"Okay, got your pencil case, your notebook, do you want more snacks in your lunch box?"
"Ai don em hogeda Clarke! yu need kom nou get yu daun! (I have it all Clarke! You need to stop worrying!)"
Clarke stopped smoothing down Madi's school skirt and stood back her hands clasped under her chin and her eyes shining as she looked at the little girl stood before her in her brand new school uniform, with her shiny shoes, clutching the straps of her fully stocked backpack with one hand.
Her other hand was tugging, as it ever was, on the longest braid that hung down out of the mess of braids piled on the right side of her head.
"Are you crying nomon?" Madi asked wide eyed as Clarke sniffed.
"No of course not silly!" Clarke beamed and Madi smiled a little nervously back at her.
There was the sound of a horn blasting from outside.
"That's Raven. You ready strik won? (little one?)"
Madi nodded and scurried past Clarke, out the front door, down the stairs and out to Raven who was stood leaning against her car.
"Hey Madi. All ready for the big first day?" the brunette grinned raising a hand to Clarke in greeting, though her eyes were on Madi.
Madi nodded, not speaking, then she hopped into the back seat.
Clarke climbed into the passenger seat and Raven started the engine and pulled away from the sidewalk.
"Remind me why I agreed to this again?"
"Because you love Madi and my car is still in the garage?"
"Oh yeah, I knew there was some reason!" Raven chuckled.
They had been driving for a few minutes in silence when Raven spoke.
"So" she said slowly "Haven't seen you properly since that Sunday dinner..."
"Madi, headphones." Clarke said and Madi for once didn't argue, putting her headphones on over her pile of braids.
"Look Octavia was out of line, but you know how she holds a grudge. I ate her cereal once and she didn't speak to me for a month."
"I knew she was still angry but... I don't know. I guess I kind of deserved it."
"Hell no! No one thought she should have called you out like that, even Murphy. And Bellamy? Bellamy was more pissed at her than anyone, especially for starting on you in front of Madi." Raven said passionately before quieting a little when Madi shot her a curious look from the back seat.
"It's just going to take time Clarke. Me, Monty, Harper, all of us, we're all glad you're back, even Octavia. She's just angry, because Bellamy's the only one in her family she has any connection to and I'm not going to lie, you hurt him more than anyone. So she's angry for him, even if he isn't anymore."
Clarke thought about that for a moment, but before she could say anything, Raven had pulled into the school parking lot and parked in a bay.
"You ready Madi?" Clarke said as they climbed out of the car.
"Sha..." Madi said hesitantly, looking up at the school building, swallowing nervously.
"Hey" Clarke crouched down in front of the little girl, taking both her small hands in her own "Ai tombom en sonraun. Yu don got disha. Yu laik smart, beautiful en funny. En yu laik na be sensational. (My heart and life. You have got this. You are smart, beautiful and funny. And you are going to be sensational.)"
Madi beamed down at Clarke and threw her arms around the blonde in a squashing hug, which Clarke returned.
"Want me to walk you in?" Clarke said as Madi released her.
"Laik yu na cry? (Are you going to cry?" Madi asked and Clarke laughed, with a slight hiccup of emotion.
"Yes, yes I might cry."
"Then no" Madi giggled and Clarke laughed again, as Raven stepped forwards.
"How bout I walk you in huh? Crying Clarke may not be cool, but Ex biker, mechanic Auntie Raven with a bad ass leg brace? Definitely cool."
Madi beamed and took Raven's hand.
Clarke straightened back up once again and watched as her best friend began to walk with Madi towards the school gates. Raven looked back over her shoulder and mouthed
"I got this!"
As they got to the gate, Madi turned and waved wildly at Clarke calling back to her
"Love you Nomon!"
Ten minutes later Raven returned to find Clarke sat in the passenger seat of her car, wiping her eyes.
"Hey" Raven said gently, putting a hand on Clarke's shoulder "She's okay. Got grabbed by a group of girl's straight away and pulled off into the playground. She's fine."
"Good" breathed Clarke with a sniff.
"She's going to be great Clarke."
"I know. I just wish..."
Clarke tailed off and Raven looked at her.
She knew Clarke. Knew that pushing her for her thoughts wasn't a good idea right now.
"Hey, the house is basically empty I think, well at least I know for sure Octavia isn't there. You got anywhere to be?"
Clarke shook her head.
"My job at the gallery doesn't start for another week."
"Then me and you are going to go back to the house. We are going to find the nicest bottle of wine we can and we are going to watch crappy day time TV until Madi finishes school."
"Hey I meant to ask before, what does Nomon mean?"
"Reprobates! Got little Miss Griffin here! She's in emotional-first-day-back-at-school mode so tread lightly!" Raven yelled as they walked into the house.
"You women! Overly emotional creatures, all of you!" Murphy called from his horizontal position on the couch where he was focused on blowing the heads off of zombies on the Playstation.
His clearly sarcastic comment was immediately followed by a cry of
"Ow!"
As Raven smacked him round the back of the head as she headed to the cabinet that housed all their alcohol.
She grabbed two glasses, a bottle of Merlot and closed the cupboard door with her foot, before turning and heading back to Clarke who had collapsed onto the left side of the love seat, curling her black jean clad legs up underneath her.
"No Lula today?"
"She's got lectures until 1:30pm" Murphy said and Clarke looked over at him.
"What's she studying?"
"Mythology. Focusing on the differences in cultures. Full scholarship to Polis University." Murphy said proudly.
"That's great" Clarke said with genuine enthusiasm, though she still sounded a little choked up.
"Yeah. She was just going to do Ancient History but Bellamy turned her onto the whole fairy tale side. Ain't that right Myth Man?!" Murphy directed his last sentence over his shoulder towards the kitchen.
"Myths aren't fairy tales Murphy" Bellamy's voice said tiredly and Clarke started slightly in her seat, careful not to spill her wine. She had been thinking so intently about Madi that she hadn't even noticed that Bellamy was sat at the kitchen table, his hair sticking up in all directions, looking like he had just rolled out of bed, the look completed by the bowl of cereal in front of him.
"Late night Bellamy?"
"I was up till 3am on the phone with Charlotte. Nightmare's are back again." The dark haired man sighed a little sadly.
Clarke wondered who Charlotte was as Raven started explaining where everyone else was.
Lincoln and Octavia were technically still on vacation so they hadn't needed to go to work. Instead the couple had decided to spend their third to last day of freedom on a hike through the North Woods.
Jackson was at the hospital and Miller was at a meeting because he was in charge of coordinating security for the upcoming charity gala for the City Of Light foundation.
Lula was at her lectures.
Emori was visiting her brother.
Raven was home because it was her day off, the restaurant Murphy was working at was under going refurbishment so he was at home and today was Bellamy's last day of vacation, though from what it sounded like he had never stopped working.
Clarke was too afraid to ask what Bellamy was doing for work now, because before she had left he had been working nights as a security guard/custodian while he was in his first year of studying history.
Clarke slowly began to relax as she let the mind numbing noise of Toddlers & Tiaras wash over her.
"If I ever find out you've put Madi in one of these damn pageant things, I'll hit you with my car." Raven said as she watched in fascinated disgust as a Mom put her screaming child into a dress that was more sequins than material.
"No fear of that happening. Ever." Clarke agreed.
They walked to the diner round the corner for lunch at about 1:30, with Murphy shouting after them to bring him back a bacon sandwich.
Bellamy had disappeared upstairs to shower and dress before they left.
Clarke and Raven sat in a booth in the corner of the diner, both nursing large strawberry milkshakes and waiting for their food. Raven was waiting for a bacon cheeseburger and Clarke a hot dog.
"You know you never actually explained how you left with not so much as a pet and came back with a ten year old." Raven said and Clarke sighed.
"I know. And I will. I just don't have the energy today Ray."
"I get it. Sorry for bringing it up."
"It's okay."
The food came over and they started to eat.
They talked about stupid stuff, school memories, Raven's almost engagement, Raven's accident, Raven's job, Raven's almost arrest.
A lot about Raven really, which suited Clarke just fine.
When they finished, they got Murphy's sandwich and walked back to the house.
Murphy swore violently at Raven as she threw the wrapped sandwich at his head, distracting him from his Call Of Duty game against Bellamy who was now dressed and sat on the couch.
Clarke and Raven settled themselves at the dining room table with two cups of coffee, watching Murphy get increasingly more annoyed as Bellamy kicked his ass on the video game.
Just as Murphy threatened to kill Bellamy's hypothetical puppy, Raven's phone buzzed on the table and she checked it, a smile coming over her face as she read the text.
"Well I know that look..." Clarke said with a slowly spreading grin and Raven laughed, her cheeks darkening slightly. "Who is he?"
"You actually sorta met him already..."
Clarke thought for a minute and then it dawned on her.
"The bartender?!"
Raven grinned.
"Yeah, Roan."
"Wow! Is it serious?"
"Yes and no" Raven shrugged "We're exclusive, but it's just fun for now. A lot of fun." She emphasised with a smirk and Clarke laughed.
"Do not! Do not go into details please! I'll just take your word for it. But I'm glad you're happy."
"What about you?" Raven said carefully "You happy?"
"Happier than I've been for a while. I've been busy you know? Getting Madi used to how life is different here to TonDC." Seeing the slightly confused look on Raven's face Clarke explained "TonDC is the island where Madi was born."
"Okay. That's all well and good and everything but that isn't what I meant and you know it." Raven said raising an eyebrow at Clarke. "Don't tell me you've been single for the last three years? Well four if you include the year before you left. Seriously please don't tell me you've been single since douchebag Collins?"
"There was one-"
But thankfully Clarke was interrupted by Raven's phone blasting Panic! At The Disco's "Death of a Bachelor" into the room. Raven held up a finger as she answered the call.
"Sinclair? Yeah... uh huh... right now?... Shit... yeah... okay I'll be there in twenty!"
And then she hung up getting to her feet.
"Clarke I gotta go, emergency at the shop, Sinclair needs me and I could be there late... Hey Bellamy?!" She called as she hurried to grab her jacket and bag.
"What?"
"Can you take Clarke to pick up Madi and drop them home when school ends?"
"Sure." Bellamy answered and Clarke wasn't sure if she wanted to smile or cry at his readiness to help.
"Awesome, Clarke call me later! Peace out reprobates!"
And with that Raven left the house.
"Who's Charlotte?"
It was the first thing Clarke could think of to break the silence in the truck.
Bellamy glanced at her and sighed.
"Charlotte's a kid at St Becca's Care Home."
When Clarke didn't speak, Bellamy continued.
"After I graduated I wanted to do more than just teach. So I work one on one with the kids at the home when I'm not covering classes. Charlotte..."
And here he sighed again.
"Charlotte's got some problems. A lot of problems. She wouldn't even say a word when I first met her, now I'm the only one she talks too. She's a good kid. I do what I can to help, but..."
"But it feels like no matter how hard you try, you aren't doing enough." Clarke finished and Bellamy nodded.
"All you can do is your best Bellamy. And I know for a fact that your best is pretty damn amazing. Charlotte's lucky to have you in her life."
"I could say the same thing about you and Madi."
They lapsed into silence once more but it was a much more comfortable quiet than before.
They arrived at the school three minutes before the final bell rang.
Madi was the second child to exit the gates and Clarke's heart sank as she saw that the little girl's face was streaked with tear tracks.
"Madi?!"
Clarke ran towards her just as Madi began to do the same.
The brunette braided child threw herself into Clarke's arms, as Clarke heard Bellamy's footsteps come up behind her.
"Chit happened? laik yu hurt? chit's wrong, talk kom me! (What happened? Are you hurt? What's wrong, talk to me!)" Clarke said, scanning Madi's face and body for any physical damage.
Madi hiccuped and and choked on her words as she said
"He-he-he said I was stupid!"
"Who did?!" Clarke asked, trying to conceal her anger.
"A-And he-he made- he made f-fun of my h-hair!"
"Madi who did?"
But Madi shook her head.
"I-I'll g-get in trouble!"
"Madi" Bellamy crouched down so he was level with Clarke and looking up at Madi "Madi, who said those things? You're not going to get in trouble I promise. Just tell Clarke who it was."
Bellamy's voice was so calm and measured that it seemed to sooth Madi slightly.
"M-my Math teacher."
Clarke's jaw dropped at the revelation it was a teacher who had reduced her child to tears and she felt Bellamy tense up beside her. Clarke was back on her feet before she had even consciously made the decision to, taking Madi's hand and marching towards the school.
"What's his name Madi?"
"Mr- Mr Lightbourne." Madi hiccuped, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand.
As they entered the mains school building Clarke, through her anger, became aware of someone walking beside her.
And of course it was Bellamy.
She looked up at him, and although he was doing a far better job at hiding it than she was, Clarke could tell he was angry as well and she knew why.
It was the same reason he had stayed up till three in the morning to talk to a little girl having nightmares.
Looking down at her, Bellamy nodded once and said grimly
"I got your back Princess."
Phew that took a long time to write.
Hope it was okay!
Mama bear Clarke is coming with her claws out!
Let me know what you think, I love to hear from you!
More soon.
Geronimo xx