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Monty is not a natural rule breaker, it's part of what makes him such a good soldier. He understands the need for rules and doesn't bristle against them like some of his fellow men (namely, John Murphy).
That's not to say Monty is boring, however, he's not. He just doesn't like doing things for the sake of doing them – he prefers a reason.
Like curiosity.
Curiosity is a valid reason for a lot of things, Monty thinks. It also can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands, the hands of a rule breaker, which Monty is not.
He's thinking about rules versus curiosity because of Sergeant Nathan Miller, who does seem like a rule breaker, though Monty has only met him a handful of times. He thinks they probably count as friends as this point, introduced by Clarke back when Clarke could be in the same place as Bellamy and his unit. Back when she didn't surreptitiously check to see if they were posted in the same place the second their unit arrived anywhere new. Though him and Miller don't see each other much – he's not sure if it's Bellamy avoiding Clarke or Clarke avoiding Bellamy at this point, but it's effective – they've emailed pretty consistently and Monty thinks of them as something between friends and penpals.
But then earlier today he bumped into him on base and that's why he's now starring at Nathan Miller's laptop and wondering if curiosity did really kill the cat.
Earlier that day
"Green!" Monty turns after hearing his name called across the mess hall.
"Nate?" Monty laughs quietly, before glancing around him, and amending to "Sergeant Miller."
"Glad I caught you." Miller says crossing the room to stand with Monty, "need to brief you about something. Walk with me."
Monty nods and puts his coffee down on the closest available surface. What on earth could a green beret need to brief him about.
Monty is half listening as Miller speaks, enough to make out, "just down here we can use Blake's office."
That's enough to pull Monty up short and stop in his tracks, "You're here? You're all here?" he says mostly to himself.
"Yeah?" Miller replies haltingly, not quite sure what Monty is getting at.
"But you're not meant to be, we checked."
"Oh yeah. We're not really here, unavoidable pit stop, which actually works out brilliantly for me because I need a favour."
They're moving again but Monty isn't paying attention, he's thinking about his friend who checks every base they end up at see if its one the Special Forces use. His friend who says she's fine but still flinches when she sees a shock of curly black hair.
They go into a room that acts as an office for Staff Sergeants as and when they need it.
"You told me you were good with computers, right?" Miller says at the same time Monty blurts, "you can't be here."
"Huh?" They both say in unison.
"Why are you talking about computers?" Monty asks confused.
"Mine's dead or something," Miller says vaguely, before asking, "why can't we be here?"
Monty hasn't really thought that Ark Unit were intimidating in a long time, not since before Clarke and Bellamy started dating. But in this moment he can see how Miller could be considered somewhat fierce.
He is staring at Monty with a cold, questioning look on his face. A look that dares Monty to give an answer that Miller won't like. Monty would be scared but he knows Miller, kind of, and besides Monty draws his strength from his friends.
"Because of Clarke." He answers evenly.
If his eyes weren't trained on Miller's face he thinks he would miss the flicker that goes across his eyes, so tiny though it is.
"She's finally doing better." Monty says when Miller doesn't say anything.
"Good," Miller starts awkwardly but Monty interrupts him, on a roll now, ready to say all the things he's wanted to say about what happened but has never been able to.
"I mean, I wouldn't go throwing a party or anything. She's not exactly back to normal but it's only been nine months since your friend ditched her for no reason, so we can give her time." He says bitterly.
Miller says nothing.
"Although hey, maybe she won't ever be back to normal maybe this is the new normal for her. How do you get over the knowledge that the person you loved most in the world and thought you'd spend your life with didn't feel the same?" Monty spits.
"He did feel the same." Miller grits out quietly.
"Sure he did." Monty replies his words dripping with sarcasm.
"Trust me, he felt it but there were...” Miller pauses and takes a deep breath, “reasons."
"There is no reason good enough for someone to be so selfish." Monty replies coolly.
"I know you're angry and I get why, but I really didn't find you so we could talk about Clarke and Bellamy." Miller says firmly after a beat.
Monty wants to make him talk about it, make him explain Bellamy's reasons because he doesn't get it. He was there, he saw them together, and he knows Bellamy loved Clarke. But there's something in the set of Miller's jaw and the shuttered look in his eyes that tells Monty not to push it.
The silence stretches and fills the room until Monty can't stand it.
"Right, a computer issue wasn't it." Monty tries extending an olive branch.
"Yeah, mine has just died and I have no idea why." Miller grimaces holding out his macbook.
"And you thought, I know, 'Monty's Asian he can fix it'" Monty snarks but he smiles at Miller to let him know he's not serious.
"Yeah obviously, sticking with all those stereotypes. It's certainly not because the first time I heard about you was because of some whizzy comms you'd set up or because you, yourself, told me you're like a magician when it comes to technology. It's definitely just because you're Asian." Miller deadpans.
"I'm saying," Monty grins holding out his hand for the macbook, "when do you need it back?"
"Asap ideally. You know we never know how long we'll be in one place."
"I'll see what I can do."
The issue had been simple enough to see once Monty was able to get it working again. The machine was definitely on its last legs but Monty was able to boot it up enough to plug in an external hard drive to copy everything over so Miller would have backups. And he wasn't snooping, he really wasn't.
But he happened to glance across as the hard drive was backing up and as he did he saw a file named BC toast. And it could be about anything, of course it could. But Bellamy and Clarke were on his mind, and well, he knew that Miller was going to be the best man.
Monty stood up and walked away from the computer, it was none of his business and he wasn't going to snoop.
He sends a text to Miller.
Monty: I’ve put it on life support but you need a new machine. Am backing up what you have and should be able to get it back to you in a couple of hours.
Miller: Ahh that’s what I thought, but thank you anyway.
We're got an exercise this afternoon can I grab it at 2200?
Monty looks at his watch, it's coming up to midday. That means ten hours of not opening the file, he can do that – he doesn't break rules.
He replies to Miller and then finds jobs to keep him busy. Luckily there are no shortage of jobs, less luckily they have a free evening, something Clarke gleefully tells him when he sees her outside of medical.
"Did you hear?" She grins.
He briefly thinks she's talking about Ark Unit being on base but realises she wouldn't be grinning.
"Hear what?"
"We've got the evening off. I don't know why, I didn't ask, but we're free tonight."
"You look surprisingly happy considering it means an evening of listening to Murphy and Jasper bicker about everything and anything."
"For you maybe, but not me. I'm going out." She grins before adding softly, "I'm seeing Lexa."
"Again?" He asks. "So it's not just a spring fling."
"I don't think so. I mean, I wasn't looking... after," she pauses, and Monty smiles softly at her, "after everything, but maybe that's why it feels right you know?"
"I know nothing, my most successful relationship was in high school," Monty laughs.
"I'm hardly a guru," She deadpans her face enough of a mask that if Monty didn't know her well enough he wouldn't be able to see the hurt that lingers.
"You're allowed to be happy Clarke," Monty says seriously, wishing they weren't walking down the corridor to their dorm so he could give her a hug without the rumour mill exploding.
"I know." She shrugs, "I'm getting there.
He'll later tell himself that he did it for Clarke that he did it so if she ever needed to hear it he would be able to reassure her that it was real, that she had been loved. But at the time he doesn't think that.
At the time he doesn't even try to justify it, he just goes into his room after he's said goodbye to Clarke. Opens Miller's laptop and searches for the file BC toast. He takes a deep breath as the document opens and pauses over the (x). It's not too late, he hasn’t gone too far, he hasn’t broken any rules yet.
But that’s the thing about curiosity he thinks, by the time you’re curious it is too late. And so Monty starts to read.
The best man's speech is traditionally the time for jokes, a few amusing anecdotes that aren't too risqué, some embarrassing stories and then finally something heartfelt and touching. Now, I'm not one for jokes and all the anecdotes I have are definitely not suitable for women or five star generals, sorry sir. There's no need for me to do say anything embarrassing because Blake is brilliant at doing that himself, just wait until you see him dance. So that leaves me with something touching and heartfelt.
Bellamy is more than my boss, he’s more than my friend – he's my brother. He's one of three men I'd trust to get me out of any situation. He's the person I know will always put himself out there for the people he loves. That used to be Ark and the Army, in that order. Until Clarke.
The official story goes that we were somewhere redacted after doing something redacted when we needed a medic's assistance in repacking our medkit because we hadn't had time after the redacted thing in the other redacted place with the redacted outcome.
Enter Clarke. She was sassy, Bellamy was charmed but they were just friends, nothing more. But then a little while later I inadvertently match-made by getting shot. An option I do not recommend though the medic was excellent. Then when they were sure I wasn't going to die, they went on a date, fell in love, read two binders worth of Army rules, had three scary chats with senior personnel and Doctor Griffin and now here we are. Happily Ever After.
Like I said though, that's the official story. I know the other version because I was there the first time they met and the second and the third for that matter and I can tell you from the beginning it was obvious that this was meant to be. I don't believe in fate, a good solider can't, but if anything could make me believe in a higher purpose for us all, a bigger plan – it's Clarke and Bellamy. I've seen the way they make each other better, I've seen first hand how they give each other space to grow without taking the other one down. In short I’ve seen what real love looks like.
I thought I knew Bellamy Blake. I've seen him on the battlefield, fighting when there is no fight left. I've seen him talk to men and women who are scared and homesick and make them feel safe and at home. I've heard him give rousing speeches so inspirational you're ready to ride into the dust without quite knowing why. I've seen him in situations that would make lesser men weep, someone buy me a drink later and I'll tell you about that time in that bar in Prague. I've seen every version of Bellamy Blake that I thought there was but it wasn't until he met Clarke that I saw him in love. His easy charm and way with women, which lets be honest is 90% genetics, disappeared when he met her. He couldn't charm her, she wasn't swept off her feet by a green beret and excellent bone structure and that's when I knew she was it for him. He'd met his match.
Clarke, I'm sorry to tell you that you're stuck with him, which means you're stuck with us. I hope you know that he's our brother, which makes you family.
I knew from day one, when you were both still denying it, everyone say it with me now "we're just friends" that you were a game-changer medic. There used to be two things that Bellamy loved, Ark Unit and the Army and now there are three. And Clarke will always be number one.
Ladies and Gentleman, please raise your glasses to Bellamy and Clarke.
Monty closes out of the document and shuts the laptop. He can see it so clearly – another version of their lives where Miller would have stood up in his dress uniform and given that speech. He can see the moments where Miller would've nodded to General Jaha, making them all acknowledge the general, where he would have looked at Kane or Doctor Griffin. He can see the moments Clarke or Bellamy would have rolled their eyes or Bellamy would have ducked his head. He can practically hear the laughter at the end of some of the lines and knows that the 28th would have yelled along at the "we're just friends" line louder than the Ark guys. But more than that, he believes that Miller believed what he wrote, that Clarke was number one in Bellamy's life.
Monty doesn't break rules, he's not like Clarke or Bellamy or Miller, he's not naturally brave. But he is loyal, he is a true friend and he does believe in happiness.
He's not sure he'll ever be brave enough to find out what happened but he does know one thing for sure, Clarke deserves to be happy and to move on. Which is why when Miller comes by later for his laptop and tries to ask about Clarke in a roundabout way he tells him that she's seeing someone and that it's serious.
It's why when Miller tells him they're getting posted somewhere else a few days later he doesn't tell Clarke that they were there. He keeps Miller in his life and never asks him to explain why Bellamy did what he did.
He makes sure Clarke knows she's loved.
Monty Green doesn't break rules, it's what makes him an excellent soldier, but occasionally he lets his curiosity get the better of him and that's what makes him a loyal friend.