[A/N: We're near the end, folks. Three more chapters after this one! So sorry about the long break! Life got a bit in the way but I finally was able to give you guys something! Thanks to everyone who nominated Tied Knots for the Bellarke Fanfiction Awards! Don't forget to vote for all the wonderful fic's out there! Hopefully there isn't too long of a wait for the next chapter! Feel free to find me on tumblr: augustusblakee. All grammatical errors are mine!]

Music Inspired: Salvation by Gabrielle Aplin

She was eating a bowl of soup and watching her mother play her hands at bridge.

It was a Tuesday, which meant she was at the Ark way earlier than she would have liked and she was playing bridge with her mother and a few other members of the club. She yawned into her palm as her mother forced out a small laugh at something Callie Cartwig had said.

She would usually roll her eyes in her mother's direction but she was too much in a good mood to do so. She thought about yesterday and she felt a smile make its way toward her face as she thought about the pair of familiar brown eyes. She missed him already, which was strange for her to even admit.

"So, Clarke." She adjusted her eyes toward Callie even though the brunette didn't look up from her cards. "Has your mother told you about the Hopkins internship?"

She turned her head quickly and looked at her mother. Her mother didn't look back at her. "No." Her mother still didn't look up. "Must have slipped her mind."

Which wasn't exactly true. Her mother hadn't spoken much of a word to her, even when she came home midafternoon yesterday without much of a word of where she had been. It had stung but she didn't really imagine another alternative to the situation. Her mother was mad at her and when Abigail Griffin was mad at someone, they knew.

Callie however, laughed slightly and finally lifted up her head to look at her. "Well I have to say it's rare that an upcoming sophomore gets selected to go." Callie turned her head toward her mother. "When does it start again?"

Her eyes were wide as she glared holes into her mother's head. Her mother once again didn't look at her.

"Next week."

She looked down at the table and felt her pulse rise. She started to feel so anxious. She started to feel so angry. She took a deep breath and looked up to see her mother's eyes finally on her. "Can I please have a word?"

Her mother looked shocked at her calm tone but nodded before she smiled at the two other's sitting around their table.

She quickly threw her napkin onto the table before she started to walk away from it. She didn't mutter a single word to anyone. She felt her hands clench up into fists as she made her way outside to the abandoned veranda. Her hair blew lightly across her face as she turned to face her mother. "Hopkins?"

Her mother's face resembled hers in almost everyway. Her laughter lines weren't visible. Her hazel eyes were emotionless and the smile on her face was full of irritation. "Yes. I called a few people and I got you in."

She rolled her eyes at this. All previous conversations about her future and school flying around in her head. "And you didn't think to tell me at all?" She let out a small breath before she continued in her speech. "You didn't think to yourself, 'hmm maybe I should ask Clarke' or anything along those lines?"

Her mother's face didn't show off any emotion. "When was I supposed to say that Clarke? When you're gallivanting around the town or bailing people out of jail?"

Her eyes grew wide. "How-how did you know about that?"

Her mother laughed before she shook her head. "I think I'd notice if my daughter had to pay her low scum boyfriend out of jail."

Her temper rose. Her shoulders squared in defense. "That is none of your business."

"It is my business when it's my money, Clarke."

She let out a frustrated huff. She thought about their previous encounters and how by now, she would have wandered off into a bathroom. How she would count until her hands stopped shaking and her breath was even.

Her breath was even now. Her hands were still.

She tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear as she stood amongst her mother. She thought about moments that were fleeting. She thought about being a young girl with curls and laughing into her mother's side. She thought about how fair they both had come from laughter and smiles.

"I'm not going to Hopkins." Her mother opened her mouth but she didn't let her say a word. "I'm not even sure I'm going back to Yale." She let out a bitter laugh and looked out at the golf course before she turned her head back toward her mother. "I don't want to be a doctor. It's not what I want to do."

"What do you want to do, Clarke?" Her mother's voice was low. Venomous. She tried to focus on the laughter her mother once gave. "Paint pictures for a living? That won't get you very far."

She shrugged but found a smile grace her face. "Maybe it won't. But I'll be happy." She thought of her father then. His over the top ideas. His smile. His grace.

Her mother was silent for a few minutes. The wind caused her hair to fall out of its perfect chignon and frame her face, making her look younger.

For that moment, she craved the mother who would pull her into her side with a smile. The mother who would tuck her hair behind her ear after she would fall asleep in the car. The mother who looked at her with pride and never failed to give her a smile.

The mother she was. The mother she could be.

"If you don't go back to Yale." Her mother took a break. "I want you out of my house."

She felt cold instantly.

She stared at her mother with her mouth slightly open, her head tilted in disbelief. Her hands slightly shook and her voice cracked when she called out to her.

She saw her mother shake her head and turn back on her. She stood tall and took a breath before she walked away from her.

She watched the doors close and her mother disappear from view but that wasn't anything she wasn't used to. Except now it was. Her mother was gone. Her mother wasn't her – she shook her head. She bit her lip as she headed away from the club. She walked around the back until she reached the parking lot.

Her mother had drove which meant she was walking. Walking where? She let out a laugh and shook her head. She was half tempted to call Wells but she couldn't call him every time the world around her changed.

He didn't deserve that.

She quickly slipped off her heels and started down the long windy driveway of The Ark. She had made it halfway before someone called out to her.

She hated how she first imagined the voice to be her mother's but she was more surprised than anything to see Raven Reyes driving down the small driveway in her broken down truck.

She didn't want to deal with that right now.

She continued to walk only to have Raven drive beside her. "Do you have a problem with your hearing or something?"

She took a breath and turned her head. "Not right now, Raven." She continued to walk only to have Raven drive beside her once more. She let out a breath but turned her head toward the brunette. "What?"

Raven took an annoyed breath herself and shrugged. "Need a ride?"

She thought about her options, not that there was many. Raven Reyes wasn't really her sworn enemy, but she wasn't really her friend either. She was a girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, in a way. She was the girl who fell in love with Finn Collins, only to have her feeling not returned.

She assumed the brunette hated her and for a while it felt that way.

But she was barefoot in the middle of The Ark driveway looking more pathetic than usual. She nodded to herself and mutter out an answer before she threw open the door and fell into the worn down seat.

They sat still for a few moments before she turned to see Raven giving her a bewildered expression. "What?"

Raven rolled her eyes but not in a way that was mean or malicious. "Where are we going?"

She let out a breath. "Well, I need to pack some things."

Raven raised an eyebrow; she shrugged and mumbled off her address. They sat with the quiet roar of the engine as they made the small distance to the house that evidently wasn't her home anymore.

She knew that she couldn't back out of this. Once she packed her things and left, that was it. She wouldn't be going to Yale. She wouldn't have her mother, well not in the same way that she wanted. The same way it hadn't been for quite some time.

Raven parked the car and let out a whistle.

She thought of the young girl in her mother's side with a soft laugh before she opened the door. She let out a breath and quickly climbed out. She turned toward the brunette and gave a weak smile. "Thanks for the ride."

Raven stared at her for a moment before she killed the engine. "You said you needed to pack?"

She let out a breath and nodded.

Raven nodded herself before she climbed out and followed her toward the door. It wasn't until they were in her bedroom did she notice the limp and the brace attached to her knee.

She bit her lip as she pulled a few duffel bags out of her closet. She threw them toward the bed and made a quick work of throwing the clothes from her closet onto the bed as well.

When she turned back around, she watched Raven folding the clothes from her spot on her bed.

It was strange how someone she barely even knew was helping her like this. And the person was Raven Reyes. She sighed and made her way toward Raven. She gestured softly toward her knee. "What happened?"

Raven didn't even look up from folding. "Softball last year." She shrugged. "It sucks but you do what you can."

She nods to herself before she crosses her cardigan-covered arms. "I never noticed it last year."

Raven looked up. "I didn't want anyone too." She looked down at the dress in her hands before she looked up again. "But it's part of me."

She thought about the scars covering her skin. Reflections of the day she lost her father now embedded onto her skin for the rest of her life. "How did you-?" She gestures lamely with her hand.

Raven slowly gets a smile. It starts to take up her entire face before she shrugs. "I met Wick." Raven says like she's supposed to know who Wick is. "He just – he made me realize it was okay to love what I was and what I wasn't. He made me better."

Her mind instantly flashes to a tan face covered in freckles.

"But I think I would have gotten there myself." Raven turns back to the clothes in her hands, smiling a bit as she continues to fold. "I just needed that small push."

She nods and begins to help Raven pack her clothes and a few handfuls of extras. Like her computer, her father's favorite watch and her art supplies.

It stings but as she makes her way toward Raven's truck with bags hung on her shoulders, she feels slightly lighter.

…

She stares up at the apartment building.

Raven lets out a small whistle from her spot next to her on the sidewalk. "This is definitely a change of scenery."

She nods a bit as she adjusts the bags on her shoulders. "Thanks for driving me and for well, everything else."

Raven makes a face and shrugs her right shoulder like it wasn't that big of a deal. "Don't go around telling people." Raven smiles and she finds herself smiling right back. It grows silent. Raven kicks at the ground. "If you ever need help packing or whatever. You can call me but like whatever."

She smiles to herself and looks at the ground before focusing on Raven's face. "Sounds good."

Raven nods and gestures toward the building. "You sure you're alright here?"

"Yeah." She looks toward the building herself. "I should be."

She stands on the concrete and watches Raven pull away from the curb, waving as she does so. She takes a deep breath and makes her way up toward the familiar apartment. She sighs to herself as she knocks on the door.

It's quiet for a few minutes before the door is slowly pulled open. A sleepy Bellamy Blake before her. His hair is all over the place and he's in the middle of a yawn before he focuses on her. He tilts his head and takes in her bags.

"Hi." Her voice is soft and her smile from seeing him so sleepy. She wondered when he got off work last night.

"Hi." He opens the door wider. She gives out a small breath and she makes her way into the apartment. She watches him close the door behind her. He wipes his eyes and looks at her with a small frown. "You alright?"

She nods and holds tightly to the straps of her bags. "I didn't really know where else to go." She finds herself mumbling out everything to him in short breaths. His eyes grew clearer but the concerned look didn't leave his face. "I just need a few days and then I'll – I'll figure something out."

He shook his head and came toward her. Slowly pulling the bags off of her shoulders. "You're staying."

She sighed. "Bellamy." He continued to take the bags off of her shoulders. "I don't have a job." Her eyes grew wide. "I don't have any money and I don't even have a school."

She felt her chest start to heave and before she knew it, Bellamy was standing before her. His nose almost touching hers, his hands on either side of her face. "We'll figure it out."

She let out a deep breath and brought her hands to cover his. "I'll find a job and I'll clean the apartment and-." She was cut off by his lips covering hers.

He pulled back slowly and smiled at her. "We'll figure it out."

She nodded and leaned in to kiss him quickly before she pulled away. She watched him lean down before picking up her bags and walking down the small hallway to his room.

She let out another breath once he placed her bags onto his bedroom floor. What was she doing? She was no longer going to Yale. She was no longer living at home. She was no longer her mother's- she stopped her thoughts. Thinking about her mother was about to cause her to fall into something she wasn't sure she could get out of again.

Without much thought she plopped down onto the unmade bed. Within a few minutes, she felt Bellamy plop down next to her on his side. He brought his arm across her wait and his head into her neck.

His voice was softer than when he first opened the apartment door. "Are you going to be okay?"

She curled into him. Bringing her hands into his hair. Her voice was softer than his. "I don't know."

He let out a deep breath against her neck before he quickly pulled himself away from her. He stood up and quickly pushed his dresser away from the wall. She sat up and rested on her elbows as she watched him. "What are you doing?"

He turned toward her. "Do you have paint?" She nodded and he gestured toward his blank wall. "Paint something."

"Bellamy."

"Will it make you feel better?" She thought about her bag full of paints and other art supplies as she slowly nodded. "So paint."

She sat up quickly and made a quick work of opening her bag and dumping out her supplies. She pulled out her paints and set them out side by side on the floor before Bellamy had plopped a glass of water next to her; she didn't even see him leave the room. She smiled at him and watched him sit on the corner of his bed. He smiled at her and she smiled back before turning toward the wall.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed but eventually his bare wall was covered in a replica of Starry Night. Her hands were covered in blue once she was finished but she felt Bellamy wrap his arms around her from behind. She leaned into him as he pressed a kiss into her hair. "It's beautiful."

She nodded and turned into him. "Thank you." She let out a breath. "For everything. For painting your wall and for-."

He kissed her again.

She made a small face as he pulled away. "I'm seeing a pattern here."

He shrugged and looked so young when he smiled. "I'm going to go get dinner and get Octavia. Take a nap, alright?" He kissed her forehead. "Turn your head off."

She nodded and watched him go. She let out a small breath before she turned toward the unmade bed. She plopped down and before she knew it, she was asleep.

…

She woke up to someone poking her nose.

Her eyes widened as she took in the dark eyes of her best friend who was propped up on his side. "Hi?"

He let out a small laugh. "Hi."

She rubbed her eyes and tried to take in the fact that Wells Jaha was laying next to her in Bellamy Blake's bedroom. "How did you-?"

Wells laughed softly before he smiled at her. "I got this call from your number." He holds his pinky and thumb up to his ear. He takes a deep breath and clears his throat. "Uh- Wells?" She laughs at his impression of the boy whose bed they are currently laying in. Wells smirks as he pulls his hand away from his ear. "I'm very confused at this point but I answer anyway." He brings the hand back toward his ear. "It's Bellamy. You should come here and uh - bring a pillow." Wells lowers his hand and lets out a small chuckle. "I had to call him back to get the address."

She smiles softly and takes in the dark blue pillow that she's familiar with. "You didn't have to come."

Wells face grows serious. "Of course I did." He smiles at her softly. "Why didn't you call me?"

She shrugs, not really understanding so herself. "I didn't want to bother you."

"Clarke." He says her name so softly and so sadly that it makes her already start to cry. Without a moments notice, she's in the arms of her best friend. "You can always call me. You can always need me."

She feels like a small child when they used to have sleepovers just like this. Under forts they used to make and secrets they used to share in the dark. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

It's quiet again before Wells pulls away and smiles down at her. "You'll figure it out."

She pulls away and lets out a breath. "What if I don't?"

Wells smiles at her that same smile that he always smiles at her. The one that feels like a Sunday day drive with the people you love or your favorite song coming on the radio. "That's what I'm for, yeah?"

She nods and cries again but it isn't as broken because she isn't as broken. She's in the bed of the boy she dreams about with the boy who holds all her secrets. It doesn't make sense and in the morning everything will be hard and it might hurt but right now, it feels all right. She feels like she isn't a sad story and if she is, she's slowly getting rewritten.

She hears Bellamy and Octavia in the kitchen and before she knows it, Octavia is wildly yelling that Bellamy got Chinese food for dinner. Again, it's not normal but it's hers and it feels like home in a way.

Wells nudges her and gestures toward the wall as they stand up. "Nice painting."

Her laughter fills up the whole room.