15.

Lincoln worried. Although you couldn't see it on his face or his body language for that matter it was at least clear as day to Octavia that her boyfriend she suppose she would call him, was worried about something. And if she had to guess what was lingering heavily on his mind then her former friend instantly came to her mind, especially since she had seen the same worry and concern on her brother several times for the same reason. Of course he is worried about Clarke. They're friends and business partners, so it would only be natural for him to be worried with Clarke diving straight into danger as usual. Still I can't help think that Clarke is being selfish and horrible in the way she threats and strings everyone along, especially her friends by worrying them like this.

They were hanging in the art studio above the gallery, even though Lincoln was working while she was watching him and keeping the conversation going. But the conversation pretty much died somewhere between the phone call from her brother about Clarke's disappearance and the phone call a few hours later from Clarke. Hence why she was now sitting there watching him trying to hide his concern about Clarke despite the call from her earlier, thinking those resentful and angry thoughts about her ex-friend.

Lincoln must have realized what she was thinking about since he suddenly moved his gaze from the painting that he was currently working on and turned it on her, completely calm and collected in his facial expression, and said huskily, "Look, don't judge her too hard, especially for past mistakes that can't be undone or fixed now."

Octavia scoffed, folding her arms against her chest and stubbornly argued, "I will be angry and I will judge her for everything she has done, not only to me, but to my brother and the rest of this town. Why are you quick to defend her anyways? You must have heard what she did. How can you simply accept it and move on?"

He shrugged his shoulders and moved his attention back on the painting that looked more like mess of colors merged together to the canvas. "I try not to be judgmental against other people, especially since everyone has the right for their opinions and to make mistakes, and it's really none of my business to be harsh on them for whatever reason there may be about a person."

"Right…so you wouldn't judge whatever Clarke has told you about me then?" Octavia pointed out in disbelief. There was no way her ex-friend wouldn't have said anything about her in order for Lincoln to create some kind of visual about her before they went out together. If she deemed it as necessary she would have warned him somewhat about me. I mean she's the freaking moral compass who doesn't care who she hurts as long as it's the right thing. With the exception of the Mt. Weather incident, that is.

Lincoln was completely taken back by her accusation; even she could see that with huge eyes staring at her in surprise. "I may have told you this before, but she hasn't said much about you in general. There was neither good nor bad things she told me, just warned me about not mentioning her or your brother in a conversation unless I wanted you to react badly to it."

This time she was the one who was surprised over the information that was laid down for her. What?

"But nevertheless what you think of her right now, Clarke still cares about you and everyone here in this town. She just doesn't show it really well. Now, I wish to change the topic of this conversation if you don't mind, because I honestly believe that it's just going to end as a disagreement on the subject anyways, so why bother argue about it?"

Octavia conceded in his notion and dropped the subject entirely, but that didn't mean her mind was being threated in a similar manner. In fact she was just confused and conflicted what to think of Clarke. It was more like her mind was clear, but her heart was uneasy, which is ironic considering the fact that she was quite vocal the night she permanently broke up her friendship with Clarke. Her actions speak louder than words, but what does it really mean when her actions give off confusing and conflicting signals?

When Raven and Monty came back to the apartment they were relieved that Jasper was still there, sleeping on the couch, and no longer distressed by Clarke's presence. Although they both knew that the peace in Jasper's face wasn't going to last long. Once he woke up in the morning he would remember his grief over Maya and his resentment towards Clarke and once again return to comfort his misery with a bottle. It was the never-ending of his own personal hell with no escape or motivation to try to move on from his misery. And they had the front-row seat in witnessing him going through this while attempting to help him in any way necessary. Even though their current methods were definitely not working right now.

Raven wrapped a blanket around her sleeping friend just to make sure he didn't get cold and end up sick due to his current sleeping place before she met up with Monty in the kitchen again. And when she stepped into the kitchen she found him standing by the sink, leaning the coffee mugs they had left behind when they had received Clarke's call.

"Do you think we made the right decision to let Bellamy talk to her?" Monty asked quietly, after what seemed to have been hours since they left the hospital. "I mean their relationship is plainly a mess and if you add her reunion with Abby a catastrophe is bound to happen."

Raven shrugged her shoulders and went on to dry the mugs that Monty had finished and placed on the counter. "I don't know. Many things has happened between them, hell between all of us, but from what I saw back at the hospital when he showed up I think that he's still Clarke's person."

"Her person?"

"The one person who is simply just everything. He knows and understands her, Monty, on a whole other plane then we do," Raven explained. "They are partners with mutual trust and respect for each other, and they still love and care about each other despite issues they have right now."

Monty shook his head. "You make it sound like their issues is over something simple like fighting over the remote control or who's supposed to take out the trash."

Not sure how to respond to his answer, because honestly he had a point, she gave him a small sympathetic smile. Even that didn't make him he look any more particular convinced about the love and care part regarding Clarke and Bellamy. I don't blame him. Come on, Clarke is keeping everyone at arm-length, even Bellamy who used to be her closest confidante, and from the looks of things spiraling in the same direction as Jasper, towards self-destruction. The only difference is method to self-destruct, Jasper with alcohol and Clarke with life-and-death situations.

The mugs were cleaned and dry, but neither of them seemed ready to go separate ways and go to sleep despite the exhaustion they felt in their bones. Raven had of course arranged for Monty and Jasper to stay the night, because she didn't feel comfortable letting them leave in neither of the current state at the moment, but in a way they were practically living with her since they normally spend their time here at her place rather than their own. Nevertheless they returned to their seats by the counter and began taking a different turn on the conversation.

Talking about Clarke and Bellamy's relationship is driving me crazy, especially considering that they are perfect for each other, but are too messed up and stubborn to do anything about. Raven thought. Which is why talking about the mystery case Clarke has been butting into is a lot easier to deal with. And besides, it might actually work in our favor in order to connect and stop Clarke's attempt to face the world alone as she seems so determined on doing.

"So we both know a little on the case that Clarke's working on," Raven said, which Monty corrected and said sarcastically, "She's sticking her nose in an active police investigation, which I still don't know after all these years is legal even though we know the detectives who is working on the case."

She rolled her eyes, deciding not to respond to the whole legal issue since it was a given that no one in their old group cared about laws and never cared about the fact that they had broken them before and probably would continue doing so despite Bellamy's rants and rejections. "Never mind that, do you remember the little she told us about the case, right?"

His eyebrows rose in an annoyed manner. "Yeah, she told us about the similar old cases and the fact that the two dead victims were prostitutes, although with different client preference. What about it?"

Raven smirked with a grin that said pretty much it all. I've an idea what to do about not only the case, but smoothly and carefully worm us back into Clarke's world. "How about we make a thorough search on the victims as well checking out if there are any words on any other missing women in the last few hours. I mean the bodies were discovered barely a day between one another, so we can assume that the killer follows the same pattern."

"That way we are one step ahead," Monty concluded. "Good plan, but why the secrecy?"

This time it was her eyebrows that rose with an indirect comment 'are you serious?' Apparently boys will be boys. They need directions to understand. "Come on. Do you honestly think that Clarke would voluntarily ask for our help? She was reluctant to even let me help her before, so there is no doubt that she's going to put up quite the fight if we simply gave her the option. And there's no way I'm going to let her do this alone again, not after what happened tonight."

Although she was pretty certain that after tonight that Bellamy wasn't going to let her do it either.

If there was a time I found Clarke to be even more exasperating than her usual self then it was when she was being completely closed off and silent. You never know what she is thinking, and that alone is terrifying if you consider who she is and what her private detective skills can do. However this silence between us right now is not only exasperating, but also smothering.

Bellamy didn't know how to break the thick ice between them, and honestly he wasn't sure if he wanted to either. He was still mad at Clarke for several reasons, both for the past and present situation that was either directly or indirectly connected to her, but he knew that now wasn't the time to have another fight with her. Not after the night she has had, especially seeing her mother again.

So he sighed and jumped right into it despite every part of him telling him not to do it and said awkwardly, "So you saw your mom?"

He didn't start the conversation with the normal conversation starter like 'how are you doing?' or 'are you okay?' No, he had to be an idiot and strike what was probably bothering her the most right now and expected her to be all right and talk about it. God…I really am an ass sometimes like Clarke and Octavia proclaim I am.

Clarke turned to look at him, slightly surprised over his question, but nevertheless she answered back, "Yep. I don't want to talk about it. Not now and possibly never. So why don't you ask me what you really want to ask me instead walking around the bush?"

Obviously she didn't want to be comforted. Or maybe she just didn't want to be comforted by me. Whatever the reason may be there was no use trying to force her into things, especially since she would probably react badly if I even tried.

"You're as blunt as I remember." Bellamy couldn't but smirk at her usual bluntness, which was both an annoying trait as well as an intriguing one. "Fine. There's something I have to talk to you about first before I take your official statement from what happened back with Murphy and the shooting incident."

She nodded her head, and waited patiently for him to continue talking instead of walking around the bush like she nicely put it. Unfortunately for her, he was pretty sure that what he was going to tell her wasn't something she was going to appreciate very much. Which would possibly lead to her to actually consider taking a step away from her personal oath regarding no violence and actually kick him in his privates.

Bellamy held his gaze on her, staring into those beautiful blue eyes that he had once upon a time loved and trusted, hoping to see a glimpse of the person he knew three years ago, but was disappointed to find only hurt, pain and exhaustion. She changed. And so have I. We are no longer the same people we once were. So I might as well stop looking for it when I know she already is lost to me, but I wouldn't stop protecting her and keep her safe even if she's going to hate me more than she probably does.

"Look, you have already been here for three days now and your life has been in danger twice in that short time period. We don't know who it is or why someone is targeting you and trying to kill you, but I can't let things escalate any further than it already has."

Clarke tilted her head confused. "So what are you saying? I should stop working the case and go into hiding under my bed until it's all over. Yeah… not happening. I never hid and ran from life threats before and I'm not going to do it now."

But hid and ran when you got caught up with the consequences for your actions. Doesn't exactly scream trust and sanity regarding your life?

"Believe me, I know that you wouldn't do that even if I tried, you would probably have worked behind my back despite my objections. But that's not what I'm trying to say. What I'm really saying is that until we have caught this guy you are staying with me."

.

.

.

Thank you guys so much for the reviews, favorite and followings, and I'm glad so many of you got interested in my story. So I hope you guys like the this chapter, and the next one will be out next week.

Also I like to add that there are and will be grammar errors in this story, I had forgotten to mention before, and not a perfect writer and I don't have a Beta to fix it for me (which I have no intention on getting anyways), so if people have issues with that then you just have to live with it, okay? I write and release this mainly to entertain you guys as well release some of my creativity.

I used several references and quotes from movies, books and tv shows. So obviously I don't own them, but I will frequently use them since they fit the story somehow.

You all have asked and given me requests about more Bellarke scenes as well as progress in that relationship, Clarke/Lincoln scenes and what really happened at Mt. Weather, and I promise you that it all will happen in due time, so please be patient and hopefully I will manage to deliver your wishes to fulfill your anticipation for this story.

Review, favorite and/or follow.

xXrebelgirl07Xx