AN: So – the big reveal is over, and Bellamy knows the truth. Now what? Will he let Clarke take him on the adventure of a lifetime? A bit more on Octavia in this chapter, I don't know if anyone's been hoping for that ;)

I don't own anything relating to The 100

Chapter title from "21 Guns" by Green Day

See the end of the chapter for warnings

21

Your Faith Walks on Broken Glass

Somehow, they manage to let the whole topic of Soul Keepers and upcoming death go and spend the rest of the day curled up together under a blanket on the couch, watching Netflix. They order take-out for dinner and Clarke digs some ice cream out of the freezer for dessert, and they eat it right out of the carton, their spoons clanging together when they try to scoop up another bite at the same time.

They're in the middle of a Parks and Rec episode, Bellamy stretched out on his back along the couch and Clarke on top of him, her cheek against his chest, when the screen on her phone lights up. She reaches for the device but it's about an inch too far away, so he grabs it for her.

"Raven," he notes as he glances at the screen before handing her the phone.

"Crap," she says. "I must have missed a bunch of texts, she doesn't usually call first thing."

"Go ahead," he tells her, grabbing the remote to pause the show.

Clarke reluctantly pushes herself off him and slides her finger across the screen to answer the call.

"Hey, sorry, I've had the sound off all afternoon," she says as a greeting.

"Right," Raven's voice comes over the line. "So I take it things are OK?"

Clarke glances at Bellamy, who's now sitting up on the couch, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Yeah, we're OK," she confirms quietly, moving into the kitchen. "We've talked some more, he came with me to the Transfer and then I… told him the rest."

"How'd he take that?"

She sighs. "About as well as can be expected, I think. He's agreed to think about the whole trip thing, so that's good."

"Yeah, good. So we don't need to be on standby anymore?"

"No. But thank you, I really appreciate it."

"Always, babe. OK, let me know if you do need anything."

"I will, promise. Love you."

"Love you too."

"Everything OK?"

She turns at Bellamy's voice, finding him leaning against the other side of the breakfast bar.

"Everything's fine," she assures him with a smile. "Raven and Zeke were sort of backup today, in case I needed help."

"Did you expect to?" he asks with a frown.

"I had no idea," she replies. "Again, I've never actually done this before. But I figured it couldn't hurt to be prepared, and Raven actually has done it before, so…"

He nods thoughtfully before raising an eyebrow at her. "Hungry?"

Clarke looks down and realizes that she has one hand on the handle on the fridge door. "Not at all. You?"

He shakes his head. "I was actually thinking of maybe calling it a night," he says. "Pretty tired."

"Yeah, it's been a long day," she agrees, silently wondering if he'll want to share the bed with her or if he'll decide to sleep in the guest room. The thought makes her entire body feel cold.

But when she rounds the counter, he wraps an arm around her waist and presses a kiss to her temple. "Come on."

They get ready for bed in silence, taking turns in the bathroom as they always do – it's only been a little over a month, when did that start feeling like always – and while he's brushing his teeth, she pulls on a t-shirt and slides between the sheets.

A few minutes later, the faucet in the bathroom turns off and a moment after that, Bellamy enters the bedroom again.

She stays completely still, flat on her back, as he gets into bed, unsure of whether he'll stay on his side, keeping space between them, or lay down right next to her, like he usually does.

When he moves into the middle of the bed and wraps an arm around her to tug her against him, Clarke lets out a breath. She relaxes in his embrace, wrapping her own arm around his middle and pressing her nose against his throat.

He pulls the comforter up to cover both of them before tightening his hold on her, one hand trailing down until he finds bare skin on her hip. He brushes his thumb back and forth a couple of times before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Sleep."

And somehow – maybe because she's completely exhausted emotionally – she does.

-100-

Clarke jolts awake the next morning when Bellamy literally jumps out of bed.

"Shit, shit, shit," he mumbles under his breath as he hurries around the bed and opens the door to the walk-in closet.

"What's wrong?" she asks dazedly, trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes.

"I forgot to set my alarm," he calls from somewhere inside the closet. "Overslept."

She rolls onto her side and grabs her phone from the nightstand and, sure enough, it's a little after seven thirty.

Bellamy appears in the doorway to the closet, work pants in one hand while he tries to pull his green polo shirt over his head with the other, and bumps his shoulder on the doorjamb since he can't see where he's going.

"Ow," he complains when he emerges from the opening.

"Hey," Clarke says, reaching out to grab him by the arm before he can disappear into the bathroom. "Slow down."

"I can't, I'm already late, I have to hurry," he tells her, but he does stop, his whole body sagging a little.

"OK, but just hear me out," she insists. "Yesterday was… a rough day, OK? Emotionally and mentally and… maybe you need to take some time to just let everything sink in."

He frowns at her words. "You want me to take a sick day?"

"Yes. I mean, you forgot to set the alarm, have you ever done that before?" When he shakes his head, she continues. "So that was probably your subconscious trying to tell you that you need to take it easy today."

Bellamy gives her an extremely doubtful look at that. "I'm not sure that's how it works."

"OK, but tell me this," she says, changing tactics. "Did you sleep OK?"

She can tell by the way he looks away from her that the answer is no.

"Maybe not great," he admits. "I had some trouble falling asleep, and then I kept having weird dreams that woke me up… but I'm fine, honestly. Nothing a cup of coffee or three won't fix."

"Nope." She shakes her head. "You're staying home today, that's final."

"Oh, is it?" he counters, one eyebrow raised, and Clarke knows that look. It's a look that makes her entire body tingle with anticipation. "Tell you what – I'll take a sick day today if you promise that we won't leave this bed."

She can feel her heart rate react to his words immediately, but still pretends to think about it. "I guess I can agree to those terms."

"Then we have a deal. I just need to call in, back in a moment."

She lets him go so he can grab his phone and leave the room to make the call. He doesn't close the door and she picks up bits and pieces of the conversation – cold, been coughing all night, should be fine tomorrow. He hangs up soon enough, returning to the bedroom and pulling the shirt he just managed to get half on earlier off again.

"Now…" he says when he's closed the door behind him, and then he literally pounces on her, somehow managing to not actually land on top of her. "Whatever are we going to do with all this spare time?"

"Hmm…" Clarke licks her lips slowly, pleased when she sees his eyes dart to her mouth. "I think I might have a few ideas."

He leans down slowly, until they're just inches apart. "Oh yeah?" At the last second, he bypasses her mouth and instead brushes his lips against her ear. "Do share."

"Mmmm," she hums as he pulls her earlobe into his mouth, teeth grazing the skin. "That's a good start."

Bellamy doesn't linger, instead placing a quick, chaste kiss against the side of her throat. "And how about this?"

"Also good." She trails a hand up his arm and around to slide her fingers into his hair, just as his tongue darts out to run along her collar bone, making her gasp.

"Good?"

"Uh-huh."

He shifts his weight a little, onto one elbow, to be able to pull the collar of her t-shirt down and place an open mouthed kiss half an inch from her nipple. She whines a little and arches up against him, hoping he'll take the hint and move just a little bit. Instead, he sucks on the spot, hard enough to leave a mark – not like anyone but him will see it there, though.

He sooths the spot with another kiss before placing another one a few inches further down, and then another one a little to the right. Not until he's completed a full circuit around her nipple does he finally pull the already hard nub into his mouth, and Clarke can't hold back a moan. Her hips jerk helplessly against him, trapped under the comforter by his knees on either side of her thighs. He seems to sense her frustration, though, and moves to lay down more fully on top of her, one leg wedged between hers, and she wastes no time in pushing up against his thigh, getting some friction even though the fluffy comforter is still between them. She tries to push it down, but it's trapped between them and she soon gives up, trailing her hand up Bellamy's side, nails scraping lightly against the skin, feeling him shiver a little when she reaches his ribs.

She manages to kick the comforter off her leg – the one not still trapped between his – and wraps it around his thigh to pull him tighter against her. Finally she can feel the beginning of his erection against her stomach. In response, he groans against her breast before abandoning it and searching out her lips for a searing kiss instead.

A moment later, he tugs on her shirt until he finds the hem and can slide a hand under the material, pushing it up as far as it will go. Goosebumps appear on her skin when it's exposed to the cooler air of the room, but Clarke's soon distracted from the slight chill when his warm hand covers her breast. He flicks her nipple with his thumb and she retaliates by biting lightly at his bottom lip.

"Feisty today, are we, Princess?" he asks amusedly, pulling away from her and repeating the motion. She squirms under him, letting out a moan when he pinches her nipple a little harder, and sees his eyes darken at the sound.

She doesn't respond, just keeps her eyes locked on his as she pulls her shirt over her head. It gets stuck under her, since Bellamy's still pinning her to the bed, but at least it's all the way off. He hums his approval before leaning down and kissing her again.

The comforter is still between their lower bodies, though, but finally, he lifts himself off her for a moment and manages to pull it out of the way. The friction when he sinks down on top of her again goes straight to her core and she arches her hips against him. He groans into her mouth, fingers flexing against her side.

What she really wants to do is get rid of the last scraps of clothing separating them and get him inside her, but he seems to want to slow things down, his mouth and tongue moving lazily against hers, the hand not propping him up trailing all over every part of her that he can reach, never lingering long, just enough to set her skin on fire.

After what feels like hours, Clarke breaks the kiss to get some much needed air, and he moves to pepper kisses over her throat and chest. His mouth closes around one nipple at the same time as he tweaks the other with two fingers, and she arches off the bed into his touch.

"God, you can be such a tease," she gets out before gasping when his teeth graze her pebbled nipple.

Bellamy chuckles against her skin. "Oh please, you love it and we both know it."

Well… yeah. But she also loves what comes when he stops teasing her…

He kisses his way up her chest again, latching onto a sensitive spot on her neck and grinding his hips against hers.

"You feel what you do to me?" he murmurs into her ear and she whimpers in confirmation, pushing up against him. His hand trails down her ribcage and stomach, pausing at the waistband of her panties. "Do I have the same effect on you, huh?"

Clarke has to bite her lip when he slips his hand inside and trails a finger up and down her slit a couple of times before pushing it into her.

"Like you don't already know that."

"Mm, I do," he agrees, adding another finger and curling them just right.

"Oh, fuck."

"Doesn't mean I don't enjoy feeling just how wet you are for me."

His lips cover hers and she eagerly opens up for him, the kiss turning deep and dirty as his fingers continue sliding in and out of her. He doesn't put any pressure on her clit, so she knows he's not trying to get her off, at least not yet.

When she feels like she can't stand not having him inside her for another second, she fumbles for his boxers and tries to push them down, but she doesn't get far. She expects Bellamy to maybe chuckle, call her eager and tease her a little longer, but to her surprise, he abruptly breaks the kiss and moves off her. A moment later, he tugs on her panties and she willingly lifts her hips to help him get them off.

Then he's back on top of her, propped up on one hand, the other between them to guide him inside her, and finally, finally they're joined.

He pauses for a moment when he's fully buries inside her, the way he almost always does, and their eyes lock. He maintains eye contact as he pulls out of her, but when he thrusts back inside, a little more force behind the movement, Clarke has to squeeze her eyes shut against the overwhelming feeling.

She wraps an arm around his neck and pulls him down, the kiss deep and needy. He groans as her nails dig into his shoulder, sinking down further so they're almost skin on skin. The new angle makes his pelvic bone drag against her clit on each thrust, and before long, she's falling over the edge.

Bellamy kisses her through it, slowing his thrusts a little as she comes back down. When she can think straight again, she wraps her legs around his waist, pulling him deeper inside her and getting a moan in return.

She loses track of time for a while – the only thing in the world their bodies moving together, his lips and tongue against hers. Then he breaks the kiss, gasping for air as his movements turn sloppy, and a few thrusts later, he pulses inside her. He slips a hand between them, pressing down on her already sensitive clit, and she cries out as a second climax washes over her.

She's still shaking from the power of it when he rolls them over and wraps his arms around her, holding her against his chest. She feels his lips against her temple.

"Love you."

Clarke can't quite form a complete sentence yet, so she just hums in agreement and presses her lips to his chest.

-100-

Bellamy goes back to work the next day, and apart from him asking about her Transfers when he gets home in the afternoon and her not having to lie about what she's doing when she has one, things pretty much go back to normal.

Clarke decides to give him a week before she brings up the trip thing again. If he does agree to it, they need to start planning – flights and hotels need to be booked, not that she cares if she has to pay more for business class and five star hotels because everything is full, and he needs to either get a leave of absence or give his two weeks' notice at work. She just needs a week heads up to note her unavailability in her work app, but still, she wants to get going. She's already writing down places she wants to show him and things she wants to suggest doing. And if he doesn't agree… well, she has her plan B.

She hasn't contacted Octavia yet, but she's keeping an eye on her Facebook – in a completely non-stalkerish way – and knows that she spent Christmas with her boyfriend's family in some quaint village in the English countryside, since he's apparently from Derbyshire, and then New Year's with friends in Dublin. She's back at work now, which is a gym where she's a PT and holds classes in Piloxing and Ryde. Clarke has no idea what either of those are, but judging by the official photos on the gym's website – Octavia's Facebook photos are locked – she's one of those way too athletic people that always make Clarke feel like a complete amateur whenever she ventures to a gym – which, granted, doesn't happen that often.

Bellamy surprises her, though, on Saturday when he has the day off.

He has lunch ready when she gets back from her story time, and when both their plates are empty, he puts a notepad down next to his.

"What's that?" she asks, nodding at it.

"It's my list."

She frowns. "Your list?"

"Yeah." He nods slowly a couple of times. "I've decided to take you up on the whole trip thing."

It takes Clarke a moment to really understand what he's saying, but when she does, she throws her arms around him.

"Thank you!"

"I think I should be thanking you," he objects. "But I have one condition."

"Anything."

"Nothing too… extravagant, OK?" He gives her a stern look. "I know you can afford first class flights and five star hotels, and I'm not saying we stay in hostels or anything, but can we maybe settle for economy seats and three stars? It would make me feel much better about the whole thing and less like I'm taking advantage of you."

It's not like she was planning on them staying in luxury hotels or anything… at least not everywhere.

"Can I get a couple of fancy hotels?" she asks carefully. "There's this place in Paris that Raven stayed at a couple of years ago that's just… it's amazing. And there are a few places I've been wanting to go to but haven't gotten around to yet."

Bellamy watches her through narrowed eyes for a moment. "OK, a couple."

"Great. And I promise I'll stick to economy unless it's not an option, OK? But I might get seats with extra leg room on the longer flights – trust me, you'll thank me."

"Fine, I can agree to that," he says.

She glances at the notebook again. "So what's on the list?"

"Oh." He opens it to the first page, which isn't even full. "Places I want to see. I don't know if we'll be able to do everything, so I put them in order of how much I want to go there."

Of course he did.

"Well, that would depend on when we can leave, really," Clarke notes.

"Right. Well, I gave my two weeks' notice at work yesterday and I have a couple of vacation days I can use, so my last day will be the 14th. I called the school and told them I'm taking a semester off…" He trails off, but they both know what he's not saying – that he'll be gone by the time the fall semester rolls around, so it wouldn't have mattered if he just dropped out. But she can see why saying that he's taking a semester off would feel better. Bellamy Blake is not a quitter, and dropping out of school, no matter why, would be quitting. "And I talked to Miller, apparently he and Jackson have been thinking about moving in together and his lease is up at the end of the month, so he said they'd use this as a sort of trial run so I won't have to pay rent."

He's really thought of everything.

"Do you have a current passport?"

Bellamy nods. "Doesn't expire until 2022, so I'm good. I'll swing by the apartment while I'm at work tomorrow and pick it up, I'm guessing we might need it for plane tickets or visas or something."

"Plane tickets, definitely, visas, that depends on what's on your list. So let's have a look."

The list has two levels – first either a city or a country, and in case of a country there are two or more cities listed under it. There are also some bullet points that are single places and also experiences, like Northern lights, which is number five on the list.

Philippines
Manila
Taytay

"My dad was from Taytay," he says. "It's a pretty big city not too far from Manila, about an hour, so I figured we could maybe do a couple of days in each city."

"Do you have any info on your dad?" she asks. "Name, some sort of ID number, an old address, names of relatives?"

Clarke is already going through a mental list of Keepers she knows, wondering if any of them are in the Philippines at the moment and can help her out on the ground. Maybe they can find other family members, though she's not entirely sure how well the population register over there works.

"The only thing I have is a sort of scrap book that Mom put together, with the handful of pictures she had of him," he replies. "There's some other stuff in there, his old passport, I think, so there might be something."

"Do you know when he was born?"

He frowns. "I know Mom was nineteen when they had me and I think he was maybe two years older, so… 1967 or thereabouts."

So there might even be grandparents still alive… "Get the scrap book when you pick up your passport and I'll see if I can do some research before we get there."

Bellamy nods at that.

Italy
Rome
Pompeii

Greece
Athens
Sparta
Crete

Cairo – pyramids

Northern lights

"I think Iceland is the safest bet for Northern lights," she notes when she gets to that one.

"Yeah, I've heard that too," Bellamy agrees. "And I know that there's no guarantee we'll be able to see them, but I figure it's at least worth a shot."

"No, you can never be sure with nature… but I'll look into it and give us the best possible premises, OK?"

"Sounds good."

Petra?

"Why is there a question mark after Petra?" Clarke ask curiously.

"I just wasn't sure if it's even possible to get into Jordan," he replies with a shrug. "Considering the situation in the area."

Neither is she, to be honest. "We'll see."

China
Beijing
Great wall

American road trip
San Francisco
Las Vegas
Hoover Dam
Grand Canyon
Route 66
San Antonio – the Alamo
Houston
New Orleans
Williamsburg + Jamestown

"That's a pretty condensed version of the Great American Road Trip," she notes.

Bellamy shrugs. "I've been to all the places I want to see in the north east. Miller dragged me along to Florida on his last spring break in college, we even went to Disney World – I know, a little creepy for two twenty-one-year-old guys – and we were in LA just last spring, we started saving up as soon as the Harry Potter World opened up at Universal. Trust me, I've gone through the whole country in my head, these are the places I want to see that I haven't already."

"OK." She reaches out to take his hand and interlaces their fingers. "Why Houston and New Orleans?"

He plays with her fingers a little, seemingly intensely focused on them. "I've always wanted to see New Orleans, not sure why, and I have a… an old friend in Houston that I'd like to see one last time."

Clarke thinks there might be something there he's not telling her, but she's not going to push. "OK."

UK
London
Stonehenge

Paris

Machu Picchu

Chichén Itzá

Angkor Wat

Taj Mahal

Auschwitz

Sydney

New Zealand

"No specific places in New Zealand?" Clarke asks when she reaches the end of the list.

"Honestly? I kind of just want to see the settings for all the Lord of the Rings movies," he admits with a half-smile.

"OK," she says with a laugh. "I'm sure there are tours and stuff, I'll look into it."

She looks the list over once more. She figures the road trip – which will be the final leg of the journey – might take three or four weeks, if they want to stay for a few days or maybe a week in San Francisco and Las Vegas. If they can leave by the 20th, that still gives them six months for the other… twenty-one places. Some stops might just be a day or two but others will definitely require at least a week. Still, she thinks it should work fine, and she'll even be able to fit in a visit to Dublin to see Octavia, and maybe a week or two on a white beach somewhere with crystal clear water, as a bit of a break…

"Is there anything in particular you want to do?" she asks.

"Like what?" Bellamy replies.

"I don't know, a bucket list – skydiving, bungee jumping, swimming with sharks… though please don't take those as suggestions, I'm just brainstorming."

He laughs quietly. "No, I've never been much of an adrenaline junkie, so I'm good. There's nothing that really comes to mind immediately, but I'll think about it."

"That's a relief. OK, I will start planning, but maybe you can write down the specific things you want to see and do in each place? I mean like the Colosseum in Rome and whatever ruins there are in Greece, for example, just put down everything you can think of. It might be a good idea to book tickets to some things in advance so we don't end up missing out if something's fully booked the whole time we're there."

"OK, I will. So do you think we'll be able to go everywhere?"

"Well, I'm not sure about Jordan either, but the other places shouldn't be a problem. Time wise, we should be fine, I might even be able to add a couple of things too, if that's OK?"

"Of course, I would love to see your favorite spots."

"Well, I've lived in a few of these places and visited others, though far from all of them… I think I can come up with a couple of things away from the regular tourist traps to take you to." She glances at him. "When… when do you want to be back in New York? I mean, assuming you do want to…" She pauses again, because she cannot say 'die', she just can't. "Finish up the trip here. We don't have to, we can do, like, a paradise beach in the Caribbean or something, if you want."

He considers her question for a long moment. "No, I think… I think I need to be back here. New York's always been home, you know?" Of course she does. New York has been her home even when she hasn't lived here for decades. "So maybe on the twentieth? I want to… just so we can settle down and spend some quiet time together, you know. Maybe have everyone over for dinner or something on the… the twenty-sixth."

Clarke's pretty sure he almost brought up his sister but changed his mind at the last minute. Should she say something? No, she decides. He'll probably plan to look her up when they get back, it's OK to let him think that for a couple of weeks. If she hadn't already found Octavia, she might have pushed just a little to get him to do it before they leave, instead of putting it off to the last minute, but as it is, she feels OK leaving it be for now.

She deliberately does not linger on the last part of his statement, because if she does, she knows she won't be able to think about anything else.

Chapter warnings: explicit sexual content

Yes, Piloxing (which is a combination of Pilates and boxing, apparently) and Ryde (an exercise bike that tilts and steers like a normal bike) are real exercise forms. That's how nit-picky I am about my fics – I spent fifteen minutes googling gyms in Dublin and finding weird classes… I might have a problem.