AN: Vegas, part two! More of Sin City, some Fourth of July and a lot of friend time! I was actually in Vegas about two and a half years ago, it's definitely a cool place, really special – my general perception of the city is expressed by Miller at one point in this chapter

I don't own anything relating to The 100

Chapter title from "Never Enough" by Kelly Clarkson from "The Greatest Showman"

54

All the Stars We Steal from the Night Sky

Raven actually keeps her promise, and, apparently, somehow manages to keep Octavia away too – they're not woken up by someone banging on the door the next morning.

Instead, they get to wake up on their own, have some morning sex, doze for a little while, and then have some late-morning sex followed by some bathroom sex.

When they get out of the shower, though, Bellamy's stomach is rumbling angrily.

"I guess we have to eat at some point," he says. "Room service?"

She checks the time – already a few minutes past noon. "Or we could join the others for brunch at the best place this side of… I was going to say the Hudson, but I'm not entirely sure how the geography works out with the river and Cheryl's… let's just say they do amazing brunches. And mimosas."

He lets out a long, theatrical sigh. "And here I was hoping to spend the whole day in bed…"

"Do you really think your sister will let us get away with that?" Clarke asks with a raised eyebrow, and he winces.

"OK, yeah, probably not. So… brunch?"

She texts Raven to find out where the others are, and it turns out that she and Zeke just got up themselves – apparently, it was a late night for everyone. They agree that she will get everyone else up and ready, and that Clarke and Bellamy will head over to them in a little while, since Mimosas is all the way over in Spring Valley and the six of them won't fit in Raven's rental car.

They take the opportunity to Skype Rosamie and Danilo in the Philippines – apparently, they also knew about Bellamy's plans, and the whole family has gathered to congratulate them, which means the call takes much longer than planned.

Still, when they get to the hotel where the others are staying, only Raven, Zeke and Lincoln are out front.

"They're coming," Raven says when Clarke rolls down her window. She's wearing big sunglasses and her voice is a little raspy.

"Are you OK?" Clarke asks amusedly. She can't remember the last time her friend actually got hungover, she must have really started hitting the alcohol after they left.

"Some of us were up celebrating your wedding until… way too late," Raven replies, lifting the huge sunglasses she's wearing to glare at Clarke, which is only slightly less scary than usual with her red eyes. "Octavia is scarily good at getting free shots."

Octavia joins them at that moment, looking almost as bad as Raven and wincing when Bellamy laughs. "Not so loud!" she complains. "And it's not like I forced you to drink with me."

"Someone had to. I'm pretty sure your brother would kill me if I let you die from alcohol poisoning on his wedding day."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," he agrees amusedly. "How about we get over to this place that's supposed to have the best brunch so it can soak up whatever alcohol's still left in your stomachs?"

"Brunch?" Octavia asks, perking up a little. "Do they have French toast?"

"Of course," Raven assures her, looping her arm through Octavia's, so apparently the two of them really bonded last night. That's a terrifying thought. "Come on, Zeke's driving our car, Miller and Jackson can ride with you guys."

They get everyone in the cars and on the road, and soon enough, they're sitting around two tables that the waitress was nice enough to pull together for them, a virtual feast of breakfast food in front of them.

"OK, so what's happening today?" Octavia asks after she's finished a large cup of coffee and two plates of French toast, looking up at Clarke expectantly.

"Don't look at me," she replies. "I didn't even know you guys were coming, I don't have anything planned for you. We were going to check out the Venetian a bit more and then we have tickets to High roller tonight, you can probably get in on that if you want."

"I want to do some shopping while we're here," Raven, who has apparently also woken up properly, pipes in. "Which you can do at the Venetian, I guess, but I was thinking the outlet mall."

"Ooh, yes please," Octavia says immediately. "Unless you mind company?"

"Nah, the more the merrier," Raven says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Miller? Jackson? Shopping or sightseeing?"

They look at each other. "I'm not really in a shopping mood," Miller finally says, and Bellamy snorts.

"Are you ever?"

"Shut up."

"Yeah, I think we'll go with you back to the Strip," Jackson says. "I definitely want to check out the Venetian."

"Yeah, some of us didn't get to go to the actual Venice, so we'll have to make do with the fake one," Miller adds with a smirk in Bellamy's direction, jumping a little a moment later when Bellamy presumably kicks him under the table.

So they split up for the afternoon, Bellamy driving them back to the hotel to park the car before they head off up the Strip again.

It's still way too hot outside, and the air conditioning when they finally make it to the Venetian is a welcome change. They explore the labyrinthine streets, made to look like the city the hotel was named after, for a while before taking a coffee-slash-gelato break at St. Mark's Square.

"So, how does it compare to the real deal?" Miller asks, looking around them. He and Jackson want to do the gondola tour, but the first available time slot is in forty-five minutes, so they have some time to kill.

Bellamy mirrors his movement, frowning at the square and buildings around them. "I don't know, I mean, it's well made, but it's kind of obvious it's still fake, you know?"

Jackson nods. "Yeah, I get what you mean. And I've never been to the actual city, so I don't have anything to compare it to, either. But it's the whole… Vegas surrealism, or what you want to call it."

"That's what you were saying about… Dubai, right?" Bellamy asks, turning to Clarke.

She has to think for a moment before she remembers that particular conversation. "Oh, yeah, I did say that. But yeah, I've always thought that there's this sort of film of… I don't know, like a mirage in the desert, Vegas and Dubai, they sort of have that feel to them, you know? Like they're not quite real, even though they are. Not in a bad way or anything, I love both cities, but they're best in very measured quantities, in my experience."

Miller chuckles at that. "Yeah, I get what you mean. We've only been here for three days and I already feel like my brain's constantly overloaded. There are just so many impressions, everywhere, all the time. You never get a break. Lincoln and I were actually talking about maybe doing a road trip to Hoover Dam tomorrow, get out of the city a little."

"You should," Bellamy says, nodding. "We're making a pit stop there on Sunday, so we'll pass, but I know Octavia will want to see it too. Maybe if you leave early enough, she won't come banging on our door at the crack of dawn."

Miller hooks an arm around his neck in a light choke hold. "You sure you'll be OK without us all day? Alone in Sin City?"

Bellamy ducks out from under his arm and cuffs him lightly in the back of the head. "We've survived on our own for months now, I think we'll manage." He gives Clarke a questioning look. "Do we have plans tomorrow?"

She goes through her mental itinerary. "Nothing until the Cirque de Soleil show in the evening. Honestly, I was kind of hoping to just lounge around the pool all day."

"Good plan."

Miller and Jackson go on their gondola ride, and then all four of them head out, meeting the others back at their hotel for dinner, before it's time for a spin on the High Roller.

Raven and Zeke, who have of course already seen the Hoover Dam, opt to stay in Vegas the next day too, joining Bellamy and Clarke at their hotel since it, according to Raven, has a way better pool area. Again, the temperature's over a hundred, and they spend more time in the water than they do out of it, opting to go up to their room and order room service for lunch instead of having to actually get dressed.

The show isn't until nine thirty, so all eight of them have dinner together again before Clarke and Bellamy need to leave, Octavia grumbling about how she would love to go too.

"It's even called 'O', Bell, it's like it was made for me," she exclaims.

Bellamy sighs. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't plan ahead enough to know this was going to happen when we booked the tickets back in January, O. You know, before I even knew I was going to see you again."

That seems to appease her and she offers him a sheepish smile. "I know."

"There are tickets available for the show on Friday," Raven pipes up from across the table, but Octavia waves her off.

"Nah, it was more about doing a Vegas show together, not that particular show."

"Even though it's your namesake?" Bellamy teases, and she elbows him in the side.

"Shut up."

Raven gets up from her seat to round the table and lean over Octavia's shoulder. "There are still tickets for other stuff on Friday too, we can do something else, all of us."

So they spend half an hour scrolling through what's on offer – they rule out all strip shows and Octavia vetoes any and all mind reading, since it creeps her out, but in the end, everyone agrees on 'VEGAS! THE SHOW', which seems appropriate, and Raven books eight tickets.

"OK, that's done," Octavia says with a happy smile. "What's happening tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Clarke repeats with a frown.

Octavia's eyebrows shoot up. "Yeah, tomorrow. You know – Fourth of July?"

OK, if she's being honest, Clarke hasn't thought that much about the Fourth of July. She remembers noting, back when she was booking the trip, that they'd be in Vegas and thinking that it would be cool, because she's heard the firework shows are amazing, but that's about it.

Luckily, Raven is a little better at advance planning, so she has – again – an itinerary for the day.

"Not an itinerary," she insists. "Just dinner reservations at Giada, which has a great view of the firework show at Caesar's, and some suggestions for stuff to do during the day."

That conversation gets them through until Clarke and Bellamy have to leave to catch their show, and they're still discussing best Fourth of July memories when they go.

The show is amazing, of course, and it's after midnight by the time they make it back to the hotel.

To Clarke's surprise, nobody wakes them up the next morning either, though Raven does call at eleven thirty to tell them that they're meeting up at the Paris in an hour to check out their Beer Park.

"Apparently, they're doing some American themed thing today," she explains. "It seems pretty cool, so I figured we could check it out."

She's waiting out front when they get to the hotel and lead them up to the rooftop, where the rest of their group is already sharing a huge bowl of… something, with Bomb Pop popsicles sticking out of it.

"It's a Freedom Bowl!" Octavia exclaims. "It's watermelony and delicious, try it!"

And it's really a lot of fun. They pause the alcoholic intake after they've finished the Freedom Bowl and have all-American hot dogs for lunch, but after that, Zeke – their own beer expert – puts together a beer tasting and they work their way through most of the hundred types of beer on the menu.

They hang out on the rooftop for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying the general celebratory atmosphere, before returning to their hotels to get ready for dinner in the evening. The Strip is even more bustling than the last few days, natives and tourists alike making the most of the holiday, and they're all in a wonderful mood when they finally get to the restaurant.

Raven somehow managed to get them a table by the windows at Giada, so they have front row seats to the firework show across the street, and all in all, it's definitely the best Fourth of July Clarke has had in a long time, maybe ever.

She says as much when she and Bellamy are heading back to the hotel later, after they've parted ways with the rest of the group on Flamingo.

"Yeah?" he replies, arm tightening around her and lips brushing her hair briefly. "Me too."

They're more or less on their own again on Friday, since they have tickets to the Neon Boneyard and the Mob Museum – which Octavia makes fun of Bellamy for being excited about over breakfast, but is actually really cool. Again, they meet up with the others for dinner and then the Vegas show, which is a little over-the-top – though, really, that's Las Vegas in a nutshell – but overall fun.

"So, did that live up to your expectations?" Bellamy asks Octavia when they're leaving Planet Hollywood, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

She rolls her eyes but hugs him back. "It was cool, yeah."

"Liking Las Vegas so far?"

"I mean, I probably wouldn't want to live here, but it's nice for a holiday."

Clarke hums her agreement from Bellamy's other side. "Yeah, I think that's the general consensus."

Saturday is their last full day in Las Vegas – Raven, Zeke, Miller, and Jackson are heading back to New York at ten on Sunday morning, the only direct flight that gets in at a reasonable hour, since both Miller and Jackson have work on Monday, and Lincoln and Octavia are flying out at two in the afternoon, so Clarke and Bellamy are dropping them off at the airport on their way out of town.

As soon as she wakes up, Clarke can tell that Bellamy has already started counting down to when he's going to say goodbye to his sister for the last time – definitely, this time. It's only a few minutes after seven, but he's already awake, leaning against the headboard, scrolling on his phone. To anyone else, he might look relaxed, but she can see the tension in the curve of his neck, the way his eyes never focus on anything on the screen for longer than a few seconds at a time.

"You OK?" she asks, voice still rough with sleep.

He looks away from the phone and gives her a half-smile. "Yeah." He sighs. "Just… we already did the goodbye thing once, I thought it was the last time then, I'm not really looking forward to doing it again."

She pushes herself up into a sitting position. "I know. But you don't regret asking them to come, right?"

"Of course not, I would have loved it if they could stay longer…" He sighs again, rubs a hand over his face. "I did ask if they could, actually, maybe another week, fly back from New Orleans or something. I know it would have messed up hotels and stuff…"

"We would have managed," Clarke interrupts him gently. "But?"

"Apparently summer's one of Lincoln's busiest seasons, photographing weddings and stuff, O said they just couldn't be away from Dublin for that long. Which I get, I just… it's not like it would make much difference, no matter how much time I got with her now, it still wouldn't be enough, but it would've…"

"It would have been a little more time," she finishes the sentence when he trails off.

Bellamy's mouth turns up in a half smile. "Yeah. I'm still looking forward to the rest of our road trip, it just… it would have been nice to share part of it with her, you know?"

She reaches out to squeeze his hand. "I know…"

"But it's not like I can tell her this is our last chance to spend time together, so…"

Clarke swallows, her throat suddenly closing up, and her eyes dart to his forehead. 21. Three weeks left.

"I'm sorry," she offers after a moment and he shakes his head.

"How about we both stop apologizing for things we have no control over?" he suggests, and she lets out a slightly watery laugh.

"Yeah, sounds good."

Since they didn't have any plans for the day, Octavia managed to convince everyone to go hiking with her and Lincoln. Nobody was particularly interested in a hard desert hike in hundred degree heat, though, so they compromised and decided on a somewhat-nearby wildlife rescue which is supposed to have beautiful scenery and at least a little greenery that offers shade.

So when they've finished breakfast, they head over to meet the others at their hotel and pile into the cars for the hour and a half drive.

"We should have gotten an earlier start," Octavia grumbles half-heartedly when they're on the 95, the city behind them and the desert stretching out ahead.

"We already got up at seven, O," Bellamy points out from the driver's seat. "We'll be there before ten, don't worry."

"It's still going to be hot as hell," she insists.

And it is, of course, but the refuge is well thought out, with a couple of wooden boardwalks stretching across the wetlands, strategically placed benches along them, some in wonderful shade, and they did prepare, bringing a lot of water and some snacks, so it's not as bad as it could have been.

"Thank God we're not planning on doing any hiking at the Grand Canyon," Bellamy still notes after a couple of hours.

He and Clarke have taken a break at one of the shady benches at the Kings Pool, sharing one of their bottles of water and a protein bar to try to muster enough energy to make it back to the car. They've already checked out the Devils Hole and the Crystal Boardwalk, and are now on the last of their short hikes, along the Point of Rocks Boardwalk.

"Yeah, I didn't even suggest that since I know it'll be too hot," she says. "Not as bad as Vegas, but still, high eighties, low nineties, and without much shade… no fun."

They're alone for the moment – Octavia, Lincoln, Miller and Jackson have already started heading back towards the parking area, and Raven and Zeke stopped to check something out a little while ago and haven't reached the pond yet.

"How long will we have there, by the way?" Bellamy asks.

"Depends a little, I guess," Clarke replies, pulling her phone out of her pocket and opening up Google Maps. "We're dropping Octavia and Lincoln off at the airport at… eleven thirty, noon?"

He nods. "Yeah, something like that, they need to get through security for international flights."

"OK, so then it's a four hour drive to the national park, give or take. We're stopping at Hoover Dam, but unless you're really interested in how a dam works…"

"Not really."

"…that shouldn't take more than an hour, tops, if we get lunch there," she concludes. "And one of your roadside attractions thing was on that stretch, right?"

He thinks for a moment. "Oh, yeah, the largest map of Route 66."

"What was the name of the hotel?"

Bellamy pulls out his phone too to check. "El Trovatore Motel."

She plugs that into the maps too. "OK, that adds ten minutes to the drive, that's nothing. Plus another ten or fifteen for a stop." She switches to a web browser. "So say we get to Grand Canyon at six, we'll still have about two hours of daylight to check out the canyon, sunset's at seven forty-eight. And then whatever time we want to spend in the morning, but it is an eight hour drive to Roswell."

"When's sunrise?"

Clarke does another google search and frowns. "Five eighteen."

He winces. "That's early."

"We can still get up to watch it, if you want," she says. "We're staying in the actual park, so it's only a few minutes' drive to the rim from the hotel. We can get up, check out the sunset, and then go back to the hotel and get a couple more hours of sleep before heading out, if we want."

He nods slowly, as if trying to decide whether that's a good idea. "Let's check out the sunset first, maybe that'll be so amazing we won't even want to watch the sunrise too."

"We can play it by ear, yeah."

Voices announce Raven and Zeke's arrival and they both look up.

"… I told you it wasn't a sheep," Raven says, sounding half annoyed and half amused.

"It could have been!" Zeke counters, just as they reach the bench where Clarke and Bellamy are sitting.

"What happened?" Clarke asks, biting back a smile at Raven's frustrated expression.

"Someone led me on a wild sheep chase for fifteen minutes," she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I said I was sorry! And we got to see that cool rock formation."

The corners of Raven's mouth are twitching, but she doesn't respond. "You guys ready to head back? We met the others and gave Lincoln the key to our car, so they could just head out when they got back to the parking lot, so we'll ride with you instead."

Bellamy gets up, putting his phone away. "Yeah, let's go, I miss the AC in the car and we only have one more bottle of water left."

Clarke stands too, but before she can put her own phone away, Raven's eyebrows furrow in a way she knows means her friend is thinking hard about something, and then she holds out her hand.

"Give me your phone."

Clarke looks at the outstretched hand for a moment before unlocking her phone and handing it over, not even needing to ask what Raven wants it for.

"Thanks."

She just shrugs, eyes on the screen. "I figured you probably wouldn't really want to do this part yourself." She clicks a few times and then hands the phone back, eyes darting to Bellamy briefly. "Do you want to know when and how?"

"No," Clarke replies immediately, then winces and looks over at him too, watching as realization dawns on his face when he figures out what Raven just did. "Sorry, if you want to know, that's your decision, but I don't… I…"

His hand squeezing hers makes her stop. "No, I don't want to know either," he says, but then hesitates. "Just… is it something external or something medical?"

Raven frowns at the question. "Why?"

"It's just something we talked about a little with that guy in Sydney," he says with a shrug. "That maybe it's possible to postpone it long enough for the day to end, which would only work if it's something external – a car accident, getting shot, I don't know… falling down stairs. Something you can avoid."

"Not that we're planning on doing any of that anyway," Clarke can't help but pipe in.

"OK, I get it," Raven says, and the expression on her face gives away what's coming, at least for Clarke. "Sorry, it's medical, so…"

Bellamy takes a deep breath. "Right. It was a long shot anyway."

Raven watches him for a long moment before she continues. "Do you want some good news?"

"Do you have good news?" he retorts, and she snorts.

"OK, I guess 'good' is relative, considering the circumstances, but… I found your grandparents."

That makes his eyebrows shoot up. "Really?"

"Please." Raven rolls her eyes. "It wasn't even hard, required, like, no serious hacking at all."

"She was actually disappointed," Zeke says with an amused look.

"Is it too much to ask to get a challenge now and then?" Raven asks, rhetorically. "Anyway, I don't remember their actual address, I have all the info on my phone, I'll send it over later, but they're in Bellport."

Bellamy opens his mouth but closes it again, apparently not able to think of what to say to that, so Clarke takes over. "Bellport as in Long Island?"

Raven nods. "Yup. As far as I can tell from real estate listings, they moved there six years ago, after Richard sold his company in Chicago. They don't make a lot of waves, no social media presence, which isn't really odd, considering they're seventy-seven and seventy-five, respectively. They're both members of the local golf club, Richard seems to play a lot, I found a couple of newspaper clippings about tournaments, and Linda is involved in several charities."

Bellamy still looks a little dumbstruck, but he shakes his head when Raven finishes speaking, as if clearing it. "Thanks, really… I still wasn't sure if I actually wanted to look them up, especially not if they were still in Chicago, but if they're just an hour and a half away…"

"We'll do another road trip," Clarke fills in. "We should be pretty good at it by then."

The smile on his face is a little faint, but it's there, so she counts it as a win.

"I'll send you all the info when we're back in the car," Raven promises. "Now let's get out of this damn oven."

Bellamy still looks a little dazed when they get back to the car, so Clarke gently takes the car keys from his hand when he goes to get in the driver's seat, handing them over to Zeke and instead ushering him into the backseat with her.

"You haven't gotten heatstroke or something, right?" she only half-jokes when they're back on the road.

He laughs at that, at least. "No, I'm fine. It's just… Manila all over again, I guess. I wasn't really expecting Raven to find anything…"

"Your fault for underestimating me!" the woman in question interjects from the front seat.

"Thanks, I won't do that again. I wasn't expecting her to find anything, and if she did, I figured it would be… one or both of them dead, living in Florida or maybe even out of the country, something like that. And I know they could still take one look at me and slam the door in my face, but I can still try, you know? And I didn't think I'd get the opportunity."

Clarke's already in the middle seat, wanting to stay close, and now she scoots the couple of inches separating them and leans her head on his shoulder. "I get it. And I obviously don't know how they'll react, but I really don't think they'll just turn you away."

She feels his arm wrap around her shoulders and then he's leaning his head on top of hers. "Well, you were right about my dad's family, so maybe you'll be right about this too."

She really hopes so.

When they get back, they have a few hours before their dinner reservation – at Top of the World at Stratosphere because, per Raven, they have to finish their Vegas stay in style – and Clarke does everything she can to get Bellamy's mind off his grandparents.

By the time they leave the room again, she thinks she pretty much succeeded – he's definitely much more relaxed, even smiling and laughing with the others, no sign of strain around his eyes or tension in his shoulders.

An afternoon well spent.

Dinner is great too, of course. They get to watch the sun set over the city and then the Strip come to life far below, the neon lights fighting the dusk all the way into the night. And even though Clarke does catch a slightly melancholy look on Bellamy's face now and then, Octavia's excitement over the whole trip and something that's happening at work when she gets back keeps the general mood light.

Since the New York gang are leaving for the airport around eight the next morning, they say goodbye to them after dinner, and it doesn't feel like a big deal or anything – which it's not, of course, they'll see them again when they get back to New York. In fact, Raven extends tentative invitations to a game night at their place on the 26th, and Clarke sends her a grateful look at that. They've been talking about doing something with their friends that night, but she's been dragging her feet a little on committing to any actual plans, since she doesn't really want to be hosting everyone. This is the perfect solution.

Octavia wants to do a bit more gambling before leaving, so she and Lincoln come back to Caesar's, and they hit the casino until Clarke feels Bellamy sagging next to her at a blackjack table. When she looks up at him, he's blinking hard, trying to keep his eyes open.

"Did you actually get any sleep last night at all?" she asks. "I thought you just woke up early."

He shrugs. "I did. At, like, four thirty or something, so I didn't get that much sleep, no."

"OK, then I'm calling it. Even if I drive tomorrow, I don't want you to sleep and miss everything." She leans around him and manages to get Octavia's attention. "Your brother is asleep on his feet, so we're heading to bed."

Octavia suppresses a yawn of her own. "Yeah, I think we're done too. When are you picking us up in the morning?"

Clarke considers the question for a moment. "It's not far from the hotel, really, and traffic shouldn't be too bad at that time. When was your flight again?"

"Five to two," Lincoln supplies. "The airport recommends being there three hours early, but that feels a little excessive. We've already checked in online, all we need to do is drop off our bags and get through security."

"OK, then it should be fine if you get there by noon at the latest," she concludes. "So we can pick you up at eleven thirty or so?"

"Let's just say eleven," Octavia pipes in. "It's not like we're doing anything in the morning, just breakfast and packing, maybe spend any small change we have left on the slot machines or something, and I know you guys want to get on the road. We can pass the time at the airport if we have to."

"Are you sure?" Bellamy asks and Octavia rolls her eyes.

"Yes. You need to get on with your epic road trip. Seriously, you're going to love Hoover Dam, it was really cool."

With a plan made, they say goodnight, Octavia and Lincoln leaving to go back to their own hotel and Bellamy and Clarke taking the elevator up to their room.

"So, tomorrow morning's going to suck, huh?" Clarke notes when they've closed the door behind them.

Bellamy huffs. "Yeah, pretty much. But I know that I can't be too… you know what I mean, so if you think I'm overdoing it, feel free to step in."

She busies herself with kicking her shoes off for a moment. "You haven't changed your mind about telling her?" she then asks.

He sighs. "I've thought about it, since I knew they would be meeting us here, but… no. I don't want her to have to think about it before she has to, you know? And I know that'll mean you have to…"

"Hey," she cuts him off, reaching for his hand. "I've told you before, you don't have to worry about me. If you don't want to tell her before, then you don't. I'll handle whatever… I'll take care of it."

His eyes are intent on her for a long moment, as if he's trying to find any hint that she doesn't mean it. Which she does, so he can't.

"OK. But, yeah, tomorrow morning is going to suck big time."