AN: OK, so I've officially finished this story, wrapped up the epilogue yesterday, so I'll be stepping up the posting pace a little. My goal is twice a week, but don't kill me if I don't stick to that, I have a business to run and almost a social life ;) Thanks to those of you who left kudos or comments on the last chapter!

Third chapter coming up, not a lot of Bellarke in this one but some Clarke/Raven interaction, hopefully you'll like that. We're back to Clarke's POV as well (I don't know if I need to specify that before each chapter?).

OK, on with the story. I own nothing, of course.

-3-

They all give Raven some time to take in the whole situation, and most of all the planet beyond the window, but eventually she turns away from it, a determined look in her eyes that Clarke knows means business.

"So, did Monty put together a whole plan on how to colonize a planet, or are we on our own here?" the mechanic asks, looking between the three of them.

"Well, no, Dad didn't leave a plan beyond 'wake up Bellamy and Clarke first'," Jordan admits.

"And we don't know if we'll even need to colonize it," Bellamy adds, which earns a groan from Raven.

"I really hope we're not going to find a bunch of natives who want to kill us just for landing on their planet," she grumbles. "It wasn't fun the first time around."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Clarke says, even though she's far from convinced of that herself. "Even if the planet is inhabited, which we don't know, we'll have a completely different starting point – for one, we won't be crashing down and accidentally killing hundreds of people by setting a village on fire."

"Exactly," Bellamy jumps in. "We thought we'll try to figure out what's down there before we wake everyone else up, easier to contain a potentially hostile situation with a limited number of people."

"On the other hand, we won't have strength in numbers if it does come to a fight," Raven counters, thoughtfully. "But it's not like either option is all that great…"

"Maybe we could try the communication system before we do anything else?" Clarke suggests, not sure why she didn't think of it earlier. "If Eligius Three did make it here, they could still be using their old technology."

Raven doesn't respond to that, instead taking a few steps over to the closest computer and sinking down in a swivel chair before clicking a couple of buttons. She picks up a mic and brings it to her mouth.

"Eligius Three, this is Eligius Four, come in." Clarke's not sure what to expect, but there's nothing, not even static, and she's immediately reminded of all the calls she made to the Ring, to Bellamy, which received the same lack of response. She pushes the thought away and focuses on Raven. "Eligius Three, does anybody read me? This is Eligius Four, we're currently in orbit above you and planning to land a transport ship. Come in."

But still, there's nothing. Raven fiddles with something on the screen and repeats her call a few time, but eventually stops. She doesn't seem too disconcerted, though.

"It's possible they are using the system but nobody's there right now," she explains. "If they're on this planet, we don't know where they are, it could be the middle of the night for them. I'm setting up an automated call every fifteen minutes, on all the frequencies, and programming the system to alert us if someone responds, that way we won't have to keep an ear on it all the time."

This is exactly why they need Raven, Clarke realizes. She comes up with ideas nobody else would even think of.

"How long do you want to give it?" Bellamy asks. "We've got rations for a few months, but I'd still like to get down there and start figuring out how to move forward as soon as possible and not when we have to because we're starting to run out of food."

"Hold your horses," Raven tells him. "We don't even know how long a day is on this planet, it could be twice, three times as long as on Earth."

"Actually," Jordan intervenes, "I went through the info Dad had on the planet, from the original Eligius mission. It's really pretty similar to Earth in all aspects, except for the whole two suns thing. The difference in size is negligible, and a day is around 25.5 hours, so a little longer than on Earth. The planet doesn't have a moon, so not sure about months, but it orbits the two suns in 8,670 hours, which is…"

"340 days," Raven contributes before he can finish the calculation in his head. "Right, I'll let the calls run for 60 hours, if anyone's down there they should hear us by then."

"And if we don't get a response?" Bellamy asks. "We can't assume no one's down there just because they don't talk to us. The technology could have been lost, or they might not want to make contact with us for various reasons."

"Then we go ahead with the initial plan," Clarke says. "Get down there, check out the situation and hopefully not get killed in the process."

"I can get behind that plan," Raven agrees. "Any plan that involves not getting killed gets my seal of approval."

She and Clarke exchange a look and a smile as Bellamy sighs.

"Right, let's just not get killed," he says drily. "Because that's worked so well for us up until now."

"There there." Raven reaches out a hand to pat him on the arm absentmindedly as she turns back to the computer. "We don't have to go in completely blind, we can start with sending down a drone."

Clarke frowns. "A drone?"

"Yeah," Raven replies, clicking away on the keyboard again. "Those little flying things on Becca's island, remember?"

"You mean the ones that tried to kill us?" Clarke questions. "Because I'm not a fan of technology that tries to kill me."

Raven has her back turned, so Clarke can't actually see it, but she's pretty sure the other woman rolls her eyes.

"That wasn't the drones faults, they just do what they're programmed to do and can be used any way you want, really," she says. "And the Eligius drones are pretty much perfect to start with, I won't even have to do much to be able to use them the way I want."

"Which is how?" Bellamy asks. "And why do they even have drones to start with?"

Raven swivels the chair around to face them again.

"Well, they were used to evaluate the spots the ship was sent to mine," she explains. "They would send them down to the planet or asteroid belt or wherever they were working, and the drones would burrow into the surface and collect samples. When they got back to the ship, this bad boy…" she pats something next to the computer that Clarke thinks looks like an old fashioned printer, "analyzed the samples and spit out a report on the composition of the material in question. Like, if they were looking for Hythylodium and the drones didn't find any in that particular asteroid, they could just move on to another one and try again, no need to get down there and actually mine when there was nothing for them to find."

Everyone's quiet for a moment before Bellamy clears his throat.

"That's actually pretty smart," he admits grudgingly, as if it physically hurts him to acknowledge that Eligius might have had some good ideas.

"How would you use them to check out this planet?" Jordan asks enthusiastically, and Clarke is once again reminded of Monty, her heart giving a painful squeeze.

"Well, it should be possible to add an oxygen probe on one, to start with," Raven says. "That way it'll be able to get a read on the air down there – oxygen levels, humidity, potential radiation or harmful substances, stuff like that. Basically tell us if we can breathe the air or not. Then we'll get readings from a couple of different spots on the surface, see where the ground is best suited for establishing a settlement. You know, not too rocky, good soil for growing crops. I might be able to tell if there's water close by from those readings, though I'm not sure about that one."

It's ideal, really, exactly what they need.

"Can we use that machine to analyze plants and fruits and berries, things like that?" Clarke asks. "To figure out if they're edible, I mean."

Raven shrugs. "I don't see why not. It can handle all types of solid or liquid substances and I can get it to tell you what a sample consists of, but someone else would have to figure out if those components are OK for us to eat. Not my area of expertise."

"I'm sure we can figure that out," Bellamy says, turning to Clarke. "Your mom should be able to tell if something's actually poisonous, right?"

She nods thoughtfully, pleased that their plan seems to be coming together nicely. Drones aren't as good as actual eyes down on the planet, of course, but it's a great start. If they can figure out where there's water and have a way of analyzing potential food, they'll have a good jumping off point for actually surviving on the planet.

"I don't suppose these drones come equipped with cameras?" she asks hopefully, thinking that's probably too much to ask for.

Raven grimaces. "That would have been great, but nope. And I don't think I can mount one without it being destroyed along the way. They're not exactly built for space travel. So no video feed, sorry."

"Well, if someone shoots it down, we'll know more than we do now," Bellamy says, and Clarke isn't completely sure if he's being ironic or actually means it. Raven, however, decides to take it at face value.

"That's the spirit, Blake!" She turns back to the computer. "Now, are all of Monty's notes on Eligius Three and this new planet in here?" she asks, glancing at Jordan.

"Yeah, they're right…" Jordan hits a few buttons, "… here."

Raven nods. "OK, I need to go through this, run a check on all the ship's systems, just to make sure we won't blow up or suffocate in our sleep or something, and maybe see if there's anything else I can tweak so we can use it to explore this new planet. And I'm going to need some peace and quiet to do it, so scram, people. I'll come get you when I'm done."

Clarke gives Bellamy a questioning look, but he just shrugs. That's Raven, she supposes. And it's not like she can contribute anything herself. Jordan seems like he wants to argue for a moment, but then thinks better of it and heads towards the door, Bellamy and Clarke trailing behind him.

Before they reach it, though, Raven speaks again. "Wait, Clarke, hang on a moment."

Clarke stops dead in her tracks, eyes widening. She's been waiting for this since they woke Raven, if she's honest, but she was kind of starting to hope it might have gotten lost in all the excitement and grief and confusion of the situation… apparently not.

She gives Bellamy a pleading look, one hand stretching towards him – to do what, she's not sure – but he deftly steps out of her reach, mouthing go talk to her before backing out of the room to join Jordan in the hallway and hitting the button that makes the door close after them. Traitor.

Clarke's frozen in place for a moment longer before she pulls herself together and turns to face her (former?) friend. Might as well get it over with, it's not like the problem's going to go away if she just ignores it.

"Listen, Raven, I'm sorry about everything I…" She trails off as Raven pushes herself up from the chair and crosses the space between them.

"No," the brunette says in a determined voice, and Clarke's stomach plummets. She should have known that Bellamy would be the exception, that it wouldn't be as easy with the others, and especially not Raven.

"OK, I get it," she says dejectedly, turning away once more, but Raven catches her by the arm.

"No, I mean I don't want you to apologize for doing what you needed to do," she elaborates. "It sucks that we ended up on opposite sides and, don't get me wrong, I was so pissed at you… and I never want to look into the barrel of a gun in your hand again, but I get it, OK? Trust me, I get it."

Clarke tries to see any hint of insincerity in Raven's eyes, but the only thing she finds is understanding and, maybe – if she lets herself hope for just a second – affection.

"Madi was all you had for so long," Raven continues, her voice softening. "You raised her like your own for six years, of course you had to do everything you could to keep her safe."

It's like her words finally uncoil the tension in Clarke's stomach and she feels tears rise in her eyes.

"I hated it," she says, voice choked with emotions. "I hated having to choose between her and you guys, but I just…"

"We don't have to do this," Raven interrupts her gently. "As far as I'm concerned, me and you are good, OK? No need for apologies or explanations or anything like that."

Clarke nods. "Bellamy said something about… this being a new start, a blank slate," she says. "Maybe he's right, maybe it can be that for all of us."

Raven snorts. "That boy always did have a way with words."

Clarke lets out a laugh.

"Of course, he also said that I had a get out of jail free card on account of being left behind in Praimfaya, so I don't know if he deserves that much credit."

Raven's mouth falls open. "Oh my God, he actually said that?"

"Yup."

Raven just shakes her head in disbelief. "I'm going to smack him over the head next time I see him," she says, before sighing. "Right, I do need to get started on this, but one last thing." She opens her arms, gesturing with her fingers as if she's challenging Clarke to a fight. "Come here."

Clarke takes a hesitant step forward, not completely sure what to expect, but then Raven's arms wrap around her in a tight embrace and she relaxes, returning the hug just as fiercely.

"I am so glad you're alive," Raven mumbles. "I missed you so, so much."

Clarke has to swallow down a lump in her throat before she can reply. "I missed you too. Every day."

"I'm sorry we left you behind."

"You had to."

Raven holds on for another moment before pulling away and surreptitiously wiping away a few tears.

"That's how our reunion should have gone," she says, before shooing at Clarke. "OK, get out of here. Go talk to Bellamy, God knows you two need to work out your shit before we wake up E… everyone else."

Clarke's pretty sure she was about to say before we wake up Echo, but she doesn't comment on the almost-slip.

"There's nothing to work out," she says, keeping her voice intentionally light, and is rewarded with one of Raven Reyes' signature are you kidding me looks, raised eyebrow and all.

"Oh please. Anyone with eyes can see that this…" she makes a vague hand gesture "… thing you two never figured out before Praimfaya is still there. I get that you never had a chance to think about it, let alone do something about it, back then, but right now, you do. Monty and Harper died to give us a second or third or whatever chance to fix everything we've messed up. So don't you dare waste it."

Clarke sighs, trying to tamp down on the surge of hope Raven's words cause within her.

"Look, it doesn't matter," she says. "OK, maybe there was something there before Praimfaya, but that was six years ago… or a hundred and thirty one, if you want to be technical about it."

Raven doesn't say anything, just keeps watching her silently.

"You all thought I was dead for six years," Clarke continues. "Even if he… had feelings for me back then, which I don't know that he did, he's clearly moved on. And you, of all people, should know I will never put myself in a situation like that again."

At the reminder of Finn, Raven's eyes soften and for a moment, Clarke thinks that she might let it go. But, of course, she should have known better.

"I didn't hear anything about you moving on in that little speech," Raven notes.

"Kind of hard to do when you're all alone on a deserted planet with a six-year-old," Clarke replies drily.

"True," Raven agrees. "Still, I think you should at least tell him how you feel. Like you said, new chance, clean slate and all that. What better way to go into that than getting everything off your chest?"

In a way, it's tempting to take Raven's advice. Her feelings for Bellamy had been there for a long time before she was actually able to admit them to herself, Lexa's words – love is weakness – affecting her long after they'd been spoken. By the time she had no longer been able to deny them, they'd been in the middle of trying to figure out how to survive the end of the world, and there hadn't been time. Then, during the six years after Praimfaya, those feelings had been pushed to the side – there was nothing she could do about them with him thousands of miles above her, after all – even if they had always been just out of reach, nagging at her from time to time. Since they were reunited, though, it's been like an itch she can't quite scratch, chafing at her constantly. On the other hand, she's not exactly looking forward to the rejection she knows will come, or how it might affect their relationship, which they've (hopefully) finally gotten back on the right track. She knows all too well how awful it is to not have him in her life, and she can only imagine it would be even worse if he chose to pull away from her. It's not like she'll be able to avoid him in a community of 400 people, after all.

"I was thinking more along the lines of ignoring it until it goes away," she admits.

Right, she can tell herself that.

"Look…" Raven starts. "I love Echo, she's family, obviously, but I just never… I don't get the two of them together."

Clarke winces – she really doesn't want to listen to this.

"Raven, please, I can't…"

"No, I get it," Raven cuts her off. "I promise I won't go into any details, not that I have them, and I will never bring this up again, OK? I just want you to have the whole picture so you can make an informed decision."

Clarke's pretty sure she has all the information she needs, but she reluctantly nods at Raven to continue.

"I know things between them started during a… difficult time." She seems to be choosing her words very carefully, and Clarke is grateful. It's already hard enough to listen to this, she doesn't want to hear anything she can't un-hear. "And I know that they do care about each other, of course they do, but I always figured it was just physical. A way to release some tension."

Clarke's not sure if that makes her feel better or worse.

"They've never really acted like a couple, at least not in front of the rest of us, and sure, that could just be the way they are but… I think what it comes down to in the end is that I've never seen him look at her the way he used to look at you back before Praimfaya. And, Clarke, he was a complete mess up there for a really long time. I don't think he ever really got over leaving you behind, even if he tried to move on with his life. And no, before you even suggest it, it was not just the guilt."

Clarke just nods, not sure how to respond to that. She wants to say that yes, they do act like a couple – their reunion in the wasteland is forever branded into her mind – but she supposes it was kind of an extreme situation…

"So think about it, yeah?" Raven finishes off, squeezing Clarke's shoulder.

"I will," Clarke promises, though she knows she will never do anything to get between Bellamy and Echo. If Raven is right and he does still have feelings for Clarke, he'll have to take that step. "But you have to promise not to intervene, OK?"

Raven does not look happy with that.

"OK, I will stay out of it unless I think it's making everyone involved miserable, and in that case I reserve the right to step in as a friend to both of you," she compromises. "I know how stubborn the two of you can be."

Clarke rolls her eyes, but knows it's the best she's going to get.

"Fine."

AN: And that's it, chapter three done. I've deliberately kept the references to technology fairly vague - I figure we're some time into the future, there's bound to be more advanced tech than we have access to right now, and I don't think I've made up anything that's too out there. Let me know what you think, you're reviews make my day!