Chapter 81

From the moment she woke up, Clarke had butterflies in her stomach. The good kind of butterflies, though, not the bad kind. Because before she even opened her eyes, her mind filled with wedding day thoughts. Because no longer was she waking up thinking that it was three days away or two or one. No. Today was the day.

Reaching over to Bellamy's side of the bed, she felt . . . nothing. Just a whole lot of open space. Confused, she opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around for him. "Bellamy?" The bathroom door was open, and there were no lights on, so he wasn't in there. Maybe he was downstairs or in the nursery.

She got up and walked over to the dresser, pulling open one of Bellamy's drawers so she could grab one of his t-shirts. She threw it on and headed out of the bedroom to go check on Avery, but just as she was pushing open the nursery door, she heard some kind of noise outside. Not some loud commotion, but not the typical beach sounds, either. It was just enough to catch her attention, so she wandered over to the sliding door and looked out. The deck obscured most of her view, so at first, she just took a moment to appreciate the fact that it was already a bright and sunny day, perfect for a wedding. But when she stepped outside and looked down over the railing she saw that Bellamy was out there with his friend Roan, and together, they were trying to lift something huge out of the back of Roan's truck. It must have been heavy, because, despite being strong guys, they were both struggling with it. Eventually, they slid it down off the truck bed, though, and Clarke got a closer look at what it actually was. A wedding arch. A beautiful wedding arch that she would soon be standing under with her high school sweetheart.

When Bellamy glanced up and saw her standing there, he stopped what he was doing and called up to her, "Hey!"

"Hey," she said back, trying to figure out when he'd gone out and gotten a whole wedding arch without her. "Where did you get that?"

"I made it," he boasted proudly. "Roan helped."

One quick look at Bellamy's friend and Clarke could tell that he'd done more than help. Without him, the arch probably wouldn't have come together. But it had surely been Bellamy's idea, his vision.

"Hey, guess what?" he said excitedly.

"What?"

Grinning from ear to ear, he exclaimed, "We're getting married today!"

She laughed and said, "I know!" even though it didn't quite seem real yet. This day . . . it'd been a long time coming, that was for sure.

"I love you!" he yelled up to her so loudly, as if he wanted the whole world to hear it.

"I love you, too!" she yelled back at him. God, she felt so lucky. A year ago, he'd still been in Italy, and she'd been going through a breakup with Finn. This was so much better.

That brief exchange with her fiancé and a twenty minute feeding session with Avery ended up being the last moments of peace Clarke had that day. After that, everything started to get very hectic and began to move along very fast. Her mom and Kane were the first to get there, followed by her dad and Alyssa. None of them were dressed, but they all had their clothes with them. Her dad and Kane headed outside to help get things set up, and her mom sat her down to give her something old—a bracelet that apparently had belonged to her great grandmother—and something new—a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings. Alyssa took care of both something borrowed and something blue when she 'loaned' Clarke a blue garter. They seemed to have worked together to get that tradition covered, which was . . . actually kind of nice. Clarke didn't anticipate that her mom would ever actually befriend her ex-husband's new girlfriend, but at least they were getting along.

When other people started to show up, the beach house started to feel really small, and the chaos began to escalate. Clarke didn't even have a chance to talk to Bellamy when he came back inside, because two of her bridesmaids whisked her away upstairs to start getting ready. Bellamy was banished to the downstairs bathroom and probably wouldn't need any help getting ready, because all he had to do was put on his suit and comb his hair. Clarke, on the other hand, was relying on her friends to clip in some hair extensions for her, because her hair was at a weird in-between length where it wasn't short enough to be short but also wasn't long enough to be long. She was also relying on them to do her makeup for her, and to help her into her dress so that she didn't tear or split anything. Aurora was literally a part-time seamstress, though, so if some kind of wardrobe crisis did strike, it wasn't the end of the world.

Despite all her efforts to stay calm, Clarke couldn't help but feel the nervous kind of butterflies as Raven and Harper scurried and skittered all around her in the bathroom like two assistants backstage at a fashion show. It wasn't like they were on a strict timeline or anything, but there was sort of his silent understanding that they didn't want to keep everyone downstairs waiting for too long. Every time the doorbell rang, Clarke just pictured her living room and kitchen getting more and more packed.

"Oh my god, I'm so stressed out," she confessed as Harper tried to comb through a knot in her hair. "I don't even know what's happening."

"Don't worry, we've got it covered," Raven promised confidently. "We had a bridesmaids team meeting last night just to iron out all the details for today."

"I've got your hair covered," Harper assured her. "Trust me."

Considering Harper had the best beachy waves Clarke had ever seen, she did trust her.

"And your makeup's all on me," Raven said, untwisting a tube of mascara.

"And what's Octavia doing?" Clarke asked. Her third bridesmaid had shown up shortly after the other two, with Lincoln, of course, who looked like the Hulk in his suit.

"Making sure Bellamy stays downstairs," Raven said. "He keeps trying to come up here to see you."

I wanna see him, Clarke thought. She knew it was tradition and everything, keeping the bride and groom apart until the ceremony, but she wasn't in her dress yet. He wouldn't be seeing anything he wasn't allowed to.

"Your mom's getting Avery ready," Harper said. "She's gonna look so cute."

Clarke smiled, imagining what her little girl would look like wearing the dress she'd bought for her. "She's always cute."

Harper smirked and added, "Pastor Monty looks pretty cute, too, if I do say so myself."

"Is he nervous?" Raven asked, leaning towards the mirror to test out the mascara on her own eyelashes.

"No, he rehearsed everything a couple times last night. He's good to go," Harper said. She threaded her hands through Clarke's hair, working out any remaining tangles, and asked, "What about you? You gotta give your vows today."

"I wrote them out days ago," Clarke said. She had them memorized and had rehearsed them many times.

"You wanna practice on us?" Raven asked, apparently unsatisfied with the mascara as she set it aside and surveyed other options.

"Sure." Clarke cleared her throat and started in. "Helen Keller once said . . ."

Raven interrupted her immediately. "No, stop."

"What?" She'd barely even started.

Raven made a face. "Not good."

"You didn't even hear the quote," Clarke protested.

"Why are you starting with a quote?" Harper asked. Even though she was less blunt than Raven, the expression on her face clearly conveyed that she wasn't feeling it, either.

"Because it's called an attention-grabber," Clarke explained. Surely they, too, had learned about that in seventh grade English class.

"These are your wedding vows, Clarke, not an essay," Raven reminded her.

Well, when she put it like that . . . Damn, Clarke thought, feeling her stomach sink with dread. She'd really gone about it the wrong way, hadn't she? Her vows, in their current state, were too structured, too formulaic. "So no Helen Keller?" she said, still reluctant to ditch the quote, because then she felt like she'd have to start all over.

"No," Raven said. "Even though she was pretty awesome."

Clarke whimpered and frowned as Harper clipped the first hair extension in for her. "So what am I supposed to do?" Time was obviously of the essence, and she'd already been feeling stressed enough as it was.

"Just speak from the heart," Harper suggested, making it sound easy. And maybe . . . maybe it was that easy. If she just did that, then she wouldn't need an attention-grabber, wouldn't need to worry about hitting any specific points in any certain order. Her heart was very full of Bellamy, so that meant it was full of things to say.

...

Since Bellamy had already finished getting ready, there was nothing to do but wait. And the waiting was agony. The arch and the chairs were all set up and decorated on the beach. The woman playing the music for when Clarke walked down the aisle had shown up on time with her acoustic guitar. Hell, there was a caterer at Abby's house who was probably going to get impatient when the reception started an hour later than they'd told him it would. Logically, Bellamy knew that it took girls a lot longer to get ready than guys, and he didn't want Clarke to have to rush anything. But emotionally . . . damn, he just wanted to get married to her now.

Controlled chaos raged around him downstairs as he waited. Octavia wasn't being wild, just . . . loud. They had some music going, and whenever she didn't like a song that was playing, she didn't hesitate to let everyone know it. Lincoln, in contrast, was quiet, of course, but he was such a big guy that he kept running into things as he tried to squeeze past people and accidentally knocked some ceramics off the fireplace. He apologized profusely when they broke, of course, but Bellamy had never cared for them much anyway. They were just some decorative cats, which he'd never understood why Clarke had in the first place. So he cleaned them up and told Lincoln not to worry about it, because honestly, he was glad they were gone.

Monty and Maya occupied their time with a riveting game of rock, paper, scissors, and Lexa and Jasper must have been bored, too, because they decided to sit down at the kitchen table and do some arm-wrestling. Jasper never stood a chance at that. Murphy walked around vlogging everything for a while, and the "adults" all just stood around talking. Raven's dad Sinclair was there, whom Bellamy had never actually met before, and so was one of the dancers from the strip club last night. Miller had brought him as a date, but Bellamy knew better than to question whether or not it was serious.

In an effort to stay out of the chaos as much as possible, Bellamy stood out on the back porch and watched Roan's two daughters zig-zag through the rows of chairs on the beach. He chased after them while his wife stood back and watched, laughing. Roan was definitely a good dad. Bellamy had never seen him interact with his kids before, but seeing them together definitely gave him a glimpse into his own future and the kind of dad he hoped to be with Avery. He looked forward to running around out there with her, maybe making some monster noises as he chased her. He looked forward to hearing her laugh and giggle when he caught her up and swung her around in the air. But as eager as he was to play with her when she was older, he also didn't want her to grow up too fast.

His best man eventually came outside to join him on the porch and asked, "Everything ready to go out here?"

"Looks like," he replied. "I'm glad it's not cloudy or raining."

"Yet," Miller said. "It's supposed to rain tonight. Which is when we're gonna end up having this wedding if Clarke doesn't hurry up."

"Yeah, I know." Chances were, it was Raven and Harper who were slowing the process down, fixating on little minute details that no one else in attendance would even notice. "I'll go check on her," he said, heading back inside. He managed to make it all the way to the stairs before Octavia shot to her feet and darted around him to stand on one of the middle steps, blocking his progress.

"Um, where do you think you're going?" she demanded.

"Upstairs," he answered simply.

She shook her head stubbornly and said, "Nope. I'm told Clarke just got into her wedding dress. If she wasn't off limits before, she sure is now."

He sighed frustratedly, wishing he could just go say something to his girlfriend—almost wife. He didn't have to go into the room; he could just stand outside the door. "You know I could bust straight through you, right?" he said, truly considering just charging past her.

She put her hands on her hips, glaring at him challengingly, and said, "Oh, I'd like to see you try."

Dammit, he thought, reluctantly giving in. Octavia was small, but she was kind of scary because she fought dirty. He couldn't exactly wrestle her in his suit and everything, so he turned and headed back into the living room. To wait some more.

"So?" Miler asked. "Update?"

"She's in her dress." That was progress, at least. It couldn't be too much longer now.

"Good," Murphy said from the couch. He'd sprawled out and was hogging all the cushions to himself. "I'm so bored, I'm about ready to start taking pictures of my own penis."

"I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time," Bellamy said, thankful for a distraction when Abby came towards him with a dolled up Avery in her arms.

"Show your daddy your dress, Avery," Abby said, her voice taking on that high-pitched tone reserved just for babies. "Doesn't she look adorable?"

"Yeah," he agreed, wondering if they could reuse the same dress for her baptism. "Come here." He reached out and took her, careful not to mess up the floral headband she was wearing. "You're a little too young to be a flower girl, but we're gonna have you do it anyway," he said.

"Is Aurora taking her down the aisle?" Abby asked.

"Yeah." He hoped there weren't any hard feelings there. It was just that, Jake was already walking Clarke down the aisle, so they'd wanted his side of the family represented, too.

Luckily, being a grandmother seemed to have mellowed Abby out a lot, because she smiled and said, "That'll be nice."

Yeah, it would be. The whole wedding, despite being thrown together in under a month, would be nice, assuming it ever got started. For now, though, they seemed to have a bit more time to kill, so that meant he had more conversation to make. Abby may not have been the guest he wanted to talk to the most, but hell, they'd been getting along for a while now, and he wanted to make sure it continued that way. "Did you ever think we'd end up here?" he asked her. "Me marrying your daughter?"

"Hmm . . . not at first," she admitted. "I thought you were a phase."

"You hoped," he corrected. Which was fine. There were probably plenty of mothers in Arkadia who had prayed he'd just been a phase for their daughters.

"Well . . ." She didn't deny that, because she couldn't. She did, however, add on, "For whatever it's worth . . . I was wrong about you. And I'm glad we all ended up here."

That actually struck a chord with Bellamy. It was worth a lot coming from her. It seemed like he'd really managed to change her mind about him. No easy feat. "I'm gonna be your son-in-law," he told her, stating the obvious.

"I know," she said. "I promise, I won't be a horrible mother-in-law."

"Alright." He laughed a little, thinking about how he was gonna hold her to that, because it seemed like there were so many horror stories people had about their in-laws.

"So are you ready?" she asked him.

"So ready." He glanced at the stairs, upon which Octavia had sat down and was now looking at something on her phone. If he tried running past her, though, she'd tackle him and pull him right back down.

"I'm sure you just keep going through your vows in your head," Abby said.

"No, I'm just gonna wing it."

She shot him an alarmed look.

"I got this, trust me," he assured her. Speech class had been the one class he'd aced without any problems, and he'd always just come up with everything on the spot.

"Bellamy?" his own mom said quietly as she approached them. "You think we could have one last mother-son moment before you get married?"

"Sure," he said, handing Avery back to Abby. "Here you go." Talking to his mom was still a hell of a lot easier than talking to Clarke's, so he motioned her to follow him into the laundry room. Because she looked sort of emotional, like this might be the type of talk that made her cry, and he doubted she wanted anyone else to witness that. "Sorry," he said, shutting the door, "this is the only quiet room in the house right now."

"That's okay." She leaned back against the washer and just looked at him, smiling shakily, already blinking back tears.

"Mom, don't," he said.

"I won't. I just . . ." She came closer to him, pressing her lips tightly together. They still quivered, though, as she took in a deep breath, and her voice still wavered when she spoke again. "I want you to know how proud of you I am today. Every day."

Every day? he thought, doubting that he'd done something worthy of pride every day.

"I woke up this morning feeling so happy and so excited for you, because . . . this is what you deserve," she said, a few tears spilling over despite her best efforts to hold them in. "I wasn't able to give you everything growing up. We both know that."

"No, you gave me so much," he reassured her quickly. Because he never wanted her to doubt what an amazing mom she'd been.

"But I wasn't . . ." She trailed off, sighing, and said, "It wasn't this. Avery's gonna grow up with two parents who love her, and I wasn't able to give you that."

That wasn't her fault, though. There was only his deadbeat dad to blame for that. "I only needed one," he said, smiling at her.

"Do you get what I'm saying, though?"

"Yeah." He got it, but even though he was happy to be able to give Avery a traditional family, he still didn't feel like his life had been lacking in any way.

"Oh, Bellamy." She pulled him in close for a hug, sniffling back the happy kind of tears. "You're a wonderful man."

Am I? he thought to himself, unsure. There were certainly plenty of times in his life where he could have been better. But there were also plenty of times where he'd actually been better.

"Thanks," he told his mom, slowly pulling back from her.

"It's true," she said.

"No, I mean . . . thanks for saying that," he said, struggling to clarify what, exactly, he was thanking her for. It wasn't just a simple compliment she'd given him; it'd inspired him. "I think I know what my vows are gonna be now," he told her as ideas continued to race through his head.

...

Standing before her full-length mirror, Clarke took in her reflection. This wasn't the same as merely trying on the dress at the bridal store. This was the real deal. This was a whole look with her hair and makeup done, too. Raven had highlighted her cheeks just right so that she had a beachy glow, and Harper had put in the extensions flawlessly, so now she was sporting some light waves that made her want to grow her hair out again.

Her friends came up on either side of her and looked in awe at her reflection. "You look amazing," Harper said.

"Bellamy's totally gonna cry," Raven predicted.

Harper sniffled and said, "I think I'm gonna cry."

"No, don't," Clarke told her. "Because if you guys start, then I'll start, too, and we can't ruin this makeup."

"No, we can't," Raven agreed. She put her arm around Clarke's shoulders, gave her an excited squeeze, and said, "Alright. Let's go get you married to the man of your dreams."

Clarke watched in the mirror as her whole face lit up with excitement.

...

No more waiting, Bellamy thought as he stepped up to the wedding altar. Finally.

Beside him, his groomsmen stood, and Murphy of course had his camera out to capture the moment, and Jasper looked like he was already teary-eyed. Miller stood right next to him as his best man and gave him a smile and an encouraging nod. On his other side, standing slightly behind the alter, was Monty, who either wasn't nervous to conduct the ceremony or was just hiding it really well.

Obviously it wasn't a big wedding, but looking out and seeing the faces of friends and family warmed Bellamy's heart in a way he hadn't anticipated. Clarke's mom, like Jasper, was already crying when the soft guitar music began to play. Kane had his arm around her and had to tell her to quit wiping her eyes so she could see Avery come down the aisle. And the second she came into view, that was all Bellamy could see. His little girl, his angel. She wasn't really throwing the flowers, of course, but his mom threw a few on her behalf. She sat down on the opposite side of the aisle as Abby and positioned Avery so that she had the perfect view of what was going on. Even if she didn't understand it yet, she had a front row seat to watch her mom and dad get married.

Octavia came down the aisle next, flowers in hand and a knowing smirk on her face. When she got close enough to him, she whispered, "About damn time," before heading over to stand on the other side of the alter.

Yeah, it was definitely time. This had been six years in the making.

For some reason, as Harper and Raven came down the aisle, Bellamy's mind started to wander. It drifted back into a memory, one he hadn't thought about for a long time. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard his college football coach talking to him. To the whole team, actually, but it felt like it was just to him.

"There are moments you'll remember for the rest of your life," he'd said. It rang out in Bellamy's head loudly, as if demanding to be heard. He looked over at Avery, remembering the moment she'd been born, the first time he'd held her in his arms. And then he thought further back, way back, to the evening after practice when Clarke had come into the boy's locker room looking for him. He never would have imagined at the time that one simple conversation would end up changing his whole life.

Again, his coach's voice rang out in his head: "This right here is one of those moments."

He looked down at the end of the makeshift aisle, glimpsing white.

...

Heart pounding a mile a minute, Bellamy stood in the tunnel with the rest of the team as music boomed over the louder speakers from the stadium. Pump-up music. It mixed with the roars and cheers of the crowd. And it sounded like a big crowd.

"Savor this," Coach Lightbourne told them, his one voice somehow managing to overcome all the other distractions. "The sights, the sounds . . . everything. Let it soak in. Because I promise you, you won't ever feel a rush quite like this again."

Ever? Bellamy wondered. Was that actually true?

"Some of you are stepping out onto that field for your first game," his coach said. "Some of you have been doing this for years now. Doesn't matter. When we run out there, I want us all to remember . . . that this is a moment. Our moment. And right now, it means everything."

A few pump-up chants later, they took the field, each of them running out behind their coach, trying to soak it all in. But it was overwhelming. Bellamy had never played in front of so many people in such a big space. This wasn't like back at home where he could look up into the stands and see the faces of people he knew. He couldn't make out anyone.

He knew his mom and sister were there, though, and he knew where they were sitting, so he ran a little farther down the sideline than the other guys, trying to get closer to the south end zone. They weren't easy to spot since they were wearing the same black and gold colors that most other fans of the home team were wearing. But he managed to locate them sitting exactly where they'd said they would be. They weren't too far up, and they were both watching him and waving at him. Octavia looked thrilled to be there, and his mom just looked so damn proud.

He raised his hand to wave back at them, but . . . as glad as he was to see that they'd made the trip down to Florida for his first game, his interest was even more piqued by someone sitting next to his mom. Someone with long blonde hair. She was turned around talking to somebody behind her, but . . . it was someone with long blonde hair.

No way, he thought, but he let himself believe it was possible, let himself believe that she'd come, too. He thought about what it would be like to hug her after all of this was over tonight, to be able to celebrate his first college football game with three people he cared about instead of just two. But all those hopes were crushed when the blond girl turned around. He squinted, peering closer to get a better look at her face. But he could tell right away that it wasn't the face he was hoping to see. It wasn't Clarke.

He tried not to look too disappointed, because he didn't want to be disappointed. Even though he was probably going to be on the sidelines for the majority of the game, this was still . . . a moment. Just like his coach had said. But he had to admit, without Clarke there to soak it all in with him, it just didn't mean as much as it should have.

...

Bellamy felt like his breathing stopped when he met Clarke's eyes. There she was. His best friend. His soulmate. She looked so beautiful in her white dress, and her surprisingly longer hair was blowing in the breeze. Even from far away, he could tell that her blue eyes were sparkling. Because they always were.

It seemed like she was going in slow motion as she glided towards him, her arm linked with her father's as he escorted her. And the whole time Bellamy watched her, unable to even try to look at someone else to gauge their reaction, he just kept feeling like he couldn't breathe. Completely breathless, but in the best way possible. Because the girl coming towards him was the absolute love of his life.

When she reached the altar, it took everything he had not to just put his arms around her and pull her close. She stopped and hugged her dad, who in turn shook Bellamy's hand before he took his seat. Clarke handed her bouquet off to Raven and came a little closer, close enough that he could reach out and hold her hands, and together they stood underneath the very altar he'd made for her and just gazed at each other.

"Hey, Princess," he whispered, loud enough only for her to hear.

"Hey," she whispered quietly back.

He wanted to kiss her already, wanted to slide that ring on her finger and make it official. But he had to settle for just holding her hands and grazing his thumbs over her knuckles. His hands were impatient. So were his lips, because he almost launched straight into his vows. But Monty began the ceremony before he could utter a word, which probably saved him a lot of embarrassment.

"We are gathered here today," Monty said, "to share with Bellamy and Clarke an important moment in their lives."

Bellamy smirked inwardly. Oh, yeah. This was a moment.

"Their time together has given their love and understanding of each other an opportunity to grow and blossom and flourish," Monty continued on, "and now, they have decided to live out the rest of their lives as one."

Bellamy was so caught up in the beautiful woman in front of him that parts of what happened next just seemed . . . less important. Monty didn't bother with the whole, "Does anyone object?" part because . . . obviously no one there did. He did talk a little about how long they had known each other, and he said that fate had brought them back together again. Then he went on to say some things about what marriage was and why it was so special. Bellamy halfway listened, but mostly, he just looked at Clarke, smiling when she smiled, squeezing her hands after she squeezed his.

When it was time for the vows, she was the first one up and mumbled something about how it wasn't fair that Bellamy had even more time to make his epic. That got a laugh out of those who were close enough to hear, including Bellamy himself.

She let out a heavy breath and just said, "Okay." And that was it for a few seconds. He wasn't sure if she'd forgotten or was just too nervous to say anything, but he waited it out, and eventually, she started talking: "So I had this whole spiel all planned out, but at the last minute, my bridesmaids convinced me to change it. They told me to speak from the heart," she informed him. "So I tried to get all thoughtful and introspective and think about . . . well, what exactly is in my heart? What's it consist of? And it's pretty obvious." She blinked back tears, her voice quieter when she said, "It's you."

He wanted to tell her that it went both ways, that she was his whole heart, too, but he wasn't about to interrupt.

"You're such a huge part of it that I can't even remember what it was ever like when you weren't there," she said, her expression changing momentarily as she . . . reflected, maybe. "We weren't in love when we first got together. That's no secret," she said. "And I don't think either one of us thought we were gonna fall in love."

He laughed and shook his head slightly. Nope, he definitely hadn't thought that.

"But we did," she said. "It was like . . . like you just moved into my heart and decided to make it your home. And even when you went away, part of you was still there. I didn't talk about it or even dwell on it as much as I could have, but . . . I don't know, I just felt this ache. This longing for you. Because I wanted to be with you. I wanted you to come back home. And then you did. And my heart felt full again."

Mine, too, he thought. He'd felt that same ache, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. He'd felt that same longing.

"And it's even fuller now with Avery," she said. "I feel so lucky. God, am I even making sense?"

"Yeah." He understood everything she was saying.

"Because I just feel like I'm rambling at this point, but . . . you are my heart, Bellamy," she told him emphatically. "You're my home. You're my person, and . . . and I am so happy to be able to spend my life with you. I love you."

"I love you," he said, wishing there was a way he could express just how much he loved her. Even these vows wouldn't be enough for that. "My turn?" he asked Monty, and upon getting an affirmative nod in response, he started in. "Alright. Well, you know, it's funny that something your friends said inspired your vows, because something my mom said inspired mine." He tore his eyes away from Clarke for the first time throughout that ceremony, just to cast a quick glance at the woman who'd raised him. She still had Avery in one arm but put her other hand over her heart as if to indicate that she was touched. Even though she hadn't even heard how she'd inspired him yet.

Returning his focus to Clarke, he revealed, "She pulled me aside while you were getting ready and told me how proud of me she is. That I'm a wonderful man." He almost rolled his eyes as he said that, because it sounded like he was bragging. "But here's the thing: I don't know if that's completely true. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm . . . sufficiently average."

Clarke made a face, probably the same kind of face his mom was making.

"But not with you," he tacked on quickly, just so they could figure out where he was going with this. "When I'm with you, it's like I become the best version of myself. And it's not because you change anything or fix anything about me. It's not like that. You just make me . . . better. You bring out the best in me, without even trying. I don't know how you do it, but I think that's what a soulmate's supposed to do."

Clarke eyes got really shiny really quickly. She was trying not to cry. But that look on her face showed him that it wouldn't be long until she did.

"We've been through so much together, some highs and some lows," he recalled. "We've already been through good times and bad times. But you know what? I've never loved you more than I do right now."

That did it. The first few tears spilled over. And dammit, seeing her cry made him start to cry, too.

"You deserve so much, and I'm gonna try to give you everything. You and Avery both," he promised. "I'm gonna try to be Superman and Hercules and . . . I don't know, every great male character ever rolled into one for you."

That got a tearful laugh out of her.

"You guys are my whole life, so if there's ever a day where I'm not the best husband and the best father I can possibly be, just let me know. Just tell me, and I'll be better," he said. "Because you deserve the best. I'm so in love with you."

She whispered his name so quietly that he didn't even hear it. He just saw her lips move.

After that, they finally got to exchange the rings. Monty said something as they slid them onto each other's fingers that the rings were a symbol of eternal love and devotion. And Bellamy liked the sound of that. Eternal. It was fitting, since he and Clarke were an eternal thing.

And finally, finally, they got to the end of the ceremony, the part everyone knew about and looked forward to most, the part where Monty said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Bellamy sure as hell didn't need to be told twice. He bent forward and pressed his mouth down onto Clarke's, kissing his wife for the first time. Kissing her as her husband. The first of what would be many kisses in their marriage. Everyone cheered and clapped for them, but for a few seconds, it was as if they just faded away, and it was just him and Clarke, just their moment.

He felt so damn happy. When he pulled back from the kiss, she had the biggest, brightest smile on her face he'd ever seen. When they turned to face their guests, everyone stood up and applauded them. When they walked back down that makeshift aisle hand-in-hand, he got the sense that neither one of them could quite believe that it had actually finally happened. They were married now. They were married.

Afterward, the reception wasn't anything fancy. Clarke's mom's house was the only place big enough to have it without renting out someplace, so they made it work. Out back by the pool was their pretend dance floor, where he and Clarke had their first dance to a song she'd sung for him back in high school, one she still hummed a lot to this day. The songs were mostly upbeat after that, allowing all their friends to make absolute fools of themselves and even affording Jasper the chance to fall in the pool while lunging for the bouquet that Clarke tossed out. It didn't even matter that only the girls were supposed to try to catch that. He tried and failed epically, and it was actually Raven who caught it instead. Which was much less worrisome to him than Octavia.

After Jasper dried off, they moved inside to crowd around the dining room table and listen to various toasts to them and for them. Miller's was short and to the point, but still meaningful since he talked about how he'd always known they were meant to end up together. Raven's was a bit more wordy, but it essentially had the same message, and it was good, too. Of course, Abby couldn't let them start dinner without getting a toast of her own in, and then Jake had to give one, too. Finally, Kane spoke up as the voice of reason and said they had to start eating before all the food the caterer had prepared got cold.

As excited as he'd been about the meal, Bellamy didn't even really pay much attention to it. He sat next to his bride, spending more time just watching her than he did actually eating. As nice as it was to be here surrounded by everyone, he also couldn't wait until they headed back home and had time alone again.

Murphy was responsible for taking pictures, and he took a lot of them, plus some videos. He got videos of Clarke and Bellamy opening a few gifts, most of which were lingerie from her bridesmaids. They apologized for only getting her a gift and not him, but he assured them that those outfits were a gift for him, too. Seeing Clarke dressed up like that . . . just the thought made his mouth water.

By 9:00 that night, Avery was getting fussy. She'd held up pretty well that whole day, but clearly she was ready to go home and get in her crib, and Bellamy used that as an escape route. It wasn't him deciding that it was time to go; it was the baby. He and Clarke were just at her mercy. No one really questioned it, even though they had to know he was just making an excuse so he and Clarke could go home and get it on. But hell, it was their wedding night. That was what they were supposed to do.

Avery was a good baby. She got fed and fell asleep right when they put her in her crib. Bellamy figured they had at least four hours until she woke up again, but probably even more. There was a lot of newlywed fun to be had in that time, so he and Clarke went into their bedroom and undressed each other. Off came his tie, his belt, his whole suit, and off came her beautiful, flowing dress. When it was just her skin and his skin, he couldn't feel enough of her at once.

It didn't matter that they'd just slept together last night. Because this felt different.

After they were done, they lay side by side, both breathing heavily as they stared up at the ceiling. Bellamy could barely form a coherent thought, but somehow, Clarke managed to speak.

"So," she said, "that was married sex, huh?"

"Yep." He'd had so much sex with Clarke as his girlfriend, but now . . . now . . . it was just more. Even though he felt completely spent, he didn't want to fall asleep so early on their wedding night of all nights, so he looked over at her and asked, "You wanna do it again?"

She smiled at him, still catching her breath, nodded dazedly, and said, "Uh-huh," already climbing back on top of him.

That's my girl, he thought, kissing her hungrily. That's my wife.