Chapter Text
“Mom, I’ve got to go,” Clarke bit out once again. She’d been trying to get off the phone with her mother for the past five minutes and Bellamy was starting to look less amused and more annoyed with the situation. “I’ll call you later, bye!” she said in a rush and quickly ended the call, shoving her phone into her pocket.
“Sorry,” she muttered, knowing that Bellamy understood but she still had to say it. After a year of being her partner Bellamy fully understood the strained relationship she had with her mother.
She’d been raised by her mother alone since the age of 14, when her parents had divorced and her dad had just disappeared from their lives. Learning last year that the reason for the divorce had been her mother’s affair with her father’s best friend had been a little more than she could take. The two of them were trying to repair that relationship but sometimes it was still too much for her.
“As long as you don’t mind me taking too long the next time Octavia calls,” Bellamy joked but they both knew it wasn’t a real joke. Octavia Blake was a free spirit and Bellamy had raised her almost by himself because their parents had more problems than Clarke’s.
Clarke just smiled in response because they’d learned through trial and error when it was best to say something and when you needed to keep your mouth shut. The subject of Octavia when there was no alcohol on hand was one of those times.
They were quiet as they headed out to the car that Bellamy always insisted on driving because Clarke hadn’t quite managed to get it into his head that she didn’t need him to take care of her the way he’d taken care of Octavia her whole life. But they’d come a long way from the resentment they’d both held when they were first assigned as partners and a pseudo-sibling relationship was much better than enemies. Their superiors were certainly happy with their current performance.
The squawk of the radio was the only sound in the car as they drove the forty five minutes back to headquarters. It had been a long shift, made longer by the phone call from her mother at the end of it, and Clarke was grateful for the silence. It was just too bad that five minutes out Bellamy decided he’d had enough of it.
“So what’s your plan?” he asked as casually as if he’d asked if she wanted a cup of coffee. The answer to that would have been God, yes, but unfortunately he’d asked a different question. One she had no idea how to answer.
So she shrugged and jumped out of the car the second it came to a stop. She could hear Bellamy’s mocking laughter as she rushed into headquarters, heading to the break room and coffee.
She was so focused on the coffee that she didn’t even notice the room’s other occupants until she’d taken the first sip. Then she looked up and noticed the three people sitting at the little table and fought a blush. “Hi,” she muttered and took a seat next to Jasper as Bellamy walked into the room, a smug smirk still on his face.
“Clarke, Clarke, Clarke,” he said in his most patronizing tone, the one that made her want to punch him. “You can run but you can’t hide. In more ways than one.”
“Do you need some alone time to work this out?” Monty asked and Clarke knew the botanist was always going to be one of her favorite people at the Ark National Park. “Cause we could leave.”
Clarke groaned and waved her hand. “No, it’s fine. He’s right.”
“About what?” Jasper cut in, always eager for new information no matter what kind.
“Might as well tell them Griffin, they’ll find out soon enough.”
That earned Bellamy a dirty look. “My mother’s coming to visit.”
Jasper and Monty were clueless but Finn, super perceptive Finn, winced in sympathy. It was embarrassing that she was so transparent to Finn and had been since they’d met. Not even when their minor attempt at a date had blown up in their faces when Finn’s ex had started at The Ark had changed that.
“Just wait until she tells you the best part,” Bellamy gloated once again. He got way too much enjoyment out of her misery.
“She’s campaigning for a Senate seat this election cycle.” That got the full sympathy from her coworkers that she’d been looking for. Too bad she wasn’t even done. “And she’s got it in her head that having a single daughter is bad for publicity because there’s no males in the family. Sexism is alive and well in politics and male voters won’t let it die.”
Monty gave her a sympathetic smile but Jasper actually snorted, which earned him a grin from Bellamy and a glower from Clarke. She knew it was right to think of Monty as her favorite, even if Jasper was like the little brother she’d never had and Bellamy the older brother she’d never wanted. It was just too bad that Bellamy seemed to think she and Jasper were his little siblings as well, with all the societal implications therein.
“So who’s the lucky guy?” Finn asked and Clarke wondered if she was reading into it too much to think that his voice was just a little bit too even. “Anyone we know?”
“Wells Jaha,” Bellamy supplied and Clarke wished he would choke on his own laughter.
Finn’s eyebrows rose while Monty and Jasper looked a bit confused. She really, really wished that Finn didn’t know so much about her. It made the lingering sexual tension between them even worse and she really did not want that in her life right now.
“So how are you going to manage a relationship with the illustrious Dr. Wells Jaha?”
Clarke was certain she was reading too much into the situation when she thought she detected jealousy in Finn’s tone. “By not being in one. I’m going home, I’ve been on shift for fourteen hours, my bed is calling me,” she announced and walked out before anyone could say anything.
She’d made it all the way out to the parking lot where her car waited before anyone caught up to her.
“Clarke!” Finn called and she yelled at herself internally for stopping and turning around. “Clarke, I’m sorry. We were just teasing.”
That’s what made it even worse. Finn was teasing and she wanted him to be jealous. She wanted him to go all caveman and tell her she’s his and that she shouldn’t even consider another guy, even if her inner feminist hated that idea. And there was the fact that she couldn’t picture Finn ever doing that. It just wasn’t in him. He’d be all into stepping aside for her happiness even if it meant his unhappiness.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, well I am. Because you’re my friend and this is kinda a big deal to you.”
“I’m fine, Finn. Really. Don’t worry about it.”
“I think we both know you’re lying.” And here it was again, the proof that apparently Clarke was an open book to Finn Collins. One he could just pick up any damn time he felt like and rifle through some pages and know everything about her. “The last time Wells was here you barely said five words to him.”
“I didn’t have anything to say.” That was the truth, or at least a piece of it. Finn didn’t need to know the whole of it.
He didn’t know why her family broke apart. Didn’t know what her mother had done with Thelonius Jaha. Didn’t know what Wells had done to her in trying to hide the affair. He didn’t know anything and Clarke would like to keep it that way.
“Yeah, okay. But Clarke, you know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“She’ll be here tomorrow. Let’s see if you say that after you actually meet her.”
Clarke climbed into her car and pulled away before he could say anything else, calling herself a coward but not really caring. Her emotions were burnt out after a long shift and her mother’s latest edict. Finn was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
With the latest chatter saying that The Grounder was headed their way she needed to keep her focus on her job, not her personal life. The Grounder preyed on visitors to parks just like the Ark and he had managed to escape every attempt at capture. Her mother’s campaign decisions could not have come at a worse time. A serial killer on the loose, her mother wanted her to play house with the man who had helped rip apart her family, and Finn Collins hanging around tugging at her heartstrings while trying to help her. Those were three more problems than she knew how to handle at the moment.
Clarke really, really hated meetings. Even with the budget cuts meaning there were only about a hundred people working at the Ark all of them were too long and boring. Especially considering her job was law enforcement and these meetings almost never had anything to do with that topic. Her part in them usually lasted five minutes and then she had to sit and listen as all the other park rangers chattered about their departments.
She and Bellamy had long ago split the chore of having to go but it was her week and so she was stuck here. At least with The Grounder on the loose she got to do more than usual, but considering the Ark wasn’t a major National Park no one was overly concerned that he’d be heading their way. So she got shoved aside professionally. It was too bad that personally she’d taken center stage.
“I’m sure you’re all aware that Congresswoman Abby Griffin will be arriving later today and will be bringing some members of the press with her,” Marcus Kane, the director of the Ark said and made sure to look directly at Clarke as he said it. She wished she could slouch in her seat like a little kid. “Let’s all remember that the budget cuts have hit us hard and if we have any hope of getting some funding back we need good publicity. We need to take full advantage of this opportunity.”
Clarke had to bite her tongue to keep herself from saying or doing something that would get her in a lot of trouble. Such as pointing out the fact that there was a serial killer on the loose that targeted parks. Now was not the time to be ramping up publicity like this.
“With The Grounder on the loose can we really take advantage of it in a way that’s not going to put our visitors at risk?”
If Clarke didn’t know there would be serious consequences for it, she would kiss Jasper right then for that question. So it was a good thing that she knew the consequences and settled for shooting him a smile.
“As sobering a situation as The Grounder is, we can’t afford to lose this opportunity. The Ark’s been losing visitors every year, we need to generate some excitement or our budget will be slashed even further. We don’t have much of a choice.”
Kane had a gift for making almost anything sound reasonable. Clarke thought it came from the fact that his mother was a preacher. Clarke had met her once, a lovely woman but she came on a little too strongly for Clarke’s tastes. Her death a few months ago was still a loss that Kane obviously felt.
“At least we won’t be in charge of that end of this whole business,” Finn leaned over to whisper in her ear and she felt a little shiver go down her spine. She frowned. She hated when that happened. “Just making sure that once he’s here no one dies.”
“Collins!” Kane barked before she could reply. “Have something to share with the class?”
Finn and Kane had never gotten on very well and it rubbed Kane the wrong way that he really didn’t have control over Finn. Since Finn was the only one in the district commissioned as a search and rescue park ranger he was essential and Kane couldn’t really threaten him. Of course he still tried whenever he felt like Finn was acting like too much of a carefree, adrenaline junkie. Which was pretty much all the time.
Kane glowered at the two of them but Finn just gave his most charming smile. “Just checking with Ranger Griffin that we’re on the same page with security if our publicity is going to be increasing.”
There was really nothing Kane could say to that and Clarke had to keep herself from congratulating Finn for getting another thing past Kane.
The meeting broke up quickly after that and Clarke rushed to get out of the room and back outside. It was too bad that Finn managed to catch up before she could go find Bellamy and start the morning’s patrol. Something that he seemed to be making a habit of doing lately.
“Hey, you sure you’re okay about your mother coming today?” he asked and she wanted to scream. It was sweet that he cared but she’d already been asked that a million times over the past week.
She swallowed down the scream. “Yeah, I think so. Just be ready if I do something crazy when I actually see her.” It was meant as a joke but it held too much truth to come across as anything else.
“Clarke, I will fully support you in all your crazy. No matter what you do I will totally play along. It will be fine.” Finn really did not know just how crazy her plans were when she was desperate. She had a feeling he was really going to regret telling her that. But it did make her feel a tiny bit better.
She graced him with a smile. “Thanks. I’ve got to go start my patrol but will you be here when my mom gets here? I might need another pep talk right before I actually face her.”
The smile on Finn’s face nearly blinded and she worried that a blush was actually creeping up her cheeks. “Promise,” he said before running off to get his own work done.
Walking into their little office with a small smile earned her a raised eyebrow from Bellamy. “Was Kane set on fire during the meeting? Because that is the only thing I can think of that would make you smile today.”
“Shut up, let’s go,” she barked, which only got her another knowing, rather superior, look.
Patrol was of course uneventful on the one day she needed things to happen in order to keep her mind off of the situation with her mother. Instead what she got was an entire day of dwelling on it, dreading each minute that passed by all too quickly for her tastes. At least Bellamy got some amusement out of it.
“Shit, shit, shit she’s here,” Clarke hissed as they pulled back in at headquarters after the morning patrol and she spotted the crowd.
“Relax princess, she’s not going to hurt you.” Clarke glared at Bellamy but they both knew it was ineffective. They also knew that Bellamy was going to go with Clarke to greet Congresswoman Griffin and protect his partner from her own mother as best he could. It was in his genetic makeup to be the best protector he could be for the people he cared about and Clarke was on that list. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Clarke wanted nothing more than to be running in the opposite direction but she dutifully followed her partner towards the mass of people standing at the main entrance. From the several large cameras trained on one person it was apparent where exactly her mother was. Nerves churned in her stomach, urging her to turn back.
She hadn’t seen her mother face to face in almost five months, since they’d had a huge argument and Clarke had stormed out of her childhood home. It was an old argument, one they’d had frequently over the year since Clarke had found out the truth of her parents’ marriage and divorce. The truth that had caused her father’s death. But just because it was a frequent argument didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. It hurt like hell and seeing her mother in person made her feel as if the wound was reopening.
“Clarke!” her mother cries in that voice that means she’s overjoyed to see her daughter, as if nothing in the world is wrong now that the two of them are together. It makes her want to puke. It’s only because Bellamy brushes her arm with his hand to let her know that he’s there that she manages to tamp down on that feeling.
“Mom!” she responds, trying to sound just as happy. There are cameras there after all and as much as she had once wanted to punish her mother it’s something she’s trying to get past. “You’re early!”
By an hour. It’s enough to make her feel all panicky and gross. Not that she wouldn’t have felt that way anyway. “There was no traffic on the roads, we made great time,” Abby Griffin exclaimed as she drew her estranged daughter in for a hug and a kiss.
“We?” Clarke’s voice was a little strangled as she drew back to look her mother in the face. Abby would never refer to the reporters as ‘we’.
“Wells came with!” Abby announced, her smile about two megawatts from blinding Clarke.
Over her mother’s shoulder she sees Finn watching with wide eyes and she knows that he can see the panic in hers. She’d never suspected her mother would blindside her like this. Not after all the work they’d put into repairing their relationship.
“Clarke, I hope you like our little surprise,” Wells said as he stepped out of the crowd. “Your mother thought it up since it’s been so long since we saw each other last.”
Clarke was pretty sure that the entire world had started spinning. She was either going to puke or faint. “How nice,” she managed, the words sounding hollow even to her.
“Wells! It’s been months, how are you?” Finn cuts in and she feels like a drowning person who just got a gulp of air.
Wells looks a little uncomfortable because despite w
orking together numerous times since Finn guided Wells most of the time when he was at the Ark for research, they don’t really get along. Clarke thought it was a loyalty thing seeing as Finn was her friend and Wells was no longer her friend. “Very well, Finn. You?”
“I’ve been great,” Finn said as he stepped up and slung his arm around Clarke’s shoulder. Normally this would send Clarke reeling but right now it’s acting as the only thing anchoring her to this time and place. “Clarke and I discovered some new deer trails last week.”
That was true but it should not have sounded as possessive as it did. “And who is this?” Abby cut in with a raised eyebrow. Clarke took one look at the carefully hidden to those who were not related to Abby annoyance on her mother’s face and opened her mouth.
“The surprise I have for you. Mom, meet Finn Collins, my boyfriend.”
“Clarke, you’re really bad at surprises,” Bellamy scolded and stepped forward to hug Abby. “Mrs. Griffin, it’s been too long. Now, Clarke and I have been patrolling all day and we are dying for a cup of coffee, why don’t we head inside?”
Bellamy had long ago learned how to handle her mother when Clarke didn’t want to be around her and steamrolled through, somehow managing to get even Monty and Jasper heading inside. Leaving just Finn and Wells standing with her. In the most awkward moment she’d been in since that time she’d been helping Bellamy get a stain out of his shirt and Octavia had walked in on them and thought they were having sex.
Finn’s arm was still around her and she wondered if maybe she should take a step away but as she shifted it tightened, drawing her in just a little bit closer. She glanced up to find he wasn’t even looking at her, but was instead engaged in a staring contest with Wells.
“This is certainly a surprise, considering your mother asked me to come because she wanted us to tell the media we’re together.”
He said it in such a way that it made it sound as if he were accusing her of cheating on him. As if there were some promise between the two of them and she was breaking it. It pissed her off.
“I told my mother I wouldn’t go along with her little plan. I’m sorry she dragged you into it but I had no part in it. I had no idea you were even coming.”
Finn still hadn’t said anything and that was making her nervous for all that he still held her. Maybe he was in shock.
“Then I’m sorry to be in the way,” Wells spat out and stalked into the building. Clarke felt a twinge of guilt, remembering how close they once had been, but that was it. He’d learned long ago the state of affairs between them.
Once Wells was actually gone Finn’s arm fell from her shoulders and he took a step back. Clarke felt the absence of his warmth much more clearly than she should have.
“I’m so sorry,” she blurted out before he even had the chance to say anything. “I have no idea why I said that and it was way out of line and if you hate me I totally understand.”
Finn stared at her with a straight face as she trailed off before bursting into laughter. She stared at him in confusion as he struggled to get himself under control.
“The look on everyone’s faces when you said that I’m your boyfriend were absolutely priceless,” he informed her and that set off his laughter again. It was enough to get her to relax and smile along with him.
“You’re not mad then?”
Finn grinned at her, the same grin that had once gotten her to go on a date with him. “I did say that I’d go along with whatever you decided, no matter how crazy. But I gotta say, this is kind of up there with the crazy.”
And that was what set her off. She cracked up, laughter quickly turning to hysterics. “Hey, hey,” Finn said as he pulled her into an embrace. “It’s okay, we’ll handle this. We can go in there and tell them all it was a joke and no one will have any complaints.”
“Do you want to?” she asked, her voice muffled because her face was currently buried in his shoulder. “Or do you think you could handle this better than I have?”
That got him laughing again. “Princess, I think this is going to be a lot of fun and who knows, maybe you’ll learn how to have some too.”
She pulled away so that she could hit him on the arm and look him in the face. “You know I hate it when you call me that.”
“Yeah?” he smirked, “well that’s going to be my price for playing this game. I get to call you Princess, okay Princess?”
She made a face at that because she didn't yet know what to say and making a face seemed like the only way to respond. Apparently it was a good response because Finn started laughing. Not the way he had moments before, but the kind of soft laughter that came whenever Clarke made a joke.
Clarke shook her head to clear it. She was in over her head if she was thinking of Finn's laughter as soft.
"I'm not sure this is a good idea. I mean, it would be so easy for anyone here to tell my mom or the reporters the truth. It's not like we've sworn them to secrecy." She was grasping at straws, trying to think of a way to get out of her own plan. "There is no way that this could end well."
Finn frowned at her, the frown that meant he was more concerned with her than anything else.
"Hey, it's going to be fine. We could just tell them we've been keeping it a secret because we didn't want to make a big deal out of it. They'll never know otherwise."
"That is such a lie," she said, attempting a small smile. "We would never be able to keep something like this from Bellamy and Raven."
"Ah, but they would be willing to lie. We could tell them the truth, they'd understand the situation, you know they would."
Finn was actually trying to convince her that her momentary insanity was a good idea. Clarke wondered absently if he'd hit his head on something. Brain damage was the only explanation for this. At least it was the only logical explanation she could think of because Finn might be an adrenaline junkie but he didn't normally go along with stunts like this.
"You're crazy."
"Hey, it was your idea to begin with."
"This is going to blow up in our faces."
"Ah but just think how magnificent that explosion will be." He was grinning now, knowing that Clarke was coming around to this plan.
“Worse than the last time Monty and Jasper tried their hands at chemistry,” she retorted but allowed him to pull her into the building and into the plan.
There were hardly any cars outside of the local bar that was their hangout and Clarke wanted to cry in relief. It had been a very long day and she would much rather grab a drink with her best friend in a low key manner than deal with a crazy night at the Dropship. She ran in to keep from getting too wet from the constant drizzle that had set in that afternoon and showed no signs of moving on. Once inside she found Raven sitting at their usual booth in the back corner, drinks and food already waiting.
“You have no idea how glad I am to see you,” Clarke said as she dropped into her seat, shoving her coat and purse to the back of the booth. “You are the only bright spot of my entire day.”
Raven raised an eyebrow at that and shoved Clarke’s drink closer to her. “I had a feeling it was a margarita kind of night. So how bad was your mom?”
“Worse than I thought.” Raven winced and pushed the basket of fried food closer to Clarke too. They’d bonded over being raised by single mothers who turned out to not be such great mothers when Raven had moved back to Weathertop last year after spending a few years traveling after college.
It had been a bit rocky at first seeing as she and Finn had been childhood sweethearts and Clarke had just started really considering dating him but they’d moved past that. Mainly because Weathertop was a very small town and all the other females their age seemed to be married, engaged, intent on getting married, or trying their best to get out. Clarke had fallen in love with Weathertop the moment she’d arrived after spending her entire life living in cities and Raven had never been able to imagine living anywhere else longterm.
“So, what happened when she arrived?” Raven asked around the nacho she’d just stuffed into her mouth. “She really bring the press with her to visit the daughter she hasn’t seen in months?”
Raven had looked up to Abby and had been jealous that Clarke had such an amazing person as a mother until she’d realized just how bad their relationship was and why it was bad. Then she’d decided to be fascinated by the lengths Abby Griffin was willing to go in order to try and mold Clarke into the person she wanted her daughter to be. It worked out well for the both of them because it meant Clarke had someone to drink with and rant to whenever her mother drove her crazy. Which was on a regular basis.
Clarke groaned and took a large sip of her margarita before talking. “Well, not only did she arrive an hour early with, yes, reporters in tow, she also brought along Wells. Wells, alive and in person, Wells was standing there next to her when Bellamy and I pulled in from patrol.”
“Did she try and hug and kiss you again? Make it all awkward that way?”
“No, thank God. She was too busy trying to push Wells at me. She hardly even said anything before she was all ‘Look who’s with me! It’s Wells, your great friend, how is your relationship?’ and then I totally panicked.”
Clarke finished her margarita in record time and was making good headway through the food when Raven signalled their usual waiter, Atom, for another round. “Oh no, please tell me you did not just go along with her. Please, please, please tell me you did not do that.”
“How easy do you think I am?” Clarke retorted, finishing off the fries. “Of course I didn’t go along with it.”
“Mhmmm.”
“I need another drink in front of me before I can actually bring myself to say the words.”
That got Raven grinning. She always enjoyed when Clarke spoke before her brain caught up to her mouth and the consequences that came with it. She claimed it was the greatest source of entertainment in Weathertop, even more than the minor prank war she was engaged in with Bellamy.
“At least tell me that your mom is not going to try and make you play nice with Wells then. She has realized that she can’t force you to be friends because of the way it looks to the voting public, right?”
“Well if the little show we had to put on at the park in front of the reporters was any indication, yes, she is going to try.”
Raven wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Because it’s not like he betrayed your trust or anything so why wouldn’t you want to be besties with the guy who revealed to everyone that your mom had an affair with his dad and that was the reason your parents got a divorce. No, that’s totally okay.”
“She oh so subtly pulled me aside to remind me that she was the one who made the mistake, all Wells did was bring the truth to light. Too bad she always forgets to mention it was in the most public way possible and he didn’t even feel that I deserved to know before he announced it to the world.”
The second round of drinks arrived then and Atom gave them a quick smile before hurrying away. He’d been waiting on them ever since they’d made this their usual meeting spot after work and knew when to stay far away from the table unless delivering food or drinks. It was knowledge that both Clarke and Raven appreciated him cultivating. Clarke downed half of hers before Raven could say anything.
“An old argument, although still annoying. Now tell me what you did,” she demanded as Clarke took a smaller, more manageable sip of the margarita.
“I might have said that Finn was my boyfriend.”
Everything was silent except for the music being played over the speaker system and Raven stared at her in disbelief. “Finn Collins, Finn? Please tell me you are joking.”
Clarke groaned and slumped over to put her head on the table. “I wish. He was just there and it came out and he just played along. He told me he’s willing to go through with this until my mom leaves. He thinks it’s a great joke.”
“Well, duh,” Raven said, nodding her head all philosophically. “He’s kind of been in love with you since you guys met. Of course he’s going to jump at this. Better than see you with some other guy.”
“That is so not true.”
“Clarke, the only reason you guys aren’t together was because the timing sucked a year ago. You’d just found out the truth about your parents’ divorce and I’d just moved back to town. It wasn’t good timing for either of you even though you both wanted it. It’s different now and I think it would kill him to even watch your mom push you towards Wells let alone watch you pretend to date someone else. Don’t get me started on how he would feel if you actually started dating someone else.”
Clarke stared at Raven in amazement. “If he feels this way how come he never said anything? The timing would have been fine even a few months ago!”
"Boys are stupid and emotionally constipated," Raven said as she waved her hand. "But tell me what your mother did after you said that."
Clarke groaned and downed the rest of her drink before signaling for another. "I don't think I've ever spent a more awkward hour with her. I nearly cried in relief when she left to go check in to her hotel."
"Did she do that thing where she smiles at you and says nice things while making you feel lower than dirt?" Raven had been on the receiving end of that more than once after she stopped being Abby's biggest fan.
"I've never seen Finn look so bewildered and Bellamy so gleeful," Clarke snorted. "Jasper and Monty kept giving us wounded looks, as if we had betrayed them."
Raven laughed and finished her drink so she could start on the third round. "At the rate we're going we are going to have to call for a ride."
"Then I have no reason not to drown my sorrows."