a/n Thanks to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, following and favouriting this story. It was particularly great to read such cheerful reviews from people who enjoyed the fluff last chapter. Happy reading!

Being loved didn't change anything, of course. Bellamy knew this.

All the same, in the days that followed, he didn't quite feel that way. He couldn't help but feel that, actually, Clarke suddenly seemed a good few thousand miles closer to him, for all that their geographical situation had not improved in the least. There was a newfound solidity to their relationship that had him, quite simply, jumping for joy, and this was a little problematic because he didn't want to make a big deal of this to their friends and have them mock or judge or simply giggle.

So it was that he engaged in a good deal of subterfuge in order to keep them off the metaphorical scent.

"What are you so damn happy about?" Raven asked him over breakfast the morning after the greatest evening of his life. No, that wasn't quite right. The greatest evening of his life had belonged to the day he found out Clarke was actually still alive. The second greatest evening of his life, then.

"I'm excited for Murphy and Emori." He told her cheerfully and not entirely untruthfully. "It'll be good to have a kid around the place."

She responded with a look that made it quite clear that she thought he was out of his mind and continued to toy with her algae.

Emori had a thoughtful expression on her face that he was pretty sure could not bode well. "Interesting you should say that, Bellamy. It's almost a week now since I told you my news, but you've only started grinning like an idiot this morning."

"How is Clarke, anyway?" Murphy joined in, and he cursed the fact that this particular happy couple were a little too good at working together.

"She's great." He told them, and left them to make of it what they would as he ate his algae with what could only be described as enthusiasm.

…...

Raven was fed up of playing messenger. Every time Clarke or Madi called, which was really rather often, she found herself jogging down the halls in search of Bellamy and that was an activity that her leg didn't particularly appreciate. It was great that the pair of them were alive, obviously, and she couldn't begrudge her friend the undisguised joy that had been painted on his face in recent days, but all the same, she thought it might be quite nice if they could work on their timing and he could answer his own damn calls.

So it was that this afternoon, as she heard the radio crackle to life, she felt her heart sink almost as much as she felt her face lift at the sound.

"Hello, Clarke here."

"I'll go get Bellamy, hang on."

"Raven? I actually wanted to speak to you."

"You – you did?" This was an unexpected development, she thought.

"Yeah. Is that OK? Is this a good time?"

"Sure, sure. You just took me by surprise."

"It would be nice to talk to you a little more rather than you running off to fetch Bellamy all the time." Clarke sounded a little nervous as she suggested that, she thought.

"He'd never forgive me if he knew I hogged the radio while you were on the line." It was both the truth and a convenient way to avoid admitting that she was pleased that Clarke wanted to speak to her.

"I promise not to tell him. How are you?"

"I'm well." She began, and reflected that no one had really bothered asking her that for a while. Mostly people seemed to expect her to be the one who could cope with anything. "Lots of things to fix, occasional space walks to do, the company of people I mostly tolerate."

"It sounds like you're in your element."

"Yeah."

"I actually wanted to ask your advice on something."

"I knew there had to be a good reason you were talking to me and not lover-boy." She teased to conceal the disappointment she felt at learning that Clarke had an ulterior motive beyond simply wanting to chat after all.

"I'm not going to rise to that. Anyway, so, there's lots of rubble at Polis, some of it's on top of the bunker so they aren't going to be able to get out when the radiation dies down. I'd like to make a start on clearing it. All I have is a rover and whatever I can scavenge from the remains of Arkadia. Thoughts?"

"Ooh, I do love a challenge. I'll have a think about it and ask Emori too. Can you go on a scouting mission so we know what we're dealing with? I need some idea of the quantity of rubble, the size of the pieces, material they're made from. Oh, and if there's anything at Arkadia that looks like winching or lifting equipment."

"OK. Sure. It'll have to be a pretty straightforward solution, I'm no engineer."

"Just as well - mechanics are far superior. We'll come up with something. And we can always help finish the job when we get there, bring a few extra bits of equipment down with us if need be."

"It'll be great to see you again. You know, Bellamy's not the only person I've missed."

"I know." She replied, because she was Raven Reyes, and she wasn't in the business of letting people know she was moved.

…...

Clarke enjoyed the bedtime stories that had fast established themselves as part of their evening routine over the last few days. In fact, she was beginning to suspect that she might enjoy them even more than Madi did. There was something rather moving about witnessing Bellamy's attempts to be all nurturing and fatherly in spite of the unconventional circumstances. That said, she wasn't sure that this particular story was entirely age appropriate. It had started off innocently enough, with a hero called Jason who was on a quest – so much was fairly standard. But the bit where he exiled his wife and she went berserk and killed their children in revenge seemed a bit much. Madi, of course, was absolutely delighted by the melodrama of it all, and Bellamy was evidently relishing the opportunity to describe every gory detail, so she decided that probably she wouldn't achieve much by trying to interrupt or divert their attention. No, it would be a much better plan to simply sit back and enjoy the happiness of the two people in the world who mattered most to her.

At last, Madi allowed herself to be convinced that the story was over and took herself off to bed and Clarke had Bellamy to herself for the rest of the evening.

"I'm not sure that's my favourite of your bedtime stories." She told him, unable to repress a hint of a smile.

"It's a good story." From the tone of his voice she was pretty sure he was shrugging, but of course she couldn't actually see.

"And yet not really suitable for a seven-year-old."

"It's entirely suitable for a seven-year-old. She loved it."

"You're a terrible influence on her."

"I like to think we make a good team, actually, Clarke. You teach her to use some sense and how to stay alive, and I teach her how to shoot things and tell her bloodthirsty bedtime stories."

"You're the worst father ever." She teased, but held her breath as soon as she realised what she'd said, because they hadn't ever quite put it in those terms before, this odd family life that they were building.

"Looks like I'm the best father she's going to get though." He replied cheerfully, sounding completely unconcerned by her choice of vocabulary.

"True. Thanks for everything you've done for her, Bellamy. The stories and those calls she thinks I don't know she makes whenever I leave her with chores to do."

"Dammit. I thought we'd managed to hide at least some of those." She had to laugh at that, because it had become absolutely obvious that the girl was chatting to him whenever she left her with the instruction that she was supposed to be fetching water or picking beans.

"Sorry. You can't hide anything from me. And small children aren't very good at covering their tracks, it turns out."

"I'll pass that wisdom on to Murphy and Emori."

"How are they? I haven't heard from them in a couple of days."

"They're fine. She's her usual self. He seems to be trying to become slightly more – I don't know – kind?"

"Yes, I got that impression. I mean, it's no surprise to me that he's trying to be kind to the mother of his child, Emori's always been special to him, hasn't she? But he seems to have become less rude when he speaks to me, and that's a bit odd."

"He started telling me these stories about his father when we were training today. I think he's taking life a bit more seriously all of a sudden."

"That's good. He'll be a great father if he can do that."

"So he's great but I'm the worst father ever?" He asked incredulously.

"I love you." She had discovered recently that reminding him of this was normally a good way of halting his complaints on any subject.

"I love you too, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to decide that Murphy is better at parenting than I am."

"You know I wasn't being serious. You're a great dad, and I'm sure you'll be even better when you're not thousands of miles away."

"By the time I'm actually there Madi will be almost grown up. She might not need quite so much parenting." He sounded sad at the thought, and it gave her the courage to say what was on her mind.

"Maybe she'll end up with a brother or sister who needs parenting." She suggested quietly and not a little nervously.

"I'd like that." He told her immediately and rather emphatically. "I think that sounds like an excellent idea."

"Good." She wondered if perhaps she was in danger of injuring her jaw by smiling this widely.

"Yeah."

There was a pause in which she suspected that he was grinning at least as stupidly as she was and she wondered how to go about saying what she needed to say next.

"Bellamy, I'm sorry to ruin the moment, but I wanted to let you know that we're going on a bit of an expedition for a few days. We'll take the radio but we might not be calling very often. I'll try to check in once a day, of course, but please don't worry if you don't hear from us much."

"Oh. Right." She heard him sober up immediately. "Everything OK?"

"Yeah, nothing to worry about. Just – we'll be going on a bit of a road trip." She didn't want to tell him too much about their upcoming adventure to Polis just yet, because she didn't want him to worry about what she might find out about his sister's chances of getting out of there when the time came.

"Stay safe. Both of you."

"We will. Me and a small child in a nuclear wasteland - what could possibly go wrong?"

a/n Thanks for reading!