A/N:

Re: Last Chapter: For those who were wondering, my favorite line was "She'd been naked with people before in moments that didn't feel nearly as intimate as quite a few of the ones she'd spent fully clothed with Bellamy, and that was more than a little disconcerting." It seemed like a pretty good description for canon-Bellarke too.

Re: This Chapter: I am shameless and I am not sorry.

"It's November. November, Bellamy. Since when do we get two feet of snow in November?!" Clarke whined into her cell phone.

He chuckled. "Well, we live in the Appalachians, so an early snowstorm every now and again isn't that odd."

She huffed, sitting down on the next to last step in the stairwell. "I don't want explanations and logic, Bellamy. I want to bitch and, as a good friend, you should agree with me."

He chuckled. "Have you looked outside though?"

Clarke glanced out the giant wall of windows in the stairwell. "Yes. I still hate it."

"You do not."

"Fine, I do not," she admitted grudgingly, seeing how ridiculously beautiful it was. "I really do hate that I've been locked in this hospital for 48 hours though."

They'd gotten a massive snowstorm that dropped almost two feet of snow and ice, and they hadn't had more than a few hours notice that it was on its way. Everyone at the hospital had scrambled around, trying to prepare and making sure they had enough staff in the on-call room just in case they got snowed in for a few days…which they did.

Clarke thanked all her lucky stars that she'd had enough time to throw some clothes and her phone charger in her backpack before leaving, or she'd be even more miserable than she was now.

"Is it that bad?" he asked.

"I worked a 12. Then I spent 12 hours in the on-call room. I've watched Netflix. I've played every game imaginable on my phone. I found my Kindergarten teacher on Facebook. Harper and I painted each other's nails and then played a rousing game of Go Fish with Bryan. And I ended up getting like two hours of sleep because I'd been sitting in the same room for 12 hours." Clarke knew she was whining, but she didn't really care. She deserved to, dammit. "Then I got up and did it all over again. Bryan and I spent the last half hour jogging up and down the stairwell."

Bellamy snorted. "You? Jogging?"

"THAT'S HOW BORED I AM!"

He laughed. "I'm sorry. When do you get to leave?"

"I don't know. I'm already technically over how many hours I'm allowed to work this week, but we're already a doctor short, so I have to fill in. Plus, it's not like I could go anywhere anyway."

The roads were mostly impassible; a lot of ice had fallen first, followed by massive amounts of snow. The plows that were able to get out weren't doing much good, because scraping the snow away left a sheet of ice behind. Typically, they would also drop salt to melt the ice, but since it was hovering right around 15 degrees, the salt was virtually useless. Officials were telling everyone to stay where they were until they could manage to start digging their way out.

"You could come here," Bellamy supplied.

"…how would I even get there?"

"Walk."

"It's like 12 degrees, Bellamy!"

He chuckled. "It's not that bad if you dress warm enough. Plus, it's only a few blocks. I can come get you if you want," he offered, like it was no big deal.

She leaned her head against the wall, smiling at his offer. "You're ridiculous."

"Why?" he asked, and she could hear the smile in his voice, as well.

"I'm not going to ask you to walk all the way over here just to walk me back to your place."

"You didn't ask. I offered."

She shook her head, feeling calmer than she had in the last 48 hours. "You're insane, but I almost wish I could walk through town in subarctic temperatures and two feet of snow, just to get out of here. But, like I said…we're still short-staffed."

"Well, offer stands if you ever get paroled."

"Thanks, Bell."

"Anytime."

They sat there in silence for a moment, neither quite ready to hang up, apparently.

"Tell me one of those ancient myths you love so much," she said.

"Seriously?" he asked, more than a little surprised since she usually rolled her eyes when he started geeking out too hard.

"Yeah. I need something to put me to sleep."

"I hate you," he muttered.

She smiled, "You offered to walk through Snowmageddon twice just to come save me. You don't hate me."

"Yeah, yeah." He sighed, and she could hear him shifting around, probably getting more comfortable on his couch. "Do you remember Romulus and Remus?"

"Tell me."

Clarke shivered, pulling her hat down more securely over her ears as she walked out into the frigid cold. Frowning at her phone, which still wasn't showing any incoming texts, she shoved it in her pocket and pulled on her gloves.

Everyone had been surprised as hell when Indra had shown up at the hospital a few minutes ago. Apparently, she'd bribed and/or threatened a snow plow driver until he'd agreed to bring her as far as he could on his route and then she'd walked the last few blocks to the hospital.

Although, really, no one should be surprised by anything Indra did at this point; she was scary in her determination and efficiency.

When she'd shown up, Clarke had been the one replaced, since she currently had more hours than anyone else. Instead of being happy about being off work, Clarke had groaned, the thought of being trapped with everyone in the hospital for the foreseeable future without even work to distract her more than she could handle at the moment.

She'd immediately texted Bellamy, about to take him up on his offer; well, at least part of his offer. She wasn't going to ask him to come all the way to the hospital, but she also wasn't going to complain if he insisted on meeting her partway. Basically, she didn't care who did what as long as she ended up at his apartment.

But, even after she'd packed up her stuff and bundled up, he still hadn't answered her text. She'd tried calling him as she walked down to the lobby, but he hadn't answered that either.

A more prudent Clarke would have waited for his response, but the Clarke who had been trapped in the on-call room with a dozen other interns for more than two days convinced herself that Bellamy had extended an open-ended invitation and, given that no one could drive anywhere, he had to be home.

She pulled her scarf up to cover her mouth, tucked her hands in her coat pockets, and started walking gingerly down what she assumed was the sidewalk, telling herself that he'd return her text once he looked at his phone.

Even though the snow was ridiculously deep and it was still coming down, Clarke was managing okay, thanks to her knee-high boots and the fact that she wasn't sinking all the way through.

She made it a couple blocks over before ducking in the doorway of a closed restaurant, taking a moment to escape the wind while she checked her phone again.

Still nothing.

Frowning at her phone, as if it were to blame, she hurriedly typed a text to Raven, asking if she was home just in case Bellamy didn't answer by the time she got there.

She put her phone back in her pocket, put her glove back on, and braced herself before stepping back out into the elements.

Clarke trudged through a few more blocks of snow, nodding at the two other people she passed that were insane enough to be outside. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally stepped into Bellamy's parking lot, and felt even better when she saw his pickup sitting in his normal spot.

Feeling her phone buzz in her coat pocket, Clarke smiled at what had to be perfect timing on Bellamy's part.

She pulled out her phone…only to be greeted instead by a text from Raven…who had apparently gotten snowed in at Wick's apartment, which was on the other side of town.

Clarke sighed, checking to make sure her text to Bellamy had gone through. It had, but he still hadn't read it, which was very unlike him. After another unanswered call, Clarke felt like screaming in frustration.

Not having much choice at this point, she made her way over to the doorway, sitting on the stoop, which someone had shoveled at some point.

She sat there for what felt like hours, although it was probably only a few minutes, before pulling out her phone again…only to find that it had gone dead.

She frowned, tapping futilely at the button and trying to turn it back on, but to no avail, which made no sense given that she'd had almost a full charge when she left the hospital.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered, putting her now useless phone back in her pocket and hugging her arms across her chest, trying to stay warm.

She kept hoping that either Bellamy would finally see her text and come looking for her or else that another resident would come out, at least giving her the option of warming up in the hallway if Bellamy somehow wasn't in his apartment.

Given that there was nowhere to go and no way to get there, the number of people exiting the building was noticeably…zero.

"Where's the guy with the golden retriever?" Clarke asked out loud. "Dogs still have to pee, even when it's snowing, right?"

She got up, hopping around a little to get her circulation going again.

"Dammit, Bellamy. Where the hell are you?"

She paced his parking lot a few times, trying to stay warm, but quickly realized that the wind was doing more harm than the exercise was doing good, and decided to go back to the slight shelter offered by the doorway.

She glanced at her father's watch, deciding she'd wait until 10:30 am, which was roughly another 20 minutes. If she wasn't able to get inside by then, she'd head back to the hospital, although making that trek again in this wind sounded miserable.

Clarke spent the next 20 minutes shivering, knocking on the door, hopping up and down, and just generally freezing.

By 10:34, her fingers and toes were both numb, she couldn't feel most of her face, and she was fairly sure that this was how she was going to die. Someone would discover her frozen body and wonder why on earth a doctor had died of hypothermia outside an apartment building.

But hey, at least her nails were freshly painted, right?

Just as Clarke had that ridiculous thought (and started wondering about the current state of her sanity), she heard footsteps crunching through the snow.

"Clarke?!"

She lifted her head up from where it was burrowed inside the collar of her jacket, looking out into the parking lot and finding Bellamy making his way to her as quickly as he could, given that the snow was outrageous and he was carrying a toolbox.

"Are you okay?!" He asked, quickly setting his toolbox on the ground and grasping her under her elbows, pulling her up. "How long have you been out here?" he asked, his eyes frantically checking her over.

She shrugged, not really caring now that the prospect of heat was just a few seconds away.

Bellamy pulled his keys out, using the electronic fob to open the door and pushing her inside, reaching back out to get his toolbox.

He wrapped an arm around her back, leading her toward the elevator, which was a good thing since her legs weren't very cooperative at the minute.

They got inside, and Clarke promptly leaned against the wall as he pressed the button for Level 6.

"I'm so sorry," he said, guilt written all over his face. "What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't leave?"

"Indra made it in this morning and relieved me. Where were you?" she asked, although she wasn't sure if he could understand her, given that her teeth were still chattering. "Where was there to even go? Everyone is snowed in!"

He winced. "David called me a little while ago," he said, referring to his boss and Miller's dad. "There's an old lady a few streets over that's one of our regulars. Her heat was out and he asked me if I could go take a look at it for her because no one else could get there until after they get some of the roads cleared."

Clarke sighed, because of course Bellamy would walk through the snow to fix an old woman's furnace in the middle of a blizzard. "I called you."

"I didn't even realize my phone had died until a few minutes ago. I think it has something to do with the cold."

Clarke nodded. "Mine died right after I got to your parking lot."

"Shit. Is that why you didn't call Raven?"

"I did, earlier. She's at Wick's."

"Shit," Bellamy repeated, hanging his head.

The elevator doors opened, and Bellamy quickly led her to his door, unlocking it and guiding her inside.

He immediately took her backpack off her back, setting it in his entryway with his toolbox. "What do you need?" he asked, pulling off his work gloves and touching the back of his fingers to her cheek. "Jesus Christ, Clarke, you feel like an ice cube." He unzipped her coat, then started unwinding her scarf. "Do you want to take a hot shower or…?"

She shook her head. The thought of being naked right now was a little too much to bear, plus she was fairly sure that you weren't supposed to use hot water on someone when they were as cold as she was. "Dry clothes," she muttered. Her coat seemed to have kept her torso fairly dry, but her pants had gotten wet near the tops of her boots and on the butt, from where she'd been sitting on the stoop outside.

"Of course," he said, then glanced at her feet. "Do you need help?"

Clarke glanced down at her boots, which had zippers on the side. Given that she couldn't even feel her fingers right now, she was pretty sure zippers were out of her wheelhouse for the moment. "My boots…"

Without even hesitating, he knelt down and unzipped them.

She put her hand on his shoulder for balance, stepping out of them.

Before she could blink, he was standing back up, pulling her coat off her shoulders and hanging it in his entryway. He slipped his own boots and outer gear off, then walked into his bedroom.

By the time Clarke managed to get her gloves, hat, and scarf off, he was back, grabbing her arm to pull her into his bedroom, where he'd left clothes out for her.

"I'll wait out here," he said, going into the living room and pulling the door shut behind him.

Clarke hurriedly changed into his sweatpants and sweatshirt, simultaneously glad to be out of her clothes, which were damp and chilled, and horrified at how cold it was while she was changing said clothes.

She opened the door, finding Bellamy waiting on the other side with the large blanket off the couch.

He stepped forward, putting the blanket over her shoulders and wrapping it around her. "Come on," he said, leading her over to his bed and turning back the covers for her.

When she climbed in, he immediately covered her. "You okay?" he asked, obviously still concerned.

She nodded, hiding her nose in the blanket that was wrapped around her.

Bellamy grabbed a change of clothes for himself, then disappeared into the bathroom.

When he emerged a minute or two later, he immediately went to his closet, pulling down another blanket from the top shelf and spreading it over her legs. "I forgot this was in there," he said, standing beside her. "Do you want some coffee or hot chocolate or something?" he asked, frowning as he tried to think of ways to make her more comfortable.

She shook her head, her teeth still chattering. "Can you…get in?" she asked, nodding at the space beside her.

"Oh. Shit, yeah, of course," he said, getting under the covers with her and immediately pulling her against his chest.

Clarke sighed, a shiver working its way through her body at the sudden heat that surrounded her.

"You're actually radiating cold," he muttered, concern evident in his tone.

"Tell me about it," she replied, burying her nose gratefully into the warmth of his chest.

After a few minutes, he released her, getting out of bed.

Clarke let out a whimper and she wasn't even ashamed about it.

"I'll be right back," he promised, disappearing into the bathroom again.

Clarke pouted in that direction for about five seconds before he returned, towel in hand.

"Your hair's wet," he explained, motioning for her to face away from him.

She did, and another shiver worked its way through her as he started gently toweling her hair dry.

Her eyes closed involuntarily as she relaxed.

When he deemed her hair dry enough, he paused. "Better?"

She nodded, reluctantly pulling her arms out of the blanket to quickly pull her hair into a bun.

He tossed the towel into the bathroom, then rejoined her, wrapping the blanket securely around her and pulling her back into his arms.

Clarke laid her head on his chest, one of her hands automatically coming up to rest on his arm.

He flinched involuntarily. "Jesus, Clarke."

She winced. "Sorry," she said, moving to pull her hand back.

He grabbed it. "I'm going to regret this."

She glanced up at him questioningly, but he just took both of her hands in one of his, pulling them under his shirt.

Clarke stiffened in surprise as she felt his abs quivering under her frozen fingers, but Bellamy just put his arm back around her, rubbing her back to try to warm her up.

She was having varying reactions to this new arrangement, but the paramount one for the moment was utter relief as some of his warmth started seeping into her fingers.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, but Clarke couldn't stop the shivers that worked their way through her spine every so often.

"You're not getting warm, are you?" he asked.

"No, I am. It's way better than before. I just still feel like I'm chilled to the bone."

His hands paused on her back. "Are you…" he paused, coughing self-consciously. "You have a bra on, right?"

Clarke raised her eyebrows, but he couldn't tell since her head was against his chest. She nodded.

"Take your shirt off," he said, his voice a little hesitant.

"…what?"

"Body heat, right?"

Clarke considered it for a moment. That was what they were taught to do in extreme cases, and while she didn't think she actually had hypothermia, it would probably help speed up the warming process. "Um, yeah. Right."

He released her, scooting back a little and then pulling his t-shirt up and off in one swift movement.

Clarke swallowed, her eyes going a little wide at the sight of his bare torso suddenly right in front of her. Clearing her throat and averting her eyes, she grabbed the bottom hem of her borrowed sweatshirt, pulling it off and losing the blanket in the process, silently thanking her lucky stars that she still had on the sports bra she'd been wearing under her scrubs. Not only was it more comfortable than a regular bra, it also offered a little more coverage.

She shivered at the sudden exposure to the air, but Bellamy moved quickly, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping the blanket around both of them.

Clarke inhaled sharply, her brain short-circuiting as all that bare skin met.

She almost forgot about how cold she was when she was pressed against his bare chest and his hand was splayed across her bare back.

Hesitating for just a moment, she slowly moved her arms up, wrapping them around his shoulders and pressing her nose into his hair.

His arms tightened a little around her. "Better?"

She nodded, not really trusting herself to speak at the moment.

His hand started rubbing her bare back, the sensation causing tremors in another part of Clarke's anatomy that apparently was already quite warm and she had to stifle a moan, dropping her face down to hide in his neck.

As his body heat slowly warmed her, a myriad of emotions assailed her. They were close…so close…and there was so much naked Bellamy in her arms. It would be so easy for her to kiss his cheek…kiss his neck…kiss him everywhere.

Clarke took a deep breath, forcing her libido to settle down. This was neither the time nor the place, and she wasn't ready to take that kind of a risk, not when it came to him.

She closed her eyes, forcing herself to just…be. She tuned out her lust and focused on how close they were, their skin touching, his strong arms cradling her like she was something important to him.

She focused on the warmth she felt, both physically and metaphorically. She focused on how utterly safe and content she felt…how utterly right this felt. It was both a liberating and a terrifying realization that this…this was exactly where she belonged.

She was fairly sure, by this point, that she wanted to have his babies someday, but even if that never happened, even if they never became involved romantically, even if she never got to tell him how she really felt…it didn't matter, because she would always have this. And this was everything.

They stayed wrapped around each other for who knows how long; the only thing Clarke knew for sure was that it wasn't long enough.

"Better?" he asked softly, his voice quiet, as if he too was afraid to break the spell they'd woven around themselves.

She nodded, but made no move to leave the circle of his arms. "We're really taking friendship to a new level, aren't we?" she asked, her voice teasing but perhaps a testing motive behind her light remark.

He paused for a moment, as if considering his answer. When he finally spoke, his tone seemed just as light as hers, although she could've sworn he was forcing it. "What? You don't think I'd do this for Jasper?"

She smiled against his shoulder, her hands moving slightly as she flexed them on his skin.

His arms tightened fractionally around her, so subtle she almost thought she imagined it.

"Clarke," he said, his voice hesitant…strained, as if he were waging some kind of internal battle.

Her breath caught in her throat, because maybe this was it; maybe this was the moment.

"Bell," she breathed against his skin.

The hand on her back moved more noticeably this time, his fingers splaying wider as he pressed her more tightly against his chest, his nose nudging the delicate skin just below her ear.

Just as quickly as his arms had tightened, they then loosened. "You ready for that hot chocolate now?" he asked, brusquely sliding her off his lap and getting out of bed.

She watched him go, her heart slowly returning to a normal rhythm. "Sure."

He grabbed his discarded shirt off the bed, getting ready to put it on.

Before he could, she reached out a hand, grabbing the other end.

His eyes flew up to meet hers in surprise.

"Can I have a t-shirt instead?" she asked, nodding toward the sweatshirt she'd taken off earlier.

"Sure. I can get you one."

And maybe she was a glutton for punishment, or maybe she just wanted to push him a little, but she wasn't quite done with him yet. She slowly shook her head, her eyes not leaving his.

His pupils darkened right in front of her and his Adam's apple bobbed noticeably in his throat as he swallowed.

They stayed suspended in time, just staring at each other, as they so often did.

Clarke swore they could have entire conversations with just their eyes: hers challenged, his questioned, and then they both retreated, albeit reluctantly.

He released the shirt to her grasp, walking to the dresser to pull out another shirt for himself.

He left the room, pulling the shirt over his head as he went, his form soon disappearing from her line of sight as he headed into the kitchen.

Clarke took her first deep breath in what seemed like forever, looking down at the shirt in her hands.

She wasn't sure what had possessed her, but tonight had produced some desperate need to know if he felt about her the way she felt about him.

She still wasn't ready to do anything about it, per se, but she wanted to know, dammit.

She still couldn't be certain of his feelings, but she was certain of one thing now—he was attracted to her, and in a significant way, if his reactions from the past hour or so were any indication.

Clarke grinned a little as she pulled the t-shirt over her head, inhaling Bellamy's scent, which instantly righted her.

Well, at least she knew she could continue to lust after her best friend without feeling like too much of a creep about it…cause she was pretty damn sure she wasn't alone in that.

Clarke listened, noticing there wasn't any noise coming from the kitchen.

For some reason, she could picture Bellamy standing with his hands on the counter, eyes closed as he got himself under control.

Part of her wanted to walk into the other room and stop him. The other part of her was glad that he seemed to have more willpower than she did.

After a few more seconds of silence, Clarke started hearing noises of activity coming from the kitchen: a cupboard door closing, the refrigerator door opening and closing, the microwave being used.

A couple minutes later, Bellamy was back, handing her a mug of steaming hot chocolate. "Need anything else?" he asked.

"Actually, could you do me a favor and grab my phone? It's in my coat pocket."

He nodded, retrieving it from the living room and handing it to her.

Luckily, it powered on easily now that it had warmed up.

"I left my spare key and the spare fob for the door downstairs on the counter beside your stuff," he said, looking a little sheepish.

She waited, but he didn't expand on his previous comment. "…why?"

"I don't know why I didn't give them to you before. Octavia used to have them, but obviously she doesn't need them in California, so they've been sitting in my junk drawer. You're here all the time anyway…and with you working so close… If I'd have given them to you earlier, you wouldn't have frozen half to death waiting for me."

She studied him. "You don't have to do that just because of what happened today. I'm fine, and I can't see these circumstances repeating themselves anytime soon."

"No, but like I said, you should've had them to begin with. You're welcome to come over anytime, whether I'm here or not. Seriously. Mi casa es su casa." He brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck. "Just…knock first if you think I might be home, yeah? In case I'm naked or something."

Clarke smirked a little at that. "Okay. Thank you."

He nodded, still standing there a little awkwardly.

Clarke took a sip of her hot chocolate before setting it on the nightstand. She pressed a few buttons on her phone, finding what she wanted. "Come on," she told him, indicating that he should get back in bed with her.

What she'd wanted to show him on her phone was a game that she'd discovered while cooped up in the on-call room. It was an app of a quiz show, and she knew Bellamy's dorky ass would love it…and she wouldn't mind kicking his ass at the math and science questions since she knew he'd destroy her at the history and literature questions.

A few minutes later found him sitting against the headboard, her between his legs, back against his front, ostensibly so they could stay warm and so they could both see the screen.

"That was my question, you little cheater!" he griped from behind her, pinching her arm. "And you got it wrong anyway!"

She smiled, leaning her head back against his chest.

Yeah.

This?

This was everything.

A/N: Edit to the note at the beginning of this chapter: I am shameless, I am an angst whore, and I am not sorry.