a/n Thanks to the awesome ebwalker for being the world's greatest reviewer. Happy reading!
Madi makes a point of knowing as little as possible about what her parents get up to behind closed doors. She is only eleven, after all, and although she's totally fine with reading graphic depictions of multiple deaths in the Iliad, she still gets a little freaked out every time a happy couple do so much as kiss during the films she likes to watch with her family.
This morning, though, there is no avoiding the fact that Clarke and Bellamy seem rather more physically close than they were last night. There is simply no other explanation for the way that they are suddenly walking hand in hand once again as they enter the kitchen for breakfast, nor for the completely unnecessary and somewhat lingering kiss they decide to share while stirring the porridge.
"Is this where I say get a room?" She asks them, half grinning, half grossed out.
"We already have a room." Clarke points out, looking puzzled.
"I'm proud of you, kid." Bellamy nods in approval. "We'll make an old Earth culture nerd of you yet."
She beams at that praise, momentarily distracted from her parents' sickening felicity. "I knew I learnt something useful from you."
"That's not fair. You learnt many useful things from me." Bellamy teases her cheerfully.
"I learnt more useful things from Clarke." She argues with spirit. "She's a doctor. You just know an unnatural amount about the Romans."
"And about shooting things." Clarke joins in, defending him. "He's great at shooting things. And cooking. And being kind and parenting and -"
"Yeah, I know. I was only teasing, you're both great." Madi rolls her eyes a little at her mother's newfound enthusiasm for singing the praises of a man she was furious with only days ago. It seems that her suspicions were right. They really have fixed things between them.
"I'm not sure about that." Bellamy says, his levity suddenly melting away. "Shall I go get Gus up?"
"I'll come with you." Clarke volunteers, before he has taken so much as a single step towards the door. Clearly she cannot quite bear to be separated from him so soon.
Madi giggles a little at the pair of them as they go in search of Gus, and rescues the porridge which they have abandoned on the stove in their distraction. It is a good job, she thinks, that they have her. And that they have each other. She cannot really imagine either of them surviving on their own for long.
Breakfast is a cheerful affair, and Gus surprises them all by eating more of his food than he throws. Perhaps, Madi muses, her little brother might actually be growing up. His conversation is certainly becoming rather more coherent – he's made it as far, this morning, as expressing a preference for one type of berry over another and asking if he can play with his sister soon.
"I'm sorry, baby boy." Clarke soothes quietly. "You can't play with Madi today, because she has to go to a lesson."
He pouts a little in response, not at all used to not getting his way.
"Madi." He demands again, loudly, for good measure. "I play with Madi."
"You can play with her later." Bellamy suggests, trying to distract him with a portion of his favourite berries. "But she has to go out for the morning."
"I have to learn how to be the commander." Madi explains, aware that there is little chance of Gus understanding this just yet, but deciding she may as well start talking anyway. If even some of it goes in, perhaps it will help him to make sense of this crazy village he lives in. "I have to take lessons so that when I get the flame I know how to control it and how to stay safe."
"Madi, honey. I don't think there's much point explaining -"
"I know, Clarke. But – he might be a kid, but he's still a Griffin-Blake. He's going to have to grow up fast, isn't he? He'll understand what he understands, and I'll keep trying until he's old enough to understand it all."
She expects that dose of realism to put a damper on things, really, to kill the cheerful mood. But much against her expectations, her mother breaks into a cautious smile. "You're going to be a great commander, Madi. I might not like that you have to do this but – you were right. You're ready for this."
"Yes." She agrees, getting to her feet, breakfast finished. "I am."
With that, she bids her parents farewell and heads out the door.
…...
Raven has not got the hang of friendship yet. She's been at it almost a quarter of a century, but has had very few opportunities to practise. As a kid, she only had Finn, and for the last five years she's had limited company and a box in the sky. The only time before the present that she's ever lived with a large number of her peers was those first months on the ground, and they were so fraught with danger that she didn't exactly make a priority of practising emotional closeness. So it is that she's not really sure how to go about showing Clarke and Bellamy that she cares about them and wants to support them through the difficult time they must be experiencing with Madi's upcoming ascension and their recent row.
Of one thing, though, she is fairly sure. Doing something has got to be better than doing nothing.
"I'm thinking of inviting Clarke over for lunch." She tells Echo, because telling Echo what's on her mind is always a better idea than not telling Echo what's on her mind.
"You are? We've never had anyone over for lunch before."
"No. But – you know. She's had a tough few days and I thought – she's our friend."
"She's your friend." Echo corrects her in a neutral tone. "I don't mean to say she's still my enemy – I respect her, and I'll always have her back for your sake, now we've put the past behind us. But she's your friend."
"Do you think she is?" Raven asks, feeling rather small.
"Of course she is. She was ready to give her life to get you into space, Raven."
"That doesn't count as friendship, with Clarke. She'd give up her life for pretty much anyone. Or she used to be like that, anyway. It's good to see her valuing herself a bit more, since Praimfaiya."
Echo nods thoughtfully. "OK, that was a poor example. But she is your friend. You said she came to the workshop the other day when she was upset? That has to count for something."
"Yeah, but she didn't tell me what was wrong."
"She's Clarke. She wasn't going to tell you what was wrong. From what I hear, it took her a day to even talk it out with Bellamy."
"I guess."
"Invite her over, Raven. I'm sure she'd like to know you're here for her. You can always invite Emori as well, and Harper, make it a bit more of a casual group thing?"
"You're an alarmingly good strategist, you know that?"
"It's what I do." Echo tells her with a grin.
…...
Harper isn't feeling particularly hungry, a vague sense of not-quite-well playing around the edges of her insides, but she is enjoying lunch all the same. It doesn't take a genius to work out, after all, that eating is not really the point of this particular meal.
"How is everyone?" Raven asks, with all the subtlety of – well – Raven.
"Not bad." Emori tells them with a grin. "You need to hear about what John did last night -"
"No." Raven corrects her firmly. "We do not. No one came here to hear about your idiot boyfriend."
"I don't know. He's pretty good for entertainment when he's not being a total dick." Harper speaks up.
Clarke makes an alarming choking noise at that, and Echo slaps her on the back with a little more force than is perhaps strictly necessary.
"If that's you hitting a friend, I'm pleased we're not enemies any more." Clarke tells her evenly.
There is a heartbeat of silence, and then Echo laughs. "I take it back, Raven. You were right. Friendship."
Harper isn't quite sure what to make of that, but Echo and Raven laughing in their own little world is something she quite likes to encourage, so she turns aside and addresses Clarke instead of asking after their joke. "How are you doing, Clarke, really? With the situation with Madi?"
"OK, surprisingly." Clarke says, as the table falls silent to listen. This is, if they're being honest, the real reason they're all here. "It was the only choice. She's determined to do it, and Bellamy's going to follow her around being wildly overprotective."
"How are things with Bellamy?" Harper hates herself slightly for asking the question so bluntly, but she's not sure how else to go about it.
"He's Bellamy." Clarke shrugs, as if that's supposed to mean something to them.
"Yes?" Raven indicates that, perhaps, they will need a little more than that.
"I mean, I'd forgive him for anything, wouldn't I? I love him."
"So you two are OK?" Emori is apparently still as confused as Harper feels.
"We're all kinds of screwed up. But we're definitely very much still together, if that's what you're asking."
The conversation moves on, then, Harper explaining Monty's latest progress with the use of algae as a fertiliser, Emori wondering whether John is ever going to learn how to fish. And Harper knows that she is not the only one breathing a sigh of relief. Clarke is OK, and Bellamy is OK, and most importantly for the safety of the human race, they're still on the same side.
…...
Octavia thinks that receiving an invitation to spend the evening with her brother and his family can only be a good thing. This is, presumably, a sign that tensions are easing, and that there is the hope of a rather brighter and more peaceful future for the whole lot of them.
It is with high spirits, then, that she dresses in the newest addition to her limited wardrobe. She had to trade a lot of other clothes to buy this one tattered green cloak, but she is pleased to have done so all the same. It is long past time that she stopped wearing Bloodreina's old outfits.
Cloak swirling about her shoulders, she opens the door of her house and starts down the steps.
"Miller." She greets him with what she hopes is a smile. She's sadly out of practise at those, these days.
"Octavia." He says carefully, still getting the hang of calling her by her actual name again.
Without waiting for her instructions, he falls into step by her side, follows her the short distance to Bellamy's home. She knocks on the door, and Madi opens it with a cautious smile. Octavia enters, and makes a start down the corridor, wondering why she can hear music coming from the kitchen.
That is when she realises that Miller is still on the door step.
"Aren't you coming in?" She turns to ask him.
"I don't think you need a guard in your own brother's house." He shrugs. "I'll keep watch here until you're done."
"No – I mean – aren't you coming in to spend the evening? With Bellamy's family?"
"He's not my brother." Miller reminds her, jaw locked.
"He is in every way that matters." She argues back, wondering quite how she has managed to destroy her most loyal lieutenant's spirit so badly. "Come on in."
"No." He shakes his head. "It wouldn't be right, Blo -"
"Get inside." Madi interrupts. "As your future commander, I am ordering you to spend the evening. You're literally the only person other than Clarke and Octavia my dad ever talks about. You're invited. Come in."
He doesn't argue any further, just nods and steps across the threshold. And, sure, he still looks deeply uncomfortable, but Octavia reckons this is enough progress for one day.
She gets back on with walking down the corridor, still following the sound of that music spilling from the kitchen. And suddenly, as she makes it to that doorway, it all makes sense.
She's not aware that Don't Stop Me Now is a very common choice for a slow dance, but that doesn't seem to be bothering Bellamy in the slightest. No, as he holds Clarke close and turns gently on the spot, he is beaming from ear to ear.
And suddenly, for the first time since he opened that damn bunker, she actually gets it. Her big brother really has gone and fallen in love.
a/n Thanks for reading!