Archive of Our Own ^beta

It starts with three shots fired in the middle of the night. It doesn’t surprise him that the shots come from Charmaine Diyoza’s window, though Bellamy can’t imagine this is what Clarke envisioned when she told that nine-month pregnant and due any moment woman to take it easy.

Somehow, Clarke Griffin beats him to the house on foot. He still isn’t used to having a nurse that runs towards trouble instead of away from it. When he first laid eyes on her last year, she was fresh off the coach from the city. Never would have figured she’d last this long here and be so damn good at her job.

By the time Bellamy comes running inside, Clarke is already getting Charmaine back into bed. “What happened?” Bellamy asks, surveying her room for anything out of the ordinary. In anyone else’s house, the pistol on the nightstand and shotgun by the window would give him pause, but since it’s Diyoza’s house, he can’t help but wonder where the rest of her weapons are.

“Some kid tried to break into my house,” she huffs. When she tries to sit up, Clarke nudges her back down and gives her a firm look. “Didn’t get a good look at him, but I almost got him. I saw that much.”

“You were shooting into the pitch dark. You didn’t see anything,” Clarke corrects. She looks like she rolled out of bed, threw on a shawl, and rushed right over… which she probably did. Her hair is down, her loose curls messy, far different that that perfect bun she wears down in the clinic.

Bellamy leaves the room so Clarke can get back to work, and he chuckles a little every time Charmaine gets annoyed with Clarke. He checks the door, finding a hinge to be loose. There are a few drawers open but it doesn’t seem like the kid got a chance to steal anything before a very pregnant woman and her shot gun heard him. This is definitely an attempted theft, though. And not by someone passing through either. Had to be someone who knows the people of this town enough to target the pregnant woman who lives all alone.

His gut tells him it’s one of the new ranch hands. Well, one in particular: Finn Collins.

He can’t come up with a concrete reason why he jumps to Finn. It’s just a feeling. Something isn’t right with that kid. Bellamy’s been through enough twisters to know what the calm before a storm feels like, and that kid is it.

As sheriff, he’s had a lot of problems with the new hires on Jaha’s ranch over the years. First, it was Murphy three years ago. He was stealing medicine form their old nurse, Vera Kane. But Bellamy straightened him out, and Murphy stuck around. The others didn’t fare as well, two of whom he escorted to the city personally for their trials.

So, he’s been keeping an eye out on this newest bunch, just in case something like this happened. Dax and Sterling didn’t capture his attention, but Finn Collins sure did. The boy comes off as slick, buddying up to everyone in town and flirting with all the women. Bellamy has the suspicion that he’s hiding something and all this bravado is just trying to cover it up.

Just as Shaw comes in offering to keep watch at Diyoza’s house tonight, Clarke closes the door quietly behind her.

“I take it you’re gonna make me ask all my questions in the morning,” Bellamy smirks, and Clarke rolls her eyes.

“Yes. She needs rest. Shouldn’t you be off chasing the bad guy?” She’s teasing him, of course. It’s not often Bellamy has a “bad guy” to chase, anyway. Ark is a sleepy town with less than two hundred residents. The most excitement he’s gotten all month was the horse that escaped.

“Whoever it is would be long gone by now. And it’s too dark out. I’ll get back on it in the morning,” he sighs, walking with Clarke toward the front door.

Outside, a few of the neighbors are out on their porches, looking to see what’s going on. Bellamy waves them all off, shooing them back inside. He’ll talk to them once he’s gotten a few more hours of sleep and actual information to go on.

“I’ll walk you home,” he tells her, leaving his horse tied up in front of Charmaine’s house. He means it as a nice gesture. But just as he expects, Clarke rolls her eyes.

“I can walk home on my own, thank you very much.”

“Charmaine just had a break in. I’m walking you home,” he huffs. This is how it always is with Clarke. Drives him mad, sometimes.

She falls in step with him as they stroll down the dirt road. Part of him wants to get onto her for going inside that house before Bellamy arrived and told her it was safe, but he knows that particular conversation won’t end well. Clarke doesn’t like being told what to do.

“Do you have any idea who it might have been?” Clarke asks, and he lets out a sigh.

“I’m thinking one of the new ranch hands,” he whispers. Bellamy doubts anyone is still outside to hear, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“Dax?”

“No, Collins.” Clarke laughs. “What?”

“He’s harmless,” she giggles. Bellamy scoffs. “He is! Actually rather sweet. Everyone thinks so.”

That right there is part of the reason Bellamy is suspicious. He’s always hanging around the saloon with Jasper and Monty like he’s been doing it all his life. He flirts too much with the women, so they all adore him, calling him a real Casanova. Even his sister likes him, saying if she hadn’t found Lincoln, she’d be falling all over him too.

“Why just last night, he walked me home from the clinic.”

This makes Bellamy snap his head in her direction. She’s talking about it like it’s some sweet gesture when she just got mad at Bellamy for doing the same. How did Finn Collins manage to finagle his way into Clarke’s heart already? Sure, Bellamy has noticed that Finn seems to have taken a special interest in their town’s nurse. Can’t really blame him when she is one of few unmarried women in town and probably the prettiest one too, not that he’s noticed. But Clarke is smart. Bellamy assumed that she would be able to see past the smarm dripping off this kid.

“Since you two are so close, what do you know about him?” He tries to stay impassive, but his voice sounds more like a hiss.

“He’s from Alabama. Worked on a farm there for a while. Don’t know much about his family, but he likes poetry. He even has a few poems memorized,” she says, wistfully ignoring his tone.

“Bet he was all too happy to recite some to you,” he mutters, not realizing that he was actually saying it out loud until Clarke stopped walking to glare at him.

“In fact, he was,” Clarke snaps before crossing her arms. “Didn’t realize you would care about something like that, Sheriff Blake.”

He hates when she calls him that. It’s always in a mock respectful tone, like she’s taunting him. Months ago, they started calling each other by their first names, like friends are supposed to do. But whenever she gets cross with him, she throws Sheriff Blake into conversation with indignation. Just her little way of making sure he knows that she’s pissed.

“I don’t care,” he mutters, and out of the corner of his eye, a shadow moves in Kane’s house. Bellamy nudges Clarke along before he looks out the window and sees them fighting. Last thing either of them wants is the town to gossip about another one of their infamous rows. “I just get a little concerned when a newcomer gets a little too friendly this quickly.”

“You always hate anyone who is new in town,” she groans, and now he knows they aren’t talking about Finn Collins anymore.

“I never hated you.”

“Really? Then, how do you explain watching me like a hawk those first few months?”

There are two answers to that question: the one Bellamy knows to be true and the one all his friends are convinced of. Miller started the theory and it spread like wildfire. Basically, they all think that Bellamy liked her a little too much and didn’t have a clue what to do about it, so instead of trying to court her, he’s been pulling at her pigtails. It’s the most ludicrous thing he ever heard. He didn’t even acknowledge it when it first started circling because it was so ridiculous. Looking back, he wishes he had. Maybe then he could have stopped all the teasing about a nonexistent crush.

“You were suspicious,” he tells her, and she throws her head back with a laugh. “What? A rich girl from back East comes to this rundown town because she heard their nurse was retiring? Seemed more likely you were up to something.” The story of Clarke Griffin was too good to be true, and they’ve had enough rich city folk come into Ark saying they had the most noble of intentions only to screw them over. For once, his suspicion turned out to be false. Clarke actually is that good, and though he butts heads with her, he admires her for it. Bellamy thinks of the two of them as a kind of team. Partners, even. They look out for everyone. Clarke heals them, he protects them. Like tonight with Charmaine.

“I am up to something. This was all a long con so I could kidnap one of Jaha’s prized cows and finally win the state fair back home,” she says with a straight face, and all annoyance leaves Bellamy as he erupts into laughter. “And now that you’re onto me, I’m gonna have to get the pistol I don’t own to take care of you.”

He laughs, though that comment about her not owning a pistol bothers him. Bellamy had never considered that Clarke wouldn’t have anything to defend herself with despite living all alone. Anyone who grows up in this town has at least a rifle. He’s willing to bet she doesn’t even know how to shoot. With the break in at Diyoza’s, he finds himself looking a little closer at her tiny house at the edge of town. He finds himself wanting to ask her to go stay with someone else while this whole thing gets sorted out, but he knows she won’t agree.

Clarke is still laughing as she walks up her creaky wooden steps. He makes a mental note to come look at them whenever he gets the time. It must be driving her nuts, but she’d be too proud to ask anyone for help. Certainly not him.

“Just be careful, okay?” he tells her. “About Collins, I mean. I don’t trust him and don’t want you getting hurt.”

Clarke glances back at him, no longer as tense and defiant as she normally is when he tells her stuff like that. It’s like she’s actually listening to him.

“Why Bellamy Blake,” she says once that moment passes. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you cared about me.”

“Can’t have anything happening to our nurse, now can I?” he teases back. With an eye roll, Clarke goes inside.

He misses church the next morning. Bellamy isn’t a particularly religious man, never has been, but it’s a nice ritual to have. It’s a time every week where everyone in town is gathered in the same spot. Being there feels like being part of a family, which is something he’s been missing since Octavia and Lincoln got hitched and she moved out.

Bellamy checks up on Charmaine, asks her questions about the break in, surveys her house, and checks for tracks outside. Nothing helpful there.

After church lets out, Bellamy goes door to door warning each household about the break in and asking if anyone has seen anything suspicious. No one has, of course. He enlists Miller to help him out, and Miller takes off to ask the men from the ranch what they know.

Bellamy swings by the Lemkin’s before finding himself at the clinic.

“Are you sure your stomach hurts?” he hears Clarke ask as he pushes open the door. Charlotte is sitting up on a stool, fidgeting as Clarke takes her temperature. She looks over her shoulder at him and offers a weak smile before turning back to Charlotte. Several strands of golden hair have fallen out of her bun, and he can tell she’s itching to push them out of her face. “You don’t have a fever.”

If he didn’t know Clarke as well, he wouldn’t be able to catch the irritation in her voice. It’s masked in warmth and honey. She’s always so gentle with her patients, sweet and caring even when they’re being difficult. He envies her patience.

Bellamy leans against the doorway, taking off his hat and looking around. This clinic’s seen better days. He’s been meaning to fix that crack in the wall for a while now, but something always seems to come up. Someone’s horse escapes or a few kids get into a fight out in the schoolyard. And Clarke’s never one to ask for help, at least not for herself, so things like this often get pushed to the wayside.

Though she does have fresh flowers in here to brighten up the room. Makes it less dreary.

“I just don’t feel good,” Charlotte pouts. It’s all too familiar to Bellamy. Octavia pulled this all the time when she wasn’t getting enough attention.

“Well, that’s too bad,” Bellamy calls out, and Clarke turns to quirk an eyebrow at him. “If you felt better, I would have told you that Ms. McIntyre is making cookies right now, and they smell real good.” Charlotte sits up a little straighter, the pout falling right off her lips.

“That is too bad,” Clarke agrees. “But Sheriff Blake, Charlotte has a stomach ache. So, she probably can’t eat any cookies.”

“Well, I think my stomach ache is getting better,” she protests. Bellamy ducks his head to hide his smile. The cookie trick works every time. “I could probably eat one.”

“Are you sure?”

“Uh huh.” Charlotte jumps to her feet, and Bellamy barely gets out of the way before she goes barreling toward the door.

As soon as the door swings shut, Clarke sighs, “That’s the third time she’s been here this week, Bellamy.”

“She’s not getting much attention at home, I think.”

“And she told me yesterday that none of the girls at school want to be her friend.”

“I’ll talk to Harper about it tomorrow.” He stops by the school on the way to the ranch anyway. “So, uh, those flowers look nice in here.”

Clarke smiles softly as she wipes her hands with a rag. “Thanks. Finn brought them for me.” Bellamy grits his teeth. Of course, he did. Seems like he uses any excuse he can think of to come visit Clarke. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure? Did you catch the guy who broke into Diyoza’s house?”

“Not yet. Still asking around about it,” he sighs. Bellamy’s eyes fall back on those darn flowers, and a pit forms in his stomach. Is Collins really out picking flowers for her? No wonder she doesn’t believe him about Finn. The kid is pretending to be a complete gentleman to her. “I’m heading out to Jaha’s next.”

“For what?”

“Gonna look into his new hires.” He regrets saying it as soon as he sees Clarke’s reaction. “All of them,” he clarifies, trying to mitigate what is sure to be the fight he narrowly escaped last night.

“But you think it’s Finn,” she snaps.

“Didn’t say that,” he corrects. “You did.”

“You said it last night,” she groans, stepping up to poke him in the chest with her pointer finger. “You got any proof or is this more of your suspicions?”

“You want proof? Here’s some proof: this town has been theft free for months and now that Finn and the other ranch hands are here, that’s no longer the case.” Clarke opens her mouth to argue, so he adds in, “Just stay away from him until I get the bottom of this.”

It’s a mistake, and he knows it as soon as it is out of his mouth. If there’s one thing Clarke hates more than anything, it’s Bellamy trying to tell her what to do. So, before she can bite his head off, Bellamy ducks out of the clinic. He barely makes it to the road before he hears her door slam shut and her angry stomping toward him.

“Sheriff Blake,” she hisses, and he bites down on the side of his cheek before forcing himself to turn back to look at her. Her face is bright red with anger. “I’m not going to avoid the man just because you’re jumping to conclusions!”

He bites his tongue so that he doesn’t yell back at her. Last thing they need is to make another scene for the town gossip and part time drunk Jasper to tell everyone about. He stomps toward her and whispers so low only she can hear him, “I’m trying to protect you.”

“Since when?” she snaps, and that hits harder than a slap to his face would have. He’s telling the truth. Everything he’s told Clarke about Finn has been to protect her from the kid. “More likely you decided you didn’t like him and are determined to make him out to be a bad guy.”

He can’t think of anything clever to say to that, so he just stomps away from her. Bellamy needs a drink, so he finds himself in the saloon. And there he finds Finn Collins sitting in his chair at his table, because apparently it wasn’t enough for Collins to win over Clarke. He just had to take Bellamy’s chair too.

Bellamy drops to a stool at the bar where Monty is wiping down a glass with a rag.

“Told ya he’d be mad,” Jasper slurs, sliding into the stool right next to Bellamy. “Ya shoulda made Finn move to a different table.”

Monty rolls his eyes and looks over at Bellamy. “You don’t mind, right?” he asks.

“Of course not,” Bellamy lies. Monty pours him his usual, and Bellamy drinks it faster than he should. “But I’ve been meaning to ask. What do you guys think of him?”

“He plays a mean game of poker, so I hate him,” Jasper mutters before his forehead falls to the bar. With a sigh, Bellamy looks over at Monty.

“Don’t listen to him. A child could rob him blind. Finn’s an okay poker player,” Monty laughs. “But I don’t know. He’s been nice enough.”

“Just let me know if he does anything suspicious,” he sighs.

Jasper’s head perks up, and he grins at Bellamy. “I saw something suspicious,” he slurs. Bellamy ignores him, and Jasper clinks his glass against Bellamy’s empty one before taking a big swig. Monty’s eyes meet Bellamy’s, and they both share the same exasperated thought. “That Collins kid was here all of five minutes before setting his sights on our pretty little nurse. That’s why Sheriff Blake wants to send his ass back to Mississippi.”

“That’s not—” Bellamy cuts himself off, refusing to engage. But why are all of them convinced there is something between him and Clarke? Some days, he doesn’t even like her. She’s always questioning how he does his job even though he never tells her how to do her job. Though, he did just tell her to stay away from Finn, so maybe the bossing each other around thing isn’t as one sided as he’d like to believe.

“I mean, it’s not like he has any other options. She’s one of a handful of unmarried women here,” Monty tells Jasper. “I’d hardly call that suspicious.”

“This isn’t about Clarke,” Bellamy groans. “It’s about Collins. Every time a group of them comes here, someone starts some trouble. I just want to get ahead of it.” After a beat, he remembers something else that Jasper said. “Wait, did you say Mississippi?”

“When?” he mutters, holding his head up with his hand as it droops.

“Just now when talking about Collins.”

“Well, yeah. He’s from Mississippi.”

“No, he’s from Alabama,” Bellamy corrects.

“He told me Mississippi,” Jasper sighs.

“Me too,” Monty adds in.

“He told Clarke Alabama,” he mutters. The odds of Clarke getting that wrong are slim to none. That girl remembers everything. Finn lied to her or he lied to Monty and Jasper. Either way, he’s a liar. Finally, actual evidence. Bellamy slaps a few coins on the counter and makes to leave.

He walks right by the clinic on his way to Jaha’s ranch, and his fight with Clarke comes flooding back. He’s still fuming over it. For the rest of the walk, he finds himself going over the argument in his head trying to figure out how he could have won it. It’s a worthless exercise. He’s never walked away from a fight with Clarke and felt like he had the upper hand. She could be a brick wall when she wanted to be.

Jaha is out on his old rocking chair as Bellamy approaches the house. “Hope I didn’t do anything to make you so upset, Sheriff,” he offers.

“No, no. It’s not you,” Bellamy stutters out as he climbs the three steps to the porch. “It’s, uh, a personal matter.”

“Ah, Clarke?” Jaha asks. Bellamy clenches his jaw. The gossips work too fast in this town. “I just saw her pretty fuming mad, is all.”

“Right, um, anyway. Last night, Charmaine Diyoza’s house was broken into.”

“I heard,” Jaha sighs. “You had Miller come talk to some of my men.” He pushes to his feet and gestures for Bellamy to come inside.

“I know you’re thorough when you hire help,” Bellamy offers, though it’s a lie and they both know it. Jaha hires who he can get and just prays they don’t cause trouble. “But just to make sure, I would like to look at the boys you just brought in.”

“I know, I know,” he groans. This isn’t the first time Bellamy’s shown up at his door asking for this, though it had been a while since the last incident. “Glad I’m not the only one with a bad feeling about this group.”

“Collins?”

“No, Dax. Though I don’t care for Collins either. That kid never shuts up and I’m pretty sure half the things he’s bragging about are lies.” Finally, someone who sees Finn for what he is. He wonders if he could get Jaha to say all that in front of Clarke. That would really show her that Bellamy’s not making stuff up.

Bellamy follows him to his personal office, lingering in the doorway as Jaha goes through his papers.

“Where did Collins say he came from, anyway?”

“Some farm out in Mississippi. I’ve never heard of it. Might have been a lie, but that’s how it is sometimes.”

“Finn told Clarke he came from Alabama. Can’t seem to keep his story straight. I think he’s hiding something.”

Jaha tosses him a stack of papers, his notes on each of the new hires. Bellamy flips through them, seeing lists of previous employment, which gives Bellamy something to follow up on. And he’ll start by sending word to the Reyes farm to ask about Finn Collins.  

The second break in happens that night. It’s Harper McIntyre’s house, which is the farthest east one in town so she can be right by her schoolhouse. The thief is long gone by the time he gets there and seems to have taken as much as he could carry. Harper is in tears, and Monty holds on tight to her as Bellamy asks what happened.

The thief seems to be singling out the women in town who live alone. Diyoza was probably what he thought was an easy target, but he greatly underestimated her because of her pregnancy. Harper, a schoolteacher, would be another easy target. When Bellamy gets back home, he makes a list of all the other potential targets. Clarke is on the list, of course. Her name keeps pulling his attention from the task at hand, so he gives up on the list and tries to sleep. It’s more tossing and turning than anything. He barely gets a few hours of sleep with all his worrying about the thief.

As soon as the sun rises, Bellamy is up and visiting each of the people on his list. He talks with each of them about necessary precautions, making sure they shut all their windows and lock their doors. They’re all worried, which he hates, but worried is better than being unprepared. He makes his way through the list quickly, feeling better up until his foot slips in a hole in Zoe Monroe’s old floor and his head slams into the corner of the table on the way down. When he sees the blood on his fingers after touching the cut on his forehead, he knows this means he has to go back to the clinic and face Clarke.

He gets all sorts of worried looks as he makes his way across town. A few women passing by tell him he should get that checked out… as if he weren’t already heading to the clinic. He forces a smile at their suggestion, reserving his frustration for the only person who deserves it: the thief.

Outside the clinic door, he swears he hears Clarke laughing. He furrows his eyebrows as he swings the door open, only to see Clarke and Finn. He’s got a bandage on his arm, but he looks just fine to Bellamy. It looks like she’s already treated him and is just packing up her bandages.

“Stop, you’re distracting me,” she giggles. Bellamy isn’t sure he’s ever heard her giggle like this. Finn’s smile is as sly as Bellamy’s ever seen it though, and he doesn’t like it one bit.

“Then, we’re even. Those pretty eyes of yours are always distracting me.”

There’s no mistaking Clarke’s blush for anything else, and it hits Bellamy harder than a speeding train would have. She likes him.

Bellamy is paralyzed in the doorway, his mind too cluttered with this new revelation for his feet to take him anywhere. It almost feels like a betrayal, but it’s not. Bellamy has no claim on Clarke, nor does he want to have a claim on her. It’s not like he—

Oh.

Bellamy just stares at her, trying to figure out when this changed.

It’s ultimately Finn who first notices him standing there, and when Clarke notices Finn’s worried face, she turns to see him.

“Bellamy!” she almost screams, rushing up to him immediately. Clarke takes his face in his hands, turning it so she can see all of the wound. “What happened?”

“Would you believe me if I said Ms. Monroe’s floor took me out?” he snorts, but Clarke is too busy dragging him to the bench to acknowledge his snark.

“How can I help?” Finn asks. Clarke already has a towel in hand and is sitting down right in front of Bellamy. She dabs at the blood, and he winces. “Clarke?”

“Hmm?” she hums.

“How can I help?”

“Don’t need help. I’ll see you later,” she murmurs, not taking her eyes off Bellamy’s forehead. Bellamy feels almost smug when he sees the stung look on Finn’s face, like he won… when in reality Clarke is just doing her job. Still. He lets himself have this one. Bellamy savors every second of Finn’s rejected slouch toward the door. “Are you dizzy or anything?”

“I promise I’m not concussed. Just bleeding like hell.”

Clarke gets to work cleaning him up, fiercely focused on him. She’s never had to patch him up before, but he’s seen her do this hundreds of times. It feels odd being her patient on the receiving end of such a focused gaze.

“You need stitches,” she tells him, and he winces. “You can handle it, Sheriff.” She’s teasing him again, and it feels like their fight yesterday never happened.

He keeps his eyes on her face as she deals with the wound, hiding each wince as best as he can. His mind drifts back to the moment he walked into the clinic and the jealousy that flooded him when Finn flirted with her. Bellamy doesn’t get jealous. Or at least, he didn’t used to.

“There was another break in,” he tells her, more to distract himself than anything. The news breaks her focused expression. “Harper’s house.”

“Was she hurt?”

“No, but the thief got away with a lot,” he sighs.

“You still think it’s Finn?”

He’s about to say yes, but he snaps his mouth shut to think about it for a second. Does he actually think it was Finn? His gut is still telling him that Finn’s up to something, but that might be colored by his jealousy rather than actual intuition. Might being the operative word. Finn did lie about where he’s from, but Bellamy won’t get confirmation on that until he hears back from the farm Finn was allegedly at before he came here.

“I don’t know who did it,” Bellamy admits. He’s about to tell her about the lie, but then he thinks back to how she giggled because of Finn earlier. If he’s wrong about Finn, Clarke’s heart could break for no good reason. Maybe there is an explanation. Maybe Finn just accidentally said the wrong state to Clarke. Bellamy doubts it, but it would probably be better to get more evidence than to make her upset right now. “Considering who the thief has already targeted, I’m worried your home might be one of his next targets.”

A flash of fear washes across her blue eyes, but she keeps working on his stitches.

“Make sure your doors are locked. Keep all your windows shut. I’m putting together a patrol, just as a precaution.”

Clarke keeps her face more stoic than the others did, but he can still recognize the signs of concern. Her jaw is tense, her lips are pressed hard together, and her worried eyes betray her.

“I’ll get to the bottom of this. I promise. You’re safe. I’ll make sure of it.”

She gives him a small nod and pulls away to examine her work. Her hands feel soft against his cheeks as she turns his head. He never noticed how soft they were before. But then again, the two of them don’t touch much. Just argue and tease each other.

“What?” she asks when she catches him staring at her.

Quickly, his eyes dart to the crack in the wall. “Would you like me to fix that?” he asks her.

She furrows his eyebrows and follows his gaze to the wall. “Oh, no. You don’t have to,” she says. “You’ve got your hands full right now.”

“I have time,” he blurts out. And it’s technically true. There’s not much he can do until he hears back from the previous employers he contacted other than patrol tonight. “And it looks like an easy fix.”

“Bellamy, I can’t ask you to—”

“You’re not asking. I offered,” he points out before jumping to his feet. Bellamy’s out the door to grab what he needs before she can protest any further. His mind keeps drifting back to Finn flirting with her as he walks, and the ugly, jealous feeling churns in his chest. He’s thankful when he gets back to the clinic and has the crack in the wall to focus on instead.

Clarke’s examining a boy’s stubbed toe as he gets to work, so Bellamy tries to be as quiet as possible. More people come in and out of the clinic as he patches up the wall. A few stop to ask Bellamy for any updates on the break ins, but for the most part, he fades into the background as Clarke takes care of each of them. It’s kind of nice being around while she works. She jokes around with her uneasy patients to coax them into relaxing and knows most of them well enough that conversation is easy. Despite what Bellamy thought when Clarke first got here, she fits in here just fine. Listening to her now, it’s hard to imagine there was ever a time where Clarke wasn’t here.

She’s tending to a cut when Bellamy finishes, so he slips out as quietly as possible. He still has a few hours to kill, so he heads home, gets on his horse, and rides out to see Octavia.

Lincoln and Octavia live a bit outside of town, close enough to ride there, but far enough that Bellamy only sees them every now and then.  The two of them like the quiet of living out in the woods. They’ll probably come back whenever they’re ready to start having kids, but for now, it works just fine.

Lincoln is out chopping wood as Bellamy hops off his horse. They exchange a silent wave as Bellamy approaches Octavia on the porch. She’s in her rocking chair, the one Bellamy made her as a wedding present.

“Didn’t think you’d come see us today,” Octavia grins as Bellamy leans down to give her a kiss on the cheek. Her eyes catch on the stitches, but she just shakes her head. It’s not the first time she’d see him stitched up, and it probably won’t be the last.

“I needed a breath of fresh air,” he admits. Octavia narrows her eyes. “There have been two break ins, and I think it’s one of the new ranch hands. I’m killing time until I patrol tonight.”

Bellamy tells her the rest of the details, and Lincoln stops chopping so he can hear too. When he’s done, Octavia cocks her head to the side and asks, “What else is bothering you?”

“Nothing,” he mutters. His back falls against their house as he looks out at the surrounding woods. But Octavia knows him better than anyone does and must somehow sense the other issue that’s eating away at him. She just taps her fingers on the armrests, waiting for him to fess up. “And one of the ranch hands is interested in Clarke,” he admits, and a sly grin forms on Octavia’s lips.

“Which doesn’t bother you at all because you barely even like Clarke most days, right?” she teases, and Lincoln laughs as he jogs up the steps of their porch.

Bellamy takes in a deep breath before whispering, “It does bother me.” Octavia bolts upright, widening her eyes in surprise. “I didn’t realize it bothered me until I realized she likes Finn too.”

“You’re jealous,” Octavia shouts, and though no one is around to hear, he clamps his hand around her mouth. She swats it away, grinning triumphantly. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this?”

Coming here probably was a mistake, but if Bellamy had to confess this to someone, he’d rather it be Lincoln and Octavia instead of Monty and Jasper. At least these two can keep a secret.

“It’s nothing,” he sighs. “And I’m not going to say anything to her. It’s not like she—” Octavia’s loud groan cuts him off. “What?”

“Do you think we would all tease you over this if it was one sided?” she huffs. The meaning of her words takes a moment to land, and when they do, Bellamy is left confused. Clarke doesn’t care for Bellamy… at least, not like that. She likes Finn. He’s never seen her like that with Bellamy, all giggly and blushing.

“To be fair, Clarke is about as clueless as he is,” Lincoln mutters, shaking his head. Octavia laughs in agreement.

The rain starts before he can figure out what to think, and the three of them exchange an exasperated look. This visit will have to be cut short so he can make it back before it gets bad. They go through their goodbyes, and Bellamy rides back into town.

It rains for two days. No break ins happen for two nights straight, which he expects since only a fool would risk having to make an escape in this kind of weather. But Bellamy does his patrols anyway, which is how he finds himself coming down with a cold. He hasn’t had a cold since he was a kid. He tries to tough it out, but as soon as Clarke finds out, she demands he stay in bed. Before he can protest, she’s brought in Murphy and Miller before telling Bellamy that they’re taking over for him until he gets better. Normally, he’d fight her on this, but he feels awful and he’s just delirious enough that he lets himself enjoy her fussing all over him.

For days, he’s out of it. He’s vaguely aware of Clarke checking up on him and Monty bringing him soup. Harper drops off a batch of get well soon cards from the kids, and Clarke catches him smiling as he goes through them all.

“I think Harper needs to make ‘sheriff’ one of the spelling words for next week,” he jokes. Clarke walks over to look at the card Charlotte made with her backwards letters and giggles quietly. “By the way, thanks for taking care of me.”

“You don’t make it easy,” she chuckles. Clarke rests the back of her hand over his forehead. He’s feeling better now, but she still hasn’t given him the okay to get out of bed. She promised if his fever went down, she would. “I swear, even Murphy is less stubborn than you.”

“Clarke Griffin is calling me stubborn,” he laughs, and for a second, he thinks he’s crossed a line. But a smile tugs at her lips. “So, can I get back to work or not?” While he probably needed a few days of rest, it’s been hard staying still with this thief still at large. Miller almost caught him trying to break into Zoe Monroe’s house, but the kid was too fast for him to even get a good look at him. Bellamy can’t help but feel guilty that he wasn’t there.

“Your fever has dropped, so I don’t see why not,” she replies. Clarke digs into her bag and holds out a bunch of envelopes toward him. “Marcus asked me to bring these to you. They came in this afternoon.”

Bellamy sits up and snatches them from her hands. One with a Mississippi address is at the top, and he tears it open as quickly as he can manage.

It’s not what he expects. Finn did work on the Reyes farm in Mississippi. So, he told the truth to Jaha and the others. Why would he lie to Clarke?

Bellamy glances over at her as she packs up her things. Could she know someone who knows him back in Mississippi? Clarke knows lots of important people back home and traveled a lot, so it doesn’t seem that far-fetched. If Finn is hiding something, maybe he doesn’t want her writing a letter to an old friend mentioning his name.

“Clarke, you ever been to Mississippi?” he asks, and she shakes her head.

“No, but one of the girls I went to boarding school with was from there,” she replies. “Raven’s family has this lovely farm. I always meant to visit, but my father got sick and it just never happened.”

“That wouldn’t happen to be the Reyes farm, would it?”

Her face lights up in recognition, and his heart sinks. “You’ve heard of it?” she asks with a huge grin. She goes on to talk about her friend Raven and the sorts of trouble she would get into on the farm. Bellamy is only half listening.

For some reason, Finn doesn’t want Clarke knowing that he worked on Raven’s family’s farm. Odds are, no one else in this town would know anyone from Mississippi. But Clarke, who has traveled all over, might. So, he probably casually asked and made a quick lie about being from Alabama so she wouldn’t figure out his connection to the Reyes farm. But why? It can’t be for anything criminal. Raven’s father would have mentioned it in the letter. No, he says that Finn was an exceptional worker who he thinks of like family.

As soon as Clarke leaves, Bellamy rushes to get dressed and brings this information straight to Miller.

“He’s not your thief,” Miller says. “He was in the saloon helping Monty with Jasper when the thief was at Monroe’s.”

“No, this isn’t about the robberies,” Bellamy groans. “It’s about what he’s hiding.”

“Oh, this is about him liking Clarke,” Miller huffs, and instead of ignoring him or arguing, Bellamy nods. “Wait, what?”

“I don’t think he’s a thief, but I do think he’s hiding something, and I don’t want her to get hurt.” Miller narrows his eyes at Bellamy suspiciously. “Just keep your eyes peeled and ask around to see if he’s let anything else slip about his time on the Reyes farm.”

“So, you want me to work on this instead of dealing with our string of robberies?” he asks skeptically. “All because you’re worried about Clarke, who you claim you don’t like.”

For once, Bellamy wishes his sister could have been in town to gossip so he wouldn’t have to actually admit this. “I do like her,” he says under his breath. Miller cups his ear as if he didn’t hear him, but Bellamy can tell by the grin on his lips that he heard him just fine. “I do like her,” he says a bit louder. When Miller repeats the gag, Bellamy swats his shoulder. “And no, our main focus is the robbery. But keep an eye out. Something isn’t right here.”

“I can’t wait to tell Monty.”

Bellamy spins back on his heels to glare at him. “No,” he snaps. Miller opens his mouth to argue, but Bellamy says it again. “No. Nothing will happen, so don’t get Monty and Jasper’s hopes up. She can’t stand me.”

“She nursed you back to health, so I wouldn’t go that far,” Miller laughs.

“But she likes Finn,” Bellamy says through gritted teeth. Why she likes him is beyond Bellamy, but the preference couldn’t be more clear.

“Because she knows Finn likes her. You, on the other hand, she doesn’t have a clue about. Not so sure she would consider Finn if she thought you were an option. More likely he’s the first man in this town to make an earnest attempt at courting her.”

As if on cue, Bellamy spots Finn down the street walking toward the clinic, flowers in hand. He has to turn his head to keep from groaning at the sight.

“See? He’s being nice and thoughtful and making her feel like someone cares about her. Would that be so hard for you to do?”

Bellamy groans as he stomps toward the saloon. Maybe Bellamy doesn’t bring Clarke flowers or say any cheesy thing that pops into his head, but he does care about her. He looks out for her and checks up on her every day. Bellamy takes care of her. He’s trying to protect her, which says a lot more than picking random wildflowers on the way to the clinic.

The thief does give Bellamy the mercy of another day of rest before he strikes again. It’s during Murphy’s shift, and Bellamy wakes to Miller shaking him.

“Whose house?” he asks as he tugs his boots on and throws on a coat. When Miller doesn’t respond, Bellamy stops to look at him.  It’s like he’s scared of how Bellamy will react. “Miller!”

“Clarke’s.” Bellamy has a gun in hand as is halfway out the door before Miller shouts, “She’s fine!”

Murphy has his horse, so Bellamy sprints to Clarke’s house at the edge of town. All her neighbors are out on their porches, whispering among themselves about the break in. The door is already open, and inside, Bellamy sees half a dozen people gathered around in her living room, but no sign of her.

“Clarke?” he calls out, panic rising in his voice. In an instant, Clarke pushes past the people crowding around her, including Finn, and rushes over to him. She barrels right toward him and throws her arms around his neck. His arms loop around her shaking body and he whispers, “You’re okay, you’re okay.”

“About damn time you got here,” Murphy mutters, and Bellamy shoots him a dirty look. He would have been the first one here if Murphy had let him take this shift.

He looks around the room as Clarke cries into his coat. Why is Murphy still in here? He should be off chasing the thief. Or at the very least surveying the area.

As if reading his mind, Murphy says, “We got him. Well, she got him.” Bellamy can’t make sense of it until Kane moves to the side to reveal an unconscious Dax by the back door with a nasty red mark across his face. “Got him with a fireplace poker before he even realized she was awake.”

He pulls Clarke’s face back with his hand as if to double check that she isn’t hurt, but all he finds are scared tears. “You did good,” he tells her as he wipes them from her cheek. Clarke swallows before forcing a nod. He lets go of her face so she can melt back into his chest again, and he threads his fingers through her soft hair to try and soothe her. He can’t enjoy holding her like this, not when she is so shaken with fear, but something about having her this close feels right. Maybe it’s just the reassurance that she made it out unharmed.

Miller comes in and orders Murphy and Finn to help drag Dax to the cell. Normally, Bellamy would be accompanying them, but Clarke doesn’t let go of him. So, he keeps holding onto her, rubbing her back as she slowly calms down.

The others offer to bring Clarke something to drink or eat, but she waves them all off and assures them she’s alright. Eventually, they all return to their homes, leaving Bellamy and Clarke all alone.

“I’ll stay down here,” he whispers. “Until morning. Why don’t you go get some sleep?”

Clarke finally pulls away and wipes away her tears with her sleeve. “No, no. You don’t have to do that.” Bellamy takes a good look at her. She looks similar to how she did the night she ran to Diyoza’s house with her messy curls and loose gown, but her cheeks are stained with tears now.

“I want to.” A strange look washes across her face, but miraculously, she doesn’t argue. “Try to get some sleep. I’ll be right here if you need me.” His eyes don’t leave her as she climbs up her stairs, and even once she’s out of sight, he listens as she makes her way back into bed. Once he stops hearing her footsteps, Bellamy lets out a shaky breath. It’s only now that he registers his heart pounding.

Bellamy falls to the small loveseat in her living room, but he can’t relax. Too many what ifs echo in his thoughts for him to settle down. Instead of sitting still, he ends up checking both sets of locks and double checking all her windows downstairs, being careful to avoid the creaky floorboard so he doesn’t wake Clarke. Then, he paces until he trips over the fire poker. Bellamy freezes, praying he didn’t wake her. When he doesn’t hear Clarke rushing down the stairs, he picks it up and stares at it.

He can visualize it all perfectly. Clarke hearing something outside. Rushing downstairs and grabbing the first thing she could find. Action first, fear later… just like when she ran toward the gun shots the night of the first break in. When Dax broke in, Clarke struck him as hard as she could, hoping it would be enough until she could get help. He’d rather she had just run to get Bellamy, because what if it didn’t work? What if she didn’t hit him hard enough or missed? Bellamy didn’t see if Dax was armed, but he probably was. He could have lost Clarke tonight.

Bellamy paces again to try and distract himself. When that doesn’t work, he works on the creaky floorboard until he can step on it without making a sound. That does succeed in distracting him, so he keeps finding tasks like it. He works on the loose coat hook, first, and before he knows it, he’s outside as the sun starts to rise finally getting around to dealing with Clarke’s creaky steps to her porch. Bellamy’s exhausted by the time he’s done, too tired to even worry about what could have happened last night, and plants himself back on the loveseat.

He means to only close his eyes for a minute, but when he wakes up, he has a blanket tucked around him and it appears to be close to noon. Great. He slept the morning away. And Clarke’s long gone.

Everyone wants to talk to him about the break in as he makes his way through town, but he gently declines to talk about it… at least until he’s run home for a change of clothes.

Bellamy feels a little more human after a change of clothes and some coffee. He stops by Dax’s cell to find Murphy with his feet kicked up on Bellamy’s desk.

“Really?” he groans before looking over at Dax.

Dax doesn’t look at him, just keeps his eyes fixed on the wall of his cell. The swelling on his face is bad from where Clarke hit him.

“Ordinarily, you’d have the town nurse come look at him, right?” Murphy asks. “What do you do when the town nurse is also the one who whacked him?” He laughs a little, but Bellamy doesn’t join in. It’s hard to find it funny. All he wants is to get Dax the hell out of here and let things go back to normal. But that means he has to leave town for a few days to escort him to trial, and Bellamy isn’t all that eager to leave after last night.

Dax starts to turn in his direction, but Murphy calls out, “I wouldn’t start again if I were you. You just broke into his girl’s house last night, so don’t push it.”

Bellamy glares at him. “She’s not my girl,” he reminds.

“Could’ve fooled me,” he mutters. With a groan, Bellamy storms out.

But as he walks into town, Murphy’s words echo in his head. Bellamy probably looked as panicked last night as Monty did when Harper’s house was broken into. He felt as panicked. It was like the entire world had frozen until Bellamy was certain Clarke was unharmed.

Then, he remembers how Clarke bolted toward him as soon as she heard his voice. The way she buried her face into his chest and wouldn’t let go.

Maybe this thing isn’t as one sided as he thought.

Finn was right there, but Clarke wasn’t clinging to him when Bellamy got there. No, Bellamy was who she wanted when she was scared. He was the one she wanted to hold her while she cried. He was the one who made her feel safe.

His feet lead him to the clinic without him really being aware of it. But Clarke isn’t alone when he opens the door. She’s not seeing a patient, but she’s surrounded by her friends, all of whom are probably eager to check up on her. Bellamy slips out before she notices him and lingers outside as he waits for their visit to be over.

Miller finds him out there and pats him on the shoulder.

“Don’t say a damn thing,” Bellamy mumbles.

He’s about to say something anyway when they hear a chorus of aww’s from inside the clinic followed by Clarke laughing and telling them to stop. More laughter erupts from inside.

“Huh,” he sighs. Not quite the mood he expected for this afternoon, but he’s relieved to hear laughter instead of tears.

“Are you going to be up for taking Dax in?”

“It’s my job.” The clinic door opens, and Harper and Monroe walk out. They’re whispering among themselves, but as soon as they see Bellamy, they stop speaking. “You two alright?” he asks.

Harper nods quickly as an odd grin takes over her lips. As soon as they turn the corner, he hears them laughing again.

Bellamy looks back at Miller. “Do you know what that’s about?” Miller shrugs.

It happens again as the rest of them leave the clinic. Odd. After a deep breath, Bellamy finally walks back up to the clinic door.

Clarke is alone now, flipping through a book. She looks up as soon as he shuts the door behind him. Her face is pink. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say she’s blushing. Probably just flushed from laughing so hard earlier.

“Did you sleep well?” she teases. He ducks his head in embarrassment.

“As well as I could on a couch half my size,” he chuckles. “How are you?” Belatedly, he remembers to take off his hat.

“Alright,” she shrugs. He searches her face for any signs that she’s lying, but she looks more tired than upset. “Better,” she promises. “I was going to tell you this morning but didn’t want to wake you—”

“You could have woken me.”

Her eyes fall to the floor as she pushes a loose strand back behind her ear. It feels so odd being across the room from her when just last night she pressed herself into his chest like she couldn’t get close enough. He longs to pull her back into his embrace to comfort her but knows he shouldn’t.

“Thank you. For last night, I mean.”

“Just doing my job.”

Why did he say that? It’s a default that he always stutters out when he doesn’t know how to accept a thank you, but as soon as it’s out there, he knows how wrong it sounds. Like he would have screamed anyone’s name all panicked like that. Like he would have held anyone like that. Like the way he comforted her was all just a job to him.

Clarke blinks a few times and whispers, “Right,” like she’s taken aback by it.

“I was really worried about you,” he adds in, and a crease forms between her brows as she tries to make sense of the conflicting messages he sends her. No wonder she likes Finn. He’s up front about his feelings for her, whereas Bellamy can’t seem to say anything without stumbling over himself. Maybe Finn is a little sappy and cheesy, but at least Clarke can see where he stands.

They stand in silence for a few moments, both unsure of what to say. Clarke breaks the silence and asks, “When are you taking him in?”

“Probably tomorrow. The sooner I get him out of here, the better.” If she has a reaction to this, she doesn’t show it. “Will you be alright if I’m gone a few days?”

For a second, he thinks she’s going to ask him to stay. Or maybe he just hopes she will. But instead, she forces a grin and says, “I can handle myself just fine, Sheriff. I’m probably going to stay at Charmaine Diyoza’s house until the baby comes, anyway.” He nods, liking this much better than Clarke being alone in her house. Plus, with so many people checking in on Diyoza throughout each night, he knows Clarke will be safe there.

He can’t think of anything else to say, which is probably for the best. He never seems to say the right thing to her.

Jasper comes in, coughing up a lung. Bellamy gives Clarke an awkward wave before slipping back outside so she can get to work.

Dax’s trial is a quick one since he has a record, and Bellamy returns home after three days. He has a riding companion on the coach home, a woman with long dark hair who barely speaks. But she fidgets excitedly the whole way. What could she possibly want in his dusty old town? People rarely ever move to Ark, and she doesn’t seem to be packing enough for more than a visit.

They’re dropped off in front of the mayor’s office, and Bellamy immediately spots Clarke walking next to Finn. There is a noticeable distance between them that he doesn’t remember seeing earlier. Finn appears to be trying a little too hard to get her attention, probably telling her how beautiful she looks or reciting another poem to her. But Clarke isn’t blushing or giggling or doing anything like what he saw that day in the clinic. She seems distracted, almost. Like she’s not even listening to him.

Bellamy helps the woman off the coach, and as soon as her feet touch the ground, her head snaps in the direction of Finn and Clarke too.

“Finn!” she calls out, and the look in Finn Collins’ eyes when he spots her is one of complete shock. The woman takes off running toward him, discarding her bags on the ground. She jumps into his arms and slams a kiss to his lips.

So, this is what Finn Collins has been hiding. Another girl back home. A knot forms in Bellamy’s stomach at the sight. Clarke must be heartbroken.

But when he looks at her, she doesn’t look it. She looks confused, sure, but it’s not laced with heartbreak. It’s something else.

His feet pull him toward her before he realizes it, and he gets there just in time for the woman to notice Clarke standing there.

“Clarke Griffin, is that you?” she asks before pushing Finn aside and throwing her arms around her.

All around the street, people have stopped to watch this exchange. Everyone knows that Finn has been pursuing Clarke, so their expressions are as dumbfounded as Bellamy’s as they take this new arrival in. They’re just waiting to see how Clarke handles this.

“Raven,” Clarke laughs, but now her eyes have met Finn’s, and there is no mistaking that murderous glare.

It takes Bellamy a beat to recognize the name as the friend Clarke mentioned. It was bad enough when Finn just had another girl, but for it to be a friend of Clarke’s is so much worse.

Clarke’s eyes dart around the street, all too aware of how many nosy sets of eyes are on her just waiting to see how she reacts, before finally her eyes find Bellamy’s. She looks relieved to see him. Happy, even. She says something else to Raven and Finn before breaking away and walking toward him. Finn tries to call out to her, but either he isn’t loud enough or Clarke ignores him because she’s unphased by it.

“Walk me back to the clinic,” she whispers.

“I’m back five minutes and you’re already telling me what to do,” he teases and is surprised to be met with a laugh instead of a witty retort.

“Please,” she adds even though he’s already walking her in that direction. She takes a few deep breaths as they walk, like she’s trying to calm down. But again, he’s thrown by the lack of heartbreak in her expression. Clarke is typically guarded, but with a shock like that, he expected her stoic expression to falter.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“No. I can’t believe he did this to Raven,” she whispers, shaking her head slightly. “That girl has been through enough, and he’s lucky to have her. Any man would be. She’s going to be devastated when she finds out—”

“Clarke, I’m asking about you not Raven. Are you okay?” he asks again, and Clarke peers up at him like he just asked the most ridiculous question. “I mean, that must have hurt. You… cared for him.” The words feel like spikes in his throat as they come out, but somehow, he manages to keep a steady voice.

She blinks at him a few times before fixing her gaze downward. “Oh,” she shrugs. “For a moment, I did. But I realized…” She shakes her head slightly before finally saying, “He’s not what I want.”

Bellamy tries to process what that means but by the time he has wrapped his head around the idea that Clarke really wasn’t that smitten with Finn, she asks, “How was the trial?”

“Good. We don’t need to worry about Dax anymore,” he promises. Relief floods Clarke, and Bellamy feels the corners of his mouth turn up as her shoulders relax. “What are you going to do about Finn?”

“I don’t have to do a thing. The town’s gossip will give him what he deserves.” A chuckle escapes him. Raven being here must be Finn’s worst nightmare. She won’t be able to talk to a soul without someone telling her how Finn has been pursuing Clarke while stringing Raven along. Bellamy gives him an hour, tops.

Shaw comes running up to them, out of breath as he tells Clarke that Charmaine is in labor. The two of them take off to grab Clarke’s things and head back to the Diyoza house.

Bellamy turns back toward town, grabs his things from where the coach dropped him off, and decides to swing by the saloon for a quick drink. It’s been a long day, and he figures he deserves one.

“Oh good,” Jasper says as soon as Bellamy walks in. “You know how to set a broken nose, right?”

With a groan, Bellamy drops his things by the door and follows Jasper to the bar. Behind it, he finds Monty holding an ice pack to Finn’s nose.

“Gossip gets around fast, huh?” Bellamy smirks as he walks around. Finn shoots him a glare. Bellamy nudges Monty to the side and crouches down in front of Finn. “Good news: I can set it,” Bellamy tells him. “Bad news: it’s going to hurt.”

It does hurt. Enough for Finn to cry. It takes all his self-control not to smile about it.

Hope Diyoza is born in the middle of the night and comes out with a healthy pair of lungs. He hears all about it first thing in the morning as he passes by Zoe Monroe on his way toward Diyoza’s house.

Bellamy tiptoes into the house to check on them and finds Clarke standing in the center of her living room, rocking the newborn baby in her arms. She shushes him before even seeing that it’s Bellamy.

“Is Charmaine alright?” he whispers, and her eyes dart up to meet his.

“Yes, just sleeping. The labor was a difficult one,” Clarke says quietly. “Hope started to cry, so I brought her out here before she woke her mom.” She turns so Bellamy can get a good glimpse of the baby, and he can’t help but smile at his town’s newest resident.

“Hello there,” he whispers to Hope. “I hope you don’t cause as much trouble as your mom has.” Clarke bites down on her lip to keep from laughing. “I’m a tough sheriff, so you better stay out of trouble.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Clarke coos. “He’s a big ole softie.”

Bellamy steps back as Clarke begins to rock her again and just watches them. Clarke looks exhausted. He doubts she slept a wink, and he’s fairly certain she’s wearing yesterday’s dress. The bun is half undone with curls falling into her face. But she looks so happy as she whispers to the newborn baby. It’s a beautiful thing to see.

“Do you want to hold her?” she asks, and he nods. Carefully, she places Hope in his arms, and he makes sure to watch the head. Clarke hovers for a moment, but once she realizes Bellamy is good with babies, she goes to check on Charmaine.

Hope really is a beautiful baby. There haven’t been many babies born in this town lately, but Bellamy knows that’s going to change soon. Octavia and Lincoln want a house full of kids. Any day now, Monty is going to propose to Harper, and kids won’t be far away for them either. Their town is growing, and it’s a beautiful and exciting thing. Bellamy just wishes his own future was a little more solid.

He knows what he wants. He wants this. He wants a family. He wants a house that’s never quiet because little feet are always scampering through it.

But it’s never felt like it was in the cards for him, not when he couldn’t find someone to start that family with. A partner. Someone he was so gone for that he couldn’t think straight. Someone he would do anything for.

Bellamy feels so foolish that it didn’t click sooner.

Clarke comes back in a few minutes later and asks if he’s tired of holding Hope yet. He’s not, and she laughs a little.

“I like babies,” he admits. “Have ever since my sister was born.”

“I like them too, just don’t like all the fuss that comes with getting them here,” she chuckles.

“How many have you delivered?”

“Hope is my third.”

“And it was a hard delivery?”

“They all are,” she admits. “A lot of screaming and crying. It’s a very intense few hours, but all the drama in the world is worth it as soon as you get the baby into their mom’s arms.” Clarke isn’t looking at him. Her eyes are on Hope while her fingers pull up at the blanket the baby is swaddled in.

He’s never heard Clarke talk about her work like this. Bellamy knows that healing is a part of Clarke, a passion that matches his for protecting the people around him. But he’s never heard the beautiful way that Clarke looks at the world through that lens. It’s just one of a thousand things he didn’t know about her, and he can’t help but wonder about what other beautiful things she might say if he asks the right questions.

Clarke rubs at her eyes.

“You look tired.” Clarke furrows her brows at that. “No, I didn’t mean that you look tired,” he stutters out, panicked, and she raises an eyebrow. “You still look, you know, pretty. You just also look like you could use some sleep.”

She laughs and gives him an odd look. He’s terrible at this. Bellamy never used to be. Growing up around Ark, he had a reputation for being a relentless flirt. His younger self never would have made the mistake of telling a woman she looks tired. But to be fair, his younger self didn’t know Clarke Griffin and never experienced how flustered she could make him with just a single look.

“I will get some sleep soon,” she says, still laughing. “Vera is going to stay with Charmaine and Hope for a while so I can go home. She’s running late.” After a beat, she asks, “Shouldn’t you be doing your rounds?”

“I am,” he says, and she cocks her head to the side. “I have to investigate each new citizen of Ark to make sure they aren’t going to cause trouble,” he whispers to Hope. “And I can just tell I’m going to have to watch this one.”

Vera swings the door open, accidentally letting it clang against the wall. The noise is loud enough that it rouses Hope, who starts crying immediately. Healthy set of lungs indeed. Vera murmurs her apologies and takes the baby from his arms. Within minutes, she has her soothed again.

Bellamy and Clarke tiptoe out of the house, taking care to close the door as quietly as possible. Bellamy falls in step with Clarke as they head toward her house.

“Wait, what are you doing?” she asks.

“Walking you home.”

“Bellamy, I know you have rounds to make. I can get home just fine.” He almost laughs at the predictability of it. Of course, she’s fighting him on something as simple as walking her home.

“I want to walk you home,” Bellamy groans. She opens her mouth to argue, but slowly, she presses her lips together and furrows her brows. The weight of his words finally hits them both, and neither of them seem to know what to say. It’s probably the first time he’s admitted to her that he likes spending time with her. But she had to know he does, right? Even if he’s never said it out loud, Clarke must know that.

As they walk back to her house, he thinks about what Miller said a few days ago. Clarke wouldn’t have considered Finn if she knew Bellamy was an option, according to him. Maybe she doesn’t know. Or at the very least, isn’t sure. She suspects at this point, especially after his jealousy and the way he panicked when her house was broken into. So, he needs to keep telling her things like this so she knows. And maybe make an earnest effort at showing her he cares. If Finn can pick wildflowers for her, the very least Bellamy can do is pick some from the spot by the lake where all the prettiest ones grow.

“You need to get those stitches taken out,” she tells him as she walks toward her porch. “I’ll be at the clinic later, so you can swing by and I’ll take care of that.”

“Alright, but only if you get some sleep first.” Clarke rolls her eyes as she climbs up the steps. Then, she pauses and furrows her brows. She tests the step again, trying to figure out what happened to the creak. “Oh, I fixed that a few days ago.” A smile tugs at her lips as she looks over her shoulder at him. Something about how she’s looking at him makes his cheeks grow hot. “It was nothing, really.”

The longer she goes without speaking, the more he fidgets. He can’t figure out what she’s thinking. At least when they’re fighting, he knows exactly what’s on her mind. But this right here with that smile of hers making his heart beat out of rhythm and Clarke not throwing teasing remarks at him is uncharted territory. He’s simultaneously in love with it and terrified by it.

“Thank you,” she says, and he swears a blush rises to her cheeks too.

He stands there, frozen, and watches her go inside. There are a hundred things he has to do today, but his mind can’t focus on a single one of them. All he can think about is her.

The day goes by slowly. Everyone wants to gossip. The scene Raven, Finn, and Clarke made yesterday and the nasty bruising on Finn’s nose will be all anyone wants to talk about for weeks. He does his best to discourage it when he hears it, but he knows that as soon as he walks out the door, it will resume again, only this time with Bellamy in the gossip.

Bellamy stumbles onto Raven in the saloon, surprised to see her but even more surprised to see how at home she’s made herself with all his friends. Monty has her in one of the rooms above the saloon until she heads home, but Raven says that she might just stay for a while. For some reason, she likes it here.

He makes his way to the clinic in the late afternoon. Before he goes inside, he hears Clarke talking with a patient. So, he leans against the wall by the door, waiting for them to finish up. Bellamy doesn’t mean to eavesdrop. In fact, he doesn’t pay attention to a word being said in the clinic until he hears Finn Collins say, “If you would just let me explain!”

Bellamy groans, loud enough that they could hear them if Clarke hadn’t been groaning as well. Of course, Finn is still after Clarke. He lost Raven already. He’s scrambling to keep Clarke in his corner so he doesn’t end up with nothing.

“Clarke, you have to listen to me.” Bellamy bites down on his lip so he doesn’t laugh at Finn’s colossal mistake: telling Clarke Griffin what to do.

“I don’t have to do anything,” she growls. It’s harsher than anything he remembers her spitting out at him. Vicious, even. Like if her words don’t hit him hard enough, her fist will.

“Clarke—”

“Next time you come in here, something better be broken or I will make what Raven did to your nose look like child’s play. And you won’t have a nurse to fix you up!”

Bellamy chooses this moment to enter, only because he’s an overprotective kind of person and doesn’t trust how Finn would react to Clarke talking to him like this. It’s not that he doesn’t think she has a handle on the situation. She does, and he’s proud of how she’s telling him off. It’s not anything she would have said when she first got to Ark, too polite and mannerly from the manner school her mother sent her to as a child. No, this has the kind of kick that only people from Ark can pull off. If Bellamy weren’t worried about Finn and how he might react, he’d probably be smiling about it.

Finn jumps as soon as he opens the door. Bellamy just raises his eyebrows at him, not saying a word. But he just stands there as if trying to gage whether or not Bellamy is there to personally throw him out. He’s not, but Bellamy isn’t opposed to the idea. In fact, on any other day, throwing this skinny kid out of the clinic would be the best part of his day. But after holding Hope and seeing Clarke smile at him this morning, throwing Finn out wouldn’t come close.

“Oh, your stitches,” Clarke says. She gestures for Bellamy to come in, ignoring Finn. But right as he opens his mouth, she snaps, “Why are you still here?”

Finn swallows, looking between Clarke and Bellamy, and finally makes his way outside. Bellamy doesn’t feel as smug as he did last time he walked in on them in the clinic. It’s hard to enjoy Finn getting kicked out when he’s worried about Clarke.

“Thought he’d never leave,” she mutters, shaking her head as she gets to work.

“If he keeps bothering you, just let me know and I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” she asks. For a second, he thinks she’s challenging him and his mind conjures up a long list of things that are in his power to do. But then he sees her small grin and realizes it’s not a challenge at all. It might be teasing, or maybe she really does want to know what he’d do.

“I could come in here and throw him out into the street each time he bothers you,” he offers. She cocks her head to the side, as if thinking about it. “Probably could throw him behind bars for a night if he keeps it up.”

“That might be a little severe.”

“If he keeps harassing you, it’s not. I’m not gonna let him bother you like that, Clarke.”

“Why Bellamy Blake. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you cared about me,” she teases. It’s not the first time she’s said something like this in a joking manner. He’s heard it a few times over the last year, and he always replies with some teasing remark about needing to keep their nurse safe.

He doesn’t do that this time, though. Bellamy wants to make sure she knows. So, he says, “I do.” And the confession stills Clarke. She was getting ready to remove his stitches, and now, she’s staring at him with wide eyes and parted lips. “Is that alright?”

Realizing she’s been caught staring, Clarke quickly drops her eyes down to her lap. Her cheeks are a lovely pink now, and she seems to be struggling with what to say. It’s kind of funny to watch her all flustered, especially after all the times she’s left him like this.

“Of course, it’s alright,” she stammers out, the blush growing by the second. Clarke opens her mouth to say something else, but it must not be exactly what she wants to say because she quickly slams it shut. She pushes a stray strand of hair back behind her ear, and he can see her thinking too hard. For once in Clarke Griffin’s life, she doesn’t have a clue what to say. She probably never thought Bellamy of all people would just admit that. Her eyes finally settle back on his forehead and she says, “Your stitches. I, um, need to—”

“That is why I’m here,” he laughs. They don’t talk anymore as Clarke removes them. Bellamy fights to sit still the whole time, but he manages somehow. It doesn’t take long at all, and before he knows it, he’s back on his feet and about to walk to the door.

“Bellamy,” she calls out, and he turns to see her wringing her hands as she walks up to him. He doesn’t expect her to make any kind of declaration like his anytime soon. His was a little sudden for her, probably. But he lets himself hope for it anyway as she steps closer to him.

He doesn’t get a confession of feelings. No admitting she cares for him too or anything like that. What he does get is something that leaves his heart pounding and his mind overwhelmed.

He gets a kiss on the cheek.

It happens so fast that he doesn’t register what is happening until her soft lips press into his skin. It’s over too soon and it leaves his face feeling hot. She pulls away before he even gets to enjoy how close she was.

Bellamy stares at her, holding his cheek where her lips grazed his skin only seconds ago. He can still feel the kiss burned into his skin, and he prays he never stops feeling it. It’s a kiss he wants to hold onto as long as he can.

Before either of them musters the courage to say anything, a loud cheer erupts from down the street. It’s not a noise of distress, but all these years of watching over this town have trained him to check anyway. Clarke is right on his heels as they step outside the clinic.

There are clusters of people excitedly talking among themselves, the largest being right in front of the saloon. As a few others walk up curiously, no doubt trying to see what the fuss is about, Jasper breaks out of the group and shares whatever today’s gossip is. Then, cheers erupt from all of them.

“What do you think—”

Jasper spots them from all the way down the street and takes off running, grinning from ear to ear.

“Did you hear?” he calls out, slowing down as he approaches the clinic. Clarke meets him at the bottom of the steps, seeming to be excited just from anticipation. Bellamy hangs back, cautious. It doesn’t take much to get Jasper excited, so this could be nothing. Whatever it is, Bellamy doubts it’s as incredible as the moment he just shared with Clarke.

“What is it?” he asks impatiently.

Jasper ignores his tone and replies with a huge grin, “Monty finally asked Harper to marry him and she said yes!”

At the news, Clarke squeals and takes off toward the crowd that is no doubt gathered around Monty and Harper to celebrate the news. Bellamy and Jasper aren’t too far behind her when Harper breaks out to hug Clarke. The two of them are giggling like school girls when Bellamy finally finds a blushing Monty in the crowd. It’s hard to get a word in with everyone trying to congratulate him, so Bellamy gives him a quick hug for now. He’ll give him proper congratulations at a calmer moment.

The celebration goes inside the saloon as the sun sets, and Bellamy finds himself drinking beside Murphy at the bar, watching everyone else. A new baby being born and an engagement is a lot for one day. Usually, the best news for the day is much needed rain or a litter of kittens being born. But in one day, Hope Diyoza was born and after years of pining for each other, Monty and Harper are finally engaged.

Yet with all this incredible news, he can’t seem to focus on the happy couple. His mind is too preoccupied with that kiss Clarke planted on his cheek. Bellamy’s eyes keep finding her, sometimes catching her gaze and watching her blush, other times finding her giggling with her friends as they get to work planning the wedding.

If the cheers outside hadn’t interrupted them, what might she have said to him? What would he have said to her? Any minute now, Clarke will be ready to turn in for the night and Bellamy will get a chance to walk her home. His chance to talk to her is coming up fast, and he can’t even think of what he would say to her.

Monty plops down in the stool beside him, letting out a loud sigh as he gets off his feet. “I knew people would be happy for us, but I had no idea it would be like this,” he chuckles.

“Well, the town’s been waiting on this for a while,” Bellamy teases. “So, what gave you the courage to finally ask her?”

Murphy seems to be bored with this conversation, so he hops off the stool and walks away.

“I was always going to ask her,” Monty explains. “But I think it was the break in. The fear when I thought about how something could have happened to her. And then that relief when she was safely in my arms again. I just… I realized I never wanted to be parted from her ever again.”

Bellamy’s eyes find Clarke again, and he thinks back to how sick he felt as soon as Miller said it was Clarke’s house that was broken into. The panic when he didn’t see her. The flood of relief once she was safely in his arms. He never wanted to let go of her after that. And all he thought of while he was taking Dax to trial was her and getting back to her.

He was already in love with her that night, though he didn’t know it yet. But now that he does, she’s all that’s on his mind.

“I take it you know the feeling,” Monty whispers. Bellamy ducks his head, realizing he’s been caught.

“Am I that obvious?”

“Yes,” he laughs, and Bellamy throws his head back. He’s about to say something about it to Monty when he sees Clarke start to make her way to the door. “Go,” Monty chuckles, and Bellamy doesn’t have to be told twice.

He catches up with Clarke before she walks outside and notices she doesn’t have her coat. She probably forgot it at the clinic.  “Can I walk you home?” he asks.

“I’m going to Charmaine’s, actually,” she replies as Bellamy pulls his coat off the hook. “But you can walk me there.”

“Alright.” Bellamy holds out his coat for her, and she opens her mouth to protest. “Please. It’s cold out,” he adds, and with a sigh, Clarke accepts it. He helps her get it on, and the two of them make their way outside.

He’s thankful for the bourbon keeping him warm because it is a cold night out. Clarke shivers, even all bundled up in his coat. The celebration grows quieter as they walk down the street until they can no longer hear it.

“So, have you ladies figured out when the wedding is going to be?” he asks with a small chuckle. With the way all the women were gathered around in the saloon, he’s willing to bet the entire thing is planned already.

“In three weeks.” So, soon but not as quickly as Octavia and Lincoln’s wedding was thrown together.

“Good.”

The rest of the walk goes by in silence, and Bellamy struggles to figure out what to say to her. He wishes that he asked Monty what all he said to Harper or paid more attention when Lincoln was courting Octavia. But he imagines it wouldn’t have made a difference. Bellamy is so gone for Clarke that all the preparation in the world wouldn’t have helped him form a coherent sentence now.

They approach Charmaine Diyoza’s house, but before they get to the steps, Bellamy grabs Clarke’s hand and pulls her back.

“Bellamy, it’s freezing out here,” she tells him. “You should warm up before heading home.”

“In a moment,” he pleads, and finally her eyes meet his. She’s confused at first, but slowly, the heaviness of the moment sets in. Bellamy opens his mouth, but the words get stuck. It’s probably better that way. He’s never been good with words where Clarke Griffin is concerned. He’s better at showing his feelings through actions.

He settles on showing her, thinking he could kiss her cheek just as she kissed his earlier today. Bellamy steps toward her and settles his cold hand on her flushed cheek. He tilts her head up slightly, and his eyes lock with her beautiful blue ones. He really did just intend on kissing her cheek, keeping it short and simple. But as soon as he catches her gazing back at him, the pull toward her lips grows too strong. A kiss on the cheek doesn’t seem like enough anymore.

“Bellamy,” she whispers when he freezes just an inch away from her mouth. The sound of his name on her lips is so soft and reverent it makes him want to pull her tight into his arms and kiss her the way he only lets himself think about late at night as he drifts to sleep, as if it were a precious secret he wanted to hold onto.

He gives into the pull, sinking his lips into hers. Her cheeks are cold, but her relieved exhale against his lips is warm. It’s a short kiss, far more proper than he intended, and he finds himself resting his forehead against hers as soon as their lips part.

“Do you know,” he murmurs, “how much I—”

“Yes,” she whispers, and he can feel her breath fan out across his face. “Do you know?”

“I think so,” he teases, and though he can’t see it, he knows she’s scrunching up her nose like she always does when he teases her. “Yes, I do,” he corrects.

It’s not quite the same as saying the words, but it’s enough for now. Enough to have his heart flooding with warmth. They have time to work up the courage to say the words. Time to slow down and let their minds finally catch up with their hearts.

He kisses her again, this time slow and languid. Her arm creeps up around his neck as he holds onto her waist. The cold is long forgotten in the warmth of their embrace, and as she parts her lips for him, he can’t imagine ever breaking this perfect kiss.

Clarke breaks it when she feels Bellamy shiver. He tries to kiss her again, but she gives him a stern look as she pulls him toward the house.

“You’re going to catch a cold again,” she warns him as they approach the door. He knows she’s right, but he also knows he can’t kiss her again once they go inside.

“One more,” he whispers, pressing his palm against the door so Clarke cannot pull it open just yet. “One more kiss and I’ll go inside.”

She tries to look stern, but a smile betrays its way onto her lips the longer she stares at him. He probably looks hopelessly in love as he pleads with her. His cheeks burn from smiling.

Her hands rest on either side of his face as she stands up onto her tiptoes and presses a slow, chaste kiss to his lips. It’s perfect and too short and likely the source of the dreams he will have later tonight.

Bellamy removes his hand, and Clarke drags him inside. Zoe Monroe pulls on her coat as soon as she sees them and gives Clarke updates on the baby. Bellamy stands by the fireplace, trying to warm up. When Monroe leaves, Clarke brings his coat back to him.

“I need to go check on Charmaine.” It’s a goodbye, and he hates it. The idea of waiting until tomorrow to see her again is torture. But she has a job to do, and he needs to rest if he is going to do his in the morning. But before she leaves, he grabs her hand and brings it to his lips. In the light of Charmaine’s house, he doesn’t miss any of Clarke’s lovely blush. After a beat, he lets her go and starts counting down the moments until he sees her tomorrow.

On the morning of the wedding, Bellamy shows up at Clarke’s house with flowers from by the lake in hand. It’s not the first time he’s brought her flowers, but he normally drops them off at the clinic. Bringing them here makes this feel like a date. And maybe it is one.

Clarke has a bright smile on her lips when she opens the door, and Bellamy gets so lost in how beautiful she looks that he almost forgets to give the flowers to her. She’s wearing her nicest dress, a deep blue one that she only wears on special occasions like Christmas. It’s his favorite because it brings out the blue in her eyes. Her golden hair is half up with loose curls falling onto her shoulders.

“You shouldn’t have,” she grins as she takes the flowers from him. Bellamy follows her inside as she goes to grab a vase for them.

“I wanted to.”

He loves the blush that takes over her cheeks as soon as he says that. The two of them still haven’t said they love each other, but they get closer to it every day. Bellamy isn’t sure he can hold the words in much longer.

Clarke grabs her coat off the hook and pulls it on. Then, she links her arm with his, resting her hand over his bicep, and the two of them head toward the church.

If anyone in town has noticed anything different between them, no one has said anything… which makes him think no one has noticed. For all the teasing he used to receive, he can’t imagine the people of Ark would relent now that he and Clarke walk arm in arm through town. Clarke’s theory is that everyone has been too focused on the wedding to pay much attention to them.

They sit together during the service. Clarke interlaces her fingers with his, and that is when Bellamy sees Jasper finally take notice of them. Frustration washes across his face because he must be desperate to point them out and gossip about what he saw, but he can’t right now. Not while his best friend is getting married.

Clarke rests her head on Bellamy’s shoulder during the vows, and something warm stirs in his chest. Is she thinking about him while Monty and Harper declare their love for each other? He has to admit that listening to the service makes him think of Clarke. Maybe it’s because he has a feeling the next wedding could be theirs.

Bellamy lifts her hand to his lips and gives it a quick kiss. She presses herself a little closer to him in response. This time, it’s Miller that catches them, and his expression is downright smug.

Monty finally kisses Harper, and cheers echo through the small church. The crowd bustles out of there, following Mr. and Mrs. Green, and everyone begins to make their way to the saloon for the reception.

As they walk, arm in arm just like before, it’s clear that Jasper and Miller have pointed them out to the others.

Maybe in the last few weeks seeing the two of them walk together didn’t seem that out of the ordinary, so they all missed them holding hands or walking arm in arm. But now that it has been pointed out to them, everyone from Mrs. Hannah Green to little Charlotte are stealing excited glances.

“It’s not as though we were hiding it,” he mutters to Clarke. When he looks over at her, she’s laughing. “It’s not funny.” But he finds himself laughing too.

“I think they’re just happy for us,” she tells him. And that’s probably true. He can’t count how many times Vera Kane has nagged him about finding someone to settle down with or how many of the children have asked him if he likes Clarke.

Luckily, this is Monty and Harper’s wedding day, so the attention doesn’t stay on them for long. Tomorrow, he will probably be hounded by everyone during his rounds about when he started courting Clarke, but for tonight, the two of them can just enjoy themselves.

They eat at a table with their friends, and when Macallan hops onto the piano, everyone pushes the tables to the side, and Clarke tugs him to the floor for a dance. Dozens of other couples crowd the dance floor, the newlyweds among them, so not many eyes stay on Bellamy and Clarke. But his eyes stay on her and her eyes stay on him.

So many people crowd the floor that Clarke ends up pressed tight against him, not that he minds a bit. After a few dances, her cheek rests on his chest and their dance slowly morphs into a gentle sway. Their eyes don’t leave each other’s, though. And the way she’s looking at him makes him feel like no one else is in the room.

“I love you,” he tells her, unable to keep the words in a second longer. These past few weeks with her have been heaven. They still get into their infamous rows, but it’s nothing that a talk and a few kisses can’t fix. His only complaint is having to say goodbye to her each night instead of getting to hold her in his arms as they sleep. But one day, they will. One day, they’ll be right here in this saloon at a similar reception, this time for their own wedding.

Clarke’s grip tightens on his hand as she whispers, “I love you too.” He brings their joined hands toward him and kisses the back of hers. Bellamy itches to give her a proper kiss, but he can’t here. When he walks her home, he will. He’ll kiss her senseless starting with her cheeks and forehead, and finish on those beautiful lips.

Kane’s announcements break up the dancing. Jasper gives a surprisingly sober speech about the newlyweds. Monty thanks everyone for helping with the wedding. Then, it’s time for the bouquet toss, and though Clarke really doesn’t want to participate, Raven drags her out. It’s kind of funny that Raven stayed. Finn left two weeks ago for a new ranch job somewhere south of here, but Raven Reyes has made herself a new home in Ark.

The women and girls gather. Charlotte says something that makes Clarke’s cheeks turn red. Her gaze drifts over to Bellamy, and he has a feeling Charlotte teased her about Bellamy based on her blushing face. Clarke isn’t paying attention when Harper tosses the bouquet. The flowers bounce off hands clutching for it, and it’s only when Raven calls out Clarke’s name that she turns around and catches it right before it hits her in the face.

There’s a mix of laughter and cheering echoing through the room, but half the eyes fall on Bellamy, not Clarke. His cheeks are about as red as Clarke’s. He should have seen this coming. All day, he was thinking the two of them were going to be next. And though Bellamy has never believed much in superstitions, the town clearly believes the one about catching the bouquet.

“Guess you two are going to be next, huh Bellamy?” Jasper calls out, and now, there isn’t a soul in this town who doesn’t know about them. Mercifully, Macallan begins playing again, distracting most of them as Clarke makes her way back to him. Her face is still pink, and he has no doubt that Raven has already teased her about catching the bouquet.

“There’s your girl,” Miller teases. Bellamy nudges him out of the way as he meets Clarke.

“This is why I didn’t want to do the bouquet toss,” Clarke whispers.

“What? You don’t want to be next?” he teases, and Clarke pushes against his chest lightly while her nose scrunches up. He takes her hand and gives it a quick kiss. Murphy makes some comment that has Miller laughing, and Bellamy has to fight not to smack either of them. When he looks back at Clarke, she’s arching an eyebrow as if to say I told you so.

People are starting to head home, and though she fights it, Clarke keeps yawning. They say their goodbyes before putting on their coats and walking out as well.

“I don’t mind everyone knowing,” Bellamy whispers as they walk. “It’s not like it’s a secret, but—”

“It was nice when no one noticed,” she finishes for him, and he nods. “Like it was just us.”

“Exactly. Now, I’m going to have Jasper and Miller all over me,” he groans, and Clarke giggles. “Their teasing was bad enough before. You have no idea.”

“Do you really think you’re the only one who was teased?” she chuckles. His mind flashes back to the day after the break in and the giggling coming from the clinic. They were teasing her about him. That explains the looks he got. “And after Raven showed up, Vera told me she never liked Finn and that she was always rooting for you.”

“Vera has good taste,” Bellamy laughs, and Clarke nudges him with her shoulder. Though, it’s kind of sweet that there were people in the town rooting for him before he even realized his true feelings for her.

His chest tightens as they approach her house. He has mixed feelings about walking her home. On one hand, this is the only time he gets to kiss her in private. On the other, those kisses are followed by saying goodnight.

Clarke’s hand finds his cheek as he leans down to kiss her. It’s a quick kiss, the first of many for tonight.

“I love you,” he tells her again, almost as if making sure the earlier confession wasn’t just a dream. His lips find her cheek, then the corner of her mouth, and finally her lips again.

Her lips form a smile as he pulls away. “I love you too,” she whispers before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a deeper kiss. His hands find her waist, and he clutches her as tightly as he can. Bellamy can’t get her close enough.

Clarke breaks away and begins to laugh. “What?” he huffs.

“You better go see your sister first thing tomorrow,” she giggles.

Bellamy completely forgot about Octavia. The entire town found out about Bellamy and Clarke before he told his sister. She would kill him for this. But one consolation is that she was the first one to hear Bellamy admit that he has feelings for Clarke, so maybe that will mollify her. He better tell her tomorrow before anyone else can, regardless.

“I think you should come with me.” A smile tugs at her lips.

“Really?”

“Of course.”

She leans up to kiss him, not as hard as earlier, but soft and sweet. It’s a goodnight kiss, one he’s grown all too accustomed to as of late. He both loves and hates them. Loves the sweetness of them, hates the separation that follows them.

“I’ll come get you first thing in the morning,” he promises. It’s only hours away, and at least he gets to dream of her while they’re apart. He dreams of the days where they no longer had to part like this. Days where little footsteps echo through the house and he can kiss his wife whenever he wants.