A/N: I'm so sorry! I'm a little late posting, the days are really blurring together on this side of the world at the moment.
Emlou, thank you for the review and yes, Raven will appear when the time is right.
Special thanks to PenguinofProse for being an amazingly patient beta and putting up with my rambling. And thanks to bfiler0603 for all her amazing reviews and chats ;P
This started out intending to be a light chapter and turned into a monster lol enjoy!
Chapter Nine
The Wednesday following finding out about Clarke's condition, Bellamy woke in a cold sweat, just as he had every morning since. He rubbed his hands over his tired face and carded his fingers through his curls with an exhausted sigh. He really hadn't expected to take it so hard, the knowledge of what Clarke had lived through. And he only knew one of the supposedly many events.
Either way, Bellamy knew he couldn't go on like this or he would never be able to face Clarke without her reading all his churning emotions. It hadn't been a stretch to admit to himself what he had probably already known deep down, and that was that not having her in his life again, in whatever capacity they could manage, was not an option. He wasn't ready to admit it aloud, but losing Clarke a second time was out of the question.
Bellamy gasped and jolted when Echo's arms wrapped around his waist, leaning into him with her chin on his shoulder, and all of a sudden it dawned on him that he had been taking her steady support for granted since Clarke had reentered his life. "We should go on a date," he stated abruptly.
"What?" she was clearly taken aback by his declaration, not an easy feat to achieve with Echo.
"A date." He confirmed. "We haven't been on one in a while. O was telling me about how she and Lincoln go indoor rock climbing all the time. That would be fun, yes?"
"Bellamy," between her dry tone and the look in her eyes he knew she was deciding to finally confront him. "Our lack of dates recently is not the reason you've been waking up in a sweat all week."
He let out a long exhale, hanging his head in resignation, and stuck his fingers back into his hair.
"I can connect the dots, you know," Echo calmly informed him. "Between all the times Roan has cut out early over the years while Clarke's with him, to what Lincoln and Octavia said, to your reaction now. Do you know how common PTSD is in returning soldiers?"
"I looked it up," he confirmed, mentally kicking himself because he really shouldn't have been surprised. "It isn't just about that though. She almost died, Echo. I wouldn't be the same if she had. It was one thing not to talk to her because I was angry and hurt and prideful, but she was still out in the world somewhere. It's a whole different thing to consider her not being alive anymore."
"You can't blame yourself for any of that."
"I know that. I know I shouldn't. Clarke's said as much. But she was my best friend." He found he couldn't meet his girlfriend's eyes while he talked about this and instead focused on the tattoo currently exposed to his eyes on his inner right wrist. "What kind of person doesn't support their friends in times like that?"
"A human person," she stressed. "Especially a human who didn't even know about it."
He traced the red lines of the outline of a thumb-sized brain permanently inked on his skin, unable to think of an appropriate response to that statement. It didn't make him feel any better.
"You know," Echo went on, taking his right hand in hers to turn his wrist out for them both to see in the early morning light. "I always wondered about this tattoo. It didn't really seem your style, especially compared to this one," she tapped the inside of his left biceps. "Or even this one," she moved her hand to trace along the unfinished design along his right side, just lightly enough to make him squirm a little and bring a teasing smirk to her lips. "I couldn't figure out the meaning behind it, especially because you weren't really one to intentionally brag about how smart you really were. It was especially weird to me that you don't like other people touching it, or even looking at it, since you cover it up whenever you can. But it wasn't until recently that I realised you weren't even conscious of how often you touched it yourself, especially when you were stressed or struggling to cope, and not just recently either."
A little thrill of surprise shot through him. Had he really been doing that all these years? Subconsciously looking to Clarke for advice?
"We had a running joke," Bellamy finally confided. "Clarke thought with her head, I thought with my heart."
"So I take it that means Clarke has a heart tattooed somewhere on her person? Or did you get it after your fight?" Echo questioned, curiously.
"She did have," Bellamy confirmed with a nod. "Whether or not it's still there is a different story," he muttered, more to himself.
"You really think she had it removed or covered up?" She raised her eyebrows at him, in a way that suggested he might be growing a second head. "Any idiot with one good eye could see she still cares about you, and you're not an idiot."
Bellamy sighed, that vulnerable feeling gnawing at his insides again. "We said some pretty hurtful things to each other. I can't say I'd blame her if she did something else to it."
"Where's hers?" Echo wondered. "Maybe we can find a way to check on it. That would make you feel better, wouldn't it? Knowing if it's important enough to still be there."
"Unless you have a way to get her naked," Bellamy retorted with an unintentionally mocking snort. "It won't make an appearance at least until summer. It's on her ribs."
"What about your sister? Or Lincoln? One of them would surely know," Echo encouraged. "I could ask Roan if you want?"
"Definitely a no to the last one." Bellamy did not want to think about Roan knowing Clarke's tattoos. "Why are we even still talking about this?" He climbed out of bed and searched through his drawers. "Let me know if you want to go rock climbing so I can find out the details from O. I'm going for a run."
With perfect timing, Echo's alarm went off and that was their cue that she needed to start her day, so Bellamy gave her a quick kiss and headed out the door for some morning exercise.
Bellamy ran for as long as he could, hoping to clear his mind, before he had to be back to prepare for his own day, and returned to find the coffee machine was ready to go and Echo had left the bread out for him with a note telling him she had also made a healthy breakfast smoothie and left him some in the fridge. An additional note told him she looked forward to their date tonight and hoped he had a good day.
The tiny slither of guilt that crept into his being didn't make much sense to him, so he pushed it aside and went about his morning routine. Showered and dressed, poured his coffee into a to-go cup while the bread toasted, and added the prepacked lunch he'd made them both the night before to his satchel as he quickly drank the smoothie. And so in no time at all he had managed to get himself into his car without dropping everything, and connected his phone to hands free in order to call his sister on the short drive.
"Morning Big Brother," Octavia answered, not out of breath exactly, but clearly on the move.
"Did I interrupt a run?" Bellamy glanced at the clock on his dashboard. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"
"P.E. teacher, remember? I don't need to be there in time for morning homeroom." There was laughter in her voice. "Clarke's trying to get back into her routine, so we walked Madi to the bus stop and now we're going for a quick run."
"You've got Clarke running now?" Clarke had always hated running for exercise, on more than one occasion she had told him that running just to run seemed like the most pointless way to exercise.
"You have no idea how much work she puts in to fight the anxiety, brother," Octavia sighed. "Mind you, I keep having to slow down for her to catch up and if she'd just stop complaining about how she should just stick to yoga she'd be less winded," her voiced was raised with the last half, obviously for Clarke's benefit if the teasing note he detected was anything to go by.
"And now you're telling me Clarke does yoga?" It seemed today was going to be a day of surprises. He wasn't even sure how to touch the fact that he was starting to wonder about this new version of Clarke who now did things she'd despised in the past.
"Two to three times a week," Octavia replied with a great deal of sass. "Was there something I can help you with, Bell?"
"Oh, right, yeah," Bellamy shook himself to get his mind back on track. "I was thinking of taking Echo for a rock climbing date tonight. I wondered if you could text me the information about the place you go?"
"Tonight?" Octavia clarified. "Well that's perfect. Lincoln and I are already booked in for tonight. Just tag along with us. I'll add you on with us."
"Like a double date?" Bellamy wasn't sure how he felt about a double date with his sister and her partner.
"You did want me to spend more time getting to know Echo, right?" she steamrolled on after his noise of confirmation. "And we're going anyway, already have a membership that allows for guests, and even have a dinner reservation afterwards. Your choice brother. It isn't hard to add two more people to any of the bookings."
"Sure," he agreed, not really sure how to argue with his sister's sudden bout of logic. "I'll double check with Echo but it should be fine."
"I'll send you details once I confirm everything." He could almost hear the smile in his sister's voice. "Also, Clarke wants to talk to you now she's caught her breath."
Before he could say anything, Clarke's voice came closer, her indistinct words sounding suspiciously like a string of swear words.
"Bellamy?"
Was it his imagination, or had he just straightened a little in his seat? His stomach was doing funny things to his insides, and he found it somewhat comforting that the tone of her voice over a phone line was the most familiar thing about her. He instantly developed a new appreciation and fondness for the thousands of phone calls and video chats all those years ago.
"Clarke." How was that the best greeting his brain could seem to manage?
"We're doing another girls' night Friday night after Madi's game and I was thinking Echo might like to join us?" She told him, still sounding a little winded. "Madi will be in the house so it will be fairly tame and probably include a board game and/or cheesy film of Madi's choosing."
That was it? "Well, then, thanks. I'll let Echo know." Was it wrong of him to be surprised? Or bad that he was now beginning to wonder if O was giving Echo a chance because of Clarke's influence and encouragement? He would have to take it either way. Octavia hadn't been openly hostile, but she had never seemed to like his girlfriend and Bellamy hadn't been able to figure out why.
"Your sister is getting impatient." There was a hint of a groan at the end of her sentence. "Have a good day, Bellamy."
She was passing the phone back before he could reciprocate and his sister was quick to bid him farewell and hang up. That just left Bellamy pulling into his car spot at work with a sinking feeling in his gut. He was jealous. Of how close Clarke and Octavia seemed to be. Of the fact that he wasn't the person who she relied on anymore - didn't even make it into the top five if he counted Madi. And, it was petty, but he was jealous that somehow Echo had garnered an invitation into her home.
His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he fought off the dark emotions that lingered on the edges of his sanity. Time, patience and strength. He started to repeat those three words to himself throughout his day. One step at a time, without putting pressure on either of them, and maybe one day they could have something that vaguely resembled their past relationship.
Rock climbing with Octavia and Lincoln was turning out to be quite fun, Bellamy decided, as he took some time to hydrate and watched his sister and Echo have an unofficial competition to see who could reach the top first. Admittedly the whole experience had turned into a bit of a competition between him and the girls, Lincoln excluded on the basis that someone built like a truck should not be so quick and agile climbing with those tiny hand and foot holds.
And since everyone was occupied, there hadn't been much time for potentially awkward small talk, or probing questions on his sister's part.
Lincoln came back down from a climb and joined him, reaching for his own water bottle and checking the time. "I have to make a quick call. When the girls get back down, will you let them know our dinner reservation is in twenty?"
Bellamy nodded and watched the other man move away with his phone.
"Who won?" Bellamy wondered when Echo and Octavia arrived beside him moments later.
"Too close to fairly rule," Octavia sniffed. In other words they both thought they had won.
Bellamy chuckled and shook his head at them, before relaying Lincoln's message and they went their separate ways to shower and change.
The restaurant was only a couple of blocks away so they headed onto the surprisingly lively Main Street for a leisurely walk, both couples hand in hand.
"Is this usual for a Wednesday night?" Bellamy had to ask, eyes drifting over all the bustling sidewalks. There were hardly any cars on the road, but everywhere they passed was full of people.
"You need to get out more, Big Brother." O started laughing at him. "Main Street is always busy. Day or night, there's always people everywhere. Look, you can see the Mad Tatter from here," she pointed off to a street corner another block down, and she was right, the sign was visible, though barely legible, from their current location.
"...Is it more obvious at night?" Bellamy frowned thoughtfully. "I've passed by there so many times and never really noticed it before."
Octavia shot him a look that was a strange combination of adoration and derision. "I'd bet my life you've noticed the flower shop beneath it though."
His cheeks flushed, because she was a hundred percent right.
"All heart," Octavia visibly softened and gave him a quick, one-armed hug.
"All heart?" Echo wondered. "Did I miss something?"
"We didn't have much growing up," Octavia offered a summarised version of the story. "Bellamy, nerd that he is, read up on flowers and the symbolism behind them so that he could find and bring me different kinds of flowers and tell me all about them as a form of entertainment."
"You used to love it," Bellamy couldn't help but pout a little. "It's a shame you didn't end up with a better green thumb."
Echo was looking even more confused now.
Lincoln really was the sympathetic one in the family, as he now took pity on Echo to further explain. "Octavia loves nature, but she couldn't keep a plant alive if its life depended on it, and they clearly do depend on it," he teased and Octavia actually flushed faintly and rolled her eyes.
"She always seems to either under water or over water everything," Bellamy added. "Or trim plants that aren't supposed to be cut back."
"And that is why I have people like Lincoln and Clarke and Madi in my life," Octavia smirked proudly. "They make sure I don't do the wrong thing, and, failing that, they just replace it."
"You've even got Madi in on it?" This was somehow horrifying to him.
"It's an even trade, Big Brother, I can assure you," O grinned. "The Griffins supply us with homegrown things and we make sure they don't have to suffer through too many of Clarke's attempts to cook."
"Here we are." Lincoln diverted them into a trendy looking, upscale pub-style restaurant that was almost well and truly packed, where they were shown to their reserved table, handed menus, and asked about their drink orders in a very prompt fashion.
"So what's good here?" Bellamy wondered, scanning over the menu.
"This is our first time here," Octavia admitted sheepishly. "But Clarke said the mustard-crusted lamb was to die for. She, Murphy and Madi shared that and the buffalo chicken pizza with some other side dishes."
Was it wrong of him to go from slightly sickened by crossing dating paths with Clarke and Roan to very relieved in such a small space of time? "Did you say Clarke and Murphy?"
"Between repeatedly fixing her tuck and regularly going round to cook them food, Clarke takes Murphy out and treats him to dinner at least once a week," Octavia chuckled and shook her head at their nonsense. "One time they went to a family diner, just before Madi really hit her growth spurt and the wait staff mistook Madi as their daughter and Murphy completely played it up, claimed it was her birthday and got them free cake. You'd think he came away a millionaire the way he kept telling the story."
"Madi got a kick out of it though." Lincoln smiled fondly.
"That's because Murphy is father of the year compared to the asshole who claims to share DNA with her," Octavia muttered with a huff and an eye roll. "May he rot and die in jail."
"That's a little harsh O." Bellamy couldn't help but frown.
"I've said far worse about him." O pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes in obvious annoyance. "You'll agree with me when you hear the story. From them," she added, apparently able to read Bellamy's inhale as the beginning of a question.
So he went another route instead. "Do you realise how often you talk about Clarke now?"
"I have six years of not mentioning her to make up for," Octavia retorted, pulling a face at him. "Besides, we're so over involved in each other's lives it's so difficult not to mention her."
Their waiter appeared to deliver their drinks and take their food orders and Octavia took that as a cue to change the subject.
"Tell me how you two met?" Octavia requested. "Bellamy's never really told me."
"Originally?" Echo smiled a little at the memory. "I used to work primarily undercover which meant I often ended up in neighbouring towns and cities. That time around I had a UC gig in Arkadia to infiltrate a crime syndicate that seemed to have their hands in everything from arms dealings, to smuggling, to under the table organ harvesting. They basically ran the black market."
"You aren't talking about the Mountain Men, are you?" Lincoln wondered.
"I am," Echo nodded.
"My platoon had several run ins with their overseas distributors where we were deployed." Lincoln pulled a face that was the closest to disgust Bellamy had ever seen him wear.
"Probably a bit before my time then? I was in with their arms dealers. This one day, I was making a show of running away from the police who had busted in on a deal, and I ran right into Bellamy. Of course, somehow I was the one who ended up on my arse, your brother's really hard to knock over."
Bellamy couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Somehow she finagled my phone number out of me and I didn't hear from her until a few months later when she was no longer undercover. It was much better timing for me anyway, as it turned out."
"The rest is pretty standard," Echo admitted. "Is there an interesting story between how the two of you met?" she wondered.
"Clarke introduced us." Octavia beamed. "They were stationed at the same base on her first deployment so Lincoln was almost a mentor to her," pride was just brimming out of her. "Clarke basically adopted him after that since they were both returning to Trikru when the tour was over."
"Does Clarke adopt a lot of people?" Echo had been curious about the fact that none of Clarke's 'family' were related to her by blood.
"Yes and no," Octavia turned thoughtful. "She's never been quick to trust, but when you're in, she'd die for you."
"Or kill for you," Lincoln murmured, then looked surprised at himself as he glanced at his companions. "Sorry."
Air wasn't reaching Bellamy's lungs properly. "Clarke's killed for you? Aren't medics non-combat?" He knew she had demons, from even before they had met, but she had never outright told him she'd had to kill people. Hearing it from Lincoln now, somehow made it worse.
"The days when medics didn't carry weapons are long gone," Lincoln shook his head. "She'd had to shoot people before she met you, Bellamy, and she's had to do it since she left you. But I can't say I'm too sorry for it. It's always been about keeping other people safe for both of us. About surviving. It's how I became family. Our first tour together, a hostile saw we were the medics and played injured, then pulled a gun on me in an escape attempt. Clarke pulled hers right back, refused to back down while I was in danger. She told me I was her people," there was a hint of reverence in his voice now, and a warm glow took Bellamy's heart at the reminder of Clarke as he had always known her, strong, stubborn and with a bigger heart than she gave herself credit for. "I was left to be raised by my aunt because my parents believed dying for their country was more important than raising their own child. I had never really been family to anyone other than my aunt and my cousin, until this tiny eighteen-year-old blonde refused to leave me behind and save herself."
"Good thing for all of us she was hard to intimidate," Octavia joked lightly, taking Lincoln's hand on the table.
"After that my sense of family suddenly grew to include Murphy and Raven, by association," Lincoln went on, in what was probably the longest, most personal speech Bellamy had ever heard him give. "And then Clarke introduced me to Octavia and life made a little more sense."
Octavia had always been the more expressive of the couple, with Lincoln being a steady, quiet support. It had always somehow been obvious that Lincoln was devoted to his sister, but his words now, eight years on, made Bellamy wish he could return to the past and give his younger self a good punch to the gut for being such a jerk about the early days of their relationship.
Oblivious to her brother's inner demons, Octavia smiled sweetly and continued on. "The first words he said to me were 'My name is Lincoln'. Just that."
"And you returned the favour and then demanded whether or not that was all I was going to say." A rare, beaming smile spread across the man's face. "I didn't stand a chance."
"You still tried to resist me," Octavia smirked, a little devilishly to Bellamy's eyes.
"Seven years is a big age gap when you're fresh out of high school," Lincoln reminded her. "And you had a very protective brother," the pair glanced sidelong at Bellamy, clearly teasing.
Bellamy had no response to that, just rolled his eyes at them.
They were interrupted by food service and the conversation topics steered away from the deeply personal and turned to more mundane topics while they enjoyed their meal. When it came around to deciding whether they wanted dessert or not, Octavia stopped them and announced they had to go for ice-cream.
"Isn't today a bit mild...never mind," Bellamy cut himself off with an eye roll at himself. He knew his sister better than that, he'd seen her eat ice-cream in the middle of the snow. "This ice-cream better be worth it."
"You have no idea." Octavia hung off his arm as they rejoined the people on the sidewalk. "They're basically gourmet. You'll probably deny it and call them overpriced and weird, but you'll love it."
Bellamy's phone started ringing and he fished it out of his pocket, surprised to see Monty's name lighting the screen.
"Didn't you mention Monty and Harper were going to some extended McIntyre family reunion on the other side of the country?" Octavia frowned down at his phone.
"I did," he nodded and swiped to answer, pacing away from general public noise to hear better. "Monty, hey, I thought you guys were going away?"
"We are away," Monty's voice sounded a strange combination of overly polite and completely frazzled.
"What's wrong?" Bellamy was immediately frowning in concern, going on high alert. "Are Harper and Jordan alright?"
"Something along those lines," Monty sighed heavily over the line.
"Monty," Bellamy pressed impatiently, his heartbeat in his throat.
"Listen, I've never really figured out how to bring it up, but now I need a favour, and I hope it's not too much to ask-"
"Monty," Bellamy cut him off. "The day you ask for too much, well, we'll probably never live to see that day. Just tell me what you need."
"I need Clarke's number."
Bellamy jolted. "What?"
"She sent Jordan that stuffed sloth toy he loves so much and we lost it somewhere between the airport and the hotel and now he won't stop crying, Bellamy. He will not stop crying," Monty stressed, as if Bellamy was unaware how out of character it was for the usually unnaturally cheerful baby. "I tried her old number but it rang out to an automated voice message, so I don't know if it's still hers, and so I called you."
There was an uncomfortable pause before Bellamy spoke again. "Why do you think I'm in touch with her?"
"She's been staying in touch with someone, you seemed the most likely option."
"I'm afraid you called the wrong Blake, Monty. I don't know her number," he admitted with a grudging sigh. "I should probably rectify that though actually."
"Are you saying Octavia is the reason Clarke knew about Jordan's birth?"
"And Lincoln, obviously. Though Jordan's only how many months old now? It could have been Murphy."
"Does that mean she's in Polis, too?" Monty surmised, then Harper's stressed out voice called in the distance, accompanied by the wail of a small child. "Sorry Bellamy, but I should call Octavia or Murphy, is that what you're saying? Perhaps we can finish this conversation later?"
"Hold on, I'm with O now," Bellamy caught his sister's attention and waved her over, quickly explaining the situation.
"Her number hasn't changed," Octavia told him. "But she works late on Wednesdays so she may not have seen your message yet."
"I don't think he left a message. Monty said her voicemail is an automated service?"
"Yeah, that's just for safety." Octavia frowned thoughtfully. "If it's about the stuffed sloth, it's from a local Clarke is friends with. We can probably get another for him," she pulled out her phone and speed-dialed a number. "Madi, you're at the shop with your mum?" She moved away slightly to speak.
"So, you really haven't been in touch with Clarke all these years?" Monty asked with apparent hesitation.
"Until a couple of weeks ago, no." That seemed like the easiest way to state the recent happenings.
"So that means Octavia or Lincoln are how she knew about Jasper's funeral?"
That gave Bellamy pause. "You saw her at the funeral?"
"I didn't realise it was her until a few months later. She didn't really look like the Clarke I remembered. I tried to track her down back then, but I couldn't find her. The group was in such a fragile state though, I couldn't go around asking everyone if they knew where Clarke was when it looked as if she didn't want to be found."
"How different could she look, Monty?" Bellamy was suddenly very afraid of the answer, given what he understood of the timeline of events as he knew them.
"Well, the bright red dreadlocks were eye catching, but a surprisingly effective way to throw me off. But she seemed more haunted than I remembered. And she was on crutches, which is why I combed through some news outlets about injured soldiers, but I couldn't find her name in any of the publicised lists. In the end, I assumed it was all confidential somehow."
Crutches and red dreadlocks? Bellamy was suddenly doubting himself. What were the chances he had seen her at the funeral and just not realised it at the time? Would he have recognised that version of Clarke?
Octavia interrupted his internal crisis by coming back to his side. "Clarke's called Niylah and we'll Express another one over to them if Monty just sends one of us the details of where they're staying. Since the toy is handmade it may not be exactly the same, but hopefully it's close enough to fool a not even one-year-old. They'll just have to hold out until it reaches them."
Monty was soon hanging up with a grand amount of thanks.
"Apparently there's a night market on at the Town Hall tonight," Octavia explained. "Niylah is there now with her booth. Mind if we stop there quickly to pick up the toy before we get ice-cream? Clarke keeps some express post parcels at the shop, so Lincoln and I can stop by when we're done for tonight."
"Or we could just take her ice-cream and all stop in to say hi?" Echo suggested, somehow reading Bellamy's mind.
"Only if you're sure," Octavia insisted, clearly a little hopeful.
They spent some time meandering about the market stalls, primarily filled with handmade goods ranging from toys and clothes to gourmet and/or organic foods, before they found the person they were there for.
"Niylah!" Octavia called out and waved from several booths away, bounding ahead to greet Niylah. Bellamy couldn't help but notice Octavia was a little extra friendly than he was used to seeing O be with female friends other than Clarke, going so far as to hug the other woman tightly.
"Good friends are they?" Bellamy wondered of Lincoln.
"Yes, well, funny story." For a brief couple of moments Lincoln seemed like he wasn't going to offer up any more before he went on. "Niylah does this craft business on the side. Her day job is as a nurse down at PGH. She was working in the orthopedic department while Clarke was a patient there and they hit it off."
"Are you telling me that's Clarke's ex?" Bellamy wasn't sure how to react to this development. He also couldn't help but be frustrated that it wasn't Clarke telling him, closely followed by the somewhat frightening thought that maybe she wouldn't have even if she had been there.
"Not exactly." Lincoln shrugged dismissively. "They had a friends with benefits relationship, heavy on the benefits, for a while before just becoming friends. In the last few years Octavia and Niylah have become good friends too."
Having now reached the person in question, Octavia started to make introductions. "This is Echo, who you'll be meeting properly at girls' night on Friday, and this is my big brother-"
"Bellamy Blake, I take it?" Nilyah cut in, scanning Bellamy from head to toe in a rather disconcerting way. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"Ah, sure, you too." The scales were a little uneven, clearly, with Bellamy having just heard of this woman, while Niylah seemed to have heard something about him. He glanced to his sister, who shrugged...which could only leave Clarke as the source, and Bellamy wasn't sure how to feel about that either.
Niylah was quick to hand over the toy they had come for, needing to get back to her customers, and they were back on track to the ice-cream parlour in no time.
"Did I miss something?" Echo leaned closer so only he would hear her. "Your sister mentioned I was going to girls' night on Friday?"
"Sorry, I haven't had a chance to tell you," Bellamy apologised. "Clarke hosts girls' night some Friday nights, to which she has invited you this week."
"That's nice of her," Echo commented, and even Bellamy could tell she was a little surprised. "Where exactly is her place?"
"Not far from ours," Octavia butted in, though it wasn't clear if she had been eavesdropping or just overheard. "But Emori's coming too if you want to just catch a ride over with her?" She suggested and motioned up at the shopfront they had stopped at. "We're here. Standard flavours are closest to the entrance, and they get more adventurous as you go along," she explained upon entering, and moved off to where Bellamy assumed the more peculiar flavours were kept.
Lincoln took a little extra time to explain the ordering process and the various vessel options for carrying the ice cream, before leaving the couple to peruse the flavours while he joined Octavia where she was already waiting in line to order.
"Cheddar cheese flavour?" Bellamy was equal parts horrified and fascinated by some of the options when Echo led him straight to the 'more adventurous' flavours.
"Peach and Jalapeno," Echo pointed, her eyebrows raised. "How do people even think of these?"
"We're ready to go when you are." Octavia sidled up to them with two scoops of unidentifiable dairy perched on a waffle cone, while Bellamy was still gaping at the name cards of ice cream tubs. "I already picked for Clarke and Madi."
"What did you get?" Echo wondered.
"Coconut Avocado," Octavia pointed to the green scoop on her cone, then to the pale orange one. "And Butternut Squash."
Bellamy couldn't help but look horrified and searched for Lincoln, hoping for a sane voice. He spotted the other man standing nearby with a dwarfed cup in one hand and in the other a bag, presumably holding the choices for Clarke and Madi. "What did you get for Clarke?" He trusted her taste buds more than his sister's.
"We got them a few of their favourites they could share," she turned back to the counter and pointed each of the options out. "Rose and Chocolate, Tumeric with Candied Ginger, Honey and Thyme, Strawberry Fennel, and Marshmallow Cereal."
"You've corrupted them with your health craze, haven't you?" Bellamy accused, in a good-natured fashion, but still wholly serious. The Clarke he remembered tended to stick to things like maple syrup, cinnamon, chocolate and berry types of flavours.
Octavia rolled exasperated eyes at him. "Just go back to the standard flavours, why don't you?"
"Doughnut," Echo decided, pointing somewhat cheerfully at her choices. "And Blueberry Goat's Cheese."
That earned her a thumbs up and a huge grin from his sister, who shot him one last narrow-eyed look before joining her other half by the door.
"You're all insane," Bellamy shook his head, scanning the weirdness before him with resignation, he'd never hear the end of it if he didn't get one of the adventurous choices. He moved up to the counter and ordered for he and Echo.
As had been the norm all night, when they had their orders, Octavia took the lead again, weaving between pedestrians until they reached the outer stairs to the Mad Tatter, and they all bundled in to the much warmer studio space, music faintly playing Pat Benatar.
"We're closed," Clarke called without looking up from where she was leaning over Murphy's arm while he laughed with a very animatedly chatting Madi.
"We can take your ice cream elsewhere," Octavia threatened playfully.
"Not unless you want me to hunt you down," Clarke glanced up and paused. "Looks like a party."
Bellamy wandered over to get a look. "You went for the paper planes, I see?"
"He just couldn't wait once I agreed to it," Clarke huffed and leaned back down to finish off the simple design. "Showed up right when I was finishing up with my last client. He's going to run out of space on his arms one of these days."
Lincoln had silently joined them, startling Bellamy when he spoke from right beside him and a stray thought wondered why their family never seemed to leave them to talk. "Want me to do yours now before you clean up, or tomorrow?"
Clarke looked to Madi, as if gauging how tired the teen was.
"There's ice-cream, I'll be fine." Madi grinned, reading her mother's expression with ease.
Goop and bandaging was spread over the addition to Murphy's skin, and Lincoln took the tattoo gun to change out the needles and ink. Clarke disposed of her gloves and rolled up her right sleeve, somehow effectively applying the small stencil without aid, just above and to the side of her elbow, before she took a seat and Lincoln took up the post she had previously held, the gun in his hand.
Madi returned to spoon bits of ice cream between her own and Clarke's mouths.
Someone tried to call him back to the sitting area where Octavia, Echo and Murphy had taken up residence, but Bellamy continued to watch on in concerned fascination at the quick and methodical application of ink to skin, frowning at the fact that Clarke wasn't even flinching.
"Bellamy?" His head shot round at Madi's voice. "What flavours did you try?" She nodded to the cup in his hand of starting-to-melt ice cream he'd barely touched.
"Oh, Ricotta Cannoli and Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Jam," he showed her, and caught Clarke's smirk from the corner of his eye. "What?" He questioned warily.
"No Indian Carrot flavour?" She teased.
"That was a thing?" He pulled a face that had even Lincoln chuckling.
"It's a spiced thing," Clarke teased, opening her mouth for another spoonful of smooth dairy. "It's surprisingly tasty."
"I said it before, I'll say it again," he narrowed his eyes playfully. "My sister has corrupted you with her weird taste."
"He said that?" Clarke looked to Lincoln for clarification, who only nodded, making Clarke grin. "I've been eating your sister's cooking for the better part of five years, it was bound to happen. Besides, I need to keep conscious of what I eat."
Bellamy had been doing just fine until that, and the idea that she had to watch what she ate because of her condition, left him both frustrated and devastated. "That reminds me," frustration won out and he frowned at her. "I just found out that you never changed your phone number and now I'm really annoyed, Clarke." She just raised her eyebrows slightly and he was reminded of the fact that he couldn't really read her anymore, the pit in his stomach that seemed to have everything to do with her these days grew a little bigger. "You're not even going to ask why?"
"We both wasted six years being too scared to pick up the phone and check?" She guessed, head tilted down to avoid meeting his eyes, a faint blush of pink visible along the line of her cheeks.
"Yup," Bellamy popped the 'P'.
There was a brief moment of silence during which Lincoln finished up, then Clarke peeked up from under her eyelashes, a smile fighting to break out and the two of them dissolved into borderline hysterical laughter at the state they'd found themselves in.
Echo joined them and Clarke calmed herself down, hopping off the chair to stand and tidy herself up. She moved to Lincoln's side to help him clean up and close up.
"Clarke?" Echo called for her attention, and Clarke blinked at her in surprise. "I wanted to thank you for the invitation Friday. Do I need to bring anything?"
"No problem," Clarke smiled softly. "Madi, what's on for girls' night this week?"
"Shrek movie marathon and Cluedo," Madi cheerfully announced.
Clarke rolled her eyes and grinned lopsidedly at Echo. "Whatever snack or alcohol you may need to get through that is fine, since I have no idea what you prefer. If you aren't fussy then there's no need to bring anything."
"You love Shrek and board games." Bellamy was confused by her attitude.
She looked at him as if he had grown a second head, followed that with a considering frown he couldn't read. "I'm teasing, Bellamy."
"Oh." His stomach dropped. This not being able to read her might just be the death of him...
"That's all folks," Murphy announced. "Let's get out of here. Hobbit, want to ride with me and we can polish off the rest of this on the way home?"
"Sure thing Gandalf," Madi stuck her tongue out at him, sauntering over to him.
"You're staying over again?" Clarke sighed. "Seriously Murphy."
"You know you love me Princess." Murphy winked at her.
"I'm beginning to wonder why, Cockroach." Clarke pulled a face at him.
"Less than two weeks and we'll be moved into our place with a decent bed and decent heating, and I won't need to claim one of your spare beds when Emori is working a night shift." Murphy wrinkled his nose at her.
"Heating in October? How do you even make it through winter?" Clarke shook her head and sighed at him while she pulled on her leather jacket and retrieved her bag from behind the counter on her way to join him. "How did you ever survive without me?"
Murphy blinked at her for a moment. "...Emori?"
A shake of a head and a laugh was everyone's response to that. "My mistake. I momentarily forgot that she turned you into a functioning human."
At this point they'd found their way back down to the street. It was somehow decided Clarke would get a ride home with Murphy and Lincoln would pick her up on the way to work the following morning, despite Clarke's insistence that her car was right there in its parking space behind the shop.
"Why are you hurrying off?" Bellamy couldn't help but ask. She always seemed to disappear at the first opportunity these days.
"Because for some reason you showed up to watch me get a tattoo during your double date night even though I wasn't one of the doubles?" Clarke seemed to be openly wondering if he had lost his mind.
There was that niggling sense of guilt settling in again as Bellamy glanced over at Echo. "Right."
"See you at the game on Friday Bellamy," Clarke shot him a smile, saluted to the others and moved to catch up to Madi and Murphy.
He turned away from watching her back as she walked away again and took Echo's hand when he returned to her side. "Is that the end of our night?" he wondered.
"Well we're dropping this in a post box," Octavia held up the toy that Bellamy had forgotten all about, now all wrapped up and ready to be delivered. "Then we're going to walk around for a bit, maybe stop for a hot chocolate. Join us if you want?"
Echo was nodding even while Bellamy was turning to check with her.
"Does Clarke still make the best hot chocolate?" He wondered as they started off again.
"Yes!" Octavia nearly shouted, then turned to whine at him. "It isn't natural for such a terrible cook to make a drink taste that good. And Big Brother," she pouted at him. "She still refuses to tell me the secret ingredient."
Bellamy just raised his eyebrows and smiled a little crookedly at his sister. It was probably not the time to admit that Clarke had confided in him years ago how exactly she made it taste so good. Of course, he hadn't been able to bring himself to make it in the last six years.
Echo leaned in closer when Octavia's attention was diverted. "You know the recipe, don't you?"
"You bet I do," he grinned widely.
"You two really were pretty close, hey?" Echo watched him studiously.
"Yeah, why?" Bellamy couldn't help but blink at her in surprise, a tiny bolt of panic shooting through him.
"You've been in a much better mood since seeing with your own eyes how she's bounced back since Sunday," his girlfriend informed him. "Calmer and less jittery, too."
A peculiar jittery feeling swam through him now as he realised he must have been worse than he'd thought these last few days. His eyes met Echo's, a serious air overtaking him. "You're pretty awesome, you know that, right?"
One corner of her mouth turned up and her eyes softened on his. "Don't you forget it."
He leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to her lips before pulling her closer to his side and following after his sister and Lincoln.
A/N: Thanks for reading and please don't forget to drop a review. Also, I promise this is a Bellarke endgame fic