A/N: Surprise! I told you guys to stick around and I'd have a present for you. What was to be a sweet little Christmas chapter turned out to be a 15k words which I have separated into three parts and am posting a few days early so you guys have time to read while you're still enjoying whatever holiday you celebrate. I just wanted to say thank you for the patronage of this story as it has been a year and a few months old since I decided to publish for the first time. This story will always have a place in my heart and is very much a labor of love. We're not done yet! Enjoy this nugget of holiday cheer. 3

Side note, I am still planning to completely edit this story and reup the chapters, cleaned and better editted. Sooooon. Be safe, be warm, and be merry!

December became a very busy month for everyone, especially Clarke. The holiday season brings out the stupidity in people more than any other time of year and subsequently had her working harder than normal in the ER. So much so that Pike had given her the month off in terms of coming into the job site. She still did anything she needed to remotely to keep everything in order but her bones were exhausted and she needed the back end of the week to recover from her hospital shifts. This also meant less time seeing Bellamy as the two had not yet taken their friendship in any real direction. They were close, she would cozy up to him on the weekend at Jackson's, and they would text constantly. Hell, it looked like a high-school romance was blooming and it was adorable, yet something kept them from taking the jump or defining anything. Granted, at their age, did they really need to?

The week before Christmas Clarke felt spread thin and was getting more and more restless. Her three day shifts at the hospital wore her out so Thursdays she spent resting. Friday's she would clean the apartment up and do chores. Saturday was the gang day and that left her one solid day on Sunday to catch up with other things that needed to be done. Given the season, it meant she was sorting out holiday stuff. The group had posed the idea of doing one big Christmas with all of them, even their parents were invited. Everyone was down except Maya, whose father wasn't going to budge from his routine. That made Jasper and Maya out of town for the holiday. Abby, Kane, Miller's father and Monty's mother were all invited and agreed to join. Everyone would bring a random dish of their choice and it would be very informal. Jackson and Miller were hosting, as they had the largest amount of space out of all of them unless everyone drove out of town to Abby and Kane's.

Clarke did most of her holiday shopping online given how busy she was. She had a bunch of orders piled up when she finally had time on Sundays to wrap and sort anything. While she didn't go overboard with shopping for everyone, she did try to at least get everyone something, focusing more on making it personal than making it showy. Just how gift giving should be. The Sunday before Christmas ended with her having a large pile of gifts under their tiny tree in the living room which she managed to set up at some point, and Raven decorated. The apartment had minimal decor in it, but the girls were busy and wouldn't even be there for Christmas.

On Monday, the 23rd, Clarke had to go into work as per usual. The day before Christmas Eve, and she would have her holiday ruined. Near the end of the day she was called aside and pulled into the office by her boss. Sitting in that sterile office was rare for her, and today was the perfect day to make her hate.

"We need you to come in full shift tomorrow and Wednesday."

There was no question or suggestion, simply a command. Clarke had wanted nothing more than to spend the holiday with her friends and family and when her schedule had changed over to her current days, she made damn sure she changed her availability for Christmas as soon as she could. Unfortunately, things didn't always go your way. As an ER nurse, if you had to go into work, you had to go into work. As long as you weren't breaking legality of hours on shift. She tried her damnedest to fight the request but her boss wasn't bending. One of the nurses who had been scheduled on-shift for the two days fallen sick. Everyone else had scheduled off the holiday long before Clarke had, so she was the one to put back on the clock first. The rest of her day was ruined, and her heart just broken. She was already so damn tired that hearing her holiday was now over made her emotional.

Slinking into the house just after nine in the evening, she failed to see Raven sitting in the kitchen at their little table or Murphy across from her.

"Clarke?" Raven called out at Clarke who was just trudging to her room.

"Blondie." Murphy said a bit louder and that caught her attention. Why the hell was Murphy in their apartment?

"Huh?" She looked over to the two, Raven now standing in the living room and Murphy leaning back in the chair he was seated on. "Don't do that to my chair. Why are you here?" Her works were crisp, almost rude. Murphy promptly set the chair back on all four legs.

"You okay?" Raven asked.

"Yeah." She lied. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not." Raven said but Clarke wasn't in the mood.

"Murphy, why are you here?" Clarke diverted her attention to the man-child in the kitchen.

"I wanted to talk to Raven." He confessed.

"He more or less forced me to put up with him." The brunette sighed and moved to look at him.

He was grinning. "Not wrong. I showed up, annoyed her until opened up and let myself in."

Clarke wasn't amused but that was more her sadness right now. "Okay. Don't kill each other." She turned around and walked toward her room but she was stopped by a thin hand on her arm.

"What gives?" Raven whispered.

"I have to work tomorrow, and Wednesday." Clarke said it blandly, quickly and with a gloss to her eyes. She pulled her arm away from Raven, and went into her room. Raven didn't follow, hit with her own sadness at the words.

With Clarke in her room, Raven turned back to Murphy, disappointment plastered all over her face. He looked concerned, stood and walked to her, wanting to take care of her. It confused her, but she let him react that way.

"What's wrong?" He asked, closing in to her personal space.

"Clarke was called in to work for the holiday." She pouted. "She looks so heartbroken. She loves Christmas.

Murphy reached out, or started to. He stopped and dropped his hand at the last second.

"I don't know what to do." Raven confessed. She felt like she had to fix the situation somehow and give Clarke back her holiday but she couldn't. This was above her. If the hospital said she had to work, then she had to work. That was something very clear when you worked as a nurse or doctor.

"How can I help?" Murphy offered, a gesture uncommon for him. Raven saw the care in his eyes and his body language. She realized how much of a dick she was and how true to his word he was. He did care about her and it felt nice knowing that now that she could physically see it.

Looking at him, seeing his feelings for her emanate from him, she sighed. "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I was a dick to you the other week. You tried to tell me how you f-"

"Ray, I've been the biggest dick to you plenty of time."

"I mean, I'm sure it's not THAT big." She joked back instantly as it naturally came to her, even in the sincerity of the moment. Murphy looked at her with fire behind his eyes.

"Sorry." She laughed. Murphy moved into her space dangerously close.

"I'm on your time, Reyes." His tone low and threatening in a heated way, but sincere and warm. It sparked a fire in her and a knot low in her gut twisted. She took her lip into her mouth in response and bit down on it a bit.

"In that case." She made a move, a whimsical and bold move, something akin to her style. Her toes curled into the carpet and lifted her weight so she could meet his lips, her arms came to drape around his shoulders and her hands meeting the hair above the nape of his neck. What seemed so elegant and slow took only a second and prefaced her lips clashing against his. He looked so befuddled which made her smirk the moment their lips met. He could finally taste her warm silky lips, and feel the fire of her personality in her kiss. The kiss was passionate and probably bit more steamy than was appropriate for the moment. Her fingers rubbed at the hair on the back of his head and she deepened the kiss. This was something they both wanted for a while now and she was hungry for the satisfaction but it came to and end when Murphy pulled apart.

"Ra-" He said as she pouted. "Trust me, I have been dying to kiss you and if we don't stop right now I won't be able to control myself."

She wiped the lust off her lips and took a step back, her hand then fanning herself off a bit. "You're right. I should actually go check on Clarke." She said, coming back to the reality of the day. It didn't seem real that she was just locking lips with the Cockroach and that she wanted more, so much more.

"Yeah, I'll be here." He grinned, his cockiness back. She returned the grin and went to Clarke's room, letting herself in. She tried her hardest to knock the grin off her face when she saw her friend laying on her bed in scrub, sad.

"Oh babe." She called out to Clarke and moved to the bed, laying with her. It allowed Clarke to let go and cry, something she had been holding on with how long her month had been. Work wasn't easy and now she had her holiday taken from her. She sobbed, nothing over the top just a stress release.

"I love my job but I hate the hours." She said after she shed some tears.

"I don't blame you." Raven rubbed her friend's arm. The girls sat up and Clarke wiped her eyes.

"Would I be an asshole if I quit?" She asked.

Raven thought it through. "No, but I would wait until after the holidays to make that decision. Right now you're stressed out and sad." Clarke knew Raven was right but she couldn't see past the moment and how crummy she felt.

"I guess I should eat dinner and get to bed so I can go back to work tomorrow." She spoke with her hands, flourishing the words that made her sad.

"Oh, let Murphy cook you something. He loves to cook."

"He's still here?" Clarke looked surprised and Raven couldn't help but smile. It was a natural reaction. She nodded.

"Oh, don't let me interrupt, please."

"You're not." Raven stood up. "Go take a bath and I'll have Murphy make you dinner. This is an order." Raven mocked authority and Clarke chuckled. She did as she was told though and ran herself a hot bath. By the time she started pruning, she could smell something amazing fill her lungs. Her tummy danced at the scent. She merged from the bathroom in yoga pants and a sweater, her wet hair clipped back in a messy way.

"There she is." Murphy was outfitted in an apron, a girly one at that, and presented a deep bowl full of what looked like brown noodles. She took it and quickly set it down on the table as it was way too hot.

"What is this?" She looked, studying the bowl. It was full of egg noodles coated in a thin brown liquid with chunks of beef on top and a dollop of sour cream.

"Beef Stroganoff." Murphy proudly state, setting down two more bowl and a plate with toasted slices of bread covered in browned and melted cheese.

Bewildered, Clarke looked at him, Raven and then the food again. "You made this here? How the hell…" She was confused how this amazing meal came out of their kitchen. Raven and Murphy both laughed.

"Yeah, you had a shitty steak in your freezer, tons of noodles, some loaves of bread and stock. Pretty simple to put together." He shrugged. Clarke would have never thought of that and was notably impressed.

"Well thank you." She said politely and the three dug in to their bowls of yummy comfort food. It was amazing, perfectly seasoned and tender cuts of steak. The food really soothed her soul and filled her belly. "You can cook for us any time." She declared. Once they were all done, Murphy and Raven offered to clean up and sent Clarke to bed, as she had to be up for another twelve hour shift tomorrow morning. She bid thank you again and went to bed, leaving Raven and Murphy alone again. The two stood in the kitchen and cleaned together, flirting.

"You cook so good." Raven commended him.

"You look so good." He replied, and they both cringed immediately. "Shut up." He defended himself and they both laughed. Maybe this was their new normal, and something had started that would be different from harassing one another. After they cleaned up, Raven found herself wanting closeness and to be kissing him again but Murphy resisting. She knew it was out of respect but it annoyed her nonetheless.

"I should head out, let you get to bed too." He suggested, walking himself to the front door. She was tempted to invite him to stay over but she didn't want this… whatever this was, to turn into something friendly with benefits. She wanted more.

"Thank you for dinner." She said standing in front of him at the door, his back to it.

"Thank you for letting me in." He smiled, closing inches between them.

"I mean, technically I never did." She laughed but was cut off by his lips on hers, a chaste kiss. She allowed herself to sink into it just enough to enjoy it but not too much to make her take it somewhere else. They broke apart mutually and grinning like children and not realizing they were holding hands before Murphy turned and opened the door. As he walked out the door, she hesitantly dropped his hand and saw him down the hall before shutting the door and locking it. Raven went to bed happy for once in a long time.

Vibrating on the little white wooden table beside her bed, Clarke woke to her alarm as is slowly but surely got louder and louder. She tapped the screen of her phone to silence the abysmal alarm and came to, realizing she had to go to work the day before Christmas. In years past, she didn't mind. She had been an ER nurse for years now and was used to the routine of when she would have to work or not. This year she was sure she'd have off and planned to enjoy that. On top of that, she had more people to spend her time with, friends who had become family. Her heart hurt knowing that wasn't happening anymore, but the professional in her made her get up and get ready for a twelve hour shift.

After eating and washing her face, Clarke emerged from her In fresh scrubs with a long sleeve shirt under them. Draped over her arm were two sweaters of varied thickness and hanging in her hand was her bag. This bag was her life source whine working her shifts. It would sit in her locker all day but it held things she needed through the day, or learned to have on standby over the years. It contained hygiene and beauty products to refresh her throughout the day, clean socks, lotion and things to read and puzzle books to keep her busy when on breaks or down times, a charger for her phone and most importantly gum to keep her breath fresh.

As she is slipping her shoes on, her phone goes off in her pocket. She fumbled her bag and sweaters to get to her phone eventually just dropping the bag. The screen lit up, it was the hospital. Hope filled her body in that moment and she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"I texted you, you didn't reply. White Mountain Medical Center had an electrical break down on their third floor. Patients affected by wards on that floor were moved, most down south and a city north. We were offered a handful of staff in the meantime so you're officially on call. You're number one on the list, so you know what that means but if I'm being honest I doubt you'll get called in. We have seven nurses coming in and the only two departments short staffed. But, I can't promise that so treat it like normal and try to enjoy your holiday." The charge nurse rattled off the declaration, so much to take in. Clarke felt so relieved but stressed all at once.

"Yes Ma'am, thank you and if I don't see you, Merry Christmas." Clarke ended the call and quickly. Clarke dropped the sweaters and did a little jig of happiness, looking like a complete dork. She quickly put her phone on the pile and ran into Raven's room, who was still asleep. She dove into the bed and alarmed the sleeping woman.

"I'm on call!" Clarke nearly screamed.

"Really?" Raven replied with exclamation despite her groggy nature.

"Realllllllly. I'm on call today and tomorrow." She shook her friend, elated by the change in her plans. Being on call, and being number one on the list meant she was the first person they would call should she need to go in. Now normally that was a guaranteed call in at some point, if only for a few hours. However taking in nurses from the other hospital who were for-sure scheduled to work the holiday meant she would likely not need to go in. It also meant she was being paid while on call, albeit only four dollars an hour, she was going to get paid for a full two hour normal rate for being informed so late.

"I'm happy for you, but get off my hand." Raven laughed, her fingers flailing under the pressure of Clarke's knee. She quickly moved and apologized, checking the digits for life out of pure instinct. "Which slot are you?" She asked.

"One, but another hospital had to lend out staff, so the charge nurse said they would likely not even get to the call list." She explained quickly.

"Can you still do Christmas tomorrow?" Raven rolled to a sit.

"I mean, yea. Obviously I could still get called out and I'll treat it like normal on-call despite the over-staffing." She shrugged. Right now she was riding high on the positivity of the morning.

"That's great, that means we can still do cookies today. "Raven hugged her, but pulled back looking like she had done something wrong. "Oh wait, I think Murphy offered to come over. I vaguely remember…" She reached for her phone and scanned through it. Some point after he left and she fell asleep he had offered to come over today to keep her company since Clarke had to work.

"Ooooo." Clarke prodded her friend.

"Shut up." Raven smacked her with a pillow.

"He can still come by, anyone can. We can share our cookie party with our friends." Clarke reasoned, and moved off the bed.

"Oh by that logic, you should invite Bellamy over." Raven tried her best to prod Clarke back, but it backfired on her when Clarke spoke next.

"I will." She boldly said, turned her nose up and walked out of the room. She put her things away and changed into a pair of skin-tight jeans, a massively over sized sweater and large wool socks that stopped inches below her knee. When she came back out Raven was up and about, still in her jams.

"Oh no, I have to get dressed?" She whined.

"I mean, I'm sure Murphy wouldn't mind you in your thin little jammies." Clakre pointed to the rather sheer sleepwear.

"He doesn't have to come over." She snipped back.

"Oh, he doesn't have to. But he is. I texted him and Bellamy and invited them both over." Clarke boldly announced. It would be a double date of two couples who weren't actually couples? She couldn't seem to care about that part, just that she not only got to enjoy the day like planned but that things were in a good place for the four of them.

"Wait, what?" Raven turned back to her room. "You're a troll." She exclaimed before going to shower and get ready.

When Raven was finished, she joined Clarke in the kitchen, who had sorted out what they had. They lacked some things for a real cookie party and decided they needed to go to the store. Real masochists went to the store on Christmas Eve, and they would be two of them.

"Hmm, the earlier we go the safer we are." They plotted their approach to the likely masses of people out getting last minute ingredients for their meals.

"Yeah, probably. Let's go." It was just after eleven and they managed to get in and out of the store in around forty minutes. The checkout lanes were the worst part. They went in with a plan and grabbed what they needed as well as random additions they found on their way. Driving back to the apartments was so busy, way too many people were out for the day before Christmas but the girls made it back home in one piece. After they put everything away, they cleaned off the kitchen counters as much as they could for how small the kitchen was. They put away things they didn't need, and pulled out the extension panels for their little table. What normally sat only four people extended to seat between six and eight. It would be a good work station for cookie making and it was routine for the girls yearly baking festivities.

Checking her phone, Clarke plugged it in on the counter and made sure it wasn't silent in the off chance she was called in. "Murphy said he's on his way, Bell said he'd be here in about an hour." She read off the messages from both men.

"Okay. Don't you think it's weird to invite just those two?" Raven posed the question as she went to sit in the living room.

"Honestly, who cares?" Clarke dismissed the idea as weird. "I adore being around him, and I know you want to be around Murphy so fuck it. I'm going for what I want from now on."

Her declaration put Raven into thought and her face showed how much she was mulling it over. "You're right, fuck it." She smiled from her spot on the couch before Clarke slipped away to the bathroom for a moment before returning. She pulled her hair back into a messy clip out of habit.

"Besides, the rest of the group would fuck with just us four the entire time because our relationships are somehow a free spectator sport but theirs aren't." Clarke rolled her eyes. She sounded a little more hostile than she should have but it wasn't in hatred. Truth be told, the other relationships were your classic charming couplings and so it made sense that a pair like her and Bellamy would garner more attention from the group. Same with Raven and Murphy, not to forget how new both pairings were and how anticipated one of them is.

"I mean." Raven looked guilty. "Sorry about the whole ordeal after Halloween." She apologized, as she was very surprised to hear Clarke and Bellamy had done anything. She knew she shouldn't have though, it was none of their business and on top of that she had been pushing it to happen since they all met over a year ago.

Clarke shrugged. "It was a shock to people, it wasn't like we planned anything. We're just going with the flow and the flow that night had us all over each other." She laughed out loud before flopping into the couch next to Ray. The girls sat together watching Food Network and waited for the boys. Murphy showed up minutes later and Raven let him in. There was a veil of tension in the room. It was a mix of awkward, sexual and just weird. It only lasted until Bellamy showed up which made the room feel more akin to their normal get togethers. With the four of them, it was easier to just relax and be themselves and not have to worry about being on display for the rest of the group. Bellamy would have no problem displaying his affections for Clarke. Murphy was the type of person who would climb on someone in public and purposefully put on a display. Raven was a bit more tame, one could even say classy. The saying a lady on the street... and well, you know. Clarke was more a nervous nelly than anyone could imagine. She often thought about who was watching and saw what, or how it would come back and affect her. It wasn't out of shame, it was just habit.

Murphy and Raven were piling it on which really wasn't surprising when you thought about it enough. Murphy was always on show, he had no fucks to give if people were bothered by displays of affection. If he wanted to suck on the neck of a pretty girl in front of a group of people, he would and he has. Oh boy he has.

"I can't not fuck with you about this." Bellamy said after popping a cube of cheese into his mouth and chewing it down. "You two went from acting like you wanted to kill each other to all but fucking right here on the floor, but you tried to troll us for what, kissing on Halloween?" Chuckles spread the room and it was too true.

"Don't be mad you aren't as passionate." Murphy declared while his hands rested on Raven's hips. They were definitely comfortable. She was leaning up against him between his knees, her back to his chest. Raven looked so happy and comfortable.

Bellamy took that as a challenge and turned to Clarke. They were maybe ten feet a part and it closed that gap in three steps. His arm hooked around her back and with sheer force he lifted her into him, her body pressed against his and her toes barely on the ground. He locked his lips with hers in a deep kiss, one that took every moment of a breath out of her. To his surprise and utter delight, she moaned into the kiss unexpectedly. He didn't know she's react that way and by God if he didn't love it. He leaned into the kiss more and her body went ever so slightly limp. She tasted like vanilla chapstick and well, he tasted like cheese. Bellamy lessened his hold on her slowly. He felt a pang of guilt take over because he realized he probably should have asked before he did what he just did. Clarke regained her footing and gazed up at him, a red stain on her lips from the gentle pressure and a dazed look in her eyes. Raven was watching her friend with a smirk on her face and Murphy looked surprised as ever.

"Okay, okay. We don't need a show." He joked at the display to which Bellamy shot him a playful but threatening look. They broke into a soft laughter but Clarke was just stunned. She finally cleared her throat and pulled her hands off his body. They had been clutching the fabric at his chest up until now. She managed to put a grin on her face and join in the light-hearted nature of the day but Raven and Bellamy could tell she was reeling.

"If you'll excuse me." He politely excused himself to the bathroom. Raven separate herself from Murphy who was reluctant to let her go and she clapped Clarke on the shoulder.

"Need a cold shower?" Raven joked, very quietly to only Clarke. She blushed and shoved her friend. Murphy heard the joke though and chimed in as he moved to reclaim the woman he had been holding on to.

"He does." He laughed.

Clarke shoved Murphy too and pushed them both out of her way. "We have cookies to make, you two can make out later." She rolled her eyes.

"I can multitask." Murphy proudly declared as Bellamy rejoined them.

"I highly doubt that." He chimed in at the perfect moment that made the girls laugh.

To be continued...