to Jasper, then they traded, then he went to check on Octavia because sometimes the screaming caused her to have panic attacks. Without him, she first went to Charlotte and soothed her before sending her to her bedroom. Then, she went upstairs to Jasper and calmed him, pulling him down to her bedroom as well. The queen sized bed usually filled with Bellamy sprawled out on his back and herself tucked into him neatly was filled instead with Clarke in the middle and Jasper and Charlotte curled into her sides. This was how Bellamy and Octavia found them when they returned to the house five days later.
They crept into the house quietly, noticing that there were no lights on, despite it being far past time for breakfast and Clarke's morning run. Octavia whispered at the front door, "Where is everybody, Bell?"
"Don't worry," he assured her, even as his hands tightened into fists. "I'm sure they're fine. They're probably just sleeping in."
Neither voiced that Clarke didn't sleep in if everything was fine, and Bellamy moved Octavia behind him thoughtlessly. Octavia whimpered, "Bell, what's going on?"
"Stay down here," he ordered grimly as they moved towards the stairs.
"No! I'm going with you!"
"O, don't argue."
"You don't argue either! I'm coming with you." She grabbed onto his forearm and held tight and he gave in. Together, they moved up the stairs. They crept down the hallway, turned into Clarke's room, and sighed with relief.
"Thank God," they said together, causing Clarke to stir. She opened her eyes and glanced around the room, first checking on Charlotte and Jasper sleeping on either side of her, then looking forward to Bellamy and Octavia.
"Hey," she whispered hoarsely, "welcome back."
"It's good to be back. Are you having a sleepover and you didn't invite us?" Octavia teased lightheartedly, even as she toed off her shoes and moved towards the bed. She crawled in behind Jasper and curled her body around his. Jasper scooted towards Clarke to make more room. Clarke smiled softly at her and smoothed a hand through her wild hair before refocusing on Bellamy, who crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed where Charlotte was still sleeping soundly.
"Rough night?" he murmured.
"Yeah. I called into the garage for Charlotte already. Miller and Monroe went on a hiking trip up north to celebrate their adoption going through, and I have to go pick up Monty and Lincoln around three."
Bellamy nodded and leaned over Charlotte to kiss Clarke on the forehead. He ordered, "Sleep. I'll make brunch for everybody. You and I need to talk afterwards."
"If it's bad, can we not do that," Clarke asked half jokingly.
"It's not bad. It's just talking," he promised. "Go back to sleep. You look like Hell."
"Thank God you're so romantic or I'd never know what a princess I am," she retorted sarcastically.
"I prefer my princesses with a little Hell in them." He kissed her again and left the room, leaving her with three kids in her bed, all sleeping soundly. The kids woke up a couple hours later, ate brunch, and then dispersed quickly, spreading out across over the house and the grounds- Octavia to the garage, Jasper to the attic, and Charlotte to the lake to swim. Clarke and Bellamy, as always, were left to clean up after them.
"So, what are we talking about?" Clarke asked as she put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher. She sat down at the table with her coffee and Bellamy was slow to join her.
"You want us to move in with you," Bellamy said carefully.
"And you made it very clear that you're not going to do that," Clarke replied harshly.
"Can….can we just talk about it?" His eyes stayed on the table. "What does it mean if Octavia and I live here?"
"What do you mean?" Clarke reached across the table to cover his hand with hers, but pulled back at the last second and gripped her coffee cup tighter.
"What do I do if I'm living here? Do I pay rent? How much does it cost to keep this place up and running? God, could I ever even think about affording to keep this place up and running?" Bellamy looked around the kitchen and it was clear that he was thinking about the size of Clarke's house, her grounds, and everything that went into keeping ARC together.
"I don't pay rent because I own this house. I get government money because I help underprivileged kids, and what I isn't paid for by the government is taken out of the bank account I have set up. I have money invested in over twenty companies that are doing fairly well- a portfolio my father built for me before he died. Out of pocket costs come from the gas for the cars I drive, and for personal things. I pay for food, which runs up to about three hundred dollars a month. I could have applied for a grant for the food for the kids, but it would have specified what I could spend the food money. So the only cost that I truly give is the three hundred dollars a month for food."
"I want to pay half of it. And anything Octavia does, I pay for. Prom dresses, dances, school supplies, clothes, everything," Bellamy said firmly. His eyes rose off the table to meet Clarke's and she stared at him with one eyebrow raised. He explained, "I want to move in with you. I want both of us, me and Octavia, to move in with you."
She dropped her coffee cup onto the table and jumped up, knocking the chair over in the process. She almost knocked Bellamy's chair over too when she leapt into his lap, straddling him in the chair and wrapping herself around him. She demanded, "You promise?"
..,.
"I promise." He nodded and she sealed her lips over his, kissing him hard. That night, at dinner with Lincoln, Jasper, Octavia, Charlotte, and Monty, Clarke ordered, "Alright, everybody, say something good about this week. Who wants to start?"
"I've been doing really good with being a secretary," Charlotte announced. "Wick told me he's never seen somebody as good at organization as I am."
"Jas and I almost finished the robot. We're going to win this competition," Monty said certainly. He and Jasper high fived over the hamburgers.
"Maya agreed to go to the movies with me on Tuesday." Jasper grinned at Clarke and Bellamy squeezed her hand. He knew how hard it was to accept the growth of her kid.
"I've picked five colleges to apply to. One of them is even an art school. And some of the others are near art schools." Lincoln smiled at Octavia and Clarke pinched Bellamy under the table to push the frown off his face.
"I'm almost ready to show Bellamy my art project," Octavia announced.
"I can't wait to see it, O. And, O, I found us a place better than the apartment," Bellamy informed her.
"Is that your good news? Where'd you find?"
"It's pretty close to town," Bellamy listed off. "It's got a great view, and there's even more room for you to paint and stuff."
"Sounds good," Octavia said slowly. "Where is it, Bell?"
"It's a surprise. Clarke, your turn," Bellamy ordered, smiling at Octavia's irritation.
"First, Jas, what are you doing on Monday? After Char and Bell get off work. There's something I need you to help me with."
"Clarke, that's cheating. Business after you tell your good news," Jasper chided.
"Jas, what are you doing on Monday?" Clarke repeated. "I make the rules so I'm allowed to break them."
"Cheater," he accused. "Monty's coming over in the morning to put the final touches on the robot. The competition is Thursday, so O is painting it on Wednesday. She's going to make it look like a destroyer of nations."
"That's perfect. I need your guys' help moving some stuff, if you don't mind. I'm sure Bellamy and I could do it, but I'd like the three of you to be involved if you could."
"I'm available," Jasper agreed. "O, you busy on Monday?"
"Nope. Chilling like a villain," she replied. "What's up, momma bear?"
"Well, we're going to help the Blakes move, so we're going to need to clear out a couple of the bedrooms upstairs, unless Octavia wants to stay in the girl's wing, which is completely fine with me. We can even paint it. And we'll probably have to…"
Clarke didn't get to finish because Jasper leapt up and hugged her at the same time that Octavia latched onto Bellamy. Charlotte got up and draped her arms over the shoulders of both of them, pulling them together so their heads touched. Lincoln drew a bigger grin from Octavia when he asked, "So the wedding will be next year, yeah?"
"Lincoln!" Clarke cried out at the same time as Bellamy laughed, "We'll see next year, Linc."
When Clarke reached over to swat him, he caught her hand and pulled it up to her lips.
