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2014
Sleeping on the floor of a back country Walmart wasn’t exactly where Clarke had planned for her life to end up. Then, to be fair, neither was getting pregnant with Finn’s baby and then having Finn ditch her at a back country Walmart with no money, no ride and no shoes. Life was like that sometimes.
She’d been living there for eight weeks, and she’d been managing just fine, thank you.
No-one knew she was hiding in the Walmart, but the townspeople had been nice when they’d seen her around. All except Bellamy, the librarian. When she’d turned up looking for books on delivering babies from home, he’d seemed angry with her for even asking, like the entire point of his job wasn’t to help people find books. She’d steered clear of him after that, but it didn’t bother her much. Monty and Harper, the cute couple who lived on the edge of town, were always nice to her whenever they crossed paths, as was everybody else, and that was enough for her.
A tiny part of her longed to call her mother, to beg for the money she knew she had, but that would involve going back to the life she despised, subjecting her daughter to it, so she never did. Besides - she didn’t have a phone.
That particular night, it was storming. It felt like the walls were shaking, but she told herself that was just her overactive imagination.
Then the contractions started.
Pain tore through her and she dropped to her knees next to the Barbies and Ken dolls like some kind of annoying in-joke the universe was playing on her.
She fought it, crawling towards where she knew the pillows and blankets were stacked, a few aisles over.
She never got there. The pain was too much and she gave in somewhere near the front of the store, where she could see the storm raging outside and feel the thunder rolling through the air. She was scared and in pain and she started to panic. She might die in here. Anything could happen.
Another contraction hit and she screamed out in pain.
Then the window shattered and everything went black.
She woke up in a hospital, with a male nurse leaning over her.
“Hey cupcake, how’re you doing?”
“Cupcake?” She asked, brain still foggy.
“I don’t know your name and I like cupcakes.” He said, shrugging, and his expression made her smile.
“I’m Clarke.” She mumbled.
“It’s nice to meet you Clarke, I’m Wells.” He had kind eyes. She started to register her surroundings and suddenly remembered what had led her to the hospital. She sat up, already beginning to panic, but he put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, your baby is completely fine. Do you wanna see her?”
He ducked out, and when he returned, it was with a tiny bundle in his arms. Clarke could barely believe she’d created something so tiny and perfect, and she clutched her tightly to her chest.
“What am I gonna do, Wells?” She tried to hold back tears. “I’ve got nothing. No money, no boyfriend, no house, not even any friends to help.”
He snorted. “Well that’s just not true. I’ll be your friend. You don’t even have to pay me, I’ll do it for free. And Monty and Harper already told me they’ll let you live in their spare room. We can find you some money. And you don’t need a boyfriend - from the looks of things, you’ve been managing perfectly fine on your own. There are news vans outside waiting to talk to the woman who gave birth to the Walmart Baby.”
She frowned, memories coming back in pieces. “Wait… I was… how did I get here?”
“You don’t remember? Bellamy brought you. He’s fine, by the way.”
“What are you talking about?”
Wells looked at her like she was crazy. “You don’t remember him smashing through the window to deliver your baby, like some kind of brooding superhero in the nighttime?”
She shook her head. “He doesn’t even like me.”
“Yeah well, that’s Bellamy for you.” He peeked through the curtain, only for a camera flash to go off, and someone could be heard saying ‘nah, it’s just the nurse, forget it’. He blew the reporters a kiss through the glass and then flipped them the bird. “Leave her alone, vultures! And get it from my good side next time!”
Clarke laughed and Wells grinned over at her.
Maybe she had ended up exactly where she needed to be. Life was like that sometimes.
Living with Monty and Harper was as easy as breathing. They all seemed to slot in together perfectly, and having a baby around only seemed to solidify that. They doted over Madi almost as much as she did, and when she got a job at the very Walmart she’d given birth in, Monty watched the baby and cooked dinner for whenever she got home.
Wells, true to his word, became her best friend, and he didn’t once try to extort her for it.
When she dropped by the library to visit Bellamy, she expected him to be just as annoyed as the first time she’d met him, but instead he was almost flustered, dropping a stack of books when she knocked on the door.
“We’re uh, sorry-” he stuttered, picking up the books and putting them haphazardly on the nearest table. “-we’re closed.”
“Oh, I know, I just wanted to say thank you.”
“Thank you?”
“For this.” She said, holding up Madi, and his face softened a little.
“Yeah, well, it was the least I could do.”
“No, I’m pretty sure you did the absolute most.” She raised an eyebrow at him.
He laughed, embarrassed, and rubbed the back of his neck. When she offered Madi, he took her immediately, cuddling her to his chest and cooing at her, making her little eyes widen. “What’s her name?”
“Maddison. After the serial killer.” She deadpanned.
He grinned up at her. “Not the bank robber?”
Okay, she might be in trouble here.
2015
Over the year, she became a part of the town, as if she always had been, as if her time in New York with Finn had never happened. She hadn’t even thought of him in months.
Monty and Harper were the family she’d always wanted, Wells was the best friend she loved with all her heart, the town mechanic, Raven, was the drinking buddy she never knew she needed, Emori provided her with diner breakfasts every morning for discounted prices, Murphy and Miller were the work friends she never expected to have, and Bellamy was… Bellamy.
He still kept mostly to the library, but the entire town vouched for him - he’d been a staple of the place since he first moved there over a decade ago. Admittedly, she spent more time sitting in the stacks of books than she really needed to, asking him pointless questions just to watch him talk about something he was passionate about, and he always asked after Madi whenever he saw her.
Madi grew faster than she wanted, but she supposed that was just how life was.
On her first birthday, the entire town threw a part in the Walmart, complete with cake and drinks and balloons and lots of good cheer, and Clarke finally felt as if she was home.
Bellamy brought her a book of Greek Mythology and offered to read it to her the next time he came round.
Clarke was definitely in trouble there.
2016
On Madi’s second birthday, she went missing.
Harper had been looking after her, and they’d gone to the park to feed the ducks. Within a few seconds of turning away to get the bread, Madi was gone.
The entire town was out in swathes, searching high and low.
Monty had a hunch that it had been the crackpot religious couple that had swung through town a few days earlier, the ones that had ranted to Miller over his morning coffee than his sexuality was a sin, and that the Walmart Baby shouldn’t be living in a ‘den of iniquity and illegitimacy’ right before Emori kicked them out of her diner.
But if it was them, they could be anywhere.
After nearly a full day of searching, Clarke broke down.
She waited until she was alone and then she collapsed against the back of the post office, and sobbed into her knees. She had no idea what to do; all hope seemed lost. When she felt someone sit down beside her, she assumed it was Wells, and she didn’t even flinch when he reached for her hand and held it tight.
But when he spoke, it wasn’t Wells’ voice. “Come on, Clarke, don’t give up now. We’re gonna find her.”
She looked up at him through her tears. “What if this is what I deserve?”
Bellamy shook his head before she even finished the question, squeezing her hand and pulling her closer so he could wrap his other arm around her. “Never. You could never do anything to deserve this.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Of course I do.”
“You can’t know that, Bellamy. Maybe this is my punishment.”
But, two hours later, when Sheriff Diyoza carried Madi into the diner while officers handcuffed the deranged couple and took them to the station, Bellamy mouthed “told you so” and she didn’t even mind that he had that smug look on his face, because her daughter was back in her arms.
2017
Just before Madi’s third birthday, a tornado rolled through town and flattened everything that wasn’t nailed down.
Houses collapsed, cars skidded through fences, a section of Walmart collapsed, and a mailbox went right through the diner window.
Harper nearly died - she was in a coma for weeks, and Monty was a wreck, but they rallied together, taking shifts rebuilding and sitting by her bedside and watching Madi - and by the time she woke up, the house was nearly rebuilt.
In the kerfuffle, Clarke didn’t even have time to notice that Wells, Murphy, Miller and Bellamy kept disappearing in the evenings, and on the rare occasions that she did, she just assumed they were off getting drinks somewhere.
Until three weeks after Harper returned home.
Clarke got in from work, tired and ready to snuggle up with her family on the couch, only to find all of her friends in the kitchen.
“Uh. Was there some kind of invitation I missed?” She asked.
Monty passed Madi to her, grinning. “Kind of.”
“We missed Madi’s birthday this year.” Harper pointed out.
“It’s okay, there’ll be plenty of birthdays-”
“-this is important. Not just for you guys; for us. We love you two and we want you to stick around. We want you to be home here.”
“We are.” Clarke said reassuringly.
“She’s not getting it.” Murphy clucked.
“Give her a minute.” Emori scolded.
Clarke glanced around at them all. “What?”
“You haven’t noticed that we haven’t been coming round for dinner lately?” Miller asked.
“Sometimes.” She admitted.
“Where do you think we’ve been?” Wells said patiently. She shrugged, unsure, and getting wary. He took her hand and they all bundled her out of the house, directing her towards the back garden. When they got there, she stared around, confused.
“You wanted to show me the fence?”
“No, we wanted to show you what we’ve been doing on the other side of the fence.” He said, and tugged on one of the planks, which she quickly realised was part of a door. They’d cut a gate into the fence, which didn’t make any sense, because the only thing on the other side of the McIntyre-Green’s garden were fields-
A small house sat on the other side; it was painted pale green and the roof was metal and the windows were a little lopsided and was perfect - with a path that led all the way up to the fence.
She felt herself tearing up. “What’s this?”
“Yours.” Bellamy said, and she wasn’t sure when he’d ended up beside her, but there he was, cheek practically pressed against hers.
“We built it.” Miller said.
“Blame him for the windows.” Murphy quipped.
“You dick, you know we did those together-”
“-I love it.” She whispered, effectively cutting off their argument. As one, the entire group relaxed, like they’d been holding their breaths, expecting her to reject the gift they’d spent weeks building for her. As if this wasn’t the nicest thing anyone had ever done for another person. As if she didn’t love them all with all her heart.
They made their way into the little home, where there were balloons and streamers in the living room, and Murphy had baked a cake - raspberry and white chocolate - and half the town managed to cram themselves into the place to celebrate and wish Madi a late birthday.
It wasn’t until the early hours of the morning, when there were only a few people left and Clarke was watching Bellamy help bundle Raven into the back of Shaw’s car that Harper came up beside her and nudged her shoulder. “It was all his idea, you know.”
Clarke swallowed.
“He wanted our approval first, because he didn’t want it to feel like he was trying to take you away from us. He just wanted you to have a place of your own, so you felt like you belonged here.”
“I do. I always have.”
“I know that.” She smiled softly. “And now he knows it too.”
“What does that mean?”
“Whatever you want it to, cupcake.” Wells said, appearing on her other side.
And it scared her, but when Bellamy lifted a sleeping Madi so he could tuck her into bed, and he caught her eyes, she decided that maybe the fear was worth it.
2018
It had been over a year, and Bellamy still hadn’t made a move.
In his defence, she didn’t make one either, but she had a child to raise and a full-time job, not to mention her last experience with a man hadn’t exactly gone the way she’d hoped, even if it did bring her somewhere she loved in the end. Life was like that.
So she waited.
And waited.
And waited.
After six months, she started dropping hints.
She visited the library with the flimsiest excuses she could come up with and stayed long after close, she batted her eyelashes at him over the diner counter in the mornings, she even used Madi to flirt with him because she knew he was a sucker for taking care of kids, but nothing worked.
It wasn’t until sometime after Madi’s fourth birthday that she realised why.
She was on one of her rare nights off - Monty was babysitting while she had a girl’s night with his wife, Emori, Raven, Diyoza and a few of the women on the force - and she got drunk enough that she spilled her concerns to them over tequila shots and lime slices.
“No, don’t even think like that, I’m telling you, that boy is crazy bananas for you.” Raven said airily, blinking too much.
“But he-”
“No buts!” Diyoza yelled, far too loudly. She had zero volume control when drunk.
“Butts.” Emori snorted, fistbumping a giggling Harper.
Diyoza glared at them over her firewhiskey. “That man is head over ass for you, Clarke, so you better get your butt over there and take charge.”
“Now?” She asked, tipsy and having too much fun to argue.
“Now!” They all cheered, thumping the table, and they didn’t let up until she staggered to her feet and left the bar, walking the short distance to the library, which Bellamy lived above.
She’d only been up to his apartment a few times, but she knew where the door was, so she leaned against it and knocked, waiting for him to come down.
Nothing happened.
She raised her fist to knock again, when she heard something through the wood.
“...I’m serious, Bell, you can’t keep putting your life on hold for me.”
“It’s not on hold, O.”
“Oh really? Then why don’t you have thirty babies with that Walmart girl you’re in love with?”
“That’s not fair.”
“You’re in denial.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Bell-”
“I know I’m in love with her, okay?” He snapped. “I am painfully aware, so if you’re planning to lecture me, don’t.”
“No, that’s your job, isn’t it Big Brother?”
Clarke blinked. Bellamy had never once mentioned a sister. Not in the entire time she’d known him.
Years.
He was still talking, and he sounded weary. “I’m not trying to lecture you, O, I’m just trying to look out for you.”
Clarke tried the handle.
It swung open with no resistance, it didn’t even squeak, and she took that as a sign and started up the stairs. Maybe if she’d been more sober, she would have thought better of it, but she was just tipsy enough to think it was a good idea. Which is why she was at the top of the stairs when a dark-haired woman turned to storm down them.
“Oh.” She said.
“Oh.” Clarke parroted back.
“O!” Bellamy called out, appearing behind her. The second he saw Clarke, his eyes widened. “Shit.”
“Hey Bellamy.” She said, suddenly feeling very sober. Adrenalin would do that. Her eyes dragged to the woman in front of her. “You’re so pretty.”
Still a little tipsy though.
The girl grinned. “Thanks. I can see why Bellamy likes you.”
“Loves me.” Clarke corrected, looking back to him. “You said he loves me.”
His face fell into a scowl. “Didn’t anybody ever tell you not to eavesdrop?”
“I knocked.” She said, a little helplessly, and his sister took pity on her, throwing an arm around her shoulders.
“Well, I guess you’re in it now. I’m Octavia. No-one’s supposed to know I’m here. Or even that I exist. You must be Walmart girl. I saw you on the news a few years ago, but I didn’t realise that my brother was the one who crashed through the window to rescue you until I swung back into town a few weeks later. I should have known, really.”
The name rang a bell in the back of her head. “Octavia… Blake… wait…” It came to her like a shot. “The robber?!”
“That’s me.” She tipped an imaginary hat. “Broody Blake over there keeps me hidden whenever I swing into town.”
“But. You’ve been robbing places up and down the country for…”
“Ten years.” Bellamy snapped, turning away like he didn’t care about the conversation, but the tense line of his shoulders betrayed him.
“You’re like a modern day Robin Hood and you’ve been evading capture by hiding above a library in a small town?” Clarke asked, incredulous.
“Yeah, pretty much. My whole crew splits up after every job, takes the money to different states, in different directions, and gives it to a different cause. It’s practically foolproof, but it drives Bellamy a little crazy. Especially when it means he can’t date the girl he’s in love with because he’s worried I’m going to turn up in the middle of the night and ruin everything by making you an accessory.”
Bellamy sat down on the couch and glared at them, arms crossed, and Clarke realised that he wasn’t so much angry at her for eavesdropping, but angry at himself for dragging her into his mess.
She flashed a tentative smile. “Well, at least this way you can date me now, right?”
His jaw slackened a bit. “You can’t possibly want to date me now.”
She wanted to smack her head against a wall. “Are you kidding? I’ve been in love with you pretty much since I moved to town, and you think I’m gonna be turned off because your sister is a hot outlaw? Forget it, Blake, you’re stuck with me.”
His expression went from something like annoyed misery to a disbelieving awe. “Clarke, you-”
“-if you try to tell me we can’t be together now, I’ll just date your sister.” She said, only half-serious.
“Actually I’m taken.” Octavia said, but neither of them really heard her.
“You like me?” Bellamy whispered.
“Love. She said love.” Octavia pointed out.
“You want to stay?” He asked, like he was terrified that this news was enough to make her up and run.
“Bellamy, I always wanted to stay, I was just waiting for you to ask me.”
“You know what, I’m just gonna go.” Octavia muttered. “I’ll get some… milk or something. I’ll probably be back in a few hours. Maybe a day. I might milk the cow myself. Any farms around here?”
Neither of them heard her.
Octavia had long since slipped away by the time Clarke ended up in Bellamy’s lap, but where every second leading up to that moment had been like molasses, the moment she was there, time kicked back into action and suddenly neither of them could hold back.
Hands flew everywhere and lips met lips and skin met skin and Clarke couldn’t believe she’d managed to wait so long for this. She was never looking back.
2019
It wasn’t all smooth sailing.
They had their fair share of arguments - who’s place to stay at, whether or not to talk to Clarke’s mother when she did finally call, how much money they could spent - but they managed to get through it all.
They even made it through the day when Clarke overheard a song on the radio and looked it up, only to see her ex-boyfriend’s face staring out from the screen, floppy hair draped strategically over his eyes and a guitar in his hand.
She’d been furious and hurt and she’d lashed out at everyone - that Finn now had the money and the means to come back and take care of them, or even just to give her child support, and it seemingly hadn’t even crossed his mind.
The song was banned from the town, and Emori burned his CD in solidarity, to promise her it’d never go in the diner jukebox.
Bellamy had freaked out, thinking Clarke was only upset because she wanted Finn back, and it took her all afternoon to even realise why he was acting weird and detached, until she finally confronted him and he broke.
It took her barely a minute to assuage his concerns.
Which is why it completely blindsided her when they broke up less than two months before Madi’s fifth birthday - almost bang on the anniversary of the day Clarke had been ditched in a Walmart parking lot. She didn’t keep a calendar of such things, but she could wager a guess.
All because Clarke took Octavia’s side when she accused her brother of leaving his life on hold to protect her. She had only wanted to encourage him to go back to college, or to write the novel he’d been working on, but it backfired spectacularly and suddenly she couldn’t see him in town without feeling her heart fold in on itself.
It hurt.
What hurt even more was when Madi kept asking where he was.
Bellamy was her father and he always had been, from the moment she came into the world, and the fact that he suddenly wasn’t around anymore was weighing on them.
Nobody in the town took sides, but all of them asked why Bellamy would give her up over an argument. Of course, none of them knew about Octavia, and Clarke wasn’t going to tell them, so she just shrugged and promised them it wouldn’t affect anything.
But of course it did.
She invited the whole town to Madi’s fifth birthday party. It was going to be held across her garden and the McIntyre-Greens, who had a son of their own and another baby on the way, and Murphy was going to cook.
Emori was going to bring the jukebox from her diner over on the back of Miller’s truck, and Wells promised to perform the most tone-deaf karaoke of “My Heart Will Go On” that any of them had ever seen. It was supposed to be a blast.
The night arrived without a hitch, and for the most part, it was perfect.
Until Clarke realised, midway through Diyoza’s pitch perfect rendition of Britney Spears’ Toxic, that she was unconsciously searching for someone.
And it occurred to her that she hadn’t invited Bellamy. Because she just assumed he’d be coming, the way he always did.
But they’d broken up.
Of course she couldn’t just expect him to be there anymore.
The worst was when she caught Madi looking for him too, heading whipping round at every new arrival, always disappointed when it wasn’t him.
She leaned against the fence and watched Madi teaching Jordan how to play in the sandpit while a group of adults fawned over Shaw’s new dog and everybody else watched Diyoza slaying karaoke.
She tried to push the heartache away.
“He’ll come to his senses soon, cupcake.” Wells promised, like he knew exactly where her mind was, hugging her tightly. “Happy anniversary.”
“Five years as part of this crazy town.” Miller said, striding up with a beer in one hand and an eclair in the other. “Is it worth it?”
She smiled. “Of course it’s worth it. You’re my family. The whole crazy town. It’s perfect.”
“It’ll be more perfect when everyone stops hugging the puppy and I get a chance to steal him.” Murphy said, appearing at her elbow. She choked on a laugh and he elbowed her lightly. “I’ll even let you pet him, if you ask nicely.”
“You’re too generous.” She deadpanned.
He opened his mouth to say something else, but he was barely halfway through the joke when Clarke caught a familiar glimpse of long dark hair. But… it couldn’t be…
Octavia Blake was striding across the lawn towards her, a neatly wrapped present in hand. Clarke barely managed to stop her jaw from dropping, and Octavia smirked at her, practically shoving the gift into her arms.
“O, what are you doing here? You can’t be here!” She said in an urgent whisper.
She rolled her eyes. “Look, this is stupid. Bellamy’s been telling me for years how much he loves this town, and how he trusts everyone in it. He gave you up because of me, and I don’t want him to do that anymore.”
Murphy, Miller and Wells were glancing between them suspiciously, and the party had ground to a halt around them as everybody took notice of the new arrival.
Clarke only smiled sadly. “It wasn’t because of you, O. It was my fault, I pushed him too far. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!” She snapped, throwing her hands up. “I’ve never seen him happier than when he’s with you, and he’s ready to throw it all away because you told him you wanted the best for him. It’s stupid!”
“What’s going on?” Monty politely asked the question that everyone else was thinking.
Octavia sighed. “I’m Bellamy’s sister. I’m in hiding from the law. He hasn’t told anyone because he didn’t want to put me in danger of being caught, but I’m tired of hiding from his family. If this means you turn me in, fine, I’m good at being on the run, but I figure that none of you want to do that to Bellamy. I’m just tired of being his excuse for not moving forward in his life. He’s spent so long trying to stay under the radar so that people don’t catch his connection to me that he’s ruining his life.”
A wave of understanding passed over the crowd.
“Idiot.” Miller said under his breath.
“I agree.” A voice said, and the town collectively whipped around to see Bellamy standing on Clarke’s porch, panting slightly.
Clarke almost dropped Octavia’s gift.
He took a hesitant step forward. “O, this was insane, even for you, and I’m going to kill you later, but right now…”
Everyone waited with baited breath.
“Right now, I’m an idiot.” He said, eyes locked onto Clarke’s.
“We know.” Murphy said.
“Look, I knew I made a mistake the second it happened.” He continued, ignoring his friend. “But I didn’t know how to fix it. I had a whole plan worked out, I’ve been planning it for weeks. I’ve been keeping an eye on everything, making sure tonight was perfect for Madi, and I was going to turn up sometime later and surprise you, maybe when half the town had gone home, so we could have some privacy, but apparently bad impulse decision making runs in the family.”
Octavia winced. “In my defence, I didn’t know about that. I only got back into town this afternoon.”
“In my defence, you never asked.” He said, gaze barely flickering to her before it was back on Clarke.
She looked back at him defiantly, refusing to melt. “What were you going to say?”
“I wasn’t.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, sliding it down into his pocket. He pulled out an envelope. “I was going to give you this, and hope.”
“Okay, in my defence again, that’s a shitty plan.” Octavia piped up.
Miller chimed in. “Shittier than telling an entire town of people, including cops, that you, a pretty famous outlaw, basically live here?”
“Eh, I won’t say anything.” Diyoza shrugged, biting into a mini sausage roll.
“Guys. Not your moment.” Harper reminded them, and everybody quietened.
“What does the letter say?” Clarke asked.
Bellamy passed it to her.
Her eyes scanned down the page.
Within seconds, the letter had fluttered to the ground, forgotten, as she launched herself into his arms, hugging him with everything she had. He burrowed his face into the crook of her neck, and the town cheered around them.
Wells picked the paper off the floor and read it, looking confused.
“Read it aloud, we’re dying here!” Emori called out.
“It’s not… it’s just a publisher’s letter. Something about…” His head jerked up. “Bellamy’s got a book deal! Holy shit, congratulations, man.”
“What?!” Octavia shrieked. She smacked him on the arm. “Way to bury the lede, genius!”
“Well, if you hadn’t decided to ruin it, I wouldn’t have had to.” He pointed out, but he didn’t look like he cared all that much, too occupied by Clarke as she peppered kisses all over his face.
“I don’t know why that means you’re together again, but I don’t care as long as you’re together.” Miller said, raising his beer in mock toast.
“Daddy!” Madi screamed, finally realising that people weren’t watching her play with Jordan anymore, and she ran as fast as she could towards Bellamy, barrelling into them with all the enthusiasm and force of a baby elephant. “We missed you!”
“I know kiddo.” He said, sounding more than a little sorry. He bent down to hug her, tugging at her pigtails the way he always did and making her giggle. When he straightened, he pressed his forehead against Clarke’s. “You’ll never have to miss me again, I promise.”
“I’m so proud of you.” Octavia said. “My big brother: the world famous author.”
“Beloved across the world.” Harper agreed.
“He’s already beloved, right here. Always has been.” Clarke murmured.
“That’s all I need.” He said, lifting Madi into his arms so he could hug them both at the same time. Soon, the entire town had surged forward into one enormous group hug, and Madi’s cheerful giggles washed over them all.
This was home.
Finn would go on to have one measly single, and then be hit with a plagiarism lawsuit so severe that he’d lose all his money and fade into obscurity.
Clarke’s mother never did come to visit, not once, but she was more than okay with that.
Octavia would manage to evade capture for decades to come, with the help of a small group of country folk who banded together to keep her secret.
Harper and Monty would have four more children and every one of them looked up to Madi like a big sister.
Bellamy would eventually move in with Clarke, and a few years later, when she had started her own business helping single mothers and low income families, and he had two bestselling books under his belt and a third on the way, she would sit him down and tell him she was pregnant, and the look of pure joy on his face could have outshone the sun.
All of that would come and go, and things wouldn’t always be easy, but it would always be worth it.
Clarke lost her boyfriend and gained a town. She lost her mother and gained a family. She lost her way and found a home, right where she least expected it. Her heart was in the space between two backyards, in her daughter, in the music still playing from the diner jukebox, in the sun as it continued to set and bathe them all in amber light, and in the man standing in front of her. Lose and gain, break and find, cry and love - home was in the ups and downs and everything in between, and it was rarely found where it was supposed to be.
Life was like that.