AN: Time to make some travel plans! It feels a little ironic to post this now, considering the current situation in the world… Also, time for some Octavia!

I don't own anything relating to The 100

Chapter title from "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop

22

We'll Ride Through the City Tonight

The next morning, after Bellamy has left for work, Clarke sits down at her desk and starts planning.

The first thing she does is write to Octavia. She knows it's possible, maybe even likely, that she won't even get a response – who reads a random message from a stranger on Facebook? Clarke definitely doesn't. But she puts Bellamy's name early in the message, hoping that the younger Blake will see it and at least be curious enough to find out what's in the message.

Hi Octavia!
You don't know me, but my name is Clarke and I'm Bellamy's girlfriend. I know it's strange for me to contact you out of the blue like this… especially since I know the two of you had a falling out years ago and haven't spoken since. But I know Bellamy misses you every day and really wants to see you and make things right between you again. I hope you do as well.
We're going on a trip to Europe very soon and I was hoping that we could get together while we're there? Sorry about the Facebook stalking, by the way, but I didn't know how else to find you… please don't hold it against me (or him).
Hope to hear from you soon! Clarke Griffin

She has a couple of backup plans if she doesn't hear anything. First, she's going to see if she can find a phone number, either for Octavia or for her boyfriend, a guy called Lincoln that looks more like a wrestler or gang member than the photographer that he apparently is. There has to be some sort of directory service in Ireland. If that fails, she's already checked out the website for the gym where Octavia works and knows there's a phone number on there. She'll call and ask for Octavia, or pretend there's a family emergency or something if they won't let her talk to her for some reason. And if that fails… well, she doesn't want to show up unannounced on Octavia's doorstep, but she will if she has to. She'll just have to come up with something to keep Bellamy occupied for a while and allow her to sneak off, because she's not going to bring him along on a surprise visit to his estranged sister only to have her slam the door in their faces.

She really hopes it doesn't come to that, though.

Next, she registers the time she'll be unavailable in her work app. She puts the 15th as her first day off, not that she thinks they'll leave that soon, but to be able to focus on last minute things. She hesitates when she's picking a last date, though, remembering Raven after Finn died, how she hadn't even gotten out of bed for over a week and then been almost a zombie for the next month… before her mind can delve too deeply into that rabbit hole, she puts August 31st as the last date of her leave. If she does feel like she can't handle going back at that point, she can always extend it. Her shifts at the library are only on a volunteer basis, and she has to approve them beforehand, so she can just let them know that she won't be able to do anymore for a while when she goes in later in the afternoon. She doesn't have any outstanding commissions – January is usually pretty quiet – but she turns on vacation mode on her Etsy shop.

She also calls Harper and asks if she and Monty would mind house and cat sitting while they're gone. She knows that Raven would never say no to having Bastet stay with them, but the cat and Lola really don't get along and Clarke doesn't want Bas to spend months hiding out on top of shelves and cupboards. And Harper is one of very few people that Bas actually seems to like, apart from Clarke herself and, now, Bellamy. Luckily, she agrees immediately, seemingly happy to get out of the apartment she and Monty share in the Soul Keeper building on the Upper East Side. Clarke suspects she might think that moving away from Jasper, who lives just next door to them with Maya, might mean less time that Monty and Jasper spend playing video games and more time for Harper with her boyfriend. Personally, Clarke's not sure that'll work out the way her friend hopes.

With all the practicalities of leaving New York for six months out of the way, she starts working on an itinerary that won't mean they have to go back and forth too much. Since the road trip across the country is the natural end, it only makes sense to start by heading east, making Iceland their first stop. She quickly googles the Northern lights and is happy to find that the best chance of seeing them is from September to April. It all depends on the weather, of course, which they can't exactly do anything about, but at least they'll be there during the right time. She also finds a company offering two different tours that both end with a night in a see through bubble out in the countryside, perfect for spotting the dancing lights, and bookmarks the site to hopefully be able to book one or both of them in a couple of days when she has a better picture of their plans.

By noon, she has an itinerary that incorporates everything on Bellamy's list as well as a week in Dublin. She's given them more time in the places where she knows they'll want to do a lot of things – like Iceland, to maximize the chances that they'll catch the Northern lights, Rome, Greece and the Philippines – and less in other places, like just a full day each to see Petra, Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat. At the moment, though, they'll be back in New York at the end of May.

She goes back over the itinerary, adding a couple of days to a few cities and some new destinations entirely. Edinburgh and Glasgow before they get to London and a detour to Barcelona for a few days after – just because she loves the city and is sure that Bellamy will find La Sagrada Família fascinating – Berlin between Paris and Kraków, a couple of days in Venice, Tokyo and Hong Kong, and finally brief stops in Rio de Janeiro and Panama City. Still, there are more than two weeks left… For a moment, she considers maybe a cruise from Mexico, some paradise islands in the Caribbean, but she's not sure how Bellamy feels about cruises, especially considering the reason Octavia left was that she started working for a cruise company. In the end, she puts in a week in the Seychelles and another in Bora Bora, which seem like good opportunities to recharge their batteries during the trip.

She briefly thinks about maybe keeping the entire trip to Dublin to herself, along with the Seychelles and Bora Bora, letting them all be surprises. But Bellamy's going to realize that they're not going to Edinburgh when they board the plane in Iceland, and that will make him suspicious. It's probably better to tell him that she wants to show him the city and then surprise him with just Octavia. So instead of writing down an altered itinerary, leaving out those three destinations, she just puts together a list of all the stops with plenty of room in the margin for Bellamy to write down all the things he wants to do in each place. She's just finished it when her phone dings. When she picks it up, she sees that Octavia has replied to her message and with her heart beating wildly in her chest, she quickly opens Facebook on the computer to see what she says.

Hi Clarke!
It's nice to "meet" you :-) No hard feelings about the "stalking", if anything, I'm glad – I've been wanting to reach out to Bell for a long time, years, really, but considering how I left things, I've been afraid to…
Knowing him, he probably feels the same way. I'm sure he blames himself for what happened back then, even though it was all my fault. I don't know how much you know, and it's not my place to tell you if Bell hasn't, but I know now (and realized pretty quickly) that he was just looking out for me
So to be honest, your message felt like a way to finally get my brother back. I'm not sure we would have ever gotten to that point on our own, Bell's too much of a martyr and I'm too stubborn…
Of course I would love to see you guys! Though I can hardly believe you managed to convince my brother to do something as selfish as travel… When would you be coming? We do have a spare bedroom and I would love it if you stayed here, but if you prefer a hotel, that's fine, of course. Maybe you can give me a call when you have a chance and we can figure out the details? I'd love to show you both my new home town!
Octavia

There's a phone number at the bottom of the message, a short string of numbers that's a connection to the other side of the Atlantic, and for a moment, Clarke considers calling right away, instead of just replying to the message. But it's after one which means that Bellamy should be home soon. Besides, it's probably better to wait until she has definitive dates and they can make actual plans, so she just saves the number in her phone, hesitating for a moment before putting it under 'Spencer', so she'll remember which contact it is without the risk of Bellamy spotting his sister's very unusual name in her contact list.

She lingers a little on one part of the message – I can hardly believe you managed to convince my brother to do something as selfish as travel. She wonders if Bellamy will tell Octavia the truth, or even just a version of the truth… either way, it's not her place to tell, so she clicks in the text box and starts writing her response.

Hi again!
First of all, thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly, and for not shutting me down. I was a little worried, since Bellamy seems so convinced that you would reach out to him if you wanted to, but I'm glad he was wrong!
I know he will be so happy to see you… I actually haven't told him that I know where you are, or that I've contacted you, I was thinking I might surprise him with you when we get to Dublin. But you probably know him better, maybe that's a bad idea?
At the moment, I don't have any dates, but around the end of the month or possibly early February. I'm hoping to finalize everything in the next few days, though, so I will give you a call when I have and maybe we can talk about the details? I think Bellamy would love to stay with you, and if he for some reason doesn't, there's always last minute hotel bookings!
I'm putting my phone number below, so you can call me if you need to, and I'll get in touch as soon as everything's arranged on my end.
Clarke

She double checks that she's written down everything on the itinerary, shuts down the computer and goes into the bedroom. She has a story time at the library at three, and then a Transfer sort of on the detour home. Bellamy said he'd bring lunch with him so they have time to eat together before she has to leave, but she might as well get ready before he gets home.

She's just wrapped a hairband around the end of her braid when her phone dings again, and she opens Messenger.

It breaks my heart to know that he's been waiting for me to reach out when I've been hoping he would, but I'm not really surprised… I really messed up, huh? But thanks to you I can make everything up to him, I hope
I think a surprise sounds great! I can't wait to see the look on Bell's face when he sees me… so yeah, let's do that :-)
I don't have anything planned for the next couple of months, just work, so we'll be home at least. I have some overtime saved up, so hopefully I can take a few days off while you guys are here
OK, just get in touch when you know what dates you'll be coming. And now you have my number and I have yours, maybe it's better to stick to calls and text messages? I seriously doubt my brother has gotten the hang of social media, but I don't want him to accidentally uncover our little plot by spotting our conversation
Octavia

She's probably right, better to stick to texts or calls. Clarke's about to type out a short reply to say as much when she hears the front door open and close, and she quickly shuts down Messenger and makes sure there's nothing on the home screen giving away that she's been talking to Octavia.

"Food's here!" Bellamy calls from the hallway as she stuffs her phone into her pocket, and she leaves the room to meet him in the kitchen.

"And you, bonus," she notes with a smile, taking the bags from him before standing on her tiptoes to get a kiss. He happily obliges.

"I figured the food was the biggest draw at the moment," he replies, following her to the couch in the living room.

"Well, I am hungry…"

He just chuckles as they dig into the food.

Clarke only has a few minutes to spare when they've finished eating, so she quickly grabs the itinerary from the desk.

"OK, so I have a tentative plan here," she says, putting the piece of paper down in front of Bellamy on the coffee table. "Leaving on the 20th, getting back on July 17th. I haven't checked any flights yet, so I left a few extra days at the end, just in case. Why don't you have a look at it, see if there's something else you can think of, and put down what you want to do in each place? If you think it looks good, I'll start looking into flights and hotels and visas and all that stuff tomorrow."

His brows furrow a little as his eyes trail down the list, and for a moment, she's worried he doesn't like it at all, or that he's changed his mind completely. "You had time to do all this today?" he then asks, and she relaxes.

"Well, yeah… it's really just organization, figuring out which would be the best route to take… I've also talked to Harper, and she and Monty will stay here while we're gone, that way Bas won't have to go to Raven and Zeke. I've registered my time off, and I'll talk to Vera at the library after my shift, after that we should be good to go."

He lets out a breath and puts the paper down on the table again.

"Wow… I mean, I know I agreed to all of this and I did quit my job and everything but now it just… feels more real."

Clarke can understand that. She moves the paper out of the way and sits down on the table in front of him.

"I know you're still taking all of this in," she says gently. "But maybe just… try to focus on the trip? Don't… don't think about anything else, just try to enjoy this, OK?"

Bellamy nods slowly.

"I'm sure I'll have some sort of… break eventually, when it all sinks in, but I'll try, OK? And I really appreciate you doing all of this, don't ever think that I don't."

"I know," she assures him quickly, leaning forward to pull him into a tight hug.

"I love you," he mumbles into her hair after a moment.

"Mmm, love you."

She really should leave, but she lingers for a little moment longer. Just as she's about to pull away, she feels his hand slip under the back of her shirt.

"You know… you made me call in sick the other day…"

He lets the words hang in the air as his fingers start inching up her spine.

Reluctantly, Clarke moves back, earning an adorable pout.

"And disappoint the children?" she asks seriously, eyebrows raised.

Bellamy slumps back on the couch in defeat. "No…"

She laughs as she gets up.

"Promise I'll make it up to you when I get home," she says as she quickly heads into the hallway, to avoid temptation.

"You better!"

-100-

With her own and Bellamy's passports in hand and his neat notes on her itinerary, Clarke really gets to work the next day. She checks and double checks visa requirements before applying for the visas and visitor permits that they'll need for a few of the destinations and is relieved to find that they can indeed get into Jordan, and every other country. Her own passport is new, since her current identity is technically only about nine months old, and Bellamy has only been to Canada, so while she doesn't get all the confirmations right away, she's not expecting any problems with visas.

Next, she starts booking flights. She's left travel days between all destinations, and most seem to work fine, but she does have to amend a couple of dates, booking flights that leave in the evening the day before she had originally planned for them to depart a couple of the destinations, just to avoid getting into a downward spiral that ends up costing them days at the end of the trip. She prints the confirmations as she goes – yes, she knows she can do everything digitally and doesn't really need to – and starts spreading them on the breakfast bar, in chronological order. It works as a good overview and makes her feel like she's in control.

When she gets to the end and puts down the flight confirmation for the final leg from Mérida on the Yucatan peninsula to San Francisco on June 22, she lets out a long breath. She still has to book the hotels and look into tickets to sights and stuff, and book the rental car for the road trip part, but step one is complete.

Clarke decides that she deserves some Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake for a job well done, but first – actual food. It's after two, and she hasn't eaten since a rushed breakfast of toast before an early Transfer, so she heats up some of the leftovers from yesterday's dinner and settles down on the couch with her lunch.

When she's done, she checks the time and deliberates whether to call Octavia or continue with hotel bookings. She did say she would get in touch when she had the flights figured out, and she has to admit that she's very curious about the other woman… It's almost eight in the evening in Dublin, so she should be home from work, and Bellamy won't be back for another hour and a half or so.

The decision made, Clarke opens her contact list and clicks to call 'Spencer'.

"Clarke!"

She's a little taken aback by the greeting, but quickly pulls herself together. "Octavia, hi."

"Hi! It's so good to hear from you, Lincoln says I've been jittery ever since I got your message yesterday and I suspect he's right."

The rapid stream of words give the impression of a whirlwind of a person, which is pretty much what Clarke was expecting, based both on what Bellamy's told her about his sister and the messages she sent yesterday.

"Well, I'm excited about this trip too, so that makes two of us," she assures the other woman, who laughs at that. "Anyway, I have just finished booking all our flights, so I have the details of when we'll be in Dublin."

"Great! I should be able to get at least three days off, and I'm sure you guys want some time to explore the city on your own as well."

Clarke checks the itinerary in front of her. "Well, we'll be arriving in the morning on the 28th, and then we're continuing on to Edinburgh on February 4th, so depending on how you work on the weekends, that should work pretty well."

She hears the sound of papers being turned and assumes Octavia's checking her work schedule.

"OK, I work every other weekend and that one's mine, unfortunately, but I have a few favors to call in at work so I can switch it around, no problem. How about if I take Monday through Wednesday off, give you a bit of a tour to get you acquainted with the city? Then you'll be on your own on Thursday and Friday, if there's something you want to do just the two of you, before we get the weekend together as well? And I don't have a class until noon on the 4th, so I should be able to take you to the airport as long as you don't mind getting there by eleven."

The flight leaves at 12:35, so that'll probably be just perfect. It'll be a lot of time with Octavia, but Clarke is sure Bellamy will appreciate it. Maybe she can come up with something to do on her own as well, give the siblings some time alone together.

"That sounds absolutely perfect," she announces.

"Great! So how do you want to do the whole surprise thing?" Octavia asks.

Clarke's been thinking about that a little. "I figured I'll tell him that we're not staying at a hotel but with a friend of mine, which we actually are doing in London, so he should buy it," she starts. "And then we basically just show up at your place and you open the door."

"Simple but effective," Octavia notes. "And… you're sure he'll be happy to see me?"

The confidence that's been so obvious in the other woman's voice since she picked up the phone disappears abruptly, and for a moment, Clarke can imagine her as the thirteen-year-old girl that just lost her mother.

"I am a hundred and ten percent positive that he will be over the moon," she replies honestly. She knows she's right, there's no doubt in her mind whatsoever.

"OK, good." The relief is evident. "Now, tell me about yourself!"

Somehow, they end up talking for over an hour. It's not until Bastet jumps onto the couch next to her that Clarke realizes that it must be getting close to when Bellamy usually gets home, and she glances at the clock. Sure enough, it's almost four fifteen.

"Listen, Octavia," she says when the other woman comes to an end of a story about how Bellamy tried to get her to eat carrots when she was five by telling her that it was what horses ate – she'd been going through an intense horse phase. "I'm going to have to go, your brother will be home any moment and I don't want to have to lie to him about who I'm talking to."

"Oh, OK," Octavia agrees easily. "So I take it you two are living together?"

Clarke hesitates. She's tried to give a more or less accurate version of her and Bellamy's relationship, without getting into the time frame of it too much – it would probably sound odd to be embarking on a round the world trip with someone you've only been dating for a month and a half, after all.

"Well, not officially or anything, he's still technically living with Miller," she says, settling for the truth. "But he does spend most of his time at my place, it's closer to work."

"Closer to work, right." Octavia's tone has changed a little and Clarke wonders if she'll get the 'what are your intentions towards my brother?' talk when they get to Dublin. "Well, I'll let you go. I'm sure we'll touch base before you actually get here, but I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks again for making this happen, Clarke, really."

"Of course." The fact that it was for Bellamy's benefit originally doesn't change the fact that Clarke has come to care for his sister as well during the last hour or so, and she's glad she can bring the two of them together when it's so clear that they have both been missing each other.

She ends the conversation with just enough time to gather all the flight confirmations together and turn on an episode of Brooklyn 99 on Netflix before Bellamy walks through the door.

He calls a greeting before detouring into the bedroom to change out of his work clothes. A few minutes later, he slumps down next to her on the couch and Clarke immediately snuggles up to him.

"Long day?" she asks when he leans back and lets out a long sigh.

"Stupid people," he replies, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer.

"Ah. What did they do now?"

"The usual. Some woman booked a delivery at 11.30, but nobody's home when I get there. I ring the doorbell, try the phone number she left, nothing. I wait for twenty minutes, until I really have to leave to make it to my next delivery, and then leave the standard notice that she can pick up her parcel at the depot tomorrow, or book another delivery at an additional cost. I call it in, so everything's in the system. Then I get a call an hour later, maybe, that she's just called and is furious that I didn't A) wait for her or B) leave the parcel on her porch. Out in the open, close enough to the sidewalk that someone walking by could literally reach over the fence and just take it. If I had and it had gotten stolen, that would have been on me."

"Aw, poor baby."

Bellamy chuckles. "How about you, how was your day?"

"So far, so good," she replies. "I've checked the visa requirements and applied for those we need, and all the flights are booked."

She reaches for the stack of printed confirmations on the coffee table and hands it to him.

"Really? God, you're efficient!" He flips through them a little, pausing here and there, before putting them back on the table.

It's Clarke's turn to laugh. "You do know that you can do all that stuff online these days, right? It's not like I had to call every single airline or even go down to a travel agent."

"Really? I had no idea." He's quiet for a moment. "What's 'online'?"

She pokes him in the ribs, making him squirm. "Shut up!"

To keep her from doing more damage, he grabs her hand. "Seriously though, thanks for taking care of it."

"Of course." She gives him a scrutinizing look. "How are you doing with all of that? Better?"

Bellamy nods. "Yeah, I'm trying to do what you said, just focus on the trip. The adventure of a lifetime. Literally. And who knows, this might have been your master plan from the start – maybe you made up the whole 'oh you're going to die in six months' thing to get me to travel the world with you."

She scoots even closer, burying her face against his neck and breathing him in. "I wish I did."

"I know."

They remain like that, Brooklyn 99 playing in the background, until Bellamy's phone dings. She pulls away so he can check it, focusing on the TV even though she hasn't been following the plot for the last hour or so.

"Hey, it's almost half past five," he says after a moment. "Don't you have a Transfer at six?"

Clarke sighs. "Six fifteen, yeah… it's only down at Coffey Park, I was planning on walking since the weather is nice, but all my energy just – poof."

He presses a kiss to her forehead before standing up.

"Come on, I'll go with you, we'll take the truck and pick up some food on the way back."

"Take out again?" she questions with a raised eyebrow. "You giving up on cooking altogether?"

Bellamy rolls his eyes. "Pretty soon we'll be living off hotel breakfasts and eating out twice a day, so why fight it?"

"Ooh, fancy hotel breakfast! The best part about staying in a hotel."

He gives her a dubious look. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a little weird?"

Clarke just shrugs. "What's so great about being normal all the time?"