I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! Well, I kinda can...my computer freaked out about a month ago, deleted lots of files...basically lost forever. I had most of this chapter written and when you loose it all...sigh, you just keep comparing it, thinking the old one was so much better even though you'll never see it again. Make this be a lesson, kiddies, BACK UP YOUR FILES.

I also just got hit with plot bunny after plot bunny. So although i feel like I'm writing all the time (I am) it's all things you guys haven't and won't see yet XD But the next chapter should be out soon, hoping within a week or two...it's one that I've been basically looking forward to writing since the beginning. More on that in the author's notes below. And bewarned, the warning has changed. I wrote a lime scene in the beginning. I can't say they'll happen all the time, but it just...came over me XD I don't think many of y'all will be complaining though.

Thanks to my reviewers: Emperor's Sister, JCarabaguiaz, foxcharin, Red656, CheriEstella, heidi1245401, TheLifeStruggleIsREAL, Crazykblade, Nexitye, lexijace, and xxDeadInsidexx.


The news that Jasper and Monty had 'get-out-of-jail-free' favor cards, strong enough to save a guy from the death penalty, caused quite the stir…which is what Bellamy expected and why he encouraged the people that knew not to spread it around.

But it was hard to explain how Murphy had survived and somehow word got out, Bellamy suspected Finn, and before he knew it Jasper and Monty were cornered with anxious questions from the group.

Jasper shut down all requests quickly.

"I'm going to be a father soon," He said firmly, shoving away from the pleading cries, "I need this. You never know what might happen…my family comes first." Bellamy was pleased to hear this, because a tiny part of him feared that they might go the same route, as Octavia had been an illegal second child. She was never good with birth control and fertility clearly ran in their family and she'd often talked about how despite being locked away most her life she would never trade the experience of getting to have a sibling for anything else. Obviously no one planned these sorts of things but Jasper had a damn good trick up his sleeve if it happened. Or anything else, for that matter. He could save himself, Bellamy considered as he looked at Murphy, and not have to leave his kid without a father. He knew Murphy would have killed to get to have his dad around longer.

Monty could quash people's questions and requests quite as easily. It had been looked into, but his favor could save one singular pair from the forced arrangement, but not everyone. This favor could do nearly anything, and it was saying a lot that it could do anything. Jaha didn't need to give them this. Bellamy understood there had to be rules with it or else it would just result in chaos and mutiny.

And did Monty even want to use it? And if he did, whom would he use it on? From the way he looked at Miller and Harper, all misty-eyed and depressed, it was obvious where his heart lay. If he got himself out, both of his objects of affection would still be tied up. If he broke up their marriage, he couldn't even really be with either and it would be difficult to play favorites so obviously.

And, just as with the way that Raven had saved hers, one never knew what worse things might come their way. As impossible as it was to imagine something worse than being tied to someone you couldn't love no matter how hard you tried, Bellamy knew there were worst things in life.

The whole matter was a hot topic for a couple weeks; people either trying to sweet-talk or bribe the two boys or just sending betrayed glances at either of them. When it was clear neither were budging, though, people lost interest in trying to aggravate them into using it stupidly.

As Octavia grew larger and Jasper grew more mature in his preparation, Bellamy couldn't help but look on to them with a growing sense of longing. Not even a kid, although he was looking forward to being a father, but just their togetherness in general. The way their house was filled with weird inside jokes between the two of them, how they got to share a bed every night and make food together, how they disappeared into the sanctuary of something theirs after hard days.

If Clarke was a little more distant, a little firmer in her resolutions that she'd previously voiced, it might not be so hard. As it was, though, both of them were finding it harder and harder to keep their hands away from each other. He didn't know what had changed in Clarke, from wanting to be slow about it and attempt to make it easier since she was sure they couldn't get married soon, but he was torn between hating it and loving it. Hating it because he wanted everything about her so badly and got teasing tastes of it just for a couple seconds here and there but loving it because he'd never get tired of anything about Clarke.

She was becoming more adventurous too, unable to wait until the rare moments her parents were gone and Bellamy was free to fool around. They were finding themselves in odder and odder spots on the ark, hands sliding over bodies and lips bruised from passionate kissing.

In fact, today Clarke had gotten a wicked glint in her eyes, one that Bellamy recognized extremely well, and she dragged him to the Med Bay into an isolation room, locking the door and turning the blinds over the window behind them. No one would disturb them, if they didn't make too much noise.

Bellamy was a gentleman in many ways; such as he wasn't going to force Clarke into things she didn't want to do until she was ready. But with things he already knew she liked or they had done before…he was greedy. Before she'd even turned the blinds down all the way, he'd come up behind her, one hand slinking down her side until it reached her waist, pulling her hard against him, the other brushing the hair from her neck to trail light nips on her exposed milky skin. She let out a quiet moan, her hips bucking instinctually into his. She took the hand that had been gripping her waist and led it to her breasts, encouraging Bellamy to delve underneath her shirt.

He did one better, and in a swift motion, took it off her body, leaving her in just her bra, which she discarded not long after.

She turned around, staring into his dark eyes, which mirrored her own need, and leaned up to kiss him, fisting her fingers in his hair. He pulled her closer, desperate for their bodies to be as close as possible, grabbing her ass and grinding her closer to him. She gave a small gasp, aligning herself so she fit between his legs and unashamedly gyrated against the area of his pants that was beginning to tent. Bellamy's fingers tightened on his grip on her, almost pushing her feet off the floor to find more contact with her body. She stepped back, and he almost whined, until her hand trailed downwards. She shoved him back on the tiny space of the free wall, and the coolness of the metal behind him seeped through his shirt. She broke the kiss, grinning happily, and sank to her knees, unbuckling his belt and tugging down his bottom half in one take.

Even though this wasn't their first time doing this activity, the moment Clarke's lips curled around him, Bellamy saw stars exploding behind his eyelids. He didn't think that would ever change.

He thanked her after by turning her around, leaning her nearly over the bed in the room, pushing up her skirt to around her waist and realized she wasn't wearing underwear. His entire face blushed like a teenage virgin and she turned, the most devious smirk on her face. He wondered if she hadn't been wearing any all day? He wondered if she did this often? All these questions left him almost in a worst state than it did good, just because he knew it would be almost impossible to not shove her against a wall every time he saw her in this damn skirt now, or any dress for that matter.

"Are you going to do something or just stare all day?" Clarke questioned. Bellamy didn't pause to delve his fingers into her wetness and by the time he was done there were bite marks on his other hand from Clarke to muffle her cries as he brought her to completion.

There was a moment, somewhere in there, when she turned and he almost saw the question on her lips, but thought better of it. He was almost glad; as much as he did want to consummate their relationship in the most traditional way, and couldn't have been able to resist Clarke's request, the part of him that wasn't horney 24/7 didn't want to be their first time like this, rough and need for a release.

But they were getting there. Indeed, Bellamy wasn't sure how much longer either of them could continue pretending as though having actual sex wasn't looming over them, just waiting to happen.

"You guys should have," Murphy argued to him when they were both on watch later that night, "You should have just done it because I'm going to stab my eyes out with a fork if Clarke continues to eye-fuck you like she's been doing. Just get it over with, geeze…"

"Yeah, because going at it like rabbits worked so well for you and Raven," Bellamy snapped back. It was a low blow, and Bellamy instantly regretted it, but Murphy just sighed.

"I'm glad we did." He said finally, "But you're right, it did mess it all up. I guess the difference is that you two are already dating. It's not going to be as complicated." It was one of the more calm things Bellamy had ever heard Murphy confess. When it came to Raven, if she weren't in danger at the moment, Murphy became his best.

"What happened with that anyway?" Bellamy said.

"She's…well, I don't know. But I know what I did wrong last time is trying to make something out of nothing. I like being her friend. I need her, man. I don't want to lose that so I'll wait until she feels like she wants me like that."

She already does, you idiot. Bellamy just raised an eyebrow, and said no more. He wasn't going to interfere. They'd get there, he had to hope. It seemed like now they were trying to rebuild a relationship from where it had dropped too after months of not talking. As much as he wanted them to just be happy together the best of relationships came from friends first. He and Clarke were prime examples of that.

Bellamy's holopad jingled and he absent-mindedly checked the message. He gave a quiet chuckle and John looked his way questioningly.

"Today Hendrick and Leslie get married," he said quietly, "I programmed all the dates in here. I just thought…" He ran his fingers through his hair, "I thought I should be aware."

The last marriage was between Keshawn and Marisha and that was an awkward one to say the least. They didn't like each other and Bellamy personally thought Keshawn wasn't going to make an effort to make her like him. He felt terrible for Marisha.

"Out of the twenty-two couples, Jaha was bound to actually get some right. That's one of them." Murphy said, shrugging, "Good for them." Bellamy recalled back to the day that he learned about the solar flare, when he'd brought Keshawn lunch that Leslie had been en route to deliver. He hadn't seen it until now, but they were always together in the way he and Clarke were.

He grinned widely, "Yeah. I suppose that's true."

"So…the project?" Bellamy coughed. Murphy rolled his head toward him, sending him a nasty glare. This was approximately the twentieth time Bellamy had tried to goad Murphy into telling him what the big project was that Raven, Jasper, and Monty were working on.

"Not going to happen, man." Murphy said with a slow shake of his head, "I'd get floated. Raven would get floated." He said with more meaning.

"Well, you already aren't supposed to know and I can keep a secret, so-,"

"Bullshit, you'd tell Clarke."

"Well, Clarke can keep a secret too." Bellamy defended her, "Not even a clue?"

"Nope." Murphy said, popping out the 'p' with a smirk on his face, "You're just going to have to wait like everyone else. You'll like it, I swear." He assured, patting Bellamy's shoulder in a jokingly-condescending way.

"That's what makes it so hard to not know." Bellamy groaned. He had a thousand guesses to what this could possibly be, what could be so important about it, but none of them seemed to fulfill that 'wow' factor he was sure was clinging to it. Murphy just had to be a good guy when it came to this, didn't he?

Screw it; Murphy wasn't a bad guy at all, despite what he thought of himself. But still, screw him for not telling him. Bellamy had tried to get it out of Octavia; before it was clear Octavia had no idea what he was talking about. Then he'd gone after Jasper, claiming it as a brother-in-law tax. That had proved fruitless too. This damn secret was driving him batty, especially because now he was acutely aware to the whispers about it of the really high-ups, and sometimes he's almost get on a page before it would boot him off. He was so close to being 'intheknow' without being there. It was like he could stand on his tip toes and reach up and he'd touch that line.

Murphy's watch beeped.

"Our times up. Better get to the room, I think Roma's making a wedding party meal. Lord knows I don't want to miss that." He said and Bellamy chuckled, agreeing. Roma's food was pretty much to die for.

They passed their replacements, putting their guns and outfits in their lockers, and clicked out. Bellamy wasn't often on rotation like this, but he'd switched so he could go to the wedding and all, since Hendrick had asked him to be there.

The room was already buzzing with people by the time he and Murphy arrived. Not many people had been so excited for the other weddings, Marisha's in fact had came and gone without so much of a word and had Bellamy not had it in his calendar or Benny mentioned it to him he might have forgotten. And when he tried to talk to Marisha about it, not even congratulate her for they all knew how it was, she'd just given him this look that shut him up about it completely. People would have been at Tom's and Sarah's, had it been more known, since they were like the Uncle and Aunt of the group that gave bad advice and got everyone drunk and there was a respect there, but it had all happened so fast.

So, this was the first wedding anyone was celebrating.

On one hand, Bellamy wondered if it's that people were accepting this now, how this life was.

But, on the other, these two were liked individually and as a couple, which was a rare occasion. And he liked to think that they would have ended up married anyway, if this law were never around, as he'd told Murphy. A small part of Bellamy wondered if the reason that so many people had hated their matches so quickly is because Jaha actually might have guessed better than they ever could have?

Bellamy trusted science and fact. He knew for a fact they'd used science to match up people. Some were bound to fail, like in every experiment, but he stood by the uncommon opinion that there should be more hits than misses here, and that most of these people would actually end up…dare he say it…happy.

Hendrick and Leslie were in a corner, laughing with Benny who was telling them a story with large hand motions. It was probably all completely made up, if he knew one of his best friends, but he loved to hear these wild tales nonetheless.

"Hey buddy, what's up!" Benny saw Bellamy out of the corner of his eye, waving him over.

"Congrats." Bellamy tipped his head toward the couple.

"Well we're not married yet," Leslie giggled, "Something could go horribly wrong."

"Yeah, Jaha could call us down and reveal he made a mistake and you're actually betrothed to Kane." Hendrick agreed and the pair giggled about an inside joke, clearly.

"So I gotta ask…whose name are ya taking?" Benny said, raising an eyebrow.

"His last name, of course." Leslie said, which Bellamy could have guessed. She was a traditional type of girl. Benny gave a long sigh of relief and put his hand over his chest.

"Thank god! Could you imagine how awful your name would sound if you took her last name? Hendrick Hettrick? It's a mouthful and more than that it sounds like someone accidently misspelled your first name and re-wrote it."

"Benny!" Bellamy hit Benny's side, but he figured the pair wouldn't' be offended. Everyone knew at this point that Benny-in addition to having a dirty mouth- also just said whatever came out of it.

"Oh god," Leslie covered her face with her hand, "I've never even thought of that." She shook her head.

"I had," Hendrick winced, "I'm glad you liked my last name. I will pretty much do whatever you ask of me but I might have argued at that point." He said.

Someone poked him in his side unexpectedly and Bellamy jumped like a foot in the air. Leslie snorted so badly she spit out some of her drink and Benny began laughing so hard he cried.

"Who would have thought a guardsmen would be so prone to jumping and squealing like a little girl!" Hendrick said, smirking at him.

"I did not squeal." Bellamy objected, glaring at Clarke who looked at him innocently. He noticed she was still wearing that skirt, which all he could think about was the sin associated with it, and he felt all his blood rush to one spot.

"You defiantly made a gasping noise I wouldn't associate with Bellamy Blake." Leslie said, "Great move, Clarke."

"It's just so easy to get him." Clarke teased, and from her tone he knew that she was also referring to the fact she knew he was getting turned on by the fact she had chosen not to change out of her skirt. He wondered what she was wearing underneath and-

No, now was not the time to be thinking that.

"Are you all ready for the wedding, Leslie?" Clarke asked, holding out a glass of wine to her.

"I think?" Leslie laughed, "There's not much to get ready for, you know! Well, except I wanted to do that old tradition-something old, something new, you know?"

"Oh, how cute!" Clarke crooned, "Why aren't you?"

"Well, I got something old- this necklace was my grandma's," Leslie touched a simple pendant around her neck with a singular stone dangling on her collar bone, a diamond perhaps, Bellamy thought, "And something is, well," She gave Clarke a quiet wink and put her hands on her hips and it took Bellamy a moment but then he realized that she must mean lingerie of some sort. Hendrick must have come to that conclusion to because he looked practically giddy, "And I got the blue because Zahira painted my nails today. I just don't know what I'd use for borrowed, which is like the easiest of them all, though!" She said.

Clarke paused for a moment, and then chuckled. "I think I have just the thing…" She said, grabbing Leslie's hand and dragging her over to a cabinet in the room. Bellamy, Benny, and Hendrick followed, confused.

Clarke reached up and pulled out a box and Leslie began to laugh. Bellamy saw what it was and shook his head, wondering how no one had thought of that.

Years and years ago, people's stuff just began to vanish from the room and from backpacks. Really stupid stuff, mostly, like extra pens or a singular sticker or apples…people were of course upset until it came to a dramatic reveal (at least, dramatic for most people who were twelve and under) that Leslie was a kleptomaniac. For little kid terms, she took things and she couldn't control it. She had all the papers from the doctors to prove she wasn't pulling their leg. It wasn't even like she wanted people's extra pens or their apples, she just couldn't control it.

So, in their youth when they were always together, they'd made the Leslie Box. Hendrick or Zahira- who were two of Leslie's closest friends at the time- would go into her room once a month and collect anything that wasn't hers. People got into labeling their stuff pretty quickly. Then, at the end of the month you'd just go thought the box and find what was missing. Everyone was happy, no one ever got mad at her, and it worked. As they'd phased out of being here all the time, the Leslie Box got less and less popular. Bellamy honestly couldn't recall the last time they'd had a need for it. Leslie was older now, more able to control it, but she still slipped up…but mostly it wasn't them anymore, but her co-workers. Bellamy hoped they were as nice to her as they had been. Leslie was a literal lamb; she couldn't steal something on purpose if her life depended on it.

"Well, I don't think anyone would mind you taking from here, huh?" Clarke said. Leslie shook her head gently, not disagreeing, but lost in thoughts.

"I remember thinking I'd never have friends because of that, but look at me now…" She gazed around the room, "I'm about to get married. I have all these people here, supporting me. I know some hate Jaha's project but it saved me."

"It saved a lot of people." Bellamy agreed, and his eyes gazed the room, settling on people like Murphy or Uma.

"I think this would be perfect," Clarke said, fishing out a hair barrette that on the back had 'CANDENCE' written on it with sharpie. It was made out of little stones like her necklace, and as soon as Clarke clipped it onto her hair…she looked complete.

It was perfect timing because not ten minutes later, Bellamy was sitting and watching as they became Mr and Mrs Horn. The party afterward was swinging and the cake was to die for. Hendrick pulled out his sweet moves on the dance floor, and then had the cutest ballroom first dance with his wife, at least according to Clarke. Bellamy's own feet were stumbling while dancing at best and he hoped Clarke wouldn't hold him to that sort of expectation; Hendrick had been dancing since he was young.

No one saw much of them in the days that followed, which was probably a good thing, as they were enjoying their days off of work as a newly married couple in a beautiful space in the Geo-Sci station.

Their marriage couldn't have come at a better time, Bellamy thought, since it was nearly Christmas. Christmas wasn't like it used to be on earth, or how he'd heard stories. Gone was any sort of religion tied to it, since the biggest religion on the ship was based around that stupid tree that Kane's mother was so obsessed with. Some small family groups celebrated individual religions, but other than that, it was few and far in between. Instead, Christmas in general was a couple weeks associated with giving and celebrating the end of another year they were alive. The council hung Christmas lights around the Ark and everyone got a ration for Christmas cookies, how much depending on how much was saved that year. It was just a gleeful happy time.

And Bellamy had no idea what to give Clarke at all.

He went to find his sister and Jasper, wondering if they had any ideas, but also to see how she was doing. She was three days overdue now. Abby said this was normal; all first time mothers often went over. Bellamy still worried incessantly. They weren't at their house, where he expected to find them, but instead caught up with them at Raven's place.

"We're trying to walk this baby out!" Octavia groaned, patting her stomach, "Abby doesn't want to induce me, damn her, and wants me to wait. I've been having contractions all day but nothing worth going in for. It's hell."

"Yeah, so we're viding everyone and trying to walk the length of the Ark at least once. We've pretty much done everything else that people have told us to go into labor."

"No kidding, spicy food? Check. Pineapple? Check. Red raspberry leaf tea-which do you know how hard that was to get? And nothing! Caster oil-,"

"Sex," Jasper interjected with a wicked grin. Bellamy gave a low moan in the back of his throat. Octavia purred back to Jasper, a sound Bellamy didn't want to hear in his entire life.

"We get it, you've done it all." He cut them off before they went into details. His body gave a shudder.

"Yeah, so, point is we're at our last straw. I just want this baby out, I can't sleep, I'm in pain…god, being pregnant sucks." She lowered her voice so only her husband and her brother could hear, "I have no idea how mom did it twice."

"They say that when you have the kid you forget all the bad stuff yada, yada, yada." Jasper waved a hand, "At least, that's what my mom claims. She was in labor with me for three whole days." He sounded strangely proud of that.

"If your kid stays in me for three more days, I swear to god, Jordan," Octavia growled.

"Luckily, M's delivery was pretty quick." They'd taken to referring to their mother around each other as 'M' as not to raise suspicion, "I remembered it, you know."

"M is a mess while trying not to be a mess." Octavia said, rolling her eyes, "I'm perfectly fine."

They were moving through houses not at a quick rate but not at a slow one either. Bellamy was so caught up within trying to still figure out a Christmas present for Clarke, which Jasper and Octavia had been equally unhelpful about he'd found out, he didn't notice until about the sixth person that they'd visited they were being quite…methodical about it. It took him until eight house that he caught on to what they were doing…one would talk to the host, ask for food or sympathy for Octavia's state, something, while the other would walk around and slowly turn up or down things in their house-the heat, the holopad, music, alarms.

He confronted them about it right after they left one of Octavia's new friends house, who by their leaving had asked them if it felt really cold in there to them. They'd both widened their eyes innocently and denied feeling anything.

"Are you even really trying to go into labor?"

"Do you think I'd freaking lie about that?" Octavia gave him a dark look; "Contractions are still only about an hour apart. I'm miserable."

"So what?"

"Well, we didn't want to just be boring and walk around the Ark like old people," Jasper frowned, "So Octavia suggested we visit people and see how much we can turn up or down things without them noticing. Most unobservant is Bryan, by the way. We turned his heat up to like ninety degrees and he didn't feel a thing!"

"I was sweating in there, whew!" Octavia fanned herself. Bellamy stared between the two of them with a sense of frank disbelief.

"What?" Octavia frowned at him.

"You're adults! You're married and about to become parents and you're doing childish stuff like that?" He gaped at them.

"Well, geeze Bell, if I knew getting married meant throwing away anything fun, I don't think I would have done it. No offence, O." He said, throwing an arm around her.

"None taken. I agree. We can still be cool, Bell. Getting married and having a kid doesn't mean you automatically turn into grumpy old geezers. We can be responsible and be awesome parents. Your kid will have a stick-in-the mud for a father, our kid will be telling his friends how incredibly awesome we are." Octavia poked Bellamy in the stomach, "We plan to teach our kid the art of pranking very young."

"No wonder Clarke hasn't slept with you yet," Jasper clicked his tongue jokingly. Bellamy felt his face turn red.

"I…I can be fun." He argued, "I'm lots of fun!"

Octavia and Jasper looked thoroughly unconvinced.

"You two don't know what you're talking about, I'm a load of fun! I have fun spewing from me! We're just sensible and-,"

"Oh, yay, sensible. Exactly what every kid wants to have in their life." Octavia teased him, "But seriously, Bell. You don't have to be so adulty all the time. You're only twenty-three, remember? Most kids your age are still falling in and out of love and making mistakes and doing stupid stuff and hoping they won't get caught, despite having jobs. And you never really had time to be a kid with me and, whew, I didn't meant to have all this come out today but I dunno just think about it. I know you have the capability to be fun, but I think you've shut it out." She leaned in to hug her older brother and whispered in his ear, "Unlock the fun, the whimsical, the kid-like."

"She's right, you know," Jasper was grinning wide, "C'mon, let's get that baby to come out. I think we should visit Murphy waaaaaay on the other side of the Ark. He's fun to annoy."

Bellamy stood a little frozen, watching them leave. And, despite feeling upset with them for their antics moments before, he had the overwhelming relief of relief as he realized they ere going to be great parents.

He shook his head, continuing the other direction. Despite his min-revelation that maybe he was a little full of seriousness of late, it still didn't help him figure out a gift for Clarke. The weeks of Christmas technically started in two days.

It wasn't until he got to work that night for a late shift that he got an idea. And moreso, the idea was handed to him on a silver platter.

"Hey, Bellamy, Miller told me to find you." Ana said, jogging up to him.

"Mhh?"

"Well, you know how you were going to teach that class tomorrow in room eight? Well, Shumway decided to give everyone a night off, so that room is pretty much open to anything. Miller- old Miller- still has it down as occupied that night and under your name. You know, if you have anything to use it for." She said, staring at him.

"Erm, cool?"

"C'mon! You can't think of a single use for that empty, sound-proofed room?" Ana said with a wide-eyed look.

"Awe, c'mon," Bellamy winced, "Is everyone seemingly more interested in Clarke's and my sex life than we apparently are?" He asked, throwing out his hands, "Sergeant Miller too?"

"It's not like that, not exactly. I mean, I don't think that's what he thought of exactly when he did that. But we all know that you guys aren't married and still with parents and that it's hard to enjoy time alone with each other and all like that, unmarried and apparently years away from it." Ana patted his arm, "I wouldn't hurt myself thinking too hard about it. Just say thanks and move on." She shrugged.

"Thanks," Bellamy said after a long moment, "And pass that along to Miller when you see him."

After she'd left, as Bellamy patrolled the halls in silence, he was already brainstorming what he could do. He knew what he hoped would happen, of course, but despite that he wanted a perfect night free of the expectation that those sorts of things would happen. By the time he was done, he had a list of materials in his mind and a plan in his head.

He couldn't find it all, since some of it was fantastical ideas of what he would do if they had everything in the world at their disposal, but he managed to do a pretty bang-up job if he said so himself. He enlisted Octavia to help him with a couple smaller things since she was officially on bed-rest now and bored out of her mind.

The rest of the day was spent ferrying large objects to the empty room and trying to make sure people kept Clarke out of whatever hallway he was lugging something through. He didn't want the surprise to be ruined before he could make his grand reveal. Jake saw him at one point, and merely raised his eyebrows and nodded in acknowledgement to Bellamy. His whole face blushed to realize that Clarke's father certainly had ideas about what this whole plan was, or what most people would think it was, but at least he wasn't running after him with a shotgun.

Finally, it was all done.

He collected Clarke from her house and put his hands over her eyes, navigating her to the Guard's station where only a couple lone cadets were stationed, since it was the first day of 'Christmas Season' and most people were off with loved ones.

"I'm going to trip and die, Bell, can I open my eyes?" Clarke complained jokingly as he swerved her away from hitting a wall.

"Nope." He said, chuckling, "We're nearly there…I promise."

"Is this a Christmas gift? I'm not ready, I don't have-,"

"Clarke, relax. It is, but…I don't need anything from you." Bellamy said sincerely, "I'm more excited to see your response to this." Clarke grumbled under her breath.

"I'm still going to get you a gift." She insisted.

Once they had made it through the maze of rooms, Bellamy used his keycard to unlock the door.

"Okay…open…" He said. Clarke opened her eyes slowly and he watched the most beautiful grin spread completely over her face. In front of her in the room was what Bellamy gleaned to have been Christmas back on earth. On the ground he'd gone to Abby to have her help him acquire some bedding in the process of being re-made into new items, and it was on loan and currently all over the ground as snow. He'd gone to his mother and gotten some white and silver strands of fabric and hung them all around. On the walls, he'd done his best to draw a pine tree and a chimney with some stubs of charcoal he'd dug up. Hanging from the ceiling were a couple paper snowflakes, what Octavia had helped him create. In the middle of the room was their larger mattress from his room with blankets and a picnic for them. Dotted sporadically were lit candles.

"Wow…" She whispered quietly.

"I know I'm not the best artist," Bellamy said, rubbing the back of his neck. Clarke spun, placing a finger to his lips before.

"It's perfect!" She said. She walked slowly around the room, pausing at something tacked to his drawn chimney.

"Stockings?" She asked, pointing at the two pairs of socks he'd hung.

"Sorta," He winced, "Best I could do." He paused, nodding at her reaction, "I just…I know you really love all those sappy Christmas movies and your eyes always linger on the snow scenes or the family tradition scenes…I don't even think it's about the plot for you. And…I took your sketchbook. I've seen your drawings, I swear someone would be shocked to know you've never seen snow in your life."

"I feel like any gift I could come up with would be so stupid in comparison." Clarke laughed, coming to the bed, "This is just so…how did you manage it all?"

"Help." He shrugged, "It was nothing." From the way her eyes gazed up him he felt a blush coming on.

"You are the most adorably romantic person I've ever met." She informed him, turning around and biting her lip. She beckoned for him to join her on the mattress. He opened one of the bowls to reveal pomegranate seeds.

"They're in season," He informed her. She took a couple and shoved his shoulder.

"Everything's in season on the ARK, you dolt. Seasons don't exist." She rolled her eyes.

"No, Clarke. We're on the ground, a hundred years before the world ended and pomegranates are most defiantly in season right now." He said, waving his hand to their surroundings.

Clarke laughed, rolling her eyes and began opening the other bins, and "My parents wouldn't let me eat I'm starved! She said. She came to a tiny one and opened it, finding a piece of paper. She frowned, picking it up between two fingers and turning to him. When she opened it, it was just a small drawing.

"I'm confused." She said.

"Well," Bellamy took the paper from her, "If we were any other people, if this was any other life, there would probably be a ring under there, you know. But I know that you don't want to get married yet and I can't blame you. But to me there are other ways to show that I'm just yours. This is one of them to me." He handed the sheet back to her, letting her examine it more fully. It was two crowns, joined together as though they had been made fused as a chain link, unbreakable. One was clearly more feminine in nature, full of jewels and the other was simple but still looked regal, "I drew that. Like I said, I'm not a great artist, but I want a tattoo of it. It's us. If you're a princess, that makes me your prince, you know?"

There was a long moment of silence and Bellamy began to think that maybe the whole idea was stupid. Clarke just stared at it for a long time.

"You want another tattoo?" The squeak of surprise that came from her lips made Bellamy laugh. While it was true she'd only finished the large scale tattoo on his back a year or so ago, mostly because she was a perfectionist and she kept finding things she wanted to fix, she had likely been under the impression that he'd never want to go under the needle again. He'd thought that too…until he'd thought of this.

And it made so much more sense to him. Rings could break, rings could be lost. A tattoo though? That was forever. The idea of having her, having his love for her, forever on his skin didn't scare him at all. He knew this would be someone he couldn't ever stop loving, even if she one day didn't love him back.

"Well, I liked the first one." He said, raising an eyebrow. Her nitpicking had paid off. It was, without a doubt, the most breathtaking thing Bellamy had seen her create (Although, he might have been a smidgen biased). It was a falcon, spread across his whole body. It's beak and head just up his neck and the wings of the bird lying from one elbow to the other, like he had the bird on his back guiding him. The feathers of the bird melted into a scene of forests with a meticulous recreation of the Milky Way and all his favorite constellations represented. The years it took were well worth it.

"You'll have three this means, right?" Clarke's eyes flickered to the group tattoo on his inner arm, "You must be in love." She laughed, "I'll get it too."

"Really?" He said.

"God, you sound so surprised! After that big declaration did you really think I'd just let you be the only one? It goes both ways, you know?"

"Well…maybe you should re-design it then." Bellamy felt very self-conscious about having something he drew, when stick figures were an achievement for him- on Clarke's skin. It felt unworthy.

"Not a chance! I want it there because you designed it. Don't you notice I only have the group tattoo?" She pointed out, "My tattoos…they aren't meant for me to enjoy, they're meant for others. It never felt right to put one of my own designs, besides this one, on me. Where do you want it?" She asked.

He held out his wrist, "So that it's always in my sight." He said.

"Okay…I'll start, well, whenever you want." She said, "God…I haven't tattooed in forever. I'm really excited now. Look at you, like twenty-million points for Bellamy and zero for me." She shook her head. Suddenly, her eyes snapped up and looked around the room and a grin slid onto her face, "But I think I have a way to even the score. This room is soundproof, right…Sergeant Blake?"

It took a minuet for his mind to catch up with his body, which reacted almost immediately.

"Are you-,"

"If you ask me if I'm sure I'm going to ask who it is that I've been nearly attacking in empty rooms these past few weeks, because you know that of course I am." She said sharply.

"Isn't it a little clichéd…doing this on Christmas?" He asked, frowning.

"Bellamy, almost everything about us is clichéd. Doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you. Does it?" She asked, frowning at him.

"Your mad if you think it does." He said, and leaned in, both hands on her cheeks to pull her down onto the mattress. And there weren't words left to say.

It was two hours later when someone burst into the room. Luckily everything had been said and done, otherwise Bellamy was pretty sure Clarke would have killed anyone who dared interrupt them, and they were just lying together and giggling in the afterglow. At the door slamming open, Clarke made a small squeak and Bellamy threw the blanket over them completely, glaring up.

"Oh, ho, ho, finally!" God, it was Murphy, of course it was Murphy. He gave them a slow clap from the door.

"Murphy, if you don't scram within the next three seconds I'm going to give you the worst shifts for the next year," Bellamy began to threaten.

"Slow down there, buddy. Lord knows I wouldn't come here unless it was important. We all know what's happening in here. It's Octavia." He said. In an instant, Bellamy was finding his discarded clothes by the mattress and struggling into them. Clarke fished for her bra too, worry clutching her. Their medical team here was good, but not perfect. Pregnancies still went wrong sometimes.

"Is she okay?" Bellamy demanded, finishing buckling his belt.

"She's having the baby like right now. She made me promise not to bug you guys until it was really time for it. She wants you in there, Clarke, and your mom requested you too." Murphy said, "And she wants you waiting out there, Bellamy." He said.

"Enough said." Clarke said, running her fingers through her hair, "Do I look…decent?" She asked Bellamy.

He winced.

"I don't think Octavia is going to care if you're wearing makeup or look like you just rolled out of a garbage can, Griffin." Murphy pointed out.

"I'm not asking for her sake," Clarke huffed, not wanting to endure her mother's smirk when she walked in there. But she put that aside. Excitement bubbled in her stomach and worry at the same time. She'd done a few births since training, but no one she knew yet. This would be all the much more nerve-wracking.

There was quite a crowd outside the maternity wing of the hospital. Raven was there, and nodded to Clarke as she whizzed past. Monty, Harper, Monroe, Bryan, and Miller were all sitting, waiting. Simon stood at Bellamy's arrival and patted him on the shoulder. Clarke sent Bellamy one last look over her shoulder as he sat down. There were two of Octavia's friends that she'd made since coming back as Mel, nervously looking at the door. As Bellamy opened his mouth to ask a question, he heard her scream from inside.

"She'll be fine, I'll be in there." She said, and then she vanished behind the door.

"Jasper in there?" Bellamy asked, nodding.

"Yeah, he's a real trooper. I wouldn't put it past Mel to break his hand, accidentally." One of Octavia's friends said, wincing.

"I punched my husband and threaten to castrate him when I was in labor," The other friend said and the two sniggered together. Murphy muttered something, likely offensive, under his breath and Raven nudged him not so gently in the side.

"How long will it be?" Bellamy asked, "How long has she been in there?"

"Who knows? Everyone's different." The first girl said, shrugging, "Could be a long time. But I think it will be soon. She didn't want to get you and Clarke until it was nearly time for her to push." The girl looked at Bellamy with teary eyes, "She thinks of you like a brother, you know? I mean, I don't think any of us can express how much you do for her, a girl that was a stranger to you when Clarke first found her. It means a lot. She doesn't say things like that, but we know."

The other girl nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Bellamy wasn't sure what to say and hoped he didn't look too taken aback and arouse suspicion so he just managed a sharp nod. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Murphy biting his hand to keep from laughing out loud.

It wasn't long at all until there wasn't any more screaming and a cry of a baby pierced the air. Bellamy, who had been slouching and nearly asleep, shot straight up. It was only a minute or so later when Clarke came out, looking frazzled but grinning widely.

"It's a boy!" She announced and there were various replies from around the room, "She wants you all to see him, of course, but Bellamy first. Then the rest of you can battle it out."

"Awww, how sweet!" The second girl crooned. Bellamy tried not to look at them as he passed. The fear of still being found out evaporated as soon as he walked into the delivery room and saw the little bundle in his sister's arms. He remembered loving his sister from the moment she was born, the moment he held her small figure in his hands. He loved this little kid the moment he saw him too.

"I'm a dad, you guys." Jasper said excitedly, "Look! God, he's just…obviously perfect, like his father…and mother, too."

"Is she doing okay?" Bellamy turned to Abby, the last doctor besides Clarke still remaining.

"Both mother and son are doing so good. She was a perfect patient, no problems at all." She patted Octavia's arm, "I'll be back in soon for some more procedural things, but I'll give you all a moment alone while I go and log this into the computers." She said.

When she left, Bellamy could tell a weight lifted of his sister's shoulders. Abby didn't know that she was a Blake instead of Byers, and now she could be more open with him.

"We named him Sebastian. Sebastian Augustus Jordan." Bellamy startled.

"O, you don't…you don't have to do that." He whispered quietly.

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here…with him." Octavia leaned down to nuzzle Sebastian's nose, "I owe everything to you. Don't you understand?" She said, holding him out for him to take. He didn't hesitate to pick up the small thing, "My brother," She said out loud, and he had never felt like his sister loved him more until this moment, when she realized that she had everything she had always wanted and he was lucky enough to have helped her have that, " You have a nephew."


So there wasn't an actual sex scene for their first time (but it did happen, in case ya missed that) because I just need to feel it to write one and I didn't but if anyone else is so inspired to do one, be my guest XD

And we finally know what Bellamy's tatoo is! And it goes back to in that chapter where I say Clarke only has two tatoos she gets, yep, this will be her second and last one :) I think it's really cute! The matching tattoo ideas is sorta inspired by my parents- they have matching tattoos (of dragons, not like a couply thing) but I really like it. Bellamy is also sorta inspired by my father who despite being really terrified of needles has TWO tattoos.

The 'klepto bin' was also inspired by my mom. Back in college, she was in a sorority and one of the members was a kelptomaniac and told everyone right off the bat and this is how they fixed it. I always thought it was a rather ingenious idea and when one of my random picks when I was making characters came up as a klepto, I knew I HAD to use this!

Like I said in the above author's note, I am writing a lot, but all unpublished stuff. I'm close to the end with some of my current fics and I was afraid I'd have nothing to continue writing but then like eight plot bunnies hit me at once XD One of them is a long one-shot that's SeamusxHermione and that one actually should be out soon.

As for the other...well, I- in between updating this story last time and this time- watched ALL 7 SEASONS THAT ARE OUT of the Walking Dead. I'm obsessed. And I started thinking, ya know, a 100 TWD au would be cool and before I knew it whoops i'm like 30 pages in already. i dont' want to post it until I'm done with one of the two current Bellarke stories I'm doing, but that's coming right after. Something to look forward to.

So, the next chapter is one that really is a biggie. I like it, but we'll see what you guys think. What I will say is that I do think there are certain 'fixed points' in any story that no matter what AU I write it, usually that will happen. Like in any re-telling of Pride and Prejudice we all know that Elizabeth will meet Darcy, he'll be a jerk, she'll hate him, he'll help save her or her family in some way, they end up happy and all that. Well, that's happened in this story in a few ways, y'all have noticed. This next chapter takes care of two or three big ones. If you guys have any guesses on what that is, I'd love to know ;) And, just to get it out of the way, it's not going to earth...it's more...character based.