"Where are we going?" Clarke asked, hoping that the slight tremor in her voice would be taken as apprehension at descending a dark stairwell lit only by the beam from a small flashlight. Whereas it actually sprang from her sudden realization that they seemed to be heading directly toward the spot where Miller was more than likely waiting for Octavia and Raven to exit.
"You'll see," Cadogan told her, moving steadily downward. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."
"Why? What is this place?"
Clarke asked the question exactly like she wasn't intimately familiar with the space. Like she hadn't been chased down that same stairway a few months earlier. Like she didn't know precisely what lay at the end of it.
And like she and Bellamy hadn't betrayed each other in nearby rooms a hundred years in the future. And then had to find a way to forgive each other.
But that was the old timeline, she reminded herself. The one in which they'd suffered one catastrophe, one tragedy, after another.
The one they were going to erase.
This time, the Earth and all its people would not be destroyed, and Clarke and Bellamy and all those who'd survived with them, would have a chance to make a real life.
She forced herself to be calm, told herself they'd find a way to overcome the risk of Cadogan entering the bunker at this most inopportune moment. Because… didn't they always?
"Doesn't this place have lights?" Bellamy asked. "A concrete stairway seems pretty hazardous in the dark."
Just like when they'd been headed for Cadogan's office, Clarke noted that the volume of Bellamy's deep tones had risen ever so slightly, a warning to the others to make themselves scarce.
"Lights have been installed down here," Cadogan assured him, "but they haven't been activated yet."
"Why the hell not?"
As they stumbled along in the dark, Clarke wasn't sure if Bellamy was prolonging their conversation with Cadogan as a further warning to their friends, or if he was actually trying to get information about the cult leader's plans.
Maybe both.
"Just for now, it discourages some of my more… inquisitive members from investigating the space."
"And yet… you're bringing us down here when you hardly know us. Why's that?"
Bellamy's probing question brought Cadogan to a sudden halt. He paused on a landing and turned his flashlight back on them as they stood above him on the stairway.
"I'm… not really sure," he said with a small shrug. "But ever since we met, I've had this feeling that our destinies are somehow… intertwined. That you're meant to be here, to accompany me on my great adventure."
"An adventure?" Bellamy tossed out the words lightly, as though they were mostly a great joke. "I'm not sure how much longer we'll even be in the DC area, Bill. Clarke and I never like to stay in one place for too long."
"That's my fault," Clarke added hurriedly, hoping she sounded like the dilettante she was pretending to be. "I'm always in need of fresh inspiration for my art."
By then, they'd reached the bottom of the staircase, and Cadogan turned to them again, this time with a condescending smile.
"I'm absolutely certain that once the adventure begins, Clarke, you'll find enough inspiration to last a lifetime."
At that moment, Clarke had no doubt the man believed every word he was saying.
Bellamy chuckled dismissively. "You don't know Clarke, Bill! She loses interest pretty fast. And like I said, we won't be around that long…"
"Will you be here for another week or two?" Cadogan interjected, his most direct question yet.
Clarke's eyes flew to meet Bellamy's.
Another week or two? That was more than a month ahead of the original date that the missiles had been launched and the bombs dropped. Becca had said he was moving up the delivery date, but this was fast, very fast…
Clarke's heart began to race, but then she remembered that at that very moment Becca and Raven were ensuring that ALIE would soon be destroyed. The trick was in not letting on to Cadogan that his plans were about to be thwarted. In not allowing him to think for even one second that he wasn't completely in control of the fate of the world.
"We might be," Bellamy said, shrugging, as though his brief wordless consultation with Clarke had been about nothing more important than their personal travels. And not a recalibration of their mission timeline to sabotage Cadogan's efforts to destroy the world.
"Good." Cadogan's smile was back, more self-confident than ever. As though somehow the prospective participation of these new "friends" would assure the success of his plans.
"So what is this place?" Clarke asked again. "You never did say."
Cadogan hesitated. "It's meant to be a place of… refuge," he said finally.
"Refuge from what?"
The smile was back. "That remains to be seen."
Bellamy frowned. "But it's just one enormous space…"
"Ah! I can assure you there are very adequate individual chambers on the floors above, but this space at the bottom will be our gathering place. Where the Second Dawn faithful can meet and… refresh themselves."
He played his light along the opposite wall until it landed on the spot where the Second Dawn symbol had been etched boldly across it. The very same etching, Clarke was almost certain, that she and Bellamy had seen and recognized on their first day in the 21st century.
Bellamy nodded. "I… see," he said, his tone vague. As though he didn't see at all!
That brought an outright grin from Cadogan.
"I understand you have doubts, Bellamy, but I believe those will disappear when the time comes."
Bellamy shrugged. "Perhaps. But right now I think we should probably head back to the party. My… wife doesn't really enjoy confined spaces…"
Clarke shivered in a way that she hoped would convey to Cadogan that she was, in fact, somewhat claustrophobic.
"Yeah, I'm really kind of… uncomfortable, Bill, so if we could maybe go back…"
Clarke hoped her claims to be distressed would end the bunker tour. She was certain that from whatever spot he'd chosen to hide, Miller could both see and hear them and was probably wondering why the hell they were still lingering.
"Of course," Cadogan nodded politely. "Although I'm certain you'd get used to the refuge in time. But I'm afraid we can't leave quite yet."
"Why not? Sorry, but it's really a little creepy down here."
"Just a few more minutes, Clarke. There's something important you need to see. It's the reason I brought you down here."
From the sudden excitement in Cadogan's voice, she knew she'd been right, that they were heading for the stone. She only hoped that Miller had figured that out, too, and already moved as far away from it as possible.
As Cadogan led them across the cavernous space, she prayed he wouldn't shine his flashlight downward where there were certain to be at least a few scuff marks from all the recent activity. But he didn't, instead moving swiftly toward his objective, confident in the knowledge that his bunker, his stone, and his plans for the world were safe from discovery.
When they reached the stone, Clarke was hit with a curious feeling of unreality. She swayed slightly, and found her hand suddenly engulfed in Bellamy's much larger one. But she wasn't sure if he was offering support or seeking it himself.
Cadogan's eyes nearly glowed as he gazed on the stone.
"So what do you think?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Bellamy nodded. "It's… certainly extraordinary-looking. But… what's it for? Some kind of boundary marker? Or maybe a monument?"
"Oh, I think it's much more than that," Cadogan murmured.
"Yeah? So… where'd it come from?"
"Oh. I, uh… I picked it up on my travels. In South America."
"Yeah? Okay. So, maybe all these symbols are some kind of… I don't know… South American version of the Rosetta Stone? Probably translates a few languages."
"That sounds plausible," Clarke chimed in. "What did the experts say?"
"Experts?" Cadogan frowned at what was apparently an unexpected question.
"Yeah, you know. Archaeologists and… people like that."
Cadogan gaped at them. "I haven't shown this stone to anyone but a few of my own people," he said. "And I'd hope you wouldn't mention it to anyone."
"Course not," Clarke said quickly. "It's your, uh, your thing, and you get to decide who knows about it. I'd just be… curious, you know, if it was mine."
"I have my own experts, Clarke, and we've already figured out the important part." Cadogan's voice brimmed with confidence. "And it has nothing at all to do with languages."
"No?" Clarke could feel her heart beginning to race as Bellamy squeezed her hand. "Then… what is it?"
"It's a gateway," he said with complete certainty.
"A gateway… to where?"
Bellamy had asked the question, and Clarke wondered how he could possibly sound so calm when she could scarcely breathe.
Could Cadogan actually have uncovered the secrets of the object that was sitting in the middle of his bunker? The prospect was horrifying.
Cadogan smiled. "I'd think that was pretty obvious. It's a gateway to another dimension, another universe. Perhaps even a mirror image of our own."
He stared at them. "I suppose you think that's impossible but I can assure you both that we've been studying the stone for years, and have deciphered many of its symbols…"
"Not at all," Clarke assured him, relief coursing through her that the man hadn't divined the true purpose of the stone at all and was instead veering wildly in the wrong direction.
She was happy to keep him on that path. "How exciting!"
Bellamy let go of Clarke's hand to wave his arms around him.
"So the fact that the stone is here… does that have anything to do with your great adventure?"
Bellamy had phrased the question with the vagueness of a half-believer, but Clarke knew he was hoping for a concrete answer. Information that would give them some insight about the man's ultimate goal.
"Well, perhaps not right away," Cadogan began, but Clarke's hopes that they might learn something useful were dashed when his reply was interrupted by a sudden loud thump.
"What was that?" he said, immediately shifting gears. "No one is supposed to be down here."
"Are you sure the noise came from here?" Clarke asked disingenuously. "Your whole building's full of people dancing and having a good time. Noise can echo from anywhere."
But Cadogan wasn't persuaded, and he pivoted suddenly, turning his flashlight beam in the direction of the second staircase. The one that led up to the panel that opened onto the secret passageway.
"I don't see how you're going to be able to check this whole place out, Bill," Bellamy said reasonably, "especially without lights. Why don't we go back upstairs and see if something's happened?"
"You're right," Cadogan nodded, stopping abruptly. "I can't do this on my own, I'll need to get security down here."
Clarke thought it was a good thing he was looking down as he pulled out his phone to make his call. Otherwise he couldn't possibly have missed the look of horror that crossed Bellamy's face at his sudden realization that he'd just made a bad situation worse.
In her earpiece, Clarke could hear Miller's quietly panicked plea for help, but she had no idea how she and Bellamy could stop Cadogan from calling for security to search the bunker without giving themselves away.
But when he reached security, he'd barely said two words before the man at the other end burst into speech.
"We've got a sort of… situation here, sir!"
He was shouting so loudly over the din from the party that Clarke was able to hear every word.
"What kind of situation?"
"There's some kind of… of… riot on the grounds!"
"What do you mean a riot?" Cadogan's expression hovered somewhere between displeasure and disbelief.
"I'm not sure what started it, but now there's this huge crush at the door because everyone's rushin' around, pushin' and shoutin', and all tryna get inside at once. I've pulled all my guys to work the lobby and the grounds, tryna calm things down before the trouble works its way into the ballroom. So far it's okay, the band's still playin' and lotsa people are dancin', but I don't know if we're gonna be able to keep it that way…"
"Oh, for god's sake! How could you possibly let things get so out of hand? I'll be right there!"
"Looks like you get your wish after all, Clarke," Cadogan said tersely as he ended the call. "We'll have to cut our tour short."
Clarke shook her head, her mouth forming into a small moue of protest.
"Oh, no, Bill! I'm so sorry you to have to deal with something like this. What could have happened?"
He sighed. "Who knows? I'm sure it will be sorted soon, and at least it hasn't reached the ballroom."
They made their way up the stairs at a much faster clip than they'd descended, no doubt due to Cadogan's impatience to see what had interfered with his carefully-crafted self-congratulatory event.
"Maybe this was the noise you heard," Bellamy suggested off-handedly when they finally reached the tumult in the lobby.
Cadogan nodded. "No doubt. But the ballroom seems unaffected, so go and have another dance, since I interrupted the last one. And Bellamy," he added as they turned to leave him.
"Yes?"
"Don't wait too long to get in touch when you finally realize the truth of what I've been saying. I'm certain that your destiny, yours and Clarke's, are aligned with Second Dawn."
Bellamy nodded, shrugging lightly. "Perhaps you're right." he said.
Clarke thought it was unfortunate that Cadogan would never truly appreciate the extraordinary irony of Bellamy's statement.
Reaction was setting in by the time they made it back to the ballroom, and Clarke couldn't seem to stop her hands from shaking. That trip to the bunker had been too close for comfort.
Rosa caught her eye from across the room and made her way over.
"I can't believe Bill Cadogan actually spent that much time with you," she said quietly.
Clarke sighed. "Yes, he thinks we're his destiny."
Rosa gaped at them. "I believe he may be right."
Bellamy smiled at her. "We've got a lot to tell everyone tomorrow. Do you know if Becca and Raven finished doing their thing?"
Rosa nodded delicately toward the other side of the room where the esteemed Dr. Becca Franko was holding court with some of her more eminent colleagues.
"They're done? It worked?" Clarke could scarcely believe it.
And then at just that moment she heard Octavia's quiet voice in her earpiece.
"Bell. Clarke. We're all in the van on our way back to Rosa's. If you guys can't talk right now, just cough or something so we'll know…"
Bellamy eyed Clarke, who gave him a nod, and he turned quickly toward the wall.
"I can talk, O," he said quietly, barely moving his lips. "How did Becca and Raven make out?"
"Perfect, I'm pretty sure. But, uh, Raven's a little worried because she thinks she might have dropped her necklace…"
"I've got it," Clarke muttered hurriedly. "Don't worry, Raven."
"Thank god," came Raven's heartfelt reply.
"Save the rest for tomorrow," Bellamy said. "I'm out."
"Do you want to stay and dance?" he asked Clarke. "You hardly got to show off your dress."
And she did. She really wanted to stay and dance with Bellamy to the beautiful music the orchestra was still playing,
But not nearly as much as she wanted to be alone with him.
"I think I'd rather go before Cadogan decides to look for us again. I don't know how much more of the guy I can take. How did you get here, Rosa? Can we give you a ride home?"
"I came with old friends, so why don't you two just scoot along and have some time to yourselves."
Clarke smiled and gave her a quick hug. "If you're sure," she said, "then we'll see you tomorrow."
Bellamy reached down to hug Rosa, too, and she whispered to them both.
"Well done, my dears. Magnificent effort. Now get on home."
XXXXXXXXXX
The "riot" seemed to have somehow magically resolved itself, and Bellamy and Clarke made it out the door and through the grounds with no problem. But by the time they crossed the street in front of the Second Dawn building, Bellamy saw that Clarke was beginning to shiver.
"Hey, are you cold?"
But she shook her head as he started to pull off his jacket.
"I'm not cold, Bellamy. It's just… reaction. I just want to go home."
Bellamy nodded. "Yeah, that was damn stressful." His eyes closed briefly on a sigh. "And I can't believe how I almost fucked it all up,.."
She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and grabbed his arm.
"You couldn't have known he'd call security, Bellamy…"
"I should've realized."
He'd been berating himself silently for the past half hour and he wasn't about to stop now that he had a chance to do it out loud.
"Bullshit! We're a team, and you and I had the hard parts, so it seems fair that the others had to step up."
He shrugged, and they resumed walking toward where he'd parked the car.
"Yeah, I suppose." He grinned suddenly. "But I can't wait to find out how Indra and Echo managed to start a near-riot at a fancy gala."
Clarke laughed. "Me, too." Then more soberly, "But I'm so glad it's over."
Bellamy grabbed her hand as they came to yet another street corner, helping her across the road in her unfamiliar shoes… and never let go until the reached the car.
His mood became increasingly lighter as they drove back to the condo, arriving in record time courtesy of the thinning late-evening traffic. He couldn't believe they'd actually pulled it off! That Rosa's brilliant plan had worked. That despite a couple of close calls — Raven's necklace on the floor of Cadogan's office and whatever had made that thump in the bunker — they were now just a few hours away from achieving their objective.
Becca Franko's ALIE program was about to be destroyed. And that had been their mission.
He'd been feeling so light-hearted, in fact, that it was doubly strange that as soon as they crossed the threshold of the condo tension descended on them like a brick.
Bellamy suddenly realized it was the first time he and Clarke had had the place to themselves since Madi and the others had arrived and interrupted what had been a very private moment. Since then, they'd existed in a sort of limbo, pretending that things between them hadn't taken a more… intimate turn.
And then there'd been that kiss just before they left for the gala.
Clarke gave him a hesitant look before she headed toward the bedroom to change her clothes.
Should he follow her in and take off his suit?
But they'd never done that, and somehow he couldn't force himself to invade her privacy in that way. So instead, he went into the bathroom off the office to remove his clothes. It was only when he got down to his boxers that he realized he hadn't brought anything to change into, and that he'd have to return to the bedroom for the soft sleep pants.
Bellamy opened the door quietly, hoping Clarke was finished, but instead he found her sitting on the bed with her back to the door, still clad in the blue dress.
"Clarke, aren't you going to change for bed?"
"Yeah, sure. But, uh, I'm having some trouble with the zipper. Maybe you could… help me out?"
"Of course. Why don't you come over here?"
She rose and turned, her eyes widening when she saw he was dressed in nothing but his underwear. She'd kicked off her shoes, so when stood in front of him and turned her back, she was once again the half-a-head shorter that he was used to.
He reached for her zipper, but his hands began to shake, his breathing becoming shallow the second he touched her skin. As he pulled the zipper down, and more and more of her skin was exposed, Bellamy couldn't stop himself from running his hand lightly across her back.
When she trembled beneath his touch, a hot bolt of desire suddenly swept through him.
He could feel himself becoming hard.
"Clarke." He breathed out her name.
"Yeah?" Her voice was so soft he could barely hear her.
"You have no idea what you do to me," he said, bending hesitantly to suck lightly at the juncture of her neck and shoulder before soothing the spot with his tongue.
"Oh, god," she moaned, shifting her body just enough that the dress slid off her. Then she stepped out of it and turned to face him, clad only in her bra and panties.
He pulled her to him, embracing her tightly, their lips now only millimeters apart. Bellamy could hardly believe that after all these years Clarke Griffin was really in his arms.
"Are you sure this is what you want?"
"Don't you?" she asked, studying his face.
"More than anything."
Then he was kissing her, gently at first, but soon the kiss became wet and frantic, as though they suddenly couldn't get enough of one another. She reached up to wind her arms tightly around his neck, and when he thrust his tongue into her mouth she began to suck on it, tangling their tongues together as their hands found new places to touch and stroke.
They pulled apart finally, their breath coming in short heavy pants.
"I need to see you," he growled, unsnapping her bra, his breath catching as it fell to the floor and her heavy breasts came tumbling out.
"Oh, fuck, you are so unbelievable sexy," he muttered as he gazed down at her body.
Then he was grasping her waist to hold her steady while he bent to take her right nipple into his mouth, sucking strongly before he moved to left one. He could feel with his tongue that both nipples were rock hard.
"I've wanted you to touch me like this for so long," she moaned. "Dreamed of it."
"Yeah? So how does it feel now that it's happening? Because I could suck on your tits all night long."
"It feels… incredible. But… that's not all I want."
"No? What else do you want?" he said, whispering the question into her ear as he palmed her breasts.
She reached between them to lightly stroke the heavy cock that was already tenting his shorts. "I want this," she murmured, looking up at him with unconcealed desire as she rubbed herself against him.
"Oh, fuck," he breathed, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the bed.
They dragged down the bed covers and Clarke scrambled onto bed, settling herself in the middle as she plucked at the waistband of her panties, as if to remove them.
"Wait! Let me do that," he insisted. "I've had my fantasies, too, Clarke. And one of them was you letting me pull down your pants and finding that you're all wet for me. Are you wet for me?"
"Why don't you take a look," she said, lifting her ass off the bed so he could remove her panties.
"So what do you think?" she said, peering up at him from beneath half-lidded eyes. "Am I wet enough? How about now?" She moved her legs just a little further apart. "Do you think I'm ready for your cock?"
Bellamy's shorts were off an instant later, and he climbed onto the bed to survey her body, his hot gaze traveling from the cloud of short blonde hair, down past her full breasts, and across the swell of her stomach, to where the wisps of hair glistened between her legs.
"Yeah, but I've got something else in mind first."
And instead of taking his cock in hand and pushing himself into her, he bent to lap at her wetness, to tongue her labia, and to suck strongly on her bulging clit.
Clarke came seconds later, moaning as her back arched off the bed.
She'd barely come down from her high when he pulled her legs around him and plunged into her wet heat in one quick stroke.
"Oh, god," he said, working hard to control his body, "I'm not going to last long."
Then he was bending to kiss her as they fucked, tongue in her mouth, hands wandering up to cup her breasts, and he wondered idly if she enjoyed the taste of herself on his lips. And as strongly as Bellamy thrust in and out of her, Clarke met him stroke for stroke.
"I want you to come again," he growled, panting. "Can you do that? Can you come with me inside you? Because I'm only going to last a few more seconds."
"Yeah," she breathed, her eyes slamming shut, her whole body rising off the bed as she climaxed.
And now Clarke was giving the orders.
"Come in me, Bellamy," she panted as she came down. "I want to feel your wetness inside me."
That word-picture was Bellamy's breaking point, and he came with a roar, driving himself in and out of Clarke until he'd completely emptied himself into her.
He took a few moments to catch his breath, and then he leaned down to kiss Clarke sweetly before finally pulling out of her and rolling away to sprawl next to her on the bed.
He suddenly felt exhausted.
"That was…" Bellamy paused, unsure what words could ever do justice to what had just happened between them.
"Worth the wait?" she asked, smiling uncertainly up at him.
He gave her a soft smile in return, reaching out to twirl a strand of fine blonde hair around his finger.
"Most definitely," he said. "And so much more."
He settled into the bed then, but no longer on the edge. This time, he planted himself right in the middle, pulling Clarke up next to him until she curled into a ball at his side, her head resting on his chest.
Sleep overtook took them then, but sometime later Bellamy awoke in a state of heavy arousal to find that Clarke was stroking him back to hardness.
"Are you insatiable?" he murmured, grinning at her sleepily.
"Maybe," she said, climbing on top of him and taking his heavy cock inside her.
He reached up to thumb her breasts as she rode him until she finally bent low enough that he could catch the hard nipples in his mouth. He sucked strongly, pushing up into her as she fucked him. They came together moments later, collapsing onto each other and falling back to sleep almost immediately.
They made love again just as the light was beginning to filter through the blinds.
Bellamy had risen to empty his bladder, and when he saw her lying there as he returned to bed, he couldn't stop himself from stroking between her legs.
"Hey," she said, waking up, groggy, "who's insatiable now?"
"Are you sore after last night?" he asked, concerned. "I know it's been a while for you and I don't want to hurt you."
She smiled up at him happily. "Nah, I'm good," she said, pulling him down for a kiss.
Soon they were fucking lazily, the urgency gone for the moment as they simply enjoyed one another's bodies. Clarke came twice before a much more controlled Bellamy emptied himself into her for a third time.
When Bellamy opened his eyes again, bright sunlight was streaming into the room and Clarke was shaking him awake.
"C'mon, Bellamy, get up. We were supposed to be at Rosa's an hour ago. Everyone must be wondering where we are."
He grinned up at her. "Or maybe they aren't wondering at all. You sure we can't just stay in this bed all day?"
He was only half-joking.
"Tempting," she told him, leaning down to kiss him, "but our mission isn't quite done. And I don't want to screw it up at the very end just because we can't keep our hands off each other."
Bellamy was smirking as he dragged himself out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
XXXXXXXXXX
Despite Clarke's fears, no one complained when they strolled into Rosa's house nearly two hours later than expected.
"Just in time for lunch," Rosa told them, smiling. "Everyone's been too tired to talk about last night anyway, so we put it off until after lunch. I'm sure you both needed a little extra sleep this morning, too."
"Right," Miller muttered under his breath, brow cocked, mouth twisted in a knowing smile.
And Clarke thought, Okay, if that's the worst of it…
But then she looked up to find Echo staring at her, her expression completely unreadable. Their eyes locked for several long moments and Clarke found herself unable to look away, until finally Echo sighed. And nodded.
Clarke understood that nod for what it was. Acceptance. She nodded in return before both turned away, their detente unspoken but acknowledged.
And then her attention was immediately captured by Madi, who came running in from the kitchen.
"Clarke! You're here! I'm making lunch."
"Are you?"
Madi had never before shown any interest in cooking and certainly Clarke had had little time to pass on her own scant knowledge.
"Yes! Can I stay here for a while? Rosa's promised to teach me how to cook, and Miller and Dr. Jackson are moving to the beach house, so I'll get to have their room. Finally! A real bed to sleep on!"
Clarke flushed as the smirks around the table told her that the sleeping arrangements at the condo had now been made public.
Bellamy spoke up before she could fashion a response.
"I think it's a great idea, Clarke," he said, pinning her with his gaze. "You wouldn't want Madi to miss out on the cooking lessons, would you?"
When the smirks became full-on grins, Clarke knew pretense was pointless, and that her personal life had become very, very public.
"Well, I suppose if you want to…"
Madi launched herself at her with the kind of exuberance only the young are capable of.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"If you're sure you don't mind," she told Rosa, perhaps a little belatedly.
"Not at all. I have a very light week at work."
They all moved to the dining room then, the kitchen no longer big enough to contain their large group, and Madi proudly served them her home-made vegetable soup.
"I even helped Rosa shop for the ingredients," she told them, "while everyone else was still sleeping."
After lunch had been eaten and cleared, Clarke tried to get Madi to leave them while they discussed the previous night's activities. But the enthusiastic cooking apprentice had suddenly morphed into the former commander.
"I have just as much at stake in this working out as everyone else," she insisted.
"She's right, Clarke," Raven said. "She's the one who finally convinced Becca we were for real. You should let her stay."
Clarke shrugged. Everything around her seemed to be changing and she knew she had to adjust to it.
"Okay," Bellamy said, "time for the post mortem. Who wants to start?"
"How about you start, Bell," Octavia said, "and tell us how the hell you kept showing up in the exact places you were supposed to keep Cadogan away from."
"I can answer that, Octavia," Clarke said. "Cadogan took one look at the two of us and somehow thought we were his destiny. Or he was ours. I was never sure."
"You were what?"
"Yeah, Raven, you heard right. We were so important that he insisted on showing us all his most inspiring spots. Like the enormous circular windows in his office where he could look down on all the people who thought they were important but weren't."
Clarke paused then and began to fish in her backpack, pulling out the bird pendant.
"I found this on the floor but managed to grab it before Cadogan saw it and figured out his office had been breached."
"Sorry about that," Raven said, her tone rueful. "It must have fallen off while we were racing around trying to put everything exactly where it was before we hid in the passage. I shouldn't have even been wearing the damn thing because I knew the clasp was loose, but I forgot all about it." She sighed. "I should probably just throw it away…"
"No!" Clarke insisted as she dropped the pendant into Raven's hand and closed her fingers around it. "You should keep it, Raven, as a reminder of Finn, and of everything he meant to you. To… to us. We can't pretend he didn't exist."
Clarke began to choke up, even though she rarely thought about Finn Collins these days, but then Bellamy's hand was grazing her arm lightly, giving her his support.
Raven sighed heavily and jerked a nod.
"I will keep it," she said, and when Clarke caught her eye it felt like a long-standing breach between them had finally been healed. It was unspoken, as with Echo a little earlier, but just as real.
"Okay, then," Octavia said, clearing her throat. Only a few of them were left from those early days, but Octavia was one of them and she'd clearly been touched by this moment.
But in true Octavia fashion, she hurried past it.
"What windows?" she asked them, frowning. "I didn't notice any windows in Cadogan's office."
"They have some kind of interior coating, O," Bellamy answered her question. "It looked like a blank wall and then he pressed a button and it was a whole circular wall of windows. He changed it back before we left."
"So what about the bunker?" Miller wanted to know. "I about shit a brick when I realized he was bringing you down there…"
"He wanted to show us the stone," Bellamy said. "He thinks it's a gateway to another dimension… and we didn't bother to tell him he was wrong." He paused in thought, his brow wrinkling. "Maybe that's where he thought he was going in the old timeline. To the bunker and if necessary… to some other universe. But something happened and they never even made it to the bunker, because it was completely untouched when we found it."
There were nods all around the table.
"I guess we'll never know what went wrong with his original plan," Miller muttered, shrugging.
"No, because this time there aren't going to be any missiles," Clarke reminded them. "And Cadogan doesn't have a clue about the stone." She frowned. "We'd just about persuaded him to go back upstairs to the party when there was this weird… thump. Any of you know what that was?"
"Shit, yeah, that was me again," Raven said, sighing, her eyes closing in chagrin. "When you got to the bunker, Octavia and I were already in the passageway, on our way down, but we were afraid to move and make any noise. But after a while, my leg got so tired and I just had to sit down. When I did, my brace banged against the concrete wall and…"
"Thump," Clarke said.
"Right," Raven said. "We couldn't hear what was happening down by the stone, we only knew you were there…"
"But I could hear you," Miller said. "So I took a chance and whispered that we needed some kind of diversion…"
Bellamy nodded. "Which I imagine brings us to you two," he said, turning to Indra and Echo as they sat silently at the other end of the table. "How the hell did you manage that?"
Indra shrugged. "It was Echo's idea. I'm not that good at diversionary tactics." She smirked. "But once we got the thing started it was kind of fun…"
"What thing?" Bellamy asked, his brow wrinkling. "What the hell did you do?"
"I knocked a tray out of a server's hand," Echo said, "then pushed a couple of people together. Swatted a few backsides. Moved around quickly in the confusion to do the same thing in a different area of the grounds, and then another and another until they were thoroughly confused. And then Indra…"
She paused, nodding to the other woman.
"I'd spotted a lovely chestnut tree just ripe with fruit," Indra said. "I've been climbing those trees my whole life, so I just nipped up this one and started pelting the hard nuts at the crowd. Pretty soon, they all thought they were under attack and started pushing and shoving each other out of the way."
Clarke smiled in astonishment when the two former grounders suddenly burst out laughing.
"It was a great plan," Madi said admiringly.
Indra shrugged. "It was a long shot more than a plan. The rest of you in the building needed a distraction and we tried to provide one. Afterwards, we just watched from the edge of the grass as things got crazier and crazier."
Bellamy grinned. "Well, whatever it was it worked perfectly. Cadogan forgot all about the thump as soon as his security guy told him there was a riot on the lawn."
"So that's what it was," Rosa said thoughtfully. "I did wonder. But then Dr. Franko returned to the ballroom, and you came back a few minutes later…"
Bellamy nodded. "Right. So I guess that brings us to the main event. Raven, how did things go with the computers?"
Raven grinned, no doubt happy to be able to report some good news.
"It was perfect. Thank god there were two keyboards because it took both of us a hell of a long time to get it all done. Becca worked on detaching Cadogan's computer from hers in a way that won't be visible to whoever's operating it. Then she planted some code that'll let her know if and when they try to use it to launch the ALIE program."
"I'm afraid there's no if about it," Bellamy said. "Cadogan wanted to know if we'd be around for 'a week or two', so when Becca tells him the ALIE program's done but stonewalls him on the delivery, I have no doubt he's going to try to run it on his own. Even if he never does hear from that mysterious rich couple who share his destiny."
Clarke nodded. "I agree. The guy was practically salivating to have us join the cause but it won't stop him from going ahead."
"And when he does," Raven assured them, "the whole thing will blow up in his face. Because I planted a deadly computer virus in the system, one I created especially to thwart that nutcase."
"And it'll work?" Clarke just wanted to be sure.
"Like a charm. At the same time letting Becca know so she can call Cadogan with her claims that her program was sabotaged."
Clarke nodded. "But really, she's…?"
"Getting rid of it today, now that we made Cadogan's computer blind." Raven looked up at the clock. "It may even be done already."
And like she was some kind of prophet, at that moment her phone buzzed with a text from Becca's safe phone letting them all know that ALIE was no more.
They had a round of self-congratulatory drinks because… wasn't that why they'd come? To convince Becca Franko to destroy ALIE? To make sure the program would never run? To defeat perverse instantiation? And maybe even, however late and however pointless, to get some justice for all those who had died in the City of Light?
And they'd done it. They'd completed the mission, and well ahead of schedule. But Clarke knew she wouldn't be easy until Cadogan's program had also failed to run.
Then it would be over.
For the next week, the group hunkered down into a sort of stasis. There was nothing for them to plan, nothing for them to do. Nothing, she supposed, for them to worry about.
And yet she did.
Madi followed through on her plan to stay with Rosa, although Clarke saw her nearly every day. Still, their newfound privacy gave Bellamy and Clarke the opportunity to explore the new dimension of their relationship. They made love several times a day, sometimes having to force themselves to get out of bed and take a walk, or go for a ride to at last explore the countryside. Or visit Rosa's or the Maryland beach house.
As far as her personal life went, Clarke had never been so happy. Or so well-fucked.
Finally, after eight tense days, Becca called to tell them Cadogan had demanded delivery of the ALIE program, and she'd refused, telling him that although it was done she had concerns, that she was still testing to make sure it was safe.
"He sounded… strangely calm," Becca said as she relayed the conversation by speakerphone to the group gathered in Rosa's living room. "I expected more… fireworks."
"Yeah, well that's because he figures he has his own version and can create his brand of fireworks any damn time he wants," was Raven's opinion, and Clarke couldn't help but agree with her.
Beside her, Bellamy sighed. "And now we wait," he said.
They didn't have to wait long.
Two days later, they were gathered together at Rosa's again for another call from Becca, this time in the kitchen.
"The alert came through on my computer today," Becca told them. "Cadogan tried to run the ALIE program on his own system this morning, but Raven's virus completely destroyed everything on there, including the operating system. I don't think you could play a game of Solitaire on it now. Well done, Raven."
Cheers went up around the table, while Raven gave herself one self-congratulatory fist pump before asking Becca, "So what now?"
"Well, I've already done my panic call, told Cadogan something destroyed ALIE, even though that was impossible because it's a closed system. I demanded an investigation, which he'll want no part of because he's certain to think whatever happened to his system killed ALIE on my computer, too. Because after all, his system could see ALIE right up until the moment the whole thing blew up on him. He was practically having a meltdown. He hung up after that, but not before he asked me a question I hadn't expected… although maybe I should have."
"Yeah? What was that?" Bellamy asked, his voice suddenly tense.
"He wanted to know if I could… rebuild the program. But I declined. Told him I couldn't possibly do all that work all over again."
Becca ended the call soon after, and there were smiles and laughter all around as the group gave themselves a pat on the back.
"So that's it," Miller said. "Now all we have to do is figure out how to hook into this century and get a life…"
"No, it's not," Clarke heard Bellamy mutter, his expression troubled.
And that's when she knew that Bellamy had felt it, too. That vague little kernel of worry she'd been carrying around ever since the night of the gala. She hadn't been able to root down to its cause, but Bellamy must have figured it out.
At the moment, though, the others were too busy congratulating themselves to hear him.
Not until he banged his hand on the table, startling them all.
The chatter finally stopped then, the others turning to him in surprise.
"Listen," he said, rising, "I know you all want to think it's over, that the danger has passed now that we've got rid of ALIE. I'd like nothing more myself. But it's not true. I mean… did you hear what that madman asked Becca?"
There was quiet around the table as they waited for him to explain. But before he could say another word, the front doorbell rang.
"Now what?" Miller muttered as Rosa got up to answer the door, but Clarke had the feeling she already knew.
She rose to stand beside Bellamy, both of them facing the doorway as Rosa ushered in a couple of people they knew very well.
"I believe two more of your friends have arrived," Rosa said pleasantly.
"Hey," Murphy said, as he studied the tableau — the group seated at the table with Clarke and Bellamy standing in front, his arm wrapped securely around her waist.
"So I see that finally happened," he said, eyeballing the two of them. "Anybody want to fill us in on what else we should know?"
"Hi, Murphy. Hi, Emori. We got Becca to destroy ALIE," Madi piped up cheerfully.
"Hey, that's great news, kid," Murphy told her, his mouth twisting up his trademark smirk. "Sounds like it's already over and we missed all the fun."
"No," Bellamy shook his head, "it's not over yet. It'll never be over until we figure out a way to destroy a megalomaniac cult leader named Bill Cadogan."
"Yeah?" Murphy said. His brow quirked as he turned to gaze down at his partner. "Maybe we got here just in time after all."