Originally the plan was to take Clarke's car to the event; however, after seeing the atrocity Bellamy hadn't adamantly refused to even sit inside. It would be putting it politely to call Clarke's car a piece of junk. It was a box of rust balanced precariously on a set of worn-out tires that looked like they had been made fifty years ago. Clarke's argument that she had "gotten a great deal" did nothing to reassure Bellamy that it was capable of getting them to their destination in one piece.

So it was with a sigh of defeat that Clarke got into the passenger side of Bellamy's car, which was by no means a showpiece itself. At least it was made in the last decade though. And at least it started more than fifty-percent of the time, which Bellamy learned much to his horror, Clarke wasn't able to say about her own car.

Aside from Clarke's initial refusal in the beginning about the car situation, she actually wasn't a terrible companion. In between reviewing her notes during the drive, she politely asked about his family (one sister Octavia who lived with him in the city), why he chose to be in security (he needed to pay off his student loans and it turned out he was actually good at it), and where he saw himself in five years (alive and doing whatever felt right at the time).

Any attempt at getting Clarke to share personal facts was met with a cordial but swiftly-deflecting response. It wasn't that Bellamy didn't already know practically Clarke's entire life story, but he had learned his lesson earlier in just assuming things. She was definitely not what he had expected when being first given the job.

After a few minutes he got the hint though and didn't try to ask her any more questions, instead just letting her study in papers in silence. After all, he wasn't being paid to socialize. He had effectively protected plenty of people in the past six months without having spoken a word to them. Clarke was different though. Not rich and snobby like most, and so he found himself actually wanting to talk to her. Every time he had asked her a question though, her posture not-so-subtly stiffened.

Being still quite early, they got through traffic with no problem and arrived at the Griffin house just a few minutes before 7:00. Bellamy had never been there himself, having just passed by occasionally when he was leaving town on a trip or for business. So he had never looked too closely at the place.

He was slightly surprised then to see a gate and security system in place. He was even more surprised when Clarke unbuckled her seat belt and leaned over his lap to speak into the machine. "Hello, this is Clarke Griffin. Could you please buzz me in?" There was a moment of silence and then a faint buzzing sound as the gates unlocked and swung open. "Thank you." Then she crawled back over to her seat, slightly flushed. She turned to Bellamy with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I'm usually in the driver's seat and it's cold outside."

Bellamy cracked a grin at her explanation. "No problem." As the gates stilled, open wide for their passage, he put the car back into drive and pulled through. Passing a cluster of trees, the full expanse of the house came into view. He whistled appreciatively. "Wow."

"I know," Clarke said, and something in her voice made Bellamy tilt his head to look at her. She was staring up at the building not as one would expect with a childhood home. Instead what he saw was a thinly veiled look of disgust. Catching his eye, she quickly schooled her features and attempted a smile. "A castle fit for princess, huh?" she asked sarcastically, reshuffling the papers in her lap.

He thought about the direction of his response for only a moment. As they reached the front of the house, Bellamy leaned over to whisper in Clarke's ear. "I don't know. It seems a little plain to me." At that moment a man dressed in a suit came down the front steps to the passenger side of the car. "Shouldn't there be a moat or something?"

Just as the man opened her door, Clarke let out a well-timed snort and burst into a fit of laughter. Bellamy hadn't thought his joke was that funny, but maybe Clarke just needed a good laugh.

The man, a butler or valet or something, smiled pleasantly at Clarke. "Oh, Fred! How are you?" she cried happily, just then spotting him and leaping out of the car to give him a hug. Although startled at first, he soon wrapped his arms around her as well.

When he stepped back, he tssked slightly at Clarke's now disheveled clothes. With a quick side eye at the house, Fred the valet/butler quickly patted them flat. As Bellamy stepped out of the car, he saw Fred lean discreetly towards Clarke and whisper something. Immediately she stopped laughing and the smile dropped from her face. Although already fixed, she ran her hands down the front of her clothes to smooth out the imaginary wrinkles again.

Clarke was gathering her things from the passenger seat when Bellamy had made his way to the other side of the car. "Fred, this is Bellamy Blake, my personal security guard for the day." Her tone had suddenly grown formal and entirely unlike her. Or at least unlike anything he had heard come out of Clarke's mouth since he had met her that morning. Bellamy just nodded at Fred, keeping an eye on Clarke in concern. She kept glancing up at the house as if it was going to spontaneously combust.

After giving Fred the keys to his car and thanking him, they began the climb up the steep steps to the front door. "Is everything alright?" Bellamy asked when he knew they were out of earshot. When Clarke didn't respond, he tugged on her arm to get her to stop. "Clarke, if something has happened, I need to know-"

"It is nothing concerning security," she muttered back shortly, wrenching her arm from his grasp. A flicker of apprehension crossed her features and she closed her eyes. When she had opened them again, her gaze was steeled. Bellamy recognized the look well. It was the face for the press, one that he had seen countless others put on before. He'd thought that Clarke was different than the others when he saw her apartment, but he supposed everyone had to have a façade when under so much public scrutiny. Why she needed it at her own house though when none of the press had arrived yet was beyond him.

"If something is bothering you then-" he started, only to be cut off again.

"It's nothing." Clarke let out a sigh so quiet Bellamy was almost sure he had imagined it, then said, "My parents are back home."

Bellamy had nothing to say to that. He had been prepared for a number of excuses about her change in mood. However, having her parents be home was not one of them. Before he could say anything else the front door was opening and there was Abigail Griffin there to greet them. "Hi mom," Clarke said with, it seemed, as much fake gusto as she could muster. If her mother didn't flinch at the poor attempt, Bellamy did it for her.

"Clarke, it's lovely to see you," Abigail Griffin replied with a stilted smile as she ran her eagle eyes over Bellamy. He swallowed thickly at the awkwardness of it all and reached out a hand to introduce himself. When Abigail Griffin didn't take it, Clarke coughed and pushed into the house, leaving both Bellamy and her mother at the door.

When all three were inside with the door closed, Clarke turned to her mother. "Mom, this is Bellamy Blake. He is my personal security guard for the day." If Clarke's tone had turned formal with Fred outside, her voice now was downright cold.

"Oh!" the elder Griffin exclaimed, reaching out for Bellamy's hand. The same one that he had offered earlier. "It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Blake. Although, if I had known you would be needing security Clarke, I could have certainly gotten someone from our usual company for the day. You know how we like to keep all of our hires… in-house."

Clarke ignored her mother's obvious dig. "Is Dad in his room?" she asked, not waiting for a response and already heading down the hallway. Bellamy followed close behind, flashing Abigail Griffin what he hoped was a neutral acknowledgement. When they reached a closed door towards the end, Clarke halted and spun around to face Bellamy. "I will be just a few minutes," she said, glancing back at the door. "Would you want to look around the house at your own pace? Get a feel for things?"

When Bellamy agreed, Clarke seemed relieved, as if she was worried it was going to take more effort to get rid of him. "Great!" she exclaimed, although her voice was far from happy. "I will come find you when I'm done and show you the rooms where everything is going to be held. Sound good?"

She directed Bellamy back the way they had come and explained how to get upstairs. When Bellamy reached the end of the hall, he looked over his shoulder expecting Clarke to have already gone. Instead, he found her still standing outside the room. He could visibly see her hands shaking and for a moment considered saying something. But then he heard her take a deep breath and reach for the door handle.

Bellamy waited until she had gone in before leaving the hallway and not for the first time that day he was reminded that not everything was what it appeared to be with Clarke Griffin.

Like the last time... written and posted with little to no revision. I think after I finish I will do a sweep through to clean everything up.

I really wasn't planning on continuing this, but did throw that out there on the first chapter to see what everyone else thought. Urgh. And then five minutes after the first review I started back in on this again. I already have a few unfinished fics (including a 100 fic from way back in Dec/Jan that I still get notifications on... *sigh* Basically I suck.)

So let me know what you think and I will try my best to keep on writing and finish!

(And I am going to try to end each chapter with some sort of conclusion just in case this doesn't get finished you all will be remotely satisfied and not hate me! So it will be like a series of one-shots that are actually connected together... so not a series of one-shots really...)