Chapter Six – The Big Reveal

And here it is, the final chapter. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. A final thanks to TheAmazonian as well for giving me feedback before I post; it's always helpful.

Clarke knocked on the door of Octavia's apartment and turned to Wells, "I promise, everyone is really nice—well almost everyone, Murphy takes a bit of getting used to, but he's harmless. You'll be fine."

"Why did I let you talk me into this?" Wells said, nervous about meeting a roomful of new people. Him and Clarke were similar in that way. It was one of the reasons they got along so well as children; they could just hide out in a room together whenever their parents had a function that required their attendance, or at least a brief appearance.

"Because you need to get out more. Or at the very least step away from your case for a couple hours," Clarke explained. "It was this or sign you up for a dating app," she told him with a stern, pointed look.

"Still not over that one, yet?" he asked guiltily. "However, I must point out that you did end up with not only one new, or well old, person in your life, but with several, as evidenced by this party you are forcing me to attend."

"Fucking lawyers and their convincing arguments," Clarke mumbled just loud enough for Wells to hear just as the door was opening.

"Clarke!" Octavia greeted with her usual enthusiasm. "And you managed to drag Wells out here, too!" She pulled Clarke into the apartment. "You know you can just walk in, right?" Clarke simply made an awkward face, causing Octavia to laugh as she pulled Wells into the foyer.

They made their way into the living room where the entire group was already waiting; Clarke's eyes instinctively seeking out Bellamy who was sprawled over the same loveseat/armchair that they had shared at Octavia's last big gathering. He looked up and greeted them jovially, "Hey there, Princess. Good to see you again, Wells."

This resulted in a chorus of welcomes from those who hadn't seen her walk into the room. Clarke responded in kind before introducing Wells. "Everyone this is Wells. Wells, you know Bellamy and you met Octavia and Jasper at the coffee shop, then there's Maya, Jasper's girlfriend, Monty and his girlfriend Harper. Oh, and you know Lincoln too—see I told you, you would know a couple faces. And it's Monroe, right? Or do you prefer Zoe?"

"Either is fine," the woman said with an easy smile.

"And then there's Murphy and Raven, and Miller, and I'm sorry, I don't think we've met," Clarke continued, feeling like she's testing her memory on naming half the people in front of her.

"Bryan," said the guy next to Miller.

"And then there's Bryan," Clarke finished.

Octavia looked around at all her guests pleased; being the host of a large group had always been where Octavia thrived. "Clarke, why don't you go make Bellamy give up half of that couch? And Wells, you can sit over by me, Lincoln, and Monroe."

Wells gave Clarke a look like she had betrayed him by making him sit across the room. "You know Lincoln," she whispered to him reassuringly as she went to go take her spot by Bellamy. Octavia's insistence of pushing her and Bellamy together would at the very least get her next to her boyfriend, if not necessarily in the exact cuddled position she preferred. "Move it or lose it, Blake," she said as she stood over Bellamy.

"What will I lose exactly?" he asked cheekily.

She thought for a moment. "Your ability to get up because if you don't give me space, I will sit on you," she told him, fully expecting him to move.

"I don't think you will, Princess," he responded not backing down.

She narrowed her eyes. "You're pushing it, Bellamy."

"I really don't think you'll do it," he continued, a challenge in his eyes. Clarke was never one to back down from a challenge, especially one issued by Bellamy Blake. She abruptly turned and plopped down onto his lap, making no effort to do so lightly. He groaned at the sudden and forceful weight on his lap. Clarke caught his eye and smirked.

Across the room, Octavia burst into laughter. "I'm pretty sure that was almost an exact re-enactment of high school. I swear I remember that precise thing happening during a meeting of sport team captains." Clarke and Bellamy joined her laughter, remembering the meeting as well. Although she was much happier with the end result here than she had been back in high school.

"Well, he didn't get me to move until after that meeting then, and he's not getting me to move now, either," Clarke declared.

Bellamy huffed and shifted them into a slightly more comfortable position, though she still remained firmly in his lap. "And this time I don't mind nearly half as much as I did then," he whispered quietly and echoing the thought that crossed her mind moments before.

The group simply sat and chatted for a bit, the conversation flowing between the small group of people by whom each was sitting and the group as a larger whole. But before too long, they broke out into a game of Cards Against Humanity which evolved into a drinking game in which everyone whose card wasn't chosen took a drink.

Jasper started manically laughing as he picked out his cards to play for Monty. "No, no guys, just you wait. This is hilarious! And it's true! Monty will understand."

Everyone looked at him skeptically and placed their own cards. As Monty read all the options, they knew exactly when he got to Jasper's because he was laughing so hard he couldn't even read the cards. Finally, he managed to spit out, "When I was tripping on acid take-backsies turned into the violation of our most basic human rights." Quickly followed by him throwing the black card in Jasper's general direction and saying, "Take the damn card, Jasper."

After everyone else had taken a drink of whatever they had in hand, Miller raised the question that was on everyone's lips, "Okay, so I know it's funny, but not exactly why it's that funny."

Jasper and Monty started laughing all over again. "So, one time when me and Jasper were in wilderness camp, probably around sixteen or seventeen…" Monty started before dissolving back into giggles.

Jasper tried to pick up the story. "We found what we thought were nuts gathered in a bucket hidden in the woods…"

"We don't know what kind of nuts they were, or even if they were nuts, but we decided to eat them. And, needless to say we took quite a trip…"

"At one point, I was holding on to a stick that I thought was magical and could protect me from anything. Monty was being taunted by a pinecone, so I decided to give him the protection…"

"I immediately shouted, 'no take-backsies' when he made a grab to take it back from me—that pine cone was being really rude and threatening. So when Jasper finally yanked the stick out of my hands, I was quite angry that he would go against the sacred rights of no take-backsies…"

"He literally would not talk to me until a day after the trip when we both actually realized what our fight was about."

As the story progressed and at its conclusion, the rest of the group joined into the duo's laughter. Harper looked to Maya, "Can you actually believe we're dating these doofuses?"

Maya returned the broad grin, "I wouldn't put it past them for this to have happened yesterday…completely sober. And I don't know what that says about me for dating him."

"Hey," Monty and Jasper said in unison, before sharing a look that clearly said that they wouldn't put it past each other either.

They finished the game, with Murphy pulling in just ahead of Jasper; while Jasper managed the highly comedic word plays and scenarios, it was Murphy who lived up to the tagline of the game: "a card game for horrible people."

Then, after a bit of arguing, they finally settled on a movie to watch. Bellamy got up to help Octavia with the popcorn, easily setting Clarke to the side in order to do so. Everyone took the opportunity to go to the bathroom, stretch, or as Clarke did, grab one of the blankets Lincoln had brought out from Octavia's closet. Clarke, snuggled in her blanket, took up as much of the couch/armchair as she could. Bellamy soon came back, two bowls of popcorn in hand. When he turned to his previous spot he simply raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Move your feet, you lose your seat," Clarke crowed with a grin like the cat who got the canary.

"Well, I guess I'll just use the Clarke Griffin method of problem solving," he teased with a glint in his eyes before sitting on top of her.

Clarke squealed and squirmed. "You're crushing me! I can't breathe!"

"Should've thought of that before," he teased. She pounded on his back with her fists and tried to push him off to no avail. "I'll make you a deal," he said. "I get up and then we share the couch." Then after a second of thought, "And the blanket."

"Okay, fine," she relented, a secret glee filling her stomach at the prospect of possibly getting away with a little bit of cuddling under the blanket.

After the movie had started she caught a slight movement from across the room. Monroe had tucked her feet under Wells' legs and he was leaning forward to get a blanket which he then tossed over both of their laps. The two shared a shy smile. Because she couldn't possibly let this slide, she snuck out her phone.

Wells Jaha

Don't think I didn't see that, Jaha ;)
10:17 pm

See what?
10:23 pm

You and Miss Monroe having a moment
over there and now snuggling under a blanket.
10:23 pm

A) We are not.
B) You're one to talk!
10:23 pm

I assure you, sir. I have no idea to what you
are referring.
10:24 pm

Also, you totally are!
10:24 pm

You and Bellamy all cuddled together and
definitely holding hands under that blanket.
10:24 pm

We are not! It's a small couch!
10:25 pm

"No phones!" Octavia reprimanded, looking between Clarke and Wells whose faces were lit by the light of their phones. Clarke started to put hers away when she saw another message from Wells:

This isn't over yet, Griffin.
10:25 pm

Not in your wildest dreams, Jaha.
10:25 pm

"No phones!" Octavia said again. Clarke and Wells just narrowed their eyes at each other across the room. Clarke tucked her phone back into her lap when she saw Wells do the same. But within second she saw it light up again.

Octavia Blake
So what were you and Wells talking about?
10:26 pm

How adorable him and Monroe are being.
10:26 pm

He tried to deny it.
10:26 pm

I know, right! I knew they would hit it off
the moment I met Wells.
10:26 pm

I'm such a good matchmaker.
10:26 pm

Speaking of adorable…you and Bellamy right
now…huh? Huh?
10:26 pm

JUST FRIENDS!
10:27 pm

"What were you just saying about phones?" Bellamy voiced. He had been watching Clarke's conversations from over her shoulder.

Octavia stuck her tongue out at him and everyone returned to watching the movie. Clarke sighed happily into her spot where Bellamy had one arm casually thrown across the back of the couch, subtly around her shoulders, while his other hand was gently rubbing patterns into her palm under the blanket. Yup. This was just where she wanted to be.

Clarke looked at the clock for the hundredth time since 10:00, it now read 10:47. She could have sworn her and Bellamy agreed to meet at her place at 10:00 to go to the farmers' market. Hell, she knew they agreed on that time because she had looked back through their texting conversation from yesterday to confirm it; she had double and even triple and quadruple checked that conversation. She reached for her phone, about to call him for the seventh time to tell him get his lazy butt out of bed—god knew that man could sleep like the dead. But just as she was starting to hit redial, her phone began to ring, the contact who was calling: Man of Your Dreams. She somehow always managed to get distracted and forget to change that name, but by now she would probably be confused if her phone said "Bellamy Blake" instead of the moniker he had given himself on that fateful first date.

"Bellamy Blake! I swear to god! You are running so goddamn late this morning, I have it in my mind to—"

"I'm sorry, Miss?" the voice on the other end of the line was definitely not Bellamy's.

"Uh…" she came up short.

"Um, Ms.—I'm sorry he only has you down as 'Princess' in his phone…"

"Griffin. Clarke Griffin," she told him, confused. "Who are you and why do you have Bellamy's phone?"

"That's why I'm calling Ms. Griffin, there's been an accident—"

Clarke's stomach dropped out of her body and her heart started beating deafeningly in her ears; she couldn't breathe. "No," she said, not even realizing she was speaking. "No, no, no, no, no…" She had heard those words once before in her life and once was more than enough for her; they came back to her now, echoing in her mom's voice, Clarke, Clarke, honey, there's been an accident. Your dad—your dad…" Abby hadn't even been able to finish the sentence.

"Miss Griffin!" she faintly realized the voice on the other end of the phone was yelling to get her attention. She took a deep breath, trying to get any amount oxygen into her lungs that had forgotten how to work. The person continued, "We're rushing Mr. Blake to TonDC General. We didn't know who else to call, you were the first number in his phone."

"Octavia," she said faintly. "Octavia, she's his sister." She felt like she was floating, everything intangible, nothing quite real.

"Okay, ma'am," the voice was strong and sure. "We'll find her number. You can meet her at TonDC General, that's where we're taking Mr. Blake."

"Okay," Clarke said, not even fully realizing she was still on the phone. When the line went dead, Clarke lost all feeling and motivation in her legs, collapsing where she stood in the middle of her kitchen, sobs raking her chest. Part of her knew that she should get up and try to go to the hospital, but every time she tried her legs would refuse to gain any traction. The worst part of her mind kept whispering in that quiet voice, It won't do you any good anyway. All you did was sit there while your dad died in the operating room. That's all that will happen again. You'll sit there doing nothing, while someone else you love dies and there's nothing you can do about it.

She was still curled in a ball on her kitchen floor when Wells strode into her apartment, calling out her name desperately. He knelt down next to her and pulled her into his lap, brushing his hand through her hair and murmuring calming words. An unknown time later, when she finally blinked up at him through tear-soaked lashes, he asked, "You ready to go to the hospital?" She nodded her head quietly. "Well, first let's make sure they don't mistake you for a raccoon," he teased gently, trying to pull the slightest smile out of her. He reached up on the counter for a napkin before calming wiping the streaking mascara from her cheeks.

She let him guide her from her apartment and into his car, taking and squeezing her hand as soon as he was in the driver's seat car in gear. He held her hand all the way there and ushered her in to the building, never letting go. Wells had been her rock the moment she had gotten the call about her father all those many years ago, and now he stepped back into that role. His hand and presence solid next to her dazed one; he grounded her back down to earth so she wouldn't float away.

They walked into the hospital, a permanent knot in her stomach and her breathing still a little ragged. She saw Octavia pacing and yelling at nurses before she finally let Lincoln hold her against his chest where she broke down and sobbed. Lincoln spotted Clarke and Wells first. When they were within five feet, he nudged Octavia whose eyes flew to Clarke. She released her grip on Lincoln and pulled Clarke into a tight hug. "That fucking fucktard! He had to go and get himself into a fucking accident and I'm going to fucking kick his ass as soon as he's out of surgery because he's not fucking allowed to leave me. He's not. He promised. That fucking asshole promised."

Clarke held Octavia as she ranted and cursed under her breath. "We'll kick his fucking ass together," Clarke assured her, summoning strength back into her body; someone else needed her to be strong more than she needed to fall apart right now, and she damn well wasn't going to let Octavia down. The two girls managed to find their way to a pair of seats, while Lincoln and Wells hovered over them protectively.

They sat there for hours without hearing anything, the waiting weighing down everyone. Wells nudged Clarke's shoulder and pointed toward the hallway. Clarke followed his direction and saw her mom walking towards her. She jumped up from her seat and threw herself into her mom's arms, her tears finding their way back to the surface. "Mom, I can't do this again. I just can't. I can't lose him, too."

"I know, sweetie. I know. It'll all be alright. You'll get through this. It'll be okay. It's a different day, a new situation. It doesn't mean it's going to go the same way. If I remember anything about that Blake boy it's that he's about as strong and stubborn as it comes, he'll fight," Abby soothed as she rubbed Clarke's back. Clarke continued to cry for a little while, allowing her mom to comfort her in a way that no one else could.

"Wait, how did you get here?" Clarke asked pulling away, only just realizing her mom lived and worked three hours away.

"Wells called," her mom said by way of explanation.

Clarke looked over her shoulder to where her best friend was still standing near Octavia and Lincoln. He gave her a sad smile. Clarke held out her hand to him and he came walking over and grasped her hand once it was in reach.

"I'm going to go see if my name and reputation can pull any info from the staff," Abby said, releasing her daughter to Wells.

"Thank you," Clarke told him, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Anything for you," he told her and pulled her into a hug.

"How did you know?" she asked. "To call her?"

"When Lincoln called me to go check on you, he explained what happened. I knew immediately that the person you really needed at that moment was your mom. I barely got out the words 'motorcycle,' 'accident,' and 'boyfriend' before your mom was saying she'd be here in two hours, traffic and speed limits be damned."

Clarke nodded solemnly. A half second later she jerked her head up to look at him, "Wait, how did you know?"

Wells managed a smile, "What? That he's your boyfriend? Please, Clarke, how long have we known each other?" Clarke shook her head at him, the smallest smile appearing on her lips. "I had my suspicions when you were entirely too adamant about being 'just friends' and then after I talked to him before your movie night however many weeks ago, I knew for sure."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I figured you'd tell me when you were ready. Plus, it meant that I was right all along about making that dating profile and I was basking in that knowledge and figuring out the best way to rub it in your face when you finally told me," he teased.

"I don't know whether to hug you or punch you for that comment," Clarke gave him a deadpan look.

"I'll take the hug," he said, pulling her into his arms. They then noticed Abby walking back from the nurses' station, a doctor with a chart in tow. Clarke and Wells moved to stand next to Octavia and Lincoln.

The doctor looked to the group, directing his gaze to Octavia, the next of kin. "Mr. Blake just got out of surgery. Everything went well, he's breathing on his own and he is expected to make a full recovery given time." Everyone sagged with relief, Clarke and Octavia shedding a couple tears of a completely different variety from earlier.

Bellamy felt like he was fighting his way through a fog. Finally, he saw a light at the end of the tunnel and heard an insistent beeping that grew louder and louder. He blinked again, and the sunlight transformed into a fluorescent light, the beeping into those coming from nearby machines. He was lying on a bed and had never felt worse or in more pain in his entire life. The last thing he remembered was riding his bike on his way to Clarke's to go to the farmers' market per their usual Sunday routine. He looked around and realized he was in a hospital bed and Octavia was sitting next to him holding his hand, a hopeful look in her eye. "How you feeling, big brother?" she asked quietly.

He tried to answer her, but his throat was too tight and dry; all that came out was a croak. She rushed to hold a glass of water to his lips, taking it from the bedside table. He attempted to give her a menacing look that said "I can do it on my own," before realizing he probably couldn't and ceased to put up a fight.

Before he could attempt to talk to her again, a nurse walked in who quickly turned around to find a doctor. After gently prodding him, checking his bandages and machines, and asking a few questions, they gave him medicine and he passed out again. This happened countless more times, but he at long last found himself with some conscious, coherent, uninterrupted alone time with Octavia.

"So, the question you've been asked thousands of times in the last few days: how you feeling, big brother?" she asked.

"Aside from the usual pain and discomfort, not too bad," he told her honestly.

"How close to normal?" she asked, a suspicious gleam in her eye.

"Pretty much there, as long as you don't count the necessity of being on bedrest in a hospital."

"Okay, so I can ask you the question I've been dying to ask since the accident?"

"Sure, O. Ask me anything," he said, but the moment he finished his sentence, he started to regret his words.

"Why the fuck did you hide your and Clarke's relationship from me? Did you just not want me to know how much of a matchmaking genius I was?" she nearly shouted at him.

Bellamy was slightly taken aback both by the volume and the question. "How did you…?"

"Well, she was a complete wreck from the moment she heard about the accident, then I overheard her talking to her mom about her 'boyfriend,' but the thing that made it undeniably true was when I straight up asked her. She avoided the question at first, but then finally confessed that you wanted to be the one to tell me. So, was it a more recent development or was it literally the two months since I signed you up for that dating app?"

Bellamy was silent, trying to think of the best way to explain the situation. But it was the silence that gave him away.

"It was the whole two months!" she shouted. Then a grin started across her face, the most self-satisfied, shit eating grin he thought he had ever seen. "Bell! You're a fucking ass for not telling me, but I'm so happy for you! That's amazing!"

Bell found himself blushing. Then the thoughts of Clarke quickly became those of concern; he knew that his getting in a motorcycle accident would put her in the mindset of her father. "How is she?"

Octavia continued to smile. "She's literally been here every minute she doesn't have to work. It took me, Wells, Lincoln, and her mom to get her to go home and sleep after your accident. My phone has a constant inflow of demands for updates whenever she's not here. But other than obsessive worry about you, she's doing fine." She looked down at her phone, "In fact, she just texted me that she just got here."

Bellamy's whole face lit up. Octavia looked pleased, "I think I'll just meet her in the hall and then let you two have some time to yourselves." When she was just about to walk out the door, Octavia stopped and turned to him. "So that time I walked in on the two of you in the kitchen when I was looking for my charger? Nope. No. Changed my mind, I don't want to know."

Bellamy laughed and sat up straighter. Then he heard Octavia talking in the hallway, "He's awake."

Then it was the voice that made his heart sing. "Really?" Clarke's voice asked full of hope and excitement. Within seconds the face that accompanied the voice came bursting into the room, a smile stretched across her face. "Bell!"

"Hi Princess," he said, mirroring her broad grin.

"How you feeling?" she asked, coming to his side tentatively and taking his hand in hers.

"Growing sick of that question," he teased.

"Seriously? Are you doing alright? No out of the ordinary pain? No temperature? You're not overexerting yourself or pulling at your stitches?"

"No, Dr. Griffin," he gave her a playful manner. "I'm feeling a-okay. My question is how are you doing?"

This seemed to flip a switch inside Clarke, sparking her inner fire. "Don't you every fucking do that to me again, Bellamy Blake! I will fucking murder you myself, if you ever put me through that again! Do you know how hard it was for me to get that phone call?"

"Princess," he said in a calming tone, his heart going out to her; of all the things that happened, he hated putting Clarke and Octavia through the pain and worry they had felt. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. But I'm okay, I'm still in one piece. I'm not going anywhere."

She seemed to deflate. "It's just I can't, I can't lose you, Bell. I l—" she cut herself off, her eyes growing wide with the words she swallowed.

"What was that, Princess?"

"Hmm?"

"What were you about to say?" he persisted.

"No. It's too early. Forget it…It's just I can't lose you, Bell. You're too important to me. You've become such a big part of my life in these past two months and I don't know what I would do without you. You're the first person I call in the morning and the last person I think about at night. And I l—" she swallowed her words again.

"I love you, too," he told her with a beaming grin, barely holding in laughter.

"Me too!" she said excited as he took the words she wouldn't say.

He couldn't help but tease her even in this moment. "You love yourself, too?"

"Fuck you, you know what I mean," she replied, annoyed with his antics.

"Yeah, but I want to hear you say it."

She looked at him with both annoyance and love shining in her eyes, "I love you, Bellamy Blake."

"And I love you, Clarke Griffin," he returned her teasing look supplemented with love. "And if you don't kiss me right now, I think I'm going to explode."

She laughed and brought her lips down onto his with a kiss, both of their smiles preventing it from deepening any further.

Well, that's all she wrote. "She" being me. And for all my talk of my heart not being in it last chapter, I'm actually kind of sad to see this story go.

Fun Fact: I once played the combination of cards that Jasper did in Cards Against Humanity. When writing this scene, I was brought back to it and could totally see the two of them having that situation in real life.