AN: Hi, guys, hope you're all doing OK in these difficult times… hang in there and be kind to each other, and we'll get through this too

Getting started on Christmas in this chapter (it'll stretch over a couple of chapters), which was lots of fun to write – and I might have snuck in some of our Swedish traditions ;) Also, we're finally finding out what happened with Octavia, I don't know if anyone's been wondering about that… Plus a bit of a hint of what's to come, if you pay attention ;)

Chapter title from "The Scientist" by Coldplay. Yes, I know I've already used one of their songs for another chapter title…

See the end of the chapter for warnings

15

Tell Me Your Secrets and Ask Me Your Questions

Bellamy brings up the Christmas thing again a few days later, when they're lounging in bed having breakfast one morning. He has the day off, and yesterday was his last final, so even though he does still have work tomorrow, he says that he's feeling free since classes won't start up again until after the holidays.

"So, Christmas," he starts.

Clarke swallows the mouthful of coffee she just took. "What about it?"

"What do you guys do about presents?"

She frowns. "Well, we usually exchange them, but you don't have to worry about that. You hardly know Raven and Zeke, and you haven't even met Wells and Sasha."

"I know, but… it feels wrong to just show up empty handed," he insists.

"You can always get in on my presents if you want," she suggests, but he shakes his head at that idea.

"Then they'd probably feel bad they didn't get me anything," Bellamy reasons. "I was thinking just something small. Symbolic."

"Hmm." She thinks for a moment. "Chocolate always works for Raven and Sasha, most specialist chocolate stores do holiday collections, you could get a box or something for each of them. It's not too expensive but still nice. And… actually, the guys might be more your area of expertise."

"Normally I would probably go with alcohol, but since Zeke's some sort of expert on that…"

The discussion reminds Clarke that she has to pick up presents for Wells and Sasha herself… though, really, if they'd gotten their way, she wouldn't even have known they were coming. She does usually get them presents, but they've come to a sort of agreement where they wait for the season sales after Christmas, which both means they get better deals and that they don't risk the presents getting delayed or even lost due to the heavy load on the postal systems before the holidays, which did happen the first year after Wells and Sasha moved.

But she's already talked to Wells, to fill him in on what she's told Bellamy about their relationship, so he knows that she knows they're coming.

"I actually need to pick something up for Wells and Sasha too," she says. "I didn't know they were coming until just the other day, apparently they wanted to surprise me."

"That's nice," he notes. "Are they staying here with you, or with Raven?"

"Neither," Clarke replies. "They always stay at the Four Seasons when they're in town. But Raven and Zeke will stay here on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we usually do sleepovers."

"The Four Seasons? Jesus, are all your friends millionaires or something?"

She's never really thought about it like that, but she supposes most of them actually are. It's not hard to build up a small – or pretty big – fortune when you've been alive for over a century. Soul Keepers get paid very well, considering the actual work doesn't take up much time, and while she does have her apartment in New York as well as a house in San Francisco that she managed to snap up before the housing market over there went completely haywire, Clarke usually takes advantage of the free accommodation Keepers can get if they want in most other cities. At the moment, she's only volunteering at the library on the side, but now and then, she'll take paid work instead, if she finds something that feels right. Add the income from her Etsy store and she sometimes has the equivalent of two full-time salaries with barely any expenses. Over time, it adds up. Also, it doesn't hurt to have Raven as a best friend – she seems to have some sort of sixth sense when it comes to technology, and ever since she discovered the stock market, she's made a lot of money, both for herself and for Clarke and their other friends, from investments in up-and-coming tech companies.

"Wells dad invented something back in the eighties," she makes up on the spot, making a mental note to mention this to Wells so he'll back her up if Bellamy asks about it, not that she thinks he will. "Something technical for computers or something, I have no idea. Wells inherited everything when his dad died, plus both he and Sasha have great jobs, so yeah, they're pretty well off."

"It's a good thing we didn't meet when I was, like, seventeen," Bellamy muses. "Though you would have been, what, fourteen then? So it wouldn't have been an issue either way, but I was pretty pissed at the world in general back then, and at rich people in particular…"

She can absolutely understand that, with his background. She offers a small smile. "Then I'm glad we didn't meet back then too, and I'm sorry society gave you such a hard time. But no more distractions – how about we head out in a couple of hours, grab some lunch and go present shopping? I'll help you find something for Zeke and Wells, and maybe we can find some Christmas spirit in the process." So far, December has been mostly sunny, with only a couple colder days and hardly any snow at all.

Bellamy lets out an exaggerated sigh. "And here I was looking forward to not getting out of bed all day."

"Well, we don't have to," she says with a shrug. "I mean, you have Sunday off and get off early on Monday, right? I'm sure nobody else will be out doing last minute Christmas shopping in New York City on Christmas Eve…"

He rolls his eyes at the sarcasm before pouncing on her, pinning her to the bed.

"Fine," he agrees, sliding a finger slowly all the way from her thigh up her side to her breast, where he circles her nipple slowly. "But if we're spending all afternoon shopping, we'd better make the most of the next few hours…"

And, boy, do they…

-100-

Clarke actually loves Christmas shopping, and especially in New York – there's just something magical about the city with all the lights, the holiday windows, the Christmas trees and ice rinks…

They take the train all the way to 57th Street and grab lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Indian place before strolling down 6th Avenue, stopping for a while to watch the skaters and the tree at Rockefeller Center. It's still light out, so the Christmas spirit isn't quite there, but it's still nice. Bellamy picks up a couple of season inspired chocolate boxes for Raven and Sasha at La Maison du Chocolat, and they sample everything they can in the shop as well.

After that, they take a detour to Times Square where Clarke gets her presents – a book on brewing your own beer for Wells, who has just picked up the hobby, and a cute little charm in the shape of a snowflake for Sasha, who has a bracelet that Wells gave her for their anniversary a few years ago that she's slowly filling with charms.

They continue towards Bryant Park and in a little game shop that most people wouldn't even notice in the hustle and bustle of New York, Bellamy finds his last two gifts – a quiz game about beer for Zeke and QI – the board game for Wells, since Clarke knows he's been obsessed with the show for years.

Happy with their finds, they wrap up their little outing at the Winter Village. The sun has finally set and both the huge Christmas tree and all the lights have been lit. They stroll around the little holiday shops for a while, perusing everything from knitted hats and gloves to hand-woven baskets and unique artworks. Clarke always buys one new tree ornament for Christmas, and she just can't resist a beautiful, red one with New York written in black and the city's skyline.

When they've made the rounds of all the shops, they buy some hot chocolate, since the early evening has turned a little cold, and lounge on the bleachers by the ice rink.

"So, a Clarke Griffin Christmas," Bellamy says, blowing on his paper cup before taking a sip. "What can I expect?"

"Well, the first thing you need to know when spending Christmas with me and Raven is that it's a three day event."

He pauses with the cup halfway from his mouth and gives her a questioning look. "Three days?"

Clarke chuckles. "Well, not three full days, but almost."

She and Raven have spent Christmas together a lot over the years, not all of them but well over a hundred, for sure. Their traditions have evolved and merged and changed to accommodate new ones, and at this point it can only be described as an amalgamation of different cultures and times and people. Clarke loves it.

"Well, we usually start on Christmas Eve," she tells him. "My great-great-something grandfather was from Sweden, so I like to incorporate some of those traditions, and over there Christmas Eve is the main day for celebration – that's when families gather for the holiday meal, exchange presents, all that. We usually get together at some point early in the afternoon, order way too much Chinese food and then spend the rest of the day watching Christmas movies and eating and then everyone gets to open one present in the evening."

She actually picked up the Swedish Christmas traditions when she was stationed there back in the late eighties and early nineties. Her first Christmas back in the States after those six years, she and Raven added them to their current Christmas traditions. To be perfectly honest, it was at least partly to be able to extend Christmas and make it last longer.

"Swedes eat Chinese food on Christmas Eve?" Bellamy asks a little incredulously.

"Oh, no," Clarke replies. "They usually eat either roast ham, but we have that on Christmas Day, or something called lutfisk, which is dried whitefish treated with lye. I like it, Raven doesn't, but it's not that easy to come by here, and none of us know how to cook it properly anyway, so we've fudged that part a little."

"Ah, I see. So it's Swedish Christmas Eve Clarke and Raven style."

She lets out a short laugh. "I guess you could say that. OK, so then on Christmas Day, it's obviously presents in the morning. Then we cook breakfast together, and we really go all out – pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast… everything. After that, nobody obviously has any energy to do more than lounge around, so we either watch whatever's on TV or continue our Christmas movie marathon. Sometimes we play board games or video games, especially if someone's gotten one as a present. Do you have any favorite Christmas movies, by the way? We usually go around the group and everyone gets to pick one, then we start over, if we have the time."

Bellamy frowns. "I'll think about it."

"Great. Preferably something that's on Netflix, but DVDs are fine too, as long as you either make sure I already have it, or you bring it yourself. OK, so that brings us to the Christmas dinner – roast ham, mashed and roast potatoes, roasted vegetables, latkes… I'm probably forgetting something, there really is a lot of food, but you get the picture. And a bunch of desserts."

"So basically, you eat all day?"

"Of course, that's the whole point!"

"Right, how could I forget?"

There's a teasing note to his voice and Clarke gives him a look through narrowed eyes. "Are you making fun of me?"

Bellamy gives her an innocent look. "I would never."

She's not entirely sure he's telling the truth. "Hm. Well, then it's Boxing Day… which isn't actually a holiday, do you have work?"

He shakes his head. "No, it's my day off that week."

"OK, good, wouldn't want you to miss the last part of our big Christmas celebration. So Boxing Day we usually go to a shelter and donate a few boxes of things – clothes, we buy some hygiene stuff like toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and a bunch of Raven's amazing Christmas cookies."

"That's a nice tradition," he notes. "Where did it come from?"

"It's a British thing," Clarke explains. "The whole concept of Boxing Day has its origin in the UK, possibly coming from the tradition of giving servants that day off after they spent Christmas working, and then they were given a Christmas box with gifts or some money or leftover food to bring home to their families. I guess that sentiment evolved over the years into wanting to help those less fortunate… though these days it's probably more about the sales that start everywhere on Boxing Day, but we choose to stick with the older traditions. I have a box of stuff if you want to add some things you don't need or want anymore, and then we'll stop by Walgreens on the way to pick up the rest."

"I'll stop by the apartment tomorrow after work," Bellamy says. "I can drop off all the school books and go through the back of my closet where all the things I haven't used in ages live."

"Sounds good. Then we usually wrap up the festivities with hot chili, which is a Mexican tradition, possibly one last Christmas movie, and that's it."

He slides an arm around her shoulders and squeezes. "I like your Christmas traditions."

They sit in silence for a little while, watching the skaters and finishing their hot chocolate.

"So how do you usually celebrate Christmas?" Clarke eventually asks.

"Well, I've spent it with Miller and his family the last few years," he starts. "Unlike Thanksgiving, which is just the immediate family, Christmas is the whole clan, basically. Miller has three uncles and two aunts, plus their significant others, and, like, fifteen cousins or something. Some of his older cousins have started getting married and having kids of their own, too, so last year I think there were… thirty-five adults and eleven kids."

"Oh my God!" she can't help but exclaim. "I'm guessing that was pretty intense?"

Bellamy chuckles. "That's one word for it. Honestly, it'll be nice to be able to relax a little…"

"Yeah, you should definitely get to do that."

He lets out a deep sigh. "Before that, growing up… Mom usually worked, she got double time on holidays. But she always made sure to wake us up with hot chocolate in bed on Christmas morning and watch us open the presents in our stockings, which were usually second hand clothes and games or toys from the thrift store down the street, but still. When Octavia got older and started realizing that Christmas was a big deal, I tried to make it special for her. I made her things at school, little wooden toys in shop class when she was little, and then other stuff as she got older, boxes for her jewelry, pen holders and other stuff for her desk… I even made her a bookcase once."

This is the most he's talked about his sister since Halloween, and Clarke wants him to continue, wants to know what it is that puts that undertone of sadness in his voice whenever she's mentioned, but she also doesn't want to push.

"That's nice," she just says. "I'm sure she appreciated everything you did for her."

He's quiet for a moment. "Yeah, I think so. She was never very good at saying it, but I think she did."

She reaches for his hand and squeezes it tightly. "Of course she did."

"The Christmas after she left… that was probably the worst Christmas ever," Bellamy continues after a beat, eyes intent on their joined hands. "I didn't even leave the house… that's when Miller suggested I move in with him."

Clarke scoots closer to him and leans her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad you had him."

He huffs once. "Yeah, he's definitely the reason I got through that period of my life more or less unscathed."

He goes quiet again and she thinks this is probably it, he's done sharing for today, so she's surprised when he clears his throat after a few minutes and continues speaking.

"I told you my mom died right before I was supposed to go to college, right? And that I put off school to get the delivery job and be able to take care of O?"

"You did."

"It was hard on Octavia. I mean, it was hard on me too, obviously, Mom had just died and suddenly my whole life changed, but O was just thirteen… a thirteen year old girl needs her mom, you know? I wasn't… I couldn't fill those shoes, no matter how hard I tried. It didn't matter that I had been the one to basically raise her even before Mom died, since she was working all the time… It still never felt like I did enough, you know?

She started acting out – cutting class, smoking, staying out past her curfew… one day, she got caught shoplifting and social services almost took her away, but somehow I finally got through to her, told her that she could end up in a group home or the foster system, and she straightened up. She focused back on school, did almost everything I told her to…

When she graduated high school, she got into NYU. Not on a scholarship or anything, but she qualified for some financial aid and I had been saving, too, so I knew we could do it, as long as she lived at home and we cut back on some things. I thought we were in agreement on the whole college thing, she was really excited when she got her acceptance letter. But then she came home the day after her high school graduation and told me that she wasn't going. She had gotten a job on a cruise ship, I don't even know what she was supposed to be doing, and it was leaving from Miami the next week.

I admit that I lost it a little. I yelled at her, told her she was throwing her life away, that Mom would be disappointed in her… in the end, she stormed out of the apartment. I let her go, figured I'd give her a few days to calm down. By the time I tried to get a hold of her again, her phone had been disconnected. I called her best friend, but she said that O had left, gone down to Florida early. I discovered that she had been home at some point when I was out, packed up a bunch of her clothes and some other stuff.

I didn't know what to do. I called every cruise company I could find, but of course they wouldn't tell me if she was working for them. She was eighteen, I wasn't technically her guardian anymore, so legally, she could do whatever she wanted. I even thought about going down there, trying to find her, bring her back… but in the end, I realized that doing that would probably do more harm than good. Really push her away. So I let her go."

Despite the noise from the rink and the stores around them, the silence seems deafening when he stops speaking.

"And you haven't heard from her since?" Clarke asks gently after a moment.

Bellamy shakes his head. "No. I always figured, she was the one who left, you know? I was here, always here, not in our old apartment but still in the area. I have the same phone number and email address, Miller was already living in our apartment back then, she knew where he was… I'm not hard to find… she's the one that has to want to come back. But it's been seven and a half years of nothing now, I don't… I think somewhere along the way, I accepted that she's not coming back."

She feels her heart break for him and has to blink away a few tears. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. But she could still come back. And no matter what you think, her leaving is not your fault."

He snorts. "Sure it is. If I hadn't yelled at her, maybe she wouldn't have taken off like that. I could have been supportive, told her that she'd always have a place with me whenever she wanted to come back."

"OK, yes, you could have handled it better," she agrees. "But so could she."

He leans his head on top of hers and lets out a shaky breath. "Maybe."

Clarke wants to push it, but she has a feeling it won't do any good. He's just not ready to forgive himself. She turns her head so she can bury her face against his throat and breathes him in,

"Thank you for telling me. I love you."

"I love you too. I didn't want there to be any big secrets between us."

The words make a lump of ice settle in her stomach. Because there is a big secret between them. A huge secret.

-100-

Clarke starts having trouble sleeping in the days after Bellamy tells her about his sister, her conscience nagging at her whenever she lets her mind rest. He notices, of course.

"What's wrong, Princess?" he asks her when he gets up on Friday to find her already seated at the breakfast bar, drinking coffee. Her third cup of the day, but he doesn't need to know that. "And don't say nothing, you've been tossing and turning all night for days, and now you're up before me? Didn't I tire you out last night?"

He definitely did… and she'd been able to fall asleep without problem. It was when she woke up at four thirty in the morning that she couldn't go back to sleep, her mind churning.

Should she tell him? And if so, what should she tell him? If she just reveals the Soul Keeper thing, how can she justify telling him about that? She just got to New York, she won't be reassigned again for at least five or six years, unless she asks for it… Sure, she could say that she doesn't want to have to lie to him about such a big part of her life anymore, but that would actually feel like more of a deception, since there would be this huge part of it that he still wouldn't know. And if she decides to tell him everything, then what? She has no idea how he'd react…

"It's nothing," she says as he turns his back on her to pour himself some coffee. "I promise. My brain's just a little wired this time of year."

She can tell from the look in his eyes that he doesn't buy it. He joins her at the counter, leaning his elbows against it and sipping his coffee.

"Promise to tell me if something's really bothering you?" he asks, eyes pleading.

"Of course."

Clarke takes another sip of coffee, trying to give him a reassuring smile but probably failing.

"Hey," she says after a moment. "Weird question. If you found out you had seven months to live, what would you do?"

Bellamy frowns. "Seven months? That's weirdly specific…"

"Six months then," she amends, berating herself for not saying that from the start. "Or a year. What would you do?"

He's quiet for a moment, thinking she assumes. "Well, considering I only have a couple of grand in my savings account and I'd still have to live during that time, I wouldn't quit my job. Might drop out of school, though, no point wasting my nights on classes if I'm never going to get that degree anyway." He pauses, takes another sip of coffee. "Make things right with Octavia and then just… spend time with my friends, with her, if I could, with you. Try to make the most of the time I had left."

She probably should have expected something like that. There's no way responsible Bellamy Blake would drop everything to go on one last adventure…

"And if money wasn't an issue?" she presses. "Say you win the Powerball, a hundred million dollars, and the day after you find out you have a year to live. Then what would you do?"

"This question is getting weirder and weirder," Bellamy notes, giving her an odd look.

"Just humor me. My brain is sleep deprived, it comes up with weird things."

He takes a deep breath. "Well, in that case I'd probably want to travel. See the places I've been reading about most of my life… Rome, Athens, Pompeii. Other places too, London, Paris, the pyramids, the Great Wall, Machu Picchu, Grand Canyon. And the Philippines, I'd want to see where my dad came from."

Would he let her do that for him, if she were to tell him the truth? If there's one thing she knows about Bellamy after these last few intense weeks together, it's that he's proud. He doesn't like to accept help. But this… it's not like she really needs the money, it usually just sits in her accounts. She makes donations to charities regularly, but she doesn't do much for herself, and no matter what he might think, making this dream of his come true would be just as much for her as it would be for him.

"The adventure of a lifetime," she notes, and he chuckles.

"I guess. But this is all just hypothetical, so while it's nice to dream, I'll probably never get to see those places."

He will if she has anything to say about it.

-100-

Raven and Zeke are the first to arrive on Christmas Eve. Bellamy has work until one and Wells and Sasha are probably doing some last minute shopping – Raven picked them up at the airport yesterday, and Clarke asked her to tell them that Bellamy had insisted on getting them both a little something, which made Sasha immediately decide that they had to find something for him as well, so he wouldn't feel left out. Clarke texted them a couple of hints, so hopefully they've been able to find something that he'll like.

"Hey, I need your help," Clarke greets them when she opens the door.

Raven raises an eyebrow. "You mean apart from the fantastic Christmas feast we're going to be cooking for your guests tomorrow?"

"Exactly."

"I think what she means is 'of course, Clarke, it's Christmas, naturally we'll help you with whatever it is you need'," Zeke interjects and Raven rolls her eyes.

"I really didn't."

He ignores her. "What's up, Griffin?"

"Well, my head's been all over the place these last few days," she starts, leading them into the living room. "And I completely forgot to check my assignments for this week. I only had one Transfer this morning, which wasn't a problem, but it turns out I have two tomorrow afternoon. They're pretty close together, two thirty and three fifteen, both on the Lower East Side, but there is absolutely no way that I can justify leaving for over an hour. Could either of you take them? I promise I'll make it up to you." She slumps down on the couch, giving them both hopeful smiles.

"Of course," Zeke says immediately, pulling his phone out of his pocket and sitting down next to her. "I have one myself, at four, so maybe we can just say that there's something I have to do for a couple of hours in the afternoon? The community center is open for the kids all day, doing dinner and games and stuff, we can say I need to stop by there… though I'd probably have to actually do that, with Miller working there it could get back to Bellamy if I don't."

"You're an angel," Clarke tells him, smacking a kiss on his cheek. "Seriously."

"Don't worry about it, just send it over."

It's a pretty new feature in their app, the ability to send a Transfer to another Keeper. That person has to accept it, of course, you can't just send assignments around all willy-nilly, but Clarke really prefers it to just declining assignments, which they can technically do – it's not like they're paid based on how many Transfers they do or anything, and they still get paid if they take time off. Still, she tries to have enough foresight that she registers any time she's planning to take off, so she won't have to decline assignments, but this is a good option in a pinch.

She opens her own app and sends the two Transfers to Zeke, making his phone ding a moment later. He clicks a few times before putting the phone away again. "There, all done. They were even in the same basic area as the one I already had, so shouldn't take too long."

"Phew, that's a weight off my shoulders."

Raven's been quiet during their exchange, but now she pipes up. "What's got you so distracted you're not keeping track of your assignments, anyway?" she asks. "Loverboy got you all hot and bothered?"

Clarke sighs. "Sort of. Remember I said I thought there was something with his sister that he wasn't telling me?" Raven nods. "Well, he told me… and then he said that he didn't want there to be any big secrets between us."

Raven winces. "Ouch."

"Tell me about it."

"What are you going to do?" Zeke asks.

At that moment, the doorbell rings. "I don't know," Clarke replies, getting up from the couch. "I hate lying to him all the time, but I just… I don't know."

She expects it to be Wells and Sasha, but when she opens the door again, she finds Bellamy on the other side.

"Hi there," she says, reaching up to give him a kiss. "I've told you to just use the key."

He's been insistent on only using the spare key he still has when he has to, like when he locks up after himself in the morning or when he gets back when Clarke's not home. She's been trying to get him to just use it all the time, but he still rings the doorbell when he knows she's there. It's both adorable and, at times, a little frustrating.

"Force of habit," he replies, following her into the apartment. "Hey, guys."

Raven and Zeke look up. "Happy holidays!" Raven exclaims. "Are you ready for Christmas extraordinaire?"

"I hope so," he replies, claiming a spot on the couch next to Zeke. "Not sure I'll be able to keep up with all the eating, based on what Clarke's told me, but I am going to do my very best."

"You'll be fine," Zeke assures him, clapping him on the back.

"It's not like we'll force you to eat anything," Clarke adds. She's about to join the others on the couch, but before she has a chance, the doorbell rings again. "And that should be Wells and Sasha."

Sure enough, it is, Wells laden with bags full of presents and Sasha carrying a huge bouquet of flowers.

"Hey guys!" Clarke exclaims, stepping aside to let them in. "Here, let me take those."

She grabs the flowers from Sasha, who helps Wells put all the bags down on the floor so they can both take off their shoes and coats.

"Hi, sweetie, it's been much too long," Sasha says, pulling Clarke into a one-armed hug. "We've missed you."

"Well, that's what you get for moving half-way across the world," Clarke teases, pulling away from Sasha to hug Wells too.

"Yeah, yeah, it's all our fault," he grumbles, his arms tight around her. "How're you doing?"

She takes a deep breath before letting him go. "I'm good. It's… you know. But it's too late to turn back now."

He gives her an understanding smile and squeezes her hand before grabbing the bags again.

"Hey, Jaha, Walgrove!" Raven's voice comes from the living room. "Stop hiding out in the hallway, some of us haven't eaten all day!"

"I'm pretty sure that's an exaggeration, but better not keep her waiting," Clarke notes, heading into the kitchen to find a vase for the flowers before continuing to the living room, where Bellamy's gotten to his feet to greet the new arrivals. "We are complete. This is Wells and Sasha, guys, this is Bellamy."

Wells holds out his hand first. "It's nice to meet you, man, Clarke's been talking about you a lot the last few weeks."

"Don't tell him that!" Clarke stage whispers, making the others laugh.

"Nice to meet you too," Bellamy replies, shaking Wells' hand. "And you, Sasha."

Unlike Wells, Sasha can't help but glance at Bellamy's Number, but she quickly moves her eyes to his and smiles. "It's so good to meet you, I'm glad you could join us for this."

"Me too," Bellamy agrees.

"So, Clarke tells me that you study history?" Wells says. "I've always been fascinated by history. What's your favorite time period?"

And just like that, the two are off discussing ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, and Clarke breathes a small sigh of relief.

Chapter warnings: again, a little bit of explicit sexual content. Also some references to Bellamy's mom dying, but no details or anything