a/n Hello and welcome to the penultimate chapter! Huge thanks to Stormkpr for betaing this and to all the readers who have stuck with it so far. Happy reading!

Bellamy knows his back won't thank him for this. He's young and fit, sure, but human beings simply aren't designed to spent the night sleeping on the cold hard floor of a rover. He supposes he might have been more comfortable if he hadn't been so keen to prioritise Clarke's comfort – giving her as much of the blankets as she would accept, having her head pillowed on his chest. And yes, maybe the sex against the cold hard floor didn't exactly help. Maybe they ought to try using an actual bed sometimes once they move in together.

He knows all this, and yet he has no regrets.

He wakes up first the next morning, simply lies there and holds Clarke for a long time. He wonders whether maybe he's spent his whole life dreaming of something like this, even if he didn't realise it until recently. Maybe craving a steady relationship and believing he would never be able to have one because of his sister goes some way towards explaining why he was so restless as a younger man.

He likes everything about this – except perhaps the uncomfortable makeshift bed. He loves the feel of Clarke in his arms, the sound of her breathing soft with sleep. It's so calming, to see and hear and feel her being utterly at peace like this. It's all he's ever wanted for her, and for himself.

To be honest, even the bed isn't that bad. They've both faced worse on Earth. And the fantasy-fuelled rover sex definitely made it worthwhile.

Clarke wakes up later than Bellamy is used to her waking. He supposes that's probably no bad thing – she could use the rest. Sure, he's a little sad that their precious time together is shrinking fast, but he knows they can make up for that missed time when they settle here soon.

"Love you." She whispers, while she blinks and takes in their surroundings.

"Love you too." He murmurs back easily. He can hardly believe his luck, that they're now in a situation – both logistically and emotionally – where they can simply relax and be together.

"Have you been awake long?" She asks.

"Yeah. Or kind of dozing. I'm not complaining though. It was good to just rest and cuddle for a while."

She smiles up at him, already looking rather less sleepy and more like the businesslike woman she is by day. He hopes that when they live a peaceful life here, she might learn to truly sleep in of a morning. To stay soft and relaxed even once she is starting to wake.

Today, though, is evidently not that day.

"Stay there." She orders him, brisk but affectionate. "I figure we have time for something fun before I have to leave."

With that, she scoots down the length of their makeshift bed, half-burrowing under the blankets, until her face is hovering mere inches away from his morning wood.

Huh. Is this what it will be like, to live with Clarke?

"What are you doing?" He asks gently. He knows what she's doing on a practical level, but he sort of wonders why she feels the need to do it within seconds of waking up.

"Saying good morning." She tells him, with a pert smile. "And I figure it's only fair. I came more times last night."

"Clarke. That's not how this works. I want this to be one part of our lives that's not about duty and obligation."

"I know." She agrees with a nod. "Maybe I put that wrong. I should have said I want to do this because you got to taste me last night and I'm jealous I didn't get to taste you."

He laughs, nods eagerly. That does sound better. He reaches out to tuck a strand of Clarke's hair behind her ear, makes it clear with a wave of his hand that she's welcome to say good morning to him however she thinks best.

He's well-pleased with his choice, mere seconds later, when his cock is hitting the back of her throat and he's swallowing down a groan. Good god. How is it that this woman seems to be so talented at everything she attempts – whether it's sucking him off or leading the human race? He relaxes and enjoys the moment, tangles his hand in her hair. He sort of has the intention of scratching gently at her scalp, but before long he finds that he is more tugging at her hair and trying to get deeper down her throat.

Huh. He should probably stop that. He doesn't want to hurt her. He forces his hand to be still, drops it away from her head.

To his surprise, she whines loudly. And then she releases his cock with a wet popping sound of her lips, and speaks to him.

"I was enjoying that." She chastises him, eyes teasing.

"You were?"

"Yeah. My turn to order you to have your way with me, this morning?" She demands.

He laughs. He can see her point – this is an uncanny repeat of where they found themselves last night.

He's only too happy to tangle his hand back into her hair, now she's said that. He's all for making Clarke happy, and he's all for trying a range of things in bed. He sort of wonders if sex might become his new favourite hobby. He's never thought of it like that before – to him, hobbies have always been things like reading, and sex more of a bodily function. But playing around with Clarke like this is definitely an enjoyable past time.

Could they spend whole afternoons doing this, in future? Entire swathes of the day where they get someone to babysit Madi so they can just lounge around and touch each other? That sounds like a good use of peace time, he thinks. That sounds like heaven on -

His thoughts are interrupted by his own loud groan, as Clarke takes him deep down her throat once more. He responds eagerly, bucking his hips up into her mouth, his hand on the back of her head holding her firmly in place. He's still not sure about this, really, but she reaches up to hold his other hand and squeeze it tight, so he supposes that's her way of reassuring him that he's not hurting her in the slightest – rather, she's having a good time down there.

He draws out the pleasure for several long minutes, thrusting into Clarke's face, holding tight to her hand, relishing everything about the experience. It's not just the feel of her mouth on his cock – it's also the setting, the words of love so recently shared, even the scent of her floral shampoo he can smell hanging in the air. But all the same he manages to make the moment last – probably all that sex last night helped his fuse to be a little longer, this morning.

At last, he can't hold it back any longer.

"Clarke. I'm gonna come."

Another squeeze of his hand, a moan deep in her throat that he can feel vibrating against the head of his cock.

That's when he falls apart, spilling inside of her, sighing her name.

He finds himself chuckling, when it is over. Chuckling at his own eager enthusiasm, perhaps, or at her playful side, or just laughing from sheer relief that they have made it this far.

"You're too good at that." He says lightly, giving her a hand to scoot up the bed.

"You're pretty great at taking it." She teases, pressing one precious kiss to his chest before she settles in for a cuddle.

Huh. Right above his heart. He wonders whether that was deliberate?

Who is he kidding? Of course it was deliberate. This is Clarke – she's probably had that little gesture planned for months.

…...

Clarke knows she's dawdling. She knows she ought to get started, knows that it is now late morning and it will take her the better part of the day to get back to Arkadia.

She knows she's wasting time, but she does it anyway.

It's just too pleasant, hanging around here with Bellamy. After the leisurely blowjob, there's a leisurely breakfast, and then a leisurely stroll round the village. And it's all too easy to pretend that this is real life, that they can stay here forever without the slightest concern.

But it's the thought of Madi that finally convinces her to head home. No – to head back to Arkadia. This valley already feels like home, for all that she has spent only the one night here.

She sighs. She should go. She'll tell Bellamy she's leaving, any moment. But first she's going to hold his hand for just a second longer, spend another mere heartbeat gazing at the beautiful, colourful village before she leaves.

"I take it you're leaving now then?" He asks softly.

She glances across at him, startled. She said nothing, she's pretty sure.

He grins. "That sigh. I know what that sigh meant, Clarke. Go on – I want you to get back before dark. Get going."

She nods. She's so proud of him and the progress he's made, these last couple of months, between trusting his judgement again even while listening to his heart.

"It's just a week." She reminds herself as much as him. One week is the timescale they settled upon for preparing for the move here, when they made their plans last night.

"Only seven days." He agrees, squeezing her hand.

With that established, she turns to walk back towards the rovers, and he keeps pace at her side.

They don't make it a long drawn-out goodbye. There's no point – lingering doesn't make it any easier to say farewell. And anyway, Clarke knows they'll be here again soon. But there's a difference between soon and now. And she was really quite enjoying now, for a while there. It's a long time since she's felt such joy from simply living in the moment.

She kisses Bellamy soundly on the lips, then buries her face in his chest while she hugs him tight. And even as she is holding onto him, she's holding just as tightly onto the knowledge that they will meet again in just one week's time. She's cradling that fact close to her, like something precious.

"I love you so much." He whispers fervently, hot breath tickling her ear.

She smiles to herself. They've been saying that precious word a lot, in the last day. She hopes they keep on reminding each other of their love often in the years to come.

"I love you more than you can imagine." She tells him, nuzzling against his shirt, breathing in the scent of him. She never used to think of herself as a woman who spoke so effusively about her emotions, but all those calls and conversations with Bellamy have done her a lot of good.

And then it's over. Then she's pulling away from the hug, pressing one last kiss to the soft skin of his neck as she goes. She's climbing into the driver's seat of her rover, starting the engine.

She's driving away down the track, leaving Bellamy to stand there and wave her off.

He'll stay in the valley a couple more hours. That's the plan. Polis is so much closer that he can spare a little time to finish surveying the wildlife and food sources without her. So it is that Clarke watches him in her mirror until a bend in the track takes him out of sight.

She keeps smiling, as she drives through the forest. This land is beautiful, and it will be her home soon. She will live here with Madi and Bellamy and her mother and everyone else she cares about, and life will be kinder to them than it has been of late.

But she stops smiling, when she leaves the trees. When the landscape gives way to endless golden sand and empty skies and barrenness.

It's harder to believe the last day was real, out here. It's harder to believe that there is a peaceful future for the human race, or that there is a personal future for her. It's harder to believe that Bellamy loves her, when all she has is a slight soreness in her hips to remind her of it.

No. That's not true. It must just be the loneliness of the landscape getting to her, or the anxiety of going back to a tough week in Arkadia.

She knows Bellamy loves her, and she has far more than some sex-fuelled soreness to prove it. She has shampoo and radio calls, pencils and stories. She has a crick in her neck where she spent the whole night sleeping cuddled onto his chest, no matter how uncomfortable.

Most of all she has the promise of a future with him, and she knows Bellamy keeps his promises.

…...

Bellamy isn't sure what reaction he's going to get from his sister, when he arrives back at Polis and tells her everything about his time with Clarke – or nearly everything. Strangely there are a few choice details he edits out. But yes, he's maybe expecting disbelief, or shock, or even for Octavia to ask whether he has hallucinated the whole experience.

One thing he is certainly not expecting, and that is wry laughter.

That's what he gets, though. Octavia chuckles, shaking her head, and leans back in her chair.

"I should have known." She says lightly.

"What?"

"I should have known Clarke would be there too. You two have always been uncannily good at communicating."

Bellamy smiles sheepishly. "Yeah. You might be right."

"Is she well?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she's really well. She's been doing better in Arkadia than she was that first month when she was here. And – uh – I like to think hooking up with me might have helped."

Octavia splutters, chokes on another laugh. "Thanks, Bell. Good to know you have such a high opinion of yourself. Never brag to me about your skills in bed again, please."

He snorts. "I didn't mean it like that." He defends himself – although for what it's worth, he's pretty sure Clarke was impressed. "I mean we finally got together and talked about – about us."

"Took you long enough. When you say you talked about it – you really mean it, right? You mean you swapped love confessions and planned your future, not just some silly cop out and uh, shall we maybe try dating?"

More laughter from both of them. It's a good evening to end a good day, Bellamy decides.

"I mean we got it right at last." He assures her, smiling easily. He just can't stop smiling, today. "She wants me to move in with her and Madi right away once we get to the valley."

"Then I guess this is my last week to torment you, big brother." The words are said in a teasing tone, more or less. But Bellamy can tell there's real insecurity there, too.

"I'm not going to stop being your brother just because I have a family, O. Let's be honest – Clarke's been my family for months and it didn't stop me coming after you. It didn't stop me loving you." He forces the word out, finds that it comes easier to say it to his sister, now that he's grown used to discussing such things with Clarke.

"Thanks, Bell." Octavia swallows loudly. "Love you too."

He moves the conversation on, then. He knows neither of them is ready to sit around and talk about love all evening – and maybe they never will be. And that's fine, he figures. He'll take that, so long as their relationship remains healthier than it was just before Praimfaya. He wouldn't expect perfection – he just likes that things are functional, now.

"I guess you'll be an aunt soon." He says lightly.

Octavia laughs again. "You're that convinced she's pregnant already? Again, Bell, please shut up bragging about your sex life."

"No, I mean Madi. Clarke makes it sound like the kid's already decided I'm her foster father."

Octavia stills at that, adopts a facial expression more serious and sober than he's seen so far this evening. And then she sucks in a breath and speaks.

"That could be good. Being an aunt, I mean. I can't imagine being a mother, now I've lost Lincoln. I know I shouldn't say never but... not soon. So I'd like to be an aunt."

"That's just as well. Madi won't have any other aunts to rely on." He points out, because obviously she won't – that's how the single child rule works.

Octavia smiles softly. It's an expression he's not seen on her face for quite some time, and it suits her, he thinks.

"The only aunt in Skaikru? That sounds pretty cool."

Bellamy nods, smiling. In a day that has been filled with good things, seeing his sister learn how to be happy again is one of the best of all.

…...

Clarke tells her daughter and mother the good news first. She'll tell Kane next, of course, and then she'll crack on with the business of preparing her people for the move.

But she wants to take a few precious minutes, first, to share some happiness with her family.

"Raven was right. Shallow Valley survived." She speaks in English, because Madi has picked the language up quickly, being young and bright. So long as the sentences are simple, she'll follow the conversation just fine.

"And?" Abby prompts gently.

"What do you mean?" Clarke asks.

"That's good news. But it's not much of a surprise, and it doesn't explain why you look so totally happy." Abby points out shrewdly.

"Bellamy was there." Clarke confesses, grinning broadly. She feels almost fizzy with excitement about it all. "It was the best coincidence – he was there to check it out too and we ran into each other. It was good to spend some time together."

"Bellamy was there?" Madi repeats. Ah, yes. Perhaps in her excitement Clarke has got a bit carried away here – she's not sure that Madi knows the word coincidence just yet.

"Yes. We talked a lot." She throws her mum a sharp grin, but edits her words for Madi's sake. "I asked him to live with us, Madi. I hope that's OK?"

"It's great!" Madi enthuses, bouncing on her toes at the very idea of it. "Will he tell me stories? Will I have a little brother or sister soon?"

Clarke doesn't miss the way her mother starts sniggering at that. All the same, she keeps a calm expression as she lets Madi down gently.

"Maybe one day. But not soon – we have a lot to figure out first with moving everyone to the valley."

Madi nods. Abby smiles brightly. Clarke sits, relaxed and happy, soaking in the good mood.

Until that good mood changes, all at once, with one quiet question from Madi.

"Where will we live? Are the houses still there?" She asks, plaintive, switching back to Trig. That's a sign she's struggling emotionally as much as linguistically, Clarke knows.

Clarke swallows. "The houses are still there. We wanted to ask you about that – do you want to choose one of them to live in? Or if that upsets you, we could build a new one."

"I want us to live in my old house." Madi states, firmly and immediately. "It's my house. I know you're Clarke and Bellamy, not nomon and notu. But you're my mum and dad now, and my family should live in my house."

"OK. That's fine, if that's what you want. Whatever will make you happiest." Clarke says fervently, pulling her daughter into a hug.

It's a good hug. Madi makes a few agreeing noises, confirms that she really does want to move back into her old home. Clarke holds her tight, rubs a hand over her small, shaking shoulders.

Then comes the big surprise. Then comes Abby, walking hesitantly across the room. Holding her arms out slowly, as if waiting for permission.

Clarke nods. And so it is that Abby joins the family hug, and the three of them support each other.

…...

It is somehow both the longest and the shortest week of Bellamy's life, all at once.

On the one hand, his excitement about taking his people to their new home, and most of all about moving in with Clarke, keeps him upbeat and keeps the seconds ticking by briskly. But on the other hand, there is so much to do, and he misses Clarke even as he eagerly awaits their new life together.

It's a mess – but it's the happiest mess he's come across, since he came to Earth.

He ticks things off his to-do list, one at a time. Indra is invaluable, organising their supplies for the march. Octavia makes a list of the families with young children or elders or mobility difficulties who will need transport by rover to the valley, rather than walking. And he delegates to Raven the task of driving to the Azgeda bunker and telling them the plan – not just because he wants to avoid Roan, but also because he caught Echo staring at Raven an awful lot when the delegation was here. It's not that he's trying to interfere in his friend's love life or anything, he just thinks it's worth giving both of them the chance to figure out why Echo was staring in quite that way.

OK. Maybe happiness has turned him into a romantic fool. But then again, he always was prone to emotional foolishness.

It's day five of seven when Bellamy summons Miller to the office for an important conversation. By summons him to the office, of course, he means he catches his good friend at breakfast and says he'd like a word.

Sure enough, Miller stops by, calm and cheerful as always, striding through the door with that manner that never fails to make Bellamy confident in the fact that Miller has everything under control.

He couldn't ask for a better friend or colleague.

"What can I help you with?" Miller asks easily. Bellamy's pleased about that – Miller still treats him as a real human being, even when he's in charge.

"I wanted to ask you about security arrangements for the Shallow Valley settlement. Do you think we'll need some kind of peacekeeping force?"

Miller considers the question, frowning deeply. "I think things are good round here. You've seen it yourself – barely any disputes in the last couple of weeks. And there are enough genuine friendships between the clans now that I wouldn't expect anything to kick off. You know the other day I saw Layla reprimanding one of her own men for taking his bad temper out on a Podakru kid."

"Yeah. I heard about that. But do you think it will stay that way when we're in a new environment?"

Miller frowns a little harder. "I think so. Maybe that's just me wanting to look on the bright side. But think about all the conflicts we've seen on Earth – or even the tensions on the Ark. Trouble happens when people are jealous or suspicious or scared. But these people know each other well now. And we're going from a place where it's cramped and supplies are short to somewhere more comfortable."

"I'm still worried about the mix of people from this bunker, Arkadia, and the Azgeda bunker."

"Yeah. Sure. But I guess I'm saying we don't need a massive show of force. And I think the people in this group will carry on like Layla did the other week – calling each other out and taking care of each other too."

Bellamy nods. It's a nice idea, but he just hopes that it really happens. He supposes that's not a totally empty hope – he has observed many of the same phenomena as Miller mentioned, and mostly called his old friend here because he wanted to check he wasn't completely delusional by suspecting that keeping the peace might not be so difficult.

Miller is not finished yet, though.

"I think it's going to be like we saw when we were first down here. You need people they respect to be visible in positions of power and setting a good example. Indra really commands respect, and so does Clarke. Once Layla and Clarke hit it off, that was all it took. We just make sure those key characters – and people like Roan and Kane – set the tone."

"And you." Bellamy adds easily.

"What do you mean?" Miller asks.

"And you. You're on that list of people who command respect and defuse tense situations. Clarke's told me loads of stories about that first month, and I've seen you in action since I've been here myself."

Miller frowns hard. It makes Bellamy want to laugh – that this man has still not noticed, even after all this time, how deeply people respect him.

"Why do you think it's you I'm having this conversation with?" Bellamy asks, to drive home his point.

There's a beat of silence. Miller frowns harder. Bellamy allows himself to start grinning slightly, almost half way to laughter.

And then Miller nods, once, decisive.

"Thanks, Bellamy."

"Any time. If ever society starts using money again, I'll owe you a raise."

Miller laughs a self-conscious laugh, then heads out into the hall with a new spring in his step.

…...

Clarke feels even more excited than the children look, on moving day.

Madi is bouncing and chattering and half-hanging out of the window of the rover. Ethan Hardy is trying to throw a ball around in the back of the moving vehicle, while his father tells him sternly to stop.

Clarke wants to laugh. It's clearly a lost cause. And yeah, sure, she'd rather not have an accident because some kid is playing ball while she's driving, but she accepts that kids are going to want to play ball on a day like this.

She admits defeat, in the end. She stops the rover on a patch of sand which is slightly shaded by the crest of a hill. It's not much, but it's enough.

"Why are we stopping?" Madi asks, petulant. "I want to get there and see Bellamy!"

Clarke snorts. She knows the feeling. But she figures Bellamy can wait half an hour extra, if this is what it will take to allow the kids to let off some steam. Naturally they are fidgety and overexcited after so long cooped up.

"We're stopping to play ball." She announces. "Ethan, that looks like a soccer ball to me. You know how to play?"

Ethan looks sheepish. "A little. Not well. I couldn't really practise on the Ark."

"Well we're going to spend a half hour practising now." Clarke announces.

With that, she jumps from the rover, Madi scrambling behind her. Ethan and his father hop out of the back, while the other families hesitate a little longer.

"Come on out, guys. The sun's bright but we'll be safe for a few minutes." Clarke recommends.

They do follow, then, blinking in the bright light. The rover is not large, so it must be cramped in the back, she knows. Along with Ethan and his father there is also the Hooper family – two parents and a kid – as well as Jacob Jones and his mother. And they haven't complained about the squished conditions so far, so she feels like they all deserve a bit of a run around now.

The parents as much as the children, to be honest.

Ethan was being overly modest about his soccer abilities, it turns out. He kicks the ball around competently, and before long the two Hooper parents have elected to stand still and act as human goalposts. Clarke cannot resist joining in – she used to love watching soccer with her family as a kid, and she's excited at the thought of teaching the game to Madi, now. Within minutes even the shyest of the kids is joining in, and the parents are taking part in their various ways.

Clarke likes to think she's had some pretty great ideas, in her time as acting leader of the human race. The schedule for distributing the nightblood, or the way she broke up some of those fights in the Polis bunker. But she thinks this might just turn out to be one of the best ideas of all – it's so simple but effective, such an easy and convenient way of bringing people together.

Maybe they ought to play soccer in Shallow Valley. Maybe the grounders also have sports the people of Arkadia could learn.

Maybe building this community really will turn out OK in the end.

Clarke intended to play the game for about half an hour, then get driving again. But in the end they spent a little over an hour kicking the ball around, and she doesn't begrudge it in the slightest. If anything, she's hoping the kids might tire themselves out and fall asleep for the rest of the drive.

But at last, she decides it's time to call a halt. Ethan Hardy has finally managed to burn off his energy, and is leaning tiredly against his father's side.

"Come on. Let's get moving." She suggests.

"Time to go home?" Ethan asks.

"Time to go to our new home." She emphasises.

She wonders for a moment whether Madi will argue, or even be upset by that choice of words. There's something about the frown lining her daughter's brow that makes it quite clear that she has more to say.

It turns out that what she has to say is nothing of the kind, though.

"We have to teach Bellamy how to play soccer when we arrive. I don't want him to miss out." She says, with all the straightforward affection of a child who does not want someone she cares about to be left out of fun and games.

"Maybe you can teach him, now you've learnt. That might be a nice thing for you to do together." Clarke suggests, thinking back to her conversation with Bellamy about how it might be interesting for them to learn to live together so suddenly.

"You have to come with us too. We can make it a thing for the whole family." Madi insists, pouting slightly.

Clarke grins. That's certainly an idea she can get behind.

a/n Thanks for reading!