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***
Madi can’t figure out, for the love of everything sacred on this planet, what she’s going to get for Bellamy for Christmas. She has mulled the problem in her head for months and all of her ideas are either too expensive or too boring.
Today is the first day of December, though, so Madi has to come up with a plan—a good one—ASAP. For this specific reason, she asks her godparents to pick her up at school so she can spend time with them. She has known Murphy and Emori since she was a kid. She loves and trusts them. She knows too that they’re good friends with Clarke and Bellamy. She’s used to coming to them when she feels lost or needs to get something off her chest that she doesn’t want to tell her adoptive mother. She’s certain they’ll know what to do about this.
She’s eating an amazing chocolate muffin Murphy baked for her when she broaches the subject.
“So… Christmas is coming soon…”
Murphy snorts. “Stop fishing for information, kid. We won’t tell you what your gift is this year.”
Uh, maybe Emori and Murphy won’t. But Raven can’t hold her tongue when Madi looks at her in that way, so the girl already knows they’re planning to take her to Disneyworld with Ethan, her best friend. She’s thrilled about it and she can’t wait to officially open her gift so she can hug them and thank them properly.
“Actually, I’m looking for a gift for Bellamy. I wondered if you could help.”
“The man is literally going to have a baby for Christmas. Isn’t the due date for the end of December?”
Madi nods. Yes, her little sister is supposed to be born on December 29th and she’s really excited about it but—
“A baby isn’t a gift, Murphy,” she sighs. Her godfather is equal parts annoying and endearing, that’s why she loves him so much. “And that would be a gift from Clarke anyway.”
“Bellamy is literally the worst person to buy gifts for. If you ask him, he’s going to say he doesn’t want anything. But buy him a random present and he’ll brood for hours just because you didn’t get him anything personal and meaningful.”
The only reason John is saying that is because if Bellamy is the worst person to buy gifts for, her godfather is the worst person when it comes to giving gifts to others. For her thirteenth birthday, he brought Madi a knife. A knife. For a full minute, the girl thought Clarke was going to use it on him.
“But I want to give him something personal, that’s why I’m asking. What about that natural history museum you work for, Emori? I heard they were holding VIP nights? Do you think you can get me tickets for that? Bellamy’s always talking about how he wants to do a museum night…”
Emori thinks for a second. “I mean, I did find some really expensive and rare items for them last month so maybe I can ask for some favors. Let me call them and get back to you?”
Madi has the best godmother in the entire world. Emori’s literally a modern, female, badass Indiana Jones (Bellamy made her watch the series a few years ago so yes, she knows who Indiana Jones is).
“That would be amazing, thanks. I’m sure Bellamy would love it.”
***
Emori and Murphy call her two days later to tell her they could get only two VIP passes for the next Museum Night but only for Emori and her plus-one, and that it was quite expensive. So, in the end, they thank her for her good idea and basically steal her gift for Bellamy (Emori will go with Bellamy in February) before suggesting she buys him a book. Because, of course, Bellamy doesn’t have enough of those already.
***
She asks Bellamy’s best friend, after that. Miller and Jackson have taken her on a hike today. It’s nice and also the perfect time to ask about what to get Bellamy for Christmas while they are all eating sandwiches in the middle of the forest.
“What should I get for Bellamy? I know you and him have known each other for a long time. I think you met at the gym? But from what I know, he doesn’t work out like he used to. Do you think I should give him a gift card for an app so he can slowly start again from home or something? I know he was talking about subscribing to one for the new year.”
Nathan is prompt to answer, but not in the way she hoped for.
“Maybe you should, yes? I was actually thinking about the fact that he put on some weight since Clarke got pregnant? Maybe it’ll do him some good to get his life and body in check.”
Well, that was rude and unwelcome, and totally out of place, if you ask Madi. Bellamy is beautiful the way he is, weight or not, muscles or not. If the girl learned anything from growing up in their eclectic family, it’s that your appearance doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy with who you are. So really, she doesn’t get where Miller is coming from and she’s about to tell him just that when she notices some little things she didn’t pay attention to before.
How Jackson watches his husband with worried eyes. How Miller seemed out of breath during their hike. How he just eats carrots and cherry tomatoes with some whole-grain bread for lunch.
Eric scratches his throat and adds nonchalantly: “Sympathetic pregnancy is very real. Did you know it can even happen with couples having a baby with a surrogate mother?”
The hint is so obvious, Madi doesn’t know how Miller can’t understand that Jackson is actually talking about them having their baby with a surrogate mother right now. What she understands better, though, is Miller’s insensitivity and clumsiness. It wasn’t Bellamy that he was judging so harshly, but himself. And Madi actually feels sorry for him. He’s her uncle and she would like to do something to make him feel better.
Uh, maybe she will try to think of something for both Bellamy and Nathan for Christmas. Maybe Eric can join too. She just has to find the perfect, fun idea for them to release the tension accumulated during those last months waiting patiently for their babies to be born.
Proud of herself, she smiles kindly at Miller and nods. “I’ll think about it.”
***
In the end, she doesn’t have the time to think about it. Jackson talks to her on their way back from the hike while Nathan sleeps in the backseat of their car.
“I’m sorry for earlier,” he says, low so as to not wake him up. “He’s not doing great at the moment. He’s really stressed about the pregnancy, and the baby coming in a few weeks. I think he was mostly talking about himself.”
“Yeah, I guessed that. No worries, I just hope he’ll get better soon. I’m kinda worried about him now.”
Jackson watches her fondly. “Thanks. Actually, I might use your idea for Christmas? A friend of mine gives boxing classes downtown and I think it could be fun to go to his classes together, Bellamy, Miller, and I. Gotta release all that pregnancy stress somehow. What do you think?”
Yeah, like Madi could say no to that.
“Of course it’s okay.”
“Thank you.”
A comfortable silence settles in the car and the smile on Jackson’s face looks more genuine and light, like she took some weight off his shoulders by giving him a plan.
“As for Bellamy, maybe you could get him a book? I know several that could pique his interest.”
Seriously, why does everyone want to buy Bellamy Blake a book?
***
Asking Octavia if she believes it would be a good idea to adopt another dog for Bellamy, Madi already knows how it’s going to end. Octavia’s wide smile is all she needs to know that the woman is going to end up adopting the cute pet she says would be a perfect match for her brother. The thing is, her neighbor’s cat just had six kittens.
Octavia is so excited about it, so excited about the fact her neighbor is still looking for a family for two of his kittens, that Madi also bets that her aunt, her husband Lincoln, and their twins will soon count a new addition in their family too.
So the girl’s not surprised when Octavia calls her later that week and says that she adopted both of the kittens. Apparently, Jasper made her do it but it has been Octavia’s favorite excuse anyway since she and her best friend were children running around in diapers. They decided that it’ll be their joint gift for Bellamy and the whole Griffin-Blake family. Kitten, kibble, bowls, basket, toys, and all the accessories that exist on this planet.
Octavia and Jasper spend the next days sending her photos of the black baby fur with golden eyes that will soon be Bellamy’s, and Madi can’t find in her to say that Bellamy is more of a dog person.
Octavia sends her some book recommendations, though which—Ugh. Anyway, Madi has no comment on this.
It’s okay, she will find something else. She still has Raven and Monty to ask and she’s pretty sure that they are not going to suggest she buys a book titled “Understanding Cat Behavior.”
***
Madi goes to see Monty and Raven at their workshop, after.
They opened it four years ago and it works pretty well for them, even if she couldn’t say what they’re doing in there. The shop is a mess. A mix between a garage and an antique store with somehow crazy inventions in the middle and also huge amounts of various plants and flowers. It’s a mess but it’s them and Madi loves it, loves spending her Saturday morning helping them or just hanging out in the shop, trying to figure out the purpose of random objects here and there.
It’s a Saturday morning just like another when Madi brings up the question that keeps nagging her.
“So, I was wondering if you could help me with Bellamy’s gift?”
“Of course, you know you can pick whatever you want here, Madi,” says Monty, gesturing vaguely in the store, and Madi smirks.
“Whatever I want? What about the Harley in the display?”
She knows Bellamy loves that bike, he can’t stop ogling it when he comes to pick Madi up for lunch.
Raven snorts behind her protective visor and stops whatever she’s doing, lifting it on her forehead to glare at Madi.
“Don’t you dare touch my baby. It’s mine as soon as I find the time to fix it.”
“Just kidding,” smiles Madi. “Actually, the thing I was thinking about isn’t something I can buy.”
She piques their attention right away. God, they’re such nerds, she loves them both so much.
She explains what she pictured. It’s actually more a gift for her soon-to-be-born little sister than for Bellamy but she knows he’ll love it too.
“I asked him to read me his favorite myths, recently, and I recorded him without him knowing about it which—now that I hear myself saying it, is kind of creepy, I know. But I thought it’ll be great for the baby to hear his voice before sleep, you know?”
Bellamy got promoted a few months ago and is working crazy hours. She knows it already kills him not to be here for her and Clarke for dinner and bedtime. He said it should slow down a little in a couple of months but Madi’s scared of what it will do to him, to come home after his baby is asleep. The man loves telling stories as much as he loves a good cuddle before bed. He’s such a soft dad.
“At first, I just thought it would be cool if the baby could just hear his voice, so I planned to play the record for her when he’s not home but I wondered if maybe you could come up with something that could make it more…”
“Christmasy?” finishes Raven for her.
Madi nods and then, counts silently from one to ten. It takes Monty and Raven exactly seven seconds to come up with the perfect idea and the girl opens her mouth to say “yes” to the cute teddy bear they say they can work on but she doesn’t have the time. Already, they’re both wondering how they can make it better, what kind of buttons they can add on the paws and belly so the baby can also hear other voices or even lullabies.
“What about a nightlight too?” asks Monty to Raven who has started to doodle and write notes furiously on a transparent board.
“Guys,” tries Madi, “really your first idea was great, I—”
“Why settle for great when we can do awesome? We got this, Mads, don’t worry.”
***
This time neither Monty nor Raven steal Madi’s idea. She’s pretty sure they would be happy to include her in it, to be honest. But Madi can’t see herself giving this to Bellamy and pretending it’s from her. Not when the teddy bear is a nightlight with a choice of ten colors, a Bluetooth station, a music box playing “I see the light” from Tangled and/or Bellamy’s voice telling the myths Madi recorded (not to mention a hot-water bottle). Not when they also created an app to manage the bear from a distance.
So she guesses she just has to find a new idea now or she’s going to end up giving him the instruction manual for Raven and Monty’s gift. And if Madi isn’t sure what she’ll be giving Bellamy on Christmas, she’s already stubbornly decided that it won’t be a book.
***
Madi doesn’t really know why she didn’t ask Clarke before now. Christmas is really coming soon now. They got the tree this morning and decorated it and the house all day, just the three of them, eating cookies and singing Christmas songs… It’s nice, but Madi can’t help feeling that tiny spark of anxiety every time she watches the shining tree and tries to picture what will be underneath.
“Is everything okay, honey?” asks Clarke, who is handling the last details inside while Bellamy works outside.
Her question snaps Madi out of her reverie. She didn’t even notice that she started staring at the Christmas tree, possibly even frowning at the Christmas tree.
“Actually…”
Clarke stops what she’s doing right away and comes to sit beside her daughter. That’s one thing that Madi loves about her adoptive mother, and about Bellamy. They always make space for her feelings when she needs it, even when she doesn’t know she needs it.
“What’s bothering you?”
Clarke has her “this is a serious conversation” special worried tone and Madi feels the urge to clear the air right away.
“It’s nothing important, really. I can’t find the perfect gift for Bellamy and Christmas is coming soon…”
“Oh. You know it doesn’t have to be perfect, right? I’m pretty sure Bellamy would be happy with whatever you give him.”
“I know, but I want it to be special.”
“Okay,” Clarke puts a hand on her belly, rubbing the spot the baby is surely kicking right now, and thinks a little. “Do you want to brainstorm ideas with me? We have time, you know how Bellamy is with outside Christmas lights.”
Madi smiles, memories of the previous Christmas playing in her head. Music, snow, and the man whom she considers her father tangled in electric garlands. She nods and Clarke hums.
“What about a picture like the one you gifted him for his birthday? He really liked it and he could use one on his desk at home, don’t you think?”
The girl found an old picture of the three of them dressed for Halloween, ten years ago. Clarke as Rapunzel, Bellamy as Eugene, and herself as Pascal. She framed it and decorated it with paint, shells that they found during their last trip at the beach, and purple and gold glitter. He was ecstatic, unwrapping it, and took it to work to put on his desk the next day.
“Well, his birthday was only two months ago. I want to give him something else now.”
Clarke nods and comes up with a new idea.
“You could give him coupons.”
“Coupons?”
“Little pieces of paper where you write things you can do for him if he’s tired. Letting him pick the movie for once, washing the dishes, setting the table, doing your own laundry, helping with the baby like changing her diapers or something… Those kinds of things?”
Madi frowns. It’s a good idea. Fun too. But—
“I’m already doing all of it, Clarke.”
She doesn’t want to say that she’s perfect because nobody is flawless but helping in the house is something Madi’s never reluctant to do. And concerning her little sister, she’s pretty sure she will have trouble letting someone else take care of her. She’s pretty impatient to meet the baby.
Clarke smiles, ruffles her hair a little but not much because Madi isn’t five years old anymore.
“Right.”
“What are you getting him?” she asks, curious. Clarke opens her mouth to answer but Madi interrupts her. “And please, don’t answer ‘a book.’”
Her mother laughs. “It is a book.”
Madi frowns and sighs. “Why does everyone want to buy Bellamy books? He has a hundred of them already.”
“It is a very special book, though.”
And then, Clarke brings her into the room she uses for her art and shows her. It’s the Iliad and the Odyssey and it looks like a book she has bound herself. It’s thick and heavy and when Madi turns the pages, they creak like autumn leaves. It smells like glue and paint and the girl understands why when she turns another page and discovers that Clarke illustrated some of the stories here. Bellamy’s favorites, Madi recognizes.
“Clarke… It’s beautiful. Bellamy’s going to love it.”
In fact, she’s pretty sure he’ll cry when opening this gift and Madi feels a pang of jealousy. Why can’t she come up with a perfect idea like this? It’s everything Bellamy would want. It’s his favorite things mixed up together for a sensible amount of money and put together with love.
“Thank you, Madi.”
They exit the room just to find Bellamy entering the house, shaking the snow off his brown curls.
“It’s done,” he announces, grinning. “I would ask you to come out and see but it’s getting dark and cold, and the snow won’t stop fa—”
He takes on their expressions—two children caught with their hands in the cookie jar—and smiles.
“Am I interrupting? Are you guys talking about my Christmas gift? Because I told you I don’t need anything. Celebrating with you two and the baby coming is all I want, really.”
Madi is convinced he really believes what he’s saying, he’s cheesy just like that.
He drops a kiss on Clarke’s head as she says: “The due date is December 29th. She won’t be born by Christmas.”
“I’m pretty sure she will.”
It’s an old conversation. Since Clarke told him she was pregnant, Bellamy keeps saying the baby will be born on Christmas Day and Clarke keeps answering that she doesn’t want to spend the holiday in the hospital.
Madi leaves them in their happy bubble. Her mind is still searching frantically for a new idea. She has just reached the stairs when Clarke grabs her wrist gently. Bellamy’s nowhere to be seen, probably in the kitchen fixing cinnamon hot chocolate with marshmallows or something.
That man loves Christmas.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Madi nods but her mother seems to see her heart isn’t in it.
“Listen, Bellamy loves you, Madi. Your gift doesn’t have to be the best idea in the world, or expensive, or rare. Give him something you made with your heart and he’ll be the happiest father on Earth, I’m sure.”
And just like that, Madi finds the thing she really wants to give to Bellamy for Christmas.
It’s not even for Christmas. It’s something she never allowed herself to think about, something she kept in her heart and soul for so long that she didn’t even realize it was there in the first place.
It’s born from love, and family, and everything that makes her relationship with Bellamy special. It’s not a book. And it’s perfect, just like their family is.
***
It takes Madi a couple of days to confirm her decision. This is what she really wants. She knows it’s the first question Clarke will ask when she tells her about her idea and her mother doesn’t disappoint.
“Madi… You know that it’s not something you have to do to make Bellamy happy, right? Are you sure you want this?”
She nods. She could explain why she’s so certain with a thousand reasons but in the end, there’s just one that matters.
“It’s as much a gift for myself as for him. I want to be his daughter. For real. I want to become Madi Griffin-Blake officially.”
Clarke starts crying. She blames her hormones—classic pregnancy move—but Madi’s pretty sure her mother would have started crying anyway. She wraps her in her arms and they melt in each other’s embrace. Something flutters against her stomach and Clarke laughs wetly, drying the tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand.
“Your little sister wants a hug too, I think.”
God, Madi can’t wait to hold her in her arms and to give her those hugs. But first—
“I’m going to need your help, Clarke. I did some research and there’s paperwork to sign, and I think we’ll need a lawyer too, and—”
“Don’t worry, kid. I’ve got you.”
“And I’m going to need a blank white mug too, please.”
Clarke looks surprised at her last request but nods anyway. Madi really has the best mother in the world. And if everything works out the way she wishes, she’ll soon have the best dad in the universe too.
***
Christmas morning is the best time of the year in Madi’s opinion.
On Christmas Eve, Bellamy, Clarke, and Madi usually have a quiet night, just the three of them. They eat chocolate and binge Christmas movies, the fireplace burning next to them, and Picasso sleeping on the carpet at their feet.
But the next morning, nothing is quiet.
The day usually starts at 7 a.m. because O’s and Lincoln’s twins are so excited they never sleep past 6 a.m. So, after opening their gifts under their tree, they all drive to the Blake-Griffin house.
By 8 a.m., Harper and Monty are there too. And so is Jasper, who usually picks up Miller and Jackson because their apartment is on his way. This year, they have a new addition to the family since Nathan and Eric’s surrogate mother gave birth to their son, Enzo, six weeks ago. Emori and Murphy, Raven in the car with them, are the last ones to arrive, which always makes Madi laugh and Bellamy seethe because they’re the ones who live the closest to them.
The house is full, warm, and loud before 9 a.m. The twins are running around with their new toys, PJ’s still on and hair a mess on the top of their heads, smiling wide. Enzo Jackson-Miller is carried from arm to arm and welcomed in the family. It smells like cardamom, coffee, cinnamon, and pine tree. Pancakes and chocolate. Madi loves it.
These people… They’re her family.
They have a weird tradition going, in which each person opens all of their gifts in one go, and they switch to another person when they’re done. It’s Octavia’s fault. The woman wants to document every reaction and always records the whole thing every year for as long as Madi can remember.
Every year, Bellamy is the last one to open his gift because he’s either in the kitchen, cooking or doing the dishes, or setting the table. Maybe because he’s the one who cares less about gifts. Today, though, he’s sitting on the couch, Clarke right next to him, when his turn comes.
Madi got the best spot, the one she wanted. She’s sitting cross-legged next to the tree, ready to hand him the gifts in the order she wants. Hers will be the last ones and she already feels anxious about it, has been since she woke up this morning, which is silly but she can’t help it. Her fear of rejection is deeply anchored in her subconscious, even if she’s working on it with her family’s help.
She hands him the first package, a big box that, to Madi’s surprise, doesn’t meow or shake.
“This one is from Lincoln, Octavia, the twins, and Jasper.”
Bellamy opens it. There’s everything to take care of a cat in here, but no animal in sight.
“You’re giving me a kitten but without a kitten?” asks Bellamy, eyebrows lifted.
“Don’t be silly, Big Brother. Persy’s too young still. She has to stay with her mother for another ten days but she’ll be yours soon enough. Are you happy?”
“Yes, and you named her after Persephone, cute.”
“It’s because we’re adopting her brother too. Hades.”
“You do know that those two weren’t siblings, right?”
“God, I forgot what a nerd you are,” laughs Octavia. “I’m glad you like your gift. It was Madi’s idea, actually.”
It keeps going after that, people mentioning her name and including her in the gift they chose for Bellamy.
Those museum tickets for a night VIP tour? Madi suggested it.
Those boxing classes for him, Miller, and Jackson? Madi’s idea.
This multitasking teddy bear? Madi came up with it.
Bellamy keeps thanking them—and her—for every gift and she wonders if he’s aware that those aren’t really what she plans to give him anyway.
But it’s time for Clarke’s gift now and Bellamy turns serious.
“Is it a book?” he tries to guess, curious and eager, and Madi can see why everybody suggested she give him a damn book. The man loves reading for sure.
“Open it and see for yourself.”
He does and—well, he doesn’t cry, not really. But Madi knows him by now and knows how to discern in his warm brown eyes the emotion that swirls in his heart.
“Clarke, I—” he tries, but his voice cracks. “This is… I don’t have any words. This is fantastic, thank you.”
They kiss. It’s short, and sweet but so full of love and tenderness that Madi and everybody in the room has to look away. Octavia makes a gagging noise while Raven asks them to go find a room and Murphy makes some snarky comment about the fact that baby number one isn’t even born yet, maybe wait to try for a second.
Bellamy is smiling when they break the kiss.
“Thank you all, guys. This is amazing—”
“Wait, you didn’t open mine,” Madi interrupts.
He watches her fondly. “But you already participated in everyone else’s gifts. You didn’t need to get me anything else.”
“I wanted to.”
Her heart is beating wildly in her chest. Her hand shakes when she grabs the first from the two gifts she planned to offer Bellamy. She’s so stressed and emotional already that she doesn’t realize she’s messing up with the order she had set in her mind until Bellamy unwraps the little square box on his lap.
“It’s a mug,” he says with a smile.
“There’s something painted on it,” adds Octavia who is sitting in front of him.
Madi watches as he lifts the mug and takes in the art she painted herself on the white surface—a black sky full of stars, a red space ship and big yellow capital letters saying —
“Best dad in the universe,” reads Bellamy aloud.
His eyes shimmer with the same stars when he looks at her and smiles. “Thank you, Madi, it means a lot.”
And Madi… She gets why he seems to hesitate. She doesn’t know why she never saw it before. It’s in everything Bellamy is … the fact that he is her father already but always tried his best to give her the space to make that choice for herself. He never asked her to call him dad, never introduced himself as her father at schools or events, always corrected people when they mistook them for daughter and father. He always honored the fact that she already has parents, even if they passed away a long time ago, even if it’s getting harder and harder to remember them. Clarke does the same but it’s different because she adopted Madi. Bellamy didn’t.
Or at least, not yet.
He scratches his throat. “The baby isn’t born yet but—I’ll do my best, I really appreciate it, Madi, I—Thank you.”
Madi doesn’t let him suffer one second more and thrusts him the envelope she carefully wrapped in gold.
“The mug goes with this,” she manages to say but she really doesn’t know how, since her heart seems to be caught in her lungs and throat.
It takes just a few seconds for Bellamy to unwrap the second gift and even less to open the envelope and extract the documents from it but it feels like an eternity for Madi. And even longer as she waits with bated breath while he reads the paperwork.
In the end, she can’t take the silence anymore.
“I asked Clarke to help me get these…”
She can’t talk anymore either so her mother takes the lead. Her voice is shaky too and her blue eyes shine with emotion but she puts her hand on Bellamy’s thigh and says:
“I called Thelonius. You already met him a few times? He’s an old friend of my family.”
Madi can’t remember if he’s a lawyer or a judge or something else, but he produced all the paperwork they needed in record time when she’s very aware that those kinds of things usually take forever. Madi is under the impression that Mr. Jaha isn’t a man you can easily mess up with.
“So, if you want to, you just have to sign and you’ll be—”
She can’t utter the words but Bellamy does it for her, his voice deep and his fingers clutching at the paper.
“I’ll be your father.”
Someone gasps around them but Madi doesn’t know who. She can’t only watch as Bellamy swallows and lifts his dark gaze on her. There are tears gathered in his eye that he seems to fight against. He asks her the question she was waiting for, the same Clarke asked when Madi told her about this.
“Are you sure?”
Her voice is nowhere to be found, so she nods firmly. She can’t remember ever feeling so sure of anything, to be honest.
Bellamy crosses the space between them in one move, half-crouching, half-kneeling to wrap Madi in his strong arms. Hers come around his neck while she rests her head on his heart. She can almost feel its heartbeat echoing the way her own flutters rapidly against her ribcage. There’s a mug in his left hand and legal documents in his right hand but he never held her this tightly against him, like he won’t ever let go, and Madi feels like she belongs.
She always felt like she belonged here with all of them anyway but this is different. It’s just words put on things and feelings that were already there but they matter, they’re important. For both of them.
“You make me so happy, Mads,” he whispers in her hair, and she can hear the tears in his voice. “I love you so, so much. Of course, I want to be your father.”
She swallows hard. There’s salt on her lips that makes her realize that she’s crying too. People are cheering in the living room, coming closer to wrap their own arms around them, reaching to pat them on the back. She recognizes her mother’s hand in her hair. Bellamy lets go and she can see her own smile, as well as the joy bubbling in her chest, reflected on his lips and in his warm eyes when she says:
“You already are.”
***
Just as Bellamy predicted it, Clarke’s water breaks in the middle of the Christmas meal, four hours later. They all hurry to the nearest hospital in the beautiful chaos that is their family. It’s 11 p.m. when Bellamy reappears in the waiting room and announces with a big smile that Joy Aurora Griffin-Blake is born healthy and that everything went well with the birth.
There are hugs, kisses, congratulations and promises to visit soon before their friends leave the hospital. Bellamy guides Madi where Clarke is staying for a few days.
And so, entering room 318 and seeing her mother holding a sleeping Joy in her arms, Madi realizes that Christmas brought her not only a father but a sister too.