Hello wonderful people :) Here's an update for a chapter ALOT of you have been curious/asking about, in more ways than one! This is the chapter where the story intersects the events of the show in truth. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks to all my many (SO MANY!) wonderful reviewers: Guest, Artimiz, Darkmaster of the arts, jadegurl2, CheriEstella, SquidaQdaloo, P. Mellark, sydcasy, JCarabaguiaz, and Melissa.

Guest: That's awesome :) It makes me excited you're so excited to read new chapters haha

P. Mellark: Octavia pretty is pretty much the captain of the Bellarke fanship. If she had the means, she might be embroiding 'Bellamy belongs with Clarke' on all his shirts XD Well, when you have Bellamy only gushing about how great Clarke is, of course she'd like her as well. I do plan to stay within canon, within some aspects. Read to find out what that is ;)

Melissa: I knew a few people might be like 'Yep! I know an Uma' right away haha. Although I don't think her addiction to clinging onto people is lack of social understanding, but moreso (as Clarke hinted) she has some demons and she just knows better than to LET herself be alone. Most people in the group realize that and are pretty understanding about letting her hang around. And don't hate Gina! Even if Bellamy weren't dating Clarke, the timing would have been off and they wouldn't be getting together any sooner, so at least he was happy with someone before Clarke.


11 Years after Start of Program

"Bye Simon! See you later!" Octavia said, waving goodbye as Bellamy shoved his friend from the room and locked the door.

"Ugg…" Bellamy rolled his eyes, "I don't know how you put up with her sometimes." He grunted.

"Well, she's just bored and cooped up. I guess if I had to spend every moment at home with her like you, I'd go crazy too." He pointed out, giving a little smile, "I do feel bad for her though. I guess I always feared what we'd do with Charlotte if she ever got to around this age…"

Bellamy gave a nod. Telling Simon about his sister was the best choice he'd ever made, even if he thought it was for slightly selfish reasons. Now, there was someone he could drag home when he really needed a break to keep his sister occupied. And it wasn't a secret his sister had a slight crush on Simon, although that might be because it was the only guy she'd ever met that wasn't related to her.

If Simon even had a smidgen of attraction to his sister, Bellamy couldn't tell. Him and Uma were happily 'together' (although, they didn't use words like 'dating' or such) and this was for the best anyway. If Simon and Octavia did get together and then had an awful break up, Bellamy would once again be the only person for her to talk to. A good, non-threatening friend to bring around was exactly how this needed to stay.

He wondered if Simon even noticed the way Octavia batted her eyes and giggled around him. He was terrified to even ask because maybe Simon didn't see her that way at all and it would make things awkward.

Simon's pager beeped on his side. He looked at it, and groaned.

"It's your friend Benny." He said, putting it back, "Give that kid an inch, and he'll make a bright, sparkling, gaudy mile."

"You're referring to the Unity Masquerade, then?"

Benny had recently been given his first break; to organize the electronic aspects of the teen's Unity Day dance this year. Simon was assigned as one of his workers, and this was the fifth time Bellamy had been around his friend when he'd be summoned yet again to go execute some wild idea.

"Hey, you can't hate his enthusiasm." Bellamy shrugged.

"Sure I can, especially when he expects you to make a gigantic light-up gazebo."

"Well…don't you have places to be?" Bellamy asked when his friend just shut off his beeper casually.

"Oh, I'll go in a bit." Simon said, "Let some other lackie answer his call. By the way, do you know if you'll be supervising it?"

"It's three days away. Of course I know." Bellamy scoffed, "What kind of deal do you thinks us guards run? That we're always disorganized?"

"Well-,"

"Shut up. But yeah, I am." Bellamy couldn't let his grin slip out.

"Geeze, most people I've talked to are moaning the fact they have to watch a bunch of horny teenagers with masks practically make out in the dark." Simon said.

Bellamy glanced around furtively, then pushed Simon into a crevice.

"I asked." He said, which made Simon's eyebrows rise in surprise, "I think I'm going to try to take Octavia."

"What?" Simon all but yelled. Bellamy slapped his hand over his mouth, glaring.

"Be quiet, okay? I don't want anyone to hear." He lectured.

"You're crazy! What in the world are you fucking thinking?" Simon hissed in a low whisper.

"It's a masquerade dance. No one will know. I'll take Octavia home; pretend she's sick, before midnight happens. She's dying in there, man. I don't know if she'll ever get this chance again."

Simon was shaking his head.

"No, no, no. Too risky. You could lose it all. I can't believe you'd be so reckless." Simon threw Bellamy away from him, stalking away.

"She'll have a mask. Clarke's making an extra. She doesn't know it's for my sister, but you said it yourself…she's going to go postal if she sits around any longer, hearing about our wonderful days over and over. She's never even seen what Earth looks like."

Simon turned back, his face sour.

"I just think it's really dangerous." He said in a level tone, "And I can't…I can't back you on this. It's a little too close to home."

"I know." Bellamy said softly, "I guess I got so excited I didn't realize how you'd think of it. But if you could have had the chance, wouldn't you have?"

"Before all this? I guess so. I think I just know better now." Simon said. He sighed, looking at his pager, "I better get going. I sure hope you know what you're doing."

"Of course. This plan is foolproof. I'll be there to protect her, always."

Bellamy began heading toward Clarke's house, eager to check the progress of the mask for his sister. He'd asked her under the guise of just having an extra on hand, because who knew what he might need on duty?

He almost ran into Leslie Hettrick, who was carrying a bag of food and about a thousand sheets of paper and a couple textbooks.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, picking up the books. She'd ended up taking the teaching job he'd been so torn between, albeit a year later. Leslie was an excellent teacher and he was glad it went to someone he knew. Usually, she was cool as a cucumber with her students, but today she looked about ready to stab someone.

"Fine." She snapped, and then shook her head, "Well, not really."

"Yeah. I can tell." Bellamy chuckled, and the look she sent shut him up.

"I'm just ready for Unity Day to come and go. Students are so antsy around it; it's impossible to teach them anything! And two of my students got into a fistfight over the semantics of World War Two of all the stupid things, and one got a bloody nose all over the room. I have to go to a teacher briefing about it now and explain what the hell happened, during my lunch hour, but I promised I'd bring Hendrick his lunch but I don't even think I'll make it there in time." She pushed her bangs from her face, giving a huff.

"I'm on my break right now. If he's working right now, I can drop this off." He said, picking up the bag lunch.

"Really?" Leslie sounded so relieved, "Oh, thank you so much. I'd so much rather be eating lunch with him than dealing with this, but…" She let out a long sigh.

"Yeah, I understand." Bellamy said, grimacing, "Have…fun?" He offered up half jokingly, and Leslie just grumbled in response.

Since Hendrick was a meteorologist working at the Geo/Sci station, it was just a hop over from the Alpha station where Clarke was. He enjoyed Hendrick's company, so it wasn't too big of an imposition for him to do this favor. Even if he'd hated the guy, Leslie seemed so frazzled he couldn't help feeling sorry for her and would have offered even then.

"Knock, knock?" He asked when he reached the monitoring station. Hendrick was sitting with another guy, and they both looked up.

"Blake? What are you doing here?" Hendrick asked, taking his large headphones off.

"Leslie couldn't come with food today. Something about parents, Hitler, and broken noses…you know, just another average day of teaching. I offered to bring this over." He said, raising the bag.

"Oh, thank god. I've been starving. Can I go on my lunch break, Dan?"

"Have at it. Half an hour."

He led Bellamy over to a little room with a ratty couch and a table. Bellamy had his own lunch, and had been planning at eating at Clarke's, but he still had a long break left anyway.

"How have you been?" Bellamy questioned, seeing as though he didn't cross paths with Hendrick a lot.

"It's been good, man. My job's a lot better than just getting coffee now." He laughed.

"Really? Staring at a screen all day, listening to static?" Bellamy shook his head, "Sounds boring as hell."

"Naw, it's cool. Once you know how to read things…it just opens up so much about the world." Hendrick assured, totally serious. Bellamy gave a shrug. They needed people for every job, he guessed, so it was a good think Hendrick wanted this job, "What about you? You've been promoted, right?"

"Not yet." Bellamy said, "Although, not for lack of skill. I'm just waiting to take over for one of the teachers, but they sort of have to keep me at Cadet status until that happens. Miller's dad keeps assuring me it will be within a year or two."

"So you're still working shit jobs?"

"Well, yeah and no. I mean, being the oldest cadet right now gives me a lot of perks. I think Shumway feels bad for me… it's pretty much unheard of him having feelings, but he lets me pick where and when I want to work. I won't have that sort of freedom when I take over a teaching position. But you're right, nothing's all too glamorous." He winced, "You going to be celebrating Unity Day at the party?"

"The masquerade? In case you've forgotten, we're twenty…exactly one year above being a 'teen' and therefore unable to join." Hendrick rose an eyebrow "I thought guards had to be okay at math."

"I know that. I'm talking about the party Stasia is throwing after that all goes down. I'm working the Masquerade anyway, so even if I were of age, I couldn't participate."

"Stasia…hmm?" Hendrick clearly hadn't heard, "I hear her place is pretty dope. Probably not as nice as Clarke's or Wells', but she's still in Alpha." His face fell, "Sadly, I'm tied to the chair all night."

"What? That blows." Bellamy scoffed, "You don't even get a night off?"

"We do…except for me. I'm the youngest recruit, you know?"

"And you can't just leave the box for like a night? We haven't had an incident in years!"

"Exactly." Hendrick now looked a little unsure, nervous, "In previous years, we might have been fine to do that, but now?" He sighed, "We've been getting a lot of funky readings from the sun. We predict some pretty nasty solar flares coming in the next three days. My boss wants to cancel the Unity Day celebrations, but the Chancellor doesn't think it's an issue. I get it, they're not extremely dangerous usually, just bothersome in most cases- not like a meteor or something, and there's only a 40% chance it would happen during the parties or general reading, but I dunno."

"Solar flares…during the party." Bellamy repeated, his mouth going dry.

"I'm not sure what I believe. It'd be cool to see one come up on the radar, but I get why my boss is so concerned. It will just be bedlam to sort it out if it happens during the party. A big one could shut off the lights and talkies and such. I think it's bound to happen, really."

"You're sure." Bellamy repeated, his voice going firm and louder. Hendrick gave him a weird look, "I'm working the party. I just want to know what I should be prepared for." He covered.

"Well, I'd be expecting it to be cut short. I don't know when, but probabilities and all. Shitty coincidence it has to happen on the one party day of the year, huh?"

"Yeah, totally." Bellamy said softly, swallowing the urge to cry a little. He'd never felt so deflated in his life. As soon as Hendrick said solar flares, he just knew he couldn't bring his sister.

He'd been looking forward to it almost as much as she would have if she'd known.

The rest of Hendrick's lunch break, he stuck around and they talked about other things, but Bellamy was always a little preoccupied…but he was glad he hadn't told Octavia yet. The worst thing would have been going back to her and saying that she couldn't.

He eventually bid Hendrick goodbye, and found himself wandering the ark. He was too upset to see Clarke; she'd want to know what was up, and like always, he wouldn't be able to tell her. This secret between them was growing increasingly frustrating to him. Although Clarke had no idea what he was holding back, it wasn't just a thing anymore that he could brush aside. This was the biggest part of his life, and every time he had to tell her something besides the truth, it felt like he was stabbing his heart.

He found himself wandering to where the party would be held. It looked incredible. He wished Octavia had been able to see it.

"Bellamy!" Simon looked confused; climbing down from a ridiculous looking wooden structure he was staple-gunning light to, "You look like your dog just died."

"Solar flares." Was all Bellamy could muster. Simon cocked his head, "Solar flares…during Unity Day. Hendrick just told me. You know what happens when solar flares happen."

"Ah, ID chips shown and faces clear. Masks would have to come off, Octavia obviously isn't registered." Simon looked genuinely upset that Bellamy's plans had fallen apart, "Hendrick's sure?"

"40%. I might have said 'fuck it' before, but I would hate myself If I didn't take this as an incredible warning…I couldn't…I can't risk that." Bellamy ground his teeth.

"Maybe it's not the worst thing in the world. Could you imagine what would have happened if you didn't know and still tried to take her?"

"Yeah, I know. I'd end up…" Bellamy couldn't even finish. Simon did though, scowling.

"Like me."

"Yeah."

There was silence.

"I'm going to get going. Get back to…whatever this is." Bellamy waved his hand at the contraption that pretty much looked like it might murder someone instead of give them a pretty backdrop for a dance.

"Bellamy…are you going to be okay?" Simon asked, stopping him for a moment. Bellamy's jaw moved, but he couldn't speak. He wasn't actually sure. It wasn't often someone asked him…he usually felt as though he was the one asking. He didn't mind taking care of everyone else, but to be treated with the same respect?

"Of course." He finally said, although he wasn't sure if he would or not, "See you later."

Clarke tapped her foot impatiently. She looked at her tattered history textbook, and realized she'd read the same sentence about five times already. Finally, she just pushed it away. She was still a whole year away from finishing school and starting her job, which she already knew would be as doctor, and doing things like memorizing dates seemed utterly pointless. She was more schooled than most of the kids that came in, fresh and new. Yes, soon they'd be doing rounds, which Clarke also found equally as pointless. She just sort of wanted to get on with her life.

She glanced up and saw the extra mask for Bellamy sitting a little ways away from her. She'd finished it this morning. It made a weird feeling lodge in her stomach, one she didn't want to think about. She focused harder on her History.

Bellamy knocked on the door, and Clarke was almost too gleeful to answer it, and not just so she could shove the textbook in her book bag as an excuse.

"You're late, mister." She teased, "I thought you said you'd be over like two hours ago."

"Shit came up." Bellamy said, sighing. Clarke's playful mood vanished.

"Anything bad?" Yet, from his tone, she knew it was.

"Nothing I couldn't deal with." He assured. He smiled brightly at her, and she felt her face go hot.

"Oh! I finished this." She said, grabbing the mask, eager to switch the conversations. His expression darkened for a moment, then vanished as he admired her handiwork.

"It's beautiful." He seemed a little choked up.

"It's plain, really." She shrugged, "A backup, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded faintly, "So yours is even more extravagant?" He asked, curious.

"You'll just have to wait to see." She winked, and he gave her a lopsided grin that made her whole body flame up.

"I look forward to it."

Instantly, the dreams she'd been having lately of Bellamy pretty much unclothed and doing things with her entered her mind without warning. If it were only one singular dream, because she'd pretty much had an accidental sex dream was almost everyone in the group, it would be one thing. The fact that they were recurring was what concerned her.

"So." She said, trying to not think of his tanned chest she'd seen during sleep and wondering if that's how it looked in real life, "Before Unity Day my parents are having a picnic lunch thing. They want you to come, and you should bring Gina." She went to her glass of water, hoping it would calm her down.

"Oh." His brows furrowed, "Gina and I broke up?"

"What?" She tried to say, but because she was drinking water, it came out as more of her coughing it up ungracefully. Bellamy moved to help her, but she threw an arm out.

"I'm fine," She croaked, "You and Gina broke up? When? Why am I just hearing about this now?" She demanded. This revelation brought on a whole slew of emotions to her.

"Just yesterday. That's what I was coming over to tell you. It was really a mutual thing. We're still friends, we just realized it wasn't going to end in anything more than casual. We always knew that." Bellamy didn't seem half as upset as Clarke was.

She was upset; she'd really liked Gina. She thought she was pretty awesome and if someone had to take her best friend and treat him right, she trusted her.

She was more upset that they weren't dating now and what that was going to do with the dreams and such. And, if she were being honest, it wasn't just dreams…it was conscious thoughts about him, like all the time. Wondering about what he was doing in a more than just friendly way. Wondering if he thought she was pretty. She was scared of how much she was falling for him, and up until this very moment, Gina had been the safety buffer. She wasn't a home wrecker, which meant she wasn't going to flirt with a taken guy. And also, because she wasn't given that option, she could shove her confusing feelings under the rug.

She couldn't really do that now. He was free. And this meant she had to confront how she felt about him. She knew with her personality she wasn't going to be able to stop herself from flirting if she tried. It just wasn't in her DNA to let crushes go by unannounced.

And she was suddenly extremely aware of the fact they were alone.

Okay, so you like him. He's your best friend; at least you know what he's like. Maybe you should say something? Something sexy? Something cute? Fuuuck…

"Clarke?" Bellamy waved a hand in front of her, "You're staring off with a scowl."

"It's nothing." She pushed the little voice back. This was going fast for her. She needed to consider all the options about this. Saying something could ruin their relationship, like it had in the beginning with Uma and Simon. Sure, they were great now, but she wasn't going to put her feelings on the line if it killed what they had right now. She couldn't risk that.

She was almost desperate enough to make up an excuse to make him leave, when he saw the time and groaned.

"Duty calls." He sighed, looking sad, "I'll see you later okay? Maybe not until the Unity Day dance. I'll be monitoring it."

"Great." She said, forcing a smile. Of course he'd be there. But, that was three days from now, which gave her ample time to think.

The next day, she happened to run into Gina near the Factory Station. She had been in the area because Grennon had asked her to come take a look at his mother's cough. She knew Health Care in the lower sections were especially lacking, so when someone asked, she could hardly refuse. She did take a big effort to not go near where Bellamy lived.

"You and Bellamy broke up." She blurted, unsure of what else to say.

"Yeah." She said, no hint of anger or sadness, just agreement of a fact.

"Why?"

It's not like she didn't trust Bellamy's side of the story, but she was morbidly curious.

"It was always just casual. I'm not looking for a husband; he wasn't looking for a wife when we met. We just knew it was time to move on and such. He's a great guy, obviously, but I think he might be looking for something serious. I'm not even close to being ready, and even if I were, I don't think I'm meant to be with him. We both just agreed to have fun while we were together, you know? I'm glad we were on the same page. I want to remain close to him."

"He said sort of the same thing, but not admitting he wants to settle soon." The information rolled around in Clarke's head.

"It was more of something I read between the lines. I don't know if he's realized it yet." Gina chuckled.

"I'm upset you two broke up." Clarke said, "I think you were really great for him, at the time."

"He was good for me." Gina agreed, "And he'll be good for someone else."

Unity Day rolled around and Clarke still hadn't really made a choice either way of what to do about her very real feelings for Bellamy. But in a way, choosing nothing was choosing something.

She skipped the Unity Day speech, opting to spend the time before the dance with her friends, and then they'd all be going to Stasia's after.

She was excited to see the masks they'd come up with. Miller had a hand-me down mask all the way from the far off and very much ancient society of Venice, Italy. Monty's was sort of just a glorified piece of cardboard. Raven's was impressive; she said someone had been repairing a pillow and she'd snatched all the extra feathers and made something like a bird mask. Monroe and Harper had bargained and borrowed for one from the last Masquerade. Murphy's was made of fabric. Wells had the second most official looking one, and she was pretty sure it had been made especially for him, and Bree (since she was still dating him) had something similar in beauty and taste.

Then there was Jasper.

"Where's your mask?" She questioned, frowning.

He snapped his goggles onto his face, pointing at them, "Here!"

"That's not a mask!" Clarke said, "And it's terribly obvious whose underneath it. Isn't the point of a masquerade to be all secret?" She pointed out with frustration.

"Like people really can't tell whose underneath masks." Jasper gave a 'pfft' sound, "Want some?" He held up a roll of weed. He passed it to Monty, who passed it to Murphy.

Wells looked frowned.
"If you get caught with that, you're totally screwed. I doubt any of you have your medical card to be allowed to have that." He lectured.

"Oh, give it a rest." Murphy rolled his eyes, "What happens between friends, stays between friends, eh?" He asked with a slightly sharp question.

"I'm not a snitch, if that's what you're asking." Wells stiffened, "I'm just warning you that this is dangerous to be fooling around with."

"Lighten up! I think you, of everyone, for sure need this." Jasper dangled it in front of his face.

He handed it off to Clarke. Wells gave her a wide-eyed look.

"Even you?"

"Uh huh." She said. In truth, she was terribly anxious. So anxious she felt like she might puke or pass out. Bellamy would be there and he would be single. She wanted to kind of jump him and shove him against a wall but also avoid him the entire night. She hoped that this made her calm down a bit more.

"Look, we only have this one roll, and if everyone takes a huff, it's hardly enough for anyone to feel anything. Quit your worrying." Jasper pointed out.

"You don't have any more?" Murphy grumbled.

"No, the season wasn't too great. In fact-shit! Monty, did we remember to replace it?" He asked, jumping to his feet.

"Damn it." Monty face-palmed, "Here." He got up, handing the roll off to Raven, "We gotta take care of something before the dance. See you all then!"

"Don't get caught! Be safe. Arg." Wells called after them, his whole body tensed, "Fine, maybe hand that over."

Outside his room, Bellamy paced. He stared at the mask Clarke had made him, feeling as though it was the physical representation of everything Octavia wouldn't get to do. He'd even gone as far as to see if perhaps things had changed with the solar flare situation, but when he'd came to the monitoring station, everyone had been glued to their screens, muttering something about the 'sun' and that pretty much confirmed it.

He finally checked his watch, seeing that he was due at the masquerade in ten minutes, and opened the door. Octavia hardly glanced up from what she was mending.

"Hey, O." His voice was sullen. She glanced up, hearing his tone.

"What is it?" She questioned, "A surprise room check? I wouldn't be surprised they'd pull this shit on Unity Day. I get under the floor." She said with a sigh, standing.

"No, it's fine." He stopped, her sitting and bringing out the mask.

"What's that?" She stared at it.

"It was meant to be for you." He began, feeling as though he had to tell her. She titled her head in question.

"The ball is a masquerade this year. I thought just maybe it would be a way to get out you out of there…I'd be there, Simon would be there…I thought I could have you see the Ark, be a teen for once…" He slid the mask to her, "But there's going to be solar flares tonight. I'm one of the only ones that know, so I can't take you. You'll be safe under the floors like always, but…" He bit his lip to keep from crying in front of his sister.

"Oh, Bell." She delicately touched it, "It's so pretty." She put it on, "How do I look?"

"Mysterious." He decided, but his voice was dry and hard, because he just wanted to take her out of here…and he couldn't.

"I'm glad you told me." Octavia said, taking it off, "And if there's a chance now, they'll be another one…one day." She seemed more confident than she let on. They both knew that there probably wouldn't be.

"It would have been wonderful…" She gave a sad smile, her fingers tapping on the metal table, "But we can't risk it. As much as I want to go out there, I get it. I know what happened to Simon and his family." She said, looking away.

"Exactly." Bellamy agreed. His watch beeped.

"Do you have to go to work now?" She asked. He nodded.

"I'll be fine here, I always am. And even though I can't go out, I have this now…and I can imagine it in my head. Not nearly as much fun, but it will have to do, right?" She said.

"God, O. You're such a trooper." He shook his head, giving the smallest of smiles.

"Hey," She punched his arm in a sisterly manner, "One of us has to be."

By the time Clarke arrived, they party had already started. Her and Wells were waiting anxiously by the entrance for Monty and Jasper.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…" He was muttering. He was just as worried about them as she was.

"What are you two doing out here?" Murphy stumbled out, frowning, his eyes adjusting from the sudden change from light to dark.

"Waiting for Jasper and Monty." Clarke answered. She was also sort of avoiding Bellamy…she was sure he was in there.

"Ah, worried about them. Guess it would be a shame for them to get busted. I've come to expect their produce. Don't know where else I'd get it." He said, sliding up on the wall next to them. Wells gave him a dark glare.

Luckily, it wasn't a long wait until the pair came loping down the hall. Wells gave a very audible and relieved sigh.

"Did you take care of it?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah, all sorted out." Monty assured.

"What was it?" Wells asked, and then shook his head, "Never mind. I don't want to know. Plausible deniablity." He said, shaking his head, "I'm just glad it was figured out. Please, don't give me heart attacks like this again."

"Sorry dad." Jasper rolled his eyes, and Wells went into the party.

"I, for one, am curious." Murphy said, "What were you two off doing?"

"Well…" Jasper looked around, and saw no one; "We have our own stash, growing in the walls." He dropped his voice to an extremely low whisper, "But you know, this year growing in bulk was so shitty ours obviously didn't fair much better. So we took some from the original group, just to get ours going, you know? But they do the plant count tonight, so we had to take one our ours and replant it where we took it from."

"I am so mad we almost forgot." Monty said, shaking his head, "Can you imagine if we hadn't?"

"Yep, the Sky Box." Jasper said and both of them shuddered in unison.

"So there'll be more?" Murphy said hopefully.

"Yeah. No one should ever know. Let's go party now, without that weight on our shoulders." He said, clapping Murphy on the back.

Clarke was relived too that they had recalled because she wasn't about to lose a friend or two, tonight or ever.

She spotted Bellamy standing by a wall and was glad the lights were dim and she had a mask on, because she instantly blushed. She pretty much stopped right in the middle of the floor, just gawking at him. It wasn't until someone bumped her shoulder that she realized what's she'd been doing…and was so glad no one was around to see.

She didn't get courage to do anything until about an hour later. Eventually, though, she couldn't keep away. And if there was one thing Clarke had rather mastered in all her small dalliances, it was how to flirt appropriately.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Bellamy jumped a foot in the air, as she'd snuck up behind him.

"Clarke?" He squinted at her. She bowed.

"The one and only."

"I don't think I'm supposed to know it's you until midnight. This might be cheating." He said, giving a wide grin.

"Then in that case, no…I'm not Clarke."

"Okay, Not Clarke." He hummed.

"You know, for a guard, you jumped pretty high there. Aren't you supposed to be on high alert at all times? I could have snuck up with a knife right now and stabbed you. And you kind of made a girly squeak." She informed him.

He gave a long roll of his eyes, "Oh, okay. Because there's so many dangerous humans here right now…" He wave his hand at everyone, "And for your information, I am very manly."

I bet you are, Her naughty side purred. Her sane side slapped her naughty side, Bad Clarke. Mind out of the gutter.

"And besides, there's a lot of guard material to get through before they'd hit my body." He added. Oh, god, there went her naughty side again. She tried to squash it down.

"Hmm? Is that so?" Her hands went to his vest. He stiffed at her unexpected touch, and she stayed there motionless for a moment, surprised at her own actions. But then he relaxed into her touch, swallowing and gave a nod.

"Yep."

He could have, at any time, pushed her off or shown he was uncomfortable. But instead he didn't, so Clarke felt a little more emboldened.

"There's that, and underneath?" A finger slid under his vest, feeling along the gap between his shirt and his pants.

"Nothing much at all then." His voice sounded very gravely, like he'd lost his voice all of a sudden. She noticed they'd slowly moved to a position where they were nearly observed by some weird gazebo thing, but most importantly out of the view of everyone else.

"And your face. How tragic…not even a helmet today. Wouldn't want to ruin that." She said, reaching up to cup his cheek.

There was a strained moment between the two of them when the world slowed down and they just didn't move. Then, ever so slowly, she lifted herself to her tiptoes to reach Bellamy's face, leaning in and-

"Solar flare alert!" The blaring automated warning sirens blasted through the area, causing them to stumble away from each other as though they'd been burned. Clarke stumbled into the main area, and Bellamy left a second later as not to be suspicious. No one was looking at them anyway. Clarke was glad she could still keep her mask on for a little bit longer, because it hid her very red cheeks. Bellamy couldn't hide his as much.

"An x-class solar flare has begun on the starboard side of the Ark…" The voice continued to talk, and it took Clarke a moment to catch up. X-Classes were especially dangerous, and she looked around, trying to catch sight of her friends. They'd be herded to the safe places soon, and she wanted them all to stay together.

The lights flickered on and she saw Shumway come in from the entrance.

"Okay everyone, masks off, ID chips off." Standard procedure for emergencies, just to make sure everyone was accounted for.

Clarke dropped her mask around her neck and rolled up her sleeve. Raven appeared on her left side, making a look of distain.

"Suppose this means that Stasia's party is a bust." She grumbled.

"You think?" Clarke said as someone came around to scan the chip in his or her arms.

They were shoved to the side when they were scanned to a line monitored closely by the guards as they were instructed to go to the nearest safety zone. They were nearest the Power Station, and entered the windowless room, already crammed with people. Cots were being set up, because these dangers could take hours or whole nights.

"Earth had floods and earthquakes, we have stupid solar flares." Monroe groaned, finding them. Their group of friends grabbed four cots between them. There was never enough room for everyone to have one, and this meant shaking up with someone for the night. Luckily, Clarke liked everyone enough here to not mind it, especially because she was going to get tired soon. An X-Class Solar Flare was sure to take nearly the whole night until they were safe.

Truthfully, she would have liked to share a cot with Bellamy, if even innocently. But as a guard, he would likely be on high alert the whole night, unable to go to sleep. It was probably for the better.

They stayed up talking until about three AM, but when there was no sign of anything being resolved soon (and Shumway told them with an apologetic tone it would likely be another six hours of immediate danger) people began to drift off to sleep on the cots.

Wells and Bree took one, Murphy and Raven on another. Clarke ended up sleeping between Jasper and Monroe because as Monty and Jasper both proclaimed 'guys didn't sleep next to each other' and so she picked the two skinniest people, and then Harper and Monty took the last cot. But that wasn't working out too well, so the new idea was for them to push the cots together like one huge bed and for Clarke to sleep at the ends of their feet, because the cots were usually quite long. This worked out much better for everyone.

"Like one big sleepover!" Jasper said, "Isn't this cute?"

"No." Murphy grumbled.

Clarke fell asleep much faster than she thought she would. It wasn't long until everyone in the safety room was snoring.

Bellamy made it to the room a little past 3 AM. It was bedlam trying to figure this out, as Hendrick had warned. They had to track down a lot of very drunk people that didn't respond to the warnings because they were too smashed out of their minds to realize what was going on. They also had to turn off or unplug any and all light or power sources that weren't in use, because it wasn't sustainable to leave it running all night. Then they had to fill out their reports and get assignments for the rest of the emergency, and Miller and Shumway were scrambling to figure out the schedule for the next few days as everyone would be totally exhausted after working all night. And on occasion, someone had to run off to take a call from someone who was concerned about this or that.

They all had to do this while avoiding the corridors with windows, which took every journey like ten minutes longer.

Bellamy was finally assigned to the Power Station room, where he knew Clarke was, and this gave him great relief. He was handed a stack of extra pillows and blankets they kept on hand, very few, but so that some people that were squished could have some relief. He knew he was supposed to be giving it out to people on the floors who didn't even get a cot, but when he saw Clarke curled up at the end of a bed without either, he didn't even hesitate slipping a pillow under her head and throwing a blanket on her.

When he finished, he sat about six yards away, keeping watch.

At around 5 AM, he was relieved of duty and told he could go back to sleep in his own room if he wanted because there were no windows in his room and it was in an inner corridor. It would be difficult to do this sort of delegating for everyone on the ark, but the guardsmen could easily keep track of their own, and it was perks like these that made him happy he was a guard.

If he were a single child, he likely would have opted to stay and watch Clarke. But he had to think of Octavia, so he nodded and left for home.

"O?" He asked, and she lifted her tile.

"Can I sleep up here? The floor is killing my back." She moaned.

"Yeah, we're in the clear-ish area now. Be glad you're not a citizen legally, or you'd be sleeping on really uncomfortable cots." He said, grinning.

"Jeeze, let me just add that to the very small list that are perks of being an illegal child." She said, rolling her eyes, "How was the rest of the night?"

He closed his eyes, Clarke flashing back to him. The way her touch on his bare skin, ever brief, ignited a fire within him that he'd never felt around Gina, or anyone else for that matter. How his whole body responded to just a tease, everything yearning to pull toward her, like gravity.

"Well…Clarke almost kissed me. Or I almost kissed her. I'm not sure who started." He admitted.

"Oh my god!" Octavia yelled, and he glared, "Sorry, I'm just so excited! Oh. My. God!"

"Yeah, I get that. But then the damn solar flare thing went off and…it didn't happen." He said. He'd been in a painful state of attraction and arousal for like an hour after it, and they hadn't even done anything. Oh, stars, this girl was going to be the death of him.

"Huh." Octavia pouted, turning off the light to sleep and yawned. She took mom's bed since they both knew she wouldn't be back that night. Bellamy curled up on his own, "Guess the solar flare fucked up both of our nights and all your plans then?" She asked with a dry laugh.

Bellamy let the memories wash over him, wishing he could have been curled up next to Clarke on a cot instead of here. He recalled her coy smile behind that beautifully made mask, her confident teasing that nearly sent him over the edge, and how her voice was once again the most attractive thing in the world to him, "You have no idea."


:D That's all I'm really going to say about the events of this chapter, because I'm DYING to hear your response!

On more technical notes, though, i do have some. Obviously, this happens a year before Season 1 starts, as we saw in the flashbacks. Quite a few people's lives were altered in this version, for the better of course. I found it hard to believe that between the first flashback of Bellamy becoming a cadet and the dance that he was still a Cadet (Octavia aged at least like four years between there, probably more) and so the only feasible reason I could see (because Shumway admitted Bellamy was a great guard) is if he was waiting for a better, more special job. I just can't see how he WOULDN'T have been a guard that many years past, and mostly I think it's something the show writers fucked up a bit. I also inferred that a solar flare of 'X' magnitude seemed to be a pretty big deal, not just an average problem. A solar flare, btw, if you were unaware, is a burst of radiation basically and while the Arkers are pretty used to it, this much radiation at once is pretty dangerous- as it said, can hurt people and shut down all communications, and I figure there'd be smaller ones and bigger ones.

Finally, I am going to be participating in a totally crazy challenge over on tumblr...in which I write or post something EVERY DAY for a whole year. I'm doing an OC 30 day challenge 12 times...because I have 12 characters. These are characters for a story I began ivisionign back when I was in 5th grade, so they've very dear to me. If you're curious at all about it, want to see what I do outside of fandom, follow me there! My name is frostedgemstones22 and I will be starting September 1st!