A big thank you to Lisa vas Normandy for giving me feedback on this chapter and helping me make it even better. My beta has been busy lately so she didn't have time to look this over; since I didn't want you guys to have to wait another month I'm posting it anyway. So I apologies for my grammar ahead of time.

When I entered the living room I found Lincoln by himself, putting the movie into the DVD player.

"Hey man where did my sister run off to?"

"She decided to change, I guess being in a dress and heels isn't ideal for watching a movie."

"Clarke's doing the same, you can borrow something if you want to get out of your suit."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm probably going to head out soon. I promised my parents I would visit them over the break." It was clear I wasn't going to find an opening to talk about my sister, might as well just dive in and hope for the best.

"So you and Octavia how's that going?" Lincoln chuckled and I think it was the first time since he showed up earlier in the evening that I saw his carefully placed facade fade a little.

"I was wondering when this conversation was going to happen, I've been worrying about it since I walked through the door."

"I guess Octavia warned you I can be a little bit overbearing at times."

"She might have mentioned something along those lines."

"Look I've caused Octavia to be cut out from having a social life for a long time now and I don't want to be a hindrance to her happiness anymore. I can't say that I'm a fan that you're older than her. I'm afraid it might lead you to expect more from her than she's ready for. However, I've seen the way you are with her and I do get the feeling that you really care about her, am I wrong?"

"I do, care about her, I swear. To be honest I tend to keep to myself most of the time, I didn't plan on Octavia happening. She doesn't really take no for an answer when it's something she really wants." It was my turn to laugh, they might not have been together for long, but Lincoln understood my sister that much was clear.

"Yes, she is pretty stubborn when she wants to be. Look I'm not going to intimidate you or anything, but do know that if you hurt her in anyway I've got her back and I will make sure you pay for it."

"Dully noted."

"Clarke mentioned that you're going with them to this New Years party."

"That's right, I didn't feel comfortable letting Octavia go by herself. Boys that age aren't to be trusted around alcohol." I don't know if he was saying this to butter me up so I would like him more or if he truly believed that, but in that moment I decided that Lincoln was trustworthy enough to be with my sister. None of the guys from school would respect her like he does.

"Good, did Octavia mention anything to you about my relationship with Clarke?"

"She did say something about you keeping it on the down low at school, but she didn't really go into specifics."

"We are, so at the party I won't really be able to be with her, so I was wondering …"

"I know this must be hard for you, so I'll make it easy, I'll look out for your girl, you don't even have to ask."

"Thanks."

After what seem to be an eternity the girls finally came back into the living room. I knew it normally took girls a long time to get dressed, but this time was a little ridiculous. Looking at Octavia's mischievous smile and the fact that they were both holding their cell phones as the entered the room, I wondered if they had planned for Lincoln and I to have more time to talk. Octavia must really be serious about him if she was going through so much trouble to make sure I got along with him.

"Hey babe anything happen while I was gone?" Clarke whispered into my ear, probably trying to find out how my conversation with Lincoln had gone.

"No fistfight broke out if that's what your wondering. You were right he's a pretty decent guy and he makes O happy so I won't stand in the way of that." My civility earned me a kiss on the cheek and a very proud looking girlfriend.

Lincoln only stayed for half the moving, reluctantly leaving, but Octavia appeared to have had such a great evening it didn't put a damper on her mood. Once he was gone Octavia pulled Clarke into her room probably to gush over her new boyfriend. I wasn't very please with losing my girlfriend, but since she was spending the night I figured I'd let O borrow her for a little bit. Plus since it got me out of watching the end of this movie I couldn't really complain.

Clarke and I hadn't exchanged gifts yet, I was pretty nervous about what I had gotten for her. I had noticed a couple weeks back a sketchbook in Clarke's room, it was full of beautiful drawings she had done ever the years. I had never realised before how talented she was, when I mentioned it to her she tried to brush it off as a hobby but I could tell by the way she talked about it that it was a true passion. One of her sketches was of her and her father when she was about five years old; one night while she was asleep I removed it so I could have it framed. I just hoped it wasn't too personal a gift. I had hesitated a lot before having it done, wondering whether we were at that stage yet. I was so out of my depth for things like this I could only hope for the best.

I was starting to fall asleep when Clarke finally joined me in bed.

"How's Octavia?"

"Incredibly happy, and gratefully to you for making an effort."

"She deserves it." I noticed Clarke holing a little box in her hands.

"Is that for me?"

"Maybe." Before taking it from her hands I got up to get her gift and watched as she opened it first. As soon as she saw the drawing tears started to spill out of her eyes.

"Clarke I'm so sorry I didn't mean to upset you, it's just when I saw it I knew it had to be framed and placed somewhere special."

"Oh no Bell I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm thankful this is a beautiful gift. Now open yours." Inside the box I found a watch, it was still in great shape, but it was obvious it was used.

"The watch was my dad's I bought it for him when I was 14, it means a lot to me but seeing it in his closet unused seemed unless, I wanted someone important to have it."

"Clarke I will wear it with pride." I guess we were at the stage of exchanging personal and emotional gifts. The idea that we were getting more serious was extremely scary, but the idea of not having her in my life was scarier. So I pushed down my fears and hugged Clarke like there was no tomorrow.

-:-

Since meeting my mother Clarke started coming around for dinner more often. She even made plans with my mom and Octavia to go out shopping for graduation dresses. It was nice to see all the important people in my life getting along.

I was really dreading going to this New Years party but I had promised the boys. Also Octavia and Clarke's mind was set on going. Octavia wanted Clarke to experience her first high school party before she graduated. I knew Lincoln was coming along, but I didn't really want to let Clarke out of my sight. These parties tended to get out of hand rather quickly.

The girls were getting ready at Clarke's knowing Miller was picking me up and I wanted to avoid him interacting with Clarke as much as possible, especially since she was planning on wearing that sinfully inappropriate black dress. I tried talking her out of it and going in an old pair of sweat pants but that conversation didn't go over very well.

"So you get to look incredibly hot and I have to watch girls throw themselves at you all night long but I'm supposed to dress like I'm going to gym class. I don't think so Bellamy Blake. I'll see you at the party tonight." Just as quickly as she reached the door to my bedroom she turned back towards me.

"10, 9, 8, 7,…"

"Clarke what are you doing?" She didn't answer and continued her countdown until she reached 1.

"Happy New Year Bellamy." Then she reached for the back of my neck bringing my lips down to meet hers. "Since I won't get to do that tonight I figure I'd get it out of my system now."

"Clarke."

"Its fine, you can make it up to me later." I knew the secrecy was starting to be too much for her, and if I was being honest it was started to take its toll on me too.

-:-

Standing alone with a beer in my hands I watched Clarke in the distance having fun with O, Lincoln and his friend Nyko who I was briefly introduced to when they arrived. At this moment I really couldn't remember why I thought it was a good idea not to tell anyone about us.

Clarke looked smoking hot in her outfit, and I wasn't the only one who took notice. The guys in the room weren't approaching her, but their eyes were clearly undressing her. Part of me was thrilled that despite not being next to her, she was wearing the bracelet I had gotten for her and my little B was proudly hanging off her wrist. I wasn't sure what I was thinking when I bought it, part of me loved the idea of marking her as mine this way. If I couldn't hold onto her in public at least I knew that when she was wearing the bracelet with my initial on it, it served as a signal to guys that she belonged to someone.

She seemed to be hitting it off with this Nyko dude; they were in an animated conversation. I got a little closer to them trying to easedrop.

"So do you know what you plan on specializing in?"

"I'm not sure yet, I was thinking maybe brain surgery, but I guess I'll discover more about my interest once I have to do rotations. How about you?"

"Not sure, I'm not decided on going to medical school. I like the idea of helping people, but not sure it's my calling in life. But maybe pediatrics, I'd like to be able to help children."

"That's a good field, but you have to be strong of heart to see all these children in need."

So it appeared that Nyko was doing the pre-med program, I felt completely out of my depth and I wasn't even part of the conversation. Clarke was meant to do great things, and I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to get into a decent community college. At this moment I felt a little underserving of her, seeing her talking with someone as smart and well off as her was difficult. She was so special and I was nothing but a screw up most of the time.

I couldn't handle watching them together, he was clearly into her and there was nothing I could do about it. Only able to watch at a distance as he flirted with her, of course Clarke was completely oblivious to his intentions. I wondered how far he would have to go for her to realize that he liked her. Don't these college guys have people their own age they could be hanging out with?

"Bellamy where have you been I've been looking for you everywhere? I've got these two chicks totally wasted I'm sure if we play our cards right we can score tonight." I was hoping to avoid this, being Murphy's wingman was never pleasant.

"I don't know man, I don't really feel up to it tonight."

"Come on Bellamy, she won't leave with me unless she knows her friend is taken care of. You owe me after bailing so much over the past couple of months. Your sister's with her boyfriend I'm sure he can look after her, stop hovering it's not like you."

"I'll come with you, but no guarantees I'll be interested in this girl."

"That's good enough for me, let's go."

Murphy wasn't kidding when he said they were wasted, one of the girls could barely stand. Murphy was like a predator circling around his prey, it was actually pretty disgusting. I sent Murphy to get more beers, and when he left me alone with the girls I managed to convince them to leave and head home before they did something they would regret. When Murphy returned he was more than a little pissed at me.

"I'm sorry man; I don't know what to say they wanted to leave. Maybe you should have asked Miller you know I've been off my game lately."

"True but I didn't think you could screw up with those two, they were perfect. Anyway Miller had other plans in mind for tonight. I'm hoping he can finally bang her out of his system, so I don't have to hear about it anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"The princess, Miller's making his move. When he saw her show up earlier he made up his mind." Shit Clarke, I knew this party was a terrible idea. Thank god O was here to watch over her. I gave Murphy some lame excuse and rushed back into the main room to check up on Clarke. Octavia and Lincoln were nowhere to be seen, hell I even would have preferred to have Nyko still hovering around her but he also seemed to have disappeared. Miller on the other hand was all over my girl as she tried to get out of his grip.

Nobody touches my girl and gets away with it.

Fuck it this was do or die.

I didn't think about it, not what this would mean for us and the consequences it could imply for Clarke and me at school. All I knew was that Clarke looked desperate to get away from him and I needed to get to her.

I quickly crossed the room and grabbed Miller by the collar. He barely had time to register what was happening before he was on the floor. Clarke immediately relaxed as I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me.

"Bellamy what the fuck."

"Nobody touches Clarke, is that clear, she's mine." I heard people gasp from all sides of the room, but the only one that got my attention was from Clarke herself.

"Bell what are you doing?" She was trying to speak in hushed tones, but with everyone's eyes on us I'm sure our conversation was on full display.

"Something I should have done a long time ago." I turned away from her to face the crowd, finally ready to stake my claim on the beautiful girl next to me.

"Clarke and I are together, if I see anybody give her a hard time and try anything with her they'll have to answer to me." I shot Miller a pointed expression, he looked incredibly angry, and I had a feeling that after tonight I was out of friends. But as I held onto Clarke's hand dragging her away, it really didn't matter.

I knew Clarke had come with her car but I didn't want to leave my little sister stranded. As if she was reading my thoughts Clarke mentioned that Lincoln had his car. So after a quick text to Octavia to let her know we were leaving, I took Clarke's keys and opened the passenger side for her. She remained silent the entire drive to her place. I couldn't read her, was she mad at me for the display I had put on?

When we entered her house she finally exploded.

"Bellamy what were you thinking, what happened to not saying anything? And since when do you feel the need to be all possessive over me. You never had a problem with acting like we were nothing to each other before. What's going on?"

"Seeing you tonight looking so beautiful and being hit on by Nyko it was just a little much, I felt infuriated with myself for not being able to stand next to you. And then Miller started touching you, you haven't heard what he's been saying about you over lunch. He wants you bad, seeing him with his hands all over you something snapped, I wanted no I needed everyone to know that you were mine."

"Bell."

"I should have done this a while back Clarke; I guess I was just scared that everything would change if we came out in the open. But I don't want to hide anymore; I want to walk down the hall next to you holding your hand to show the world that you're mine. Clarke I know we're from two different worlds and we shouldn't work but we do. You make me so happy I can't even describe the feeling. Clarke Griffin I'm in love with you." That was it, my entire heart out in the open and exposed. A word from her and I would be destroyed or she would make me the happiest man alive. My faith was hanging in the balance. I gathered my courage and looked up towards Clarke, I had been unable to look her in the eyes as I poured my heart out. The sight before me filled my heart with joy, Clarke had the biggest smile on her face and her eyes were filled with tears, which I choose to believe were tears of joy.

"Bellamy Blake you can't ever do things the normal way, but I couldn't imagine you any other way. And if you didn't already know I love you too."

Her declaration was like music to my ears, gently I took her head in my hands locking my eyes with hers. I had told her how I felt, and now I wanted to show her. I kissed her pouring all my feelings it. We made love that night; it was slow and passionate.

This was a great start to the New Year.

Next chapter things are going to start to shift, as I will FINALLY reach the part of the story with the prompt that inspired this whole thing.

Thank you for the comments and followers, you guys are awesome.