Things fell into a healthy rhythm after Clarke and Bellamy made up. Though the rest of the group was hesitant to accept him back into the fold after the Monopoly fiasco, Clarke assured them that she was over it and to give him another chance like she was. Octavia was visibly relieved by the news and had taken to inviting Bellamy over again so the rest could see he wasn't the asshole he made himself out to be on that night. Asshole anymore, as Jasper reiterated multiple times.

Anyway, that's how Clarke found herself sprawled across the couch with Bellamy in the living room on Thursday night, a half-eaten bowl of kettlecorn in her lap and a beer in her left hand as she rested it on the arm. The apartment door opened behind her and she heard keys being hung up on the hook by the shoe closet.

"Guys another documentary?" Octavia whined as she plopped herself down in between the pair, forcing them to scoot over to make room. Clarke kept her eyes focused on the screen, missing the slight frown Bellamy shot at Octavia for her couch positioning. "This series is fantastic O, I don't understand how you don't like it. The Romans were geniuses!" Clarke replied emphatically, an intelligent look on her face as she watched a gladiator fight.

"Geniusi," Bellamy quipped. Clarke cracked up at his fake Latin joke, rasing her hand for a high five which he eagerly returned.

Octavia rolled her eyes. Of course her brother and best friend would bond over something nerdy like ancient history. Clarke looked over at her suddenly. "Hey, how did your interview go?" She paused the show so Octavia could have their undivided attention.

"Good I guess. The manager was super chill, and she said I could start teaching lessons on Monday."

Clarke hit the other girl's shoulder in excitement. "O! That's great!" Clarke frowned at the lack of enthusiasm. "What's wrong, why aren't you totally psyched?" Bellamy looked at his sister in concern, a hand on her back in comfort. Octavia sighed. "It's just that while teaching language classes is everything I'd hoped to do with my degree, she said they couldn't hire Atom too, which was the plan all along. Gina, the manager, said the rest of the team 'wasn't sure he had enough experience' can you believe that?"

Clarke watched as the concern that covered Bellamy's face slowly morph into a smirk. He looked up and locked eyes with her, tilting his head and silently asking "Can you blame them?" She sent him a slightly reproving look, pointing at O's dejected face with her eyes. Internally, she laughed too. In all honesty, I'm not sure that boy can even speak English properly, let alone a foreign language.

Clarke patted Octavia's back sympathetically before speaking. "I'm sorry babe, I know you wanted to work together. But still, are you going to turn down your dream job for Atom?" O thought silently for a moment as Bellamy winced in wait for her response, silently begging her to say no like the independent girl he raised her to be. "I guess not," Bellamy's face relaxed into a proud smile that he quickly hid when Octavia looked at him, "but now I have to tell him he has to keep looking for a job."

Clearly not wanting to discuss longer, Octavia reached over Clarke and grabbed the remote from its place on the arm. Pressing play, she snuggled down into the couch and leaned her head onto Bellamy's shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her, both fixing their gaze on the tv. Clarke watched them for a moment and small pang of jealousy rang through her. She missed the comfort of having someone. A companion. Just someone to hug at times like these, or to greet when she got home with a kiss.

Sure Octavia was great to live with, but she wasn't home all that often and either way, it wasn't the same. Unbidden, memories of Finn swam up to the forefront of her brain. He had been her someone for three years, and it had been hard to get accustomed to being alone again after that.

What she had said to Bellamy that game night hadn't been strictly true, she didn't think all guys were out to break her heart and cheat on her. She knew there were nice ones out there. However even at her loneliest, or the times she was struck with a feeling of want (like now), her fear of getting hurt outweighed the potential benefits.

Yes, a boyfriend would be nice sometimes, but the chance that it wouldn't work out again and she would have to deal with another broken heart was enough to make her lose her desire to try. So she made herself content with the life she lead, satisfying physical needs with random hookups and never letting anyone in romantically. It just had to be done. A matter of self-preservation she supposed.

Clarke sighed softly. Bellamy shifted under O so he could face her a bit more and gave her a questioning gaze. She smiled softly at him before turning her expression to the screen. Bellamy. He was an interesting one. Clarke had entirely expected for them to claim "friends" after their dinner and then be mutual acquaintances who saw each other occasionally, like they were saying friends to contrast their borderline enemy status of the week before. She was completely unprepared for the result that happened instead, as he showed up to the apartment increasingly often over the last month, usually when O was home but sometimes not, with food or a movie for them to watch.

He always claimed he was getting away from his weird roommate John, who despite the normal ad, ended up being a bit too odd for his taste, but Clarke couldn't help but read into his appearances and even more so with his flirty banter juxtaposed with scathing sarcasm. She figured it was just his personality though and settled into his becoming a fixture of the flat.

Bellamy was alright she concluded. A bit more than alright in the looks department, but that was never going to happen, and truthfully I wouldn't want it to, I'd just mess up our friendship. She brought her attention back to the movie, surprised when she saw end credits rolling. She hadn't realized she'd been thinking for so long.

Octavia pushed herself up from the couch, using Bellamy's knee as a brace. "Well pals, I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow for game night Bell?" He smiled and nodded, hugging her. She began leading him to the door with her arm wrapped around his waist. Over his shoulder he turned and smiled at Clarke, eyes friendly as he called out a goodbye to her. Smiling back, Clarke began picking up the beer bottles off the coffee table and carrying dirty dishes into the kitchen. Dumping them in the sink, she realized how tired she was, needing to get to sleep before her alarm clock announced her 6 am shift.

Clarke stood up quickly from the desk she had been updating charts at when Indra walked by her. She jogged to catch up to the dark-skinned woman who was making even strides across the linoleum floor.

"Indra!" The woman didn't stop but slowed her pace slightly so Clarke could get in step with her.

"What is it Griffin?" Indra replied shortly, eyes still facing ahead.

"I've finished updating your charts, making rounds, and I called Walden Medical about the liver transplant donor, and I was wondering if I could scrub in on the Redson case today?" Clarke spilled in a rush. Indra stopped, staring the girl in the eye.

"You've read up on the procedure?" she said finally. Clarke nodded enthusiastically, "Yes of course, and I practiced the stitch in the lab for hours."

"Fine. Be in the O.R at 3pm," and with that she turned away from Clarke and headed back towards the west wing. Clarke grinned smugly, she had been lazy recently, letting Anya actually get close to her level, but now she was back on top of her game. After all, she hadn't graduated at the top of her medical class for no reason. Suck it Anya. Clarke pranced back to the desk, blonde ponytail swishing behind her.

She unlocked her phone, shooting O a quick text to tell her she was most likely going to be late for game night and they should just start without her. Octavia replied immediately, saying she understood and that the rest of the group might actually have a chance to win for once. Funny how she replies immediately except for whenever I text her to bring me another roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. Clarke put her phone away and sat down in her rolly chair with a bag of chips, googling the procedure she was going to assist later today so she could be perfect in the O.R.

Clarke walked out of the O.R 6 hours later, exhaling a large breath as she leaned her back against the hospital wall to calm her heart down. The surgery had been messy and complicated and touch and go for a while and Clarke loved every second of it. The adrenaline coursing through her body right now made her feel invincible, like she could jump off a building and fly.

Checking the time on her phone she cursed, realizing she was really late for game night. Again. Rushing down the hallway to the locker room, she whipped off her clothes and threw on some skinny jeans and a maroon top she had forgotten she had left at the hospital. Reaching up to her head, Clarke gratefully pulled her hair out of the tight bun it had been in under her scrub cap and massaged her scalp.

Loud laughter could be heard coming from her apartment making her smile as she made her way to the door. Upon pushing it open she witnessed Jasper sitting on a laughing Monty as Jasper force fed him French fries, with Jasper yelling "How dare you attack Greenland! We were allies! We were BROTHERS!" The group descended into further hysterics as they took in Clarke's bewildered expression. Raven threw her a burger as Clarke put her hands up reflexively to catch the white paper wrapped food.

Now grinning too, Clarke dropped her bag off her shoulder onto the floor and settled around the coffee table next to Miller who slung his arm around her shoulder and squeezed, kissing her check in greeting. Octavia smiled at her and pushed the bag of fries across the table to her and out of the way of Jasper's hand. Clarke took them happily, tossing a smile at Bellamy who was once again seated next to O, quirking her eyebrow at his odd expression. He shrugged and she let it go.

"Jasper let Monty up, it's just a game." Octavia called out tiredly.

"You're a game" Jasper muttered childishly under his breath. Smirking that classic Blake smirk, Octavia ordered everyone to flip their territory cards over and fan them out in front of them. Ohhh, Risk. That's what they were playing. The game that just so happens to be my favorite and we never play. Clarke raised an eyebrow at Octavia, and the girl raised her hands in exasperation, like she could read the blonde's mind. "Because you weren't here and believe it or not the rest of us wanted to play a leisurely game of Risk without fighting for our lives as our armies fended off Griffin world dominance!"

Clarke frowned, she wasn't that competitive. Apparently she had spoken this out loud because everyone else was shaking their head in apologetic grimaces, letting her know she was in fact that competitive at the game. Octavia broke the looks by shaking her head and continuing like she wasn't interrupted. "Not that it really mattered in the end because it turns Bellamy is just as bad as you are if not worse," Bellamy flashed her a cocky wink, "and since he so rudely wiped me off the board I want you to destroy him." A slightly scary look hardened in Octavia's eyes as she finished. Clearly being beaten by her brother was pretty high on her pet peeves list.

"I mean obviously I will O, you didn't even need to ask," Clarke said confidently, smirking internally at Bellamy's narrowed gaze, "but with what cards?"

"Oh yeah. Everyone fan out your territory cards upside down again. Clarke just draw a random one from each person and put your armies on the country."

Clarke started on her left with Miller, then working her way around the table. When she got to Bellamy she had to pry the card out of his grip as he held on tightly, locking eyes with her. "Doesn't matter what you take, Princess, I'm just going to take it right back," he said lowly to her, brown eyes gleaming.

"We'll see about that."

An hour later Jasper and Monty clutched hands, Raven was hiding behind Miller's shoulder, and Octavia had a triumphant look on her face and Clarke palmed the dice again.

"Argentina declares war on Brazil." Bellamy moved from sitting to kneeling as he studied his opponent. Gone was the warm spark normally in her eyes, replaced with a cold desire to win that simultaneously scared him and sent blood rushing to other places in his body.

This was it, if Clarke rolled a 4 and 6 she would beat Brazil and win the game. Bellamy had all his remaining armies piled onto the sole country under his possession and was blowing on the dice in his hand, like the hot air would somehow keep the woman in front of him at bay.

"1, 2, 3 shoot!"

"Noooooo!" Bellamy's head slumped and hit the table with a dull thud while Miller patted him sympathetically on the back. Clarke grinned like the cat that ate the bird, highly pleased with her victory. Undisputed champion forevermore bitches. Bellamy raised his head in awe. "I took 4 years of strategy classes at the Naval Academy and I have never seen someone so ruthless or driven at war," his voice echoing disbelief and wonder.

Clarke just grinned even harder.

It was very late by the time the gang left stumbling from the apartment. Bellamy, O, and Clarke all started cleaning up and putting the game away before O got a call from Atom and left the room to take it.

Clarke handed the game board to Bellamy who was putting everything in the box, their hands brushing slightly. Bellamy put the lid on the box and set it down on the table. "That was a very impressive display of military prowess Miss Griffin," he said stepping towards her a bit.

"I'll see if I can teach you some tips in my free time," she threw back.

"How obliging of you."

"Mmm yes I like to think so, just doing my duty to my country."

Just then Octavia came back into the room, breaking the staring contest that had formed and ushering Bellamy out the door unceremoniously. When he was gone Octavia turned to face Clarke with a confused look.

"What?" Clarke asked, perplexed as to why her friend was looking at her like she had just seen a unicorn.

"Does Bellamy talk to you like that often?"

"Like what?" Clarke shifted from one foot to the other.

"The sparring-banter-whatever you want to call it. Does he normally do that with you?" Octavia said inquisitively.

"Sometimes," Clarke shrugged, "Other times he's bitingly sarcastic. Why? Isn't that just his personality?"

Octavia snorted. "The second part, absolutely, but the first part? Never. I've never seen him act like that before," the other girl replied incredulously.

Suddenly very uncomfortable, Clarke nodded in dismissal. "Oh. Well he jumps between the two so rapidly I don't know what to make of it. It's rather confusing actually." She shook her head. "Don't read into it O. I'm gonna go to bed, goodnight." Octavia returned the sentiment as Clarke walked away from her.

The next morning Clarke stumbled into the kitchen blearily, humming to herself, jumping out of her skin when she heard a throat cleared behind her. Throwing on the light, Bellamy's face appeared before her.

"Shit Bellamy! What the hell are you doing here at 6am?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Clarke stood by the counter clutching her chest as she could feel her heart racing.

"We can't have that Princess, what would the kingdom do without you?" Bellamy answered facetiously. He placed the tray of coffees in his hand on the table and then gave her a short nod before turning to leave. "I was just dropping these off."

"And you waited till I came out to scare me?"

"Coincidence."

Frowning at his behavior, Clarke followed him to the front door.

"Well thanks for the coffee and the grey hair."

"Whatever. Just don't drink it all, it's mostly for O." And then he opened the door and shut it firmly behind him.

Seriously what the hell? This is exactly what I was telling O about last night! He goes from being flirty and kind to the asshole he was when we met. Annoyed and frustrated, Clarke aggressively grabbed a coffee and took a large gulp, sputtering and cursing as she felt at least half of tastebuds melt off. This was already not shaping up to be her day.

Hours later Clarke was perusing Pinterest at her desk when she heard a *Beep Beep* Clarke looked down at her pager. ER 911 flashed across the screen. Clarke bolted up from her desk running to the elevator and pushing the ground floor button. When the elevator dinged open she sped past the main lobby and into the ER, eyes scanning the beds for a familiar patient. A cancer patient being brought to the ER generally meant a surgery was necessary due to organ failure or a tumor recurrence.

"Excuse me!" Clarke caught the arm of a nurse passing her. "Have you seen Dr. Indra? I was paged but I don't see one of my patients."

"Griffin?"

Clarke nodded. "Trauma room 8, I would hurry." Clarke ran to the room, equal parts worried for the patient and knowing Indra would have her ass. She wrenched open the door and hit a solid back of muscle. Some man in a suit was standing directly in the doorway, blocking her entrance. Feeling the intrusion he turned to face her and Clarke found herself staring into Bellamy's surprised eyes. "Clarke?"

"Griffin? Get in here!" Indra's voice rang out from behind him. Pushing past Bellamy, Clarke entered the small room to see Governor Johnson writhing in pain as Indra and Anya struggled to hold him down and put an IV in. "Move," she commanded and the other security detail in the room parted so she could get close to the bed. Grabbing the Governor's legs, she helped hold him down so Indra could insert the IV. Slowly, Indra pushed a syringe into the tube and the man's body relaxed, unconscious.

"What happened? What's the Governor doing here?"

Indra sighed. "Prostate cancer. He didn't want anyone to know he'd been getting hormone therapy treatments from me for a while, but then he collapsed during lunch and had to be rushed here. I doubt we can stop the gossip, but take him up to CT Griffin and be discreet. Anya, go prep a room in the East wing where it's quieter and take some of his security detail with you so they can set up whatever they do." She paused looking at the people in the room.

"You," she said, pointing at Bellamy, "Accompany Griffin to CT. I'm only going to allow one of you guards in there. The rest can go with Anya or wait outside."

Clarke started pushing the bed into the hallway, Bellamy grabbing the other side rail and helping. Maneuvering them around other people in the E.R and into the elevator, Clarke broke the silence.

"Did you know? About the cancer, I mean?" Bellamy shook his head no, curls bouncing. "He's such a funny guy, he never talked about anything serious with us guards." Clarke nodded, turning back to the elevator doors. The doors dinged and together they rolled the stretcher into the CT room as the operators took the bed behind the glass and Clarke and Bellamy went to the control room and sat down.

They watched as the Governor's body slowly fed into the CT machine. Clarke fiddled with some buttons on the control panel.

"So I guess we'll be seeing each other a bit more Princess," Bellamy commented, playfully shoving her shoulder with his own. Still looking down, Clarke grunted.

"Oh what? You don't want see me, your favorite person on the planet?" he teased some more.

Clarke looked up quickly, eyes expressionless. "I don't know Bellamy, do I want to see you?"

Bellamy froze, smile slipping off his face, confused. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? What do you mean Bellamy?" Clarke burst out. "For the last month you are hot and cold, kind and rude, back and forth and it's driving me crazy! Yesterday night you spar with me and joke around and this morning you act like you did when we first met, all cold and indifferent. So what's the deal Blake?" She didn't realize she was half yelling till she saw Jones, the CT tech, eye her from across the glass. Flushing, she turned back to Bellamy to see him avoiding her gaze, looking down the hallway, his expression like he was beating himself up for something.

"Well?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just…" he paused, looking up at the ceiling in frustration, "just figuring out where to place you."

Clarke raised her eyebrow in indignation. "What the hell does that mean?" I'm not some fucking object in a puzzle Blake.

Bellamy looked at her earnestly, the honesty in his eyes making her deflate a little bit. "Look I don't get close to people. Ever. Ok? The only person I talk to is O and even then I avoid the mushy-feely emotions crap. And you have somehow become a new fixture in my life and I'm trying to see whether or not I trust you," seeing her mouth open to combat that statement, he hurriedly continued, "not that you have given me any reason not too, it's just for some reason I inherently do, and that scares me. So I've been trying to pull back some from how I naturally want to talk to you so I can…I don't know…make sure." Bellamy finished lamely with the ending coming out like a question.

Clarke stared at him, an unreadable expression on her face. "Ok I'm not going to even pretend like I understood that, but how long is this vetting process going to take? Because if you keep throwing sarcastic barbs I'm going to start throwing them back, and Bellamy," she smirked at him, "I can be a lot meaner than you can." The smirk morphed into a smug grin at his involuntary swallow that she interpreted as fear.

"Yeah alright, Griffin, I guess you can pass my test." He smirked back, sneakily reaching a hand up to her ponytail and giving it small tug. "Now never make me talk about emotions again."

"Then never be an idiot again."

"Ooof sorry, don't think I can promise that one."

Clarke rolled her eyes, right as the buzzer went off above them, indicating the CT scan was finished. She pushed her chair closer to the desk, clacking on the computer as she pulled up the results, trying to ignore how Bellamy was perched behind her leaning over her shoulder, palm flat on the desk next to hers on the mouse. Focus Griffin, y'all literally just talked about how you're friends. I am I really that horny? Damn I need to get laid.

She groaned as she took in the images on the screen.

"What is it?"

"See that grey dot? That's a tumor, a new one from what I can tell from the surrounding tissue," she explained, tracing a finger around the outline of the scan.

"So what does that mean for him? Surgery? Chemo?" Bellamy stood up, spinning her chair around to face him.

Clarke shrugged, "Either. Indra will probably try surgery, but if she can't get solid margins then she'll switch to chemo." He nodded in understanding. "I have to go give the results to Indra, but I'll page Anya to come escort him to his room." Clarke got up from the chair and made it to the door frame before turning around and giving Bellamy a small smile.

"For the record Bell, I trust you too." She left then, missing the smile he returned at the news.

Walking down the hallways in search of her attending, Clarke felt her phone buzz in her pocket. A loud squeal erupted from her as she saw the caller ID.

"Lincoln?!"

"Hey little Sis." Clarke could hear his smile through the phone. "So I've got some good news….I'm home!"

"WHAT? Linc when? Where are you? Do you need me to come get you?" her excitement came pouring out as she jumped up and down.

"Slow down Flyer," he chuckled, "I just landed and wanted you to be the first person I called. I've got to stop by Camp Mabry and speak with some people there first, but I could meet you in about three hours? What time do you get off work?"

"I've got two hours left in my shift, which is perfect because that gives me time to get the gang together and get dressed before we party!" Clarke was already making a mental list of everything that needed to be done to make the night great. I can't wait for Bellamy to meet Lincoln. Um, obviously because they share a military background and are sure to be fast friends.

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you sis," Lincoln replied with a chuckle. "Text me your address when you get off work and I'll come meet you." Clarke agreed and hung up.

Clarke hurriedly found Indra with renewed purpose, dropped off the results, and sped back to the Governor's room, barreling into Bellamy as she rounded the corner. His hands reached out to steady her as she started shouting excitedly at him.

"Clarke slow down, I can't understand you."

She sucked in air, trying to catch her breath. "Linc…home…go clubbing tonight to celebrate."

"Your brother?" Bellamy asked, finally comprehending what the short woman in front of him was saying. Clarke nodded frantically, telling him to be ready at 8 and meet at the Dropship, before going to check on her patient's vitals and call Octavia to tell her the good news. Bellamy just stood there in the hallway, marveling at the firecracker that was Clarke Griffin.

A/N- Thanks again for reading and the lovely reviews! I know this is kind of a filler chapter but the next one will have some more excitement and Lincoln!