a/n I don't have much to say about this. It's fluffy, and it's set five and a half years after the epilogue of "Child of our Time". Written for the awesome ebwalker who asked for such a thing once upon a time, I seem to remember. Thanks to Stormkpr for betaing. Happy reading!
Clarke isn't fretting, as she stares out of the window at the falling snow. No, not at all – rather, she is simply observing. And that is only a sensible thing to do, to monitor the situation closely when it starts snowing while a team is out there. And yeah, sure, it just so happens that Bellamy is on that team, but she knows he's safe. Of course he is. There is no reason to expect a repeat of the time he got stranded in the snow all those years ago and was declared missing-presumed-dead.
He's far from alone out there, she reminds herself – he's got great backup. He and Miller and Echo have taken a bunch of cadets out for their first week-long mission. The Titan hunting grounds are well-mapped and relatively safe, these days, but Clarke still feels terror in the pit of her stomach every time Bellamy goes out in the snow, and she thinks that's hardly surprising, given their history.
"Mum?" Madi prompts her gently, looking at her with concern from the other side of the living room table.
"Sorry, honey." She offers a startled apology.
"Penny was just showing you her drawing." Madi fills her in with patient understanding.
Clarke offers a noise of encouragement and reaches across the table for the rustic sketch. Her younger daughter is still only five years old, so it's not the world's most accurate depiction, but she can just about make out four figures of varying sizes.
"Is this us?" She asks Penny, trying to inject some levity into her voice. "It's lovely, baby girl."
Penny wrinkles her nose a little. She doesn't believe that she is a baby girl any more, and occasionally points it out, but she loves her parents too much to truly object.
"It's our family." The child answers proudly. "That's you." She explains, pointing at a blonde figure. "And this is dad, he's the biggest, see? And this is Madi. I wanted to draw Yan next to her but she wouldn't let me." Penny pouts, displeased.
"He's not properly part of the family." Madi defends herself.
"Yet." Clarke says through a laugh, her anxiety temporarily forgotten in the warm rush of affection she feels for her two girls. "Let's be honest, honey, he's been part of the family for years."
"That's what I said!" Penny chimes in, reclaiming her drawing and adding the fifth figure regardless. "He's my brother. He's the best brother."
"He's so not your brother." Madi looks embarrassed beyond belief. "What about your other drawing, squirt?"
Penny bats her away good-naturedly. "I'm drawing Yan. Mummy can see that later."
Clarke sits back and admires the dynamic between them.
"Your youngest child is unbelievably stubborn." Madi complains, although it is rather undermined by her broad grin.
Clarke cannot help but laugh. "I wonder where she got that from? Could it have something to do with the fact she has the most stubborn parents in the world? Or maybe she's following her big sister's example? Maybe it's something to do with the fact you named her after the most stubborn woman in the whole of ancient Earth literature and you've got only yourself to blame."
"Penelope is a good name, and you know it."
"I didn't say it wasn't." Clarke fires back. She's rather proud of having an argumentative daughter, as it happens, and she can only hope that Penny grows up to be a young woman of strong opinions, too. After all, that does run in the family.
She sits back and watches the girls occupy themselves with their sketching. Madi is a young adult now, really, but she still loves to sit with her family in the evenings and entertain her little sister. Clarke and Bellamy were a bit cautious of that, in the early days – they didn't want too much my sister, my responsibility going on – but the girls seem to have a pretty healthy relationship and are close despite the substantial age gap between them.
It isn't long before Madi starts to put the coloured pencils away.
"Come on, Penny. Bed time."
"I don't want to go to sleep. I want to stay up and play with Mummy." Penny protests with vigour, and Clarke finds herself feeling rather guilty. She hasn't been much of a mother tonight, distracted by the snowfall, and she ought to -
"Hush, Pen-Pen." Madi soothes, ruffling her hair along with the pet name, and gets an expression half way between a pout and a sweet smile in response. "You know Mummy doesn't like to play when it's snowing. Let's get you to bed and we can play more tomorrow, OK?"
Penny agrees readily enough with that, in the end, and Clarke hugs the girls absently whilst continuing to stare out of the window. She'll make it up to them tomorrow, she decides. Once Bellamy's home they'll have a cheerful family breakfast together, and then maybe go out and play in the snow. Clarke doesn't hate the weather quite so much as long as everyone she loves is close about her.
It's irrational that she still has this problem with snow. Of course it is. But she learnt a thing or two, back when she was pregnant with Madi, about the fact that it's OK to admit she's feeling irrational once in a while, and that it doesn't undermine her identity as a woman of logic. She just has to give herself a break, and remember to share her feelings with those who want to support her. Just as soon as Bellamy gets back, and they've had a spot of reunion sex, she'll admit that she was anxious tonight, and he'll give her a hug and talk it over and she won't be so anxious any more.
"He'll be OK." Madi's voice catches her by surprise, and she looks up to see that her eldest has made it back to the living room. "I know you know that, but I wanted to say it anyway."
"Thanks, honey." She pats the space next to her on the sofa. "Have a seat and distract me. You looking forward to having Yan home?"
"Yeah. It's weird that he's out there without me. I'm not used to it."
"I get that." This is the first time Madi's cohort of cadets have gone out on such a long training mission, and Clarke knows that Madi has found it tough that she has to stay home.
"I know I didn't have a choice." Madi tries to shrug, but seems to be struggling with it. "I'm the Commander, I can't up and leave the village for a whole week. But I still feel conflicted about it."
"I'm so sorry, honey. I'm sorry that this is yet another thing that the flame makes more complicated."
"Don't you dare apologise." Madi shoots back, suddenly every inch her father's daughter. "And you'd better not tell Dad I said that, either, or I'll have him apologising all over the place for the next year. I'm happy, really, Mum."
The thing is, Clarke is beginning to suspect that it might be the truth. Leadership is not for everyone, but sometimes she thinks that her daughter was born for this. Well, now she comes to think about it, she supposes that she literally was born for it.
"As long as you're happy, that's all I'll ever ask for, for my little girl." Clarke allows herself a moment of nostalgia and pulls Madi in to a hug.
She hugs her back, but with a warm laugh. "I'm not so little any more, Mum."
"I know that. I've been wondering – a lot of young people your age start to think about moving out of their parents' homes. And it seems like you and Yan have been together for ever, and his apartment is a decent size." It's not technically a question, of course, but it carries the force of one.
"You trying to get rid of me?" She asks with a smile.
"Not at all. I just think – surely you don't want to share a bedroom with your baby sister all your life. And I don't want you to feel like you have to stay on our account. We'd miss you like crazy, and your dad would probably stop by to check on you three times a day, but – you should live your own life."
"I have been thinking about it." Madi concedes slowly. "And I've spoken with Yan about it. And we're serious about each other, you know we are, so I'd happily move in with him tomorrow from that point of view, but I'm not ready to leave the family home just yet."
"No?"
"No." Madi's voice is firm. "You're right, it's weird that I'm going on twenty but still sharing with my baby sister. But I missed out on so much of my childhood with you and Dad, I'd like to stay here a couple more years yet, if you'll have me."
"Of course we will." Clarke reaches for another hug, and Madi only rolls her eyes slightly at her mother's determination to be demonstrative. She understands more than she says, Clarke knows, about the concern that comes hand-in-hand with winter weather.
"I was thinking I might start staying over at Yan's a bit more often." She offers slowly. "Maybe keep a few things there, so when I do move it's not so sudden."
"Like your dad did." Clarke remembers fondly.
"Just like that." Madi laughs. "God, he was ridiculous."
"Hey, do not say that about your father." Clarke admonishes her affectionately. "Or about the man I love, that too. He's going to be sorry he missed this chat."
"I was wondering about taking him for a picnic some time this week. Just the two of us – can't have my friends getting more time with my own father this week than I've had. I'll tell him about starting to spend less time here then."
"I think he'd really like that. You have to come on a family day tomorrow, though. What shall we do? It's been a while since we -"
Clarke's attempt at planning is interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and voices in the corridor. Bellamy is laughing at something, and she jumps out of her seat at the sound. She notices, too, that Madi's eyes are alight with excitement, but she's too busy running in to corridor to stop and puzzle that one out.
She bumps into Bellamy on the threshold between living room and hallway, in the end, and pulls him into a hug so tight that he ends up spluttering complaints about breathing in between pressing kisses to her neck. It's pretty typical of their reunions over the years, all things considered, and she feels her snow-panicked heart grow calmer with every second she's in his arms.
At length, she pulls away, and presses a kiss to his lips which is almost too firm to be comfortable. Almost. And he snakes an arm around her waist, but then tries to shrug out of his pack, and between the two of them they share a good number of giggles as he attempts to disentangle both of them from the straps of his bag.
Madi and Yan, meanwhile, are watching the pair of them with raised eyebrows – because of course the other voice she heard when Bellamy entered was Yan.
"My parents, embarrassing as ever." Madi comments, leaning into Yan with a comfortable confidence that makes Clarke's heart sing at this clear evidence of her daughter's happiness.
"They're sweet." Yan defends them, brow quirked.
"You have to say that. You want them to like you."
"I think he might have already won that one." Bellamy offers cheerfully as he finally succeeds in setting down his luggage and pulls Clarke back into his arms. "I did bring him back to the house with me. If that doesn't make it clear we approve, I'm not sure what does."
"Are you coming out with the family tomorrow, Yan?" Clarke asks.
"Depends on whether my commanding officer will give me the day off." He throws an amused glance at Bellamy.
"I think that can be arranged." Bellamy tries for a pompous tone, but gives up and actually full-on winks at his daughter's boyfriend instead.
"Then we should all get some sleep." Clarke decides, knowing that the two of them must be exhausted after their week on the move.
"Is that what they're calling it these days?" Madi asks, a pointed quirk to her brow.
Clarke laughs aloud at her daughter's innuendo, but Bellamy looks distinctly uncomfortable.
He swallows visibly, once, twice, then speaks. "I love you kids, but you'd better be planning on spending the night at Yan's if – you know."
"We're going." Madi holds her hands up in surrender, but her cheeky grin is still in place. "Love you, parents. Night." With a flurry of hugs, she is out the door, dragging Yan by the hand.
Clarke watches them go, even as Bellamy goes to shut the door gently behind them.
"I warned you, you know." She tells him conversationally when they are left alone in the hallway.
"About what?"
"I warned you years ago that she was going to end up falling in love with him."
"Yeah, our baby girl, falling in love with a brave, dependable cadet who thinks the world of her and wholeheartedly supports her difficult career choice. What a shocker." Bellamy shakes his head at her, with a warm smile.
"You like him."
"I think they're good for each other. And I think the best relationships are founded on a really solid friendship." He says, reaching down to drop a kiss on her forehead.
"Was that supposed to be romantic?"
"No." He tells her, scooping her up in his arms before she can protest and pressing a firm kiss to her lips. "This is."
They're still laughing when they make it to the bedroom. They laugh a lot, these days. And sometimes, with Bellamy's help, Clarke even manages to laugh while it's snowing.
a/n Thanks for reading!